I need a vacation

Well I was up til about 2:00 working on homework and long behold, Carson was up by 5:45 looking for his dad. He just doesn't understand that daddy has his own house and mommy and daddy aren't together. So I'm the strong one that picks up the pieces. I did however have Charlie meet us Wednesday at penguin park and took lots of pictures of Carson having a ball. I will post them after I take my memory stick to Wal-Mart. Cody practices real close to that park so when I'm up north I usually have Charlie meet us so he can spend a little more time with Carson.

Anyways, the storm cancelled Coltan's practice but not Cody's. It's amazing what 35 minutes away from each other means for the weather. Cody must have been just north of it and he said they didn't get in the storm until they were driving home. But down at my house, the lightening was something else. I was just waiting for lightening to strike my house but thank goodness we stayed safe.

So after practice last night, the boys helped me cook dinner and then we worked on getting everyone packed up. I will be taking Cody and Carson with me to St Louis for Cody's soccer tournament and Coltan has been adopted by his soccer coach since he is also in a tournament here in KC.

So now I'm rushing to get payroll done (I know it really does look like I'm working right now doesn't it......Denise), and then back to get Coltan off with his Coach and then gather the other two up and off we go. I asked my dad to stay here for the weekend so he can take care of my dogs so I will have to grab him a few things to snack on as well.

So if anyone is interested in a trip to Vegas, Aruba, Maine, a rubber wall room, let me know. I'm thinking I'm ready for a couple days without my three lovely babies.

Baby Elli in need of lots of prayers!!!

Hey everyone, this is just a quick post for everyone. I have a new blog site listed and it is Elli Reed. Elli was born a week and a half ago and she has Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. Cassie and Brian are from Maryville Missouri and when Cassie was around 20 weeks pregnant, this was discovered. She delivered at St. Lukes Plaza and then Baby Elli was transported to Childrens Mercy. She was placed on the ECMO and now the doctors have opted to go ahead and perform her surgery while still on it.

The surgery to relocate a lot of her organs is scheduled for today. Would everyone please visit Brian and Cassie's site and let them know that we are all praying for them and Baby Elli. I know that they need all the support that they can get. After all, who best to give them that then all of my good loving parents that I visit everyday!!

I will blog later. I want this post to be dedicated to the Reed family today.

Love all,

Kaci

Carson's Doctor Appointment

First off, last night the boys played their soccer game and won. It was like 6 or 7 to 1. So they played real good. So we had two wins and two losses between the three teams.

This morning Carson had a doctors appt at Childrens for the ENT. Dr. Nicholas said that instead of looking into a sleep study for sleep apnea, he is already a candidate for removing his tonsils and adenoids. So we scheduled surgery at Children's Mercy (main campus) for Thursday Oct 16. Since he is high risk because of severe asthma, they will keep him overnight at minimum. She said not to be surprised if they put him in ICU for a day to keep a close eye on him. Also, since we have had 7 ear infections in 8 months, she will put tubes in his ears while she is there. We talked about waiting for the tonsils until he is a little older and just doing the adenoids and tubes but I'm kinda thinking that we should just do it all at once and that is one less appointment/hospital stay for us. So with this said, there will be 9 appointments between now and Nov 17 for all of his clinics (GI, Pulmonary, OT, Feeding Clinic, Surgery, ENT Post-op, Asthma, Pre-op, and the anesthesiologist). This does not include that the Doctor in feeding clinic could ask for more test and OT schedule him every week/every other week/ once a month appointments.

I did however finish all of my homework for tomorrow (I mean today) and I'm guessing that after class I will be loaded down with some more.

Just wanted to update everyone on Carson and hope everyone has a great Tuesday!!!

Weekend update

Well we have been busy as usual. Thursday I went to school and got loaded with homework. I had to laugh because all of the professors said "well since we have a long weekend........". I guess all the younger students can get everything done. Then Thursday night the boys had soccer practice and then home to eat dinner.

Friday I had to take Coltan to the dentist to get two of his baby teeth pulled. He has braces and the orthodontist said his two baby teeth needed to be pulled because the permanents are below and starting to go sideways. I'm totally kicking myself for not bringing a camera. I had them put him out and oh my, he was hysterical. I called his dad and asked him if he was going to be home and he said yes. I told him that I couldn't be so selfish and share this by myself. He was real loopy from the IV but it finally wore off about an hour later. He did say that his teeth bothered him later that night but the doctor prescribed some pain medicine so that helped a lot.

Charlie came and picked up Carson and I took Cody and Coltan to their dad's house Friday night and ended up going in to work for about 3 hours to catch up a little. Then back home with no kids and went to bed.

Saturday I went to work and then took Charlie and Carson out to dinner for Charlie's birthday. I think it turned out to be a nice evening. Charlie took Carson yesterday to Cabelia's and said Carson had a lot of fun. So I'm glad to see that he had a good time with his daddy. After dinner, Carson stayed with me and he went to bed earlier than usual so I decided to play catch up on some homework.

Cody had a soccer game yesterday and they won 2-1. My mom went and I did not go since I was still working. She said that Cody had the two assist for the goals and played really good. Next was Coltan's game and he tied 2-2. Apparently he got a ball in the mouth and the didn't feel so hot after that. Then this morning Cody had the next soccer game and they ended up losing 1-2. I didn't go to that one either because Carson and I went to church (YEAH). My mom said that Cody was playing a team that was older and the kept putting 2 and 3 boys on him at all times. One of the big kids 7 minutes into the game elbowed Cody and he ended up going down and they took him off. He had a bloody nose and took a while to get it to stop. Then it sounds like he may have swallowed some blood because he was sick to his stomach a little later. So my boys were really beat up this weekend.

Well we are off to the last game for the weekend. This team both boys play on so I'll have a quick update later on the results. Hopefully no more injuries......

Pictures from the St. Louis Arch

St Louis flood from the arch

These were taken from the top of the arch looking down. The one on the top shows the helipad where the ramp was flooded out. You can also see where the street was. If you look in between the tree lines. The bottom one is just a close up of the helipad. These pictures just shows how powerful mother nature can be.

St Louis Flood

Those are actually stairs on the right and you can see where the street is suppose to be. This is at the arch and what the Mighty Mississippi can do when we have a lot of rain. On the left, that is the ramp and dock for the boats that cruise down the river for tourists to see. As you can tell, they were out of commission.

First Day of School

Well this is about how it went, I was up at 6AM this morning and I woke up Cody first for his shower. Next was Coltan at 6:15. Then my turn at 6:30. I put the boys on the bus at 6:55 and off to finish getting ready. After that I had to get clothes ready for Carson and make up another batch of his milk. Carried everything to the car, let the dogs out one last time and then carried Carson to the car. Anyone exhausted yet? This is all by 7:30.



After I dropped Carson off at the sitters I went to school. I was in the classroom by 8:00AM. Went through my three classes all while thinking to myself how crazy I must be and in my car by 12:30. I drove across the street to my workout place and was there for an hour(Because I'm still awake and apperantly have a screw loose).



After that I got home and took another shower and realized that if I go to work today that I will just be turning around to pick up the Coltan at school because of track. So I stayed home and did a little paperwork so I felt like I did do something work related.



So at 3:00 BOTH boys walked in and I ask Coltan what happened and he said it was going to be to much with soccer. (Thank goodness he came to his senses unlike his mother). So then it was off to drop Cody off for his carpool and then I ran through the store to buy a couple of things for spaghetti and meatballs (homemade of course, because time is never an issue). I left the store and went to pick up Carson and back to my house to start my dinner. By 7:00 I was done with dinner and started some laundry up and even emptied/loaded the dishwasher. Then at 7:30 I left to pick Cody back up at the meeting spot. After we got back home we ate dinner, did the dishes, and I re cleaned my kitchen. It is now officially midnight and I'm falling asleep while I'm typing.



Now if I can just find the energy to do 80 math problems and read chapter 1 in my history book. Anyone interested in a part time job to do my homework for me? Thank goodness I wrote my paragraph for English!!!!



Hope everyone else had a great and uneventful day!



Love, Me

A few pictures of St Louis Zoo

Here are a few of my favorites at the St. Louis Zoo. The top one is of Carson leaning over to give Coltan a kiss. It is one of those precious moments and I couldn't believe I was able to snap it. Then the next one is of Carson on big brother Cody's shoulders. He really does love his big brothers. Then I have a picture of the kids. Aspen is the girl on the far left. She is my 16 year old niece that helps me out all of the time. I have a bunch of pictures from St. Louis so I thought I would post a few a day so there isn't so much to look at all at once. I also have pictures of the arch, the flood, six flags, and some others. Today I thought I would post my favorites from the zoo.

More pictures of my three sons at the zoo

These are a few of my boys at the St. Louis Zoo over July 4th. . The top one is Carson at 2 years, 3 months. Below Carson is Cody at 12 1/2. Coltan is on the right and he is 13 1/2.

Finally Got the time for a post!!!!

Well first off, everyone has been sick free and Carson has been asthma free for a whole week! (I'm sure I just jinks myself)
Carson had a pulmonary appointment a week or so ago and she wants him to continue seeing the Occupational Therapy for help with swallowing foods, and also she is sending him to the feeding clinic. I had no idea that Children's has a feeding clinic. There will be a physician, child psychologist, and a dietitian there. The doctor will maybe look into more tests and the psychologist wants to see if there is something we can do to alleviate his stress level and help him work through his fears when he chokes on foods. Who knew, 2 year olds can have stress. She is also wanting to change his flovent to advair. This medicine has not been followed by FDA for children under 6. So I talked it over with my primary and he said that treating the disease should out way the side effects and agrees the Carson should try it out for 3-6 months to see if his flare ups are reduced. Any thoughts???? Other than that, he did go in today for his well baby check up. (Haven't said that in a long time:-). His eczema still is a problem but other than that, he is alright. He weighs 26.4lbs which is still about the 15% range and he is almost 35in. I believe that scores 50%. So he is still short and skinny. But he is looking good and in to everything. Oh to have the energy of a two year old........

As for Coltan, he is looking super. He went to get his physical today as well so he can try out for Cross Country at school. He starts 8th grade tomorrow. I just cannot get over how old my kids are. It doesn't seem possible that I have a thirteen year old. He is 5'5 and 111lbs. He is just getting so tall. I think he has officially grew taller than me. So now if I want to yell at him I will be looking up. As for soccer, he has been practicing on Mondays and Thursday nights for two weeks. His first game is this Saturday and then it looks like he will be in a tournament over Labor Day weekend in Kansas City. So he is getting hyped about that. The only other thing going on in his life right now is that he went to the ortho last week and he has two baby teeth that won't come out and his permanent teeth are growing in sideways. We have an appointment for him this Friday to get them pulled out. How lucky is that? He will miss his 4th day of school.

Cody will be starting 7th grade tomorrow and has already kept me very busy again as well. He also has soccer practice 3 nights a week. His practice is about 40-45 minutes north of me. I was lucky enough to get in a carpool so that will help out a lot with gas money. He was in a tournament this weekend and they just stomped everyone. They played teams from Kansas City, St. Louis, and West Des Moines. Cody scored 4 goals and had 5 assists. He was on fire. His league also starts this weekend and our next tournament is in St Louis on Labor Day weekend as well. Coltan will probably live with his soccer coach that same weekend so he can get to his.

Cody also went to the doctor for his yearly physical and he is 5'1 and 97lbs. It's hard to believe that Coltan and Cody are 11 months apart and there is 4 inches and 14 pounds difference between the two of them.

All last week we had a spring cleaning party and went through every room in my house and threw lots of things away and detail cleaned the whole house. Amy, I don't know if your wanting a boy or girl but if you do have a boy, I have a lot of Carson's clothes from newborn up. They are all yours when you find out. This weekend I had soccer boys from all three teams in and out of the house. We have had some of the boys spend the night Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. I actually have two of the boys here now. So that has been about it for our busy life.

As for me, well I'm renegotiating my lease at the salon so I can buy a new air conditioner. My land lord has been generous enough to go 50/50 with me. He is also going to front my half and then we will renew my lease to a 7 year with me paying him back my rent plus my half of the air conditioner for the first year. What a huge relief. I'm also still trying to get 3-4 workouts in every week and I will be starting college tomorrow. I will go on Tues and Thurs and I'm taking 9 credits. Wish me luck. Hopefully I will find time to sleep in all of the crazies going on. On a side note, I was actually able to go to church yesterday for the first time in forever. Coltan and Cody's soccer coach and wife have been trying to get me to switch and try theirs out for a while and we ended up having a great time. After church we loaded all of our kids up plus a few that do not belong to us and went to a little Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was a really nice time. I'm actually looking forward to getting back into the services again.

Hope everyone is doing great and know that I've been thinking about you all a lot hoping for wonderful days.

Were Still Alive!!!

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to update everyone. We have been so busy in my household that I'm lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep!!!

Coltan and Cody's soccer has started back up again and they are currently practicing 4 nights a week. Coltan practices about 5 minutes from my house but Cody's is about a 45 minute drive and we start at 5:30 which is rush hour so I'm trying to get Carson picked up at the sitters, drive to my house to pick up Cody by 4:30 and then off to practice. Then by the time we get home it is dinner and bath and bed. I have been making a lot of day ahead meals so that we aren't eating at midnight. So every night I make a casserole, meat loaf, of pasta dish and when we get home I just throw it in the oven and dinner is served.

Carson has had his GI appointment and Pulmonary over the last couple of weeks. GI is really nothing new. We are going to leave him on the medicine for 3 more months and if he improves, we will keep him there. If he doesn't, Dr Kaine will change him. I will fill you in on Pulmonary this weekend. It is a little more detailed.

As for me, well I bought out my mother on Aug 1 and Aug 4th the $10000.00 air conditioner went out. We are in the process of trying to fix it and not have to replace it. I have also decided that I have way to much time on my hand and enrolled in college. I will be taking 9 credits this semester so we will see how this goes.

Anyways, I just wanted everyone to know that we are all okay and I will give more info this weekend.