Wow, has it been that long?

Can't believe it has been so long since I have updated this. Better do better with this, huh?

Things have been busy. Both kids are in school, Michaela started her last year in Middle School this year and Marcus started as a Peer Model for the preschool program at Norris. He loves it, everyday is an adventure with him. I always worry when Miss Chris comes down after her morning with him and just smiles at me and shakes her head. I'm like, what did my son do or say today? Never a dull moment. He has sang them country songs, used his vast vocabulary with them, even told them I was Maxed Out, his version of Mommy is broke and needs more $$$$$.!

Michaela is doing wonderful. She has maintained her goal weight for several months and seems to be pretty happy, school is going well, she is learning how to give up control especially in group projects, this is new for her, she wants control and if it isn't perfect it drives her crazy. But she is learning, slowly. Her grades are great, we can't ask for more.

Michaela has recently told us her "Life Plan" right now she is wanting to go to college to be a Youth Minister. She loves her youth group and Campus Life at school. She wants to help kids and teach them about God. We are very proud of her for all her planning and the thought she has put into this already. Big Dreams for a young Lady, Keep dreaming Baby, you can achieve anything.

Steve is still working many, many hours a week, it is nice to have him home when he isn't working. Between, all the stuff with the kids, there doesn't to be much time for other things.

School is going well for me. New adventures for me too. Things are going good and everyday is a new day and my new saying is "It's all Good!"

Hope everyone is doing well, will try to do better about updating.
Love and Hugs to all
Lisa

On the right track!

After months of being worried about Michaela I think we are finally on the right track. She is at her target weight finally and now we just need to work to keep her that way. She has done so well she is trying new foods and it has been a good thing for the whole family. Ok, Marcus isn't down with this, he does not like to try new foods at all. But the new rule at our house is you can't say you don't like it until you try it. Again a good new concept for all of us.

I am very proud of her and she is doing so well, keep it up Michaela!!!!!

On a side note, I have to say my children are learning some good lessons this summer. After our garage sale we decided to donate all the clothes and toys to the People's City Mission. We took them to the mission and met with Pastor Tom. As we were leaving he told us he was getting ready to put out a plea to the public for water as they were almost out. So we went and bought 3 cases of water and took it back. Michaela called into the radio station and was on the radio to get the message out there for the need. We even went as far as to challenge our Facebook friends to beat or match our donation. It was fun to see who would accept our challenge. As we put it Game On!!!

I have to say I have seen my daughter's heart grow so much over this last year. She is so caring and wants to help everyone. We are very proud of her. She has grown up a lot this summer and we are excited, yet scared for the new school year to begin. Praying for her to do well and get back into the swing of things.

Hope everyone is having a great summer, we have a new camera and as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off onto my computer we will post some pictures of our trip to the zoo and our vacations.

Love to all!

Michaela is home!

It was a quiet week, but now Michaela is home from camp. She had a great time and did a very good job of not getting home sick. We are very proud of her. I believe she has grown her in faith this past week and has a new and renewed trust and interest in God and the bible.

Although we can tell she has missed picking on her brother greatly. As they have been at each other almost every day.

We will see the nutritionist tomorrow for a follow up, I am curious how she did weight wise at camp. I do have to say she has been eating more since she came home, with I am not arguing about at all.

We have had a fun day today, we went to see Toy Story 3, it was good and Marcus didn't even fall asleep. Score one for us. If they didn't play 15 minutes of previews and ads before the movie it would be much better.

Storms have been very active the last few days, ready for the rain to quit and for it to dry out, I know in a few weeks we will be saying, please can't it rain. Never happy am I.

Have a great week.

Lisa

Quiet week with just one!

Michaela is at camp this week so it is really quiet around here. I do have to say I really miss her, it is so weird not having her calling someone or picking on Marcus. The hardest part for me is walking by her bedroom and seeing it as she left it. Can I just say it is really hard not to go in there and pick up. I am betting by the end of the week it will be clean before we pick her up.

I have taken this time to spend some good one on one time with Marcus. We started a little preschool time today and spent about 1/2 an hour working on the letters of his name and then I got him on the computer to the Starfall.com website. It teaches Phonics and alphabet letter sounds. So we started out with the ABC part and learning some sounds and then we went to the "at" and "an" families and worked on making some words using them. Writing his name he got a little distracted, but as soon as I told him I was putting him on the computer his attention was better. Just have to work on keeping that thumb out of his mouth so he will say the sounds and things. If I give him the mouse then we are fine, cause he is using that hand. But not always, he just sucks on the other one. Too bad his thumbs are interchangeable, wish they weren't, something more to work on for the summer before he starts preschool in the fall.

I have spent most of the day on the phone with the insurance companies getting things figured out. We were going to supper Saturday nite to meet Steve and his folks. We got hit as we were turning the corner. Well can I just say his Toyota Tundra looks good compared to mom's Buick. We had to have it towed and it is being looked at, I am hoping they call us this afternoon to let us know how bad it really is. We are all ok, just stiff and sore. Mom and Michaela seem to have gotten the worse of it with seat belt rash. But none of us went to the hospital, we were fine. Now the fun reports and insurance stuff. Wish it was easier, but it isn't. Trying to get someone to call me back to get her a rental car, but I am thinking I am not going to hear from them until tomorrow at this point. Kind of frustrating, good thing she doesn't have to work this week.

Otherwise not much else. Maybe I will get this updated more often now that it is summer, HA HA!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer too.
Love to all!

Summer 2010

Can't believe it is already summer vacation time. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to be done with school, just when you feel like it will never end it ends and now it seems like the vacation time is going very quickly.

Looking forward to some lazy days of visiting with family. Missed a fun time today and I do not want to miss anymore. I treasure those times with family.

Michaela is getting ready to head to Camp Rivercrest outside of Fremont on Sunday, her first time at camp and being away from us for a whole week, by herself. She is excited to be going, I am hoping that is the way it stays. She is doing better, her anxiety is getting better which is a good thing. She is seeing a nutritionist to help her know what is good for her to eat and how much she is suppose to eat. I think she is a little overwhelmed by what is expected of her right now. But she is also very close to that number that I told her was unacceptable and wouldn't hesitate to act on it. The nutritionist also told her today she can not drop any further or really doesn't want her to stay the same, she wants her weight up by the next time she sees her or her choices were no longer going to be choices. We are hoping this will work, our whole family is trying to be more consciences of what we are eating and making sure we are having several food groups at every meal.

Michaela got confirmed on Sunday May 30 at our church in Hallam. She was very happy about this. It has been so fun to watch her grow in her relationship with God and her renewed interest in the church. I think these camps will be good for her too. She has become a beautiful young lady and we are very proud of the young woman she is/has become.

Mr. Marcus is just a character. He thinks his birthday is tomorrow everyday. On Confirmation Sunday he was running around with the Toy-R-Us ad showing it to everyone who would listen to him. He was showing them a talking grill which he thinks he needs. He would go up to people and say, "Hey, can I show you something?" It was way too funny. Now he is on some loader truck, man got to love it when they get old enough to ask for everything. The best one this week was he was man at us because Toy Story 3 was not out yet. It was suppose to be out now, when he wanted to see it.

He will be going to preschool at Norris in the fall as a peer model, he is excited about that, he wants to go tomorrow to that too. His time concept is terrible, but what 3 year olds isn't. He is excited to be turning 4 soon and going to school.

Steve and I are doing ok, we are busy with the kids. Steve has been working lots of hours so it has been hard to plan a vacation of any sort. I am hoping I can get him to sit and commit to something here when Michaela is done with one camp and before the next. Would love to get to Minnesota to see Kristal and Ryan, but do not know if that is going to happen yet.

Hope everyone has a great summer, enjoy yourselves.
Love to all!

It's been a long time!

I have not been very good about posting lately. Sorry, we have been busy with work and the kids.

I do have a little good news to report. Michaela is doing better, have pretty much ruled out that there isn't anything wrong with her stomach, just a lot of anxiety and other things going on her head. We have had some really bad days, not with stomach issues, but with her moods and emotions, but those are now leveling out and I have to say, I know it is early on, but I think we are on the right track. She is taking some meds for the anxiety, OCD, PTSD. She is a perfectionist we knew that, but didn't think it was effecting her that badly. Obviously we were wrong there. So she is seeing the doctor she saw after the tornado and they are talking and now with the meds I am hoping she will be back 100 percent soon.

She is much happier lately, more sparkle in her eyes, she has color back in her face. Now we just need to get some weight back on her. I would be happy if I could just get her back above 100 pounds. It will come, I have to keep trusting and believing it will happen.

Marcus is doing well, growing daily and is surprising us everyday. His new favorite thing is a watching a movie that his Uncle Blaine gave him Thursday night. Donkey Ollie, great bible stories. He loves them. The other night, Kayla was teasing him and he yelled at her, "Stop it, I am watching Jesus!" Loved it! His best was last weekend, we went to a baby shower for my great-niece, we were leaving to get Michaela to a different party. Marcus wanted to know where we going, I told him, his reply, "But I didn't get a shower yet!" The minds of a 3 year old.

Not much else here.

Love to all.
Lisa

Girl scores 100 percent on negative tests!

Trying to find some humor in all this and not having much luck.

Thyroid tests all came back negative or normal. Has had a sore throat for a couple of days and strep test negative. See batting a thousand.

Omaha has not called yet, going to try and call them tomorrow, if no answers or other place to go, think we are going to ask for a referral to Mayo's. I am tired of this, and at least there they will keep her until we figure this out, and maybe test results will not take weeks to get.

On a happy note, I got a new do today! Feels good to have a new one. Very excited.

Have a great week and thanks for checking up on us.

Love to all,
Lisa

Update!

Wishing I had more to say, besides the same old thing. All tests are negative, but no more answers or ways to comfort her. All her biopsies were normal, no Celiac, no parasites. Did a test to check her Thyroid on Thursday, waiting on those results.

I told Steve on Tuesday night, when she was crying at 11:00 at night. Just once, I wish she would have a episode where it is terrible, so I could just take her into the doctor and say, look at her, see what happens when the pain is so severe. May video tape it once just to show them what is going on.

Weight is holding on, she is at 101 this week, we are trying to not live by the scale, trying to just weigh her on Sunday.

Wish I had more news or could be more positive, right now we are very frustrated. She is tried of tests and we are too. It seems we keep running tests and get no where. One of these times we will hit on the right thing and hopefully find the answers to all this.

Have a great week, thanks for your continued prayers and support.

We survived yesterday!

I have to say Michaela was great. Tears while they were putting her IV in but otherwise she did good.

The scope didn't show anything that really stuck out at her. She says she has a little gastritis in her stomach. WebMD describes it this way:

Gastritis is an inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach. It can occur suddenly (acute) or gradually (chronic).

We are awaiting biopsy results to let us know where we go from here. Still looking at Celiac also. I so don't like waiting, I want answers now. This constant weight loss is going to drive, her and us crazy.

Thank you all for your love and support, keep the prayer coming, hoping for answers soon.

Love to all.

Got her blood test results! :(

So they called today with her blood test results, everything tested fine, negative for Celiac, I called them back to talk see if that meant we were doing the colonscopy, they said no. Also told me you can test negative for Celiac and they will find it when they do the scope and biopsy.

Not what I wanted to hear. I just want answers, and they are not coming as fast as I wish. Having a very hard time getting her to eat much and pushing her to intake calories is sometimes, harder than watching her when she is in pain. Anyone with high calorie drinks or snacks, let me know. Everything we had tried she isn't going for.

Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming, the answer is out there, just need to find it.

Love to all.
Lisa

It's Celiac Disease

Ok, so I was guessing on how it was spelled, and several people have asked if it is with a "c" and it is:

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, and lip balms.

The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet. For most people, following this diet will stop symptoms, heal existing intestinal damage, and prevent further damage. Improvement begins within days of starting the diet. The small intestine usually heals in 3 to 6 months in children but may take several years in adults. A healed intestine means a person now has villi that can absorb nutrients from food into the bloodstream. To stay well, people with celiac disease must avoid gluten for the rest of their lives
(taken from NIH Publication No. 08–4269 September 2008)

Sorry, I hadn't been out on the web to research much yet. I am trying to keep things low key, Michaela is getting very scared and nervous about having the procedure done. I think she is more scared about the IV than anything. Continue with your prayers they all are appreciated.

Love to all.

Update!

We took Michaela yesterday to Boys Town Research Hospital to see a pediatric GI specialist. We saw a wonderful PA, she took alot of time asking questions, reviewing what had been sent to them by our pediatrician.

Her feeling is it is not gastrointestinal. She believes her intestines are fine, her concern it if she is allergic to gluten or wheat. She had blood drawn to check for Sylliac Disease, also wanted a full panel to check her other counts. The reason she is leaning more toward this is, there is something in your blood when you are allergic things, didn't know this, but hers has been elevated every time they have drawn her blood.

The doctors biggest concern, like ours, is her weight. She was up to 102 yesterday at the office, Hallelujah, but has been floating around 100 or lower at times. She wanted us to push calories, Milk Shakes with real ice cream, Vitamin D milk, Carnation instant breakfast, pediasure. She refuses to even try pediasure. So we will try the others.

Once the lab tests are back we will go back, scheduled on the 18Th of January, for an endoscopy, where they will look at her digestive track and take a few biopsies, Dr. Prestridge will do these procedures. She will have this regardless of what the blood tests show. She wants the blood test back before the procedure, because there is a chance they will have to do a colonoscopy too, but she really does not think it will be necessary.

So for now we wait and treat symptoms, which is the hardest thing for a mom. When she is really hurting it is terrible. She cries and cries and can not get the comfortable.

Please continue to pray for guidance for the doctors that they may find answers, for Michaela as she must endure her pain and the fear of the procedures. Also, I ask prayers for Steve and myself as we are both handling all this in different ways.

Thank you all for your love and support we appreciate it.

Love to all!

Michaela's 13th Birthday Party

Ok so I am a little crazy but what can I say. When Michaela asked if she could have a party with 16 girls I said, yes. I must have been very tired or I think I was just thinking party and they would go home. Well that changed into a sleep over. Lucky for me, only 11 showed up. It is a good group of girls, just a few problems with not getting along. But that is to be expected with 11 girls. Right?

They have ate and drank, not sure how much sugar they have had, don't think I want to know. And are playing games, Wii, etc. in my mom's basement. Oh yeah, thanks mom for letting us invade your house.

Not much else to report.

Keep Miss Michaela in your prayers as we will be traveling to Boystown Research Hospital on Tuesday to see a Pediatric GI specialist. We are going to get to the bottom of this some how some way.

Love to all.