Very far behind on the updating...so much has been going on in our lives and I really haven't have much time to sit down and type. It is a decent day at work so I am typing a few sentences here and there between tasks. (It is now 2 weeks later!)
Let's start at the beginning of August:
August 4th: Luke had his medical testing done at Arkansas Children's Hospital to see if he would qualify for growth hormones. We did not get the results immediately as some of the test had to be sent out to another hospital. This was the test we were praying he would fail so that the insurance companies would cover the medication!
The rest of that week was work, dr appointments, therapy appointments for Luke and his new pre-k.
August 12th: Ally's one year birthday. We did cake and ice cream at Ken's work as a combo farewell to him and Ally's birthday.
August 13th: What?!? Ken's farewell you ask...Ken and I talked and prayed a lot about what we wanted to do with the boys after school in the fall. The school day is a lot shorter (done at 2:30) than when they were at private pre-k and we had to decide what to do. We could have sent them to daycare afterwards but that would cost a lot, my mom offered to pick them up and watch them on the days that I am working and we thought a lot about that, or Ken could quit his job and pick them up everyday after school and they could be home every afternoon. After LOTS and LOTS of talking and flip flopping between decisions we decided we would trial Ken not working. I have to admit that I was very anxious about it (and still am a little bit).
When Ken stopped working after the boys were born I don't remember being so nervous about it but this time I just really hated that he leave such a good job and to lose his income...especially since we were so financially strapped to begin with. Can we pay our bills every month?..yes! Can we provide for our children..yes. Can we spend extra money on toys or lots of clothes (besides basics) or new bows for Ally or cable or date nights?...no Can we afford to go on a date night even once a month?...no! It is hard but we are willing to make sacrifices for the boys so that they don't have to stay in child care every day until 6 or later. They were in school at the private pre-k from 7:30am until 5:30pm Monday through Friday. Ken and the boys wouldn't get home until after 6 every night. That gave us about an hour and half to eat dinner, relax (lol!), let them play, get them ready for bed....it wasn't too relaxing and not enough time.
Fast forward to now and I am really enjoying our new schedule. Ken enjoys it on the days I am off but it is a little hard on the days I am working just because the dynamics of 3 kids! We all go to the school and drop them off around 7:30am and both of us usually pick them up around 2:20pm. We head home and enjoy having most of the afternoon off and being together. The weather has been really nice lately and we are enjoying park time and bike rides. Ken has an idea for some additional income and working on that but it may take a while to see any profit from it...building up a business takes time! So extra shifts for me to help make up some of the difference! August 13th was also the boys last day at Pediatrics Plus. I was hard to say goodbye to them as they took the most wonderful care of our boys and we love everyone of them so much. We can never say how much we love them and appreciate them. On a funny note...check out this video their school made...check about 38 seconds into the video...yep! That's our boys!
August 16th-23: Vacation!!! That will be another post all by itself. We had a wonderful time in Gulf Shores, AL.
August 28th: Luke's appointment in Kansas City. This was the first trip we didn't take Ally. She stayed at home with her stay at home daddy! It was a lot easier and quieter as Ally is not a good car traveler. This appointment Luke lost a large amount of weight. He had been sick and with all the activity at the beach he just didn't eat well and it definitely showed in the weight department. We were supposed to find out whether he was on the real medicine or the placebo this visit but they had forgotten to have me do a couple items so I had to do those first and then they would let me know. We talked about options for Luke and his almost non-existent eating. We decided to try Erythromycin (an antibiotic) that they give children with a slow digestive system. It helps the stomach and bowels to move things through fast and help with absorption. We also decided to do periactin. It is an old school anti-inflammatory that is used in children to increase appetite. We are trying those things to see if it increases his appetite and willingness to eat. Hoping that it will work and his appetite will pick up. It has gotten pretty rough to get him to do much of anything besides his favorite foods. During the trip home I got a call from the growth hormone company and insurance had denied the initial request for his meds. The case worker said she would start an appeal process and let us know how that goes.
