August/September Phone Dump

Friends invited us over for a pool day.  Don't mind if we do.  Sir Lincoln kept flailing his arms when everyone jumped in, so we strapped them down with a burp cloth.

My Uncle gave us his Barbie gator that his kids used for TEN years.  It needed a new battery.  Instead of spending $30 for a new battery Eric spent a couple bucks and rewired it so it could take the batteries we already had.  Win.

Sleepy Baby.  Don't judge his pink crib sheet.

Adelyn is constantly posing me for pictures.  Wonder where she gets it from...

He is a stud muffin.  Over and out.

All 4 of my lovies.

Would you believe that this actually totaled the Jetta?!  It has to be 75% of a car's value, to total a car.  The estimate, before the body shop, came right at 75%.  When the body shop got it, they found one more thing wrong with it, but nothing mechanical.  Our insurance company will fix anything up to 80%, if we want.  We decided to fix it because we would have had to take a small loan out to buy a new car.  No thanks.

Adelyn also took this one.

Nursing.  It will never get old.

Sad little man.  He got his shots this day.  He actually did really well and was only crabby for the afternoon.

I am watching you..

Applesauce making.  Lots of helpers.

Baby snuggles.

I can not make this up.  I drove all around Holland like this.  Don't ask.

Beautiful sunset.  God's creation.

He loves sleeping.  And has the same nose as Joelle's.

TC:2014

We didn't take a ton of pictures when we took our TC vacation.  The kids had SO much fun.  They loved their bunk beds and all slept in the same room.  We wanted to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes one day and Eric wanted to go on the dune walk to the lake.  I told him it was his funeral.  They, surprisingly, did super well.  I had precisely 11 candy pumpkins left.  So we all got one halfway there.  On the way back the kids had 1 each, 2 different times.  They were great motivators ;)  It took us 4 hours to do the whole thing and we spent another hour at Lake Michigan.

The kids tossing rocks into the lake.

BIG rocks.                                                                                The littlest mister.

Have you spotted the bird yet?

Doing what I do best.

Splash.

Little boy butt cracks.  Love.

Joelle made rock towers the whole time.  She saw a couple of them along the lake and thought they were really cool.

Adelyn getting in on the action.

Our family photo ;)

Glen Lake on the way back.  Almost there.  Sweet relief.

The pack mule.

The trees just started changing color.

How many dunes did you walk?  Oh.  That's right.  EIGHTEEN.  Take that.

Our cottage.  Very nice.

The kids all loved jumping off the dock into the lake.  It was only the end of September.  Then they all were promptly covered in Swimmer's Itch when we got home.

The hot tub.

Sunsets on the lake.  Nothing beats that.

Bahahahaha.  Hahahaha.  Hahahaha.  I wanted to go on a paddle boat ride as a family.  The paddle boat was made for 3 people.  In the front row.  No back seats.  There were some back bucket type things that worked for the little ones but no actual seats.  When we would take them solo they loved sitting back there.  When I walked out with Lincoln, Eric asked if he was alive.  Then he made a couple noises and E said "Oh good. He IS alive.  I guess we will know if he stops making noise, to check on him."  We all climbed in the boat.  It promptly sunk to the bottom of the top.  I said it will be fine.  We started out.  Adelyn and Brecken where crying because they were almost getting wet.  Lincoln looked miserable.  Eric said he was trying really hard not to let water come in on his side.  So we turned around.  The cottage in the background by Eric is the cottage next door to ours.  We made it real far.

I had promised Joelle one last ride.  She was in a time-out when I took A and B and was upset she didn't get to go.  It started drizzling but we still went out.  Her life jacket is under her sweat shirt.  It doesn't look very choppy in this picture but it was. 

We made it a little ways down and then turned around because I didn't feel like swimming that day.

The kids are rarely asked to go to bed, to take a nap, while on vacation.  It usually happens in the car.  This is what happens at the end of vacation and they are watching TV while we clean up.

We passed this intersection a couple times.  It creeped me out every time.  There were no signs advertising selling of the chairs.  Just all lined up like that as if they were waiting for us.  Creepy.

On the way home we stopped at Bubba's and Moomer's.  I was promptly served gluten filled fries after I ordered a GF bun.  So that was fun.  And no sorbet on the menu at Moomer's.  I was telling the kids Moomer's is where you go to eat cows.  So they were pleasantly surprised to find out it was ice cream.  :)  We had SO much fun.  We got back WAY too late but the kids slept the whole way home.  Love us some TC.

Those Kidney’s.

At Lincoln's 2 week visit our doc wanted to set up an Ultrasound to check his kidney's.  I guess that's protocol for any subsequent children for VUR siblings.  So off we went to an ultrasound a couple days later.  I wanted to have him asleep because any sort of movement can make measurements off and I didn't want to do it again or have to do further testing because images were "blurry."  So I fed him before I left for the hospital.  When we got there I unbuttoned everything and swaddled him in the waiting room.  I put him to sleep before our name was called and he snored through the whole thing.

Our doc called us the next day and said he had bilateral hydronephrosis (water on his kidneys).  Which prompted instant discussion about a VCUG.  I said no way.  She was fine with that and said we would discuss it at his 2 month appointment.

His 2 month appointment came along and she realllllly wanted it done.  I knew she wouldn't back down and we wanted answers too...but it was NOT a pleasant experience with Joelle.  So I consented.  And off we went to that.  This is his infant torture chamber device.  He is strapped to the board, they insert a catheter and dye, take images and turn the board (so he feels like he's falling but isn't really..) so they can get images of the sides of his kidneys too.

While she was doing it, I could see that it was really bad on one side but didn't look so bad on the other.  They called back the same day and told me bilateral grade 3.  I didn't understand how that could be but she said she was referring me to a nephrologist and she could better explain it.  When DeVos called to make the appointment I requested the doctor that hands out medications the least.  I knew that with his being on both sides I would be fighting an uphill battle.  She set me up with a 1:45 with a male doctor "who is the most popular in the clinic."  Oh great.  Then my paperwork arrived and it said 2:00 with a female doctor.  I didn't feel like hassling with something that was a 15 minute difference so I just planned on 2:00.  I did my research and there have been a few articles out stating that being on prophylactics doesn't help, in the long run.  I went in with lots of questions and she spent lots of time with me.  She showed me all the images and you can see how bad it is on both sides, looking at the right views.  She said she would actually diagnosis him with grade 4 on one side and grade 3 on the other.  Her preference for treatment was meds until he was potty trained.  She said they just published a study (the River Study) that showed that children had fewer UTI's with fevers while on prophylactics.  When they get the fever is when it starts damaging the kidneys.  I still wasn't comfortable putting him on meds because of all his gut issues and I explained all that too her.  She didn't think I was crazy and actually agreed to try it my way.  She said if he starts getting UTI's we are going to be having very different discussions.  I'm not very excited with the grade 4 diagnosis because that starts discussions of surgery.  The doc did say they start thinking about surgery at grade 4 but doesn't want to talk about that until he is older.  It could get better and he isn't having any problems...yet.  I'm convinced it was a total God thing that his appointment got switched to the female doctor.  There are lots of accusations of negligence in the VUR world with non-medicating.  I was totally prepared to either caving or them telling me I would fry his kidneys.  Now to pray he doesn't get a UTI!

Pardon my OCDness as winter is coming and that brings along the Christmas cheer of germs.  The SECOND he gets any kind of fever I have to take him in to get cathed.  And if you have ever had to watch an infant get cathed, it's not enjoyable.  So far the kids have been sick 3 times (with colds) since he has been born and he has managed to stay clear of it all.  I tell them they are NOT allowed to touch him and there is constant yelling of "Wash your hands!!!!!" after people blow their noses.  

Pray for no UTI's and continued agreeableness of his nephrologist/urologist/pediatrician!

Boulder Ridge

We hadn't been to Boulder Ridge yet this year and we had to pick up a car door for Eric's car in the area.  We decided to go for the day since it was going to super nice out.  

They had a whole bunch of baby animals available for petting.  The kids loved that.  Until Adelyn got bit.  There were lots of tears.  They were also offering for you to buy the bunnies and take them home.  Thanks for offering that in front of the kids.

My little boys and I on the safari ride.

We went in with all the birds to be the crazy bird people.  Everybody help onto their sticks this year and no one had a fit.  Still a bit frightening

Joelle loved it ;)

I was really mean and purposefully putting them on her head... She didn't love that.

They even landed on top of Lincoln...

HA!

This doesn't look at all like the scene in Home Alone when he is in Central Park and the homeless lady is covered in pigeons..

Loooooooooooved the giraffes.  The baby giraffe?  Could have taken him home.

Feeding them was so much fun :)

This one had some really cool markings on it's neck.

Thrilled to hold the rabbit;)

Aanndd this is as good as it got.