Brothers

Between all of our activities, the boys still find some time to play together.  I think we're out of the house so much that they are just so happy to be home with their toys for a normal day sometimes.  This morning was super-cute.  Finn had woken up cranky and after a half an hour of cuddling still wanted some one-on-one time.  I needed to start laundry so he would have a clean shirt for soccer and so I left him in his room on the rocking chair crying.  After getting the laundry started I returned to find Kai telling me that he was making Finn happy.  He sure was!

Kai "reading" a story to Finn

Later this morning they were playing "Secret Agents" together.  I've been trying to get Kai comfortable wearing swimming goggles in hopes that one day he'll stick his head in the water.

Seriously, LOVE these boys!

Guess where?

 We renewed our membership to the zoo and are looking forward to using it this summer.  This past weekend we went with some friends of ours who had never been.  We had a really good time and totally wore them out!

It's been a LONG time since Kai has ridden in a stroller!  And both boys insisted on taking their pinwheels (which we bought to help Finn practice blowing to get ready for PFT's soon) which they have been using as magic wands.  :)

In a move truly reflective of my boys' personalities', Kai rode in the stroller and Finn insisted on walking.

Our friends wanted to ride the carousel, so we did.  It was the first time that we rode the one at the zoo.

Kai got a dinosaur at the face painting station.  (During the summer some older elementary aged kids man a face painting booth for donations.)

Petting a skink

turtle

We found the otters on the overhead glass.  Here they are rough-housing.

Finn rode the train with his friend Lucy.

Kai and Drake fed the chickens together.

We've Been BUSY!

Today marks the end of our 4th week of summer.  It has gone SOOO fast!  My goal this summer was to keep the kids busy and I think I've been doing a good job.  Maybe even too good of a job.  We have 8 more weeks until school starts and while I have enjoyed being busy, I'm hoping that it will slow down just a little bit.

We have gotten into a bit of a morning routine to help us get out the door and on our way to our activities.  We normally start the day by cuddling/snuggling and playing together first.  Then I'll get up and throw in a load of laundry and start working on the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.  While I do that, Kai has been good about taking himself to the bathroom and getting dressed.  He can even do all of the buttons on his shirt by himself!  I only have to help him with the buttons on his pants these days, which is nice.  It does take Kai a while to get ready, and I normally finish up in the kitchen while he's doing that.  But considering he's normally being tormented by Finn the entire time, that's pretty good.  I use the time to also sterilize Finn's equipment for the day.  Once we've finished all of that, the boys and I will head downstairs (Kai with chocolate milk for breakfast and Finn with apple juice) and turn on the TV while Finn goes through his morning treatments.  It takes about half an hour to get through everything and I'll sit right between the boys on our netbook checking email, facebook, and our bank accounts.  I also try to check the news, but really half a hour (that is constantly interrupted to change out Finn's machines and meds) doesn't always cover it.  Once Finn is done with treatments, I'll turn on a second half-hour show for the boys and run up to shower and get dressed.  Once we've gotten through all of that, we are normally getting ready to run out the door for an activity of some sort.

For the summer, I signed each boy up for two activities.  Kai is doing soccer and private swim lessons.  Finn has mommy-and-me gymnastics, and mommy-and-me soccer.  I did also sign Kai up for a couple of classes at a local store called School Crossing.  He had two this month and will have two next month.  Those have been fun and worth the money.  This month he had a "Boats that Float" class and a "Butterflies and Frogs" class.  He seemed to really enjoy them both and came home with lots of fun stuff.

Other than our classes, we had several friends move in the first 3 weeks of summer.  So, we had several play dates at our house to allow the moms in the families to get some packing in.  It was fun to have friends to play and we really miss them already.  Kai has had a lot of friends move and today he started getting scared and asking me if certain other ones were leaving.  For now, the answer is, thankfully, "NO!"

The beginning of the summer also saw several doctor appointments--6 to be exact.  One of the things I'm most looking forward to is that currently the month of July has ZERO scheduled doctor visits!  It is the only month out of the entire year that will happen, so I'm really hoping no one gets sick!  We already have 2 appointments scheduled for August, 1 for September, 1 for October, 1 for November, and most likely one for December.  So, July be good to us!

And last but not least, we joined the YMCA for the summer.  I've been trying to take the boys over to the pool to swim two times a week (the membership is so expensive I have to make sure we're getting our money's worth) and at first they were having a good time.  Yesterday, though, they were asking to go home. So, maybe we just need a break?  I guess we'll see.  Anyway, enough commentary.  Let's bring on the pictures!

With all the craziness I thought the boys needed some lawn chairs.  We saw these at CostCo and Finn was in LOVE!  We just couldn't pass them up.  (In other words, he sat in it until we put it in the cart.)

During a "safety break" at the YMCA indoor pool.

Finn LOVES soccer!  And the coach just loves his enthusiasm.  Here he is listening to the balls to see if they are sleeping.

Finn's class is at the same time as Kai's and so I don't have any new Kai soccer pictures, but I'll work on that.

Gymnastics started out rough that first week, but he is getting better every single week.  His listening skills have greatly improved and he even will allow someone to help him out occasionally.

He actual let his coach help him with a forward roll.  Just once, though.  :)

Tickling the sky!

Squat

Free time in the pit

Earlier this week I took the boys to the mall after one of Kai's classes.  We had lunch at  the food court, rode the train, and visited the pets at the pet store.

Finn zonked out in our bed.  For the first time ever, Finn had one night that was just so rough this week.  I don't know if it was the heat or what, but he was vomiting and having night terrors.  After spending 3 hours trying to get him back in his bed I finally  just brought him to ours.  The poor kid--I don't know what to do.  Technically, I'm sure the GI would like to know, but personally I have no interest in doing an endoscopy on him.  So I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We are having a GREAT summer!

A Recent Trend

Finn has been struggling to fall asleep at night lately.  I mean, really struggling.  So I fear it may be time to drop his nap soon.  We have gone a few days trying to drop the nap, but we are generally not successful.  And then there are the days where he sleeps in too late to take a nap at a normal time.  Those days are hard because I have no idea what to do with him.  Generally, I try to put him down when he's tired for just a very short nap.  The problem is that there are times that he just won't wake up.  This is him on the couch a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to wake him up by getting him out of his bed. See the time on the clock??  Yep, this day was trouble!

Paint Mines Interpretative Park

 The Saturday before Memorial Day we took a drive out to the eastern plains of Colorado.  Reid had heard about "painted mines" from a co-worker of his and they sounded pretty interesting.  We discovered the Paint Mines Interpretative Park about an hour away in the direction of Limon.

If it hadn't been for the wind, it would have been a good trip.  Instead, the wind was quite strong, and I discovered that I don't like to be wind-whipped.  We parked our car and spent about an hour and half "hiking" around the area.  The boys wanted their coats to protect them from the wind.  Finn had a hard time keeping on task and really enjoyed wandering off the beaten trail.  We found that the best way to keep him going was to tell him we were searching for treasure.  So, Finn was running around saying "Argggh matey!" and looking for the treasure.  It was super cute!

LOVE these boys!

Kai was good about hiking with his dad while Finn and I were WAYYYY behind.

This is us bringing up the rear.  Finn thought all of the rocks made great slides
and he ended up coming home with a very dirty bottom.

 After our trip to the mines we decided to grab lunch at Sonic in Falcon.  I was so proud of both of my boys who ate hot dogs and tater tots in the car.  It was the first time I ordered food for both of them (instead of one kid's meal to split) and they ate almost all of it!  I was amazed!

Curiosity Killed the Cat

I've been curious about the total of Finn's medical expenses.  So, this morning I put them into excel and hit "Auto Sum".  I thought I'd share.

For January through April 2012, Finn's doctor bills without insurance have totaled $75,535.98.
For the time period of January through May 2012, his prescription bills without insurance have totaled $25,615.40.

I'll just say I'm grateful that we have good insurance!  (And just for fun, I'm going to do this again at the end of the year.  Seeing as we're over $100,000 and we're not even half-way through the year, that should be very interesting!)

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

Over the course of the last three weeks, Finn has had three doctor appointments.  His fourth and final appointment (at least for the month) is on Monday and is a standard clinic visit.  Until then, here's a brief recap of what's going on.

Dentist--Finn made his first visit to a dentist on May 16th.  I had been worried about one of his teeth in particular and all of his teeth in general.  He has four inhaled medications that can cause damage to his teeth and he is incredibly independent (translate that to mean that he won't allow me and Reid to help him with his toothbrushing).  Add in his apple juice addiction and we have a formula for disaster.  We found a fantastic dentist to take him to who really didn't want to make him too upset.  He did not get his teeth cleaned but I did hold him down while the dentist peeked in for a few minutes.  While Finn played in the waiting area the dentist and I discussed his findings.  The good news was that there were no cavities.  The bad news is that Finn is definitely "high risk" for dental problems.  (his diet, his medications, his habits--all not good)  Additionally, Finn knows quite a lot about doctors and has no desire to cooperate at this stage in his life.  So, the dentist decided to put him on a 3-month visit cycle until he can get Finn to trust him.  He also sent us home with brushes and fluoride packs and he taught me how to "paint" Finn's teeth.  He would like us to do it at least once a month to give his teeth as much protection as we can.  Seriously, I was very impressed with the dentist.

ENT--On May 21st, Finn had his first appointment with a pediatric ENT.  Well, technically we saw this doctor on April 20th for the first time at the exact same time that he removed Finn's adenoids.  The surgery was actually quite rushed as we were trying to get it done at the same time as Finn's bronchoscopy so that he wouldn't have to be put under multiple times.  So, thankfully, this doctor agreed to do the surgery without actually ever having seen Finn before.  So, this appointment was a post-op follow-up.  There were no problems to report and Finn passed inspection.  :)  The doctor did note that Finn's tonsils are "quite large already" and in his opinion will need to come out "in the near future".  He told us that once he starts having sleep apnea problems and more snoring it would be our sign to go ahead with a tonsillectomy.  He was actually going to let us go at that until I reminded him about our concerns about CF and Finn's frequent sinus issues.  At that point the doctor seemed to remember who he was dealing with and he told us to come back in 6 months (unless we have problems sooner).

GI--Remember how two and half years ago I commented that Finn was quite a "spitty baby"?  Well, that's never really changed.  Most kids with CF also have reflux issues (it's just part of the digestive problem package that accompanies CF) and so Finn has been on reflux meds since he was 3 weeks old.  Despite that, there are times when it seems he doesn't have reflux at all and then there are other times when I'm convinced he has reflux issues.  The last year or so things seem to have gotten worse. He will have weeks at a time when he does quite well, and then other weeks where he throws up nearly every day.  When we were visiting the kids' cousins in March is when it really hit me that I should say something to the doctor.  One night Finn got sick (his normal "reflux" not stomach bug sick).  The next morning I was discussing it with my sister-in-law and her daughter joined in.  This 9 year-old niece of mine said, "I remember when Isaac threw up once."  Yep--Finn's cousin Isaac who is the exact same age has only ever thrown up once.  Yikes!  So, at our quarterly appointment in April I mentioned to Finn's CF doctor about his tummy problems.  She decided to increase his reflux meds and refer us to the GI doctor.  Her concern was that his dosage was so high that he needed to be seen by someone else.  Therefore, on Tuesday May 29th Finn saw the GI doctor.  Conveniently, he had a bad week last week, throwing up 4 times in 7 days.

The appointment was fairly typical--history, family history, etc.  After some time, the doctor concluded that there are 3 possibilities for Finn:
      1.  He has straight reflux and for whatever reason it's worse right now.
      2.  He has been on antibiotics so much that they have messed up his tummy.
      3.  Because of family history and the fact that thyroid problems, type 1 diabetes, and celiacs are all  
          genetically linked, Finn could have the bad luck of having CF and celiacs.

The plan for right now is to continue on his increased Prevacid dosing.  We also added an antibiotic that for some reason is supposed to help with the upset tummy from the other antibiotic.  (I've been hesitant on this one but it's only 7 days so we're trying it.)  The doctor also is having us double his probiotic dosage.  Finally, we are running blood work to test for celiacs and allergies.  Both the increased Prevacid and probiotic we are to continue indefinitely.  We are to go back at the end of the summer, unless we have another bad week.  At that point, she is wanting to do an endoscopy to check for signs of reflux or celiacs.  Personally, we would like to avoid this at all costs.  However, I feel that we really might be having reflux issues, so I don't know if our steps are going to help at all.  But we're going for it and I'm hoping it proves me wrong and works so that we don't have to do an endoscopy.

So, for now that's it.  As I said earlier, we have a clinic appointment on Monday.  I'm hoping that will go well and that the doctor will take Finn off of his antibiotics.  He could use a break.  And who am I kidding, I could use the break, too!

Kai Finishes Pre-K

 Kai had his last week of school this past week.  It was a full week of fun for the kids.  On Tuesday the 22nd all of the classes did a combined "concert".  It was so cute and a lot of fun!  After the concert, every class went back to their rooms where they showed an end-of-the-year video slideshow and Kai's teacher handed out awards and thank you's.  Ms. Elizabeth called up each student individually and talked about the things that she loved and would remember about each of them.  For Kai, she talked about his vocabulary and called him the "word man".  She talked about some of the words that he introduced to the class, such as paleontologist and angles, but what she said she would miss the most about Kai was his big hugs.  And then she gave him the "Biggest Hugger" award.  To me, it was so nice to see that she had really seen Kai.  He is intelligent and smart, but he is also very loving and cuddly.  She saw both sides of him!

Playing their kazoos for "Mr. Sun"

With his two "best" friends from Pre-K....Eli and Gracie

Don't you just love the shirt?!  He picked out it himself, especially for this concert.

On Wednesday, they had a pajama day and watched movies and ate popcorn.  And then on Thursday the 24th, they had an end-of-the-year picnic with all of the preschool classes and their families.  We played at the park for nearly 2 1/2 hours and Finn still didn't want to leave.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we know that we will see some of them again next year.  And, of course, there will be new friends and experiences next year.  This year was fantastic for Kai and we were very happy with the program and his teacher and the school and everything!  Kai has grown so much and we couldn't be more proud.  He's a great student and loves school!  He will do great in Kindergarten this fall--but we're not in a hurry!  :)