Surprise Snow not Rain

Well, today we were told it was going to rain. Well, I think Mother Nature had a different idea. Since is late this is just going to be mainly a picture post.











This was the best picture I could get of Gavin.
He was so excited to play outside to sit still for a picture


The boys working on a snowman.



Jason is learning that snow/rain with
glasses don't work too well.




Matthew was too tired to play
No nap.


Catching snowflakes

All done snow. He was cold
especially when he took off the gloves.

Cyclical vomiting syndrome

In my last post I wrote that Matthew has been diagnosed with a condition called Cyclical vomiting syndrome. I am going to call it CVS it is so much shorter. I thought I would share with everyone what CVS is. Now, I am not a doctor so all the information I have is either what I have read or experienced.
CVS is when a child vomits in cycles. Matthew and many other children that have this illness usually vomit at night time. He starts around 2am and it usually goes for 2-3 hours vomiting every 10-15 minutes. Because it comes in cycles he is not vomiting every night usually a cycle starts every four to five weeks and last from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
CVS is linked to migraines in teen and adults. So, Matthew is not having migraines yet(they usually come during the teenage years), just the vomiting that goes along with them. It has taken us over a year and half for the doctors to figure out what he has. I feel lucky because most cases take 2 years or more to be correctly diagnosed. There are no test that doctors can do so it goes misdiagnosed all the time. During the time we were looking for answers, I spent many visits to our doctor. He ordered all sorts of tests. We also took him to the ER once and no one knew what was wrong with him. Each time they seemed to try to tell me it was either a viral, bacteria, or some other thing. It was not until the last time I went in that I told the doctor I knew there was something seriously wrong with our little boy. After a visit to the Pedo GI she suspected he had CVS. It kinda stinks because she really does not know a whole a lot about it except the symptoms. There are no specialist here in Oregon or Washington in fact the closest one is in Wisconsin.
Just like migraines there are no cures for his illness. Either he will out grown them or they will get worse as his hormones get more crazy. As symptoms arise then the doctor will prescribe medicine to help calm them down. We are also trying to find out what triggers his cycles. I have no clue. Right know he is on some medicine to help with the nausea which seems to be helping out some.

I'm back!

Okay so it has been almost two month since I last posted something. A lot has happened over the last few months. With the help of my husband and my two good friends I realized that I need to get caught up. Instead of writing a huge set of paragraphs I have decided to break it down into what each of us have been up to. So, here we go.


Jason:

• On Jason's last report card he scored above grade level on almost every category. His teacher told me that he is one of the smartest students in her class. We are very proud of him. He loves to learn and wants to know everything.
  
• He has become such a wonderful helper. Every morning he helps Matthew get dresses and ready for the day.
  

• One of Jason's big accomplishments is teaching Matthew how to pee standing up. Every time he sees Matthew doing it he let's us know he was the one who taught him.

Matthew:

• Over the last few months he has been working on potty training. Matthew is doing really well. We still have issues, but he will get there. Whenever he is awake and we are home he wears his underwear. We have only had a couple of big accidents, usually he just wets himself.
  
• After a year and half we are so close to finding out what disease Matthew has. The doctor thinks he has a condition known as cyclical vomiting sydrome. We are currently waiting for the results of the blood tests.
• Matthew has learned how to spell his name. It is so cute to hear him spell it. The other day I gave a cup that Jason's name on it. He told me, "Mom this is not my cup it says Jason my name is Matthew". I thought that was pretty advanced for a two year old but also really cool.

Gavin:
Gavin has grown up so much over the last two months. Here are some of the things he can do.

• Crawl up and down the stairs without any problems
• He recently learned how to climb onto the booster chair and turn the lights on and off. ( this is my favorite :-)
• The other day we were shopping and I took something away from him and he started to cry and a nice lady told him that one of the most fake cries have every heard from such a little guy. So, he now has the fake cry down and he has learned to use it to his advantage. Something we are going to have to work on.
• Unfortunately he has decided that he does not want to take a morning nap. So now he goes down to nap around 12ish and will sleep until 3 instead of taking a nap at 9 and sleeping for an hour. It is actually kinda of nice because of Have a whole 2-3 hours all to myself.
• He had his first donut the day after Thanksgiving. He loved it.
• Fake Christmas trees are not for climbing and they will break.
  
• He loves his brothers and they love him so much

The Parents:

• Brian received the NHSC scholarship. This means our medical school will be paid for over the next three years along with a monthly stipend. In exchange Brian will have to work for the government for three years to pay them back. This is a wonderful blessing not only will our debt be smaller, but he will have a job when he is done with school. I am so proud of him.
• We have joined a gym which is also wonderful. We really like it. I usually wake up by 4:30 to go work out and Brian stays home with the boys. Then, after school Brian will go to the gym and work out and sit in the hot tub. I would totally recommend LA Fitness to anyone.
  
• I was recently called to be in the young women program I love it. They are such wonderful girls. They are a true example to me.
• We are learning how to juggle family, school, work and play. Sometimes it is hard but worth it.

Helloooo....

Does anyone out there even read this thing anymore?
I'm just curious since we haven't updated in a while...

;)