Drs, Drs, and more Drs

Lately, it seems as if everyone has been sick in the Boyd-Jones Clan. Mom, me, Lane, Katie, the Boyd girls (all three), and now Page. Yesterday, Katie and Page had dr appts at around the same time, so I picked up my two early and went to get Zoey and Maddie so maybe Page could talk to the dr without many interruptions. Katie and Page joined us after their appts. Here are a few pics of the kids playing at Fort Imagination and the Zoo.

Watching the monkeys

Following Kailee across the rope bridge

Zoe was not thrilled with the slide.

I love this pic!

I was trying to get a pic of Emma as she watched Maddie feeding the giraffe, but she saw my camera and decided to pose!

Can you say SCARY?!

So, today has been a wild and crazy day!

First, my mom and I get lost trying to check cow water. Apparently this new wind company had added extra cattle guards, so it took us a while to back-track to the one we actually needed.

Then, as we were getting ready for church , Mom gets a call telling her that my grandmother is being admitted to the hospital AGAIN. She got out Monday, Mom got home last evening, and she is headed there right now. Please include them in your prayers!

Since Mom is going back to Dallas, she somehow has talked me into clipping the rest of the goats and taking them (12), the Blue Gainey Girls (Kailee- 2nd grade, Sophie- 7th grade, and Caitlyn- freshman) to San Angelo for the show. Mom's goat friends are going to help me with the rest, thank goodness!

When I get home from church, Kailee gets in the shower. I'm sitting at the table filling out goat papers, when I smell burning plastic, AGAIN! (Earlier, Page and I smelt it after I got out of the shower before church, but could not find the source. It went away.) Well, I walk the ten steps to the "laundry room" and I see smoke billowing out of the hot water heater!!! I call the city's emergency number and explain the situation while getting the kids and cats out of the house. I flip the breaker to turn off the power and wait for help to arrive! My kids are freaking! "Why have I made them get on the porch in their PJs?" "Well, babies, because there is smoke coming out of the water heater and I don't want to take any chances." Panic ensues... The fire chief gets here and checks everything out, unplugs the thing from the wall, and finds out a wire has shorted and started trying to burn... and guess what did not flip? The breaker, of course!

Needless to say, before going goat showing, I have to call the electrician first! When it rains, it pours around here!

Kailee's B-Ball Game

I know this is probably not interesting to anyone else, but I know a few grandparents who a waiting to see this video.

Kailee wanted to play basketball this year again, so this is one of her quarters where she makes a basket. For those of you who don't know, this a huge improvement for someone who has a hard doing anything with her hands while doing anything at all with her feet. My child takes after me in the rhythm department! Needless to say, she has had a hard time with the activities like cheerleading and dance that she has wanted to try, BUT she does not get discourage and give up! She just keeps on trucking and has the ability to laugh when she gets backwards which is quite often. I admire my daughter in so many ways other than just a mother/daughter way! Enjoy!

WARNING! In the future, there will be more sports videos. Kailee and Ty are both playing soccer!

Hubby Fun

I tag anyone who wants to write about their husband.

1.He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?football, UFC, or NASCAR

2.You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?Ranch

3.What's one food he doesn't like?he really does not like desserts. Once in a blue moon only.

4. You go out to eat. What drink does he order?sweet tea

5.Where did he go to high school? College Station

6. What size shoe does he wear? 11

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? tools

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoe, onion, ranch, S & P

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Mexican

10. What is his favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes

11. What would he never wear?pink

12. What is his favorite sports team? depends on which sport

13. Who did he vote for? McCain/Palin

14. Who is his best friend?Me, no joke, he doesn't really like people!

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? backseat driving

16. What is his heritage? German and Cherokee

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?He doesn't eat sweets, but occasionally he likes either 4layered Delight or cheesecake

18. Did he play sports in high school?football

19. What could he spend hours doing? building furniture

20. What is one unique talent he has? building anything out of wood! Right now he is slowing remodeling the house in what little spare time he has!

Mommy Survey

My friend Crystal Amthor had twin boys in December. She posted this:

Here are some questions that I am curious to know the answers from all of you. Consider it a "tag" to all of the moms that could answer my questions. If you have a blog, you can post it on your blog like a regular "tag" or answer in the comment section. If you don't have a blog, please feel free to answer in the comments. I know all babies are different, I'm just curious as to where my boys stand and milestones I have to look forward to.

I've put my answers below, but if you want to head over to Crystal's blog and answer for yourself, I know she'd appreciate it. Of course, most of our answers are going to be a little different because we all had just one baby. But every little bit of advice helps!

1) Breastfeed, Formula, or both? Kailee- breastmilk either natural or by bottle when Mom had her, Ty- breastmilk until 3 months but it was horrible! He was always throwing up and had diarreha until we found out he was allergic to many things.

2)If you used formula, what kind? Kailee- never, for Ty we had to use soy formula, although now I wish I hadn't. When Zoey was having all of her problems, Page researched the many different formulas and found out that soy formulas may be linked to problems concieving later in life. Call her and she could probably tell you about it.

3) Breastfeed...how long? Kailee- 22 months. Our pediatrician said that it was good for her as long as she was still eating and drinking cow's milk, too.

4) What kind of bottles did you use? Platex with drop-in liners

5) At what age did you introduce rice cereal? 3 months with both kids

6) Did you put it in the bottle or just feed it with a spoon? both. I joined a group that was available through the county. I relied heavily on Sherry who was a "child specialist". I could call anytime I had questions and she checked on Kailee's development milestones. It was AWESOME!

7) Did it help your child sleep through the night? yes for Kailee, but still does not sleep throuhg the night

8) How old was your child when he/she finally slept through the night? I was lucky. Kailee did from day one, but Ty still doesn't.

9) What was the times? from 12 to 8 for Kailee, Ty gets up around 4 or 5 for about 30 mins and then goes back to sleep

10) How old was your child when you could put her in a Bumbo? no bumbo around then, but the boppy worked just as well and it was 3 months for both

11) When did he first smile/laugh (not gas related)? at 2 months

12) Did your child have reflux? no

13) Did you have medicine for reflux? Did it help?

14) When did the reflux stop?

Thanks for your answers! I'm sure they will help all of the new mommies.I tag all the moms who read this blog.

Sick update plus more

Katie went to the dr today and got a good report. The tube is out and her inscision is healing well. She still does not feel that great but she's improving!

My grandmother got to go home yesterday. It's my understanding that a home health nurse will come by 3x a week to assess her. My aunt is staying with her for the next couple of days.

Popa Joe is still not feeling well and he called the dr today. We'll see what happens with that in the next few days.

As for my family, we are all doing well. Billy is out on a job with my dad. Kailee is currently playing Little Dribblers basketball as well as trying soccer for the first time. Practice and games are keeping us very busy. Ty is signed up for soccer, too, but his coach has only contacted us to get money for uniforms (which was a rediculious amount for 5 yr olds) and did not know when they were going to practice. Me... I went back to school for my RN and have about decided that I really have no interest in doing this at this point in my life. I found out that I really shouldn't let my mom and grandmother bug me into doing something I knew I was not mentally prepared for. Sounds stupid to let someone else decide what's best, huh? I think I am perfectly happy being a plain old LVN. Who cares who is not happy with me being me? I know I sound like a sullen teenager, but right now I'm feeling that way! I miss my family and hate missing out on doing things with my kids. I think I'll wait till they are either older or in college tp pursue this futher. But who knows... I hate to disappoint. I might stick with it. I guess it just depends which feeling is stronger. Any suggestions?

More Prayers Needed!

Last night, Katie had a fever that was 104. They finally got it under control this morning and the doc said he is keeping her at least another day until she gets to feeling better. I went to see her around noon and she was sleeping, which is so good for her. She still isn't feeling all that great though.

On another note, a friend of mine has twin boys who are just a few months older than Tyler. Her son TJ had enlarged lymph nodes in his neck for three months and they did a biopsy a few days ago. It came out good, however, this morning he had surgery to remove an abscess from his neck that had formed after the biopsy! This poor baby has had surgery twice in the last eight days! So please included TJ and his family in your prayers!

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the prayers, cards, flowers, and visits on behalf of Katie. It has definitely brightened her room and days! Thank you!

Sorry! Katie update!

They took Katie down about 5:15 last night, and brought her back around 7:15 or 7:30. The swelling was already going down! She looked SO much better! Of course, it was very swollen where the drain was behind her ear, but her neck was better. The doc said that it looked like her parietal gland had gotten infected. He said it was very easy to find all of the infection. He cleaned it out, flushed it and inserted a penrose drain. Mom had gotten there right before noon that day so she and Travis, Katie's boyfriend, stayed at the hospital last night. I came home to get some sleep!

This morning Mom said Katie slept off and on which is more sleep than she has gotten in the past four days. Right now she is trying to eat a cinnamon roll. She still can not open her mouth. I'm going to visit with my hubby for a bit then head over there. Katie and I have a card game to play (old hospital tradition)!

Update later!

Surgery @ 4:30

The OR called and pushed her surgery back until 4:30. Apparently they are very busy today. On a good point, her new med seems to be easing her pain somewhat.

Post more when I get more!

update

Well, last night Katie had a rough night! That morphine idea was not the best idea in the world. He had to up her dose and it finally gave her about 30 min around 4am. The doc came in about 8 and did another procedure. He "deadened" behind her ear and then inserted a needle to try and remove the pus that the CT scan showed. He got very little out, so he wants to try something else. He has called radiology to see if they can do the same thing but guided with ultrasound. If they can't or it doesn't work, he has tentatively booked the OR for around noon so that he can clean it out and I think he would probably put in a temporary drain of some kind. If he does what I think he will do, I have see this with several of my patients and it relieved their pain quite quickly except for the incision part. I'm sure that pain is easier to handle than what she is going through now. She has had no real relief for four days now.
The nurse just came in and told her that the doc did give her a new pain med to try and she is on the OR schedule for noon. She said she will probably still go down to radiology first but the doc doesn't think it will work.
Gotta go. Will update when I hear more.

Katie Update

Ok. So now I'm in the hospital with Katie. Long story but as of now, they think she has an abscess in her neck. They just did a CT scan and have given her a round of IV antibiotics. She will be NPO (no food or drink) after midnight. I think he was thinking she might have to have surgery in the AM to clean all of the mess out so he put her NPO. She is in SO much pain. Her first dose of morphine did not touch the pain. They just gave her another so we'll see if this helps. Please keep her in your prayers.

On the other hand, my grandparents are doing much better. Grandmoma is still in the hospital, but they are beginning to prepare her to go home. She is getting stronger, and they have lengthened her time in between her breathing treatments. Thank you for all your prayers for her and Popa Joe!

I'll try to keep this updated so I don't have to text so much! Sorry, it takes too long to repeat text for everyone who asks. Thanks!