Tummy troubles

Our precious little girl has tummy troubles.  She started in K-3 with telling me her tummy hurt every time I took her to school.  We just associated it with being nervous about going to school and not wanting to go.  It kept going on through homeschooling in K-4, Kindergarten and 1st grade.  For years we thought it was her dislike of going to school, but after a couple of incidents that had nothing to do with school, we started to think otherwise.

Jim has acid reflux, his mother has acid reflux and her father had it really bad.  So, we started to treat it like acid reflux and restricted a couple of typical acid reflux producing foods.  Tomato-based products, chocolates, fried foods, etc.  Believe it or not, the one she had the hardest time with was the tomatoes.  She loves tomatoes!  But this girl has dedication.  No whining or complaining about her restrictions, she just did it and often reminded us that she couldn't have that.

After a couple of months of us trying to curb the episodes still rearing its ugly head (which were traumatic and lengthy), there were a couple more episodes that weren't related to anything school related.  So off to the Pediatric Gastroenterology Dept at Shands.

Before our appt. in Gainesville, she was given a Rx for Zantac and we were told to try it for a couple of months.

It helped.

She didn't feel the desire to sleep sitting up nor have the pre-vomit feeling she had for each episode which was nearing about 2-4 times per month.

So we made the trek to Gainesville to have a specialist look over her.  We sent her in to have an endoscopy and the biopsy results came back normal.  Good news and not great news all in one.  Good news was there's nothing overtly wrong with her esophagus.  Not so great news was that we don't know exactly what is causing all the episodes.  Even better news is that the medicine is working and keeping her symptoms at bay.  She's able to reach it herself, does a pretty good job remembering to take it twice a day and the side effects are minimal.

That's where we are.  We'll see if anything changes in the next 6 months with her taking the medicine and have another visit with the Dr.

Sounds like it might be a good case for genetics.  I'm waiting on pins and needles to see who inherits my allergies. :(

Snack stand

My sweet girl has taken a liking to setting up snack stands.  And serving the people who stop by.  And charging for items in our pantry that she's selling from her stand.

She set up this whole getup one afternoon when I was busy doing 'whatever' and her and her brother were remotely quiet, so I need not worry.  Right?

She would say, "Welcome to Katherine's Cafe.  What would you like to eat?"

She even had a change bucket and carefully added up the purchase.

Here's a peak at what's inside/underneath her stand.  Cups for the water pitcher below.  A basket full of change.  Pudding cups.  Fruit bars.  Spoons.

Vacay 2013 - Part 3

Day 2 at BG: begin!

We started out with a nice thrill-seeking ride on Montu for Mom.  I dropped the kids off in the sand-pit play area, with Daddy, while I walked onto the ride.  It gave me just enough of an adrenaline rush to get the day started off great!

My boys weren't too thrilled that I was on a life-threatening ride.  They're so protective of their mama.

We couldn't figure out why or how Nathan was disappearing into the hippos stomach underneath.  Then, viola!  He's literally and figuratively taking me places I've never been before.

 

Sometimes, you just can't deny what's inside.

MapReading 101

 

This kid makes me laugh.

 

And smile.

 

This was the closest the peacock (standing on top of the rail) would let them get to him to take a picture.  "Quick, hurry, go stand there and smile!"

 

The girl child was NOT interested one bit in anything that sounded like, looked like or resembled a roller coaster.  Until she saw her little brother enjoy one with mama.  Now look, she, "Look mom, no hands!" and all.

 

This was about the time that I started realizing Brandon was feeling warmer than the normal FL heat warm.

 

We made a quick trip by the First Aid station, realized he was running a fever, and headed back to the hotel room for naps.  This is how we roll when visiting theme parks.  It gives us a break from the heat and lets us all rest up for staying later at the park.

 

Our first visit back was to see the Madagascar Live! show.

 

This is what our kids do when the dancers have the audience up and dancing.

 

Nathan opted for a bengal tiger stuffed animal.  Katherine wanted to have her face painted like a beautiful butterfly.

 

Here, the boys are patiently waiting for Katherine and I to ride the zip line.

 

 

This is our view from the zip line.

 

 

"Look mom, no hands!"

 

Katherine practicing her camera skills.

 

Our final adventure was the Kinetics and fireworks show.

 

We opted to head home the next morning instead of stopping by the Children's Museum or staying another day at BG because Brandon was still running a fever.  Two days later, a trip to the Dr.'s office showed he had an ear infection.  Couldn't have anything to do with him licking the mirror within 30 seconds of us arriving in the hotel room.  Right?