Brotherly Love

Easter Bunny, T-Ball, and Other Stuff

On Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt at church. It was our privilege to have the Easter Bunny come and do the Bunny Hop with all of the kids and have his picture taken with each of them. He was such a good sport. He thought the costume would cover his face until he put it on and it didn't! Pa said he had no idea the Easter Bunny had facial hair! Over 70 kids showed up and I think they all had a great time playing games, hunting eggs, and having a cookout. While Mike was in Thailand on his mission, he had to be Santa Claus for an event, so he lots of practice!
Yesterday was Zac's first official T-Ball practice and he was literally beside himself all day long. I tried to convince him that full uniform wasn't necessary for practice, but he would have nothing of it. He had to wear it all. He had a wonderful time and he made some new friends on his team. Several of his cousins are on his team, so they all had a great time practicing with Uncle Kevin. Kevin is so nice and patient with the kids. There are also several kids from our ward on their team. They all had a good time. We just have to convince Zac that he doesn't have to take it quite so seriously! He said it was amazing, so I think it'll be a fun season. Will isn't actually on the team, but how could I tel the poor boy who's getting ready to go in for surgery that he can't wear his uniform and play, too!?

Jake had a good time sitting in the infield while they took batting practice until he got hit in the head with a ball! He decided to move after that.
Grant just had a good time hanging out with his friends. It was so good to see him out there enjoying it and playing just like everyone else.
Riley was a little timid, but he had a good time. When he batted, he was smokin' the ball!
This is a picture of the team, minus Riley. He'd had enough by the end.
Today we are going to New Bern to take Will to his pre-op before his surgery on Friday. Zac has requested to stay home with his cousins. I just had to say the word "hospital," and he said he'd rather stay home. I've talked to so many people who have been through this with their kids and they seem to have had a pretty easy time, so I'm optimistic that Will's surgery will be uneventful, as well. His itching seems to be improving since we now know what's causing it. We've discovered rice flour, gluten free cereal, and all kinds of good stuff. We also found out he's very allergic to cats, so I guess my decision to never have a pet has been reaffirmed! He's also on a combination of singulair and allegra now that seems to be working. He's such a sweet boy and complains so little.

Snot, Anyone?

Will has a snotty nose 100% of the time. I wipe it constantly, but it just keeps running. The best part is when he comes up to me and puckers up! It's great. It's just another part of Will that I've learned to love.

So, how about how green Ma and Pa's grass is!? You should see their beautiful yard and now it had a nice white fence surrounding it. They are so happy! This picture was taken one morning soon after we got up and Zac wanted to wrap up in a blanket and sit on the porch. Notice his fever blister. I have never had one, but he's had dozens in his short life. He's such a sweet boy. Lately he says things to me like, "Mama, Even if you are getting a chubby belly, you're still beautiful to me." Or my favorite, "Mama, even on days when you don't look pretty, you're still pretty to me." Those days are more often than not lately because I have no clothes that fit, so I stay in my sweats all day.

Will's Woes

Will has had an exciting couple of weeks and there are still a few more things to come before it's all over with! Let me start by saying that he, pretty much since birth, has had very bad eczema. I know that a lot of kids have skin allergies and I haven't really wanted to be a drama queen about it, so I've just religiously put Aquaphor all over him after every bath and intermittently throughout the day, hoping that someday, it would just get better. Sometimes he bleeds from the creases behind his knees and arms. He is constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY, scratching somewhere on his body. He scratches so uncontrollably in his sleep that he wakes up with new scratches where his digging has broken the skin!

In January I took both of the boys to the doctor for annual check-ups, and the doctor commented on Will's skin condition. She also noticed that he has gigantic tonsils and adenoids. She asked me if he ever snores to which mama and I both started laughing because he snores like a grown man! After prescribing eczema cream, Allegra, and Nasonex, she decided Will would be better off going to see an ENT.

So, fast-forward to the end of February after taking the above medications for over a month, and off we went to the ENT. After a few minutes, the doctor informed me that his recommendation would be to have Will's tonsils and adenoids removed as well as place tubes in his ears. He also wanted to run a complete allergy screen to see what was causing the skin allergies to be so severe. That meant another trip town to go the the hospital to have lab work run. Will was an angel for the lab techs who drew the blood. He never made a peep and they drew A LOT of blood.

Fast-forward again a week later and I got a call from the ENT to say that Will was allergic to: milk, wheat, nuts, soy, corn, and eggs. My first thought, "Great! Now I'll have to have my own bubble child for the rest of my life!" But, it really isn't that bad. He is most allergic to nuts and that allergy will most likely never go away, but get worse over time. (Hence, the epi-pen that now is my constant companion.) As for the rest, he will probably outgrow most of them by the time he starts school and none of them are so severe that I have to worry about him going into anaphylactic shock because of exposure. I just have to pay pretty close attention to what goes in his mouth to hopefully prevent his eczema from getting worse. We're hopeful that as soon as he gets most of these things out of his system completely, his skin will improve.

The tonsil/adenoidectomy/tubes surgery is scheduled for March 28th in New Bern. He'll have to stay one night in the hospital, but nothing too serious. He's been a little trooper thus far for all of his appointments, so lets hope he does the same for surgery and post-surgery! Luckily I've learned from my families' experiences over the past year or so that a one night stay in the hospital for a routine surgery just isn't a big deal. In fact, as long as we're all alive and kicking, nothing's a big deal, it's all just part of life.

On another note, thanks to all of you who have been thinking about me over the past several weeks. My cold is going away and I am beginning to see light at the end of the first-trimester tunnel! This, too, shall pass! Love, Aly