Go West, Day 1: D-Day

After months of planning—well, months of knowing we were going on the trip, and a few last-minute weeks of actual planning—it was time to load up the RV. We decided to pack ahead of time so that we could really enjoy the last day or so before we left (because we already had plans) and so that we could get going right away on Sunday morning—like, 8 AM. And I am so glad we did, because we got out of there right at the crack of 11:30. And promptly drove to Wendy’s. Two miles from our house. Yep, we are just like a family of boy scouts. Always prepared and classy, too.

So with the first leg of the trip—and a Frosty—under our belts, we were ready for the highway. Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’. And actually, our first day has gone extremely well. Our first “big” destination is St. Louis, which was just a bit farther than we wanted to drive in one day, so we have stopped for our first night at my aunt and uncle’s house. This is about 3 hours from our home, which means that day 1 was a pretty short driving day. I wish I could say that we thought this would be a good way to start the trip and get our feet wet, but really it was just convenient. Looking at it now, though, I think it was the perfect beginning.

The kids absolutely LOVED the RV today—the novelty of sitting at the table while we drive and playing games and coloring and even using the potty, all while traveling down the road. Even Roo, who was strapped into a car seat, handled the trip very well. This was a tremendous relief, because Roo was definitely the wild card in this trip. We knew that the big kids would love it and would find ways to entertain themselves, but we just didn’t know how Roo would do.

Of course, one of my favorite moments of the trip was when I realized that this had happened:

One screen...

Two screens (Roo is on my iPhone in a special case)...

Three screens...

Four screens (Don't you love my new Kindle sleeve????)...

And a driver. My poor hubby was about ready to declare a screen-free vacation! Ha!

 

And before we knew it, we pulled up in front of my aunt and uncle’s house. Now, you have to understand, this isn’t just some aunt and uncle. This couple consists of two of my very favorite people in.the.world. Honestly, they are just fabulous. I feel a little sad just thinking about how many of you reading this right now don’t know them. You are missing out.

We had a lovely evening of catching up with them AND their children and grandchildren, who came over for dinner. The kids loved having new cousins to play with, and we enjoyed a nice evening with grown-ups. Oh, and we are all sleeping in bedrooms. In an actual house.

This camping thing is so much better than I thought! ;-)

Go West, Young Family--An Introduction

This year Mr. Fantastic and I completely lost our minds were struck by an adventurous spirit and decided to take our family on a fast-track to Crazy Town a trip of a lifetime. Mr. Fantastic took an entire month off of work, we packed up the kids, and we headed west.

In an attempt to not invite burglars to our home, I decided not to publish anything about our trip until we returned. But I have kept a running log/journal so that you can fully appreciate the crazy experience the journey with us. There were ups, there were downs, there were things that did not go as planned at all--some better, some worse. I don't want to give anything away right now, so I'll just let you experience it "live" as I wrote it.

So here goes:

There are a few things you need to know about me and my family so that you can better appreciate this series…

First, I do.NOT.camp. I do not do anything that resembles camping. I try not to be outside for too long, in case someone around me suggests that it might be fun to camp. I think I am “roughing it” when Mr. Fantastic is in the potty that I want to use and I have to go to one of the other three toilets in our house. Me and camping? Yeah, we’re not exactly FB friends. And on this trip, this month-long excursion, we are camping.

Let that sink in a little.

Second, we’re totally not camping. I thought we were camping, but this is not camping. We are in an RV—and not just any RV, but an absolutely fabulous RV that my aunt and uncle were gracious enough to allow us to borrow. It has 2 slide-outs, lots of storage, a stove & oven, and (most importantly) plumbing. This is not camping. This is doable. Cramped, but doable.

Speaking of cramped spaces, there’s a third thing you should know. Mr. Fantastic is neat and orderly. No, scratch that. Mr. Fantastic is borderline OCD. Crumbs that I don’t even see on the ground will cause him to have a near heart attack. I, on the other hand, am more relaxed about cleanliness. OK, I admit… I am a tornado. I have actually gotten a lot better about that in the 12 years we have been married—and even prefer to have things neat and organized, even though I don’t always succeed at it—but I am still much more able to tolerate disorder than he is. And while this RV is very nice and bigger than many that he and I looked at (we originally thought about renting one), it is far from spacious.

And fourth, we have three kids. Yes, you already know that, but put all the pieces together and think about it again. WE.HAVE.THREE.KIDS. And one of them is Roo. For real. We are nuts.

So ponder those facts for a while and come back tomorrow to begin this westward journey with us.

My former favorite hobby

So I wrote this almost 2 weeks ago, and just found it still listed as a draft... Eh, better late than never, right?

Last year around this time (actually, at the beginning of May), Roo got fitted for his first pair of AFOs (Ankle-Foot Orthotics). I quickly learned that the physical therapist's encouragement that "any shoe should fit, you'll just need a bigger size" was... less than accurate. Finding shoes to fit over the braces was a challenge. But we finally built up a selection of 4-5 pairs, which is plenty for a boy, especially a 2-year-old boy.

But that was a year ago, and now Roo's poor feet barely fit into those AFOs that seemed so large last May. So last week he was casted for a new pair, and today we got them. I noticed right away that they are a little bit different than what we had before. They are shorter for one thing, and they have some different padding and a slightly different shape around the top. Our PT and the technician who made them seemed very pleased with the fit and the way that Roo was standing and walking with them, which is great. They are blue with fish on them, a change from the Spiderman images that have covered his feet for the past 13 months. Lamb picked out the new design.

After everyone was satisfied with the new accessory, the kids and I headed out to lunch--to a local chain restaurant called Rockne's. I have to say, I love that we finally have a place that all three kids like that is a little classier than good old McD's. This is a restaurant where you actually sit at a table, hold a menu, and ask a friendly waiter or waitress to bring the food you wish to consume. There are no boxes containing toys, no paper-lined trays, no numbered meals, no self-serve garbage cans. And the kids still like it.

As if that weren't surprising enough, Roo especially likes it. Rockne's, in fact, serves his favorite food. Graham crackers? No, those come and go on his approved-food list. Yogurt? No, although that is our go-to food for pretty much every meal. What food could possibly be so good that we take our 3-year-old to a sit-down restaurant for it? Mushroom and Brie Bisque. FOR REAL. He ate an entire bowl and then... are you ready for this? (cause I wasn't)... THEN he said, "Mo doop!" (more soup) Yes, that is two words, put together to form a complete thought! Are you still sitting? Because you shouldn't be! You should be jumping up and down for joy!!! This kid is leaping ahead with his language, folks! And eating something most kids wouldn't touch!

(On a side note, some people have suggested that Roo may just have a more sophisticated palate. To them I say, you should see this kid gnaw on a Target cart.)

ANYWAY, from there we ventured out for some new shoes. Somewhere inside of me, a light flickered in my brain: "Shoes? New shoes are to be bought today! Yippee!" And then another part said, "You're with three kids. And the shoes aren't for you. Shut up." I should have listened more to that second part.

I knew from experience that I wouldn't be able to find tons of shoes to fit over Roo's braces, but I felt certain that I would find 1-2 pairs between Payless and Target. I was so very wrong on this. In fact, after FIVE STORES (with THREE KIDS), I was discouraged, disheartened, frazzled, and (let's just admit it) hot & sweaty. And meanwhile, Roo was tired of me messing with his feet (and getting dragged in and out of the van), and the big kids were being as well-behaved as any 6- & 8-year-olds can after trekking to their baby brother's orthotics appointment, lunch in a "real" restaurant, and five stores where we bought NOTHING fun.

The new braces seemed to present two distinct issues: First, finding shoes that would physically fit over them (that weren't comically large on his poor little feet and body); and second, finding Velcro straps that were long enough to close once I got the shoes on. I finally found one pair that didn't look terrible, but the top of the shoe was stretched so far that the Velcro strap couldn't close. I bought them anyway, thinking that I would just go to Joann's and buy some Velcro to fashion my own hokey-looking strap for the poor kid.

Mission... accomplished-ish... I guess... Let's move on.

Meanwhile, Lamb has been on a kick of saving up her spending money for small kitchen appliances. She now has an Easy-Bake Oven (which was actually a Christmas present), a snow-cone maker, and a cotton candy machine (which is absolutely AWESOME--really! You can put 2 lifesavers and a tiny bit of sugar in there, and it whips up some pretty darn amazing spun sugar!), and now wanted a donut maker she had seen at Bed Bath & Beyond. I had promised her we would get it at the end of the excursion, so there we headed.

But just as we were getting out of the van, I remembered that Carter's was just a few doors down. "Guys, we need to make just ONE MORE STOP first. Please be patient."

So we walked into Carter's... and I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing. We left there with not ONE, but TWO pairs of shoes that fit beautifully over Roo's braces and FASTENED! AND one of them was on clearance! (Aaaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd... so were most of the clothes that ended up coming home with us too. Darn you, Carter's.) Whew!

And yes, we DID get Lamb's donut maker, too.

Hallelujah--mission accomplished FOR REAL this time.

And to think, shoe shopping used to be one of my favorite things to do. I think I may be cured of that... for a day or two...

At least he's honest

I think everyone here knows that Roo isn't going to be winning any gold medals for sleep. (He's been doing much better lately, though. Most nights he either sleeps through the night or wakes up only once, and most mornings he sleeps until at least 6:15 or 6:30.) Between his early-riser-ness (yep, it's a word now.) and the fact that my big kids will finally sleep in (you know, until at LEAST 7:10...), he and I are often up before anyone else.

The last two mornings as we have crept past the big kids' rooms, I have whispered to him, "Shhhhhh. We're going to be very quiet. Can you be very quiet?"

And he has smiled, looked me right in the eye, and said, "Nope!"

In the cutest voice you have ever heard.

EVER

I have run the full gamut today. During a grocery shopping trip this morning, I was declared to be "the best mommy EVER" when I dropped a box of frozen smiley-face potatoes in the cart.

My reign as Queen Mama was short-lived, however. I received a new title as the kids cleaned their rooms. When I told Monkey that we would not eat lunch until it was done--and then proceeded to pull out all of the things that were stuffed under beds, dressers, etc--I was promptly renamed "the WORST mommy ever."

I had no idea that my position was so precarious.

Just wait until he finds out that we're having waffles for dinner. Maybe if we eat close enough to bedtime I'll be able to reclaim the more desirable title... and hold it all the way until tomorrow morning.

EEG

Thank you all for your prayers for Monkey (and me!) yesterday... and for putting up with my multiple Facebook posts... and your patience with my lack of an actual update. It was a long day, but overall it went well.

Monkey had a hard time waking up at 3 AM, and really didn't get up until about 4. I picked him up from his bed and carried him to the (finished) basement to watch some TV, but he just curled up on my lap and slept for another 45 minutes or so. Eventually, though, he roused and watched television until everybody else was up and getting ready.

On the ride to the doctor's office, though, he was starting to fade. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw his eyelids fluttering. I called out, "Let's play a game!" in some sing-song, fake-high-energy voice that was totally not me. Maybe it's because my eyelids were feeling a little heavy too. But we both stayed awake (whew!) and got to the appointment on time... which turned out to be a mistake, because we sat in the waiting room for an HOUR before they were ready for us. Apparently the first appointment had run long, and now they were backed up. Oy vey. Thank God for technology--Monkey and I must have been quite a site, sitting there with an iPad, iPhone, and Kindle Fire between the two of us...!

Anyway, the EEG itself went fine. He took some stuffed animals along to snuggle (I had to cut him off at three--he had 5 with him in the van, but two were forced to stay behind and stand guard.), and was asleep within minutes. In fact, the hardest part was waking him up!

Afterward we had another long wait, as the doctor had gone to the adjoining Children's Hospital for rounds. So we spent another HOUR getting our screen time for the month (seriously, 3 AM to 7 AM, then an hour in the waiting room, and now this? No wonder Monkey thought it was the "greatest day ever!")

Basically, here's what we found out: not much. Monkey had a seizure during the test, but not one that was physically noticeable. The doctor assured me (and previous experience with nieces and nephews has taught me) that this is not uncommon, although he was suprised by the location of the seizure. He said that kids who get migraines (which he suspects Monkey has) usually have seizures in the very front or very back of the brain, but that his was "deep inside" the brain. I have no idea what that may indicate. But the bottom line is, he doesn't feel that we need to do anything more at this time. As I said before, Monkey hasn't had a headache since school let out last week, so I am really thinking that it's an environmental cause (like the fluorescent lights are bothering his sensitive eyes). For the time being, we're just going to keep his headache journal (which we started back in April) close by and monitor. As long as he doesn't have noticeable seizures or major headaches, we're just going to keep an eye on him. The doctor did give us a sheet about an elimination diet we can try, but he said that it is only effective in about 10% of cases--and again, since he's not having headaches right now, it seems like a silly thing to try. How would we know if it's working? So for now we're just going to hold tight.

I have mixed feelings about this, honestly. I'm glad to know that there is nothing majorly concerning going on in his brain... but I'm a girl who likes answers. WHY is he having headaches, and more importantly, WHAT are we going to do about it? The doctor had initially recommended an MRI as the next step, but given the cost of the test (we have a tremendous deductible, so we would end up paying for the whole thing) and the current level of concern, he suggested we wait and see if it becomes necessary. It's a good decision, but a hard one for this mama who just wants results.

So thanks again for your prayers and for the texts and e-mails and all of the follow-up. Y'all are the best.

And now I'm going to try to catch up on some sleep. :-)

Tomorrow

I have titled and retitled this post a thousand times (Is "retitled" a word? Just go with it.), and I've only just begun to even write it! I come to you tonight, humbly asking for a little prayer, but not necessarily for the reason you might expect.

I don't remember if I have shared this on the blog, but for the past 2-3 months, Monkey has been having chronic headaches. He's always gotten headaches easily, and has often gone through periods of a week or so where he'll get them daily. But when he approached the one-month mark in April, the school nurse and I had a chat about what to do next. We had his eyes checked (they are great), we made sure he was drinking lots of water during the day. What next? We went to our pediatrician, and for the sake of maintaining my image as a sweet, polite, genteel lady (That's how you all see me, right?), I'll just say that she wasn't helpful. And leave it at that. And just swallow the pain from biting my tongue.

ANYWAY, I took him to a neurologist, who believes that Monkey is suffering from a combination of tension headaches and migraines, but he wants to take a closer look, just in case. He scheduled us for an EEG, which is tomorrow.

Think I'm nervous about the EEG? I am. But maybe not for the "right" reasons.

I'm really not worried about the results, not much anyway. I am becoming more and more convinced that much of his problem stems from the fluorsecent lights at the school (He hasn't had a headache since Wednesday, the last day that he spent any real time in the school building. Thursday was their last day for the year, but he was on an all-day field trip that day.), and I don't expect there to be any major findings from this test or the MRI that the doctor wants to do next. (Thanks for helping us reach our deductible for the fourth year in a row, doc.)

I'm more worried about the LOGISTICS of the test. You see, they really want him to fall asleep for the EEG, so our pre-test instructions call for us to keep him up until midnight tonight... and then wake him up at 3 AM. For the day. 3 AM. NOTHING good happens at 3 AM. Then I need to keep him up until the test, which is at 10:30 tomorrow morning. It takes approximately 1.5 hours, after which we'll see the doctor. So just to recap, here's our gameplan for our 6-year-old: stay up until midnight, sleep for THREE HOURS, then wake up (and STAY awake), go to a doctor's office, get him back to sleep (ha ha) with electrodes all over his head, then wake him up again after an hour or so, then stay up until bedtime tomorrow night.

Yep, THAT has my stomach in knots a little. Because I'm not very patient with whiny children. Because I have two other kids who don't really care how much sleep anybody else gets or how that might affect their behavior. Because I'm the one getting up at 3 AM. (Mr. Fantastic is staying up with both big kids until midnight. I can hear the Wii as I type.) Because Monkey is already my emotional, (overly)sensitive child.

And maybe because deep down, I might be just a little bit worried about the results, too.

So if you read this tonight, could you pray that this whole staying up until midnight and getting up at 3 AM thing goes smoothly? And if you are reading this on Monday morning, I'd appreciate a prayer or two for Monkey and me as we head to the neurologist's office. Please pray that he will actually sleep during the test, that I will have peace (which I really do mostly have right now) (mostly), and that we will both be functional until we can get a good night's rest (and that I will remember that *I* am the adult and need to act like one, even when he is not acting like the mature, sophisticated 6-year-old that I feel he should be).

Thanks, friends. I'll keep you posted.