Blah, I hate this time of year… it never fails someone gets a bug and is nice enough to share it with the rest of the bunch. I was the lucky one who got sick first, it was horrible, two days in the bathroom wishing I could just puke and feel better. Finally about 24 hours later, my fever broke and I almost felt human again. Last night, we pulled up to FPU (Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University classes, taught through a local church) and Matthew throws up multiple times in the parking lot. So Bobby tells me to go on into class, take the baby and Austin to the daycare, and he heads home with Matthew and Christopher. Matthew is crying, he wants to go play with his 28 new friends at the church daycare, Christopher has forgotten how to listen in the confusion, and I am trying to juggle my workbooks, a baby and comfort Matthew. Thankfully he seems to bounce back quickly, about 30-40 minutes after he throws up, Bobby reports he is bouncing off the walls.

Last night, after only about 3 hours of sleep, Bobby wakes up feeling puny. Matthew has since joined us in our bed, and Sophie seems to think the offer of nursing on demand means she should demand it at 4:05, 4:15, 4:30 and again at 4:45… you get my drift. Matthew also seems to think that he is the cover king… he rules the heat level in the bed… first he wanted all the covers, and I got none… then he decided he was hot, laid on the covers and again, I got none. So now 4 of us are in the bed, Matthew is the only one actually sleeping. Sophie finally drifts back off, and Bobby gives up trying to sleep and gets up to shower… he has an interview today for a local job, more pay, ok benefits, but there is not a lot of room to move up in the company. The job he interviews for next week in D.C. is within his same company, awesome benefits, awesome pay, tons of opportunity, and did I mention is in our nations capitol??

So Bobby is now up, and dressed, he’s looking spiffy in his new sport coat, & wearing a tie, he comes in to hug me goodbye, even though he has no plans on leaving for another 30 minutes, because he is hoping I can go back to sleep with the kids. Well, right before he has to leave, he comes back in and goes to the bathroom to throw up. He later told me he had to hold his tie to keep it clean. Poor Bobby, we have been married for 11 years, together for 12 and in that time he has only thrown up three times, once after bad pizza, once after another stomach bug we all shared as a family, and today. Thankfully he is the type to get the 24 hour flu for 4 hours, and he said once he threw up, he felt so much better. I just hope he continues to feel fine and has a good interview. I also hope Austin and Christopher are spared, as they were not exposed to me as much as Matthew & Bobby, and I REALLY hope Sophie does not get it, but my experience, my nurslings tend to not catch whatever I get.

We finished baby step one! For those of you who are not Dave Ramsey nuts, baby step one is $1,000 in a savings account as a baby emergency fund. Well, the same day we set up the emergency fund, our $33 oil change morphed into a $400 brake (and fluid) emergency, one we were able to authorize without much thought, because we had our Murphy Repellent in place. No credit card necessary!

The next day we started Financial Peace University and I got to share with the class how excited we were to have found Dave. What a fun class, I urge EVERYONE who can to attend at your local church. Common sense information that is not so common anymore in an entertaining setting.

In other news, all of our referrals came through today, so hopefully we will have answers soon. Sophie goes to the cardiologist next week, the rheumotologist next month, and the dermotologist the month after. I go to the rheumotologist in January, MUCH sooner than the next available appointment in JUNE! Someone canceled right before they called me, what luck! Now I don’t have to wait so long to get answers about my irregular blood work and spend less time hoping I do not have Lupus before I get answers.

Lots of other positives in the financial and career world for Bobby, but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, so just send some positive vibes my way that those chickens start popping out of their shells so I can share with you!

Saw my primary doc, she says she does not feel she can rule out (or diagnose) Lupus… she says some of the notes in her chart indicate I may have it, and my blood work does not look promising, but on the same hand I am pretty much not really showing many symptoms. We have two rheumitologists in town, one that she likes and one that she LOVES. She put in a referral to the ones she loves, but warned me I will have a 6-8 month wait to get in. She says if I start showing symptoms before that she can get me in with the other doc just until the ones she recommended can get me in.

Sophie’s rash is nearly gone, and I can still see a few little red dots on her scalp, they are darker looking though, like little birth marks.

For those of you who have been telling me they don’t know what Lupus is, here is a summary from The Lupus Foundation of America:

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. Normally the body’s immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens.

In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against itself. These antibodies — called “auto-antibodies” (auto means ’self’) — cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body.

And the symptoms can include any number of the below.

* Achy joints / arthralgia (95 percent)
* Fever of more than 100 degrees F / 38 degrees C (90 percent)
* Arthritis / swollen joints (90 percent)
* Prolonged or extreme fatigue (81 percent)
* Skin Rashes (74 percent)
* Anemia (71 percent)
* Kidney Involvement (50 percent)
* Pain in the chest on deep breathing / pleurisy (45 percent)
* Butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose (42 percent)
* Sun or light sensitivity / photosensitivity (30 percent)
* Hair loss (27 percent)
* Abnormal blood clotting problems (20 percent)
* Raynaud’s phenomenon / fingers turning white and/or blue in the cold (17 percent)
* Seizures (15 percent)
* Mouth or nose ulcers (12 percent)

So it is pretty obvious to see why I am so scared right now and am hoping I somehow am getting a false positive on my ANA bloodtests.

Dr. Strangelove (Sophie’s Dermatologist’s nickname) called me yesterday. Remember how I mentioned he casually mentioned that her rash could be from lupus antibodies passed on from me and wanted me to do a blood test? Well the test was positive so I needed to go get a blood test for Sophie. We don’t know if she has this yet, but from what I have read on the net if it is neonatal lupus the rash should dissipate around six months of age. Sun can make it worse and the treatment is the same as eczema. Thankfully, neonatal lupus does not increase her chances of getting systemic lupus erythematosus later on in life. Hopefully we will get her results back soon.

Here is the part that worries me… if she has neonatal lupus or not, I still have a positive ANA test. This could mean that I could have one of many different autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, OR it could mean nothing at all. Of course, now I am overanalyzing everything. I have been so tired lately… in my mind I am thinking “what if it is xyz?” when it most likely is caused by me not falling alseep until 1-3am and waking up all through the night by a 4 month old and then by a 3 year old.

I am trying really hard to remember the symptoms usually precede a ANA test, not the other way around, so who knows how many normal healthy people have positive ANAs without having anything wrong with them. For now I am trying to put this all out of my mind and try not to worry about what could be.

Sophie’s facial rash is eczema according to Dr. Strangelove, I call him that because of his bizarre bedside manner, yet charismatic personality all in one. He was very sweet to my children, kind and gentle with Sophie and playful with Matthew who was with me… all the while saying that it could be lupus passed on from me and my antibodies and that I would need a blood test… uh, wow, that was a strong statement casually put. He also second a third guessed me when he asked if I knew what Cetaphil was and I said I knew what it was.Are you sure?? He kept saying… uh, yeah buddy… this is not my first encounter with eczema. Oh, and then he volunteered that it will probably get much worse, engulfing most of her face and turning he cheeks scaly. Wow, thank you for making me feel even worse about what I stated was my worst case scenario diagnosis.

So he prescribed Sophie Cloderm cream twice daily on her spots, it seems to already be helping even after just a few days. It is a topical steroid, which I am not thrilled about, especially around the eyes, but when I talked to Dr. Strangelove about this, he told me “ehh, it’s only for a few weeks, she will be fine” ugh. Thanks doc.

I called the insurance yesterday to see the status of the referral for Sophie’s rash; to my shock and dismay they stated they never received the request! I imagine in the hubbub of the last work day before the holiday weekend it either got forgotten or the person(s) who do the referrals was gone for the day and did not get the message. When I called the ped’s office yesterday and explained the situation they said they would get right on it and call me with the answer.

This morning they called me to say the insurance denied my referral because they felt it was unnecessary for her to see a pediatric dermatologist without the referral from a regular dermatologist. They gave me the name of a great dermatologist, but when I called she did not have any appointments until DECEMBER!! I was almost in tears because Children’s Hospital would have seen her in 1-2 weeks. So I took the next available with ANY derm. and that was almost a month away.

I am angry, annoyed, and feel guilty. Had I called back on Tuesday after Labor Day she would closer to being seen. I am annoyed my insurance company won’t let me go to Children’s Hospital. And I am angry my baby girl has to wait another month before someone can tell me what is causing this rash, she is so uncomfortable.

On the positive side, none of the typical eczema treatments are making a difference at all, making me believe it is a bad case of “cradle cap” or something else. Eczema in my mind was kind of the “worst case scenario”.

Still no referral for Sophie for her skin issues, but her face is starting to lighten. My friend is a MA and has been asking around and one of the MDs she works with said it looks (from what he can see) like cradle cap that has spread onto the face. So we used some Selsun Blue (since she already had it on her head) and after one treatment she is looking better, we will do another treatment tonight and see if it improves it some more.

Bobby is almost finished with his first week of school at his new school, and it seems to be going well. I am exploring low cost textbook solutions and playing around with a new program called “The Grocery Game”, so far I am saving around 31% off my grocery bill. Had we paid the shelf prices, we would have spent $185.52, instead we spent $128.80 for a savings of $56.72. Not bad for my first week. Now I just have to work on cooking more meals at home and more careful meal planning. I am going to pay closer attention to my frugal living message boards on Diaper Swappers and the Grocery Game board.

Here is Sophie next to the letters her talented aunty Autumn made for her. I love how they turned out, I totally was not expecting being able to get the letters for her name as I was seeing them for about $14-16 each on Etsy, and I cannot see myself spending $84-96, though I was tempted to.

Sophie had her well baby check on Thursday. At 12w1d she was 9lbs 11oz and 22 long. She is healthy and growing on track. Her rash on her face earned her a referral to a pediatric dermatologist up @ Children’s Hospital in Denver.

Yes, I have been neglecting my blog, I am such a bad blog-mom. Since my return from Spokane & Alamosa, I have been uber busy. School started on the 11th so I was busy making sure Austin & Christopher were ready. Isis got fixed and is recovering from surgery well. Sophie had an appointment with her midwife and was 9 lbs, 3 oz. Thursday she weighed more, but I forgot to write it down… I met her new ped when I took her in to have her rash around her eyes looked at. Her new ped rocks! And the rash is baby acne that she is scratching the heck out of.

Austin had his physical yesterday and passed his hearing test… so now we know his constant “what?” and ignoring us is not due to hearing loss, but due to him being 12 and full of pre-teen angst. Is there a cure for that??

Christopher had back to school night on Thursday, his teacher was really looking forward to having him in his class… everyone knows (and loves) Christopher. He is such a sweetie. He had no concerns about Christopher’s math abilities, so now I am confused about how he did so poorly on the placement test at the charter school.

Also, I have a new Sophie pic for you all.

I got the cutest diaper for Sophie yesterday, hopefully I will have new pics of her wearing it up soon.

Please keep Bobby & his family in your thoughts. His grandmother passed from lung cancer last week. This happened a week after she was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed.

I am finally back from my 3 week long vacation in Spokane and I totally need a vacation! The short version

• 3 weeks away from home
• 4 kids- ages 12, 10, 3, and 1 month
• Just me, Bobby did not come
• 3400 miles driven total
• Four 12 hour days of driving

Every year I try to send Austin & Christopher to see my parents, either by flying them up to Washington alone, or by flying or driving with them. Last year we flew them up first, then Bobby, Matthew and I drove up together and then the five of us drove back together. The trip from Colorado to Washington is about 1200 miles each way.

This year Bobby did not have enough vacation time and it was even more important for me to go because my dad is having some health issues and because I wanted my family to meet Sophia. I knew it would not be easy to drive that far with a 4 week old and a 3 year old, but they were actually very good. My van has a DVD player in the back and all the jacks necessary to hook up a game system, so the three boys brought their Gamecube and kept themselves entertained while the baby slept through most of the drive. We made a point to stop once or twice a day at parks along the way to get the kids out of the car. In Billings the hotel we stayed at had a pool with a water slide and the five of us unwound in the pool, which was heavenly after the long drive.

My dad looked amazing, we don’t know what is causing his health problems, but he has to be on oxygen and we are all pretty bummed about that because my dad leads such an active lifestyle and the oxygen pretty much keeps him tied down. My dad is a non-smoker, and the doctors had no answers to why he is having breathing problems, despite spending a week in the ICU.

While we were there we visited with Bobby’s nieces and nephew who we met last year for the first time. To make a long story short, Bobby and his brother had a falling out. We have always liked ex-SIL, but lost contact with her when we moved away. I met her back in 1997 when she introduced us to her oldest daughter, R., despite her husband’s (Bobby’s brother) wishes. I found BIL on myspace, contacted his girlfriend who gave me his ex-wife’s number, and we have been in frequent contact since.

Here is a picture of her youngest daughter with my youngest daughter. Click to see a larger image.

And here is a picture of her three and my four.

From Left to right is Austin -12, B. - 9, and Matthew - 3
Christopher - 10, A. - 6, R. - 11, and Sophie - 5 weeks.

In addition to spending time with my parents and his family, we also got to go to Faragut National Park in Idaho for a family reunion. My mom and her sisters and their families get together once a year for a long weekend campout. Since my dad could not stay the night and I did not want to camp with a baby, we drove back and forth each day (1 hour drive each way). My sister kept Austin and Christopher with her so they were able to stay the night. Matthew loved playing in the dirt as you can see.

It was so nice to spend the weekend with my sisters, Aunts and uncles, cousins, and all their kids. My oldest sister made me the nicest gifts ever, she is so talented. She scrapbooked a little brag book, and hand painted Sophia’s name on wooden letters, she also got her the most darling little outfit. All three were in Sophie’s colors, pink and brown, which I did not know were also my sister’s colors. I need to take and share some pictures, the scrapbook has got to be about the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen, I wish I had an ounce of her talent.

We also spent a lot of time up at their cabin in Priest Lake Idaho. The older boys stayed a little over a week up there with my parents, where the little ones and I drove back and forth a couple times (2 hour drive) since the cabin is unsafe with exposed electrical and a loft without rails. They are building it themselves, so they are waiting for inspections and such, and with my dad’s health issues, they did not expect the process to take so long. Since they are only a couple miles from the lake, we spent almost all our time at the lake. Click on the pictures below to see larger images.

Time flew by so fast, I only got to spend a couple hours with my best friend of 28 years, and my best friend of 14 years.

My mom started the potty for penny campaign with Matthew, and now he is almost potty trained, I am so proud! He is now peeing in the potty with maybe one or two accidents a day, and rarely needs reminding. Even more shocking is that he is pooping in the potty, something we could not get him to do when we almost had him trained a few months ago!

Leaving was bittersweet, I was so homesick and missed Bobby so much, but I did not want to leave either. I had such a wonderful time with my parents, and the boys were ready to leave me forever and live with their grandparents forever. My 11 year anniversary is tomorrow, and school starts in 2 weeks, so it was necessary to return. On the drive home, I did get some amazing pictures of Sophie, you can’t tell in the pictures, but her eyes almost looked violet in the light.

She was so good in the car, she only cried when she wanted to nurse. The rest of the time she either slept or just looked around contently, or smiling at her brothers.