Halloween

So, the last few weeks have been very busy. I've had midterms and a big paper along with making a vest for Gabe for Halloween and just getting ready for Halloween in general. Both, Carissa and Gabe went to the pumpkin patch by their preschool with their classes to get pumpkins the week before Halloween. Gabe's class went first and he came back with a really little pumpkin, so we were thinking maybe all the kids just got little pumpkins. Then Carissa came home with a much bigger pumpkin than Gabe did, so who knows. Carissa and Gabe both painted their pumpkins at home so that they could set them outside for Halloween. And, unfortunately we never did get to pumpkin carving this year. I do like the painted pumpkins though, because the kids can do it all on their own anyway they want to.

Then on Halloween morning while Carissa was at school, Gabe was in their room alone for a few minutes and then he came to see me and told me that his nose was bleeding. Ben asked him if he was picking his nose and Gabe told us no, immediately followed with him telling us that he put a rock in his nose. Carissa had brought a few pebbles home with her a few days earlier, and we figured out that is where he got the rocks from. We got the flashlight and sure enough there was a rock in there, meanwhile Gabe told us that not only did he put one rock up his nose he put two in the same nostril. So, we called the doctor and they got us in pretty quickly. The doctor got one of the rock's out, but the other was too far back and it wasn't bothering his breathing or making him uncomfortable so the doctor said that we could wait a few days and see if it came out on its own or not. He also told us to make a follow up appointment in order to check if the rock was gone or not. Then a few days later Gabe was at my mom's house when he sneezed the rock out, and then yesterday he had his follow up appointment and the doctor couldn't see the rock anywhere. The whole experience turned out to be a good learning experience for Gabe; he now thinks that putting things up your nose is a very bad idea. The rocks made him very uncomfortable, and the whole process of us holding him down while the doctor pulled one of the rocks out also made him very upset. So, hopefully we won't have something like that happen again.

Here is our kitty and pirate

Here is Gabe's pumpkin

Here is one side of Carissa's pumkin

And the other side

Family Day

So a couple of weeks ago, we went up to Snowbird to walk around and ride the tram up the mountain. The kids also got to play on an inflatable slide and castle up there. After that we went out to dinner, and then to Boondocks to play. Everyone had a lot of fun. Oh, and when we went shopping that morning they had a fire truck at Wal-mart that Carissa and Gabe got to look at and go inside.

ADHD

First of all I'm not in favor of saying that kids have ADD/ADHD just because they are kids and have lots of energy. But, I have got to a point with Gabe where there are some things that just aren't right. And between my 6 years experience as a child care teacher and all of the classes related to that area that I have taken I have finally gotten to a point where I'm running out of ideas and some days patience as well. So, I looked into getting Gabriel evaluated and it was suggested based on the problems I was describing that he get a behavioral/ADHD assessment done. This morning we had a 3 hour appointment to do the evaluation and his tentative diagnosis is ADHD. The counselor said that Gabe didn't fit 100%, but it was close enough for now and that she also thought that part of Gabe's problems could be related to our current family situation. So, Gabe and I will be starting counseling next week.

I figured that if there is something to what is going on that I would rather know now versus later and then maybe we can all be happier. When Gabe is getting in trouble all day it isn't any fun for anyone.

ENT appointment

Today was Carissa's ENT appointment to check on her hearing and to see if the tubes have fallen out yet. She did well with the audiology part and her hearing is doing great especially when compared to what her hearing was like right before getting tubes. For the part of the visit where she actually saw the ENT doctor she wasn't completely cooperative, but she did okay. And her tubes are almost out and are plugged up, so they won't do her any good anymore. If she starts having problems with ear infections again then we can bring her back in again otherwise he just said to bring her back in a year. In a year he will check to see that the tubes are all the way out and that she doesn't have any holes in her ear drums.

Baking

Today, I decided to do some baking since it is such a cold day and I don't have school again until the 21st. We have a hard time making very many baked goods that Carissa can eat, since she is allergic to eggs. So, I wanted to try a couple of new things today. We decided to make a Toll House Pie, and some brownies. Both Carissa and Gabe were very good helpers with adding ingredients and stirring. I knew that the pie would be a complete experiment but the brownie recipe I got out of the allergy cook book. Both items failed. So I went ahead and made one more of the Toll House pies with eggs after both failed attempts, because it is really sad to spend all day baking and end up with nothing edible. Now everyone but Carissa can have a treat to eat. I've been baking for a long time, and up until I started trying to make things without eggs I think that everything I made was at least edible. I'm really hoping that once Carissa is 5 she won't be allergic to eggs anymore. I guess a lot of kids outgrow the egg allergy by about 5 years old. It makes me so sad always telling her that she can't eat things that everyone else is eating.

Eye appointment

Yesterday was Gabriel's fourth eye exam. About a year ago we found out that Gabriel has Brown's syndrome (two eye exams with different doctors). Brown's syndrome basically means that a ligament in Gabe's eye isn't long enough so that eye has limited movement when he looks up or away from his nose with that eye. His eye moves as far as it can and then it stops and shakes, it is weird to watch. Gabe's eye still works pretty well for him and when he needs to look farther he just moves his head, he doesn't even realize anything is wrong. And, the only way we can see the problem is if you hold his head still and have him look up at something. Once Gabe was diagnosed we were told that we would need to bring him in every 6 months so that they keep measuring how far his eye moves to see if it got worse or not. If it gets worse he counld need surgery.

So yesterday Gabe did excellent on his eye exam again. His vision is great and the best nesws is that all of the measurements of the movement of his eye have stayed exactly the same all year long. So, even though we were planning/expecting to take Gabe every 6 months for the next few years and once a year after that Gabe has done so well that we get to start yearly appointments already.

Grandma's birthday

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, so a few days ago I told Carissa and Gabe that we needed to get something for Grandma's birthday. Carissa got really excited and told me that we should buy her flowers. Then she thought for a minute and said, "and a Halloween costume, because I want her to have candy too." I asked her if she wanted to get Grandma a costume so that she could go trick or treating and she said yes. Carissa wanted Grandma to go trick or treating to get candy for Grandma, Uncle Josh, and Aunt Alyssa. Then I asked Carissa, "What about Grandpa?" She said that Grandpa could go trick or treating for his own candy.

So yesterday, Carissa picked out flowers for Grandma and we all picked out a card. Then we drove to my parent's house and gave them to my mom.