Apples Up On Top!

Apples.

This theme is one of my favorites!

And this year we gained a new apple themed book that we LOVE -

10 Apples Up On Top!

My Dad brought it by for the girls the day we went apple picking and it has been a huge hit!

The best part was trying to balance apples up on top ourselves!

This produced tons of giggles and smiles!

We also did a multitude of other apple related activities...

Piper's personal favorite was this one from 2 Teaching Mommies' Apple Unit.

She would throw the dice and then dot that number of apples on the tree.

She continued this until the tree was full.

Of course we did the classic apple prints!

And made apple sauce!

Both girls had a great time cutting up the apples for it!

Piper filled in an apple observation sheet (also from 2 Teaching Mommies' Apple Unit).

She was very keen on making her observations and filling out the sheet correctly.

This made for a rather interesting snack time!

We worked on putting numbers 1-10 in the right order with these apple printables.

We placed them "up on top" of pictures we drew of ourselves.

Piper accomplished this with minimal help from me.

Taitum and I worked together on it.

She shocked me by knowing what number came next for all of them except 5 and 7!

This girl does not miss a thing!

Piper played around with these Life Cycle of an Apple cards from Montessori for Everyone.

She arranged them in the right sequence and worked at matching the words with the correct pictures.

Finally, Piper worked on her culinary skills by putting some apple peanut butter sandwiches together for us for snack one day.

I think little sister enjoys being on the recieving end of this area of study!

Happy One Month!

Dear Kallahan – You are one month today!

The last month, our family has had so much fun getting to know you.  You are so sweet and precious.  You have been such a good little baby and never really fuss unless you are hungry.  You LOVE to eat.  Everyone that has seen you in the last couple of days has commented on how much you are growing and filling out.  You are starting to be mommy’s little chunky monkey.  There’s nothing better than a fat, healthy little baby!  Daddy is not even calling you little rat baby anymore.  Big brother is so good with you.  Last night he worked on getting you to stop crying by getting on the floor and telling you about his day.  He just adores you and loves to “pet” you.  We know that you and your brother have many fun times ahead once you get a little bit bigger. But that being said, don’t grow up too fast!

You love to be held and snuggle.  Since day one you have been cold natured and shiver when you are cold.  We try our best to keep you bundled up and warm in our cold house.  You can sleep through just about any noise.  Last night you had your best night yet, you slept for almost 5 hours straight.  Mommy and Daddy thank you for that because we feel so refreshed today.  You are starting to smile a little but I can’t wait to see a full out grin.  I know it is only days away!  We love you Kallahan and thank God for giving you to us.

Love Always,

Mommy

*Thanks again Kristin & Andrew for the darling Sticky Pickies!

B U S Y

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind!  Life is great but so many things are happening at the same time I am having a hard time staying caught up on everything.  My little cowboys are doing great.  Keeler has spent the past couple days with granny so that I can stay on top of work.  However, this is still difficult because my littlest cowboy is getting more and more spoiled and loves to be held.  We went to Texas for a long weekend and now he assumes there are several adults around at all times just dying to hold him.  Don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE to sit around and hold him all day but my schedule just does not allow for it. 

Welcome to the family baby Brynlee!!  She is the cutest little doll baby.  We are so happy for Ashley & Shay!  It was great to meet her and see the proud parents.  I felt very fortunate that everything worked out so that we could spend time with them and love on this little princess.  I can't wait to watch our kids grow up together.

Big News:  We are moving - not too far!!  We are in the process of buying a new home in town.  We are so excited because the house is larger and will meet our families' growing needs so much better.  The house has two living areas, a play room, four bedrooms and two baths.  We won’t know what to do with all the space.  Check it out:

Our biggest project at the moment is we are working on selling our current home.  We have loved our little house and have so many memories in it so it is going to be hard to leave.  Please pray that the house sells quickly/smoothly and that most importantly someone buys it that loves the house as much as we have.    

http://www.506southelm.yolasite.com/

Mr. GQ at the hospital

“The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this:  Decide what you want.” – Ben Stein

Update, Reader's Digest, and EB Awareness

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, so I will do my best to catch you guys up.  

Since the night that I posted all of those videos, Tripp has literally had a good day, then a bad day, then a good day... etc.  I'm in the process (along with Dr. D and Trea, our super fabulous pharmacist) of trying to switch some of his medicines.  Within the past week, I've tried some new antihistamines to help with his itching.  O my GOODNESS, the itching has been horrible.  This poor child just never ever gets a break.  So, the antihistamines are brutal.  He was literally gasping for air about 30 minutes after I gave him the new medicine and it lasted almost all night long.  It's like it dried him up completely so that he couldn't breathe.  That was a horrible night.  So I stopped all of the antihistamines altogether.  He's on a yeast medicine and a fungal medicine in addition to trying every topical itch cream that there is.  The itching has just started to be an issue this past month, and from talking to other EB moms or adults with EB... it's something that is ongoing and nothing really helps.  Great. 

So as far as the skin... the wound cultures came back growing (I'll give you one guess)....PSEUDOMONAS.  And guess what?  There are no oral antibiotics left that treat it.  So this was my decision.  I said I would try Rocephin injections (the pseudomonas was sensitive to that) once and see if they could bring his white count down enough to try the G-CSF.  SO- as of this morning, he's gotten 2 injections of Rocephin IM (Intramuscular).  They are only once a day- Thank GOD (because that's horrible enough) and it's for 7 days.  I'm giving the injections myself... something that NO MOTHER should have to do, but I wouldn't want any one but myself doing it.  They are rough- thick and 2 mls of fluid going into rotating thighs each day.  I'm glad we are trying them, but this is not something that I'm going to do again.  SO PLEASE pray that these injections will drop his blood counts so that we can try this G-CSF at least ONCE, so that maybe it will heal something and decrease his constant infections.  That is my goal.  Will will hopefully be re-drawing his blood work on Thursday or Friday to re-check his counts. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention the diarrhea, bellyache, the bruising of the site, and the soreness that come along with these injections.  This child is a saint.  I can't stress that enough.

Ok, so now for the shout out to my super awesome followers.  There is a contest going on for Reader's Digest.  If you win, you get your story published!!  How awesome would that be for EB Awareness?  Right now, our story is in 2nd place- and all of my Facebook friends have been so awesome about spreading the word to vote for us!  Thank you so much to all who have voted.  You can vote EVERY DAY from EVERY electronic device (computer, smartphone, iPad, etc).  So please, if you think about it, take a minute to vote so we can spread the word about EB in Reader's Digest!  It would be a great prize with EB Awareness Week coming up!  

You can click HERE to vote!

Speaking of EB Awareness, I thought of an idea to help spread the word next week.  Since Halloween is coming up and everyone will be Trick-or-Treating, I created a flyer that can be handed out!  You can either hand it to the kids (or maybe parents) of the Trick-or-Treaters that come to your house OR you can take the flyers with you when you go Trick-or-Treating and pass them out to anyone you see!  This way, we can "Trick-or-Treat for Tripp" across the country:)  Here is the flyer if you're interested:

I hope it works to where you can save it and print it out from the blog.  If not, let me know and I'll find a new way to share it:)  

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Love,

Photography with a Three-Year-Old

Holy guacamole!  I am a mah-jor blog slacker.  I can’t help it.  We’re so busy we can’t see straight around these parts.  Also, the reign of the three-year-old dictator at our house is giving me little time or energy to devote to much else.  SERIOUSLY.  Everyone said how bad the “terrible twos” would be, but no one warned us about “the thrice-as-bad threes.”  Okay, well, I made that phrase up, but the threes have not been kind to our family. 

We had some family pictures made last weekend and – I kid you not – we would tell Becks to go left and he would go right.  We’d say sit down and he’d stand up.  We’d say sit down and he’d run away.  This went on for about an hour before I could not handle another second. 

Fortunately, there were a couple of keepers out of the bunch…

The hat was a bribe.  As in, “Becks, if you cooperate, you can wear your Michigan hat!!!”  It was only somewhat effective. 

Such a stinker.

Lots more to talk about, but Becks is attempting to sit on me right now, which is code word for GET OFF THE COMPUTER, MOM, so I better get going.  Hope y’all are doing well!

My Birthday Poem.

This is a poem that one of my Kindergarden teachers, Mrs. Elaine Landry, wrote for me on my birthday. 

Thank you so much, Mrs. Landry.  I will treasure it forever.  

My Dear Mommy, 

On May 14, 2009, you gave birth to a baby boy

You named me Tripp, your little bundle of joy.

I thank God for choosing, "you" to be my mother

I would not have wanted, not any one other. 

When you brought me home, that long awaited day

We had no idea, what was headed our way. 

You took me to doctors, both far and near

They said I had EB, and would not live a year. 

You proved them wrong, with your faith from above

I am still here, because of your "love." 

You are doing all you can, and so much more

To take care of me, and all my body sores. 

You stay awake both day and night

Just to make sure, your "Bubba" is alright. 

What other kid, has a McDonald's playground at home

Or a New Orleans Saints football, from the Superdome?

I want to tell, all my family and friends everywhere

I love them so much, and thanks for their prayers.

Thanks to my doctors, nurses and all who help you and I

I wish I could see each one in person, just to say hi. 

If in your sweet dreams, you hear music or drums

Then surly you know, who it's coming from. 

It may be an Elmo tune, or the LSU fight song

You know how I love, when you sing along. 

I love you Mommy, with my arms spread apart

If only I could show you, the love inside my heart. 

You know how kids, always wish for a toy

My wish is to have longer, just to be your Angel boy. 

You are right to say, that this was God's plan

So please keep rocking me, as long as you can. 

Thank my sweet Grammy, for always being there

Her devotion is like yours, is so very rare. 

Happy Birthday Mommy, you are so dear to me

I am lucky to have, the greatest Mommy, you see.

You want to know, if God is speaking to me

In your faith filled heart, you know He has to be. 

So Mommy be happy today, and say your favorite prayer 

For God said to tell you, you will get your "Pinky Swear." 

Love, Your Bubba

-Thessalonians 5:18

"In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus."

Thank you, God, for the best couple of hours in a very long time. 

If it happens again tomorrow, I will give thanks. 

If it doesn't... I will STILL give thanks. 

This child is truly amazing.

He is my HERO. 

Riding Papa's Horsey

Tripp's song

Yawns :)

Love,