October already?!?

I cannot believe that today is October 1! Time is flying by way too quickly. Before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right after that. The year will be over before you know it. I am glad that its finally cooling off and starting to feel like fall! 90's in mid-late September is insane! The highs for the next several days are in the 70s...perfect! :)

Progress reports came home a few days ago and the three big girls are all doing great in school! Alyssa's teacher said she is doing wonderful and she is incredibly smart and sweet :) She's already got almost 100 AR points!!! Makaela's teacher said she is as smart as she can be and is doing really well. And Sydney is doing great as well. She has stayed on green every day this year so far and she is incredibly proud of herself for that (we're super proud of her too!). I think she only stayed on green for the whole week a handful of times last year. She's a talker... :)

The two littlest girls are doing great as well! They both love learning! Lilly is really into math these days. She asks if we can do "preschool stuff" every day and almost every time I ask her what she wants to do, she says "Math!". Its really need to see her understanding things and learning new things. She also loves teaching Ella! She will write a letter and ask Ella what letter is it. Ella can recognize almost all of the letters (uppercase and lowercase). Of course their favorite things we've done are food related :)

Ella hasn't had any problems with her knees or ankles for 2.5 weeks now. Its been great! Of course I find myself wondering if maybe it was just some weird virus that lasted longer than normal or some fluke thing that's now a thing of the past. I know that isn't very likely, but I can't help but get hopeful every time she goes a while without problems. I have a feeling I'm just setting myself up to be really disappointed when she does have problems again. But for right now I'm hoping she won't!

Its been a while!

I've slacked off on posting regularly... Sorry. I'll try to do better :) A lot has happened the past few weeks, the biggest thing being Lilly's 5th birthday! Her birthday video is posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyEeU2-C0ps

I cannot believe she is 5. It doesn't seem possible. She is growing up way too fast...all the girls are! She had a great birthday. We always let the birthday person choose where we eat for supper on their birthday and she chose Ruby Tuesday, then we came home for cake. She had a super hero cake, which she loved! She loved all her gifts and said it was the best birthday ever :)

This past weekend, the girls and I went to visit my family. We had a great visit, but it went by way too fast. Doug left yesterday to go to Atlanta. He'll be there for work all this week (well he'll be home Thursday night). Hopefully the week goes by quickly. We miss him already!

Well, I need to get going. Lilly is playing with her new Zumbuddy on Webkinz and needs my assistance :) I just wanted to post a quick update and say that yes, we're still alive and well :) I'll try to post more often!

Oops! I forgot the pictures :)

First day of school!

Yesterday was the first day of school. Alyssa is now in 4th grade, Makaela is in 3rd, and Sydney is in 1st. They are all three very happy with the teachers they got this year. Sydney was a little upset that none of her friends from her kindergarten class are in her class this year, but she was so excited to tell me about the new friends she made yesterday! She loves her teachers and her classroom. She told me she thinks 1st grade will be just as awesome as Kindergarten :) Makaela loves her teacher as well. I think she's going to have a really good year. She was really excited when she was telling me all about her day yesterday. Alyssa already knew her teacher. She was one of her girls on the run coaches last year. She was super excited that she got her for a teacher. I think she's going to have an awesome year as well! She's already read an AR book and took a test on it this morning (made a 100 and earned 5 points...I love getting emails when they take an AR test!) :) She's determined to get the most points in her class :)

Lilly and Ella decided that we need to have preschool at home while the other girls are at school. We started that yesterday too :) Lilly asked me to help her write out a schedule. According to her we need 4 snack times, arts and crafts, math time, reading time, lunch time, and a really short rest time :) We had a really good time yesterday. They are so cute with their book bags and school supplies. They kept all the things they made in a folder and couldn't wait to show Doug when he got home yesterday.

Hopefully the year will continue to go as well as it went yesterday :) I have a feeling that might be wishful thinking though... :)

Three Happy Girls!

We just got home from going to the school to find out which teachers the girls have this year. The secretary had told me that the list would be posted today after 1:00, so the girls started counting down the hours until 1:00 at 7:00 this morning! At exactly 1:00 they were ready to go! So, we finished up making birthday cards for Grandma so we could run by the post office and mail those while we were out and we left. Alyssa and Makaela both had 2 teachers that they wanted to have this year and they each got one of the two that they wanted. And Sydney doesn't really know anything about any of the 1st grade teachers, so she was happy with anyone :) Makaela was hoping Sydney would have the same teacher she had in 1st grade and she was a little disappointed that Sydney is in another class, but she told Sydney that the teacher she did get is awesome, so Syd's happy :)

They have orientation on Sunday afternoon and they are very excited about meeting their teachers and seeing if any of their friends are in their classes (I don't know why they didn't think to look at the list. But then again, I didn't think about having them do that either...) :) Then school starts on Wednesday! Yay! :)

Since Lilly didn't get into pre-k, I told her that we would do preschool stuff at home. She's super excited. She's even named our preschool... "Lilly, Ella, and mama's preschool" :) She's made all kinds of plans. Most importantly we MUST have play time, snack time, lunch time, and arts and crafts time EVERY day! Oh and field trips! According to Lilly, we must have LOTS of field trips (luckily she says trips to the grocery store, etc count...). It should be lots of fun! :)

Things I never thought I'd have to say...

The other night I was sitting on the couch and I hear Doug say "Do not swing a bag of potatoes at your sister!". I couldn't help but giggle. It was one of those things I never ever imagined hearing. I'm still not sure why Alyssa saw the bag of potatoes sitting there and thought it would be a good idea to pick it up and swing it at Makaela. I don't think I even want to know what goes through their heads sometimes.

Then this afternoon I find myself googling for ways to remove fingernail polish from hair. I never in a million years imagined myself preforming that search... The girls were painting each others fingernails and toe nails and Ella decided to brush her hair out of her face with the hand that had just been freshly painted. So she ended up with bright pink nail polish in her hair.

I think I should start a list of all the things I never imagined having to say. It happens at least once a day around here :)

Its not just growing pains!!!!!

And if I hear one more person tell me "My sister's boyfriend's cousin's best friend's ex-boyfriend's daughter had the same problem and it was just growing pains" or "It sounds like its just growing pains...rub her legs and give her some Motrin and she'll be fine" or anything like that, I just might loose it. I've had a kid with growing pains. I've sat up at night rubbing legs and giving Motrin. And yes, I know that growing pains hurt. I don't doubt that at all. But, I know that there is a big difference between growing pains and the pain Ella is in when she's having an episode or a bad day/night or whatever you want to call it. Anyone who has seen her when she's hurting will tell you that it is not growing pains. I've had EIGHT different doctors say its not growing pains. I know I shouldn't let it bother me. I know that people are just trying to be helpful and reassure me. But, its frustrating and annoying. I WISH it was just growing pains. I wish it was something that simple. But its not. Unless you've actually seen her in pain, you can't really get it. I understand that. I can sit here and say that she's in a lot of pain, or even that she's in excruciating pain. I can say that she can't put any weight on that leg or bend her leg without obviously being in a lot of pain. I can tell you that even once she's able to go back to sleep, she doesn't sleep well and every time she moves in her sleep, she cries out and wakes up from the pain. But, unless you actually see it, you can't really fully grasp it I guess. Its absolutely heartbreaking. And it sucks...it really, really sucks! And no, as much as I wish it was, its not just growing pains. The doctors have given me several reasons why it cannot be growing pains. The main ones are that growing pains don't effect the joints (and her pain is always in one of her knees or her right ankle (its mainly been her knees, but she's had it happen to her right ankle a couple times) and growing pains only happen at night. They don't cause problems during the day. And Ella has had problems during the day. It usually starts after she's been sleeping a while (either at night or naps), which is one of the reasons they are thinking its probably arthritis. A couple of times she's started limping in the afternoon and then it gradually got worse and worse. Growing pains also don't cause swelling or cause the area to be warm to the touch. And while she doesn't always have noticeable swelling, the effected knee/ankle is almost always warm to the touch. I wish it was growing pains. I guess that might be why it is bothering me when people keep saying that's all it is...because I wish that is all it is. Its like a reminder that something else is wrong. I really don't know why its bothering me so much.

So, if you haven't guessed by the vent above, Ella is having a rough time again. Thursday and Friday she woke up in the morning and after her nap and was limping. She said her knee and ankle "felt funny" and hurt a little. She could still walk (with a limp) and it didn't slow her down. The limp gradually went away and I didn't think much of it. Up until then, it had been about 2 weeks since she had any problems. I'd convinced myself that it was just a virus or some fluke thing and whatever it was was over and done with and a thing of the past. Then when she started having problems I knew deep down that her problems weren't over...it wasn't just some fluke thing that had come and gone and was over with. I just didn't really want to admit it. Then yesterday after her nap she woke up with a pretty bad limp. Within 30 minutes or so, she was in pain and couldn't walk on it. I gave her Motrin and she hung out on the couch for a couple hours. Then she was able to start putting a little weight on it and walk around some. It gradually got better. By the time she went to bed she had a little limp, but she was playing normally. Then around 4:00 this morning, I heard her crying. I went to get her and Lilly met me in the hallway. She said that the cat woke her up and then woke Ella up (the cat has been beyond obnoxious early in the morning lately!) and Ella got up to come get in bed with us and her leg is hurting and she fell. Sure enough, Ella was laying in her floor about 2 steps from her bed. She said her knee and her ankle hurt. They were both a little swollen and warm to the touch. We snuggled on the couch for a while and she said "Why does my leg keep hurting? I don't like it when it hurts". I kissed her head and told her I didn't know why it was hurting and I didn't like it either. I don't know why she's hurting and it stinks. I wish we at least had answers and knew what was going on. But we don't. And it stinks. After a little while I took her to bed with me and she fell asleep pretty quickly. She would cry out and woke up several times and I didn't get much sleep at all after that. She hasn't had a really bad night like that in a while. It was like a big slap in the face. Whatever is going on isn't a thing of the past...its still going on. So now we keep searching for answers. Her pediatrician had told me that she would be happy to refer her to a pediatric rheumatologist (since the rheumatologist she went to is a jerk...and admitted that he isn't very familiar with pediatric issues and there is a big difference between rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (although we don't know that's what's going on...all signs are pointing that way, but it could be something else...we just don't know)), so I'm going to call the office tomorrow and ask them to do that. The closest pediatric rheumatologist is in Durham or Chapel Hill..but that's okay. Everyone agrees that it needs to be our next step in figuring all this out, so that's what we'll do. And hopefully we will be able to get some answers and hopefully some ways to help her and prevent it from happening. Its absolutely heartbreaking to see your child in so much pain so often and not be able to do much at all to help (warm baths seem to help more than anything else. When she's hurting she spends a ton of time in the bathtub).

I feel somewhat better now that I've vented like this :) There are a lot of people who are concerned and worried about Ella. I know there are a lot of people who are praying for her and praying that we will get some answers and some ways to help her and it means so much! I really do appreciate all the concern. And deep down I know that even the people who keep insisting that its just growing pains are just trying to be helpful and make me feel better and calm me down. I know I shouldn't let it bother me and I just need to let it go. :)