Rory update

Anybody that hasn't heard about Rory's fight with myriad medical issues must have also sat in the back row at all their classes and been happy with a "D-" on the report card. START PAYING ATTENTION ALREADY.

This week she had another acupuncture session, which I'm sure she will write about when she comes out of shock. As that same appointment, however, her doctor did go over some lab results from some testing they did. Turns out that her Vitamin D level was OFF THE CHARTS. Off the BOTTOM of that chart, that is. This is a strong indicator of a reason for her depression, so we're hoping that the Vitamin D supplements she is starting will help her make the turn.

Another lab result was low selinium (or something like that) which is probably causing her sleep issues. All she has to do is figure out a way to stomach fish oil (remember "cod liver oil" from your parent's growing-up stories?) and oily Brazil nuts every day. If it helps her sleep through the night it's totally worth it. Maybe I can even include the nuts as a medical expense come tax time.

Thursday was also Kaeli's birthday, and she and Rory had been planning a trip to the coast for forever. Sounds like the weather was perfect, and they had a grand time. Watch for updates from her, hopefully to include some photos.

Today was also the ORCA lottery. For those who are only just now starting to pay attention, we've been trying to enroll the kids in a virtual public charter school (a home-based public school program). After weighing all the factors we decided as a family that this was our best choice because of all the awesome courses to choose from, and 99% of the negative stuff kids have to go through at regular public school would be avoided. Then we found out the state legislature was pushing a bill through to basically shut down virtual public charters. After many phone calls, emails, letters, and even a trip to the capitol building, the bill that was finally passed only limits the school's enrollment to the number enrolled at the end of last year. Still not great, but much better than what the teachers' union was asking for. Anyway, Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA) is limited to about 2600 kids for the upcoming school year, but only 500 of those would be available "slots" to new students (the rest are reserved for those returning from last year). Since they had about 1000 applications, they used a lottery system to determine who gets in. One good thing: if a child was selected in the lottery, all his/her siblings would automatically be enrolled too. Well, I got an email saying that WE WON THE LOTTERY. School starts August 27 right here in our kitchen.

I'm still hopeful we can be on the road Saturday headed toward Utah. It's going to be a long day Friday to get everything packed, bulletins printed, Sunday meeting agendas prepared, work wrapped up, etc. Wish us luck!

Preston

KIDS DR. APPOINTMENTS

Do you ever have those moments in life when it seems like you are running back and forth to the Dr office non-stop? We have had that recently......

Ceana had 2 appts on the same day last week. She was thrilled at her orthodontic appt that she will be getting her braces off within a month! Look out candy here she comes :) She was a bit apprehensive about the retainer she will have to still wear though. Esp not knowing how long she is going to have it. Prob will not be a big deal though, it will just take some getting used to. She is really excited to be able to eat "normally" again and even be able to eat some of her favorite treats that have been off limits. It will be some more adventure and some reward too for how well she has done with them on.
She also did really great with her last set of immunizations. Our cute little nurse was all prepared for any mishaps and we had real food in the car for ceana after her appt. Ceana did great though and we were able to keep the appt short as hoped. Thankfully that is the last set of immunizations for a good long while.

Yesterday Kelsianne had her 4 month check-up. Her new nickname is going to be Miss SUPER Chubbers! She weighs just under 15lbs and is in the 75% for all her measurements. Our Dr said she is the size of an EIGHT month old - which would explain why she is growing out of clothes and diapers so quickly! We were excited to find out that we can go ahead and start her on rice cereal and if all goes well we can introduce her to fruits and veggies too! Hopefully she will do well with the cereal and that will help with curbing her constant fountain of spitting up. Hopefully that will help with getting her to sleep through the night again too (I have been up since 2AM since she decided it was just time to be awake and eat even after feeding her TWO bottles at 930 last night)
We discovered that she has a slight case of baby excema too. Hopefully just lotion will do the trick but we will keep an eye on her this winter as temp changes can effect her skin more.
She was not a happy camper to have to get FIVE immunizations. Our cute nurse does a great job though and she is super fast. Overall Kels had a great appt and is doing really well and unless any concerns come up she wont have another appt until November.

We have been to Dr offices recently for Kaeli too.. She has hers ears pierced but we have discovered that she has inheirited metal allergies from my side of the family. She is my "girly" girl and was devastated to think she would have to give up her jewelry. My sister-in-law sweetly stepped in and bought Kaeli some 24ct earrings - 24ct is supposed to be completely non-allergenic. In the past few weeks she has developed a nasty infection in both ears that we have barely kept under control with keeping them extra clean and a triple antibiotic cream. Our doctor said she may just be one of those who is just going to be allergic to every metal no matter what and that we will for sure need to keep a close eye on her to be sure the infection doesnt spread. If we cant get it cleared up and under control she may have to give up her earrings. Our dr did mention the possibility of getting plastic coating to go over the earring studs - we may have to look into that too. Kaeli would really be heart-broken to not have her earrings - they are really the one thing she enjoys.
Today we ended up on one of those "we wasted how much time going back and forth to the dr and there is nothing wrong?" trips. Kaeli has been having a hard time with her head gear and we thought she had damaged it in her last bike crash. She went into work extra early with preston so he could get her to her appt and then I drove down to get her after I dropped the boys off at school. I got a call from Preston when I was almost to Corvallis to tell me they were done and there was nothing wrong after all....lovely. It is sitting better over her teeth but it still doesnt look right somehow. She was told everything was fine though. She missed 2 1/2 classes and we drove 1 hr for her to be in the office for all of 2 minutes to tell us nothing was wrong - auggghhhh! What a way to start a day!
All of these appts have happened in the last several days. We are hoping we are done now for awhile - with a household of busy kiddos though and cold and flu season already upon us I imagine we will still do our share of bouncing back and forth to the dr. offices...
We will just keep chugging along and we will do the best we can to be patient through all the challenges and find the positive in all the chaos.
That is all for now - will post again soon to share more of our adventures!