Christmas 2010

Hopefully for the last year, we were without Daddy again this Christmas Eve. The kids and I went to "Aunt" Cindy's for dinner and Lexi got her dream gift . . . a gumball machine! Frankie ate dinner with Great-Grandpa Bud and Henry played with Frankie's new dinosaurs with Cousin Kelley.

Christmas Eve night Grandma and Papa stayed at our house to be here when Santa came. Papa was asleep within 5 minutes on Frankie's bottom bunk but Grandma had a more squirmy night sleeping with Lexi!

After opening presents, Grandma and Lexi played her new Trouble game and the kids loved riding in the Jeep Santa brought!

Sight Words . . . Check!

Lexi memorized all 50 of her Kindergarten sight words recently and her reward was taking a friend to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids all loved it and now she's ready to start learning the 1st grade words!

GI Clinic Report

Because of two cancellations, we were able to get Henry in to Children's Mercy's GI Clinic more than a month before originally scheduled! Here's the report . . .

1) Thanks so much to our wonderful neighbors who agreed to watch Lexi and Frankie (and take Lexi to school!) so Frank and I could both go to the appointment!

2) We loved the doctor! Female, our age, with a daughter named Lexi!

3) First step is more stool samples (my favorite!). These will be testing for fat, sugar, etc. that would confirm or rule out mal-absorbtion (ie: if there's a lot of fat in his stool, his body's not absorbing the fat he eats, etc.).

4) As of the car ride home, Henry's on a high-fat diet. That means hot dogs, cheese, all the whole milk he wants, Ritz crackers, cookies (thanks, Michelle, for the Christmas cookies he ate on the way home!).

5) If the stool samples are all negative, the next step is a colonoscopy to look for physical problems.

We'll keep you posted!

Tummy Trouble - Update

6 months of chronic diarrhea

+ 2 allergy panels

+ 3 weeks of no dairy

+ 8 vials of blood drawn

+ 4 vials of stool sample

= a referral to the GI Clinic at Children's Mercy.

Henry's doctor is concerned with his weight loss and anemia and is out of tests to run. He believes it to be a problem with his system not absorbing the nutrients he takes in. We were able to get a cancellation appointment for Dec. 30 and are still on the list in case there's an opening sooner. In the meantime, we're still buying stock in diaper rash cream!