MRI scheduled

SUCH a difference from scheduling Bug's MRI, LOL.

The sedation nurse called this evening to review the health assessment to ensure Peanut was healthy enough for sedation. After determining her to be healthy enough, she said she'd send the paperwork up to scheduling and they'd call me TONIGHT. She told me that I could choose to do the MRI at the other facility, and explained the differences between the two, which are minor, but did give me cause to consider what I wanted to do.

In a matter of less than an hour scheduling called and we were able to get an appointment fairly soon. I opted for the same facility that did Bug's MRI, the main facility. Hopefully we'll have the answer soon. :)

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MRI called

WOW... The doctor works fast!! LOL

MRI called today and did the initial health survey for Peanut to start the process of clearing her for sedation. :) This is GREAT news.

I totally spaced on calling Bug's neuro today, but before I go to bed I'll call and leave a voicemail for the assistant, she can call tomorrow and talk to BFF who's been fully approved now for discussions.

On another note, the medical supply company that is providing the oximeter for Bug has been very helpful, there was some mix-up, but the therapist is coming out tomorrow and is going to fix it all, set up the machine for us, and FINALLY Bug will be on her oximeter.

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Another Trip to the doctor

Okay, tonight I took Miss Peanut to see our WONDERFUL pediatrician. You know I just LOVE a doctor that sees patients at 7:30 at NIGHT. Anyway, the reason for the appointment was to request that Peanut have an MRI of her brain. See, I know I'm a bit paranoid sometimes, however...

There is a surgery happy ophthalmologist wanting to practice on my Peanut. And I don't feel like it's fully explained yet. Plus, when Bug's neurologist called and told me about Bug having Chiari, many of the symptoms that he mentioned, Peanut had. The more research I did, the more I realized, that Peanut NEEDS to have an MRI and TRY to rule it out.

Chiari COULD account for her vision problems. Chiari COULD account for a lot of things, or she could be Chiari-free. And I don't know, but that is the problem, we NEED to know. I need to know that we are NOT operating on her eyes when they aren't the real problem in the first place!!

The doctor is a very down to earth woman, who doesn't blow me off. She listened to me, and agreed with my reasoning. She said she would work her end on the MRI referral. Meanwhile, I am free to pursue having her seen by neurologist if I want to. If I choose to go that route, she will authorize the referrals.

I am going to call Bug's neurologist and see if he will see Peanut. I don't know that he will, he is a specialist in Epilepsy, and Peanut doesn't have Epilepsy. But I'm hoping that he will take her anyway just because he sees Bug and I don't really want to have multiple neurologists! IF Peanut DOES have Chiari, I KNOW I will insist that she see the same neurosurgeon. My thought right now, I would LIKE to have her seen by the neurologist to make sure there is someone who really knows what to look for when the MRI is done. Having someone I already have a rapport with would be nice too!

Well, I'm off for some much needed rest!!

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Bug's MRI results...

Well, yesterday Bug's neurologist called with the results of her MRI.

It was NOT clean and clear as expected. :( Bug does NOT have any tumors (since everyone asks this right away). She does have a Chiari Malformation.

What is a Chiari you may ask? It's where the cerebellum in her brain has formed improperly and is protruding downward toward the opening in her skull by her spinal column. This website at Children's Hospital Boston gives some pretty good information about Chiari but no pictures. This site Conquer Chiari has a GREAT visual of a NORMAL cerebellum and a Chiari. So that should help you understand what is going on in my Bug's brain!

The neuro said the Chiari COULD be causing some of the seizure activity, but he firmly believes she has both Epilepsy AND Chiari. Mainly because all her previous testing was SO conclusive for the electrical signatures for a seizure, and also because the medication she takes is HELPING.

The biggest current concern with Bug's Chiari is that on the MRI they already could see pockets of fluid, which is a symptom of the Chiari preventing the normal cycling of her cerebro-spinal fluid within her brain and spinal cord. This very likely will require a shunt to be placed. For that reason we will be meeting with a FANTASTIC neurosurgeon later this month.

Due to some information I have found that there is a SMALL chance of it being genetic (and even her neuro said that yesterday), and the fact that Peanut's Ophthalmologist wants her to have eye surgery, I am getting Peanut into the Pediatrician next week to talk about having her have an MRI. I want it done ASAP. She exhibits some of the signs of a Chiari, including eye problems. I do NOT want to operate on her eyes only to discover that her problem never was her eyes but was her brain. Fortunately, I think the pediatrician, who already knows I am not comfortable with having Peanut's eye's operated on, will agree with me.

For now though, we are just in status quo mode for the most part. Bug doesn't know anything is wrong with her. I have to watch and call the neuro if certain symptoms present themselves, and make sure she doesn't ride any roller coasters (wasn't gonna happen anyway LOL).

I definitely ask everyone for their prayers to help us get through whatever is put in front of us, and for the doctors treating both my little girls. That God will guide them and give them the wisdom, skill, and knowledge they need to do what is BEST for the girls.

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B90, Monday Morning Check-in, Day 32

Yeah, okay, I am behind, AGAIN. *sigh*

I'm actually typing this Sunday night, as a scheduled post. I am getting ready to sit down and watch the pro-bowl with my Bible in hand. I'm not that interested in the pro-bowl this year. Going into it I am reading Day 27 and SHOULD be doing or done with Day 31. SEVERAL days behind. I'm hoping to be able to post a better update after the game.

***EDIT*** As of bedtime I was done with Day 28 and moving onto Day 29. So in the morning I will have Day's 29, 30, 31, and 32 to do. I will just plow through whatever I can before leaving for work. ***END EDIT***
***morning edit*** I've finished Day 29 now. ***end edit***

My excuses for being behind:

Monday: Bug's MRI had me at Children's Hospital all day, I did get some reading accomplished but not enough. **Morning edit** It's 10:40 am and I just got off the phone with Bug's neurologist. Her MRI was NOT clear like we'd hoped. I'm shaking and I know I'm in shock. I can't explain it all right now, but he is referring us to the surgical team. It's not a sure thing that she will NEED or HAVE surgery, this is a precaution so they have seen her and we have met them just in case. Can you please all add this to your prayer lists?? Thanks ***end edit***
Tuesday: Peanut had an eye appointment and I was told she needed surgery, it has put me into a tailspin and I'm still recovering from it.
Wednesday: work from 10-4, splitting headache ensued, just not able to concentrate.
Thursday: out of the house very early, did some reading in the car while waiting on BFF to finish her test, but the was busy busy then at work.
Friday: Work.
Sabbath: Managed to actually get a day and a half's worth of reading done, have a blog to post about it, but haven't yet. :) that's about it.
Today: grocery shopping and much needed time relaxing. LOL

Peanut's eye situation really has my wheels spinning and I could use some extra prayers for God's guidance and wisdom on that. Here's the two posts that sum up the bulk of what's been going on: Peanut's Eye Appointment and More thoughts on Peanut's Eye's. But here's a really quick summary:

One of my twin daughter's "Peanut" has a wandering eye, it outwardly turns SOMETIMES. I asked to have her seen for it back in September after having NUMEROUS people point it out for about 18 months. She was given a poor prognosis but the doctor felt glasses would help. So we put her in glasses and saw her again in December. In December the doctor felt she'd degraded and wanted us to patch Peanut's "better" eye and come back in a month. We had to push off the appointment for an extra 2 weeks because Peanut was sick, so it was 6 weeks between appointments. Both the first 2 appointments were lengthy and I felt the doctor had given us a fair evaluation. THIS appointment however was VERY rushed and she pronounced with very little examination of Peanut that Peanut had degraded more and needed Surgery. She explained the risks, never ASKED if I was okay with this or needed to think about it or talk to anyone about it. And then practically PUSHED me out the door. I told her that Peanut HAD to see her Pulmonologist before ANYTHING could happen, Peanut has Reactive Airway Disease, and putting her out for surgery is RISKY to say the least. And she indicated that this was no problem, it would take a few weeks for her surgical assistant to be in touch anyway. Her assistant called less than 24 hours later.

I don't feel right about this. I just don't. The two posts listed above will give pretty good details about what happened, is happening, etc.

I know this is a little off the topic, but I really do need the prayers for this situation. Thank you so much ladies!!!! :)

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More thoughts on Peanut's Eye's

Well, after more thoughts and considerations and events of today, I have reaffirmed one thing, I most DEFINITELY want that second opinion.

The longer I think about how yesterday's appointment went, the LESS comfortable I become with letting my baby be operated on. The more I think about WHAT the doctor said versus HOW my daughter acts, what I SEE her eyes doing, etc., the less comfortable I become with letting her be operated on.

Peanut's pediatrician called this evening, I spoke with her for about 10 minutes about it. She read over some of the notes from the eye doctor, and even she says she does NOT understand why they eye doctor is wanting to operate on both eyes.

So, my plan is to call the insurance tomorrow and ask if this facility the pediatrician recommended is acceptable for a second opinion. And if so, make an appointment and get the referral. Next I will call Peanut's REGULAR ophthalmologist back and request another appointment, one where she will take her time on Peanut. No rushing this time. I feel this appointment was MUCH too rushed. I want her re-examined and I want EVERYTHING explained to me. WHY we should operate, why we should operate now instead of later, why we should operate over other non-surgical therapies, why we should continue to patch her right eye when there has been significant degradation of the left eye since we started patching, and why we need to operate on BOTH eyes when everything I've heard (or her pediatrician read in the notes) says the problem is in the LEFT eye only, also, why are we jumping into surgery for an "intermittent" problem (per the doctor's own notes as read to me by the pediatrician). Yes, LOTS of questions that I want answers to.

Peanut is so young, and her eye sight is too precious to me. I took her to be seen to PROTECT her eye sight, and my concern is that if we operate right now that we are NOT doing what is BEST for PEANUT, we are doing what is most convenient for the doctor.

If I get the answers I want, and am comfortable with all of them, and the second opinion yields the same basic answers (namely, yes, we should operate, and what eye(s) we should operate on, and basically WHY we should), then we will go forward with it.

I was a little irritated too when BFF told me that the eye doctor's surgical assistant called today. She had told me it would be a few weeks. She knows Peanut MUST be seen by her Pulmonologist FIRST. So I will call the assistant back, and tell them that I will be seeing the doctor again before making a decision about surgery, and that I will also be getting a second opinion before making a decision, and finally, we will be seeing and being cleared by her Pulmonologist before making a final decision about surgery. THEN when I clear all three of those hurdles, I'll be happy to call the assistant back. The assistant probably won't be happy, but this momma is NOT going to let anyone else tell me what is best for MY daughter.

My claws are out, I do NOT feel right about this course of action. Something just is not right here. It may be that surgery is the best choice, but something doesn't feel right, I haven't been given a thorough explanation. And until I get that explanation and this feeling goes away NO ONE touches my baby girl with a scalpel!!!

K, I feel a LITTLE better now...

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Peanut's Eye Appointment

Well... Let's see if I can sum this up shortly...

Arrived to her appointment ON TIME. Finally got called back more than 45 minutes later. Now this was scheduled as a follow up. But the last follow up was more than 2 hours long. This time we were in and out in 30 minutes.

But in that 30 minutes the doctor informed me that Peanut needed surgery. I was shocked, stunned, sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to do other than nod and listen to the doctor explain the risks of the surgery.

I feel that it's a bit rushed. I question it. I am getting a second opinion.

I WANT and NEED to do what's best for her, but I'm not totally sure that surgery is the best option RIGHT NOW. As soon as I am CERTAIN that surgery is, then we'll go there.

My issue is that this is the ONLY set of eyes she'll ever get. Eyes are not the same as other body parts. A scar isn't just a mark that looks different. It affects her SIGHT. And therefore her quality of life.

I'm praying to God to give my the wisdom and strength to make the right choices for Miss Peanut.

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Eyes and sick baby update 4

Peanuts Eye appoint did not go as expected. We had been seeing improvement initially, but literally in the last couple days, we've seen turn out in her left eye again. And according to the doctor, it's more severe than before. :( She felt that Peanuts prescription on her glasses was fine. Since it was an early morning appointment she shouldn't have been drifting from being too tired. SOOO... She does not want to jump the gun on anything, so we are going to try patching her right eye an hour a day, doesn't seem like much, but she thinks the benefits will be worth it. And we will see her again in one month.

If we don't start seeing improvement, we are going to have to consider surgery. I do not want to have to do surgery. :(

We called Bug's pediatrician's office while we were on the way to the eye appointment because poor Bug's mouth is just so full of sores that it is a challenge to get her to drink at all now. We tried to brush her teeth this morning and she screamed with pain and started to bleed. So that ended rather abruptly. Poor baby girl. So when they called back we had to wait until the afternoon. But I was just glad to get her in at all. We got in and I was a little concerned about possible thrush. That was cleared up, she does not have thrush. As for the sores, they are EVERYWHERE in her mouth. I'd cry and refuse to eat or drink too if my mouth looked like that!!! My poor Bug!! So the Nurse Practitioner gave me a recipe to mix up to swab her mouth with to help so she can comfortably eat and drink. She also told me that basically ANY food or drink she will take is considered good right now. Ice Cream, applesauce, yogurt, popsicles, gatorade, juice, mashed potatoes, rice, bananas... soft, smooth, low salt foods. Cold food were also recommended.

BFF asked a dear friend of ours for some Pediasure. Just because it would give Bug some extra nutrition. She gave us some and Bug drank 2 bottles of it tonight!!! YAY for Bug!!!! :) And she ate some corn at dinner and a little bit of shredded to itty bitty teeny tiny bits chicken. BFF kept on her about water, and she had her couple of spoonfuls of applesauce with her medicines this evening.

The NP told me we really really SHOULD be at the peak of this DAM* thing, and she should start to feel better soon and if I don't see serious improvement by Friday to please bring her back, or if she stops urinating or having bowel movements as these are signs she's not hydrated.

Her other concern was how very very sleepy she seemed. I think Bug is just trying to sleep her way thru the pain, but also, if you had been this ill, wouldn't you be tired. If your body has been fighting this hard, you'd be sleepy too. But it is a little concerning I suppose. So she said if the sleepiness doesn't improve or gets worse to bring her back.

I really love this peds practice. They have been pretty good to us overall. :)

Please continue to pray for Miss Bug to feel better soon :) Thank you :)

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Needed a break

Hi to all my bloggy readers.

I promise I didn't forget about any of you. I just had to take a bit of a break. I felt like my whole like had been on a roller coaster lately and I really needed to apply the brakes and slow it all down as much as possible. I needed to concentrate on my little girls in a HAPPY and HEALTHY way (in other words on THEM, not their illnesses). And I needed to concentrate on ME too.

Here's the brief rundown of my past week:

Monday, October 19th: Bug got her EEG removed, JOY!!!! I worked a 6 hour shift at work! :)

Tuesday, October 20th: We dropped off Bug's prescription which would need to be special ordered and we went to pick up Peanut and Duck's glasses. Duck had been so excited but then seemed almost unhappy about them. Peanut who had been a little more indifferent about them all along was still a little more indifferent but has accepted and tolerated her glasses better. Then I worked a 6 hour shift.

Wednesday, October 21st: I left for work for a 6 hour shift and BFF and the kids dropped off her DH at the airport for an overnight trip for work. That night I got angry, and I don't even remember what caused the anger, and barreled down the hallway in the dark and kicked a crate I didn't know was there. I apparently nearly removed the toenail from the big toe. I didn't realize this though at first. It took a few minutes til I looked down and saw copious amounts of blood on the comforter on the ground (at least it wasn't the carpet). Finally I accepted what had happened and BFF and I got me patched up and I took something for the then THROBBING pain.

Thursday, October 22nd: Foot in INTENSE pain, realize I cannot put MOST of the shoes I own on, including my Uggs. Or work shoes... Thank goodness I didn't have to go to work. But I could wear my crocs. I had to take Peanut to the doctor. I got her seat moved into the Sports car and off we went. She was seeing the Pulmonologist about her Respiratory Airway Disease. RAD is a catch all term for asthma like condition that isn't really asthma. In Peanut's case, when she gets sick, such as a cold, it gets BAD, she wheezes, til she can't really breathe and I end up giving her albuterol treatments. So anyway. The appointment went very well. She was extremely healthy this week which was actually a good thing. because we were able to get a good baseline HEALTHY chest x-ray, so if she does get sick there's something to compare it too. The doctor said if you tried to tell him this child was healthy he would tell you that you were CRAZY, but that if you told him this child was an RAD child he'd tell you this was a perfectly normal, healthy x-ray.

We discussed medication. He is happy with Albuterol for abortive treatments, as we have been doing. He and I discussed how many times she's been on oral steroids (fortunately not too many times, I am EXTREMELY opposed to having her on steroids if I can avoid it, as I worry about what they are doing to her, but I do see the need sometimes.) He suggested putting her on a daily inhaled steroid for maintenance. In many ways this goes against EVERYTHING for me. Because I HATE having my child on steroids. BUT... he and I had quite a lively discussion about it. It went something like this...

Albuterol is a steroid too. But I am totally willing to use it because bluntly if she's having an attack I HAVE to stop it. So... if she has a cold and it lasts, lets say 5 days, that's a good average for her, and I have to give her 3 treatments a day, that's 15 treatments per cold. Now then, if she has 2 colds per month, again, about average for her, she is receiving about 30 doses of the steroid in albuterol. Now then... the point of the maintenance medication is to hopefully keep her from needing as many if any treatments of albuterol when she gets sick.

So... if she gets one dose daily of the maintenance med (approx 30 doses per month), vs. 30 or more doses of albuterol in a month... well, she's getting the same, if not LESS steroid in a month... LOL At least that's the theory. So in the end I agreed that she was probably better off on the maintenance med, so we discussed which one and put her onto Flovent for the winter.

Come spring if she has had a good winter we will discuss other possibilities, such as allergy testing. Her environment from last winter to this winter has changed dramatically so I am concerned that she is possibly allergic to things that were present before and are not now. If that is true I want to know so we can avoid putting those things BACK into her environment!

The rest of Thursday was a kick back enjoy ourselves kind of day until late late late when we all went to the airport to pick up BFF's DH.

Friday, October 23rd: Despite an extremely late night for everyone we had an early morning as BFF, her DH and their DS3 has to get up pretty early for a doctor's appointment for DS3 in Boston. They were under the impression that it would be just a shorter morning appointment, but it ended up being 2 appointments and they were gone all morning. The kids at home were pretty good for me overall though and I suggested we take them all out for a treat! We dropped BFF's DH at work and went to Target to pick up a few things and the kids were totally different. They had been GREAT for me at home but then they weren't at the store. *sigh* Oh well.

Saturday, October 24th: Blessed Sabbath: Raining like cats and dogs. We headed off to church and enjoyed a wonderful Sabbath. It was nice. BFF and I spent part of he afternoon with a friend for her birthday. And then we took the kids to a birthday party that evening that evening for a little boy from church (after sundown). It was great fun. It was a bounce house facility. ALL the kids had a blast! :)

Sunday, October, 25th: We went to Tougas Farms to pick apples. We went with the Framingham Centre Church Adventurer Group, but our Twin Club was there as well. :) We primarily stuck to the Adventurer's as BFF and I are Little Lambs Leaders and 6 of our 7 kids are in Adventurer's. Plus, the Adventurer's were actually going apple picking as a group, the twin club wasn't. After the apple picking we did "make an appearance" at the twin club area and sign in. All the kids had a fun time. BFF's mom arrived in the evening.

Monday, October 26th: We had a fairly un productive morning in some aspects. LOL we got some stuff done but overall we did very little LOL BFF's mom left for NYC for work about half an hour before I left for work. I worked my shift, my toe hurt pretty good, but I made it through.

Today: I have phone calls to make and errands to run, then a 6 hour shift to work. Hopefully my toe will hurt less today. One can only hope right?

So that is my week (plus) :)

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Another stressful day.

Today was the day the girls had their appointments at ophthalmology. Both were being seen for possible lazy eye though really Bug's was just a precaution. It was very unlikely she had it. The good news is, she was given a "clean" bill of eye health with nearly perfect vision in both eyes.

The BAD news is that Peanut was given a very very different outcome. She has lazy eye, much worse than I had thought. It is in BOTH eyes, and needs correction quickly. It is very pronounced. Her vision itself is not overly bad... yet. Though one of her eyes is nearly as bad as one of mine!!! The doctor gave me a prescription for glasses. The hope is that the glasses will correct the lazy eye(s) sufficiently that minimal further treatment is required. She will go back in 2 months to be seen again and see how she is doing with the glasses. If the glasses are not helping the next option is surgery. I was expecting the glasses to an extent, but not to be told possibly surgery!!!! Patching, not surgery!!!

To make it worse, our insurance coverage for glasses is minimal and we've found it better to just find a good deal on children's glasses than to deal with the co-pay's etc to USE the insurance. SO... While I was at work BFF took Peanut and her Duck (who also has the same problem though not quite as severe fortunately) to look at glasses. They picked out some nice glasses. My little Peanut will be sporting some cute pink specs in a week. She is quite excited about them apparently. I really hope it helps. :)

Financially, this is draining me more than anyone can imagine. I need to find a money tree and fast!!! NUMEROUS trips to numerous doctors, parking, prescriptions, medic alert bracelets for tiny wrists, glasses... I don't know what will come next and bluntly I'm SCARED TO FIND OUT. But... as my facebook status currently says, I am practicing faith building exercises while praying for money for glasses for Savannah, medic alert bracelet for Elisabeth, and numerous other medical expenses associated with their new found medical conditions. I WILL HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL PROVIDE!!

And I will. Because I know that God will provide for us. :)

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The rest of the outcome of yesterday's appointment...

I promised I would tell what was recommended and left to come yet, but was too tired, so here goes:

The doctor has recommended medication, but did not prescribe any as of yesterday. He sent me home with medication information packets about the med he wants her to be on and the vitamin he would also put her on with it to counteract some of the side effects to her body. He wants me to think it over, read up on the meds, talk about it with the people in her life, and make a decision and call him back. As I’ve realized in the last 24 hours that it appears she’s actually having multiple seizures a day, I’ll probably end up going with the medication.

She is going to be having a 48 hour ambulatory eeg next weekend. It’ll be like the eeg this past week, except not sleep deprived. LOL She’ll go in Friday afternoon and have the wires attached and all the stuff will be in a little backpack for the monitor. She’ll wear it all weekend long and then will have it removed on Monday morning. They hope to catch an actual seizure during the monitoring. This test will be a little annoying for her as her head will be totally wrapped up and she’ll have to carry the monitor with her everywhere, but, overall, it’s no big deal.

She will be having a sedated MRI, just to be 100% certain that there is nothing physically wrong. The doctor is fairly certain the MRI will come back normal, but it is a precaution to be sure they haven’t missed something. She has to be sedated because she is too young to stay still for an hour. I am not totally happy about that part of it. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that she NEEDS to be sedated. I also know how I react to sedation/general anesthesia. I pray, and ask everyone else to pray that she does NOT react that way. As she will be quite miserable if that is the case. I usually wake up from anesthesia vomiting. I can only hope that she doesn’t.

She is also going to have a hearing test done. Ironically, this doesn’t relate really to the seizures themselves. Well, not totally. Her doctor said that many epilepsy patients do have some hearing issues. He doesn’t believe that the type of seizures Bug is having would really effect her hearing. However, he did note that her speech is just a LITTLE off. Her vocabulary is fine, but her words sound a little off, almost as though her words aren’t quite whole. So since he can use the seizures as a loophole basically, he ordered a hearing test for her.

He said we may consider some more testing later, including some genetic testing. But for now that is it. I now have a slight concern that I may want to consider having her sister Peanut checked just in case. They are fraternal twins, not identical, but I still just wonder.

Of course Peanut, Bug, and BFF's DD Duck all have appointments this week with the Ophthalmologist regarding possible lazy eye. Peanut and Duck are almost definitely going to get the diagnosis. In Peanut’s case, I’ve been TRYING to get a referral for a while, back when we were still down in Kentucky. But I’m here now and we have it. Bug is 99% clear though. It’s a precaution. Her neurologist saw no sign of it and said he doubts they will find it but is glad that she’ll get that nice thorough check anyway.

Peanut still have her appointment later this month with the respiratory specialist to see about how her reactive airway disease is doing and if we are moving her into the realm of asthma or not yet. I will keep you all updated on that later in the month.

I want to thank everyone who's been praying for us, it means a lot to me.

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So tired, so worn out...

It's been another crazy busy month.

The girls saw their new pediatrician's office for the first time up here earlier this month. They are growing well and have finally made it into the 25th percentile for height and weight. Per my request, Peanut is being referred out to Children's Hospital for Respiratory services. She has Reactive Airway Disease. This is a fancy way of basically saying she has asthma that only shows up when she gets sick, like a cold. The problem is, that because of it, when she gets a simple cold, it's NOT simple!!!!! The other problem is that we have begun to notice little things that indicate it is moving beyond RAD and into a more traditional asthma like condition. Sometimes when she runs a lot, or is giggling from being tickled she'll cough and wheeze. So we NEED to get that checked on and keep it under control.

Both girls are being referred out for possible lazy eye. Really, again, this is Peanut, but the Nurse Practitioner they saw felt it would be a good idea to have Bug checked too. I agreed.

The girls dental insurance cards arrived today and their first dentist appointments have been made. So yeah, they have another busy month ahead of them.

I slept funny about a week and a half ago and my whole back and neck have been messed up ever since.

Work has been, well, work. I have blog-able material, but bluntly, I'm not in the mood to think about it anymore tonight.

The twin club tag sale was this past weekend and we did pretty well. BFF and I spent a combined total of just over $300. Now before you choke... This is for two mom's shopping for a combined total of 6 children (one of her kids got nada). Here's the overall take on our "loot":
-a 6 speed bicycle which needs minimal work to be used as a christmas gift for someone
-2 small tables with chalkboard tops
-5 pairs of snow boots
-7-9 pair of regular shoes for the girls (including 2 pairs of REAL crocs for $4 per pair!!)
-some puzzles and games
-4 pair of VERY gently used size 10 Slim jeans for BFF's skinny DS1.
-Several church dresses for the girls
-Christmas dresses for BFF's girls (my girls will now inherit the dresses BFF has been holding onto for 2 years that her girls do not fit. They are beautiful and I'm honored that my girls will be able to wear them).
-and some other misc clothes for 2 of BFF's sons and all four girls. We picked up some non denim for the girls, some sweaters, and a few "way too cute" things. Also we got some lighter weight coats as snow gear isn't good ALL the time! LOL

Really, when you boil it right down, it's about $50 per child, which isn't too bad!!!! We were happy with our purchases.

Well, i need to call my mom and let her know I'm still alive. :) LOL

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New layout!

Well, I have a new blog layout, let me know what you think of it.

Job A caused me a bit of stress the other day. Our newly promoted Assistant Store Manager came out of the office and barked at all of us that we needed to cut the chatter to get the work done. It upset me because bluntly, we CAN talk and work. We open packages of clothes and put them on either a hanging rack or folding rack. We are in close quarters and we're almost exclusively female. But we all quieted down and worked. "New Girl" (NG) and I were working together and really, we were busting it out. We went through 20 boxes in 20 minutes. This is no small feat. We unload the box, open the packaging, sort, and size the clothing. There's usually 25-50 items per box, we were FLYING through these boxes at warp speed. But it was all for naught as we got a "group" lecture after the shift that we (summarized) hadn't gotten it done (NG and I got OUR assignment done) and that since we talk too much and the music OBVIOUSLY distracts us, we will no longer be allowed to have music and if we talk we will be given verbal warnings. *sigh* I was pretty upset about it. I truly feel that a formerly nice, fun, "cool" manager got promoted and is now trying to "prove" that she's worthy. And she took it out on our team.

I decided that in regards to this situation I'm just going to keep doing my job. I KNOW I was doing my job properly and plenty fast enough. And so I will just keep doing it. Most of the time they give me only ONE shift per week anyway. As long as I have one shift per month, I keep my discount. In MANY respects, that discount is the ONLY reason I continue to work there. I buy clothes for the WHOLE family there. And 25% off is a NICE chunk to be relieved of. As I said in my previous blog, I am trying to start being more minimalist. I try to not buy too much new clothing, but the fact is, we have to buy some sometimes. So I need to keep this job so I keep the discount. If it truly becomes an unbearable environment I will leave there will full 2 weeks notice. This way I could still re-hire with the company when we move.

One of the supervisors from Job A called yesterday late afternoon while I was at Job B. Fortunately Job B supervisor was cool since it was slow and she let me walk out and take the call. Job A sup was calling to tell me my shift this morning was canceled because the store didn't have the hours to give me. I said that was fine. Bluntly, they usually give me 5 hours a week, this week, the 2 days I've worked are already 7 1/2 hours. So I really didn't mind NOT working this morning!!! LOL

Nothing new to report on Job B really. I will go to both Jobs today to get my schedules for next week. I'm supposed to be Service Desk training at Job B. My schedule will tell me :)

My cake class started on Wednesday night. Although this class kinda was boring, because the students had nothing to do. But we are to bring a cake to class this week to work on. YAY

BFF's DS1 has a birthday this Monday, and BFF is going to have me do the cake. She's going to help me, so it'll be fine! LOL I'm excited about that cake, a NASCAR themed cake for him. And my class cake will be a picture transfer thingy, I'll explain the details on the HOW later! I have a VERY dear friend of mine emailing me the picture today for my transfer. I LOVE this image so much that it's been tattoo'd on my back for the last 6+ years!!! LOL But I don't have a good drawing of it to use for the cake, so she's sending it to me. She designed it! LOL

Anyway, this week is another baptism at church, and I'm looking forward to it. :)

Well, we have a lot to do this afternoon. Hopefully BFF can go get her contacts today, I need to get both my work schedules, and we need to go buy one more thing for the cakes. well, hopefully only one more LOL. I'm seriously debating buying a pair of jeans at work, because I have an employee's only coupon for any pair for $19 PLUS our employee discount of 25%. This brings my total down to $14.25. A pair runs between $29.50 and $34.50 making this at LEAST 50% off in the end. I don't NEED more jeans, especially in my current sizes. I'm considering buying a pair the next size down though. It's a risk, but I AM losing weight, so I will fit them eventually! LOL

OFF I go to do stuff!

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