Update/Procrastination

I'm supposed to be working on homework right now, so I decided it would be a good time to update the blog since I haven't been on here in a while.

Rubin: We finally think we have figured everything out!! Long story short, some of his medications were his biggest problem, he isn't taking them anymore and he feels great. We finally went to the specialist today and he gave us great news. According to him (and he is one of the best Crohn's doctors in the country), Rubin's prognosis looks great. His prediction is that he shouldn't have any more issues for at least 10 years or so. He gave him 4 things to do: stop taking his medication b/c it's not doing anything for him right now since he is in remission, get some sun (which I interpret as going on vacation to a beach somewhere, but Rubin disagrees), take a vitamin, and make sure he chews his food completely. SO, hopefully we continue to get great news and our lives can be normal again.
Brayden: is awesome! He is getting so big and thinks he knows everything. He constantly cracks me up and is so much fun. Quick story: the other night he wanted me to drive but Rubin was. Rather than deal with answering "why?" over and over, we told him that I didn't have my driver's license with me so I couldn't drive or the cops would give me a ticket. Well then we talked about his day at school, and a policeman had come that day to talk to his class. He was wearing a badge sticker, so I asked him if he was a police officer. He told me no, that he couldn't be because he didn't have a driver's license so he couldn't drive a police car or a fireman might give him a ticket. Anyway, not that funny now that I just wrote it, but we thought it was hilarious at the time. He is just too smart.
Cameron: is almost 8 months old and is getting more and more fun by the day. He says dada all the time, and only says mama in the form of a scream, so I don't think it really counts. He is laughing and smiling and ADORES his big brother. I have honestly been trying not to teach him to crawl because I like being able to put him down and know that he will still be sitting there when I get back, but those days are now officially over. He's not crawling, but is rolling all over the place.
Me: same ol' same ol' - working, going to school and being a mom
Okay so this is much longer than I anticipated - sorry. Really don't want to do this homework. I'll try and get on more often and then they can be shorter :)

Family

Just got home last night from a trip to Arkansas for my grandma's funeral. She passed away on Saturday after living a wonderful, very long life. She would have turned 92 this coming Monday. This woman raised 10 kids with tons of love and made the most beautiful quilts I have ever seen. She just made a very detailed cross-stitched baby blanket for Cameron when he was born and I am so lucky to have it. I think he is the last great-grandchild that she made one for. As hard as it was to lose my last grandparent, I sat there and watched my dad deal with losing his mom, and I can't imagine losing one of my parents. We knew this was coming, but no matter how "prepared" you are for it, or how old you are, it is never easy to lose a parent. It was so much harder to get on that plane yesterday to come back home after being with my family for a few days. I never want to take them for granted and hope they know how much I love and appreciate them. I truly am blessed and have the most amazing family in the world. I love spending time with them and saying good-bye is still so hard each time. I really wish I lived closer so I could see them more often. For now I guess Skype will have to do...
On another note, trying to teach a 4 year old about death is not easy. I started with telling him that great-grandma was up in heaven with Jesus, which he seemed okay with. Then we went to the funeral home and she was in the casket. He looked at me, spread his arms out, and asked, "Mommy, is this Jesus?". So confusing for a little kid...

I'm back...for now

It's been a while since I have posted - things have been crazy around here! What has happened since my last post...
We went to Arkansas for a week
Rubin started back to work
Took the boys to the Indiana Dunes
Took the boys downtown Chicago - train, Millenium Park, Navy Pier, water taxi
My sister went back to Arkansas
So You Think You Can Dance ended
Went shopping about a million times - twice to IKEA
Finished grad school class (got an A!)
Cam has grown like a foot! He's huge!
Cam has learned to sit up and has started trying to crawl

We have been keeping busy, and as much as I love the summer and miss my sister, I am ready to settle into a routine of some sort. Brayden starts preschool in 2 weeks, and I would LOVE to get our family on some sort of schedule between now and then. Right now I feel like we just do whatever, whenever. The next month or so of work is going to be insane, but because I'm working so many weekends I will have a few extra days off during the week and I'm looking forward to time with my boys!

A non-Crohn's update

So here is a normal update that doesn't include anything about hospitals or sickness...
On Thursday, my class was cancelled so Kaitlyn and I took the boys to Kiddieland. For those of you not around here, it is an amusement park built just for kids, so Brayden was tall enough (at 42") to ride every ride there, including the log ride, a roller coaster, and several typical fair/carnival rides. It is an old park and is pretty run down, but we had a great time. They have free drink stations throughout the park (unfortunately it's Pepsi and not Coke - good thing b/c I have a hard time spending money on Pepsi), which is nice because after 7 hours walking around that saves a ton of money. I had never been before, and now that I have gone I'm sad that they will be closing down at the end of this summer. It has been around since 1929. Crazy. Brayden wanted to ride everything, and here is how the situation went most times:
Standing in line while jumping up and down - "Mommy, I am so excite"
Once on the ride, just after it starts - "why is it going so slow? make it go faster!"
Once the ride started going faster - "Make it stop!!! I don't like it!! Stooooppppp!!! Pleeeeease!!!!!"
And although he was scared of most of the rides, it never stopped him from wanting to get on the next one. He is usually a little chicken, so I am super proud that he actually tried everything.

Then yesterday, we had a lazy morning at home and kept trying to decide what to do. We got our swimsuits on and went outside to set up the pool I bought over a month ago, and after about 2 hours it still is only about 1/4 of the way full. I guess we underestimated how much water it actually holds. We gave up on the swimming idea and decided to go get fireworks and just hang out at home for the night. We got a pack of the crappy legal fireworks we can get here, which consisted of about 4 varieties of smoke bombs, the stupid party popper things that you do on New Years Eve, and the popper things you throw on the ground. We thought they were lame, but Brayden seemed to like them. We also made s'mores over the fire pit (that I bought last night) and set up Brayden's tent so he could "go camping". He had actually convinced Rubin to sleep in the tent with him, but then he chickened out when the neighbors started shooting bottle rockets towards our house. He ended up coming in and going to bed (and then woke up this morning, looked outside and said "but I wanted to sleep in the tent mommy!", as if we made him go inside). We had a great night just hanging out in the backyard together. We should do it more often!!

24 hours later

So they decided to admit Rubin last night around 2 am, but then never moved him up to a bed. They kept him down in his ER room (which was a room with a camera and straps on the bed to hold down crazy people) the entire time. He did see one of the GI doctors there, and she told him that his doctor was completely wrong to send him there to the ER. She said they would treat him, but didnt seem to be interested in trying to figure out the problem. He eventually got fed up tonight and I went and picked him up. He did speak to this GI dr again as she was writing his discharge paperwork, and she again told him that she couldn't believe his doctor sent him there - that the ER there is scary (and it was pretty crazy). She did say that if he calls her directly, she will pull some strings and try to get him in for an appointment sometime this week or next week. So although he spent over 24 hours in ER hell, it hopefully did some good in putting us in touch with one of these doctors. It at least feels like a step in the right direction.
So anyway, long story short, don't ever go to the ER at U of C, even if your doctor tells you to. Rubin is home now and feeling a little better. Hopefully he will stay that way for a while, or at least until he can get in to see this specialist.

Long overdue update

It's been a while since I've updated so here goes...
Rubin has been in the hospital 4 times since his surgery on May 27 - fun stuff. He was home this past week and slept all day every day. He doesn't look good, he's really pale, and he is still in a lot of pain. He went to his GI dr on Friday for an appt and she has no clue what is going on with him so she tried to get him in to see a specialist at University of Chicago Medical Center. He is supposed to be one of the best Crohn's doctors in the country, and he couldn't get Rubin in until September for an appointment. So, Rubin's dr suggested coming here to the ER and then hope that they will admit him and he will get to see someone here, so that's where we are now. He was released from CDH this afternoon and we drove straight here - the drive wasn't bad at all, but we waited over 5 hours in the waiting room before he finally was brought back here. We are probably starting all over again to an extent because they are going to want to do a ton of tests but hopefully they can figure something out. Tonight is going to be a LOOOOONG night.

4 Years and 4 Months

Wednesday both boys had a doctors appointment - Brayden for his 4 year check up and Cameron for his 4 month. Both of them are perfect and healthy, and both of them got shots (which Cameron handled MUCH better than Brayden did). Cam is 15 lbs, 8 oz and 25 inches long - in the 63rd percentile for both. Brayden is 40 lbs and 42 in, and is in like the 87th percentile for his height. He has always been way up there - Rubin hopes this trend continues so he can be a basketball player. I prefer baseball or football, but we'll see...he'll probably end up playing soccer, which neither one of us care for.
They are both growing up so fast, not just physically. Brayden has something new to say every day and is constantly cracking us up. Last night he was in trouble and Rubin was talking to him about it, and Brayden looked at him and said "Daddy Casey, you stop that". It was hilarious, especially since that is Rubin's actual middle name. Cameron is holding his head up really well now, and he talks and giggles constantly. So precious. I find myself snuggling him and holding him a lot more than I feel like I did with Brayden. Maybe it's because I realize now how fast they grow up and how quickly they stop wanting to be held. Maybe it's because (Rubin says) this is my last one and I want to hold onto having a baby as long as I possibly can. I can honestly say though that I love being a mommy now more than I ever have. Most people think that having 2 kids is so much harder, and it's not that it's easy, but I just love having so much love to give to these boys. I have 2 adorable, healthy kids and I am so blessed. I have 2 boys to hug and kiss and cuddle and make me smile and make me laugh (and make me want to pull my hair out!). I absolutely love it!