Potty Potty Potty

We have been working on this for what seems like an eternity.  Almost two years to be specific.  On January 6, 2010 I posted about the first box of pull ups we bought.  We weren't really thinking about potty training at that point but he showed interest so we went with it.  As the year progressed he made progress and was going often at school when they took him but not ever telling anyone if he needed to go.  Fast forward to our end of the year conference at school this last June and the discussion of potty training came up.  Riley was making no progress from where he had been the previous spring.  That alone didn't raise any red flags but the fact that we would take him at home and then just a few minutes later he would have a little accident.  Never river down the leg but noticeably wet.  This "dribbling" did raise a red flag with the group around the table.  That combined with how much progress he had made in all other areas brought everyone to the suggestion that it was time to bring the pediatrician into the discussion. 

So off to the Dr we went for a ear infection I'm guessing,  but I made sure to throw in the questions about potty training.  We chatted about what was going on and his pattern of going and then dribbling not long after.  Our Dr wanted us to go see the one and only pediatric urologist in town.  Everyone had told me that if this was what we needed to do it would take months and months to get in.  I was prepared for a 6-9 month wait but figured we'd better get it on the books since potty training was one of the last obstacles standing in the way of Riley going to a typical kindergarten.  So I called made the appointment and was surprised that we could see the PA in just a few weeks.  We had to schedule an ultrasound pre and post void and then would see the PA when we returned from vacation in mid July. 

I'll catch you up on our fabulous trip through Montana another day but upon our return we made it in to see the PA at the Urologist office. We had just been to the ENT for a check up so as we get out Riley says "no ears NO ears!"  I assured him it wasn't his ears that this Dr was interested in.   It was a fairly routine appointment with a slug of questions about our potty habits.  Things were going along smoothly until it was time for the actually exam.  She checks him out as she causally looks over to me and says "has your pediatrician ever mentioned that his testicles haven't descended?"  We as a matter of fact have had the conversation and he assured me that they had.  I distinctly remember the part where he said "once they come down the don't go back up".  It has taken a lot of phone calls and conversations with nurses and Dr's and I can tell you the short version is that its a temperature issue.  If the testicles are up more than they are down (apparently his float a bit) the temperature is not what it would be if they were down where they were supposed to be.  This rise in temperature not only causes issue in sperm production, which lets face it I don't care about, but also can cause malignant tumors.  Enough said...  surgery scheduled.  I give the long version another day but for now back to the potty.

The whole testicle issue has nothing to do with potty training ( I know I was disappointed too) so we left the Dr's office with some "exercises" and a pinwheel.  The things I've learned from Riley...  If you bend over and touch the floor and take some nice deep breaths the floor of the bladder relaxes and allows you to finish emptying.  The pinwheel was to encourage the deep breaths.  It can be a little awkward but Riley now will bend over and take his deep breaths with no cue from us.  After a month of the exercises a lone we added a medicine that helps the bladder from having little spasms and contracting on its own.  This medicine is the miracle potty potion in my mind.  We wouldn't want to leave things as simple as just a medicine so the Urologist wanted us to do a full clean out to ensure that constipation issues weren't adding to the issues.  I didn't realize how closely 1 & 2 were connected.  Wow did I underestimate how constipated Riley was.  We've now added in a daily dose of miralax to keep things moving.  I'm hoping to transition to just adding fiber to his diet but for now we are dealing with the miralax and I was quite excited to discover Kirkland makes a version now! If ever a family needed it in bulk its mine.  I swear my life won't revolve around poop forever. 

Riley has made amazing progress in a very short amount of time.  He started on the magic potion toward the end of August and started school in big boy undies on September 12.  He averaged an accident a day the first couple of weeks but the last two weeks he has arrived home in the same pair of clothes and underwear that we sent him in.  Most days he wakes up dry and I've been brave enough to let him nap in undies and he typically is dry. 

We go back to the urologist office next week for a ultrasound and a check in.  Not truly sure why I'm going to pay for another office visit or what the ultra sound is looking for but I believe it all has to do with the magical potty potion.  I'll keep you posted on that.  For now we celebrate and enjoy not buying pull ups! 

I figured we better back this train up to a few months to catch up on all the fun activities that have kept us so busy.  Most of our time seems to be spent running Rex to and from some practise or game.  Baseball is one of his all time favorites.  Riley loves to go to his big brothers games.  Typically not because he is an avid sports fan but more because his friends have really cute little sisters.  It is amazing what we can get him to do if he gets to go play with his  friends.  Rex played his first year of kid pitch baseball and boy did that give Riley a lot of play time with his buddies. 

Our friends Mike and Karen from  Billings came to visit during baseball season and Mike just happens to be an amazing photographer.  We have some really cool pictures as result.  Who knew the promise of pizza and beer after would so easily talk Mike and Karen into watching a really long cold baseball game.  You can check out Mike's amazing work here.  He not only photographs people but landscapes and you won't want to miss them I promise. 



Rex's pitching debut




Rex's home run stance...



As always Riley was having fun.  There was a sandbox at this field that all the little siblings loved.  I tried to pretend that Riley wasn't really eating the sand but you can see the grains of sand in his mouth in this photo.  YUCK!

Its a good thing Riley is such a good sport about sitting through all of Rex's activities.  He has managed to find good buddies in the little sisters and brothers on each team.  Rex's friend Colin's little sisters are among his favorites.  He has had a bumpy relationship with the youngest Eva.  Riley hasn't been able to say Eva clearly so it always comes out Eba.  Come to find out that Eva didn't like being called Eba and didn't understand that Riley wasn't saying it wrong on purpose.  Now that Riley is saying Eva they have a bit smoother time of things.  I think at the last football game they were both feeling a bit feisty because they sure weren't going to smile for the camera.  I think this picture is hysterical!

Here we go....

October has snuck up on me way to quickly but its here and as we all know that means it is Down syndrome awareness month.  Could there be a better reason than celebrating Riley to get to blogging again???  I didn't think either.  I will be posting each of the 31 days of October in honor of Riley and all of his friends that share a lil something extra. 

Riley has been growing by leaps and bounds and there is lot to share that is going on in his world.  The rest of the family has been busy too so we'll spend October getting to know each other again.  Life is crazy as usual so I'm going to need lots of support from all my faithful commenters to help me make it through posting each day of October.  For those of you that don't blog please still leave a comment and let me know you've stopped by.  Just choose anonymous and don't forget to leave your name so I'll know you stopped by. 

Stay tuned for adventures of the world of Hurricane Riley.  There are lots of adventures to share... potty training and hearing aids to name a few.  See you tomorrow!



1st day of preschool 2011



Come be a crackpot with me!

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.'

The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?'

'That's because I have always known about your flaw,

so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.'

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.'

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding...

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

My mom forwarded this email on to me and I love it. I may not know where this email originated from or who wrote the cute story but there is no guessing where my cracked sense of humour came from. Talk abut a couple of crack pots.

My mom and I tried to have a jewelry party this weekend. Mom had suggested it to help out a long time family friend that is getting started with her business but mom thought it would be great to have it in town and invite more of my friends since mom lives about 30 mins out of town and most of the neighbors have already been to a party. So the deal was mom was going to bring the food/wine and I'd get the house ready and invite all my friends. I so came out ahead on that deal :-) So I forced Justin to mow the lawn and I managed to clean off the deck and chairs so it wasn't embarrassing to have people over and mom arrived with the food. We were all ready for the party... and then the guests arrived and we poured the wine and continued to wait for our jewelry expert. Ya know the lady with the jewelry to show us. As we discovered later mom and Liz had a little miscommunication that was complicated by Liz being out of cell range and us worrying a bit about her being stranded or injured in her car. The night was still a huge success. Seriously does it get better than sitting around with a group of funny ladies eating and drinking the evening away. My mom and her friends are hysterical, and my friends and I have some pretty funny stories to share ourselves.  Since we didn't have Liz to show us all the cool jewelry mom whipped out a black table cloth from her magic staff and we displayed the one necklace and earrings that she had purchased at a previous party.  It was a stunning display! I even modeled the lovely piece.  Watch out Vanna White I'm coming for your job. 

 It was a great evening and I was able to see some friends I hadn't seen in ages. I have the greatest mom and friends ever!

Polly Anna??!!!

I thought it had gone fairly unnoticed that I hadn't posted in over 3 months, but this weekend I heard from a handful of people that I was missed.  Imagine that!  I've been thinking about this space over the last few weeks and wondering what I should do with it. Should I pick it up or just let a good thing end???  My absence started innocently enough.  Life was so crazy busy this spring I couldn't squeeze out an extra minute anywhere.  Then I just kept trucking and here we are 3 months later. 

I think my friend Rebecca's summed it up the best when she said "you haven't been blogging...  I'm proud of you.  You used to post for a stress relief and to be able to work through things.  You must be doing great if you haven't missed it".  I haven't needed it for stress.  LOVE IT! 

While I don't need it for stress relief in the same way I used to I still need this space.  I do still have things I want to share.  For the most part its family that reads so it still provides me with a nice place to keep you updated on the boys.  In addition to sharing updates on the boys I have plans for this blog and for me.  I have been in a really good space lately.  I've been enjoying my world.  My boys are amazing but really I've just felt better both mentally and physically, and I have really really true friends.  I plan to use this space to keep reminding myself of all the wonderful things in my life. 

I got into a really negative place and could quickly find the negative in almost anything.  I don't want to be that person.  I don't want to be the person my facebook friends hide because they can't stand one more complaint or whine,  or the person that no one wants to hang out with because its such a bummer of an experience.  I read a blog for the better part of a year where a women wrote each and every day and her simple goal was to find the good in her day. It was completely inspiring.  She didn't drip with sugar but she found little piece of good in each day. Even when our days are the pits there is something small that should make us smile.  I want to find that little piece of each and every day.  Don't get me wrong I will never be Polly Anna, but I can find the simple blessings in each and every day.  I can find something to laugh out or the rainbow in my world.



Wouldn't you smile every single day if you lived with these two?

 I promise I'll be back soon.  I have some things to catch you all up on.  If you are still out there and want to come along for the journey leave me a comment.  You know I'll perform for comments :-)

Work in Progress!

I have officially had my CPAP machine for just over a week and I think last night might have finally been a successful nights sleep.   Justin laughed that I was in the exact same position when he left for work this morning as when I went to bed last night.  I'm never that still during the night so I'd say that was a huge success.  Each day has gotten easier to sleep with in the wind tunnel.  My REM meter plus only tried to drown me once and thankfully no repeat performances yet.  Last night I even was even able to sleep past 5 with my machine on.     My sleep study results were super interesting and showed that I actually spent very little time in REM sleep.  I think I'm finally sleeping well enough to move through all the levels of sleep because I woke up in the middle of the night from a crazy dream and ripped off my mask.  Good times!  I knew this wasn't going to be a success over night and I keep reminding myself of that by I'd really go for two nights sleep in a row.

I had a followup visit with the nutritionist  today.  I wasn't looking forward to this visit since I had enjoyed my birthday cupcakes, wine and so on but over all it was a good visit.  2 pounds down and considering how much I enjoyed my birthday treats I think that is a huge success. That's a total of 13.2 pounds on the nutritionists fancy dancy body scanner.  The best part was the progress I could see in the change from fat mass to muscle mass.  I've lost 20pounds of fat mass since Jan 27 and my BMI is down 2% as well.  I'm finding motivation in the fact that my pants are fitting better. 

I think I"m on the right track with improving my nutrition, exercise habits and sleep patterns.  I will admit that I'm totally impatient and I want all of it to be perfectly aligned and working ummmmmmm  yesterday!  Patience is not a virtue that comes easily to me.  Thats a work in progress too!

Kicking off 35!

Yesterday was my 35th birthday and I enjoyed the heck out of it and plan to keep enjoying it clear thru the weekend and possible thru next weekend.  One just never knows how long this celebration will last.  I had lots of loves and hugs from my boys and if you've ever heard Riley say Happy Birthday you'll understand why it makes my heart smile too.  He loves birthdays and I'm pretty sure its because of the cake.  Can't blame him on that one.  Justin brought home red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and WOW they were yummy.  I didn't do so well with eating healthy yesterday but it was delicious and I don't feel one ounce of guilt.  Birthdays only come once a year and they need to be celebrated.  Our amazing babysitter helped Riley make me a card.  They used Riley's hand prints as the blooms on a field of flowers.  It was super cute waiting for me when i got home from work.  Riley and I have been arguing about the balloon today.  He is pretty sure it is his and doesn't believe me when I tell him its mine.  NO MOM Riley's BALLOON he tells me.  When I remind him he gave it to me for my birthday he looks at me and says NO Riley's. 

I remember back to high school when I was in the Miss Reardan pageant.  Insert giggle now.  I was the 2nd Princess in the Miss Reardan contest.  I'll dig out a picture of that sometime but really what I was thinking about was the interview portion of the evening when they asked me what I thought my life would be like in 10 or 15 years.  I don't remember my answer exactly but it was pretty generic about going to college and having a family and being an active member of my community.  (no world peace answers for me) While I've checked those items off my to do list life has become so much more.  I don't think I could have possibly ever imagined what my life truly would be and while it isn't glamorous I love it!

I certainly wouldn't have imagined picking up my very own CPAP machine the night before my 35th birthday.  I'm not completely sure I can imagine it now and I've done it.  Over the past month I've completed a sleep study and learned that I have fairly severe sleep apnea.  I guess I have to stop blaming the boys for me being exhausted all the time.  I am trying to get used to sleeping with what feels like a wind storm blowing up my nose.  The first day I woke up feeling like my nostrils were permanently flared.  I spent most of the day rubbing my nose and feeling a bit like a character in a movie that had just done a line of coke in the bathroom.   Last night I switched out the nose piece for the smaller pillows (I love that they call what I wear nasal pillows)  turned up the humidifier and things went a bit better.  Well until about 5am when I woke up with water in my nose.  I'm pretty sure my REM star Plus was trying to drown me in my sleep.  I'm hoping night three is the charm.  I could use a good nights sleep. 

35 is off to a good start and I plan to make it a good one.