I Thought Ridges Were Better?

Well, we went to Grand Rapids again today.  This time the Kidlet needed an upper GI.  For those of you who want to know, her digestive system appears to be 95% normal.  There is one part of the intestine (where the small intestine goes into the large, I think) where the surface is ridged instead of smooth.  What does this mean, you ask?  I have absolutely no clue.  So now we are waiting to hear from the doctor's office.  Her blood work came back earlier this week with not a single thing wrong, by the way.  Once again we wait....

While we were in Grand Rapids we went to the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Gardens, as planned.  The Kidlet said it was the most awesome place she had ever gone to!  Even MP3 announced, "Fun!" as I put him in the car to go home (he was asleep 2 minutes later....I think hiking all over the gardens wore him out!).  We saw all sorts of sculptures, including that gigantic horse she's been talking about so much!

The Kidlet and The American Horse

The Kidlet didn't want to leave!

Even MP3 found a sculpture to love.  He called

this one, "Rock!" and proceded to pet it.

(The Grand Rapid's Arch)

After a while, MP3 became a wee bit tired and Daddy put him on his shoulders.

It didn't take long for the little guy to find a comfortable position....

The highlight of the trip was the Butterflies are Blooming exhibit!  It was amazing!  The Kidlet even had a butterfly land on her shirt!  She had a grand time looking through the brochure we were handed, trying to figure out the species of each butterfly.  The plants were wonderful too!  Such interesting trees and flowers and vines:  it was quite the experience.

We are going to have to go back someday.  We didn't see even half of the gardens and we completely skipped the indoor sculptures.  We were only there for an  hour and a half, when you really need to spend a day there.  I think that the Children's Garden would have been much more interesting in summer, or at least late spring, when there's actually some live plants to see.  Oh, and the Kidlet really enjoyed the Carnivorous Plant House, too!  All in all, it was a really good day!

Here is my favorite picture of the day.....

Wait a minute.  I was wrong!

THIS is my favorite picture of the day...

Almost Two!

Well, MP3 is almost two and yesterday we hit another developmental milestone!  Hoo boy, what an important one it is, too....

Yesterday afternoon, MP3, for the very first time, had a TEMPER TANTRUM!  Yep, I'm such an awful mom that I didn't put his drink in the cup that he wanted (mainly because I didn't want him spilling all over the living room) so he screamed, and stomped, and sprawled out on the floor while rolling back and forth and crying and crying and crying.  The Kidlet left the room, the screaching hurt her ears so much.  After a few minutes of being ignored he eventually stopped.  When I handed him his sippy cup (which started the whole thing in the first place) he happily drained it and then watched some Spongebob (or as he calls it:  BobBob BobPants).

Let the joy begin!

Tummy Time!

After much waiting we finally got an appointment for the Kidlet to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. So we made the drive to Grand Rapids the other day since Traverse City, with it's "Top 100" hospital, does not have any pediatric specialists. Does that make any sense?

Anyway, we went down early enough so that we could have lunch at - brace yourself - Chucky Cheese. Now it just so happens that I have a very good friend who lives in Grand Rapids (she moved there when we were in our teens) and she was able to meet us there with her 2 cute kids! Everyone had a ton of fun and it was great seeing my friend for the first time is over 10 years.

At the doctor's, the poor Kidlet had 2 vials of blood drawn, during which she did very good. While waiting she jumped up and started for the door only a couple of times, and she held very still during the actual draw. They are testing her for celiac disease among other things, not that her symptoms seem (to me, at least) to have anything to do with celiac, and we have to go back in a few weeks for an upper GI to rule out malrotation. We have to be in the hospital by 8:45AM. Blech! He seemed quite adamant that we do the procedure down there and not here at Munson (maybe he has a good reason, maybe he doesn't...but I don't feel like pissing off the new doc), so another road trip is in our future.

The day before we went downstate, the Kidlet was telling me all about this horse sculpture by DaVinci that she learned about in art class (they're studying him in art this year) and how there's a copy of it in Grand Rapids. When I told her that we were going to GR the next day she got so excited and wanted to know if we might drive by it. So, for our next trip we are planning on going to the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park (shhhhhhh! we haven't told her yet) to see the horse and - wait for it - the butterflies! We were thinking about the zoo, but mid-March seems a bit too cold for a Michigan zoo, so perhaps we'll go another time. Hopefully we'll have friends (even more friends) join us again!

MP3's favorite ride!

The Kidlet's favorite ride!

MP3 made a new friend!

My friend and her kids

Sharing the experience

The Kidlet recently bought (with her Christmas money from Bumpa) a DSi. Her brother thinks that it (or any game for that matter) is awesome and loves to watch his sister play!

Isn't this the cutest picture EVER?

MP3 LOVES to play with bowls. He really loves to take them out of cupboards one by one and two by two and deliver them to some lucky person. At Jeana's (and my) Birthday Party he decided that that lucky person would be....drum roll please....BUMPA!! My Grandpa was delighted! Check it out!

Big and Bumpy

The kidlet is currently learning about the human body in school and they just recently finished learning about the brain. The other day, while sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast, she says, completely out of the blue, "I bet my brother's brain is bumpy!" I told that yes, brains were bumpy, to which she replied, "We learned that when babies are born their brains are smooth and when they're 2 they start to get bumpy and all squiggly-looking like adult brains...but my brother is so super intelligent that I bet his brain is already bumpy!"

Is she the most awesome big sister ever, or what?

Chewin' the cud

So. Here's a conversation the Kidlet and I had about a month ago:

Kidlet: Ugh. I keep burping up dinner.
Me: I'm sorry. It happens sometimes. Is it heartburn? Does it hurt?
K: No.
M: OK. Just let me know if it does.

a few minutes later I noticed her chewing on something.

Me: What are you eating?
Kidlet: (swallowing) Lettuce.
Me: Was it stuck in your teeth (dinner was well over an hour before)
K: No. I told you I keep burping up dinner.
M: Hun, that's not what burping up dinner means. You can't actually burp up food, just the taste of food.
K: Well, I burp up pieces of food.
M: Yeah. Well, next time it happens I want to see the food. (I mean, come on, no one can bring back up actual pieces of food just by burping...we're not cows for crying out loud....)

A few minutes later:

Kidlet: See.... (sticks out her tongue, showing a piece of food) I can burp up pieces of food. I told my teacher but she just told me to tell you.
Me: Ummmmmm......How long has this been going on?
K: For as long as I can remember.
M: I think we better bring this up at your doctor's appointment next week....

She also, sometimes, will wake up in the middle of the night, throw up, and then feel fine in the morning. For years she has had this problem, and other night-time bathroom problems but it took this to really open my eyes. Talk about strange. So I mentioned it to her doctor, who ordered a "gastric emptying" test. I guess we're going to try a few tests before seeing a gastroenterologist (the closest one being in Grand Rapids). But she agreed that being able to burp up pieces of food was not a normal thing. She is also now on Prevacid to hopefully help with the night-time vomiting. So far she hasn't had any diarrhea or vomiting during the night, but that often comes and goes so we won't know if it's the drug or not for a while yet.

On to the test: It's tomorrow morning. At 6:30. In the morning. We have to be there early for paperwork and whatnot. With a 21 month old in tow. In the morning. They're going to feed the Kidlet some scrambled eggs and then watch them move through her digestive system. For 2 hours. With a 21 month old. In a boring hospital. Thankfully Daddy is coming along or I might seriously lose my sanity. I really hope they can figure it out from this test! Please, please, please! And I hope it's nothing too serious or anything. GAH!

And as if that was enough for one day, here's the rest of what my day looks like:
Get up at 5AM, go to hospital, hopefully leave around 8:30, take Kidlet to school, take MP3 to my Mom's, go home and get ready for class, go to class, get out at 2:30, go back to my Mom's and get MP3, pick up multiple kids at school, go home, hurry to get the Kidlet to eat dinner, take her to Girl Scouts, go home and feed everyone else, go get Kidlet from GS, etc. Here we go again!
And since I can't leave you without some pictures...

A Very Merry Digital Christmas!

What a year it's been! MP3 turned 1, the Kidlet 8! MP3 started the year crawling and is going to end it at a sprint (which will probably end with his head bouncing off a piece of furniture, but that's okay).

The Kidlet started 3rd grade this year! Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday she was starting Kindergarten. And MP3! It's amazing how fast he's gone from infant to toddler. His vocabulary expands daily...although it does seem to be mostly Spongebob related lately (his newest words include "patty" and he like to sing along with the "Best Day Ever" episode). I'm not sure how many toddlers have a Spongebob addiction. Ours may be the only one, I suppose.

I can't think of a single complaint this year (except money, and who among us isn't complaining about the lack of that?). Speaking of which....

Since my bank seems to not like it when my account balance begins with a "-" I thought that this year our Christmas card shall be digital. And free. The important part is that it is free. Being digital is just a side effect of the whole "being free" thing. I'd love to send all of you a nice card to hold in your hand and put on your shelf, but this is going to be it I'm afraid. Sorry.

However, if I sent an actaul card you would get just a few images, or maybe only one...this way you get a short "Year in Review" from us with a couple dozen pics! Bonus! And music! Are you lucky or what? So.....
Enjoy!

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