Breakfast & Buddy Walk

At a little Bavarian inspired restaurant, our fun loving group of friends met up for breakfast to celebrate Derek's birthday! I'm still not sure if the kids were buzzing from the excitement of being together or buzzing from the amounts of syrup and sugar they had with breakfast, but either way, I think we all had a great time.

Thanks Brittany for inviting us. Thanks Derek for having a birthday. Here is Derek with his beautiful daughter, Jane.

Once our tummies were full, we headed to support over our precious Lilly at the annual fundraiser "Buddy Walk" for the Down Syndrome Association of Mid Columbia. Look at this group of amazing kiddos that were excited to be able to show Lilly how special they think she is! We are grateful to know Lilly and thankful to have her in our lives, and thankful to have been able to participate in a wonderful cause to support her.

Along the one mile walk, they had pictures along the way of all the people with down syndrome. Here is Lilly's poster!

The whole gang with Lilly's picture.

I just had to post this close up of the picture- isn't she a doll?!!

The walk along the river was beautiful, the weather could not have been any more perfect.

Who isn't just loving Jane's little biker shorts bum? Am I right?!

This picture below is funny in a couple of ways. #1. My Ella has a crazy mad crush on Reid, she watches everything he does and in this picture just captured it. #2. I have no idea who the random kid is that hopped in the picture (middle, back) but his mom was off to the side, beaming with pride that he was posing so well for a picture... I'm confused.

After the walk, there were lots of activities for the kids.The artwork was not up the standards of face painting as the Seattle Zoo, but it did take three times as long. Sheesh.

Here's the gang after they hit the hair and face painting tables. You wouldn't know it to look at all of them, but I'm pretty sure they were having loads of fun. We love you Lilly and can't wait to do the Buddy Walk again next year!

Soccer Game

Ethan loves it when Grandpa and Grandma are in town for his soccer games- so does mom!

The Mighty Mito Cocktail

Although the test results keep slowly trickling back, the answers are not. Time after time, we receive a result of normal. While this is good news, it leaves us unsure of what the true diagnosis will be. We continue to draw and give more of Cannon's blood, we continue to run more tests and we continue to wait.

Since Cannon's health has been less than optimal, we have decided to postpone the muscle biopsy indefinitely and begin the mitochondrial cocktail to see if his body will respond. We will do the cocktail treatment for three months and re-evaluate the situation at the point to make a choice about a biopsy. The cocktail of medication, even though it seems to be simple oils and vitamins, it needed to be compounded at a pharmacy in the big city of Yakima. I just have to say that when I walked into the pharmacy, I was a little overwhelmed when I saw the Pharmacists in the back putting together concoctions while wearing thick gloves that look like Oven Mitts. It must be some special stuff they are working on- and I am thankful for it.

We began the treatments on Monday. He has not started holding up his head, sitting up or crawling yet but his cold has improved and his irritability has subsided. Yes, he could've just been at the end of his sickness but whatever it is I am thankful he is feeling better, smiling again and sleeping through the night.

Apple Pickin'

Drizzling rain, crisp fall air, an apple orchard ripe for the pickin' and a group of preschoolers makes for a great experience. Last Thursday, Kent spent his morning off holding Cannon at home, while I ventured out on a field trip with my little Ella. As par for my life as of last week, my camera batteries were dead so these moments were captured on my cell phone.

Ella was using her "spotting glasses" to find an apple on the ground. Can you find one?

Spotting the fish is always fun. I got a kick out of it when the teacher had to remind the kids, "We do not need to be scared of the fish, right kids? No need to cry when we see the fish."

When the pickin' is done and the fun has been had, I can't think of a better way to top of it off than an apple bar and some juicy juice. Can you?

Snort, Snort, Puff

You know you love someone so much when you can't even get enough of their snoring! Since he's been sick, we love it when we catch him doing this snore. It is a double snort through his nose and a puff out of his mouth. Simply precious.

Dog Day

Since we are considering keeping the dog around, I insisted on taking her to the vet to vaccinate her, deworm her, check her for fleas and overall get a clean bill of health. Ella was very excited about taking the puppy to the Dr. She even attached a little hair bow to her fur behind her ear. Darling. At the vet visit, we were told that she isn't a lab mix, as we originally thought, but a husky! We were also told she is approximately 10 weeks, weighing 10 pounds, and will probably reach about 50+ pounds. WHAT?!

Today began with finding a foam football that had been chewed up by the newest member of our family- no, not Cannon. The kids showed me they are very responsible pet owners and swept up the garage.
I decided I don't want the puppy in the garage anymore, due to potty reasons and chewing reasons. We bought this little dog cabin (play on word there) to train her to stay in the backyard. Yes, we have a fenced yard with a gate, but she is still small enough to dig a little bit and climb under the gate.

After Ethan's soccer practice, we took puppy (tentatively named "Teddy") to meet Kathy and Jory's dog, Jackson. Her first play-date!

Tonight, the dog kept making her way back to the front yard so the kids had a great idea to lay out in the dog house with her until she got used to being in it. A little bit later, we came outside to see how they were doing and this is what we found...
Ethan and Ella asleep in the dog house, with the dog under a blanket on the step. Hilarious. There was much debate between my dad and Kent against myself about whether we should leave the kids out there all night HA! Long story short- I won and the kids are tucked safely in their beds. Good night!

Sweet Relief

This week has knocked me down a few times and I feel myself starting to break. My heart is breaking, my head is swimming and my body is sluggish. Kent had a couple days off this week and it still felt like we were just treading water trying to keep up with day-to-day tasks. Cannon being sick makes it hard to get things done because we are constantly trying to keep him comfortable. The nights seem to hit the hardest. The congestion in his nose and the phlegm in the back of his throat make it nearly impossible for him to breathe. He is used to being soothed to sleep with his pacifier, but with his nose being so plugged up, it is hard for him to suck and breathe at the same time. Once he finally falls asleep from mere exhaustion, he can rest for about 15 minutes until he snorts in his sleeps and startles himself awake. He is still extremely worn out and miserable so we start the whole cycle again of trying to soothe him enough to get him to sleep again. I am getting weary, I am more than weary, I feel defeated. I admit that I hit my low point so far at 1:00 am the other night. Around midnight, I finally decided to get in the tub with Cannon to soothe him because nothing else could calm him. The tub did the trick and we stayed in there until I started dozing off and I decided it was safer for us to get out. Once we got out, Cannon was crying again. I couldn't do it anymore! I didn't know how to help my little baby and I lost it emotionally. I handed him to Kent and went out into the living room where I cried myself to sleep on the couch. Around 2:30, Kent came and got me because Cannon needed me again. The next day I was telling my mom what had happened and she immediately said. We are coming up, we will be there Sunday! Music to my ears! Not a moment too soon because today was another rough day for Cannon and I stayed home from church to be with him. My clean laundry is in a gigantic pile in my room, waiting to be folded and put away.

My kitchen floor could feed a small family for a few days with all the crumbs. My laundry room looks like a dump site for shoes, bags, toys for Good will, and much more. Knowing that my parents were on their way, I was reassured of their love with the fact that I knew they would not care that my house looks the way it does, but that is what they are here to help me with. When my parents arrived this afternoon I could NOT be more relieved. My mom held Cannon all afternoon. In the evening, my mom and dad stayed home with Cannon so Kent and I could take Ethan and Ella, along with the new puppy, to the park. It was nice to get out and spend quality time with them. The kids loved playing with their new puppy.

She would just sit by Kent and watch the kids play and hope they would hurry back to play with her.

This dog really is the happiest little pup, she even smiles for the camera!

My parents always bring gifts with them, so after the kids had tubby time, they opened their presents and played Barbies and Legos for awhile.

Ethan and Ella went to bed and the night begins for Cannon. After his soothing bath, we rubbed him with oils with herbs to help him clear his congestion. We moved his little bed into my mom and dad's room, plugged in the humidifier, plugged in the "Gentle Vapors", gave him some Tylenol to help with any discomfort or pain, we fed him, swaddled him and then began rocking him in the chair. After much struggling and crying, my mom finally got him to sleep. She didn't dare move him so I tried to make her as comfortable as possible in the rocking chair. Bless her heart.

While I've been typing this post, he has since woken up and is the middle of a crying fit with my mom trying her best to soothe him. That being said, I will now go try to offer some sort of relief, or get sent to bed since that is why my parents are here- to take the night shift. I am so thankful they are willing to sacrifice their time, and sleep, to help me when I need them so much. I love my mom and dad. Good night- I can tell it's going to be another long one...

The best of times? The worst of times?

Last Monday started out a lot like most Monday around here- but worse. I was tired of being without Kent all weekend and I just wanted to stay in bed. Ella wanted to go to Kent's office to have her teeth "sparkled." I was just exhausted emotionally and physically so Kent told me he would take her and I could just pick her up when I dropped off Ethan at school. Once Ella and Kent were gone, I fed Cannon and got him back to sleep then hopped into the shower. Ethan came in the bathroom and said, "Mom! There's a dog in our house!" I grabbed a robe, and went out to see what he was talking about. This is what I saw under the bar stool when I went out there. Cute little puppy!
I called my friend that works at a pet clinic and she brought us over some puppy food and I told Ethan I would keep the dog while he was at school and we'd go for a walk to find the owners when he got home. My friend told me in this area there a lot of dumped dogs and this was a classic case of a little orphaned pup. This little puppy is such a sweetie, and loves the kids. I saw the kids playing with her, helping her, taking care of her and getting along with each other. I had the thought, "either this is the absolute best time for a puppy to find us or it is the absolute worst. " Well, we didn't find the owners the first night and the dog stayed in our garage, with the garage door opened a little, all night long. The next day she went missing while Ella was at school. I know the kids were sad, but so was I! I don't know why, really. I figured it is because I'm emotionally all over the board right now- with this exhaustion and the unknown diagnosis looming overhead constantly. Well, the next morning a neighbor friend of mine saw the dog still roaming around and brought it back to us. I was happy to see the little thing. Since then we have bathed her, fed her, bought a collar and matching leash and put a dog bed out in the garage for her. Ella even gave her a stuffed teddy bear for her to sleep with. We are still using it as a bargaining chip, whether or not we keep the dog, but so far she has been pretty great to have around.

Pharmacy

This is a picture of the shelf in my bathroom these days. These items, I hate to say, have become necessities at our house.

My little Cannon always seems to have a "bug" hanging around. He is always congested, struggling to breathe and frustrated at night because he is so tired. I never thought of myself afraid of germs. but now the only thing I see are little bugs jumping from everyone and everything onto little Cannon. I hate it. I am getting so tired of him being exhausted just from trying to get sufficient air through his tiny nostrils. I'm tired of the breathing treatments with the Nebulizer. I'm tired of giving him Amoxicillin only to have him get sick again three days later. I'm tired of his lungs working so hard that it exhausts his whole body. I'm tired of not being able to DO anything for him to help him get better. Poor Bubba.