Our Summer

Oh we have had a busy summer. Makenzi has been playing t-ball this summer and she is loving it. Tomorrow night is her last game. They do coach pitch and Kenzi has been able to hit it that way every time. All of the kids amaze me on her team..they all do very well. I will try to add a couple videos of her playing...not sure if it will owrk or not though.




We have been doing lots of swimming here recently. The kids love the water. Braxton swims with a swimmy vest on and a pool noodle. He still won't jump off the dock this year but we will be working on that more. Makenzi swims all over the pond without a swimmy on now but she still likes to wear one when she is jumping off the dock. We just finally got her back to jumping off the dock. Ahna loves the pond. She swims like a little fish. She rides in this little boat we have and goes all over the pond. She loves to splash people when she gets near them.

We have our big "Bauman" camping trip this week. We leave tomorrow and come back Monday night. We are heading to the cabin with the whole family. We will have the cabin, motor home and trailer back there. Tuesday morning we are getting up early and taking Ahna to our friends house where she will be staying for the day/night. The rest of us (my mom, brother, sil, their 3 kids and the 4 of us) are heading to Michigan Adventure. We went two years ago and had a lot of fun so we are looking forward to it again this year. We are hoping Braxton is tall enough to ride their small rollercoaster.

Arianna is 13 months old now and getting big..although still a peanut. When we see people they think she is 8-9 months old. She isn't walking yet but she can climb everything and cruises around all the furniture. She still only has the two bottom teeth. She isn't doing a lot of talking yet but she can say mama, dada, ahna, night night, hi. She tries to say grandma but it just doesn't work well yet.

Awesome News!

We got the best news today! Scott was promoted at Werner! He is going to get a very steady run! He will be going from London, OH to Lansing, MI to Grand Rapids, MI back to London, OH. He will also be a trainer for Werner. This is awesome because it is a very stable run with a very steady pay check. I am so happy for Scott. He deserves this. He has worked extremely hard and is finally getting recognized.

Update on B!

Bracky boy oh Bracky boy! We don't seem to be getting very far with Braxton. He has been on the Flagyl over a week now (9 days to be exact...well today is 10) and we haven't seen much improvement. We have been on our ups and downs this past week. Him screaming in pain, vomiting etc. We thought things were improving and we were on the right road. His bowel movements were firming up, we were working on potty training again. Well that lasted less than a week. We are back to diarrhea, the bloating and the gas. He hasn't been on milk for several days now. His sleep is extremely bad again...he was doing better earlier in the week. He wakes up at least 10 times a night crying now. I am frustrated and I have at least 2 more months of this before we go back to Ann Arbor. I am not sure if I will be able to handle it. For pete sake my 1 year old sleeps all night long for at least 13 hours. I feel horrible for Braxton. He has been through so much and deserves to feel better. If it weren't for that stinking endoscopy possiblity I would stick him on a gluten free diet and see what happens. Although I can't because he needs to be on gluten. If I go back and they won't do the endoscopy I will take him off gluten and see what happens. I need to be proactive for him and I will fight tooth and nail for him! If you would please keep praying that Braxton improves and the medicine does the trick...and also that Ann Arbor doesn't forget to call and schedule his next appointment.

Frustrated

We aren't positive what is going on with Braxton now but we now it isn't normal...yet has Braxton ever been normal not really. He has always been our child that is sick. They even questioned issues when I was pregnant with him. The prescription that the Pediatric GI doctor gave us is in question now. We aren't sure what Braxton is reacting to but it is either the milk or the antibiotic. How do you know when you introduce 2 things at once? Well Braxton was sick 1 time Monday night but curled up in pain for an hour prior. I questioned the milk and the antibiotic. Well we cut down on the milk because I was leaning more that way. Yesterday he had an ounce of milk and 1/2 an ice cream sandwhich plus all of his medicine. Today he didn't have any milk and all of his medicine...tonight we had a Monday night repeat of all the pain but no vomiting this time. So now my guess is the antibiotic but how do I know for sure because milk will stay in your system for 2 weeks. I will be calling the doctor in Ann Arbor tomorrow I guess and see what they say. No diarrhea but not formed either. I hate watching my kids be sick but this is the hardest thing I think we have had to deal with so far. The flu, ear infections, ear tube surgery, hard pregnancies (although this may have been worse) etc. This is a challenge. He doesn't understand, he can't communicate like Makenzi can...he knows when something hurts and where that something is. The poor kiddo. Pray that he feels better soon and that we can figure out exactly what is causing this.

Ann Arbor

Well we didn't get answers really for Braxton today but we are trying some things to see if it helps. Braxton is going on antibiotic for 2 weeks to try and help grow a good bacteria in his intestines. We are hoping this will help. They also feel that Braxton isn't actually lactose intolerant so we are now introducing milk. We are to keep him on gluten, introduce the milk and cut out juice completely.

The lab results are "supposedly" false positives. We asked about the other test being a false negative and that is possible as well. If he doesn't improve in the next 3 months then when we go back we will talk about an endoscopy.

Stomach in knots

Well tomorrow is the day for Braxton to go to Ann Arbor. I am nervous and anxious. I am hoping for answers but doubt we will get many. I think there will be more talk about further testing then a diagnosis and treatment. I am hopeful to get answers but I am sure will be making many more trips to Ann Arbor. Please pray for a good trip down and a good appointment.

Today has been a challenge. Arianna had 5 shots yesterday (DTaP, Chicken Pox, MMR, Prevnar, Hep A) and she is not tolerating them well. She did ok yesterday but that changed during the night. She spiked a fever and was crabby. She woke up this morning with a 101.8 fever and had vomited in her crib...what a lovely thing to find in the morning. She is doing better now. Tylenol lowered the fever and she is eating and drinking. Pray that she continues to get better. I need the fever to vanish over night. I have a babysitter coming in the morning so we can go to Ann Arbor. I really don't want to take Ahna with us tomorrow. We have enough to think about tomorrow.

Makenzi is done with preschool. I am ready for kindergarten to start. She has only been out a few days and is bored already. Kenzi and Braxton are fighting all the time. Now I know why parents are always ready for the school year to start again.

Our Weekend

I hope everybody had a good weekend.

We spent the weekend at the cabin. We were there all day Friday, then again on Saturday. We ended up camping there Sunday to today. The kids loved camping. Arianna wasn't so sure...she wanted her bed. Thankfully the cabin is close so I ran her home for a morning nap this morning. The kids swam, rode fourwheelers, went fishing, and played in the sand. We good time. We had camp fires and just relaxed.

Please pray that we get answers on Friday. We head to Ann Arbor for the day with Brax. He is going to see the Pediatric GI for Celiac Disease. I am hoping for clear answers and not having to do more testing. I will update Friday night.