We are going on Vacation!!

We are taking the week off to enjoy with our children and their Great-Grandmother (our Grandmother).

Please come back June 2nd. We have lots of great things to come. We will be sharing crafts from our vacation, a spectacular Lego Indiana Jones Birthday party, a new Roots And Wings member and much more!!

Thanks so much for visiting us. We love our readers (and adore comments)!!

The Roots And Wings Co girls.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day just happens to be our Brother's birthday this year. Since he is our only Brother, we are totally in love;) Happy Birthday Brother!!

Now about Memorial Day. A few years ago, Rebecca and I drove our kiddos up to Utah. It happened to be over Memorial Day. Since we were spending time with our Grandmothers, we did what they did. Our Paternal Grandma also calls it *Decoration Day*. We had no idea why she called it that. But we soon found out. On Memorial Day they go to the cemeteries and decorate the headstones of family and loved ones. Ok. We were game. We packed up the kiddos and headed out. We had no idea what we were in store for.

Armed with several potted flowers and plants, we got to the little cemetery in Tooele, UT. We started following Grandma as she walked along the rows until she came to a familiar place. It was the resting place of one of our family members. She got down on her hands and knees and cleaned off the headstone, pulled some grass from around it and carefully placed one of the plants on the stone. We followed her around as she walked around pointing out other stones with family members names on them. She would tell us about the person as we helped clean off the stone and place the plants.

Grandma talked about how she always runs into cousins or long lost relatives on Decoration Day. It is the sweetest thing. I know that is what they called it years ago.

We then headed over to our other Grandma's place in Salt Lake. We took her and a handful of potted flowers to another cemetery. After the time we had with our Paternal Grandma, we knew what to expect. We got a little lost and had to ask for a map. We quickly found the stones we were looking for. While we were there, sure enough, our Uncle and Aunt were there standing over our family member's stone. They had brought a hand broom, some garden shears and a wire clothes hanger. They used the clothes hanger to keep the pot in place. They were cleaning up the stones so nicely.

Initially I thought going to the cemetery was creepy. But after a full day of decorating, I was full of love for my family, for our heritage and for the connection I felt with them all. When we left the cemeteries, there were flowers and even flags for the men and women that fought for our country all over the place. It was so pretty and uplifting. Something I'll remember forever. I know Memorial Day is typically for the armed forces. We do have a lot of family that have served. But it was a nice time to remember all our loved ones.

I'm trying to figure how to teach my kids about the whole concept behind Memorial Day. I think it is hard to understand war and fighting for someone else. I think the first thing they have to have is patriotism. Since my kids are still fairly young, I think it is something that will evolve to more of the true meaning of the holiday as they get older. Something I think that is harder to get is the feeling of patriotism in a big city. At least that has been my experience.

I have always loved the poem In Flanders Fields.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

We used to live in Maryland. When I got married my family came out for the wedding. My Grandpa had been a young buck in the war. And my Father is a huge history buff. We went to some of the war memorials with them and they were reduced to tears. Such a moving time for me.

We went back to Maryland for a visit last year, my husband and two boys and me. I finally got to see the WWII memorial. This time I was brought to tears. My boys played at the water feature and I wandered around looking and thinking about the people that the memorial represented. They asked me why I had tears in my eyes and I couldn't exactly put it into words that they could understand. I hope that over time I will be able to express to them what those tears were for. I still can't exactly put it into words. I treasure my pictures from the memorial.



I'd love to hear what you do for Memorial Day. What do you teach your kids about it? What did you do as a kid?

Fire Starters for Camping

Summer vacation is here!!! Time to start thinking about when we are going camping. As a kid I loved camping. There is something fun and adventurous in camping. Among my favorite things about camping are:
#1 a campfire
#2 roasting marshmallows (if you have all the makings for smores, so much the better)
#3 hiking/nature walks
#4 making memories for my children that will last a life time

#5 everything else

As a parent my favorite thing is watching my kids have so much fun on their adventures. Just watching them explore around the campsite even. I like areas where you have a nice big campsite so the kids can explore with out going through every one Else's campsites. Also it is more peaceful at night, if you know what I mean. ;)

As a kid I was in the Girls Scouts and my troop was big on camping. We went all the time, rain or shine. We learned all sorts of related skills. Building a campfire was one of them. I have memories of rolling up news paper and tying them off with twine and then dunking them in a can of melted wax. Recently I have come across another method that involves a cardboard egg carton, dryer lint and wax. For this method you can also use saw dust instead of dryer lint (most of us have dryer lint readily available).

What I love about the dryer lint or sawdust fire starters is how convenient they are. Think about it, you are making them in their very own container. Another bonus is that container does not take up a lot of room.

Here is how it is done:

Fill all the wells in the carton with dryer lint.

Place old broken crayons, candles, any type of wax in a tin can.

Place that tin can in an old saucepan with boiling water and melt the wax. (you need a double boiler for melting wax, if you heat it up directly on the stove it will catch fire)

*******I have placed one carton nested on top of another. That way as the wax soaks through the container I am filling, it does not get all over the counter.***********
Pour the hot wax on top of the dryer lint. Get it good and saturated. The wax will keep the lint from burning too quickly.

Close the lid of the egg carton and store till you are ready to use them.

To start a fire simply tear off one or two of the wells and place them in the fire pit. Now build up your campfire with smaller branches in a log cabin style. Your fire starter should be in the center. You don't have to do the log cabin style but, you need to cris cross your sticks so that air can get to the fire (otherwise it will smoke and smother itself) Light the cardboard of your fire starter. Enjoy!

School is Out for Summer!!

Yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. You know what that means? It means that my kids will be tagging along for every appointment, every shopping trip and we will be traveling, camping, you name it. What does that mean? It means I have two kids to keep busy. Busy kids are happy kids.

I made up a "Summer" banner and place mats to kick off the season. After my oldest went off to school for the last time this year, I put up my banner and set out the place mats. I just printed it out on photo paper and used a roll of $1 ribbon from the craft store. Stuck together with double sided tape. You may not be able to tell, but the ribbon is stars cut out of a string of felt. (when 4th of July rolls around I will put red white and blue starts along the ribbon instead. Probably with the words "4th of July" or "USA" on them.)

Lately, my boys have liked using their old place mats from pre-school. My nearly 5 year old (just a week and a half to go) wants us all to have place mats. So we have had mismatched place mats for the last month or two. I used my printer to print out some things to cut out and stick to construction paper. I chose to have our names on them along with "Summer Fun", a tropical flower and a beach ball. All in the same colors I made the banner out of. In fact the banner has the same flower on it. I then used a roll of transparent laminate to cover the front and back of my place mats. That way I can wipe them clean and they should last all summer. I made these things all with materials that I already had in the house. Nothing like using what you got!! I like the large size construction paper because it is a good size for a place mat. The smaller 8.5 by 11 sheets are just a bit too small.

I have a plan to sit with the kids and do 1 planned activity with them a day. Meaning, drawing, writing, crafting or what ever strikes our fancy. I don't want them to get out of the habit of sitting down to a task. Especially my soon to be Kindergartner. He really needs the practice. I don't plan to make them into lesson plans because summer is suppose to be fun. I want them to enjoy the activities so they will be things like science experiments and other things that interest my kids.

Our movie theater has a summer movie schedule. Every week they have a different G or PG rated movie for kids. If you buy the pass it is 10 movies for $5. If you buy the tickets the day of (assuming they are not sold out) it is $2 per movie. These prices are per person. Lots of different theaters have programs like this. I bought passes and we will see a movie a week all summer (except 2 because my kids won't want to see 2 of the movies). Still a great bargain.


My local craft store has a $5 and under section. In it they have lots of stuff for kids. I found some mini light bright sets, a fishing game, sling shot air planes, a game that comes it a box that folds out to be the game board, and a couple of peg games. I have two canvas tote bags from summer camp 2 years ago with their names on it. In each bag they will have the above items divided between them. For my older son I will add a pad of paper and markers. For my youngest I will add a small color explosion tablet and pens (made by crayola, part of the color wonder collection). He likes to use the pen to remove the black coating to reveal the colors underneath. They will not get to use anything in these bags when at home. That way when we are waiting someplace or driving someplace or camping they will have something different to keep the from being bored.

Summers around here are hot. Some times hotter than hot. I have taken to having a mini cooler in the van with us. In it I keep, drinks and some snacks. Before we go anywhere, I place a cooler pack in it to keep everything cold. That way, when ever they need a drink, they will have something cold. I hang a plastic grocery bag from the arm of my seat for a trash bag. It really helps keep my van clean. Oh yeah, baby wipes clean up spills, hands and faces nicely.

I also keep sun block in my van and a change of clothes. Especially during monsoon season. One time we were at the zoo when the sky opened up and we got soaked trying to run back to the van. Luckily I had towels (because we were going to go swimming) and a change of clothes. In the van I was able to dry off my dripping wet, soaked through and through kids and put them in clean clothes. Ever since then, during monsoon season, I have a towel and a change of clothes in my van. Another essential are baby quilts. The car seats get hot, burning hot. I cover the seats with the quilts when we get out of the van. That way the buckles don't get very hot.

Katrina

Super Sports Stuff and Team Spirit!

All of my kids are on a sports team right now. Our sports this season (and it varies every season for us) are Volleyball, Soccer, and Kickball.

There are so many fun things to do for the team, to get some team spirit going.
Hair bands in the teams colors!
These hairbands are so easy to make. Cut material to the length that you want (anything from 4 inches to 10 inches if you want really long ones). You can use material, ribbons, ric rac or whatever strikes your fancy. Just tie each piece around a hair elastic! Do up enough for the whole team! On my younger child's team many kids even had 2 so that they could wear piggy tails with them in them!
Pennants with each kids name on them, and of course in the team's colors. We had ones made up for us that were embroidered with a gorgeous fill. However, this could just as easily be done by sewing, gluing, or ironing felt or material letters on! These pennants just had a long pocket along the side of the triangle for a dowel to slide into. All of the parents would hold these while they cheered their child on. The kids would all hold their own, while they were on the sidelines! ;)
Fun snacks
For the snacks "Soccer Moms" are getting quite creative. We find that they are holding them all in cute baskets for the kids to take them out of. They are putting together themed snacks, as well. One of our team's name was Zoo. So, animals crackers were quite a hit! For Easter each kid got a ziplock baggie holding their snack. They had an Easter Napkin, Debbie Snack Cakes that were Easter Eggs, and some candy in a plastic Easter Egg! Another Mom makes sure to have diaper wipes for each child, along with the oranges at half time. Packaging the snack and drink together with a ribbon is an easy way for each kid to just have to grab one "package". Make sure that the ribbon is the team's colors! It's very easy to think of things to go along with team names, too.

I have blankets (actually afghans) made in my school's colors. My Mother crocheted these for me when I was in High School. They were perfect for those long Track meets that tended to get cold at the end of the night, and for soccer which was in the Winter season! She even made one of these for my coaches! Way cool, right?!
They are so beautiful. They are 15 years old and still look great! Which is shocking because EVERYONE used them! I remember them being such a hit, and I loved that my Mom made them for me!

Coach Thank You Gift!

For the soccer team, we had a soccer ball that was passed around to all of the kids on the team to sign and write their jersey # on it. The coaches thought it was fantastic!

You can make up a coach survival Kit

It could include the following:
Marbles-to replace the ones you lost during the season
M and M's-to remind you that you are "M"agnificent and "M"arvelous
Stick of Gum-Cause you stuck with it
Paper Clip-you held it all together
Lollipop-you licked all the problems
Mounds Bar-for the mounds of confidence you gave the kids on the team
Hugs & Kisses-to tell you that we/the teams care about you
Snickers Bar-to remind you to just laugh at all the referees bad calls style
Popcorn-You were always "popping up" new ideas to help us play our very best!
Nuts-Whenever things were "nuts", you kept us all focused and guided us when we didn't understand. Know that we are "nuts" about you!
Pretzels-You taught us to "stick" to our opponents and to "knot" (not) get discouraged, but to keep practicing and keep on trying!
Balls-You gave us a "well-rounded" grasp of the fundamentals, and while we have more to learn, we had a "ball" on the team!
Hugs & Kisses - to remind you that you are appreciated

I think coaches also really appreciate when the whole team goes in on a gift card. Their are so many great options in gift cards-a VISA, to use as straight up cash, movies, dinner, Starbucks, etc.

Although, most of all make sure to give them a card expressing your appreciation to them. I know we had some really awesome coaches this time for each of my kids' teams!

Rebecca

Tuesdays with Dorie ~ Fresh Mango Bread

Oh Dorie, why do you scorn me so? I don't even know you, but you have a vendetta against me. Or at least my thighs...and butt...and neck... And why is Dorie skinny? I mean my dad always told me that you should never trust a skinny chef. I totally think that holds true for a baker too. Does she not eat this stuff?

I knew I loved zucchini bread and banana bread. I now know that I also love Mango Bread! I do. I mixed this all together and it smelled so good. It just sat there staring at me. So I took a small sample of the batter. And then a few more. I think I had a few too many tastes of the batter because now I have a belly ache.

I have never cut up my own mangoes before. I think they were lovely all spread out like this.

When I went to make this early this morning, I found that I had no flour. None. I also had a kid who has been throwing up for two days (don't worry I washed my hands). So it wasn't likely that I'd get to the store today. But I do have Rebecca who lives close. And I had to pick a few things up from her house. I was ok taking my sick kid in the car for a few minutes and picking up something vs taking a sick kid through a store. Rebecca carefully measured out the flour and put it in a bag for me;) So nice to have a sister (or three). Since it was measured out for me, I really didn't have any for dusting the pan. This is not a problem for me. I know this is probably the worst thing I can do...but I like to do this with sweet breads...I dusted the inside of the pan with Cinnamon sugar. I started doing that years ago. I love a little caramelized sugar crunch on my bread and some oozing melted butter making my fingers wet. Hello Lover!!

I'm just kicking myself for offering to take some to my friend. She shared with me some delish Monkey Bread yesterday and left that pretty plate I used in my pictures. I had never had Monkey Bread before and it was delish. So I know the right thing to do is return her cute little plate with some Fresh Mango Bread. I know this. Must share bread, must share bread. I really need to just stick to sharing my chocolate creations. This bread is my kind of thing. I hope I am strong enough to not eat every little loaf so that someone else can try this;) Ok, friends don't let friends eat alone. I will share!

Thank you so much Kelly with Baking with Boys for choosing this weeks TWD recipe. I am so glad to get out of the month of chocolate from last month and dive into heaven (aka not chocolate).

End of School Party and First Day of Summer Party

End of School Party

For my kids, this Thursday is the last day of school. I have a child who will also be having a promotion on that day. Here is a fun list of ideas to do for that day! To me, this day is about remembering the last year and all my kids did and all that they accomplished. I don't want it to be about hating school ("No More Books, No More Teachers Dirty Looks, etc"), so instead we focus on the great accomplishments.
For the promotion, I will bring flowers for my child. Don't we all love getting flowers?! I will also make sure to have my camera batterries ready (video and still)!
During the day I will put together a party for the kids. I will decorate with balloons (for my kids, balloons always mean a party). I am going to take the kids out to a nice dinner (we really only do this a few times a year, so this is a real treat for my kids). We also have a playroom for the kids. I will set this up as a sleepover. I will have beds all made up in there. They will get to watch videos and eat popcorn and movie like candy with it! Here are a few things I will have for my kids that night:
1. I am surprising my kids with a dinner out! This will start the night off wonderfully!
2. We will have an awards ceremony. I have printed up certificates to give out to each of the kids for specific things they have done well on, or improved on. Ideas for these certificates could be, Learned To Read, Improved Spelling, Friend to All, Hard Worker On Chores, Positive Outlook, Made It Into PI-the honors program, Dinomite Dancer, Super Soccer Star, Wonderful Wii-Fit Competitor, etc.
3. I have a 3 ring binder commemorating the last school year. It includes pictures of my children (school pictures, field trips, etc). It also has all the artwork and papers I kept over the last year. This 3 ring binder is just for the night as all of those papers will actually make their way into each child's personal school books (as I find time this summer). However, it's great to have them all together for us to go over and remember all we did during the last year. All of their certificates and awards are also in this binder! In this book I am working on a poem that will include highlights from the last year (specific reasons I am so proud of my kids and why they should be proud of themselves. Some examples would be one of my daughters has struggled with spelling this year and this last term she got 100%. It's quite an accomplishment).
4. We will make a list of things we all want to do this summer (swimming), places that we want to visit (the beach, Disneyland, Family in Utah, Flagstaff), things we want to accomplish (our home summer school goals), things we want to learn (sewing), and things we want to make (quilts for each of us, a playroom kitchen). If we post the list, we are more likely to make more of it happen!
5. I have put together a video of all the things my kids did during the last school year. This includes still pictures as well as video.
3. I will rent some movies for the kids to watch, as I know they want to pull an all nighter on that first night. I allow my kids a few nights of this, and then restrict them back to a schedule.


On Friday I have a First Day Of Summer Party planned:
1. My kids will be woken up by the smell of their favorite breakfast (log cabin french toast).
2. I will also have added to the balloons with Luaou decorations that I already have on hand.
3. Make a huge batch of bubbles, to use all summer. Use immediately!
4. Run through the sprinklers
5. Eat Ice Cold Watermellon-have a watermellon seed spitting contest
6. Use chalk to make a 4-square game, and hopscotch
7. Have picnic at park at end of street. Bring along a large cooler. Surprise them with a cooler full of water balloons, for a water balloon fight!
8. Eat Popsicles. Or if the ice cream man comes by, let everyone pick whatever they want!


Rebecca

This week is National Eosinophil Awareness week!!

Hi guys! It is Anjeanette here.

I wanted you to know that this is the second National Eosinophil Awareness week right now. It is the third week in May every year. My three year old was just diagnosed in January with Eosiniphilic Esophagitus.

Most of my creative genius (if you will…I would like to think it is creative genius but really it is probably something wrong with me about not being able to settle my mind…let’s call it creative genius though ok?) happens while I sleep. I go to bed with an idea on my mind and I dream about it. I think about whatever it is for days or years before I ever execute it. Usually I have thought through the whole project so it usually comes together fairly easily. I’ve been thinking and thinking about what I can do for National Eosinophil Awareness week. For Autism Awareness day, I made an awesome puzzle broach. Puzzle pieces are an icon or mascot if you will for Autism Awareness. As far as I know, there isn’t any object like that for Eosinophil Awareness. So what would I make that would interest my 67 followers. (Thank you so much by the way for being a follower of ours. You have no idea how excited we get when we get a new follower.) I did a post called Cake for an Eosinophil. Cake for an Eosinophil I had someone comment that she was surprised to see eosinophil on a craft blog. I’m guessing though that we don’t have a lot of readers that have children with Eosinophilic disorders. So an IV pole organizer tutorial may not help anyone but myself. I did by the way make an IV pole organizer to hold our stethoscope, syringe and tape with a few pockets. The IV pole gets messy with all the things we need for feedings.

I thought about making some homemade barf bags like the ones we got in the hospital. I still may make some for myself using a small embroidery hoop and double up some plastic bags inside. I wasn't sure how often your children throw up so I wasn't sure that it would be all that useful to you. I also thought about upcycling some IV bags that were for a different pump and making them into cold water bottles with a cozy and everything. But I’m guessing most of you don’t have extra IV bags laying around either.

I couldn’t think of a craft to make and share with you that would do anything for awareness. But I wanted to do something. What else can I do? I have a voice. As hard as we have tried to keep our kid’s pictures from this blog, I can’t think of any other way than to share some pictures of son to encourage awareness. So here I am.

So many times in the past, I’ve looked at people with struggles in their lives and thought and even said out loud “I could never do that” or “I don’t know how you do all that”. For example, my SIL Katrina and my sweet brother have a son with Autism. For years Katrina has made his food from scratch using all kinds of crazy flours and ingredients. But now I have a new perspective on it all. I am not a super Mom because of what I do for my son. I’m just his mom. These are his needs and I do it because I’m his Mom. I no longer wonder how people do it all. They do it because that is where they are and what they need to do.

I thought that by sharing our journey with you, hopefully #1 you will be a little more educated and #2 hopefully you will be a little more empathetic (NOT SYMPATHETIC) to someone a little different from you.

What the heck are you even talking about Anjeanette? My son has EE, eosinophilic esophagitus. I think the easiest way to explain it is to compare it to asthma. Asthma is an allergy in your lungs. EE is a really bad food allergy in your esophagus.

My son was always complaining about having a belly ache. It hurt before he ate, while he was eating and after he ate. We knew he was allergic to cows milk because when he was about 3 months old, I wanted to get out with some friends for a few hours. We gave him a formula bottle. It did not go well. He threw up for 24 hours straight. So I nursed on. He was a little fidgety when he was a baby and liked to sleep propped up. For about the first 5 months he slept in his car seat or swing. He was on Soy formula from the age of one to two. We asked and asked the Doctors what was up and they just said he was sensitive. But when he started really talking, he was always telling me his belly ached.

We went to see an allergist. We did RAST testing which is a blood test that tells you if you have immediate reactions to foods. Which is good to know, but not totally helpful in diagnosing EE. We had him tested on his back with the poke or prick test. They poked the heck out of his back to see what he was allergic to. It was crazy. There were more things he was allergic to than things he wasn't. Then we did patch tests.They take food and make pastes out of them. They put them in these little *cups* that have metal rings around them. Then they apply the patches to his back.

They pretty much taped his whole back up to make sure the patches stay in place. Then they wait.

We went back in 48 hours and the removed the patches. They checked for reactions and we came back after 72 hours to check for more reactions. Again, he was allergic to so many things.

After the allergist, we went to see a pediatric GI. We tried changing his diet. We tried a few things and still nothing made it better. Finally we were able to have him scoped. They did biopsies of the inside of his digestive system. It was clear from the scope that he had EE. His esophagus was totally swollen and the tell-tale signs of EE, the white cells, were visibly present.
So we have to take out all the foods that my son is allergic to out of his diet. We put him on an elemental formula. Which is basically a very broken down formula. They break it down to an amino acid. The more broken down they make the formula, the less palatable it becomes. We struggled at first because my son would not drink it. So we got the ng tube. Here he was waiting to have the ng tube put in.

It is a feeding tube through his nose. It was really hard to switch from eating normal food to nothing but liquid through his nose. So we went over his allergy testing with the nutritionist and came up with Sweet potatoes and watermelon for him to eat. Basically what we are doing is trying to eliminate the eosinophils completely by taking out any foods he is allergic to. Then the plan is to reintroduce foods one at a time based on his allergy testing. Food trials go something like this, after a clean scope, meaning no eosinophils are found, you introduce your chosen food and try him out on it. If he does well, you can introduce another and another. Usually it is about one new food a month. Once the food trial is over…we will have him scoped and biopsied again to see if the eosinophils are still present. If they are, we know he is allergic to the food.

The ng tube was unpleasant to say the least. This is the set up for changing out the tube. They get dirty and just yucky and you have to change them. We always did it as a team. One time Katrina had to help me because my husband wasn't there. We would have to wrap him in a blanket so that he couldn't fight us too much. We would measure the tube for the length. You quickly pull the old one and then quickly put the new one in. There is a stiff wire in the new tube which gives it some shape to help get it down. Then you pull the wire out and tape it up. The ng tube made things tricky. Bath time was interesting because of the tube. We would clip the end of the tube to his short hair and try to keep it out of the water. But ultimately we ended up taking a clothes pin and wrapping it up and clipping it. Other things that were unpleasant about the ng tube were things like getting a stomach bug and throwing up. He would throw the tube up too. In one week, we had to replace his tube 6 times. One of those times Katrina had to help me. It was not a fun task.

Kids are mean. They would come up to him and try to pull at his tube. Or they would say things like "What is wrong with you?" They would stare at him and follow him around. His big brother was his best ally. He would set kids straight and tell them there was nothing wrong with him, he was just allergic to food.

He gets hooked up to his pump three or four times during the day and then for 10 hours overnight. We mix the formula just like you do for babies and put it in the IV bag. We hook it up to the pump. Then we check him and hook him up. He pulls the pole around with him like it is another appendage. He can pull the pole with is foot while his hands are full of toys. He is very careful about his tube.

He got a stomach bug. Everyone gets them. He threw up for days it seemed. Finally he started throwing up blood. Off to the Children's Hospital. It was over Easter weekend. This is how we spent our Easter.

He had thrown up so much from a regular stomach bug, that it bothered his esophagus so much he was throwing up blood. It was shortly after his last batch of patch testing. You can see some of the rings where he had a reaction still on his back.

A simple stomach bug is sometimes just too much for kids with EE.

Monday was the day for g-tube placement. It was a tough decision to make. Believe me, we struggled coming to this. As long as they were going to put him under and be in there already...and since we know and accept that this is going to be a long road, we opted to have the g-tube placed at the same time as his scopes.

This isn't something he is likely to grow out of. It is a hard decision to make and each family decides what the right path is for their family. We know this is going to be a long road. After his week and a half of a stomach bug and throwing his tube up so much, we were firm in our choice to get the g-tube.

Something I think people don't realize is that we have thought through all the what ifs and how abouts. We have researched it and gone to support group meetings and talked about it. We are not taking any of this lightly. This is our son and we adore him. Often people try to make suggestions as if we haven't thought of this or that. But usually their suggestions are so not right and it is clear they don't understand what is going on. That gets kind of frustrating because we aren't jumping into anything. We have agonized over every choice we have made. But the end result we want our son to be not sick and not hurt. It is hard to see your child in a hospital because he is sick.

It is hard to make a choice to put something fairly permanent, in your child.

But for us, this is the only way to help make our son not sick. In a few weeks he will be able to take swimming lessons just like his brother. He will be going to preschool in the fall and won't have the pesky ng-tube taped to his face for all the other kids to stare at. He will be able to take a shower. We are really excited about the lifestyle change he will have now that he has a g-tube and not an ng-tube.

He is not his tube or his diagnosis. He is a whole person. He has crazy energy just like his dad, and is stubborn and set in his ways like his Mom. He is a younger brother, and a cousin and grandson and great grandson. He loves music and playing with his brother. He is a fierce kick ball player and is not afraid of a ball or running or jumping. He is 100% all boy with their crazy energy and sweet ways.He loves and cries just like you do.

So much of our culture is based around food. Holy cow! Our Roots and Wings Co family is huge into food. Our celebrations traditionally revolve around food. We celebrate marked occasions like birthdays with food. Aside from people being hurtful about his tube, we struggle with the whole food thing. His diagnosis came right before his 3rd birthday. He knew he was supposed to get a cake for his birthday. That is why I came up with the cake for an eosinophil. He HAD to have a cake. We did his party at the zoo with his best friend in the world because I wanted to shake up the whole typical birthday party and all the expectations that come with it. It is so hard to go through his day to day and not eat more than watermelon and sweet potatoes. He gets no cake, or candy, or fruit, or cereal. He loves to help me bake and always asks to smell everything. He can have all the water and ice he wants. We had to get him a snow cone maker so he can have something fun. Sometimes you can see his mouth move when he watches someone eating. He has taken bites of Chapstick because he so badly wants to eat and he thought it smelled good. Talk about heartbreaking!

The other thing I want to bring awareness to is how to deal with a friend or neighbor that has something new and different going on with them. This is a big thing for me. Because without my experience I would not have understood this at all. But your friends or neighbor still needs you as a friend. Don’t wait to call them because you want them to have time to deal with xyz. Call them just the same as you would before. Put the ball in their court to accept your invitation to whatever event or thing you would normally invite them to. Don’t just exclude them because you assume it would be too difficult. We are learning to bring things like my art totes to events. He will draw his heart away. He would rather be at an event, than stay home because of his EE.

Something pretty exciting is Disney's own sweetheart Demi Lovato is the honorary embassador to APFED which is one of the groups trying to raise awareness and funds for research for curing this thing we call EE.

If you go to youtube and do a search for Eosinophil you come up with the saddest videos of children that can't eat. It is heartbreaking not being able to do the most simple thing for your child by feeding them food just like everyone else.

If you made it through my post to this part, thank you so much for your time. It is something that is very near and dear to our hearts. The next time you see someone different from yourself, don't quickly turn away, don't ask "what is wrong" with them. Your approach and the way you word something makes a whole world of difference. Instead give them a smile (not out of pitty). If you have time and want to, ask "why they have..." a tube or wheelchair or whatever it is that is different about them. We are all still people afterall.

***ETA
Thanks for all the nice comments.

You can learn more about Eosinophilic Diseases at APFED. You can donate there as well as CURED. Each family has choices to make about how to treat and manage their child's Eosinophilic Diseases. There are no solid answers that fit everyone. Some people decide to treat with drugs like steriods. Some people decide to eliminate the offending foods. While he is small and we are still able to make his decisions, we are choosing to remove the foods that are making him sick. But that doesn't mean that is the only right choice...it is just our choice.

We do have a different pump than the one in the picture. That was the second pump we had. We are now on our third pump which is a Zevex Infinity. We love it. He has a little back pack that he wears with it in it. We also went through three back packs to get to the ultra mini (or something like that).

Thanks again for reading and a huge thanks for your kind comments;)
Anjeanette

End Of School Recaps

I have been doing this for years. It is inspired by my Grandmother who, thankfully, did a version of this with all of us as we grew up. I call mine, "Yearly Milestones" and "Who Am I Updates"

This is the Yearly Milestones:I like to use this in a few different ways. One way is as a whole family recap. I just fill in the main things that we did during that month such as vacation to Utah, new baby being born, camping trips, weekend trips, etc. Then, I also have one for each child, for each year. I print them up at the beginning of the year. Then, I can just jot a quick note in as it happens. Some examples would be of the child getting a new tooth or losing one. For baby's this is a great way of filling in all of those "Firsts" milestones like rolling over, crawling, and walking. As my kids get older I am writing things like sleepover at Friend's house, Soccer, Art Lessons, Student of the Month, etc. I really love this as it's such a quick and easy way to have these things documented.

This is my "Who Am I" update.

I try to fill these out every couple of months. The Daily Routines section can be used for any misc or extra information that you want to have documented. One of my kids had her tonsils and adenoids out. I told about that information, in this section.

Both of these templates I actually have as excell worksheets. I do fill them into the computer and not by hand. Though, my Grandmother's version was done by hand and I kind of prefer seeing the handwriting as opposed to just a computer generated thing. However, as a handwritten thing, I just didn't get to it. So the ease of the computer helps me to actually stay on top of this!

I then keep all of these papers together in a 3 ring binder. So quick and easy, and I LOVE it!

Rebecca
~~
Anjeanette jumping in here. I LOVE to look through my end of year re-caps that Grandma always had us do. I love to look at my handwriting and laugh. Thanks for the reminder Rebecca. My kids weren't old enough to ask these things before. Now is the perfect time to start them on this.

Anjeanette