Big Day

Coleman was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last week.  I am so impressed with this boy and his friends who work so hard in school!

I sure do love this sweet boy!

   He has had a very busy year so far with football in the fall, basketball this winter and currently running track but has still been very disciplined to keep his grades up!

 

He is growing up so fast and I couldn't be happier with the young man he is becoming.

I love you Coleman Keith!  

It is Official...Gluten Free for us!

I got a call yesterday from the pediatric GI Doctor...Coleman's blood tests were back and he has Celiac  Disease.  I am in SHOCK!

I really thought that we had it figured out as stress related IBS--but I guess I was wrong.

Poor boy was so upset about the diet changes (lots of tears about no Cheez Its and pizza) and the scope that has to be done at our local Children's hospital in a few days. The Dr wanted to to do it asap to see how far the disease had progressed and asses the damage.  

This kind of breaks my heart---it will be such a HUGE life change for my little boy and all of us! We really like bread and I LOVE making baked goods for my family but we have all agreed that we are in this together!  I am going to have to learn to cook a whole new way.  It is hard to wrap my head around this, I really don't even know where to start.  It is overwhelming...but on the other hand,  I am so thankful to know the cause of his pain and discomfort. What a blessing to have this knowledge so we can take better care of him and he can feel good again.  Even though this feels really hard,  I am trying to focus myself and him on the fact that it could be worse.  Changing our diet is not a big deal in the scheme of things, right?!  What a blessing that this disease can be controlled with diet. 

TJ had an idea to go to the store and find Coleman GLUTEN FREE food he could get excited about to cheer him up:)  It worked!  He was pretty happy with the goodies we found! I did have to warn him that stuff like Fruity Pebbles and Gushers are a special treat and will not be staples in this new diet--ha ha!:) . And my sweet hubby called around and found a local pizza place that makes Gluten Free pizza--Thank you Lupi's--phew!

If anyone has experience with Celiac Disease or Gluten Free diet, I would be so grateful for any ideas or recommendations that you could give us. We are so clueless at this point, any advice would be greatly appreciated!   Thank you:)

Tummy Troubles

After our appointment with a GI specialist yesterday we stopped at Panera Bread for a lunch with my boy.  He wanted a cinnamon crunch bagel and I suggested chicken soup (just posted about the health benefits of chicken stock here)--and no he did not have those chips (that just came with the lunch and we saved them for his brothers who aren't suffering with heartburn).

First of all, thank you so much for the comments and emails with suggestions for my hurting boy.  Many of you thought it sounded like Celiac Disease, which the Dr did draw blood to test for, but after a long interview meeting and exam he felt Coleman has IBS (irritable bowl syndrome)  The Dr explained that it seems he fits the profile and the timing.  It was telling that all his trouble started right after Bridger got our of the ICU a few months back.  I felt like we handled it well and were not overly stressed as a family, but the Dr says it is still a very stressful situation anytime you have a loved one in the ICU. Coleman is a very sensitive soul and the anxiety and worry exhibited itself in his abdominal troubles.   Then it became a vicious cycle, of pain and then the worry about the pain, making more pain etc.  Poor guy.  The medicine the pediatrician had prescribed just wasn't strong enough to heal the problem. We now have the right medicines that should help and I know having a diagnosis will cut down the worry (for him and me).    We are also going to work on managing our worry and or stress before it gets the best of us.  I am excited to have my sweet happy go lucky boy back soon!

( another little lunch date prior to all the tummy trouble)

I was also so happy to be reminded of essential oils by a very sweet person who emailed me after reading my request for help.  Her little boy had struggled with similar tummy troubles and she wrote how all the tests done at the pediatricians office were inconclusive too.  She said that using this oil and this one helped him considerably. I was reminded of my dear friend Karen, the most lovely neighbor I had for a few years.  She used essential oils with great success.  I figure it was worth a try and the one-on-one nurturing time of rubbing them and talking together each night will be great medicine, don't you think? 

I believe that the effects of love and nurturing are powerful and I am so happy that as a Mother I have so many opportunities to do just that!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Just a little request...

My latest instagram  (follow @ melandboys)...deciphering a clue for a treasure hunt for Family Home Evening.

Thanks to Grammy for the kit and to Connor for setting it up.

Such a fun time.

Ok now for my request... calling all Dr Moms out there...

My 10 year old has had abdominal pain since December, no joke. He has lost about 5 pounds since then, which is just not good for a growing boy!  He is definitely suffering from some sort of indigestion, gas, and heart burn,,,,but why?!   I have taken him to the Dr lots of times.  We have done an xray, ultrasound, blood work and can find no answers.  Everything came back fine except the xray done at a walk in clinic showed gas.  That is when I took him into our pediatrician.  

He is currently taking Prevacid and a probiotic for the last 2 weeks with not much relief.  He will seem somewhat better one day, but worse the next.  It never goes away though. So strange, huh?!  

I am currently trying to get in to see a GI specialists, but in the mean time I am looking for answers myself.

He is miserable today and it makes me sad:(

Has anyone out there had a child go through something like this?  Could it be a food allergy?

I have been limiting foods that are obviously bad for heartburn, but it really is challenging to monitor a 10 years olds eating, you know?!

Any ideas for me?

Thank you my dears!!

Preparation for a Good Morning

Recently my mornings have been looking like this...

Yikes, I am sure your house never looks like that right?!

Our mornings have been super crazy lately and by the time the boys leave the house it looks like a bomb went off.!  I decided things needed to change or this Mother may go insane!

Coleman is such a good example in this area.  Every night when I tuck him in, I have to be careful not to trip on this "boy" on the floor.

He carefully lays out everything he needs for school and sometimes there is even a little list of very important reminders for himself. when he wakes up:

( White bread?!  LOL  I don't normally have white bread in the house.  I guess he wanted to make sure that he got that little treat in his lunch the next day! )

My Goals for a better morning...

the night before:

*Put my house to bed--in other words make sure my house is in order.  It is so much better to start the day with a clean slate

*Plan breakfasts and post them with my dinners on our family command center.  I have run into the trouble of asking the boys what they want and I get 3-5 different responses!  Then my kitchen is destroyed and I am nutty trying to fulfill all those different requests:)  What was I thinking, silly Mom!

*Start the process of the 5 lunches before I hit the sack.  

*Lay out my clothes for the next day and help the little boys do the same

*Look over my day and calendar.  They maybe I won't have as many surprises thrown at me as we are trying to get out the door--"I need a field trip check  or Where is my library book" etc

Wish me I luck, I need it:)

What do you do to help your mornings run better?  Do you have any brilliant ideas that work in your home?

If so, please share!!

Reason to Win

Coleman and I on a lunch date at Jason's Deli after a recent eye Dr appointment. 

This morning as we were rushing to get ready for school,  my cute little sports nut boy wanted to show me something on the Ipad.  I could see he was on the ESPN app (of course) and I really wasn't too interested in a players latest stats at that busy moment...

I started to tell him no, saying we did not have time for that right now, but he pleaded that it was really neat and would only take a minute, so I relented.  Sometimes I can't resist that boy:)

I am so glad that I took a few minutes to watch this with him.. 

A couple of phrases from the video keep running through my head this morning...

"The only disability in life...is a bad attitude."

and

"Life can be conquered with the right outlook...and I promise everything else will fall into place"

I think I just found some new quotes for our inspiration board:)

Thank you Coleman --what a great way to start the day!

Cake with Cousins

We arrived at Uncle Marc's new home in Bedford, New Hampshire to find this cute Boston Red Sox cake, and lots of sweet cousins ready to party!

 

Happy Birthday Coleman!!

He had a great birthday!

Our Boy in the Olympics

The Science Olympics, that is!

They did some kind of testing and Coleman was one of a few 3rd graders asked to be on the team, representing their school in the Science Olympics at Chattanooga State this year.  It was an honor, but as the weeks of practises wore on, he was not too sure it was his idea of a good time.  It is a BIG sacrifice in his 9 year old mind to give up playtime with his friends and stay after school twice a week for 2 long hours memorizing the constellations (including the Latin names), studying the lunar/ tide cycles and anything to do with the sky (his assigned area of focus--since they do not know beforehand exactly what knowledge will be required of them at the 'Olympics'). 

To be honest, there was quite a bit of grumbling about it lately, but I am so impressed that he continued to work diligently ...and it paid off! 

 To his great delight, he and his partner medaled in all 3 of their events!

 He was partnered with a 5th grader, which he found intimidating at first.  He worked extra hard to keep up and not let him down.  Here they are running up to receive their GOLD medal. 

 They were so excited!

 Look at those smiles! 

This shot makes me laugh--the team was required to wear their "future Mad scientist' shirts, and I tried to get Coleman to wear some nicer pants or shorts with it, but he insisted on wearing his lucky blue under armour shirt, gym shorts and those "cool"Nike black socks.  He thinks that is the epitome of style right now!

The room was packed with kids, with 15 schools represented.  Unlike the real Olympics they awarded the top 8 of the 15 teams for each event a medal.  It was fun to hear the happy cheers from all the schools and see the teams run up for their medals! 

Coleman and his partner Colt.  They wrestle on our High School Youth team together too. 

Coleman's school principal--Mr H.came to support the team!

They were just bursting with happiness to get those medals--representing hours of hard work:)

What a great experience this ended up being.  Coleman really had a good time and with those medals around his neck, I think he was very happy to be a part of the Science Olympics:)  It is funny what a trophy or medal means at this age--very exciting stuff, let me tell you!

It was a treat to witness my sports lovin' boy enjoy a non athletic event so much. Don't get me wrong I LOVE watching my boys play sports but I LOVED that this time he was exercising his brain! I am hopeful that this experience helped build within him a love of science, learning and hard academic work!
 I could not be more grateful to all the people who dedicated so much time and energy to put this on, especially the teachers at his school who were so encouraging. 

What a confidence builder for the children involved--such a sweet day!

Birthday Fun

We celebrated Coleman's 9th birthday on Friday! 

 His requested birthday dinner was Hot Dogs:)

Also on the menu:

Layered Drinks--have you tried these yet?  They are a blast to make and drink!

BBQ Lays Potato Chips

Green Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

Oreo Ice Cream Pie

 This boy is such a delight to have around.  Coleman is so inquisitive, creative, kind hearted and FUN--there is NEVER a dull moment with this boy around!

He is slightly obsessed with semi trucks and driving right now. 

 Every time we are in the car he tells me how he can not wait until he can be get a license, points out all the big trucks and expresses his dreams of being a truck driver someday:)

He was gifted a semi truck to play with, a new Bible, a Nike basketball shirt, beef jerky, ice cube gum, a new art mosaic game and a MOTOR SCOOTER to speed around the neighborhood on.

Happy happy Birthday my darling boy! 

You are love beyond words!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Coleman's Basketball Championship Story

Last weekend Brad and I came home from our friday night date to the older boys (aka the babysitters) reporting that Coleman did not watch the movie we rented for their movie night because he wanted to go to bed early to prepare for his basketball tournament. I could tell then that he was VERY excited!

So Brad and I stayed up late watching a movie, thinking we could sleep in since the first game wasn't until 9:00am. Well, we were wrong....at 7:00am I woke up to a bright eyed little eight year old standing next to the bed, fully dressed in his underarmour and YMCA jersey clutching a cold gatarode. He excitedly told me that his coach told them to come EARLY!! I didn't want to put a damper on his obvious excitement, so I tried to focus with my sleepy tired eyes and came up the idea that he should go and get some good food for breakfast to fuel his game and buy me some time! I think I suggested some cereal and a banana and sank back to my cozy bed. Around 20 minutes later he came bouncing in to let me know that he had cereal and then a pile of carrots and did I think that would be good for energy:) Even though I was tired, I was defenitely moved to get up by his sweet enthusiasm.

Coleman and buddy Karson

It was a single elemination tournament with 3 games being the maximum if they kept winning. I was pretty confident that they would get to the championship round. They had only lost one game this season and it was last weekend. Coleman wasn't there because I went to a luncheon at my friends Baptist church and forgot to tell Brad about the game. He was so sad--I was in the dog house! We heard later that the opposing team was really hard and one boy in particular was AMAZING and scored a lot of points on us.
(Coleman is #4)
Well sure enough they won their first two games and just had that one " super hard" team to beat in order to get their hands on those trophies that every one of those little 8 year olds was dying to have:)

To prepare for the final game the coaches had the boys watch the team they would play for that last game--kind of like watching film live. It was decided that Coleman was their best defender and so he would guard the star of the the other team--the same team that beat them last weekend. Coleman was getting tips and and directions from the coaches as they watched. This was serious!!:)

Coleman was sooo excited! Look at those cute little faces. I love 8yr olds!
During the game Coleman was on fire!! He defended like crazy and pretty much stopped their star in his tracks:) He had some great steals and breakaways, awesome passes and some nice baskets. At one point during a timeout he looks over at his Daddy all sweaty and flushed and mouths "this is the championship, Dad" as if we may have forgotten what was on the line here. His seriousness was so cute!
They ended up beating that team that beat them just last weekend--by 6 points!! The coach said it was helpful that I forgot about the game last weekend because Coleman ended up being their secret weapon that their opponent didn't know existed:) he he. Coleman was thrilled and thought he was involved in March Madness or something!
Trophies...YES!!

We had a team celebration at' Ci Cis' with an all-you-can-eat pizza and pop buffet...a little boys dream come true!

Congratulations Coleman and team...CHAMPIONS, woo hoo!!

This is a first...

I was a little shocked (and very pleased) to find this note. I have never received a thank you note for laundry before! I guess he noticed that I am constantly doing it!

Thanks to Coleman the never-ending-mountain- of-stinky- boy laundry was (a little) easier to tackle that day:) What a guy!

Coleman's Baptism Day

My Eight year old boy--the day before his baptism.

Coleman was baptised on July 2nd by his Dad.

It was avery special occasion for him and he was beaming from ear to ear all day!

I was reminded that this precious little soul that I have been entrusted with is really just on "loan" from our Heavenly Father who loves and cherishes him perfectly.
It was fun to be in Utah surrounded with lots of our dear family and friends all their to support our little man.

Grandma and Great Grandma
(Lots of Uncles and Aunts and cousins that I did not get pictures of , darn it!)

I did get one of his Uncle Matt and his crutches:)

After the baptism we went back to Grandma's for dessert,

two kinds of trifles: Mixed Berry & Peanut Butter Chocolate

Served on my great Grandma's china plates.

Big brother Connor

Great Uncle Darwin & Aunt Judy and Great Grandma

We were so happy that Coleman's Great Great Aunt Clea was able to come.

Grandma requested that Grandpa and Coleman get those ties back on for one more picture...

Thank you for hosting our gathering in your beautiful home, Mom and Dad!

It has been a sweet experience to help Coleman prepare for baptism.

He is like a little sponge when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I think his spirit recognizes the truths as he is taught.

He now has his own leather bound Bible and Book of Mormon and I always find him reading them. He told me that he made a promise to Heavenly Father to read them everyday his whole life. I am trying to follow his example:)

Coleman Keith you are a special soul and I know you will always be a valiant son of God and true follower of Jesus Christ.

The newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints