Directly from there we met my parents at my Aunt Maureen and Uncle George's house for a downscaled version of our normal New Year's Day celebration. Beth, Tim and Patrick were there as well and we had a nice time eating, catching up, and watching the kids play with new presents.
January 3rd came and Ty was back to school. I am happy to report that I did in fact survive Christmas break, but I was ready to be back to our typical routines as well. That night everyone came over for pizza to spend some time together before my grandparents left for Florida for the winter.
The next day Jason's early intervention case manager and his speech therapist came to the house for his therapy re-evaluation, as it had been one year since he started therapy. Seems hard to believe. He had made lots of gains in that year, but obviously still has a ways to go. He will continue to get speech and OT (with his new therapist) as he had been, with an increased focus on his sensory issues with the occupational therapist. They also decided to pursue vestibular therapy with him, so that should be interesting. We discussed his transition from early intervention to the school system, as he will "age out" of the system at 3. Crazy to believe that we're already starting the process of getting him into the preschool program.
Tyler had a pinewood derby clinic for Tiger Scouts that he attended with his pop-pop. I gratefully handed over that task to my dad! While he was there I spent some time sitting in my car while my mom attempted to put Jason to bed for the first time ever. Yes, that's right, after 27.5 months, someone else was finally going to try to put him to bed. Well, she succeeded, with only minimal tears (approximately 5 minutes of crying, if I recall correctly). Hallelujah!
Jason finally learned to say his name, or at least a version of it. He started to say "day day" (Jay Jay) if you asked him his name. He also decided that any grouping of things were the number "do" (two). He also is "do" years old. Unfortunately if you ask him his name he often answers "do" or replies that he's "day day" years old. He's working on it. Here's a short video (for some reason, sideways) of him saying some animal noises and stating his name.
After a tiger scout meeting we quickly went to Beth and Erich's for "Princess Olivia's" 2nd birthday party. Both the kids had a great time playing and of course eating. Jason even joined Olivia in a little princess dress-up in a "do do" (tu-tu). It'll be great bribery later in life.
Later that night I joined a friend at PJ's for some appetizers and drinks. That night I started having some intense abdominal pain which got progressively worse and lasted about 5-6 hours. I've had this pain before, and always attributed it to perhaps a cyst on my ovary or uterus or even just eating something that didn't agree with me, but that next morning I noticed that my lower right abdomen was still tender to the touch. Not really thinking it was anything significant, I figured I should at least have it addressed while I still have medical insurance. I got an afternoon appointment with my doctor, figuring maybe they'd at least refer me to the gynecologist. Instead they did a urinalysis and blood work. They found protein in my urine and the doctor was unsure about the pain I was experiencing and decided to send me for a CT-scan with contrast dye the next day.
Still not really expecting to hear anything, i went to that appointment the next day with very little anxiety. I figured worse case they'd say there was in fact a cyst and that would be that. In reality they called me into the back of the lab and got me on the phone with my doctor, who informed me that there was a large amount of inflammation in my small intestine and they needed me to go to the hospital. I ended up convincing them that my pain was not urgent enough to warrant that and they settled for an emergency appointment with a GI doctor the next day. They also started me on a liquid diet and 2 heavy-duty antibiotics. After I got off the phone with my doctor the x-ray tech told me, in no uncertain terms, that what he saw on the scan was in fact Crohn's disease. He told me that he was sorry, but that it could be worse and it could have been something more serious like cancer.
That night I didn't sleep well, at all. I tried to convince myself that the lab tech did not know what he was doing. The next day, in the midst of the snowstorm, I went to the GI doctor in Lumberton. He confirmed, based on my symptoms, weight loss, and results of my scan, that it was almost definitely Crohn's. Sent me on my way with a prescription for Pentasa (8 pills a day) as well as the continuation of my 2 antibiotics, with strict instructions to go to the hospital if pain gets worse. Fun. They also scheduled the colonoscopy for the next earliest appointment. A colonoscopy is required to confirm the diagnosis, as well as to get a better idea of the amount of inflammation and to biopsy tissue. Sounds like fun, huh?
So, I spent the next few days dealing with side effects from the medicine, or perhaps the Crohn's disease that I never knew I even had symptoms of before. Guess we'll never know.
By Thursday I couldn't sit around anymore so Jason and I picked up Beth and Olivia and we went to the Discovery Museum. The kids had a great time. I was a little disappointed that Jason wouldn't go the kids music and movement class they had, but he was too busy in the ball pit.
That next night Ty had his very first sleepover at someone else's house, his friend Mackenzie's. I knew he'd be nervous, but I didn't expect the phone call I got that he was having a meltdown before they even ate dinner! I talked to him, he slightly calmed down, and I convinced him to at least stay for dinner. Luckily Erich came home briefly for dinner and Tyler "manned up" and quickly stopped crying and was fine from that point out. They had a great time playing Wii and making brownies before eventually crashing while watching a movie shortly after midnight.
A short video of Jason "singing".
The next afternoon Ty had a birthday party to attend for his friend Alex at the bowling alley. He had a great time with Alex and her sisters.
I spent that evening and the next day in horrible pain again, having to cancel all of my plans of church, the Junior Women's newcomer's brunch, and a birthday celebration for Al's mom and stepdad.
That Monday Ty had off of school, but he still had a tiger scouts activity to attend. They went to Medford Lakes middle school basketball game. My dad took him, thankfully, and he had a nice time.
Our 3-day weekend was followed by a 2-hr delay due to snow.
I unwrapped a box from storage and the boys found good use of the wrapping paper. Body tracing and decorating. Ty now has a life-sized cutout image of himself taped to his door, which scares the heck out of me every morning.
Ty and my dad got to work on his pinewood derby car.
On the 21st Jason started off his day with his first ever 3-word phrase, "muh ooo peas" (more cheerios please). So cute. That was followed by an afternoon in Mt. Holly for a required Parent Education class. Fun. That evening I went to a friend's 40th birthday party, so that was a nice night.
Tyler had his first tiger scout pinewood derby race on the 23rd. Tyler was incredibly excited to race his car. In my dad's defense, the design was all Tyler's, and it was what he really invisioned, despite the fact that my dad tried to gently convince him that it was not necessarily the best racing design. Tyler didn't care, and had successfully created his "porcupine" car, a lovely red, white and blue design with yellow and green spikes. Ha, ha. Anyway, we were all just hoping Ty's car would make it down the track, and I'm happy to report that it did in fact make it. He even won one of the four races, so according to him he's the winner. He was pleased with that, and with his "most unique" car ribbon.
That afternoon my parents watched the boys so I could take advantage of the frigid weather we've been having to take Ty ice skating. When I say frigid, that would be totally accurate. It was bone chilling. But Ty had fun. I wouldn't say he could skate, but instead he can glide occasionally while I hold his hands. Otherwise he maybe can balance on his own for 5 seconds. Then he falls.
Later that week I finally had my colonoscopy. Let me tell you, the prep for that test is horrendous. The test itself was easy. They did find inflammation and small ulcerations in my large intestine and took some samples for biopsy (which were negative for cancer). The inflammation in the small intestine was too significant for them to continue the test. The crohn's diagnosis was confirmed.
We tried to enjoy some playtime with Bella. She's still a little puppy-like. Jason thinks she's great fun though.
We enjoyed yet ANOTHER crazy snowfall and snow day. Beautiful to look at...but it's getting old.
The boys still think it's great fun though. Well, it's undecided whether Jason actually likes it. He usually lacks any expression. He refused to help with the snowman. But he asks for "muh" (more) when he's on his little sled.
That weekend Tyler had a sleepover with his friend Mackenzie. We went to Chick Fil A for dinner and then kids went a little Wii crazy, especially with the borrowed Just Dance game. Jason didn't get to bed until after 11. After midnight they had slowed down a little and were making paper snowflakes. After 1 (yes, 1am) I made them turn off the lights and settle down. I think they were finally asleep around 1:15. Yawn. I can't complain though as they all got along really well.
Jason did his first ever Valentine's Day craft, a bit early. Ty is an old pro with crafts.
Speaking of crafts, Ty had a playdate which included crafting a lot more Wii. The dance game is a major hit!
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