Progress!!!

Lily's had two really good days!

On Wednesday night, I completely spaced it and didn't give her the night time medicine. In typical Lil style, she was up in the wee hours of the morning. So was Mommy.

Thursday, she stayed with her Papa. He said she was good. Smooth passed out for an afternoon nap when I got there. Sat and talked with Dad while she slept. She woke up fine.

Arby's for dinner!

Thursday night, I remembered her night time pill. She still woke up, but it was more of the tossing and turning, not the get up and play or get up and get a drink thing.

This lead to a great morning!

She was so excited to see her "best friend Papa" for the second day in a row. She didn't fit me at all to get dressed. It was so nice and a pleasant change.

I'm so happy that we're seeing some progress. Still have some great things to bring up to Dr. Mike when we go back in a couple of weeks. See what he thinks for a more long-term solution. Couldn't hurt!

Hoping this keeps up!!

Peaks and Valleys

Lily was up in the wee hours of the morning again. 4:15 this time, and she got me up again. I went back to sleep and slept as long as she would allow, which was 6:30.

She had a good day, minus a meltdown from 5:30-6p. Cried and misbehaved when I picked her up at Bud's house. Threw a tantrum when we got home that landed her in her room for 20 minutes.

Then, she recovered and calmed down. Gymnastics was good.

I'm seeing some progress. It's slow, but I'm seeing some. It gives me hope that maybe this is all sleep related.

No News is Good News

A pretty fun evening, for which I am very grateful.

As far as her sleep cycle/schedule goes, she was up at 2:45am. Which, I was also up at this time. However, she quickly went back to sleep, once recovering all of the comfort objects she takes to bed.

Lily did some "homework" this evening, working on some shapes and letters. She did GREAT!!! Instead of coloring in the shapes, she traced them with her blue crayon and did a really good job. I was highly impressed.

She had a little bit of a tantrum because the TV was turned off when she wasn't watching it. This eventually landed her in her room for 5 minutes. Then, we had a talk about her need to calm down.

After dinner, she played in the pool and the sprinkler. She was soaked, but loved every minute of playing in the "geyser". And, she even got a bubble bath! She had some chocolate milk, then begged to brush and floss her teeth. When I asked her to be patient, she did a great job and even followed directions when helping me with a couple of chores and cleaning up a small spill.

I hope we have more days like this.

Lily's Back to See Dr. Mike

Lily playing on the Sit 'n Spin in one of Dr. Mike's exam rooms.

After our little adventure to the emergency room, we went back to visit Dr. Mike today.

A nursing student came and did the vitals. She even let Lily press the button on the "arm hugging" (blood pressure) machine.

Next, the nurse came in to get more details about the dystonic reaction. It's pretty rare, but the worst possible reaction Lily could have had. She's been off of the medication since the ER visit and she's had no more adverse side effects.

Then, it was time to play with toys and wait for Dr. Mike to come in.

When Dr. Mike came in, he looked at Lily's ears and throat. Then, he "gave her a heart" (listened to her heart with his stethoscope). The reaction she had cut our options in half. So, we're going to try a completely new approach.

Over the next three weeks, we're going to focus on Lily's sleep cycle. Getting her on a regular sleep schedule and try to get her to sleep through the night. No more waking up 1, 2, 3 times in the middle of the night to get drinks, play, watch TV.

Back in 3 weeks...

Lily's Little ER Visit

I know a lot of people want to know what happened when Lily went to the emergency room on Thursday, so here it is.

PLEASE NOTE : My decision to take Lily to a physician for the problems we've been experiencing to NOT up for discussion. It was very difficult for me, and I want to get this taken care of before it gets completely out of hand.

Lily started a new medication on Tuesday night. She was fine. Wednesday was okay, too. Thursday around lunch, she was sticking out her tongue. Thurdsay evening, she was drooling. To the point that she wasn't able to eat her dinner. She was crying.

I didn't think much of it and got her ready for bed. She kept crying, so went I went to her room to check on her, she was drooling and could only whisper. When I asked her a question, she started crying and whispered, "I can't talk."

That's when I noticed only the left side of her face was moving. When she smiled, only the left side smiled. Think about when you do to the dentist and get novacaine. That's pretty much how she looked.

I called the nurse and told her what Lily was on and the sypmtoms she was having. She told me that it sounded like an adverse reaction to the medication, so I quickly packed a bag (just in case we had to stay) and headed to the hospital.

In the ER, after Lily was assetted, I was told that she had a dystonic reaction. The reaction was starting to wear off. She was also incredibly sleepy because it was way past her usual bed time.

We go back to the doctor on Monday.

Mystery Freaking Diagnosis : A Lily Update

Lily had her follow-up with Dr. Dick yesterday. It went rather well. She's back to "normal" for her, which is a relief.

*Flashback* 2 weeks : Appointment with Dr. Dick. Her medicine was making her really aggressive. So, we weened her off in favor of something else. Insurance denied the claim, so the pharmacy couldn't fill the prescription. PharmTech told me that they just had to clear it all with the doctor. (Which never happened because I finally called the office and they had no clue there were problems.) This takes 2-3 days to get cleared up.

Back to yesterday...

We get another prescription for the same thing and the lady that handles insurance claims and such assured me that we wouldn't have any problems, but if we did, to call her ASAP and she would get it taken care of.

The medicine that we were prescribed 2 weeks ago was available. Yesterday.

Talking to the doctor, it's normal for insurance to deny a claim for her medicine when they haven't been contacted by the doctor's office. For one, it's $300 a month. Yes, a month. She gets it in 15 day supplies.

Still no official diagnosis. There are 3 possibilities, but for one, Lily is too young to be diagnosed for what could turn out to just be an aggressive phase or just her way of dealing with all of the changes going on in her life right now. For two, Dr. Dick doesn't want to automatically label her and attempt to treat that, when in reality, we really don't know what we're treating.

As for now, just attempting to manage the major symptoms.

"Not Me" Monday : Skinny Dipping & Ice Cream for Dinner

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I would never allow my preschool to happily wade through a pool of scummy water. I'm just too much of a clean-freak/germ-o-phobe. NOT ME! I'm just not the kind of Mommy.



And even if the pool were clean, there's no way that I'd let her go "swimming" in her underwear. That's just indecent!



I also make sure that each meal is balanced, so she wouldn't get ice cream for dinner. Ice cream may be dairy and have calcium, but it does not have broccoli. It's just irresponsible.

Happy Garfield the Cat Day!

Happy Garfield Day!



Garfield on Facebook.
Garfield on Twitter.

The Indiana connections with Garfield are that Jim Davis, the cartoonist who created Garfield was born Marion, Indiana and grew up in nearby Fairmont. The Fairmount Historical Museum has a tribute to Jim Davis and Garfield. However, most of the museum is dedicated to James Dean, who was also from Fairmount.

Mike suggested eating lasagna today, which is Garfield's favorite food.

Happy World Environment Day!!

World Environment Day

We started off reading Earth Smart (DK READERS) and Save the Tree!: Little Green Nickelodeon (The Big Green Help: Wonder Pets!).

I showed Lily the MSNBC Live Video of the Leak and the pictures of the sad, dirty animals in the Gulf of Mexico. I showed her one of the brown pelicans taking a bath.

Recycling is another great way to help the environment! Lily and I got some of our old clothes together to donate to the American Legion Clothing Bank.

Nick Jr. Creative Recycling Crafts.

Happy National Donut Day!!

Happy National Donut Day!!

To celebrate, Lily and I had donuts for dinner. We used Grands® Jr. Refrigerated Biscuits. I poked a hole in eat biscuit and stretched them out. We fried the biscuits, then dipped them in powdered sugar.

Donut Day Recipe
Free Pillsbury Food Coupons from General Mills