Saturday, December 27

Catch-up

Wow, it's been 2 months since I bogged last. Yikes!! A lot has happened since then. Here is just a few. It's already late and I work in the morning.(hissssss) I will do the rest in a couple of days. Enjoy.

Aaron

Earlier this month we found out the Aaron is iron deficient. This is not a terrible thing, however here is my frustration with the whole thing.
Ever since Aaron was, well basically when I was pregnant with him I knew he was a very active boy. I remember making comments at work "I'm having an ADHD baby," very jokingly of course. And those of you who had the pleasure of seeing this while I was pregnant remember my belly could have caused an earthquake with how much he moved. It was very uncomfortable. To this day he hasn't stopped moving.

At a young(er) age I brought this up to his doctor, who said, "Yes, he does have a lot of energy, but let's wait until he gets to at least four to see how this goes." So, I waited. When he started having sleep disturbances, I waited. When he had restless leg syndrome, I waited. When he had sleep apnea, I had his tonsils and adenoids taken out. I tried changing his diet. I used the cookbook by Jerry Seinfeld's wife, "Deceptively Delicious." It gives fabulous recipes on how to sneak vegetables in everyday cooking. It's a great book. I bought things sugar free and with no preservatives or red dye, because they can increase hyperactivity. When I did all that, on a scale from 1 - 10, he went from a 10 to 9.5. I waited.

At his 4 year old check-up I brought it up again. His doctor, who previously up to this point never hinted a thing, flat out said, "oh yeah, he has ADHD and it's one of the most severe we see in the office." I about hit the floor. I mean, was I surprised? Not a chance, but this whole time making me feel like an idiot mother who is trying to over diagnose her kid. He handed me a prescription and told me he wants to follow up in a month. I cried the whole way home. Not from saddens, but from frustration. After a long talk with Charlie we decided to try the medication for Aaron for a month. If it works, great. If we see anything that makes him not be his adorable, sweet self, we take him off. A month goes by and no change. Zip, nada, nadia, nothing. I do notice that it seems like his sleeps apnea is coming back though.

At the follow up we decide to take him off and wait (again.) I'm okay with that. I just happen to mention about the sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome when he sleeps and he orders an iron panel. The results...no surprise, low. We had to start him on an iron supplement just like his little brother.


That night I started to research iron deficiency and signs and symptoms and guess what I found. It is linked to restless syndrome, sleep apnea, irritability and with more research some doctor's are trying to link it to ADHD. I couldn't believe it.

Now, I am not holding my breath. But, if that was his issue the whole time, low iron, that's the easiest fix I could ever imagine. We haven't seen any really big changes yet and we might not ever, (which I am fine with, I've learned to deal)but I will just say that for the last 2 weeks we have been able to put him bed, say goodnight and walk out. He stays in bed and falls asleep. (knock on wood) We have never been able to do that! It's wonderful.

Farewell to a Great Man

Thanksgiving had really mixed emotions for me. My Mom's Dad passed away the Monday before. We all knew that his health was failing over the last few years and this was quite expected, but it was a lot harder for me than I thought it would be.
My Granddad and I were very close. He was the most amazing man I have ever known. He was very intelligent too. I mean, the man could read and write Hebrew. I learned a few things about him that I never knew before. He was in the Navy during WWII. What was really touching was that he had a full Military burial. If you have ever been to one you know what I'm talking about. It is really emotional. I balled, especially when they presented the flag to my Grandmother. It was a beautiful funeral. I think the hardest thing is that my granddad and I shared the same birth date. Ever since I could remember we would have contests to see who could call who first. I know something will be missing this birthday.
The positive side to his passing is that it brought families together. This was the first time in 3 years that my siblings and I were all together. We did miss a few spouses though. Since my brother and kids came from back East all the cousins where able to cause major havoc together in my mom's house. It was quite entertaining. Also, my sister even volunteered to watch our boy's so we could have a night off. THANK YOU CINDY!! Even though we were gone for less than 9 hours it was refreshing.
Here are some pictures of everyone at my Mom's house after the service. We had a good trip, but were very thankful to be home.

The Whole group



Just the 6 Kids



Wyatt and Gavin



My mom thought that it would be fun for the grandkids to help decorate her tree. She was right. As soon as they saw uncle Scott and Uncle Dave setting it up their faces lit up.



Julia, Maddie, Aaron and Adam.

Halloween.

Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to my friend's house just down the street, ate some fabulous food, went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood for a few hours and then went back and ate Cinnabons..mmmmmmm. We talked for a little while longer and then when home and let the kids crash. It was quite the adventure. I guess I got so caught up in the sugar rush and forgot to take many pictures. In fact, I only took one.


He makes a very scary Darth Vader, right?!? You can almost hear the Darth Vader theme going off in your head right now. Aaron had the most fun. He was Spiderman. He and his two little buddies were running house to house. It wore him out. Despite of all the candy he went to bed quite easily that night. Who knew?