Well, it's Thursday, do you know what's for dinner? (Just a mom ranting a tad)

Heck, I barely know what I'm doing in the next five minutes much less what the family will have for dinner. LOL.....Life is definitely hectic with 2 toddlers. Well, I guess you can't say Rebecca is a toddler anymore, can you? She is just under 1 month to be 5 years old! FIVE people. Going on 25! Easy! I tell you, I thank God for hair coloring because she will be the reason my whole hair coloring would be grey if I didn't color it. Let me tell you what she did just yesterday, shall I?

She was playing at daycare. Decided to climb a tree. Apparently a larger tree. She got so far off the ground, high enough, that she slid down out of the tree. She ended up getting a piece of bark stuck in her fleshy part of her palm of her hand. (left one) She's left handed. Of course, that's the hand she got. Where's daycare personnel you might be saying? *mom wanted to know that too* Funny, nothing was said about where they were. That's why they are MOVING to another daycare end of next week. Anyway, they cleaned up her hand. End of story, right? Um, wrong. She wakes up today and it's big, red, yucky looking, and it hurts. Go figure.

Moral of the story? KIDS! Grey hair. I'm convinced they go hand-in-hand!!! (I'll prove it to you if you'd like.) Matthew? Where is he in all this? Just watching. ROFL Watching his sister do things she ought not to, but does them anyway. Gotta love my Matthew. He's the thinker! He sees Rebecca get in trouble and he knows, instinctively, not to do what she just did. You'd think that would sink into Becca's world. *it hasn't yet*

Interesting, I tell you. Never a dull moment. NEVER. Sometimes you just need those "Calgon, take me away" kind of days, huh?! I'd love one of those about now. OH, and if you haven't heard..........Rebecca would GLADLY take 5 to 10 minutes to tell you about her PARTY she is having. (in about a month) The big 5! Oh boy!! A house full of kids! Oh boy! Oh brother.............*s*

Am I sarcastic today? OH YEAH. Do I have a good reason to be? Yeah, maybe a little. Oh well......and how's YOUR day been today?!?! LOL

Momma Kooky

God is working! He's still working! God is working even now!

I love that song! After yesterday? I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God's working a miracle in my Matthew! It's sooooooooooooo cool to see! Woo, it should give you the shivers as it does me!

Yesterday we went to Children's for Matthew's follow-up on his hearing. He had failed two hearing tests and was preliminarily losing his hearing in his left ear. WELL GUESS WHAT!?!?!??!?! Not only did he fail a THIRD hearing test, which in this case is OK for now. His hearing is STABLE. No more hearing loss. In fact? His left ear is now hearing lower frequencies! AND........his right ear is (or has been) compensating for the loss in the left ear and is highly more sensitive to sounds because he did WONDERFUL with his right ear. The left ear is still not quite there, but it's improved!

The doctor said she truly believes that the tubes are helping him. Slowly, but surely. The only bad part about yesterday is that she had to clean Matthew's right ear to even see the green tube that was still there since February! hehehe...*s* OH MY DID HE NOT LIKE THAT ONE! We are not talking just a q-tip either. More like long little scissor looking things that cut away wax and removes it. Daddy had to hold him down and a nurse hold his head completely still while they did that. HE DID NOT LIKE THAT ONE BIT! He did ok though. Just tears and crying. No screaming, at least not like his sister has done on MANY, MANY, MANY occasions for shots and things. *shaking head*

So, is this a miracle? YOU BETCHA! Is God restoring his hearing? I do believe so, yes. Are his ears not developed like they should be? No, they aren't. BUT, as long as all the mechanisms are working to hearing, you should be able to hear. Are mom and dad happy campers?! OH YES!

One kinda on the down side of things is Matthew's pronounciation of words has taken a hit. He's starting to studder and get "stuck" on words. His rate of growth in saying harder words has definitely slowed down. We were told that this is most likely normal, but to keep an eye on it. We will definitely be telling his speech therapist about this! He will start speech therapy in September or the end of August, not sure which. We are waiting to hear from them as the school year commences once again.

SO YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH for Matthew!!!! Woo Hoo..................

Momma Kooky

Sometimes life hands you lemons, again..........

Well, it was December 2005 when I was found out to have Type II diabetes. I was taking just oral meds. They were working pretty well until this morning. I woke up and my left eye was blurry, my head was splitting and three fingers on my right hand were numb. I knew something was up! I went to work. What could I do? I felt ok for the most part. I got to work. Had taken my sugar levels 3 times before I got to work. 204, 208, 253...........after that last number? I knew I was in trouble.

I went to the nurse at our work and asked if they had any Ketostix (to measure if my body was turning against me......in other words, when your sugar is so high that your body starts to eat your fat cells and muscle cells). Well, guess what? Yep, I had traces of ketones. *Lucky me* not!

Off to the doctor I went. End result? I now take Byetta, along with my oral meds. Will make life interesting, that's for sure. Byetta is like insulin, but not quite insulin. If you want to know more, www.byetta.com.

I'm ok. Just needed some more help. So, wherever I go, wherever I eat, yeah, you'll see me pull out my pen and stick myself. I'm already over that fact, hopefully everyone around me will be too. :o)

It's really crappy to be a diabetic, but at least I'm alive and there are treatments for me!!! I say AMEN to that. Thank you Lord!!!!!

Momma Kooky

Another addition to the "Aren't we cute?" category

I'm not kidding. Just look at these two.


Daddy Crazy

Update on Matthew's CAT scan results............

Well, Dr. Pena called me at work yesterday and left 2 messages saying that "she needed to speak with Mrs. Iversen please". Now mind you, she didn't say immediately, or ASAP, or it's a matter of life and death or anything like that, but trust me when I say, when you get not one, but TWO messages like that? Within an hour of one another.........um, yeah, something deep down within your MOMMA's HEART should tell you that you need to call the doctor back NOW! *which I did*

And don't you know it? She went to lunch! Ha! Like she should eat! *smiling* (yes she should.)

Anyway.........she called me back after 1:30pm and we talked about Matthew's results of his CAT scans.........they were ok, but not good. Meaning.....does he have abnormalities in the development of his ears from being a cleft child? YES! Is it bad? Not really, but enough to discourage the doctor from ruling it out as being a possible culprit into why he is losing his hearing.

His tubes are fine. Nothing wrong there. No scarring. No extra skin, nothing like that........so that was a relief on her part as some tubes can do that to children and it can be a MAJOR setback to them hearing properly.

Now, to the good stuff. Most of his ears are developed enough for him to hear. Not like you and me mind you (if you have perfect hearing), but good enough. The nerves that Dr. Pena could see, one didn't look right. She didn't know why.....just that it didn't look right. Everything is suspect to Matthew's hearing loss so she is writing down anything and everything it COULD be.

Here's the BIG thing........We are still holding to our August 7th, 9:15am doctor appt. at Children's for Dr. Pena to see Matthew again. She wants to give him ONE last hearing test and look into his ears. IF, and I say, IF, he fails this hearing test (as he has the past 2), she will aggressively start reacting to EVERYTHING that was found in the CAT scans. Meaning, more testing. There is some test they can do that will literally show every nerve within your head and how it works and what it's doing. It's some long name, but he'll have that. *God knows it sounds expensive* OH, and he will be fitted with hearing aids.

His speech has improved TREMENDOUSLY, but Daddy still has to yell at him to get him to hear him. (I don't.....Momma Kooky) I'm actually afraid he won't hear alarms, or cars coming, or people who have lower voices to say excuse me.........or worse, he may lose his hearing totally.

Trust me, I'm praying. Just trying to tell Crazy Daddy about what the doctor said, I just broke down in tears. Matthew's been through SOOOO MUCH already! And now more? God knows I had hearing problems when I was little. I'd go through all that again just so Matthew could hear the very best he can!

PRAY, please PRAY that his hearing will be BETTER this next test! I'm holding out for a total miracle with Matthew. I love my boy. I love him so much. Ok, I need to go. Getting sappy again.

Momma Kooky

Oooooooooooo, we have something to celebrate!

Rebecca has been dry at night for 3 nights now! MOMMA is MEGA happy! So is Daddy! She is trying........I'll give her that. But boy, her Jiangxi attitude needs a little adjusting. She's 4 going on 5, physically, but mentally? Geez, she's 4 going on 24! She's smart, she's pretty, she's full of rhetoric! She knows how to fix things, she KNOWS how to boss her little brother around. Oy! I wasn't even that bad with one older brother and one older sister! (and vice versa)

We will post pixs soon, but both of the kids have bicycles now. Helmets and all. They are funny! Summer is half over already. Come September, Rebecca will be in the advanced Pre-K class. March 2009, we will enroll her in school! *gulp* (Oh Lord, please prepare her teachers! They are going to need it. Amen.) LOL

We still don't know the results of Matthew's CAT scans yet. We are trying to get the doctor to see us before August. (the first available appointment) We are holding fast that he's ok. Or that whatever needs to be revealed, will be!

Other than that, Daddy is doing well. Mommy is doing well. Loving all the thunderstorms we've had as part of our daily routine.

OH..............our new furniture will be delivered Thursday! A HUGE U shaped sectional sofa w/chaise in it. (color is deep sage) It's going in the basement! I can't wait. I can't wait. Our FIRST piece of new furniture! Woo hoo!

Ok, other than that.........doing well. How about you?!?

Updates amongst other things............

Well, we went to Children's Hospital on Tuesday and had Matthew's tests done. NO SEDATION! Did you hear me? NO SEDATION! The lady was quite impressed with Matthew and how well he listened and what not. So.....they tried him in the machine to see if he would keep still. They packed his head tightly with gauze and pads, wound him in a cocoon type of lead lining (because they only needed his head for pixs) and started doing the tests. Matthew did GREAT for the first test. NO PROBLEMS! He laid on his stomach for that one. Then? He had to shift onto his back.

He was good for quite a while. But....maybe the last 10 minutes of the second test, he could see the machine turning and shifting and see the "fastness" of the spinning part of it and he started to cry and get scared. Hey, it was 30 minutes by then! HE DID GREAT! He's only 3!!! I was worried they didn't get what they needed on the second test, but they did. They called in a radiologist to make sure the pictures were good and we waited in the waiting room. About 5 minutes later, the technician came out and said everything was ok. OH YEAH............Matthew got a new blanket and beanie baby before we left! The technician gave it to him for being so good. It's a handmade blanket, full of Nemo type of turtles on it and a beanie baby crab. He was really surprised (as was mom and dad).

Other than that......Rebecca has moved up into the last year of preschool. She's showing signs of "boredom", which isn't really good in my eyes. She's smart. TOO smart! I can't tell you how many people tell me she speaks very well and eloquent for a 4 year old. She does. Now mind you, she lacks in some other areas, like listening skills, but it's getting better. I cannot believe that next March we will have to sign her up for kindergarten!!! Matthew has moved into the 1st year preschool class at their daycare. They do so many projects, so many outings, so many christian oriented things. I like that. Rebecca has been prayer leader so many times. She gets mad at herself if she doesn't listen and they take that away from her (it's a priviledge thing.....). OH does she sulk!!

I have to admit....we got her yearbook from daycare and she is THEE shortest person in her class. Matthew is taller than her. She knows she's short. But the cognitive realization of it isn't there just yet. I'm kinda glad though. We'll tackle that when it happens.

Both kids have bikes now. Both can ride. I need to post pictures now. I know. They will come.

Crazy daddy and Momma Kooky are ready for another vacation! Need money, will travel! :o)

Well, that's enough for now. Keep us in your prayers. Especially Matthew. We will know his results of his CAT scans (done in 3D) soon. We'll let you know soon.

Momma Kooky