Happenings

I've been off the blogging grid for a while. So sorry! Things have been a little hectic around here, to say the least.

HOUSE
Tomorrow we close on our old house. It's bittersweet; we really like that house, and we love the little town we were in. But at the same time, we really like our new house and we're so much closer to church now.

We finally got all of our furniture moved over too. We had left 90% of our furniture at the old house to stage it. So even though we've been in our new digs for well over a month, no. We're not settled! But it gets a little better everyday. We're getting furniture slowly moved into place. We're slowly unpacking boxes. But there's still a lot to sell (mainly Mom's stuff). Let's just say it will be a while before we host any dinner parties.

TRAVEL
Scott was able to book a roundtrip flight to NYC for under $200 and thus was able to visit his brother last weekend. It was Scott's first time in the city, and he had a great time. He got to see quite a bit on his trip: ground zero, wall street (and the NYSE), central park, madison avenue, battery park, grand central station, times square, and Greenwich village. Scott had a good time, but we were sure glad to have him home!

JACK JACK
Our poor little guy. He's been through the wringer over the past several weeks. The drama started months ago, but it didn't get intense until the last 3 weeks. Jack has struggled with constipation for a year and a half. So months ago when he started straining quite a bit, we chalked it up to being plugged up. The episodes began to get more frequent, and then he started to really struggle. Over the last three weeks, Jack has started yelling and screaming in agony as the episodes continue. I took him to a GI doctor that dismissed it as Jack 'holding' it and fighting the sensation his body was communicating.

On a Sunday night, after he had been screaming quite a bit, we took Jack to the ER. Thankfully they took an xray of his tummy, and much to our surprise, he was empty. No blockage. Instead, Jack was FULL of gas. They discharged us and told us to give him Mylicon.

That medicine didn't work, on the screaming and writhing continued. At the second trip to the GI doctor, it was suggested that we take some stool samples and have some tests run. Why yes. Harvesting poop from my middle son was exactly as lovely and enjoyable as you're imagining right now.

A preliminary conversation with the nurse at the GI office suggests that Jack does not have Celiac Disease (where the body is essentially allergic to gluten). But there is definitely some inflammation in there... due to what? We dont' know yet. I'll talk to the doctor in the morning.

In the meantime, until we find out what is causing all of this gas buildup in our little guy, there's not much we can do for Jack. The Mylicon didn't put a dent in the pain. It feels pretty horrible to be helpless to stop your child's intense pain.

So that sums up what's been going on in our household over the past several weeks. Never a dull moment at our circus.