My Princess

I am so glad that I have a girl with beautiful hair and lots of patience! I have been having so much fun doing her hair this school year. Last night she was watching tutorials with me and got all excited about the different hair styles. I think she has the next week planned out. I love doing something somewhat creative that she enjoys so much too.

10 months

And still no teeth. Evan is a wild man... the other night he climbed/fell out of the tub while Ian was running towards him. He has taken 2 steps on his own and then falls down or gets down and speed crawls. He is a happy guy lately. I feel like we have unlocked some special code on his sleeping.... he is FINALLY taking regular naps and sleeping pretty well at night (maybe not through the night but a huge improvement).

I had to include his bloody mouth picture from the other day. That is Evan... grouchy. Who can blame him? I wouldn't be too happy tasting blood all day. I can only imagine what people thought when they saw me toting around my bloody mouthed child. Life goes on though right... we can't stop life because of a little blood. Don't worry we treated him... but momma was not going to spend another day in the house with all 3 kids!

I can't wait to see how he reacts to Christmas. I think he is going to love the boxes and the wrapping paper. I also suspect he will like stealing his siblings presents just to get a reaction out of them. 

Frenulum

So we had a bleed free Thanksgiving... but Evan doesn't like us to get too complacent. He decided to crawl off of a tub of Legos and dive face first into the floor. This kid doesn't even put up his hands while he going towards the floor just takes the entire impact on his face. Of course I pick him up and yes there is blood coming from his mouth. Since he still doesn't have teeth there wasn't much question about where the blood was coming from. AHHHH! 

I think we should be able to order these kids without the frenulum... but I guess if I was picking options for kids I wouldn't necessarily choose hemophilia either. It would be nice if the kid at least put up his hands so his face didn't bang right into the floor when he was doing normal baby things. I mean I am not going to stop him from exploring things... I guess I would rather deal with the split frenulum than keep him from doing the things that a normal kid wants to do.

Thankful

Five things the Roskam Family is thankful for this year:
1. Our family (says Eve)
2. Lion (says Ezra)
3. That the power didn't go out. (says Ian) There was a high wind warning for today which called for some pretty strong winds so the power going out was a very real possibility.
4. A bleed-free day. I am sure both of the boys appreciated this but I will say this is from Evan since he can't talk.
5. Ian... he is a good provider for our family and makes it possible for me to stay home with our crazy crew. Plus he spoils me... what more could I want?

Super Evan!!

Yesterday Eve decided that Evan would make a pretty cool superhero "like Superman, you know mom?" With a backwards bib as his cape. Pretty cute.

I think (knock on wood) we are finally getting to a normal place with this tiny little trouble maker. His cultures came back that his port wasn't infected... it was just the outside skin that got infected. I am so relieved. Then he started to get hives as a reaction to his antibiotic... what can I say this boy really likes to make sure we worry about him. Doesn't want to be forgotten being our third kid. Today we just got the word to stop the antibiotic!! So hopefully his hives will go away super quick and he won't be quite so fussy. Now the only thing we need to do at the doctor's office is get the flu shot for him. I nominate Ian for that chore.

Seriously?

So this morning when Evan woke up I went to change his diaper... and saw a spot of dried blood on his onesie. Once his clothes came off it looked like this.

It shouldn't be bloody at all what was his body thinking bleeding like that? Probably that he's a hemophiliac or something crazy like that. So we had to call to find out exactly what the plan was... big problem. I guess our pediatricians office hadn't been in contact with our hematologist about Evan's suspected infection and the hematologist wasn't too happy about it. So I spent the morning on the phone with the hemophilia nurse and our pediatrician's office. 

Then I spent the afternoon at the pediatrician's office and the hospital. They drew blood out of his port to check to see what exactly was going on in there with the infection. Then they infused some antibiotics into his port, then they pulled out his huber needle and sent us home. Yay home!! I immediately went to wash off the hospital grime. There is a message on the answering machine reminding me of Evan's follow-up appointment tomorrow. This kid is trouble. Anyone want him dropped off on their doorstep?

Lots of stuff

Today the Fedex lady got quite the workout! She had to carry all of these boxes up our stairs. Factor and supplies for two boys with ports really adds up. The kids think it is like Christmas. They play with bubble wrap, make forts out of the boxes... mom on the other hand doesn't want to think about where to put it all. At least that is the biggest worry about factor for the boys... we know that if we need it we can have it and insurance will cover it. That is a luxury that I am SO thankful for especially since according to Ian (I don't do math) the cost of just the factor for this two month supply for both of the boys is somewhere around 40,000 dollars. Ouch! Our insurance has to cringe every time they see a claim going through with our name on it.
I have to say I know we are so blessed to live where we live and when we do. We never have to question whether or not we can afford to give the boys the factor that they need. This makes it so much easier to treat them as normal as possible.

Keeping me on my toes

Today we went in to pull out the huber needle that was in Evan's port and put in a new one. Pretty routine stuff. When they pulled out the needle I looked down and knew it wasn't looking right. It had pus and was leaking fluid. I said a few swear words in my head... it didn't make me feel any better. So now Evan is on a super strong antibiotic and we will see what that does. I think I will go outside and scream as loud as I can for as long as I can... maybe that will get rid of my frustration. We just can't win... these boys like to keep us on our toes. It seems just when we feel we can relax into some type of normal they like to shake it up for us.