Allie's GI doc

Allie saw her GI doc today. It went really well. Susanne figured they would just think she was crazy because the radiologist didn't find much when he dialated her esophagus. But Dr. Harnsberger was great. She said she has a teenage girl who had the esophagial repair as a baby who just calls and tells the doc when it is time for a dilatation. Apparently the scar tissue part just stops moving food well and so the dilatation doesn't open the esophagus a lot but gets the motility going again. So..she is going to start scoping Allie every six months so that we don't have to get to the point where she can't eat anything and it needs to be done in the ER. She also showed Nan Allie's growth chart. Both the pediatrician and the endocrinologist said they will probably be starting Allie on growth hormones this fall and she wasn't sure why. Well it is her height that dropped from 75th percentile to the 3rd percentile. She has one hormone level that is pretty low so they will supplement that. This makes it sound like Allie is not doing so well, but these are both pretty little inconveniences. She really is doing so well and talking and developing so much better than ever expected. Aren't we glad for the great blessings in our lives? We love having these two beautiful babies in our house!

First Day of School

Well, it has been a busy week. Mark and I both started school. My class has 27 students but we will probably be making some changes so we will end up with 29 or 30. The other 4th grade classes have 24 and 25 each and the changes will affect them more because they will increase to 29 or 30 as well. The politics at school are what are bugging me right now. The 6th grade class has 35 kids right now and if we make the change all grades 4 through 6 will have between 29 and 31. The state of Utah says they should be at 30 students so that would put all classes right on. My partner and the other 4th grade teacher don't want to make the change because it will increase our class size. When did we forget that decisions are all about what is best for the kids? The school has some history when the same 4th and 6th grade teachers let 4th grade sit at 38 students when 6th grade had mid twenties. Now the 4th grade wants revenge. OI! OK that is enough complaining.

Mark hasn't said too much about school. Only his usual, "It's OK." He is a little worried about how much he is supposed to read for AP American History. I think the teachers try to scare the kids out early on. We bought a suit for Mark today because he is going to sing for the Sat. afternoon session of October conference. They are putting together a regional youth choir and the boys all have to wear dark suits. He looks pretty handsome in his suit! We even bought him some wingtip shoes to go with it. As soon as all the alterations are done I will try to post a picture (It will probably have to be done covertly because he would never willingly submit to a picture). He is such a good kid. I thank my lucky stars every day to have a boy as obediant and kind as he is.

Allie spent the day at Primary's ER again today. Her throat closed up again and she choked everytime she ate. They put the scope down and there didn't seem to be a stricture this time so they are not sure what the problem was. The radiologist will send the report to her GI doc and they will talk about it at her appt. on Wednesday. This is just one of the joys of medicine - it is not an exact science. It was nice for it to happen when Nan was home this time and not on Grandma's day. She is back to normal and eating again so all is well for another six or eight months.
Enough for tonight. I hope you all are healthy and happy. As much as I whined today I do feel like things are going really well. I love you all!

We like David's camera almost as much as he does. 

We had a dragonfly invasion today. Cool picture, huh? 

He's even cute without color 

Love that tongue 

David playing with his new camera. The only thing he forgot was to use his razor. 

Preston's progress

Preston is a mover. He has mastered standing by himself. He only stands for a minute or two but does it fairly often. I think he will be our earliest walker. He now has at least 5 teeth, maybe six. He has an "eruption hemotoma" where his top tooth is trying to come in. It looks like a big bruise/pus pocket but our dentist says it happens frequently and should go away when the tooth erupts. It doesn't seem to be bothering him too much so we'll see what happens.

Allie has adjusted well to the church nursery. She now goes in without a complaint or a backward glance. I don't even have to go in with her anymore, I just drop her at the door. Last week she fell asleep in nursery, something she had never done before. Usually she just comes home and takes a nap after church. I like that scenario much better because I get to take a nap as well.

Have a great week.

Tough month

This has been a really tough month for David. He had a little fender bender the other day. He was facing the sun and making a left turn into the park and ride lot. He didn't see a white van in the far lane and hit it. He just needed to replace his light assembly but there was a lot of damage to the van door and rear fender. He had to pay $132 for failure to yield. The next day at work they announced that they had lost their funding and had to let almost everyone go. They kept two people that had been there forever. Dave gets to work for the rest of August but is job hunting. He would love to work on campus so he can work around his schedule. Since this is his last semester he doesn't have a lot of choice in the schedule. He applied for a job as a lab assistant in a bio study hall. It would sure be nice if he got that. Then today when he was picking up his light for the car, the steering wheel started smoking. It only smokes when he uses his right blinker so we figure there is a short there somewhere. Last night Preston didn't sleep well so they finally took his pj's off to see if it was because he was hot. He was covered in hives. We haven't decided what they were from but they are gone now and he is much happier. Onward and upward. Dave has kept a pretty good attitude through all this.
On a brighter note: My classroom is almost ready for school which starts on Wednesday. My partner is great at organizing and making things look good. I am good at the grunt work, like passing out supplies and making labels and pictures on the computer. We make a great team. The school is still in a total mess but they have 5 more days to get some semblance of order.

Perils of medicine

Todd is so good about sharing some of his more interesting experiences I thought I would share another of Nan's war stories. Tonight she had a patient that was older and hated hospitals. She hadn't been to a dr. in 23 years. They brought her in last night because she had been going downhill so quickly. It turns out she has a very fast growing brain cancer and will probably die within the week. Her daughters have the say over her care and have opted to take her to an ECF tomorrow for hospice care. Her sons both came in drunk and demanded that Nan let their mother go immediately. The first son had talked to Nan (or was that yelled?) and she had convinced him that even the ACLU wouldn't really help them do anything until Monday so they might as well just leave her overnight until they could get people to help them get their mom back. The second son came soon after and when Nan started to explain the same thing to help he started swinging at her. The first son stepped between her and the 2nd son just in time to save her from his fist. He told his brother that it wasn't the way to handle things but they would bring the ACLU into it on Monday. You can rest assured that Nan is glad she won't be there tomorrow. Actually she alerted security and the woman's case worker so they will be prepared for the battle tomorrow. I guess anytime you have a job where you work with the public you run into some strange characters...........Does that even apply anytime you have to deal with our family?

New pictures

Oops! I forgot to turn the last one before I posted. Aren't these great? There are lots more but I'll give you a little break.
The last two days I have been working at school. School starts in 12 days and our new school is not even close to ready. It will be a beautiful school and is freakin' HUGE. I have mixed feelings about all the nice things they have added to the new schools. It seems like a lot of money to spend on beauty when it could just as easily go to better books etc. Our new room is just a little smaller than our old rooms were but there are lots of nicely designed built in cupboards. They were smart enough to make many large slots and drawers for poster and bulletin board things. We have about 20 boxes left to unpack, and since we had well over 100 boxes that isn't too bad. We still have to arrange desks and pass out all this years supplies. We don't know when and if we'll get class lists because no one has computers, even the office secretary. None of the bathrooms are finished yet although there is one working toilet on the second floor in a room with no door latch. Our copy machines are hidden somewhere so we'll have to go to copy centers or the district library to run off our first of the year papers. It will be great when everything is done and we'll have great stories to tell about the year we started school in a half finished building.

Papa Preston and Mama Allie driving Allie's new fire engine. Yes, her mother spoils her. 

Pop watching the kids 

Big cousin Allie just chillin' with little cousin Preston 

Rick's name is on a veterans memorial in Fillmore. Taken on the 4th of July 

Allie driving G'pa Boyd's Jeep 

Beautiful Alia at G'ma and G'pa's house 

Moosehorn

We just came home from our annual camp in the Uintas. We have been going to the same lake for about 16 years. I think we have only missed one or two years in that period. It is so peaceful there. We saw a mountain goat for the first time. There was only one that we saw on two consequetive mornings. It was pretty cool watching him climb on the steep slopes. Mark took the hike up Bald Mt. with Rick. Rick said he is starting to feel his age. He never did get that second wind feeling, but Mark went right up just fine. It is a very steep hike so I have never been brave enough to try it. Allie liked riding in the "boat" (our blow up 2 man) but we didn't have the right size life jacket so we didn't go very far or very long. She also loved watching the squirrels (which she calls rabbits) and the birds. Dave and his family stayed home and enjoyed their solitude here. We have one more camp on Labor Day and then the summer season is over. Sighhhhh

One of those days

This has been one of those days that both young mothers in this house would gladly give you their children. Preston has been whiney and only wants his mom. Allie went to get her 2 year old pictures done at Kiddie Kandids and cried and was afraid of the camera the whole time. The pictures are not nearly as cute as usual. This is the kind of day that being the G'ma is great. I can help with kids when they let me or want me and otherwise I just go about my business. We think Allie is getting her eye teeth and that may help explain her runny nose and crabby disposition. We don't know what is up with Preston but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
Mark got home from summer camp today. The Priests and Teachers went on a 5 day camp. They went skeet shooting, canoeing (where Mark and friends ended up in the water and lost his glasses), rafting, and horse back riding. Mark said he had a good time. He is never very talkative about things but hopefully he'll tell us more over the next several days.

Crawling

Preston is now crawling. He went from creeping on his stomach to a funny crawl on one knee and one foot. Now he has mastered both knees. He can pull himself up on furniture and the fireplace but he doesn't stand by himself yet. He is such a happy baby. It is fun having babies in the house again.