Reflections on a New Year...

I hope you find this as funny as I do!

An time is marching on....

Miracles

I got a call from Mr. Wonderful's gastroenterologist.  Mr. Wonderful is fine!!!  The biopsy was negative for Crohn's Disease.  The GI doc had seen inflammation consistent with Crohn's disease.  However, the biopsy was negative.  Did you hear that?  Negative!!!  So, I am thrilled.  However, we still haven't solved anything with regard to his failure-to-thrive.  But, I'm okay with taking a break before we pursue any other tests.

What a great Christmas gift!

Cooking should take my mind off it, right?

Meet Mr. Wonderful, my amazing 4 year old son.

We're back from Mr. Wonderful's colonoscopy and endoscopy.  More on that in a bit.

Are you like me?  Does the act of cooking, the creative act of throwing this and that together to make something delicious, takes you to another place?  This is the time of year I HAVE to bake.  Baking is not only one of my families most important traditions, it has the wonderful side effect providing nutrition (come on, even cookies have SOME nutrition).  I bake when I need to process.  So, that's on my agenda today.

Here's the list of things we're making this Christmas season:
UPDATE:  Those things that are finished have an X by them (12/20/2011)
X Artisan Bread (gifts for my hubby's bosses and co-workers and our neighbors)
x Schoenstatt Sugar Cookie Shrines
X Rice Krispie ornaments
X Sunbutter Cups (think Reese's without the peanut butter...using sunbutter instead)
Krumkake
GF/Dairy Free/Egg Free Pepperment Meltaway cookies
X  Corn Flake wreaths
X Church windows
X Graham Cracker Houses (see pictures here)
X GF Gingerbread Cookies
Date Filled Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

This is a really ambitious list, but it's the one time of year I'm guaranteed to bake, I need to process and my kids need the time with me.  The girls help and the boys linger, looking for beaters to lick and scraps to taste. So that's not bad, at all.

But mostly I need to process.  During Mr. Wonderful's colonoscopy, I slipped into the bathroom.  When I came out, the Dr. was waiting for me.  I didn't like the look in his eyes.  He HAD found some areas of concern that would explain failure to thrive.  I'm waiting for more lab results and a consultation on Thursday.  He was adamant we come in this week.  In the mean time, Mr. Wonderful was the model patient and he won over the nurses with his charming smile and big blue eyes. He won me over day one with those, so it's no surprise he's won more hearts.

So I'm processing the possibilities of a diagnosis I didn't want to get.  I'm processing the fact he inherited the possible condition from me.  I'm processing life with more changes.  Excuse me while I go cook.

Sometimes I hate being the Mom

My four year old, with allergies and failure to thrive, gets to have a colonoscopy and EGD tomorrow.  Please pray for both of us.

But, that is not the worst of it.  The worst of it is being the mom, coaching a 31 lb kid through drinking 32 ounces of Gatorade mixed with 1/2 a bottle of Miralax.  He's supposed to down 8 oz. every 15 minutes.  The first 8 ounces went down in 40 minutes.  He struggled, gagging after each drink.  I gave him spit breaks (rinsing and spitting helps the need to vomit) in between drinks.  At this rate, with 15 minute breaks in between each 8 ounce session, we'll be done by 9:00.  It was only supposed to take an hour and 15 minutes.  Oh well.

I sent the rest of the clan off to see the Holidazzle parade so I can focus on him only.  Please pray for both of us, that we get through it without too many tears.  We haven't even begun the purging (the result of drinking the Miralax/Gatorade) yet.
UPDATE:  After throwing up three times and still having 8 oz. to finish at 9:30pm, I finally called the doctor.  He told me to be done, put him to bed and he'd see me in the morning.  My little guy was such a trooper.  Through it all, he never refused to drink even though it made him gag and shudder.  He was so brave.  The doctor admitted to me that they can't predict how much solution a child will need.  That at some point you may be done before the solution is all gone.  He was right.  WE were done!

Have a Star Wars Christmas!

I'm so giddy I could almost burst.  Lookee here, Star Wars fans!  We might be the biggest bunch of Star Wars geeks, so there.  These snow flakes are too difficult for most kids, but I have the extra sharp, tiny scissors out and have started.  Storm trooper, Yoda, C3PO...done!
How could Star Wars Snow Flakes make me so happy?  We're doing a big Star Wars project here (shhh!), my son, daughter and I.  We have Star Wars on the brain. 
Enjoy!

UPDATE:  I finished all of them.  I also found a link to R2D2 in the comments.  One trick I had to use to actually cut out the TEENY-tiny little openings inside was to cut TO them.  I couldn't get even the littlest, sharpest pair of scissors in the little openings, so I just cut straight through to them.  With R2, I actually opted to NOT cut out all the little circle openings.  Good luck and may the Force be with you.