Shrinking Dog Song

We were listening to a kids CD in the car when Anya started asking for the "shrinking dog" song. It took me some time to figure out that she meant the BINGO song where you sing B-I-N-G-O in the first first, then the next verse you clap instead of saying B then sing the I-N-G-O. And then in the next verse you clap for the B then the I and sing the N-G-O and so on until you substitute claps for all the letters. Well Anya figured that because the name for Bingo was getting shorter the dog must be shrinking.

Scientists

The kids were playing "scientist" the other day. They had pens, notebooks, pencils, and even post-it-note name tags. The repeatedly hmmmed and took notes.

When asked what he'll be when he grows up, Talmage usually replies, " a scientist, on computers". He is very interested in robotics, space, the human body, chemicals, computers, mechanics and other random inventions he dreams up. He definately has the Kay boy science gene.

Anya says she wants to be a mommy when she grows up and that she's already an Elmo mama. She treats her Elmo like he's her baby.

The Easter Bunny

Talmage came into my bathroom, where I was brushing my teeth, and announced, "There is no Easter Bunny." I was caught off guard and asked him to teach me about it. He then went on to explain that the Easter Bunny is too small to carry Easter baskets and eggs to all the children in the world in one night, so he must really be Santa. Wow, that's some logic.

Some time later Anya was informing me that you know when the Easter Bunny comes to your house because you feel it jump on your head and it leaves an egg. Talmage couldn't stand Anya actually believing in the Easter Bunny so he, in no uncertain terms, declared that the Easter Bunny is NOT real and that it is really Santa that comes and we pretend it is the Easter Bunny.

Waiting for You

On Monday night it was my turn to teach the lesson for Family Night and I didn't start preparing until after dinner. As I was getting my things together I could hear Aaron playing "Right Here Waiting for You " on the piano. I guess Talmage wanted to learn it so he started teaching it to him. We don't have the sheet music but Aaron had memorized it many years ago.

The next morning Talmage was playing the beginning of it over and over. I was surprised (I don't know why) that he learned so much of it so quickly. It's not like he has heard the real song before and was playing the melody from a song he's heard over and over. When I asked him what song he was playing he said, "Waiting For You". Which made sense to him because they were playing it while they were waiting for me. He has now learned a few more sections of the song and can play it smoother. I'll get another video of it some time. But this one is just what he remembers from sitting down with Aaron for 15-20 minutes the night before.

Never Say Never

Last year when I was able to come off of Prednisone (a steroid) I said I never wanted to take it again. It is really hard to stop taking because after a while your body stops making it's own and is dependent on the "suplement". I ended up having to start taking it again until my new medicine has a chance to start working. So I am feeling better and am able to have the energy and movement to take care of the kids. As a side effect I am also on the verge of hyper and can hardly make myself sleep at night. It also make you really hungry-- so now I want to eat. Too bad I just had chains and ties put on my braces so my teeth hurt too much to eat much solids. "No rest for the wicked and the righteous don't need none."

Thank you everyone who has or is praying for me. Prayers are answered! Mine was answered by an insistance that I accept my doctors advice and take this medicine again-- for a short time I hope.

Fried Chicken

When my RA flares up, like it is now, I feel like I have morning sickness all day long. I feel like my stomach is tied in knots, so it is a chore to eat. It's great for weight control but does nothing for my desire to cook healthy meals for my family. On Tuesday evening Aaron was in class and I just couldn't get myself to cook up a dinner the kids may or may not eat. I remembered Talmage loving fried chicken when he was Anya's age so I thought we would pick some up while we were out.

Well, we get our 8 piece fried chicken home and sit down to dinner and the kids dug in. Before I could get too far into my piece Talmage starts asking questions about the chicken pieces. I explain that he's eating a leg and Anya has a wing and that I have a breast piece. While Talmage is tearing into a thigh and thoroughly enjoying himself he asks if all the pieces came from the same chicken. I'm starting to get queasy but tell him maybe because the chicken has two breast pieces, two thighs, two legs, two wings. Talmage thinks it must have been a BIG chicken. Then he asks "Was it a rooster or a chicken?" He thinks it is too big to be a chicken so it must have been a rooster. That ended the meal for me. I discretely remove my plate from the table and am trying to help the kids get all the meat off their bones, when Anya starts telling me stories about how she remembers this chicken (the one we are eating) from the farm (imaginary farm). She then proceeds to tell me what things they talked about while the chicken was running around. They have no idea they grossed me out and they loved the fried chicken.

I think the next time the kids have fried chicken I'll let Aaron feed it to them while I hide in the kitchen eating a dry piece of toast.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Update

The hardest posts to write for me are the ones about myself. It's so much more fun to post something cool that the kids are doing. However, in an effort to answer the question of how my arthritis is doing these days and to enlist prayers I will post about myself today.

My most recent medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) was a shot I gave myself in the leg or stomach each week. Two years ago I thought there was no way I'd get to the point where I'd be ok with giving myself a shot. But then the RA got bad enough and I was able to and was even excited to give myself the shots, but only in my leg. I refused to do it in my stomach because that creeped me out. Then my legs were getting so bruised from the shots that I finally gave in and started doing them in my stomach. I bet you're all getting creeped out by this too. But it is similar to when you are in labor and are willing to let someone put a big fat needle in your back for an epidural because it's worth it for the pain reliefe. Well that medicine has slowly become less effective. So last month when my Rheumatologist saw that the joint inflamation was getting significanly worse and causing slight deformation in my knuckles, he recomended switching medication again. I will be recieving infusions of medicine called Orencia (a protein that binds to cells that my over active immune system is pumping out). Again I am stepping up to something I never thought I would be ok with. I remember when I was pregnant with Talmage my big fear about labor and delivery was if I would have to have an IV. Which I did. Now I get to have an IV infusion every month-- and don't even get a sweet baby out of the deal. It's good that I don't get a baby though because I am in no shape to care for one.

Last week I had my first infusion and it went well. It takes about 30 minutes. I go again in 9 days, I am counting down the days. I am very excited to get my three "loading" doses done because I should start seeing an improvement after that.

For now I am doing my best to take care of the kids and limit my stair use. For the most part I have to use a cane or crawl to get up and down the stairs. But I have had the blessing of being able to use my hands. When I was first being diagnosed with RA I had lost most of my hand capablities, meaning I could hardly write, I couldn't clap, make a fist or straighten my fingers all the way out. But as of today I can still write (with a normal pen), play piano with Talmage, type on the computer, do Anya's hair, and most other things I want to do with them. I am optomistic about this new medicine helping me and I will try to post about the wonderful things I can do once it starts working. I know the Lord has not forgotten me and I am being aided by his grace each day. I learn so much each time I have to struggle with the pain. Through it I have learned patience, humility, and reliance on the Lord. I have also be able to focus and refocus on those things that are most important to me. I have also been able to have a lot of helpful massages from Aaron each day. He's a great companion to have in my old age!

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Talmage's Piano Progress

Talmage is continueing to improve his piano playing. As the songs have gotten more challenging he has loved it even more. Here are a few videos of him playing some recent songs. I told him to tell me the title of the piece before he played it because as you can see he likes to memorize his favorite songs and play them when ever the mood strikes. He is about to move up to the next set of books and he is very excited about that.





This song he is playing not even 24 hours after his teacher gave it to him. He loves it.