Asthma

So in July at this 3 year check up Jonathan was diagnosed with chronic asthma. It wasn't anything I was overly surprised about since asthma and nut allergies tend to come hand and hand. The doctor prescibed FloVent, which is an inhaled steroid to try and reduce the swelling in his airways. The medicine worked great but then there we the side effects.

Right after he started the medicine he started having a lot of trouble sleeping. We would go through our normal routine but instead of falling asleep in 15-20 minutes he would fall asleep in 2-3 hours. So we thought maybe cutting down to an hour nap would help. So we dropped the nap to an hour and it would still take him 2-3 hours to fall asleep. So we cut the nap altogether and he was a miserable, grumpy kid (and we were miserable, grumpy parents) and it still took him 2-3 hours to fall asleep. So we went back to an hour nap for our sanity.

Then we realized that since he started the medicine his behavior had really gone downhill. He was extremely aggressive, would have screaming, hitting, kicking, violent fits. It was to the point I thought maybe he had some type of emotional problem.

But after some thought we traced the start of all these problems to the start of the FloVent. So we decided to take a little break from the medicine to see what happened. Within 48 hours he was sleeping again and his behavior was completely back to normal. But then his symptoms came back and he was having difficulty breathing.

So on Monday I went back to the Dr and told him everything and asked if there was something else we could do. He said that FloVent is the only thing approved for kids this young so we need to try it again and see if he does better this time. He said give it some time and see. Well its been 2 days and he is still sleeping fine but his behavior has already started to change. I'm really discouraged. I want him healthy but the behavior side-effects are unbearable. I feel like he is a totally different kid when he's on the medicine. I just don't know what to do...

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me Monday

That was not me who thought it would be a good idea to let the 3-year-old have a big ice cream cone right before church. And after church I most certainly would not let him run from one end of the church to the other over and over again hoping he would run out of energy and eventually crash.

I am not so drained from a weekend of entertaining that I can't think of anything else for not me Monday.

Busy Weekend

Wow, with company in town and a trip to Coeur D'Alene this weekend has just flown by. I haven't even talked to my mom. I know my Dad is coming to town sometime this week but I can't for the life of me remember when. I need to look that up. Other than that there is nothing new here. Perhaps this week? Maybe not!

Pictures from Last Night

Jonathan was a farmer for Halloween. They had farmer dress up day at preschool last week so we just did that again. I saw a really cool pit crew for McQueen costume but I looked all over Pullman and Moscow and couldn't find it in his size. Oh well.

Out fishing. He did this game twice. The first time he got an art set and the second time he got stickers. We forgot to bring a treat bag so we started collecting treats in his hat.

The duck game. He was supposed to get three chances to get matching ducks but its hard to get a 3 year old to grasp that concept so he just kept pulling out ducks until he found a match.

Jason in Grandpa's pumpkin hat. He was really tired so I could not get him to smile at me. He fell asleep soon after.

The best picture from the jumpy castle. He had a lot of fun jumping and falling. Definitely his favorite game.

Playing the pop balloons with a dart game. This was his first throw, which Dan decided to let him try on his own. Notice that Dan is leaning back and looks scared. I would be too. That throw was so low it ended up stuck under the bleachers. Dan tried to help him on the second throw but it ended up too low too. Finally Dan just held him up close to the balloons and he got one popped.

He had a great time. This morning he asked if we could do it again today. Um no!

Harvest Carnival

Jonathan had a lot of fun at the harvest carnival. He got to fish, bowl with a pumpkin, pick ducks, throw darts, footballs, bean bags and balls. But the biggest thrill of all for him was the bouncy castle. He has always wanted to do the bouncy castles but there are always lots of kids in them that are so much bigger than him that he gets intimidated and doesn't want to go in even though he really wants to try it out. Plus those bigger kids are often a little to aggressive with the little ones for my comfort. Well our daycare rented one for the carnival and he got to go in it. He went twice and had a great time. The first time he went it was just him and one of his best little girl friends. The second time there were four kids but they were all so polite and even though he was a lot littler than the others he still got to have a good time. I have pictures but I haven't uploaded them yet. I'll upload them later and post the good ones.

Obviously there wasn't much there for Jason and it was his normal evening nap time so he slept in Grandma's arms while Dan and I ran around following Jonathan. Dan won the coloring contest and got a loaf of nut free banana bread. He actually got second but the first place winner wasn't there and didn't leave contact info so they gave the prize to him. Either way we came home with a loaf of bread.

Better Day

Today was a much better day. Normally I would have my practicum on Thursday but they have conferences today and tomorrow so I had the day off. I was able to get a lot of work done including a big project. Having that project done is a huge weight off my back. I'm definitely feeling better about school now. I also had lunch with a friend which was very fun.

November and the first three days of December are going to be stressful. My in-laws are here now. My dad is here next weekend. The next weekend I have both my Praxis tests and the Boise State Game. Then its Thanksgiving break. Then the first Tuesday and Wednesday of December I have my ICLA (Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment) Tests. Those four tests will knock out four of the five tests I need for certification. After that I feel like it will be smoothe sailing until the end of spring semester. I'll still have classes and one certification test but I feel like it will be more manageable than this semseter with four certification tests.

Ok I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is our daycare's Harvest Carnival so I'll take a lot of pictures.

Tired

It seems to be the theme in my life right now. School is wearing me out. I have huge projects due in almost every class, most every day of the week. No kidding. I do homework from the time I get out of class until the boys come home and then I pick it up again at 8 when the boys go to bed and I'm usually up until at least 11 sometimes later. My only class today was canceled and instead of resting I have spent the entire day parked at the computer doing homework. I feel like I'm about to reach my end. I want a break! Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing and I'm very excited to be a teacher and I know being a teacher is hard work too but at least teachers get sick days. I've been sick for two weeks now but all my classes have a miss once and drop a letter grade policy unless you are on your death bed. I've heard the classes next semester aren't quite as stressful.

I also know that teaching in my own classroom will be a lot different than doing work for my professors. Teachers have to lesson plan but I know for a fact they don't have to write a 5 page, in depth lesson plan for everything they teach. I know this is over preparing me so I will be really ready when I have my own classroom but it really does get tiring.

I'm even working through Thanksgiving break. Monday and Tuesday I'll be in Spokane at a friends house studying for one of our big certification tests and the rest of the week I'll be at my in-laws. Unfortunately for me a trip to my in-laws won't be any sort of relaxing vacation. They have more cats than I can count and I'm allergic to them. So I'll spend the rest of my break with a sinus headache and stuffy nose.

Gosh I'm really grumpy tonight. Sorry!

I'm really enjoying my practicum. I'm in a 6th grade class at a local elementary school. The kids are fantastic and my cooperating teacher and I have a very similar background and really hit it off well. She has actually put in a request for me to student teach with her in the fall which I am really excited about. I love the atmosphere of the school. Dan student taught a semester in GT at the same school and the principal remembered him when she met me. It was really nice to have a connection and I think it might help me get my student teaching placement.

Wordless Wednesday

Ann needs...

I grabbed this from Pam over at Rhett's Journey and since my class tomorrow is canceled and I have no homework to do I need something to occupy my time while Dan grades papers.

Ann needs...

1) repair. (I'm actually feeling pretty good right now)

2) numbers. (ummm I think I have all the numbers I need right now but perhaps I do need more)

3) a ride to the Baltimore Airport. (Well that would be pretty cool but how the heck did I end up in Baltimore???)

4) to retire. (But I don't have a career to retire from yet! and I'm far too young!)

5) to be convinced. (What is this that I need to be convinced of?)

6) help. (With what? I'm pretty much caught up in school but I could use help cleaning house.)

7) a home in Wisconsin. (Do they know something I don't? I'm not planning on moving to Wisconsin anytime soon so I'm not sure why I need a house there)

8) a milkshake. (ohhhhh that sounds good!)

9) to apologize. (ok ok I'm sorry but what did I do?)

10) a new mom. (No I don't I have a fantastic mom!)

11) a new radiator for her Ford. (I don't even own a Ford so this would do me no good)

12) a robot. (Does it clean house if so he's hired!)

That was fun.