Speaking of...

.... doctors and such, the entire house is ill at the moment, but no, we don't need any doctors.  

RJ started crapping juice last Friday, starting projecting vomit at awesome speed all day Saturday, continued both through the weekend, busted a fever on Monday and has still got the Hershey Squirts today.  He smells perpetually like AD&D and Balmex and has been a needy, whiny sort these last few days but at least he got his energy back today to start climbing on the oven door and such things again.  

Riley started pooping every hour on Monday but it didn't turn bad and although we expected the horfing to start too, it never did.  She did run a low-grade fever yesterday and today but isn't out of sorts. 

The big 2 popped fevers this morning, with Indy as usual running higher than everybody else.  If the rest are low-grade, she's usually floating around 101, which is where she's at today.  Didn't seem to bother them though and we all drank extra water to help flush it out and stay hydrated.  We don't give medicine unless absolutely necessary (which is very rare thankfully), we allow the body to use the fever to fight the infection, essentially we don't treat any of this, except with rest, downtime, water & a few tricks listed below. 

Other tricks we use:

-  We sprinkle extra black pepper on our food to help drain the sinuses (great recipe here for Killer Chicken Soup - works wonders and tastes great too!)
- We all get to gargle with warm salt water (boiled first in the tea pot and cooled).  
- Everyone older than the baby rinses their noses with the warm salt water (the Neti Pot without the pot - use baby medicine droppers to squirt it up your nostril) - the theory here being that if you can break up the mucus and get it out, it won't gather, run down your throat or get into your chest.  You can basically stop the virus or bacterial cold in it's tracks before it cycles from your sinuses to your chest.  
- A cheater way to do this for an adult is to take a Claritin when you start getting the snots - an antihistamine that will dry up your sinuses and also thwart the cold from spreading.  I try not to use this way since it involves a med, but it actually does work well.    

So it's been a fun week.  I got jack done around the house and finally made it out to the grocery store TODAY, along with everyone and their mother and uncles, to get what I needed to make food for tomorrow.  

Now off to bed to get MY rest... our Elf returns tomorrow.  And he's known for making messes... 

On Doctors, On Dancer, On Prancer, On Vixen...

Ok, fine... this is just On Doctors.  Generally speaking, of course. 

So basically what I'm gonna say here is... don't just take your Doctor's advice without asking for alternatives, for options, for second opinions even.  It's your right.  Your obligation.  Your (or your child's) health.  It's all in your hands.  Speak up, and make sure the job gets done right.  And call me if they give you trouble, I'll tell 'em how it is!  Too many doctors are quick to recommend a drug or an antibiotic to fix something simple that your body can handle on it's own and be stronger for later.  Too many doctors are quick to give a "standard" response, slap you with a bill and tell you to follow up every few months for them to tell you the same thing and keep money rolling in their door.  And they will keep on doing it if people let them.  

Let me just say this here, when I take people to Doctors, I tend to show up complete with a general..... basic.... detailed, very detailed history of whatever the issue at hand is.  Typed, bullet-pointed and formatted in MS Word.  I know, I have a problem! But it sure saves time when they just read the sheet instead of starting with open-ended questions...

Last year, I "fired" Chase's GI doctor because I felt like she didn't know my kid at all, wasn't listening to what his Dad and I had to say at the visits and was just putting him on more and more medicine without checking to see if there really was even a problem.  Long story short, I became "Dr. Mom," took him off all his meds, made some nutritional changes and voila! The problem was gone.  When I pulled his file from the Doctor's office (and boy does that copy machine work slow when you tell them you're taking your business elsewhere...) and took him to a different doctor after 3 months on my plan, the new Doc sent us home as there was no longer a problem. Score one for mom.  

I was definitely feeling more empowered in regards to my family and their health decisions. 

So then, I decided that Roger's heart Doc wasn't giving us... well, any answers, really.  So I canned him, found another Doc and ordered repeats of all of his testing from 2009.  I think, to be honest, after the guy got done reading Roger's 2 page history (which included why I canned the last guy), he wasn't going to even try to say "No" to the testing I wanted.  

Sure enough, testing went afoul again (although this time I had pre-warned them about the results and told them NOT to try to call an ambulance) but they did bring in a Specialist of the Specialist that we already were at... at least it was something new, something that the last guy hadn't mentioned, bothered with, seemed concerned about.  And this guy was a good listener, a great explainer (he even used his hands to mimic the heart) and he gave us our options straight, no BS, no sugar-coating, just Facts.  I think I love him.  As a Doctor, of course.  

I was feeling the high of Making the Right Decisions about Doctors.


So, naturally, I then "fired" Riley's allergist and took her somewhere else too.  I got a similar answer to the first guy, but I also got a full explanation, an in-office test where the breathing tests were performed and data collected before and after a breathing treatment to show proof that it worked, a full pro's and con's list of the medicine and a written action plan for when she does have an issue.  In essence, I feel like I got my money's worth out of this Doc.  Like I always say, I'm a "hard-answers" girl.  I don't like maybe's and if's and possibly's so much, especially when it comes to my family and their health.  It takes a little bit of work, for sure, but it's worth it in the end when you get real answers and see results.  

Random Picture Updates to follow:

Starting the addition at the Farmhouse

Coming right along

The existing front, before we add the porch

Daddy reading to kiddos

Why must we get IN the Little People bus?  WHY?

I'm guessing she tried really hard to stay awake for this one...

Fun with Sight Words

If you don't get it, read them in order... tee hee hee.

My Favorite Color of the Rainbow

Intelligent. Nice. Determined. Imaginative. Generous. Outgoing. 

Happy.  Social. Thoughtful. Creative.  Musical.  Girly.  

Great Big Sister.  Little Miss Helpful.  

My Indigo

The beginning - Due September 18th.  Swore I wouldn't "let" this one be late.  Didn't show till 4.5 months.  Measured small all along.  Lots (and lots) of extra ultrasounds due to my belly measuring small, but she was always 50th percentile.  Hot, hot, hot summer that year.  I would run my t-shirts under cold water and wear them soaking wet to stay cool.  The 18th came and went.  No sign of labor but at dinnertime on the 22nd I knew.  I checked my bags and went to bed early.  Contractions started 11:30PM.  Didn't want to get sent home like with Chase so I waited extra long to call the birth center.  Arrived at 4:30AM at 6cm.  Labored in tub.  Ready to push at 6AM.  I'm a pro at this, back up, I got it, there will be no wasted contractions while in the pushing stage! 

 5 days late, Friday, September 23rd, 2005 at 6:29AM.  6lbs, 14.5oz, 20 inches long.  Skinny little chicken leg girl. 

One Day Old

Baby Indy was a dream baby.  Ate, slept, cried very little, except when her big brother would throw tennis balls to Mom and Mom would miss.  Poor little head.  She only fit in preemie clothes for the first month.  Excellent nurser.  Slept through the night at 6 weeks.  Sat at 4 months.  I have no idea when she crawled but she walked 2 days before her 1st birthday.  She did however start talking at 8 months and by her birthday, was talking in sentences.  It was creepy and strange to see this little thing speaking so properly, barely walking, still a baby, really, but she was talking.  And she was grammatically correct.  Which creeped people out even more and astounded them at the same time.  7 years later, I might even think my memory was off, except I recently sat and watched old videos of her ON her birthday and in the months following.  Videos of her telling full JOKES.  Videos of her describing to my grandmother what we did at the library or the YMCA that day.  Videos of her talking about her toys in the bath, descriptively.  

I confess, I did actually buy these fairy wings before we confirmed she was a girl...

Little Ar-teest! 

We joke and say that Indy must've been a bard in a previous life, someone who's job it was to travel around the countryside and sing the news and tales of all happenings.  .  She sings.  Always has.  It came as soon as she could talk.  She sings her life.  Songs about cars passing by.  Which parts to wash in the shower.  Soap bubbles.  Friends.  TV shows and books.  Everything is subject matter for Indy's songs.  She doesn't know it, but I have a significant amount of video that includes just a standing shot of the sink in the bathroom, because I was recording her singing in the shower without her knowing it and without recording the shower cuz that's illegal.  At 8, she obviously showers herself now, but I went up the other day to see if she was done, and stood in the bathroom to listen to what the song sounds like now.  

She still sings.  And I love it.

Preschool years:  Dolls, trucks, purses and shoes.  So many Moms out there "push" their little girls to be girly, putting them in frilly little outfits with sparkly shoes.  I was fine with Indy wearing Chase's hand-me-down camo.  By 18 months, we'd pass the shoe section in a store and she'd stick her feet out and say, "Shoes for me please."  She'd always pick the sparkliest thing there was.  It made me barf in my mouth a little bit, but I'd get it for her.  She had a purse collection of fancy bags.  I still used my Army green slingover bag.  She wasn't getting this girly thing from me.  Accessories.  She had to have barrettes, bows, clips, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc.

18 months

My First Tattoo

Wildwood Beach, NJ, age 2

3rd Birthday

Age 3

Boating on the Schuylkill River

Indy and Mom-Mom in 2009, age 4

Age 5-7:  First day of kindergarten, she came home and said, "I got my best friend."  Sure, ok.  Kids say funny things.  3 days later we met her best friend's parents, who said their daughter came home day 1 and said the same thing.  They are still in the same class and still BFF's.  But in the 3 years of school, these two girls have expanded their group.  They have a gaggle now, 7 girls who all hang together.  I call them the "Vowel Crowd" because they all have names that start with vowels, all 7 of them, except no one starts with "U!"  Indy excelled in K and 1st, getting high marks and flawless test grades.  Teachers say she always helps others and is a joy to have in class.  We tried soccer and dance, she liked the practice but not the game or performance.  She'd rather sit and watch Chase play.  

XMas '09

A new baby sis in 2010

First Day of Kindergarten

BFF's

6th Birthday

Epcot 2012

Meeting Mickey, age 6

XMas 2012, age 7

And now, age 8! - On her birthday, we had magical plans.  We'd get homework done and meet Dad and Avia up at Sweet N' Sassy to get her ears pierced (totally missed the boat when she was a baby!).  Then off for a special dinner of..... pizza.  Hey, it's her day.  Except the bus came, and the kid I babysit got off by himself.  What?? 

 "Where's Indigo?"  

"She didn't get off the bus."  

"WHAT?"  

Yeah, so apparently sometimes she's SO social, that she forgets to pay attention to what's going on around her.  After some phone calls, the bus driver came back around and dropped off a tearful little Indigo.  The bus driver even gave her a flashlight out of his bag so she "could always find her way home..."  And THEN we did homework, went to Sweet N' Sassy, got ears pierced, ate pizza and sang "Happy Birthday" over an ice cream sandwich.  A very magical evening indeed.  

Indy also took some friends to BounceU to celebrate her big 8 and they had ice cream cake later at the house. 

Currently:  Took violin for a year with the Suzuki method, a fast learner making beautiful music.  Just getting into baton.  We thought we sent her to a week of dance camp but it turned out to be actually Baton Twirling camp, and she loved it!  Picked it up like a rock star and now she's thinking about joining a competitive team.  Always planning playdates.  Loves being outside.  Earned the nickname "The Little Lawyer" from Mom as she always sticks up for her big brother no matter what and tries to make a plea deal with Mom to lesson his punishment, even if she is the one who got the raw end of the deal from him to begin with.  Plays "Mom" to the littles, always directing and meddling.  She's learning (slowly) to let them be themselves, make their own decisions, not to carry the baby around all the time (for this, he bites her).  

She has a contagious smile, a girly giggle, a stubborn streak.  Would sleep in every day if she could.  Reads all the time.  Always crafting.  Can do Rainbow Loom like she invented it.  Will do anything for her friends and family.  A fine daughter, indeed! 

Before ear piercing...

....And After!