Is it Spring?

I know I am among many when I say that it can't become Spring soon enough!  Although I feel in my family times is rushing by far too fast, I am so over this winter season.  The gray days, the cold (and icy) temperatures, and the lack of blooms around is beginning to get to me.  Brett has literally been working around the clock recently due to terrible road conditions around our state.  I know there are many that are without there spouses on a regular basis because of work schedules, but it's just not something that I'm used  to, and when I'm already feeling down and depressed, it's just not a good combination!  I have felt very overwhelmed with work and mommy responsibilities that I have felt even more alone.  I have easily forgotten that I may feel alone in a physical way, He is with me.  I got a sweet Valentine from one of my students, a bracelet with Psalm 145:18 engraved in it.. "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth".  My prayer life and daily reading as been minimal, to be very generous, and it is showing.  I needed that reminder that we are never alone, and even when down in the dumps and overwhelmed, He will here my cry, He will see me through.  And He will bring the Spring!!

This little one is growing too fast, and that too makes this mamma a little sad

 a couple weeks ago we took a surprise trip down to Greenville one Sunday morning.  We walked to church while Mr. Ronnie was giving announcements, he was so surprised and tickled to see us, he couldn't finish :) mission accomplished ;)  We couldn't leave lunch without putting a few balls

 and after lunch we had some driving practice in Pops & Meme's back yard

From Jan 17 - February 17 John William has been on Augmitten for his lungs.  For most this doesn't cause any sleep side effects, but for this one it does.  If we give him his second dose after about 4:00 he will wake up sometime in the middle of the night.  Just wanting to play.  Crazy I know, but we've done our own trial test, and this is the only conclusion we can come up with!  So many mornings this is what my bed looks like.  Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE sleep..

No matter if he keeps me up all night or not, I love this little Valentine!

after not seeing Brett for the entire week, we were able to celebrate Valentine's Day by going on a date to one of our favorite local spots, Five.  They said there would be a 2 hour and 45 minute wait.  Normally we would have walked right out, but Meme was with John William, and we were just looking forward to time together no matter where we were.  We ended up only being there about an hour and half total with a delicious meal.

speaking of meals… John William isn't a picky eater, he'll eat just about anything. When HE wants to.  Lately he hasn't wanted to eat anything. Accept ketchup.

Going back to the augmitton.. We got off of it last Sunday, and by Wednesday we were back at the pediatrician with cough, congestion, green snot everywhere, and fever. *Sigh*

We did a chest x-ray, and while it looks MUCH better than our previous x-ray before our procedure at Children's and our month of antibiotic, but there was still junk in there.  His poor lungs just loves to catch infection.  So we are back on the medicine for 2 more weeks and the nebulizer is our good friend again.  I'm hoping this will get all the junk good and gone before spring allergens come in full bloom!

Even though he's sick, I do enjoy a nice day at home with my boy.  Especially when he loves such classics as these!!

I hate to complain, because I know this too shall pass, and there will be days when I long to have this time back.  So I will vamp up my time with God, enjoy my family when we are all together, and look forward to the warmer days that are near.

John William's Lungs

Well I haven't posted in 3 months.. I've just about decided to give the blog up, but I love reading others!!  I want so bad to keep it up and print at the end of the year as a scrap book for our family.. but I have failed.. oh well- better luck this year??

I know I only have a few readers,  but for those that were wondering I will fill you in on John William's lungs and recent visit to Children's Hospital.  December 2012 brought our first round of pneumonia, and to be honest, the 'junk' (as we like to call it) has yet to leave his lungs.  March of last year we had our first visit to the Pulmonary Clinic at Children's hospital and have gone back every 3 months for routine checks.  They decided John William has Middle Right Lobe syndrome which is common in young children and it is basically when the 'junk' just stays localized in that one area.  The week of Thanksgiving John William spiked a high fever along with coughing.  I took him the very next morning these symptoms started and sure enough the x-rays showed all the junk in there and we decided he had pneumonia and after results from a nose swab we found he had RSV.  We got over it after about a week, but then found ourselves back at the pediatricians office the week of Christmas with the same symptoms.  We were treated with antibiotics once again.  We had our normal Pulmonary clinic check up scheduled for January 9 and they of course knew about our most recent bouts with the pneumonia.  Our doctor decided he wanted to do a bronchoscope to go into his lung to get a better look at his airway passages, chambers of lungs, as well as getting some of the 'junk' out to get cultures on it so we'd know specifically what this junk was.  We had the procedure set for the next week in hopes he wouldn't get sick within that one week.  Of course John William stays pretty congested and has a wheeze on and off most of the time.  The day before our procedure I just knew he was going to spike a fever and we'd have to postpone.  Thankfully, even though he started acting as if it was sure enough coming, he didn't.  We were at Children's thursday morning at 6 to prepare for his 8:00 procedure and were hoping to be home by about noon.  We gave John William one last breathing treatment before they took him back to try and clear things so they could get in without any problems.  They took him back and about an hour later the doctor came in telling us everything went great.  He actually said he was shocked at how clear his airways were because of how he always sounded and due to what his lungs look like.  They explained that he has something called Malacia in his middle right lobe, which is where the cartilage is weakened in that area so that part of his lung his more floppy so it makes it that much harder to get the junk out.  There is nothing you can do for this other than get whatever the infection is in there out, and it should cure itself.  He said we would know what the infection was in a few days.  He was to be in recovery for about 30 minutes to an hour.  They called the room we were waiting in about an hour later saying that John William was fine, his oxygen just wasn't going up so they were going to keep him a little longer.  This was a side effect we were warned about.  Because he keeps a wheeze and has the lung issues anyway his oxygen level varies.  Children's likes your number to be above 92 before they let you leave, and he was staying about 88.  About 30 minutes later they called us back and told us his levels just weren't staying up so they were going to admit him so he could stay on the oxygen and wanted to  make sure it would stay up as he slept.  This was something I wasn't prepared for, so my heart sank a bit.  However I knew we were in great hands and in the best place we possibly could be in.  I'm definitely one of those better safe that sorry kind of people so I was on board 100%.  There are many many sick children at this hospital, and it is very humbling to see.  I am so thankful that for the most part John William is a very healthy boy, but walking around the corner to see your baby with tubes in his nose helping him breath is hard on a mamma- or at least on this mamma.
We got into our room and got John William to take a nap.  He started the morning at 2 liters of oxygen and by late afternoon we were on half a liter.  For a little boy that likes to just be put in his crib with the door closed, it was a long night getting him to sleep.  He sleeps much like a helicopter spinning around, this made his oxygen tubes come out, so there was about 4 times in that night that the buzzer went off because his oxygen was getting too low as he was sleeping.  We'd get it back in and he'd be fine.  When morning came the doctor took it out to see what would happen, and he would just hang out at a level of 89.  We were now on .25 of a liter- not much, but he seemed to like it.  They decided to give him some steroids to boost him up.  That made all the difference.  About an hour after that he was able to keep his oxygen at 91- even while sleeping!  we got to the magic 92 number and he stayed there the rest of the afternoon fluctuating from 91-94.  This was a good thing!  We found out that he is growing a bacteria in his middle right lobe ( a really long H word) and for that we are on a month of antibiotics, plus prednisone steroid, and his normal asthma inhaler, and breathing treatments.  We are home and doing much much better!!!!  We are very thankful for Children's hospital and all of their care.  The doctors and nurses are wonderful along with the facilities.  Again, there are many very sick children there, especially on the 10th floor pulmonary unit, we are so blessed to be on the mend.

Before the procedure.

Pops brought him a ball, which made him very happy!!

Oh how I love this little boy!

Hey!  He loved sitting in the big window.  Looking down 10 stories was a bit scary for me!  Notice he has his tube over his nose…  He surprisingly only did this about 4 times!

Sleeping.. with no oxygen!!

Coloring in the big window.  We had a great view of the new Birmingham Barons new baseball facility. 

Once we got the word we could go home, we got comfy, and he was out.  Ahh, relieve!  Thankful to the wonderful nurses and doctors.  And now thankful to be home!  We go back in April after we've taken antibiotics for a month and then off a month to see that hopefully the bacteria is gone and hasn't decided to grow back!

At the Car Wash, yeah!

A couple weekends ago, after our Sunday afternoon naps, I talked Brett into washing  my car- that was long over due a wash!  A certain little helper saw this going on and had to get in on the action.  So, we did what anyone from South Alabama would do.. he stripped him down to his diaper and let him have a great time!  The sun was shinning hard, so I threw a swim shirt on him so his sweet fair skin wouldn't get fried!  He thought he was big stuff!

He wanted to squirt the water so badly

and did a few laps around the car

but his favorite part was 

was me filling his bucket with water...

and

dumping it out :)

A perfectly fun afternoon at home... with a clean car to boot!

Preschool playing!

We are still loving preschool!  Here's some pictures from last week!

Spirit Day!

When I was leaving work the other day I had to make a stop back in the gym, John William insisted on being put down, and immediately jumped in to play with the big boys!

They were making up plays for him!

He thinks he's one of the big boys!

He cruising around on the scooter!

Life is good for us Paulk's!

Last weekend we went to Bryant Denny Stadium & walked around.  There are many trips to BDS & The Quad in store for this little boy!

Clinic #6

Also known as the Pulmonary Clinic at Children's hospital in Birmingham, is a place we have come to know.  And we are thankful for that.  Last March we noticed John William was having chronic bouts with pneumonia, after looking at all his x-rays we noticed that the spots in his lungs were really not healing (especially the spots on his right lung).  We got checked out and he has something called "Middle Right Lobe Syndrome", something apparently common in young children, along with talking about him having asthma.  This is all treatable, so that we are thankful for.  When we went back in May his lungs were looking better (spots still there, but not worse) and we were told in August he could begin to be congested again with constant mucus.  And like clock work, August 1st approached, and there was the snot!  He hasn't had any other symptoms, so I knew it was just his allergies, and because he has the spots on his right lung that act like sponges he just tends to hold the congestion and mucus a little better than others.  We had our scheduled visit to clinic 6, and I was thankful for that.  After looking at x-rays it still shows those little sponges on the middle lobe of right lung, but the Dr. said they hadn't worsened to a point of concern- that's a great thing, especially since he has been so congested!  He suggested along with his inhaler steroid he also take Singular daily to help with his allergens.  We will go back in January so long as he doesn't catch any lung infections (Pneumonia) this fall/early winter, which he is at higher risk for.  We will just pray that we will avoid that this season and we'll have a clear check up in January!

the exam room tends to get a little silly as we wait!

our nurse let John William check his oxygen levels!

these 2 are best buddies

for being such a trooper he got a prize when we got home

and he loves it!

Basketball in my living room.. makes me feel like a mommy of a big boy.. and I love it!

The Gulf Coast Zoo

While at the Beach we decided to take a break from the direct sun for one morning so while the boys were playing golf, Mrs. Sharon and I headed to the Gulf Coast Zoo with John William.  John William LOVES animals.  When any animal comes around he gets this high pitch voice and points and reaches out to grab the animal, or wave them near.  He loves to pet dogs and try to hug anything he can!  I knew he'd love the zoo!

I didn't take many pictures of the animals because, sadly, I left my camera at home :(

He likes to make "Ooooo" noises at the animals!

He really enjoyed feeding the animals too!

And he only tried to eat it himself once!

He couldn't decide which animals to stay with!

This Zoo had lots of options for hands on exhibits for older children.  John William would have enjoyed all of them, but because he was younger we decided we'd wait for him to pet the reptiles, jump with the Joey's, and get in the Lemur cage!  We'll be looking forward to Boo at the Zoo this year!

July

I can't believe July is coming to an end.  I can't believe Summer is coming to an end!  I have to say I am on of those that actually looks forward to August rolling around.  For many reasons... Getting closer to the holidays, cooler weather is- well- closer, normal routines will soon resurface, and football season is just around the corner!

Back to the time at hand.  July has been kind of crazy!  Lots of fun happening!

John William found the play loft in my class room

ran to the yellow room

and climbed on the buggy- all before 7:30 :)

he loves the buggy

we have enjoyed some snuggle time

he also loves our stairs.  He will be to the top in 5 seconds if we'd let him.  He also likes to sit on this bottom step and 'read'.

We're working on some teeth, as you can tell by the excessive drool!

and Thursday nights have been lots of fun with neighbors

singing in the car is fun, too!

Patrick and Eileen even let us hang out with their neighbor's chickens!

We are here and there and everywhere these days, and I tend to forget which day it is, but I guess we wouldn't have it any other way!  Not many more days left in the Summer of 2013 so we'll enjoy it until it ends!