Update on Ashlyn & a layout

On Friday I took Ashlyn to see an ENT. She has not been able to smell for nearly a year (maybe longer, but we honestly don't know), and now that she is finally maintaining her weight and slowly stabilizing, it's time to figure out all the "loose ends" that she still has going on health wise. I honestly never thought about taking her to an ENT- she's never had any issues with her ears, throat or nose that I thought would warrant this type of visit. I was extremely impressed with this doctor, and his wealth of knowledge and ideas and plan of action still has my head swimming.


The ENT told us that Ashlyn has some nerve damage going on in her nose. He thinks it might be either Lupus (which has been thrown out for her before) or even another auto-immune disease other than her Crohn's, a thyroid issue, a lack of her being able to process zinc or even an allergen. She is going to have a slew of bloodwork done early next week to test for auto-immune markers, vitamin and mineral levels, etc.

The BEST part is that he ordered the RAST allergy test that the US Bio-Tek lab does that I WANTED done by her "regular" allergist who wouldn't do it- instead he had her do the back patch test which ended up being a frustrating process leaving me with confusion and more questions. She will be tested for everything from food to chemicals to inhalents to ingestions. (this part makes me giddy! I have been calling around trying to find an allergist to do this, but they don't- and then we literally stumble upon it through an ENT- crazy!)

She is also going to do an at-home smell test- it's a big old envelope stuffed with all kinds of things.

He sent a sample of her nasal mucuos to the lab and the plan is that he will call me next week to start her on long-term steroids and antibiotics, but he needs to run this through her GI doctor to make sure that nothing interferes with the Crohn's treatment. As it sits today, with her drug allergies, Cipro seems to be the antibiotic that she can take without hives or itching or swelling. She is currently taking Carafate for her ulcers/severe nausea/bile buildup and while taking this she cannot take Cipro. She has another week with the Carafate, and to be perfectly honest, I am more concerned with the gi issues than I am with her taking antibiotics for her nose. Another week truly won't matter for her nose as much as taking her off the Carafate will directly impact her ability to eat.

All I know is that I am not sure what will come out of all of this, but I am feeling hopeful. I have been emotionally drained lately. Although she is coming along wonderfully overall in so many areas, especially her weight, there are still the daily issues and big health issues that she needs to overcome so she can maintain long-term. She is not out of the woods yet, so to speak, and until she can eat fully and not depend upon high-calorie formula drinks for the majority of her nutrition, then we are not in the clear. We are closing in one the one year mark where she started her down-hill decline and it has impacted me more than i could ever have imagined. Little victories seem like monumental mountains, and some days I am not sure which way we are heading- up or down, but we make it through day by day and start again tomorrow.

I am sure you would like to see a layout. I have this one from the MSAM Thankful challenge. Friday was also a day where I hosted a challenge, and I chose to be thankful for "good times".

I have a busy week ahead- I hope it's a good one- for you, too! :)

A new month means a new contest at MSAM!

Happy November! This is my favorite month of the year. :) The air is cool and crisp, Thanksgiving is just weeks away, and the buzz and excitement of the Christmas season is just beginning to unravel. I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I remind myself daily of the blessings that surround me.

During the month of November, My Scraps & More is having a "Thankful" contest. Each day a design team member will create a challenge based on something we are thankful for.

I kicked off the contest Tuesday with the first challenge, I am thankful for laughter, and my challenge was to create a layout with a quote about laughter, as well as using rub-ons on the page. Here is my layout:

When I think of laughter, I think of Skylar, because the two are never apart. :)

My Scraps & More had a contest last month where each design team member posted a sketch with a challenge. It was a lot of fun to see the daily sketches and layouts that the members created with them. My last challenge for this contest was to use paper strips along with the sketch I provided, and here is my layout for that. The contest is over, however the sketches and challenges are in the forum- if you are ever in need of inspiration, MSAM is oozing with it!

Today we start the process of discovering why Ashlyn has been unable to smell since January. We did some additional allergy testing a few weeks ago, which left me more confused and frustrated, and without a clear answer, so I am in search of a new allergest who will perform the test I have been researching and want, and will hopefully not leave me with more questions than answers.

That's it for now! Enjoy your November blessings.

Layouts galore!

Time has sure been flying by! I have so been busy with work, scrapping, and with Ashlyn that I have neglected to post in a few weeks. Today will be full of scrappy stuff!

Before I post my layouts, I want to make a belated shout-out to my first-born sweet girl, Kara, who turned 21 on Friday the 21st! I love you so much and am so proud of the amazing young woman you are becoming! I still find it hard to believe that my baby girl is twenty-one. It is so true- you blink your eyes and your babies become adults. I still marvel at how this happens.

Here are some layouts I have created recently.
I'll start out with some projects created with the Bo Bunny Et Cetera collection that was the DT spotlight product this month at My Scraps & More. You can see the gorgeous projects created by the other team members, here, on the MSAM blog.

this one, Web Cam fun, is one of my challenge layouts for the month:

and finally, I did manage to get to two of the challenges my teammates have posted:

That's it for now. I'll be back soon to post about something fun- there will even be a chance to win a great prize. Stay tuned!

Have a beautiful day!

catching up...

Time is flying by and it's been busy around here. About 10 days ago, Ashlyn fell off of Skylar's bed and fractured her left elbow. Just a freak thing as Skye's bed is a standard height and all Ashlyn was doing was reaching for something on the floor. Had she fallen down the stairs, she probably wouldn't have hurt herself at all. So now she is in a half-cast/ace bandage wrap and sling for the next 6-8 weeks. Oh joy. She's been a trooper though- it's painful and swollen and she has been handling it remarkably well.

This past Saturdaywe went out to Greenbluff, which is basically a bunch of local farms. Emily wasn't working until late, I was off, and the weather was perfect for some outdoor fun. We haven't been for a few years, so it was nice to go again. We did not pick any apples this year, but we did visit the pumpkin patch. We also pet some animals and visited several different farms.

As for scrapping, I have been pretty busy. I created some baby projects for Kara's friend Kristen, who is having a baby in mid-December. It was a big project that took many, many hours to complete. I will share this project sometime this week.

Lastly, My Scraps & More is doing a month-long sketch challenge. Each weekday a DT member is posting a sketch along with a challenge. I have hosted two so far; Oct. 4th:

and 10/10:

I have only had a chance to get to one of the sketches so far, and here is my layout for that:

I am hoping to get to some more soon. Stop on by MSAM to join in on the fun!

Take care!

Wonder"Fall" Crop at MSAM + my projects

My Scraps & More is hosting a Wonder"Fall" crop this weekend/first half of the week. Each of the DT members, and Tammi, has put up 2-3 fun Fall challenges. All challenges will be due by midnight on Wednesday, September 28th. Complete at least 1/2 of the challenges and go into a drawing for the "Finally Fall" collection by Bella Blvd.

Here are the projects I created. To check out the challenges, head on over to My Scraps and More!

My "Trick or Treat" challenge:

and my color challenge:

Be sure to join us in October as My Scraps & More is having a month long sketch contest! Each weekday a new sketch will be unveiled on the forums along with a challenge from a design team member. At the end of each week, a winner will be drawn from all that participated to receive a great scrappy prize! Many challenges will even have RAK’s involved!! Head over to the forums at My Scraps & More to sign up today! This contest runs from Oct 3rd – Oct. 31st.

Have a wonderful week! I hope to see you on the boards. :)

some cards for a blog hop

I came across a blog hop for Paper Secrets via a friend on facebook- it looked like a fun hop and challenge, and I have been itching to create, so I jumped right in. The challenges were to use a card sketch with a twist to each one; using a specific item along with the sketch. Here is a link.

Here are the cards I created:

Ashlyn is still sick, Skye is sick, and I am starting to get sick. I hope I can keep it at bay. I plan to lie low today and watch football, read a bit, work on homework with Ashlyn and maybe scrap.
Have a great week!

school and layouts to share

School got off to a great start for the girls! Ashlyn adjusted very well- much to the delight of us and her therapist. We did start off with a few kinks, but by the second day, things were quickly changed to meet her needs. She was pulled from PE on the first day of her having to do it, and was instead placed into a core math class- both things I had requested, but were denied prior to school starting. She was also placed under the care of a nurses aide, so she gets two welfare checks during the day and this same aide delivers her formula to her for both lunch and 5th period. She is a wonderful woman and I am thankful that we have her to look out for Ashlyn.

I really wasn't sure that this was going to work out, but now that I know she is being cared for in the ways that she needs, I feel so much better about sending her. We will still have to work on meeting her nutritional needs trhoughout the day, but that will have to be adjusted as needed, and the school acted immediately upon my first request to provide her with more formula so this will not be an issue. Tomorrow morning we meet to complete her officical 504 plan. Her therapist has spoken with the school counselor to express her opinions on Ashlyn's needs and we will bring all these ideas to a formal proposal which will then be passed to each of her teachers. So far they have been wonderful and I think this will be a successful year- provided she can stay healthy. She is already sick and this will be day 2 missed, with tomorrow being another day at home as well. Her body has a lot of adjusting to undergo and hopefully she'll be able to manage this.

here she is on her first day (Sept. 7th):

Skylar is also attending the high school this year. She is super excited because she got some primo classes, that are REALLY hard to get into, especially as a Sophomore. Seniors and Jr's take priority, but somehow even with this, she made the cut for both of them; Technical Theatre (class started with 25 kids, and was cut down to 13 after the first 3 days- she made the cut- woot!) and Video Media Production. She will more than likely be the news anchor for the school tv news network- her teacher likes her vibrant and bubbly and friendly personality and thinks she will be a great success on "TV". She is over the moon excited about both of these classes and is sure to learn a lot.

Skye on her first day:

Emily is a Junior and although she did not get most of the electives she wanted, she got some great art classes- she is really great with art! and manged she also get into Biology, which is huge for her. She is in most IEP academic classes, so for her to be placed into a "regular" science class is exciting for her. Both her and Skye are in biology but have different teachers, thankfully. I was a bit concerned that they might end up in the same class at the same time with the same teacher.
Emily on her first day:


Here are some recent layouts and a card I created for some of my challenges on My Scraps and More:

 

one more thing before I leave you: My Scraps & More is having a mini crop and we would love for you to play along! The crop will be held on Saturday, September 24th and all challenges will be due by the end of the day on September 28th. The winner will walk away with the "Finally Fall" collection from Bella Blvd.! Head to the message board and get yourself signed up today!