Strep

Turns out Clayton not only has thrush, but strep throat as well. So we decided to treat him with anti-biotics to kill it all quickly and then give him pro-biotics to build up the "good stuff" in his body 'cause he needs to eat and with his mouth and throat being so sore he hasn't wanted to eat. We started him on the meds yesterday and he's already doing a little better. At least he's sleeping and eating better (and when that's mostly what you do...). He actually slept 10-11 hours straight last night! This is the first time...ever?

Oh Clayton my Clayton...

We tried a new doctor (actually a nurse practitioner) Wednesday night. We went to Barbara Herdman in Tillamook because Clayton was kind of listless and really grumpy. He's been slowly getting over his pink eye, his eyes are still goopy though and he hasn't had much appetite. He was also really pale. I think he was partially dehydrated. It was nice to have someone listen to his lungs and heart and look in his ears (the ND doesn't even touch him...) and tell us that that all sounded and looked good. But we got sidetracked and she forgot to look in his throat. She had some good advice on how to keep his skin moisturized and told us to get creative and get liquids in him somehow, whatever he'll take. We mixed some apple juice and water with a little pedilyte and he drank some but was up all night screaming until I put some clove oil in his mouth. I was thinking allergic reaction to something he drank...but then when he woke up later I noticed that his mouth was covered in white...yep...thrush. Explains why he doesn't want to drink anything and I'm sure the sugar in the apple juice only made it worse. So I've been treating him for thrush now. We finally decided to try a little 1/2 percent cortizone cream to give him some relief (cause he's still itching) and this morning his legs are the softest they've been since this whole thing started. You could almost call it smooth soft baby skin again. He's still miserable though with other things and his skin is blotchier but not itchy.
We would appreciate prayers offered up on his behalf and ours as we still struggle with this. We're not sure what to do next or where to go from here. Erik thinks we should check out Dorhmbecker Children's Hospital and see a Pediatric Dermatologist...it sounds like a good idea but I'm still not sure. I'm not sure if I'm more scared of all the tests they might have to run or the medicines they might try to prescribe or if I'm more scared that not taking care of this will do more damage or that we're missing something serious that is causing all this. Thank you to those that are praying. God bless you.

Marked For Life

So it's done. It's only about 3 hours old in this picture, so it's very shiny and red but I was too excited to wait any longer. The pain was not to bad and it didn't take that long.
Psalm 104:33 "I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."

Here I Go

I'm going to get my tattoo today. My wonderful sister in law, Michelle is watching all the kiddos so I can go. I'll post a picture when I get back.

Theme From...

I wish my music writing capabilities were on par or exceeded my playing abilities. I've started "writing" a piano piece...maybe someday it will have words... but because it's not chords I'm not sure exactly how to write it. Well, to be honest, I want an easy way to write it; I don't want to have to work at it but since all I have right now is my memory I think I'll try really hard. Or I might try and find our digital camera (we lost it already) and check out the video quality.
Maybe I'll find handwriting it strangely fulfilling but I'm not holding out to much hope for that end.

Literary Discussions

"I hoped that we might go on discussing art and literature like this..." (Cold Comfort Farm)
Today Hannah asked me to read "The Secret Garden". I started to read and we made it through the first chapter and then Hannah started asking questions like, "Why did you say 'glad'? Why did you say 'believe'? Why did he hate?" And many other "why" questions till finally I stopped trying to read and asked, "Do you want me to keep reading?"
"No," she said, "I just want to talk about Mary Lennox."
"Oh," said I, "you just want to talk about Mary Lennox?"
"Yes." She replied, "About whether Mary Lennox had a bunk bed. I had a bunk bed but it changed. I don't know if Mary Lennox had a bunk bed."

Sunny Side Up

I got a new Reader's Digest Collection of music. Found this song, written in 1929.

Keep your sunny side up, up! Hide the side that gets blue. If you have nine sons in a row, Baseball teams make money, you know! Keep your funny side up, up! Let your laughter come through, do! Stand up on your legs; Be like two fried eggs; Keep your sunny side up!


Love it. Or as my sister would say...."lurve it!"