eczema = yuck!

Well, I havent really said much about Bens skin lately, mainly because it has been so frustrating and all consuming that when ive sat down to blog, Its been the last thing i wanted to talk about. But, because things are looking up and we see some light at the end of the tunnel, i will fill you all in. As i posted earlier, we took him to the iridologist when we were in TX and felt very positive about it all. His skin started to clear up and then got worse and then just kept getting worse. He rarely slept through the night because he would wake up just scratching the heck out of his skin. We would put him in the footed jammies to keep him away from his legs, but then he would scratch his arms. And if we put him in regular jammies, he would scratch his legs, and when he scratched his legs, i mean he pretty much scratched them raw. It was pretty scary looking and just flat painful looking. I guess the good thing is is that he never seemed to be in constant pain, just when he was scratching. But if finally got to the point where he was scratching more and more and it was obviously getting out of control. It was all over his legs, arms and starting to get on his face and neck. So, the doctor that david has used since living here is Dr. Strong, and he is an allergy specialist. We decided to make an appointment to get some testing on Ben to see exactly what he's allergic to and eliminate that or those things from his body and see if that could be the cause of his eczema (which is probably pretty likely). I called this past monday and they couldnt get him in till next wednesday (i think he sets aside longer times for the allergy consultation). I felt good about that, but in the meantime Ben was still scratching like crazy. My mother in law(she knows the staff really well there) offered to go in with me tuesday morning at 8:30 to see if they could just give him something to calm it down until we could get some more answers. Im so thankful to have had her with me, it was a big comfort and help. Anyways, dr. strong looked at it and said it was definitely eczema, severe eczema. He gave him a steriod shot to just calm it down and get it under control and then put him on an antibiotic just in case there was any infection and then prescribed a cream for when he gets off the antibiotic that will relieve inflamation and itching. Ben hasnt scratched since that appointment!!! His skin still looks a little yucky, but its obvious that its healing. Before it had a pocky look to it and would ooze and then crust over and scab where he scratched it to bleeding. Now its smooth and you can see the sores are healing and im sure some scarring, so its still red. But its pretty amazing how much it has healed in 2 days. Its so nice to not have to watch him every second of the day to make sure hes not scratching and just for him to not be miserable. It just feels good to have some relief, mostly for him, but for me too, it was starting to take a toll on me. I had a couple break downs after a couple of huge fits of him scratching it raw (im sure these pregnancy hormones dont help either). But, thats where we are right now, i will update after we get the allergy testing done.

On Abby news, I went to the doctor on tuesday afternoon (it was just a day full of doctors). It was just an appointment with the ultrasound tech. I got to see our sweet little girl. Shes growing soo much! I remember when i first was pregnant you could see her whole little body on the screen and now you can just see her head. Everything looked good. I also got my glucose screening test results back (high blood sugar test) and everything was normal. I had a feeling it was, but they just wanted to make sure. I go back to the dr. on the 1st and then ill start going every week until she gets here! I cant believe im almost done, it really seems like this pregnancy has flown by. I can definitely tell im at the end though, im really losing steam. I cant seem to get the energy to finish up her room, much less finish my chores around the house. I get bursts of energy here and there and get things done, but not enough to get it all done. I guess it will still be there tomorrow...

The weather has taken a change for the worst...its hot...already...like in the 100's hot. We got a nice little cool spell just a couple days ago though, and it was windy today, so maybe it will cool it off just a tad for a day or 2. Im just glad im only going to be pregnant at this very first part of summer, and not all the way through. Im really looking forward to Abbys arrival, cause that also means my momma is coming!!! And probably Bets and HOPEFULLY my dad (hint hint to my dad) My mom is planning on spending 2 weeks with us, and i couldnt be happier. She will get to spend some special time with Ben (who adores her) and some special time with our little Abby girl. Plus she will be able to help me make the transition from having 1 kid to 2...which im honestly a little nervous about...not so much taking care of them, just being able to give them both the attention they need without one feeling neglected. Anyways, im getting excited!

I think ive made this post long enough. I didnt realize how late it was. David got called out on a job. Like i said, its windy, and appearantly the sign at Dennys was about to fall off and they needed someone to come weld it back for them. Stinks that he had to go out so late, but i guess the overtime is nice. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

pictures

So i said i would post some of the pictures Annalesa took this past weekend, well i want to post ALL of them! She is such an amazing photographer! God has given that girl a gift!!! So, here is the link to the album on my facebook, and just so you know, Anna is starting to do her photography for a living...*hint hint*

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2026504&id=83500987&ref=nf

Easter

So, I havent been doing so good at updating this thing regularly. But, here is an update of our lives over here.

I had a dr. appt. last tuesday. Everything looks good. Abby is about 4 lbs, shes a growin! The only not so great thing is that my blood sugar is high. I have to go take another glucose test that lasts 3 hours. It's not really a big deal, theyre just making sure everything is ok. Ill probably go do that tomorrow. My originial drs appt was on thursday, but i guess Dr. Gocke was going to be busy or something so they called me tuesday morning and asked if i could come in that day at noon, so i agreed. I took Ben with me, which was ok the first couple times, but he's gotten bored with it. He did pretty good for the first 15 or 20 min. of waiting and then he started getting hyper, climbing on chairs, being loud, etc. Then when we finally got back to the room, he started getting fussy and cranky. So he basically threw a fit for the rest of the appointment. I sent David a text and told him what was going on, and he drove straight over. But by the time he did get there, we were just walking out of the drs. So david had a talk with ben and then he took us to a nice long lunch. It was nice to spend some time together, all 3 of us. It seems like weve all been running in different directions.

We had a good Easter weekend. My cousin Annalesa came down from L.A. for the weekend. She got it late friday night and stayed till sunday afternoon. Saturday we decided to go exploring. We took her over to Yuma, AZ (about 45 min. away) and went to the old yuma prison. Its really neat. I think it was built in the late 1890s and they closed it by the early 1900s. But they have some of the original jail cells and everything. After that we talked the boys into eating lunch at Cracker Barrel, yum! That place is so good! After lunch we started driving through the desert. Our goal was to show her this place called The Hole that we discovered(i may have mentioned it in a past post) and then to another place called Salvation Mountain (a mountain/hill that a man painted with scripture etc.), but we only made it to the hole. It's a random place in the middle of the desert that has lots of plants and vines and stuff, its really cool, but you can tell its getting hot because it wasnt nearly as green and lush as the last time we went. We headed on home after that, we were all pretty much on empty. We went to church on Sunday, I had nursery duty, so David and Anna went to the service. I got to sit and rock one of the newborns the whole time, so i was content. After church we just came home. I made brisket (sp?), cheesy potatoes, garlic bread, salad and peach cobbler! It was all just way too good. Then we did a little easter egg hunt for Ben in the backyard. It was fun/funny. Then we did a little photo shoot. Annalesa took a bunch of pics over the whole weekend, so Ill post some when i get them from her. We had a good time, and its always nice to spend holidays with family. She left around 3 or so and we layed down for naps (me and ben). That evening we had been invited to some friends easter party on their farm. She goes all out for it. We were running a little late and had missed the egg hunt and the easter bunny, but she was so sweet and had left a patch of eggs for Ben to hunt, he got some serious loot. Missing the easter bunny was probably a good thing, he did NOT like it last year. We had a good time though.

We had a full weekend, but a fun one. We were all nice and tired though. David decided to stay home yesterday, which was nice. Ben got to play with him and i got to get out for a little bit. It was a nice lazy day. The evening was really nice so we walked over to the park and flew davids airplane that Bets got him for christmas and then Ben played on the playground for a while. I woke up thinking it was monday, but were already at Tuesday! Time flies!

Only 7 1/2 more weeks till miss abby is due! I'm getting closer to finishing her room, and when im done ive decided ill do a little video tour of it for everyone.

Ok, i think im caught up on our current events. Ill try to do a little better job of updating more often, but sometimes theres just not much to report. Hope everyone has a good week!

Wild Animal Park

I'm finally getting these pictures posted! I tried to do it earlier in the week but something wasnt working, so i did try. The weathers nasty today, so were just laying low in the house. There's supposed to be a movie under the stars tonight at church on the front lawn, but they said if it was still windy they would move it inside. At least they didnt cancel it, Ben's looking forward to it. Well, here's the pictures, I didnt take too many, but hope you enjoy!


Ben rode the carousel with Grandma Marla.

They had a Little Tykes jungle gym for kids, so we took a break there. He of course had to ride the jeep.

Ben driving.

Ben and Grandma on the African Adventure tour. It's a little tour around the natural environment they have set up for the African animals. We saw lions, zebras, hippos, giraffes, and all kinds of other animals.

Ben had fun. The day was beautiful. We got free passes for a year to go to the wild animal park or the regular zoo, so we will definitely go back and see other animals!