Salem & Raina With Their Friends

Salem and Maeghyn have been best friends since summer 04. I wasn't even pregnant with Raina then. As a mom, it's amazing to watch your children develop relationships outside of direct family and oh so very sweet. Now 4 years later Salem and Maeghyn are still best friends. LaRae and I hope it's that way forever. I think we are going to mandate it! :) I don't know what we'd do without the William's Family in our lives.

And look at Raina! She's 3 and Tristan and Justin are almost 2 but she plays well with both. They are SO precious together.

OK Julia I've decided - ya'll just have to leave the military and stay in Abilene. No transfers. EVER. :)

Oh and speaking of military that makes me miss Shannon and Tyler way off in Alabama and now I realize technically LaRae and John could move. :( I don't like this.

But I won't stress. We'll all be friends forever. Thank goodness for the Internet. How did people communicate before?

So a new week is upon us - so I have to clean my house. :)

Edited to add I can't get the pics to format right. Sorry.

Salem's Lunch Menu :(

OK #1 - it's cheap. It's included in her tuition this year and there is a lot of value to a hot meal for me. She tends to prefer a hot meal as well. But for a family who is trying to eat healthy and less processed food this is dismal. I am not as concerned for them with meat at school or when then are with others. We just won't serve it at home and let them decide about it when they are old enough to understand why.

So Salem and I talked and she has a couple of friends who bring lunches. So I am thinking of getting a bento box and send it with lunch and soup and let her eat at school on Friday for pizza. On pizza day they rotate dessert between cupcakes, rice krispie treats and M&M cookies.

Hopefully that will provide a good balance. And this isn't a slam against the school. I ADORE her school. I honestly think she'd have a similar selection almost anywhere she went here.

Our Week!

We have been a vegetarian household for 2 weeks tomorrow. :) No Diet Coke, no caffeine and no meat. I did eat tilapia at a girl's night and we will occasionally eat fish but to be honest I feel much better than I normally feel. No more immediate trips to the bathroom 15 minutes after I eat. I have more energy, less bloating...I just feel better. We went to a birthday party last night and I wasn't even tempted with cake and soda. :)

The rest of this week has been bland. It started off SO hectic with a MOPS meeting and somehow I have throw my back out. I have a massage on Tuesday and I hope that really helps. Brian got 3 ribs back in but it still really hurts.

Salem had a cardiologist appt on Tuesday and guess what? Dr. Fryer said he didn't see ANY signs of Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am ecstatic. PRAISE GOD. He wants her to stay on the atenolol til she outgrows the dosage just in case and follow her in 6 months but she might be off the med in a year and then just go in yearly for a check up or if we have symptoms.

So do to this good news I brought up the growth hormones. I wasn't seriously considering them because of her heart - there is a chance that it causes the heart to thicken and that is basically what HCM is. But now that there is NO thickening and her heart is normal he said he wouldn't have a problem with it as her HCM has resolved and they would watch her and if there was thickening we'd revisit it.

So this doesn't mean we're for sure doing it but that it's an option again. She's going to be referred to an pediatric endocrinologist and then we'll go from there.

She then had a hearing test on Wednesday and that came back perfect. :) Then Friday morning in the middle of the night she started throwing up. It was disgusting and she didn't make it even close to the bathroom. She's never missed the toilet before. So I was up all night. So we emailed school and told them she wouldn't be there and then at 10 am when she woke up Friday she was totally fine. LOL.

So that's our week. My girls are taking a nap and we're going out tonight on a date. Whoo Hoo!!! :)

News From The Holamon House

The Stop the Violence Rally last weekend was amazing. Hundreds of people showed up despite last minute artist cancellations and the heat. Our speakers were SO brave. :) And we raised amazing funds for the Crime Victims Crisis Center.

So now it's over back to real life. LOL. Salem is loving school. She's having her pics taken today. Raina actually started the 2 hour 2x a week speech today at Woodson. She looked so little in the big' ole school. I am so proud of her. They said she jabbered a lot which is a blessing. She would hardly talk during speech this summer.

Salem has a cardiologist visit today. We'll talk about Growth Hormone but i am fairly certain it will not be done. I did fax her genetic testing to her geneticst. We're waiting for more information. Salem also has a hearing exam tomorrow. Some of the NS kids with articulation issues have hearing loss. I don't think Salem does but it's better to check it off our list. KWIM?

And guess what? The wonderful organization Five Humans has chosen Noonan Syndrome to be one of their causes!!!! YEAH! For those that haven't heard of Five Humans - their motto is Ignorance is a Curable Disease! They create hip fashionable clothing to help you support a cause. I am SO excited. Here is more.

Well that's it for today. It's the beginning of billing so I will be busy this week! And then we have the labor day holiday! I want to sleep late. :) We'll see if that happens.

And check out those labels I posted below. They are AWESOME!!!

Missing Lala

Salem really missed Larrah a lot yesterday. She wanted to tell her about school and was so upset. She doesn't understand how far College Station really is and when she said she wanted to go see her I said we couldn't today because it was too far and she just cried and cried. I felt so bad for her. Then she wanted to call her. I texted Larrah and she called later and Salem was happy! But it's been such an emotional roller coaster for her - 1st with Aunt Amy and the kids moving out and then Korie leaving after a short visit and then Larrah moving.

And I just went upstairs to see if the lights were out and the vents closed and it was SO empty. Now I really miss her. But she'll have a great life in College Station. I am just amazed that she's really gone.

Label Daddy - These are AWESOME!!!

These work SO much better than a sharpie or masking tape or the millions of other things I know I have tried. :) And they are cute. You can use them virtually on anything. Even on electronics, etc. Enter the code - westtxmom at checkout to receive 10% off.

Salem started Kindergarten today!

She was SO esited (how she says it :giggle ). I was worried cause last year most drop offs were sad but she did wonderful. She barely even said bye! :lol

Salem before we did her hair. Raina had to be in the pic.And Raina LOVES this dress. She has insisted on wearing it. It was one of Salem's first dressup outfits.

WOW. I can't believe she started school. I totally feel overwhelmed and sad but excited and happy for her. She was SO very excited.

Raina has been a little lonely for her. She's asked about her several times but she's having fun. I gave her a back massage with our vibrating massager. She LOVES it and the girls fight over it so we don't get it out a lot. We made homemade mini pizzas and had watermelon. We pick Salem up and then have our regular errands to run and Salem has gymnastics. :) And they both woke up at 6:30 with no problems. Brian made eggs and mini whole grain waffles.