Raegan's day

I decided to just take random pictures of Raegan throughout the day today. She is always doing something whether it's changing clothes, making a mess or playing quietly by herself. She is always on the go.

I was putting a roast in this morning. Avery was such a help and peeled all the carrots for me. When i came out to cut the carrots and put them in i found that Raegan had wanted to peel carrots too...

but she obediently did a great job of cleaning up her mess...

she is into layering right now. I could not convince her to layer with another top, she was dead set that this was the perfect set! Yup, i took her out and about this way...

after shopping and running errands for awhile it was back home to get packing. she was playing quietly...no wonder, she was busy packing herself...

she likes hoods. she has a dress that has a hood on it and it and it is one of her favorite dresses. she has liked all these jackets and warm clothes i have gotten out for Colorado...something new and different...

cool chic-a di

the outfits just kept getting better. she went to shot clinic like this with avery and daddy...

and she wanted to show me the library book she picked out today...

I missed getting a picture of her in her twirly outfit! How did i miss that?! I wonder why i have so much laundry??!!

Pool days

We got pool passes again this year. I honestly think i would go crazy if we didn't have the pool to escape to several afternoons a week. We are usually the first in line 30 minutes before it opens so that we can get our coveted spot and chairs. I haven't taken my camera to the pool much this summer but did the other day to grab a few pictures...

i'm surprised the kids faces don't have permanent goggle marks on them. They are a regular fixture most days of the summer...

i can wear "globbles" too, don't forget about me...

pool days are just that much funner with cousins...

or fun dip?? shared fun dip...

I took some pictures of the older kids but they didn't turn out so well so i will have to do their post later.

Random

First off, thanks to all who prayed for Raegan (and me)! We truly appreciated any and all prayers! Raegan's legs are doing SO much better. We have done a lot of wet wraps over the past week. Things are much more under control.

I did want to clarify because apparently someone took from my blog post that i wished my girls were normal. I in no way feel my girls are abnormal, i love them exactly the way they are. I only wish for THEIR sake (not my own) that they did not have the eczema, that they did not feel uncomfortable. As a mother i just don't like to see my girls hurt.

I know i bring any criticism/talk/gossip/sharing on by putting it out there. I will probably lessen the sharing of my blog. I probably do too much of that anyway and had already been thinking that...nuff said.

In other news we enroll the kids in school tomorrow...what?! No!

We will soon go to cool Colorado for Camp Gramma. Yay for cooler weather. I do love summer though and the warmer weather. It's just been super HOT so capris and a jackets sound nice!

We are soon to some major spring (in the summer) cleaning to hopefully get our house put on the market. So if you live in the area and know someone that is needing a cute little starter home, give them our name!

This is what happens five minutes after getting home from a best buds birthday party in which i'm pretty sure sleep was not on the priority list of fun for the boys...

Head to foot

I am so discouraged today that i just want to sit and cry to be quite honest. Skin care has become such a routine part of life for the past 10 1/2 years but it just gets old especially when there is no end in sight. I can't tell them that it will get better, i can only tell them as i'm lathering them with ointments and lotions that if i could take it from them i would.

Itchy skin is really all my girls know. I have no idea how they feel but when my three year old is crying in the back seat saying "my legs burn so bad" because she has open sores on her legs and there is not a thing i can do it makes me feel very discouraged.

I'm whiny and emotional tonight and venting but my girls handle their skin problem so well. Of course there are bad days when a preteen is very conscientious about the way her legs look with pigment loss and days when they get upset cause they don't want to itch anymore, days when they say they can't wait for winter because their eczema will be better. They don't complain near as much as i probably would. Avery tells her little sister "i know just how you feel!"

I took pictures of Raegan's head when she was a baby and struggling with eczema on her head. I can't hardly stand to look at them but i'm glad i took them so i can see the before and after. I wish i had some before and afters from Avery's over the years.

Here are some pictures of Raegan's poor little head in her first 6 months of life...



she wore this stocking hat non-stop to try to keep her hands from scratching. These pictures were taken during some of her fussiest months when she slept in her car seat by my bed and i would rock her car seat with my foot to get her to fall asleep

but thanks to Nutramigen and dermatology and allergy appointments things finally started improving...

It goes in spurts. The girl's eczema is allergy induced so spring and summer are the worst. Constant itching can turn easily into infection and trust me we have had too many skin infections over the years to count. I can usually tell you when they may need antibiotics or if they might need prednisone to get it under control. Right now i am having quite a time getting Raegan's skin under control

she is blistering up and then the blisters pop and the exposed skin burns really bad. i talked with the dermatology nurse today and they got her in next week as i already have prescription antibiotic ointment that i started.

I couldn't handle it anymore though and took her in to urgent care tonight as it just kept getting worse. The doctor said her leg was developing impetigo and that she needed and oral antibiotic so i was thankful that i took her in

I just pray that some day i can post some before and after pictures of these little legs and that they will be so much better.

Tomorrow i will gain my composure and get back to the routine of lathering, bleach baths and wet wraps but for tonight i just feel like moping for my girls. I can handle the routines, i just hate that my girls have to deal with this. Thinking about what others have to deal with in health situations is usually a pretty quick fix for my moping and makes me very thankful that this is all we are having to deal with! But i still get discouraged and frustrated and this is one of those days.

Edited to add: This morning at 3am Raegan came crying into our room that her legs burned. She stood there with her blanket with blood all over it...she had scratched all of the sores open again covering her knees...i hope these antibiotics start working really fast! This is what her legs look like this morning...

Stressful dream

I woke up this morning so stressed out! I had a dream that it was the night before school started. I worked at the doctor's office and when i got off work at 8:30 pm i realized that i hadn't gotten any of the kids school supplies bought yet! I woke up just as i was gathering all the kids up to go to the store at 9 pm and i was having a cow cause the kids weren't going to get a good nights sleep before their first day...pheww, i was glad to wake up and realize that i still had plenty of time to get supplies!

It seems like just yesterday we were picking out Trey's favorite super hero backpack and now it's just finding a good binder and things to put in his locker. Now i am back to picking the favorite super hero backpack and i can't wait to take Ethan to pick it out. Today's pick is batman but this can change daily. I can't believe i'm going to be sending my little guy off to school in a month! He should still be this little...

Float trip

For the past 3 years we have joined some friends of ours for a family float trip. We head to the Niangua in Bennett Springs , MO. This year our friends have a fifth wheel so we changed a little where we stay. We had a nice shower house right close so it was perfect!

Avery was dying to jump off "the tree" that we stopped at last year...crazy girl!

we nicknamed these two "the monkeys" this trip. they couldn't get up in the trees fast enough. They even did the monkey sound on command

our trip turned into a hunt. Johnny brought his snorkel glasses and found soo much stuff. I opted for the looking from above approach. I did try the glasses but realized quickly i have major claustrophobic/having face covered issues...

we did the 5 mile trip this year after doing the 8 mile last year...we stop and hang out and swim a lot...

johnny kept me laughing as he would drag stuff out of the water. he popped up with this saying "anyone was to listen to some music?" not exactly what we expected him to come dragging to the top

avery acquired a visor and some really cute sunglasses

of course we found a trillion beads, so the kids were always laying claim on their picks. the boys each acquired some shades

ethan was getting into this...he wanted to go snorkeling too. that's how i like to snorkel too ethan!

daddy found ethan these brand new goggles

to the right of where the guys are is a tree and a place where the current takes the canoes right into the tree and most canoes tip over there unless they are really good at maneuvering. we watched canoe after canoe dump. Johnny was scouring the area looking for goods...

His list of found items included a brand new filet knife in the package, two very nice Coleman camping chairs...yeah that one had me laughing too when he pulled those up. At least 12 or 13 pairs of sunglasses of which one was a $150 pair of oakleys and guess which pair we lost within 15 minutes of finding...A really cool pocket knife, a bracelet, a lot of bungees and a pair of shoes.

Avery and Emma loved the ones they got...

It was a great time with good friends, good food and a fun float down the river!

4th of July

For the 4th we went out to John's brother and wife's place out in the country to eat, ride four wheelers, shoot skeet and set off a few fireworks

Trey and Avery hanging out with Grandma Seaba....

raegan loves max. i'm pretty sure max loves her too. she has spent a lot of time at grandma's house over the summer so has gotten to play with max a lot!

trey being silly with the sparklers

ethan waited and waited for his ride so uncle duane took him on a nice long ride

we went and bought a few fireworks for the kids. ethan spotted a rocket right off so we got him that. trey had a rocket that he had at ethan's age that we bought for him and he wouldn't let us light it cause he didn't want it ruined. we took the wick? out and it has been on his shelf all these years...ethan wanted to light his and then took off running after it and this was him after he went and got it...so upset that it was broken!!


daddy made it all better when he put it back together and now both rockets sit on the boys shelf

I'm not sure what avery was doing here but i just liked this picture of her. she is spending a few days with grandma and grandpa seaba right now.

raegan and cousin jessica riding the four wheeler

the girls...

we drove back home and watched the end of the local fireworks display that we can see from our house. I say the end because i thought they started a half hour later than they did so we saw the start of them from the highway.