Meds & a Stubborn 3 yr Old

Medicines are a part of our daily routine. Homeopathic as well as traditional medicines. It's a given that each morning and evening I or my FH am opening the red tin Med Box to start preparing "juices". We use a red "bread box" to hold all the concoctions our boys take. It's crazy the amount of product in there, but necessary.

Bup has thrown us a loop a time or two when it comes to his meds. As a toddler, he would take Trileptal from the syringe with a happy heart and sweet chubby cheeked grin.

Then a year or so later and that happy stage was over. So, we tricked him by mixing it in his bottle with either Rice Milk or Juice. Worked great for another 8 months or so.

Now...we're hooped. He has all the control and is making choices that are not good for his health. He can taste his meds in juice/milk and loudly professes,

"Yuck! This juice tasteses disgusting!"

I've tried hiding them in flavored applesauce and yogurt deserts and ice cream. The real stuff. Dairy even, with sugar, which we don't do, but I'm desperate right? No dice. Unless I keep the Keppra out. If it's just Trileptal, he'll take it. Keppra is bitter. Like chewing a handful of aspirins.

Giving the meds without a mix results in vomiting, not to ignore the amount of crying, screaming and struggling it takes to swallow the nasty culprits before they come back.

This is one more reason for me to hate Keppra! Not only does it change behavior and personality, it's a bitter pill to swallow... in more ways than one.

As a side note, we have been allowed to decrease the Keppra by 25mg and added 100 mg of Vitamin B twice daily to help with mood. It seems to be working! Woot! Woot! I'm still determined to get rid of Keppra all together, but in the mean time, how do I convince R he needs to take it?

Also, we FINALLY have an appt this month with a Neurologist. Ours moved to Nova Scotia in October so we have been without a Doc. Bup needs a full work up and testing as it has been over a year. He's grown leaps and bounds since then, plus we are seeing seizure activity that needs to be addressed and this is not just due to the med struggle. We have been seeing breakthrough seizures on and off for some time and have tried to tweak his meds with some success...but then those sneaky buggers/monsters seems to creep back in.

Any ideas?

Any tricks out there to convince young kiddos to take their meds?

I've heard about pharmacies creating gummy bear meds and need to research this further.

Shall I try crushing and mixing into a paste with Tang crystals? Desperate times...desperate measures!

Here I leave you with a stolen shot of a fevered R crashed on the couch this week on Fever Day. 12 hrs of fever. R slept ALL DAY on the couch. (Snuggled up in his dad's childhood camping blanket.) No other symptoms. Once the fever broke he bounced right back.

Talkin' Tuesday

Talking about Health Benefits today.

Now before my American friends and rellies, give me trouble here, I know we in Canada have it really good in regards to health care...in some respects. Health care for all right? And no monthly premiums! (Which I, by the way, think is bloody ridiculous that there are no premiums. No wonder everything is at a deficit! Anyway....) As you all know, this just covers "regular" health care, like doctors visits, and staying in the hospital. That's about it. Prescriptions, alternative health such as physio, naturopath, chiropractic, ambulance trips, dental and vision care are all at an added cost to the individual/family.

We are in the market for a new extended health and dental supplier because my favorite husband recently changed employment positions. So, Beny shopping it is.

Mark that up as frustrating too. Benefits and their suppliers are not new to me as in a previous life, BC (before children), my career was in HR which include benefit management. I know the game. The game keeps changing and getting more ridiculous.

The most frustrating one I heard today is that a supplier that we just left their group plan in the great west out here, and wanted to sign up on an individual basis does NOT cover Pre-Existing Conditions.

Uh...Pre-Existing...like TSC 's requirement of anti-seizure meds.

Gaargh!

What.

Is.

The.

Point.

So, our 3 yr old is being penalized because he was born with a condition.

Well, La -T - Fricken - Da!

Good lord, imagine if we were traditional medicating for W. We know those wouldn't be covered on an individual plan, but as a group/employer, no problem.

This just burns me! I get it. From the insurance providers standpoint. It's all business. All about money.

I also found one provider that only insures up to $1500 per yr in meds. That's their "premiere" plan. What a joke! We spend that in two months.

And I won't even start about the lack of coverage for alternative health. That's a whole other post.

A little Talkin' Tuesday rant. Hopefully tomorrow, I'll have more answers, and a prosperous provider who will accept a little 3 yr old that has no choice but to take nasty anti-seizure meds twice a day.

Knitting Invitation

Need a new hobby for 2011?
Or to hone lost skills?

Join my friend, master knitter, Karen at McKenzie Towne Hall on Wed evenings. She is instructing a knitting class that will set your sticks on fire!

Any level of knitter is welcome and will be successful. There promises to be lots of laughing and yarn about.

For more information go here.

Meals on Monday

Meal Planning.

Planning in general. I am not good at planning. I am a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal and it gets me into trouble and stressed all the time. Stressed because I'm often behind...only minutes to get us out the door, strongly encouraging the kids to hurry, wishing I was wearing my whistle and wondering what the heck I'm going to feed us. Can you relate?

Last year...for a few months...I had set a very easy meal plan into place to streamline the dinner process. Do you ever find yourself at 4pm wondering what you are going to make for dinner? I certainly do and hate every minute of that. So, our meal plan was:

Mashed Monday - "mashed meat balls", mashed potatoes, veggie side and salad.

Taco Tuesday

What is It Wednesday - left overs

Thursday - hmmm....this was always a bit of Russian Roulette

Fish Fridays - homemade oven fried fish (usually cod) and oven fries

This year will very similar although there are a few tweaks.

Mashed Monday

Taco Tuesday - vegetarian style using the 7 Secrets Cookbook

Wednesday - Beef & Walnut Stirfry from Tosca Reno's Clean Eating

Thursday - Sweet Potato Patties - Clean Eating again

Fish Friday - Fish & Chips again

Clean eating, GFCF, dye free, preservative free, sugar free and aspartame free. What's left? Lotsa good stuff. Just takes effort....PLANNING. (Ugh.) You can do it!

Also, alternating a vegetarian days as well. Which is easy for me however I am always looking for additional protein options for W. Any ideas?

Lunches...Breakfasts....there's gotta be some muffins in our future, maybe a strata and a crockpot meal that will be utilized for lunches. Chili...mmmmm.. Streamline. Hearty. Tasty.

Do you meal plan? Do you have easy favorites that you serve weekly? Is there a cookbook or website that is a standby for you?

New Year 2011

A New Year.

A new blog.

Sort of. You'll find rwb is much the same style, content and thoughts as 3isperfect. However, I wanted to change the address for several reasons. So, here it is: rwbandme! Makes sense anyway, considering that's who we are.

A New Year. What does this mean to you? Change? Fresh start? Exhaustion after the holidays? Vowing to never do THAT again? Resolutions?

New Year's Day is one of my all time favorite days as it begins with a special breakfast shared with my New Year's Baby of a Sister. She is not my baby sister, but my 9.5 yrs older sister who happens to be a New Year's Baby of years gone by. It is our tradition to have a birthday breakfast date and we have started each calendar year this way for years and years. Ideally it is just the two of us and we are consuming gluttonous amounts of food, sprinkled with conversation and laughter. Some years this included a child or two in a bucket car seat or high chair. Thankfully, we can be completely selfish and go on our own. This year was no different and we gorged on delicious seafood and salad and sweets at a local hotel. Yes this is breakfast! However, we chatted and lost track of time only to find it was 2pm when we finally left our table. We even saw a staff shift change! Which is nothing compared to the years when we have been asked to leave...kindly...because there was a line up and our table was required for other hungry patrons. I kid you not. On more than one occasion in fact.

Resolutions. Yay or nay?

Nay for moi.

Plans...yes. Resolutions...no.

And weight loss is not one of them! Not that it isn't on my radar, but it always is a fleeting thought so why make it a resolution per say.

My plans include getting organized. I am so frustrated with not being able to find things, the house being a disaster zone, and too much stuff. I started decluttering by "Kijijiing" in Dec as well as delivering items to Good Will and every time I do laundry (which is not often enough) I pull things from my closet to give away.

Projects....there are many projects in my mind that I would like to complete. Such as this. And knitting. And a Visual Schedule of our household. And writing. And Photography.

Photography...a priority to be made. Even if it means taking a day to go on a photo walk. Now HOW I'm going to make this happen with R & W about? Not sure...but it's a worth a try right?

Honesty and Advocacy....always on the forefront with the family that I have been blessed with. It's bound to stay a priority for years to come. So be prepared to read posts in this area.

So, this is the beginning of my plans.

Hopefully you'll see some interesting changes to this blog in the weeks to come. Certain topics on particular days. Better photos. Continuity. Humor. This blog is personal to me. Private? It's a BLOG, yes, but that doesn't negate the personal nature, private thoughts at times. It's an outlet. And hopefully, for you it's informative and entertaining. As always, I welcome your comments and look forward to them. Keep them coming!

Here we go 2011. Bring it on!

Loving Today....

Today I am loving...

....listening to the boys playing house. " I'll be the dad. What's wrong Son? Cheer up Son? Do you know what that means? It means get happy." W the dad.

....walking with the boys from school in the balmy 0 degrees. Ahhh...this is what winter is all about!

...computing in the dark while the boys play happily downstairs.

...a laugh from the boys while saying a tearful goodbye to my favorite husband. We were saying our good byes I looked behind me to see the kitchen island wrapped in yarn which was still attached to a cowl I am knitting. "Who did it?" W - R! and R says, "Nope! Not me!" It was the little denial artist.

...W telling his daddy that he will write a special letter to Santa to bring Daddy something good since he's going to work

...W telling me I can sleep in his bed by myself to help me feel better.

It's an emotional, heartsy, happy Monday. How was your day?

Time Lapse

Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted. Life is just getting in the way I guess. So prepare yourself....this just may be a long, rambling post....or not.

But give me just a minute. I need to tuck my kiddos in for their afternoon nap and then rant as to how much I hate 5 o'clock mornings and the behaviors it brings.

What's going on with RWB?

Kiddos....

- W: loving kinder. Reading a little!!! Keeping me stumped in regards to sleep, hyerpactivity, Red Anger, etc.

- R: funny little man, monkey see monkey do in regards to mimicking his big brother; challenging us in regards to meds as he refuses to take them and can be so completely stubborn, hoping to get a new workup with Neuro soon. We're hating Keppra as I'm sure it's the Keppra that contributes to his stubbornness and completely inconsolable melt downs. We shall see....

B & Me:

- getting ready for Christmas and changes. B is changing jobs which will mean a different kind of work schedule.

-Christmas....is amazing to experience through the eyes of our 5yr old. W fully believes and is incredibly sweet and inspiring to watch. Want to dazzle your little one's? Get Santa to send them a message! Bup just tells us, "I don't like Santa." Which goes along with...."I don't like God."

W wanted to pray in front of the Christmas tree so the three of us knelt in front of the tree and each said a little prayer. W's was about taking care of Santa and Rudolph. Mine was about taking care of the boys. R's turn...he turned to me, half climbed on my knee with his little folded praying hands and said,

"I don't like God Mommy."

And I...will leave you with that!:)