Charleston

Brad's cousin Neal got married Saturday  September 27th in Charleston, South Carolina.  We had been planning to attend the wedding since he first told us about it last year, and were so excited about it!  

We did Korban's infusion on a Thursday instead of a Friday like we usually do, to allow plenty of travel time. He did really well with it. They called the vein specialist as soon as we got there and she got the IV started on the first try, so we were thankful for that. They don't have private rooms open on Thursdays, so he had to stay in the big room with the other patients and he got stressed about hearing and seeing other patients get their IV, and did a lot of skin-picking and hair pulling but he got settled down and did great overall. He actually finished quicker than he ever has, which surprised us.

So we ate lunch at the Ronald McDonald House and then quickly loaded up out stuff so that we could start the next leg of our journey. 

The Atlanta Braves were playing their last home game Thursday night, and we were able to stop by and see them play. That was really cool, since Korban has been asking to go back ever since we saw them play earlier in the summer. 

(He couldn't be bothered to look away from the game long enough to make a picture. Little man is serious about sports!) 

From there, we drove on to Augusta, GA and stayed the night at a hotel there. There was a little mix-up and we wound up in a room with one full size bed instead of two. So Brad slept across the foot of the bed and I slept next to this pile of cuteness: 

Space was tight, but we were glad to get some rest. We got up and headed on to Charleston first thing Friday morning. 

We met up with Brad's mom, grandmother, and Uncle Tim at the condo we would be sharing with them. 

It was so beautiful!  The master bedroom had a walk-in closet and Selah immediately announced that it was her room. 

No, she did not sleep in there, although she really did want to. 

My favorite part was the big screened-in porch!  

I sure do love a rocking chair!  This is where I rocked Selah to sleep both nights that we stayed there. So beautiful and peaceful!  

Here's the kids with Mammaw Bradley (Brad's maternal grandmother). 

Here we are headed to the rehearsal dinner. I love it when they hold hands!  

Selah says she "lubs" Neal. 

Me and Brad. :)

Selah wanted in on the action! 

Korban had a plate of BBQ meat and slaw, and gave zero cares that we were taking pictures without him. I realized after taking this picture that he looks like he has a giant bottle of beer growing out of his forehead, but he really doesn't. ;)

My pretty girl back at the condo. I know she's wearing white after Labor Day, but I love that dress on her and couldn't resist. 

We got up ready to roll on Saturday. We had discussed it ahead of time and decided not to risk taking the kids to the wedding. They would've enjoyed it but we weren't sure how they would do, especially Korban. He and I actually had to duck out of the rehearsal dinner early because he was getting tired and LOUD.

So we decided that we would hit the beach first thing in the morning, I would take Brad back to the condo so that he could get ready and go to the wedding with his family, the kids and I would head back to the beach for some more playtime, and then we would all go to reception that evening. 

Here's Brad and Selah headed down to the beach. 

Korban chatting with Uncle Tim

The foam was so thick!  I had never seen anything like that before. You can see  Selah's footprints in it. The water was pretty chilly and the waves were rough, but it was beautiful and we sure enjoyed it. 

Korban was VERY happy to see the ocean again.  

Can you tell? 

Selah made sand angels, which I didn't know was possible. 

But it is! 

There was a crack attack at the beach. ;)

He loves the water! 

And it makes him peaceful. :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Selah. 

She loved playing chase with the waves. 

And here's my handsome hubby all ready for the wedding. I hated I missed the actual ceremony but Brad made pictures for me and told me about it. So beautiful!

After the beach we went to the condo to relax for awhile and then get ready to go to the reception. 

Here's Korban chillin' with Mammaw while she crochets. 

The reception was at a beach house and was very nice. The kids really enjoyed it but I had one serious moment of panic. Korban was WAY excited about the wedding cake. He thought it was a birthday party and wanted to sing happy birthday. Right when the bride and groom were making pictures with the cake prior to cutting it, Korban broke away from me, darted right up to the cake (between the bride and groom) and leaned forward to smell of it. He seriously got so close to it. Honestly, if he had face-planted into their wedding cake I think I would have ran out into the Atlantic Ocean and not looked back. 

Anxious, mortified, and almost hyperventilating, I hauled Korban off and instructed him to sit down beside his daddy. Brad and Selah were sitting on a loveseat talking to his cousin and her baby girl. Eager to mind me now, Korban dashed off to wiggle his way in the midst of them and very nearly sat on our baby cousin. My *almost* hyperventilation kicked it up a notch, but all was well. 

Korban calmed down and before long everyone headed outside to the dance floor. Korban did manage to fall down the stairs during the first dance and scared a few people but I braced myself like a linebacker and caught him before he went very far. Also, thankful Brad talked me out of wearing heels or I would've been tumbling down with him. Probably there's a reason linebackers don't wear heels...

We really enjoyed the rest of the reception and had no more disasters or near misses. But after reading that, who wants to invite us to their next event?  ;)

This is the beach house where the reception was held at. Isn't it gorgeous?  Brad made this picture after we had walked on the beach for awhile and were rejoining the party. They even had a little fire for s'mores!  So cool. 

We headed back to Mississippi Sunday morning, but we went back to the beach for a little more playtime before being stuck in the van all day. 

She looks like she's surfing. I wonder how much time we have before she starts asking us for a surfboard!  

The sand was amazing--almost black in color. Very unusual. 

Mammaw likes picking up shells about as well as I do. Which is to say A LOT!  ;)

See, I have one here. Shelling is great in Charleston!  

Content kiddo...

It was hard to tell Charleston good-bye!  Korban asked if we were heading to Florida as we were leaving. I do think that boy loves the beach. So thankful we got to go and we wish Carly and Neal a lifetime of joy!  

August Infusion

Korban's infusion for this month was Friday. It took three tries to get the IV started but it wasn't as traumatic as last month. He was super nervous about it though. He had obsessed over it all week, and got up crying and throwing up Friday morning. 

But it didn't take as long to get it going as last month and the nurse and the vein specialist talked to me about ways to make it easier in the future. There is a numbing cream they can put on his hands and we are also going to talk to his dr about increasing the Ativan dosage. She prescribed it at the beginning of this year to help his anxiety regarding infusion but it didn't seem to help any so we only used it before a couple of infusions and then gave up. Maybe we will find something that will ease him. 

You can see from the picture that he wasn't terribly upset, at least at this point.  I thought it was so sweet that Selah got up in the bed behind him and rubbed his head and tried to comfort him. She also let him hold her favorite stuffed frog. He asked if the frog could "get a poke" and one of the nurses went through the whole process with the frog. It was very sweet and cute and I really do feel like it helped. 

They also did some blood work for us.  I hadn't mentioned it on here yet but we've had another issue come up with him. A couple of weeks ago he wasn't feeling well so I took him to the dr. I thought he had a cold or sinus infection because he had been run down and sneezing a lot. 

His FNP did a CBC to see if it looked like a virus or an infection, and also told me she would check his blood sugar since he had gained some weight. He weighs 86 lbs y'all!  :(

So he did fine with the little finger stick, but in a few minutes the nurse came back in looking slightly worried and carrying some crackers and a drink. His blood sugar was only 56. And this was after eating two bananas and a carton of yogurt for breakfast and a plate full of chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce on the way to the dr's office. She said she was so surprised she ran the blood again just to make sure. 

So I tried to get him to eat a little of his snack (he wouldn't) and wondered what all that meant. His dr ordered some tests to be done when he went for his infusion. We also got a meter so that we can check his blood sugar at home. It hasn't been that low again, and it hasn't really been high either. It was a struggle to check it on him at first but it's better now. He's getting used to it and it's tiny stick anyway so he's pretty okay with it. 

So anyway, we weren't able to do the glucose tolerance test we were supposed to because he was so nervous and throwing up. That's the test where you have to drink that sweet drink, and there was just no way. They were able to pull some bloodwork from his IV line and we got those results before we left. 

His glucose level and A1C are fine. His insulin levels are high. Normal for his age is 6-13 I think and his was 19.96. Not good. Basically his body is having to produce too much insulin to keep his sugar in check. (Insulin resistance.) So he will be seeing his pediatric endocrinologist next month when she comes back from maternity leave to see how we need to proceed and if he will need medicine. We will definitely have to make dietary changes, and although they will benefit all of us in the long run, it sure won't be easy. 

We would appreciate your prayers so much. I'm feeling some mommy guilt for not keeping him on a healthier diet anyway (although please know I am trying or we would be in a much worse shape than we are currently in.) He basically went from eating only a couple of foods and me worrying that he was starving to him eating obsessively and begging for food all the time. I mean, he will fight for food. 

But I've also heard that having your blood sugar out of whack can cause some serious irritability and food cravings so I'm hoping that once we get this under control he will feel better the whole way around. (The day his blood sugar was 56 I had been hit and clawed so bad before we left the house my arms were bleeding. So I'm at least relieved we know there is a problem so that we can get to work on it.)

I don't want to close this out on a sad note, so I'm going to leave you with some pictures from Korban's favorite post-infusion treat, the McWane Science Center. School is back in session so it wasn't crowded and Korban's behavior was much much better than last month when we were there. 

(I had climbed up in the mushroom and she was peeping through the hole at me.)

Sitting on top of a clear dome with me sitting underneath it. 

I asked her whether she was cooking or doing a science experiment and she said a science experiment. I said "well, what are you learning?" and she responded "I'm just playing Mom!  Don't you know what that is?" Ha!  

She can be sweet though. There was a little boy younger than her who was playing beside her. He pointed at the cup she had and said "Cup!" and reached for it. His grandmother told him that someone else was playing with it and I started looking for another cup to give him but Selah just gave him hers. He appreciated it so much he shared a toy with her too. Very sweet. 

This was a xylophone puzzle that made music. So cute. 

This is a magnetic maze toy. I need to find one for him because he really enjoyed this one!  

She told me she wants me to take her rock climbing. :)

This spun colored sand particles around and it was really cool. 

Both kids loved it. 

He loves to build. 

This is a game in which you see if you can pedal fast enough to get away from a T-Rex. Notice Korban looks worried. ;)

Thankful we had a chance to relax and have fun after his infusion. Please keep us in your prayers. :)