Help Us Bring Hannah Home!

Would you consider helping us on our journey to bring Hannah home?  We are excited to partner with Adoption Bug for a fundraiser to help us with our adoption expenses!

How can you help?

Visit our Adoption Bug site by clicking here or by clicking on the banner on the left.

When you purchase a t-shirt, a portion of the proceeds goes directly to us for our adoption!  If you purchase a "Show Hope" t-shirt, a small commission also goes to an orphan-care ministry called Show Hope (formerly Shaohannah's Hope, founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth).

Thank you for partnering with us to bring our little sweetie home!

Figuring Him Out

This little guy has had us stumped.  For years, we have been trying to figure out what is going on with him.  We went to the pediatrician, dermatologist, allergist...they couldn't figure it out.  We tried medication after medication, but still nothing helped.  The boy was itchy.  Nothing we did stopped it, and he frequently had hives, splotchy skin, and would scream that he couldn't stop itching.  We have spent night after night trying whatever we could think of to get him back to sleep.  Just one week ago, we were up for three straight hours with a child who was crying and frustrated and itchy.

I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Seriously, it has been a real challenge for us.  I felt last week that I was at the end of my rope.  We were one day away from making our dog live outside because we just didn't know what else to do.  I felt desperate to find an answer, but was losing hope that we would actually be able to find one.

And then, just like that, everything changed.

I have never had such a desperate prayer answered so fully at exactly the moment I needed it.  I mean, I felt like I just could not go on like this anymore.  And then, BAM, the answer!  In talking with my Mom, we started to wonder about the heat.  It had been a hot few days here and Matthew had been particularly bad.  What if we slept in the basement where it's cooler?

This got me to thinking - what if heat was involved?  I googled "Heat and Hives" and suddenly, there was my answer!  Cholinergic Urticaria.  Ever heard of it?  Yeah, me either!

Basically this is a type of chronic hives that is triggered by heat.  It is characterized by a hypersensitive response in the skin as a result of the body increasing in temperature.  The more I read, the more wide-eyed I got - they were describing Matthew exactly!  It is a physical reaction and from what I've read about it, it is an itching/stinging/burning sensation that is just awful :(  This makes me so sad - our little guy has been dealing with this for almost two years.

We have always noticed that when we are outside, we come in and he's itchy.  His face gets red and splotchy.  When he's sick (and his body temperature is higher) he is itchy.  When the wet pajamas would dry, he would get hot...and itchy. Even when he just gets upset or angry (which elevates your body temperature) he immediately starts itching!

I was blown away by realizing this.  It has literally transformed our lives!  We know what to do now when he starts to itch (cool him down) and it has made such a difference.  We are careful about when we go outside, we pay attention to his mood and what's going on with him, and we try to catch it as soon as it starts.  Often, I will make him lay down and I'll cover him with a wet towel for a few minutes and that is enough to stop a reaction. Crazy. At night he sleeps in really light clothing, a sheet, and a fan on him.  He has been waking up so much less, and when he does wake up we are able to get the itching stopped and get us all back to sleep much more quickly!  What a blessing!  We also switched his antihistimine and this seems to be helping a lot.

I have noticed a big change in our little boy this week.  He is happier, laughing more, well-rested, going to bed without any fuss...it is so wonderful!  I have so much more compassion for people with chronic conditions - they wear on you so much and make you feel like giving up.  I am thanking God so much this week (and my Mom!) for bringing us an answer, and some relief at last.  I don't even care that this totally changes our lives, that we can't do things like go to the beach or camping right now, because if Matthew is well, it is so so so worth it!

Living Room Redo

We've had a busy few months around here as we've been working to try to get Matthew healthy by making some big changes.  We started out with this back in January:

We made the big mistake when Daisy was a puppy of letting her up on the couch (cause she was so little and cute!).  Well, she grew and grew into a much larger, very hairy doggy!  

We started wondering a few months ago if Matthew was allergic to dogs.  We kept talking about taking up the carpet but it seemed like such a big (and expensive) thing to try when we weren't sure if it would work.

While we were debating about what to do, my parents came and graciously helped us repaint the living room!  I love the new color...after 7 years I was ready for a change!

When Matthew's itching got completely out of control a few weeks ago, we decided it was time to take the plunge.  We pulled up the carpet, and decided to get rid of the couch too since it had lots of dog hair on it that I couldn't get off no matter how many times I vacuumed it.

A few days later, we were at the allergist and I was able to have Matthew tested - yep, allergic to dogs and cats.  It seemed we had made a good move!

The result was chaos, for a little while :)

But over the last week things have really started to come together!  Brad was able to put down laminate flooring in one day (with the help of several really great friends), we got a rug, and last Friday Brad and I went on a date to get a new couch!

We went to Ikea, hoping we would be able to fit the couch in our minivan...

When I saw the boxes, I was pretty skeptical.  Brad remained ever confident that we could make it work!

Thankfully, he was right!

Here is the new flooring - I love it!  It took me a little while to get used to it, but it is so much easier to keep clean and I think it looks great.  We did get a bigger area rug because we spend so much time on the floor, and we figure we can replace that once or twice a year so that the dog hair and dander don't build up.

Here is our new couch!  It's a lot like our old couch, obviously :)  We like what we like.  It is very comfortable, smaller than our other couch which is nice, and most importantly Daisy is NOT allowed anywhere near it!  I love the ottoman, I think that's my favorite thing.

Look who else loves the new couch...

Now in case you are feeling really bad for Daisy, here is a picture of her cozy little dog bed!  She loves it and spends a lot of time curled up in the corner. 

We are not planning on getting rid of Daisy at this time, hopefully these changes will be enough.  Matthew has been sick a lot so it's been hard to tell if it's making a difference (he is itchy when he's sick) but the last couple of days as he's been pretty healthy we have noticed he is significantly less itchy.  Last night he slept in shorts and a t-shirt...I can't even tell you how huge that is!  It is a rare thing for him to not have to be in wet pajamas, and even if he is in regular pajamas they have to cover him head to toe or he itches.  Except last night...he didn't!  And tonight....he didn't!  So I guess we'll see, but I think our prayers may have been answered!

So Blessed To Be Their Mama

Let's Just Start With Today

Hello, Blog!  It's been a while.  Sometimes it seems like the days are so filled from the moment I wake up until I fall into bed and I forget to do things like take pictures or blog or sit down :)  The last few weeks have been so filled with sickness and bedtime woes that I haven't wanted to post for fear that I'd just say things like "WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS SICK?" and "WHY WON'T THEY SLEEP?".  But we seem to have survived the most recent bout of illness, and bedtime is going okay again, so I'm back!

I always feel a little overwhelmed when I haven't posted for a while, not knowing where to start.  So I thought I'd just start with today!  We had a wonderful day from start to finish (well, minus the mega tantrum Matthew had at the toy store...let's just block that one from our memory, shall we?).  We started the day by putting together our new couch (pictures coming soon), spent the morning with my Mom and Dad at their cottage, then had lots of fun at a birthday party for our niece, Allie.  See all the fun we had?

I mean, there was cake...

Matthew got to meet the neighbor's horse, which he just loved...

There was lots of outdoor fun...

And bubble blowing, complete with the best bubble lips ever...

Matthew found he loves baseball (and he's actually able to hit the ball!)...

I was a little afraid going into it - the boys nap every single day without fail, but today was so full we didn't have time!  I thought for sure that we'd see at least one meltdown, but we made it through the whole party with only smiles and happy boys.  What a great end to the day!