Struggling

I don't talk much about how much of a fight we have been through to get to where we are today with Wyatt. A friend posted a song on her Facebook and it drove me to really write this and finally put this into words. Constantly not knowing what is going on with Wyatt is hard, I don't mean algebra hard, I mean I have this constant fear that we will loose him. In December of 2010 we almost did due to malnutrition and dehydration and I will NEVER forget that. I will never forget seeing my son laying in my husbands arms not even able to hold his head up.




And as I sit here remembering those days, I am reminded that he is here and happy (mostly). He is a fighter, he fights every day to make his way through the world and he does it with this amazing determination. He is amazing!

The reason this is sort of coming to a head tonight is we received some news and though I suspected both pieces of the news it still was not easy to handle at all. Wyatt was diagnosed Autistic on Thursday. In a way I am glad we got the diagnosis because he will continue to receive services he needs to keep him developing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and the 2 most amazing things we have Early Headstart and his DSI. But at the same time I fear the social stigma this places on him. He will have the word "autistic" hanging over him the rest of his life! I worry what that means for him in school, wonder if he's going to go to college, get a job, move out... Just live a normal life. The alternative would be fine as well, I don't mind it but I worry about the quality of his life and it sits heavy.

The other reason is Finley my 6 month old is now following Wyatt's growth curve and has been diagnosed failure to thrive, the ped has requested genetic testing to be done. Now I am not too concerned as we have a lot more options with Finley then we did with Wyatt. I am able to add rice cereal, and olive oil to his foods to help get him gaining and he seems to be doing well with it! But again I worry, will he follow his brother completely or will us having gone through this once already make it easier for us to navigate him through this bumpy road and avoid what happened to Wyatt? Just some thing rattling in my head, all thanks to a song.

We are hanging in there, we are strong, my boys are determined!

Roo is doing amazing in School! She loves it her teachers love her, she is making friends and her behavior is better, albeit she is having sleeping issues again but we are working on adjusting her sleep schedule. She is learning to write her name already at 4, and is just so smart it's hard to keep up with her most days! I cannot wait to see her grow into her energy a bit more and it turn more from being destructive to creative!

I will post pictures of Wyatt in his new swing soon, we are still trying to figure out the best way to put it up!

First Night Back

After almost a week in the hospital Wyatt is not comfortable home. Sleeping very light, panicking every time one of us leaves the room, irritable, and just all around overwhelmed. We have a busy day of catching up on appointments tomorrow and I am going to make it to the store to pick up more poly pellets to finish Wyatt's weighted blanket.

Had one of those moments where everything just seemed so perfect this evening. Was laying in bed with the baby cuddle up to me, my husband next to me, Riley in bed asleep, and Wyatt in his bed asleep; And I realized this is the first time we have all been asleep in the same place in a few weeks. It was an amazing feeling of warmth. It made this entire week of stress, worry, and doubt just disappear. Then Wyatt woke in a panic, but for a few amazing moments everything was perfect.

I do think he is finally settled for the night, so that at least is a relief. Now I am working on getting my brain to unwind. His auction ends at midnight tonight and we are shy about a dozen raffle tickets to get something from that. So please check it out, share it with your friends and family, bid, donate, whatever you would like to do or feel comfortable doing! Wyatt's Auction!

Wyatt's Auction

Wyatt is in the hospital again, seems like each time is more serious than the last. He hasn't tolerated his formula in over a week. They decided today to switch him from Neocate Jr to Elecare Jr. and started him at half strength. He began having issues with it at about 8pm they stopped it called the doc. He said to let Wyatt rest for an hour, decrease the rate and see how he does. He seems to be handling 25ml an hour way better than 50 but it's not enough to sustain him. Hoping to see GI in the morning.

This Auction started out as just a way to get help with meals and gas while we were here from some local friends, wahms, and a few Vendor friends. It EXPLODED! I mean literally! People have been donating services, items, products, offering anything and everything they can! We have photographers, Bakers, tutus, WAHM products, Cloth Diapers, and now to top off the list Scentsy and a Thirty-One Raffle!!!

Right now I feel so much love is out there for my little boy and its an amazing thing! I just wanted to thank EVERYONE who is helping even if all you do is share the auction or add your friends.

You can find the Auction here

Sewing, sewing, and a broken toe!

When we moved it appears I broke the 2nd joint of my pinky toe and dislodge a piece of the bone into the joint and it's been grinding in the joint since. So for the next 2 weeks I will be on crutches or in a boot, yay! (note the sarcasm).

I completed and sent out all my testers for the diapers, started playing with a few different new products and will be organizing tester's for those as well so keep your eye out. The diaper testers so far have been a bit of a let down! Most are not a true one size, which I had sort of anticipated. So we changed the diaper pattern. No big deal. Now I have has 3 diapers whose cotton has began to seperate, 2 from the same person. Going to try a new way of stitching them together to see if it was a fluke, hard washer, or if they really were just defective. The elastic has been holding up very well however as has the kamsnaps. The babyville snaps I was using prior have been having issues even though they are more expensive. We are ironing out the kinks and as soon as I get more feedback we will send out a second round of testers to make sure we have fixed the problems. Please let us know if you'd like to be on the list for the second round of trainers (it's a 15 dollar fee but you can completely design you diaper). E-mail me at mygoodnessmama@gmail.com and I will add you to the list.

Also going to be looking for grocery bag tube testers, mama cloth testers, and breast pad testers for a minimum fee (cost of supplies). Will also be dabbling at suck pads for carriers (such as ergo, boba, etc).

Updates all around!!!

So here is an update on the crazy goings on here lately. We moved, so now Wyatt has his own room and Riley is not causing havoc at my mom's house. Wyatt has been diagnosed with a microdeletion in his 15th chromosome. We wont know what all that means until we meet with genetics in November. We met with a dev ped who told us that Wyatt has sensory processing disorder and that while he doesn't believe Wyatt is autistic right now he is at risk. Riley appears to have not made it into headstart this year and is on a waiting list, AGAIN. Finley is growing like a weed and pretty much skipped the whole Rice cereal to stageone baby food, went right for the stage 2s and table food. Typical Singleton Boy!

That's pretty much how the past few weeks have been!

Busy week, forgot I had this thing!

Title says it all! It has been one of those weeks where it seems like anything and everything has happened!!! I have been on the computer when ever the kids are occupied or asleep, Making graphics for myGoodness Creations business page, putting together the jewelry, ordering much needed supplies, 2 trips to the craft store and a couple to wal-mart. Cleaning and organizing my sewing room, and I have been experimenting with making cloth diapers which is going pretty well. Then there is the home front, laundry, washing the diapers, dishes, meals, CUPS!!! I clean 50 million sippy cups a week I swear!!! Opened the etsy shop today as well so hoping that we get some more business soon.

On the cloth diaper topic, I think I may have a problem. Not only do I own a ton... I mean 50+ diapers now I am continuing to make them just the same! There is so many adorable fabrics out there and I have got to put them on my boys bums!! I went a little crazy buying some things for both the business and for my private use, I am expecting a large order of pul and suede cloth, a HUGE order of snaps, 12 more of one of my favorite diapers, more fabric, and a mini backpack for Wyatt that I am going to convert to a feeding backpack for him. This time I need to take pictures so I can do a tutorial on it.

Off to cut more diaper cuts!

One of those days...

You know those days where you are fairly certain you are going to lock yourself in the bathroom because the children have gone stark raving mad! Yup it has been one of those days! I should have known Wyatt's 4 hour nap was a sign of trouble, he is hitting, yelling, and running around like a lunatic. Riley did not nap at all and by 8 pm she has gotten in trouble more times than I can count on fingers and toes. Not only that but we have our half child tonight for a bit as well and he is being a mouthy little monster.

At least I did manage to get some work done today, ordered ore supplies and began networking! The husband will be home shortly and surprised me by letting me know he has tomorrow off! That means I don't have to get up at 530 in the morning to take him to work so I can have the car. 8 am speech therapy appointment followed dropping Riley off with her grandmother and a cloth diaper get together. Get to show off the new diaper I made and get some inputs on what I should change.

The good news of today I just may get to shower by myself tonight!!

Juggling!!!

I am Rachel, a stay at home mom, cloth diapering, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, fly by the seat of my pants most days mom to 3 very unique kids.

Riley is 4 and drives me nuts most days. She has adhd and insomnia and boy some days are better than others. She LOVES to color, and watch Dora the explorer. She enjoys her bedtime stories, and wrestling with her dad and brother. Cats are her favorite animal and she will proudly tell you her name is Riley and she is 4 while holding up 4 fingers. She is smarter than a whip and just as sly! She gets to start pre-k with headstart come August and is so excited!!!

Wyatt is 2 and has some unique needs so this will probably turn into a novel!
Wyatt was born at 36 weeks via c-section at 6lbs 4oz 19inches, I had mostly normal pregnancy just a bit of preterm labor. He was a great nursling and gained a lb and a half in the first two weeks he was home. At 4 weeks old he began to scream day and night and not sleep, he would throw himself around and arch his back. We tried an elimination diet, we tried reflux meds, we tried 2 different formulas before we finally found a solution. An amino acid based formula called neocate. Things settled down at this point until at 5 months old his GI had us start adding rice cereal into all his bottles for reflux. And the violent vomiting began... at 5 months old he was hospitalized because he refused to eat. They changed his med and sent us home. From there he began to not gain weight at all, he stopped growing was diagnosed Failure to thrive, and then began to loose weight. At 8 months old he weighed in at 13 pounds. His ped had enough he referred us to a new GI and sent us to the hospital to have a feeding tube placed. The NG tube was placed, it is a feeding tube that goes in through the nose down the throat and into the stomach. We had to learn to put this thing in ourselves in case he ripped it out or when it needed to be changed. At this point an allergist referral was also sent in. Wyatt had the ng tube for 3 weeks and gained almost a lb. We forced the GI to place the g-tube because of the stress and fear Wyatt was going through to place the ng tube 2-3 times a day. At 9 months old   on Jan 31st, 2011 Wyatt got his Tube and had a Nissen fundoplication done(for reflux), he weighed 14lbs. After seeing the allergist she diagnosed him with Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) it's a big fancy name for certain foods make him throw up violently and his body goes into shock. He was allergy tested by both prick and patch. Prick came back negative to anything, patch was a HUGE surprise! Milk, soy, eggs, oats, rye, barley, wheat, tomatoes, peas, and peanuts. We also knew he could not tolerate pears, peaches, apricots, rice, prunes, sweet potatoes, bananas, corn, and many many many more. Since then he has gone through a lot of different tests and procedures and has a few more diagnoses under his belt. He has shuddering syndrome (a benign form of seizure), he has a Heart murmur (also benign), he was diagnosed with a swallowing disorder pharyngeal dysphasia which has finally corrected itself, he has sensory processing disorder, delayed motility, GERD, he is immuno compromised, and low muscle tone in his legs. His neurologist is currently seeking chromosome testing and an MRI to rule on any issues with his DNA and mitochondrial Disease the neuro also suspects Wyatt is autistic although weather that has any merit yet is still to be decided. Wyatt still has his gtube and still uses it for 100% of his nutrition, he carries a backpack with a feeding pump inside it and is fed 22 hours a day at a very slow rate. He recieves DSI therapy, OT therapy, Feeding Therapy, and Speech therapy every week. He also has a head start teacher who comes to the home. But when it all boils down to it... Wyatt is Wyatt, he is this amazingly strong and determined little boy who tries his best to keep up with his sister and older cousin. Who always has a smile for anyone needing it, and loves to cuddle. He is a Daddy's boy all the way! They sit and play the Wii together or silly games on the iPad. He loves Thomas, Chugginton, and Disney's Cars and Cars 2. He is this amazing little person and everyone who meets him falls in love immediately.

And then there is Finley, he is my little leech. At 4 months old he is just beginning to discover the world. He has figured out how to grab things, that his finger are more amazing than a binky and that pulling hair ensures loud noises from the owner of the hair. He is trying so hard to sit up, and flops around like a fish on his belly. He loves to smile and has the CUTEST little squeal!!! He loves sitting in the Ergo Carrier while I sew or craft or just hang out with the other kids. He is a major flirt and loves the ladies!

My house is pretty hectic most days, and its very rare that I am not doing something. But it's a blast being the mom to these kids and learning right along with them.