A little catch-up

 I finally took the time to upload my pictures from my camera. So here's a little more of what we've been up to the last month...

Cosette got her ears pierced last month! She had been begging to get them pierced for a while so we looked into it and found out it is crazy EXPENSIVE to get your ears pierced nowadays so we compromised and she paid for a third of it and is very happy with her pretty ears. She was so brave when they did it, didn't even cry or fuss at all.

 Aunt Michelle and Nya came to see us and bring us the kids new school clothes from grandma Westerson and the kids LOVED having Nya here. We did, however, realize that we have absolutely zero baby toys so we're going to have to fix that soon.

 Isaac lost his third tooth! And he's got two more that are loose right now. I took this picture to show his gappy smile but also to show just how worn down his front teeth are from his underbite. Had to get this picture before he lost those teeth. :)

 We've been watching American Ninja Warrior as a family and we love it, the kids especially, they are constantly climbing the walls and trying to do new 'stunts.'

I love this picture of Debbie because it looks like she's floating in the air. I can't believe how strong her arms are, she can hold herself like that for a while.

I realized that although we've been living close to my sister for 5 years now and the kids play with their cousins all the time I don't have many picture of our kids all together so I attempted to do that today. They didn't want to cooperate, they were too busy playing. I'll try again soon.

 Christopher and Cosette cooperated for one picture at least!

And now for more about Cosette...

We went into the doctor today for a follow-up appointment and I was expecting a simple 'everything looks good you're doing a good job well done' kind of visit. And while it didn't go terribly, I certainly didn't get a 'well done.' She's still bloating a lot and is still really constipated and I thought we had been staying on top of that but apparently we weren't because he took another x-ray today and she's pretty backed up. So now we get to do a clean-out once a week for the next two months. And she's going in for another scope in October because he's still not certain that she's got Celiac Disease because all of her blood tests came back negative and the only reason they gave her that diagnosis was because she has the gene and her biopsy came back positive for Celiac. But he said that a milk protein intolerance can produce the same biopsy result so that's why he's doing another scope. If her biopsy comes back clean or even looking better after 5 months on gluten free then we'll know that we've got the right diagnosis. But if it looks the same then we know that we need to take her off all milk protein to see if that fixes the problem. I'm just worried that it's going to be both and that her diet is going to be even more restricted than it already is. It's lame, I tell you. Lame. Lame. Lame.

But, on a more positive note, I am very grateful that we're getting her the help she needs now so she's not suffering needlessly. And I'm grateful that she's feeling better. And I'm grateful that the doctor seems to care, that's nice. So overall we're still very very blessed and I know that and try hard to remember it (especially on those days when I'm feeling sorry for myself for not being able to eat pizza and donuts, because I sure have plenty of 'feeling sorry for myself' days).

Also, another thing I'm grateful for is...

SCHOOL IS STARTING IN NINE DAYS!!!!

I love my children, I really, really, really do. However, I also love having them go to school and giving my heart the opportunity to "grow fonder" for them. My heart has missed that opportunity a little over the summer.