seems like...

we have croup here.

eli is getting over this buggy bug and has passed the torch to ida.

ida and i spent about a 1/2 hour at 2:00 AM sitting on the bench outside of mom and dads place last night. it was dark and amazingly quiet. the moonlight was outlining the trees in the yard. there was a soft layer of snow on everything. it was kind of a nice experience that was dotted with little sealy barks from ida. i am sure the wildlife was wondering what the heck that noise was.

i got phone call today that chalked up another mini-miraculous-happening since we decided to stay here in calgary. the things that have happened are small in nature, but have made the smoothest transition for us back into the action here. after miraculously finding our house 2 weeks ago, we finalized the mortgage yesterday. our mortgage banker drove out to my parents house and sat downstairs with us looking at our options. he gave us a line of credit with a interest rate of 2.75%. 2.75%. with that little set up we will be saving over $1000 a month. do you know how rad that is?

i emailed eli's school teacher a couple of days ago to let her know that our plans had changed and what we were up to. she indicated that she would have to consult with the principal to see if it was o.k. if eli continued at the school since we would be out of the zoned area. i cringed when i saw that email as i was really worried they would not let him stay. within minutes i got a message back saying that it was perfectly fine he stayed for the rest of the year AND technically he would be able to stay another year through to grade 3. WHAT?! my eyes filled with tears. i was so thankful to hear that. i knew that there would be a brand new school available to him next year by our new home, but i worried about changing him and wanted to keep things familiar for him. wow. that little piece of news was so comforting.

yesterday i was calling around setting up services for the new house. i basically ended up calling all our old accounts to see if we could reactivate them. i was worried about set-up fees and hassle. all i got was "no problem! you are eligible for up-grades! oh, look here we can give you this promotional rate for the next 12 months..." thank you shaw, enmax, rogers.... you are making my life very cheap and very easy.

this morning eli's pediatrician's office called. he had not seen her for a year and a half {which is a good thing} and they were wanting another referral from our family doctor for him to come back to see her. {typically we all see our family doctor and if you have a child needing special care you are referred to a pediatrician}. in the interim, the office staff had shot a note off to dr. macpherson to see if she would take him back under the circumstances. the gal on the phone this morning let me know that she would indeed would see him and they would also take ida on as well. really?! really?!? really!!

like i said, these are all small things but they have stunned me as they have happened. it is like i have been able to re-set up my life and everything is super streamlined and things are all in order. such a good feeling.

on a completely different note, i have been sewing like crazy the last couple of weeks. i finished c.j.'s quilt - it just needs to be quilted now. i sewed a quilt top for ida out of great heather ross fabrics. i cut out a queen sized quilt out of heather bailey fabric that i think is going to be super fly and i am almost done my infamous-1-year-in-the-making christmas quilt top. dad brought home the last of the fabric i needed from california on saturday. i better get on that today.

git r' dun.

ida's GI update

a good start to the week.

today we had an appointment with GI clinic at the children's hospital. we have a really great doctor/dietician team and our visit was very productive. i thought i was going to have to go on a crusade to have them help me with our food trials, thinking i would have to hang out in the ER every time i did one. no, no, no. i was certainly greatly misinformed by our 100 year old grumpy crusty allergist. our GI doctor indicated that they are going to set up a weekly visit to a day treatment clinic in the hospital. we will go every tuesday, have ida worked up with a IV and test a food in very small doses. hooray! what a relief i won't be doing this on my own.

the first food we are going to try is carrots. if it works {which we believe carrots will} she may turn into a big orange girl. kind of like that girl from willy wonka... violet beauregarde, except she turned purple.... so get ready for pictures of ida with a slight orange tinge to her complexion, especially her nose. yee-haw!

this i believe...

for the weekend, i am giving you a gift.

on the bob edwards show on NPR he features personal essays that were written in the 1950's. they were written by remarkable men and women and every one i have heard is so uplifting, wholesome and insightful. the people that wrote these essays are folks that are hard to come by nowadays.

take the time this weekend and listen to a few, they are maybe 5-10 minutes long. your time will be well invested.

now! go take a listen!

overhaulin'

super quick.

i am in the process of overhauling my address book/contacts. if you reading this, we are friends, so could you please pop me a note with all of your current information {ie: address, email, phone #'s}. i have synced a couple of things between my phone and laptop and desktop and now i am realizing that new information has been swapped with old information and it is making me MENTAL.

you can leave it here OR email me @: jessica@cjburton.com

thanks a million, you will probably receive a christmas card for your efforts!

just another old post....

mmmmmmhuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. {that is a big long drawn out exhale through my nose...}

a lot of random things have been floating through my mind this week.

c.j. was supposed to come home tomorrow. he has been in l.a. since sunday shooting a southern california edison job. whenever c.j. leaves, eli is very sad. he is typically fine during the day, but as night falls, he begins talking about dad, telling me how many more days it will be until he gets home, mentioning it in our family prayer, bawling, then rambling about it until he is asleep and i have told him a dozen times to "quit talking and get to sleep!". tonight c.j. called and said he had an opportunity to see U2 in vegas on friday night... i guess... what is another couple days right? needless to say this news brought eli to his knees with weeping and gnashing of teeth. his theory was that c.j. wasn't coming home on thursday night because he didn't want to see HIM and wanted to see U2 even more. we got it figured out and soon he was fine with the new plans. i just need to keep him preoccupied or it is going to be a long, sad "3 more days".

i had a really great day at the mall today. usually a walk around the mall is uneventful and drab. today i ran into a old friend from high school, was complimented on my unbrushed hair by a store clerk, bought a couple kids from my ward lunch, ran into a old YW leader, and generally had a smile on my face the entire time because of all the greatness that was happening around me. not to mention how cute ida was and how many "what a beautiful little boy!" comments that were thrown our way {i just couldn't correct them, it would have ruined the moment}.

i got a speeding ticket this afternoon. that kind of sucked. you know that feeling you get when that happens, i get red and sweaty and mumbly. i would be THE worst bad guy because i would never be able to do bad stuff and hold it together if i got busted.

what is with kids and michael jackson? i found this disc that someone in the family made after jackson kicked it and it has found a permanent residence in my car. i think we have listened to "thriller" 50 billion times. this morning on the way into school, through the pea soup fog, it was playing on repeat and in the backseat i could see eli lip synching it silently. i was thinking about it and i am kind of creeped out that we let him listen to him, i mean come on, the dude was not right on so MANY different levels. driving home from school earlier in the week, eli mentioned that he was sad michael jackson died. i told him that's what happens when you abuse drugs. he response went something like this, "too bad elvis died the same way...he was good, but i like michael jackson better." i think i am going to have to start playing more elvis and he might change his mind.

2 nephi chapters 2 and 3 are awesome. pull your book out and re-read them. such kind, amazing, instructive, testimony filled words from a father to his sons.

my XM radio serves me up all kinds of music. usually i can roll through the '90's, then the '80's right on down to the '60's and something good will pop up. the other morning i was switching channels around and was hitting the BEST songs. old, old songs from my memories of being younger. it was such a treat.

eli told me today 3 billion girls were chasing after him at recess. i asked him what happened if they caught him. he said, matter-of-factly, if they caught him they would drag him down into their dungeon. .....weird.... i asked if they ever caught him. he said, nope, i stood by the outdoor supervisor the whole time.

i'm gunna say it..... staying out here at my mum and dads alone is the pitts. it is scary. it is dark and secluded. your mind can really run wild. i will just keep thinking 2 more nights, 2 more nights...

i am going to go eat some hummus and pretzels, excuse me for a minute.

i heard a interview with a fellow in new jersey that goes into the myriad of foreclosed homes in his area and fixes them up to sell. he said that going into these houses is like entering a crime scene. it is like the owners had 5 minutes to get out. food still on the table, large heavy items left. he said it was sad and creepy and strange. you could actually look around the room and get a sense of how the owners had left and what had happened. the other crazy thing he mentioned was in almost every house he has gone through and fixed up, in the master bedroom/bathroom area a hole the size of a fist has been punched through the door. the said it just testified to the desperation and helplessness that he felt in these homes.

we saw "where the wild things are" the day it opened. i have to say i felt compelled to leave several times throughout the movie. it was dark. it was sad. it was full of bratty, crappy, yelly, fighting behavior. and now i am bugged we took eli to see it.

lastly... i saw this on a friend of mines blog and was blown away. the video is of a gal who lost 120 pounds. the best thing is, i know her. she used to be in my parents ward. this is recent and so crazy. be inspired. you can really do anything. i'm out.

take it up, take it up, take it down, take it down....

this is absolutely amazing. the whole. entire. thing.

playmates

i sneakily snapped this photo the other day. looks like eli was introducing ida to "shrek" the toy from mcdonalds that has a problem with flatulence. he had brought out a bunch of toys that were big and safe from the toy closet for ida to chew on and the two crawled around with "little folks" in their hands and played and played. for like an hour. having fun. who says a 7 year age difference is crappy? all i know is she loves him and he couldn't live without her. this morning as he was getting ready to leave out the door for school and he wanted to go downstairs to say goodbye to her. i told him she was still asleep, so she wouldn't even know he was leaving. he said, "well as long as you tell her i am safe at school and i will see her soon." will do buddy, i will let her know.

today is a tossed salad day of tasks. we are meeting a home inspector this morning at the new house for a thorough inspection. after that, ida and i will go down to the children's hospital for some ordered blood work from the GI clinic to check on a few things. then maybe i will go look at appliances... how's that for random.

...but you get what you need

look at this little lady. we love her so much. as eli did, she has brought so much happiness and joy into our lives.

you can't always get what you want. we have decided to postpone our move to california. ida's health is first and foremost and as she is not technically a sick child, she does have a strange and special circumstance with her diagnosis of FPIES. it has been such a difficult decision to make as the ball has been rolling full steam towards california. we sold our house months ago, our belongs have been packed, we have made several trips, worrying, praying, and preparing. last week our eyes were opened to what is going to be ahead of us for a few years. we had to take a few steps back and look at our situation.

...but you get what you need. after a few days of hashing it out, the choice to stay in calgary until ida has grown out of FPIES clearly has became the right/smart/correct choice. her health care is excellent, our out of pocket nothing, our stress level minimized as we maneuver through this. we searched the mls thursday, looked at 5 homes friday morning, put an offer on a house saturday afternoon and agreed on a price that evening. just. like. that. our possession date is november 13th. what i want to tell you is that the Lord provides. we feel so strongly that the decision we have made is what we need to do for her right now and i can't tell you how good that feels. we would be lying if we said we didn't have a level of disappointment. however the blessing and peace of mind knowing we have made the best choice possible outweighs the bummer-ness of the situation.

now. let's get on with life. a new chapter. here we go.

p.s. happy thanksgiving.

p.p.s i guess i should state where we will be moving to... the home we have found is in rock lake estates in rocky ridge. we will be just down the street from the soon-to-be-built calgary temple. what a perk that will be!

food trial #1 {a picture story}: the new frontier with FPIES

ida has just eaten 1/2 tsp of pure brown rice cereal {as seen in the corner of the photograph}. according to our dietician, this brand and type of cereal doesn't give even her extremely allergic patients any problems. now we will wait 2 hours in the ER and find out if it sits well with ida...

so we will play with a cotton towel and a barf bowl!
and play with a water bottle in the window sill...
and giggle...
and chew on a plastic bowl....
conclusion: shoot. looks like rice or anything in the grain family is off the list. we are discovering, this process will be our reality for the next few years. we will have to do this at the hospital with every single type of food she will put in her mouth until we know what is safe and what is not...

eli comes for a visit.
after about 6 hours she begins to perk up and feel a bit better.

good times at the doctors office today...

dear kauai,

listen, i really want to come and see you, but i can't.

in a couple of weeks when every grown woman in our family comes knocking on your door for a week, it's going to be fun. these ladies need a break. i know you will be nice to them. serve them with warm sunny days and lava flows. make sure the water is calm and inviting. tell the roosters and coconut shrimp to greet them with open arms.

here is my problem. in the next few months many things are going to change for me and my little family. i am going to have to fly from sea to shining sea to get things done. i have too much on my plate/mind to come try to relax on the beach for a week. i am sorry. i really am. maybe next time. maybe when i don't have a crawling 9 month old or when i am not worrying about a house or moving or going for immigration medicals or can comfortably squeeze into a swimsuit. you see, honestly i would probably be a pretty junky travel partner and who needs that?

maybe next time. there will always be one.

sincerely, jessica

october fest

start the month off right folks. trick or treat at sandra's and check out the madness.

you know you want it. pass it along.

p.s. {c.j. and i have personally had those cheesecake caramel apples. ask c.j. about them, he may start to cry reminiscing about the experience}