Teeth are Here!

Ben cut his 2 bottom middle teeth today.

Funnies at Church

All of these happened during sacrament meeting...

Andy would not eat his bread during the sacrament! He still had it when the water came around. I said Andy, "Why aren't you eating your bread?" He said, "I want to dip it in the water." I said, "Honey, you don't dip your bread in the water. You eat the bread first and then the water. Now eat your bread!" Andy said, "But mommy I want to remember Jesus at the same time."

Next to me Tyler was talking to Alex about the sacrament and how the bread reminds of Jesus' body and the water reminds of His blood. Alex said, "Daddy what does chicken soup remind us of? Tyler said, "I don't know. Chickens I guess." Alex said, "I think it reminds us of Jesus' legs."

Later on in the meeting Andy heard someone talk about Satan. He asked me who Satan was. I was telling him how Satan chose not to follow Heavenly Father's plan and that now he is sad and he wants us to be sad like him so he tempts us and tries to get us to do bad things. Andy said, "Like drink things that aren't healthy for our body and could make us die." Alex piped in with, "Yeah and Satan wants us to swallow our gum."
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Carrie,

You couldn’t pay a writer to come up with such funny comments!  Oh, my gosh!  Your kids crack me up with the funny things they say.  I am so glad that you record them.  You amaze me!  You are such a great mom!  I love you!!!

Have a great day!   Aldine Allen

Still No Computer - But Maybe Soon

Well after talking to several friends and Tyler looking into it more we might have figured out what is wrong with our computer. I guess it has something to do with the power supply - it keeps overheating and then shutting down. Tyler has an idea how to fix it so hopefully we should be up and running this weekend. Yay!! I'll be able to get to my pictures again!! Unfortunatlely Tyler has already reformatted the computer, which now it doesn't look like he needed to do, so I've lost all my email addresses. Well not all of them as I have them printed off somewhere but I'll have to retype them all back into my address book. He has to reinstall all of our programs and get our internet and email up and running again so hopefully that will happen soon too. Also I had all my blog addresses in my favorites on our homepage so now all of those are gone. ARG!! We'll figure it out but I'll probably need new invites to those blogs that are private. Either put a comment on here or email me with blog and email addresses please!! My email is carrieanneallen@cox.net. I haven't checked anyones blogs in weeks! I have no idea what is going on in anyones life!!

Abby had her IVIG treatment yesterday. It went well. The nurses at the clinic had a hard time finding a good vein to put it in as Abby's skin is so tight and puffy. We spent 3 hours waiting for the IV team from the hospital to come over to the clinic and then they were able to find a vein right away. It was a long day ~ 8am - 5:30pm. After they finally got the IV in they gave Abby a dose of Benedryll as a precautionary measure for any allergic reaction she might have. Then in go the immuno-globulins. It took about an hour and a half for the medicine to peak (which means get up to its top speed) and then she had to be on it for another 3 1/2 hours for the medicine to finish. Abby got to watch 3 movies (High School Musical 3, Pocahantas and Over the Hedge), eat sour gummy worms, sleep some, color and play with stickers so I'd say she had an ok day. She hated the needle though!! Abby's nurse, Laura, was fabulous and made sure Abby was comfortable and answered any questions we had. Abby's weight is up to 80lbs. That is 21lbs she has gained since Dec. 30th and 13 lbs that she has gained since last months IVIG appointment. Wow! However the doctor is lowering her Prednisone dose even more and so hopefully we have reached the heighest weight and will start going down from here. Dr. Shishov said she looked really good and was definatly making improvements in her range of motion. Since Abby has been on Spring Break I've seen her be SO much more active ~ running, playinig, being silly. I told that to the doctor which he was happy to hear and he seemed to indicate that since we were treating it so aggressively that Abs should go into remission sooner than the normal 1-2 years. Very cool! It is hard to say whether it will come back or not or what long term effects she could have because of the disease as each case is so different. Right now we are pleased with the progress she seems to be making. Abby still loves physical thereapy. She said the other day "When I first got this thing I thought it was going to be all pokes and doctors and yucky stuff. But then I saw what physical therapy is like and I love going there!" Her therapist, Jessica, makes the exercises so fun for her. I keep telling Abby she should be a pediatric physical therapist when she grows up. We've also had 2 weeks of counseling which is going well and I think will be really good for us.

New topic ~ we had a lizzard in our house last Friday. How does a lizzard get in your house and make it upstairs without anyone seeing it? Luckily it was in the loft and not in anyones bedroom. Also luckily I have a brave Alex boy who just reached out and caught it and took it back outside. I could NOT do that. It was a baby lizzard and was pretty cute and I did pet it. But I don't think I could catch it. Thanks Alex!

St. Patricks Day was fun. I set the bar a little too high last year. We never really did anything for St. Patty's Day growing up except turn my cup of milk green sometimes. So that is what I did for the kids last year. I tunred their milk green and then made the mistake of saying, "Look, there goes the leprechaun into the pantry!" We have a little hole in the wall of our pantry so now that is the leprechaun's home. They spent all day last year writing notes to the leprechaun and leaving him treats which the leprechaun was silly enough to take the treats and write little notes back. This year after reading some stories about leprechauns, and still remembering that the leprechaun lives in our pantry, the kids couldn't wait to see what mischeif he would do. They talked about it for weeks!! The night before Abby wrote him a Happy St. Patrick's Day note and the boys left him a bowl of Lucky Charms by his hole. That morning they woke up to mischeif. Our leprechuan decided to turn over all of our kitchen chairs, put one of the chairs on the table, take the curatins down and hang one of them over the light, throw Ben's bibs all around our kitchen, make towers out of our bottles of juice, and spill Lucky Charms all over the table. He also left them each a green sand toy and yes, the milk was green. They kids were so excited. I guess I set the bar high this year too huh. Now it's almost Easter and I can't believe it. Time goes by too fast!!
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Wow! I am so sorry that Abby has to go through all of this pain, pills and weight gain.  What a nightmare for her and you.  I am glad to hear that she did okay once they got the needle in. Ouch!  By the way, tell Abby thank you for the wonderful pictures she sent to us.  We love her so much and wish we could live closer so we could see each other more often.

It is a good thing you have a brave boy who can help out with bugs and critters.  I don’t think I could actually catch a lizard either.  Way to go Alex!  You also have some amazing leprechauns at your house.  I have fortunately never had that much problem with them at our house.  The only thing that ever happened at our house on St. Patrick’s Day was that I would make corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  I guess we missed out on lots of fun and craziness.  You are amazing!  I love you and stand in awe of all you do for your wonderful family.  Thanks for being a part of our family.

Love,

Mom Allen

Super Heros

I asked Andy and Alex if they were a Super Hero what their power would be and what their Super Hero name would be. Andy said he would be called Ghost and his power would be that he could turn into air and float where ever he wanted to go. Alex said his name would be Super Hero Alex and he would have poofing powers. So like when he wants breakfast he would just say "Poof" and his breakfast would appear on the table.
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Too cute!  Kids say the cutest things.  It is such fun being around
young children.  I think that is what keeps us young.  They make us
laugh and keep us healthy.  Can't wait to see all of you in June.

Have a great day!
 
Aldine Allen

Ben's 6 Month Stats

Ben had his 6 month check up on Thursday. He is 20lbs 11oz and 29 1/4" long. He is in the 90% for weight and he is off the charts for height. His ear infections are pretty much cleared up now. There is still alittle fluid behind his ear but Dr. DaSilva said that it was nothing to worry about. I hope she is right. He got 3 shots that day but was a little trooper and they haven't seemed to bother him. Still no teeth, still not rolling over, but he's doing lots better at eating his cereal and baby food. I wish I could post a picture for you. He's getting so big and cute. Ben will actually be 7 months next Sunday.

Tyler was scheduled to start teaching another class on Tuesday but it was canceled. That's not great because that means no teaching paycheck but its good because now he'll be able to fix our computer. Yay!!

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He is one BIG kid! 
 
 Have a great day!

 Aldine Allen Wednesday, March 25, 2009

We Are Still Alive

In case any one is checking we are still alive. Our computer has crashed!!! You don't realize how much you use something until you can't use it any more. I am typing on Tyler's laptop. Luckily all my pictures are safe as they were on a different hard drive then the one that is causing us problems. Who knows when Tyler will have the time to look at it and get it fixed. We're going on our 2nd week of computer crises.

We are doing fine. News of the day ~ Abby broke up with Khalil. Apparently he was being annoying and she is "absolutely SO done with him." I cracked up laughing!! I was quite boy crazy growing up so it looks like Abby might have inherited that from me. We also found out today that her best friend Kaitlyn Millar will be moving to Iowa in a few months. We are all very sad about that as our families are close.

Abby is doing pretty well. We seem to be in a rut in the dermatomyositis department. She hasn't made too much improvement since her initial ones but thankfully hasn't gotten any worse either. And don't get me started on the hassles we've had on getting some of her medications. Crimeny!! She hurt her back the other day hopping in PE so thats what has been boethering her lately; along with the everyday tummy aches and headaches. We go in for her next IVIG treatment on March 24th. Abby recieved a nice package in the mail today from her aunt and uncle that cheered her up. Also, a lady in my parents ward made a special bag for Abby and filled it with goodies for to take with her during her treatments. How nice is that!! Thanks everyone for remembering us!!! For those of you in our ward, feel free to spread the word about what Abby is going through. That will help explain why she is looking so different. We are meeting with LDS Family Services on Thursday. We'd like to have a couple of sessions with a counselor just to make sure Abby is doing ok with everything.

Andy and Alex have decided they are participating in the basketball superbowl tomorrow. They have been practicing for days. They are both on the red team and they are playing against the blue team. The basketball is a balloon and they chase it around and make sure the other team doesn't get it. Alex will drive them to the superbowl and they will be home for lunch. Oh, and they aren't 4 anymore. They are 12. Also, Andy and I are tyrannosaurus rexes and Alex is our human friend who has moved in our cave with us. :)

Ben goes for his 6 month well check on Thursday so we will update you with his stats soon. There is never a dull moment at the Allen house. We'll post pictures ASAP!!!