DeCoteau Family Happenings: Been Awhile

First off, Lauren has always posted to the blog using the third person narrative voice. It seemed at the beginning that it would allow for the greatest flexibility. But since Lauren is really the only one who does these updates, we are switching over to the first person...it's just easier.

It has definitely been quite a while since the last post. We have been extremely busy over the last month. Here's a quick run-down: I accepted a position as a production supervisor at a local bakery before I got the lupus diagnosis. I had a flare up, got the diagnosis, started some new meds and was feeling pretty good overall. Blake was finishing up with her preschool year, and Wyatt was continuing to grow, grow, grow. Bob was busy with work finishing up all their year-end activities (inventory, etc.). I ended up having another flare up consisting mainly of chest pain. Don't worry, EKG and x-rays showed healthy heart and lungs. I started another round of prednisone hoping to keep the flare down. Shortly after (last weekend), I ended up in the ER with acute pancreatitis. I definitely don't recommend this little bit of inflammation to anyone...very painful. After over 3 days of a clear liquid diet and a LOT of rest, I am fine. We don't know for sure, but the pancreatitis was probably caused by the azathioprine that I was taking for the lupus. So, I am now back not working again until we can kind of get an idea of how this crazy little disease is going to present itself and what medications (and at what doses) will be best suited for me. Wish me luck!

Now, here are some pics to fill in the above fast forward. Wyatt had his first painful fall last month when his head glanced of the side of a plastic storage container we had in the living room. As you can see, he bonked the side of his nose pretty good and ended up with a pretty good cut just off the corner of his eye. He healed up quickly, and it really hasn't slowed him down since :)

Blake had her last school field trip out at Zoo Montana. Wyatt decided to crawl across the pavement - OUCH!!! It didn't seem to bother him, though.

Here's Blake, the goat, at one of the cut outs at the zoo.

Wyatt was getting a little tired of all the action by the end of the day.

PEEK-A-BOO!!!

Little Miss Blake is such a little poser. I think she has every lip puckering, eye-batting and hair flipping move down that you could possibly learn from any of the Disney princess movies. I am amazed at what she picks up watching even the most innocent of cartoons.

Here's my little Superman ready to help me vacuum.

My little goof showing off his new haircut. I think I had them cut it a little too short, but his hair grows like wild fire anyway. I'm sure we'll be off to get it cut again soon. Wyatt thinks he is pretty cool these days. You know...he can do cool things like walk backwards, sit on stools...

...AND CLIMB ON STOOLS!!! Seriously, Blake did not do this until she was like two years old. Bob and I both have caught Wyatt already starting to climb up on objects trying to get to something else higher up...ugh!

Wyatt (at nearly 17 months old)...

Gets into everything

Walks very well

Can say several words including "no", "dog", "Bay" (Blake), "move", "back", "more", "mine", "please", "cheese", "don't"...as you can tell, he's learned a lot of these from listening to his sister