He's Packin'

This would be Cade's preferred method of storage for his gun. Big man.

You Want Some Cheese, Please?

Monday morning the phone rang and it was my ever adventurous sister-in-law, Daphne. She asked if we wanted to take a spur of the moment field trip to the Ashe County Cheese Factory. Well, who wouldn't?!? After trying to wrangle up some dogs that had gotten out at their house, we set off.

In downtown West Jefferson on a side street you will find the Ashe County Cheese Factory. You can't miss it. These 3 huge milk holding tanks painted as cows are the dead giveaway. Can't miss 'em if you tried. :)
About to go "See Cheese Made!"

Here we are in the Holding Room watching the men and machines work on different stages of the cheese. They also have a short but very well done video playing in the corner up above telling the process of cheese making. It was wonderful! We got to see the curds and whey and understand exactly what Miss Muffet was eating when she had that unfortunate incident with the spider.

Afterwards, we marched across the street to the Cheese Store to sample and fill our baskets. It was fabulous! (They also have ice cream and fudge to sell if you are so inclined) We filled our particular basket with Swiss Cheddar (a soft spreadable cheese which we had sampled), Smoked Gouda, butter that was 1/2 off, and 2 packages of cheese curds. Now, I have to tell you that I have always seemed to have an aversion to cheese curds, must be the name, but my husband asked for some and the chil'ren loved the samples, so what could I say? :)

We had a wonderful time and are so thankful Aunt Daphne had the idea. The children kept saying, "This is the best day EVER!!!" If you're in Ashe County, we highly recommend this FREE experience (unless, of course, you buy some of the cheese which you really must as it's so good!). Now to set out some cheese and crackers. ;)

Off to the Allergist We Went

Last Tuesday was the day we had been waiting for. After lunch, the girls and Cade went to Grandmama's for the afternoon and evening, Ward and I picked up Drew, and off we went to Hickory. Ward really did good and was actually looking forward to it. The first thing we did was the allergy testing. There were a few tears but laying on daddy's lap and watching some of "Charlotte's Web" (along with holding his blanket and sucking his thumb) seemed to help.

They tested him for 36 "common" allergens including pollen, dust mites and feathers, mold, different animals, cow's milk, yeast, etc. We were also able to choose up to 30 additional tests. We chose a few...cattle, goats, rabbits, shellfish, salmon, goldenrod, and coconut. Like I said, he did really well. As you can see he reacted to several.

The results showed hardwood pollens, clover, cattle, and dogs to be big offenders. No reaction to feather or dust mites, thankfully. The biggest surprise was that on a scale of 1-9 (9 being highly allergic) his reaction to horses registered at a 9! Guess we won't be ranchers. :)

After meeting with the PA, who was wonderful, we got a good treatment plan put together to get his allergies, asthma, and eczema under control. Hopefully, in the next couple of months he will be doing so well that we'll be able to back down on his meds and be able to be around dogs without him spiraling downhill.

It was a little early to eat yet, so we went to Target (what a treat!!!) so I could look for a couple of things. Drew got the big boy an Icee. First one ever. He, of course, wanted blue. He loved it.
Hannah's BBQ in Lenoir was our dinner destination and, yes, our 3 year old wanted a salad with grilled chicken. He ate almost all of it. He was also very excited about the Spiderman figure he got to pick out at Target and the movie he picked out for his sisters and brother. He asked our waitress, "Do you like Spiderman?" She did.
We are so grateful to Hickory Allergy and Asthma for how well they treated Ward and us. If you are in need of an allergist in this area, we can highly recommend them!

Home Boys

The boys in their "bunker" one afternoon when both girls were elsewhere.

This Just Ain't No Fun!

We are in an asthma fight. It started 10 days ago when we went to Columbia to visit. We know one of the "triggers" for Ward is dog hair/dander and both of my parents have dogs. However, we thought we had a good handle on his asthma and went on down Friday afternoon. We were back on Saturday night after Ward and I had been up since 2:30 that morning. Asthma attack.

Last week the girls and Cade came down with a cold but we thought Ward had escaped it and were grateful because any little cold goes straight to his chest. We found out Sunday night he hadn't. He awoke Monday morning at 1 am and he nor I slept much after that. I thought he was turning the corner late morning yesterday but when he got up from his nap yesterday afternoon and told me, "Mommy, I can't breathe," I knew no corner had been turned. He and I got to go to the after hours clinic at our pediatrician's office and Mr. Ward was treated to 3 back to back to back Albuterol nebulizer treatments with some improvement. As Dr. Zimmerman told me, he was right on the precipice of needing to be admitted but we'd try to let him make it at home. We were sent home with a nebulizer and Albuterol with instructions to do nebs every 2 hours throughout the night and recheck this morning. Well, it ended up needing to be every hour because he couldn't make it two. Oh, then he started running a fever. Did we have a pneumonia on top of everything else?

The office visit went well and his fever was down. We both felt he was doing better but Dr. Z still felt he was on the edge of needing a room at the hospital. After another neb treatment with improvement, negative blood test for viral pneumonia, and an unimpressive CBC we were allowed to go home with nebs every hour until his symptoms improved more and an increase in his oral steroids (I had already started them Monday afternoon). Let me tell you it ain't no fun! But it's good.

It's good because even in all the sleep deprivation, the Lord has poured out more and more grace to me and to Ward. It's good because I realize once again that our children are not mine but on loan and I must relinquish control to God who is good and loving and in perfect control. It's good because I'm drawn more into dependence on my Lord. And that's always good. The nebulizer we were given is a dog originally given the name Roscoe. Ward, however, thought he looked more like a John. His name is now John. Here he is getting his 9:30 treatment last night petting the only dog that won't cause an asthma attack. :) John was introduced to his brother and sisters this morning. He's a big hit.

Today he was given the mouthpiece for his treatment at the office as opposed to the mask. This is what he thought he needed to do with it. Stinker!

I am very glad to report that Wardy is continuing to improve. We already had an appointment with an allergist in Hickory for next Tuesday and it can't come quick enough.

Oh, did I mention Cade now has an ear infection? It's still good. It may not always be easy but it's always good.