Swimming Lessons

The kids took swimming lessons again this Summer.  We were quite please with the lessons here in Shawnee, in fact, the kids were the only ones in there class and got private lessons!  Samantha made great strides in swimming and learned to tread water (she treaded for 30 seconds), swim under water and the crawl movement in her arms.

Blake took the Parent and Me Advanced class and worked on kicking, floating and his front and back and blowing bubbles.  Blake just doesn't like the water nearly as much as Samantha does.

Blake's Spots

Monday of last week Blake developed a red ring on his right forearm.  We decided to watch it because sometimes it was more prominent than others.  By Thursday he had developed "rings" on his other forearm, his back and bottom.  Since we were headed out of town on Friday we decided to take him into an urgent care.

There the doctor was not sure of his rings. She suggested it might be hives (they didn't itch though), or a skin fungus.  Lastly she said it might be Lyme's disease being he had a tick back in the middle of June.

I had been thinking Blake was a bit "off" and not quite himself.  He had run a fever during the 4th of July and on the 1st of July he limped because his leg hurt him.  Since then he's complained of a headache sometimes and occasional aches.  He has seemed to be eating less and has started taking naps because he's so tired he can't make it through the day without falling asleep.  He hasn't taken regular naps since he was 2!

The doctor drew some blood and sent it off for a Lyme's test and started him on antibiotics as a precaution.  She asked us to follow-up with his regular pediatrician.

We started the antibiotics on the 15th and by the 17th his "rings" were gone.  Our pediatricians appointment was for the 20th.  We learned early Wednesday, the 20th that he had tested positive for Lyme's disease.

Our pediatrician says that a lot of doctors don't believe kids get Lyme's disease and you often get false positives from the blood test, however, she wasn't brave enough NOT to treat him.  She said he could be suffering from something else from a tick instead of Lyme's.

In the end, she prescribed him a total of three weeks of antibiotics and increased his dosage.  She said he could suffer from fatigue and the other symptoms for another 6-8 weeks.  If he continues to suffer past that date we are to contact her and she'll refer us to an Infectious Control doctor.

Travis and I both believe he actually has the disease based on his symptoms.

We feel fortunate we've got this fairly early in the game and pray that the disease does not progress.

Blake hardly flinched during his blood draw.  He was AMAZING!

His most prominent "ring."

Mini Vacation

We took the weekend of July 15 and 16 to take a small vacation to Omaha, NE.  After a pancake breakfast we headed to Omaha.  Our first stop was the Omaha Children's Museum.  We had three hours to play there and we shut the place down.  I am pretty sure Blake's favorite part was the the ball part where they put balls into tubes and they went to different places.  Samantha's favorite part was the bubble show where she got to be put into a huge bubble.

Catching the dropping balls.

Putting out a fire inside the house.

Samantha inside her a bubble.

Blake at the dinosaur part of the museum.

Ready to dig!

We're supposed to be dinosaurs inside a nest:)

Back to the balls before we leave.

The kids were out early Friday night and slept well.  Sabbath we got up early to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  Because the weather was going to be extremely hot that day we hit the Dessert Dome first.  The kids weren't overly impressed with it so we moved on as fast as we could.  We saw almost all of the animals in the zoo and rode the train around the perimeter and rode the Skyfari which took us above many animals.

We began our day at the zoo at 9:30 and didn't leave until 5:00.  We hit the jungle last which was a good idea because it had really cleared out and we were able to enjoy it jungle at length.

Can you believe the kids wanted to swim that night?  After all day in the sun they spent about 45 minutes in the pool!

Inside the dessert dome.

As big as a penguin!

Looking at the little puffer fish.

All of the butterflies ready to hatch.

On the Skyfari ride.

Hot and tired at the end of the day!

Walking through the jungle.

Hanging in the jungle.

Sunday we packed up and went to the Wildlife Safari Park.  The Elk and Buffalo were gathered together in the ponds so they were close by our car.  We were also able to see pelicans, sand Hill Cranes, swans, owls and turtles.  Even though we took a 1/2 mile walk (in 100 degrees. What were we thinking?) we didn't see any wolves or bears.

The speed limit was 7 so we let the kids get our of their car seats.

On the beginning of our walk.  

Samantha found a snail on the trail.