FOR SALE

Kid Carpenters has two items for sale!

The first one is a fabulous coat rack (just a little dirty) made from Maple Ridge's finest forest wood. We are taking offers please email Josh and David at tawnyryan@shaw.ca or buzza@shaw.ca.

The second item is two fabulous shelves and/or book holders. Again we are open to offers the email addresses are above.

Thank you for shopping at Kid Carpenter's. This is from David and Josh founders and presidents of the company.

I 'll Be honest with you I love Jesus but...hey it thins the blood!

My mom sent this clip to me and I have been laughing hysterically at it. If you have a few minutes and need a laugh you should watch it!!!

Our #1 Test is your #2....

This was funny! A close friend and relative sent this to us in hopes to inspire the "movement" we needed from Josh last week. I nearly died laughing!!!
Had to share it!

Road to Recovery!

I have evidence that all are feeling better! I just took a bunch of pictures and just the fact that they are moving around instead of laying in bed is testament enough!

Last night was the first night in I guess two weeks that everyone has slept through the night. Oh what a great sleep it was. Today has been so much better. There have been a few big tummy aches but with the medicine we have been able to keep it all under control. We have a pretty plain diet for Abby and Caleb but I think today they may graduate from liquids and jello to soup and crackers!

Josh is completely 100% which is great to see after seeing him SO sick! We are praying for a fast and full recovery for Abby and Caleb as well. But if you saw them right now you would think they are there. We will see how tonight goes, it seems to be the true test!

Mystery Solved

After our HORRIBLE night last night we packed up Caleb and Abby this morning and brought them to see our very respected GP. I am SO glad we did. Not only do we now have the proper medicine to alleviate the pain the kids are in we also now know the answer to the mystery illness that has infected our house. It is called Mesenteric Adenitis what is this you ask let me tell you. Mesenteric adenitis is a self-limited inflammatory process that affects the mesenteric lymph nodes in the right lower quadrant. Its clinical presentation mimics that of acute appendicitis. Until recently, the diagnosis was most frequently made when laparotomy performed to assess presumed appendicitis yielded negative findings; now, cross-sectional imaging is routinely applied in the examination of patients. Why or where do they get this? Mesenteric adenitis is most frequently caused by viral pathogens.

So now after blood work on both Abby and Caleb, 5 xrays for Caleb and filling all the prescriptions we are home. Ready to knock them out with the medicine and get some SLEEP!

Double Whammy

Well we thought we were over the toughest part of the illness I mean really how could it get any worse then the other day? Oh let me tell you. Last night Ryan was working again so I got the kids all settled in two out of three isn't bad. Caleb was just having a terrible time all evening with stomach pain. Ryan came home and we devised a plan to maximise our sleep. I was going to take the first shift he the second. Off he went to bed and Caleb continued to roll in pain every 15-25 minutes. I lasted until 2am. I ran upstairs to trade and found Abby sleeping in our bed with Ryan which means she must of been up and fussing as well. We switched and not more the 5 minutes later Abby wakes up and is complaining of a stomach ache. My night continued the same as the first half every 30minutes with her needing consoling and her tummy rubbed because it hurt. From 2-7:30am that is what I did. Finally at 7:30 it was time to get up, I got Josh ready for school conversed briefly with Ryan and his night was the same. Both kids are quiet right now but I know it won't last. We are gonna try and see our doctor today, but I fear there is nothing she can do to help.

Muffins?

I have go to share with you all the events of our household last night. Some of you may know that on Monday night Abby started to complain of a stomach ache and Ryan and I thought oh man here we go again. She had a bad night but in the morning she had perked up so off to school she went. All three kids actually at school this hasn't happened in a week!
After school Emily came over to play the girls had a great time, towards the end of the playdate Abby started to fade. She was back to complaining of a stomach ache again. We distracted her for a bit, as I was playing with her and Emily and having a nice tea party with delicious imaginary muffins.....Abby lost her "muffins" all over me! Thus bringing the playtime and teaparty to an end.
Abby still not well, was sitting on my lap at the kitchen table. I just finished my soup and her body began to rumble and she declared she had to cough (her code word) and yet again more "muffins" land perfectly in my soup bowl. Josh was so not impressed beggin and pleading for us to remove the bowl of course we did it just couldn't be fast enough for him. At this point Ryan had to leave for work. He had the boys vow to be good and go to bed quickly and quietly tonight. We began our bedtime routine at 7pm boys had a bath, I held Abby, boys got their Jammies on, I held Abby boys brushed their teeth Abby shared those "muffins" again! I got that all cleaned up tucked the boys in and retreated with Abby downstairs to lay on the couch. She was beginning to get a incredibly heavy to lug around. While we were downstairs Caleb shouted out "my tummy hurts" He did this on three different occasions and finally I brought Abby upstairs with me to check on him. What we found was a very pale little boy who was about to lose his "muffins"! I put Abby in her bed and told her I needed to help Caleb. At this point I went from Caleb's room to Abby's room in 5 minutes intervals. No "muffins" were shared. After doing this for about an hour. Caleb fell asleep. Abby did not and sure enough the rumbles began and the declaration of her needing to "cough" and tadaaa "muffin". Cleaned up and back downstairs we went, Hmm do we see a pattern here?
Ryan came home. Saw the state of the house and knew something was not right. I shared with him my evening and really all we could do was laugh. I made a pack with him I said I will continue to deal with kids until 11:30pm then I pass the torch and whatever happens I leave to you. I told him you never know everyone could just sleep....it was worth the gamble for me. Unfortunately for Ryan it paid off. Ryan so graciously cleaned up the dinner dishes and took the dog out. Meanwhile I FINALLY got Abby to her bed and she was apparently staying. PHew off to bed I go. Not more then 15minutes later Caleb wakes up. It was exactly 11:45pm. Ryan dashed into his room and tried to console him but all he wanted was his Mommy! Ryan brought him into our bed. His stomach was turning and he was in pain. Really when the other two were sick I was there to look after them just because Caleb's sick time fell on the shift change I couldn't not help him. It took about 25minutes and then Ryan made him an offer he liked. Down to the basement they went to sleep. And off to sleep I went. Around 5:00am I could woke up in a start, there was banging and rummaging going on. I actually thought oh great we are being robbed. I got up Ryan is not there, but I remember quickly he and Caleb are sleeping in the basement. I figure ok it is up to me to deal with the burglar. As I creep out my door, I see Ryan. He is banging around the washing machine. I ask him what is going on. He proceeded to tell me Caleb lost his "muffins" all over him and the couch. Ryan is pretty certain the two of them got about an hours sleep.
Ryan is off to work now, and Caleb is upstairs sleeping. So today only one out of the three douglas kids are at school.

Lets pray we don't have any more "muffins" today!!!

We have had an eventful week at the Douglas household. On Friday Josh woke up looking pretty green so we had him stay in bed, an hour later he was looking pretty good and so off to school he went. Later that day he began to complain of a stomach ache and became more and more lethargic. I began to think here we go another bout of the flu. We went through the night with him waking up with a bad abdominal pains and gave him gravol to help, as we thought for sure he was going to be sick. He slept on and off and the next morning was in the same state. Around noon I was beginning to wonder why my son was still rolling around in pain clutching his tummy. We talked to our doctor who encouraged us to take him to the hospital. And off we went to Maple Ridge Hospital. My first choice was Children's but the traffic on Saturday was insane and it would of taken us hours to get there and given the pain poor Josh was in we went to the closest place for help. We arrived in emergency and saw a doctor he figured Josh just needed to go the bathroom, but took an xray just in case. After the xray came back he did not get the results he had hoped and thus opening a whole spectrum of possible problems. The poking and prodding began with many needles, scans and tests. This leading to a pediatrician Dr. Hewes now managing our case. After no conclusive results still a surgeon was now being consulted for his expertise and we were being admitted to the peds ward in hopes to help with the pain. Josh needed demerol to manage the pain he was in.

Appendicitis, Constipation, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, mononucleosis, Irritable bowel syndrome, and giardiasis intussusception (telescoping of part of the intestine into another part) were some of the illnesses being tested for, there were even more these were just a few.

We ended up being in the hospital from Saturday to Wednesday on Wednesday we were able to come home but still no answer to the mystery of what is causing the pain.

Josh is still having some abdominal pain but not as bad as before. We are waiting for him to go to the bathroom and hopefully once this occurs we will know more about what has caused this. Unfortunately the doctor has said we may never know the answer to this mystery. Josh is still working on increasing his appetite and getting consecutive hours of sleep. He is pretty pale and really sick and tired of taking medicine.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Ballerina by day Monkey by night!

all the cousins.

wait one more cousin Abby's matching Monkey!!

Happy Halloween

Here are our Trick or Treaters - Ballerina, Anakin Skywalker and Spidey himself!

We had a great time this year! Our little crew of friends all gathered and ran the streets of Albion together. After they exhausted their little legs we all met up at the Buzza's and had a some hot chocolate, a warm fire to roast marshmallows and some sparklers for the kids!