Thursday, August 18, 2011

"I Guess We'll Find Out"


This is the response I would love to give and I do give over and over in my head to the adults, who so rudely ask if my daughter is contagious all the while looking at me like “how could you expose my kids to that”.  Well the, that I am talking about is Vitiligo.  Vitiligo: is a skin condition in which there is a loss of brown color (pigment) from areas of skin, resulting in irregular white patches that feel and look like normal skin.  It is not contagious you can’t catch it from touching her, it is an autoimmune disorder in most cases. It occurs when melanocytes, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation, die or are unable to function.  Kaleigh started getting white patches on her skin when she was around three years old if you see her in a bathing suit you would notice it is mostly on her knees, shins, elbows and forearms the reason being that she is a rough and tumble tom boy and she wrecks on her bike and whenever she scratches herself up the healing skin has lost its pigment.  If you ask her about it she will tell you what it is, Vitiligo and she will walk off as that is that and there is nothing else to the story. She has lived with it now for almost 6 years and as it doesn’t concern her she doesn’t think it should concern you either.  Man kids are great.
This post comes from summer, the time when more people notice Kaleigh’s white patches.  There is the obvious reason she is wearing shorts and tshirts and you can see them easier but also Kaleigh and Lauryn both got blessed with their daddy’s skin.  Shane tans unbelievably dark, it is skin I wish I had we always laugh because even when I am dark for me if I put my arm or leg next to him I look flourescent white almost glow in the dark.  So Kaleigh’s white skin really stands out aginiast her other very dark tanned skin.  Now my kids don’t burn I mean it just doesn’t happen I can count on one hand in the almost 9 years how many times they have burned they just always turn dark.  But because Kaleigh has no pigment in those white patches her chances of skin cancer are increased ten fold, so she is always bathing in sunscreen nothing less than SPF 50.  Now that brings me to treatment.  When we first found out about Kaleigh vitiligo the dermatologist gave me two things that day, one was to always be thankful because yes she has this but she isn’t dying, and two was a tube of steriod cream to rub on the white spots to see if we could get them to repigment.  This treatment works on some and not on others.  Well whether it was going to work on Kaleigh or not we never found out because my three old started to think there was something wrong with her and wanted to wear long sleeves and pants all the time I just couldn’t do it any longer.  With that we went back to the dermatologist and she said words I will never forget “then just stop using it, it is about her not you and I”.
I haven’t brought up treatment since we stopped using that although I have gone and looked online to see what treatments are available as I know one day she will ask about it.  And I am hoping I have some ideas of treatments we can use.  The other day while I was out looking I found a natural treatment a cream that you rub on that is all natural ingreidents and then you spend so much time in the sun and it encourages your skin to repigment itself, it has a 100% money back guarantee and will last forever once the skin is repigmented.  I am thinking about actually trying this on Kaleigh legs next summer to see if it works as I am a believer that the earlier the treatment the better I just dn’t want her to become self conscious of her spots.  As I think/contemplate this and the other treatment options I hope I have educated a few parents about this and that you will share.
Thanks for reading!!

 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Commenting/Liking

I have had some inquiries into how you comment on my blog or share it, thanks for giving me the idea for this post all you who were wondering/questioning/asking.
Comment
You can comment by clicking on the link below the post. For example it may say 0 comments once you click on it it will refresh the screen scroll down and there is now a comment box. You can type your comment and if you are not a google member you can pick Name/URL or Anonymous for the profile.  If you pick Anonymous please leave your name in the comment section I love to know what you think, even if I might not agree!!  Once you hit post comment you are done.
Share/Like
Same with the comment feature at the bottom of the post there are different options for sharing and liking the post.  You can click on any of the funny little boxes next to the comments, so you can email, twitter, facebook, blog or just +1 (like) the post.
Reactions
Also I found this fun little addition you can rate the posting with regards to your reaction to it. So was it funny, interesting, cool, sad, or you just like it. 

I am always open to comments about my blog please remember that these are stories or information about me and my family, we are real people I don’t make this stuff up.
Thanks and I hope this helps those that asked.

Getting To Know Me

This blog title sounds familiar.....oh well here goes nothing, my sister sent me a chain email yesterday and I thought it would be fun to post the answers to my blog instead of send it forward to be lost in junk mail.

1. What color are your socks right now?   Invisible
2.  What are you listening to right now? Air conditioner
3.  What was the last thing you ate?   Bagel Thin
4.  Can you drive a stick shift?  Nope
5.  Last person you spoke to on the phone? Wes Feist
6.  Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yep for sure
7.  How old are you today?  30
8.  What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Motocross, football
9.  What is your favorite drink? Bud Light Chelada
10. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah
11. Favorite food? Tacos
12. What is the last movie you watched? Rio
13. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
14. How do you vent? I am a cry baby
15. What was your favorite toy as a child? Strawberry Shortcake Doll
16. What is your favorite season? Fall
17. Cherries or Blueberries? Both
18. Living situation?  House
19. When was the last time you cried? Watching the news this morning
20. What is on the floor of your closet right now?  Shoes
21. What did you do last night? Cooked dinner, vacuumed house, did laundry
22. What are you most afraid of? Dying
23. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? plain
24. Favorite dog breed? mutt
25. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
26. How many states have you lived in? 1
27. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds 
28. What is your favorite flower?  I don’t have a favorite

Well now you know a little more about me, nothing too extravagent.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Summer Fun


So my post originally started off with the fact that my pictures were in no order but then my OCD got the best of me and I rearranged them J  Now onto the blogging…
Thursday, I took the afternoon off and decided to take the girls to the Broadwater Waterslide, yes Helena has a water park that is really fabulous but I was looking for free fun and we have a membership at the Broadwater so take advantage of free I most definitely did.  I went and picked up the girls and my nephew Auston, my mom prayed for me and wished me luck. Isn’t she funny, although taking three kids near water by myself did sound a little interesting it definitely wasn’t the wildest thing I had ever done.  So at the Broadwater I get Auston in his life jacket because yes I am crazy but not stupid (he is 3 and is definitely not ready to swim on his own, which is fine by me because water and little kids terrifies me).  And the adventure began, they went up the gazillion stairs at least 12 times, probably way more, I didn’t count and then we had to walk over to the regular pool because we needed some dive time and the diving board is open, they jumped off that a gazillion times as well and then we headed back to the waterslide to go up and down a million more times. I will admit I never once climbed the waterslide stairs as the girls don’t want me up there and Auston in his 3 year old opinion didn’t need Auntie Brookie helping him out he was a big boy. So I waited at the bottom and watched the fun.  I don’t know if I should admit it or not but taking 3 kids to the waterslide was almost relaxing, yes I said that but it is true they were pretty well behaved and were having so much fun being independent that besides a couple of times where they wanted me to watch them and me telling them to walk it was so much fun.  Both the girls took turns going with Auston down the waterslide and he went a bunch of times all by himself but coincidentally I only got pictures of Lauryn coming out with him not sure how that happened but oh well.  We spent 4 hours at the waterslide and we weren’t even out of the parking lot when Little Man was sound asleep snoring in the back seat. So cute.




Auston & Lauryn

Onto the rest of the fun. This week was the fair and my hubby was MIA.  Not on purpose but he had a siding job out of town so I did a Feisty Family first and I took the girls to the fair and carnival without him, boo hiss!  I can honestly say this is something I hope to never do again and I think the girls would agree with me.  It was weird being a family of three and not a family of four, however we weren’t alone. My parents went with us Thursday night to see all the 4H animals and have dinner which is always a good time. And the girls got to hold some bunnies which I again thank the 3 girls who so graciously allowed them to handle their furry creatures, they both enjoyed it but Kaleigh is very texture orientated and she was in heaven holding the soft creatures, our poor cat got a talking to about how he needs to be softer like a bunny it was very cute. 
Sunday we were hoping Shane would be back in time for us to go with him to the carnival but he didn’t make it so we headed there with my parents.  Lunch was first because we were going to starve to death that is my parents and I, because the girls just wanted shaved ice, which I decided in the 90 degree heat was just fine.  So after that it was rides, I now realize my girls are bigger and they can ride a lot more stuff a gazillion times so next year we will be purchasing wrist bands but we had limited funds this time around and I was determined not to have to mortgage a small country to go to the fair, yikes that place is expensive.  They know that we do rides first and then games, because mommy and daddy don’t like hauling around all their loot for hours in the heat.  So they rode a handful of rides, and for the first time got on the Ferris Wheel, they did this with my mom and it was so cute, I am glad they now have that memory with my mom it is a good one for sure.  Then we did games, they won a couple of stuffed animals and a blow up sword and a ball and it was homeward bound we went because this momma refused to go to the ATM for anymore cash.  I know I am mean but they also had a surprise waiting in the car my mom bought they bubble blowers from the carnival and so we got home and the rest of the night was spent having a bubble war and bouncing one very large spiky ball.  And there is no mortgage payment because they didn’t mind leaving, and to really make me puff out my chest when we got home they thanked me for taking them.  I love my girls so much and a big thank you to my parents for joining us. 
Lauryn & Chili


Kaleigh and the baby bunny





Lauryn on Super Slide

Kalegh on Super Slide










Maka and the girls (she wasn' really scared just dramatic)



They had a great time


Green

 Linking up to Five Minute Friday , this week's prompt is Green So many meanings one tiny five letter word, perfect for Five Minute Frid...