what's been going on!!

well, well, well .... it's been quite a while. i honestly don't have a super awesome excuse for my lack of blogging other than the obvious "i have three kids" thing. but, i often think "i should be blogging this..." or "this would make a good blog post". for some time now, i've wanted to get back to my roots of blogging ... you know, the every day life stuff. don't get me wrong, i love reviewing EVERYTHING and consider it one of my passions to try places/things and give my honest opinion about them, but frankly that isn't why i started blogging.

so, kaley .. why did you start blogging? i'm not sure that i ever addressed that question on here before. the short answer: i want my kids to have something to look back on after i'm gone. yah, yah .. morbid. i also want to have my piece of the internet. some people want to get buried when they die, you know ... claim that little plot of land, well .. i want my internet piece!

anyway - let's get caught up. 

kaley: 

 still a SAHM! i've picked up a few new titles though ... Football and Baseball Team Mom and just recently Little League Board member! three days a week, i have about 2 hours to myself, it's been lovely! i typically spend those three days running errands or cleaning but occasionally (like today!) i find time to sit down at the computer or catch up on tv! i recently made myself every doctor/dental appointment that i could and aside from the typical vision getting worse and finding out that i have high blood pressure, i'm over all healthy! (and yes, you read it right ... 33 year old with high blood pressure! *insert eye roll*) all in all, not much new with me!

adam:

 about the same update for him! nothing is ever new with us really! OH - well one thing did happen with Mr. Poag! he got the ole SNIP SNIP. which means the hopes of there every being a baby girl Poag is gone. (wahhhhh wahhh wahh!) He's still doing his electrician thing and lovin' it! recently his schedule is working long days Mon-Thurs but having off every Friday, which me and Bear just love!  last summer, adam built a shed for us - which was amazing. he's got so many house updates planned, hopefully i'll be blogging some of them!

kullen:

  well, mr. 8 in a half year old, 3rd grader kullen! i don't even remember the last time that i blogged about him. probably when he got his tonsils out, which if i'm right, is still a draft post. HA! .. but, tonsils gone  - sleeps and talks a lot better with them out! he was also diagnosed with mild tourettes syndrome. he spent some time in occupational therapy but i really didn't feel it was doing what it needed, so we stopped. his tics were more verbal anyway. aside from that - he excelled in baseball last spring and is looking forward to this upcoming season! he also went all the way to states in football! we ended the season as #2 in the state of maryland for 8u! GO BLUE KNIGHTS! 

rhys:

 lets see, can't remember what i last talked about with rhys! he tested early into kindergarten last school year (which i'm not sure ever made to the blog) and is currently excelling in first grade. he just completed his destination imagination with his school and did really well (although complained most tuesdays when he had to go practice!) he also played tball last spring and his first year of football in the fall! he was one of the youngest on his team, and had adam as his coach! 

bear:

  oh my bear. currently FOUR years old and by far the funniest member of our family. seriously, there is NEVER a dull moment with him around! we decided to put him in a school program taught by local highschoolers (first flight) and he really enjoys it. he has made some new friends and seems to have won a few of the teachers over (always running to give them hugs!) despite his funny character, he is a true sweetheart. 

we still have kazi (our cat!) who will turn FIFTEEN this April. woah. 

we also had gotten a hamster two years ago but she only lasted about a year. she was a sweetheart and we're not sure what ever happened to her. 

we recently got two guinea pigs from a friend of ours (heather!) ... a sweet mama and her baby. they boys love them and i've even seen adam petting/playing with them from time to time!

so, i guess that about sums it up!

believe me, i know that i am missing some key things that have happened over the years, hopefully i'll get to them eventually!

meanwhile, you can follow us on instagram, facebook or twitter for the every day happenin's of the rogue poags! 

holla, tonsils

Whelp, "they gone". 
The moment we've been awaiting and fearing for months has come and gone.
You can read about our first process - the sleep study - before continuing on if you'd like a small backstory. 

I wanted to try to get a picture of what I saw when I looked in his mouth but, as we all know, that proves difficult. If  you can see from the picture, his tonsils are practically resting on his hangy-ball. We didn't know the "size" of his adenoids but because his sleep apnea was so severe, those were also on the "cut-list". ;)

We arrived at Childrens' National bright and early Wednesday and spent about 20 minutes in a triage room getting basic stats and talking with the team of doctors who explained what they were going to be doing. 

Once that was over, Kullen was wheeled back to the O.R. and Adam and I were told to go have coffee/breakfast and be back within 40 minutes. 

One of the best things about our waiting room was a large screen with each patient number and their current status (in surgery, out of surgery, recovering, surgery complete). When we got back in the family waiting room, we saw that Kullen was already in surgery.
It was just a few more minutes of waiting that they called our names and told us to sit in an office to wait for the doctor. DON'T BE ALARMED! Just because they're telling you the doctor is coming to talk to you, doesn't mean that anything is wrong. Our doctor just wanted to let us know personally that Kullens surgery was a success and he expects him to have a good recovery. He also told us that in addition to Kullen's tonsils being large, his adenoids were even bigger!
From there, we were given a slip of paper that had his recovery room number. Now, about those "recovery rooms". It wasn't much of a room, it was more like an emergency room with 30 open rooms and sheets for doors. Not a big deal, but not what I was expecting either. 

Kullen remained asleep for about 1-2 hours after we got back to him. They explained it was normal. He woke up during that period and gagged out his tongue guard. (They put a tongue guard in his mouth because of the medicine they give him, it completely relaxes his muscles, including tongue, so that guard holds it in place and allows his airway to remain open.) That part scared me just a little bit but he was conscious enough to nod his head that he was okay and then went back to sleep. 

"thumbs up!"

After a few hours of in and out sleep, he finally began to wake up and was in pain. He was trying to swallow and also making a gargle-like sound. The gargling scared me but I'm pretty sure that it hurt to swallow but he wasn't sure what to do with his mouth/throat. His nurse gave him some pain medicine and some ice-cream! 

Within the first two hours that he was awake,  we've had a Popsicle, two ice creams, french fries, a grilled cheese and about 6 apple juices! NOTE: the nurse probably told me 'no fried foods' but I didn't comprehend that until he had already ate it. Fried foods are a big no-no post surgery but even though we broke the rules ... all was well. He didn't seem to be in too much pain and was already going a little stir-crazy in the bed so if a grilled cheese and fries helps, hey ... whatevs. 

Because he has/had severe sleep apnea, he was required to stay the night which is unlike most surgeries. Although he was doing super well, they wanted us to stay to see how his apnea was.

Kullen woke up once during the night and threw up blood. I was SO scared. I caught most in my hand but managed to fumble my way to the trash can and bring to him so I could go find the nurse. Despite being with another patient, she immediately ran to help us out. She gave him something to calm his stomach as well as some more pain meds (because at this point, he was awake and crying that his throat hurt) and he fell back to sleep within a few minutes. Next thing we new, it was 6am and time to go!

The next few days home were pretty decent. It was kind of a blur of waiting on kullen, keeping the other kids away from him and reminding to give him meds every 2/3 hours. We were encouraged to give him medicine around the clock and not to wait, LISTEN TO THEM! We learned that lesson (once) the hard way. We wrote a time schedule on my bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker and crossed off each time we dosed him.

Since the surgery, we've had absolutely no issues! His sleeping has improved 100%. He sleeps through the night, without snoring and IN HIS BED!

Needless to say, I was super scared of this surgery and my baby going under - but I am SO glad that we proceeded with it. It was seriously the best decision we've ever made and will only benefit him in the future (you're welcome future daughter in law that doesn't have to put up with a snoring husband!!)

kullen's sleep study

i don't think i've mentioned much about kullen's "issues" on here lately. not for lack of wanting too, but just haven't known how to go about it. for quite a while now, kullen has had some sleeping issues. he SLEEPS but during sleep, his breathing becomes unstable. he snores, mouth breathes, pauses and gasps for breath. we'd brought it up to our pediatrician a few times but it was never a HUGE concern.

then he got strep throat about a year ago. things seemed to get worse. after being diagnosed with strep once, anytime he wasn't feeling well, his tonsils got very enlarged and red. around february, i noticed that his tonsils were very large (touching his uvula) and brought him to the doctor. all tests were negative so we were even more concerned. after a few months of his tonsils not going down, we decided to take some action.

getting your tonsils out now-a-days isn't as standard as it used to be. if you talk to most adults 40+, they've [or one of their siblings] had theirs out. well, i guess things have changed now and before they take out tonsils, they refer to a sleep study first. 

so, in March, we were referred to Childrens National for a sleep study. of course, there was a long wait list so we just had to wait it out until the end of June!

kullen got one more strep infection meanwhile and his pediatrician told us that he will most likely have the tonsils and adenoids removed. 

the entire time that we were waiting for this study to happen, i didn't really know what to expect. i was definitely thinking worse case scenario about my sensitive little mama's boy not being able to cuddle with me and being attached to 23948203983 wires! but, i'm here to tell ya: "it's not THAT bad!" i think it was worse for ME having to sleep on that tiny, hard hospital cot! 

so, waiting for your childs sleep study? here is what you can expect!

WIRES:

these were all laying on kullen's bed, waiting to be attached to him. 

if you're lucky, an excited six year old!

a lot of waiting. getting all those wires on, takes a while!

two chest straps. not something that i anticipated!

the straps are fairly tight and measure heart rate and breathing rhythm. 

[reminded me of the monitors us mamas had to wear while in labor!]

monitors/wires on face!

lots of wires on the scalp!

a head scarf! haha

this was to keep all the wires in place when he slept. he thought it was a neat ninja mask.

a nasal cannula - that doesn't move oxygen into the nose but monitors the output. 

and an O2 sensor on the thumb!

and a chance that things may change during the night.

considering kullen doesn't breath through his nose - like ever - they had to add a sensor over his [open] mouth to track his breathing that way. 

and if your child is used to sleeping with multiple pillows, forewarn them that they only get one pillow that night. i think that was a little tough for kullen but he totally handled the entire night like a champ!

i was worried it would take him a long time to fall asleep, as there was no tv or anything but it maybe took him 10 minutes once the nurse came in and turned the light off. 

he kept saying that he wanted to go home and i would just tell him that as soon as he fell asleep and woke up, we'd be able to go. he said his night went quickly but mine wasn't so pleasant!

when i would finally fall asleep, i'd be awoken by a nurse coming in and then realize it had only been 10 minutes since i last looked at the clock. 

was not a fun night for mama, but luckily, the boy did great.

the next morning, the nurse said that usually you get "results" within 4-5 weeks but in kullens case, i would likely hear much sooner. and asked if we had an ENT already. i assume his "results" weren't good - although i don't know if there are good/bad versions of anything like this. 

i'm assuming they'll diagnose him with sleep apnea but hope that once his tonsils/adenoids are out that it will no longer be a concern. guess i'll keep everyone updated ....

kullen and the chin

saturday started out like a normal day … spent majority of it at the pool and then packed up and headed to hang with some friends! it was a "ladies night" but some of kullen's friends were going to be there so i decided to bring him and rhys along! 

they wanted to get into the hot tub and although i didn't bring their bathing suits, i told them they could go in their undies. the people next-door even did some fireworks.
this picture was taken around 9:11pm.

this picture was taken around 9:16pm.

see, what happened after that first picture is kullen decided to do a backwards somersault and somehow hit his chin on the bottom step. 

he didn't panic so i didn't really either. until i saw this. 

i knew it was going to have to be stitched. so, i called my husband to see if he wanted me to take him right away or meet him (to drop rhys off versus taking him to the ER). we decided that i would meet him at our local ER. 

this isn't the worse part of the story though. 

as i'm driving to meet my husband, i get into a "fender bender". 

i was stopped at a red light which had turned green. as i took my foot off the break,  i thought i heard kullen say something so i glanced back and BAM, right into the car in front of me. i was barely going 5mph so there was hardly damaged but still. 

after explaining to the kid to hurry and give me his info/call the cops/whatever he wanted to do because i was trying to get my kid to the ER, i still had to wait a little bit for all that accident nonsense. 

i finally made it to the hospital around 10:00 and sign in. the ER is packed. 

around midnight - we make it back to triage where i explained what happened. we asked if they were going to stitch it right away since it had happened a few hours ago and the nurse said she wasn't sure and that we'd have to wait to see the doctor and he would make the call. 

fast forward 2hrs … 2:00am and we're all half asleep and super cranky. i asked my husband to check in with the front desk to see if he could tell us anything. 

after talking to the guy for a bit, adam came back explaining that there were still 13 people ahead of us and by the time we would be seen, it would be too late to stitch him up. so, we decided to leave.

as you can see, he probably reaaaaally needed stitches. we're doing our best to keep it clean and closed and actually it seems to be improving somewhat.

we're lucky that we have a (scheduled) doctors visit tomorrow so that i can have his doctor check him out and make sure we're doing the right things for it. 

so, at 5 years old - kullen escaped stitches (by the hair of his chiny chin chin.) har. har. har! 

teacher gifts

these were probably my favorite DIY gifts that i've made to date! 

they weren't hard to assemble and fairly inexpensive! 

i picked up a few pots from walmar - along with soil and succulents. 

using my silhouette and vinyl - i put the teachers name on the front of the pot and 'thanks for helping me grow' on the backside! 

then i traced kullens hand and had him write his name. 

his teachers seemed to really like them and kullen, of course, enjoyed helping and giving them to his teachers on the last day of pre-k!

first/last - pre-k

comparison photos are always fun. 

here's my boy on the first day of pre-k. 

September 3, 2013

and here he is -

last day of pre-k

June 17, 2014

i don't think he's changed much! definitely a little taller because the clothes are a little smaller on him!

[yeah, i'm that mom that made her kid wear the same thing on the first and last day of school!]

so hard to believe he's going to be in kindergarten next year - and that he'll be FIVE in 2 days. ah!

pre-k graduate

as of today - i am the mother of a boy in kindergarden! technically, he still has 2 days of school left, but he officially promoted today.

he was so excited for us all to be there! dada, mama, rhys, bear, mimi and grandma all made his 'program'! his individual part in the class program was 'speckled frog #2' … and he had been practicing for weeks. they also did "brown bear, brown bear" which he knows by heart now, a number rhyme and his ABC forward AND BACKWARDS! :)

all the kids had made a handprint banner :)

 kullen and his amazing teacher: mrs. duke! it's going to be extremely hard to top her in the upcoming years!

 afterwards, everyone got to enjoy cake (which featured the kids class picture) and punch!

it's so hard to believe my boy is going to be in kindergarten next school year. he's going to be gone ALL day. wahhhhhhhh!

kullen's 5th birthday inspiration

i can't believe my boy is about to turn 5! 
we wanted to tone it down a bit this year and start doing 'big kid' parties! he decided that he wanted to have a pool party [although still tossed around 'themes'] and wanted to invite a handful of his friends. 
i let him decide who to invite - which was still a fairly large group! - and let him call [most of] the shots!

we browsed Pinterest for some ideas, which proved to be hard because he wanted a pool party, a star wars party, a skylander party, a penguin party and most recently [after indulging in a Zebra Cake] told me that he wanted a zebra party! he's obviously just like his mama - all over the place and super indecisive! 

but here are some ideas were throwing around:

penguin beach balls - via Amazon 

we won't be able to use these at our community pool but we can use them as favors!

these cute penguin banana snacks. they can be frozen that way they won't turn to mush in the heat!

image via Hand Made Charlotte 

no party is complete without a piñata!

courtesy of Amazon

penguin cake pops!

image via pinterest 

we're very lucky to have a grandma that ROCKS at cake pops! can't wait to see her penguins!

image via Fowl Single File Blog

since i'm not an expert cake maker - i'm thinking something *maybe* like this. i make no promises though.

in addition to the penguin fun - i thought i'd do some simple 'pool/beach' like decorations as well!

image via Party Supplies Delivered 

The Frugal Girls has a ton of cute pool party ideas! this is a definite DO!

and of course this super cute fruit pizza from Hungry Happenings! 

i can't wait to see how it really comes together! knowing kullen, he'll probably change his mind last minute and i'll be doing something other than penguins! [which is why i'm doing mostly pool related foods!]

hopefully it turns out okay for my big FIVE year old, dude! ;)