Strep Infection

Strep infection…on your bottom? Who knew! But apparently that is what Logan seems to have. Go figure! He’s been complaining of itching down there for almost 2 weeks now and there just doesn’t seem to be anything to help him. He’s got these tiny, red pimple looking bumps on his little bottom and they look angry! So off we went to the dr. And “oh darn!”…the previous dr that we just saw is out until Monday. And incidentally, the new one we saw today was what a dr should be! Unfortunately he’s leaving the practice. (One wonders if he’s running from the other chick!) But he cultured the area and said he was 95% sure that it was strep. (The actual results will be in on Monday.) Has anyone heard of such a thing? Logan, Logan, Logan…he likes to keep this mother just shy of my own heart palpitations due to anxiety!

P.S. For those of you who are about to email me about taking my child back into that place…I assure you that I am in the process of finding him a doctor in the closest large city from here. (A 45 minute drive I was hoping to avoid but most definitely willing to make!) Nate’s insurance is changing and we’re waiting on our new cards. I have narrowed down the search to a very prominent and highly recommended practice near a credited children’s hospital. We’re just trying to decide on “who” in the practice will get the pleasure of caring for our littlest Maier!

Small-Town Doctors...no thanks!

December is moving right along. I can’t believe next week is Christmas already! The boys and I have all been battling a cold since last week. Cough, sore throat, fevers…just another day in the midst of cold and flu season, right? It did give us an excuse to meet the dr that I tentatively chose while still in CA. Needless to say…we will NOT being sticking with her! During our visit, I was asking her about the closest children’s hospital, she was quick to answer that it was too far for her to drive to do rounds so she won’t admit there. Ummm, okay. As if that wasn’t enough, she then asked me if Logan had any respiratory issues. (Apparently she didn’t even glance at the sheet that the office gave me to fill out, let along the 100 pages I gave them previously to review!) I answered ‘yes’ of course and told her that he usually takes Albuterol when his cough becomes wheezy, etc. She decided to go ahead and “give that a try” and while taking out her Rx pad then asked me what dose she should prescribe for him. What!? She gave me a couple to choose from and I told her I wasn’t comfortable guessing. She then stood up and asked me to go through his chart and find his previous dose and that she would be back. Luckily her nurse (which seemed more qualified to care for my child than the dr was) had the idea to call Walgreens and ask what his previous Rx was and then ordered more based on that. Okay, thank you for your time. (NOT!) She wanted me to make appts with her every 3 months so that she can get to know us. Yeah right!! I quickly paid my copay and ran, not walked to the car with the kids. Dr. Warden…can you make house calls to Indiana…PLEASE??

"Oh Christmas Tree"

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we took the boys along with our friends and their kids to cut down our own Christmas tree. The weather was absolutely perfect (considering the time of year and location in which we now live) and we all had a great time. We took a hayride out to the fields and took our time selecting the "perfect" tree. I can truely say that I've never seen a tree like ours before! Nate says it has 'character'. Ha ha! We hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful season! Merry Christmas to all of you! In His name...Love, The Maiers

Our new ride!

November started out pretty mellow in the Maier home. But with the holidays in full swing now, things are picking up. We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with our friends from W. Sacramento who now live in Indianapolis temporarily. The weather was perfect for the 3 hour drive and our new minivan complete with a DVD player was the icing on the cake! Oh yea…a minivan people! We took the plunge and purchased this little beauty. I never thought I’d be a “minivan” mom but I have to tell ya…it’s the best thing! There’s so much room and did a mention the DVD player? Ahhh, silence on a 3 hour drive is priceless!

October Stuff

The boys have been having a blast with their new surroundings. There are bike and walking trails in Winona Lake so we've been exploring those and collecting leaves for projects. (Pics below.) They've been bike riding, go-cart riding, playing with friends, trick-or-treating (for the first time) and just enjoying being boys. My grandparents came for a week and the boys got to try their hand at fishing with their Papa. It's been fun watching them experience all of this through their eyes. It's more obvious each day that we made the right decision in moving. Luke is doing so well with preschool. I love his teacher, she is so caring and involved. It's everything I hoped for in a preschool. Logan is adjusting well with his children's church class. On the way home from church yesterday he told us about the story of Joshua and how God ordered him and his people to march around the walls of Jericho and the walls fell down. It was heart-warming to hear that he's really participating and learning bible stories. For the first time yesterday, he waved at me when I dropped him off and said "by Mom, have a fun day at church." I've been waiting 3 years for that! So things are settling down for the most part. We've had snow already but nothing that sticks. Nate's been so busy with work and has already been to Texas for 3 days and has another trip this month. I was able to escape and do a little shopping with my girlfriends this weekend. I finally purchased some long-sleeve shirts so I'm a little closer to being prepared for the weather we're having. Well, here are some recent pictures. Bye for now!

Up, Up and Away!

I wanted to share with everyone our adventures in flying with a 3yr old and a 5yr old. They boys did great which means Beckie and I were great too! We each decided to take a child and sit separately. This was a good idea for 2 reasons: each child had our undivided attention with their very own tailored activities, and they weren’t close enough together to fight! Our layover was in Phoenix and we had about an hour. We let the boys run and run until we found the moving sidewalks. That was it…they were hooked! We must have road those things back a forth 10 times. We finally bribed them away with promises of lunch at Burger King. (Never mind that is was only 9am CA time!) We sat fairly peacefully eating our cheeseburgers when I noticed there weren’t any people waiting in line at our terminal…uh oh! We quickly gathered up our things and rushed over just in time to board. Just at the entrance of the plane, the flight attendant locked eyes with me trying to coral my kids and announced over the loud speaker that she had a family with 2 small boys just arriving. The attendant in the back then announced that there were still some double seats together in the back. Halfway through the long line down the isle…they announced again if we were actually on the plane or if they were still waiting for us. Everyone knew exactly who we were by this time…the token “family with 2 small boys”. I can only imagine what the poor men were thinking that were still sitting alone and held the only 2 seats together at the back of the plane!



Here's a picture of Luke and Logan on the moving sidewalk playing the roll of Superman!

Hello Indiana!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been crazy since we’ve arrived in Indiana with little down time. Even as I type this…Grandma and Grandpa are here visiting from Kansas. Our house is wonderful! I have so many awesome plants to care for that I’m afraid I won’t give them the justice they deserve. There’s also a small garden with tomatoes, jalapeño peppers and onions. When do you pick onions? Who knows…not me!!

Our lot is just about a half acre and the boys are enjoying every inch of it! They’re outside most of the day…riding their bikes, making bark stew in one of the 4 bird baths or chatting our neighbor’s ear off! OH! And the neighbors…we’ve had chocolate chip cookies delivered, welcome wishes and more babysitting offers than I know what to do with! Everyone is sooo friendly here!

Nate is enjoying his job (actually ‘enjoying’ doesn’t even come close to covering it!) and I’m afraid he might like them more than us at this point!! The promotion he was to wait a year for actually came last Friday…so things are moving right along for him. I’m so happy that he’s finally happy!

I attended a MOPS meeting this week while my grandparents stayed with the boys. That was fun experiencing a meeting at such a greater scale than I’m used to. I also received the gift of watching a miracle happen while witnessing our friend’s baby arrive into the world last night. How truly amazing!

Luke loves his preschool. I was worried that we’d have a repeat of the drama we went through together when he started last year, but much to my surprise, it was drama free! Logan on the other hand is having a hard time adjusting to children’s church each Sunday. We’re really hoping he comes around…for our sake and the poor volunteers too!

Hope everyone is well! Happy Fall!