Balch Family Blog

We had a blast in NYC and went from Harlem in upper Manhatten to the water to visit our Statue of Liberty. We walked from Time Square to Rockerfella Center up to FAO Schwartz in Central Park. The boys did great and we rode the Hop On Hop Off bus all over town. We went to the memorial for 9/11 aqnd the World Trade Centers. It was good but sad. I can’t imagine how grand the towers were when they stood. We went to the top of the Empire State building and looked out over the city. Truly AMAZING! We had dinner one night in Little Italy and one night at the Stage Door Deli. We travelled by car to Hamburg yesterday and hung out at the house today. More details and pictures to come!

I have been consciously stopping what I am doing to listen to Carsten. He has been talking so much! He has been getting quite creative with the stories he tells using words, gestures, sound effects and motions. It is so sweet! He has even been making up his own songs and signing them for us at the dinner table. He has the sweetest voice and I love the way he says “Yes!”

Our New York trip is right around the corner! We can’t wait. While Ken is feeling better and doing well, the stress of traveling would be too much. He and my mom will not be joining us on our trip. I will post lots of stories and pictures about our adventures in The Big Apple!

Camden has almost completed one quarter of his first year of school. I even noticed that not once last week did he say he doesn’t like school or doesn’t want to go. So that is a big step for him! Mark and I both volunteered in his class last week. Mark was a guest reader and got to go to lunch with him and I got to go to his Discovery Science class to help them with a paper making project. It was a lot of fun. We’ve got a handle on the homework thing too. We do a couple of the assignments over the weekend so we don’t have to do one on Wed and Thur night. Those are still rough evening for us. Camden is tired after 3 days of school and it shows when he gets home.

Carsten is doing well. His poor voice is almost gone. He had allergy induced croup this last week. We got right on top of it with steroids and he was feeling better pretty quickly, but since Sat afternoon his voice comes and goes. He is doing great with his vocabulary. He has too many words to count now. He has started to combine a few to make 2 word phrases but one of the words is always Mom, Dad, or Camden.

We are getting very excited about Fall Break and heading to New York. It is going to be a great trip. Our only concern at the moment is for Ken (my stepdad). He has been in the hospital for the last few days with acute pancreatitis. They have him eating again but he has developed a fever so they are watching him. We hope that he may come home tomorrow on a new low fat/fat free diet and a follow up appointment with the GI doctor 4 weeks later. We are praying for a quick and thorough recovery so that both of them can still go. Neither mom or Ken has ever been to NYC. It will be my first time too. Any prayers for Ken would be very much appreciated.

UPDATE: Ken came home from the hospital this afternoon. He gets to make the call about New York depending on how he feels.

I have many food allergies, most of which I either deal with the effects or I avoid the food. Bananas bother me at times but not often and I love avocados so much that I will put up with the itching to eat those. I avoid all melons, their taste doesn’t outweigh the allergic reaction.

I now have to add kiwi to the list. I went shopping this weekend and I thought the boys might like kiwi since it is so different and has such a sweet taste. I took one slice before giving it to them. The reaction happened so quickly it was overwhelming. No sooner had I swallowed the piece of kiwi then my throat started to itch all the way up into my ears. I felt a slight swelling and it was difficult and painful to swallow. I took children’s benadryl and a choltrimatron.

I made it through dinner and at 7:00 I was so sleepy Mark said to go lay down in bed. I woke up 11 hours later. Crazy! Needless to say, but I am not eating KIWI again! Or taking that much allergy medicine.

Mark came home on Friday night and we set up our big family tent up in our living room. Carsten had gone to bed already, but Camden and Mark hung out in the tent. They ate grahams with chocolate frosting (indoor S’mores) and watch science stuff on TV. Camden and Carsten played in it on Saturday as well. Lots of fun!

It didn’t feel much like a weekend. We mostly stayed home and cared for Camden. He did well Sunday morning and then crashed in the afternoon with high fevers again. Fortunately, that was the last of it. He made it all day yesterday without a fever. Yeah! He also took care of the constipation issue last night. He is going to school today, although he is not very happy about it.

I went to bed last night with a slight tickle in my throat and now have a big sore throat! I have one more day off before I go back to work tomorrow. I hope to be able to rest and get healthy. I guess it is that time of year.

I hope all of you are feeling well!

Our “We Survived the First Three Weeks of Kindergarten” party was last Sunday. It was very nice! We had 2 of his friends come over and they really enjoyed themselves.

Camden did not go to school on Thurs or Fri this last week. He had been running a fever and complaining of a sore tummy. This continued and I decided to take him to the doctor Fri afternoon. She had some concerns about his fever and tummy ache and ordered some x-rays. We went this morning. That was a little scary for Camden but he did eventually let them take the x-rays. They even let him check them out! Doctor put STAT on the orders and she called with results about an hour after we left. Camden has a sinus infection that is to blame for his fever. He is also quite constipated and that explains his tummy ache. We hope he will be feeling better soon!

I was leaving a meeting at 3:00 this afternoon and had to wait for it to stop raining sideways before leaving. I thought I would go early to get a good spot for Kindergarten pick up. Well, I was not the only person with that idea. It was crazy! A tree at the school had been blown down and recycle bins all over the neighborhood were on their sides and in the middle of the street. There is another storm in the forecast for tomorrow. I love storms!

I am so proud! Camden is doing such a great job with drop off and lining up for school. Today I watched as he played on the playground and ran to line up when the whistle blew without skipping a beat! It is fantastic to have him go without a fight.

Wednesdays are still hard in the evening. After 3 days of school he is tired. He had a small meltdown last night but it did not last long which was good!

He still tells me that he doesn’t want to go to school but that he understands he has too!

Yeah!

I feel like I should write a book. I would call it Confessions of a Kindergarten Mom. I would fill it with stories from my kindergartener, about my feelings, and other useless information. I am sure no one would publish it and I doubt anyone would care to read it, but it might be therapeutic for me.

Our second week of Kindergarten is over. We had 3 good drop off days in a row. Camden is very tired when he gets home and that turns to anger and naughty behavior sometimes. We are all working through it just trying to survive each moment.

We are looking forward to the weekend. It should be good!