Healing... life goes on

It has been a long while since I last posted. I am very happy to report that we are doing well and other than a few issues that we are still fighting, we are healthy and thriving.  Wince my last post, we have added another little one to our family, Elijah, who is now almost 9 months old.  He has some issues with yeast....due to the mold and the yeast that I had in my body when I was pregnant with him, but he is a very healthy and adorable little guy.  We continue to fight the yeast issue....all of us do.  I have had thrush and mastitis due to yeast three times in the 8.5 months that I have been nursing Eli.  Eli gets thrush often and he has also had issues with sebboreic dermatitis (due to yeast/candida).
       Lexi is now 6.5 years old and getting ready to start first grade!  I cannot believe how grown up she is becomming and I am so very proud of her.  Alivia is now 4 years old and will be starting preschool in a few weeks.  I am amazed that my "baby" is starting school and she is just such a sweetheart.  Lexi and Livie are both doing very well, health wise.  Last Summer (2011) they both had a terrible time with her scalp and skin.  She was incredibly broken out in the skin lesions and they also was losing their hair...again.  It was very devestating. Livie was actually alot worse than Lexi, when in the past Lexi had always been the one that was worse. We went into a lake on a family vacation in July 2011 and that caused a terribe reaction.  The girls were both a mess!  I was at the end of my rope with this stuff...having fought the issues for a year and a half at that point with nothing really working.  The kids' pediatrician gave me the name of a pediatric dermatologist that was supposed to be really really good.  So...I called him. He was absolutely great and he figured out what was wrong and treated the girls.  The medications that they were on (oral lamisil) for 2 months, was a pain in the rear.  It tasted awful and only comes in the form of a pill, so I had to hold them down to get them down them a few times.  It was very stressful...but...it worked.  They went from being completely broken out and losing all their hair in big patches, to having no skin lesions and their scalp beginning to heal....and their hair beginning to grow back. That was a year ago and we have all been really good since then, until just the last few weeks.  We have some skin lesions again...and Livie has a spot on her head again.  I took her back to the specialist last week and they dont think that it is the fungal infection again.  We got a special shampoo and hopefully that will kick it.  We also started out probiotics again.  I think we need to just stay on those.  I keep trying to wean us off because they are expensive (about 20 bucks a month for me, 20 a month for Kurt, and 15 a month for each child).  Everytime I wean us off of them though, before long we have some issues again.  I am hoping that the combo of the probiotics and the fungal shampoo will kick Livie's scalp issue and some lotrimen will cure the skin lesions.....we will see.  I will be taking her back to the dr in a few weeks if they are not better, or if they are worse.  I am very happy to report that this last Fall/Winter was the first sick season since this all happened that we were not all VERY ill all season.  The last few Fall/Winters we have had illness after illness and had major problems with our sinuses.  It seems that we are healing and our bodies are all beginning to build our immune systems back up.