♥♥♥You know........♥♥♥

that you know too much about medical things when you:

• restart the little guy on anti-fungal meds without talking with the doctors
• have to explain to the home health agency person on the phone that you need a catheter, ileostomy bags, g-tube supplies, and more ostomy clips
• miss giving a dose of antibiotic and don't worry about making it up
• recognize yeast starting under the ostomy bag

J has been getting too big for the paper diapers and we've wanted to switch to cloth diapers, but couldn't find one that the size charts said would fit him and give that extra leeway we needed for his ileostomy bag. And to tell the truth, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the diaper choices out there. I mean, there are pockets, fitted, contour, covers, inserts, doublers, etc.... and how is one suppose to know what's what?!?!  As part of a homeschool project and (kinda of a stress reducer for me) Momma and I have been working on a review and giveaway blog. Through twitter, I've met several moms who cloth diaper their babies, and one mom in particular has been really helpful. A week ago, she sent us a cloth diaper she had for us to use on J. It fit him perfectly, with room to spare. When I first put the diaper on J, he gave this big sign of relief and was so upset when we had to take the diaper off to wash it. The same night the diaper came, Momma and I found a site and ordered him 12 more of the same kind of diapers. They came this Monday and we washed them that night and since Tuesday, J has been in cloth diapers all the time.

Something I've learned with cloth diapers is, you can't judge how much they wet the diaper by feeling it, while they are still wearing said diaper. I left J in a cloth diaper for 6 hours and pushed fluids, because I thought "he isn't drinking enough, he's still really dry!"... When I took the diaper off, it was slightly wet soaked!!!

I'm waaayyyy behind on school and today, I asked Momma if I could stop the book I'm currently working on since I'm over 2/3 of the way through and so now I'm working on a placement test to see which book I will/can move too.  I love the thrill and tension of math, but it sometime seems that I've already seen that particular problem multiple times before.

Did you know that there are degrees in Graphic Design? I didn't... but I do enjoy some of the benefits that come from graphics, coupled with a well-designed site. I was looking at a program for graphic design that some blog designers use and then I noticed the price tag.......... over $600 dollars for this one software program! Ouch!


We've been doing some cleaning around here and I was told that our my nightstand that K and I share was a (putting it mildly) big mess. So, I spent some time cleaning it out and sorting through our piles. I came across my journal from our trip to Minnesota in 2008 and read through it. Something I had written down was a quote from a friend, 'why use one word when you can use twenty!'. I'm afraid that is rather me. I can go on and on about one particular subject and then change it without a moment of warning. My poor Momma is often the subject of my scattered thoughts.


I'm hoping to post pictures soon, but a little someone who shall remain nameless has dropped the camera once again... there is talk of said person buying a camera of their own so that they don't break any more cameras.  I'm thinking about getting a camera to use, but then I look at the prices and my bank account and they suffer large differences in the monetary factor.


A fun bit for you, I learned recently how to make hearts. On the computer for blogger!

here's how it works...
♥
& hearts ; remove the spaces and hit preview and your ♥ will appear. Now I want to learn how to make stars! lol!

and don't write Whala.... write Voila. It's French! ;)

Good night!

Lemonade Stand Award

 

Hannah over at Hannah's Hangout - The Writings of a Christian Girl very sweetly gave me the Lemonade Stand award! Thank you for thinking of me Hannah!

Here are the rules:

- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

I've seen this award all over the blog-sphere, so I don't know if I'm awarding people who already have the award or not! But I would like to award:

♥ McKenzie @ Pecan Pastures

♥ My mom @ One Big Adventure

♥ Abigail @ Amazed by Grace

♥ Mia @ Aspiring Homemaker

♥ Mrs. Marcy @ Six Olive Plants

♥ Mrs. Patrice @ Williams Family Blog

♥ Mrs. Jamie @ M&M's from Mexico

♥ Southerngrits @ Girls Raised In The South 

♥ Lydia @ It's a Beautiful Life

♥ Jenna @ Feminine Farmgirl 

Thank you again Hannah for nominating me!

Computer Problems

Friday morning, the computer cord died. Since then, we haven't had access to the internet at home. I've rather enjoyed not having the computer, since it's allowing me to catch up on reading. I read 39 Steps by John Buchan. 39 Steps is also an Alfred Hitchcock movie, that I've also watched. I'm of the opinion that the book is better than the movie, but I think that watching the movie helped me understand the book better.
I'm also currently reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll... It's a very interesting book and it's taking me much longer to read. I'm about half-way through it in two days. It's not about ghosts, but about the CIA, Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the various guerilla type leaders that the US supported with financial aid and arms. The book covers the time from 1979 to September 10th, 2001. Sometimes, I come across something I don't know about and wish I had the computer to look it up. But with not having the computer, we'll get to go to the library more often.

Today, Momma, J, and I are in Atlanta for several appointments for J. J also got his Beads of Courage today. He has four strands full of beads, telling his journey through leukemia and treatment. It's really impressive and I'm hoping to get pictures up soon. Currently, we are at the hospital library using the computers. J is wandering around in between watching Superman on the TV (naturally it's George Reeves.... since he's the best one :*))....

Since we haven't been on the computer, we've spent more time together and quoted movies scripts and other things we've seen.

C~ (reading from Genesis during devotions) 'and Sarah convinced' and had a baby. She did this twice in a row, saying 'convinced' instead of 'conceived'.

K and I were talking to Momma and Daddy in the kitchen and we were quoting from books, movies and coming up with our own things... when Momma said something about we were making a good case for getting rid of the TV as well. K said 'Spoiled Sport', just like Sylvester in Looney Tunes. It was the perfect imitation and since then, we've said 'spoiled sport' instead of 'party-pooper'.

B and C are enjoying all the new books from the library and B is starting to read books on her own inititive. She read 'Dolphin Adventure: a true story' in one morning and started '39 Steps' last night. C is often found curled up in a chair reading books and then she'll come to Momma, K or myself asking for a new book to read. What have you been reading this week?

Well, I'd better close for now... I have a few more things to check while we have access to the internet. Don't expect anything in the next week, since I'm not sure when we'll go to the library!

In pictures

 

I got up this morning... 

 

got dressed... to the shoes!

Then the mail lady came... in the package was this apron. I put it on!

 

and started  these new recipes for bread, cookies, crackers and chocolate cobbler.

 

and soaked the flour and oats in bowls on the table, because I had leftover whey from making..

this! 

 

Then I made dinner... with a side of 

mexican roasted potatoes and 

 

these, from the freezer.

 

In the evening, we read and sang.

 

and J played 'throw the blocks on the floor and have Hannah pick them up'.

 

Then some went to bed....

 

and K listened to some videos of Sissel singing on youtube....

 

then she went to bed.

 

and I stayed up... finishing up some projects....

 

and writing a blog post...

 

I was going to tell you how I sneaked beef liver into....

 

Monday's dinner and no one knew...

 

the looks on their faces, when I told them...

 

was priceless!!!

 

And then she said: 'And to all... a good night!'

picture credits

Busy, Busy, Busy and a giveaway, too!

 We've been busy here the last couple weeks. On the 10th, we had several families over for Epiphany and I don't have any pictures from that... sorry! McKenzie or Mr. Daniel - would you email some of the pictures to me, pleeeaaassseeee. On the 17th, we had our first overnight visitors since August of 2005! 'J' made a new friend and 'C' and 'B' loved playing baseball with Mr. Norm and Mrs. Sally! I think we might have talked their ears off :)...

I've also been working on another project. Last October, I was reading a food blog and noticed a link to a giveaway for baby shoes. I visited the site and entered several of the giveaways there. I actually won something, too. It was a cute, but extremely expensive baby blanket!!! I've been entering other giveaways since then and started another blog to blog about giveaways (and earn extra entries :*)). I really wanted to host giveaways myself. But after thinking about it for a long time, I decided that I wasn't going to try and get people to sponsor giveaways on my blog. A day or two later, I got an email from a company asking if I wanted to review their product and host a giveaway. So... tomorrow morning, I am posting my first giveaway. A natural shielding lotion and I am really impressed with it. I'd like to invite you to come and enter the giveaway too.

A week ago, 'J''s surgeon called Momma and told her we could start putting his ostomy output into in mucous fistula, which is the other end of his colon. I'm excited that we have made it this far and I'm not looking forward to doing this next phase. The surgeon told Momma to contact a nurse practitioner to see about supplies. Momma talked to Mrs. Brenda, the NP, this week and Mrs. Brenda told her that she can set us up with a special pump and catheter to run the output in overnight... This is going to be interesting! 'J' appears to be doing better with the saline and kefir flushes now and I'm glad for that. Flushing him can be a problem and it takes a long time. I'm always glad when he falls asleep during flushing, because that makes it go easier for both of us.

Momma asked me to take over dinner meals this week and I've been finding it easier to come up with meals that all of us can eat. If any of you have suggestions for meals, I'd love to hear them. Tonight we had Daddy's Egg Bake! I used mozzarella I made today and ricotta from the last batch of mozzarella I froze. It was pretty good, but needed something else to help the texture. I think the ricotta made it 'grainy'! I've got an idea for tomorrow's dinner, but need to finalize it :)...

Got a few things to check on and finish, so I'll say g'nite!

~Hannah