Rapid Fire

My darling hubby bought me a new camera for our anniversary!

I'm still trying to figure it out.  It's fancier than my little point and shoot I've been using for the last three years....and I get more fuzzy pictures than I'd like.

BUT.

Every once in a while - I get a SWEET shot like this:

My stargazer lily's finally started blooming on Monday.

They are my favorite flower!

Isn't that color just grand?

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My new camera has a feature where you can hold the button down and it takes pictures like "rapid fire" ammunition!  I decided to do a photoshoot with Eli today:

I only took 337 pictures!

Be glad you only have to look at these few!

LOL!

He was a good sport about it!

Listening to Baby Tad is what was making him laugh.

It's been the toy he's liked the longest.

We own 3! 

They no longer make them, so every once in a while I check ebay and add another to our collection. 

I keep one in the car, too.

It's been soooo HOT here the last several days.   It's consistently 100 degrees, and the house doesn't cool off at night with the windows open.  Ugh.  The A/C is running almost non-stop and I dread the electric bill!

Today was a good day.  I've been going out very early in the morning to water my flowers and plants.  Then barely go outside the rest of the day! 

I did lots of laundry today.

Took a nap with the kid and hubby.  Bliss!

As I was driving home from church on Sunday, on the side of the road there was a sign:  FREE APRICOTS.  So I stopped an took one of the boxes they had sitting there.

Today I put three full trays in the dehydrator.  Yummmm....

And finally, I ate some yummy hummus that I made.

It was a good day!

Sunday, Son Day

Aaaaah, Sunday.  I love my new church so much, that I now look forward to Sunday because I'm so anxious to go.  We recently found a new sitter that may be able to watch Eli one or two Sunday's a month so my hubby and I can go to church together!  I'm so excited....I hope it all works out.

Just wanted to say good morning to my bloggy friends....and leave you with a little comfort:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:2

That verse gives me comfort for the journey I'm on as a Mom to a special needs kiddo.  Have a blessed day everyone!

Seven Years

The hubby and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Sunday.

We arranged for a sitter, and we went out to dinner at Olive Garden!

I think that was our 3rd or 4th nighttime date in 4 years! :)

We took this self-portrait in downtown Yakima, in front of the historic Larson Building.

It is an amazing Art Deco building with marble floors and cool light fixtures and elevators.

I finally got to see inside it, just last year, when Lonnie and I went and had a will drawn up by a lawyer who worked in this building. I was smitten as soon as I walked through the front doors.

So, if you're ever in Yakima....and you love history....and Art Deco....check it out. Or visit the link I gave you above to find out more about it.

Happy Anniversary Lon. We made it another year! :)

The Annual Summer Stoma Infection

I believe this is the third summer in a row that Eli has gotten a nasty stoma infection. (stoma = hole in his tummy that the G-tube is in) When the weather gets hot....his tummy becomes a sauna. Bacteria and Yeast decide to take over. Yuck. It hurts him and I hate it.

{I'll spare you from seeing a pic - it's not fun} {you're welcome!}

He's been fighting this one for two weeks. It's looking better, but he's having discharge during sleep and waking up with a moist belly (as he sleeps on his tummy all night)....and then the stoma looks red again. By evening it looks great as we keep meds on it all day...I haven't experienced this night time leaking before...and I'm going to get concerned if it doesn't go away soon!

The doctor had prescribed a sulfar based anti-biotic at first. Eli had a bad reaction. It gave him a tummy ache, woke him up in the middle of the night and he was miserable for two hours, and then the next day he had weird rashes on his legs! We quit giving it after only two doses...and quickly made a note of it for future reference!!!

Our doctor came up with the brilliant idea to treat Eli's stoma infections, by using anti-biotic EAR drops on Eli's stoma.

A) You can drop them right on the infection.

B) They are safe for the g-tube, because they are safe for ear-tubes!!

We've been using the Tobramycin drops (for the bacteria - it was cultured at the dr. office to find out what exactly it needed to fight it) and some Nystop powder (for the yeast that showed up in the culture) 3-4 times a day for two weeks. It wasn't healing completely, so we finally started giving him the Amoxacillin anti-biotic a few days ago. Doctor prescribed 5mls - twice a day, we are giving 2.5 mls - twice a day.

The number one thing we've learned along our journey is: WE have to decide what is best for our son! No one is going to come knocking on our door and say "Hey have you tried this?" or "Hey, have you heard of this?" Sometimes we feel very alone. We almost always tweak whatever the doctor tells us. They give their best opinion, based on what has worked for others in this "population". (Yeah, that's what they call kids like Eli in the medical world. Hate it, but it's efficient, I guess.)

But, ultimately, Eli's body is very sensitive to all changes. Anything going IN him needs to be carefully decided upon, and monitored closely! We keep track of everything, everyday, in a notebook. It sits on the kitchen counter. All foods, meds, naps, diapers, teeth brushing, therapies, trips to town, behaviors, wake up time, bed time, and amount of his night feed, etc... get written down! Then at night, I have a small notebook by my bed, that I keep track of night time happenings. Wake ups, stirrings, spit-ups, etc.

THESE BOOKS ARE INVALUABLE!! If Eli starts to have an off day, we can look back and see what's different....that might be causing him discomfort. Not to mention the fact, we can look back and see what we used to do, and how much he really has changed! :)

So, what tips can you share about caring for your special needs children? Feel free to leave a tip in my comments, or a link to one of your blog posts!

Thanks!

Uninspired

I've been feeling very uninspired to write on my blog this last week. I don't know why. Sometimes I feel like "do people really care about what I have to say?" or "do people really want to see more pics of my flowers?" Then I remember. "Oh, yeah. This is my blog. It's my journal for me to remember things that happen along our journey." I sometimes struggle with how I want to come across on here. Am I writing TO my readers or FOR my readers? I've decided I like to write for them. If you like it you'll come back, right? If not, you won't. But, I'll still have information about our daily life recorded for my future reference. What a great medium for memories!

I have to say how happy I am that I have so many new blog readers lately!! Many new families with special needs kiddo's have found me, and I'm building new relationships. It's the best part of the blog world! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY. I couldn't do what I do without the support I've found online. To know I am not alone in this adventure. As new families find me, I try to add them to my sidebar.
Eventually I'm going to reorganize my sidebar blogs into categories, so all the families with special needs kids are in one section and we can all find each other easier!

So, as a quick catch up for the last week:

My sister Shiela and her husband Joe came to visit Sunday til Tuesday. We took a drive up to Wenas Lake, I got some really great pictures of them on her camera, and then we went to this Aspen Tree Forest that I just LOVE and hadn't had the opportunity to photograph yet.

I just love how tall they are, with just canopies at the top!

My sister got even better pictures with her camera, which is much better than mine. I really love the panoramic she got. You can see it on her blog, here.

Their dog, Tucker, enjoyed the drive, too!

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I decided to take them by our Mom's old place. My family will appreciate how nicely the new owners have fixed the place up! They painted the exterior and trim, added new flower beds, a new row of arborvitaes on the other side, put in new vinyl windows, and continued trimming the arborvitaes so you can actually get out of your car in the driveway! Doesn't it look so much nicer?

Here is Eli with his Auntie Shiela:

No - he's not asleep - just cuddling :)

Cuckoo For Canteloupe

Zeke is hanging in there. Still eating, drinking, pottying, walking, sleeping, and loving.

Can't put him down when he's just a little old and slow!! Right?

Is it the canned cat food? Is it the cat nip?

I don't know....but I can tell you this.....

ZEKE IS CUCKOO FOR CANTELOUPE!

Life In General

It's been a tough week around here. Both Lonnie and I have been sorting through our emotions regarding his job loss. And to top it off, Lonnie's cat Zeke is not doing well. He's had him for about 12 years...and he has kidney failure. Zeke will get his own special post later this week :)
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Lately, Eli has reverted back to his winter sleep habit of waking up in the 4 o'clock hour! Really. It's not my favorite thing. Like clockwork, he starts stirring every morning at about 4:10. It's obviously his sleep rhythym cycle is ending. Sometimes I turn his pump off, to try and get another half hour of sleep out of him, but today, I decided to just turn his pump down to a slower rate, and he ended up sleeping until 6:15 am! More food and more sleep. Bonus!! Of course, I woke up at 5:52 with a start! Thinking, "what time is it? why is Eli still asleep? Shoot, he needs his Ativan!"

So, I got up and this is what I found:

Now to the untrained eye, this is just a picture of a kid sleeping in a bed. To us, this is the sign of a kid learning to move his own body into comfy sleeping positions! These pictures have more to them than meets the eye!

• He started out with his head about a foot higher than it is here.
• His pajamas pants are now shorts, because of the skooching down!
• He LOVES to kick his covers off so his little feet are out!
• Just a few months ago, he learned to get his arms down by his side! So cool!
• This isn't new, but for some reason he likes to sleep with his head almost face down. I turn it whenever I check on him, but he always goes back to the "suffocation pose". Not my personal favorite!

(FYI: He sleeps on lots of layers, including a hospital pad, just in case there is a problem with is feeding line....if it ends up leaking, we don't have to change all his bedding. Just the top layers! Shoot - I could do a whole post about those mishaps. Ugh. Not fun to wake up in the middle of the night and your poor baby is drenched in formula. Worst part is, it was usually MY fault because I was so stink'n tired I left a port open or something! Bad memories!)

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Next is our Peanut boy. So cute tucked in the [spider infested, no doubt] bushes on the side of the house. Lon found him and took this picture:

Today, I was trying to get a good closeup of my sweet cat Piper, but ended up getting a great one of Peanut!

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NOW THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL A "HEAD" OF LETTUCE!

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The huge dandelion finally bloomed in our yard, and I was able to get some of these cool shots. I've seen other photographers take them and just loved 'em - so was anxious to get some of my own - now that I know how to use the macro feature on my camera!

Last week, Lon and I were able to go on a date using some movie money I got for Christmas. We went to see My Sister's Keeper. I liked it. It's a total chick flick! If you are in need of a good sinus clean-out go see it. The critics dogged it. It's totally heart-wrenching and very dramatic. Lon thought it was way over the top. To a man it probably was.

But, as the mom of a special needs kid, I saw things in it that the average movie-goer probably doesn't catch in the same way. I don't want to tell you stuff, in case you want to see it. But, I do have to give kuddo's to Cameron Diaz. She's never been my favorite actress or anything, but she did an awesome job in this show as the mom. I can't get the final scene out of my head. Totally worth the $6 matinee price!

I Shall Not Want

I get a daily devotional in my inbox every morning and you know what today's verse was?

Psalm 23:1 - "The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not want."

Ok, Lord. I'm leaning on you heavily as you take us through another valley of life.

My dear hubby was laid off yesterday.  This is a huge blow to our family.  When you have a special needs child this is one of those things you don't even want to think about happening!

But, God has a plan!  I cling to the scriptures.  God is my rock and my fortress....of whom shall I fear?

And if you have it in your heart to send a prayer up for my hubby and his job hunt, we'd greatly appreciate it!

Have a Happy 4th of July everyone.  We'll just be hanging out at home...