A Reminder!

Don't forget! Tomorrow is Fix-it Friday! So far we have learned how to cook and make helicopters, we have been awestruck and edified and last but not least, entertained.
There are TWO, yes TWO ways you can participate. You can think of something you enjoy doing, and if you don't feel like putting up directions on how to do it, find a website that shows it instead, talk about easy. Or you can just put a post on something you would like to learn, or a website that inspires you. Drop me a line in the comments, or an email, lakotajo2 at msn dot com and I will put you up front and center on my blog on Friday. Friday counts too, I check fairly often, so if you put something up, I should have it up sometime that day.
The other and probably MOST important way of participating is to stop by the links and give some proper internet lurve and appreciation for the participants of Fix-it Friday. So put your thinking caps on, I know you know how to do something! Shop? Eat? Make/cook/craft something? The welcome mat is out and feel free to come in, sit down with a cup of warm cocoa or wassail and share your talents!

Can I Pretend It Is Still Monday?

It was after 9:30 last night before I got to the computer to post for Mountain Monday and then I was just too tired, so I went to bed. So I am just going to pretend that today was Monday instead. A new storm came in Sunday and yesterday and I think they said another one is coming in tomorrow. I just peeked out the window, yup, the mountains are covered in clouds again. Without further ado:






Snow and more snow. Actually, lately, it looks like this, snow, melt, freeze into ice, snow, melt, freeze into ice, repeat ad nauseum.

And because I use Mountain Monday, even the pretend ones to showcase my favorite pictures from the week, here ya go! (Watch out for cuteness though!)

One of the fun things about owning a very easy going dog is torturing the poor thing with CLOTHES! ha ha! I bought him a hunters cap.



I had to do some serious bribing to get him to put his ears up. But it worked.



My Pea. Can you believe her DADDY did her hair?? We were all wildly impressed.



An oldie but a goodie, everyone gets at least one of these when they are a baby pictures:



Wearing her daddie's beanie:



Playing in a box or is that eating one?



Wheeeee!



It is true, I am surrounded by cuteness!

Sabbath Updates

After sneezing a good bit yesterday, I am now the not so proud owner of a new head cold. And guess who went manic yesterday? Sigh, it was a nice thought while it lasted, the food and the mood. I am not quite ready to give it up completely though, because he is a much nicer manic than usual.

It Is Fix-it Friday Again!

You might think I am silly, but you can't believe how much I am enjoying fix-it Fridays. I think and think about what I am going to put up and I just about get giddy thinking about what other people are going to share too! It is true, I am easily amused, but still, fix-it Friday is a big favorite of mine right now.

Katie , from A View from the hill shows us how to make these spinner, helicopter craft from paper, with a free pattern! (She had me at free pattern) Great for any age from 5 to to I won't grow up and adults can have fun too.

Eliza's Mom's beautiful and talented sous chef is back for a sequel in the Best Appetizer Ever!

There are TWO, yes TWO ways you can participate in Fix-it Friday. First, you can think of something you would like to share. Any bit of knowledge, anything you love to do, any website that has taught you something, feel free to drop me either an email, lakotajo2 at msn dot com, or in the comment box and I will put you up front and center on Fix-it Friday AND I will send some loving your way.
Two, please drop by the links and take a look at what someone decided they wanted to share with YOU! Yes YOU! You are the center of the universe, come on, admit it and this post was written for you. So go on over and give some love to our talented participants.

Fix-it Friday

HTML coding. What do you know about HTML coding? If you already know, then feel free to skip on to my linky goodness! HTML coding is what you tell the computer to display on the internet. If you have a blog, then sites like Blogger and Typepad use html to "code" what you have written. It begins with a set of brackets <> and ends with the same brackets and a slash This tells the computer where to stop and start. So you want a different color for your sentence? How about aquamarine? or how about Or maybe blue? There are thousands of colors to choose from. Ever wondered how to do a streakout strikeout? My favorite html trick is to have my links pop up in a new window so you don't have to backspace to get to back to the original page.
It is super easy, really truly. I am quite the novice at html, but I really enjoy doing it. Probably because I can tell it what to do and it does it as long as I input the info correctly. Unlike my children, which is a losing battle trying to get them to do anything!
From now on, when I use the html coding, I will put a big @ in the front and back so you can see it. If I didn't, the internet would not be able to tell the difference and would hide the html code and do what I said, instead of just showing you!
You use this code to change the color: <@FONT style="color:######;">type what you want to see here<@/FONT> (copy and paste the text, remove the @ from the "sentence" and put in the color code you want) Here is the basic color code list . For the basic list, you can use the name, like aquamarine, or the number like 7FFFD4 instead of the ######.
<> these brackets tell the internet where to start, and the brackets plus the slash tell it where to stop.< / >
I am hoping I am not too confusing. But even if I am, I am leaving you my links to my very favorite HTML tutorials, so you too can learn how to code and be all snotty proud you know how to use HTML!
Personally, since I seem to be unwilling to memorize all the html coding I use, I got to my favorite site, copy and paste into blogger and then add the text and/or links I want to use. Lazy? Yes. But also very accurate, so I am not going back and looking for mistake when I hit preview and it isn't doing what I asked it to do.

Linky Goodness: Both of the next two sites have step by step tutorials to teach you how to use HTML coding.
Visit W3Schools!

This next one, click on the link, scroll down the page until you get to Basic HTML: Introduction, that link and the next six will take you through a step by step tutorial in coding.
HTML Primer

There are lots more tutorials and books available. If you have any favorites, please share! I gave you two that are easy for me to navigate. Good luck with your very own html coding!

***Update on the State of the Boy*** His good mood continues. Normally I would be concerned that his laughter was the beginning of a manic state, but he continues to be just easier to deal with, more reasonable and altogether a different child. Smiles and laughter continue much to our delight. Wow. Breaks my heart to think that basically starving (under 500 calories a day) was a part of his foulness. We shall see, we shall see. I don't want to say the Fat Lady is singing, but I do believe she is starting her warm up here at Casa De Tangled.

DON'T FORGET!

Tomorrow is Fix-it Friday, so be thinking about what you would like to post. Either email me or leave a comment and I will make sure your link is front and center!

Smiles and DME Woes

We had an appt at Sick Kids R Us yesterday and all went well. Little Man's feedings are going very well now, finally. We had tried to give him 200mls (just under a cup) over an hour at each feed, but it was too much. Then we moved down to 100mls over an hour and we got the same reaction, crying, bloating and a lot of pain. So now we have moved him to continuous feeds at 45mls over an hour.
I am seeing a boy I had forgotten even existed. He is smiling and laughing again. After thinking about it, we realized very sadly the last time we really saw him happy and laughing for more than just a minute or two was before Thanksgiving. He is such a complicated child and sometimes we don't stay on top of every aspect of his care and needs. He had another good day today, so we are wondering if practically starving for more than a year affected his mood. He also seems to be sleeping better. This is his third night on continuous feeds, so we shall see.
Yesterday after the boy's appt we went to Build A Bear. I had heard from some other g-tube mommies that they will sew in a tube for your child. I had gotten an extra tube from Child Life at Sick Kids R Us so we requested they sew it in on the animal Little Man picked. It is a stegosaurus but we call him a Tube-a-sarus. Little Man was a delight to take there and he so enjoyed himself. The sad part was how surprised I was at his sweet behavior. It has been a very long time since I haven't had to battle him tooth and nail for just about everything, even stuff he is supposed to be having fun doing. Not yesterday. I spent more than I should have, but I do not regret it!

Look! A smile!


Here is Teddy the Tube-a-saur getting his tube




A hug for Teddy



Teddy getting his first "bath"



Another smile, can you believe it??



Giving Teddy his name (this took some time, but Little Man was so patient and cooperative, it blew my mind!)



Getting dressed.


The final product:



The best part? I enjoyed it too. On one hand, I wish it weren't such a surprise that I had fun with him and that he had fun too, and on the other hand I am so incredibly grateful for being to enjoy this with him. Build a Bear rocks in my book. They were wonderful! Patient and so very sweet. He even got a sticker for being a special and brave boy. And he is. His life is filled with trials, but he is always trying hard to push past his limitations. He really is a little hero.

DME= Durable Medical Equipment, or the various tubes, tapes, and gee gaws that are necessary for the very un natural way of feeding our son. Today, Little Man went back to school, but I had to go pick him up early because the one extension we had basically broke and the other extensions they sent us were the wrong ones! He couldn't go through most of the day without being fed, so I had to go get him. Home health was able to rustle one up in Salt Lake City and drove it to our house. This was our first DME disaster, but I am sure it will not be the last.
I can hardly wait for tonight and tomorrow to get here to see if he sleeps well and is in a good mood. Wouldn't it be wonderful if his g tube helped him be a happier boy? We would all be thrilled.

Mountain Monday, Without the Mountains!

This is my late assignment from last week, I hope I still get credit for it.
This is the view from the hospital window at Large City Sick Kids R Us.



I thought the lights looked pretty




This, my friends, is the view from my window today:



I am fairly sure if I drove a couple of miles from here I would find the mountains intact behind the curtain of clouds, but from my window, I can not be certain.

You know I use Mountain Moday as a way to showcase the cuteness in my life. I will save the cutest for last, so you are forewarned! If there are any cute overdose deaths out there, it is your own fault! Be prepared!

As you can tell from the today's MM pic, there has been a lot of snowing happening in our fair city. Jack does not like it.





He was not amused at having snow up to his um... boy parts, nor his snout!



Here he is investigating someones boot print:



More snow:



And more:



Inside, the Ikea animals I bought for my grand babies have had to cuddle up for warmth! Pea put the mommy animals to bed with their babies.



Here she is posing with the whole farm:



I gotta say, I do LOVE Ikea!

I got to see my little June bug before Little Man's surgery. Here she is, enjoying her Little Man:



Here she is with her new hat, made with much love by her very own Grandma!






Clunk! I don't know about you, but that last picture slays me! I think Little Man and I are going to venture out to the movies today, wish us luck!

Fix-it Friday!

Oh boy I am soooo excited! The links are coming in and EVERYONE is doing such a wonderful job. This is exactly what I was thinking I would totally love to read. Here ya go! (Don't worry, I will update as comments are added. Links posted in the order they were submitted.)

Katie from the View From the Hill has a link to some wooly goodness and you know I love me some wooly stuff of all kinds!

Eliza's Mom has an amazing easy recipe and the cutest assistant ever. Sorry, cute assistant not included, even if you make her recipe.

If you are anything like me Gawdess' post will amaze and inspire you!


Klynn from Southern Mediocrity left us a handy dandy tip in the comments that is anything but mediocre. It would have never occured to me to use my kitchen utensil for that purpose, but I will be from now on!


And ta da! Jo's Fix-it Friday Post!

How to Tube Feed Your Kid

Tired of trying to beg your kid to eat? Sick of coaxing, cajoling and begging the little critter to please, please just take one more bite? Exhausted from trying to balance your precious child's nutrients? Well you too can just feed your kid EXACTLY what they need, and how much they need without them making any fuss or having any say so what so ever! The controlling mother's dream come true!!!
First, get the GI doctor to install a handy dandy tubie straight into your child's stomach. This is a PEG tube.



Don't forget to wash your hands! (with all the hand washing, my hands are in need of come good lotion!)
Now take your Kangaroo Joey pump bag set




(the bag has the long tubing already installed, so no need to spike a bag or anything) and pour the warmed formula in the top of the bag, removing as much air as possible.




Next, thread the tubing through the top of the pump. They even have a diagram of how to do it. It is easier than threading your sewing machine, honest! You will have to stretch the tubing to get it all the way around the sprocket. Don't be afraid, it is way stretchier than you think.



Push the power button on the pump


and after it starts, you will want to push this button, the Priming one. (Isn't it cute? The company calls the buttons ATM style!)



Pushing the prime button will get the formula moving along the tube, like this:



When it gets to the end, like this, you are ready to plug it in your kid.



(that end? It is called a Christmas tree, if you are curious, it fits many different sizes of tubing)

This is the end coming from your child, just pop the cap off:



You will need to flush the tube with 10-15 cc's of water before you start the feed. It looks like this:



Now, plug the red christmas tree into the blue extension



Start the pump. Make sure your kid is either well entertained or supervised. The Pea was entertaining the boy this morning, as you can see, he enjoyed it!



Add one curious and cute Pea:





After the pump beeps and says the feeding is done, flush again:



A half hour later, it is time to vent. Take a giant 60cc syringe and take out the plunger. Attach it to the end, and if you are lucky, the equipment will make a loud burping sound, causing all children in the vicinity to burst into uproarious laughter!



There ya go! One fed and hydrated child. In spite of my tongue in cheek attitude, we have much hope that our boy will get what he needs and grow, grow, grow!

Don't Forget! It is Fix-it Friday!

Do you know how do anything? Do you know anything? Bet you qualify under one of those two questions. Fix-it friday doesn't have to be a lot of work, it can just be an interesting website that you would like to share, or a skill you have. You can take pictures, or just share someone else's! One line or a long post.
I am in the process right now of getting my fix-it friday post together, check back later and prepare to learn something new!
Come on, be kind, I have had a rough week and I am not below begging for some love here!
Shoot me an email or leave a comment and I promise I will put you on my FRONT page for other people to see! Plus you will have an extra serving of love from me. Love and attention, what more could you ask for, huh?
And if you don't want to participate by leaving a link, please, pretty please, visit any links I have up, (and mine of course) and leave a nice comment! Audience participation will also get you love and attention!
See ya later, I have a screaming boy to go tend to.

Be It Ever So Humble

There really isn't any place like home. We have new routines and things that need to be done and scheduled and placed into our day to day lives.
Little Man has his PICC line until Sat or Sun, with Vanco every six hours. Doesn't sound too bad, until I tell you that like the 4 am dose? Someone hopefully Bald Man or Princess has to get up 3 to take it out of the fridge. It runs from 4 to 5 am, I flush it and then I can go to bed oh, about 5:15-5:20 ish. Until the next dose at 10 which needs to be gotten out of the fridge by 9. Add in his PEG tube, feeding pump and five times a day feedings, each feed taking 30 -45 minutes, well,you can see, we have a whole new world right now. The boy will stay home for the rest of the week/weekend with me. It is obvious he is tired, (he took a NAP!) and in pain sometimes and overall not his usual self. This particular self is more cranky, mouthy and more foul than usual. I have found myself dealing with it with far more patience than is my wont and I think it is because I KNOW he isn't feeling well, so I am still reprimanding him, restraining him as needed, (because no matter how lousy you feel, kicking the doctors, nurses and other caregivers, along with name calling is still unacceptable!) but doing it with patience and love. Maybe I have entered a new phase of my life with being more patient, that would be good for all of us!*
I am tired, but so grateful and relieved to be home, I just can't tell you! It is going to be an interesting next few weeks, but guess what? You get to join me virtually in this journey, lucky you!

*Edited to add: Nope, things are back to normal here and I guess I am now just too tired to be patient and kind any longer. It was a nice thought though...

Proof There Is A God

And that He hears and answers prayers. The Boy fell asleep at 8 tonight. I am eating and visiting with a new friend I made here. My kids make fun of my tendency to talk to anyone who will talk back, but hey it comes in handy at times!

Captive

The doctor came by. (In hospital speak, it is called rounds, or the doctor rounded). They are worried about his level of pain and because the surgery was so late yesterday, we don't get to go home until tomorrow. We really have to stay on top of his pain meds, but when he first gets them, it is so wonderful and he will be interactive and cute. Then they wear off and he gets foul and mean. The surgery site looks great and he already has had more calories since last night than he usually gets in three or four days. Wow! Good stuff. I have run away for some lunch and computer time. I slept more last night, which is great, but not enough, so that part isn't the best. I am going in search of some highly caffeinated beverage now. Thanks for all the lurve, it feels so wonderful. Hugs back to all of ya.

Highs and Lows

The bad stuff first
*Little Man is in a fair amount of pain
*There has been screamage, hittage and vileness galore
*Because of the stomach surgery, there will be no night time meds for now. (The ones we give to make him sleep.) We usually give them to him at 6 pm. Yeah, now it will be 11 pm ARGH. I will be luck if he falls asleep before 1 am. Yawn.
*My kid has a g tube

The good stuff
*My kid has a g tube
*The surgery went really well and he recovered well from the anesthesia
*The pain meds seem to be working well and helping ALOT
*The best part of all??? Bald Man is here and letting me have a break for a couple of hours! WHOOOT! If I were a drinker, I would be going out for a drink. Being a good Mormon, I will have to settle for calories without the alcohol.

I have no idea when they will be springing us tomorrow, but we should be going home at some point.
Thanks for all the nice comments and love, it is sorely needed and deeply appreciated.
Don't worry, I think for Fix It Friday, you folks will be getting a demo in feeding a kid with a g tube, with lots of pictures. It is weirdly facsinating, let me tell you!

And The Wait Continues

Little Man's sweet little nurse took pity on me and sent me away. She said,"don't come back for a while!" Little Man is so very, very foul. He is tired and in pain. And for some reason, one I do NOT know, Dr. Very Nice said she doesn't even want to give him advil. His PICC line is bugging him for some reason, and when he is in pain, he is just grumpy. Well, grumpy is an understatement. So I am going to get some lunch and drink a Red Bull and check my email. God Bless his nurse, she is such a sweetie. 3:30 feels a million miles away when every minute is torture. I have had better days, and my poor boy, he is thirsty and he isn't feeling well, so I am sure each minute is even more torturous for him.

This Morning

A click, a quiet rolling sound from the IV pump. The sharp chemical smell from the co flex wrap. A bump, squeak and rattle as a cart moves down the hall. I can see the snow covered peaks outside the window. Warm, as my body brackets my son in the bed. Mostly I am grateful for the lack of a certain sound. The kid in the next room, I kid you not, screamed bloody blue murder all night long. I think s/he finally fell asleep around 5 this morning. I have no idea how it is humanly possible to scream for 10 hours but fear not, now you know, it is possible. We are in a holding pattern here at Sick Kids R Us. They might be able to get him into surgery early, so, for now we wait.
Edited to add:
And wait. The nurse came by to say it didn't work out. So we are back on for 3:30.
I got my shower so who cares?

Here We Are

Yes, we are here. We are on a different floor than we usually go to and boy am I impressed! They have a playstation in his room! Instead of just the fold out chair thingy, they have a couch thing instead. I understand it is much more comfortable. Although I am sure I will spend the night in his bed, and really it is the most comfy.
We got here at 1 as we were commanded, but much to everyone's frustration he wasn't on the list. I got to see Dr. Very Nice get rather frustrated. Poor boy he didn't get into the room to get his PICC line until like 5! Wouldn't be so bad except he wasn't allowed to eat or drink that whole time, poor thing.He was pretty much beside himself w/ the procedure and I felt so bad for him. He has done much better since he got back and hopefully he will go to sleep soon. He has his g tube surgery at 3:30 tomorrow. If you are local and want to drop in just email me. We will be here through Weds it looks like.
lakotajo2 at msn dot com

Sorry, While the Mountains Are Still Here, Jo is Not

I tried, I really tried to get some mountain pics, but my day has gotten out of hand. The Pea is screaming bloody murder and being totally impossible and silly me, I thought, we don't have to leave until noon, I will have plenty of time to pack. Tell me not to be so stupid next time! Tank's cd player broke and he could NOT survive without one, so I was running to the store, Princess needs the car to go to work in, so Girlfriend is driving Little Man and myself to the Large City Sick Kids Place and so on and so on! Craziness abounds here!
I don't think I mentioned that Princess and Her Pea are living with us for a few weeks. I LOVE having that child around most of the time, but not today. We are all just stressed with the surgery and everything.
I can't think of anything else to say. I am tired, we had to get up at five to get Little Man showered, formulaed and medicated. He has been whining and fussing, he is thirsty mom, he is thirsty. I feel so mean telling him no. Poor kid.
Gotta zip, I will be putting up frequent updates, so keep checking in the next few days if you want to stay on top of the whole circus act here.

Fix-It Friday

I came up with an idea! I am declaring Fridays to be Fix-It Friday in blog land. I am having fun with something new I learned and decided I would share it, but I was thinking to myself, why, the blog world is filled with creative and clever people (you, of course, are completely included in that statement!) and we need to be able to share these things! Isn't that a great idea?
So here is what Fix-it Friday will look like. I know you guys know how to do a lot of amazing and wonderful things. Replace a door, run a power tool without cutting off any limbs, make bread, sew, html coding, take pictures, edit things, talk a reluctant toddler into doing something they don't really want to do, give a dog a pill, clean a spot or two, highlight hair, amazing and useful and creative things, things that might be boring and old hat to you, but are just brand new and wonderful to the rest of us. Please post a comment on my blog during the week, or email me, telling me what you will be showing us or just a intriguing title and then on Friday I will post a list on the front page linking to those blogs. I will also be begging some of my popular blog friends, (ahem, that means you Sue) to post links to Fix-it Friday too. While I was thinking about this, I thought to myself, "do I know enough things to post one a week?" Well if you include things like fun webpages, well, yes I do, and you do too! So don't feel like you have to personally do a whole demonstration of whatever thing you would like to share, a link to a website with a demo or idea is just as good! Come on peeps, OVERWHELM ME!

Here goes my first contribution to Fix-it Friday:
Lookie, lookie at what I made!!


In case you can't guess, I made two hats. One for June Bug and one for The Pea. I knitted them! I have been wanting to learn how to knit and boy howdy, if I can do this, I am guessing anyone can do it, because, so far NO ONE has been successful in teaching me how to knit or crochet, I just can't get the tension thing down.

You take these:



The round thing is a circular loom, the purple stuff is yarn and the lavender thing is called a loom pick. Just google circular loom, or run to your nearest hobby store, they are everywhere!
Step by step this is how it goes:

There is a sticky out post thing for you to wrap your yarn around.



You wrap the loose piece in a half hitch and then go BEHIND the post.



Wrap it once around the post and then go BEHIND again, til you have gone all the way around the loom.



I did it three times because I am going to do a ribbed stitch.

Then you take your loom pick


and reach down through the bottom loop of yarn on the first post.



Lift it up with the loom pick



Up and over the post



and put it behind the post, towards the inside of the loom. Yup you just leave it there.



And move on to all the other posts, doing the same thing, over and over. Until you get this!



Here is a video of how to do a purl stitch. (Watch closely and you can see Jack the dog's nose for a second)


It took no time at all for me to learn three different kinds of stitches and in a couple of hours, you could have this!


*Hat only, grand daughter NOT included.

Here are some more shots the Pea was willing to model for:







P.S. I made the pom pom too and I am just so dang proud of the hats I can hardly stand it.

Here is a link to the loom knitting goddess: Purling sprite, she has even been on DIY network and guess what? She is from Utah! Go Utah! Hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

There ya go, your first Fix-it Friday. What will you share next Friday???