Life as a Leach

Read I just recently finished a great book called that was absolutely amazing.  No spoiler alerts here, but it's about a former Olympic runner who was captured by the Japanese in WWII and became a POW.  While it is terribly difficult to read at some parts, the theme of unwavering hope and courage is prevalent throughout the novel.  He truly never gave up.  This book isn't a #1 best seller for nothing!  It is definitely worth the read.  I flew through its nearly 500 pages in a week...and I don't have a lot of time to read!!  Watched Caleb earned a movie night by earning all of his magnets for three days on his daily chart, so we finally rented Mr. Popper's Penguins.    He had read the book with Matt (one of Matt's favorites as a kid) and had really been looking forward to the movie version.  Warning:  it is nothing like the book!!! That's not a bad thing, but something you should know up front.  The similari...

I've been on the hunt for some good developmental toys for Abby's birthday and Christmas presents.  We don't have a lot of room with all of her other stuff, so I want the toys she gets to aid in her development.  I am a member of http://www.tracheostomy.com/ and have read some postings of other members about good developmental toys.  Trach mamas, moms of special needs children, special educators, or anybody else, feel free to send me any ideas you have! One of the toys the therapists suggest is a learning cube.  I've seen a lot of different ones and want one that really allows for lots of different textures and movement.  For the price, this one seems to be the best.  It's not as big as some of the other, more expensive ones that they have in the doctor's office, so I think it will work better in our space.   I also want more touch and feel books for her, because Abby really seems to like textures.  She knows righ...

Let's be clear:  Abby despises tummy time.  Wouldn't you if you had to lie on top of tubes?!  It doesn't sound very comfortable to me!  Our therapist had tried lots of different methods to get Abby a little more tolerant of the oh-so-important (especially for her!) tummy time.  She had some positioners that she used to prop her arms on, but that just made Abby more mad.  She tried pulling the tubes to the side or right down the middle, but neither of those seemed to make a difference.  Basically, we just dealt with the screaming and made her do it anyway.  I'm mean like that.  :) Then my mom sent me a link to a discussion on http://www.tracheostomy.com/ about the Lamaze Spin and Explore. Everyone there talked about how great it was for trached and vented kids because they are up off of the floor and are able to see the patterns and toys below.  I have to admit that I was a little skeptical!  It wasn't cheap and I didn't...

So, I heard constant complaints about the temperature of our house over the winter.  We kept our heat at the recommended 68 degrees (a far cry from the 63 it used to be on before Abby came home!), but that apparently wasn't warm enough for all of the new people we have in our house these days.  The nurses said they were worried about Abby, but it always seemed like the space heater we bought for the room was always aimed right at them ! In typical Maryland fashion, we went from winter to summer in a matter of just a few weeks.  While I oh-so-enjoy the lovely spring weather, it just doesn't stay around very long in the mid-atlantic.  We're hitting 90 degrees with lots of humidity this week, and now there's a heat advisory for the next few days.  All of this to say that I have already heard the "it's too hot in here for Abby " comments.  Again, my house is at the recommended 78 degrees....much, much cooler than the 85 it used to be on!!  ...

1.  The sinus rinse  is by far the best thing I've ever done for my allergies.  I have been on about a million medications...Claritin, Allegra, Singulair...and nothing has worked as well as this.  Plus, it's the safest and most natural thing to do if you are pregnant or nursing, so it's the only thing I have really used in the last year.  If you've heard of the Neti Pot, it's a lot like that, but I have heard it's a bit easier to use.  I haven't tried the Neti Pot myself, but I can attest that the Sinus Rinse is pretty user-friendly.  Before I started using it about a year and 1/2 ago, I got sinus infections constantly from my allergies.  Now, I don't!  I can tell when I didn't do it one morning (I don't use it as much in the winter time unless I have a cold, but I'm using it daily now that it's allergy season), but I feel pretty good all day if I use it in the morning!  2.  Does anyone else send their food to Leftover Land...

So, we had a mysterious substance showing up on our carpet in where Abby is. (Notice that I refused to call it Abby's room because her room is upstairs and all purple and girly.  This room used to be the playroom...and it will be again, one day!!!) Anyway , back to the mysterious substance.  It was black and kind of looked like ink, so I tried all sorts of stain removers.  I thought for sure a pen had leaked.  But then it kept showing up. Again. And again. And again. My carpet looked horrible!! Now, I have a lovely little machine that works fabulously to get out stains.  It's called the Green Machine and it really is pretty awesome.  It works wonders on pet stains.  (We don't have those anymore--don't remind me!) :(   Once I figured out that the stain was, in fact, grease and not ink and applied the proper stain remover  the Green Machine got the stains out--even the set-in ones!    The greasy culprit was ou...

If any of you have young milk drinkers and try to buy organic products, you are probably familiar with Horizon Milk.  This stuff is pretty pricey in the grocery store (a half gallon is as much as a whole gallon of non-organic!) but it's a pretty good deal on Amazon for the individual cartons.  Plus, you can sign up for subscribe-and-save and save an extra 15%!  (Remember to cancel it after you get the milk!)  Note:  I believe that only diapers and wipes earn a 30% discount.  Most other things seem to be 15%. Also, check the e-clippable coupons because I have seen Horizon on there every now and then!  You can save an extra couple of dollars! These are great to throw in with lunches, and they don't need to be refridgerated!  We are water-and-milk people, so Caleb pretty much just gets one or the other in his lunches.  Happy milk-drinking!

If you know me, you know I have a little obsession with Vera Bradley.  It's not over the top to have a matching lunch bag, ID badge, purse, and necklace, is it?!  My favorite pattern is Purple Punch, and that is the pattern my Weekender bag is in.  They don't have that pattern on Amazon, but they have several other cute patterns.    We use the Weekender as the to-go bag, which is our diaper bag and everything else we need when we go somewhere.  That's a lot of stuff, and the Weekender holds it all!  There are lots of pockets both inside and out, and even with everything we bring with us there is still room for toss-ins.  I actually like it better than the Vera Bradley diaper bag because it has a long strap to carry with in addition to the short over the shoulder straps.  Plus, it's bigger and has a wider (as opposed to deeper) shape so that it's easier to find things.   My primary use for it has been as a to-go bag, but I know tha...

I recently joined Amazon Mom, and OHHHHHH boy, am I hooked!  I will never buy diapers from the grocery store again (unless, you know, we run out...because expensive diapers are better than no diapers at all!) With Amazon Mom, you get a free three month subscription to Amazon Prime, which means free 2-day shipping.  Yay!  Plus, with every $25 you spend, you extend your membership a month.  Double yay!!  You can use coupons that are found in a lot of the baby magazines like American Baby, Parenting, Parents, etc.  They might be for $10 off diapers or 20% off your total order.  The catch is that each coupon can only be used once, so no coupon code sharing.  Coupons do often stack though, so you could use a $10 off and 20% off coupon at once.  Amazon also has e-clippable coupons (you choose the one you want to "clip" online.  I got an extra $2 diapers last time!) Then, when you order your diapers, wipes, etc. from Amazon Mom, you want ...

Abby loves her little puppy Violet!  She plays learning songs for when Abby is awake.  Then, when it's bedtime, we can set it to play nature sounds or lullabies for either 10 or 20 minutes.  It was especially good in the hospital to drown out some of the noises that would keep her awake.  Violet is small enough to sit right near Abby's head and the little blanket is removable if you need to wash it.  My niece has one too, and her Violet goes with her in the car seat a lot!   Added bonus?  Caleb loves it too and has been singing a lot of the songs to Abby.  :)   We have the bigger, high-tech version as well, but we haven't brought that out yet because it's still a little beyond Abby.  I think she'll be ready for it in a few more months.  They do make nice baby shower gifts though!

We bought our Nikon D90 the day before I went into the hospital for preterm labor.  I remember playing with it that night taking goofy pictures of Matt.  After the hoopla of the next day and being worried about having it stolen in the hospital, I missed out on using it very much over the next five weeks.  But that soon changed when my beauty was born!  I am officially a digital SLR camera lover.  I ADORE THIS CAMERA! It is worth every cent we paid for it and I am perfectly fine with it being my present for a very long time!  Eventually, I hope to get a good lens for close-ups and maybe an external flash, but those are long term goals.  Right now, I'm enjoying learning lots more about photography and playing with the different settings.  It also takes a good little video! If you're in the market for a camera upgrade, I would highly suggest Nikon.  My point-and-shoot was also a Nikon and I love it too.  But if you're g...

If you are looking for some good gifts for birthdays, Easter, etc., here are a few tried-and-true suggestions: Caleb has this CD and LOVES it!  He laughs and laughs and laughs at Barry Louis Polisar's songs.  We saw him this summer when he came to the public library, and his songs really are quite clever.  He writes a lot of books too.  We have two of them:   This one is very tongue-in-cheek and comical for adults as well as kids!     This one is written in more of a story format but is also very enjoyable.   You can never go wrong with a Veggie Tales movie either!  These are two of Caleb's favorites:     For the younger ones, Abby really loves her seahorse.  It puts her to sleep every night.  We're still coming up with a name for it.  Caleb's picks are "seahorse" or "pink."  We're trying to get him to branch out a bit. We're also really big fans of Baby Einstein toys like these:...

I cannot wait to be able to bring Abby out in public.  I want everyone to get to know this adorable little girl I have! Probably the first trip out will be for her baby dedication at church.  Just to warn you...to limit the amount of germs Abby is exposed to, we will most likely be coming in late and leaving early.  It's nothing personal!!  We're just trying to protect our girl.  We had originally set her dedication date for March, but have now pushed it back a bit more until after cold and flu season is over.  We're now thinking that it will probably be in May. What a day that will be!  I am a slightly emotional person to begin with, but expect for me to be a blubbering mess.  Abby has come such a long way and it is a daily (hourly?  minutely?) struggle turning her health over to God.  Elizabeth means consecrated to God, and that is what we are continually seeking to do.  It is amazing to be even able to talk about dedi...

My mom ordered this book about a month ago: It wasn't cheap, but it is helpful to those without a lot of knowledge of trach care.  To make it more meaningful, I read the entire thing cover to cover and wrote notes in it to make it more specific to Abby's care.  Naturally, not everything in there pertains to her so I wanted to add my two cents as well.  It's now being passed around my family so that they can read it and get some information about basic trach care.  I like how clearly and simply everything is written.  There's a glossary in the back for medical terminology and most cares (trach ties, trach changes, suctioning, etc.) have step-by-step instructions.  Not that you should have to have the instructions near by as you're doing them (at least not on my child!), but it does give people a good reference!   The hospitals we've been to have asked to use my blog as a resource for families who might be embarking on a similar journey of t...

I recently purchased Being the Other One after a recommendation by another trach mom.  It focuses on helping siblings of special needs children to thrive in their family and has been a real eye-opener for me. While I'm not crazy about the writing style overall, I do like how the author, Kate Strohm, uses interviews from fellow siblings to explain the dynamics of the relationship they have with their family.  Strohm's writing is a bit dull and repetitive for my taste, but the content of her writing resonates with me. The biggest idea that I've seen repeated throughout the book is that I need to meet Caleb where he is and allow him to feel what he wants to feel.  Life's not all rosy, and growing up with Abby won't always be wonderful.  It's easy for people to say how much better he'll be for having Abby in his life, or how much more patient he'll be, etc.  It's uncomfortable for people to acknowledge that Caleb will most likely resent Abby to ...

Caleb received a suit of armor for Christmas.  Funny enough, Santa accidentally left it under the bed when he brought in the rest of the toys and we didn't find it for a few days!  Silly, stressed-out, distracted Santa! This suit of armor has been able to withstand much charging, defending, and sword fighting.  It's even been known to protect the knight from Nerf gun bullets.  :) He's really into knights, dragons, kings, and rescuing the fair maiden (me) from the evil Joker.  (He's also Batman, remember?)  If you have a little knight that might enjoy a great quality suit of armor that is inexpensive, check out the link below:

Nina and Paw Paw gave Abby a Sofie after seeing how much Anna likes hers.  The best thing about this little teething toy is how easy it is to squeak!  Abby can do it almost effortlessly, so she always gets a surprised look on her face when she hears it.  Sofie's neck and legs also make for easy holding for the little ones.  Abby especially  likes whacking me with it when she's angry!  She hasn't quite figured out how to get the nubs in her mouth to chew on yet, but that will come.  I think it's a little too big for her tiny mouth right now. Little Sofie doesn't look like much, but my experience is that the babies love it!  Added bonus:  right now, Sofie is on sale!  Check out the link below. In the other link, Sofie is paired with a weighted pacifier.  Being the mom of a baby that can't keep a pacifier in her mouth, I think this is brilliant!   If Abby hadn't decided to be a finger sucker, I would have defin...

Remember when I told you about Caleb's special alarm clock?  Let me tell you, it works wonderfully!   I love that when he wakes up at ridiculously early hours of the morning, he simply stays in his room and plays until the alarm clock turns green.  There's a nap timer on there too.  You can make it beep or glow--we choose to have it glow because I don't wake sleeping boys!  :)  When Caleb has spent the night at relatives' houses recently, they have also been taking the alarm clock.  I guess they don't like 5:30 a.m. wake up visits either... :)  If you have an early riser that you wish would sleep just a little longer, then check this out.  Seriously, I love it!   I'm now an Amazon Associate and will occasionally be writing posts about certain Amazon products that interest me.  Feel free to click the picture or link above if you want to check out the alarm clock!