ECHO today

Gerald Jay had and echo today. I am really surprised how grown my son is now. A year ago when he had an echo, he gave the ultrasonograpist a hard time and I remember I asked something to make him calm down. But today was totally different, I mean other side of Gerald was really quite and cooperative. Even the guy that performed the test surprised and praised him for his cooperation ( apparently the guy remembered us :)) Anyway, the test was done in a peaceful and timely manner. Supposedly to get the result on Thursday but the NP called and canceled the cardiology appointment.
Gerald was not supposed to have the echo today, but some stuff made a mistake of calling us and made an appointment for GJ. OH well, its already done, and I am hoping to know the result sooner if possible.

Anyway, GJ was very good at all. Great Job Baby G!

Mended Little Heart First Annual Family Picnic

Mended Little Heart First Annual Family Picnic

Indian Steele Park, Phoenix Az

April 24th, 2010

Group Photo

We had a wonderful time at the park with other families for the first annual family picnic hosted by Mended Little Heart of Phoenix.~ Thanks a lot for the generosity and all the sponsors of the foods :)

My kids were all excited and couldn't stop running around the place. Well, that its what for when you are at the  PARK it should be for the children satisfaction. 

Anyway, Gerald jay was busy running around and poor father that keep him busy all the time at the park and let me chatted with other parents. When Gerald get so excited he does not want to drink milk at all and I was worried that was going to get dehydrated, but he was fine I just pumped more milk in him when got back home.

My little princess kept us busy too by eating small rocks and exploring the place.

Our happy family :)

Once again thanks to Mended Little Heart of Phoenix for sponsoring this event.

Barium swallow Test

Gerald had a modified barium swallow test yesterday at St. Joe's Hospital.

Barium swallow test is a test of to determine if the individual is having difficulty or problem in swallowing. In Gerald case problem swallowing liquid food and probably painful swallowing too. 

 This is the picture how the barium swallow test http://www.mountnittany.org/assets/images.

I couldn't take any pictures inside because I had to help the feeding therapist assisting with Gerald. Because he was screaming form the top of his lungs! oh God!

He had this test couple times already since he was a year old and he was already on honey thick consistency and he still need honey thick consistency because on the test showed a silent aspiration when it diluted to a low consistency.

I hope it is not the MRSA!

Few days ago, I noticed GJ's chest was swelling again. First came into my mind " I hope its not the MRSA again" but I doubt it, because it was on the exact site where they drain the MRSA infection.

I was hoping that this problem has been resolve when he had his minor surgery last January. But I guess not!

He will be visiting his cardiologist next week, and he is going to have an echo on Monday too. So, the doctor will be informed as soon as we see him.

Oh God help us! This super bug is very clingy!

Watching Television

I bought tons of educational DVD for my kids and everday they can watch it so that I can do my homework and cleaning. Sometimes Gerald would demand to watch "car movie or nemo", but mommy said " you can only watch either signing time or musical video like barney. So, here they are watching together and sometimes they are fighting to change the channel.

Signing video: Gerald jay and I learned a lot from this video. I would recommend it. Kathlyn picked up some sign language too and they are very cute when they do sign.

Ahhhh... minutes of peace!

Reusable bag and Crayon roll from NY

I would like to extend my gratitude to sis Claire of NY for the freebies that she sent me. I use my bag everyday to school and to everywhere. It was a nice bag and durable and I put everything in it :).

Thanks sis for your effort to make this bag and it is awesome! I really like the color and how you put it together. And I am afraid that I have to ask you to give me your pattern on how to make this. Thanks

Also, thanks for this beautiful crayon roll. This is a genius idea of keeping crayons organized. Gerald love it, while little KC want it too!

Please Pray for a child that had a heart Transplant

Please help us praying for a little boy who had a heart transplant and going into a critical condition. Please check his own site for more information.

Bicycle Trailer

A week ago we bought a bike trailer. Since we only have one car to get around the town, and Ralph normally has the car when he goes to work. My kids and I usually stuck in the house for four days, and we couldn't get anywhere with two kids without any form of transportation.

Anyway, today Ralph finally hooked up the trailer unto my bike. I haven't use my bike for almost two years, so I was so excited about it. I can finally have an exercise buy pulling my kids trailer. BUT as we went down the drive way my bike got flat tires, both of them. I knew Ralph filled the tires up with air. I was frustrating. Well, since my kids enjoying the ride in that trailer, we still walked around the block since the trailer can converted into a stroller. We got this from Walmart.

Two onces at a time!

Gerald had a great day today in his feeding. We fed him every half hour two ounces at a time. Its a lot of work, but whatever works for him thats what we are going to do. Great Job GJ!

Fruits and Veggies

I was confused about my homework this weekend. I thought that I must have to seven to fourteen combination of fruits and vegetables. So, this morning I told my husband that I need to go to the store and buy more variety of fruits and vegetables aside from the fruits and veggies that we already have.

I normally buy fruits and vegetables every Wednesday because that is where every store have their " specials" meaning cheaper prize. But anyway, my confusion lead me to the store and spent more than $35 for fruits and veggies. Which is very irritating because these fruits and veggies go on sale every Wednesday :( that I could spent less. Anyway, as I was unloading my grocery bag I put all the stuff that I bought and took pictures of it. Also, I called my husband and told him that all of these fruits and veggies I must consume it in one day. I my self can't believe it because that is a lot. My husband said " wow thats a lot!". No one ever eat that much of fruits and veggies everyday. ( I just measured a cup of every thing :) a lot easier).

Breakfast omelet

So for breakfast, I made omelet. I used four egg whites and one whole egg, 1 cup of chopped celery, and 1 cup of finely chopped carrot and onion. It turned out delicious and as my hubby said " weird but good". In this was I got 2 kinds of veggies and 2 kinds of fruits an orange and an apple. So I need five more combination of fruits and veggies right? 

So for lunch time, I separated my fruits and veggies. I cooked the bakchoy with 1 small can of sardines so that we can have some protein. After eating all of these made me so full, and I was thinking to my self that I don't want to eat dinner tonight.

After lunch, I started my homework and the first question was way off than what I thought. 

" Task: select one day during the week to achieve the U.S. Dietary Guidelines of eating a combination of seven to thirteen fruits and/or vegetables daily.  Incorporate these foods into your regular diet."

I thought I have to eat in one day those 7 to 13 combination of fruit... I guess I just don't understand the question.

Okay, the more variety of colors of your fruits and vegetables in meal is a good practice. Also, use fats that are good for your heart like olive oil or canola oil. Avoid trans fats because it increases your bad cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.

IEP Meeting

Last Tuesday Gerald had an annual IEP meeting at school. I was pleased that going to school helped Gerald a lot! My husband thought before that going to school of such a young age ( 3 years ) will not do him any good, but I was an opposite outcome because he learned a lot from school. He is totally different Gerald since a year ago. He is very soical and not afraid of playing in the playground.

Snce we do not have a babysitter we took the kids at the meeting. I was amazed how Gerald play in the classroom. It seems he know how to operate everything. There are some goals ( OT, PT and Speech) that have been met over a year in the program, but some are remain the same goal since he hasn't mastered them .

 

I thanking the all staffs at his school who work hard with him for teaching him and helping to meet his goals.

Feeding Issues Once Again

Sighhhhh I thought I completely transitioning Gerald to a day feeding, but I guess not! He did really well for almost three weeks without puking at all. I was really proud of him and bragging about it with his GI doctor that he was doing real well and no more puking. The doctor went up one knotch of his calorie intake from 1100 kcal/day to 1400/kcal/day which gives us upto six bottles of pediasure. He did well for one day of no puking and for the rest of the week and until now he puke and puke and puke every time I gave him his feeds. My husband and I were talking about blended food, but I said that it is not appropriate for us because I couldn't keep up my kitchen regularly. Once I get done everything I need for school and be focus on hose cleaning and other stuff I might considered the blended food. Plus, he has diarrhea everyday. For  more than 2 years he had the constipation, now he have diarrhea. Is anyone know how to treat diahhea naturally? I gave him pedialyte just to balance his electrolytes since he is puking and diarrhea at the same time. Poor GJ :(

Candle Blowing and Dad's Birthday

Candle blowing

It was daddy's special day when I saw Gerald Jay blew the candle. HE FINALLY KNOW HOW TO BLOW! Wow! I was surprised when I saw him blew dad's birthday cake :). The therapist and us worked with him for quite sometimes just to teach him how to blow bubbles or whistle or something. And I finally see him did it in action that he can really blow. Oh! for the record we probably lite that candles more than 10 times before dad did...lol

Happy birthday to my beloved husband and a great father of my kids :)

As you can see Gerald jay was holding the matches and actually asking for more fire :(. Now, we have to be careful of where to store our matches.