School is finally over!!!

whew! Sorry for the long absent here in my blog... I just got something going on at home and with my kids.
GJ is finally on summer vacation. Yesterday was the last day of school and thankfully that he made the preschool. He will be back to school in August. I went to his school and thank the teachers and other providers that help my son at school. When I was in the room, I saw GJ was in front of the number board. I ask the teacher what he was doing, and she told me that GJ love numbers and pretending to be a teacher handing out name tags to his classmates. See, GJ never done that at home. If I seat with him to teacher him some alphabet and numbers...he normally run away from me. I guess at school is more fun to learn than at home.

Day 1 ( Monday):Last week of School

Today, I woke up early to help Ralph preparing Gj for school. Gerald was up a little early too. Normally, Ralph wakes up in the morning and do everything for GJ and send him to school, and I was still in bed sleeping. But anyway, today a little different :-) I took care of GJ from brushing his teeth, dressing up, and etc while Ralph prepared his back pack and food. I also gave GJ a quick shower this morning ( I normal gave him a bath before bed, but last night I was kinda busy and sent him to bed a little early without bathing). Anyway, Gerald is not a morning person because he screams a lot most especially the brushing his teeth part. Every single morning he screams. If we are neighbor you might not be happy with us because he is very noisy!

A call from his Teacher

Around 10:05 am I recieved a call from Gerald's teacher. She said that Gerald was kind warm and looks very tired. He also did not participate in thier circle time. So, I asked dad to picked him up from school. Ralph took his saturation and it was down to 75% but he look perfectly fine to me when he got back home. I think he run around to much and got himself very tired, and the teacher was just making sure he was fine. And he is fine.

Speech Theraphy

Another, in his therapy he had one of the great session that they have ever. No crying and less screaming. Jeremy (speech therapist) tried new stuff for him to do since for the past couple weeks GJ was not progressing well. But today was kinda different. Although GJ was still clingy to me, he did what jeremy told him what to do. So, over all the therapy was a great one!

Park Near by

I didn't know that there was a park close by to our house. As I mentioned to my husband that I want to do some walking everyday as my exercise, he told me that we can go to the park near our house. I was surprised because I didn't know that we have one. Anyway. we used my bicycle trailer to haul my kids and off we went!

Oh... they loved going out!

Kathlyn been walking for almost couple months now, and she want to try everything. She slide by herself and didn't even scared nor cry...good thing ;-)

Here she was down the bottom of the slide...

...then she started running :)

Meanwhile, brother GJ had finally overcome the fear of going down the slide. This is his big thing now..going up and down the slice too.

...and of course in the swing!

BBQ Day

Today, we had a nice BBQ food for lunch  cooked by my beloved sweetheart. After he installed the water line that goes to fridges, he went and do the BBQ thing. I prepared the meat and other stuff.

I was so hungry after we was done barbecuing and didn't even think to take the picture of the cooked meat =D...sorry :-). The meat was delicious! Thanks to hubby's help!

Gerald Jay Great Thrashing Moment

After taking a nap this afternoon, Gerald Jay was busy around the house. Not because he was doing something special today... he was thrashing the whole house.

 I was taking care of my laundry this afternoon when GJ woke up. I went into his room and saw him detached from his feeding machine and butt naked! Yup, butt naked because he took off his diaper! My living room seems hit by tornado. No wonder he was so quite!

Having Fun with my kids

 

We are just having fun!

Urgent Prayer please

Please pray for this little girl.
She is having a heart transplant right now. You can click her picture and it will direct you to her web blog.
Thank you so much! God Bless!

Therapy Today

Screaming and puking. That was Gerald did today during his therapy hour. If I could just do everything to help him how to talk I will do it. For the past few months Daddy was the one who is taking him to the therapy, since I have classes until noon and we have timing issues, so daddy was kind to take him to the therapy. Today, I did took both of my kids with me and Gerald was just too clingy to me the whole time I was in the room. So, I decided to wait outside and the more he cried and screams from the top of his lungs. Lucky, my daughter was very contented playing with my car key and she was quite. When I went back in the therapy room he was insisting to go home...poor guy! I just don't know how to just let him go with the therapist with out crying. He goes to school every morning and he loved it. I saw him many times at school and he never cry to see, instead he continued to play with other kids.

Every time we go to his therapy he always screams and forcing himself to puke! oh God help us!

Tube undone

Last night my husband and I were alternating changing Gerald Jay's bed sheet and blankets and adding more milk in his feeding because the tube kept separating from g-tube connector. And the milk where all over him and on his bed. I thought that it was the g-tube extension was kinda old and losing the elasticity at the end of it, so I changed it with a brand new extension tube. But that was not the case, Gerald can detached the tube by himself. So tonight ...

I taped the tube and 

the site where the g-tube and the extension tube connected is also taped! I hope this work for tonight!

Also, the wound that its in the picture it was the MRSA site. I hope that one is healing nicely. He had a fever last Friday afternoon but it didn't last long. He was back to normal activities. Tomorrow I will let the surgeon know about the fever...sounds paranoid but better be safe than sorry.

Early Father's day gift

It has been my wish for Ralph to have a nice grill in the backyard. We have our old portable charcoal grill that we bought six years ago, but it takes a while to lite up.
The other day while we were looking for a new stove at Sears, I saw the grill was on sale. I told Ralph to get one since it was on sale and we already in the store. And he did! He picked it up yesterday. On Wednesday, he will get to test his brand new grill..Kenmore brand but very simple and it has the feature that we need for bbq during summer. He will use the propane and not the charcoal anymore. Yeahhhh! I won't be afraid to ask him to BBQ some food for me ;-)
Also, I told him it was his early father's day gift ;-).

First School Photo

Taken last March 17th, 2010 at his school. I am glad that he smiled for his first school picture. It has been a year since Gj started the preschool. He likes going to school and riding the school bus! Great Job, GJ! Yeheyyyy

Graduation

My step-son graduated yesterday for his AA degree in Networking.

Congratulations BJ! You made it!

Skirt for my little princess

Aside from making shopping bags, I started making a skirt for my daughter.

My very first skirt made! It was not perfect, but I did it!

... and my model in her skirt. Now , if she can just hold still :)) 

I am learning! What do you think?

Green Bag Project

The other night, I started making some of the shopping bags. My goal this summer is to make 50 bags to send in the Philippines to give away to the kids and families who needs it.

I followed the patter from the green bag lady website here. She has the easiest pattern ever and it was not complicated to follow at all.

A week ago, I asked a friend to show me how to make the lining for the back to make it a little nicer in the inside part. I do not have the serger to make the edge of the seam look nicer, so I followed the tutorial from my friend website here  ( THANKS SIS CLAIRE!), but I forgot to lined up my handle on the same side and it was twisted oh boy!

But my second bag was all good! I am learning :) I am trying to make with different sizes because I want it to be more usable for children.

Also, I was meaning to make more bag to give away at the fund raising event on Saturday and Sunday, but I was not able to make some more :( because my kids were demanding and was busy for other stuff in the house.

Here is another one that I think is a good size for them. I made this one out of an old bed sheet that was given to me by a friend. I bought many fabrics, but I was trying to make it inexpensive as much as possible.

Thanks to Sis Claire for the tutorials and to the green bag lady for the pattern and for the inspiration.

Mended Little Heart Fund-raising Even at Fry's Electronics

I volunteered three hours today at the fund-raising event of Mended Little Heart Group through Fry's Electronics. I was there quarter to 9am this morning and helped other fundraiser to sit up what we need for the event ( it was mostly done by the employees of Fry's actually and the family that was in-charged. Thanks a lot to them.)

We started handing out the food at 10 am and the people just keep coming. I love it! It bring back memories of my childhood. I used to sale food when I was very young.

I left around 12:22nn and I was debating if I should stay longer to help them. However, I have my little princess who was not eating waiting for me to come back hayyyyy!

Anyway, thank you very much to all the co-volunteers that help in the event and to Fry's Electronics!

OVERALL, IT WAS A SUCCESS AND VERY REWARDING!

Me and the statue

Before finals I joined the group tour at the Phoenix Art Museum courtesy by Reach Trio Program. The other student took this photo for me while I standing 10 feet away from the lady statue. What do you think? I did take the front view because it was all big! Well, she is a figure of a real woman!

Happy Mother's day

 I wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO MY DEAR NANAY (MOTHER)

My MoTher is my Best Friend

MY adviser

My councilor

My provider
My everything ! Happy mother's day Nanay and I love you and I miss you so very much!

Here is the lyrics that I got from the internet ;-) to my mom and to all the mother's out there!

Thank You Mom
(Lyrics & Music: Good Charlotte)

I'm sitting here, I'm thinking back to a time when I was young,
My memory is clear as day, I'm listening to the dishes clink,
You were downstairs; you would sing songs of praise,
And all the times we laughed with you,
And all the times that you stayed true to us,
Now we say, I said, I thank you,
I'll always thank you,
More than you could know,
Than I could ever show,
And I love you, I'll always love you,
There's nothing I won't do to say these words to you,
That you're beautiful forever,
You were my mom,
You were my dad,
The only thing I ever had was you, It's true,
And even when the times got hard you were there,
To let us know that we'd get through, you showed me how to be a man,
You taught me how to understand the things people do,
You showed me how to love my God,
You taught me that not everyone knows the truth,
And I thank you,
I'll always thank you,
More than you could know,
Than I could ever show,
And I love you, I'll always love you,
There's nothing I won't do to say these words to you,
That you will live forever, always

Shopping bag from the Green Bag Lady

I won a shopping bag from the green bag lady website which was introduce to me by my good friend Claire F. from NY.

The light blue shopping bag from the green bag lady and the two peach color shopping bag are my very first made shopping bags.

When I found out that I was one of the receipt out of 80 winners, I feel inspired! I went on her website and watched the video of her making the green bag ( shopping bag), looks easy to make. Since I am not a sewer, I need motivation to sew and the green bag lady site give me that motivation.

This week I received the shopping bag blue in the picture) from the green bag lady named Teresa. Since, only couple days before the sales day ( Wednesday is the day I shop for food) and was anxious to use my shopping bag. I decided to try of making my very first green bag.

My very first try: I put a pocket because I like to put my receipt in the bag pocket.
P.S this bag made from my old bed sheet :)

It was not a good as the bag that I received, but I am working on it. The thread was going all over the place of the fabric :)). Well even though my first try was not as good as I expected to be, it did not discourage me to give up, instead I made another one ( above 1st pic). Today , I used it! The cashier at the store joke about not taking other store shopping bag. But I said, ' no these shopping bags two of them I made and one from the green bag lady, and she told me that it was a great idea to make your own bag. Well , I said "thanks to the green bag lady for the motivation". I even showed the cashier the website that she can go to for the pattern.

Anyway, as soon as we got home I took picture of my with the bag and as well as my daughter check out what I bought.

Eagerness to have the lettuce... yahhhh!

Here she is she got it! then...

Later in the morning after I picked up my hubby from school, we went back to the store and bought some fabric. I am making more shopping bags and bags that I can send to my family back in the Philippines. I am also planning to make  bags for kids that do not have money to buy a school bag in the Philippines ( I was one of them using a plastic bag as a school bag). Of course using the same pattern from the green bag lady, because it was easy to follow for the first timer like me.

To Teresa, thank you very much for the nice, light weight shopping bag and for inspiring a lot of women to sew. More power to you!

The Result

GJ saw the plastic surgeon today over at CRS clinic. And the results of the would culture is finally revealed ... it was positive of MRSA. We were very sad to know about this but what can we do?

So far GJ is not showing any signs of anything for staph aureus infection only the chest wound. No fever or anything that will really excited everyone... its a good thing!

He will be on the antibiotics for three weeks and see whats gonna happen. I hope this bug will go away! Idon't like this bug and no one does!

GJ's appointments

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I took Gerald jay to the pediatrician to check his chest incision ( nothing so serious, but it was just swelling) and  I was just so afraid the the MRSA came back. Dr. Golner was concerned also since I called in a day before and asking for a medical advice. The nurse that I talked from CRS advice to take him to the ER, but GJ was not really an emergency thing. Therefore, since  I was really concerned of Gerald's chest swollen, I called in again to his pediatrican and made an appointment on Wednesday.

 Gerald was fine, but I don't want to find out later that the swollen on his chest was serious ( he had a history of stap infection MRSA bug). Anyway, Dr. G called all the doctors that involved in GJ's health care (cardiac surgeon, plastic surgeon, and cardiologist) and request of immediate appointment to check on Gerald.
We really like Dr. Golner because he is on ball. Every time GJ have something comes up Dr. G's team are really good of helping their patients. I highly recommend Dr. Golner and his team as pediatrician.

Anyway, the next day Gerald saw the cardiac surgeon Dr. Cleveland over at St. Joes ( he is a wonderful surgeon) they have to put a mask on GJ for precautions since GJ has the history of MRSA.

On Friday, GJ Gerald had the minor procedure done. Dr. Cleaveland opened the wound site. He didn't see any infection inside, but they did a blood test and culture the specimen from the wound. They didn't give him any antibiotics at all and we are hoping to get the result of the culture in 72 hours. Gerald will going to follow up with Dr. C after 10 days. Gerald did pretty good this time. He didn't cry after he woke up from 20 minutes anesthesia. The nurse told me that he is really good and no fussiness at all. I just realized that he is grown since the last time he had his last surgery.

Gerald was released after an hour of the procedure. Since my husband has the car to school, we had to wait for him until he come back. The bad thing was I told him to eat lunch ( I thought we will be in the recovery room for quite a while). So ended up waiting for almost an hour. Gerald was annoyed already because he couldn't run around. The bandage was keeping him sitting on the pillar.

As you can see, a very unhappy smile. I have no choice to stay inside the hospital, because he got bored in there too ans started screaming "goooooooooo"!

The nurse told me to keep him in sitting position, because he just had an anesthesia. But as soon as I put his shoes on he took off with cow.

Then, dad finally came and we went to the side of the hospital where there are few bench to seat on. I guess kids will be kids and they don't wanna be restrain in the stroller. They are running around the place and Kathlyn need to be watched closely since she eats everything that she gets her hand on.

Now, Gerald is doing great. He will be going back to see the surgeon in 7 days and to remove the stitches on his chest.