Sunday, August 1, 2010

The upcoming week and I'll take blenderized diets and babyfood for $100 Alex ...



Well,darn it anyway,it's August already.Seriously?That kickback summer,has just gone poof,right before my very eyes.I intend on packing in a ton over the next 4 weeks and if I had my way that would mean spending the majority of our days at the beach.Unfortunately,life,as always,has other ideas.Yes, we will be doing our weekly beach trips and I might just cram in an extra day here and there but there are a few other things on the agenda here in the Needham household.A few worthy of mentioning:that pesky eye procedure for Miss.Z,major hip surgery for Jess and packing Taylor up and sending her abroad to Switzerland for the upcoming school year.Scattered amongst those little diddies are a hand full of other things and oh,yeah,the everyday "stuff".I was just mentioning to someone the other day that God sure knew what he was doing when he blessed me with the ability to function on very little sleep,as well as my mile a minute,multitasking personality.How I would do all this otherwise,is beyond me.

Lets rundown the upcoming week and leave it at that shall we?The boys continue to take swim lessons everyday and are quite the little fishies.Love their teacher and love,love,love that they enjoy it so much.Zoey is scheduled for PT/OT 2 times this week but as luck would have it,her Wednesday session needs to be cancelled due to her eye procedure.Notice how I call it"luck"?Tells you how much I "love" taking her to therapy.I swear,at this rate,I'll be toting that child around in my front carrier till she is ten!Anyway,praying for an uneventful surgery and praying she actually does HAVE that tear duct.Come on tear duct.Friday the boys are going camping with Mark and Taylor.They are super excited about that and me,lets just say I am not the camping kinda girl.Which, in some ways, is contradictory to the tomboy in me but if there isn't warm running water and an outlet for my hair straightener,I am a no go.I still am holding out for that motor home one day.If only in my dreams.

Last but not least,I have decided to undertake a blenderized diet for Zoey and her g-tube feeds as well as making my own babyfood.Something has got to give and I think,or at least I am hoping,this might be the answer.I have never really gone into specific details on Zoey and all her tummy issues but suffice it to say,I am frustrated.Not at her but FOR her.It is just another instance when I find myself saying,"Does everything need to be a struggle for this child,right down to the ability to preform a natural bodily function more often then every 10 days?"No joke.Nothing works.Mirilax,probiotics,low does antibiotic,colace ... nada,nothing.The absolute kicker of it all,she is NEVER uncomfortable.THAT my friends,blows my mind but I am so grateful at least for that aspect.So,we need to kick this g-tube habit,get back to oral feeds and get some real food in that belly of hers.We have consulted with a nutritionist and under her guidance have dropped 2 bolus feeds of formula from her diet in the hopes of initiating hunger.Yeah right.My child would go all day without eating.She could care less.No lie and all we have manged to do at this point is see my already teeny,tiny girl,become even teeny tinnier.A whopping 22 pounds and she is just shy of 3 1/2.So I have taken matters into my own hands and we are going to rock out this blenderized diet thing and make some yummy tasty food and get back my little oral feeder.That is my story and I'm sticking to it.I'll keep you posted.Wish me luck.

Last week the little ones and I headed to The Getty Museum.This museum is incredible.It is situated high atop a hill in LA.Over looks the entire city and is just amazing.And massive.Our day there only yielded us seeing about 1/8 of the museum.We will be back again before school begins.The boys were so into it.Especially Joe.Which some might find interesting given his "active" personality but remember, he is the very same little guy who proclaimed the Griffith Observatory to be "better than Disneyland!"Go figure.A few pictures.Love the ones of them in their statue poses.Joe informed me he was a sphinx.They just had to roll down the big grassy hill.And,what kid wouldn't want to? And finally, each had me take pictures of their favorite art items.Jake,my engineer chose,this magnificent display cabinet that,when we played an interactive video showed it opened into possibly hundred of little compartments on each 4 sides.He also loved the statue of Mercury.As for Joe,he thought the "Boy with a dragon" was "awesome" but his favorite was "Christ Child".And Zoey .. she liked it all.Good as gold.The entire day.That's my girl.










23 comments:

Stephanie said...

I swear we have the same life.....LOL! Let me know how the blenderized stuff goes....we have the same issue here. They are looking in to the possibility that it is neurological damage fromt eh strokes & seizures....I know it is a stretch since he is missing 60% of his brain (sarcasm). Anyway, I have been thinking about the blenderized diet as well, but I need one more thing to do.

Hope everybody stays well - prayers for the girls in their surgeries & safe travels for all.

Hugs!

Steph and CHristopher

Stephanie said...

Hello!!! That headed picture gets me smiling!!

boy you are busy!! i like your idea with the foods for Zoey, Somethings gotta give!

and Switzerland! Wow, what an experience. my friend has had her two daughters in Spain for two years. They love it. bless you and Mark for sending her.
As always the boys are adorable! Probably not a word they would love to hear but, they they are!!!

keeping my fingers crossed that Z has a tear duct in there!

Devon said...

Girl, I do wish you luck! We struggle with feeding Dakin--he'll eat yogurt all day long when he feels like it, but not much by way of big-people food. And it took us forever to get there...for him it is a control issue--as long as he's in the mood and feels like he's in charge, he'll eat. We totally bribe him with TV. Ah well.

Good luck, sweetie!

Lacey said...

I'm so with you. I freaked out that it was August and now I want to do something every day before summer leaves us! Sarah does the blenderized diet with Emily, its quite interesting!

betsy kennedy said...

hey heather! i just wanted to tell you that I love reading your blog! i think if we lived close, we'd be great friends...our ADHD lives would fit perfectly. xo!

Becca said...

Good luck with Zoey's eye surgery on Wednesday! She's such a sweet little pumpkin - I love the first photo!
I can only imagine how frustrating feeding issues can be. Sounds like you have a plan - hope it works!!

another mama said...

Praying that in all your craziness all goes smoothly. I am not the camping type of girl either so I don't blame you there! But oh Switzerland sounds amazing. I don't know how you have the energy to keep up with the 100 different ways your family is running, but you do. Your kids look great! Zoey looks so grown up.

Anonymous said...

I have made a million gallons of pureed and semi-pureed food - it's kind of fun coming up with different combinations. I really like these for storage because they are glass and safe for the freezer, dishwasher, micro, etc.

http://www.innobaby.com/Keepin-Fresh-Baby-Food-Storage-Solution-Glass-150-ml-2-Pack-Yellow-amp-Pink_p_76.html

Mo

blogzilly said...

Hopefully the new diet has some success.

That's some nice sculpture you saw there. And nice pics. I always thought at museums you weren't allowed to take photos.

And I'm with you on camping. I like hotels. :)

Kelley said...

Hi Heather, I'm de-lurking to say hi. I love to read about Zoe and your family and I pray for you all. Something I heard recently and even did a little research on is chiropractic for making the bowels work regularly in children. I don't know if it's even a possibility for Zoe, but it might be worth looking into. I'm sure you would love to find an alternative that didn't involve another medication for your sweet girl. Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I think you are an amazing mom with an amazing family. God bless.

The VW's said...

WOW! You and your family sure are busy! Good thing you can run on little sleep....I'd be one grumpy Momma!

Sounds like you've fit in some great fun in the midst of it all! Hope you can do a lot more before summer is over! I can't believe it's August already!!

Hoping that Miss Zoey takes to the new diet and begins to like food my mouth! Gavin is right there with her.....he'd rather starve than eat anything by mouth!

Have you ever tried Compleat Pediatric tube-feeding formula? This is what Gavin is on. If the new diet doesn't work, try this! It made a huge difference in keeping Gavin regular and able to digest better.

It's a blenderized formula.....it has chicken, beans, peaches, etc, right in it. We have to get it from our home health care company, but it has been a blessing to us!

Enjoy your busy week.....or should I say life?! Love and Hugs!!!

Rochelle said...

Seriously, when do you find time to blog or even take a potty break =)...?
We will be praying for Zoey for a great surgery on Wednesday and that the new diet works well.
Hope Taylor has a fantastic year in Switzerland, that sounds amazing.
I hope in all the things you have to do you truly find time for all the things you want to do. Beach time with family, priceless.

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

I do a blenderized diet for my girl, and most of the time it's homemade! :) I would highly recommend you get a Bebea Cook. It's much cheaper than the Vitamix, and it's a cooker as well. It's awesome!!

I have never taken the kids to the Getty. I should, it looks like fun!

Googsmom said...

Busy busy busy! {{{HUGS}}}}

I hope the new diet works great for Zoey. When I was little my Mom blended up all my food. It was black. I have pic's of black babyfood all over my face. Please make Zoey some pretty color food LOL

You better let me know if you guys come this way to Sunriver someday(it was SR right?) I want to snuggy Zoey and give her great big hugs!! You too :)

{{{HUGS}}}} the whole family!

Anonymous said...

Wow Heather, that was quite a post! Your usual busy, busy lives!
Glad the boys enjoyed the Getty..

Hope the little one's eye duct surgery is finally completed on Wednesday. And really hoping the new diet for Miss Z works - that would be a MAJOR hurdle to overcome....
And Jessica - love & hugs to you for your upcoming hip surgery. Hope all goes well for you. Keeping all my fingers & toes crossed!

Taylor - soon will be time to pack and head overseas. That will be an awesome experience I'm sure.

Too bad, you don't have a few more things to do Heather in the next 4 weeks! I know there will be some little surprises thrown in there too. There always is....

Take care & don't forget to get some sleep!

Loraine/Bluebelle

Cammie Heflin said...

I have added babyfood to Addy's feeds to trying to get her to "taste" foods via burping (nice huh?). I was hoping we would be eating by now but we are nowhere close so I'm going to take her in for a full feeding eval, we don't have anything around here to help her.

Jamie said...

Magic Bullet Girlfriend!! madie LOVES her sweet potatoes and applesauce etc etc! just add water for consistancy..hahaha
Oh Miss Zoey, I have big faith that you will master your yum yums and you will love the new tastes in your tum tum! Madison has had feeding issues FOREVER! she is 3 and a half and finally eating baby food!! I fought like heck for no G-Tube for my madie working hard each day with just a few tiny bites of food before bottles.. keep the patience! Oh and the faith!

Elizabeth said...

I always say that I have been "blessed" with an ability to function fairly well on very little sleep. I also now understand my physical strength to be a real blessing -- carting around a fifteen year old who can't do much for herself demands it! Weird how we are uniquely suited to our "interesting" lives! On another note, your children are gorgeous -- if you head up this way again to the Getty, we should meet there. I love that place and have never really explored inside! Have you been to Noah's Ark nearby? I think your kids would love that, too.

Elizabeth said...

Oh, and I'm thinking about, sending healing thoughts and prayers your way for the upcoming surgeries!

Kele said...

I am definitely wishing you luck on the blenderized diet, sure hope it works!!!
AND I am rootin for A TEAR DUCT!
Keep us posted!

Great pic of the three of them!

Jennie said...

Yay for you rocking the blenderized diet. One of these days we're going to attempt that transition too. Micah will eat just about anything, as long as it's yogurt, yogurt, or yogurt. And make sure you don't have any flecks of fruit in there, thank you very much.

Tammy said...

The blenderized diet we have Parker on has been one of our best decisions....ever.

Good luck! I think you'll love it too!


Tammy and Parker

Kat said...

Hi I'm new to your blog! I was curious how the blenderized diet is going. My daughter doesn't have any GI issues besides reflux but I have the hardest time getting her to eat. And she sounds like your daughter and the old saying "if they get hungry enough they'll eat" doesn't apply to her. She could care less and never seems bothered by hunger, only thirst.And lately she has gotten insanely picky about eating which makes it tough to get vitamins in her.Is your daughter taking well to the "blenderized" foods?