We took a trip

Aman, the boys, and I all went for a trip to TN. We went to Gatilinburg to start with and spent the weekend in that area. Then we left for Johnson City on Monday and came home Wednesday. I don't feel much like typing so I am going to load pictures and do captions.

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium with Aunt Jill.

The entrance to Ripley's Aquarium

Adam said that the fish looked like Mommy

SHARKS!

David and Aunt Jill

Our attempt at a family photo

Not everyone liked walking through the tunnel

Penguin Exhibit

Smokey Mountain National Park

The boys loved the tunnel

The scenic trail we drove down

Riding the cow at Aunt Jill's

David the Cheerleader

Riding Daddy

Adam with the foam disk shooters at Aunt Jill's

view on the way home

Happy Moments as a Mom

I have had a lot of happy moments. Today I just started thinking about it all. I was watching my little David ride a bicycle (with training wheels). I just love to watch him go riding on it. It is a little scary though. I am always worried he will fall off of it. However, it just makes me think of all the times people told me he wouldn't be able to do this stuff. More than once doctors tried to tell us things like this wouldn't happen. I am so happy they were wrong. It makes me hopeful for his future watching him ride that bicycle.

Some of my happiest moments with Adam are simple. Like listening to him talk like he is a adult, or tell me what color or shape something is. Getting him potty training was by far the hardest thing we have been through yet.

I am so proud of both of them and all they have accomplished!

David pooped in the potty!!!

Today has been a good day. Had the house clean and dinner in the oven when David got home on the bus. David ate a snack without a lot of drama. At dinner Adam ate all his nuggets. David stuck his hands in his mashed potatoes and cheese. His hands has a conversation about being yellow. It has been interesting. After dinner David pooped in the potty!!!!!! SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!!! Things are never dull around here. Right now there are two boys in PJ's being dinosaurs and crocodile.

Small Town

Living in a small town is good and it is bad. The good is if something happens people are there for you. For example the community came together to help support a custodian that has become ill. Friday night they had a pork burger dinner, silent auction, bake sale, and raffle. That is wonderful. When we had David the people in the comunity were so nice. Always asking how they could help. Offering babysitting, sending gifts, offering to drive me, and just caring.

The bad part of the small town attmosphere is the knowing things. Knowing that the boy who flipped the bird and yelled B**** at you is the son of the aide at school. Or knowing that Mr. Elmo is cheating with Mrs. Cookie Monster. It is also hard to live around the people who teased you in school. It is hard not to let yourself carry all of those feelings with you when you run into them at the school. It is hard to let the boy who was mean to you in school teach your son in class. I wish I didn't know that the girl I once buddies with now can't be bothered to wave at me as she passes me on the road.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier if like most of my Bumpus Family I moved away. I know my place is here. That this no matter how stressful is the place I want to raise my boys. I want them to have some of my experiences. I want to know if my son is getting into trouble. It is kinda nice to know there are people watching. I guess the idea is to not let their opinions or actions get to me so much. I need to learn to appreciate the little things and the quirks of my community. In a way it is easier here. I know the experiences I am glad I had and I want to change the bad ones I had so that my children hopefully don't have them. I want them to learn to swim, to be in sports, to forgive, to laugh at themselves, and I want them to be sure of themselves. I want them to know they are loved and that no matter what they do their Dad and I will be here to help them pick up the pieces.

David came home dry!!

David went to school in a pull up and came home in the same one!!! YIPPIE!!! So So happy!
I asked him to do the same thing again today. :)

Underpants fail :(

Not good.

David came home with dirty clothes to wash in his bag.

Happy moment though. He came home and pooped in the potty while I was on the phone. SO Yippie!

Maybe we are at least headed towards the end of the pull ups.

New PJ's from Grandma and Papaws trip.

David is in real underpants

Yep David is wearing real underpants to school today. I am a nervous wreck! He wanted to wear his new toy story undies and he did really well going potty yesterday. I am so hopeful! I am also totally scared he will pee his pants and kids will laugh at him.

On the food front I have been putting protein powder into David's applesauce. He is eating it so far. I also put carrots and cheese whiz in his mashed potatoes last night and he ate them until he found a hunk of carrot. He has been eating a little more than he did last week so that it good. I hope it keeps increasing. The only bad thing has been that giving him feedings at night usually make him pee the bed. Still have to work that out.

Eat Eat Eat

Turkey Tom Square pants
David had a project to help the turkey disguise for Thanksgiving.

So it feels like I am constantly feeding David. Like I am constantly trying to stuff him full of things. I am starting to worry all this is going to back fire and he will start hating eating. Today he has barely ate anything. For his aide at school he ate 10 cheerios and 2 danimal yogurts. I brought him home to eat before speech therapy, and he tried to throw up when he ate half a banana. There is nothing in his belly to throw up. There is no fever. He seems okay now that he gagged a bit. He was suppose to have a tube feeding about 20 minutes ago but I am too worried it will cause another gagging episode. So I am giving him a little while before I try to give him a tube feeding. I feel like screaming! I even made him Sponge bob macaroni and he wouldn't eat it.

I canceled therapy since I am pretty sure he will gag all over the place when they try to eat something. Hopefully it is just his cold and it will pass.

Early Morning

So David is suppose to eat first thing in the morning. Before he gets his tube feeding he is suppose to try and eat food.Sounds simple right.Well David gets on the bus 6:45 am every morning. So to get him awake, feed him food, and feed him his tube feeding sounds difficult. David is kid who loves to sleep in. Today went relatively well. Aman, Adam, David and I all got up at 5:30 to get David awake and eating breakfast. David got up with little protest. I got him in clothes he went potty and got to the table by 5:45. He ate 1/4 cup kix with milk. He also drank about a 1/4 cup v-8 fusion juice. Then at 6:15 Aman fed him tube food. Then David brushed his teeth and got his coat on just in time to get on the bus. It went smoother than I thought it would. I think we only made it through because Aman got up and helped me through it. I am not great at mornings.

Food in Mouth not in G Tube

So I have started logging food that David eats. We are also consulting a dietitian that is in our area. I logged a week and then David and I went to meet with the dietitian so we can talk about how many calories we are aiming for. She said we need to try for 1300 to 1400 a day. David weighs 35.4 this week. I am so stressed out over all this crap. I have to only give him calories that are nutritional calories. No more squeeze its and things that he loves. I am not suppose to give him cakes and cookies unless he eats the other stuff. Sounds like normal kid stuff but David is not the normal kid. He is content to just get fed by his tube. If I take away his zebra cakes I am concerned that he won't eat anything at all. It is so hard to think about his eating and how to change it. I am so completely at my wits end. I want to get him off the tube but I am starting to think we are going to be stuck here for a very very long time! I need help people. If you can think of any fattening up ideas I am all for it. I feel like I have used up all my ideas. The dietitian said that we need to use dry milk in mashed potatoes. We also need to add protein powder to other things. HELP!