More fun stuff!

I just love that I've only been posting positive stuff lately!  Charlie is doing so well, and we've just been hanging out and enjoying our summer.  I'm sewing nearly every day because I keep coming up with things Charlie needs!

I started making her some trach ties last night.

They fit great with room to grow!

I made her some handkerchief bibs.  I got tired of her somehow wiggling her spit cloth away from her face...I swear she does it on purpose.  These snap behind her neck and all the little folds catch ALL of the drool!  I don't know why I didn't make these YEARS ago!

 

Decked out in a new outfit and shades with her spiffy bib:

And Charlie lost a tooth!  This is the first one she lost on her own, without it becoming loose from intubation, and having to be pulled by a doctor.  We didn't notice she'd lost it and we were afraid she'd aspirated it, but she hasn't had any issues breathing and when I asked her about it, it seems she spit it out somewhere (she reacted to that question vs. no reaction to "did you swallow it?).  Then the next day she lost the OTHER bottom tooth!  Holy cow!  Only this time her nurse was able to grab it and save it for me.  I was just wiggling that sucker the night before trying to get it out, but it wouldn't budge.  And then it just falls out on it's own the next day.  Weird.

Adrian and his man purse. LOL

I took some pics of the kids to frame, but Charlie wasn't cooperating and didn't want to smile.  I still LOVE this pic though!

So it seems Miss Charlie can tolerate some food these days!  I decided to try blending again, this time with a GOOD blender.  Last night was Charlie's first night with a full blend and she tolerated it great.  The pump didn't alarm at me at all!  We were never able to get a blend to run smoothly through the pump with just my little Magic Bullet.

I love our new blender! It's a Blendtec, which is one of two that are highly recommended for a blended diet.  The other is a Vitamix.

So a week ago some freaky ass storms pummeled Ohio.  In the span of a half an hour, our whole city lost power and hundreds of trees fell, causing damage and blocking roads.  We were all safe, thank goodness.  They are saying there weren't any tornadoes, just straight line winds, up to 85 mph I think.  I'd never seen anything like it though!  Poor Adrian was with his dad at Toys'r'us when it hit.  They locked the doors and everyone stayed inside.  I asked him later if he thought it was scary and he said "yeah, my belly was dropping the whole time!"

It used to be that a power outage wasn't a huge deal for Charlie.  We'd stick her on a tank, spot check her with the pulse-ox, and just charge her suction machine and feeding pump wherever there WAS power (I remember one time charging it during a therapy appointment).  But now she has the vent, and I'm still too nervous to not have her continuously on the pulse-ox, so she really only has a few hours before we need electricity.  And the WHOLE city was out.  My mom called and said she's bought a little generator last year at Aldi and they were hooking it up.  We went and stayed with her.  I was impressed with all they got hooked up to that little thing!  We had all of Charlie's stuff plugged in, the fridge, half the lights and outlets in the house, a fan, the water pump, and a few other things.  We even had internet!

The kids passed out on Grandma's couch:

I hand washed clothes and spit rags (she goes through these like crazy!) and hung them on the deck to dry.

 We didn't have the stove or microwave hooked up, so my step-dad made pancakes on the camp stove and I heated them up later by just setting them in the sun!

It was interesting being without power for so long and I'm VERY glad to have it back on now!  Charlie definitely needs to be in the A/C during a heat wave like this....it's supposed to be 103* tomorrow!