The Leaf Pile

The kids love it every year when Criss rakes up a few leaves and makes a huge leaf pile for them to play in.

I'm going to try to post short video clips of the experience below...  (They're just a few second each - taken from our camera.)

As you can see, they had a blast!

Janel

This is the first time I've tried to add video, so hopefully it works.  For those receiving this by email, you may have to go directly to the blog if it doesn't work in the email.

Tubie Tidbits

For those of you who are interested in a little more information about feeding tubes, I thought I would share a few things that I've found to be very helpful.

Once Silas' feeding tube surgery was scheduled, we stumbled across Tubie Friends.  They sew feeding tube buttons into Build-A-Bear stuffed animals and make them available for kids with feeding tubes.

We contacted them before Silas' surgery, and they rushed our order so he could get it as soon as possible.  It arrived the day of his surgery.

It was nice for him to have a stuffed animal with a "button" like his that he could play with and get used to.  (He liked learning how the different tubes and extensions hook and unhook.)  We named ours Fudge.  We took Fudge to school, and the school counselor used him to tell the other kids in Silas' class about his feeding tube.

You'll notice that Fudge has a piece of cloth around his button.  We eventually bought Silas something like this from Button Buddies.  Feeding tubes can "leak" throughout the day.  Some people prefer to leave it open to the air.  We tried this, but the leakage was irritating Silas' skin. It was also making his granulation tissue worse.  (Granulation tissue is a red, fleshy tissue that often develops around feeding tube incisions.)  At first, we tried using gauze, but the strings would often stick to him and become very difficult (and painful) to get off.  The Button Buddies have been wonderful!

Another great resource that I found was the Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation.  (That's their logo at the beginning of the post.)  Here are a few of their pages that you might find helpful:

About Feeding Tubes 

Different Types of Feeding Tubes - Silas had a NG tube over the summer and then transitioned to a G-tube button.

For Friends and Family

Products - I just love their logo.  I'm planning to buy something from their store soon.

Note:  You can click on any of the highlighted words above to follow the links.

Janel

Fall Festival ~ 2012

Haven't had time to post in a while.  I'll try to catch up over Christmas break.

For Halloween, we attend the Fall Festival at our church each year.  This year, Autumn decided to dress as Rapunzel from Tangled (in her wedding dress).  Since she already has short, brown hair, it fit perfectly with Rapunzel's post-haircut look.

Silas went as Buzz Lightyear.  To infinity and beyond...

Halloween (and every other holiday) is tricky for those with food allergies or intolerances.  I'll share what I do in case it helps anyone else out there.

Our church has a Trunk-or-Treat at their Fall Festival.  Each year, I contact the Children's Pastor to see about how many cars will be there.  Then, I assemble sandwich-size Ziploc baggies with non-food prizes for each car.  (I usually have enough for my kids plus a few extras.)  I tape a note to the bag that explains that the items can be used for anyone that has food allergies or other medical issues that prevent them from having candy.  

While the kids play in another area (with Criss and all of the grandparents), I go around and give the bags to all of the cars.  Most of  them know what I'm doing by now, and I can just hand them the bag.  For any newcomers, I stop for a moment and explain to them what I'm doing.  It's a lot of work for me, but it allows the kids to participate - and get things they can actually enjoy.

Janel