MNO Art Party

Last week I hosted our homeschool group’s mom’s night out and held it in Dakota’s studio and we had an art party.

We had such a good time. Dakota gave us step by step directions to paint a winter cardinal scene.

I love how everyone's painting turned out a little different from the others. All the paintings turned out awesome.

This is my painting.

I like how the snow turned out on Jamee’s painting.

Kristie did not add snow to her painting. I like her branch and her bird looks great too.

Everyone looks so serious and hard at work. Trust me there was a lot of laughing and talking going on.

Jessica’s bird turned out really cute.

I like how Konni added more to her branch at the ends.

Pam’s fat bird turned out cute too.

We had such a good time, it was a fun experience.

Dakota plans to offer ladies art nights and couple art date nights soon.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to my sweet Jody.

I am so lucky to have you for my husband.  You are my Sunshine and I’ll always be in love with you!

 

 

I used to think maybe you loved me, now baby I'm sure.
And I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door
Now every time I go to the mailbox, gotta hold myself down
'Cause I just can't wait till you write me you're coming around
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!
I used to think maybe you loved me, now I know that it's true
But I just can't spend my whole life just-a waiting for you
I don't want you back for the weekend, not back for a day
'Cause baby I just want you back and I want you to stay
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!
Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine
I feel alive, I feel a love, I feel a love that's really real
I feel alive, I feel a love, I feel a love that's really real
I'm on sunshine baby, oh yeah!
I'm on sunshine baby
Now I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
I'm walking on sunshine, oh oh!
And don't it feel good!

Elijah’s Formula

The new formula came today. I’m so happy it came, but I’ll admit I’m a little nervous about giving it to him. He has been on Neocate One + (plus) for 11 years. I pray he can tolerate this formula well.
The new formula is EleCare.
I don’t like that this formula has to be measured.
The Neocate came in packs like this and all I had to do was open and pour it in a container of 6.5 ounces of water.
 
Just as Neocate was, the EleCare formula is very expensive. 6 cans is $204.00 I’m not sure at this moment how long 6 cans will last. When Elijah was a baby his formula was $40 a can and he used a can a day.

Just to explain how Elijah gets his formula…
After the formula is mixed up, it is poured into a feeding bag like this.

At the end of the tube I add an extension tube like this.

That tube fits into a plug on Elijah’s stomach next to his belly button like this. The balloon part is inside his stomach. I have to change his button if the balloon burst or if the button gets dirty and also when he outgrows the button size.

Then the tubes are ran though this pump.

If we are going out we put the feeding bag and pump into a backpack like this. Elijah doesn’t like wearing his backpack. It’s heavy and hot on his back.

If we are staying home then the feeding pump stays on the IV pole and the feeding bag is hung from the top. Elijah pushes the pole around the house with him.


Just a little info on how tube feeding works. Elijah has been tube fed for 9 years, before that he drank his formula from a bottle.

I’ll update on how the new formula is going after he has been on it a while.

What a hassle!

Elijah's formula, Neocate One +, is being discontinued so the medical supplier called me a couple of weeks ago to say he needed to change formula. I guess his formula will change to Elecare. It is also another formula for Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis.

So it began.... around and around with the doctor's office and medical supplier trying to get it all worked out.

The medical supplier is saying the doctor's office said Elijah had to come in for a visit before they could give a prescription. And when I call the doctor's office for an appointment, they ask what is wrong with him and I tell them he needs a new formula prescription. They say that doesn't warrant an office visit.
HMMM it's not like I want to come up there in an office full of sick people. And I can't make him sick to justify an office visit.

Ole Doc must be doing pretty good if he can turn away money.

The doctor's office finally told me they sent a prescription to the medical supplier. The medical supplier says the prescription wasn't signed by the doctor.

I've talked all I can talk I'm not sure how to get through to these people.

If I get nothing else done this week, I have to get all this worked out so Elijah's formula will come SOON! Having a starving child is not going to be fun. I’ve been at this for a couple of weeks now, it has to get solved this week!

This really isn’t anything new… a new prescription is needed every 6 months and it’s always a hassle! Someone sitting behind a desk just can’t understand that when you need formula for your tube fed child you have to have it, you don’t have time for them to play around. Because even when they decide to send the prescription it still has to get approved by insurance, then formula has to be ordered by the supplier and then they turn around and ship it to us by UPS. This process doesn’t happen over night.

Please pray someone gets a clue and realizes this is a child’s life they are playing around with and prescriptions get sent and formula is shipped quickly.

6 more weeks….

I went to the doctor yesterday and he is keeping me on the chemo drug, Mathotrexate, for 6 more weeks.

I am not a med taker, I hate taking meds and especially a medicine that makes you sick. I can tell the drug has helped me, but yet it itself makes me sick.

Doc said I look like a new person. I do look much better than I have in about two years.

Also he said my immune system is very low because of the medicine so I need to be extra careful about being around people that are sick. So I’m asking all sick people please wear a sign so I will know to stay away from you! Go a head and wear a sign if you think you might get sick this winter. LOL

I could have cried yesterday when the doc said let’s do 6 more weeks. 6 more weeks of making yourself sick on purpose is not something to look forward to.

 

Methotrexate Side-Effects
Some of the common side-effects of methotrexate are as follows:

• Increased Risk of Infection: Use of methotrexate may result to a decrease in the white blood cells produced by bone marrow, thus causing an increased risk of infection. The person may also suffer from headaches, aching muscles, sore throat, pain passing urine, or may feel cold and shivery.
• Anemia: Anemia is caused by the deficiency of iron in the body and results in low number of red blood cells. There is a possibility of the person becoming anemic while undergoing treatment with methotrexate resulting to lethargy and breathlessness.
• Diarrhea: Diarrhea is characterized by frequent liquid bowel moments and may cause severe dehydration. If the symptoms of diarrhea occur and last for more than a couple of days, while the usage of methotrexate, a doctor should be immediately consulted.
• Nausea and Vomiting: The occurrence of nausea and vomiting are seen when the patient is prescribed with a high dosage of methotrexate.
• Other Side-Effects: The other side effects of methotrexate include ulcerative stomatitis, abdominal distress, undue fatigue, chills, fever, leukopenia and dizziness. It is also inadvisable to become pregnant if any one of the parents, or both, are undergoing a treatment with methotrexate, as the developing fetus may be harmed.

I usually don’t get side effects from meds, but this one is so different. Severe headaches and muscle aches are a part of every day. Then at night I can’t rest because I ache all over. I toss and turn keeping Jody away until I move to the couch so he can sleep. Lately I just go straight to the couch so he can rest without me flopping around.

I’m usually so hot and everyone knows I’m a always hot and like the cold, but on this med I am freezing to the point that I am so cold I hurt.

Diarrhea and vomiting! I just don’t know why I haven’t dropped 100 pounds yet!!! And even if I’m not vomiting the waves of nausea that come and go through out the day are just as bad.

Life must go on! I do try to pull myself together and make the most of it. I feel like just laying in bed, but I want to be with my family and I want to make memories with them so I push myself to do more than I feel like doing.

I appreciate the prayers, that’s what keeps me going!

January Art

We have been having the best time out in Bayou Art Classes studio. I love painting!

Here are a few paintings I have finished and one I’m still thinking about.

One day I kept singing Jesus loves the little children, red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight… and I ended up painting this 20x20 acrylic.  I’m giving it to my friend, Nicole, so she can hang it in the children’s room at her church.

I love how this next painting turned out. I didn’t really have a plan, but I had fun painting it. 16x20 acrylic

I decided on a zebra print cross because no two zebra’s have the same stripes and it is a great reminder that God made each one of us different too. 8x10 acrylic

I’m still working on this piece. I haven’t decided what to add just yet. It’s a work in progress.

 

Here is some art Elijah has done in art class at Bayou Art during the month of January.

This 11x17 bird print was a fun project.

 

The students really enjoyed making this 11x14 acrylic marble painting. Each student picked out 3 colors and Elijah wanted a Mardi Gras look so he picked purple, green and gold. Turned out great and I love how Dakota frames their art work for them.

Night time landscape of birch trees in water color on a 9x12 canvas. I thought this turned out to be a cool picture.

Here Elijah is working on an 18x24 acrylic painting that he designed. I can’t wait to see it finished.

 

We have some exciting events coming up at Bayou Art Classes for February. Dakota will be doing an art class for 27 girl scouts where they will work on 3 projects. I’m having our homeschool group Mom’s Night Out at the studio and Dakota will give us an art lesson. I can’t wait to enjoy art with my friends. We have new students starting in February also.

If you want to see more projects done at Bayou Art Class check out our facebook page.

It's a workbook week!

Everyone knows I'm a unit study/lapbook/notebook kind of teacher, but this week is a workbook week. I have been feeling bad and not doing much of anything with Elijah as far as school goes. I just feel too bad to even make an attempt. He has been doing his TT 4 math that is on the computer. Over the weekend I prayed about what to do and the ole Spectrum workbooks came to mind so I looked through them and made him out some lesson plans for the week. I'm glad to have these workbooks to fall back on, but I don't care for that being our school for very long at a time. I much perfer real learning.

Today wasn't so bad,  Elijah did Math on the computer this morning before it was time for us to head out to the Spelling Bee where Dakota was asked to come be a judge. Elijah took his Word Study book in the van and did two pages on the way to meet friends for lunch. I almost hinted for him to go ahead and do two more pages so he would have Thursday's work already done, but I decided not to push.

We enjoyed watching the Spelling Bee. The kids did an amazing job. I can't even pronounce some of the words they spelled. I was really proud of each and every one of the spellers.

When we got home I told Elijah he needed to finish his work for today, but I wanted to go paint so he took his books out to the art studio and did the rest of his school while I painted, but yet was there to answer questions and help him along.

After he finished his school work he started on a painting that he is really excited about. Then we came in and both took a really long nap.

I hope the rest of our school week goes as well as today.