Exciting Cleaning Discoveries

I recently discovered how to clean a moldy water bottle that is tall and has a smaller opening, thus making it difficult to clean and a dishwasher that has hard water build-up.

Moldy Bottle Solution: go to http://www.ehow.com/how_4763280_clean-moldy-water-bottle.html
and

check out this site for all the ways you can use vinegar including the hard water stains in your dishwasher. http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts

I am excited to learn new ways to clean and fix things so that I don't have to go and buy new. If I get the point of thinking about throwing things away to replace with something new I ponder my carbon footprint hoping for a good future for my children.

Their world and Ours

Isaac: "Mom can you call Grandma and Grandpa and Dad RIGHT NOW so that they can come see the horses before they have surgery?"

Me: "Do you really think I should call Grandma, Grandpa, and Dad so that they can stop everything RIGHT NOW to come and participate in your pretend world?"

Isaac: "Yeah!" (big smile)

Me: "No not gonna happen."

I've been somewhat irritated lately how the pretend world exists on the same level as real life and how the pretend world creates so much bickering between the boys when one of their worlds doesn't mesh with the others. For example, when they are arguing over whether or not you can feed a horse a peppermint or if one wins a pretend world race and the other loses.

My latest statement: "If you pretend world doesn't bring joy, than that pretend world cannot exist." Not sure if that is a good statement to make yet because I am still sorting it all out in my head since I do love their creativity and want to celebrate it.

Isaac's First Hospital Visit

Isaac had a loss of appetite on Friday night. Then on Saturday he began having intermittent severe abdominal pain. He had similar pain a few months back with a case of the flu so we thought we just needed to wait for the diarrhea to begin. Sunday the pain become worse throughout the day but still off and on and still no other flu symptoms. He was more tired than normal and sleeping more. The pain wasn't keeping him from sleeping. On Monday we took him to the doctor and she recommended an ultrasound at All Children's Hospital. The ultrasound confirmed that Isaac had intussusception in the small bowel. Basically his small bowel had telescoped into itself. The likely cause is a virus with enlarged stomach lymph nodes that pushed the small intestine inward just enough for it to collapse within itself.

The two possible procedures to correct the problem is an air enema or surgery. The surgeons decided to have the radiologist try the air enema first. They pass a tube up the rectum and blow air in the intestines. They gave only a 20% chance of it working given Isaac's age (usually intussusception happens in children younger than 2 years), the location of the blockage, and the duration of time it had been blocked (2 days). Within 5 minutes the air enema worked!!! The radiologists were shocked. Isaac was completely pain free and just a little tired from the days of pain before and procedure.

After the procedure Isaac and I stayed at the hospital for about 24 hours so that they could observe any changes that may occur when he ate. Next week Isaac will have another ultrasound to help determine if it was only a lymph node/ virus that caused the blockage or if there is something else that caused the problem.

Isaac and I are both happy to be home. We are grateful for the good hospital experience: a brand new hospital, nice nurses and doctors, and TV viewing.