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  • Oh ya, about that.
    Bj_in_roof1

    This is what our attic looked like about a week ago. We started demo with out our permit (not illegal or anything, just risky because you can’t actually build until you get the permit). Guess what? Our permit had hold ups, we had to get new drawings (which was terrible because the guy doing the drawings is the slowest on earth), and then it started raining. So they put up plywood and tarps and we haven’t had any problems with that (except the house is COLD). Well yesterday we got our permit! I am so thankful for this. Seriously I was going out of my mind with worry. Now the upstairs looks like this:
    House3

    And they are putting in floor joists and all kinds of structural things. The upstairs will actually overhang two feet from the ground floor, so they have to do that. I hope that there will be a new roof and framing by next week (when the bad weather will come back and may not leave). They have to build stairs. Right now our (old) bedroom looks like this:
    House2

    Ya, that hole goes up into the elements. So where are we living? Crammed into the front room, which was my craft room.
    House1

    It looks messy there, I just got an old navy maternity order so that’s all over the bed. And we have lots of random pillows on there now as I need them to get comfy and sleep. But this is actually the ONE clean room. You read that correctly, the one really clean room. The main floor has guys trekking through it, oh and a beam had to be replaced. They’ll come back and remake the arch.
    House6

    I took a lot of our pictures down, the furniture is covered, the dining room table smooched to one side so they can get out to this:
    House5

    And the garage is stuffed full of lumber. There’s a porta-potty in the driveway, all that good stuff. The most annoying thing is the basement. We ended up having to rebuild a wall down there, pour a new footing (so we have to saw cut up the concrete that is there), and all this stuff. I’ll save that for another day, since it’s really insane down there. I think being around construction my whole life this doesn’t phase me too much. I understand everything they’re doing, and that it will all look right in the end. I have really trustworthy guys working the project, so that’s great. The most annoying thing to me right now is the dust – everywhere! I like to be clean, maybe not always 100% tidy, but clean. And I know things are just going to get messier. They still have to demo my shower and tub after all (to get new plumbing upstairs). So now you know, I’ll keep you updated. Things should move quickly now.

    I have to go finish work now before I visit grandpa. I just had a fantastic lunch of stew. My mom cooked some up for me last night, so yummy. I also got to take a bath in her tub, ahhh relaxing. And best of all my mom came with me to visit grandpa again. The evening visits do seem the hardest so I love having company. And extra bonus? I pick Bj up at the airport tonight (much easier to drive an hour north at 7 than at 4 am!). I am so glad. The suns out, hope your day is going great!

    5 comments on The other BIG thing
  • Thank you so much for all your kind words. Grandpa is doing okay. He doesn’t have a feeding tube, but something called TPN. The nurses described it to me as proteins, fats and vitamins in their most basic form. It goes right into a main vein and enters his blood stream. It skips his digestive system, which is good because that system seems to be working against him. The terrible thing is sitting with him and having him ask over and over for something to drink or eat. He made a list today: brick of cheese, white bread slices…. I asked if he wanted a sandwich, he nodded yes. I was able to have to the nurse print out a picture of a throat and how it works and why he can’t have anything (he aspirates it into his lungs). After that he didn’t ask me for anything. And his doctor actually wrote an order for him to have his mouth swabbed with Diet Coke. Swabbing is common to keep the mouth from feeling too dry, and I guess Diet Coke is good for breaking up phlegm. Grandpa doesn’t seem that impressed, he’d rather gulp it down. The good thing about grandpa being naughty and pulling out tubes and drinking things he shouldn’t is that he now is on 24 hour 1 on 1. So there is always someone with him in his room. Just sitting with him. He doesn’t sleep much. He does stuff like this:
    Hospital_knitting6

    To keep himself busy. He’s writing lots of notes as it is still hard for him to talk. My mom can attest to his cuteness with these notes. He wrote her a series of them when she visited with me this evening.
    "Nice to see you again."
    "You’re so cute."
    "39" (when asked what he thought her age was)
    "I could wrap you up and take you home." (we were laughing so hard at this, and so was grandpa).
    He asked for a picture of my mom and I to have in his room, so I’ll bring him one tomorrow. Bj’s on a business trip so we set up the iChat and had grandpa and him "chat" He wrote out notes and then I’d read them.
    "Dear grandson, I love you more than anything."
    That got me, but I’ve been good at being upbeat in his room. I usually cry because I don’t want to go before hand, and then cry after. But sometimes I cry there, like when I gave him these socks.
    Hospital_knitting4

    He was so excited. They are the ones I had given to Bj due to my major mis-calculations. I stuck my feet up because he said, what about mine. So I said these are yours, and these are mine see:
    Hospital_knitting5

    He got a kick out of that. I finished these socks actually in the car, as grandpa is quite busy in the room and I don’t actually get that much knitting done.
    Hospital_knitting3

    That’s my bedroom floor if you want to know how the rest of my life is going. 🙂 Chaos. Seriously. My mom even bought me ice cream. My mom likes health food and doesn’t eat much bad stuff at all. Cooks all her meals (mmm mom make me some stew), so you can tell she feels for me when she says the Ben and Jerry’s is on her. Then I put two mini Butterfingers in there to make it extra terrible for me and baby. Bj and I have been going to our Bradley classes and I had to fill out my food plan for the week. "Yes," I told my teacher, "lunch that day really was four mini milkyways." (side note, mini candy bars never seem as bad as the big ones, right?). Not exactly hitting the million grams of protein that I’m supposed to aim for. I’m sorry baby, Mama still loves you lots. I still haven’t had a Diet Coke, do I get bonus points for that? I can’t eat or drink in grandpa’s room because that would be evil, so I tend to do the stuff my face thing later.

    Speaking of the baby… It moves around enough that I feel it a few times a day. Not as much as it was on our trip, I don’t know if stress mellows it out or what. I’m beginning to feel a bit of a panic with not having anything really ready. Thank god I have boobs, otherwise I might really be freaking out. I went over to my moms for a second Sunday (to mooch food of course) and she had pulled out my old cradle. She’s going to fix it up for me, get a new mattress, make a bumper, all that so the baby will have some where to sleep. Of course where will we put that thing, I have no idea. I have a baby car seat (thank V!). I’m knitting a blanket, and I did manage to register at the cutest little baby place before chaos really hit. Sooo cute, check out the little site they made me. I figure we have the diapers picked out, so if it comes down to it we’ll just place a big order and rush it. I have a sling already from my step mom, so if we don’t get a stroller for a while we should manage (although I was going to use the bassinet on the one we picked out for next to the bed). And I just realized the diaper bag that we both decided would be cool enough to carry is out of stock everywhere in the color combo (Ogo) that I wanted. 🙁 If anyone sees this would they let me know? Note to self, maybe waiting on everything isn’t the best idea. Grandpa is being terribly cute about baby. He asked for pictures of it (ultrasound) for his room, so those are up now. He always says bye to baby. It’s not just my hormones, some of the nurses have teared up at that too. I don’t know what I’ll think when I look back to this time in my life. I think that’s why I have to write it all down. Because it’s a lot to take and fast and slow at the same time. I still remember getting grandpa his first track suit. Time is something I may never fully understand. Big love to all those in blogland sending their wishes. Happy things for you as well!!!

    12 comments on Hospital Knitting
  • Grandpahospital4

    While we were away on our trip I mentioned that Bj’s mom had come to stay at our place and hang out with grandpa at the hospital. This worked out great, grandpa got a little better and was in a regular room. He is still there, and the beginning of this week things were looking up (all of these picture are from the 30th, I started off the week thinking I would join Ali in her week in the life challenge, didn’t get to it, but so glad I took these at least). Grandpa was talking to us, and telling us over and over that he wanted a diet coke. But he was not so glad when we gave him this:
    Grandpahospital2

    The thickener takes away all the carbonation and I think some of the taste. It turns it into diet coke sludge. No wonder it didn’t really quench his thirst. The reason he was on these thickened foods was because the pneumonia he had last week was caused by aspirating food or liquid into his lungs. So they did a swallow test on him, that showed he didn’t do well with pure liquid. He was not a fan of purees and the like, so Bj and I had to talk him into them, and basically distract him so he’d eat.
    Grandpahospital5

    That’s Bj feeding him. Grandpa’s on an air bed, because he was getting a little bed sore. At this point we were still working on his main goal:
    Grandpahospital3

    Mmm I want a diet coke too! Then on Wednesday night Bj went to back to visit him (I was doing daytime visits). He brought him a Boost. Loaded it up with thickener and then put some ice in it. Grandpa actually said, "this is some good ice cream." So we really thought we were on to something. The next day when we showed up things were spiraling downward. Somehow he had gotten a hold of a whole thing of what they thought was regular Boost, but it had been so thicken we couldn’t figure out how he got it thin. Finally when we were leaving we realized that he must have some how reached way over to grab the ice cup (which was now melted) and poured it into the thickened Boost. He then drank all of that down into his lungs. So he was put on no food or drink until he had another swallow test (where they give you barium (sp?) to swallow and then x-ray you to see where it went to). He failed it. So no more food. At the same time all of this was traumatic to his whole throat area and his ability to talk quickly fade to whispery grunts. We don’t want to prolong his life just because (and he does not want to be on tubes). But we did want to try to get him on a feeding tube through his nose to give him a little more energy because he was really hungry. We just got a call this morning that he had pulled it out.
    Grandpahospital1

    Now we’re not going to force the issue, it’s what he wants. I’m an emotional wreck, seriously. Every time I go in there I can’t help but burst into tears. I want to be able to handle it and talk to him and be upbeat, but I loose it, every time. We gave grandpa a sharpie and notepad. He’s been writing while were gone, "gimme my diet coke" "I love you kids all 100%" "where’s Bj?" Knowing that someone is close to the end and there is nothing you can do? It’s terrible. I wish I could have a better outlook on it. He’s so sweet now, every time I come. He wants to touch my belly (and though I’m not a big fan of that, of course I let him). He spent last night checking out my new socks, which he got a huge kick out of. Then pointed to his feet, wanting to know when he was getting his. And I don’t know. If I start them he may never get to wear them, because we don’t know how long he can be like this. I hate to see him in pain. I don’t want to pray for him, he would probably dislike that more than anything, but I do wish good things, and pain free days and a happy ending, or as happy as it can be.

    19 comments on The update I’ve been putting off

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