Tips for Parents Still Fighting Personal Hygiene

I'm not sure exactly when I gave up my own personal hygiene needs in lieu of parenting.  I think it was somewhere in-between giving up my fashion sense and my sad demise of variety in the kitchen.  Here are my time tested tips to help other parents completely give up on their hygiene too.

Tip #1:  Showers are a luxury item just like a fine wine or a date night.  Having time to shave your legs in the shower is even rarer.  Long pants and socks are your friend.

Tip #2: If your infant throws up in your hair, just pull it up into a pony tail or put on a hat.  See Tip #1 for clarification.

Tip #3: The same pair of jeans can be worn around the house for multiple days (or until you actually have time to do the laundry) unless you encounter that scene from the Exorcist that leaves you sitting in puddles. I draw the line at wearing soaking wet puke jeans and t-shirts that are stuck to your back with spittle.

Tip #4: Make-up and shaving are designated for doctor's appointments, in a heart felt attempt at looking put together and "being on top of things".

Tip #5: Take advantage of the fact that your clothing has multiple purposes:  Nose wipes, face wipes, spittle rags, and drool catchers all can be replaced with your everyday attire.

Tip #6: Long hair = Fashionable - Seriously who has time to visit a hairdresser with all those other appointments in your life? Plus pony tails and hats- right?

Tip #7: Who needs perfume or body spray when you have deodorant?  One application in the morning and you are good to go.  Plus if you forget to apply it or are distracted with all the things needing your attention, all the better.  Embrace your inner hippy.

Tip #8:  Do brush your teeth but remember to push off your regular dentist appointments in lieu of your child's appointments/ homecare schedule.  This can also apply to your own doctor's appointments and any other personal appointments that do not involve severe bleeding, broken bones or lost limbs.

Tip #9: Being adorn with wet, snotty, drooly, kisses will fill you with *joy.  Embrace your joy.
                                       *Joy = germ infested juices that crust all over your face.

MOST IMPORTANTLY

Tip #10: Treat yourself once in a while and you will enjoy it and appreciate it.  You will savour every last bit of it.  Wash your face with a high end soap.  Paint your toe nails. Soak in a tub. Buy yourself one of those fancy electric toothbrushes that makes you feel like you just left the dentist office.

Embrace all the simple pleasures!  

 
Do you have any tips to add?

Happy Birthday Gideon

Happy First Birthday Gideon!

On Wednesday, Aug. 26th, Gideon turned one.  Here are just some of the goodies he got:

High contrast books

200 Plastic Balls 

Glowing Orb

Musical Projector

Wiggly Caterpillar

We tried giving Gideon some whipped cream but he really didn't like the feeling of it on his fingers.  He got seriously sad :(  Other than that, it was a really great day.

***

I know a lot of you are wanting to see a picture of Gideon in his new glasses so I snapped this picture before I put in his lenses.  There probably won't be too many pictures with him in his glasses.  They are mainly for when we loose one of his contact lenses or if we actually have a weekend away from the kids.  Look! He's yawning... soooo cute!

Gideon's Glasses

We finally have glasses for Gideon!

They are a little thick; About as thick as a penny... lying flat.

Oh so cute!

Gideon's New Hearing Aid

Last week Gideon got his new hearing aid.  Since we had the fluid taken out of his ears and tubes put in, his hearing has improved by leaps and bounds but he still has a bit of a loss.  His right ear has normal to mild hearing loss and at this point we don't need to aid it.  His left side has a mild to moderate hearing loss.  The audiologist questioned if we even needed to aid it because his right ear was doing so well but because of his visual impairment I thought it might have some benefit.  So far he has been really tolerant, pulling it out only when he has dropped his toys.  When we picked it up the audiologist realized that the company had forgotten to put a lock on the battery case so she gave us a water resistant cover to hold it in place.  We've already gotten a call to pick up a new battery door with a lock, but I just haven't made it there yet.

Side Note:  When I went to put Gideon's contact lenses in this morning I realized that one of them was ripped.  I only have one "spare" one right now.  It is a lost lens that I found on the floor in front of the dryer.  Pop Quiz - Would you wear a contact lens that most likely went through the washer and dryer?   

Eyes, Ears and Kidneys OH MY

A couple weeks ago we went down to London for a some follow ups.  Here's what came out of it:

1.  His eyes are still looking clear with no sign of the cataracts.  The doctor would like to do another eye examination under sedation to take a good look at his pressures and his optic nerves.  This will be happening in September.

2.  While visiting the Ivey Eye Institute , I stopped into the eyeglass store.  I had inquired the last time we were there about getting glasses for Gideon.  His eye glass prescription is +25 in both eyes and because he is so petite the glasses he needs are very small.  She had to do some research to find a pair that would work for him.  Well she found some!  I paid for them upfront and we should be getting them in a couple of weeks.

3.  We saw the kidney specialist.  Gideon's bad kidney has shrunk to 2.8 cm and his good kidney is looking fat and juicy.  This is what we want to see :)  Our next appointment with her will be a whole year away.  (Crossing our fingers that nothing new will creep up during that time)  Because of Gideon's undiagnosed syndrome, we'ill have to be on our toes.

4.  We had a hearing aid mold taken of Gideon's left ear.  I will being visiting the hearing aid clinic (only 30 minutes away-  Thank you Jesus for short car rides!) later this week with a new hearing aid.  The only issue here is that our ACSD funding (Assistance for Children with Disabilities) has still not been approved.  We applied for this many many months ago and have heard nothing back from them.  This issues has been on my radar for awhile, but life has been just busy enough that it stayed on the back burner.  Now that our lifeboat seems to be taking a leisurely jount down a lazy river, I think they will be getting a personal call from me later today.  

OTHER NEWS:

Gideon's food fight has continued to battle on.  The finger lights help, but his independence is raging and winning the war.  He will clamp his mouth shut when he see's me coming.  We have also had struggles with textures.  He does much better with very smooth textures (ie. yogurt) but not so well with lumpy textures.  Sometimes he will throw up a mucus mixture with the very first hint of texture.  Sometime he will just gag and make terrible noises.  He also will sound wet after/during a feed, which is concerning.  Occasionally he will even start to cough.  The speech therapist wants to have a swallowing test done to make sure he is not aspirating.  Aspiration is when food will go down into your lungs instead of into your stomach.  The food in your lungs can lead to infection/pneumonia.  It could also mean a modified diet lasting for who knows how long.  Let's all pray that he will be able to strengthen his swallowing and neck muscles to be able to eventually achieve a normal diet and that he will be able to be weaned off of bottles before he reaches the age of 5.  *sigh*  No, feedings are not going well.

Gideon is still struggling with his gross and fine motor skills.  He prefers to be on his back and will roll himself over whenever I place him on his belly.  The sitting situation is not fairing much better.  He throws himself back as soon as he is upright.  All of these issues further weigh me down in my decision about employment post Gideon.

Prayer of the day:  Lord grant us insight and discernment into the life changing decisions we are facing today in the midst of our grief and anxieties.  Grant us peace in our decisions, that they will be made in accordance to your will in our lives and not be made out of fear or angst. Quiet our spirits so we may hear your voice in the midst of chaos and strengthen our bonds to unite us in mind.  Amen.                          

Haiku

Born clouded and blind
The grey wool was pulled over

Your elephant eyes 

Food Fight

Introducing solids into Gideon's diet has been challenging.  Because of his eye surgery, he can't get anything in his eyes due to infection risks so this means playing with his food is not really an option because he could rub it in his eyes.  This lead me to making buzzing sounds and tapping my spoon against his mouth in hopes that he would open wide and eat what I had to offer.  BUT.... Every time I tried to feed something by spoon he would have a meltdown.  He would thrust his tongue out, arch his back and just generally complain a whole lot.  I tried shoving it in.  I tried scraping it on the top on his mouth.  I tried making him smile so he would open his mouth for a stealthy attack.  Nothing was working.

Insight of the day:  Having unknown things shoved into your mouth when you don't expect it isn't very fun.

So we took it back a notch.  I tried putting the spoon by his lips and just dabbing the smallest amount on there for him to try and taste.  He started tasting it.  I put my spoon by his lips and tried to have him be the one to initiate the bite.  Kind of like feeding a horse, the lips will smack a little, the tongue might come out for a taste but you don't put your hand right into the mouth.  There was some success with these methods but it was hit or miss and I really wasn't getting much food into him.  Gideon was experiencing the food but not really eating it.


That's when I decided to buy a light.  I found these finger lights at the dollar store- 4 lights for a dollar.  (Red, Green, White and Blue)  First I tried attaching the red light to the spoon.  Guess what- IT WORKED!  The light gave him something to look at and made eating a little more fun.  He also knew when the food was getting closer to him.  I think he was so distracted by the light that he just auto piloted the eating.  This is not to say that he is eating whole bowl fulls of food but I can at least get in 5-10 spoonfuls in which is huge!  

     Some pointers...

1. It works just as well to have the light on your finger.  (I snapped the strap on my red light by stretching it too hard to stay on my spoon.)  Having in on the spoon was nice though because you could point the light right at the end of the spoon where the food was.

2. Don't point the light right at your baby's eyes.  This light is pretty bright and I found it uncomfortable when pointed at my own eyes.

3. Try out different colours of lights.  There might be a preference to one over the other.  Remember that red is usually an easier colour to see for children who are visually impaired.

What tricks have you used during your food fight battles?