Mental Junk

It's been a few months since Nathanial has come home from his reversal
surgery and he is doing fantastic.

The largest difference between him and his brother is mainly the
frequency of bowel movements.  Since he is missing two thirds of his
large colon, most of the liquid remains in his stool, so it is much
softer…. okay… okay – it's more like wet cat food.  Also, since
things pass through him so much quicker, the enzymes that normally die
off in the large intestines, are still active when expelled.

This has increased the number of diaper rashes the poor guy has had. 
Since he is digesting is own flesh, we don't like him to sit with a
dirty diaper on.  We have also taken to coating him with a layer of
diaper cream on each change to give him an additional layer of
protection.  If we miss once, he gets a nasty sore.

As for distension and pain, he seems to be getting a lot better.  Every
now and then he gets stomach pains, but nothing like they were. 
Obviously, it is hard for us to be certain, the little guy is only one
year old – so he doesn't tell us – we have to guess based on his
reactions.  I think the most pain is from the speed of things moving
around inside.  You can hear it all the time.  Stomach noises galore
with this kid!  If a gas bubble is moving through and hits solid food,
he will get a pain, because there is a lot of pressure at that one
point in his intestines.  Again, only guessing.

We are concerned that he doesn't get enough nutrition from the food he
consumes, but we are still looking into that.  We have a dietitian
appointment coming up, so we are going to go over things with her.

I think toilet training may be interesting with this one.  Since he
will figure out that sitting in it is no good, he may be more inclined
to train, but on the other hand, with the speed that things move, he
may not get as much warning that he should be on the toilet.

Only time will tell.

Many moons ago, Mic was convinced to dress up as Lilu Dallas for Halloween.  This is a scantily clad character from Fifth Element.

Not only did I get her to dress up in this minimal outfit – I somehow convinced her to let me take pictures of the event…. and me being the techno-geek I am…. had fun in photoshop.

Lilu Dallas Leelu Leloo Leeloo  

There are aspects of living in the house that my best friends grew up in that I could never have anticipated.  Stumbling upon the hidden messages left behind by the previous owners brings with it deeper meaning when you know them.

 We decided to redecorate the stairway, so we started to peel off the wallpaper which has dutifully hung there for over ten years.  Once I stripped off a section, a hidden message was discovered.  For anyone else, the 'Fat Asses Tour' my just have become a never-to-be solved mystery.  We have the luxury of being able to ask Tim and David what they were thinking (and probably laughing) about when they wrote it.

I felt the need to record it before we paint over it.  Holding on to my past as much as theirs, I suppose.

After reading my last post I realized it sounds like I am really griping, when in reality, I'm not.  I was just trying to note that things do seem to happen in threes.  

The leak in the church could have been a lot worse.  It could have backed right up and done serious damage.  While the same goes for work and here at home.  The water heater at work could have blown last Friday – if that was the case then there would be a lot of water damage to product, equipment and walls.  Here at home, well, we have a concrete floor in the basement and live with spring run off every year, so our basement is used to being hosed down.

It's always amazing to me how things work out.  I don't think I would have even checked our furnace pump if I hadn't been joking about 'waiting for the third'.

Sunday we went to church and I found out that the nursery was moved from the nursery room to a room down the hall because of a flood.  I started poking around and found that the condensation pump on the side of the furnace failed and was overflowing.  I dug out a sopping box from beside the furnace and 'kick' started the pump.  That seemed to do the trick as it started pumping once again.  I suppose that the remaining water in the bottom of the pump became sludge and gummed up the pump.

Today, I found myself mopping up leaked water once again – this time at work.  The water heater seems to have sprung a leak somewhere and was leaking on the second floor – right above the men's washroom.  This water followed a sprinkler head and was dripping on the floor of the men's washroom.  After a quick investigation, I figured I couldn't do much other than turn off the water and mop up the water.

I jokingly said to Michelle I hope we aren't #3.  Karen came over tonight to pick Kris up for darts and again, I joked that I should check the basement.  Not expecting to find anything, I went down.

Our condensation pump is gummed.

So, instead of actually going down and fixing it – I am here bitching blogging about it.

Oh well.

This was really cool.  Golden Age of video – many staple images and audio clips from TV and Movies that have become part of western culture all overlayed a catchy beat – they even made the clips rhyme!

I didn't think to take a before pic of Nate's room, but here is the after:

Installing a retrofit window is actually relatively painless as long as the frame is good.  The only thing I have to watch out for in the next window is the crazy, all consuming, watch – out – it's going to eat everything, expanding foam.  I picked up the 'Low Expansion Formula' for windows and doors, and I was still worried that it would eat my kids!

Well, onto Cam's room.

Windows are in – going to install them – wish me luck (I've never done this before).  This should be fun, I don't get to walk around on the roof a whole lot now that I have to be a responsible dad and all that crap.

Facebook – you dirty rat!  Where is Michelle's profile gone??!!!???

ACCOUNT DISABLED!!???!

We got in last night at 12:30am (so… that would be this morning, then, right?).  The trip out was fantastic.  The boys were great in the car.

On the way home, however, Cameron just had enough and wanted his bed.  I don't blame him – I felt the same way, but I didn't cry (I just whined a lot and drove on the sleepy bars).

I felt bad for the guy, but there wasn't anything we could do.  Stopping the car just gave him a little reprieve,  but he still had to get back in to finish the journey.  We made it home and he simply whimpered quietly as I brought him straight in from the car to his bed.  I felt horrible for keeping him up so late – but it really is worth it.

The girls are simply amazing.  I love watching them interact – they are very well behaved and articulate!  I don't get to see many kids like them.  I hope Michelle and I do half a good a job as Gary and Jodi.

I tried to get Jodi to perform her 'Running Man' – but alas, she didn't want international fame.  She had this crazy idea I'd upload it to youtube.  I have no clue what gave her that idea.