Enjoying the Sunshine

Smile, the sun is shining and temperatures are just perfect. Your buddy is by your side and you are outside enjoying this gorgeous weather.

Loving life, and living it to the fullest.  

 

  Always finding the joy in the moment

 Silly faces

 Smile

  Sometimes being outside and enjoying the sunshine makes you so happy you have to laugh out loud.  

Celebrating 334 days seizure free

330 Days

This guy just hit 330 days without a visit from the seizure monster.  A moment we were told was not possible, such a huge blessing, and we don't take one moment of it for granted.

We had weekend plans and Friday Junior was having a tough time with his asthma so I was not sure if they would happen.
When your asthma is going crazy and you have no energy it is always good to have a buddy to watch tv with.

 Then Friday night Junior turned a corner and was doing great so we got everything ready for a day in Santa Rosa at the CCI grad seminar.  Then I got hit with a bug first thing Saturday morning and plans changed again.  We stayed home and Junior and Yonder enjoyed a day of relaxing.

Thankfully whatever hit me must have been a 24hr bug and today I was feeling better and tonight we even spent some time outside.
Junior played ball with a little help from Yonder.  They were rolling the ball across the bowling ramp to me.  We found that having Junior in his high/low positioning chair, which allows him to be lower to the ground, made for a much more successful time for he and Yonder.  Yonder could get right up on his lap to help him push the ball across the ramp.   Now that Yonder has learned how to help him play ball Junior is sure that it is time to teach him how to paint.  I will have to think that one through though since it is a lot messier skill then rolling a ball(would love any ideas from others who have taught their dogs how to hold a paint brush or other object to paint).  

 

 

 Yonder relaxing and listening to our reading time.

 Junior enjoying the story. This guy loves his books and currently has 3 going at one time.  Grandma is reading to him each evening(via ipad, she reads and then emails the recordings to him each day), I am reading a different book to him and Abby is reading yet another one to him.  I thought this might be confusing to have so many going but he loves them all and makes it clear I am not allowed to read to him any chapters from the books grandma and Abby are reading to him. 

I found this little sign at Hobby Lobby and couldn't resist picking it up.  Absolutely perfect for Yonder especially since I am always calling him wigglebutt.  He doesn't just wag his tail, he wags his whole back end and sometimes his entire body. 

The Dynamic Duo

These two are quite the pair.  Junior and his side kick have a had some busy days. Yesterday we got up and walked to Hobby Lobby because Junior was sure he must do his own shopping for aunty Mellisa's birthday.  I had picked up something for him to give her and he was having none of it, he had to pick it out himself.
Proud guy with his gift, now to get it wrapped.  

Of course he needed to pick out the wrapping paper and help wrap the gift.
 

Then it was party time can you tell my sis is a big puzzle fan.




Thursday the duo had an appointment at the neurology office.  The doctor said Mr. giggles is doing great and looks fantastic.  We will continue his medication wean, yeah.

 

These pics made me laugh.  First Yonder asleep and Junior smiling then Yonder chilling on his back and Junior snoozing.

  

The whole crew having movie time, though it appears that maybe it is actually nap time. 

  Dr. Yonder helping with treatment time. 

Junior woke up this morning with a low grade fever so he is having a rest day and hopefully isn't getting sick. 

With Junior running fever he didn't need the extra body heat with Yonder next to him so I had Yonder hang out on the other bed.  He still kept a very close eye on his boy. 

The Blended Diet

I have gotten many questions about the blended diet and how we do this for Junior.  I also often get asked what recipe we use.  Truth is we don't use a recipe at least not in the real sense.
Junior gets 2 blended meals a day and because he is fed via the J tube these blends are given via a feeding pump which he is attached to about 22 hours a day.
His blends are in an insulated bag with an ice brick to keep them safe for him.

I don't use a recipe but instead more of a meal plan.  We aim for lots of variety and well balanced meals.  When we started I was constantly counting calories but now I just make sure he gets at least 1000 cals a day (each person will have a different need) but focus far more on the nutrition than calories.
There are so many different options with the blended diet and I am only sharing how we do things for Junior.  He has many allergies and intolerance's that play into our food choices for him.

I don't have time to spend prepping and blending each day so I typically spend one weekend a month blending the food for that month.  Or preparing meals and freezing them without blending.  Either way saves a great deal of time.  Junior is fed via his J tube so all his blends are blended and strained before being given.

This weekend was a blending weekend.  I started by prepping lots of calorie boosting add ins for the meals.  Junior is on fluid restrictions and is volume sensitive so lots of calories in a small volume is necessary.  We use a variety of healthy calorie boosters which I vary so he doesn't get the same thing every meal.  Here is my tray of add ins ready for adding to his meal packs.
What you see is beans, pomegranate/cherry juice, pecans, cashews, hemp hearts/chia seeds/flax.  Other add ins we use regularly are honey, molasses, various nuts(no peanuts), when on sale nut butters, avocado, coconut, healthy oils(avocado, walnut, olive, coconut, etc), tahini, and there are others. 

I was adding these to fruit to make some high calorie fruit mixes.  I then blended and strained the mix and put it in freezer bags for storing in the freezer.
 
Next I made pouches with various grains/cereals and the protein for that meal.  These are breakfast type blends which he will get overnight so in this case the protein is either greek yogurt or eggs. Though Junior does not tolerate dairy products he does well with homemade greek yogurt as long as I strain it really well.  I make a huge batch up before blending day.

  

For his breakfast type blends I use mainly cereals for the grain.  Junior is not allergic to gluten but it increases his congestion so we avoid it.  Typically his grain rotation is buckwheat, steel cut oats, brown rice cereal, gluten free granola, and quinoa.  I occasionally also use cheerios and rice chex. 

 

Each evening I then grab a cereal/protein pouch and a fruit mix pouch which just need to be thawed and given.  I generally thaw and put in the blender for a few seconds because freezing can cause some clumping/thickening which will affect how they run through the feeding pump. 

Now for his daytime blend which is a dinner type meal.  It consists of vegetables, a grain, and a protein.  For this blend the grain is often rice, quinoa, oats, or buckwheat, I also often use gluten free pasta.  The protein is typically chicken, turkey, fish, or beans.  Then various vegetables.
Today I started by making a big batch of pecan milk as a calorie booster and liquid for the blends(some times it is almond milk, coconut milk, rice, or oat milk).
(this picture is his pecan milk, I use pedialyte for his instead of water and that is why it is in those bottles.)

 I cooked chicken, fish, and bean soup, along with quinoa, rice, and sweet potatoes then steamed vegetables.  The prepping is the hardest and most time consuming part.  Then it was on to making pouches of one of the proteins, a grain/carb, and veggies.  Each pouch for his dinner meal also has 1 Tbs of a healthy oil, this batch we rotated between olive oil and coconut oil, a 1/4 tsp of salt, and 1 cup of pecan milk.

The freezer is now full and we are ready for the month.


Once in awhile I make a meal for myself that is all "Junior safe" foods.  On those days I will toss a serving into the blender for him and in fact I always make 2 servings at a time for him so  he can have one and one goes in the freezer.
Also on rare occasions when we are coming home late from an appointment I will even get him a "kids meal" and blend.  I only do this at chick-fil-A because I can get him grilled nuggets and a fruit cup. Junior may not get to taste it but he gets so excited when he gets his own food at the restaurant like everyone else.

Sunshine

The rain is moving back in tonight but we have had some beautiful days. 
This boy loves being outside so we have been taking advantage of the lovely weather.

On Tuesday we took a nice long walk and enjoyed walking around Hobby Lobby, the pet store, and the party store.

  Junior was super excited to take some of his money and pick out a Star Wars model he has been wanting for awhile. He really likes models but most are too complicated to do together.  These snap tight Star Wars models at Hobby Lobby have large pieces and no need for glue so I can help him put them together. 

  

A very patient pup putting up with our silliness at the party store.

 Junior checking out his favorite fish at the pet store.

Yesterday the clouds were starting to move in so we didn't get outside much but Junior had some indoor fun.
He colored and watched me blend his meals for the day.

 

 

During school time we used some giant light up dice for a math activity and Yonder helped Junior roll the dice and picked them up for him. 

 

 

Abigail came over yesterday evening and they sat outside for some reading and of course a whole lot of craziness.

 

 

 This morning we got out for a quick walk before the weather got too bad.