BLOGGING ROCKS

There's no other way to say it. Colby had a giant snot ball hanging in the back of his throat this morning. You SMA parents know exactly what I'm talking about. I was suctioning Colby and thump, there it was. I could hear it and feel it as I was suctioning him. I thought uh-oh, here we go. Sure enough, Colby's oxygen started to drop. This was after giving him 3 sets of his cough treatment already. Over the years it has been my experience that sometimes the easiest way to clear Colby is just to beat it out of him. So that's what I did. I picked up that giant 4'2", 65-pound kid of mine and slung him over my shoulder, then did some manual CPT on his back. It was the best thing for Colby, but me not so much. I know better than to do that, he's too dang big. But when your kid is choking you're going to do whatever it takes to help him/her, right? Luckily his oxygen "only" dropped to 76. After the CPT, I gave him an extra cough treatment and the plug dislodged. Exciting mornings, gotta love 'em.

Other than that, our day has been just fine. Colby was tired all day so I didn't push much with him. No eye gaze, no sitting up, didn't think he would have tolerated either too much. I tried to sleep in this morning but it didn't happen. Colby's feeding pump went off about 7:15, had to get up and turn that off. Got back in bed. Then 15 or so minutes after that Colby started whining. Went to check on him; he needed to be changed. Did that, stretched him out, started some cartoons, went back to bed. Then I heard 2 or 3 cars out in the parking lot. So I thought well crap, I'm getting up now I suppose.

Dad is coming over in the morning to watch Colby for a couple hours so I can get my Christmas shopping done. After tomorrow, stick a fork in me, done, not going out again. I've ordered a lot of my gifts online. That's the only way to go if you ask me! A few bucks shipping is more than worth my time, gas, energy, patience, sanity, fighting for a parking spot, etc. I'm not thrilled about getting out in the shopping madness tomorrow. Just have to tell myself get it done. Get in, shop, mark items off the list, and go home. Actually, I had to put myself in timeout today. I promised myself if I started getting worked up over all the crap that goes along with the holidays, that I would check myself before I wrecked myself as they say. Colby was back in his room taking his bi-pap break. I came out to the living room and just sat my butt on the couch for a bit. You ever do that, sit in silence, or at least in the quiet? Turned off the TV and the radio. Closed my eyes, took a couple deep breaths, found new focus, letting all the "noise" of Christmas go and remembering what is important. Within probably 3 or 4 minutes I felt better, had a smile on my face. That relaxation stuff really works.

Like I said yesterday, things are getting better around here, thank goodness. Seems we've gone from a sucky September and awful October to a nifty November and delightful December. Smiley faces on that for sure.

Going to bed. Today I'm thankful for this blog. It's a great way for me to communicate with everyone, along with allowing me an outlet to vent, sort out my thoughts, etc. Glad I decided to start doing this. And yes, I know, I need to get more pictures on here. It's on my "to do" list. Soon, very soon.