Halloween and a House Full of Spooks

I spent all day doing stuff. Up to get Riley to swim practice, then old house for more cleaning, then home, then back out to get Riley, then home, then to Woodland to get Jeremy, then I got to sit down and sew Ashley's dress. It was all cut and ready to go. Some how I picked the wrong version, but it came out cute with the pleats anyhow. She went as a Box of McDonald's French Fies. I made her a red dress then a box of fries and then attached it to her dress. It took me from 11 am until 5 pm. OOOPS, I am not a good time estimated when it comes to sewing. Gramma came and went today in the house. She would come out, hang out, have a little something, then go back to her room. I left her a few times finishing her meal or tea today and she happily cleared her dishes. She just put them on her wheelies and carried them to the counter.

When the trick or treating started up, I had Gramma put on a black dress and a witches hat, I got dressed in Tessa's crazy wig and so did Riley. We all sat at the door and gave out candy, until we ran out, which happened fast. I went out to get more. While I was gone, Gramma headed to bed. I chatted with her a few more times before a final tuck in and teeth stealing. Gramma doesn't bother soaking her teeth, so each night when I give her the final pills for the night, I steal her partials and soak them. I'll give them back in the am when I give her the first early morning pills. Over all a good, at home day. I was distracted from much Gramma focus, but that allowed her to feel a bit more home and take care of a few things, like clearing dishes. She still doesn't have a routine to just come out for activity, it's all meal related, so I try to give her a drink or tea between meals. I'll have more time this coming week to focus on activity here at home that is not food centered.

Pumpkin Carving and a Twitching Leg

The kids are really at peace in this new bigger home of ours. Well, except Tessa still doesn't like to be alone at all. Tonight when I came in from one more trip to the old house, I found all three kids working on big pumpkins. Each had a very unique approach to their masterpieces and each did all the pumpkin guts work their selves. I was able to happily bake some cookies and roast some pumpkin seeds and keep the snacks flowing. It was such a nice moment, I went and got my mom up so she could be with us, see the pumpkin designs, and hang out. I finally started Ashley's dress and made it to having all the pieces cut. It's ready to sew tomorrow am. Gramma got up about 10 pm complaining about her left leg having a muscle twitch. It really bothered her. Ooops, I had gotten so involved in my sewing (well in cutting) that I had forgotten to give her the night time pills which make her sleepy. She's trying really hard to know things and that is progress positive in my opinion. She talked to me about finances tonight, was wondering what would happen to us if she dies, really important stuff. I am so grateful to be available to her when she is so clear. Tessa and I tucked her back in, played with the cat with her and she quickly drifted off to sleep, leg twitch gone.

Anxiety is Up Today

Gramma is a bit more anxious today. Shower day maybe, going out maybe. She did have a very easy time showering today and held on to the bar and washed her toes, all over her body and in general was much more thorough with her cleaning of her body. Yea!!!!

She's trying to grasp why she lives with me, where Patsy, Bob, Wyatt, and Shawn are. She asked what happened to them? Gramma also has a head shake. It has been much reduced lately. I just noticed she's shaking again today. She still wants to know if she is getting worse? We will be going out to have her hair done and lunch at Nugget. We will do this activity 1 time a week for as long as she lives here with me. I'm going to call Bob, my brother, and Patsy, my sister and ask them to call her.

I have to plan for how long it takes to get places. We have a 1pm appointment. I need to go get her up now and out the door.

Safety Bars are In

Yesterday I had a handy man install some safety bars in the bathroom Gramma uses. We put 2 in the shower, a handle to get in and a long bar along the back wall. I also put a bar low down on the wall right in front of the toilet. Gramma likes that bar a lot! She'll try a shower today with the new bars.

We didn't do much yesterday, well I did a lot, but Gramma had a mellow at home day, a little conversation, a little eating, lots of sleeping. She's a bit confused about her hair because it was cut. She asked me if she had chemotherapy! She gets it done again today by my friend Thomas. I added some gardenias to her room. They have always been her favorite flower and the smell is so nice.

Phew, what a day

Today was a long day and we still haven't eaten dinner. It's take out and taking a long time getting here. Gramma had a doctor's appointment, one I made just to get use to the new Kaiser here in Davis. Her appointment was at 11 am and I wanted her to shower before she went, so about 9 I got her up and in the shower. I am having safety bars installed tomorrow, so this was her third shower here without the bars and it is pretty stressful for her. She just so feels like she's going to fall and she doesn't spend much quality time washing her self. I am going to have to get more involved in the bathing, but for now, she got an OK soaping, mostly rinsed off and out of there. I knew from last week that it takes her some time to actually get out the door, so at 10am I started heading out. We made it to the car by 10:20 and then to the bank, to drop Ashley off at piano, then the doctor. Tessa came with us. I dropped her and Tessa off at the entrance and they headed inside to get out of the wind. I parked and then joined them. We got signed into the appointment very quickly and were greeted by a very sweet nurse. We then sat and sat and sat waiting for the doctor. Gramma's anxiety increased the longer we waited. Tessa and I played games a lot and finally I went out and asked for when the doctor was coming to see us. Our 11:10 appointment became am 11:40 appointment. Gramma had a very difficult time remembering why we were at the doctors. She asked me many times why. She did not want to be there at all. The doctor asked lots of questions, reviewed her charts, then looked at her sore on her belly, which didn't look as bad as it did 2 days ago, which means she is healing well. It was just an old boil, almost healed. No need for any worry, a little topical ointment and it should heal up just fine. She then needed to go and well, got her pants a little wet again and we just continued on. You couldn't tell, I asked the nurse for a pad for the car and off we went to the pharmacy to pick up meds. That took a little while, but Tessa and Gramma had a nice time waiting and they both noticed the hand sanitizer and Gramma asked to use some.I learned a lot about my mom's medical care and meds and such today which was the exact reason I scheduled this appointment.

We then went out for a bite to eat and yes, Gramma had ice cream for lunch. I asked the server to make her scoops really tiny. I noticed Gramma eats 2 meals a day in general. A late breakfast and a late lunch dinner. So today she had oatmeal and cantaloupe for breakfast, ice cream for snack, and a small bowl of soup for dinner. She also has water, juice and tea. Yesterday she wanted a bean burrito with her soup and so I split one with her to cut back the calories and white carbs. If I served her the whole thing she would eat it all. She enjoyed the half just as much as a whole I think.

We got home about 1:30 and headed right back out to pick up Tessa's friend. I got Gramma all tucked in before we left and Riley was home. I then picked up the safety bars which we will have installed tomorrow. Three of them, one outside the shower, one on the first shower wall and a big long one along the entire length of the long wall of the shower. Hopefully this helps with her security. I still need to get a hose nozzle for the shower so I can wash and rinse all her foldies.

I helped the girls make sugar cookie dough when we got home and then back out to get Ashley. Back home I made Ashley lunch, helped Riley get ready to swim, and baked the cookies. Gramma woke up to the smell and she had one tiny star cookie with the girls. Then off to bring Riley to swim practice. Gramma stayed home with the girls and hung out with them while I was gone. I got home just in time to get the girls to theater at 4:30. I worked a bit at theater and then headed home to be with Gramma.

She was in the process of getting ready for bed and I thought it was a bit early, so I asked her to come have a small bite to eat and hang out with me for a bit. Quality 15 minute moment. I served her 1/2 can of yummy gumbo soup that we have in the pantry. She then went and brushed her teeth and got ready for bed while I went to do the pick up rounds. Tim was home now to.

I got Riley, then the 4 girls at theater. I dropped 2 girls off, brought Riley home and took my two to get their Annie scripts bound. It took forever and Tessa was in a melting down mode. She was mad her script was wrinkled from use, mad at how I arranged her music, classic Tessa mad. Her madness made waiting that much longer and she was so stuck. Her script also didn't bind well because it was so wrinkled and she started in again being so upset and sure she can't get another one...I have to remember to breathe. Anything I say escalates the issue. Absolutely everything I say is wrong and doesn't help at all and she vocalizes how wrong I am, spinning up into her emotions...It's well, it's Tessa and it's part of who she is.

We got home at 8pm and I remembered I forgot something at theater that I needed, so I dropped the girls off and headed back down the street to get the coupons to the fabric store that I dropped. I had a sweet nice visit with 2 theater friends, took my time to breathe, and headed back home. I've been blogging since and should really go eat now that our dinner is finally here. Gramma needs her final pills for the night too and I'll hang out with her for a bit while she settles in to sleep.

Mellow Day. It's been a week!

Today we had a huge wind storm. It's still blowing crazy outside. I ran some morning errands with Ashley before we all started our day. Gramma was cozy in bed and the wind was fascinating toher. We closed up the house and boy do double pane windows make a difference. In our previous house a wind storm like this would rattle the whole house, making it sound like the glass might pop out.

Last night I was at a meeting from 7-9 and Tessa noticed Gramma looked tired and gave her the night time pills right at 9. She felt very proud to have gone in and presented her with her water and 2 pills.

We took today easy, running short errands while someone stayed home in case Gramma needed any thing. She did have an accident today that startled her. When she got to the bathroom some how between the bed and the toilet she wet herslef and it confused her. Like with my children when they were young, I simply smiled, asked her to take off her wet pants and I got her clean things to wear. I think I'll keep a change of bottoms in the bathroom in case that happens again and she can change herself. She wondered why she wet her pants. I've noticed when she has to go she doesn't always want to get up and it takes her quite sometime to actually decide, OK, I'm going to go now. I think after her breakfast with juice and tea, she had a very full bladder and didn't quite get up soon enough. No big deal, so real mess, her freshly changed bed was still all dry.

Gramma was up with us for her late breakfast and hung out for awhile. She then wanted to sleep and stay in bed. Finally I got her up about 4:30 and she had another meal and I sat at the table with her after to keep her up and alert. Tessa played the piano in the other room. She played jingle bells and Gramma sang along from her spot at the table. Tessa then tried a new song and Gramma knew the song. As Tessa slowly worked the song Gramma paused while Tessa figured out the next note. It was a neat moment and gave me an idea for an activity with Gramma. Her singing along was very sweet and she loved when Tessa had to pause for a note, she waited until the note was hit and then kept on singing. Cool Cool Cool.

Gramma has a doctor's appointmnet tomorrow. I want to have her skin looked at and she has a sore that needs attention under her belly fold. She tucks tissues into her belly fold and I'm not sure why she does that and neither does she.

More Pumpkin Patch Pictures