A Day in the Life of Adam

I have been contacted several times from various blog fans demanding more pictures of Adam. *Feigns weariness under the strain of demands and looks left and right to take stock of tiny fan base.* Ah, so just the family then. Well then this demand makes perfect sense... Alright, you want updated pictures of Adam? Here is an entire post dedicated to Adam!



A Day in the Life of Adam....

On the days my hubby doesn't bike to work, we wake bright and early so we can drive Troy to work. (That way we have the car for the days there are errands to run) After dropping him off at base, our day begins.

Bath time! One of the first events of the day, and one of Adam's favorite. He'll kick and splash around for up to an hour before he gets bored. We think he's going to be a swimmer ;) Since the washer and dryer are in the same room, I can get laundry washed and folded all while he kicks around in the bath next to me. It's a great deal. 

After bath, breakfast, and taking his daily medicine, it's time for a morning nap

When he wakes, it's time for a workout, "Tummy Time". Here he practices lifting his head, building strength in his neck, back, and shoulders. We try to do this about twice daily, until he's tired out.

Sometimes we go to market to pick up fresh food for dinner. Here I am feeding him on-the-go as I walk back from a shop in our town. 

Other times we'll go for morning walks around the countryside or through the town.

Sometimes he'll hang out in the Jumper (which can move from room to room!) while mommy does chores. 

Each day we almost always have some sort of event or activity to go to. 

Sometimes we visit with friends. 

Here we are learning infant massage techniques to soothe baby. (Adam is at the very bottom, eating his outfit...)

 

During Italian "Riposo" (like siesta) we nap

After picking my hubby up from work, Adam will often spend the evenings hanging out with his daddy.

 

Sometimes we'll go for an evening walk. (And sometimes it includes gelato! For us, not for Adam...)

Books are important, and either mom or dad reads Adam one nearly every day. 

After reading it's time for bed. This is usually where he starts out... but often times he ends the night snuggling with mom and dad.

Sweet dreams little one <3

A Gift for You

So I have been working in my spare time to create.... *drumroll* a YouTube channel! Where you have previously only been able to view our life in still time you will now be able to view it in motion. Here is the first video I uploaded.





It links to our YouTube channel if you click on the video. I haven't had the chance to format and upload anything else yet, but I hope those of you who don't have the ability to video chat with us enjoyed getting to see Adam in action. Until next time! ~Shiloh  

Giesse Scampoli - Italian Fabric Store

 

Scampoli is the place where the military wives (and many Italians of course) go to find their fabric. The base has a craft store, but it is about as big as our living room and as a result the fabric selection is very small and consists solely of overpriced solids. My friend and I had heard of Scampoli and decided to venture there during a weekday to find some material for our prospective projects.

Scampoli is larger than any fabric store I’ve encountered before, and included two floors with an escalator ramp so one’s cart could travel downstairs with you. Here they carried fabric for nearly any necessity, from apparel to reupholstering furniture, all was there.

  

My shopping buddy enjoyed his cart ride.

Scrap bins and weighing station.

      Fabric is measured by the meter, and scraps and odd shaped pieces were placed into bins and sold by weight. I was anticipating getting to see some unique Italian fabrics and designs, however their patterns aren't far off from American options. I was surprised they didn't have much by way of cotton fabrics. There was a small section entitled "Cotone Americano" where cotton fabrics in questionable patterns were sold. These cottons were also very expensive compared to other fabrics. (Why that is I am not sure...) Cotton was my primary target for the current project I'm working on, (and it's an exciting project, can't wait to show it to you!) so discovering their small selection of cottons in overly priced, reject 60's patterns was disappointing. I still enjoyed my time at the store, however, even if only for the notions, of which they had a vast amount. Rows and rows of buttons, bells, charms and the like. And I am a fanatic for ribbons. I mainly use them in my hair, but they are great for crafts and scrapbooking as well.  

Ribbons galore! One of many ribbon rows

     
        While I didn't get to procure cottons or unique Italian patterns, it's always good to travel to a new place and experience different aspects of their culture. And I was able to get a few things that will assist me with upcoming projects as well as hang out with a new friend of mine. It made for a good rainy day activity. :)

Domestic Day - Making a House a Home: Something Living in Every Room

I once read, somewhere in a list of home-making tips (likely linked from Pinterest), that one ought to put something living in every room. Being a lover of plants and animals, I fully supported this idea. Now that we have our own place I have begun to implement this idea, and I must say, if you are looking for ways to make your place more homey and alive, add plants!

My hubby seemed rather skeptical when I informed him of my intentions. He also has a passion for plants, but he prefers ones that bear fruit and vegetables. House plants don't generally fall under that category and as such didn't seem as useful. However, after I had finished my work he agreed they added a nice homey touch and later commented on the added advantage of how they made the rooms smell good as well. (Bonus! Hubby approval ^_^)

This activity is really a quick and easy thing to do, and took me only one afternoon to complete. After going through the house and taking note of locations that looked like they needed sprucing up, I went to the local Italian nursery to procure my plants. The plant nursery was recommended to me by our landlords, who advised me let the woman know who had sent me. I then appropriately name dropped and coincidentally I was given several plants for free! (Yay for connections!) I returned home and proceeded to get good and dirty planting.

Above are pictures of some of the creatures I encountered while planting. Upon seeing them, I took the opportunity to practice one of my new hobbies: photography. I've been attempting to improve the quality and style of the photos I capture, and this here may be the most captured lady bug ever! I took numerous shots in various settings and angles, finally settling on showing you this one. (Thank you again for the camera Uncle Tom! We use it almost daily.)

Our landlords are very involved with their yard and garden, and have been more than supportive with our endeavors at gardening. For this project, they offered me planter boxes they no longer use. (Hooray for saving money!)

While we were house hunting here in Italy, I noticed that nearly all of the windows here have very large windowsills, due to the fact that the custom is to have wooden window shutters and they need space to fold up when opened. The house we selected is no exception and every room has large window sills with plenty of space to put plants. This thrilled me, as I had always wanted to live somewhere where I could have a window box of flowers. A dear friend of mine once made me a lovely window box that I got much joy out of, however I was unable to bring it with us overseas, and realizing that our new house had the ability to home flowers/plants in EVERY window was very exciting.



     Here are some of my finished results! What do you think?

I have little pansies on the window sills in the nursery. The tiny colorful flowers seemed suiting to the room.

The window sills in our bedroom.

This is my favorite window in our house! I like the unique triangular shape and design of the bars on the other side. My favorite window happens to be in my hobby room. ^_^ My hobby room is really about the size of a walk in closet... and currently stores the boxes we've partially unpacked... but it will be great someday soon!

A partial view of the window from the outside. These plants are supposed to grow long tendrils and flowering vines. I thought they would look pretty overflowing from the window, and the representation of life escaping through the bars and the fragile, whimsical petals against the cold, hard stone wall make for a good contrast too good to pass up.

Our current table center piece. I may look for some natural pebbles to put in the square vase. The small vase is actually a glass salt/pepper shaker.

The plants have definitely added a homey touch and some life through their vibrant colors, smell, and movement when a breeze blows through the house. This project was a very good idea indeed.The only potential downside to the majority of the plants I chose is that they are only good for a year or season. But I guess that means I will get to redecorate with new varieties next year!

Pslam 103:15-17

 "Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him."

What to do for the PKU

We frequently get questions concerning PKU, due to its rarity and the oddness of it. I thought pictures might help, so I photographed the processes involved in Adam’s PKU related care.

Daily routine: Administer the medicine.

First I have to cut his medicine pills in half, due to the fact that he only requires a half dosage a day. Before we got the pill cutter we were using a knife, which obviously has a larger margin for error, and with such expensive pills, this was the preferable option. 

I then put that half pill into the mortar and pestle and grind it into a fine powder. 

As you can see, this medicine stains everything deep yellow. We have learned to administer it just before or after a bath, when we have yet to put an outfit on him. Even his spit up will stain his blankets yellow if it's within an hour or so of having been administered. 

Then we add a wee bit of water. I've now started sucking up the water into the syringe first, so I have an exact amount, THEN I put it into the mortar. This prevents accidentally getting too much water and having to give the poor kid numerous syringes... 

After shooting the measured water from the syringe into the mortar, I mix it with the powder until it dissolves. Then I suck it all back into the syringe. 

I attempt to administer the medicine around the same time every day, however we are often very busy and our schedule does not always allow us to be at home during that time. As such, in the instances we won't be home, I suck it up into the syringe and place it into a small tupperware. There it travels quite nicely and fits well in the diaper bag, ready to pulled out when the time finally arrives. 

Here I am also practicing my photography skills (I joined the photography club!) I am focusing on a close object and blurring the background for effect. This also shows the daily amount Adam receives. He's gotten quite used to it and the process is much quicker now that he expects the taste.

Weekly Routine: Draw Blood

A device containing a needle for heel
sticks bottom right, and the sheet with the
circles at top we are supposed to fill with his blood.

         Yes, you read that correctly. One of the more recent developments in our care for Adam. At our last visit to the Padova hospital, they decided to show us how to take the blood sample at home so it could be mailed in, allowing us to skip the frequent, long drives and days spent waiting at the lab at Padova. I liked the idea of less travel to Padova, however I was not fond of having to draw the blood ourselves. They gave us a few starter tools and then said we could get the rest of the tools from our lab on base. And when I say they showed us how to take the blood sample, I mean they talked us through it, neither the nurses or my hubby or I actually drew blood, so it was not a hands on learning or a demo, though I had seen it done many times before.      
           When I left I was still rather surprised. They are letting us take BLOOD samples at home? You can send blood IN THE MAIL??? Who knew. I didn't feel like this was something we could get away with in the states...
          After discussing it with the pediatrician on base, we went over to the lab and asked for the supplies needed, heel sticks and bio hazard bags and such. The lab technician commented on how they had never received such an odd request nor heard of this being done before. We replied that we, similarly, had not heard of doing such a thing before either.
        Every week we are supposed to take Adam's blood and mail it in. My hubby and I decided to designate Saturdays as the given day we would do this. When the first Saturday we were supposed to draw blood rolled around, I made a blood drawing station on the washer and dryer in our bathroom. I laid down a towel for Adam, and set up all of the supplies my DH would need. I didn't want to be a part of it, and my hubby was fine with that. We had seen the nurses do it by themselves and he figured he could too. I handed him the baby and walked away. After some time and a few good screams later, he opened the bathroom door and declared he needed my assistance.

A Heel Warmer used to encourage blood flow.

           I entered the bathroom to find a rather distressed baby, a blood speckled towel, and several used test sheets. The test sheets are very particular in that you must acquire enough blood to seep through the thick paper and can be visible on the backside. However you must be careful not to let the blood come out of the dotted line. They were very clear about us not sending in any test samples that were not in the lines. Getting the blood into these specifications is difficult, and my hubby's first few attempts failed as he needed more practice. He asked me to hold down the baby while he attempted it again on a new one.
          I held the poor squirming kid down while my hubby squeezed his heel and carefully attempted to get the blood into the parameters designated. Eventually we were successful, and successive weeks of blood drawing have improved from the first.

We then put on a cotton ball and bandage wrap until bleeding stops.  

            The test sheet is placed into a Biohazard bag, which is then placed into a regular mailing envelope and sent to the Padova hospital. (I then got to learn how to navigate the Italian post office. That was an interesting experience... but I now know how to work their post versus the American style post office they provide us on the base) Once at the hospital, the blood is evaluated and they only contact us if there is a problem with the levels. So far so good!
          The blood drawing is an experience to be sure, but all parents must play nurse to their children in some fashion. Some parents may be fortunate enough to get by with just band aids and hydrogen peroxide on their medical care resume. Our medical requirements extend a little further than that, but we're okay with it. It's all in the job description and we welcome every new experience that adds to our learning and understanding. 

Life updates :)

            I apologize for my lack of posts in recent weeks. We have been sick the past two weeks and as such, I opted to do little more than the necessities. Blogging, I've found, is rather like essay writing in that it is quite time consuming to even get out a single coherent page, and we spent all our free time napping. I also find that we are doing so much, I have so many topics and find myself scattered. If you could see how many posts I have saved drafts of, it's rather ridiculous. I hope to back track and fill in the gaps, but who knows if that will happen, so my aim is to briefly catch you up with this post.

Recent Travels:

-       More hikes! (before we were sick, that is) 

Hiking with a friend from hubby's work. They found stout walking sticks for our journey of exploration. 

Me, doing double duty here. Waters, sunscreen, snacks, etc on back, baby on the front. 

We have such a cheerful baby! He's such a happer camper everywhere we go. Here he is in the Infantino carrier, loving exploring nature. 

-       I went back to Nove!!! (In case you missed that, it's here: Nove) I went with a different group of girls and we visited shops I hadn't gotten to see before. Along with a beautiful tea set, I procured this hand made, painted piggy bank for Adam. It was only 8€!

 

Activity:

 - Badminton! My DH and I took surveys and each personally rated long lists of hobbies/activities. We then matched up our highest personal ratings and picked the ones with mutual high ratings, giving us a variety of new activities that we both enjoy, one of them being badminton. So, we purchased and set up a badminton net in our yard and we play every time the sun shines. Adam refs for us from his bouncer in the shade ;) We have played so much that we have mangled several birdies and started wearing brown spots in the yard. We now have to move the net weekly so we don't ruin our grass. Thankfully the big yard gives us many options for new locations!

Here's a picture of part of our front yard. All the trees are growing leaves now that spring has arrived! This is so much more thrilling than watching the Arizona cacti do... nothing -_-

The two of us after a date night.
Bingo and then Gelato sundaes!

Discovered:

-       Gelato shop RIGHT behind our house!!! (There’s a yard and a park in between us and the shop, so we didn’t find it till a week ago) We now frequent it… often.

-       Italian Movie Theater that plays movies in English. (And yes, we got Iron Man 3 before the states did. Woohoo!)

New:

-       Baby chicks in the yard! The landlords have also been giving us fresh brown eggs. Yum!

-       Recipes we’ve discovered.

-       Plants in our gardens

-       New friends! Always meeting more lovely people here.

-       Developments with PKU, hope to post about that soon…

-       Sounds Adam is making (and every one is more adorable than the last, naturally) He likes to talk to his dad about his day, and sometimes he’ll brief his toys too.

Volunteering:

-       My DH volunteers weekly at the middle school on base, tutoring students who need help with their studies. He is mainly helping with math and has been enjoying the experience thus far.

-       Together we volunteered in childcare at church. We had 10 babies under the age of three in our care… that was fun.

-       I have various clubs I am a part of now, and here I am below volunteering at one of the club's fund raising booths at the Primavera Bazaar on base. (The bazaar was also an interesting experience. Numerous Italian vendors traveled for the three day weekend event and set up in one of the large hangars on the flight line)

Naturally, my LO (little one) who goes with me
everywhere assisted me at the booth and put out
the cuteness factor. I think he definitely
helped boost sales ;)

We got a lot of questions like "So... are you guys
selling breast milk?" and, "What do you do at club
meetings?" haha. 

Updates:

-       Troy is studying for the WAPS (a big test) that he has on May 29^th! If he does well, he will be promoted to Staff Sergeant! [so excited! He’s been studying hard every day. Prayers and well wishes appreciated :) ]

-       My friend and I were training for a marathon (they have one in November in, wait for it... Marathon, Greece. No big deal, right? Just the origin city of the marathon...) But due to a strained IT band and knee pain from a former Ultimate Frisbee injury, it’s been put on hold and the doc put me in physical therapy. Hoping to get it healed and back on track so I can do the marathon in November!

-       Adam is growing so big! I have had to pack up his 3-month-old sized clothing and pull out the 6-month-old sizes. He has also been working on rolling over and sitting up by himself. He has made good progress, but nothing official to report yet.

Debating:

-       Starting another blog, or perhaps designating certain days for certain things on this blog… thoughts? For instance, I could start a separate blog for our food, crafting, and house endeavors, leaving this one solely for travel and Italy related living, or I could simply do a “food Friday” post or something on this one in an attempt to make it more organized. I've noticed other blogs generally stick to a sole topic. JUST travel, or JUST workout tips, etc, so I feel like I’m trying to cram too many topics into one all inclusive blog, and that it might be better to make subcategories by way of other blogs… though it can be hard enough to keep up on one… lol. Thoughts? And what of the bigger font? Some said it was rather small before... will be continually tweaking. give me feedback :)

Anyway, that is some of what we've been up to lately. I hope this will satiate until we are fully recovered and I find the time to write up decent posts. Be back soon!




oh, and here's a funny for you that made me snicker

aw come on, I don't get any points for doing it while sick? ;) haha