A New Shed

We’ve been spending our weekends working on replacing our shed. When we bought our house last year, it came with a rickety, old plywood shed. While it served its purpose, it was a bit small, had some holes where animals had chewed through it, and felt like it could fall apart if the wind blew too hard. It needed to be replaced. After doing a fair amount of research and looking at what our local hardware stores had for sheds, we decided to purchase a shed kit through a company called Best Barns. We spent a little bit more than we were planning on, but we wanted something that would last and hold up to the hot/humid summers, and cold/snowy winters.

This was our old shed. It has already been torn down and disposed of:

Our new shed was delivered on May 21st:

This picture was taken from the Best Barns website so you can see what we are building:

It’s coming along but taking longer than anticipated. It’s just me, Stacy, and Stacy’s dad building the shed, and none of us have any carpentry experience or have put together a shed before. We wish James could be more involved in the building of the shed, but our backyard is pretty much full sun until after 2 pm. Before that it’s just too hot for him to be out there. He doesn’t handle heat well. We do bring him out in the late afternoon when the house blocks the sun so he can see what we’re doing and give us some pointers. He’s watched enough Handy Manny that he should be able to tell us if we’re doing it wrong.

Pulmonology

James had a pulmonologist appointment on Monday for a checkup, and it was a bit of an experience. They are resealing our street so we have to park around the block. This means that Stacy has to pack up James (and all of his stuff) and walk all of it down the street. It was hot out so she had to quickly start the car, roll down the windows and turn the air on before she put James in the car. Since James does not handle heat well, it’s been a little rough on him.

The pulmonologist appointment went well. The doc was very pleased that the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy surgery went so well and that James is breathing better. Because it’s been so hot outside, he recommended that we give James 40 ml of water after each feeding to make sure he stays hydrated. They did a weight check and James weighs 33 pounds and 12 ounces.

In early June he had a weight check at the GI’s office. He weighed 33 pounds even and she was concerned that he was on the high side for someone his age and height so she recommended we drop his feeds from 240 ml to 200 ml to see if we can bring his weight down a bit. We’ve been giving him 200 ml feeds and he’s still gaining weight. Stacy talked with the pediatrician, and he wants to see James in a month for a weight check to see if he is still going up. Stacy also called the GI and she thinks we should talk with a nutritionist to see if they have any recommendations.

Racecar Sponsorship

In other news, we’re sponsoring a race car. Not really, but it kinda looks that way. A friend of Stacy’s designed a Fans of James logo that we could put on stickers or magnets. Another friend of ours is an amateur racer and had large magnets with the logo made up and put them on his car to raise awareness for James. A special shoutout to these awesome friends!

4th of July

Is it just me or was it weird having 4th of July on a Wednesday this year? Usually when we have a federal holiday on either a Tuesday or a Thursday, we also get that Monday or Friday off from work. Because the 4th of July was on Wednesday, we didn’t get that extra day off. Anyway, hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday.

As a reminder, we’re having a little fundraiser to raise money for the James Medical and Van fund. If you could spare a few dollars, we’d be truly grateful. Thanks to those of you that have donated already.

http://www.indiegogo.com/p/135849?a=7603363