Easter 2008

Just doin' eggs with dadddy...

If only these eggs would dry faster!!

Holy cow, dad ... that didn't go in red ...

Wow ... look at my loot!!

I didn't know the Easter Bunny brought rockets!

Nothing like grandma kisses!!!

I found my hands a couple weeks ago, and boy are they yummy!

I'm not sure what all the hype of this Easter thing is, but I kinda like this strange orange thing in my lap...

Bubble parade at Easter. Why not?

It took him 5 min to find that egg in the planter. Grandma put a yellow one in there and it matched just right.

So, sorry I've been MIA. This having 2 kids thing is nuts! I spend most of my days in PJs until noon ... only because I refuse to get up at 6am to shower before the rally starts ... and then it's noon before I'm able to jump in the shower, usually with a screaming baby but hey - I can only handle so much stink :) This last week I've been only cleaning mess after mess it seems and it's by the grace of God that Maysen is sleeping right now - a bigger grace is that they're doing it at the same time!!! Usually my posts are at midnight or something.

I've been very challenged with being a stay at home mom lately. Being an RN was so much more immediately-gratifying. Not that I won't ever be returning to that, but this waiting until the kids are 20 to realize the sacrifices that were made seems like it'll never come through. I miss my individuality, my freedom, QUIET, adult convos. The mess after mess, disaster after disaster, cry after screams all day long makes for a llllong day. Sometimes I think going back to work would be easier, but I always come back to wanting to be the ones home with my kids and I realize real quick that I would regret going back to work and sending my kids somewhere because I chose to go back when I had the ability to be home. So, I grit my teeth a little harder, have alone cries in the bathroom, and prepare for another fun-filled, crayon-on-the-wall, poop in the pants, defiant child, stubborn, loud, messy day ... sounds like fun, eh?

So, Easter was good ... Maysen got a lot of things from the Easter Bunny, lazy morning at our house, then dinner at Nate's mom's house where another hunt ensued. Mase made out like a bandit with egg money, which went into his piggy bank which I was informed was saved for a new "purple race car I can drive, too" ... as if the red one isn't good enough. We had an interesting "never to forget" time at Bobbi/George's for dinner. First Maysen found Mom's red nail polish and "wanted to make his feet pretty too" and painted both feel with red polish --- including their white carpet. So that was disaster with Acetone #1. After about 30min thankfully it came up (how? I don't know) but just as we're all sitting down to eat dinner, Nate's mom knocks over her red wine onto the carpet. At this point we had a mildly good laugh. Out comes obsessive George with the cleaner again. I can thankfully say that everything came out of the carpet.

Fin's doing really good - he loves his Johnny Jumper and is wanting to stand a lot and is rather strong! He loves his hands and seems to "pray" a lot by holding them and he'll look down at them and sing to his hands. I'm putting rice in his bottles at night now and one night he actually slept all night until 7:30am. He will usually go from 10-4am without getting up ... he's rolled over a couple of times on his own, which I think scares him more than anything! He's a long little guy - almost being too tall for his 3-6mo clothes already and he turns 3mo on Thursday. His red hair is still sticking around but it's much lighter into more of a strawberry blond now.

Nate saw Barack Obama this past week while he was in town. From what I've heard it was very moving. He's just going to be a great president. Oops ... did I say that already? I mean ... IF he were elected, he'll be great. Anything will be better than the mess of a president we have now.

So the forcast is SNOW on Thursday. What's that all about?? I'm going to get M up and outside before the sun goes down because something tells me we'll be inside a lot the rest of the week. (goody .... look for "house burned down" later this week). Until then ...

Bond between Auntie & Nephew

Kisses ...


... and the contact. Because lip kisses are gross!

Some pictures around the yard ... spring is here!!


Gotta love the drive-thru brownies


Can you tell we live next to the ball field?


Jenn and I went out to King Estate Winery near home



To our surprise, we discovered an old 1800 cemetery right off the grounds of the winery. It was a jackpot for me!!!

We had quite an exciting weekend this past weekend. My sister Jenn was here for a visit. Saturday afternoon between downpours we shot photos in the backyard (check ‘em out on my Flickr site). Then Jenn “had” to show me her newest favorite movie, Cloverfield, so we headed to the $1.50 movie theatre and saw it. It was good – a mix between Blair Witch Project and September 11.

On our way home we got dinner and proceeded to our quiet little suburb. We rounded the corner down our street and noticed something small crouched on the sidewalk as we were driving by - it was a small little girl. She was naked except for a tiny pair of panties on and she was crouched down in a instinctual self-preserving fashion as the 40F rain poured down. I stopped the van and before I could get it fully stopped, Jenn and gotten out and was approaching the girl. As Jenn reached her, she leaped into Jenn ’s arms. She was cold and shivering, but content. I parked the van and put her in Maysen’s car seat and started a movie. Long story short, the girl belongs to the people who’s dogs attacked Bailey last month. Apparently this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. DHS got involved and I believe she went with them that night. The mom finally came out once the boys noticed the cops and blamed the boys for “letting” her get out while she “took a shower” (no wet hair, apparent no shower).

Levi, the same officer whom we dealt with in Bailey’s case, was on duty so that was nice. He told me he would keep me updated on what would happen with them. I have yet to hear what happened, but I know Levi isn’t back on shift until Wednesday. He kept us very up to date on what was going on with Bailey – even stopping and talking with Nate only 20 minutes before he got the call about an abandoned child on Saturday (which was us). Levi later joked he just needed to give me a badge. I have mixed emotions for feeling bad for the kids of that family, and feeling good that we did the right thing, and possibly made a huge difference in the kids’ lives. At least I would like to believe that …

On another note, I’ve talked before about my sister-in-law, Danielle, and her annual auction she puts on to raise money for the Christian school her kids (and Maysen) are in. They’re working toward building a new building for the school – instead of just being in the basements of 2 local churches. It’s a great cause, and I’m hoping to win the lotto to get that accomplished. Well, one thing she includes in part of her auction is donations for scholarships for kids who want to go, but can’t afford the tuition. We had a woman donate a keyboard – and although it’s almost new, I don’t think that’s something we can “auction”. So, I got the idea of a Scholarship Fund Garage Sale, to be held annually at the end of each school year. All proceeds will go toward helping people finance their kids to go to 5Cs. I felt good about that decision. Now the craziness begins!!!

Today and tomorrow Nathan is taking an Engineering class put on by Weyerhaeuser. They flew the teacher out here from Denver. He has a light week because of it, only working half days Thurs/Fri. Tonight, Nate’s supervisor is taking everyone from the Engineering class and their spouses out to dinner tonight along with the teacher. I actually get to endure a NIGHT OUT AMONG ADULTS? The world must be ending … something’s going to happen. Ooo! Maybe I should buy a Lotto ticket since the jackpot is near $230mill. Nah, it should be fun. I’m usually uncomfortable around crowds of people – especially those I don’t even know. But, I’ll order a margarita and all will be good. Hopefully Bonnie will have the kids bathed (since Maysen LOVES to take a bath in their garden tub) and he’ll fall asleep on the way home.

Big Brother is on tonight again and I am hoping that James gets evicted. I absolutely *loved* the twist that Ryan threw on the crew. Well, if no one watches then you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about!

Oh, and here are some pics I got of the boys today on Maysen’s bed. I had to use the “Stop like the red light” to keep him still. Whatever works, eh?

Bubbleland

It was another big bubble day in our household on Saturday. This is what happens when you put mondo bubble bath in a jetted tub. Maysen was in hog heaven – there was about 2ft of bubbles. It was too great to not take pictures of this moment. I won’t show the nudie shots I got of Nate *wink*.

This week has been great as far as weather is concerned. We got a lot of our weeding done in the last few days. The rain and chilly air is about to settle back in for another week, so it felt good getting it done. It also felt good to get the windows open and get some fresh air in the house.

Friday we’re taking Maysen to see Horton Hears a Who while Grandma keeps Griffin for the afternoon. I am loving Nathan having Friday afternoons off.

Peace offering: Trade popsicle for our freedom. (hehe) I was watching Supernanny the other day and I made a keen observation: Why is it that all the families she goes to have really nice homes? They all have the stainless steel, marble counters, big house. You never see Jo whipping up to the trailer house down in the South with 27 kids blowing out every window to greet her while the hounds howl at her. Just …. Interesting. Having said that, does anyone feel like they could be a Supernanny contestant about every other day? I know I do!

And this is what we find after a night of "I don't want to go to sleep". It was quite a feat trying to get him out from under the bed!!

Big Brother is on ....gotta go. Hey - priorities! Is anyone else watching??

Just in time ...

Timing is everything. This picture was taken at just the right moment – the milliseconds right before the bubble is popped. Can’t be more exact!

Yesterday was Griffin’s 2 mo check-up. I am pleased to say that everything was very very good!!! Since giving his Phenobarbital only at night, he is completely a different kid. He holds his head up, sits up, likes to try and stand, kicks his legs to stand up, talks, sings, and smiles all the time. Everything was right on track! Dr Pelinka said she couldn’t have been happier.

He got 3 shots, which didn’t go well. The nurse that came in to do them did them how I hate: slow. When you have a baby who has to get multiple shots, you don’t do it SLOW! Get those babies ready like shooting darts. I about came out of my skin! There was nothing incorrect about her technique – just that she didn’t do it fast enough. After we got home yesterday, he continued to scream when he moved his legs or if you touched them. Poor baby! So I kept Tylenol and Ibuprofen going round the clock and today he’s fine. He’s a tall boy, that’s for sure. I think Maysen is going to look more like my side: short and stubby, whereas Griffin seems to be more on the lean/tall side. His weight was 11lb 7oz (50th percentile) and he was 24.5 inches tall (92nd percentile).

Nate got his pride rubbed again yesterday. I have to say that he is turning out to be a very demanded programmer. M, one of the leads at Weyerhaeuser, approached Nate yesterday to see if he would consider taking a “more senior” position near Seattle for the company. Nate is already a Software Developer II, which normally requires 5+ years of experience and he only has 1.5 years. This job near Seattle would be a Software Developer III position and for a lot more $$$/yr. However, we are content here and so Nate told M that he would consider anything, but was happy here. It was just a shock!

Today we visited Bob and Bonnie for a bit. Bonnie is a very talented artist and she's currently painting the above picture (sorry it's grainy - used the camera on my phone) of Maysen when he was on the Polar Express train this past November. You can see the actual picture just to the left of the painting. She is just in the beginning phase of the painting, but I'm already blown away. I'll keep posting progression.

Have a great, bubbly weekend!

What?!

Fin's got to be teething. Perfect alignment for bottom incisors, reacts to anti-inflammatory and ice. I'm going to have a 2mo with bilateral incisors broken through in a week. Wow. (this of course needs to be backed up by my pediatrician whom I see tomorrow)

Poor Nate's dealing with a whopper of a teething storm out there tonight. Something about the silhouette of a grown man rocking back and forth with hips swaying, humming to a baby to get a woman's heart. *tear* I'll let you know what Dr P says about Griffin's 2 month well-baby check!

Swing Away

This was worth every $$ we put into buying this thing. It swings both side-to-side as well as front-to-back. For the longest time we had it swinging sideways and he didn't care for it that much. Now you can't get him out of this thing (as you can tell by his beaming smile). And in fact if I need to get something done I put him in this and he's out like a light a few minutes later. Such a great invention.

I've been battling with boredom the last few days. You see, after being well for a week (because we were in California), the kids are BACK to being sick. The problem is that Maysen goes to school, and although I've asked the teacher to call me if the other kids have been sick the 2 previous days (mon,tues), she never called me to tell me that all the kids were coughing when Maysen went back to school last wednesday. 48hrs later, Maysen has the cold/cough back. That means = 48hrs later Griffin has it, too. He's so susceptible to germs. Maysen acts fine although he's hacking up a lung and his nose is running so much his sleeve is wet (you get the picture). Because of this, none of us have been outside the house in 3 days. Today the sun is shining bright and I haven't had fresh air since Saturday. Maysen might be OK but right now Griffin just has the snot part of the cold and I DO NOT want him getting the lung/cough/RSV part.

Because we've decided that if Griffin gets "really" sick again because of this, we'll reluctantly have to pull Maysen out of school. But how many cartoons can one handle? If he's not watching cartoons/plopped in front of the TV, then he's absolutely destroying the house! Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, with highs in the low 60sF and no clouds! I am hoping that at least I can get Mase outside and let Griffin sleep inside. I keep thinking I'm so thankful that I am not really working right now because I'd for sure be fired ... no one would believe me that my kids were this sick! Thankfully, I can give Maysen Benadryl because he's so snotty and not feel guilty about it! Benadryl is a wonderful (sedating) drug ... hehe.

The last 2 nights Griffin has been very colicky, which Maysen had at 2 months of age. He starts being really fussy at 6:00pm with little comfort. The problem is, is that he's kept himself up almost all afternoon, so by then he's over exhausted and can't go/stay asleep. Last night was the worst. We noticed 2 lumps on his lower gums on the sides, almost like he's teething molars ... but it's WAY to early for that. He did calm down when we rubbed them, and so I gave Tylenol. Luckily he went to sleep around 9:30 and slept until 5:00am.

This is The Potty Jar I created and it has been very successful. Only ONE accident since Saturday, which I think is great. Right now the "prize" of filling the jar has ranged from swimming to going to get ice cream to baking brownies. In fact changing it up keeps him motivated day by day until it's full.

Did any one else realize that Easter is way early this year? I need to get Easter Baskets ready!

caroustore

I thought this picture turned out pretty wicked. I took it on the Wharf in San Fran while Dad and Maysen were on the carousel. It is the reflection of the carousel in the storefront window. It’s pretty abstract if you ask me, however perfectly clear if you put your mind to dividing the two images.

The last couple of nights I’ve been catching up on a lot of sleep, sleeping about 12hrs each night the past 2 days. I have needed it as I about had a total meltdown on Thursday. This stay-at-home mom stuff is almost overwhelming! I love every second, but when you only get 2hrs of sleep at night because you have a sick boy and a newborn then “wake” up the next morning and deal with nothing but 100mph 3yr old and the demands of a newborn – it can get very overwhelming fast. So, I’m feeling much better having gotten some good sleep over the last few days, thanks to my great husband! I think he knew I was serious when I told him I wanted to go back to work just to get a break!

Not only is the demand of a newborn/no sleep/3yr old/etc/etc/etc overwhelming sometimes, take the 100mph 3yr old and add POTTY TRAINING to the mix. Yeah right! I’ve tried EVERYTHING under the sun. He’ll do great one day, telling me every time with no accidents, then the next day he’s a whole different kid. We’ve tried sticker charts, we’ve tried M&Ms with successful trips, we’ve tried Potty Dance/Praise. Nothing. So, tonight on yet another attempt at trying to get something to work, the Potty Jar and Potty Rocks were born. He has a special jar and every time he goes in the toilet, he gets to add a Potty Rock to the jar (decorative colored rocks in the craft section of any dept store). Once the jar is filled up (not a very big jar) we get to go swimming, zoo, ice cream store, or whatever treat we’re working toward. So far it’s working great! He’s gone 4 times and is even sleeping with his “new friend, my Potty Jar”. We’ll see! Any other ideas would be great!

Otherwise, we’ve haven’t done a lot. Today we went and decorated Nate’s office at Weyerhaeuser. He’s got a huge space and it was great to get his pictures and UofO paraphernalia up. He’s back “home” now.

Have a great weekend!

long one

We decided that we’d have pictures of me and our kids (boys) when they were 6wks old. So far these are the 2 we have, and they’ve turned out really well I think. Just me and my boys. Nothing better.

We got back from California on Friday. We had a great time! We got to California on Tuesday evening, which I about got arrested. We stopped in Willows, CA and I started walking Bailey in an unauthorized area, and some manager came out screaming she was going to call the police on me. Oops!

Wednesday was a beautiful day, and so we rode the ferry to San Francisco. Maysen loved the ‘big boat’ and 'special train car' (trolley car) we got to ride on. He had a minding issue while we were waiting to load the tour boat that was going to take us to tour Alcatraz. The picture below is after I told him “not to touch the water”. Uh huh. Remind you of Nate, mom?

And here is Alcatraz ... I didn't know that before it was a prison, it was actually a fortress. Then the indians occupied it during the 60s-70s. Now it's a National Park.

Alcatraz was very neat. I love history anyway, so seeing the place that I once saw on Unsolved Mystery as a kid was great. They gave everyone Walkmans that you could listen to the Audio Tour at your own leisure and it worked out great. It was just a very mystical place.

The rooms in this place are amazingly small. I know, it's a jail cell, Leslie. But seeing it was a shocker. Sitting in that thing for years on end would drive me out of my mind!

Grandma Jo bought Maysen a harmonica and he entertained crowds of people with his new-found talent of harmonica playing. All he needed was the Tip-Hat. Griffin was in the stroller, so he slept most of the time. Poor kid hated his car seat by the time he got home. Our stroller sits his car seat in it, so he was in that car seat most of the time.

Maysen chased the birds until his feet were about to fall off. That didn't stop him from running from us on the boat back to San Fran, either. Once we were all on the boat, I dropped his hand for a second to see where everyone was going. In that split second, he disappeared. Scared the life out of me! People were just staring at us while we asked for help in finding him. My fear was that someone had walked off with him. But, alas, here he comes waltzing around the corner wondering what the big stir was about.

Afterward we walked the Wharf and saw the sea lions. Dad and Maysen rode the carousel, which Maysen loved. It was a rip off, but what isn’t these days? As we rode the ferry back, we saw the moon eclipse and that surprised us as we didn't realize one was supposed to happen that night. It was beautiful sailing away on the ferry looking back at the city at dusk with the eclipse happening. It was great.

Thursday was a wet and windy day. We relaxed and Maysen helped grandma Jo make pie and then he did his favorite thing: play with the “boodies” (birds), Pacho and “Chacho” (Nacho). He loves those stinkin’ birds.

We had our taxes done yesterday. Man we can’t catch a break! Besides all these medical bills we have from me having pre-eclampsia and in the hospital, delivery, Griffin sick in the NICU, Nate hospitalized … we just found out we owe $3,400 in taxes this year. We’re taking donations (kidding!). Sheesh … when it rains it pours around here. This past year has been tough on just about everyone I know!

And last but not least, we got the results on Fin's EEG done at OHSU. It was read as "mildly abnormal". Luckily there was no seizures noted or anything like that, but what was noted was that he had a "lower seizure threshold" in his left hemisphere, meaning that it's not as protected against seizures (if they were to occur) than his right hemisphere. Because of that, Dr Koch is not going to taper him off his phenobarbital as soon. He is going to let his body outgrow the dose he's on now (keeping him on it and not increasing the dose as he grows) and then we'll do another EEG/MRI in May when we see him again. This abnormality is "normal" in about 20% of kids, and is usually outgrown by the age of 5. This could have been his problem all along - the fact he has this lower threshold and then he got really sick/high fever, his body just gave way. He's still doing great now, only waking once to eat at night and that's at 5:30am! *knock on wood*

Mmmmm...

Today was gorgeous! It was just over 60 degrees and the sun was shining bright in the blue sky! We also grilled burgers and I got a hint of spring as the aroma of BBQ drifted through the open screen door and windows. What would have made it more perfect is if someone would have been mowing. Ahhh, spring is on it's way.

We're heading to California tomorrow to visit my dad and stepmom. I'm looking forward to going to San Francisco and riding the trolley cars! Not to mention having Dad and Jo squeeze on Griffin and Maysen is already looking forward to tractor rides with Grandpa. Have a good week!

Poor Bay :-(

Today the boys went on a walk with Bailey to the park. On the way home, they walked the normal way and past the “colorful” house with the loud dogs with Maysen riding on Nate’s shoulders. Out of nowhere, 2 pitbulls were behind Nate and surrounding Bailey and immediately started attacking her. Instinctively, Nate kicked one dog and yelled at them to go back into the yard. Thank God they did. There are a few other situations in my wandering mind that could have happened. One being that the dogs didn’t stop and killed Bailey, as Nate wasn’t going to put Maysen down off his shoulders and help; Another being that they turned on Nate and attacked him.

Nate went up and knocked on the door. It was answered by one of the 3 unattended children. When the mother finally came to the door (awakened from her nap), she blamed the children for them being out. Later, we called the police and they came and took a report. They informed us that the family was going to be fined $1500. I am not out to “get’ this family – but I am fearful to walk past that house again and am scared for the multiple kids I see living/playing around that house. I also am so thankful that it was Bailey walking beside Nate this afternoon – not Maysen. I can’t even begin to think that way … Maysen said when he got home "Those mean puppies bite Bay?"

Bailey's OK. She had about 6 really deep puncture wounds. She seems sore in some places, especially a really swollen area on her back. I'm concerned that vet bills may arise as I'm fearful a Addisonian Crisis may occur since Bay has Addison's Disease. This family doesn't seem to be the type who would financially take care of that if they needed to, so could get ugly. Judge Judy here we come!!