Monster Trucks!

Last weekend we attended a monster truck performance with Owen. A boys dream come true, seriously!!

The funny thing about small kids is that you can really get away with tailoring their perspective... Yes he has watched monster trucks many many times on DVD. Chris gave it to Owen for his first Christmas I think? We hid it after Awhile since it was such a requested item. He didn't ask for it when it wasn't around.

But there are toys as well! Of course he has a few...When I went to Denver last summer it seemed as if his collection grew from 2 to 20 overnight... (Chris!) I guess tailoring their perspective is a different way to say "engineering their hobbies". It is true. All parents do it on some level. I don't know if I would have picked MT's, but Owen truly does enjoy them. He wouldn't know they exist without us exposing them to him, ya see?

My favorite story of his obsession came right after he started talking, around 20 months. During his bedtime routine we would always say goodnight to various people and things and my sweet cherub kiddo says "night night mama, night night daddy, night night bounty hunter". Unmmmm???????? I about fell off my rocker!! Although this is now a common word in his vocabulary, he doesn't know it as anything other than his favorite toy monster truck. The "engineering" only goes so far, otherwise I would have suggested a different favorite like tropical thunder or el toro loco (his close second). El toro loco was one of his first 3 word combinations, ha! Other fun names (you didn't know this was going to be MT 101, right!?) in Owen's regular vocabulary are:
Bad habit
Gravedigger
Maximum destruction
Puppy truck
Iron man
Bat man
And so on..

It was a blast! Nana, papa, Shari and josh, cousin Mat, Auntie Amanda and Josh, and Josh's mom were all there. It was a fun family outing and I'm sure we will do it again next year! Owen stayed up until it was over, sitting on Chris's lap for most of the time. It was pretty fun going all together. I'm glad we went!

Reign it in

We just had our garden plan-property projects-house projects- vacations- chat of the year. Notice I put garden plan first. First things first, right?! We decided to reign it in a little, and attempt to feed our family, instead of ours plus 5 others. Allocating our resources (time/$) to other projects that need our resources (time/$). We recently invested in helping improve our road quality, which we will need to continue to do with our neighbors. This is a new "bill" so to speak.

Ok, ok, here is the garden plan. In writing...
We discussed putting raised beds down in the current garden dirt area. (roughly 120 ft X 50 ft). This would be very costly and may not be the best use of space. PLUS wood is $$$$$ when we have good ole dirt right there. The problem has always been weeds. Even with weed fabric, they are very hard to combat without additional help/ bodies/sweat/weedpullers other than myself (and on occasion Chris).

In an attempt to reign it in, ["It" being my/our need for more!!!] we decided to let the current garden sit as is, and add an additional 6ft x 4 ft raised bed up by the house, (by the existing 4 beds the same size), and move the old trough over there and fill it up again with dirt. This would allow me to garden so easily out my front door, and also produce a variety of crops in a smaller, more workable space. It sounds peaceful, not so much like an ordeal or something we need to wrap our heads around...

That makes sense, right? Reign it in to bring relaxation and peace, not create lots of more work.

Chris is working today on a yard for the chickens. A safe, covered 12 ft x 15 ft yard for them to roam, forage, and be "free" while staying protected from hawks. He is putting in some posts, then the fencing, then the netting.

I guess I better turn this naptime blog into a naptime garden planning session. Tulips, garlic, and onions are emerging right now. Potato prep starts in a month...

GI Appointment

Owen and I went solo so Chris could have a work/home morning. We have been so fortunate to have attended many appointments all together. Team work comes in handy for many things, namely: bathroom breaks, holding down Owen's extremities for various procedures, and also one person actually listening to the MD during the visit as the other one entertains O.

Everything went well. We collectively agreed to leave the gastrostomy tube in for at least another 6 months. We don't use it, but IF there is another surgery or illness it is insurance. IF at 6 months there is really no sign of a surgery again then we can get it taken out.

It was a pretty minor thing today, the GI doc deflated the balloon, pulled out the old one, put in the new one, and inflated it. Owen played on the Child Life Ipad and I held his arms and legs down. It was a success.

Feelin' Groovy

I'm an old soul when it comes to music. I love me some Simon & Garfunkel. Slow down, you're moving too fast. You've got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones, looking for fun and feeling groovy.

We are feeling groovy around here.

Owen's check up appointment went very well. His oxygen saturations were 90% which is one of the highest he's measured in the clinic. His growth was 50th %tile for all of his stats, word up to his dietitian!

After our appointment O needed to get some labs drawn. The lab is a super fun place to go, especially in flu season with complete germ phobes and during a downtime in the system. Oh yes, and with a 2.5 year old who you WANT to be more of a germ phobe. After 45 minutes then 3 minutes of holding him down, and a few rounds of the Abc's through tears, we wrapped it up and came home.

2 hours later (so quick!) I got an email with his results: his Hemoglobin, hematocrit, and RBC levels were all elevated. This was expected and consistent with his elevations in the past. The problem with his saturations being in the 80's-90's% is that his body is constantly trying to adapt to have that be kosher. In that process, his body produces more RBC's to attempt to bind more oxygen to in turn raise his saturations. But because of the way his heart anatomy is (which is improved from before with the second surgery, the Glenn) the mixing of the blood just isn't going to get up any higher no matter what the RBC count is. The problem with an elevated RBC over time is the risk for stroke due to thicker blood.

He needed his daily aspirin dose upped anyway due to his weight, so now he takes one chewable daily. And we hope that is enough to keep any strokes very VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY far away from us.

All in all it was a great appointment, no surgery in the near future! Wahooooo!! We still are continuing our bubble boy way of raising Owen, basically a lot of hand washing and keeping large social get togethers through cold/flu season to a minimum. He gets out and about but why not keep him healthy and out of the hospital? Exactly!

On another note, Buster is settling in quite well. He has a lot of energy but burns that off quickly and is ready to nap. Blue has adjusted well and she is getting more play time in than ever before! Our old dog Arthur wasn't much of a play fighter, they just did their own thing. Buster and Blue go out and play 2-3 times per day for about 30 minutes. It is awesome, and Owen knows that if the dogs come running he goes up against the house out of their way.

 This was not an easy photo to take! I am holding a treat up (the angle was a little too high!) for Buster.

Blue and Buster sharing a bed. Other big news= DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE BEDROOM AT NIGHT! We started to lose many precious zzzz's over Blue's snoring sounds. When we would lock her out she would whine lots and then we would lose more zzz's. With the addition of Buster we have been able to kick out the dogs and reclaim our room. It feels so good! Chris and I are both trying to become deeper sleepers. Being parents has made us both very light sleepers:(.

Oh the irony

I have thought about it before... The irony of a dietitian's kid needing a feeding tube for months, and subsequently having food aversions as well as needing months of feeding therapy. But Chris's sister pointed out there are other feeding issues on the farm, especially with the addition of Buster.

Fudgy, our "rescue llama" has been a little underweight the last couple of months. We had him worked up for parasites and he was clean. He actually has gained whatever he lost back, with the supplementation of llama chews; a high calorie pellet supplementation. We also feed him in a separate area than the sheep, which helps him keep the amount of alfalfa to himself. Also the llama chews are too high in copper for the sheep.

The chickens are eating everything in site right now, but have not laid an egg in a week. This happens, I have been told, in the winter time. We have not had this flock through the winter yet. We provided a heat lamp to our other flock through the winter to extend the day's light as well as keep them cozy. This worked well for egg production but they got a little kooky as they seemed to be also insomniacs. The chickens do look quite beautiful right now, their feathers are are filled out. I should take the big camera down there and take some pics of the pretties. It is pretty muddy down by the coop.

The dane Buster has been weighed on a home scale. It was a standing weight (RD humor here, as opposed to a bed weight. I know, I know, I'll keep my day job.) I steadied the scale, Chris took a deep breath, and hoisted Buster up around his 4 legs. Chris's face turned red as he stepped quickly onto the scale. I looked down at the total, and then we did the math to subtract Chris's weight from the total. Buster weighed in at 121#.  He is getting 3.5 cups of dry food, plus one can of wet food in the morning, and 3.5 cups in the evening. Plus 4 liters of water per day. That's all.

Our sweet Owen has been eating very well. He has dabbled in new foods in meaningful amounts like~ cheese, ravioli, noodles, kefir, sips of milk, raisins, cornbread, fruit snacks, and taquitos. He has been holding his own with his weight, and we still have not used the feeding tube since July. It feels darn good too.

Other than that, Chris and I are eating just fine and our weights are within normal limits. We are trying to maintain our weights and we do this without avail. As I was getting the food ready for the animals by the barn yesterday I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the irony-- llama on supplements, starving hens who inhale the scratch, a dog that is seemingly underweight although a giant, and my favorite kid who has overcome many feeding issues. It's just part of our story.

Dog Days

The phrase 'dog days' refers to the sultry days of summer...

 Around here, 'dog days' literally means 2 large dogs all around you, loving up your day!

We adopted a 2.5 year old Great Dane. Chris has been wanting one foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr (probably since we first got together 13 years ago.) I recently (like 3 weeks ago) came on board.
I did have specific criteria:
1. Good with kids
2.  Older than 1, preferable 2 (training, puppiness hopefully gone)
3. Chris poop scoops
It didn't take him long to find a local rescue shelter and off we went to check him out. He is truly a gentle giant, and has transitioned somewhat smoothly into our family.

 We haven't taken him to our vet yet but Chris estimates he weighs about 120 pounds, and that is with some ribs peeking out. The shelter recommends 6 cups of food per day, and that is more for maintenance. My sister in law pointed out he is yet another being with some feeding issues...Am I attracting this? :). He should probably gain 10-15 pounds. So 3 cups in the morning, a can in the middle of the day, and 4 cups at night should help the process.

He is quite a lover! The color is called Merle and in theory this color is supposedly smaller than the others. He lived with a family with children ages 2, 6 but he was a little crazy for their elderly grandparents. Let's face it, he is also a serious mouth to feed as well. I'm sad that the family had to surrender him, someone spend a lot of time with him. He sits, shakes, and is very well behaved.

Top 10 December Photos

 Owen enjoyed his first whole cupcake. We made a brief appearance at a nearby Christmas party and took this delish treat home. Couldn't believe it but he mobbed it down. It was the first birthday party experience we never had!

 He couldn't get enough.

 Christmas sweater time! Decorating took about 20 minutes. Just enough to bring some holiday cheer to the place.

 Celebrating Mom's birthday the week before Christmas.

 Annual toy drive for UCSF was a success. The Thule rack atop the car was full too!

 Most photographed view of my life-- the view from my mom's deck. So pretty Christmas Eve- Eve morning.

 Christmas cookie making with Pa pa and Na na. This is a tradition that they have done with Mat in AZ but now we can all do it together. Start to finish, mostly just the fab four above. Yes there was flour everywhere! Owen would hold the cord of the mixer while Mat mixed. Owen felt very special to be helping.

 Awkward family photo #492. I have never even seen this face of his before this photo was taken.

 Cousin Mat and Owen... so sweet and energetic. The last time they hung out Mat said: "Owen and I are best friends. We do everything together." Pretty cute! Don't know how much Mat likes O rolling over him when he's watching tv but that is just a sign of Owen's affection.

 Group shot on Christmas at Grammy's. Chris was working and the Aubins are missing but we had a great night.

It was hard to narrow the photos down out of the 300+ that were taken. The Britton family group shot was taken on sis in law's camera... Can't wait to check that one out as well.