Uncle Jim

Uncle Jim will be missed. I'm sure I'll get some more good details about his life today, but he was quite a man. I've loved chatting with him through the years, he always had something to talk about. He was interested in his lineage, Irish culture, traveling, military, and native american culture.

He held himself with great poise and could wear a hat well.

This photo had to have been in Vietnam or training. What an interesting time to be in the service, when soldiers weren't regarded as they are now. He will be missed.

Getting out and about a bit

I had an afternoon solo to celebrate char's baby boy Caleb. Our bodies look like one dark blob together here as we were wearing the same color. Who needs mimosas when there is champagne around? Props to marsh for watching the kids for some solo time.

We had a day escape (from chores!) up to Bowens house last week. Owen has a total blast there as I think they have more toys than we do, from when Bryce and Austin were little. 

Kim sent me upstairs for a power nap, and they enjoyed the yard & sunshine. I will pretty much never turn down the opportunity to sleep unless I just had a lil dose of caffeine. Btw I stopped drinking coffee... Sad face.. More on that later.

Owen searched for Martin, there at, whose real name is Derek. He was yelling Martin where are you, come out where ever you are. Cracking us up. Not sure when he heard the name Martin even.

I topped ara off when i woke up and she passed out in my arms. I attempted the transfer to the blanket and succeeded! Then I took about 50 photos to document she took a Blanket nap on a gorgeous day. 

For about 20 mins:). Then the grass persuaded her to play.

So much love!

We met the Heusers for a lil walk and farmers market jaunt last weekend too. Owen loved their dogs and onyx was a great sport letting O walk him. 

Owen has been going out to public yet not super kid populated places. We are easing our way back into the germ zone. Behind the cafe in coloma is a field with picnic tables and a fire pit. After breakfast with Kim & Austin we stuck around for another hour.

I fed Arabelle and O just had a great old time with his cars, dirt, and the sound of the river in the background.

Quinoa, gogi berry breakfast cereal and coffee for a special treat.

Owen even tried a few bites of his pre-jellied toast. He usually gags at the sight of some gooey thing but he picked it up and had some nibbles. 

We had another river walk and morning with laurel. We had Been trying to see each other for a year every time she came into town. This time it just worked out and we sat by the slowly rising river as Owen fished with his bare hands... He was busy fishing for quite a while!

Memorial Day we met up at the aubins and ara swam for the first time. Did I mention that that weekend Chris was gone on a dudes trip for 4 days/ 3 nights? He had a great time out in the desert, a good break from all the baby bliss here. 

Uncle Brian and Elise reviewing her novel she wrote. 

These few weeks have been demanding on both of us with prepping for Chris's trip, then him being gone, then me prepping for a trip to sf for a conference, and Chris's uncle passing away. Today is the service to honor uncle Jim.

Garden beauty

Artichokes, snap peas, and beans are growing. The chokes are so tasty and even ara enjoys them. She knew just what to do and her two little teeth were just fit for the job!

The hollyhocks are my favorite bloomer until the zinnias start opening. 

Some days I don't get a garden recharge. And I can tell... A little grumpy, a little feisty... I'm pretty sure that the garden is my church. Sometimes the bedtime routine lasts until dark and I prefer to enjoy the dirt with some light on it. 

But on most days O & A are out there with me, digging, eating random small bits of dirt and safe edibles, and enjoying the peace on our lil patch of heaven.

Great check up

Owen had a cardio follow up today. Here's the short version:

Echo went well, the fenestration is still open. Hopefully this will close within a few months. Otherwise we will go back for a cath to close it in a year. Heart function and the Fontan look great.

Sis playing with his medical bracelets 

His oxygen sats were 91, which is quite an improvement from upper 70's-low 80's. 

EKG looked good. His re-piping & anatomy is prone to electrical abnormalities, which is a bummer, but hopefully we can skate by for awhile without meds/pacemaker.

Sternal incision healing well, whew!

Weight back up to pre-op weight of 34#, 40 inches tall, skinny boy!

The Riv reviewed limitations/risks, etc. Good news and the usual ugh news too. The good news is he isn't on any physical restrictions! Not too sure about football but other than that other sports are a go! Also not too sure about how Owen will handle elevation but should be okay. 

The risks with the Fontan circulation were reviewed and they aren't fun so hopefully we don't see any of them: liver problems, ascites, plastic bronchitis, stroke, electrical abnormalities, etc. 

Meds were reduced!! O has been taking his daily aspirin, lasix twice a day, and aldactone once per day by mouth. We had to change the name of aldactone to spirolalalala (a spin off of it's generic name) as Owen loathes the taste of it. New schedule is: 1 baby aspirin daily, 1 dose of lasix daily! Soooo exciting! I'm getting rid of the giant Tupperware of meds we used when first home from the hospital. 

We were all exhausted after our hours spent at kaiser, we left at 730 and got home at 1145. Chris went straight to work, hopefully with some caffeine on board. (Ara woke 4ish times last night. I've stopped counting most nights). 

We all crashed out, kids sleeping and me too!!! Hallelujah! 

We had a beautiful home afternoon racing cars, swinging, playing outside. 

I noticed Owen was itching his chest and took his shirt off and he had a crazy rash. It's his classic response to tape/anything medical. Dang! I took pix, uploaded to computer, emailed doc, and texted Chris. In the meantime, gave him a bath, gave benedryl, and hydrocortisone cream. 

O just fell asleep (8:45) after singing bad to the bone really loudly for 45 minutes. Guess the bene backfired a bit. 

Literally (right now) Ara is making quiet stirring noises. It's so crazy how these kids suck at sleeping. Now louder noises. It's almost humorous. Almost! 

I'm headed to bed (I think!) in a few. Been getting in bed at 9ish these days, delayed exhaustion setting in from multiple night wakings.

Riv has a helmet he has his patients sign. This was really fun for Owen.

We will have another echo/EKG appt in 2-3 months. O is doing so well we are ao thankful. We count our blessings each day and we are enjoyed this special time with little ones that moves all too fast. 

Kids n such

 I wasn't sure if the video would load and I can't hear the sound on my computer but it is pretty fun to watch. Of course I think it's fun, cuz it's my baby! She is eating sweet potato chunks here.

She is a lil hambone

 I accidentally loaded videos but I'm rolling with it. Owen figured out the hose nozzle and was filling up the watering can to lend a hand. He is really a great helper, doing laundry, watering plants, feeding the dog, and making dinner. Well most of those are true!

Another video... He has some great ninja moves. Looks like preschooler tai chi if you ask me!

Ara fell asleep in the stroller on a run at the park. She is starting to slowly act more like her brother in the stroller- calm! At least this week she was calm and quiet!

Throwing rocks into the river while sis slept and playing with leaves

She has many faces, this one is a favorite of mine.

 Went up to Marsh's for dinner. Special night and special porch steps. We were married on those very bricks!

 Yeah...I have about 100 pictures of this girl... a week....

 Not kidding...

 Celebrated 7 month day with tofu. Infant led weaning is working well, also using super baby food book time frame and dr. greene feeding methods as well. Basically a really relaxed way of feeding. This whole feeding your baby by mouth thing is still new to me, and real fun!

 If you didn't know by now Owen is kinda obsessed with monster trucks. I think there are 80 to collect and we are about halfway there. It is really ridiculous. We used to race 1 or 2 down the driveway when we went to feed the animals but recently we have given into the routine of racing all 45 down the driveway, collecting them, then doing it all again. The whole shenanagins takes about 20 minutes, depending on how far the trucks go, and how much commentating happens by Owen or us.

Tonight was just amazing in the field. Ara was dressed in play clothes, and one of Owen's old shirts, that he wore when he was 18 months, ha!

 My little wishes come true, my dandelion seed babes.

 Seriously this photo is the definition of my heart. So sweet. So much love.

Goodnight!

Disclaimer

So... I am aware of the sometimes ditzy, forgetful, or repetitious nature of my blogging. At times I just am straight up sleep deprived or not into going back and obsessing over what I already blogged, or forgot to blog, etc.

I'm kind of annoyed that I have two similar tabs "home and garden" and "garden". That is the main purpose of my tangent right now. But it is what it is. I have no idea when I created the other tab but it's there. So I'm aware of it but the process of re-labeling isn't high on my to- do list!

Since I'm rambling already I just ate some sweet potato cocoa delight- (previous blog)- it really is scrumptious. I added some corn flakes for a crunch and it's a sweet treat with some good nutrition as well.

Garden 2014

The last 2 years we have not done the big big BIG garden. I sure miss it, but we have our hands full with the littles sometimes walking across the property to feed the farm animals with the two of them is more than enough work!

So Chris created my nap garden. He and his dad built the raised beds 2 years ago. I named it the nap garden as I can safely garden while kids are napping. If only I could nap IN the nap garden, that would be quite perfect! For the record, Ara napped 2 hours today (rare, but becoming less rare!), Owen 2 hours, and me 1 hour. 1 hour, in bed, in the middle of the day, some of it asleep! Wahooooo baby!

The hollyhocks are just whimsical! They are in the corners of each bed and tower over my head.

Chokes I planted 2 years ago. They were 6 inches, and now, about 5 feet!

Can't wait to harvest and eat!

My new raised bed by the others for mothers day. (HMD= happy mother's day).

My handy hubs

Mother's day has been our usual day of planting. It was a hot week, but has cooled a bit to allow the plants to adapt a bit to their new home. Photos soon of the new inhabitants of the bed. 

Mother's Day

wow it's been almost a week since I've blogged! I've been working at night, doing a project for summitview. Its been very time consuming, 8 hours last week.

Yesterday was just perfect. We started the day in coloma. We don't go out to eat... Ever as a family so this was a first in months and months. The temple coffee was so strong and my brain was happy! The quinoa bowl was just perfect. Owen enjoyed some sourdough, and he picked the word of the day, butter! He's been picking a word a day and learning to spell and write it. Usually they have a little meaningful lesson too but sometimes the lesson is that butter is good.

We went to the nursery, picked up dirt, and plants, and Chris got my raised bed set up that he and Owen made. 

We stopped by my moms work for a hug and to drop off some lunch for her. She was workin it and of course looked gorge! 

We went to the Brittons for dinner and enjoyed a family meal with the whole crew there. It had also been a long time since that had happened. 

Here are a few pix from the day. I've gotta get back to my menu project, but we are all doing well and sleeping a bit better. 

Smelling flowers like dorks~