To cut or not to cut?

Chelsea after eating carbs. She won't be happy with me posting this.

MOOSE

Owen had a much better day today. The medical team says that it is more than likely from the blood transfusion. He did well with more time breast feeding today and probably drinking about 2-3oz of breast milk at each feed. His saturations were in the high 70s to low 80s all day so that was good. He continues to be on high flow O2 with the Nitric oxide. When we arrived to the hospital this morning our nurse had told us that the cardiac surgeons Nurse Practitioner was coming to talk to us. The surgeon had seen Owen in the early morning and thought it might be best to place the cardiac shunt. This is considered 'open heart surgery' and will not be the only one if they do it. But it may be the only one for a few months. We were informed that he is on the surgery schedule for first thing Monday morning at 0630. The procedure was gone over with us, and the consent was signed. There will be a discussion tomorrow with the cardiologist about maybe holding off on surgery a wait a few more days to see if Owen's pulmonary vascular resistance decreases. We will know for sure tomorrow and this is the medical world so things can change and surgeries can be pushed back so nothing is set in stone. I will keep you posted with tomorrows blog. Other than that we had a lot of cuddling with the "Moose" today and can't wait for more tomorrow. Chels has been able to take advantage of their breastfeeding mom trays, but we went out for some comfort junk food today. We had cookies and cream ice cream and a macaroon in Gramps's honor. Chelsea finished this sweet snack with a carb coma nap on the table!

-Chris

"O" is for oxygen.

Today was a rough day. Everyday is up and down and some are good some are not. We started the morning off with the cardiologist talking to us about how Owen is not progressing as good as they had hoped. The MD stated that the possibility of surgery is back on the table and we will see how the weekend goes and he might need a shunt placed to help with blood flow. They are going to wait and re-evaluate on Monday or Tuesday of next week. After that the morning was good. Papa Schlitz came by today to see Owen as well as Aunt Court and Robert. It was nice to see them. We went and had a quick lunch and when we returned Owen had to have another IV. This poor kid has had 6 by now with a total of about 20 misses. He needs to have IV access just in case but it is still hard to see. He was able to get a blood transfusion today and I was a great match for him so he received my blood that I donated a few days ago. As the day progressed his oxygen saturation continued to drop and he had an episode that went into the 40s and ther for a few mins. It took him at least 30 minutes to get back up to the low 60's. MDs were called, RT at bedside and Owen was put on high flow oxygen and recovered but it took awhile. This has not happened before so this was something new for Chelsea and I to see. At times I wish did not have medical experience. Chelsea and I have said how it is nice because we are at least comfortable in hospitals, but it is a challenge when it is your loved one, let alone your new baby. He recovered well and did better after that. That was today, so we hope for a better tomorrow. The days are starting to become a blur, it seems like one really long day. Owen is 2 weeks old today it has already gone by fast. We headed to Rich's tonight after meeting the night shift RN. Got there around 9. We ate dinner and homemade ice cream. We hope for a better day tomorrow and each day there after for baby O. We thank you for the support, prayers, positivity, and love sent our way.

-Chris

Visitors

Aunt Wynt loving on Baby O.

Another good day. Owen did well today. The team down here has been tweaking his O2 and N O. They were able to decrease his O2 down to 2 L via NC now but they had to bump his N O up to 20 again but he was able to tolerate well. He always does better of course when mom and I are holding him, and also great when Wynter with Grandma are around. Grandma Schledewitz and Aunt Wynter drove all the way down to SF to see little O. No word on what the plan is at this time. The MD's round really early before we get there so sometimes it's hard to get a full story. Owen was back to working on the breast feeding with mom today he had a break over the past 2 days as we let things calm down but its like riding a bike for him and was doing great again. Chelsea and I were able to sleep great last night in a good comfy bed. It makes things a lot easier when you have some sleep under your belt. The weather here is foggy and a nice change from the heat. We are happy to have little to blog about today and hope for more uneventful days...Although we wouldn't mind an eventful day of a transfer back up to Roseville!

Robots???

Today was a good day. No major changes today. Owen has been doing good. They have begun to decrease his N O today. He had saturations in the 80's for some part of the day- But still likes to live in the 70's for now. The cardio team has been telling us that we just need to be patient and let things run their course. That is easier said than done as a parent. He has been calm and not giving his nurses too hard of a time except for when he wants to eat. He still turns blue when he cries but does well overall. There are rumurs of us being sent back up there to Roseville once he has a little better saturations.

I have worked in a hospital for about 7 years now and have been to a lot of other hospitals through out the years but this was a first for me. Today I was getting in a elevator when this cart (push cart) with a siren light on top started talking to me and asking me to move out of the way. It caught me off guard and thought that the no sleep was catching up to me but it started coming at me. "Please move I am exiting the elevator". So I moved and this robot cart was on its way. Weird. No more Carl Hotel tonight it was a dive by the way. We are able to stay at at Chelsea's college friend who lives about 3 miles away. Thank you Jamie and Eric for the hospitality and yummy dinner. Not much to report today. For all the blog stalkers out there to make it easier I will only post around or after 9:00 pm for the most part. Thank you for all the support.

-Chris

I heart SF!

I look like a burglar trying to steal milk!

Loves his mom.

You can see my real head!!!

This is Owen's little transport rig that he was able to ride in coming to SF. He the little orange thing on the inside.

Well after last night I think we have everyone on their toes waiting for the next installment of Owens world. From the last post Owen had a hard day yesterday with decreased oxygen saturation's which was making the staff at Roseville a little nervous. He continued on oxygen and viagra. They started him yesterday on another drug called nitric oxide that he breathes through his nasal cannula. N O helps dilate only the the vessels in the lungs and is said to help with the pulmonary pressures that the little guy has been having. He did not have great results with it. His cardiologist had sent some images to UCSF with concern to Owens pulmonary veins. UCSF saw this and with the symptoms that Owen was having yesterday they thought it would be appropriate for Owen to be transferred down to UCSF. Chelsea and I had already left the hospital and just made it home when we got the call that Owen was going to SF. It was good that we were at home so we did a lot of packing and last minute clean up. We both think we over packed but we have no idea how long we are going to be here. We loaded everything up including Blue the dog and were on our way. Blue is at her cousin Kahlua's house for now and has been doing fine. Wynt reports some goofy behavior like sprintng around the yard, following people into the bathroom, and hanging out in Wynt's walk in closet all day. These behaviors do not shock us- she's a weirdo. We were able to make it to the hospital on time to see O before he left. There was a change in how he was going to get here. UCSF said that they wanted to come and get him and were going to fly him here. Yes, day 11 first plane flight with a MD, RN, and RT. He was in very good hands for the flight here. He did well and arrived at UCSF at about 4 in the morning as we did too. We were able to set up a hotel before leaving to come down here so it was nice to be in bed around 5, it was a long day with everything. We were able to get a few hrs of sleep before the trolley cars started running and I mean the large ones. Remember those commercials where the train or subway goes by and the whole room starts shaking?? that's what happened at about 0700.(this is why we live in the country) We were able to find our little man this morning in the Cardiac ICU and he looked very rested and calm wondering where we had been. He had another repeat echo today and they were able to see that his veins looked good and there will probably not be anything that needs to be fixed. The cardio team also said that Owen has a very mild case of Ebsteins which was great to here as well. The plan will continue that they will stop the viagra for now and continue him on the N O and try to wean him off that as his sats come up when the pulmonary pressure decreases. He has been doing good, in other good news they removed his scalp IV so its been good to see his normal head. Some other things they are going to try is to give him a blood transfusion that they said will help, so they are letting me donate the blood to be given to him. Word for the wise, when you donate blood do it on a day when you have slept for more than 2 hrs and have eaten some food. I did not pass out because I would never live that down but it was an interesting walk back to the hotel. Today, all and all was a good day. The staff here is good, Chelsea and I are good. We had to take a Hotel room tonight that has 2 twin beds because this is all they had. (kinda funny, feel like I am 10 again) Thank you for all the well wishes we will let you all know when we know more.

-Chris

Owen is too cool for Roseville

Well today wasn't the best day for Owen. We were just enjoying a few regular "newborn" days and today wasn't so good. He kept going down on his oxygen saturations. The nicu MD and our cardiologist were very diligent about checking on him. They decided to introduce nitric oxide to also help him out. We saw an improvement after a few hours. We kissed him and headed to pick up some dinner from a kind co-worker of Chris's, Christy. On the way home, Owen's cardiologist called us saying that his colleagues at UCSF want to take a closer look at Owen and he will likely be transferred down there tonight. Tears came out...It seems like a setback even though he will have a closer watch as they have a cardiac NICU. We tried to stay calm and enjoy our homemade meal. But our brains were racing--what do we do? What do we feel? What does this mean? We just don't know. We paid some bills, are taking out the trash, dumping out the water in beautiful flower arrangements, and preparing to be gone for a while. We will have someone staying at the house but want to make it easier on them. Chris is on the phone lining up a place to sleep tonight. The good news is that for transport Owen has his own MD, RN, and respiratory therapist to ride with him. Can you believe he is such a hound for attention at such a young age?? Can you also imagine if we were not blessed with amazing health insurance?? Anyway, have to go pack, and do other things I guess. Talk about a roller coaster ride. Keep Owen in you thoughts are will keep everyone posted.

-Chelsea and Chris

Day 9

Last night Chris and I went down to the garden with what little sunlight we had left. (Where did the summer go?) It was after 8 but we thought we could put cages around our tomatoes and tomatillos. Last night was as good of time as any, right? Only about a month overdue...Chris had made some cages out of our old fencing, but he went to home depot during the last feed of last night. He scored on some cheap cages to protect our future harvests. I was harvesting veggies while Chris was caging. The caging ended up being a 2 person job since the plants were thriving so much. We decided to harvest a bunch of veggies for the nicu staff. We brought them zucchini, basil, lettuce, kale, tomatillos, and plums. This morning we slept in a little and I made some pesto since the basil is in total abundance. Into the freezer for future enjoyment! After our morning dance of getting ready, packing lunch, loading the ice chest with breast milk and lunch, we were on our way. Chris as the usual chauffeur, and me the best passenger. I usually try to make one call on the way in to catch someone up verbally...It is still a challenge with limited cell service along the way. We made it to Roseville and went to see our little doll-baby. He was sleeping of course- he had taken about 3 ounces of breastmilk around 9 in the morning so he was good to nap for a while. We try to let him sleep and rest but it is too hard to just sit there and watch him. I can last about 10 minutes of that and then he is in my arms! Aunt Wynter came to visit today and she helped me with a different breastfeeding hold. We are continuing to learn from each other but I have some steep competition with the bottle. At least he doesn't have a problem eating no matter how he gets it. Owen was glad to see Wynt, she babysat while I pumped. O must have been relaxed because he did a dooty as she was holding him. Changed him, took his temp, and swaddled that baby up and he was good to go to nap for 4 hours. The Bowens came and gazed at him, he was so content and resting that they just peeked at him. We took a lunch break, it was nice to visit with the Bowens and laugh. Chris and I tend to eat well from our garden or leftovers, we are not hurting on the food intake aspect. Pumping schedule led us back down to O's room and dad only lasted a few minutes before O was in his arms. Got to see my co-worker RD Laura and she gave me the ok to take a 4 hour break at night because my milk production has been so good. YAY!! That was such good news to me. Chris and I stopped at Joy and Greg's on the way home, got a quick visit in, and almost gained another kid as Anna (their 4 year old daughter) tried to come home with us! Came home, pumped, and served up some yummy lemony chicken and broccoli. Tried the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies on the way home-in true Britton fashion! Most goodies don't make it all the way home untouched. We enjoyed our dinner on the deck and took in our property and the peace that it brings. Also had a glass of wine which just added to the relaxation. Chris and I have been working so well as a team and we try to take care of each other and stay balanced. We decided that I would blog, he made a phone call and then we would do 30 minutes of housework. Then maybe we would watch a movie. So he is leafblowing and I am behind...guess I only have to do 25minutes:).

I know that Chris has thanked all of our supporters already but we are so thankful to have such amazing people in our lives. Sometimes I get emotional not about our kiddo but about how much love we have and support that is given to us. It is so special to feel all of that love surrounding you. So if you are wondering if we feel it, we sure do.

Baby O hopes for more days like today where we are just waiting and seeing. His oxygen levels were lower tonight, so they may go up even more on his oxygen supplement. This may mean that his hole is shrinking or closed. I'm sure his cardiologist will see him tomorrow. He already stopped by both weekend days and he was not working.

Take care all of you readers out there. If we are unable to contact you we send your love right back onto you and your world. Baby O is so strong and we are so hopeful for him. We just miss him and can't wait to bring him home and snuggle him all the time.

-Chelsea

Diaper explosions and Unique!!

That is a smile on my Face and poop on my pants that is not mine.

This is the mess after a major poo explosion. This started with Chelsea saying- Where did all that poop on the blanket come from? After that we followed the path back from the Blanket to the onesie- to the poop on the leg- to the diaper. Nice work.

Unique. That is what they are calling Owen today. Owen has a few things going on with his heart as you all know. His cardiologist states that he has seen all of these things before but has never seen them all together. There has been no case studies done on anyone like Owen with these combinations of things. For this reason Owen's pictures of his heart and history are going to UCSF and UCD for some other opinions from some other MDs. Owen's cardiologist is following him very closely and even came by twice today on his day off to check on Owen. We as parents know he is special, but it is so wonderful to have staff take such good care of him as well. Today has been a status quo day with no major change. Owen is doing good, holding strong. Saturation's have been in the 80's and even at times in the 90's. Breast feeding continues to go well. He makes his own schedule these days he will eat then go to sleep for about 3-4 hours. What a life.

Visitors are so awesome- Auntie Amanda and Josh came to meet O today. Up from Arizona for a wedding and meeting Owen worked out really well. Michelle came and brought enchiladas and other goodies as well. Rudnickis sent their love and prayers and a stuffed dog. Thank you all.

Moose!

Today has been a good day. No major changes in Owen at this time. "Moose" That is the nickname that some of the staff in the NICU have started calling him because of his size. He had to have his oxygen increased last night but has been doing better with keeping his saturation's up today. He sneezes a lot and I am starting to think that he is taking after his grandpa Britton who does the same all the time. I am looking for a garden gnome costume for less than 3 months of age, because he resembles one so much. It is funny to see how grumpy he gets when he wants to eat, he begins to act like wet gremlin if his food is not on time. Breast feeding continues to go well today, Owen and mom are both improving on their skills. Owen always has great nurses and is a major flirt with the ladies, they all love him. There are not as many men down here so I try to give him as much man time as possible. To my work friends out there you all know how I am a magnet for bodily fluids, it has continued into fatherhood. Margaux visited Owen today and hung out with Mom while I went to get nipple cream. Owen gets to meet another one of his aunt's tomorrow.

It has been great to meet all the other parents here that offer a lot of support. We all have a bond here with our children and it's great to just be sitting in the waiting room and be able to talk to the other parents and family that are going through the same thing. The other night Chelsea and I had a rough day and were on our way out to go home for the first time without Owen when another father came up and gave us both a hug and talked to us about staying positive. We did not even know his name but he helped us that day make it past that moment. My heart goes out to all of the other families here that have been in the NICU for months. Some of these little guys and gals were born with a weight of 1 lb 1oz. Can you believe that? The medical care that can be given to these kids are amazing. Nothing else really happened today, we continue to monitor the little guy and do what we can do to support him. I still like to thank everyone because all of your messages makes things easier on us. Thank you you Erika and Jeremy for dinner the other night and Steve and Lynne for the wonderful dinner tonight. It is nice to be able to just come home and eat and not have to cook.
-Chris

Milk Coma!

Today Owen is 6 days old. The time has already gone by quick. Owen has had another good day. There have been some changes in Owen over the last 24hrs. Owen has had to have his oxygen increased to keep up with his PDA closing causing him to have a lower oxygen saturation. To my medical friends out there this is ok. He sats down into the 70s at times but they say as long as he does not show any acidosis he is ok. He has done better with the breast feeding today and continues to have a good time with his mom. With breast feeding you never really know how much they are getting so after the breast he still drinks about another 40-60 mls with every feeding. They had to start Owen on a new medication today called Sildenafil (aka Viagra). No he does not have a male performance problem (he is a Britton) and yes he can have an erection. Some may ask why he is on this- he is on this med because it causes vessels to get bigger (vasodilation) and can decrease pulmonary pressure and for all of you out there that did not know this, they even give it to women. It's kinda fun to tell people that your 6 day old is on viagra and to see their reaction. He will stay on this for awhile until pulmonary pressure decreases or has non wanted side effects. They have found some other things on his echo that I have not talked about yet. Owen has what is called an ASD. This is a hole that is between the right and left atrium that will need to be fixed but not yet. He also has issues with his left pulmonary veins. The pulmonary veins come back from the lungs with oxygenated blood and drain into the heart to be pumped to the body. In Owens case one of these veins drain into subclavian vein. This will have to be fixed with surgery at a later date around six months. Overall cardiology thinks Owen is doing well and will need surgeries in the future but not at this time. As we know things can change but we will keep our fingers crossed. The plan as of now is continue to watch him wait for his sats to come up and the PDA to close all the way. He also was able to have 1 of his IVs removed today. He still has the scalp IV that is super attractive and is a lady stopper but hopefully that will come out soon.

Chelsea and I were able to leave early tonight so we made a date out of and had the great comfort food of In-n-out burger. Nothing like that to remove stress and make you feel ill. We then stopped down by the garden to say hi to the chickens and pick some veggies. Thank you all again for the support and we will keep you posted.

-Chris

Is it weird to want to eat your kid?

J/k about to really wanting to eat him, he is just so cute and edible. Owen has had a good day. Little man is still off all the meds at this time. He has even gotten the ok for some breast feeding which makes him and mom very happy. He still has a low saturation in in the 80s but that's ok for now. Everything that I am use to in the ED tells me to freak out over that, but the team over here is comfortable with that for now. Per cardiology that should improve with time. He has been sleeping more today which is good he had some rough days while on the prostaglandin. We were able to see him sneeze a few times today. He must be taking after his mom in that department because they were louder than a normal person sneezes. He was able to get everyone in his pod laughing at him because they were so loud. The plan as of now is to continue to monitor him and his oxygen levels. We were told that a repeat echocardigram will be done on Friday to see how things are progressing. He is not allowed to go home if the PDA is still open. PDA(the part of the heart that was being kept open by the prostaglandin, this will take longer to close because of being on the med). We will continue our time at Kaiser Roseville NICU. Chelsea is doing good, she has been tired from the delivery, and still not sleeping very well but is healing and recovering very well. I have no problem admitting that she is much stronger than me. No man would ever make it through the birthing process. My hat is off to all women out there, you are all amazing. If it was up to men to have kids, the population of the world would be a lot smaller. With that said hope all is well, thank you all for the continued support, you have no idea what it means to us.

-Chris

Take that prostaglandin!

Baby "O" and mom resting after busy days of testing. We will call this the morning Blog. So far Owen has had a good day. Dr. Rivera, Owens cardiologist has stopped the prostaglandin for the time being and he has been doing well off it but this is still early and things can change. Owen is on oxygen that has been allowing him to keep his saturation in the high 80s and low 90s. Owen has also been allowed to have more food. Owen is up to 40 mls of breast milk every 3 hours now and they are talking about stopping the TPN and Lipids. As you all know that things can change but we like to keep everyone updated and we find this to be the best way. We love getting text, phone calls, FB comments they are great! Please don't be offended if we are not able to get back to you, it is a very busy schedule between driving home now which is awesome to sleep in our own bed but sad to leave little O. We have a tight schedule here as well. We show up at 1100 and stay until about 8:30. They do care and feedings here every 3 hours so we do as much as possible in those times and hold him. With all this time we have to fit in eating, Chelsea has to pump a lot since O likes to eat so much right now and other things pop up during the day.
Just so you all know if you ever have a kid that has to come into the NICU they are great. I know that us ED nurses are awesome, but these NICU nurses are amazing. They show such great care and compassion for Owen as well as us. We have had nothing but great care while being here from L/D to the NICU. Owen is still holding strong at 8lbs and gaining. We will update later if any changes but today has been good so far. Thank you all for everything and keep the little man in your thoughts.
-Chris

Baby Owen

Hello all- This will be my first time blogging. Chelsea has been the main Blogger. So for all of you out there that have seen little Owen with all the medical equipment on him it is because he has been in the NICU. We have known since about week 19 of preg that Owen has a congenital heart defect that is rare. He has what is called Ebstein's Anomaly. EA is a malformation of the Tricuspid valve. The Tricuspid valve is the valve that is between the right atrium and right ventricle. The Tricuspid valve is made of 3 leaflets that all come together when the heart contracts. When the heart contracts in a normal heart that valve will close. In Owens case 2 of the 3 leaflets are lower than the other 1. So if you could imagine if a valve on a pipe does not close all the way it leaks. Owens is not leaking very much at this time on day 4. The right Ventricle of the heart pumps blood to the lungs where they pick up oxygen and carry it to the body. So when the triscuspid valve leaks it does not allow for a great amount of pressure to be pumped to the lungs. Blood as fluid in general will want to take the path of least resistance. So that is the simple version of EA, there is more to it but we won't go that far. Owens major issue at this time is that his pulmonary artery that leaves the right ventricle and goes to the lungs is a little smaller normal. With a smaller PA not as much blood can be sent to the lungs. For this reason Owen has to be kept on a special Medication called Prostaglandin. Prostaglandin will keep a hole in Owens heart open that normally closes when we are born. This helps keep the pressure in Owens heart lower to no cause other problems and allows for blood flow through the heart. Another thing to take into consideration is that newborns have a higher pulmonary pressure in the lungs that makes in harder to to get blood in there. In normal anatomy of a heart this is not a problem. With Owen this will makes things difficult and make him depend on that duct for now. The Plan is as Owens pulmonary pressure lowers he should be able to come off the prostaglandin and the supplemental oxygen will be all he needs for awhile and possibly come off that. There will be no open heart surgery at this time. We have all decided the wait and not do that unless it is needed if we can not get him off the prostaglandin. Everyday is different and we have had good news today. They have cut the prostaglandin drip in half and gave him oxygen and he is doing well. This will continue over the next few days-weeks. We are now able to feed him more and more. Owen has been started on TPN and Lipids. These go through his IV and give him nutrition. The MDs have been concerned that his gut might no be perfusing as well with decreased cardiac output but I think its working fine since everytime we change his diaper there is a big poo in there. They are letting us increase his feedings now from 5mls every 3 hrs to 15mls and we will continue to advance as we go. It's funny to see how fast he eats. They were worried that he might not have a good suck, but this kid sucks down food like no other. yesterday when we fed him for the first time, he drank the breast milk so fast that the nurses and us started laughing. This kid is a little chunk and wants to eat all day if he could and I think mom would let him. That's it for know we will keep you all posted. We are going to try to do this daily so continue to check in. We also would like to thank everyone for their support it has been great and Owen has a lot f people who love him.

More recently!

First plum harvest-tree has about 100plums, hopefully we will be able to get most of them away from the birds!
Chris's cherries he harvested.
Snap/shelling peas. The early and flat ones are good to just eat, the round and more developed ones I shelled and Chris and I enjoyed peas and pasta. Lotsa work for little yield that way.
Row of Kale looking pretty good!
One of the first harvests of lettuce. Note the roots! I didn't know they would keep giving if the roots were left...Chris got the 411 from our friend Tracy. Now we cut them off and wait for more to grow!

Garden and Chickens April-May

Blue is now not welcome into the garden unless on a leash. She enjoys running and rolling and an occasional dig to hide a treasure. She does have another 2.5 acres to run on, so don't feel too bad for that cute face of hers! We got that fenced in this year so that she can't get out. But we will not be watering it to stay green, so she has a limited season of frolicking- as long as it is green the foxtails don't come out.Remember that other green picture where blue was running? This is the same site but with a little Chris TLC. He tilled the area, obtained 2 truckloads of decent garden dirt, and set up soaker. I believe the final measurements are about 30'x60' with rows every 3 feet.
At this point, I am growing and growing so I had to pace myself as bending over just isn't what it used to be! I brought down a load in the wheel-barrel/barrow? and lined those starters up!
I tarped this little patch of dirt last season after picking down 6inches, and layering manure and newspaper and dirt. The only picking this year I will be doing is of veggies! There is some beautiful red and green leaf lettuce Trent and Tracy shared with us, potatoes, kale, and peas in this little bed.
We needed to move the chickens out of the garage-STAT! It was getting pretty crowded in their little cage. Thankfully our barn was just the spot to house these guys. Chris did need to vamp it up a bit to make it raccoon and other critter proof. He used chicken wire and other scraps we had around to make it safe for the growing chicks. They aren't technically free range yet, but they have a huge barn stall, fresh air, and fresh yummy kale, and other garden scraps to enjoy!
Roosting already! At this point we made them very self sufficient compared to their younger weeks. We still aren't sure about what is to come with the kiddo, and may need to be gone for periods of time at the NICU or even in the bay area if he has any surgical intervention. So, we made the minor investment in a self-waterer that hooks up to the hose, as well as a large feeder that needs filling about once weekly. They are pretty much on their own...Until they start laying! We will be needing to gather eggs daily.

An April Day with Lily and Ava

Wynt was hosting a baby shower so I offered to have the older 2 girls come over and stay the night. It was so much fun and I put them to work:). They had a blast scooping up dirt and filling containers and planting. I was having a tired day, and at that point was ~25weeks pregnant.
They couldn't get enough of the chicks. They would disappear for a minute and be in the garage staring at the chicks.
After about 2 hours of getting dirty we came in for a rest. Lily came in and laid on the couch "My back hurts!" I didn't work them that hard...really!! They walked back and forth taking the new seed containers to the greenhouse and I directed the traffic. We then watched princess and the frog, and Aunt Chels went down for a nap! We had breakfast for dinner and the girls cracked the eggs. They slept like little angels in their sleeping bags, and got up early since I had to work. Ava got dressed faster than you could imagine, and Lily wanted to dawdle a little and see the chicks some more. We had a blast and can't wait for them to help gather eggs!

Garden and Chickens March-April

They were pretty cute but grew sooo fast. We needed to get them out of the garage cage much sooner than anticipated. 3 araconas and 3 rhode island red hens sure got crowded in their chateau.Chris built an amazing greenhouse that was unfortunately blown down in a windy storm. Chris's dad was hanging out at our house and while we were gone at work he constructed a much sturdier version. There are doors on both sides, and it was about 6.5 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and 10feet long. Big enough for us to get into some trouble!! The nights were still getting into the 30's-40's so we needed to provide heat for our seeds to germinate. We thought we would be forking it over big time but didn't notice the increase too much, just a few bucks. (Also, the chickens required a heat lamp so that their Ritz was ~80-90degrees. We were thankful that we didn't need to switch to candlelight to power the chickens and greenhouse project.)
I enlisted co-workers, family , and friends to collect plastic containers to start seeds in. Some were started in a sunny windowsill but I got carried away and ran out of room FAST!

Starter peas!
Cilantro in windowsill, before greenhouse was up!

Garden and Chickens Feb-March

Since I am just now getting back to this, we will go back in time a ways....

We really wanted to get chickens last year but with moving in late May we had our hands full...Not that we don't now...but it seemed like the right time to get things going. Chris crafted a mini coop for these critters to grow in. They were housed in the far corner of our garage for what seemed like forever but was only about 5 weeks. We got them from Lee's Feed the week before Easter.The Ritz! Hahaha!
Growing already! The chick stage is really high maintenance. We tried to keep everything as clean as possible-bleaching their water bowl in between fill-ups (they can't seem to be potty trained, so they went everywhere...) I wore gloves whenever handling them to take prego-precautions.
Blue enjoying the future garden site...Stay tuned for what grows next!

Awake and Waiting

Well this has been an interesting week...er 38 weeks! Waking up sweating like crazy isn't one of my favorite things in the world, but what are you going to do? I did the old wet towel trick but also had to resort to ice water and now out of bed. That icky feeling when you wake up warm like that is not so pleasant. We are kind of waiting for a birthday these days. A few changes in my body in preparation for this kid add to the waiting anticipation. We also both seem to be requiring more sleep...Likely due to interrupted night sleep...also possibly due to attempting to bank hours in preparation for what is ahead! These interesting sleep patterns just might lend themselves to blogging. I think I am back:)

Edibles

Peaches or almonds? I am leaning towards almonds at this point. Our peaches are already turning orange and these are still small and green. This tree did not fruit last year.
A plum tree on our property that also did not fruit last year. They are purple and delish now! Chris is the primary picker! The deer also enjoy the ones that fall to the ground. I thought we would have enough to make some plum jelly but we are eating them pretty rapidly...so sweet!
As I was watering a few months back I hit my head on something in this tree. After a bit of deliberation, Wynt and I decided that it was a cherry! (they were green at the time). Some weeks of sun and yep! Sour but large cherries. Chris tends to enjoy them as is, and we have picked at least 5 cups so far. They are pretty firm, but I have had them on the counter to soften for ease of pitting. I pitted 2 cups of cherries from Gramps's cherry tree, and his are smaller and softer- I was able to use a straw. Hopefully I will be able to pit these and freeze for a pie later on!
Our asparagus is slow and steady. We have been able to get a few thicker stalks. My girlfriend Tracy said hers were much thicker...Not sure if it is the soil or our crowns we started with. Chris built this bed from pressure treated wood, lined it with chicken wire, and weed liner, and filled it with lots o dirt. We put the asparagus in the back and russet, blue, and fingerling potatoes in the front. The deer have now been trimming the potato vines for us (Poisonous?!). They are ready to be dug, it is the trick of finding a cooler morning and also the energy to bend over for a period of time:). Another hopeful harvest before Owen comes...Who knows? So these photos are all taken of our edibles up by our house. The garden is another story that deserves it's own posting.