Extreme Makeover

When Chris heard that Paul was coming up, his gears started turning...What to do? What to do? They usually do a house project, hang out, and some relaxing together when he comes up. This time the list was loooooong... Let's just say not a lot of hanging out and relaxing, and yes a lot of house projects tackled! Chris got gravel delivered and filled up pot holes on our road, as our glasses have been falling off our noses every time we drive down it...It was like a washboard. Filled the holes-Check. Chris also had a dump trailer delivered and planned to demo 2 sheds and have that taken to the dump... One shed, the carpet and pads, a burn pile later, and trailer picked up and taken away-check. Tiling our family room, kitchen, fireplaceroom, and hallway- CHECK! WHEW! Owen did pretty good through it all-the first 2 days he was getting used to the interesting noises...
You can lay tile right over linoleum but we decided to get rid of this stuff..ICK!
It didn't come up as easy as we had planned...
Paul laying the first of the tile. He did the majority of laying, and Chris did the majority of the cuts. I helped a little with the scrubbing and cleaning of the mud, as did Janet.
Here is the before picture.
And an in-betwen after. The tile needs an initial scrub to get the grout off, then an additional scrub because the grout is so sandy, and then at least one other mopping. Then a professional cleaner (versus just clean water), and then sealing it. We are on the "at least one other mopping stage" to date.

There will be many more after pictures but so far it is still a little grungy. Chris has started putting baseboards back on, but he was back to work today and tomorrow. I'm in the rug shopping business lately and will post some pics when we get it a little cleaner.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Paul and Janet for all of your help in our home (and life:)) improvements! We couldn't have done this huge project without you. We miss you so much and can't wait to see you again soon. And Paul, next time, NO PROJECTS! We promise!

***Recent blogs made possible by Owen sleeping poorly last night and taking a 2.5hour nap right now!!!! WHOA!****

Christmas in February

This picture was taken during the storm a few weeks back, not the non-storm with all of the crazy winter warnings. Our pasture didn't hold any snow on that second storm. On Janet's most recent visit, she volunteered to watch Owen so Chris and I could go out. We went to Heyday and enjoyed the food and time together. It was our official second date since August. We loved every minute of it. We even stopped at home depot to look at tile on our way home. Owen had fun with Na-na and even got to watch some finding Nemo! Na-na is a pro with the feeding pump- it kinda helps that she is a home health RN!
This visit was extra special because Paul (Paw-Paw) was coming up also!! We were to celebrate Christmas with them and do a little (hahahahaha litle!!) home makeover. Janet and I worked on preparing the meal, and Chris and Paul worked on hunting down sufficient tile to cover 850square feet of house! This required hitting up 3 home depots in 2 counties! They made it home in time to enjoy the turkey, stuffing, and of course the fun. It had been a loooong time since we had seen Paul, since Owen was about 3 months old. Owen has changed so much since then.
Great Aunt Lois and Great Uncle Jim came over to hang out and enjoy Christmas dinner also. Jim shared some of his ancestry stories, and Lois was a great Owen holder and snuggler.

Christmas was worth the wait- Wish we could see Na-na and Paw-Paw more often! (Cousin Mat has given them their grandparent names!)

A Word from UCSF

After our cardiologist told us we would be hearing from UCSF soon I was jumping every time my phone rang. It actually doesn't ring, it quacks, but still. When I heard the quacking, I was a running for it. A week went by, and then a few days, and we were getting impatient. So I shot "the Riv" an email and he responded in minutes, as he usually does.

He explained that his secretary had been out of town and that I should hear from UCSF that day or the next.

An hour later the cath schedule secretary called and gave us a few options for Owen's cath. We decided on 3/18, as Chris is off that weekend. He will be getting a heart cath only at this time, and then at a separate hospitalization, at an unknown date, surgery.

That is all that we know for now. I was grilling the secretary for more information but I am (im)patiently waiting the admission packet...

He is having a growth spurt, 1.5pounds this last month!! We are a little fearful that he has fluid retention, as he usually gains about a pound a month. He is still on his diuretic medicine .6ml once daily, but we have added about 6-8 ounces of fortified breastmilk daily. Hopefully this isn't causing fluid gain. Yesterday he was acting hungry every 2 hours~ although he didn't eat anything by mouth other than a few minutes of breastfeeding~ he tolerated the full feeds well.

7 Months Old

Owen is 7 months today... He is finally making more noises, and has been discovering his voice. I feel his sounds are a little behind others his age, but I don't blame him. The tube can't feel good when you are trying to voice your opinion, ya know? He is a professional sitter, although now and again I will find him rolled over onto his stomach from sitting, like he just wants to see what he can get into on his tummy. He is not crawling but he does a push up and can get onto all fours. He STILL is not sleeping well...Some nights he will sleep for 4 hours then be up every hour on the hour. He has a pretty good alarm clock, on the minute, seriously. Last night was pretty amazing... After 2, count them 2, spews and changes of jammies, swaddle, and bed, he slept pretty much through the night... Probably from 10-6:45 am with a few whines and whimpers. Chris and I are not used to this so I did keep waking up to make sure that he was still elevated in bed. He has a problem scooting down in bed. This wouldn't be an issue, but we are feeding him through the night now and we really don't want him to aspirate. He stayed in place last night! Dad did have a great idea of attaching velcro to the bed as well as his swaddle...That is the next step! Just don't want the swaddle to go over his head..

Ok better go pump, eat, and do laundry...Those spew changes are not light on the laundry load.

UPCOMING BLOGS...

A word from UCSF (not yet but hopefully soon!)

Christmas in February with Paul and Janet

Extreme home makeover Britton style

Girls Trip!!

As previously mentioned, Wynt and Dave's Christmas gift was a night in SF. We went Feb 5-6 and if you can remember, the weather was GORGEOUS! It was in the 70's even in the city! What a perfect weekend for a get away. Wynter picked SF this year just in case we were down there with Owen. (Last year we went to Sausalito).We stopped in Berkeley for lunch at my favorite- Chez Panisse Cafe! It was a spur of the moment speed dial but they got us in an hour later. Wynter ordered lentil soup and a cardoon and potato salad. Court and Mom also shared the soup and a duck leg with butternut squash. I went out on a limb and ordered lamb. It was amazing. I had never had it before but it was so tasty. Of course we ordered dessert. One was a raspberry sorbet and hazelnut ice cream combo, and the other dessert was a apple/ huckleberry tart. MMMMMMMMMMM!

We shopped around some fun stores, crate and barrel outlet, anthropologie, and other fun Berkeley stores. But it was time for momma to pump! I pumped at 6am, 9am, and by the time we left Berkeley it was 3:30...I was uncomfortable to say the least.

Wynter was the chauffeur and I was the navigator. Mom and Court were in the backseat as we made our way over the bridge. As we got closer to the hotel Wynt was having flashbacks...Was this the same place we stayed in on our first girls getaway 4 years ago? She vowed never to stay there again, as it was on a very noisy street corner. It was the same hotel! The hotel itself was very nice, but the location was not peaceful to say the least!

We checked in and I ran for the nearest plug with pump in hand. Whew! There wasn't a fridge so I was prepared to pump and dump for the next 24 hours.

Then we attempted quiet time before dinner to rest and relax. It was practically impossible for us to be quiet... we tend to get giddy, silly, whatever you want to call it, when we are in close quarters. Guess we have a little bit of pre-schooler in us also, you always want to make noise when it's quiet time!

After our attempted quiet time we went down to the free wine hour in the lobby. We brought our glasses back up to a seating area and just lounged. It was pretty foreign to me...Didn't need to run to Owen's aid at the drop of a hat! Just worrying about myself was pretty odd... I had already exceeded my longest time away from Owen by now. (previously it was hospital days, then skiing, and now SF).

Got ready for dinner and went to First Crush. Court secured our reservations online but when we got there they had no record of us... Luckily they could get us in anyways. After another yummy dinner we walked back to the hotel so I could pump yet again. Then back out we went. We did a little looking around at H & M and then back to the hotel. It is so weird to be able to walk to where you need to go. I'm so used to my usual get the mail and eggs walk and that's it!

Snuggled into bed and put on a movie..Something to the extent of 'Life as we knew it'. It was an easy watch. I was falling asleep but needed to stay awake to pump again so I could attempt to sleep as much as possible!! I made it from about 1130-5am straight! Pumped, and went back to sleep from about 6-8:45 WOWOWOWOWOWO! That was unheard of!

We got ready, I pumped again, and then we were off to Rose's Cafe for breakfast. I had been before with my girlfriend Jamie, and Court had been there before since she used to live in the city, but mom and Wynt were in for a treat! My egg sandwich was so darn good, and we all enjoyed some caffination at it's finest. We cruised back to the hotel, packed up, and checked out.

Off to the Mission for a hike and ice cream we went. Wynt and Court both have problems with lactose but they were both willing to sacrifice their well being for some Buy-rite (not sure if that's how it's spelled..) ice cream. The flavors include- ginger, snickerdoodle, earl grey, orange cardamom, lemon, and many more...SO DARN GOOD! It was a splurge after our beautiful uphill hike in Corona Heights.

And then we were off as soon as you could say I left my heart in SF. As you know, my heart is at home! But it sure was great to do something out of the routine with my womens.

Womens at Chez.
Hiking at Corona Heights.
Outside of Rose's cafe- THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER! Court got a spinach and egg dish, Mom ordered polenta with marscapone, Wynt enjoyed french toast with carmelized apples, and I had a egg sandwich with gruyere, kale, and black bean spread with a warm green salad on the side. YUM!
Hanging around.

Special Visit with Grammy

Grammy informed me it had been a while since she had cuddled Owen to herself. Gotta say Owen is kind of like the forbidden fruit, without the negative connotations. I thought of him like this when he was in the hospital because we weren't able to see him all the time, do what we wanted with him, etc. Also, I know my family sees him this way because we really try to keep him out of germs way. This means avoiding most big get togethers, or even small ones for that matter. Even if we do go to events, Owen is rarely passed around. It's just the way things have to be for now.

So, Grammy enjoyed some one on one time with Owen and I. We had rice bowls and did our usual garden walk. The lap around the house was most enjoyable~ the springish weather had painted little hints of color throughout her yard.

Thanks for spoiling us Gram! We love you so much!

Is there an ECHO in here??

Owen was such a good boy for his ECHO. They try to be quick but need to get quite a few images, so it usually takes 30minutes or so. We came prepared with our glowing globe, and the tech put on some claymation video which Owen loved!
Here he is looking up at the video.

I want to write a little bit about a lot of things...In an effort to organize this process I will just add titles to each topic. As you know I have a conversational style of writing, so this may help keep me on track!

TUMMY

Our tummies are better, and Owen is almost all the way back to normal. Poor babes, their guts just aren't meant to handle bugs. That did explain the few nights of wonderful sleep- he just didn't feel good.

SLEEP

Back to random sleeping schedules, but he is napping better! Our previous cat-napper of 20 to 30 minutes 3-4 times per day is now (for now!) a longer napper- about 45minutes to 2 hours 2 to 3 times per day depending on how he slept at night. THAT makes a difference on us, can nap ourselves, try to get ahead, rest, or blog:).

HEART (Roseville)

The ECHO and EKG looked amazing!! Yay! No signs of heart failure, not too much leakage going on in the tricuspid valve. His heart is enlarged, but hasn't continued to grow. Since he has been dehydrated we have been holding his diuretics and our cardiologist recommended continuing this regimen. That means 2 less meds twice a day! So nice, I'm not used to it yet, I feel like I am forgetting something with only 2-3 syringes instead of 5. As far as our cardiologist aka "The Riv" (Dr. Rivera) goes, he isn't concerned about seeing Owen for up to 3 months later. That is shocking to me, although I know we will need to get his sats checked, and our peds MD sees us almost monthly anyway.

HEART (UCSF)

So "The Riv" is sending Owen's images to UCSF for them to paw over and come up with a plan. They have cath conferences on Tuesdays (which we remember well), so they won't get a chance to chat about Owen until next week at the earliest. As you may remember, there are many hands at the drawing board at that facility. It is the benefit of a teaching hospital but also the drawback, as nothing happens quickly unless it is emergent. So we may have a plan in 2 weeks but we may not...

WEIGHT

Owen's weight gain has been halted by his recent illness. That also may have bought us more home time but we still just want those pounds. I have tried not to fret those ounces lost too much, but at least we have had the tube and a scale to assess his hydration status throughout the bug.

COLD

Yes, after the tummy bug resolved, Owen and I got the sniffles. I guess it must have been from the chickens because we haven't left the house... DRAT! It's hard not to be frustrated, as we maintain a pretty good house arrest thing going on these days, but oh well. It just means even more bulb syringe suctioning than normal...And he has a sad cough that makes him mad.

TUBE NOW

Owen had his first tube-less night of sleep last night since...August! Due to increased snot (no other real way to say it!) his stickies on his face lost their stickiness and his tube basically slipped out. If you are wondering, I was no where near Owen when this happened, as I have had many experiences of pulling it out on accident. Since he has been more of an early riser these days, we had just completed his 5th feed for the day so we just called it good and let him have a night without it. His cough/cold also was a deciding factor. He slept pretty well- from 10-4. I'm not complaining! I was in bed from 930-4 (minus helping Chris with the tube/changing after a gag session.)

TUBE FUTURE

"The Riv" does not feel comfortable subjecting Owen to anesthesia to get a gtube before his next cardiac surgery. He will require the feeding tube until at least 8 weeks after cardiac surgery. I think I have answered the question "How long will he need the tube?" at least 100 times. I'm used to it now, it is such a big part of him, our lives/routine, etc, and it is so obvious and people are just concerned. We will be lucky if we can get it off of his face by the time he is 1! I am just thinking that way because at the rate we are going it will be around then...

EATING

Owen has dropped his nighttime breastfeeding session, but still will randomly breastfeed here and there. He is still very random with the bottle, despite our consistency with the nipple, bottle, lighting, chair, etc. Yesterday he didn't take any breastmilk at all by mouth, the other day for Chris he took 2 ounces. Given the fact we are providing him ~35ounces/day he has a ways to go... Foods are also hit or miss. I tried bananas the other day to start to be nicer than just offering him veggies all the time, and he did not enjoy them. Try, try again.

CHRIS

Chris thankfully took sick days last week. We were all sick and recovering and washing laundry and making more laundry and nauseated that it was really hard to function to take care of yourself, let alone a babe. Chris has Owen for the first time for 24hours solo this weekend. He's hoping to snowboard when I get back next week.

CHELS

I'm going to SF with my mom and sisters for our girls getaway as a gift from Wynt and Dave for Christmas. WAHOOOO! So excited! I also have my first day of work on monday since June! I'm starting a new position at Kaiser Point West as an on-call RD. I will be filling in for classes, individual sessions, and home health. It is very short hour which is nice right now, maybe 1 class/session every 2 weeks. Just enough to do my thang and go to the gym too!