A Dozen

Twelve years.  Count 'em.  That's how many Byron and I have been married.

I won't lie and say it's all been bliss.

He and I are way too spicy.

But I wouldn't trade these years or him in for anything.

 My folks took the baby chicks overnight over the weekend

and Byron and I went out-- no kids, no noise.

It was fabulous.

We had a lovely dinner with some dear friends,

then went to a historic home overlooking the Capitol Building downtown for a night away.

Thanks honey, for all the great times... incredible kids...

 And crazy memories.

P.S.  That is not a beer in my hand!

Her Million Dollar Idea

If you are a regular reader of this blog,

you know the girls have been saving for Disneyland.

And you know that the fire burned up their money making enterprise--

 all the raspberries and blackberries.

They and we are hoping for a comeback crop this summer.

Meanwhile, they are trying to figure out ways to make up for the loss.

Here came Reese with the idea of the century.

Reese:  "Mom, I have the best idea."

Me:  "Okay, I'm ready, give it to me."

Reese:  "You know that game, Beenopolee (Monopoly), we can take all the money from it and put it in the Disneyland Fund.  Then we'll have enough!!!"

Oh, if only it were so easy.

His Turn

 We're at it again.  Breathing treatments galore (which he hates). 

Kean started wheezing a week ago. 

I took him in on Wednesday and the poor boy has pneumonia.

Not the same type as Reese had two weeks ago. 

No fever, just a cough and a horrible wheeze.

His, they think, is a bacterial infection in his lungs.

So we've been to the doctor's office yesterday and the day before.

We were supposed to go in today, but hallelujah... the boy sounds somewhat better today!

So I'm rebelling.  No visits until next week!

Excuse the pun, but I'm sick of doctors!

 Reese is doing everything in her power to keep Kean entertained.

She made a huge mess... oops, I mean a fort.

Lucky for me, other than one day, Kean has felt pretty good considering.

And blessing of all blessings, he's sleeping well at night.

Momma especially appreciates that!

Need I say more?

The hazards of being the only boy with three sisters!

'nuf said.

Grouch-ola for a day

We had a big week for the little guy.  On Wednesday, he had a playdate with Spencer.

Spencer is 6 months older than Kean and has Down Syndrome.

It was fascinating talking with his mother about all they've gone through.... and all the similarities of our lives.

Kim, Spencer's mom, didn't find out they had a Down's baby until after giving birth. 

Sound familiar?

And it was just as initially devastating for them as it was for us.

Of course, knowing what we have now we both wish we could re-wind the clock and erase all that anguish.

Guess it's all just the process of life.

 It was fun to see Spencer doing his "Mowgli" crawl and walk with the aid of furniture. 

I kept hoping Kean would pay attention to his friend's mobility and get some ideas of his own-- but it will come.  And that was what was great about having Spencer and his mom over...

it reconfirmed that it all will come with time.

 I'm hoping the two of them will be friends as they grow up and amaze us.

Yesterday (Thursday), Kean had minor surgery to clear out the gunk in his ears, the mucus in his throat and put tubes in his ears.

We had to be there at 6:45 in the morn.

Kean was the first up and did just fine.

The doc said he had to use a tool to inflate his ear canals so he could get in there.

All D.S. kids have tiny, tiny canals and tubes-- so that wasn't a surprise.

Our boy was grouch-ola all day yesterday-- quite a detour from his normal disposition.

But I'm happy to report he is getting back to his ol' smiling self.



One of our Pied Pipers

Change is not always so fun.

Today, we said goodbye to one of Kean's therapists, his developmental specialist, Melissa.

She's been with us for well over a year-- most of Kean's life.

Melissa and Kean on Melissa's last day

Melissa and her family are moving to the Northern part of the state.

  I'm not sure who will miss her more,

Kean or Reese.

Melissa teaches Reese a new sign language sign each visit (and Reese in

case you did not know, is quite the aficionado when it comes to sign language).

We wish Melissa the best.

On the Kean crawling watch-- we're getting closer.  Twice today he got up on his two hands and scooted backward.  Hey, it's a great start!!!
P.S.  Tonight at bedtime, Reese was trying to tell me how much she loves her baby brother.
She says she loves him more than Holland and Greer.
In fact, she says she loves him as much as Heavenly Father loves him...
"and you know, that's really a lot"!

Back to our version of normal...

Reese Magoo is back to near full velocity.  I swear, antibiotics are miracle drugs! 

Let's just hope we've payed our dues in the flu department.

Kean had only one therapy session this week and it was a doozy.

Maureen worked him hard and said he did his best ever at practicing crawling. 

It will click one of these days.

By the end of the session, he was pretty grouchy.

Just look at what happened, oh about 2 seconds after she picked him up to comfort him.

Don't ya just love that little finger?

P.S.  He is so happy to have her back.  The worst thing for Reese about being sick

was not being able to get near Kean.

The Sick House

Last night marked night three of no sleep for the parents of one little sickie named Reese.

At about 4 a.m. she started crying that it hurt to breathe.

So we dragged her tiny little self into the doctor's this morning.

It's pneumonia.

Yikes.

So glad we caught it now.

The doc says she'll likely get a bit worse before getting better.

Hard to imagine. 

She's one miserable little munchkin.

Tonight, I want you all to know, I'm thankful for modern meds.

Flu Central continues.

Up four more times in the night with Reese.

She's fine except for the aches and a fever near 102.

But give her some medicine and she's back talking non-stop.

And  I mean non-stop!!!

The worst part of being sick for her is having to stay away from Kean.

From the couch she constantly calls out to him to tell him how much she loves him

or misses him.

It's really quite sweet.

Kean by the way, is now 17 months old.

Wow.

His front two teeth are coming in and he looks like a little boy now instead of a baby.

And as of yesterday, he has starting reaching out to me with his arms when he wants me to

pick him up.

It's a milestone I've been waiting for him to meet.

Can't begin to tell you how cute it is.



Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Me, one sleep deprived mum.

I got hit hard with the stomach flu over the weekend.

And now that I'm finally feeling somewhat human again...

Guess who is now down for the count?

Reese.

Here is little Miss Plague asleep on the couch.

That's because she was up all night up chucking.

Ug.

Can't promise when I'll be posting next.

I'm staring at the mountain of stinky laundry.

Kean is happy and smiling though.

Love that.



Full Speed Ahead

I have some good news to report.  At weigh-in today (geez, he sounds like a wrestler),

the Doc said Kean has gained 12 ounces in a little over a month.

He's also grown an inch and a quarter.

So all that shoving food down him and mixing his milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast  is paying off

(which, by the way, looks like I'm feeding my baby chocolate milk-- I've had some interesting

comments)!

On the not so exciting news front, I took Kean to another doctor-- the ENT and the 3 weeks on antibiotics did not do the trick and solve his ear problems. 
On January 20th, he will have a little surgical procedure to clean out the gook in his inner ears

(I'm sure that's exactly the way it is described in medical terms)

and get some tiny, little tubes put into his ears.

A Lotta Love

Reesey adores preschool (except for one little girl who tells her she's not allowed to wear her hair long because that would be copying her)! 

 And this is her favorite friend, a fellow pistol endowed with extra personality-- Annie.

Talk about love, Reese told me last night she loves her baby brother sooooooo much

that she misses him terribly when she's asleep

and she can't wait until he's big enough that they can sleep together

and hug each other all night.

Dressed For Success

Reese came to me the other morning - all dressed and ready for the day.  She told me that this is exactly how she wants to look when she is all grown up.  Except, she doesn't want the straps across her shoes and she wants them to be high heels.  But other than that, this is the look she's going for.

Go figure. 

 Kean, on the other hand, never worries about high heels and strappy sandals. 

 He just happy looking handsome in his "Funny Bones" hoodie

Grandma Klingler sent him for Christmas.

See why the first words out of all the girls mouths (including mine) each morning

are Hello Handsome!

Birthday Fun

My friend Darlene said that once you get over the hill, you start gaining speed.  Boy, isn't that the truth.  It's amazing how fast this year has gone and that (sigh) I'm another year older.  I had an awfully high numbered birthday the other day - - and I must say, Byron and the kids made it pretty painless.

The girls disappeared into their rooms, pooled their piggy bank money and announced to me that they would be taking me out to lunch at Baja Fresh... but I'd have to drive.

 We postponed the big lunch date and instead headed up to the mountains for some playing in the snow.

We got a babysitter for Kean (thanks Riley and Deb)!

The snow was unbelievable.  The scenery spectacular.

The company?  Well, let's just say, we won't be taking Reese snowmobiling again until she's like 30.

She nearly fell asleep in the car on the way up to Smith's Ferry/Cougar Mountain.

When we arrived and while Byron was unloading the sleds, she asked me if I'd make a little bed with the blankets in the snow and if she could take a nap while we went "nomobiling".

Being the mean parents that we are, we didn't leave her napping in the snow and made her ride with us.

There were two 'breaks' from the whining and that was when she actually fell asleep while riding on the snowmobile!  Here she is in the sled.

 We guesstimate there was at least three feet of fresh snow-- it was gorgeous.

 I like this picture because the face warmers cover everyone up so you can't see Reese's very unhappy face.

 I stayed on the trail but Byron went hot dogging through the powder and was completely covered and drenched!

Really, in spite of Miss Grouchy Goose, we had a blast.  On our way back down the trail at the end of the day, we passed a guy covered in powder (he'd clearly gone off trail) and get this, he had only one arm.  I marveled to Byron when we got to the truck... and he sure set me straight.   He said "that's nothing, I've been riding with one hand, Holland hanging on the back of me and holding onto Reese stretched out asleep."  Poor Byron.  We did have fun though.

And he even took me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant with some of my favorite cousins.

Thanks everyone for the many birthday wishes.