Hello Home.

Just as I suspected, the funeral was amazing!

I'm so glad I got to go. 

I have a few pictures I'll try and post from the snowy trip.

The roads were crazy but it was so worthwhile.

Meanwhile, nothing's changed here at home.

Reese was in with Kean this morning and yelled out to us-- all excited:

"Guess what?!?!?  Kean just said the Pledge of Allegiance!"

Yes, a bit of a stretch for a boy who is still just babbling.

I think she's getting caught up in the excitement of his getting close to saying momma

 and even closer to crawling!

She came "dressed" for dinner the other night in this little get-up.

Of course, she announced, "don't I look just beautiful?"

Gotta love this girl!

Road Trip

Kean and I are hitching a ride with my parents down to Wyoming today.

My amazing Aunt Karen won many battles but lost the war with cancer.

Hate that brutal disease!

Byron will play Mr. Mom and Mr. Dad to the girls all week.

I'm betting this funeral will be more inspiring than sad.

Mommies Dearest

Last week, Reese's preschool teacher had all the mom's over for a special brunch.

Miss Amber started the soiree' off with a very sweet story.  She then played a video where

the kids answered questions about what it is they love about their mums.

Pretty sweet stuff.

 Of course, no preschool party would be complete without a few musical numbers.

Please take note of the child who is one foot shorter than all the others?

You'd never know I am 5'11" and Byron is 6'1".

 We then moved to the tables for more sweet stuff-- edible stuff.

 We each decorated giant and very tasty sugar cookies.

 We finished things off with homemade quiche, sticky buns and fresh fruit.

This is my favorite picture.

Kean is in the center of the kids.

They found him pretty entertaining.

P.S.  Kean's doc called and said his blood work came back normal.

PHEW!!!

We still don't know why our little pixie is not growing.

But at least he's healthy.

He is now 18 months old

but the size of a healthy 6 month old.

I just remind myself, I get to enjoy the baby stage much longer than most.

Drum Roll Please...

Guess who has dazzled us with his latest feat?

 After much, much practice, our little McMuffin can finally sip out of a straw.

And now for his next trick...

Stay tuned.

More Chicken Scratches

I guess I didn't scare off enough readers for the Idaho Business Review.

They just published my second column.

Here's a link:

http://idahobusinessreview.com/2011/02/16/heres-an-education-on-education/

Marilyn, JFK and Bandaid Boy

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

It may look like Halloween around these parts but we dressed up for a Valentine's Dinner.

We were supposed to come as a famous couple.  So why not go with a bit of controversy, eh?

 The girls get so into V-day.  Why not... they came home with boxes of candy.

This year, we only had to decorate Holland's Valentine receptacle.  Remember last year,

Grandpa Bodily came to the rescue when Holland had to create a simple machine? 

 Reese had to show off her "Dip and Stick" green tongue.

Her sisters kindly shared some of their school loot.

 And now for a little Kean update.  At his check-up last week with the doctor, he shocked all of us

with the fact he has not gained any weight or grown even a centimeter (they checked him twice)!

If that wasn't enough of a downer, his circumcision has re-attached.  Ug.

So today I went back down to the hospital for a bunch of blood work.

Let's just say it did not go as planned.

The poor lab workers-- there were two of them and they'd finally get a vein (after several pokes) and then the blood flow would just stop.

It took six stabs and then finally they pricked his heel

and squeezed out enough blood to top off the last vial.

His new name is Bandaid Boy.  Poor guy.

 By the end of the session, he was screaming and I was sobbing.

I'm not so good at this medical stuff.

Let's just pray for good test results, okay?

But all was not so bad.  Listen to this.

After the hospital, I stopped off at my pharmacy, Customedica in Eagle

to pick up a prescription for Kean and just take a look at what

Shah, the best pharmacist in the world gave to Reese to share with the family.

A basket full of Valentine's cookies.

I tell ya, that sweet gesture made me feel a lot better.

There is something about living in a small town and something special about

forsaking the big chain pharmacies.

I highly recommend it.



Chicken Scratches or something like that...

Well, I've got one foot back in the journalism business.

More like a pinky toe.

I've started writing for the Idaho Business Review

and my first column finally made its debut.

You can check it out  here:

http://idahobusinessreview.com/2011/02/10/a-tale-of-the-wolf-tracks/

If you leave a comment-- be nice!

We Both Survived

 I have to say the five hour fast leading up to Kean's testing wasn't too horribly painful. 

He was a pretty good trooper.  Of course, it probably helped that I double stuffed him

at breakfast time.

The ABR test was fascinating.  After he was sedated, the doctor hooked all kinds of wires up to his head and ears to map his brain waves. 

The picture above was taken after the procedure was complete.

The getting him sedated process took about 35 minutes...
the actual APR test ran a little over 1 1/2 hours.

 From my layman's understanding, sounds were piped into his ears and then the computer mapped

his brain waves. 

A Respiratory Therapist monitored his vitals throughout and then had to wake him up

to check his pupils and vitals before we could leave.

The waking up part was a bit tricky.

 Kean wanted to keep sawing logs...

He was pretty groggy leaving the hospital but by the time we got to the car

he was just plain starving.

So I sat in the parking lot feeding him a bottle to tide him over until we got home.

Now, I know my news buddies will say I'm burying the lead...

but we did get the test results.

Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

Okay, let's get the bad news out of the way.

He has mild hearing loss in his left ear

and mild to moderate hearing loss in his right.

That means he's not hearing low tones or soft sounds.

Now for the good news:  the doctor thinks it is not a permanent hearing loss.

She thinks his brand new, shiny, silver ear tubes are the cause.

Evidently, this is really quite common with tubes.

And as he grows and grows out of his need for tubes, the hearing will come back.

For now, he is right on the line as far as needing hearing aids.

This doctor said if he were her patient, she'd put him in hearing aids only if he were already in school.

She's sending the results and the report to his ear doctor, his pediatrician and his ear surgeon.

They'll decide.

However, seeing how my dad fiddles and struggles with his hearing aids, I can't begin to fathom how

we'd keep them in Kean's ears and keep up with the batteries.

Perhaps, they have some special designs for little buckaroos.

But I'm betting he goes without for now.

We'll see.

One Down, Two to Go.

Has it really been a week since I posted?

Yikes, what happened?

I guess life.

Kean has three doctor's appointments this week and two therapy sessions.

And I used to think life was busy back in the days when I worked

or let me re-phrase that, back in the days when I got paid for the work I did.

Today, Kean, Reese and I went to see the doctor who put the tubes in Kean's ears a few weeks ago.

I'm happy to report, all is looking good.

His ears are clear and because of that, they are finally seeing some movement with his ear drums.

I told you he was hearing better.

He's a changed little man-- all jibbery jabbery and much more engaged.

The really big test comes tomorrow.

He'll be sedated for 2 hours while they hook little sensors up to his head and test his hearing.

More than the test, I'm dreading the ramp up to the procedure.

He has to fast for 5 HOURS and the test isn't until the afternoon.

TORTURE for baby and for mom.

I'm feeling good about it though...  the test that is.  I just know he's hearing much better.

Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report tomorrow.

Bat Girl and Her Super Sidekick, Kean

This week in preschool Reese is learning about the letter "N".

So why the bat mask, you may ask?

Because N is for Nocturnal... and she can even give you the dictionary definition.

Pretty impressive.

 At school, they read the book Stellaluna about the baby bat who is separated from her momma.

After many adventures, they find each other and they know each other because of their unique smell.

So Miss Amber gave each of the preschoolers a baby food jar with  a pretty hefty smell

 (Reese got vinegar).

The kids had to smell their jars, then leave their jars and go fly all around the house.

Finally, they had to go find their "babies"... by using their sense of smell.

Three of the kids (all girls by the way) found their "babies".

Reese was one of 'em.

No surprise there.  That girl is all about smells.

Every time we go into any bathroom, she has to smell the soap and have me smell the soap.

Trust me, it got rather tedious, but clearly she was training herself for the big bat test.

Now for a little update on Keanut.

Since our stairs are made of Copper and wood, we are improvising and going for a safer

practice area... hence the couch cushions.  Notice Reese in her normal position as Kean's cheerleader!

 We were back at the doctor's yesterday for a checkup on his "walking" pneumonia, which by the way,

we refer to as his "rolling" pneumonia since he's not walking or crawling yet.

He still has a lot of gunk in his lungs and a red throat... so we are still at the breathing treatments.

But he's happier and eating better.  He did lose almost a half pound though (yikes)!

I have to tell you, he is a changed baby since his ear surgery. 

I'm certain he can hear much better.

I walked into his room yesterday to get him up for a nap and without even saying a word,

he turned and looked at me.

That's the first time that's happened and my heart just soared!

He's also babbling and jabbering non-stop.

He goes for his big two hour sedated hearing testing next week.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up... but I think he's going to dazzle us all.