Friday, August 31, 2012

Vegas Baby!!! John and Kristen get married!

Last weekend we survived Las Vegas to celebrate cousin John and his sweetheart Kristen tying the knot. This weekend was the finale of a big reunion with my own sisters and myself, but I'll save that for it's own blog post. This one is dedicated to the wonderful event.
It was a beautiful wedding and so very exciting to be in the great crazy city of Vegas, even if only for a short while. Enjoy a few pictures....!!!!
The happy couple, seconds after their "I do's!!!"


The 29.....errrrr.....32 year old cousins, all months apart! So nice to see these guys again.

The young bucks, 25 years....maybe???

Natalie and cousin Emily

Baby Kalea, the cutest flower girl ever takes a snooze

My little date, Talin baby crashes out in the stroller

Good mama friend Amy and her little Brenna, this girl has spunk! Forrest has met his match!

Nat and Brett, the 30 year olds celebrate their last night being 29, (for reals!!!)

Awwww, twins from another mother, (and father...:-)

part of the wedding party, good cousin Sara and crew looking gorgeous!

The sisters and their mama all dressed up.....:-)
Amy and little Brenna enjoying breakfast treats at the great post wedding day Vegas buffet!!!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Fair Time!!!

 
Forrest and I had our very own fair day! My first time to the Humboldt Co. Fair, and Forrest's first time EVER to any such event. We had a blast, stayed for 5 hours, and took part in animal viewing, (dairy cows were showing and we saw Forrest's preschool pig which happened to take 3rd place out of 26!!! Wow!), rides, rides, and more rides....an awesome "flying" dog show, a cool train exhibit, yummy treats, (within reason...mmmm I'll take delish crepes over fried snickers bars anyday!), and the great horse races with lots of stuff in between. We only stayed for one horse race, just enough to get a feel for the action. It was already 430 and well past the usual toddie breakdown "no nap" hour. It looked really fun. I think Alex and I should make an adult afternoon next year!They had great beer and wine and I ended up seeing several friends just in the one short race I saw.
None the less I'd say it was a very successful day at the fair. I'm sure we'll be back every year with our little kiddies.
The Merry Go round was the favorite!
We went twice..."Just like Merry Poppins Mama!!!"

"High Fives on the Kiddie Ferris Wheel!"

Checking out the awards...his favorite, best original Lego sculpture :-)

Trying the airplanes...a bit too fast, lasted 15 seconds but had fun!

Cars were the same story...maybe 30 seconds worth and he was done. No tears, just "I want to get off NOW!"


The BIG Ferris Wheel, a bit scarier!

The BIG Ferris wheel with Mama! A bit scary but we toughed it out. I'm even a softy, made my stomach do flips too!

Walking through the mirror mazes, his other fav.
Showing off his new loot we won, TWO sharks! A happy camper this kid!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Summer Brothers

 Forrest: 3 years, 5 months --------------------------------------------Talin: 15 months

Little boys run abound in this house hold. I am truly surrounded by little baby and older toddie bums, little peee pee's learning how to do their thing in the potty, ( I WISH!!!!!) and little cutie personalities that make my heart melt.

To start with Forrest....oh Forrest. The highs and lows of this kid I tell ya, enough to make you think you're bipolar...or maybe he's bipolar...maybe....or just a "spirited" child. Whatever the cause this kiddo makes us scatch our head, weep tears, and leap for joy, often in the same 24 hours. 2 months ago we were wondering if childcare outside our home was even an option for him, researching child behavioral analyst shadowers to help him through the normal interactions of preschool, and wondering how we were going to afford the mucho $$$$$ this all was going to cost.   Today.....well, not far from that though in the last month Forrest has been doing well at his preschool, (maybe due to a limited schedule...a few more days off from his normal 3 days a week...or just maturity? Gluten free diet??? Who knows???) We have had two or three "no timeout" days which are a rarity in our house for him. Yes, all of them involved putting him in preferred activities to keep him calm and non-agressive. But our super duper daycare/preschool teachers Kyle and Sheila were quick to point out that that is NOT necessarily abnormal in any kiddo's case, and that they often have to do this. So, insert a least a little relaxation from the parental side of things. Forrest is quite amazing actually. Currently infatuated with all things  robotic, (Wall-ee of course,) cars and trucks are also a fav...and fishing!!!! He got to go on his very first ocean salmon fishing trip with his Dad and did GREAT! Despite getting sea sick, was a trooper. He was master junior deck hand, baiting those sardine down riggers like a champ. Not necessairly interested in the big BIG salmon, but the little guys were just fine for him. And, yes, all while puking twice. And I know first hand how crummy sea sickness can make you feel! Poor guy, home he outgrows my soft stomach!----Another major Forrest point. He can swim!!! Well, okay...swim with a life jacket and LOVES wearing it! This is SUCH a major breakthrough with this household, us living by a river and all, water safety just has to be first and foremost. There are kiddos and adults that drown yearly in our river and having a three year old that adamantly refused his lifejacket was a no go! Thanks to Granny and "papa's" visit Forrest is now a life jacket wearer, pool and river. He paddles around like a champ, often relaxing and letting the life jacket due the work, (a learned art, as at first he exhausted himself, not wanting to stop paddling for fear he would sink!!!) It really is so good watching him practice his doggie paddle around the river and pool, jumping in, etc. It's our plan to get him into swimming lessons in the fall and winter, sans lifejacket of course.
And, yes, gluten free diet for Forrest. We're just trying anything at this point to make sure us, as parents, are doing as much as we can. There is a lot of evidence that in certain kiddos, a gluten free diet can dramatically help with behavioral issues. Although I can say we haven't seen a dramatic difference in this regard, his eczema and psoriasis patch on his scalp has been gone for 4 months, roughly the time of the gluten free diet, (for the most part...) Interesting I'd say.......And, still no potty training. All I can say is you can't force an old dog into new tricks. And at 3 years, 5 months, he is officially an old toddie dog. So needless to say, unless it's his idea, it ain't happening. Until further notice. :-(

And now for Talin....my baby he will always be!!! Sweet T bird is 15 months and such a cutie STILL! I just can't get enough of his little snuggles, baby belly, and cuddles. We always remark at how we can't wait till Forrest gets older so we can see the boy he'll be, but with Talin, we just wish he would stay the way he is forever! His little blonde hairs ore coming in slowly, though from a distance, he still is sporting his little baldie head with his hair just blending in!!!His communication is surprisingly good, though we are coming from a first child who's verbal communication is still a work in progress. Talin uses the signs quite well for all done, more, no, and yes. His words seem to come daily with his favorite things such as "nannas" *his absolute fav, he could eat two a day, easy!) "go!!!!!(telling the dogs to go away...) and he is just a cute personality in general hardly ever getting crazy about anything. We have starting to firmly telling him "NO" in cases where he is starting to hit or throw things, (obviously a learned behaviour from his dear brother) and it is actually quite sweet but sad to see his little face often crumple up in tears at "NO!" but it also works! Which is amazing to us parent's of Forrest where "NO, "Stop", and everything else has done nothing in the form of direction or discipline. He is still a pacifier and blankie baby, needing both to sleep. He recently has gotten in the habit of chucking his pacifier's FAR far away at nap time, out of his bed, so we are debating on "pulling the plug" so to speak totally. I don't know, a bit scary. We have never ever done the paci leaches or clips, just not wanting to get the boys too attached and F just dropped his on his own at about 18 months. So time will tell!
Little T baby has just popped his 7th and maybe 8th tooth. Teething causes frequent wakeups at night and a very grumpy baby. I know we have a lot more teeth and then molars to go so we'll see how much sleep we get in this household! He is still always am early riser, liking to wake up between 6 and 645 in the morning, and no later! His eating habits are great at the moment. He was a bit picky, but now is eating everything and takes his whole or 2% milk, depending on what we have, with no problem. He still likes his little Klean Kanteen bottle, but we're working on the sippie cup action at the moment.
Talin's daycare is fabulous, not so much in the curriculum or anything....just in that Dianna has late hours great for my crazy schedule, and she and her other care giver Rhonda are so great with babies. Talin LOVES Rhonda, cries when she leaves, and laughs when she comes in the morning. They are great for babies and younger kids, though maybe not so much for older kiddos as the TV is on a lot. T doesn't give a hoot about TV yet, though if he's anything like F, it will come into play at around 2. I think Talin is great there until he is 2 and then we will start to look around, and probably put him in Forrest's preschool. (I really think that currently although having both boys at two separate places is a scheduling mess somewhat, I believe the brothers get along better on their 3 day weekends together bc. they are not around each other 24/7, sibling love....absence truly does make the heart grow fonder!!!)
Regardless of all the craziness, two boys in diapers, two cutie naked boys running around, two crazy early toddie and late toddie schedules to deal with, these are great years! Tiring yes, maddening at times yes, but great none the less. These boys are really growing up so fast. Before we know if Kindergarten, 5th grade. Jr. High, and, gulp, highschool!!!! Makes these days of naked baby booties, endless dirty diapers and poop, and cute baby cuddles seem short lived.....maybe.....in the thick of it here....;-)

Monday, August 13, 2012

HOT!!!

Good friends the Petersons enjoy the boats!
 It has been HOT up in our neck of the woods, 108 ish to be exact. We have been surviving quite nicely by escaping to our lovely river beach as much as possible! We've been lucky enough to have some friends come and play with us yesterday and we had loads of fun kayaking, BBQing, snorkeling, and all the general fun stuff a great river beach has to offer. It was well worth the multiple trips up and down our river trail hefting the gear and BBQ to be able to enjoy this lovely salmon dinner, riverside!

 This evening the kids woke up from their naps around 5 and we escaped once more as the outside thermometer read 106! With our house having no AC those afternoon hours can get pretty miserable. We had the river to ourselves and took a little trip just 200 meters up river to "discover" a new little beach. The kids loved it, with little Talin baby enjoying the boat ride quite a bit! We had already brought some leftovers to eat for dinner and we all loved the 8pm scenic river fun, myself in the kayak with Forrest and Talin and Alex in the drift boat. We threw rocks at boulders, (as all three year olds love to do!) talked on "phones"(rocks...) as all 15 month olds like to do, and had fun picking out our different pools to call our own.
Yep, beating the heat quite nicely I'd say! Tomorrow I get the beat the 109 forcasted degree day in a different way....WORK :-(  Yep, coming down to reality does seem to happen at the end of every weekend! At least I do get to cool off a bit on the coast where Eureka high temps are forcasted to be 62. just a 45+ degree difference I'll experience over my 45 mile commute. Crazy! Gotta love summer!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

New river adventures...

 Last week we were able to get down to our neighbors beach with Alex to celebrate his birthday, (nice short mellow walk vs. our crazy river trail!) Some of our new neighbors had a paddle board and Matt and I were lucky enough to be able to try it out!
This was so fun. Kind of like walking on water. Here is Matt cruising around with Forrest and our neighbors in the fore ground. Really good river paddle boarders can run rapids and do all sorts of stuff. The calm water cruising is more our speed :-) It was a great afternoon on the river celebrating Alex's 35th year :-)

Saturday, August 4, 2012

The hazards of beer drinking....

Last week we had the unfortunate luck of dealing with a pretty serious eye injury. Now that Alex has recovered a bit, we can joke about it but at the time it was a pretty scary thing. Last Thursday afternoon, I was at work as usual and Alex and Forrest were down at our beach playing. Alex opened a beer,(a Pacifico if you all are interested...) and the beer was under a crazy amount of pressure and the top flew up and hit him in the left eye like a bullet. Within a few moments he lost his vision almost completely in that eye, and was only able to see light and dark, not able to make out shapes, faces, or anything else. He called me wondering what he should do. In my work in the ER I've seen various eye injuries, and along with the non-medical person know fully well that loosing your vision suddenly even from a fluke thing like a beer cap is NEVER good. I told him to go to the ER.
 He made his way up the trail with Forrest and luckily Matt was able to drive him the hour long drive it takes to get into town. During that time I luckily got in touch with the opthamologist on call Dr. Gibb who was waiting for him in the office.
Needless to say Alex has a hyphema, or a bleed in the anterior chamber of the eye. He also had a corneal abrasion which was minor compared to the hyphema. Along with this comes acute glaucoma or increased pressures in the eye so to cut to the chase Alex's perfect 20/15 vision was gone.


Hyphemas can be devastating, or they can heal within months. The danger of them is a secondary hemorrhage or a re-bleed which usually happens in the first week. So it was 3 different eye drop meds for Alex as well as very sedentary activity.
Insert the trouble...! Anyone that knows Alex, especially during the summer, fishing season, etc, knows that sedentary activity and this guy do NOT go together. We tried to play it as an impromptu vacay, feet up, cold drinks, etc. But between the eye pain, bad vision, and worrying about what may happen it was not the best of days...
He persevered though and is now released for activity. No re-bleed happened and even though his vision is still blurry in his left eye, and he will be at risk for glaucoma for the rest of his life, I think we came out of this one pretty good.
Lots of ophthalmologist trips in the future, but we can deal with that!
Now if anyone knows where to pick up a good pair of beer goggles...;-)