Fantabulous Summer!

I've made a plan for the summer.  We have a bucket list of summer activities to do, some small like feeding ducks and some big like going to the zoo.  We're also penciling in school time for Cash.  He has a workbook that his school gave all the kids, so that everyone retains all they learned in kindergarten.  We have a reading list that we're checking off too.  I can't believe his summer is already a third of the way over.  Here are a few pictures of what we've accomplished so far...

My goal is to take the kids on a "field trip" once a week, aside from the not so fun outings like grocery shopping.  The first week out of school we went to a strawberry patch because I decided to make my own jam.  I've canned other things like apple sauce, cranberry sauce, and squash for baby food, but this was my first time making jam.  I had never tried freezer jam but was told by many that it tastes fresher, requires less sugar, and is easier to make so that's the route I took.  Aside from stemming the strawberries, it was almost unbelievably fast to make.  Of course I don't mind buying jam at the store, this was just something different to involve the kids in.

 By the way, this is Millie's new thing when I want to take her picture.  She waits until I'm just about to push the button and then sticks her tongue out the corner of her mouth.  Both of my kids have oodles of personality.

I had to take my car to Les Schwab one morning.  Since they were going to be working on it for 2-3 hours, and hanging out in their lobby for that long with two kiddos sounded like no fun at all, we walked to the nearest park to have a picnic.  Avery park is a cool park.  It has a big train to play in and a large concrete sculpture most people refer to as the "dinosaur bones".  The kids played pretty hard and we were all worn out by mid afternoon.

 This picture is complete with a sticky watermelon face.

 We signed Cash up for tball for the first time.  He's loving it and so far we've had perfect weather for every practice/game.  Most of the kids started with little to no knowledge of the basic concepts of the game which provided all the parents with great entertainment.  Our coach is pretty laid back and just wants everyone to have fun which is the whole point so it's been a positive experience for everyone.  One hilarious thing that Cash does is when he's fielding one of the bases, he pats EVERY runner from the opposing team on the back and tells them "Good job"  or "Good running".  Making friends and socializing is much more important to him than paying attention to the actual game.  It's pretty cute.

 Cash is a pretty good hitter.  He connects solidly with the ball and can hit it to the out field almost every time.

Cash and I have continued with riding once a month.  It's so sweet to have something special that just the two of us do together, especially since he's at the age when hanging out with girls (even mommy) is NOT cool.  Josh wouldn't be caught dead on a horse so it's my thing with my boy.

Once a year I make the trek to Portland to take the kids to the zoo.  That's really all I can manage because it's a 2 hour drive each way and 4 hours of visiting the animals.  All in all, a very long day.  Cash was super excited to see the lion cubs this time and he was equally thrilled to watch all the construction going on at the new elephant exhibit. 

 The kids and I met my friend Ene and her two boys Daniel and Eli at the zoo.  This is all of them sitting in the giant "Eagle's nest".

 Cash and Daniel checking out the construction and heavy equipment.

There's that tongue again, cute Sissy. :/

May Mash Up

So many things were going on last month.  Our boy turned 6 (sniff), he graduated from Kindergarten (sniff), and we went on his last class field trip to a dairy farm (what ever you do, do NOT sniff).

For Cash's actual birthday we went out to dinner (his choice) and celebrated at home with cupcakes.  I  didn't do two parties this year like years past.  It's just so much work!  Instead we decided to just have a monster truck bowling party with his classmates and call that good.

This is just a cute picture of Millie with her baby doll.  We got it for her birthday along with matching jammies for Millie.  She only just now fits in them.  She was so excited to dress like her baby.

Cash's last field trip with his kindergarten class was to a dairy.  I have to say, I wanted to bring home some of the babies there.  This is why I could never have livestock, where we depended on them for income anyway.  I would name them all, they would all become pets,and they would live long happy lives.  I wanted to steal this one.

Cash's teacher Mrs Mason was such a blessing to him this year.  She showed him so much love and patience.  He thrived under her guidance.  I wish she could just move up to 1st grade with him!

The last day of kindergarten each of the kiddos got an award and Mrs Mason brought them to the front of the class to talk about why each one was special and a blessing.  I cried to hear her talk about my boy.  She appreciates his spunk and loves him for who he is.

Cash's school had a fun field day on the last day of school.  Millie and I spent the day with Cash's class so we could be a part of all the fun.

Cash's graduation from kindergarten was so much fun to watch.  They sang songs and taught us parents a little dance.  Unfortunately our pictures are limited because our battery died about half way through.  We were taking too much video I guess and it drained the battery quickly.  :(

Cash-the Miracle baby

In the fall of 2007, my husband Josh and I found out we were expecting a baby.  Everything was going according to plan.  We were married for almost 2 years when we decided to start trying for a baby and 2 months later I was pregnant.  This was perfect.  I started researching the best stroller to buy, the best car seat to buy, and started searching for the perfect Noah’s Ark theme to put in the baby’s room.  We had a boy name picked out, as I was certain we were having a boy.  His name would be Cash.  Then the exciting day of my 20 week ultrasound came.  I wanted to surprise Josh with the sex of the baby so my mom came to the hospital with me for the appointment.  During the ultra sound the technician was quiet, not offering much information other than to confirm we were having a boy!  I quickly went to buy blue balloons to take to Josh’s work to surprise him.  He was thrilled that he would soon have a little buddy to follow him around.

Our elation was short lived though.  That afternoon I received phone call from our family doctor asking Josh and I to come into his office together that evening.  We knew the news couldn’t be good.  Feeling anxious and scared we walked into the office and listened to the doctor as he read the report in front of him.  Our baby had a thick nuchal fold and a short femur measurement, both signs of a chromosomal abnormality.  He had cysts on his brain and one kidney that was three times the size of a normal kidney.  Lastly, they thought he may also have a cleft lip.  I was sobbing, immediately wondering what I had done to cause this.  Our doctor, Dr Rampton, comforted us and tried to reassure us that nothing was for certain.  He set up a second consult with a high risk doctor in Eugene so we could get more definitive answers.  Josh and I drove home in shock and complete silence. 

For two days we went through the motions of our life but spent countless hours researching chromosomal disorders and we slept very little.  I was grieving and Josh was trying to distance himself from the baby.  He wouldn’t even touch my belly anymore.  When we arrived for our appointment with the specialist they made us meet with a “genetics counselor”.  She had the report from Good Samaritan Hospital and explained that the chance of them disagreeing with that report were slim.  Chances were, they would find even more wrong with the baby since their equipment was more detailed.  She told us that her impression of the report led her to believe that Cash had Edward Syndrome, a chromosomal abnormality also known as Trisomy 18.  Babies with this do not survive.  Most of them are miscarried or sillborn.  The others die shortly after birth.  She then immediately started discussing abortion.  I stopped her, explaining that it wasn’t even an option for me.  I could tell from Josh’s silence though that he wasn’t so sure.  He was scared and whatever his beliefs were up to this point, they were being tested. 

We were ushered into an exam room and the high risk OB specialist came in to perform the ultrasound.  As he examined me, the first thing he told us was that he was confident there weren’t any cysts on the brain.  If they had been there before, they were gone now.  Praise God,  a little sliver of hope.  Cash’s femur and neck were measured and they were within the normal range.  I was clinging to every bit of hope that I could get.  The doctor confirmed that Cash’s left kidney was 3 times the normal size and it was filled with fluid.  There was some sort of blockage.  We would need to monitor it throughout my pregnancy.  Lastly, the doctor tried to get a view of Cash’s lip to see if there was a cleft but the little guy would not take his hands away from his face, no matter how much we poked him.  We joked that he was camera shy like his dad.  Before we left we decided to get and amniocentisis test done to see if there was any chromosomal abnormalities.  I wanted to prepare myself emotionally for whatever lie ahead and this would give us answers.  We wouldn’t have the results back until the 26^th, the day after Christmas. 

The following week was surreal.  I alternated between feeling hopeful and complete grief.  I tried to play hostess for Christmas but often found myself withdrawing from the people around me.  It was like I was watching the world go about it’s business through a sheet of glass.  Life went on as usual for everyone else while we were on pause.  Josh and I couldn’t sleep, we would just lie there holding each other.  We would get up in the middle of the night, unable to endure the fears in our head any longer, and research Edward’s Syndrome online. 

The day after Christmas we paced by the phone all morning.  My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.  When the call came the nurse didn’t waste any time telling me the news.  Our baby did not have Edwards Syndrome, or any other chromosomal abnormality.  All of the tension of the past 10 days broke free and I was balling.  Josh shook with relief, his arms wrapped around me and his legs about to go out from under him.  We would still need to keep an eye on Cash’s kidney with ultrasounds every two weeks.  There was a good chance that the blockage would cause the kidney to become non-functioning by the time Cash was born.  But we figured, there are a lot of people who lead full happy lives with one kidney.  We also would still need to get images of Cash’s mouth to see is there was a cleft lip.  It sounds strange but we felt like we had won the lottery.  A bad kidney and cleft lip?  Is that all?  We can handle that!  We had been facing much worse.

We had many follow up visits with the specialist Dr Katz in Eugene between my 20th and 32nd weeks.  We were finally able to get good news about Cash’s mouth and he had a normal lip and palate.  I’m not sure what caused the original ultrasound technician to think there was a cleft.  At my 30 week appointment Dr Katz said with absolute disbelief that the baby’s kidney was shrinking!  Somehow, and he couldn’t explain it, the blockage was gone and the kidney’s size was much smaller than it had been.  He repeated over and over, “This doesn’t usually happen.”  He had no answer for why it had resolved itself.  Our family doctor, Dr Rampton did have an answer for it though.  “Do you believe in miracles?”, he asked,  “because that is what this is”.  Our boy would not only live but he would be a perfectly healthy baby. 

Cash was born 6 years ago today, May 14^th 2008 and weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces.  It’s taken me 6 years to be able to write about the traumatic ordeal and even now there were many tears shed just to document it all.  When I say I’m blessed that I have Cash, it’s not said flippantly.  Today he is a high spirited, sweet hearted, beautiful kid.  He’s a miracle and a true work of God.  

Spring has sprung!

This past month has been a fun one.  We had a mini spring break at the coast (see previous post) then I got to celebrate my 35th with my best girlfriends.  My oldest friend (she's going to strangle me for that) came up from Rogue River which was so special.  We've been like sisters since 1997 and I miss being able to just drive across town to visit and talk about the everyday little stuff.  Some other friends from Portland and of course Corvallis also joined us (there were 7 of us in total) for dinner and a movie, in which I giggled through like a 15 year old girl.  I regressed in my maturity level for a few hours and we had so much fun. 

I've known each of these girls for over a decade and I couldn't ask for better life-long friends. Ene, Shannon, and Tara. We've seen each other through our single days, through our college years, through different relationships, through different jobs, and even while having families of our own.  Love, love, love them.

This past week I met my friend Mandy and her two daughters in Woodburn for a tulip festival.  We had never been before and it was a much bigger production than I thought.  There were several rides for kids, a playground, food booths (with elephant ears!), and of course the amazing fields of flowers.

 My boy took this picture!

Mini Spring Break

Spring is one of Josh's busiest times so we can't get away for the week like many families can.  Instead we took a mini break (two nights) over in Newport.  Some of our good friends let us use their condo at The Embarcadaro.  We went to the aquarium, played on the beach, visited the lighthouse, and flew a kite.  Sad to say it was my first time flying a kite in all my 35 years (as of today, it's my birthday!)

This picture is terrible because of the sun glare but Millie has a sweet smile so I decided to include it.

 Our kite was pretty big, about 4 feet across, but Josh got it up right away and even gave Cash a turn flying it.

And ending on a sweet note...

Come on Spring!

We've had an extreme winter, for the valley anyway.  I guess I shouldn't be complaining since my dad, who lives in Michigan, has been dealing with subzero temperatures for weeks on end.  We had an entire week of school cancellations in December followed by 1 week of school before Christmas break started.  In February, we had a whopping 15 1/2 inches of snow at our house.  Growing up in Klamath I was used to that much of the white stuff but after living in the valley for almost 13 years it came as a bit of a shock.  School was once again cancelled and the kids and I made the most of it.  Josh even stayed home from work one day!!!  I know, shocker!

 Catching snowflakes on his tongue.

Growing up where I did, I was used to being around horses.  I love them and love riding.  Josh has a fear of them which he attributes to not being around them enough when he was younger.  He wants nothing to do with them.  I don't want the kids growing up with the same fear so I decided to get Cash started early and signed him up for riding lessons.  He was completely undaunted by the huge horse we put him on.  For his first lesson we worked on teaching him how to hold the reigns, how to turn, and commands for stopping and walking.  A few weeks later we went riding again and he learned how to trot, with the instructor holding onto the lead of course.  This last weekend was our 3rd lesson and Cash played Simon says with the instructor while on the horse and they worked on turning while simultaneously giving other commands like going from walk to trot, then stopping, then walking, and so on.