The Kid Life

It was a nice, sunny day and the kids decided to play out back with one of Jonathan's new toys...a Hot Wheels Car Wash stand. It was a huge hit with the locals. They were lined up bumper to bumper (by the kids) for their chance to get the best wash in town.

The next picture is at Jonathan's class party at Skate City. He is with his buddy Cade in the picture. The last few weeks Jonathan has insisted on wearing shorts to school, regardless of the weather, because he doesn't like the look of jeans. We were able to convince him to wear jeans roller skating though. His friend Cade was getting really worried about Jonathan wearing shorts and thought it was because we didn't have enough money to buy him warm clothes. Ha!

Here's a sign that Julia is growing up. This weekend, after the neighborhood garage sale, she decided that she wanted to sell all of her American Girl clothes and equipment. She netted a little over $400 from selling all of her stuff. Ridiculous. With half of the money she was able to buy the digital camera, case, and strap that she had been eying in the store and online. She was so excited to get it.  I hope she continues to learn how to use it and gets into photography.  That seems like something she would enjoy.

World's Best Cat

When the weather gets cold the lap cat shows up. So, if it's not summer and night time and I'm watching something on television or reading, this is pretty much the scene. Freckles sleeps on me while we're on the couch, but she switches to Stacey at night in bed. We call her the heat mooch!

Labor Day Balloon Glow

This year we made it down to Memorial Park for our first balloon glow. The kids are finally at the age where we can keep them up late (after sunset, plus driving time) and not pay for it the next day. They have been to the balloon launch first thing in morning a couple of times, so this was a fun change to see them all lit up at night.

2017 North American Eclipse

First Day of School

For the record: Julia with Victoria and Mary. Jonathan with Mrs. Miller and Addison.

Happy 5th Birthday Freckles

She was treated to a can of Fancy Feast (Salmon and Chicken flavor) and a 3-pack of catnip (it's legal here).  I also included a picture of her mooching the heat from my work computer's fan and Julia dressing her up as Aunt Je Meow Meow before she cooked us dinner.

Meet Your Teacher 2017

The kids both got the teachers they wanted for this school year!  

Julia has Ms. Mendenhall for fourth grade, which is the same teacher she had in second grade.  She was really hoping to have her again. At Chinook the fourth graders are all in portables behind the school, but Julia loves it.  She says it's much more quiet out there.  Between her teacher, the portable, her classmates, and her new iPad, she keeps saying how much she loves school and how fun it is.

Jonathan's teacher is Mrs. Miller for first grade. This is the same teacher Julia had for kindergarten.  Everyone loves Mrs. Miller.  Jonathan has been doing really well so far this year, considering it's the first time he's been at school all day.  He's been eating well enough at snack times and at lunch.  Considering his special status with his recently removed g-tube, Jonathan is allowed to ask and have an extra snack whenever he wants to.  I think because he's more of an extrovert, going all day hasn't been much of a problem for him.

Check out the pictures below of the kids in their new classrooms. Jonathan's classroom is on the top and Julia's classroom is on the bottom. What a bunch of characters.

The End of a Long Journey

Today was the day that we have been waiting for since April 2011.  Jonathan's g-tube was finally removed!  Jonathan has essentially had the g-tube his entire life, getting all or most of his nutritional needs via it for the first couple years of his life. Only in the last couple of years (he's seven now) has he really started to eat enough to consider taking it out.

In order to take it out he needed to eat enough on his own without ANY tube usage for three months or more and also stay to on his growth curve. He did just that.  At the beginning of the process he didn't want to have anything to do with food. But now, since he's older, he decided that he wanted to get it out before he started first grade. It's interesting how a little maturity changes our ability to reason with him and for him to decide on his own it was coming out. On top of the hassle and occasional pain, I think for him it was mostly the social pressure that made him want to get it out. He wanted to wear a shirt while swimming up to this point, and now with it out he has no problem taking off his shirt when wrestling with Kensei, his neighborhood friend.

I won't rehash the years of having to using the feeding pump, bags, and back pack or the countless syringe feedings and food logs.  That's in the past now and he's on his way to being just like everyone else.  A couple of years ago I had changed out his tube to a new one at home, so he wanted me to be the one to take it out at the doctor's office. I had the easy part - Stacey had the hard part for years. After a weigh in and chat with Dr. Waasdorp, we laid him on the table, deflated the balloon, and out I pulled it.

Later that night we took him to dinner to celebrate.  His choice. He wanted to go to P.F. Chang's, which was interesting, because we've never gone there as a family before. We've been there once or twice with Grandpa and Grandma, and they've taking the kids there, so maybe that's why it seemed like a natural choice as a special place to celebrate. The kids ate well and even got ice cream for dessert (pictured below).  I didn't notice this until now...not even when we were there...but check out the blue neon sign behind the kids!  It's a sign. No, really, I mean IT'S A SIGN that this really was a special day!

We cleaned up the g-tube and are saving it for Jonathan's "scrapbook". That probably seems a little weird to people that haven't been dealing with something like this, but for us it's always going to be a part of Jonathan's growing up.  Now that he's a big first grader he's got the rest of his life ahead of him without it.  We love you Jonathan! Way to go Buddy!

Hamster Dance

On our way back from the trip to Spokane we found out that our two hamsters had turned into five. Apparently, you shouldn't feed these guys after midnight.  We were all very surprised at this after having two female hamsters for several months. Apparently, one of them was playing a trick on us.

The funny thing was, when Jonathan got "Silver" from the pet store he insisted that he was a boy and Julia insisted that "Valentine" was a girl. They were actually right. I separated Silver and Valentine as soon as we got home.

After a week or two the babies were weaned and it was time to give them away to someone. We didn't want to keep more or else we'd end up with another litter of pups or perhaps two girls or boys that didn't get along. A family on our street ended up taking two pups and one of their friends took the third.

However, we just found out that even though I separated the adults we have 6 more pups.  The gestation cycle is only 14 days, so I think Valentine got pregnant with another round before I separated them!  A picture of the next litter is at right. The pet store will take them back, but we will try to find more homes for them.  When they are weaned and have fur they are pretty cute.

Overnight Sleep Study

Julia and Stacey spent the night up in Denver tonight so Julia could complete a sleep study. The nurses monitored her breathing and movement overnight for signs of sleep related issues. The good news is that the results came back normal. So, the best we can figure out is that her apparent tiredness is either diet or personality related (introvert, etc.). We'll keep monitoring things and see what we can find out in the coming months.