Family Reunion

We had a great time on our trip. It always takes me a few days to adjust back to life after we've been gone, especially when we've been to OKC or if Jocelyn's been here. She was here for 3 weeks then we were there for 10 days, so I have had a REALLY hard time adjusting back. Why? Because I get so much help from her that it is hard for Micah and me to adjust back to just plain old me around.

The highlight of the trip was watching Micah play with all of his cousins. Its been a few years since we've got together with the whole extended family. The last time was when Micah was a baby, so this was the first time he was old enough to play with the kids. He really enjoyed it, they had such a great time! There are 2 boys about 18 months younger than Micah and about 18 months older than Joel. So next year they will all be playing together! Micah and Joel don't have any 1st cousins, so Aaron's cousin's kids will have to suffice for now.

The lowlight of the trip was a major anaphalactic reaction at McDonalds. We go to McDonalds because I know what he can have and I know what is safe for him to eat. (For example, he can't eat a thing at Chick-fil-a, and alot of places in OKC slather butter on everything) After he ate he got down and played with his car on the benches next to us. He came over and had hives all over his face. They had spread up to his forehead and were forming on his arm. I gave him some Benedryl and they didn't go away after 10 minutes. I started to get pretty nervous and thought about getting the epi-pen out. He didn't have any trouble breathing and his tongue wasn't swelling. I called his allergist and they said to wait another 10 minutes. After about 10 more minutes the hives had diminished significantly. Talk about scary! What was scary was not knowing exactly what caused the reaction. I think what happened is he had got some ranch dressing from my sandwich on his hand. I saw it and wiped it off immediately, but didn't wash his hands. I don't know if it was the residue or maybe he had got some in his mouth before I noticed. Or, he might have got some cheese or milk residue from the benches when he was playing with his car. It seems like we always have trouble with his food allergy when we are travelling. I was just thinking before the trip that he hadn't had a reaction in a while and maybe he was outgrowing it. Wrong. =(

Joel also developed an ear infection while we were there. One night he screamed from 7pm -1am pretty much non-stop. Even if we held him he didn't stop. We tried every medicine: tylenol, sudafed, benedryl, mylicon, even suppositories. I think he finally passed out from exhaustion. Aaron had to go to the store twice, thank goodness for 24 hour Walgreens!

While we were there we went to the zoo, the omniplex science center, saw Cars, a water spray park, the pool, shopping and relaxation! So it wasn't all bad!

The best $10 we have ever spent.

We bought Micah an alarm clock. Not to get him out of bed, but rather, to keep him in bed. It worked like a charm! We told him he could not get out of bed until it said 7-0-0. He has been getting up at 6:00 or earlier! Too early for us, and too early for him. Yesterday he fell asleep at 10 in the car! This morning he didn't get up until 8:00! Yippee!!

Aaron thinks we should tell him he can get up as long as there is a 7 at the front. Because, what happens when he wakes at 7:15 and hence never sees 7-0-0. I say, he needs the rest, let him stay in bed until 8:00! That's what he did today--he said he stayed in bed until he saw the 0-0.

Spreading the Word

Some friends of ours here are on a waiting list to adopt. I thought I would post their info to spread the word furthur. They are great people and you can read their story here.

We got back from Oklahoma City yesterday. I will post pics and stories in the next few days!

Front Page News!

So Aaron was quoted in the Financial Times of London today. He even made the front page! Unfortunately his name was not attached to the quote. Microsoft released a new Beta of Windows Vista. Demand for download was so high that they couldn't increase their bandwidth anymore for fear of bringing the internet down! He chatted with some tech bloggers about this (see my previous post) and then it got picked up by different news outlets.

From the article:
"It's not that we didn't anticipate this level of interest or demand, but that we are at the threshold of what the internet can bear," reads a posting on the weblog run by the development team [Aaron] behind the software.

The Financial Times story is here.

Toilet troubles

Karen's latest post reminded me of a story that happened before I started blogging. Around January the toilet downstairs was flushing rather slowly, but still working. We never got around to trying to fix it. We had a huge superbowl party because, if you remember, our beloved Hawks were playing this year. Wouldn't you know it, right before everyone shows up, the toilet overflows and makes a huge mess down there. We tried snaking it and Aaron broke our snake.

A plumber came out the next day and tried to snake it. No dice. The lines were clear. He says there is probably something hard stuck in the toilet. Great. I'm thinking that one of the kids must have tried to flush a toy down. The plumber has to take the toilet up and look inside, and guess what is stuck in there? The splash guard from the potty seat. I remember fishing it out of the toilet a few times because it was loose. I guess I missed it one time. A splash guard is the little doo-hicky that attaches to the front of the potty seat so that little boys won't spray everywhere.

I contemplating sending First Years a plumbing bill.

Stehekin, Washington

The photo I posted of Aaron on this birthday was taken on our anniversary trip this year. It reminded me of where we went.

Just about every year we try to get away for our anniversary in February. This year we flew Jocelyn out using ff miles to watch the kiddos. (one perk of Aaron's business trips!) We drove to Lake Chelan which is pretty much in the middle of the state. We then took a 2 hour ferry boat northwest to Stehekin. (Pronounced Ste-he'-kin) It is at the very north end of Lake Chelan and the only access to the place is by ferry or float plane. There are no roads into the "town". Stehekin has water and electricity, but no phone service, tv or radio signal. They now can get internet and tv via satellite. There is a post office that receives mail 2 times a week by ferry. Oh, and the ferry only comes 3 times a week in the winter (when we were there). So you can only leave on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The other days it is a VERY long long walk by mountain trail. The mountains are so steep around there that there aren't even any trails out on the south end. The CCC tried to make a trail from Chelan to Stehekin in the 30's, but gave up because the terrain was too steep.

We had a great time, it is very beautiful there. I highly recommend the trek! It was a little nerve wracking with 2 little ones at home, but Grandma took great care of them. We would love to go back in the summer and rent a cabin with the kids. You can look here for more pictures and info.



View from our room.

Babies Are a Mystery

Wow, I have blogged 3 days in a row! Impressive!

I'm so amazed that Joel is eating table food at 8 months. I didn't think that happened until closer to 12 months. Last night I gave him some green beans (whole) and he ate them right up. Now I know for a fact that if I would have taken those same green beans and pureed them in the food processor he would have refused them. He even ate bites of my asparagus. Same thing has happened with peas. He tolerates baby food peas (even if I make it myself) but eats up the whole peas with no complaint. His favorites so far are squash, sweet potatoes, broccolli, pears and peaches. In case you were wondering.

Oh, and that reminded me. I think I'm allergic to pears. I bit into a piece of Packham pear and it tasted like a chili pepper! I gave it to Aaron to try and he said I was crazy because it tasted great! Shortly thereafter I could feel my chest tightening. This week I tried a Bartlett pear and I could feel my chest tighten and I got congested and started coughing. Sigh...

This is after I figured out that I'm allergic to most hair conditioners. I tried one that is all-natural with no chemicals; i.e. it contains only botanicals. Whoa nelly. My neck and scalp were on fire and itching like you wouldn't believe. Thus it is the plant extracts in the hair products that irritate my allergies not the chemicals. Every hair product has some plant in it. I did find one shampoo I could use, but no conditioner. Then I came across an ad in an allergy magazine (that I receive because of micah's food allergy) for a product called Free and Clear. I tried it out and I was a new woman! I had no idea that the shampoo/conditioners I had been using all these years were the source of irritation! I have always had itching, etc after I shampooed but thought it was due to some other reason.

Aaron is (almost) famous!

So Aaron's new team name at work is called "Community and Blogger Relations". There is a tech blog that he is quoted in. Look under the entry titled Windows Vista: Download vs. DVD.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Aaron's Birthday. He is 32, which makes him older than me for the next 2 months.

I love you!

Fun Times!

I've been trying to post this for 4 days now. Blogger can be frustrating!

Memorial Day: We went down to my aunt and uncle's house for a bbq. That was relaxing and fun. The boys got to splash around in the baby pool. Joel loves the water!



We've been having fun with Grandma being here. Aaron's mom has been here and its been great! We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island on Wednesday. We took the ferry not so much to get to the island, but to take a ferry. 3 year olds, you know. =) We found a fun park on the island too. Its not so much a touristy island, but more residential (from what I can tell). Many people live there and commute by ferry into Seattle. I met a lady on the ferry over that had two kids. She said that when she was pregnant she had to take a ferry over to Seattle to have the baby! Can you imagine? What about at 3am when there are no ferries? Its about a 2 hour drive around. (There is a bridge on the opposite side of the island that connects to the peninsula, but not Seattle).


Thursday we went to the Pacific Science Center. It had been ages since I had been there. They have made alot of changes! It was tons of fun and Micah really had a good time. There was a dinosaur exhibit, butterflies, insects, Toddler toys and the usual science center hands-on exhibits. We also saw an IMAX movie in 3D called Into the Deep. Micah really enjoyed that. It was fun to see him try to reach out and touch the fish.

Ha, Ha

I guess my lack of posts lately has caused ya'll to stop reading. (Yes, my Okie MIL is here right now!) So I guess I'd better get better at posting.

Here's a funny story. All the talk over at Susan's blog made me think of my own birthday coming up in August. I picked my Dad up from the airport last week when he returned from Hawaii. He told me that he sat next to a pregnant woman on the plane. I asked him how pregnant she was, and his reply? "She was about as pregnant as your mom was 32 years ago today."

Thanks, Dad, for rubbing it in.

Then he luckily pointed out that I can start rubbing it in that he will be the big 6-0 this year!

Off to Singapore

Aaron and Micah at the Mariners

Aaron left for Singapore Wednesday afternoon at 3pm. If my calculations are correct, he wasn't due to land in Singapore until noon today (Thursday). But, you know, 18 hours of flying on a plane with no children actually sounds enticing. Nothing to do except read, sleep or watch movies. There is the bad food, however.

Micah and Aaron enjoyed their first Mariner's baseball game together with just the two of them. We have a magnet chart for chores. If he fills up his chart then he gets to do a fun activity. We've gone to the Children's Museum (which has the ever-popular pretend grocery store) and to the zoo. This time his reward was a baseball game. He came home and announced that next he wants to see the football team and then the basketball team. Very sad to explain to him the impossibility of that at the moment.

Garage Sale

For some reason I wrote this last weekend, but never posted it.

The garage sale was today and I made $135. Quite a bit more than I expected. We sold all our big items. I even got a buck for Jodi's broken down umbrella stroller! The best part is that Microsoft matches gifts to charity, so I can double the amount of money. It was rainy this morning so I think that kept some people away. By noon the sun was out and more people came by.

Its strange what people will buy. We sold all of my mom's doiles. Who uses doiles anymore? I was very surprised. The cute Gymboree and Gap jumper dress? Unsold. Someone actually bought my parent's old green shell lamp. Its kind of like a chandelier--the shells hang down. Very 70's . I'm sorry I didn't take a picture. The giant spoon and fork didn't sell, however. (When I say giant, think 5 feet tall) I think we might have a use for those. Just be glad that none of you live near us during the Christmas season--except maybe Erin...hmmm... (insert evil laugh here: brr hhahhh ahhhhaaa)

Blogger is frustrating me!

I've about had it with blogger. Every time I complain about it Aaron tells me to move over to MSN spaces. When he saw I had started a blog on blogspot instead of MSN spaces he told me I was supposed to "support the family" or some such thing. Whenever I use Google instead of MSN search he has fits. Or he used to. Now he just shakes his head. I told him I would use MSN search when I could remember the address. Google is just so much easier to remember then search.msn.com or whatever it is. I think I'm developing the attention span of a 3 year old.

Anyway...this blog may be moving. Why is it that when I try to create a new post sometimes the tool bar comes up and sometimes it doesn't ? Then I saved a post as a draft. I came back to edit it later and it wasn't showing up. ARgh.

We're Back!

We went down to visit my aunt and uncle this past weekend in Danville, California. (East Bay area) Aaron volunteered to work at a trade show so we all went along to visit. It was nice to see them and get some sun. Unfortunately it was sunny here in Seattle as well, so we missed the good weather at home.
The kids did great on the way down. The way back was a different story. Micah didn't take a nap the whole time we were down there. He did okay with that since he's old enough now (3 1/2). Basically he still takes a nap because I force him and I need the break. (Not because he really needs it) But I digress. Joel didn't get good naps either and he definitely needs them. So by the trip home Joel was seriously sleep deprived. Our flight home was at 6:20 pm and Joel was so tired that he just screamed. He is usually such a calm, go-with-the-flow baby. Between no sleep and teething, I guess he had had it! After about 20 minutes he finally fell asleep and slept the whole way home. Fortunately the guy in front of us had two boys at home the same ages as our boys.

Does anyone watch The Office? Can you believe they kissed? I actually yelled at the TV, and I don't do this often. I think it is my new favorite show. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you see reruns this summer.

We're having a garage sale tomorrow. Why do I always thing having a garage sale is a good idea? They are always so much work to make $50. Not worth it. Sigh. I hope I actually make some money. We are raising funds for the 3 Day Walk, so maybe people will feel sorry for us and buy stuff. Oh and did I mention its forcast to rain tomorrow as well?

So, I want to take an informal poll. Aaron's trying to convince me to cash in frequent flyer miles and get a ticket to join him in Singapore next week. Since my mother-in-law is here, she would watch the kids. Its about a 20 hour trip, EACH WAY. That doesn't include the time change. I just can't see leaving the kids for so long and being so far away. What do you think?

Happy Mother's Day

Today I decided to focus on what I have instead of what I don't have.

I am thankful for my mother-in-law, Jocelyn. My Mom told me several times how lucky I was to have her. In fact just a few weeks before she died she told me that Jocelyn treated me like her own daughter. It was as if my Mom was assuring herself I was "taken care of". Since the day we married, Jocelyn has always treated me as her own daughter, and for that, I am thankful. (My FIL has always done that too, but that is a different holiday =) )

I also love how she interacts with my kids. She is a wonderful Grandma. When someone shows unconditional love to my kids, it makes me feel loved too. True love of a Grandma: setting up the "store" and playing shopping with Micah ad nauseum. She doesn't mind getting on the floor and playing with Micah and Joel.

She is a woman of God. Jocelyn teaches Precepts at her church. She introduced me to Precepts and I have deeply appreciated the class. I know that if she has an opinion about scriptures, she has studied the matter thoroughly. She doesn't talk off the top of her head. I value her wisdom and insight.

When she comes to visit, she cooks, does laundry, and has even cleaned the bathroom! It feels like a vacation when she comes to visit! Its great! Most importantly she entertains Micah at 6 am when he wakes up.

The best part is she is coming to visit next week! Yippee!

Happy Mother's Day, and I love you Jocelyn!!

I Got Nothing

Nothing going around here that you'd want to hear about. Sigh. Nothing but poop stories and I will save you from those. The life of a mother with babies. I feel like my life is nothing but dishes, diapers, baby food, laundry, Dora and leap pads.
And then there is Mother's Day coming up. Not looking forward to that.

God at Work

What a blessing it is when God allows you to be a blessing to someone else. Yesterday I was walking to the park with the kids. I was going to do an extra loop around the lake to get in more mileage, but kids and reality stepped in. So we were taking the direct route to the park. Now I know why. This allowed me to meet Nancy.

She was walking towards me and she had on a Breast Cancer 3 Day t-shirt on. I stopped her and asked her if she was participating this year and shared with her that I was as well. Turns out she lives close by and we exchanged numbers so we could train together! She shared she was having a bad day and I told her I was too (with Mother's Day coming up).

We walked together today and she told me that right before she met me she had told God that she wanted a sign that everything would be all right. Then she met me, and then she got a phone call resolving her problem. Wow!

Its always great to meet new friends and to see God at work!

Training update-- 60 miles or bust!

Just wanted to update everyone on training progress. (and to take a break from poop stories)

Last Saturday I walked 9.6 miles. It didn't seem too bad at the time. The next day my back ached because I hadn't stretched enough. I was also starting to get blisters on part of my foot. I think its time for new shoes... or at least some duct tape.

Did you know duct tape works better than mole skin for blisters? Add this to your list of uses for duct tape (besides holding cars together, Jodi). When we went snow shoeing this winter, I got some blisters because of the snow shoes pulling on my boots. Fortunately the park ranger was out at the hut and she doctored me up. She put duct tape on my foot and said that it works much better. She said all you need in your first aid kit is some bandages and duct tape!

So this week I've been much better about getting in at least 2-3 miles a day. Micah's usually good for one mile in the stroller maybe two if I'm lucky. Thank goodness the park is a mile away so we can walk there and back!

Oh and I finally got around to printing out the training schedule. (Does that count for something?)

I'm pretty slow these days...

This morning I had a discovery. Micah loves Finding Nemo. He's watched the movie several times and he just got a DVD that has it in a "read aloud" book format. A guy reads the story and it turns the pages. Needless to say he's been listening to it non stop. In the fish tank at the dentist's office, the "volcano" is called Aywannahackalugi. I just figured out today that its a play on words I want to hack a lugi. (no idea of the correct spelling) Geez I'm slow.