Thanksgiving

At the beginning of this week, I was intending to do a Thanksgiving Day post about my son Adam, giving thanks that he has had no complications since his surgeries for biliary atresia in January. But on  Monday night, as my husband and I sat bleary-eyed in the emergency room at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, we realized that he was having his first complication.

He had registered a low grade fever off and on for the past five days and been exceptionally fussy. Maybe he's teething, I thought. (Isn't that every mother's rationale for unexplainable baby behavior?) Then, on Monday afternoon, I changed his diaper and discovered that his stool was white--an indication that his bile ducts might no longer be working. His doctors suggested taking him to the lab to get some blood work done. And so, instead of running to the grocery store to get eggnog, and allspice, and Thanksgiving Day hors d'oeuvres, we zipped down to the doctor's office and had Adam's blood drawn. It would take a day or more to get the results. I was worried, but David reminded me that there was nothing to be worried about...yet.

When Adam's fever spiked to above 100 degrees that night, I called the advice nurse. After reviewing his file with the doctor on call at Doernbecher, they instructed me to bring him in to the emergency room. "It could be nothing, or it could be really bad. With his history, we don't want to take any chances." 

The blood work we had done earlier was upgraded to "stat." We arrived at Doernbecher and waited in the emergency room for several hours for the blood work to be completed. When the lab delivered the results, the liver numbers were way higher than normal, giving evidence of a possible liver infection. The next step was an ultrasound to see if there was some sort of blockage in Adam's bile ducts. The ultrasound was inconclusive. Meanwhile, Adam's fever began to go down. While the doctors conferred into the wee hours of the night about whether they should admit Adam or send him home, David tried to get our scared and screaming boy to go to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, another doctor or nurse would come in to poke and prod him into resuming his screams.

I sat in the recliner, too exhausted, too uncomfortable, and too anxious to sleep. Were his bile ducts really blocked? Was the surgery that had seemed so successful no longer working?

The doctors decided to put Adam on antibiotics in case his liver was infected. He would spend the night at the hospital and undergo more imaging in the morning to locate the assumed blockage. I drove home at 3am, hoping that my seven-months-pregnant body could get a few hours of sleep. David stayed at the hospital to deal with more doctors and more disruptions to Adam's sleep.

The Psalmist says that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." And so it happened for us. By the time I got back to the hospital at 9am, Adam's fever had disappeared. The white bowel movement proved to be an anomaly. The head GI doctor told us that if there was some sort of sludge blocking his bile duct, it seemed to have gone away. Whatever had sent his liver numbers up in the lab tests was probably just a minor infection. They released us from the hospital at noon that day and we went home to sleep, sleep, sleep.

At the beginning of this week, I was intending to do a Thanksgiving Day post about my son Adam, giving thanks that he has had no complications since his surgeries for biliary atresia in January. At the end of this week, I can finally make my Thanksgiving Day post, and praise God that Adam's adventure at the hospital was short-lived and far less serious than it could have been.

Birthday Boys

True Confessions: This month I decided to challenge myself to meet the same writing word goal per day as all the NaNoWriMo's (to make a total of 50,000 words per month). I am currently at around 14,000 words--which puts me at about 8,000 words behind where I'm supposed to be. Sometimes real life just gets in the way of writing fiction...and I have to remind myself that that's OK. And sometimes, it's even better than OK--it's the way things should be.

The NaNoWriMo website suggests using your "free" weekends to rack up huge word counts of 5000 words a day. For me, the weekends are actually the hardest time to get any writing done. There's always some family activity or outing that's more important. We've spent the last two weekends partying for the twins' first birthday. Their actual birthday was on Saturday, November 5. A few friends and relatives dropped by with gifts and balloons--the balloons were quite a hit.

Adam

Oliver

That night we took the boys out for dinner at Bugatti's, the only semi-nice Oregon City restaurant that seems to be able to stay in business.

On Sunday, after church and after afternoon naps, we headed over to Aunt Amy's so she could take the twins' one year portraits. By the time we got there, there was only about half an hour of sunlight left (thanks to the time change). But the sunset and the twins all cooperated beautifully, and Amy got some lovely shots. I frequently thank my lucky stars that we have such a talented photographer in the family.

Adam on the left, Oliver on the right

Oliver

Adam

This weekend we had the "official" birthday party over at my parents' house. The boys were very eager to open their presents and quite pleased with the cake Aunt Abigail made them.

It's a new day now, and I should be writing. But what am I doing instead? Trying to find a place to store all the new toys, using OxiClean to get chocolate cake out of white shirts, and uploading pictures of all the festivities.

Did I mention that sometimes real life gets in the way of writing fiction? And I have to remind myself that that's OK....

My Two Favorite Crusader Knights

Yesterday was not only All Hallows Eve, but also Reformation Day which commemorates Martin Luther's dramatic publication of the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517. Our church held its annual Reformation Day celebration last night, and attendees decked themselves out in medieval and renaissance garb. It's been several years since I found the time to come up with a costume for myself, but it was the first year I had kids to dress up. Adam and Oliver went as Crusader Knights--I guess I must have the Crusades on the brain, or something....

Snacking on their swords....

Oliver

Adam

Holding onto his "treat bag"

Thanks to Amy for the pictures!

Having My Cake, and Eating It Too

Today my nearly-eleven-month-old twins actually went down for their morning nap without any resistance. Today, after washing up the dishes and throwing in a load of laundry, I actually got to do some writing on my current WIP. And today I have been particularly thankful that I get to do more than one thing with my life.

I get to raise two--soon to be three--little boys, and I get to write novels. I get to discover scrumptious new dinner recipes (Jamie Oliver's bolognese sauce!), and I get to explore the world of publishing. I get to decorate my kitchen, sweep my floors, check my Facebook, and do my grocery shopping--and I get to do historical research. In many ways, it feels like I get to have my cake and eat it too.

And speaking of having cake...

Oliver

Adam

So happy to have these two munchkins crawling underfoot and making it hard to get any writing done!

Black and White and Red All Over

Those of you who visited our home sometime in the last six months will doubtless remember the very "artistic" kitchen we were blessed with. Whoever lived here before us used about eight different colors on the walls, ceiling, and cupboards, and was apparently too ADD to finish distinct sections in one color but moved on to new hues haphazardly. But sometimes, when buying a house, you have to have a vision for what it COULD be.

The last month and a half have been spent transforming our kitchen into one more our style. David has spent many of his days off from work painting three (or four) coats over the walls, ceiling, and cabinets. Here are the "After" pictures of our brand new kitchen.

Next project: the bathroom. Although I think that one is going to have to wait till next summer.

Taming the Wilderness

One of the glorious things about this summer is that for four whole months I don't have to share David with his schoolwork. One of the drawbacks is that for four whole months I do have to share him with his garden. Before we bought our house in January of this year, I never suspected what an avid gardener and landscaper David would turn out to be. Every day he spends an hour--or two, or three, or four--outside taming the wilderness. And although I sometimes begrudge the time he spends out there, I definitely enjoy the beautiful yard he's created. Here are some before and after pictures.

BEFORE: The front yard prior to purchase

AFTER: The front yard now

BEFORE: The left side of the house

AFTER: The left side of the house -- minus the trashy plastic shed

AFTER: Notice our baby boxwood hedge -- it will be 3' tall someday

BEFORE: Right side of the house

AFTER: Right side of the house

AFTER: More right side of the house

Enjoying Our Summer

There's something glorious about having the summer "off." I thought that when I gave up teaching I would no longer have that to look forward to. But with David being in school at George Fox University, I now have his holidays to anticipate, and I think that I've never been so excited about summer break as I have been this year.

During the spring semester David was taking a full class load and working four days a week, which meant that on some days he left the house at 7:30am and didn't get home until 11:30pm. Not the happiest of schedules for him, and definitely not the happiest of schedules for me and the twins. But now that school is out, he has Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off, and gets to stay home the rest of the days until the early afternoon (since he works swing shift). We've been enjoying our summer and the twins, and like everything else in my normal schedule, this blog has been put on the back burner.

Here are some pictures of our summer "off."

Adam experiences Pop Rocks for the first time

Oliver crawls under Adam in the Exersaucer

Uh-oh...Mommy's caught us playing with her shoes AGAIN!

Waiting in line for "Elephant Ears" at the Oregon Zoo

"There's the elephant, Oliver!"

"And here's a wild pig, in case you're interested."

Eating solid food is so much fun!

It's nice to always have a friend to play with!

This summer has been so amazing (well, ok, not the weather, just everything else) that I don't want it to end. I assumed that George Fox, like most semester schools, would be starting up mid-August. But David informed me just this week, that his first day of school is not until August 29. That's two more weeks of summer than I thought we were going to have!