keepin' em' alive

The stuff

Earlier this summer Old and I thought it would be fun to take the family camping...so we made a pile of stuff we might need, stood back and were astonished at the amount of stuff a family of four needs to go camping, and sorted again the stuff we NEEDED only. Nonetheless, we stuffed every corner of the car with stuff and piled in and headed South East of Portland to find a nice secluded river spot.

photo op with the boys

Little did we know what was in store for us... The first night we found a great little spot, not near the river as I was worried about Jas being to close to water. So instead we picked a spot with a little ravine near the back that also had a fallen tree blocking access to the road. Safe right? WRONG! As Old and I were setting up the tent, out of the corner of my eye saw Aram standing near the cliff looking down at the ravine. And before I could get to him he took that step and disappeared from sight. He took the fall with grace, rolling up in a little ball tucking his head and tale in like a professional stunt person. I dove down to get to him and noticed he had landed a mere 6 inches from a very big jagged rock. Amidst tears from everyone, we discovered besides being covered in dirt and branches he had survived with just a little scrape on his head. WOW---so resilient!

Awhile later, as he was playing near the fallen tree, he cried out as if in pain. Alarmed, I went over to him to only discover he had three big black ants on his face and I realized that he was being bitten. Man, as if the fall was not enough.  After this, we decided that we would move spots in the morning, as it was already dark.

I can sit here if there is no fire, right?

Besides, trying to keep the little man out of the fire pit, poison oak, and sleepless nights, the rest of the trip was fun. Swimming in a great river pool, hikes, and playing in the woods. But decided that was plenty of camping for us this summer, as neither parent really relaxed and enjoyed our selves much. Sorry there aren't more photos...as we somehow did not get to taking pictures much.

sleepless night does not look pretty in the morning...hehehhe

HFMD...the plague

Many of you know that my husband is kinda a germ-a-phobe since kids came into our lives. He does not mind dirt mind you, as he loves to garden and camp, but health germs like the ones you pick up at the hospital or grocery store gross him out and make his skin crawl. Therefore we have a strict hand washing and no shoes policy in our house, as you can imagine. With this being said I feel like we are always sick. I think it is the germs that Jas brings home mixed with germs little guy picks up from sticking everything in his mouth and cross contaminate with the germs I bring home from school and voila criss cross of every germ/bug circulating in Portland.

Well this most recent bout of plague just about put my husband over the edge. After several miserable days of high fever and sleepless nights, as well a refusal to nurse by little Aram, which we figured was a flu bug, little bumps started showing up on his hands, feet, elbows, chin and thighs...that kinda looked like blisters. After a quick call to nurse advice line, it was confirmed to be a case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. YUCK! It sounds as gross as it is. AND IT IS VERY contagious. uggggh.

Although the nurse reassured me that adults rarely get it, I, of course, came down with the bug. Then it got Jasper (thankfully a milder version). So after several days of laying on the couch feeling horrible, eating a diet of tapioca, pudding, yogurt, grape gatorade, and jello (trying appease a very soar throat) I soon got the blister like dots on my hands and feet and in my mouth. Ughhh. On the bright side, 10 days later (7 of which I did not eat solids) I was fitting into my pre-prego pants.

It was the longest 10 days of my life (well not really... but definitely in the last year the longest 10 days). All four of us had to learn to co-inhabit the same space without really getting on each other's nerves, which we did pretty well considering the temperament of illness in the house. What made it really hard was that it was the two hottest days in Pdx thus far this summer. After about a week Jasper started to just run in circles around the house to burn off steam. One of the evenings we watched through the screened window dad hanging out with our neighbors outside and yearned to join them...all three of us called out hellos with a desire to play and chitchat.

Once I could get off the couch my hubby turned into the hand washing police, but I don't blame him. To be kept up among the sick for that long and not get sick, he must have been doing something right. I guess sleeping on the couch, no kissing/touching (including using different hand towels), and so much hand washing that his knuckles started to peel worked for him.

I would not wish this bug on anyone...it sucked! Check the photo below of one of my fingers at it's worst stage...ewwwww.

what ever you do don't google this disease images...they are way grosser
 than this!
ewwwwww.

Summer Fun pt 1

I had all the intentions of doing a blog once a week this summer to show how much fun we were having...but wow...then summer happened. We were really busy this summer and had lots of fun as the below pictures show.

A visit with grandpa Alaska allowed for some Playmobile Knight playing. These are Young Old's "big boy" toys that he spends hours putting together and setting up for battle and loves, loves, loves when someone will play with him. 

Got to organizing with this new toy storage system...it has helped tremendously corral the continuos assault from the numerous toy piles. Aram also got to help build it and used real tools for the first time, of course under the supervision of his ever wonderful dada.

A trip to Seattle lent for some very fun water table time with cousin Caden. This little nifty toy has been a much needed relief on hot days for sure. Plus water never is boring for any age.

Also got some good gma o-o hang time in...

Picked our hearts content of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries at Sauvie Island Farms and stocked our freezer for yummy berries in the winter. Although the blueberries are always a favorite for the boys, I love the strawberries that are so fragrant. I find that when you are in need of a reminder of Oregon summer during a totally wet winter just open the bag of frozen strawberries and take in a big whiff. YUM!

Braved camping one time and one time only this summer. We decided that luck could run out on keeping our lil' ones alive and camping was testing it a little too much---more on this later.

Went hiking and enjoyed the outdoors. Jasper impressed us by hiking an amazing 2 miles with very little complaining! He is so grown up. Before long he will be calling me from a top Half Dome to tell me he made it to the top of the world.

Enjoyed Bagby Hot Springs as a family. Some might say that the new management was an improvement for cleanliness and safety but I kinda missed the rustic feel of the place from before. Though what really counted was that the water was still nice and hot!








to be continued...

Opinions and Choices

At 13 months Aram got an opinion...well really he learned that he had choices and had some control over those choices. Sigh...he is growing up.

It first showed up when he could not be distracted by giving him a new toy when he wanted a toy that was not baby safe. He would actually cry---full out cry with tears and even sit down in protest sometimes (the first of many to come) ---and say "dissss" "dissss" pointing to what he wanted. I remember this distractibility stage being much longer for Jasper. Even more upsetting was when big brother would take a toy he was playing with...he sometimes now will hit (something he learned from his brother) to show his distaste for sharing/taking concept.  He even will shriek in dislike at his brother ( the beginnings of yelling) and look at me with "help mom" eyes...

He also is very opinionated about his food intake now...he likes to do it himself and sometimes won't let anyone feed him. He will totally refuse what I have made for him sometimes, even though he ate it just fine the day before. We have had to start to hide the fruit until he is done eating the other important items on his chair otherwise he will refuse by batting at the hand that feeds him (thanks Cousin Caden for teaching that one) or closing his mouth shut tight, requesting fruit only.

He is smart too. The other day he went into the kitchen and kept pointing at the stove saying "disss....dissss" and I could not figure out what he wanted...finally I realized that he wanted more pancakes, which is what I had last cooked on the stove. Thankfully I had a few left over and he was happy.

But the item he most  most opinionated about is nursing. We recently switched up the bedtime routine (in preparation of me going back to work and Old having to put him down for naps) to nurse first then read. While we were reading he kept pulling my shirt down saying "nurrrr, nurrr" and doing the sign for more...even though he had drained them...

sigh ....he is growing up...which is probably good since he will need to hold his own in our VERY opinionated house hold.

HE MADE IT!!! part II...more photos

I just had to add these lovely photos from our neighbors and friends...

gettin' down to music

neighbor Elsa grubbin' on monster eyeballs

a present...for me? really?

big brother doing some breakin'

special moments with Aunt T

he comes by that scowl honestly!

too cute for words!!!!

Happy Birthday Cousin Caden

"no...these are my presents cousin Jasper and Lily!"

Caden made it to the first year mark as well...and we went up to seattle celebrate with him. A couple  pictures portrait celebration.

cool kid Caden!

first taste of sugar!!!

Strangers Strangers Everywhere....Whhhhaaaaa!

Luckily we are a long ways off from driving a car!

Right before Aram learned to walk at 12 months he refused to be held by anyone except his mama, which was really cute at first but then it got really old. He even would cry if someone even looked at him or said hi to him through skype...it was crazy. If his dad picked him up he would reach for me or even cry if I would not take him. I kept thinking to myself that this was going to be a very long summer and tired to focus on that fact that the universe had put Aram's need to be in my arms at all times for a reason. For me, as his mama, it was a way to make me slow down for the summer and put the kids needs first---really to put my teacher hat on shelf. Looking back now, I think he also felt this eminent new scary level of independence (walking) around the corner.  It was the tango of learning to breath, slow down, and trust one another again.