Spring!!

The crazy cold winter followed by a super rainy February and March has made this one of the best bluebonnet seasons in a long time. We decided (this is the "royal we" here) for family home evening to scrounge up some semi-matching clothes and head for the great outdoors to take bluebonnet pictures.

I could just look at this face, and look, and look. I need to make a life-sized version and hold it up in front of me when he is telling me "It's going to take forever! It's taking forever! Why are you taking forever? You took forever!" or when he is getting his ninja on, or several hundred other moments during the day to remind me that this little boy is in there. . . somewhere.



Ditto on these smiling, happy, friendly looking kids


Ahhh, brotherly love. Look! You can barely see a scar, and you probably wouldn't have even noticed, but I just pointed it out.






She's touching my hair! She's pulling on me! She's making me hot!
We finally went for the "together but apart" look.




The kids know how to take a picture without cutting off heads.


If you zoom in here, you can actually see his awesome tongue condition. It's real, and it's called "geographic tongue."


"Family Picture"


The family that selfies together stays together!


Happy Spring!

Wait, that's not a halloween plastic spider ring.

Yes,

that spider

was huge!

I escorted it out the front door with a broom, and I felt creepy crawly for the rest of the day, and every time I look at these pictures!

More summer fun

When my husband let me know that he wasn't planning on taking a lot of time off this summer because of how busy he is at work, the conversation went basically like this. Me: "What about doing ___?" Jack: "Whatever you want." Me: "How about ____?" Jack: "Whatever you want." Me: "And what about ______?" Jack: "Whatever you want." Me: "So basically I'm on my own for summer fun?" Jack: "Yep."

So then I decided to take the kids to visit my brother in Houston for a couple of days during the week by myself. We had so much fun!! Thanks, Uncle David and Aunt Chelsea.

All of the kids had some breakthrough swimming moments. Ellen and Jack got really good at swimming under water. Rose got really good at getting in the water without screaming and crying and clinging to me. She figured out the noodle and worked on kicking and paddling solo. Elijah got really close to jumping in to me. Mostly he just leaned over until I pulled him in and caught him.


Ellen was a very willing beauty shop client.

They "cut" and "curled" relentlessly.


We ate popsicles.


We ate more popsicles.


We attempted cousin pictures.


And more pictures.


Aunt Chelsea knows how to French braid!


We ate popsicles and jumped on the trampoline.


Air shots are the best.


Jumping with cousins is the best.


Jumping with cousins


and getting air shots is the best.


Elijah took some time warming up to the idea.


But finally decided maybe the trampoline wasn't so scary, as long as Mom was there, and he got to bounce and run all by himself. No cousins. No air shots. No problem.


On our way out of town we went to eat lunch, say goodbye, and try for one final group shot. Apparently we were all funned and pictured out.

Actually, Ellen and Jack were mad that we were going home and would have happily stayed another week.

Thanks for having us!!

More family photos!

My friend took some pictures for us after church while the bluebonnets were in bloom.

I can't decide which one I like best.

I want to get some printed, because I have no family pictures displayed in our home.

Which one do you like best?

Let me know.

Gathering Blue

We recently took Elijah to a check up with his cardiologist. Since it involves a trip to Dallas, Jack took the day off and we made a little day trip of it with the kids.

We took a little detour through bluebonnet country.

Miles and miles of blue.

We're at the end of bluebonnet season, so it was our last chance to get a picture with the kids and bluebonnets. It's a Texas tradition.

Bluebonnets are members of the lupine family of flowers, so there are similar varieties in Idaho and other areas, but the bluebonnet is a Texas native. I guess you could take seeds and plant them anywhere, but I love seeing them growing wild all along the roadside and in fields in the spring. Tomie dePaola wrote lovely children's books called The Legend of the Bluebonnet and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. The latter is about a striking reddish orange wildflower also in bloom. I recently read both with my children.

Seeing all the blue also reminds me of Lois Lowry's books, The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger. My kids are a little young for those, but someday we'll read them, too.

Elijah appointment went so much better than I expected. Our last visit was torture, so this time I came prepared with snacks, treats, and other distractions. He cried when I set him on the scale (just under 20 pounds), but when the nurse started sticking stickers all over his chest for the EEG, I pulled out a package of smarties and gave him one whenever he started to get upset.

The tech that did the echocardiogram let me sit on the bed and hold him while she worked, and as long as he had a steady supply of goldfish, raisins, and smarties, he tolerated the procedure and watched Baby Einstein. Dr. Laird said they got great pictures of his heart, and that he looks as good as he possibly can for a baby in his condition (post-Norwood and Glenn, pre-Fontan). We'll see her about every four months until he's big enough or sick enough for the Fontan, whichever comes first. Hopefully that will be the summer before his 4th birthday.

Big boy gets to officially start nursery this week. He's checked it out before, and I think it's safe to say that he's excited to be where the action is. Sunday School and RS/Priesthood are way too boring.

Happy Spring!

Wildflowers

I saw these wildflowers by the side of the road and decided to pick a few and take them home with me.

These two are especially cute.

As is this little doll.

Whose bright eyes are those?

That's not a wildflower, that's a real boy!

This little boy is 5.5 months old and had his third, and hopefully final, swallow study yesterday. He can swallow like a rock star and had no problems with the thinnest consistency of barium. So I no longer have to thicken his milk. He's not so enthusiastic about the idea of getting milk from anywhere but a bottle, though. He's been working on that bottle for four months, and it's the only thing he knows. We'll keep trying, but early indicators show more pumping for the present, not only because of Elijah's current preference, but also because...

Elijah is scheduled for a heart cath this coming Wednesday in preparation for his second open-heart surgery Thursday. Technically, the final decision about the surgery depends on what the heart cath results are, but essentially, the Thursday surgery is scheduled and expected by all parties involved to go forward as planned.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Ellen, Jack Jack, and Rose, who will be spending individual time with their favorite different cousins instead of banding together.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Elijah and his strong little body and spirit.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Elijah's doctors and nurses to be inspired and guided in taking care of him before, during, and after the heart cath and surgery.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our wonderful family and friends who are helping us with all the details, especially the major undertaking of caring for our other children for a week.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and love.

I miss the bluebonnets

As far as I can tell, Lubbock doesn't have many wildflowers. I really miss the spring bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and daisies all along the highways and fields of central Texas.

We have lots of wind, though. And cotton.