October 31

Happy Halloween!

From our house

to your house!

Family Games

Well, it's been a long weekend. Our local elementary school was closed on Friday and Monday due to the tragic death of a first-grade girl who contracted H1N1. The district wanted to stop the spread of the virus. With the two extra days off we were at a loss of what to do -- thank goodness for games! The girls played the Wii, their Nintendo DS, and they discovered a new game -- it's become our new favorite family game --Mancala. We've actually had the game in the house for years but it was lying forgotten in the bottom of our cabinet. Annalise discovered the game at school when she had rainy day recess. She was happy to find out we had the game here. It's such an easy game that she taught Robyn how to play and over the weekend they played many games.

Games can certainly pass the time away. Growing up I remember playing many rounds of Uno and Chinese checkers with my brothers and sisters. When I was younger the game Life was my favorite game. Now I really enjoy playing Scrabble. What is your favorite game?

NICU Reunion

On Saturday Robyn and I went to her hospital's ICN's (Intensive Care Nursery) Reunion. Every couple of years they have this party for all babies who "graduate" from the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit). This is our second time going. The first time we went was just a few months after Robyn was born.

When Robyn was born she was one sick little girl. She had a condition called hydrothorax which was the result of lymphatic fluid leaking and surrounding one of her lungs. Because so much fluid had been found in her chest cavity her left lung was significantly smaller than the right one. The doctors found out this condition at my 20 week ultrasound and as a result I was heavily monitored during the last half of my pregnancy.

Because of the severity of the problem I had to be induced early and in a controlled setting with a high level nursery nearby. Poor Robyn, when she was born, I heard her cry only once and they immediately went to work on her. The first couple of days were touch and go because her lung(s) didn't want to work. To add to the stress of it all I ended up in emergency surgery an hour after she was born. I did not get to see her until later the next day. Poor Jeff was spending his time either in the nursery or with me in my hospital room.

Thank goodness for those great nurses and doctors who took care of her, especially when I was so out of it. The first couple days for Robyn was touch and go. But fortunately for us, due to new drugs she gradually got better. So much better that we were able to bring her home after only three weeks instead of the possible six weeks we were initially told. I was scared to death about bringing home a baby who had been so sick but the nurses assured me that everything will be all right. And you know what -- everything was all right!

Before

She was the biggest baby in the nursery, but one of the sickest. We couldn't hold her until she was two weeks old because of her chest tubes.

After
She's my big girl now. Her rocky start hasn't stopped her yet. The only reminder we have are the scars on her chest from her tubes.

Our first big rain of the season

Yesterday was our first big rain of the season. Much like the first snowfall, people around here were going nuts though as far as I know there was still plenty of milk and bread on the grocery store shelf. LOL So for our first major rainfall we ended up with over 4 inches of rain that included gusty winds, broken tree branches and some power outages. Compare to others, we were lucky. I heard of places further south who got over 10 inches of rain. I was mostly inside yesterday due to my sick little girl. It was cool to watch the storm from inside the house.

This is from the downspout from the side of the house. The water is bubbling up because Jeff was clearing out some of the debris out of the gutter from our redwood tree. It had backed up the gutter so we had a waterfall in front our side window. Not a good thing as water starting to come inside the house. So, Jeff was outside working in the rain.


Our side yard.
There is a drain but the water was coming down so fast we had the beginnings of a pond. Once it stopped raining so hard it did drain, but it had us worried there for a while.

The Writing on the Board

Quick update -- Annalise is going to need glasses. When the teacher moved her to the back of the room she complained about not seeing the board. Well, I know what that means. Today we took her to the eye doctor. Her eyes are going nearsighted but they are not bad enough where she would have to wear glasses all the time. The teacher has since moved her to the second row so now she can see the board. The doctor gave us the choice on whether to get glasses now or later. Annalise didn't want them now so we are waiting. But as I told her, next time there won't be a choice. I got glasses the summer before fourth grade. I was hoping this wouldn't happen until she was older like Jeff or even my brother Robert, but no such luck.

Here's a picture of me in 4th grade. Hopefully her glasses won't be as big.

School project

Last month Annalise had her first big school project. Her assignment was to to re-write "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" so that a second-grader can understand it. The teacher had them basically re-create the book by making both front & back covers, title page, and illustrations. After they were all done they then actually had to read it to a second grader. She worked so hard on it and the teacher said she could tell. I think she did a great job so I thought I would share some of the pages.

front cover

She did much better on the illustrations than I would. My drawings are pretty bad.

back cover -- notice the upc code. The teacher wanted that as well. I found that on the computer under clip art. Can you imagine trying to draw that thing?

Pumpkin Patch

Last week was quiet, but on Friday we were invited to come along on a field trip to one of the local pumpkin patches. We had lots of fun riding in a wagon, eating toasted pumpkin seeds (YUM!) and playing in the hay. You can't tell by the pictures but there were pumpkins there -- trust me. :)

jumping in the hay - she had to do that by herself as I'm allergic to hay

riding a "horse"

striking a pose - why? because it's fun!

goofy fun