Sixteen days of April.

Owen developed a second infection of his PEG site. He is on day seven of ten of amoxicillin - his second round of antibiotics. ALWAYS give your child probiotics when giving them antibiotics. It dramatically reduced Owen's severe vomiting within a day. We all need those beneficial bugs in our belly. His site looks great - better than it has since the surgery and we can tell that he finally feels better.

We, along with Owen's neurologist, decided late last week to halt the prednisone. It was making Owen crazy - really, really irritable - and we suspect that it is what has hindered healing of his tube site and perhaps aided the infection. We've had two really great days and cherish every minute of them. He's on my lap, happy as a clam, as I type this.

Owen is taking all of his nourishment by tube. He will no longer take a bottle. This is very, very frustrating and heart-breaking for me, but I must get past it and work on getting him to take solids by mouth.

Grandpa Marshall and Nai Nai came out for a brief, but busy three day visit. We put them to work prepping materials for the Green Festival. We tried to hire them, but California called them back...

Kelsey helped Herb lay flooring - as you'll see in the photos, they look like they are having WAY too much fun.

Mick, Corey and Naomi came out for a visit while Kelsey was "flooring" at Leslie and Herb's. I was finally able to meet the newest member of our extended friends-family. She's truly adorable.

Janet and I moved almost eight yards of top soil, six yards of bark, and a number of "one-man" rocks and have been weeding, digging, planting, mulching. It is satifying for me to watch things grow. Given our struggles with Owen, it seems to help create a balance. We have new terraces, new veggie beds, a corn and sunflower bed and several barrels for roma tomatoes. The tomato plants arrived late last week from Territorial Seeds and they are in the soil and "green-housed." I WILL have tomatoes this year.

The Green Festival was energizing, amazing and everything we hoped it would be. It was great to see so many of you. Leslie was a power-house in the booth both days, fielding questions about fair trade, sustainability, etc and helping to get people hooked on GFC coffee. Janet packed, hauled boxes, unloaded and helped set-up the booth - she then took care of Owen for two straight days in a hotel four blocks away. We distributed and sold several of the items that Mac and Margery worked so hard to help us prepare. Kristin Quick lent her professional trade show experience during set-up Friday, taking the day off to help. Thank you all...

PHOTOS

Wishing you a warm, sunny and fragrant spring.

S/K/O