Ooooooo, baby.

I am so excited.

Janet and I (and Owen) had a chance to take a look at the Burley D'Lite in person yesterday at REI. I have spent the last few months reading up on double bike trailers. The D'Lite also converts to a pull-behind with skis for our annual Methow Valley x/c ski trips and has consistently received excellent reviews from parents, including a few who have kids with CP. One such parent said, ""I recommend this product to anyone in the market for a trailer. I use this for trailing, walks, zoos, parks, jogging. I am a stay at home mother that has a child with cerebral palsy that cannot do anything independently (including sitting). I wanted her to experience bike riding and needed a safe, secure, and comfortable ride for my daughter. This is the ONLY product on the market that I would put her in."

I am NOT being paid by Burley to post this - I swear. It's just that we LOVE to bike, love to travel, Owen loves to ride/move and this trailer will get all of us out of the house. It's a double-seater and holds two kiddos for a total of up to 100 pounds. We hope to get this sometime this winter and will retrofit it with the "Baby Snuggler" padded harness/slings for both kids. This kit is used for smaller tikes who have less head/truck control and will really help to secure both babes in their seats.

We've looked into trails (some of them nice, flat railroads that have had the tracks pulled up and converted into bike trails) across BC, on Vancouver Island, in the San Juan Islands, in California and here in WA State. So many possibilities! Owen (and his brother) will be able to hear the birds, smell the fresh air and see the beautiful sights as we all cruise along on our wheels. Now we just need to get our road/mountain bikes down, dusted off and tuned up.

Owen has really been enjoying his Ergo Carrier the last three weeks - so much so that sometimes this is THE ONLY place he wants to be. And I love it. After so many months of seizures, sleeplessness and fussiness, it is lovely to be able to take him into a public place like REI (where we were for two hours yesterday) and have him calmly experience the sights and sounds. He even managed to fit in a nap while we were there. I have joked that I am going to keep him skinny just so I can continue to carry him around and keep him close to me.


We met up with my mother's cousin and her family (Mary, Tim, Madison and Sarah) at the Puyallup Fair a couple of weeks ago. My mother grew up raising livestock for 4H and all of us, having grown up in Iowa, enjoyed experiencing the quintessential summer reminder of our roots. Owen's favorite, hands-down, was the cow barn. He immediately went quiet and got wide-eyed when we entered. The beautiful, mocha-colored Jersey cow that we stopped next to was nice enough to let out a timely, long, sweet "moooooo." Owen loved it! I know the smell was also new and wonderfully intense for him - the warm hay mixed with a bit of cow funk... I wanted to include the strip from the black and white photo booth that he and I got cozy in at the fair. Me and my sweetie... well, one of my sweeties. I have a few of these strips of Kelsey and I to document the booths we've cozied up together in, in our almost 19 years of couplehood...

I've also promised some that I would post ultrasound photos, so here they are. The ultrasound was on September 11th, so a full three weeks ago. My pooch continues to grow, and Owen's little brother continues to kick. No more of the barely noticeable, gentle movements. These are now the unmistakable bumps and kicks of a frolicking, growing baby within my belly.

Gains and Losses.

I had a great birthday week, gaining a year on paper on Thursday. At thirty-six, I am now closer to forty than thirty yet still feel somewhat closer to, say, twenty-eight. Kelsey surprised me with a stay at the Chevy Chase Beach Cabins on Discovery Bay (outside of Port Townsend) last weekend. We've decided to make this stay an annual family ritual. Cabin #4, the grounds, the staff and owners and the views were delightful. I had two birthday lunch dates early in the week, a combo birthday dinner on Wednesday night and a full day of fun in the city with my hubby on Thursday. If you live in Seattle, or are visiting and want a selection of seasonal foods, woven into dishes that will truly awaken your palate, you must check out Restaurant Zoe. Seriously yum. I don't think I've ever celebrated my birthday seven days in a row, but hey, who's complaining? Last year on my birthday, we received the welcomed news that we'd be able to take Owen home the next day after a LONG, 12 day stay at Tacoma General. We spent my birthday packing up our guest room at the hospital and preparing to take Owen home. Stark difference.





We had to put our cat, Mo, down on Sunday after 14 1/2 years. It was terribly hard to say goodbye after having to do so to her good friend, Siva, just a couple of months prior. Mo had late stage kidney failure and had dwindled to a mere seven pounds.

Owen is on a new seizure med, Keppra, and so far, it is working very well in conjunction with the Vigabatrin. He is sleeping great, smiling all the time and seems quite peaceful. His vision has improved over the course of the last few weeks and he now smiles pretty consistently at two things... his daddy talking "silly" to him and me quietly smiling at him from his preferred right side.

Owen also got his first wheelchair a couple of weeks ago and now has his own, stylish set of supportive wheels.



We leave August 22nd for Stanford to get Owen started on the ketogenic diet. He will be admitted on the 25th and stay through the 27th. We'll be fitting in two quick visits with Grandpa Marshall and Nai Nai in Santa Rosa on the way down and on the way back up, before racing back to Indianola to connect with Aunt Laura who arrives on the 29th.

Not much else to report and perhaps this is good? The garden is doing great - we have a basil forest (in preparation for Kelsey's fall pesto production), our tomatoes are ripening, we finally have cucumbers and squash and are going to have a bumper crop of heirloom sugar pumpkins which we'll distribute throughout Indianola.

Hope that the rest of you are enjoying your summer...

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We can't change the cards we're dealt, just how to play the hand. ~ Randy Pausch

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