Walking Miracle

That is what the doctors are saying about Mark. He has recovered better than ever expected. The doctors had expected paralysis or death. Instead he is being released from the hospital today. He is going to come stay with us for a bit. He has some sight issues and hand/eye coordination issues but other than that he is doing extremely well.

We are going to have him bunk in Campbell's room. The kids are going to share a room for a bit. It's a good thing our kids are so easy going. We're not sure how long he will be staying with us, but the doctors don't want him going back to work for 4-6 weeks.

Meanwhile, Adam and Barbara left this morning. They should be in Atlanta by now. We'll keep you all informed with his recovery. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Good Thoughts

At about 4:00 today my phone rang. It was Aaron. I knew as soon as he said "Darla" that something was wrong. He never calls me Darla. He told me that I needed to go the emergency room immediately. Poppie had had a stroke.

Yes, Aaron's dad is at the hospital just around the corner from us. He had a stroke this afternoon. It was mild but as of right now he has some speech issues. He is also having troubles seeing out of his right eye, although that is getting better. The neurologist is hopeful that he will recover from that. The bigger worry right now is a large clot just below his ear. It is so large that they are not able to remove it at this point. They are giving the medicine 24 hours to see if it can break up the clot. If not, he will be going in for surgery on Sunday to remove it.

We will keep everyone updated as we are updated. Until then, please send good thoughts his way.

A Very White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Day. Santa was very good to all of us. Caleb got a space ship from Santa and Campbell got an ice skating doll. About half way into opening the gifts Mommy and Daddy realized that we may have overdone it on gifts for the kids this year. They both got way too much stuff. Next year will not be nearly as large, but it was great fun to watch the kids. They both enjoyed every single gift they got. Caleb even gave us "Dank You" every time he was handed another gift.

Poppie showed up here in Colorado and spend the morning and evening with us. The kids were thrilled to have Poppie here. Aaron of course cooked some great food for the day.

To top it all off, it snowed ALL day long. We woke up at 7 with it snowing. It didn't stop until about 9 last night. We definitely got a White Christmas. Believe it or not, this is very unusual. Apparently this is only the 14th time in the last 106 years that it has snowed on Christmas Day. Apparently only about 30 percent of the last 106 years has even had snow on the ground on Christmas Day. Who would have thought that it would be unusual to have a White Christmas in Colorado?

Hope you all had as wonderful of a day as we did.

PS. That's only Caleb's loot in that picture. That is really kind of scary.

Week In Review

Ok. So I've been slow to update this past week. It has been a busy one gearing up for the big day and all. Campbell did her imigration project on Wednesday. We got her all dressed to look as Norwegian as possible. She even let me braid her hair. She took her baked good in and imigrated. She passed of course. She also got extra points for the goodies and because we taught her how to say "Hello, My name is..." in Norwegian. The teachers were very impressed.

Thursday was her last day of school before the holiday break. She toook gifts in for her teachers. Her teacher gave the kids each a cute little gift bag. The bags had a candy cane, cookie cutter and cookie recipe. It was really very cute. Now she is home for the next two weeks and we have to keep her entertained. Luckily, I have it on good word that Santa is bringing her some books.

Friday we woke up to a very nice day. The kids and I ran to the upscale mall that we rarely go to. It was actually a good day to go. We found a lot of really great deals. But the best thing of all was finding the tea store that we use to go to in Atlanta. The girl that managed the store in Atlanta is evening running the store here. Now we have our own little piece of the south right here in Denver. We made it home by noon and that was none too soon. It really started to snow in the afternoon.

Saturday was a great day! Aaron finished making the present for his aunt and then took both kids with him to go shopping. I had a few hours to myself. It was nice to have some quiet. Why are both of my kids so freaking verbal. Most times I love it but there are moments. Saturday evening we went to see the zoo lights. It was very cool. Yes it was cold outside but the lights were very nice. We didn't get to see all of the animals, but they did have the giraffe house and the pacaderm house open. We spent about an hour walking through the zoo looking at the lights. It was very nice. I even splurged and bought the picture they took of us as we walked into the zoo. It's not the greatest picture, but it's the memory that counts. We had a really great family time. After the zoo, we stopped for some yummy warm Tai food.

Now today we are headed off to a Baby Naming Ceremony. We have never been to one of these so this should be interesting. The people are really great thought so we are excited for them. We are also really excited to see baby Rosa.

My Daddy Truck and Baking

Saturday was much too cold to do much of anything. It was only in the 20's so we opted not to do a whole lot. Caleb and I did decide to take Daddy's truck over to get it inspected. The tags expire this month and in order to get it licensed in CO we had to have it inspected. They just check it to make sure that the emissions are working properly.

We got to the place. There were two cars in front of us so we went into Booth #5 as instructed to wait. We watched the first two cars go through the testing. They hook up a couple of pipes to the car. They also run a tube inside the car. I guess this is to make sure that the car is not backing carbon monoxide into the seating area. That's just a guess. I don't really know. Once all the tubes are placed properly they get in the car and run it on a treadmill. They also have a fan in front of the car to simulate wind resistance.

Caleb thought this was all very cool. This is something that little boys really enjoy seeing. The cars were doing a little too much bouncing around for my taste but Caleb loved it. Until it was our turn. He saw the man get in the truck and immediately started screaming "No, my Daddy truck!!" He screamed it over and over for the entire 10 minutes of testing. He had huge tears rolling down his face. He was not at all pleased with the man taking his daddy's truck. What started out as a very cool boy trip turned into a very traumatic trip. Sometimes you just can't win.

Campbell's current unit for social studies is immigration. They are studying all the aspects of immigrating to the US. As part of this unit they get to choose an identity and pretend they are immigrating to the US. She has chosen to be 9 year old Annette from Norway. They have filled out their immigration paperwork to recieve their greencards. They have also created their passports. Tomorrow and Wednesday they get to dress as their persona would and go through "Ellis Island". Ellis Island is actually the teachers. They check the paperwork to make sure they have done everyting properly. I think this is the coolest way of grading papers. How much more fun could it be.

We found a dress and a sweater for Campbell that will make her look Norwegian. Lucky for her she is Norwegian so she has the blonde hair and blue eyes. That will be easy for her. To add to the authenticity of it she and I decided that we would make some Norwegian treats to send to school with her. Yesterday we spent the morning making Krumkakes and Yulekake. These are two things that my mom made every year for Christmas. Campbell will be taking these to school with her to share with the class. I love this unit and the nerd in me wants to participate too. Ahhh...to be 9 again.!

Calamari or Spider

Our kids love calamari. Usually when we go out to eat, we get that for an appetizer. For a while Campbell pulled the normal kid stuff and said that she didn't like it. But, she couldn't stay away long. She just had to eat it.

Last night we went to eat at a place we haven't been to before. Most places serve calamari as little breaded rings. This place had those, but they had also mixed in the whole squids with the little rings. Campbell just avoided the whole squids but chowed down on the rings.

Caleb was doing great with the calamari. He couldn't eat it fast enought. Until....we suddenly heard him say, "eeewwww, pider". He had looked at what he was eating and thought that the little squid was an enormous spider. That was it. He was not touching anything else on that plate. He was sure the "spider" had touched everything there. Luckily, when his pizza came out it did not resemble a spider. Poor kid has been scarred for life.

Orthodontist Added to Christmas Card List

You know your pocketbook is in trouble when the orthodontist looks at your child's mouth x-ray and says "Wow! That's some crowding." Campbell had her followup with the orthodontist on Tuesday. She has seen him once before, but he didn't look at any x-rays that time. He thought she had some crowding then, but wasn't too concerned. This time, he was quite concerned.

Campbell inherited both a small jawline and large teeth from me. As I was growing up, my dentist never felt it was necessary from me to have my teeth straightened. I wish he had, but that's small town doctors/dentists for you. Oh well! I will look into having it done for myself. Since I don't qualify to have my eyes fixed, maybe I can get my teeth fixed.

Anyway, back to Campbell. She has a new top tooth coming in. The problem is that the tooth is coming in in front of the other teeth because there is no other spot for it to come in. On the bottom set, she has a tooth set to come in, but there is no spot for it to come in. It is coming up behind the other teeth. These two situations mean that her teeth are not at all straight.

The orthodontists plan is to wait on the top teeth for 2 months. She will go back in February and he will determine then if she needs to have some teeth pulled. As for the bottom teeth, she gets to go into the dentist within the next couple of weeks and have 2 teeth pulled. She will be seeing the ortho every couple of months so that he can try to keep on top of this mess of teeth. By the summer, she will most like have wires on her bottom teeth (not braces yet, just wires) and possibly on her top teeth as well. It's a good thing we have that dental insurance!

Campbell's Poem

White roses like ghosts with petals

They're as white as white metals

Though I hate the fact

Through all my act

That I can never find enough dirt and pebbles.



by Campbell L Brown

Mommy Too, Kiddo

On the way to the gym this morning, Caleb says, "Mommy, Dub need doffee".

Boy could I relate. Although, I need the coffee to keep up with the decaffienated version of Caleb. He certainly does not need caffeine.

Snowman Snow

Yesterday we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground. I was happy it wasn't more, but Campbell wanted more. She wanted to go sledding. Instead of sledding, we went to the outlet mall to do some shopping. We started with lunch and then just walked through the shops. We didn't buy a whole lot. It was more just a nice day spent with the family. We spent about 4 hours total at the mall.

When we walked out it was really snowing and the parking lot was already covered in snow. We quickly realized that Campbell might just get her wish for sledding snow. And that she did. We woke up to 3-4 inches of snow, the perfect amount for sledding. We left the house at 7:30 to go to the park to sled.

We found the best hill and got ready for our fun. We were the only ones there since it was so early so we had the hill to ourselves. Both kids had a blast going down the hill. Caleb closes his eyes everytime we go down, but he squeals with delight the whole way. Campbell couldn't have been happier partaking in the sledding fun. She especially loved sitting on the sled with Daddy and going down.

Caleb also enjoyed making "choo choo train tracks" in the snow. I pointed out his tracks as he was walking and he decided that they were train tracks. He also went down the snow covered slide which he thought was great. Campbell made the requisite snow angel. We spent about 40 minutes just playing in the snow. The kids loved it. Caleb did not want to leave even though his cheeks were cold and his nose was running like a faucet.

After our snow fun we went to the coffee shop to get our coffee and cocoa. Caleb go his very first cocoa from the coffee shop. Usually he just gets a snack. He loved the "doffee" (because he swore it was coffee like mommy and not cocoa).

P.S. Caleb calls snow "snowman snow". It doesn't matter how much or what kind of snow it is. He just calls it "snowman snow" it's actually more like "dowman dow", but you get the gist.

Back on the Charts: For Now

Two months ago at Caleb's 2 year well-baby we were told that he had fallen below the curves on both height and weight. He was only 21 1/2 pounds and 31 3/4 inches at 2 years old. This put him very much under the 3rd percentile for both. The doctor was concerned because he had fallen from the 4th percentile in weight and from the 10th percentile in height. We were to do everything we could to try to get him to grow which meant feeding him until he was stuffed and then feeding him some more. Well, this child has never had a problem eating. He is two and has never been through that toddler stage where they won't eat. The problem is getting the amount of food he eats to translate into growth.

If he didn't gain 3/4 pound and/or grown 1 inch in two months then we would have to look at doing a bunch of blood work and other tests on him. Needless to say, we have spent the last two months concerned about every bite the child didn't put in his mouth. Today we had the follow-up appointment to have him re-measured. He performed like a superstar. My kids are definitely over achievers.

He weighed in at 22 1/2 pounds today putting him back up in the 4th percentile for weight. His height was recorded in at 33 1/3 inches putting him back in the 10th percentile for height. He earned a reprieve today. The doctor is still not ruling out testing altogether. We have to keep an eye on him and he will be going in for routine height/weight checks to make sure he continues to grow well. The next appointment will be in April. This means we get to continue our trips to the coffee shop for pumpkin bread and/or oatmeal raisin cookies. And of course, when we get those treats mommy gets a coffee. It works out for all of us. How ironic is it that Aaron and I both work our butts off to try to lose weight and both of our kids are under weight? It just doesn't seem fair. Why can't I just transfer my fat to them?

Another Walk

Tuesday the weather was extremely nice again. It was a record breaking day with temperatures in the 70's. The 70's! We are in Colorado in December and the temperature was 72 degrees. With weather like that we HAD to take another walk.

When Campbell got off the bus, I had her change her shoes (she still loves to wear dresses and dress shoes) and grab a drink. We headed back over to the grocery store for some dinner items. The walk wasn't as interesting as the one on Monday. Although, I did learn everything that a 3rd grader knows about space. Trust me when I tell you that it is A LOT! Like did you know that there is no longer a planet named Pluto. That one has disappeared since I was a kid. They now have some other fancy name for the type of planet that it is. I don't remember what she called it. It's a good thing I wasn't taking the test yesterday. I was also told a whole bunch of stuff about moons and stars and rings that I don't remember. We had a very educational walk.

We did see the geese again, but the large convention was over and it was just a meeting of the elders. At least, that's what we decided it was. The sun was setting as we were walking. It was causing a really strange glow making everything look yellow. The sky looked really incredible though. Thankfully I had the camera and was able to get a couple of good shots. I could really get use to all this nice walking weather. Even with the talkative children I have, the walks are very relaxing. There's also the added benefit of my 9 year old teaching me some things.

When we returned from our walk we jumped in the car and headed to the mall. We needed get Daddy's present for Christmas. They were on backorder online but the store said they had them in so we went and got it. We also got ourselves some hot tea and treats from the coffee shop. We had to get back all the calories we burned on our walk.

A Healthy Dose of Vitamin D

For two days now, I have been trying to catchup with our laundry. It seems that it will never end. Today as I attempted to start a load of towels I realized that I was out of detergent. I knew a trip to the store was in order if I was to ever finish the laundry. I remembered that the news said the weather was suppose to be in the 60's today so I decided to take advantage of the nice day.


When Caleb got up from his nap, we grabbed juice and jackets. We loaded up in the stroller and started walking to the grocery store. It was quite the adventurous walk today. First we were attacked by a dog. Well, not really, but the fence was only about 6 inches too high for the monster dog to jump over. I imagine with a bit of practice this dog will be making it over the fence to attack defenseless children in strollers. (OK. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but you get my point.) We then saw two men trying to fix their car which had broken down in the street. Caleb made sure to point them out, "Mommy, Men dar fits", which translates to "Mommy the men are fixing the car." "Yes, Honey. Mommy sees the men."


We passed the men and continued our walk. We then came across the goose convention. I wish I had my camera. There were so many geese that it was unbelieveable. They were all on a lawn in front of a local business. There were at least hundreds of geese. (Michelle, think Brad's bird experience, only these were giant Canadian Geese.) We stopped and talked to the geese for a couple of minutes. We had said, "Bye doose" and walked about 50 yards when Caleb announced, "Mommy, mooore doose." Sure enough, there were more geese headed to the goose convention.


We finally arrived at the grocery store. Actually, it was only a 15 minute walk. The store is that close. We went in and got our detergent. On the way out we stopped at the coffee shop and got "mommy yummee yummee doffee" and "Dub yumma yumma". Once our purchases were made we started our walk home.


The return walk wasn't nearly as exciting. The geese were still having their convetion. We said a quick hello and continued our walk. The men had obviously fixed their car because they were gone. The fence jumping dog had been joined by his/her larger dog friend who wouldn't allow him/her to jump on the fence. They were both loud but no jumping.


It was terrific to get our dose of natural vitamin D. Hopefully the weather will allow for more of these outings.

Lights

Friday evening we headed to downtown Denver to see the Parade of Lights. We met Aaron at a local pub. He had an afterwork meeting there, so that's where we met him. The kids and I drove around for about 15 minutes before we found a parking spot three blocks from the pub. We had to walk through snow and cold to get there, but we made it and found Daddy. (Note to self: Never agree to meet at a pub after 5 pm on a Friday evening.)

Once we found Aaron (upstairs in the most difficult place to find with a squirmy toddler) we decided to go next door for some dinner. We went to a little place that has a very limited menu. Actually it's a wine bar (must remember this place the next time us parents get an evening off). This is when it's a good thing that our kids are not picky eaters. They ended up having the apples and cheese plate with bread. They both loved it and found it to be the perfect treat. Aaron and I had salads.

After dinner we grabbed our stroller, blankets, hats, and mittens from the car. Then we walked to the train station (about 4 blocks), bought our tickets and boarded the train for 16th and California. Once we reached our destination we hit the coffee shop for hot drinks and cookies. After getting our warm drinks, we walked around town a bit. We had about an hour before the parade was to start. We went through an art gallery and walked through the street lights.

At 8 pm we found our spot along the parade route to watch all the lights. Caleb was asleep by this point and slept through the first 15 minutes of the parade. Once the bands started though, he couldn't sleep anymore. The parade was very cool. Each float had lights all over it. Even the band memebers had lights on them. The parade lasted an hour and we all had a great time. Caleb did not like the giant balloons and loved the bands. Campbell loved it all. It was a great time for the entire family. We were all a little cold but we had a great time.

After the parade we headed back to the train station only to discover that it was running at that stop due to the parade. We would have to wait an hour for that stop to open. We decided to just walk to the next stop. The city was obviously prepared for this event and had the entire train station crowd system working in top form. We had purchased round trip tickets earlier so we did not have to stand in that crazy long line. Having the stroller also came in handy. We got to go through the handycapped/stroller line. We were able to get directly on the train with no waiting. Getting off the train at our stop was a little more difficult just because the train was packed. But we made it and we headed to our cars to load up and go home.

Caleb talked about the parade the entire way home. Campbell rode with Daddy and he said that she was quiet the whole way home. Both kids were exhausted. Campbell gets quiet or giggly when tired. Caleb talks a mile a minute when he is tired. If you want to know how many words he has in his vocabulary just get him overtired.