Rocky Mountain High

If you're a John Denver fan, you'll recognize the title of today's blog entry. And if you're not, well then, we'll try not to hold it against you. :-) It seemed only fitting to use the title of one of his most beloved songs to describe our state of mind here in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas.

Since my last post, things have settled down considerably. I think Bodie is finally past his illness, because he's been SO much happier - a happier dictator, if you will. We thought Sierra might have caught the bug as well (really, what's a family vacation without BOTH kids having an opportunity to vomit multiple times?), but hers only lasted a day, thankfully. We've been having SO much fun the last couple of days - it feels like our vacation has finally begun!

On Tuesday, we went to the beach in the morning and took the kids out to a nice restaurant right on the water for dinner. It was GORGEOUS. Bodie wasn't as impressed with the scenery as we were, and was more interested in throwing things, screaming (again, thank God for the paralyzed vocal cord!) and crawling under other patron's tables. He was a complete and total nightmare (and for those of you thinking we're those kind of parents who don't discipline our kids and we just need to discipline Bodie, I assure you that we are working on it - disciplining a completely healthy 17 month-old is no easy task, let alone when you add in the medical issues Bodie has faced - but we have no intention of letting him become spoiled, so we are working on it). In any case, I think our entire family got a total of 10 minutes at the table together (the rest of the time, either Dusk or I was outside with Bodie, trying to keep him out of trouble). Although we were exhausted, Bodie made quite a few new friends this way - SO many people commented on how cute he was as he was jockeying to get behind their chair or under their barstool. We did snap a few beautiful pics on the beach afterwards...

Yesterday, we decided to give Bodie a break from the altitude and headed down to Reno, to spend the day with Popo Alan and Grandma Jan. We went to a great park and once mommy "disappeared" (hidden behind a fence, watching on - hoping for an out-of-sight-out-of-mind response to the unbelievable mommy-centric clinginess both kids had shows up until that point), Bodie and Sierra had a lot of fun with Popo and Grandma Jan.

The park also had a train ride that the kids LOVED. (We rode it 2x!)

After a 2 second nap in the car (only slight exaggeration - seriously, Bodie was WIRED after the park and train ride), we headed over to Circus Circus. We knew Sierra would have a blast.

What we didn't expect, however, was for Bodie to have the reaction that he did. Oh my word. The kid was in hog heaven. All the lights, the music, the games. He was crazy. Had SO.MUCH.FUN.

After dinner last night (topped off with Bodie faceplanting and splitting his lip while running out of the bathroom to get away from mommy - seriously, he is such a danger to himself) , we were blessed with a visit from two of Bodie's most devoted prayer warriors, Jim and Cris. Jim, thank you for sharing how Bodie's journey has afffected your life. We were so blessed to meet you both and spend time with you last night.

Today brought a trip back up the mountain to Tahoe, where we stopped by the altitude sign for Mt. Rose. WOW is all I have to say. This is a moment we didn't know would ever happen. Bodie, at high altitude. This has been a dream of Dusk's, who grew up in these mountains, ever since we heard about Bodie's heart condition and knew it might not happen.

satting 85 at 8,900 feet!!!....

And for us to have this moment, just one year out from this, when Bodie was discharged from the hospital after his MRSA admission (9 very long weeks), when we were so scared and had no idea whether we'd be back in the hospital immediately or not (turned out we got 2 months at home before his Glenn). We kind of view July 21st as the day our lives with Bodie really started. So, to be standing here at 8,900 feet with him grinning away almost one year to the day later is just absolutely incredible. Rocky Mountain, er, make that Sierra Nevada High, indeed. Truly, the other stuff just doesn't matter...

...at least to us. Bodie's still kind of hung up on the other stuff - like the snow, which he was NOT a fan of (as an aside, can you believe there's snow on the ground in JULY and we're walking on it in shorts and flip flops???) ...

And Bodie's take on all of the incredible excitement of the last few days? Yep, we have finally tired crazy man out... ;-)

I am so happy to report that this vacation just keeps getting better and better. As you know, from my last post, we weren't sure it would. But it has. THANK GOD!!!

A king and his court

Sigh...The good news is that we made it to Tahoe. And Bodie is tolerating the 6,000+ ft altitude quite well. For you pulse-ox junkies out there, he's been satting 78 most of the night and just jumped to 84 the last time I checked. For a kid that hangs out in the high 70's and low 80's at sea level, it's pretty extraordinary for him to be satting so high here. We're so grateful!

But the vacation itself. Aye yay freaking yay. I know I should sugar coat it for the blog (and Bodie's baby book) and say it's been the most amazing family vacation ever, full of beautiful moments of bliss and happiness, making lifelong memories with our 2 perfect little children. And that is all true. But I just can't bring myself to stop at that. Let me make one thing clear - Dusk and I LOVE our children. We feel so blessed that they are both happy and thriving and know how lucky we are to have both of our children with us. But I don't know if parents of more than 1 child have been lying to us this whole time or if we just have bad luck, because this seriously has been the worst.vacation. ever. We're trying to find the humor in it (and remember that someday, we will look back and laugh at this vacation), but it's been tough. Here's a little rundown of the vacation so far:

First off, it got delayed by a day because Bodie caught the stomach bug that I had last week. He was sick for about 4 days, and after 2 days of diahrea and vomiting, we just didn't feel right pushing him at altitude, so stayed at home an extra day. He seemed much better Friday, so we thought we'd be safe leaving town. And we totally were...until he puked. all over his carseat. 90 miles from home. With 2 hours still to go. And that was after we had already stopped once because he wouldn't stop screaming.

At least he thought it was awesome to sit by the side of the road, watching the cars whiz by, while I tried to clean his carseat out. With wipes. Because I had not planned well enough ahead to bring towels and water.


Yep, good times. The next 2 hours consisted of him screaming, me turning around (Dusk driving), trying to figure out what he wanted, handing it to him, him shaking his head furiously and then angrily throwing it back at me. Honestly, I felt like a court entertainer who had been thrust in front of the king to try and entertain him. If I guessed right, I was rewarded with a smile and a laugh. And if I guessed wrong, I was punished with a sippy cup thrown at my head at mach speed followed by more screaming. Hence, my title - a King and his Court. All of this was punctuated by episodes of him gagging and me yelling at Dusk to stop the car, getting Bodie out quickly, only to find him laughing and giggling once we got him out of the car. Turkey. Fun times.

We finally got to our hotel in Bishop, stopped by the laundromat to wash the aformentioned carseat and clothes, and then headed to dinner, during which Bodie refused to eat anything and insisted on walking around the restaurant and throwing everything possible on the floor. Got back to the hotel, where I gave Bodie his meds, which he promptly threw up all over the floor. Super fun times. Finally got the kids to bed, only to wake up to bedbugs this morning. Like, I said, awesome vacation, right?

Today, thankfully, was better - Bodie was a slightly happier dictator, and without the threat of barf hanging over our heads, we were able to ignore his screaming somewhat, which actually worked pretty well. Once he realized he couldn't manipulate us, he calmed down considerably. ;-). We stopped by Popo Alan and Grandma Jan's house for pizza and lots o' toys - the kids had a blast.

Then, we made our way to Tahoe, where we'll be as long as Bodie can tolerate it. He seems ok with the altitude so far, which is surprising, because the kid is OUT OF CONTROL moving nonstop. It's so fun to watch. All he wants to do is climb. We're in a 3 story condo and he is obsessed with climbing on the couch and going up and down the stairs. Oh, the meltdown temper tantrum that ensued when we put the gates up at the top and bottom of the stairs was unreal. Boy does this kid have a temper! ;-) But all in all, we are SO relieved to be here and enjoying ourselves:

So I know this was a long-winded whine. I'm sorry about that. I suppose it would've been easier just to say that this is feeling eerily reimiscient of a Griswold vacation. But that wouldn't have been as much fun to read, right? ;-) Hoping and praying for a more relaxing week from here on out.

Mr. (and Miss) Independent

I know this is late for a 4th of July post, but between a battery of thyroid tests for me this week (what used to be a slightly over-reactive thyroid has become a crazy in-your-face overactive thyroid in the past year - big surprise, right? I don't blame it - the same thing has kinda happened to me - ha!) and a stomach bug of unknown origin (my money's on food poisoning, but we don't know for sure) that has hit only me (thankfully), I haven't had much time for blogging this week. So there you have it.

But I wanted to post some pics of our 4th of July. We went out to my parents place in Palm Springs and had some friends out to join us. We had a lot of fun. Well, actually, I should clarify - Janet, Rafael, Natalie, Damien, Dusk, Sierra and I had a lot of fun. Bodie, well, not so much. I'm not sure whether he was teething (thought we'd get a break from that, since the kid already has ALL of this teeth but his last 2 sets of molars), maybe had an ear infection that has since cleared on its own, just highly suspicious of the fact that Natalie happens to be a babysitter or read my previous blogpost and decided he needed to shake things up a bit, but he was a bit of a nightmare this weekend. We had a lot of meltdowns if I wasn't holding him. On more than one occassion, we brought me the Ergo, gesticulating and more or less sobbing until I put him in it. That was pretty cute actually. He spent a lot of time in mama's arms. Sometimes, that was cute. Sometimes, it was a bit much. But, in between the moments of sheer madness, we had a lot of fun as well. Bodie has pretty much given up crawling and is about the cutest little toddler I've seen (and I'm not biased at all).

Anyway, here's pics of the fun:

A gorgeous pool 10 feet away...and my kids would rather play with a baby bathtub filled with water and toys. Go figure.

Too much cuteness
Couldn't you just eat these lips up?

What's the 4th of July without watermelon?

So excited for his "boy boy bowl" that suction cups to his high chair tray, so he can't pick it up and throw it...

er...well...theoretically anyway...

Sierra and her beloved Nana, who was Sierra's first babysitter (Nana used to watch Sierra when I went back to work - Sierra was 4 months at the time)

Man, throw this kid in a highchair with some food and you're sure to get a smile...

Showing off his mad walking skills

Sweetest.face.ever.

One of the only times Bodie was happy to play in the pool

Damien's mad photog skills with my sweet girl

Sierra and mommy with sparklers

One of my favorite pics of the night...when did my little girl get so grown up and independent?

For a little contrast, this was Sierra on her first 4th of July. Man, they do grow up fast, don't they? Sierra and Nana ending the night

Getting our groove back

Today has been a GREAT day. No wait, make that FANTASTIC. My birthday last year was a rough day. Actually, it was just one of many dark days last spring and early summer. Bodie had been in the hospital for almost 4 months straight at that point in time, was still dependent on Milrinone, had a remaining hospital stay of at least another 3 weeks ahead of him, had his next open-heart surgery just around the corner (but no one knew how far around the corner or even which corner we were talking about for that matter) and was just really fragile. Sierra had just been suspended from her preschool under threat of explusion for biting her best friend multiple times. I had just been let go from my job because I had exhausted my maternity leave and simply could not return with Bodie still in the hospital. I was taking Sierra with me to the hospital every day, trying to juggle taking care of a fragile newborn and a confused toddler who really just needed to be near mommy. On top of all of that, I was pumping all the time. Yep, it sucked. I don't remember much from my birthday, but I do remember a few key points - (1) crying as soon as I got to the hospital because the gravity of how sucky my situation was really set in. Bodie's amazing nutritionist, Emily (oh my, how we LOVE Emily!) walked in right at that moment. She just gave me a big hug. It was so needed. (2) my mom took me out to Acapulco's for lunch - it was super crowded (something about the Friday lunch buffet) and Sierra misbehaved the entire time. I remember thinking "geez, why can't she just cut me some slack on my birthday??" (3) when we got back from lunch, Emily had called dietary and had them deliver a birthday cake for me and a little cookie for Sierra (like I said, we LOVE Emily). and (4) Dusk and I had take-out Thai for dinner, but we didn't get around to eating until really late after Sierra was in bed, so we just ordered wontons. Then, I had to pump and call the hospital to check on Bodie. Yep, like I said, it sucked.

But, this year, today was SO MUCH better. I got to start the day by working out (a testament to how much more well-balanced our lives have become), I got beautiful flowers from my parents (ok, from my mom - you all know my dad is reading this saying "what? Oh, we got her flowers. How nice" Ha!), I got to eat breakfast with my kiddos and lunch with some wonderful friends (thank you again Amy and Susan for the awesome lunch - I'm so blessed to have you ladies in my life!). Dusk got me a surprise massage on Sunday - and I get to celebrate my birthday tonight with a yummy cake, surrounded by my loves, all together in my home. I am so blessed.

The best birthday gift by far was the realization that our family has really, finally, found our groove. We have settled in and life is good. Bodie has settled down SO MUCH in the past month. He's such a happy kid now. We can leave him with a babysitter finally! His separation anxiety has finally ebbed, considerably. (I know I've talked about his separation anxiety in the past, but seriously, I don't know that I ever really let in just how BAD it is - it was very rough, mostly on me.) Now that he's on a sippy cup, he doesn't need me around to drink his milk (he seriously, even at 14 months, would only take a bottle from me). That means I can go to the gym in the morning and get ready afterwards before the kids wake up and if they happen to wake up before I get back home (7:30 or so), they can hang out with Daddy for a bit - and everyone is happy when I walk in the door. (Trust me, this was a huge step for us.) He'll even play for a bit with his therapists without me needing to be close enough to grab. The joke around here is that the last month has been my reward for putting up with Bodie for the first 15. I jest. Sort of.

Bodie is walking SO MUCH now. When he falls down, he's pushing himself back up to standing instead of just dropping down to a crawl. I have a feeling we won't see any more crawling after the next few weeks. He's definitely choosing to be upright now. He's talking ALL THE TIME now. He says a lot that we can't understand, but what we can understand is "mama, dada, hi, bye bye, ni-night, hep (help), uh (up), dow (down), my (mine), yeah, nono, momo, more, "ah da" (all done), car, cracker, ball, wawoo (water), love you and thank-you (you really have to know what he's saying on the last 2, but he definitely says them)." And he says "MAMADADA" when he wants anything. He used to just say "MAMA" - I guess he's learned that if he screams at us both to get it for him, his odds increase of someone actually responding. The whole language thing is pretty amazing to me, since Sierra only had 3 words at 18 months! We were worried she'd never talk. Given that we literally can't get an word in edgewise at the dinner table these days, I'd say we don't need to worry about that anymore. :-)

Bodie's feeding has finally started to improve as well! I daresay that he has finally transitioned to table food - he hasn't had jarred babyfood in almost 2 weeks now! Praise God! And, for the kid who threw up once a day for the better part of his first 14 months or so, it appears that we have finally moved past that. (We don't know for sure, but we think it was all related to his vocal cord - given how much louder he's gotten recently, we think the throwing up probably stopped because his vocal cord has been healing.) Speaking of getting louder, we were at our home school academy last week and as the kids were doing their presentations, Bodie was talking through all of them. He's the background track on all of the videos now. Nice. My kid, the one with only one working vocal cord, is interrupting everyone's presentations. Go figure.

Bodie and Sierra are playing together so much these days. Mostly, he just goes around behind her, messing up whatever she has just cleaned up. She gets sooooo frustrated. I can't help but laugh - I can't imagine what that's like - working so hard to clean something up only to have someone come behind you moments later and mess it up again! Ha! But it is wonderful to see them playing together, loving each other. I love that they can play together after dinner now - I send them outside to play in the sandbox and with the outside toys while I get the kitchen cleaned up. It's a win-win for everyone!

Sierra is doing wonderfully as well. We just got a letter home from school this week letting us know that she'll be transitioning to the pre-K class on July 1st. While we're of course thrilled that she's developmentally ready for the transition, it's hard for me emotionally to know that she'll now be in the oldest class at her preschool (she's been there since she was a 4 month old in the nursery!). And she's such a good big sister. She's always giving Bodie hugs and kisses and getting toys and food for him. Unfortunately, she's often on the receiving end of his pinching, hitting and hair pulling (he's a bit of brute these days). We're trying to teach him to be gentle. He just laughs, says "gentle" and then pulls him arm back and smacks us really hard. Not sure how effective that is. Ha.

So yes, life has gotten really good. Finally, we're in a good groove and enjoying life. Only took us 16 months to get here. And with cardiac kids, things could change at any moment. But we'll take it. At least we're finally here. We'll enjoy it for as long as we get to be in this stage. We're gearing up for Tahoe in a couple of weeks, so would appreciate your prayers that we all stay healthy and well and that Bodie tolerates the higher elevation. We're really excited.

I'll leave you with a couple of pics of our life these days.

Sierra in the bouncer at cousin Michael's 1st birthday party last weekend - SO fun! Can you see how red her little cheeks were? It was so hot out and she was running around like a crazy woman.
Bodie and Michael having a stand-off. Bodie kept opening up the hood of the car and then Michael would slam it shut. Then they'd stare at each other and start the process all over again. It was SO funny.

The whole family at Michael's party - Dusk and I with the kids, my brother Matt, his wife Val and Michael, and then my parents, Bill and Nancy.

Our little girl is growing up. :-( Her first day as a Froggie...and her last day as a Froggie. (And yes, she wore that crown to school today (along with black shoes and red and black tights to accompany her pink skirt). That's just how we roll around here.) Dusk is going to kill me for including this pic, but thought I'd include it just as proof of how very much we have found our groove. Our life is so together these days that I have time to do things like, I don't know, break out Sierra's hair supplies just to see if we could do piggies in Bodie's hair. Turns out we can. Turns out, he is not a fan. Could be because he kinda looks like a teletubbie. Rest assured, we will not be trying it again. But we had to do it once, right? Right?