In Which We Get Fired Up

This weekend we're headed to Tacoma to check out the US Quad Rugby Pacific Sectionals!  It's a major tournament that will determine which team from the Pacific Northwest will be headed to Nationals in March.  We'll be rooting on the Seattle Slam, our local team, and I'm super excited about taking the kids.  Eden has really enjoyed the roller derby bouts I've taken her to, and I suspect quad rugby (AKA murderball) is going to be right up her alley as well.

I think there's a general attitude in the United States that disabled sports can't possibly be as interesting or exciting to watch as typical sports teams, which explains the pathetic lack of media coverage of the Paralympics in past years.  It also explains why we've spent a bunch of time explaining that the Special Olympics and the Paralympics, while both awesome for different reasons, are definitely not the same thing.  That gets old really quickly.

So this year I am thrilled that NBC will be covering the Paralympics in a much more complete fashion, and for the first time it will be possible to actually see the events live!  It's about time someone in the media world figured out what a bunch of us already know-- that not only are Paralympic athletes every bit as elite and legitimate as their Olympic brothers and sisters, but also that the sports they play are, pardon my French, completely badass.

I mean, seriously.  Look at this and tell me you don't want to see it live:



Of course, quad rugby isn't played at the Winter Paralympics-- we'll have to wait until the Rio games for that.  Instead, there's ice sledge hockey.  This is every bit as fun to watch as ice hockey, I assure you.  Also, we won the gold back in 2010, though I couldn't watch the dang game until after it was over.

So hooray for more coverage this year!  I can't wait for the games to begin!

~Jess

In Which It's Back To Business As Usual

It was so lovely to have Jeremy here for a few days!  We spent some special time together with the kids on Friday, Sunday evening and Monday, but Saturday and the first half of Sunday was just for the two of us. We drove up to Belfair, which is a little town on the Hood Canal, and stayed in a lovely B&B close to the north shore.   It's been a long, long time (really- over nineteen months) since we've had the opportunity to have a bit of a vacation as a couple instead of as parents, so it was really nice to get away!

But Jer's back in California now, and it will probably be May when we see him next, unless I can manage to find a way to sneak down there before then.  The kids are on their mid-winter break at the moment, so they're off of school and we're spending the next couple of days taking it easy here at home.  We would be out doing fun things outdoors, but it seems like the Pacific Northwest apparently saved all the rain of the entire winter for this week.  It's been coming down sideways out there most of the day.  

Connor was a bit clingy and sad yesterday and today; he's usually that way after Jeremy leaves.  I think the transitions are pretty tough on him.  Eden's gotten used to Jer coming and going, as he's been in school as long as she's been a part of the family.  It will be interesting to see how the adjustment goes once he's back at home for a good while.  It's nice to think that by this time next year I'll be waiting for him to come home from work rather than waiting for his next visit!

~Jess

In Which Jer's Here And We Make Ourselves Scarce

Jeremy's here!

I picked him up from the airport after I dropped the kids off for school.  It's so, so nice to be talking to him face-to-face instead of over the phone or on a screen.

Tomorrow he and I are headed up to the Olympic peninsula for a little mini-vacation.  So you won't see a blog from me on Saturday, because other than my cell phone we will be sans electronics.  It's going to be really nice to be able to just spend time together, relax, and focus on each other instead of the eighty billion things we have going on our lives.

So glad he's home!

Jess

In Which Jer Is Almost Here

Jeremy comes tomorrow!

I'm so excited-- I can't wait to see him.  It's only for four days, but hey, any time with Jer is good time as far as I'm concerned.  It's just going to be really nice to spend some time with him and get the chance to relax.  Our schedule's been pretty busy of late, so I could definitely use some down time.

Today was no exception-- I spent most of it running errands, cleaning and making phone calls.  I did manage to get away long enough to fit a walk in and get my hair dyed though, which I was pretty excited about.  Since Jer is coming to visit I actually care about that sort of thing.  Three inches of dishwater blond and grayish roots are so not in this year.

I can't wait to see him!

~Jess

In Which We Have A Busy Time Of Things

Just a quick post today, because I'm pretty tired.  It was one of those kind of busy days where I felt like I sat down for about five minutes.  I had what seemed to be about eight billion errands to run, phone calls to make, and places I needed to shuttle one or more children.  Tomorrow is likely to be just as busy or busier, so I need to get some sleep!

Thankfully this weekend will be much, much more laid back, since Jeremy will be here and we're taking a bit of time together just the two of us.  That is, if the hotel will call me back to confirm the reservation.  That's another thing to add to my to-do list tomorrow!

~Jess

In Which Eden Has A Birthday

Eden turned sixteen today!

She requested lasagna and lemon bars for her special birthday dinner-- is this kid American or what?  She specifically requested made-from-scratch lasagna, though, so I spent about half the day making it, because I am insane.  It tasted delicious, but I have to say that lasagna out of the freezer section is pretty good too and doesn't involve a ridiculous amount of preparation time.

Also since I made the sauce first and then cooked the noodles before assembling everything, it smelled like lasagna in my house for the entire day and I basically wanted to forget putting it together and simply stuff the pot directly into my mouth.  Garfield and I have a lot in common.

So after school and physical therapy, my parents came over and we ate, chatted, opened presents and then played a rousing game of Chicken Foot before bedtime.  Overall I think she enjoyed herself.  We'll be having a birthday party for her on Saturday and we're bringing a snack to her swim practice tomorrow, so it's like a whole week of birthday celebration for her!  I don't think she minds.

I spent a little quiet time thinking about Eden's birth parents last night-- that's the one day when I can be absolutely sure they're thinking about Eden too.  With the time difference between here and Thailand, Eden's birthday technically happened yesterday over there.  I'm sure that day holds a lot of painful memories for them.  I think of them often-- especially Eden's birth mother-- and hope they somehow know that our shared daughter is safe and growing up well.  It's not likely we'll ever meet, and it's entirely Eden's decision whether or not she chooses to seek them out at some point in her life, but I wish them peace, wherever they might be.

So, onward and upward.  Here's to sixteen!   I can't wait to see what amazing things our girl does with the next year.

~Jess

In Which I'm Back To Business As Usual

Hello!

The holidays are over, Jer has left for California and the kids are back in school, so it's time for me to quit my own vacation and start writing again.  It was so, so nice to have Jer here, and while we miss him a ton, I'm glad that he'll at least be closer now so we should be able to see him more often.  I'm already planning a field trip down to see him as soon as I can!

I have what are probably the only children anywhere who were actually happy to go back to school from Christmas break.  Towards the end of the vacation, Eden mentioned about eight times a day that she wished it was time for school now.  I've got two kids who like their routine in a major way, so I probably shouldn't be surprised.  Goodness knows I wanted them to go back to school too.  I love my children to pieces, but I also love my alone time.  Sweet, sweet alone time.

So everybody celebrated when Monday rolled around!  I spent the first day the kids were back to school doing nothing but napping.  I took about a three and a half hour nap, and it was amazing.  Then I spent the second day doing nothing but getting together with friends.  I finally went back to work doing things I actually needed to do today, and just in time because the house is starting to disintegrate at a rather alarming rate.  But I really had to have some quiet time and social time first!

~Jess

In Which Santa Is Revealed And It's Almost Christmas

So the kids are in bed (though it's likely neither child is asleep as they're both too excited), Santa has come and gone, and in just a few hours it will be Christmas!

As tempting as it was to leave Eden in the dark about the true identity of Santa for just one year as this is her first Christmas home, we figured we'd be setting her up for some major teasing at school if we didn't clue her in.  We made sure to tell her, however, that Connor doesn't know and that she should keep it a secret.

 She was absolutely delighted to be let in on the grand conspiracy, and it's adorable how she talks about Santa with a whole lot of grinning and exaggerated winking.  It's a good thing Connor doesn't pick up on that sort of stuff, because I'm pretty sure if he was a typical kid he would have figured out something was up about twenty seconds after we told his sister.

Oh well-- Connor could care less about where the presents come from, anyway.  He's way more interested in the wrapping paper, which makes delightfully crinkly noises.  And Eden's super excited to be let in on a "grown-up" kind of secret, so it all works out.

 Anyway, I hope tomorrow is filled with peace and joy for all of you, or if you have children, with joyful chaos followed by peace some time late in the afternoon when the kids' Christmas cookie sugar-high wears off.

Merry Christmas to you all!

~Jess

In Which Christmas Makes Me Overly Sappy Again

The lights are up in our neighborhood, presents are piled up high under our tree, and frost laces its way across our windows in the morning.  It's almost Christmas.

As I cozy up next to Jeremy on the couch, I'm reminded of all the things I have to be grateful for this season.  It's been over four years since I almost lost him in Afghanistan, and it's moments like these, when I'm sitting in our house, watching the cats dozing by the fire and the children reading a book together, that I feel most intensely just how incredibly blessed I am to have my family here.

This is a family built of almost wasn'ts-- a son who almost died, a daughter we almost never met, a husband saved by a vehicle that was armored just enough.  And while this place we are now is never somewhere we would have thought to go, I'm so glad we're here.

It's funny how all of those "almost wasn'ts" have made me, I think, into a stronger, better person, because I've had he chance to learn lessons in courage, in perseverance, and in living a happy life despite hardship from the best people I could think to learn from: my family.  How could my life be unhappy when I'm surrounded by examples of what living a life to its fullest potential should be about?

So I'm glad it's almost Christmas, even though I procrastinate and have to stay up way too late wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, I miss my siblings and all my other relatives who live far away, the kids get really bored and drive me nuts over Winter Break, and Jer has to leave again soon.  I can't imagine a better place to spend it this and every year, than right here, once again, against the odds.

Who could ask for more?

~Jess

In Which We Have A Fun Family Sort Of Day

This morning we all slept in, which was lovely.  Then after a leisurely breakfast, we headed over to the local skating rink for some quality family time!  The rink in our town offers a Saturday morning skating session where wheelchairs are allowed on the floor, so it's an ideal time for our whole family to be able to do some roller skating together.  

Surprisingly enough, Eden loves roller skating even though it's really, really difficult for her.  Her cerebral palsy affects her balance and gait in a significant way, so moving around on skates is really tough.  But she's pretty fearless and, if given the opportunity, would probably be a speed demon on them-- she wants to go as fast as possible whenever we're pulling her around the floor.  

We've only taken her a couple of times as it's tough for me to both push Connor's wheelchair and offer her a supporting hand, but I suspect that once Jer's home it will become a favorite Saturday activity of ours.  This time she really started to get the hang of moving her feet side to side, and I think it might even be possible for her to skate on her own without support one day!  

Connor really enjoys skating too-- I think he likes the feel of the wind on his face, and all the flashing lights and music.  Luckily his seizures aren't the kind to be triggered by lights, or we'd be in trouble.  He spent a good portion of the time carefully waving to all the people on the side of the rink every time we went by them, which was pretty cute.  I think he really liked having his sister out there, too.  

And I miss skating really, really badly since I can't do roller derby right now with Jer gone.  It was so nice to be able to strap on my skates again, even if I was forced to skate really, really slowly since I was pushing the little guy's chair most of the time.  The rink frowns on running over small children, and Connor's wheelchair doesn't exactly turn on a dime.

So after a couple hours skating, we headed home, made some popcorn, and sat down together to watch the first Star Wars movie (technically Episode IV, but it's the first one that counts, anyway).  Jeremy was appalled to discover that Eden had never seen any of the Star Wars or the Indiana Jones movies, and he decided we needed to fix this immediately.  We didn't actually have any of them on DVD (we had a VCR up until we moved into this house), so we had to run out last night and get some so that we could finish up all the movies before Christmas break is over.  

I'm not sure how much Eden followed of the movie, but she dutifully sat through it before declaring that it was "okay," but it "didn't have enough fighting in it."  Poor Jeremy.  He's probably going to make her sit through all the rest of them anyway, though.  Poor Eden.  Oh well; at least Jer and I will enjoy ourselves.

Then we played a few games of Wi Tennis and Bowling, ate dinner, put Connor down for bed and finally played a game of Skipbo before heading that way ourselves.  So it was a fun, relaxing day!

~Jess

In Which We Have A Quiet Day

Connor had three seizures today; two small ones and a slightly longer one in the afternoon.  He seemed to be feeling a bit under the weather-- he might be getting sick.  Hopefully he'll be feeling better tomorrow; it's no fun to be sick any time, but especially not when his daddy's here!

Otherwise the day went just fine; we had respite care and Eden had a Christmas party, so Jer and I took the opportunity to go out on a date, which was nice.  We tried going to a sushi restaurant, but they were so full they didn't want to seat anyone else.  So we ate Thai food instead.  Thai food is always a favorite in our house!  

When we got home Connor was fast asleep, so after Eden came back from her party the three of us hung out in the living room for a while.  Jer played one of his computer games, and Eden and I watched a Korean drama together.  Eden watched a lot of Korean dramas in Thailand, but they were dubbed into Thai.  The English subtitles are good practice for her reading, and I like the mother-daughter time with her.  

So it was a nice, quiet evening, and we all had a good time.   It's so nice to be able to hang around the house with the whole family at home.  The only thing that would have made it better is if Connor had been feeling well and snuggling with us instead of sleeping.  Keep your fingers crossed that he's not getting sick!

~Jess

In Which We Have A Normal Day

It was just so great hanging out with Jer today; I could definitely get used to this!  Since the kids are still in school, it's kind of like every day is a date day for the two of us right now.  I don't really have a problem with that.

We didn't do anything really out of the ordinary today; he and I went shopping for Christmas presents, picked up some groceries, cleaned house, and then picked up Connor from school.  Jer helped Eden with her reading while I got dinner ready, I worked with Eden on her physical therapy while Jer got Connor up from his nap, and then we all took off for Eden's swim practice.  It was an ordinary day, but it felt really nice.

It's so much easier corralling two children with a second pair of hands.  Jer will be here long enough that I'm going to get all spoiled and used to being able to ask someone else to help or watch the kids really quickly while I pop out to the store for just a second.  It's so weird being able to leave the house on the spur of the moment!  Of course if he was home for good he'd be working during the day so I wouldn't have the extent of freedom that I've got right now, but I'm certainly going to take advantage of it while I can.

I suspect that once Jer's home for good there will be a bit more of an adjustment; these twelve days will be the longest he's been home in one stretch since Eden joined our family.  So around this time next year we'll be making the transition into having him back full-time again, and she'll start figuring out the role of a dad is a bit more than having an awesome person to talk to over the phone!  We may have a bit of trouble with jealousy on the childrens' part as they're used to having my full attention, but hopefully things will go smoothly overall.

It's quite a while before we really have to think about that though; I'll worry about that as we get closer to the time when he's here for more than a few days at a stretch.  Right now I just want to focus on him being here!

~Jess

In Which Jer Is Here And Everything Is Awesome

Jeremy's home!

He drove over 2,200 miles in two and a half days-- can you tell he wanted to be here now?  He got here around 1:00 in the afternoon, and went with me to go pick up Connor from school.  The little guy was so excited when he saw his daddy!  And Eden was super excited too when she came home from school to find his car in the driveway.  It's so great to have him here.

Jer and I have been in a relationship for around thirteen years now, and we were just kids when we started dating.  I think of us kind of like neighboring trees that, over time, grew into each other until they can't be separated anymore; I can't imagine a life without him.  So I always feel like something's missing when he's not around.  It's nice to feel complete again!

So we went to Eden's physical therapy, and then headed out for pizza-- the first pizza Jer's apparently had in a year and a half.  Needless to say, he enjoyed it.  He spent a year and a half renting a room out of someone else's house, and I don't think he felt comfortable with the idea of leaving leftovers in their fridge.  And while he likes it a lot, he doesn't like pizza enough to eat the whole thing in one sitting.  So he was pretty psyched about pizza here at home!

He's here for just under two weeks, and then I'm not sure when we'll see him again.  I'm sure the time he's here will just fly by, and all too soon he'll be headed out for his next phase of school.  But in the meantime, we're going to enjoy every second with him.

I'm so excited he's here!

~Jess

In Which Twice The BS Happens

Yesterday, Jeremy graduated from the first phase of his physician's assistant school!  He's got a second Bachelor of Science now, which I told him meant he now had double the BS, because I'm a supportive wife like that.

I'm so very, very proud of him and extremely happy that he's made it through!  Earning a four year degree in a year and a half is no easy feat.  Our separation has been just as difficult on him as it's been on me, and the military PA school is extremely challenging, but he really buckled down and did what he needed to do.

I wish I could have made it to his graduation ceremony; I'm glad that at least some of the family got to go.  He now has another year of school for his clinical rotations in California, at the end of which he'll have earned a Master's degree.  It will be tough to have him gone another year, but at least we're more than halfway through the separation now.  He's spending Christmas with us, which is so exciting!  We'll see him in just a couple of days.

Hooray for Jeremy!

~Jess

In Which I Am Very Tired

So Connor stayed up until around 2:30ish in the morning, which combined with yesterday turned me into a bit of a zombie.  He was crabby and clingy most of the day; his gums feel swollen in the back and I'm pretty sure cutting those last two six-year molars is what's keeping him awake.  Poor little guy-- cutting teeth is no fun.

My brain basically melted out my ears today; having two kids and doing this whole no sleep thing is a whole different ballgame from when it was just Connor and I could basically veg out on the couch with him any time he was having a bad day.  There was still dinner to be fixed and laundry and reading out loud to do and all the other little things that go into parenting more than one kid, and nobody else was going to do them if I didn't.  It's times like this that make me really admire truly single mothers; at least I know Jer will be finished with school in a year and I'll get the occasional chance to sleep in.

We still have a couple weeks before he's here for a visit, and I'm missing him more than ever-- and not just because I'll be getting more sleep.  Hopefully the days will just fly by and he'll be home soon!

~Jess

In Which Absolutely Nothing Happens

Today was a relatively quiet day; Connor and I went to his physical therapy, Eden did her after school math and science tutoring, walked home and then did homework.  Then she and I cooked dinner together, I read Connor a story and put him to bed, and Eden did her daily twenty minutes of reading time with me before using the iPad for a while and then heading to bed.  So I really don't have much to report!  Sometimes those quiet days are kind of nice.

We are gearing up towards Jeremy coming home to visit for a while, which is pretty exciting.  He'll have a couple of weeks between his class time and the beginning of his clinical rotations to be here before he has to head down to California.  We won't have any clue what his schedule will look like and how much we might see of him until he actually gets down there, which is a little frustrating.  Still, it will be really great to see him and we'll enjoy the time he's here!

~Jess

In Which We Find A Tree

Today the kiddos and I spent a leisurely morning together, and then after our respite care worker arrived Eden and I headed out to find ourselves a Christmas tree.  This will be her first Christmas home, and I wanted to do things right, so we headed out to one of the U-Cut places in town, grabbed a saw, a kneeling pad and a cart, and after a quick hay ride, trekked out into the lot to find ourselves a tree.

And we found a tree.  Boy howdy did we find a tree.

So we have twelve foot ceilings in our living room, and we needed something tall.  Eden fell in love with this gorgeous ten footer noble fir, which we both agreed was quite the best tree on the lot.  What I quickly discovered, however, as the hand saw bit into the trunk, was that the reason why this gorgeous tree was still standing so close to the beginning of the lot was that it was, to put it delicately, big boned.  It had a trunk that was probably eight inches thick, and I'm pretty sure had a heartwood of solid iron.

Half an hour later, I was drenched in sweat and had made it only about a third of the way through the trunk.  Eden was looking on in increasing concern and making helpful comments like "Mommy, you okay?  You face really red."  Finally after forty minutes or so of sawing away at this thing and getting nowhere I gave up and recruited one of the gentlemen who worked there, who took the tree down with a chainsaw in about forty seconds.  I admit I had a feeling of satisfaction when it keeled over, like the tree had been taunting me or something and had now gotten its just desserts.  I realize how petty and silly it is to want revenge on a tree, but logic has very little to do with many of my impulses.

Anyway, so we hauled it home and one of our neighbors was kind enough to help me get it through the door.  Unfortunately in the drama of getting this massive tree off the lot I'd forgotten to ask them to drill a hole in the bottom for our stand, which is one of the "pin" types often used for trees this size.  So our awesome neighbor came to the rescue again and we drilled our own hole.

So the tree is up now and it's really starting to feel like the holiday season in here.  The house smells wonderful.  But because the bottom of the tree wasn't cut straight across, while it's stable and isn't going anywhere it looks like our tree drank a bit too much eggnog and now has to lean against the wall for support.  This has the same effect that crooked picture frames have on me, and I'm convinced I will go slowly insane over the course of the month.  Oh well.  Eden had a blast, and Connor was enchanted the minute we strung the lights, so I'll be okay.  Given our eccentric family, it's not surprising we have a tree that's a bit eccentric too, right?

I have to go out and get another couple string of lights tomorrow, as four strings wouldn't cover it this year (told you this tree was big boned), and we need to string some more cranberries too, but we at least got the parts of the tree covered that need a ladder.  We'll save putting the ornaments on for when Jer gets home.  I was missing him a lot today; doing Christmas things inevitably makes me think about family, and it's just not the same without him here.

Also I bet he could have cut down the dang tree.

~Jess

In Which We Have A Happy Thanksgiving, And I Hope You Did Too

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I did the vast majority of my cooking yesterday, so today was all about relaxing.  No, seriously-- when my neighbor stopped by with a delicious pumpkin pie around noon, he caught me still in my pajamas.  I was dedicated to relaxing today.

So we watched a movie, and strung more cranberries, and played games, and just generally lazed around until our friend from church arrived and it was time to eat our American-Thai fusion Thanksgiving dinner.  The really nice thing about it was that it didn't make you super full, so then it was possible to eat way more dessert than normal.

We played a few rounds of Chicken Foot (a dominoes game that's a Texas staple and which we are bound and determined to introduce to the entire Pacific Northwest, mostly so we have other people to play against) and then called it a night.  All in all it was a lovely day.  Looking around the table, it was easy to see that I have a lot to be thankful for.

I spent the rest of the evening getting out Christmas stuff, since tomorrow we'll be setting up our decorations.   I can't believe it's that time already!

~Jess

In Which I Sort Of Explain

Hello, friends.  It's been a long, long time.

So it's been nearly a year since I started this whole Parenting-A-Teenager journey, and let me just say that adopting an older child is every bit as much an extreme sport as roller derby.  The last few months have been. . . intense.  We've had a lot going on around here, and shortly after I wrote my last post things exploded and it became evident that it would be best if I took a hiatus from the Internet entirely until it settled down around here a bit.  So I just sort of walked away from it, and I stopped checking my e-mail and Facebook and everything because everybody wanted to know why I wasn't blogging and I couldn't figure out how to answer that question without sharing way more information than would be appropriate or healthy for our girl.  Sorry about that, everyone.

After a few months of intensive counseling multiple times a week we've made some significant progress, and I'm feeling comfortable with the idea of starting to write about my family again. I want to make it clear that we have zero regrets about the choice we made to pursue Eden's adoption and we're still fully committed to her (and should hopefully be finalizing next month!).  We'll be continuing to help her grow and heal over the next few years as she forges on towards adulthood.  I won't be going into any more detail about the last few months to protect her privacy, but I'll just say that it's been an extremely difficult period for all parties involved and leave it at that.

So a quick update on the rest of the family:

Connor's doing wonderfully and is as adorable as ever.  The kid's been working in a walker and that was going well for a while, but he now seems to have lost interest in it so we're taking a break.  He's getting over a cold at the moment, and is currently snoring and snortling away like a little pug dog in his room.  He's on the mend and felt much better today though, so he spent a large portion of his time amusing himself by asking to snuggle with me and then blowing his nose on my shirt.  Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Jer's doing well at Physician's Assistant school and is nearly done with his classroom time.  He's been gone seventeen months now and I am so, so ready for him to be home.  Unfortunately he'll be stationed in California for his year of clinicals so I'll be continuing my sort-of single parenthood for a while yet, but we hope he'll be doing at least a few of his rotations up this way, so we should see a lot more of him.  I've been checking train schedules for the line that runs down the California cost, and we're making plans to have some fun adventures together.

So anyway, here I am again-- thanks for being patient with me.  We'll be returning to our regularly scheduled programming of daily blogging now.  Huzzah!

~Jess

In Which We Take It Easy

Today Jeremy and I celebrated our ninth anniversary.  It seems like only yesterday we were exchanging our vows!  We've visited some weird and wonderful places during our lives in those nine years, and while I haven't always enjoyed where we've been, at least the company has been lovely.  We'll see where the next nine years takes us!  I'm missing him a lot today.  We didn't really do anything this year, but we decided that next year we'll try and take a little trip together or something for our tenth anniversary, when Jer will hopefully be back home.

Today was the last day for some of our relatives to be in town, and we took things a bit easier so we could really focus on enjoying that time with them.  We're sad to see them go; we had a lovely time with them!  There was another reason for us to slow down a bit today too; Connor had three seizures.  I'm pretty convinced he's getting that cold, and it's throwing his system all out of whack. 

So we didn't cram in a whole lot today.  After we went to church we ate lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant, and then we took a trip down to the huge bead store in the area to check out their many, many wares.  I swear if that place was any bigger you'd need a compass to find your way out. 

After browsing for a while we returned to the house and spent the rest of the day relaxing.  I chatted with Jer while I watched the world's fattest squirrel stuff itself full of seeds fallen from the bird feeder.  It's actually too fat to make its way up the pole to the feeder now, which is pretty impressive.  I suspect the squirrel might be a she and pregnant-- it's about that season here.  I'm fine with her scavenging on the ground around the feeder, as long as she doesn't try and steal the eggs out of the chestnut-backed chickadee nest nearby.  I'm really looking forward to seeing some chickadee babies in a few weeks.

Looks like spring is finally really here!

~Jess