Doctor In The House

Avery & nana Noma are always working on some project together. I don't know who wears the other one out fastest. From baking daddy's birthday cupcakes (last weekend), to painting, coloring, gardening, playdoughing, playing jewelry,* dressing up, riding horses (toys & fairs for now) and -- playing doctor. Avery's always giving us "booster shots" and listening to our heart & lungs, so nana whipped up a pair of scrubs & made it all the way through the Jantzen Beach mall to get a personalized name tag for her.

Another thing Avery likes to do at nana Noma's is watch videos (while doing her other tasks, of course). Her current favorite is "fish movie" aka Free Willy. As kids do, she's quite happy to watch it over, and over, and over, and over again. Apparently nana Noma has more tolerance for this than we do -- we can barely make it through one (and today we barely survived her Barney DVD she got from her cousins last year -- yikes Barney sucks, but she loves him). Anyway, while nana was watching the news yesterday, Avery opened an armoir she had never opened before and saw a TV in it (back corner of the family room). She immediately yelled "A new TV and new TV -- I can watch the fishy on this one!" It's amazing how a kid with ~1 minute attention span can be so single minded about some things.

Luckily, Jordan manages to sleep through alot of it, but not so much all the crashes and bangs.

*playing jewelry, for those of you who don't know, means taking nana Noma's box of neckaces and bracelets, and organizing them on a jewelry tree, until they are all in the right spot. She's also into organizing her animal toys in to the nice ones & the mean ones (usually the mean ones are bigger, even if it happens to be a deer). She has to have separate ziplocks for them so the mean ones don't eat the nice ones. Hmmmmmm, is it too early to start treating for OCD? I guess she's doomed considering her parents. . . .

Oh, I See

It was back to the doctor for Jordan today. It's been so long (10 days) I forgot until we got there how anxious I get taking her to a new & different doctor, especially one with "genetic" in his title. His specialty, actually, was Genetic Opthamology, and Jordan was a superstar. She let him shine lights in her eyes, pull on her eyelids, and only fussed a little with the eye drops.

The eyes can often lead to diagnoses of genetic or metabolic diseases, particularly if there is a deformation on the retina or the macula. And as an extra bonus, Jordan has one very small, perfectly centered cataract right in the center of each eye. We've had these evaluated by a Pediatric Opthamologist twice already, but we were hoping that the genetic opthamologist would be able to see a specific pattern in the cataracts and be able to link it to a disease or group of diseases.

On the vision front, Jordan's eyes are perfect. She should be able to see just fine, so we have hope that she's just delayed with her vision, as she is with everything else. There's always the possibility that she has cortical vision impairment (her brain doesn't process the things she sees properly), but at this point we have no way to evaluate that. Only time will tell.

But, as usual, he had nothing to add. He referred to himself as useless -- although that's being a bit tough. I guess we know some things she doesn't have (for now, they may not have developed yet because she is so young). His conclusion is that the cataracts are so general they could be from a genetic disease or a brain insult in utero. Same old same old.

Driving home from OHSU Devon & I got to see the new tram* being tried out. It wasn't even unwrapped, and there were 2 people riding on the top & side of it. I hope they had their OSHA safety gear, because they were WAYYYYY up there, and near all those wires, too. I bet the view of Portland was fantastic. I'm definitely going to take a ride when it gets up and going.

On the home front, we got a door! Yes, we actually got the front door. Hey, baby steps I guess. Someday. Perhaps I really do loose my mind every October when we start the remodelling thing. I just know that I'd get fired if I stalled on jobs and ignored my clients the way contractors do, and this is a contractor we actually like. It could be worse, I guess.

*This has been in the Portland news for a couple of years -- a tram linking "the hill" to the waterfront, where OHSU is expanding. The city is picking up the tab as part of its waterfront renewal project. The cost started at $15 million, but is now around $57 million. Yikes! That's some BAD estimating!!

Now Work It, Work It, Hey, No Sleeping

Jordan started her new PT today, and got quite a workout! Julie from PRIDE obviously knows her stuff after 22 years of pediatric PT, most of those years working with developmentally delayed kids. Every touch, movement, and sensation was part of the workout. She was worked so hard that she actually slept through the last 15 minutes or so, but that didn't slow Julie down one bit!

Hangin' out on the trampoline at baby group this morning.

This is a huge difference from our PT at the hospital. Her therapist there just didn't seem to know what to do with her, and PT was mostly a waste. But armed with a new crinkle ribbon, instructions to spend more more more time on the floor, and the addition of an oblong exercise ball, I'm sure she'll be sitting, then crawling in no time flat. Okay, but I can dream, can't I?

After the 9:00am baby group (it might as well have been 4:00am for me), Julie came by the house for our weekly PT appointment. It was nice to have it at home, despite the construction mess. It's easier for Devon to join us as well. Perhaps by next week we'll be able to take advantage of the carpet in the new play room.

Standing on my own two feet

Hey, you better not let go. Julie thinks it's great training to get kids to do things when they are feeling a bit insecure -- for example, like they're about to roll off a ball onto their head. The way Devon's hands shot up, he must have thought she was going down, too.

Just taking a little rest.

Playing with crinkle paper while getting a massage and practicing standing. Wow, that's a lot of things to be doing all at once.

Good posture, good posture, can't emphasize that enough. And the nice thing is that you can even have good posture while you're sleeping.

Hey, these shoulder stretches are disturbing my sleep, ease up a bit or I'll have to wake up.

Okay, I can sleep in this chair if you want me to.

And speaking of the playroom -- they managed to get the carpet started today, and should be done with it tomorrow. Avery, aka the penguin, decided to move in tonight! She started grabbing boxes from her toy shelves and dumping them right on the floor, ready to be played with. The cats are pretty intrigued and checking things out while meowing like hyenas.

Open Wide

Avery was a super star today at the dentist! She went off by herself & did it. I was in the room beside her, and she watched me in the chair for 10 minutes before they came for her, so I think that helped. She put on her shades, opened up, and let them do their cleaning & fluoride thing. Then she picked playdough out of the treasure chest. I thought it would be a wimpy mini-can, but it was a whole box of 4!!! That's way better than a sticker or pencil.

And this was the regular family dentist. Last year we went to the pediatric dentist all the way in Tigard, it was 5 minutes of screaming and kicking, literally. I know she's a year older, but I really wonder if it would have been the same if we had gone to the peds place again. It's too much like romper room there, I think, whereas a regular dentist office is quiet and serious.

And on that note, Avery's about had it with me: Last week was the opthamologist (all okay), this week was the dentist (all okay), and next week is her flu shot (she doesn't know about that yet, I'll wait until the night before to start preparing her for it). She was so good at her last shot Grandma Linda didn't even know she'd had it, and she was standing right there. She doesn't like drops in her eyes (or cream, or hair, or fingernails), but she's pretty amazing with the rest of it.

So today was election day. I'm thrilled that Washington state does it by mail now -- you get the ballot & a voter pamphlet a month or so before the election, then you can sit there, read all you want, and vote in the leisure of your own home. I guess it's more cost effective than finding people and places for polling stations, and hopefully more people will take time out of their busy schedules to vote if they can do it on their own time.

So, for all of you not in the Pacific northwest US or southern B.C. Canada, it's flooding out there. Cats & dogs, buckets, pouring, drenching, whatever you want to call it, it's flooding places in Clark County (where we live), and in the Chilliwack valley (where grandma Linda & grandpa Earl live). Luckily, both of our houses are high enough to avoid flooding. But boy is it wet out there, and has been for days. Our paint will hardly dry from the humidity. I haven't heard of power outtages, but I do know that phone lines are out all over, and salmon are swimming across flooded streets. That doesn't happen everyday, but it seems to happen ever year during a good rainy spell.

Here's a candle in preparation for our lights going out. Obviously I was just playing with the camera during dinner, but I liked this one, with a candle and a pendant light in the reflection.

Avery was also a big helper today. She went with me to buy carpet for the play room, and also to buy a new entry door handle. She insisted on carrying it out of Home Depot, even though it was about 2/3 as big as she was. And she carried it most of the way to the car, after making it to the checkout, telling everyone she passed how heavy it was and what a big girl she is. She is!

Birthdays Birthdays Everywhere!

Phew! We can hardly keep up! So here goes:

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to Ally & Jamie (2!)

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Devon & Bryan (33!)
Happy Birthday to you

Wow, that's alot of Rowe birthdays in 4 days (4 & 7 November).

You can hardly ask for more -- Chocolate Decadence ice cream pie & Wilcox Old Fashioned chocolate milk. Birthday boy Devon was in heaven.

Avery's been singing "Happy Birthday" for days now, but when it came down to ice cream pie & candles, she wouldn't utter a word. Typical.

In addition to not singing Happy Birthday, Avery also refused to pose for a picture with her ice cream pie.

No way! Jordan doesn't get ice cream in her tube!! Grandma Linda, Grandpa Earl, and Jordan take a small break from dessert to smile for the camera.

Happy Birthday to

Kim Jardine Eijpen, too

(also 4 November)

Busted

I tried to sneak out of the house this morning for a playdate with Kelly & Kate & Avery at Kids Club (check out the indoor play structure), but even though Devon was way down in Tigard (25 miles south), he still found out. I was supposed to stay home and finish painting the blue walls before Alan arrived ~1:00pm. But, I just wanted to get out of the house and visit a little, Avery was asking for me to come along, and Grandpa Earl volunteered to paint. I thought I was covered until Devon called and asked me to go look at the brand of door lock on the front door. Of course I wasn't there, so I couldn't, and therefore -- busted.

The girls were off to a bit of a slow start, sticking only to the slides at first. But eventually we convinced them to do a bit more exploring, and they did until they were so tired they were crying (at least Avery was, because Kate wouldn't go through the red tunnel with her). I was in my painting clothes in record time as we walked through the door, and working on the blue trim when Devon got home. We were all cleaned up and ready for Alan & the moulding by 1:00pm, but Alan was late by an hour, and didn't even have the moulding (it was left out in the rain all weekend, and boy did it rain this weekend!). So, I was off the hook, I guess.

My next task of the day was finding carpet for the room. I, personally, am not a fan of carpet, and I learned two things: There are ~562 shades of beige/tan/light brown, and it's all creepy, especially before it's installed. Oh well, like the little bit of carpet we put in downstairs, it's just temporary (until we move the playroom downstairs and convert that room into a dining room in a few years).

Avery is already getting some serious play out of the room, rolling around in the dust, laying on the 2 square feet of carpet samples I brought home, and dipping her fingers in the last dollops of paint waiting to be used for the fine line & final trim of the blue. Then, Avery pulled this one: Mommy, I want my play room to be purple, make it purple! Nope, not gonna happen, darlin', especially since she's always telling us that blue is her favorite color. I think she was just trying to spur me on. Oh, the mind of a 2-year-old.



Finally, the freezer is out in the new pantry, the furniture is back in position, and Alan will be back to keep working. Today, lights, tomorrow, moulding, door, and who knows what else. Getting close!

Mountain Haze, Freedom Blue, & Rafia Cream

Well, it finally happened. After 75+ gallons of paint & primer in this house, we finally bought a color we couldn't use. It was a nice color, but it wasn't the right color for the playroom. So, for the fourth time in 3 days, we headed over to Home Depot to buy our 11th gallon of paint (after 4 gallons of primer).

We got a much more appropriate color, and with lots of help we're almost done! Only one more coat of blue, and then it's time to clean up and get ready to start painting the moulding and the baseboards. Other items to finish up: doors, windows, and the carpet.

This was daddy's idea, and daddy's shirt. Nana Noma kept Avery occuppied for many hours this weekend, playing with Daisy, playing school, and making pre-birthday cupcakes & a card for daddy. But every second she was home she wanted in the paint. I'm glad he let her do this, though, because it gave us time to decide that it wasn't the color we thought it would be once on the wall.

It takes a big bubbly bath to get our little Picasso clean.

Yes, we're going with carpet so the sound of crashing toys on hardwood floors doesn't startle the seizures out of Jordan 200 times a day. Her sense of hearing and touch are definitely heightened because of her vision impairment, and to be honest, it's a little bit cruel with the hardwood floors, tile floors & tile countertops, and an often over-affectionate almost 3-year-old sister. Crash, bang, smooch!

I don't think Grandma Linda has let go of Jordan for more that a few minutes this whole weekend.

Grandpa Earl poses with Jordan after a rare chance to snuggle her to sleep (then lay her down in the spread eagle position, which she loved).

8 gallons of paint, 4 gallons of primer, just to start (we had to get 3 more gallons of paint along the way)

Devon got a head start and got the corners primed on Friday night.
Getting up to business -- starting with the ceiling.

The first color is done (ceiling & 2 walls), and Nana Noma is thrilled at how "light" it is.
Then came the second color for the other 2 walls. Keeping hydrated, Super Dad did these two walls by himself while I was making another paint run.
Mountain Hazing the entry way/pantry.And, of course, we had to buy paint to repair the great room, where they chopped a couple holes in the wall to make a pocket door.
Ahhh, back to "Iced Tea," a favorite color & drink!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Or as Avery would say: "Mr. Sunshine, come out now! I said NOW!"

We might get a little break on Thursday, but other than that it's going to be wet. Avery's rain boots and umbrella came just in time. She shared it with Devon and I yesterday -- I'm sure I looked funny, but Devon looked ridiculous all bent over trying to get under the umbrella with her, and continue to walk.

Both Devon and my mom have made comments such as "when it stops raining I'll do ______." My reply: "Oh, so in July then?" Actually its supposed to be a warmer & drier year, so we'll see. Of course that means we won't have much snow in the mountains, so it'll be yet another year of no skiing/snowboarding for me. Avery & Jordan were both born during great snow seasons, but I didn't make it out to the hill either of those years. The other years since we lived here have all been terrible snow seasons. Typical, eh?

It's been an unusual couple of days. Finally no appointments, no doctors, no running around catching up from being away. I took some naps, and relished in:

"Besides the noble art of getting things done there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials." -Lin Yutang, Chinese Scholar

I never would have been able to consider this, let alone accept it, before I became a parent. Even then it was a gradual transition that has grown over the last ~3 years. And even now it doesn't work all the time. Some days I'm my usual manic self, doing, doing, doing. That's part of my nature and I can't deny it or sweep it under the rug. But I realize now that it's okay to slow down, and leave the laundry unfolded & the photos unlabelled some days. It's okay that the house is a disaster, and there's no point in cleaning it all up -- even for guests -- when we're in the middle of renovations.

So to all you "aggressinators"* out there, it really is okay to just do nothing sometimes. I encourage it!

That said, I did get the chance to catch up on e-mails, upload my pictures from the last couple of weeks, take some naps, sort through all the mail from the last 2 weeks, and even buy paint. Yep, time to paint! 7 gallons, from light green, to cream, to blue, to iced tea & apple sauce for touch ups in the great room. And gallons of primer, too. Earl & Linda are headed down for a weeked of painting mania. And I love painting, so it's going to be a little insane in here. Devon got a head start tonight by priming the edges, trim, and corners. He never seems to get paint on his clothes, whereas I seem to get covered every time I touch a roller or brush. I have quite an array of painting clothes since moving into this house.

I for one, will be glad to get those rooms all finished up, if for no other reason than Mojave won't be able to go in there and meow like a cat with a car parked on his tail, and listen to the hollow echo of his voice for hours at a time. That is one weird cat, and he seems to grow weirder with each passing year. (Can you guess what he's doing right now?)

It's a good thing we'll have 2 grandmas to play & snuggle with the girls! And boy does Jordan need snuggles! She is soooooo crabby. My only guess is the topography I can feel on her lower gums -- teeth. Avery was completely asymptomatic with teething, and Jordan is so different, I really don't know if that's the problem or not. She seems to be soothed by having her gums rubbed, so it probably is a teething issue. Boy howdy does she get mad though when she's not being held. Devon put her down in her crib a while ago, and she woke up (very unusual, usually when she's asleep for the night, she's asleep). I heard crying for awhile, so I went to check on the situation. There was Jordan, doing tummy time on the bed next to Devon, screaming her lungs out, and there he was asleep, with earplugs in! Well, at least we are all good sleepers, once we're asleep. So I picked her up, gave her some Tylenol, and then rubbed Anbesol on her gums, which was devestating to her. I thought she was going to barf from it! But she didn't, and she fell asleep within a couple of minutes of being in my lap. So, yeah, it probably is the teeth.

*aggressinator = (Kelly's made up word for) the opposite of a procrastinator