A Sweet Surprise...Followed by a REALLY Rotten One.

Today LC received a package at Nana's house!

It was a memory card for our camera. Her dad had sent it to us as a surprise. He wanted to be sure we had enough storage to take as many pictures as we could during our visit. He is a thoughtful stinker, that one.

Our rotten surprise came from Boom Boom herself. She's been refusing to nap today and was super-pooped after her swim this afternoon. Unfortunately, she was too busy showing off her newfound babbling talents to allow sleep to intervene.

Auntie Whit graciously agreed to lay down with her, since Curtie was already snoozing.

We're awfully lucky she did.

She called me into the room where LC was and it looks like the seizing activity that took us into the doctor's office a few weeks ago returned and in full force. They'd become extremely subtle in the last few weeks...mostly eye rolling and 'zoning out'...and since her neurologist hadn't recommended any follow up examinations or appointments after her clean EEG, I was willing to consider that she'd developed a facial tic or was having a muscular response to acid reflux...

In the past few weeks we've nearly doubled her Prevacid dosage and I've eliminated ALL foods from her diet that might be acid-producing. But today they were back and more intense and closely spaced than I'd ever seen them. They also continued for more than a 30 minute period...something they've never done before. Luckily I got the most intense five minutes or so on video since Auntie Whit was so on the ball and I'll have that to take in to the doctor when we go.

So, I'm sorry to say as soon as this entry posts I'll be packing the car and making the 6 hour trip home this evening. Then I'll put a call in to her pediatrician in the morning and let her know we're headed to St. Louis Children's Hospital.

We'll keep you posted....

Vacation at Nana's: Day Three

Curtie and LC started their day in the kitchen...we find Curtie in here a lot, lately. His mom says he's having a growth spurt and he is DEFINITELY preoccupied with any prospect of munchies.

LC and Curtie shared their toys on the living room floor. LC likes Curtie's birthday trucks from GG Grace very much.

Here is Curtie standing big and tall. He's taking more and more steps lately. I think he'll be running around before they board the plane back to California.

Another example of Curtie's growing appetite...LC wanted Sesame Street. Curtie insisted on Bobby Flay. (He was making spare ribs).

Here's what happens when

Nana Cam is left alone with the children.

This is her interpretation of, "Let's get LC and Curtie ready to go swimming."

Lately, Whitney's been concerned with Curtie's reluctance to share with LC. I think this photograph is a testament to sharing being, at times, highly overrated.

After lunch, both LC and Curtie staged a nap boycott...so we called cousin Campbell and asked her to meet us at the pool.

I think she may have been expecting the call. She arrived with a fresh and FABULOUS patriotic manicure.

Campbell brought along her mom, Megan, and her Aunt Mercedes. Here is Mercedes, swimming with LC. (Ummm...LC's under that hat somewhere....)

Curtie loves swimming with his mom...

He's becoming quite a little pool monkey.

Megan held both girlies so I could get some snapshots. Campbell was born four days AFTER LC but is making up for lost time and packed on 5 more pounds than LC's packing. Her thighs are absolutely delicious.

Here's Campbell in her pretty sunhat from Grandma Nell.

And hanging out by the pool with her Aunt Mercedes.

LC was nice enough to come visit me in the shade where I was cowering from the sun. I always feel like a long lost Russian cousin or Easter European foreign exchange student around my tiny, tanned family...

Since Campbell and Curtie are in the "Independent Sitters" club, they enjoyed a little poolside picnic together...

LC took advantage of having the pool (and her Nana) all to herself and practiced some forward strokes and bubble blowing.

LC's having a glorious vacation and we'll have to find a way to maintain the Beach Bum lifestyle she's becoming accustomed to once we return home. We'll DEFINITELY need to invest in a few more bikinis.

Mellow Music Monday

Song: The Kite Song

Artist: Patty Griffin

Album: Impossible Dream

Song: Take It with Me

Artist: Tom Waits

Album: Mule Variations

Song: How Could I Ask for More

Artist: Cindy Morgan

Album: The Best So Far

daily gratitude

Doing Business at the Laptop...

Literally. She was working on a loud and dramatic diaper fill as she checked the day's emails. Quite the multi-tasker.

i am grateful lc and i were able to stay home this evening in the air conditioning while everyone else drove supper out to the dusty field. i'm thankful lc and curtie are able to spend time together every season and that i can be near him any time music plays from any source because his hips immediately respond and it's about the cutest thing i've ever seen.

Curtie Visit: Day Two

Every summer, Nana Cam pays us a huge favor and saves us a trip to the dog groomer. Her horse clippers come in very handy. This morning at dawn, Roobie and Barney had a beauty appointment in the backyard. They're both pretty laid back dogs and don't put up much of a fight. Roobie's usually grateful to be experiencing cool breezes again. Barney, on the other hand, is always emotionally devastated by the event. Poor L'il Samson. He's spent all day running from onlookers and hiding his home hairstyle in darkened rooms.

After lunch and naps, we went for a dip in the pool. GG Grace came into town to visit the pool along with us!

GG Grace was in charge of snuggling from the side...

...and Nana Cam was in charge of swirling in the pool!

Curtie liked floating with Nana...

...and has been around long enough to know that GG Grace is always good to go to for refreshments.

We're all congregating in western Kansas this week because harvest started today. Uncle Tim helped Grandpa Charlie cut wheat. Luckily, my driving record keeps me from being asked to fill any combine or grain truck openings, so I'm on dinner duty instead.

I served as resident cookie baker this year, which is always a very yummy smelling assignment. It's also one that LC likes to help with. She chose chocolate chip, monster cookies and rice krispies treats for this year's line up.

Here are Auntie Whit, Nana Cam and GG Grace loading up supper to take to the field. Note the dominant small, dark-skinned woman gene that runs in the family. Believe me. I stand out in the crowd.

Harvest has been known to bring out a very grumpy and aggressive nature in people.

This is Auntie Whit on assignment at the sandwich station.

LC was definitely missing her dad when it came time for her afternoon nap today, but otherwise she's enjoyed spending time with Curtie...she's pretty fascinated with all his 12-month skills...we'll see how many she picks up during their week together...

First Day with Curtie...

We're having a fun visit with Cousin Curtie! It was especially nice for LC, since she got to meet Uncle Tim for the first time! She hasn't cornered him yet, but something tells me Tim's going to come in very handy when LC starts experiencing daddy-nap withdrawal symptoms.

We can't believe how big Cousin Curtie is getting! He's taking steps on his own and is full of gummy grins.

LC was SO happy to see Grandpa Charlie again. She could sit on his lap all day if he let her. She offered to ride with him in his combine today, but we haven't received any phone calls inviting us to the field yet.

GG Grace and Grandpa Charlie came to visit us at Nana Cam's and they were COVERED in babies! Cousin Megan stopped by with Baby Campbell and it was QUITE a time. Campbell will be in the area this week, too, so we'll hopefully get lots of shots of the group together...

At the end of the day we finished with a bubble bath. Curtis doesn't completely trust handsy LC, as you can tell...he kept his business fully protected at all times...LC had to settle for the occasional goose.

Once he realized LC didn't pose much of a threat they had a nice swim in the tub.

Where's the Daily Boom Boom Report????

While the daily gratitude exercises are good ones for me, it's the daily LC updates that are usually the sought after pieces of information on the blog.

Are you starting to question the lack of detailed posts? The play by play medical retellings? The number of pictures that have lead more than a few of you to question whether I'm trying to assemble a photographic flip book of this child's infant and toddler years?

Well, it's really quite simple. Justin escaped us for a business trip to Memphis and robbed us of our camera.

Now, he's spending the weekend at his annual Country Stampede retreat (I had COUNTLESS invitations to attend, mind you. And as thrilling as live musical performances can be, on a 100 degree day I'm not leaving my air conditioned house to stand in the presence of anyone other than Jesus.)

and...once again...

He's taken the camera. Every year he returns with photographs of his stampede adventure...and every year there are a surprising number of bikini-clad audience members mixed in with random shots of country western singing celebrities...

but lc's blog is being HORRIBLY compromised.

Would you like to see LC's latest sign language progress? Anyone interested in a shot of her new-found ability to snatch Roobie and use the dog as a means of dragging herself across the floor? Who would like to see snapshots of LC as she seeks vengeance for a solid two weeks of toobie-pulling when Curtie rolls back into town?

If you, too, are feeling photographically neglected please join me in voicing your concern by emailing justinheigele@msn.com I suggest the subject line "Mean Daddy" as a method of announcing your association with our plight.

We thank you for your support.

daily gratitude...

i am grateful for the challenge of adopting a new perspective. i am thankful for the lessons i'm learning about looking for tiny wonderfuls. i'm thankful for the sharp discomfort i feel as i'm learning them, because it means my brain is reorganizing things and i just might keep this stuff. i am grateful to my lc for taking me out of my performance driven mentality and reinforcing the beauty held in the act of anticipation. Someone knew i'd be prone to overlook the building blocks of amazings and i'd one day find myself heartbroken at the accomplishments that wizzed by when i wasn't watching. i am grateful for the grace He showed in sending this child who holds me captivated by the tiniest signs that amazing is coming and for the way her grin reminds me that it's been here all along.

daily gratitude...

i am grateful that lc is about to spend lots of time with someone her age who doesn't completely tower over her in size and length and especially thankful that whitney has forgiven me in advance for the physical harm i'm sure lc will inflict on curtie during our visit. i am left speechless by the blessing of a pudge who constantly contorts her entire face into gummy grins and bathes my days in perpetual sunshine.

daily gratitude...

i am thankful lc isn't bothered by loud thunderstorms and seems to sleep better when the lightning is closest and the thunder at its most deafening. the wind blew hard enough to blow rain through our closed windows and doors, and the noise was tremendous so i am thankful we had leftover canine valium from our road trip to wyoming (barney is thankful too...).

Kisses for Curtie Countdown

Oh, we cannot wait! This evening LC and I began packing for a visit to see Cousin Curtie! We'll be away for a little more than a week, so there will be a break in Boom Boom action on the blog but it will be well worth it...
Brace yourself, Farmer Curtie. LC's been working on a very affectionate...VERY wet and sloppy form of greeting for you. Have your hankie ready.

daily gratitude...

i am thankful a roll of paper towels on the carpet can entertain lc for nearly 30 minutes (although it would have been great to know that an exersaucer and jumperoo ago)and i'm grateful she has a dad that is fun-loving enough to wait in line with 8 and 9 year old children so he can go down the pool's huge water slide...twice.

Meteorological Freakshow

We topped out in the 100's today and the heat was positively oppressive. When Justin got home I let him know the kid and I were headed to the swimming pool and he'd be welcome if he'd like to join us.

It's a testament to the heat that Justin was in his trunks and slathered in SPF 70 in less than 10 minutes flat. Normally, I would have attributed the unexpected swimming enthusiasm to LC's powers of influence over her dad's behavior, but I think he would have headed to the pool with or without us.

It was THAT hot.

We had enjoyed an hour and a half of cooling off in the wave pool and noticed a pretty rainbow east of us. "Hmmm...", Justin commented. "I wonder if they're getting rain?"

We decided to head home and get Pudge P.J.ed for the night. Just as we stepped out of the water to collect our things we were suddenly POUNDED by the strangest weather phenomenon I'd ever experienced.

It was bizarre. We went from hot oppressive sunshine to a dark sky pounding rain, hail and wind blowing STRAIGHT DOWN hard enough to knock you over. Just the kind of weather you want to be caught half naked in. We made it to the car completely drenched and covered in welts (except for LC, who was wide-eyed under our collection of towels). And, after driving through blinding rain for a few blocks, turned toward our neighborhood and realized it was completely dry and the sun was still shining like it had been when we left home a few hours before.

Justin said he thought we'd been in a microburst, but it wouldn't be the first time he spouted meteorological information I knew nothing about and I didn't give it much thought as I was still picking ice chunks from my swimsuit.

But, lo and behold, according to our 10:00 news weatherguy, that's exactly what happened.

QUITE an adventure...and reason enough to call Pizza Hut for supper to celebrate our fortunate survival.

daily gratitude...

i am thankful lc was able to go back to baby class today because she loves seeing her teachers and buddies even if she did flip them all off from her music class rowboat. i'm thankful i was raised on homegrown beef instead of grocery store fish and that justin is a good enough sport to do the home buying worksheets i make for him even though he knows they're only symptoms of second grade teacher withdrawal syndrome and not keys to unlocking our real estate investment potential.

Mellow Music Monday...

Some more links to mellow music that LC and I like to listen to as we're falling asleep. Or, in her case this evening, as we're NOT falling asleep...

Pictures link to listening previews...

Song: In a Tree

Artist: Priscilla Ahn

Album: In a Tree: Single

Song: Please Don't Leave Me in Winter

Artist: Catherine Feeny

Album: Catherine Feeny

Song: Been a Long Day

Artist: Rosi Golan

Album: The Drifter and the Gypsy

OH! And our site isn't monetized...so the links are just quick ways to listen to songs you want to taste test...that way I don't feel so alone in my musical compulsive shopping disorder...

Hi Efreewun

Iss lc.

i wuntid to tel you bowt my gampa fed.

i seed him yestirday.

i had to tel him hapy fodirz day.

i gess he is a fodir jest lik my dady.

i dint even no dat.

i lik dat gampa fed.

we is a good teem.

he is teecheeng me to reed a woch.

i am teecheeng him how to do peenk shooz.

sumtiems gampa fed is a steenkur lik my dad.

an he maeks me laf lik my dad too. he is a sily gie i fink.

an dis iss my dady.

mom finks i im smileeng becuz i wunt to be sweet.

i im ackchooly smileeng so she wil go awae wif dat camruh.

becuz snugeleeng dad is my job and bestist fing i do all day.

an if mom is dare too dat is cald intirupteeng ar pivissy.