Poor JJ - Sick, sick, and more sick

I have posted 3 sections. Be sure to check them all out!

He would attempt to crawl, and then just lay there - so sad :(
He was so done after puking up all his nutrients, he couldn't help but fall asleep wherever, as long as he was being held by Mom or Dad.


The video worked!!!! I'll try some others now...
but first, let me explain. The boys were messing around while I put JJ to bed and this is what I walked into. Where they have seen this, I don't know, but I think I should blame Dave (I told him to stop watching the Ultimate Fighting stuff with the kids around!! DAVE!!!! LOOK WHAT YOU STARTED!!!)

Birthday Party Madness!

JJ had his buddies, too!

I've Had Better...

So today was the pits. Now I've got the pukies. I thought that I might be at risk to catching whatever virus JJ had, but thought it would be a milder version (i.e. sans puking). Boy was I wrong. I went ahead with our day as planned even though I felt the sickness coming on mid-morning. The older boys were feeling fine, so I took them to swimming lessons only to lack the ability to shower them and help them change out of their suits. JJ was still miserable and attached to my hip all day long. So I left the boys to shower themselves in the disability-friendly shower (in other words, the shower head that came off for freedom of movement). I could hear them shrieking with joy in the shower as they were probably spraying each other in the face for entertainment. I let them have at it for about 5 minutes while I tried to regain my composure (at this point I was going downhill fast). I thought, "how am I going to get home like this; and what will I do if I have to spontaneously puke while driving?" Luckily, after I said a quick prayer, I was able to pull myself together get the boys to the car and even got fast food for dinner. We made it home, thankfully, with no drama; but as I was pulling into the driveway, I could sense that trouble was coming and coming fast! I think our bodies have an intuitive way of knowing when home and comfort are close because when I was younger and would hold my pee for much too long. I would be in control until I was in view of the toilet. Then I couldn't get my pants off fast enough. Well, this was in that same category. I couldn't get myself in the house fast enough before I was holding out my hands in a rush to do what the toilet was supposed to. I left all kids in the car, garage door closed, lights off, no communication whatsoever. I just left them solo to go take care of business. I could hear JJ whining in the car seat as I was hunched over the toilet. I have the best big boys because they stayed and took care of each other until I was ready to return. This reminds me of a similar story earlier this week. I have been nursing JJ a whole lot since he has been unable to eat normally the last few days. When he does nurse, he's been doing it for almost 15 minutes. His normal feeding duration is no more than 5 minutes. Well, one day while I was upstairs nursing, I heard Kaelan calling for help. Apparently he went "stinky" on the toilet and needed some help wiping. I couldn't come to his aid, so I figured he would just have to wait. When I finally made it downstairs both boys were playing as if nothing out of the ordinary took place. I asked Lathan what happened while I was gone and he said that Kaelan needed help on the toilet. I asked, "to go pee?" He said yes and nothing more. Then I asked, "did he go stinky, too?" For which he said "yep" again.
"Did Kaelan wipe?"
"Nope"
"Does he have stinky in his cueca [underwear in Portuguese], then?"
"No because I wiped him."
"You what?"
"I wiped him because he needed help and you were busy."
I then proceeded to tell him how AWESOME he is as a big brother. I did end up needing to replace his cueca since it was filled with skid marks, but the overall gesture was so endearing!


Anyway, enough of my ranting, here is the collection of pictures/videos I've accumulated over the last few weeks.


Easter morning Eating lunch in the car after our day at the museum

Kaelan's miserable swimming lesson (he's much better now); but Lathan having fun.


Easter egg hunt fun.

Museum fun.




More museum fun. We thought we would pull out the skis one last time -
in the front yard



Here is a moment of difficulty between two buddies. Pretty cute, though.

A Fun-filled Busy Week

I haven't posted for a while because of all the catching up I seem to failing at keeps me from having any down time. This week was Lathan's Spring Break. We started it off with a bang and had lots of fun for Easter. Dave was able to spend Easter with us (as you read in an earlier post) and we all LOVED it. The boys got some cool stuff in their Easter baskets (thanks to Paulina, our babysitter/grandma from Colombia, we were able to hit Target on our date last Friday night). We had a great time celebrating Easter with friends at our house, and were able to include a fun Easter Egg Hunt in the basement. On top of that, we had a fun cake to celebrate their youngest daughter's 1st birthday (exactly 3 weeks older than Jeydan). Lots of fun!

We had our swimming lessons on Monday, then took the opportunity to go to the Detroit Children's Museum on Tuesday with Lathan's friend Steven and his family. The museum itself was rather blah, but we all still had fun with our friends. We even got a little bonus tour of downtown detroit (a.k.a we were lost for a bit). We didn't get to see Dad for much of the week, but we were glad to have him all day for Kaelan's 3rd birthday. We went out to Red Robin on Thursday night to celebrate as a family. The boys loved their food, which always allows me to enjoy my evening so much more; but nothing could beat the balloons they were able to take home. Funny how my boys almost prefer playing with balloons and cardboard boxes to anything else. Friday morning we went to JC Penney's Portrait studio to take Kaelan's birthday photos. The boys did really well, but I was not very pleased with how cold our photographer was. I have another appointment for JJ and will do all I can to not to get her again. The photos turned out, though.

Friday mid-afternoon, the older boys were able to visit a nature center nearby with our good friend again and her kids (from Easter). They came back pooped and we still had a birthday party to go throw that evening. Kaelan whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiined the WHOLE way there and while we were setting up until he saw his friends. It was good thing for him that it was his birthday because I was ready to lose it in a not-so-delicate way if it hadn't been. The boys were happy and tired at the end of the day, to say the least. Daddy Dave took them home while I stayed to clean up and then relax a bit and take a shower at the gym. Weird that this is how I relax now, huh? I was SO tired because I had stayed up until 2:30 making preparations for the "ka-chow" cake (a reference to Lightning McQueen from the "Cars" movie) the night before and then last night again cleaning up puke from baby J's vomiting episodes. Speaking of which I have to run and do it again...

Will post more tomorrow with lots of pics and videos!

Here's just a teaser:


-griselda

Dave's Take

Alright. Just had a thought that comes to me periodically and wondered what you all thought about this. I don't want to be responsible for any inspiration or decisions that come from this sort of discussion, so with that being said.....

....I am reading a great book about the medical field and the changes that are starting to take place or have already taking place. It is so far a very interesting read. The book approached a subject today that is actually pretty close to home with Pete being a three-time-Iraq veteran. Did you know that the casualty numbers for the Iraq war is close to 30,000. And the death toll has just passed 4 thousand. To serve those injured there are approximately 150 full time surgeons with an additional 25o reservists. The orthopedic numbers are even worse. So, that puts every surgeon on the army roster with the potential to operate on 750 people. So, here are these young men and women, fighting for our country, and very few doctors to take care of them. Do you ever get the feeling like you should do more for your country than sit at home, make babies, make money, go to church, and all that jazz? This is about the fifth or sixth time I have had this thought. Freaks Griselda out. The thing is that regardless of your political views on the war, don't the men and women who fight for freedom deserve the best treatment from the best doctors? Who cares if the cause is right, our armed services people should get taken care of. Now I know that Griselda freaks out whenever I bring this up, at least in the past she has. This time not so much. She just said that it wasn't a good idea with young children. Surprised me. Now, I know that taking fancy pictures or building walmarts isn't a skill set that may be extremely useful to our deployed troops; however, I find myself in a very useful position due to the nature of my job. (sorry jeremy and dan) Anyway, I'll try to update the blog later on. Just had to share my thoughts in order to organize them. Thanks for your time.


Ok, fine. Quick update.

Jeydan is sick and puking. Puking always happens when I am on call for some reason. I must have done something really great in heaven and Griselda, not so great......just kidding. You all know that she is an angel being punished by marrying me.....

Kaelan is now three. He is still our midget. More Griselda's size than mine. Still as tough as nails though. He is definitely mostly mom with dad's selective hearing. He had a great birthday. He got his lightening mcqueen cake. Griselda really out did herself. You will all be REALLY impressed. Tasted even better than it looked. Loved all his gifts.

Lathan is the best older brother ever, when he isn't tackling, pushing, kicking, or punching his younger brother. It is a good thing that Kaelan is tough. Seriously, you should see how caring he can be to his younger brothers when he wants to. Pulls on your heart strings something fierce.

Griselda, beautiful like always. Juggling a hundred things at once. Really an amazing woman. Pretty good kisser too....ehhehehheh.....

Me, still in Detroit. People getting shot. People getting stabbed. I am about 72 hours away from returning to the suburbs for a month. Looking forward to the change with the occasional white trash customer instead of the gang banger. It is always nice to mix it up and have a little variety. Still planning on going back to California or Oregon when it is all over. Still a little early for job hunting but really fun to look and imagine what life will be like. Keeps you sane at 3 am on a saturday night/sunday morning.

Happy soon to be april first.....beware of the jokes.

Dave

Dave's Take

Sorry for the late post. This week has been a little hectic.

This Week

For the first time in 4 years, I was home all day on Easter. Griselda was SO happy. I asked for it off way in advance so Griselda had high hopes. Friday, one of my bosses said to me, "Are you on Sunday?" I replied,"No." To which he replied. "Ok, read up on component seperation technique for abdominal closure. Board the case for 7 am on sunday and you and the ICU resident can do it." I didn't understand at first. He knew that I wasn't on and yet he wanted me to board a case and come in at 7 am to do it? Needless to say, I was very confused. So, I called Griselda. Dreams shatterred. Crying. Telling me to tell my attending that this is messed up. Not a fun phone converstaion. I promise to do what I can to move the case or at least let my boss know that my wife wasn't happy. So, saturday I come in to round. My other boss said, "Why are you here? I thought that you were taking time off. Don't tell me you are coming in tomorrow to do a simple closure. Stay home. You are not coming in." Then the bosses talk. Plans are changed. Easter is saved. Griselda is happy. Mission accomplished.

I am almost done with my trauma rotation. All that I have to say is that there are some messed up people out there. All that crazy drug dealer / pimp / gang stuff you see in the movies happens. We had a few people come in after their house was firebombed. They jumped out the windows to avoid the fire and got sprayed with an AK 47. Now when's the last time that happended in your neighborhood. Crazy stuff.

Everyone is doing great. The two oldest boys are taking swim lessons. Both can swim like little fishies but struggle every once in a while with the whole lesson idea. Jey is getting more proficient at both crawling and walking. He can really move when he wants to. Griselda is still working out. She just figured out that since her job requires her to use a swim suit, we can write off her swim suit purposes as a business expense.

I am about to head back to my base hospital next week for one month. At the end of the month we head to california for some spring skiing and hopefully some beach time. When we get back I have two months at the detroit medical center which is a big hospital system based in the center of detroit. Basically that means two months of single parenthood for Griselda and lots of driving with little sleep for me.

Hope you are all doing well. Look forward to hearing from you.

Kaelan's favorite Line, "You funny!" Jey's newest noise, "mama." Lathan's got some great sayings that are completely inappropriate for a family blog due to their graphic nature and potential for being taken out of context. We work hard for our G rating and aim to keep it.

Dave

Dave's Take

Top of the morning to ya.....

For those of you who haven't heard our answering machine message, you need to call and hear it. It's great. It is completely spontaneous and definitely not staged. Let me set the mood for you:

3 boys versus 1 girl. one boy, a crying frustrated baby. 2 boys, tired, crabby, and in desperate need of a nap. 1 frustrated mother. In an act of desperation she hands the baby the phone thinking that the bright lights, beeps, and occasional talking voices would entertain the little one and provide the girl a few moments of rest. Little did she know that the baby was an electrical whiz kid. He quickly figured out how to reprogram the phone and his shouts of joy from his success can be heard on our message machine. It did require a lot of hard work so you may also hear a lot of heavy breathing. Just ignore it. The entertaining part is that the girl, aka Griselda, had no idea that the baby, aka Jeydan, had changed the machine until I brought it up a few hours later. So, that is the story of the answering machine message.

Griselda pretty much covered everything else of importance in her blog. We are all doing great. Enjoying life and our family. Hope that you are to.

Dave

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

We didn't post yesterday because we were having too much fun napping and then reading everyone else's posts! Love my Sunday reading! Nothing is better than being part of our friends' lives - even if through a blog. I used to LOVE my Hollywood gossip, but now I find that I don't need it because I have all the drama and fun I need right here at my fingertips (and on my sidebar)!

I've been having problems loading the videos, so when Google gets its act together I'll retry.

Well, the week went quite well with nothing crazy to speak of, really. Except that Jeydan IS NOW WALKING!!! He took his first steps last Wednesday and is getting more ambitious each day. I only have a couple of videos of it, but you can bet there are many more to come.



Dave was hardly home, but he got the WHOLE WEEKEND off!!! That was huge. We took the opportunity to go big. The boys went skiing for probably the last time this season, here in Michigan anyway (we are going to Lake Tahoe in April where we plan to get some spring skiing in for a final blowout - yay!).

While the boys were there, I took Baby J and headed to the gym for some salon time. They were having a promotion where you could receive a free haircut with a color service; so I went for it. I've always known that my hair has a particular trait, or sensitivity rather, to the sun, or bleach-like chemicals. But I think nothing of it, usually. I just become "blonde" (blonde for a Gonzalez, that is) during the summer when I spend time outside. Well, apparently I need to remind the stylists that I go to that they need to keep a close eye on the color change they are making. She did a great job, but the color is much too blonde!! I deserve it because I told her that when I get highlights I usually ask for SUBTLE because I don't like dealing with roots and since I'm cheap, I don't want to go back for many months, or even years for a touch-up. This time I told her to not be so subtle, but not crazy. I knew I was in for trouble when I asked her what she was putting in my hair while my head was back in the tub. She said it was toner to make the blonde not so white, but more golden. It's really not all that dramatic. It's not like I'm platinum. To put it into perspective, Dave didn't really notice a whole lot of difference right away (I don't know if that's saying much, though); however, it is definitely different than before.

Then we headed up an hour north to attend our friend's baby's 1st birthday party. It was lots of fun, but the boys were pretty pooped already after their morning of skiing. We loved visiting, but I was barely holding on to my consciousness by the time we got home (and I was driving - yikes!).

This is the boys' favorite post-bath activity. What rock stars!

Dave's Take

OK, so if you read Griselda's blog you know that I have been gone a lot recently. Evidently from Griselda's pictures the testosterone level in this house has plummeted. Rest assured that we are going to be watching basketball, prize fighting, UFC, WWF, and participating in any other testosterone-increasing activity imaginable; including, but not limited to, flexing in front of the mirror, chest pounding, and the usual Skeehan boy stuff.

Anyway, we are doing surprisingly well. I had some great experiences on trauma. Neighborhood still sucks but thanks to some gang interaction, crazy girlfriends and a healthy drug scene, there are still some great trauma cases coming through my hospital.

We are still searching for jobs all across the west. Still a little bit on the early side but we are starting to get a good idea of what is going to be available to us next year.

Jeydan is crawling. He is not excited about it either. He is the first Skeehan boy to crawl in his generation. I get the feeling that he is going to always be different. He is such a happy baby always smiling. A lot more content with being by himself; however, he would much rather be permanently attached to Griselda's hip if possible.

Kaelan is actually learning how to speak. He has always been able to speak but he has finally reached the point where his vocabulary is sky rocketing. He is perpetually whining whenever he speaks which makes it VERY hard to understand him. Griselda has started to talk like he does whenever he starts whining to her. Looks like a bunch of three year olds mimicking each other. Hard to believe that one of them is actually the mother. Griselda thinks that it is great. Kaelan, not such a fan. Oh, and our midget is also starting to grow again. He may make it over 5 feet after all.

Lathan is Lathan. Smarter than smarter. Helpful. And the root of all troubles from the younger half of the Skeehan family. He is the godfather in our house. Nothing happens with Kaelan and Jeydan without coming through Lathan. Kaelan is the muscle. He will tackle whoever Lathan tells him to. Very entertaining when a midget tries to go medieval on your leg. Heaven help the innocent boys who tackle the Skeehan clan.

Griselda is amazing. Takes care of the kids like you wouldn't believe. I vaguely remember what she looks like. I just remember that she is crazy beautiful. What a hottie.

Like I said. Doing great. Still alive. Held a beating heart in my hand last night. Ever tried to sew into a beating heart? Not the easiest thing in the world. Still pretty geeked about the whole thing.

Look forward to hearing from everyone.

Dave

Separation Anxiety 101

OK. So I anticipated that this month would be a difficult one where I wouldn't see much of Dave. I expected the worst, and have not been disappointed. I've been coping rather well, though - this week anyway. It is only week one officially, so I may be getting ahead of myself. The week started off with a fun Sunday dinner at our good friend's house (no dishes to neglect at my house!). Then we had a family night dinner at another good friend's house, and our home teacher (again, no dishes!). We had a fun lesson that I brought and yummy treats afterward. Tuesday another friend of mine had a mini baby shower that was really a girls night out. We hit Buca di Beppo's and I left the boys with our babysitter. It was lots of fun.

This was our centerpiece!
So as you can tell, my week was rather cush on the front end. Then Wednesday I had to pull myself together and get a decent dinner for the boys. We went to the gym in the afternoon because the boys have a class (but it was canceled due to a snow storm) and so I was dreading having to get dinner together and ready in a hurry to keep the boys from going to bed super late. I came home to find that Dave had tirelessly worked over the stove to create a FABULOUS meal made up of pork chops, brown rice, salad, and delicious SF sourdough bread. What a guy! The worst part was that we got home too late for him to join us at the dinner table. He made us our delicious dinner and then took off to go back to work! He wins husband of the millennium in my book. So now by Thursday I haven't done one dinner! Can't say I was in a hurry to change that, so at the boys' request, I just cooked up some potstickers from Costco. I cannot say that I will be winning any mother-of-the-year awards myself. I can say that I've kept a cleaner-than-usual kitchen as of late (No doubt directly related to the frequency of use). To my credit, though, I did make a hearty steak dinner that had the boys eating as much steak as Daddy on Saturday (it's only worth the effort when we are all together).

As far as the boys are concerned. They have been asking quite frequently, "is Daddy coming home tonight?" I have the same response each time. "Nope, not tonight, but maybe tomorrow." They have suffered on both ends from his absence (mostly superficial, of course). I find that the less I have a mature adult to lead me through this life, the more I lose my own maturity. I documented an evening of silliness (as seen below) as we were all stalling in getting our bath routine rolling. It sometimes becomes apparent to me that I also need adult supervision.

Can you see Dave? He's in the pic...
just on the phone. He even said "cheese."

Look at the height on that pony tail!


J hit a big milestone this week... HE CRAWLS!!! Although he still is so very reluctant to use the resources he's been blessed with (his hands and knees, that is), he will do it if left with no other option. I know, I know, he is 10 months and just starting to crawl? Understand that this is my first baby to crawl, so this is huge for me. I can now say that I have a developmentally normal child! He would much rather walk, or shuffle I mean (I think he sneaks steps in when we're not looking). He looks awkward crawling, but he crawls darn it! He deserves props for even trying.

In this video, you can see that he is whining about having to crawl. He really would rather not; and every day since this day, he has to relearn the skill, fumbling and whining a incessantly before he finds furniture to stand and use for shuffling.

This week was a fun one, but noticeably less exciting than the previous week. I think I suffered from post-birthday depression because I had such an awesome birthday week. Now I feel guilty eating too many sweets, going out to eat, or asking Dave for any special favors. Also, he had a very lax schedule, relatively speaking. He really did such a great job watching the boys, doing many extra chores, and bringing home lots of fun treats to eat. Now I will be lucky to see Dave a couple times a week. I will be taking this opportunity to get my "me time" by going to the gym. Hopefully I can report at the end of the month that I am in rockin' shape.

J was having diaper rash issues, so Dave thought he would let him air out a bit.

I registered for a big air contest that was supposed to take place on the 29th. I was fully intending to participate, but didn't because I thought the kids would be miserable and then that afternoon Lathan said he didn't want me to do it (he said he was worried). A helmet was required, so Dave scrounged through our stuff and found my old helmet that Lathan and J are sporting here. Besides, Dave and I thought better of it, thinking that I should probably practice more than a couple of runs before I start hucking myself in a contest (my tail-bone still hurts from before, too).


This is the boys in their "handsome shirts." Basically any collared shirt with another shirt layered underneath for warmth is what they term "handsome."


The highlight again for the week was going skiing at one of our local resorts. This time I was able to get a few videos of Kaelan. The boys are loving it. It sure doesn't hurt that every time we've gone it's been beautiful weather (after miserable mid-weeks that makes for great snow).

This is Lathan going for broke again here.


Here is the first in a succession of videos I attempted to get of Kaelan. The kid is a maniac! He has no fear of speed, which gives me great anxiety (evident from the video clips). They are in order, so it's pretty self-explanatory.


I was hoping the flatter portion of this slope would ease my anxiety. It did, so I was able to video a decent amount this time around.


We survived this one, but I wasn't expecting him to expect me to catch him going full throttle.


Finally, I think he's understanding moderate speed here.

Dave's Take

So here's the situation....
Imagine going to work one day, in a building that is 6 floors high, covers a whole city block, and you are the vice president having never worked there before. That is EXACTLY what I am doing. I just started my Trauma month at the busiest trauma center in the city of Detroit. I am the senior resident on service and have basically never been here before. In spite of that, I am left here by myself, to discover by trial and error where stuff is, what my role is, and what I am supposed to do. The great news is that I have junior residents underneath me. The bad news is that they are less experienced then I am. They have no security clearance, i.e. identification badges. The combination couldn't be any sweeter.

Now, enough complaining. Hopefully this is a great month for our family. I am on call eight nights over 31 days with 4 days off. I have at least a half an hour commute each way into the rougher area of town. Feels pretty good to be driving passing the homies with my shaved white head. My motto is one that I have taken from a famous john travolta movie, "just staying alive. staying alive." No really, I am done.

My family is doing great. Our kids are awesome. Lathan is a great skier who is going to love the big mountain skiing. Kaelan is more along the lines of our streaking bullet. Getting a lot better but man does he like to fly. He has to be as fast as, if not faster than, his brother. Baby J is furniture shuffling with the best of them. We thought about opening some furniture shuffling races. If he weren't SO fat he may have had a chance. Anyway, sorry to be so brief. I stole Griselda's thunder last week so figure that I would let her fingers do the talking.

Dave

This is the video-happy post. Here are some of our favorites.


Dave loves story time. J is beginning to love it, too!


Lathan was loving the ski adventure this time around.


Kaelan was so funny all day long. This is a precious apres-ski moment.


I don't know what drove Lathan to do this, but it was hilarious. I would like to say that he gets it from Dave?


On our way home from skiing, we all deserved a treat. I have never seen an Orange Julius place in the midwest until I visited the ski area here, so we took this opportunity to indulge. I thought I'd bring back a souvenir for Dave, too; here is Dave paying it forward to J. He LOVED it.

OK, OK. I seem to find myself way too tired to post these past few nights. In an effort to compromise, I'm going to post some of the photos sans captions. Dave did a great job with his explanation of our week, so I will leave it at that. Also, I tried to upload some of our awesome videos of the week, but Blogger was having issues. I'll try again tomorrow if time allows.


This is our babysitter, Melissa, and how we found her when we walked upstairs. She so kindly sat here for 20 min (until we got home) so that J would stay asleep. What a saint she is.

Dave's Take

Well, the quote of the week. Lathan was missing a sock. So, naturally being the kind and loving father that I am, I told him that I ate it and that it was lost forever. He stared at me in absolute disbelief. While I had him distracted I stole the other one right off of his foot. He looks at me and I quickly tell him that I am the sock monster, much like the cookie monster but instead of eating cookies I eat socks. He then starts to say, "well, then I am the cookie monster.....frrrrpppp ( that was Lathan foofering, a.k.a. farting)." I ask him," Did you just foofer?" To which he responds, "Yep, I am the foofer monster!" Gotta love him.

So, another fun filled week with Griselda's birthday to close the week out. Pretty solid.

Jeydan
I know that I say it every week but he keeps getting closer and closer to walking. Shuffles like a 90 year old with a walk late to a bingo gig. Loves to eat. Great at saying NO. Ok, he isn't really talking but he definitely shakes his head when he is not interested and grunts like a little pig when he is interested. He also has this clapping thing and hand shaking thing that he does when he really likes something. Still fat as ever.

Kaelan
Our little bruiser. Still takes all that Lathan can dish out and keeps going. Loved skiing again. Must have been quite a sight seeing Griselda running behind this blue jump suited kid trying to hold on to his ski learning leashes. Probably looks pretty similar to when she used to try to take Rio for a walk and he saw a squirel or something. Controlled caosis. Anyway, Griselda says that he is really getting good. Next year we are hoping to ditch the magic carpet and upgrade to the chairlifts. Fingers crossed.

Lathan
Talk about a skier. He still has his tips tied but this kid can fly. He has that blond hair flying behind him as he sweeps down the slopes weaving in and out of people giving them the courtesy nod and wink if they happen to be ladies. A smooth operator. Definitely has the bug as he told Griselda that he wants to go skiing everyday. Sounds perfect as long as his lift ticket is free.....

Griselda
Had a great 22nd birthweek. Kind of a bummer because our fast sunday fell on her birthday. No special breakfast in bed and all that. She did get released from her calling as young women's president which was probably the best present God could have given her at this time. She is in for a rough couple of months as I finish out my 4th year. Anyway, we closed out her birthday by eating chicken tacos on homemade tortillas, shirley temples, and soapapillas while listening to the Gypsy Kings. A solid ending indeed. She had a couple of girl night outs this last week and then had a saturday out with a friend, her children, Lathan, and Kaelan at a local ski hill. They had a blast. Has got Griselda looking into a pair of skis.

Dave
Same old same old. Lots of hours. Getting ready for a bad few months as I do 3 out of 4 months down in Detroit for Trauma, Hepatobiliary, and Burn. So, fun rotations at good spots with hours, unfortunately, that aren't very family friendly. Hopefully we can make it through all in one piece. Still shopping for jobs, looking up and down the west coast, but running into a lot of the "its a little early for you, talk to us in 6 months or so." Well, it was worth a shot. Anyway, doing well. Had to bike to work for a couple of days last week because the car was in the shop. It wasn't too bad on Thursday morning. The temperature is 10 degrees and there is ice on the road that you can see before you hit it, so I was able to avoid all ice patches. Friday morning I wasn't so lucky. I opened the garage door to find 2 inches of fresh snow and still 10 degrees. So, I have to ride in the snow, trying to avoid the ice which I can't see anymore because of the snow. To top it off I switched out my pedals to clip-in pedals 6 months ago which are near impossible to get out of while sliding on ice. That definitely had me on edge. Anyway, I survived. Made it to work ok. Prayed. By the time I got off work all the snow and ice had melted and it was now a comfortable 31 degrees. Gotta love the power of pray.

Hope you are all doing fine.

By the way, I also got released from my calling as 1st counsler in the EQ. We are a pretty responsibility free household right now. We will seen how long it stays that way....

Dave

I will leave the pics for Griselda.

A Fabulous Birthday!

Well, we all joined in celebrating my birthday today by participating in such treats as taking a nap, and having a delicious dinner and special dessert. So much fun we had that we are all too tired to stay up and write our usual post. Check back tomorrow (night) for the update. Thanks to you all who sent your greetings my way! Love the love!

Until tomorrow...

-griselda

The Beginning of a Special Week

I thought I would mention one last thing. I thought it appropriate to explain the song choice currently playing on the blog (if you have sound, that is). This is officially my birthday week. I don't say this to toot my own horn, rather to show gratitude to the woman who I desire to become - my own mama. I love this song to "Mama." Although it doesn't completely apply to me or my mom, it still is a heartfelt tribute.

My mama made it all possible for me and went through motherhood with such grace. It all began this week thirty-something years ago (I am now at the age that I don't disclose). Be sure to listen to the song all the way through once before you judge! Enjoy!!!

-griselda

Sunday Bonus!

So I thought I would be on top of things and begin my post yesterday in order to get it done before midnight tonight; but Blogger puts the time on the post from when you begin. Since Dave started his today, his is posted as more recent than mine. So be sure to look below his post to see all the cool photos and videos from the week.

I thought I would include a couple of videos that took place today, too! Just some stuff from home.

Dave's Take

So, church was canceled today. Evidently a bunch of Big Mormon Wagons traveling at high speeds because they are late on an inch and a half of ice over the road is a bad idea. So we are watching Mouth of Babes, the movie that I star in and am even on the menu screen, to pass the time and do something somewhat churchy. Anyway, to focus on the week.

Jeydan is getting really close to walking. I know that I sound like a broken record, but this time I mean it. The only problem is that he is a flopper. He leans the direction that he wants to go and if he knows that there is someone there to catch him, he flops. It is really funny to see. You just have to be really quick with your hands otherwise it is 25 + pounds of flopping baby hitting the deck face first. He is a lot more adept at couch to chair to table transfers now but just not ready for the first step. Soon. J has his new favorite noise, we call it the "Hissing Cobra."

Kaelan, is our little dare devil skier. He went skiing again on Friday with Lathan and one of his friends. Griselda found a resort that was about 40 minutes away with a "magic carpet" and free to kids under five. He loves his little blue snow suit and tries to wear it whenever he has to go outside no matter what the occasion. He is also starting to get a little rebellious. Griselda handles it quite differently, and better I might add, then I do. So, needless to say, he can definitely push buttons when he wants to.

Lathan is right there with the rebellious attitude. He prefers the silent treatment with the pout as opposed to Kaelan's screaming. I will take the silent treatment any day of the week. He is still counting like crazy and amazes me with his dramatic responses to whatever situation we encounter. His friend Fisher had a birthday party yesterday at the local bowling alley. Imagine 12 kids ages 4-5 carrying a bunch of heavy round bowling balls, in slick shoes, on a slick floor. It made for a great party. Kids dropping, throwing, launching, rolling balls everywhere and occasionally they would go down the lane and take out a few pins. Lathan had to have a ball with finger holes and would only bowl with his fingers in the holes. As soon as he threw/rolled the ball he would run back to look at the score board. I couldn't figure out why until I started to watch the score board. It turns out that after each roll a video would come on the score board showing someone mess up unless you got the strike. So Lathan loved the videos and couldn't stand the idea of missing any skateboarders falling, baseball players striking out, or actual cartoon bowling pins jumping out of the way of the ball. Quite entertaining.

Griselda, has now officially gone snow boarding 2 times in the last week. She loves getting back on the snow. Doesn't understand why things aren't the same but still goes for the 15 foot half pipe or larger kickers / gap jumps. She went yesterday and kept saying how sore her bottom and hip flexors were going to be. She loves it still. Is always playing around with the idea of a come back. I think she has the Michael Jordan complex and maybe will do a few contests in the future.

Me, I am just working. Sending out alot of CV's and talking with a few recruiters. So far a lot of promising ads with CVs submitted but no official talks or anything yet. It is definitely exciting to be at this phase of my career. We are definitely looking to the west. (NOT Arizona though. I told Griselda that it would be a cold day in Arizona, I mean, Hell before we moved to Arizona to live. No offense to my Arizona friends) Hope that everyone had a great Valentine's Day. There is a candy maker in Clinton Township where we live that makes chocolate covered strawberries every year. They were great. Definitely better than flowers. Thanks Fernando and Lucy for the PF Chang's card. It was great.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Dave

Another Fun Week in the Snow

We had another awesome week. We were able to crank out 33 valentines for Lathan's Valentine's Day celebration between our family night activity and the next night. We needed to get all of the cards delivered to the school by Wednesday so we were feeling the pressure. We actually made the deadline with a little help from a late night push. The boys had a good week. Besides munching on a bunch of sweets everyday, we were able to join Lathan in opening all of his Valentine cards. They really got a kick out of the cards with Batman or Spiderman. Dave and I had the opportunity to go out on Valentine's Day to celebrate the occassion. One of the young women didn't have school on Friday, either, so she watched the boys while we enjoyed a dinner at PF Chang's China Bistro. We REALLY enjoyed it because we had a gift certificate from my brother that covered the whole dinner and dessert. Thanks Dito!!! We had enough food leftover for the following night, too. Two for one!


On Thursday night, we found that the Jeep was not responding to any of our keys. It's not that the car doesn't start, but that the key won't engage enough in the keyhole enough to even turn on the battery. Strange. Once it does engage, it's fine. A weird quirk we need to take care of sooner than later. That put Daddy on the bike for work. It was cute to watch him go, but I'm sure he felt otherwise as he gingerly rode on the snow with clip-on pedals.

While Dave was busting his rear to get to and from work and we didn't have school to worry about, we took the opportunity to go skiing with Lathan's best bud, Steven. I was so good about bringing all the equipment and lunches, etc; but I was a fool and forgot to bring the baby backpack for JJ. So Sheila and I were juggling J between the both of us while the other took the boys up the "magic carpet" and then ran back down with them. Needless to say, with all the chaos of childcare, we did not last long. The boys took 3 runs, I think. They were hungry and tired after all of our shuffling. I really need to get a sled to get the boys to and from the ski run/magic carpet. They really do NOT enjoy walking in ski boots. I don't blame them. I'm sure we are quite the spectacle with all of the gear being carried along with the boys, or the boys trailing us with their relentless whining.



I didn't get any video or pics of the boys in the snow because of the crazy circumstances we faced. I did get some, though (in the lodge).

Saturday Dave was an angel again and let me go snowboarding with the youth from church and without the boys. We went to a place called Mt. Brighton. I wasn't as impressed with this resort. Alpine Valley is definitely my favorite local place so far. I hope to go there with the boys Saturday again (if the snow is decent). I took a different snowboard this time and found it was a little better for small mountain riding. They did have a "halfpipe" that had dirt scattered throughout the walls and had no vert left. They also had a terrain park with rail slides all the down (not really my thing) and then a BIG kicker (even by my standards) at the bottom adjacent to a really small one. The small one was sorta lame, so I went for the big one and found myself saying a couple of prayers before and after the jump. I survived and landed a bunch, but there were two times that I landed on my feet only to slide out and land on my rear end. I am a little achy throughout my entire rear section today. I'd like to say that most of it is from stomping my landings and using those quads that I've let go over the years; but I think we all know the bitter reality is that I'm getting old and can't take the hits on my backside that I used to.

Dave was able to have some fun with the boys bowling while I was out shredding. I had a blast, but it is never the same without the family. I really wanted to be together to share the experience.

Today we had another snow day for church, but this time it was the ice that kept us from attending. There was supposedly 1.5 inches of ICE on the ground after last nights freezing rain/sleet. I can't verify because I haven't ventured outside at all today (gladly, too). I can't imagine what the snow is like on the slopes now. That's why I only have tentative plans for Saturday.

We hope to hear from you! Thanks Heather, Judy, and Kierstin for all your comments. I love to hear from all of you!

-griselda