San Francisco

On Saturday, April 18th, we drove to San Francisco to show my niece, Erin, around. We made the mistake of not finding the best parking spot and ending up walking from Pier 15 to Pier 39 and then on to the Cannery and Ghiradelli Square. Oh we were so tired when we got there! Jake had bought baseball tickets to see the Giants play the Phillies and so we had to hop on a trolley and ride the metro system to get back to the opposite side of town. Nathan sqealed in delight when the trolley started and everyone on the car looked at him. I had several comments of "look how cute that little boy is" and the infamous question: "How can they tell a baby that age needs glasses?". I wish that we would have had 2 or 3 days to spend there, but alas, this is the second time in our marriage we've had to do San Francisco in a day! Remember the first time Kath? The oxygen bar... racing back to get on the ferry on time? Freezing in the morning and then by the evening wishing I hadn't brought a sweater to carry? That was such an awesome day!

We had fun at the baseball game and we all were fried. My nose is still peeling from a week and a half ago! Jake loved taking his son to his first professional baseball game and explaining to Ellie that she is going to be like Kayla and play softball. Jake patiently told Ellie all about the positions and how someday he hoped that Nathan would pitch for the Red Sox (its a long shot but like Ryan Shupe's song says "Dream Big"!).

What an amazing and fun day. We can't wait to take our next family vacation to Seattle in June!

Water Babies

Nathan and Ellie are both an Aquarius! We bought Nathan his first swimming suit (which drowns him and is size 6-9 months). I love that they make the suits that have a shirt with it too and that this year it is to cool thing to buy. Its great at hiding the g-tube and awesome at keeping the sunburns under control. We bought Ellie a regular swimming suit, but I also bought the cover because she wanted to be like Nathan and I love how modest it is.

On Friday afternoon while Grandma Ellinger was napping, we went back to the hotel to go swimming. Nathan LOVED splashing in the water. He would laugh and laugh every time he hit his hands to the water. Ellie thought it was great to go swimming in the "cold" tub and the hot tub. We need to take both of them swimming at the clubhouse more often!

Visiting Grandma Ellinger On April 17, 2009

Over Spring Break, Jake and I decided to go and visit Grandma Ellinger in Sacramento. It was a LONG car ride, but I'm grateful for the car dvd player. I'm not sure what Elisabeth sees in the movie "Bolt", but it kept her pretty occupied. We made a ton of potty stops on the way and even Ellie decided she'd rather hold it then have to stop at the side of the road to use the bathroom.

On Friday morning we went to see Grandma. It was so good to see her! She loved looking at the kid's scrapbook pages and hearing all about our adventures with Nathan. She asked lots of questions and was in such a happy mood.

The best part of the morning visit with her was that she was able to hold Nathan. He LOVED sitting on her lap and when he was given his favorite BYU blankie, he held it and fell asleep on Grandma's lap. I think she really enjoyed holding a baby and she was thrilled that Nathan was comfortable with her enough to fall asleep on her. That made our trip! We really wanted Grandma to meet Nathan and he was so sweet that morning with her.

Its easy to tell that Grandma is slowing down and that she isn't able to walk or function for herself. She does have some dementia, but she has a good long term memory. She remembered that we hadn't been there to see her in 3 year. (What can I say, its been a BUSY three years for us!) We spent the last 3 years helping mom when she was sick, going to graduate school, Jake getting his bachelor's degree, dealing with Mom's passing, buying her home, having Nathan... and then spending 15 months of surgeries, hospital stays, numerous doctor appointments... I think she understood but we should have been better.

We spent an hour and a half that morning with her and then went back for dinner that evening. The kids had a harder time in the evening as they were both extremely tired. We took Grandma for a walk around the grounds and then took her back to her room. She asked so many questions about Nathan's health and was truly concerned about him. She laughed at the jokes and loved hearing about the time that Ellie peed on the grass after getting her bike last summer. She truly loved being around and seeing her great grandchildren. We also went back for an hour on Saturday evening and left Elisabeth with Erin at the hotel. Both Jake and I wish that Grandma were closer. It was hard to visit her and have to leave her behind. I'm not even her blood grandchild and I was in tears for having to leave her.

Maybe it was because we watched mom pass away for a year, but it wasn't that weird or hard to be around Grandma. Elisabeth did well around her for the most part too. I'm not sure what our vacations will look like for the summer, but I'd like to go back again for a visit.

Preview of Our Trip to Northern California

"Mom, Are You Done Taking Pictures YET?"

Nathan's Cardiology Checkup

I have to say first that I LOVE Dr. Cowley. He seems to be the only doctor that hasn't come up with a list of additional problems for Nathan at every check up we go to!

Nathan's heart is doing wonderful. He does have a very soft murmur, however, Dr. Cowley feels that Nathan could very well make it to be a young teenager before he needs another heart surgery. Wouldn't that be awesome! We don't have to see cardiology for 1 WHOLE YEAR! For other heart moms, you know what a big deal this is. Its a sign of stability and life becoming a little more "normal" (whatever that word really means these days).

I'm sad to think though that due to Dr. Hawkin's illness (which we have been asked to give Dr. Hawkins privacy and time to deal with before blogging to the whole world about it), he won't be around at that time when Nathan needs another heart surgery. Dr. Cowley said that we were very fortunate to have him work on Nathan because of his skill. Dr. Cowley believes that it was Dr. Hawkin's magic who has helped make it possible for Nathan's heart to be doing so well despite his other "issues" we are dealing with.

Way to go Nathan!