It only takes a second!

Friday evening Henry fell off the kitchen counter and fractured his skull. I feel like a terrible mother, and so so guilty. I knew he shouldn't be up there, but he is such a crab when I set him on the ground to get anything done. I'd gotten in the habit of setting him on the counter right in front of me when I'm working on something in the kitchen. Friday had been a long day. I got home from work late, Jason didn't feel well, the other kids were watching TV and the kitchen was a mess. I just wanted to pick up a bit so that I could get dinner started.

I set him on the counter and turned my back for a second to throw something in the trash. In that second I heard aloud THUD. I turned around and found Henry laying flat on his back. I picked him up and tried to sooth him. He almost immediately vomited. A friends daughter had a skull injury earlier this summer and I learned from her that vomiting was a very bad sign.

I took Henry to the ER and after an hour was finally seen by a doctor. The doctor had told me that I should just go home and "observe" him for 24 hours. I insisted that something wasn't right and I wanted testing. She relented and ordered a CT scan. After another hour and half we finally had the test and knew he had a skull fracture. Thankfully the skull hadn't moved and it appeared he was fine, but the decision was made to transport Henry to Oakland Children's Hospital via ambulance for further evaluation.

Oakland Children's Hospital ER was amazing! We immediately had several doctors, nurses, and surgeons evaluating Henry. We were admitted for overnight observation. It was the longest night of my life, and a very trying day, but in the end it was determined that Henry was fine. Because the skull did not move there was no brain injury, bleeding or swelling. The fracture in itself isn't dangerous. We now have to watch him and try to prevent him from further injuring the skull for at least a month. After that time he should be good as new, as if nothing happened to him.

Henry Eating Ice Cream

The last night we were in Santa Cruz we treated ourselves to Marianne's Ice Cream. We had heard that it was a locals favorite and not to be missed. While enjoying our ice cream we all remarked at Henry's facial expressions. Whenever he eats anything that is cold or sweet (or both) he makes the most awful face like we are torturing him. Then he opens his mouth and wants more.

Pictures from Santa Cruz

The opinons about Santa Cruz were unanimous. The best part of the trip was "playing with our cousins" or "spending time with the family". The 2nd best part was "going to the beach"! We had a great time in Santa Cruz and hope we can go back in a year or two.

Santa Cruz Beach House!

We are in Santa Cruz! The whole family!

This year Jason and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and my parents will celebrate their 45th! Earlier in the year my mom and I were talking about how to celebrate and we thought a family vacation was in order. In previous years we've had wonderful trips to Hawaii, but that just wasn't in the cards this year. Finances are tight with the addition of Henry and the recent remodel, and time is short with so many people trying to coordinate schedules. We knew we wanted to be close to the ocean, so we looked at places we could go in California. Mendocino was crossed off the list since it was too far for John and the boys to travel. Point Reyes was considered but we finally decided on Santa Cruz. It is only about 30 minutes from Los Gatos so we hoped that John and the boys could at least sneak away for a few days to meet us. It worked out that we found a house to rent that is big enough for everyone and within walking distance to the beach AND the Boardwalk!

For the last few months we've looked forward to the big day! The kids (and I) love spending time with the twins and we looked forward to all being together just as much as we looked forward to being at the ocean. We've talked about what we could do and decided on the beach, the boardwalk and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Yesterday, after Meet Your Teacher Day, we loaded up the car and headed down the coast. After a quick stop at In-N-Out for lunch, we headed down to Santa Cruz. Our GPS tried to send us on a wild goose chase, but for the most part we out smarted it and arrived in town after only a slight detour. We found the street and Grampa was standing out front. We made quick work of unloading the car and then found Mays and Dallas with Grammie in the 3rd floor loft. Up there we found Pillow Pets!

The afternoon and evening were spent playing with our cousins and taking a quick trip to the beach. The beach is only a short walk away and it is beautiful! Unfortunately we can't really see the sunset from the house, but we might find somewhere to see it tonight.

Happy Birthday Gracie Lu!

Happy Birthday Sweet little Girl! I love you!

You always have a smile on your face and a story on your tongue.
You love your little brothers to pieces and adore your older sister.
I'm amazed by your creativity and your coloring ability. You are far more artistic than I could even dream of being.
You are learning to be a great reader and love doing math problems. Maybe you'll take after Grammie and Mommy and go into accounting:).

This past weekend we had most of Gracie's class over for a birthday party and she had so much fun playing with her friends. They jumped in the princess jumpy house and made princess (and prince charming) crowns. It was a joy watching Grace in her element with her friends. We don't often have playdates, so I very rarely see her playing with her friends. She is a sweet little girl who tries to please everyone.

(pictures will be added as soon as Henry gives me a moments peace)

1 Year Old!

His birthday isn't actually until Wednesday, but today we celebrated Henry.

We were blessed to have lots of friends and family come out and celebrate the day with us.

Henry had his very own little cake just for him.

At first he was hesitant to touch the cake, but with a little coaching from the girls, he dove right in.

By the time he was done, everything was covered in cake.

He had to have an impromptu bath in the kitchen sink.

He loves baths and didn't mind that there were people watching.

God's Awesome Creation

One of my most fond memories of a family vacation is from our first trip to Hawaii with Emma Jo. She was just under 2 years old. The whole family went to Maui and rented a condo on the beach. We had a great time shopping, eating, swimming and exploring the island. Each of those act ivies were great, but my favorite part of the vacation was my early morning wake up call from Emma Jo.

Early each morning, Emma and I would be among the first people up. (I imagine that Grampa was already up, but I don't really remember. I think he was because I remember that coffee was ready.) Anyway, Emma and I would grab her blanket and walk out onto the lanai. We would sit in a rocking chair, cover up in the blanket, and watch the waves crash on the shore. I remember sitting there in peaceful quiet, watching the waves, listening to the water and the birds, and feeling the warmth of Emma on my lap. She would just snuggle in and let me absorb the wonder of God's amazing creation and his great gift of my beautiful daughter.

I've remembered those moments and that feeling for the past 10 years.

On our recent camping trip, I was blessed with another similar experience.

Henry is not a very good sleeper (similar to Emma Jo). He wakes 2 or 3 times on a good night and is up for hours at a time on a bad night. In anticipation of a lack of sleep on our camping trip, Jason bought a camp rocking chair. After we set up the tent we realized that although our tent is huge, it just wasn't big enough to have the rocking chair inside the tent. Thankfully I brought a down comforter that Henry is used to being covered with while rocking.

The first night of our camping trip, Henry woke up around midnight. I wasn't able to nurse him back to sleep in the bed, so I grabbed him and the blue comforter. I wrapped the comforter around both of us and crawled out of the tent to the rocking chair. It was set up right outside the tent under some massive redwood trees. The campground was fairly quiet and dark except for the huge stars that could be seen between the trees. I sat in the rocking chair, nursed Henry and wondered at the beautiful night. The sounds were different from Hawaii but the feeling was much the same. It was a feeling of serenity, wonder, amazement and peace. How blessed was I to get to enjoy this wonderful creation and this miraculous child?

Our second night camping while I would have loved it if Henry had slept through the night, when he did wake up I didn't dread rocking him back to sleep. Instead I was happy to have a 2nd time to rock and reflect on the wonder of it all.