Here I am

Well, here I am, in Tucson, Arizona. I just started a contract here at a small teaching hospital. I'll be working here until the middle of March. I left Eric and Rowan to deal with the cold and the snow back in Idaho. Here's a picture of our new horse, Georgie (or as Rowan calls her, Curious George Horsie, Hahahaha) and Hoss, our goat guardian out in the 5 inches of snow. I have oriented to this new hospital and start working on my own tomorrow. Since Eric, Rowan and I have already celebrated our christmas, and I'm alone here, I volunteered to work Xmas eve and Christmas so that someone else could spend time with their family.
Eric is working with weather that is below freezing all day long and he just got 5 inches of snow yesterday. Rowan loves it and you can see him playing in the snow on his site. There is a link to his page on the right side of my blog, if you haven't found that yet :)
I have a new rooommate here in Tucson. She's very nice and we are getting along pretty well. I like going new places and having a chance to meet new people. I just wish I could do it and take Eric and Rowan with me :) Don't know how that would work, and I really love the fact that my son is growing up on a farm. He'll have lots of room to grow and things to learn.

my lost three months

Well, here I am, home for just over a week and finally feel rested enough to blog. I was away from home on a travel assignment for three whole months. It was the longest I had been away from Eric and Rowan.
Part of what kept me away from home was that my dad had to have surgery and I wanted to be there for him and my mom. His surgery was planned for the 12th of September. So I was able to work my schedule around and get a flight to Houston two days before his surgery. While we were in the doctor’s office getting information about his surgery and what to expect, the doctor casually mentioned that the surgery was probably going to be postponed while Hurricane Ike barreled into Galveston and Houston. WHAT!! Yep, that’s what happened. We evacuated Houston with everyone else and drove four hours back to Longview. So we weathered Ike in Longview. There was a lot of wind and not much rain. No damage to Mom & Dad’s house, but my aunt and uncle’s house had a tree down and electrical wires pulled. No one was injured in any way. Thank goodness. I played nurse to everyone scraped or scratched in the cleanup. I stayed for a week. Then Mom & Dad drove me to Dallas to fly back to work.
Dad’s surgery was rescheduled for September 19th. The hospital called them on Thursday to let them know. Wonderful, huh? I was working and of course wasn’t able to be there. I kept in touch by phone and called the nurse at 3 am when I was working. I’m sure she loved that. Ha ha. Dad did great and is now back to normal. Mom kept a journal on http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/richardconnolly if anyone didn’t get all the news. I don’t think she put in the best news of all about the final diagnosis. The tumor was cancer, but classified as 1A. That is the earliest you can catch a cancer and with this type, he only needs surgery (which he’s had) and follow ups for 2 years. Dad is very lucky. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for him.
So I spent the rest of my assignment working a lot to fill my time. I worked my last night shift on November 14th. I figured I would sleep all day, wake up, pack the car and start driving home. I had a 16 to 17 hour drive ahead of me. Sounds simple, right? Not so.
I had forgotten to get the oil changed before work, so I went on the morning of the 15th to get it changed. An hour at most then off to bed, right? Ha! When I went to start the car after they finished, the engine wouldn’t turn over. They checked and said the battery was dead. GREAT! I went to the Sears right around the corner. They were able to check everything and agreed that the battery was dead, but nothing else was wrong. So they put in a new battery. This whole process took nearly 2 hours. By now it is almost 1 pm. I haven’t slept yet and I’ve been up about 27 hours. I get back in the car and realize the lighter plug is not working. It’s not charging my phone. I took it back to Sears. They said the lighter filament is burned out. I went to Autozone. They had them, but not for Kia’s. It’s a dealer only item. Fine. I went to the dealership. Parts and service is not open on the weekend. By now, I’m very tired, frustrated and angry. I was in tears by the time I got back to my room. Eric assured me that I would not need the phone to drive home and encouraged me to get some sleep soon! I finally went to sleep about 2:30 pm. I slept for 8 full hours and felt better.
I ate a little dinner and packed the car. I then left town about 12:30 am. I drove all night (easy since my body was still on a night shift schedule) and continued driving through the day. I managed to drive all the way home in just one straight trip! It was so good to get home and see Eric and Rowan.
I was able to wake Rowan up from his nap. He was pretty happy to see me J He read me books and showed me all of his toys. He told Eric at least a dozen times “I play with Mommy”. He’s been great since I’ve been home. One of the cute things he did was when I coughed, he said “Mommy Ok?” I guess that’s what we say when he coughs. Haha!
I guess the only other news I have is that I finally pinned down my next job. It’s in Tucson, AZ. I will be there from Dec 15 to March 15. Let me know if anyone wants anything from Arizona. At least I’ll be there in the winter! I don’t think I would take a job there in the summer. Yuck! Anyway, wish me luck!
I’ll try to keep up blogging a little better.
Sorry no pictures yet, but soon!

Home at last!

I've been home for four days now. When they met me at the airport, Rowan ran to me gave me a hug, then said "Let's go, let's go, that way, that way" No kiss, not much more than "hi Mommy" He's such a active boy, not much of a cuddly one. He never has been. But he loves the animals and being on the farm.
Wow! Its amazing how much Rowan changes in just a few weeks. He's speaking in sentences now "No watch Daddy's show!" and runs around and plays by himself so much better. Its so hot here now, that he doesn't want to play outside very much. So there are lots of indoor activities. Ever since he watched the olympic trials, he loves to say "three, two, one.... Go!" and run around the house. Another favorite game is playing night night. He puts his head down, says night night and snores. Then he yells "wake up!!" and bounces up, laughing.
We opened his birthday presents early, since I won't be here for his birthday. He loves the playmobile farm that Daddy found for him. He pretends to water the carrots and drinks the milk and says "mmm, good milk, Mommy". We'll go get a great outside toy for him with the money that ousins Nathan and Nicholas sent for him. He loved the chocolate cake and ice cream that we had for his birthday. It was all over his face and chair by the end.



We went to the Payette county fair yesterday and he loved seeing all the farm animals. He petted some rabbits for the first time, I think. And he was the hit of the food venders. He was able to make any animal sound that they could think of. He was not stumped. It was pretty hot though and we only stayed until lunch time. Rowan didn't want to leave. He was crying all the way to the car. While we were there, we saw all the people we've bought goats from. Yesterday was the day of the goat shows, so everyone was there looking at how their goats had done.
I'm not putting any photos up just yet. I'm trying for something new. Pictures coming soon, promise.
Also, I'm getting ready for my new travel assignment back in Albuquerque. I'll be working at UNM Hospital where I started my nursing career. I'm looking forward to some of the things I've missed, like green chile!

Lonely

Hmm, so I’m supposed to blog and keep people updated. Yeah, that’s not working so well, is it?
Well, now Rowan is with Eric. It hasn’t even been two weeks and I miss him so much. For some reason, its much harder leaving him now than it was last winter. Maybe he's bigger and interacts so much more. I miss hearing "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!!!" when I come home from work. We did a lot here in Texas before I took him home. I have some friends from work with kids around the same age and we went out and did a few things. We went to this really cool petting zoo called “Gators and Friends”. There were so many animals that wanted to be petted. Well, really they just wanted the food that we bought at the entrance. Boy some of those animals are pushy!

We went back to Kidstation. That was a lot of fun, but it’s always a battle when we leave. Rowan wants to stay until he collapses, I think. He loves to run around and play with the other kids.

Rowan helped Oma in the garden some and loved it when she gave him worms that she dug up.

He helps Opa when its time to change the flag.

He loves to play in the rain, and thunder is cool, unless it’s right over you.

He acts like a sumo wrestler and “stomps” with one foot in the puddles. That’s a lot of fun! When our clothes are all wet and we’re almost ready to come inside, Mommy takes the clothes off the monkey and lets him “sumo” in the puddles naked. More fun!

We had our first barber shop haircut. It was very traumatic, but once the barber brought out his toys, Rowan settled down some and let him cut his hair, slowly.

When we were in Virginia, Rowan went to his first shooting range and wore ear protection. He didn’t like the ear covers very much, so he ended going back to the house where it was quieter. He loves his “Mawy Beff” a lot. she gave him a dinosaur and some toys for an early birthday present. Thanks Mary Beth!! He still remembers that you gave him that dinosaur!

While I was home this last time, Rowan earned his first band-aid. He fell off the couch and onto one of his toys, scraping his foot. I know this does not compare to any of the first injuries of Karen’s three boys, but it’s a first for him. :) When it was time for it to come off, he wanted another one on. I guess it’s time to get some fun band-aids for him.I know this blog is disconnected, its just because I haven’t been on in so long. I'm just trying to get something online for everyone. I love reading all my families blogs, and I know they want to hear more from me. I hope to be better at this, but its not something I’ve ever been good at.

another busy month goes by

I can’t believe it’s been a month between posts again!!??
I’ve been trying to find activities for Rowan to get out and meet some people. Someone at work told me about Kidstation. We went one day to find out about it and discovered that it’s FREE for under 2! Rowan had a great time and made some friends. He loved the ball pit and the slide. We’ll definitely be going again. I’m at home with a dial up connection, so I’ll put a video of him on the slide later.
Right after that, Mom, Dad, Rowan and I took a 14 hour road trip to Richlands, Virginia to visit with Aunt Anda and Uncle Tim. Regina stopped by the house for a short period. Her high school life is pretty busy. J This is her after completing the task of putting Rowan in his pajamas. Good Job Regina!!
Amber and Richard brought Andrew for Rowan to meet, a cousin his own age. They had a good time stealing toys from each other. They also thought it was hysterical to take turns falling down.

We then drove another 5 hours to Luray, Virginia. There we stayed with Aunt Julie and Uncle Kenny. Uncle Ollie and Aunt Bertha Dale live just on the other side of town and we saw them almost every day. Rowan was getting very good at meeting family and saying “lub oo”. No kids his age, but Kelly (a third grade teacher) drove from her place about 1 ½ hours away to make sure she saw us. Thanks Kelly!
Kaleb came home from college to visit, too. He thinks a little like a kid, so they had fun.

We also drove a day to visit with Beth and her boys, Travis and Mason. No pictures, I think they’re all on Mom’s camera. Oops!
While Rowan napped one day, Uncle Kenny took us up the Shenandoah Skyline drive. There were lots of scenic over views and I took a lot of pictures of trees. Hmmm, maybe I’ll keep my day job. It was beautiful. I’ve been up before, but it just looks better each time.
So, Rowan and I are finally home with Eric. We got home late on Saturday night, due to maintenance on the plane. Rowan was a trooper on the long trip. All starting with a 1 ½ hour drive to the airport and leaving at 8 am. (This was hard on the central time zone adjusted family) We then had THREE flights to get from Washington D.C. to Boise. Rowan was doing great, until he fell asleep 10 minutes before the first flight landed. I was not happy. His track record is very poor for staying asleep when the plane lands (like 0 for 22) But, surprise, surprise!! He slept over an hour in the sling after we landed. And that was with getting food and walking all the way to the new gate. (By the way, anyone traveling with a small child, a sling is my best friend. It’s better than a stroller, I don’t have to check it and I have my hands free to carry other things, and it doesn’t count as a carry on. Also, it’s so much easier to carry him. Thirty pounds starts to get awfully heavy in just ten minutes.)
After he woke up, we walked around a little bit and found out we were at the wrong gate. Oops! But no problem, we had a three hour layover. When we got to our gate, there were no less than 4 children 2 years old and under for him to play with. All the parents watched and they shared toys (and yes germs, but happy children are worth the inevitable cold) Rowan had a great time.
Then we got on the “forever flight” from Chicago to Salt Lake City. It was over 3 hours and the plane was full, so Rowan was a lap baby. Luckily, our seatmates and flight attendants were extremely helpful. We even had to have an emergency diaper and clothing change on the floor in the back of the plane with people stepping over us to go to the bathroom!! Again, Big Kudos to the flight attendants on that flight for setting it up for us. The plane we were on continued from Salt Lake to Boise, so we didn’t even leave the plane (again, NO FUN! Read this as active little boy trying to spend energy on two airplane seats before the next passengers boarded.) We finally arrived in Boise at 7:30 pm, 13 hours after we started our adventure. Rowan was a little hesitant with Eric at first, but warmed up before we got our baggage. Now, Rowan is asking for “Daddy” whenever he leaves his sight, and only wants Daddy to read to him. It’s so good to see them playing together.
Sunday we woke up and it was cold. It snowed some that day, none stuck to the ground, but it did snow. Eric had to cover our garden on Sunday night. Monday was chilly too and it snowed again!! Tuesday it was 60 degrees, but windy and we had a pretty low wind chill. (I’m not sure how cold though) Today it rained. Lots of weather changes.
Rowan is having fun with all the animals, too. On Sunday, we went to the goat farm where Eric bought our foundation herd. Rowan was fascinated by all the goats, dogs, cats and kittens. He was able to run around after a bunch of baby goats. He was a little frustrated that they wouldn’t come to him like the dogs do. Then he found the baby slide that they had for the goats. He loved it. In fact we had to drag him away. The owners of the farm, Wayne and Lindy Gifford are wonderful, generous people. They have been operating a Boer goat farm for some time. http://gifford-ache-r-age.com They offered to let Rowan come over any time and play with the goats. They also have field trips for schools and special education groups come over to the farm to meet the goats. They are helping Eric so much with starting our Boer Goat farm. http://redtreeranch.com I can’t wait until next spring when we’ll have a bunch of little goats running around the farm! Ok, so I’ve written a novel. But a lot has happened in the last month. I guess I’m just taking after Keilah!! Ha ha! Hopefully I’ll have more pictures of our adventures soon.

first time video

Ok, my cousin Karen is putting up videos, so I thought I would try. Sorry if this is really big. I don't know how to make it any smaller.

Anyway, Rowan is a very picky eater. Here he is eating pizza for the first time, ever, I think. I thought it was so cool, that I took a video of him asking for more.

a month goes by so fast

Alright, so I just realized that I haven't blogged since Valentine's Day. Oops! And that's what I get for complaining that my friends and family don't blog enough!

Well, Rowan and I made it back to Texas the first part of March. We are having a lot of fun right now. He is so funny all the time. He likes things to be clean. One of his favorite words is "dirty" He says that for dirty clothes or dirt on the floor. He also loves to go outside and play with the dogs. He likes to throw the ball and chase it and run in the grass. Sounds perfect for a kid, doesn't it?

We went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall last week. I didn't have high hopes of getting a great picture, but it wasn't too bad. I fully expected him to not go near the bunny and/or scream if we got him there. But he did sit on my lap next to bunny and then I was able to step back for a few pictures. The professional was able to get a decent picture, so I guess it was worth it. I worked on Easter, so we put a basket out for Rowan for Monday morning. He wasn't sure how this basket of candy showed up, but was pretty sure that it meant candy for breakfast. Yes, he did eat an entire Cadbury's cream egg for breakfast. I'm sure it's not the worst breakfast he'll ever have, and it's only a few times a year, right? Ha Ha.
After his nap, we went out and hunted eggs in the back yard. He thought it was great fun. Afterwards, we had to open the eggs and eat more candy. Yup, lots of candy today. I was sick just watching him eat it.

Valentine's Day

So Eric and Rowan sent me a dozen roses today. They are so pretty and I can't wait until I get to see them. It's just over two weeks away!! I'm enjoying the quiet times now when I get to sleep in. Does that make me a bad Mommy? Ha ha :) I also got a present that feels like a book. I plan on opening it when Eric gets my gift to him. Hopefully tomorrow. I just got these pictures of Tigger (our oldest dog, he's probably 11 years old and sleeps a lot) covered in toys. Eric says he makes a great toy box. I guess Rowan wants to share with Tigger.


I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day with their sweetheart! And for those of us who are separated, We'll see them soon.

So, now I'm feeling better. No more fever or yucky green stuff. But I still have a nagging cough. I assume that's because of the asthma. Dad has been coughing a lot and not feeling that well, and Mom started to feel bad on Friday. She's been running a fever of up to 103 for the last two days. And that was with tylenol. I had her with cool packs last night at midnight to try to get her temp down. This morning we took her to the doctor and confirmed that she has the flu. They gave her anti virals and some for Dad, to prevent him from getting it too. I guess I just have to take my chances :) Jude has been lucky so far.

As Mom said this morning "I'm glad Rowan isn't here" He gets to be up in Idaho with a lot of snow, but no sickness. Eric has sent pictures of how much snow he's dealing with. He's shoveling just fast enough to stay ahead of the accumulation. The chickens are not very happy, they huddle up underneath the cars. I'm glad I'm not there trying to drive to work in all that snow. But it's 80 degrees here in Texas. I'm not sure that's right. It is the beginning of February, isn't it? Anyone else dealing with unseasonable weather?

The last few days

Well, I have spent the last three days coughing up yucky stuff and fighting a fever. I had to work today, but I managed with lots of over the counter medication. But it sure was a long day.

I don't usually mention my patients, but there is one I'd like for you all to keep in your thoughts. He's 22 years old with two small children. He has an auto immune disease that attacked his kidneys. He is now on dialysis and we are hoping that his kidneys will function again. The doctors are going to give him 6 months on dialysis before they decide if he needs a kidney transplant. At this point he will have to quit working. He is glad he will be able to spend more time with his kids. He seems to have a really good attitude, and I just want the best possible outcome for him. That would be that his kidneys start working on their own. If you could all keep him in your thoughts I would really appreciate it. I will probably never see him again, and will never know how he does, but I will always remember him. Thank you.

On to more cheerful news. Eric said he was trying to cut Rowan's hair, since it was getting in his eyes again. Rowan wouldn't let him near him with the scissors. Eric got out the clippers and put a long comb on it and gave him a buzz cut. Apparently, he doesn't mind the clippers at all. Here he is with his new hair cut. Eric says at least he looks like someone cares about him now :)

Red cheeks

Here's a picture that Eric sent to me. You can see the bright red cheek that's only on the right side. As far as we can tell, it seems to be associated with teething, but it comes and goes. He gets a low grade fever that peaks about once a day. When his temp goes up, he gets short tempered and cranky.
So far he has 8 teeth on the bottom and at least 6 on the top.
Has anyone else seen this phenomenon?

back from the cold

Well, I'm back in Texas after having spent nearly two weeks at home in Idaho. Rowan was pretty happy to see me, although I think it took him a minute to realize who the crazy person hugging his daddy was. He had changed quite a bit and looks less like a baby. He's very much full of energy. He runs everywhere he goes. Eric calls him "a very tidy child". He picks up the smallest piece of dirt off the floor and hands it to Eric or me. He expects you to throw it away now. If you put back on the floor, he gets very upset.
He also watches Eric work out with the Bowflex and listens to him grunt. So now you can ask "are you strong?" and he puts his fists in the air and grunts really loud :) His eating habits are frustrating. He really only eats fruit and bread. I guess thats ok, but he often won't eat what you're serving for dinner.
Here is a picture of him sleeping one night. I still have to get a look at him every night before I go to bed. He's just too cute. :)

While I was there, it snowed every night the last week I was there and all day one day. I was able to get my snow fix. I really missed the snow down here in Texas. At least it's now almost cold enough to call winter.
Just before I went back to Idaho, We celebrated Dad's 70th birthday. We went out to dinner and then went to Uncle Jack and Aunt Vivian's house for cake and ice cream. Yummy!
We gave Dad a hard time, cuz he went to a funeral for his birthday. Ha ha. Told him he was just getting ideas. It was a good time.
Now that I'm back, I went to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They called me in early on Tuesday and I worked late both Tuesday and Wednesday, so it was a long three days. I spent a lot of time resting up today. I'm not sure I accomplished anything at all today. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.
Oh, one of the new pictures on Rowan's website is Eric holding a wild woodpecker that got into the house. Rowan loved it and kept signing "bird". Eric put it into a box for a little while to make sure it wasn't hurt and Rowan signed "bird" everytime it rustled in the box. The bird seemed to suffer no lasting harm and was released later that day.