Mason's Asthma Update & Nurse Ellen

Mason had his follow up appointment with his Pulmonary Dr. the end of June. He did another "blowing" test to measure his lung funtions. They improved and we were able to establish a baseline. We had to reschedule this appointment because he caught a cold, and his Dr. was curious how he did on the new meds. He did better, which was good. She wants to see Mason in another 4 months...which was to be expected. All in all-it was a great outcome.

While we were there, he had to get his picture taken with his Orca Sculpture...and he got some ice cream after his appointment. While we were waiting for his lung funtion test-I saw someone familiar, who I kind of lost track of....Nurse Ellen!

She was Mason's primary Nurse while he was in the IICU. She was the first voice I spoke too the first morning after he was born. She told me he was "very stable, a good sized baby, and had a beautiful head of red hair". She was Mason's daytime Nurse, so I saw her during the day, alot. I often joked that she would recognize her voice more than mine. She also took care of me, asking me if I was drinking lots of water, making me sit by his bedside (instead of standing), telling me to take care of myself, etc. When you have a newborn in the IICU-you sort of forget about yourself, and forget that you have just given birth. Mason was her last IICU patient-then she was diagnosed with Cancer right after he was discharged. She fought it, recovered, is in remission, and instead of being in the IICU, she now works in another department of the hospital. I just happened to see her smiling face. She remembered us right off the bat, said "I see you still have your red hair" and knew how old he was. Mason gave her a hug and we talked for a few minutes. When Mason would come back to Childrens for his Clinic Check up appointments, we would always stop by the IICU to see of there is anyone there we know. The last few times there weren't. I can't tell you how happy I was to find her again. When we got home, I told Lee that I found Nurse Ellen, and Mr. Forgetful remembered her too.

Grammy Bryant Stopped by.

Grammy Bryant came over before she went to Florida to be with Jessica (Lee's sister). She just had a baby boy a few weeks ago? (what day is it?) Jessica also has 2 girls Natalie and Ashtin. Anyhow, I take care of Janean when Patty goes someplace like Florida. The last time I took care of Janean, we had just moved into the house, it was Christmas night, and Derick and Whitney were getting married. That was for 5-6 days, Janean will be with us for 8 days this time.

Janean is pretty good when she is here. I got a picture of her at the dinner table. Janean is #2 in the line of 9 kids. Lee is #1, and plays up the big brother part. He picks on Janean and "eggs" her on-especially at the dinner table. It's close to IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent picture of her, but I did.

I've been trying to keep her busy with outings here and there. I took her to get her bangs trimmed-that was an adventure in itself.

Lee, eating his favorite summertime thing-cherries. Acting all innocent, like nothing's going on . A few seconds before, he got Janean to snort like a pig, and she drank a tall glass of water all at once. He usually says "breathe Janean, BREATHE!".

1st Day of Summer Break-Downtown Seattle!

My friend Aimee drove over last week from far, far, away (Walla Walla) to Seattle with her kids Jess and Connor. She got her hair done that morning and I took the kids and ventured out to D-Town Seattle for 3 hours. It had been a while since we had seen them and they really grew up this past year (Aimee was saying the same thing about Mac and Mason). We were heading our way to Gameworks, but it was closed until 11:00-noon. So we went to the Convention Center, and a couple of Malls.

Jess is now taller than Mac (they are 7 months apart, he being older). Mac has always been so much bigger than her. Hanging out with them is like being with cousins. For some reason, it doesn't look like she is taller than he is.

This is the 4 of them, in front of some artwork inside the Convention Center. This was a poem that was printed on license plates. It was cooler in person.

This is LUSH, a really cool bath potions store at Westlake Mall in D-Town. This is a sampling of thier soaps. They also had lotion in a bar form (like bar soap) that you apply on your skin and it melts slowly and lotions you. Jess and I LOVED this store...the boys, not so much. So they stayed outside the door until we were done.

Jess looking at the "bath bomb/fountain" things. I had to buy some things there, and Lee saw the LUSH bag and said "You didn't go to LUSH did you?" Hello!! There is a bag there on the kitchen counter! The company he works for built that store, and Lee had to go there to finish some stuff there before it opened a year or so ago. I was shocked he even knew about it.

The kids, running through the big fountain across the street from Westlake. They got a little wet.

The Boys....before we went into the Mall where "nothing interested them".

A piece of art, that was made out of old wooden floor boards. I was looking at it and thought to myself that Lee could make that in less than an hour. This was at the Convention Center...I liked it and is something that I would hang on my wall in my house.

We ventured to the Waterfront (we walked there from 6th Ave). We waited after Aimee was done with her hair appointment. I'm so glad I waited. We ate at Ivars on the Pier, and then took the never ending stairs up to Pike Place Market. I had to take a pick of the crabs. I love crab. We had a great day with our friends, and wish we had more time with them. We wore the kids out, which was good. What a great way to start out our summer vacation!

Catching Up!

I honestly can't believe a month has flown by......and I'm behind on my blogging. The honest truth-it takes a while to download/upload pics for the blog. My patience isn't what it used to be a year ago. When I started blogging I thought this was a good way for our family members (mostly aunts and uncles that live on the east coast) to keep track of us. And...my Dad likes to read this blog too. My goal: to get my Dad blogging by the end of the summer. If I can convince him to get on facebook, I can get him blogging. I think it will be a challenge, but one that I'm willing to take on.

Some of my time was spending with Mac....getting him to do his homework. His grades were sliding...and I found this out through Skyward, a website the school uses to post grades. He has developed "test anxiety", something I really struggled with when I was his age, something my Dad and I think my Mom struggled with when they were in School (over 40 something years ago). I have never shared my test anxiety issues with Mac in fear that he would use it as an excuse to slack off. We will be working and addressing this issue over the summer. He's become a great kid. He is going to be busy working on Merit Badges for Scouts, Boy Scout Camp, other family camping trips, and Football that starts in August.

This is just random....Lee made this arched doorway-in our Family Room. It was still pretty cold outside and he couldn't make it in the garage. It's custom made, out of Fir. There is a piece of "art glass" that is being custom made for this-he's not making the glass of course. He did this for a client on Whidbey Island at a beach house. Pretty darn cool. Now if only I can get him to work on our house. Actually, that will be soon enough. We are discussing plans for our main floor. I use the word "discuss" loosely. I will just say...he has a VERY strong opinion of my Kitchen, and is arguing why I need more counter space. And I ask him- "why do you need a 2 car garage full of tools and stuff"? I would actually like to tear a big wall down. This topic-is another post all of it's own. Lee is done remodeling a bank and is now working regular hours. It really sucked that he was working at night. It's really nice to have him home in the evenings now.

Mr. Mason....my now 1st grader. He made it out of Kindergarten alive. Now we have to talk about going to school all day. This makes me a little nervous of course. I get concerned about if he's going to eat there or not. He will eat lunch at school, I just don't know if he's going to eat 1/2 a sandwich and then throw EVERYTHING else away. Mason is going to take swimming lessons this summer. We had some really nice hot weather earlier this month, and he voluntarily puts on sunscreen. And wears his hat. He doesn't want to get sunburned. He loves to be outside. LOVES IT.

This is my Dad with Mason. This was taken on June 11th, on my birthday. I share my birthday with his lovely wife, Audrey. She is my step-mom, and I really hate using the term "step" because it sounds so ugly. She's my other mom. Anyways, we went out to lunch together with her daughter Teresa and oldest granddaughter, Alexandra. I don't have any pics of the lunch (forgot my camera)-and, she doesn't like her picture posted all over the internet (sounds familar). My Dad was sweet enough to babysit Mason so I could go out to lunch with just the girls (thanks Dad!). Mason was really excited that Papa was going to babysit him. Just before I took this picture Mason told Papa "Now, look straight at the camera Papa", and my Dad told him "well if it's a good picture, maybe she will put it on her blog". So...here it is. And...this is why my Dad needs to start a blog. I really enjoy living fairly close to my Dad (about 20 minutes away). I think he likes it too, especially when I come over with freshly baked cookies.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

No, we haven't dropped off the face of the Earth. The last time I posted...I said it was slow around here. And..it kind of still is. But, we've been busy. The School year for the boys is coming to a close (3 weeks), and this week they have field trips-1 a piece. This School year has seemed long. I think it was the Winter that we had that made everything seem long. Here are a few things that have been going on around here.......

Mac with a BRAND NEW Motorycycle!! Joe's Sporting Goods is closing-and Mac sort of out grew his old bike. He has been growing (like most boys do)-it happens. Still not taller than me though! Lee couldn't resist buying this bike at Joe's on Sale. Lee now has a new slave to work for him (on his side jobs) and his name is Mac. He will be working this bike off for the rest of his life. But he's happy, it runs great, and he will have this bike forever. He will never outgrow it.

The sun has been out lately, and Mason's favorite past time is swinging on his Jungle Gym in the backyard. After school, he will come into the house, and then go outside to the back and just swing. He gets really high. Almost too high for my liking. I was disappointed that Mason didn't use his Play Gym too much last year. I think he will be making up for it this year.

Lee had been working on a beach house on Whidbey Island on the weekends. It started out with a couple of new doors, and to fix a leaking problem. THEN....as things work out, the job turned into something bigger, and before we knew it, Lee was resideing most of the back side of the house, facing the beach. So, he spent many weekends there. We showed up for a couple of weekends. I helped him paint a few walls in the master bedroom and master bath. It was just the two of us, in one room for an hour or so..painting. It was nice to work and talk without all of the interruptions. He is still remodeling the bank for Bayley-working from 6:00pm until he gets done. Sometimes it's 3:00am and other times it's 5:30am. But he did suprise me by coming home around 11:00pm It was a pleasant suprise.

Mason spent a day with Lee on the beach. There are several "forts" built out of driftwood that other people have built and played in. Lee said he was on the beach ALL DAY playing in the forts. And never went into the water...it was too cold for that. He is really good about letting me apply sunscreen to him now, and wears his brimmed hat most of the time. He has had the top of his ears sunburned many times-blistering each time. It's usually because he won't let me do the sunscreen & hat thing. He has gotten smart about it now. Thank Heavens!

And this is what happens when teenage boys won't smile nice for thier Mama's. I gave him 3 chances. Teenage Boy + Blog = YOU BETTER SMILE NICE FOR THE CAMERA!