A few happy moments in the last week

At Home and Happy

Life is good. Surgery went well and Caleb is keeping Chris and Cannon busy.  It is nice to be home and to hear the sounds of a babbling, bustling 2 year old with Grandma right behind him.  Before surgery we had to take Gma to the chocolate fountain so we've got a couple pics of our outing.

Here I am in all my post-surgery splendor.  The drain was removed this evening.  Fortunately we have a friend who is a nurse because even though the doc said Cannon would be able to take it out, he wouldn't have had the stomach for it.  I wouldn't have had the stomach to take something out of his neck either, so we breathed a sigh of relief to have our nurse friend stop by and take care of that little task.

ACDF Surgery

Give me an "A", give me a "C", give me a "D", give me an "F".  What does that spell?  Nothing! But it stands for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.  That's what I'll be checking into the hospital for in 12 hours.  We rescheduled the surgery a couple of times.  Once because I was pregnant and twice because Cannon was out of town.  I'm no longer pregnant (I can personally attest to the non-fun experience of having a miscarriage) and Cannon is here to stay for a while!  So tomorrow is the big day.  Wish us all luck.  Caleb will need it so that he can restrain himself from pouncing on me (which he does all the time, which I will miss).  Cannon will need it so that he can be the official pouncee for Caleb.  Chris will need it as she drives around a strange city in Alaska.  I will need it so that I don't trip or run into a wall while hopped up on narcotics, wearing a neck collar.

I have the best of the best surgeon and incredible support from church, family and friends.

This picture of Caleb represents our attitudes: "Bring it!"

Grandma Chris is Here!!

We are sooo happy to see Grandma Chris!  She arrived safe and sane last night.  We've been partying ever since.  Caleb was wired and happy, running, jumping, choo-chooing, talking up a storm.  He has loved her extra special attention.  I'm so happy to have someone to talk to!  She's already done 2 loads of laundry and scrubbed my disposal out. We took a drive to see the fall leaves and the ocean.  We had a halibut dinner with my Jen's (sis-in-law) famous strawberry pretzel salad for dessert.  It has been fun from the get-go.  Alas, my camera is d.e.a.d. so I'm pulling an old pic from last summer at the cabin.  I'm shopping around for a decent camera so that we can record all the new memories we're making!  Viva la Chris!

Fall Foliage and Flowers

Gold leaves are starting to drop and are strewn all over the back yard.  Soon there will be no green, just a sea of yellow and gold...

Break out the rakes!

The last of the flowers...

Click on my picture to open the photo album!

FaultnerFamAKVisit

Lately

Lately things have been quite hectic around here.  Last week we spent more time at the hospital than we spent at home.  At the moment Caleb is recovering from tonsil and adenoid surgery--he was having trouble breathing/sleeping at night.  He breathes much easier but is still miserable from the pain.  But he's a tough little guy and still sweet as ever--just needy, needy, needy.  The housework has gone by the wayside, incidentally, so I'll be catching up on all those chores today.

Fall is here and the weather is cooler and the leaves are changing. Summer seems to have come and gone so quickly. That's Alaska for ya.

I've got a date set for neurosurgery on Sept 17th. I can't say that I'm looking forward to surgery but the knowledge that my neck (herniated disc) will be repaired is motivating.

Cannon and I are looking forward to our friends Kris and Dusty visiting us this weekend.  We'll have a wonderful time.  And we'll get to meet Dusty's mom too.  It will be a great adventure introducing them to Alaska.

 

Alaska RR Adventure

We had a great adventure taking a train ride and playing all day out in the wilds of Alaska. 

After lots of climbing, rock chucking and exploring at the Spencer Glacier, we hopped back on the train and headed home.

Caleb was in awe most of the time, as evidenced by his reaction in the video after the train blew it's horn. He was "wowing" and "choo-choo"ing most of the trip. It was a beautiful day.

Caleb decided to make me some chocolate chip cookies, or ka-coos, as he calls them. He was inspired by cousin Luke to make some.  Mmm, mmm! He helped with everything and like his mom, his favorite part was dumping the chocolate chips in.

ONE...

TWO...

THREE!!..into the bowl those tasty chocolate morsels go!

He had to take a break from all his hard work and drink right out of the faucet...he is ALL boy!

Ha, ha, haaaaaa!

I know it's 1:30a.m. Alaska Time...

...which means it's 4:30a.m. for my sister in Chicago and 2:30a.m. for my sister in Tempe...BUT I just finished a huge sewing project!!  Pillow covers and curtains for my "sun room". I made tab top curtains for the french doors but forgot to take a pic of them.  Found this gorgeous furniture for a steal on craigslist and have yet to move the chair into the living room...in fact, there is still a lot to do to clean up the room, but I'm finally done with the major sewing projects.  Hooray!

Cannon has been gone for a week and I've squeezed these painting/sewing projects in while Caleb is sleeping.  Sometimes he sleeps for 1 hour and sometimes he sleeps for 3...and night time is totally variable.  

Taught myself how to make grommet top curtains. Was tricky at first but a cinch after I figured it out.  I haven't arranged them yet, just wanted to get them on the rod...I'll make them look symmetrical later.

Found some Tommy Bahama fabric on sale and recovered a couple pillows...

Whew! It was a lot of work in a little time.  It's not perfect but it's much better than it was. 

Off to bed!