Bath Fun

I love these smiling faces!

Friday Favorites...

on Saturday. I have really fallen behind on my Friday favorites. I guess I have been a bit busy. Okay, drumroll please...

1. Kashi Go Lean Crunch. My absolute favorite cereal. Super yummy and good for you. Honey bunches of Oats with Almonds takes a close second.

2. Lilly Lamb. I made this lamb the other day and I think she is super cute. She has a few flaws, but it was my first time so the next one (if there is another) will be better. Jaron thinks she is quite creepy, but we all know he is a bit creepy so I chose not to listen. :)

3. Fun times at the beach with friends. Derek and Amy are up this way for a wedding so yesterday a bunch of us headed to Twin Lakes Beach for fun in the sun, hot dogs, and smores. Jaron made the trip over the hill as well and did pretty well. I think the elevation on the drive bothered him a bit, making him even more nervous about the ear, but hopefully he will be feeling good this morning.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I love you, Super Grandma!

Beach Boardwalk

Last night we drove over to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for 75 cent night. All rides are just 1 ticket and the hot dogs, pepsi, and cotton candy are only 75 cents as well. We stayed for about 3 hours and had a great time. Jaron did pretty well, but was still in a semi-robotic out of it state. You can tell this in a few of the pics, but he did feel good enough to indulge in a deep fried twinkie! The girls loved it and Riley rode on her first ride ever...the merry go round.

Visiting with Grandma

reading books in the shade

sisters

Our dutch oven pineapple upside down cake

On an adventure with Dora

Water Fun

Riley Elizabeth

1 week post-op update

Scar from sewing my ear back onto my head...does it look crooked?

I’m starting to feel a lot better finally, last night I left the house for the first time to eat at Wahoo’s. I have had more pain after this surgery than I remember having after my prior surgeries. The first day I had almost no nausea/motion sickness which was great, that was the worst part of my first two surgeries. But I’ve had more pain, for longer. I think that was a result of them having to grind away more bone. They enlarged the ear canal to allow better access to do the repair, but that meant drilling out a bunch of bone and that has caused a lot of the pain I’m having.

Today I saw the doctor to follow up. She removed some of the gel foam that is packed in the ear canal, but wanted to leave some in place so she can not see the ear drum yet. She also uncovered the long incision behind the ear, it looks to be healing nicely. By this point after my last surgery, I could tell something was wrong…and I haven’t had that sensation this time, so that is good. Right now I just need everything to keep healing, and the graft and new ear drum to really heal over nice and strong. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Farmers Market

I cannot believe that I have lived here for two years and have not visited this local Farmers Market. I was inspired by Kelci's post on Community Supported Agriculture to try and either take part in buying from a local farm or supporting Farmers Markets. Since the only farms around are in Watsonville or San Francisco the first option would not work so off to the market we went! West Valley Community College (only about 3 or 4 miles from here) has a great market every Saturday from 9am-2pm. I took the girls and we had a great time. Since it was spur of the moment, I did not have a lot to buy since I had already shopped for the week but we got some fresh organic lettuce, cilantro, and strawberries. I was also enticed to buy bunches of my two favorite flowers - hydrangeas and dahlias. It was such a fun and friendly atmosphere and it was really not much more expensive than the grocery store. This is definitely the better option and we will revisit many Saturdays to come!

10 months

My recliner

What would I do without my recliner? I've been sitting in it for 23 hours straight now. I've slept about 3 or 4 of those hours, but mostly I've been watching TV. I've been watching the daily recaps of the Tour De France most every day during July, but this was the first time I watched the five hours of live coverage from 3:30 am to 8:30 am. Sure, my eyes were closed during much of that time because I'm doped up on Vicodin...but if I heard something interesting I would open my eyes and hit rewind on the Tivo. I've also watched 3 episodes of MTV Cribs (who the heck is Ryan Cabrera?), Judge Judy, Skateboarding on FuelTV, Deadliest Catch, SNL, Cowboy Flavor (my favorite cooking show), True Hollywood Story about Beyonce, and some other equally intellectual shows...I can actually feeling myself becoming dumber. Normally I would expect my back would hurt or butt would be sore after 23 hours in the same chair...but I guess Vicodin is the cure for that too. Keep that in mind next time you want to watch 23+ hours of TV in a narcotic stupor.

Surgery went well

The surgery went well according to Dr. Inserra. Jaron went in around noon and came out around 3pm. He was in recovery until about 6:15pm so we were home around 6:30pm. Dr. Inserra said that she removed a lot of bone and skin inside the canal and because of all the drilling, Jaron might experience more pain than before. She also put a tube in to help with the healing. All 3 bones looked good. Instead of simply repairing the hole, she repaired the entire eardrum, which she said is not much more work. The ear hopefully heals a bit nicer this way. Jaron is doing all right. Pain is tolerable but we will keep pushing the heavy narcotics :) The nausea is minimal and is not affecting him which is great. No yacking as of yet. He is currently sipping on a Mountain Dew...typical Jaron. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. We will keep you posted.

Before

After - giving the big thumbs down

I thought I would expand on Jenni's post about my surgery (see below).
I have had two unsuccessful tympanoplasty surgerys (12 years ago, and 6 years ago). So I still have a hole in my eardrum, and mild hearing loss (but I can blow bubbles out of my ear underwater). But now I also have some scar tissue growing into the middle ear, threatening to damage the hearing bones, etc...that would be bad. So I'm having a third tympanoplasty tomorrow, basically a skin graft to seal up the ear drum. This time to improve the chances of it healing properly they are likely inserting a small tube through the eardrum, and performing a mastoidectomy to "clean out" the bone behind the ear to reduce chance of infection effecting the results. Hopefully they sew my ear back on in the right position so my glasses fit properly. Stay tuned to follow my progress.

Betelnut

Yesterday we went to a delicious restaurant with Mom and Dad Olson. Betelnut is in San Francisco and one of their favorite restaurants. Jaron and I have wanted to try it since they first raved about it. For our 30th birthday gifts, they treated us to a yummy lunch. It is the kind of place where you order a couple of dishes and everyone shares. We love this style of eating because you get to try so many different things. We ordered the szechuan green beans, glazed short ribs, lettuce cups, spring rolls, firecraker shrimp, and seared halibut. Everything was quite tasty!! Thanks mom and dad for a scrumptious feast! Too bad we got a $40 parking ticket...we were 4 minutes late to the meter. Bummer!

Tympanoplasty

Tomorrow is the dreaded day of surgery for my darling husband. For those who do not know, he has a hole in his eardrum and the doctor is attempting (for the 3rd time) to repair it. You can google the procedure "tympanoplasty" and see some lovely images. I thought about posting one, but I will spare you. Instead, I am posting a pic of a cute dog with big ears. Jaron would have never elected to have this surgery again, but the doctor said it was necessary if he did not want to lose his hearing. I do not know all the correct terms or exactly how the procedure goes, but it is an awful surgery in which the ear is basically cut and peeled forward, a skin graft is made over the hole on the eardrum, and the ear is sewn up again.

I should say that it is the recovery that is so awful, not exactly the procedure itself. I have gone through this one other time with Jaron not long after we were married and it pained me to see him go through so much pain and discomfort. There is constant nausea, loss of taste, and tremendous pain among other yucky things. So, here we are yet again on the eve of surgery and I am asking for many good wishes and prayers that the 3rd time is the charm and the surgery is successful. My mom is coming in the morning to watch the girls so I can go with Jaron to the hospital. It is an outpatient procedure so we will be back home in the afternoon. I will post more updates (and maybe I will sneak some pics :) tomorrow.

Friday Favorites

1. Yelp.com Love this website! It is basically a customer review website. You can put in your zipcode and search for just about anything. We love using it for finding new places to eat.

2. Dog Food - This is Riley's Friday favorite. She is obsessed with Roger's dog food and multiple times a day we have to pull dog food out of her mouth. She also loves to dip her hands in the water bowl and then put them in her mouth. Disgusting. One might think we starve her. At least she has not started drinking out of the toilet. **Ammendment: less than 45 minutes after this post I caught Riley in my bathroom with hands in the toilet. I almost yacked. **

3. C.O. Bigelow Spearmint lip shine from Bath and Body Works. I love this stuff! It is mint-infused to give you fresh breath. (I can always use help in that department :) They have all different flavors, cinnamon, plum, etc.. $7.50 for the tube, but it does last a long time. Right now at BBW if you buy 2 you get 1 free. A good gift for a friend or a splurge for yourself.

4. Kettle Corn- Kelci taught us how to make this lovely treat. 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup kernals, and 1/4 cup sugar. Place oil in pot with 2 kernals and when they pop add the rest.

Mix and shake with sugar and stir

until popping slows. Yum Yum!

Be careful or you too may be

400 pounds by Christmas!

New Looks

I have been in desperate need for a haircut for weeks, but spending $60 for one was not going to happen. Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good bargain and I just happened to stumble upon this one at the right time. I visited one of our favorite websites yelp.com in search of a cheaper place to get my haircut. I found a Redken teaching salon, Academy for Salon Professionals, in Santa Clara and the price for a haircut was only $10. Granted, because it is a school, the overall time of the cut is long, but well worth it. I had a super sweet girl, Emily, cut my hair and she did a fabulous job! It took about 1 1/2 hours. I will definitely be going back here for every cut. I may even do some highlights as a treat sometime as they are only $40. There is another one in LA so for all my teacher/Biola girls, if it is not far out of your way, it should be your new favorite place especially because haircuts and manicures are free for teachers!

Jaron also is sporting a new look. He got his brand new Oakley glasses in the mail today and does he not look super hot? He has been needing a new pair for years and he finally splurged on this pair and a pair of prescription sunglasses. Not a bargain like my haircut, but well worth the money.

We're ready to move...

Not really, but it would be so nice to live near our great friends Steve and Kelci. They live on the beautiful Central Coast in Arroyo Grande and we were able to spend the weekend with them. Steve and Jaron met through their off-road hobby of prerunner trucks and when I met Kelci it was like meeting my long lost twin. We have so much in common and we have become such good friends. I know if we lived near each other we would be BFF's. :) She is seriously the most giving, loving, and down to earth person you will ever meet.

They have 2 girls, Bella who is almost exactly one year older than Avery, and Matea, who is almost 2. Avery and Bella had a great time together and it made me sad that she does not have a friend like Bella close by. There were no fights or tantrums, only a ton of fun!!

Kelci also caused us to become addicted to homemade kettle corn and yes, we will both be 400 pounds by Christmas.

We love being with them and I was so sad to leave. I am already looking forward to the next visit!

Avery wanted to wear Bella's silky pajamas so that they could match.

Self-Feeding at 9 months

Garden fruits and veggies

A dress fit for a fairy princess

Auntie Amy made a dress similar to this one for Avery and she loves it. When we saw this fabric, we had to get it and I whipped up this dress in about 10 minutes. The material comes just like you see it on the bolt so all I had to do was sew up the back and add some straps. Super easy!

The Drive In

The other night we headed out to the Drive-in Theater to see Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones. Avery has been wanting to see the "panda movie" for a while now and we thought this would be a great budget friendly way to do it. Riley slept through the first flick and was up on and off throughout the second, but we had a great time!

When Avery saw this pic she said, "Dad, you ruined it!"

The Little Chef

Avery has been asking for an apron since I received mine from the craft swap. Today I was able to make one for her. I have never made an apron so I searched for a few tips and made up a pattern. I think it came out well, but if I made more, I think I would change a few things. Overall, I would say it was a success. Avery was so excited and gave me the biggest hug followed by a big "Thank you, Mommy!!". She has not taken it off since, so she must really love it. Score one for Mom!