The Brickyard

When Aimee's parents visited in October we went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ie The Brickyard. Apparantely it's a tradition to kiss the bricks on the track. And in our family, we stick to traditions.

Aimee's dad and Dallin spent a few minutes oogling over a car sitting in the patio area. The guide finally had to call to them to keep moving along.

Aimee's parents, Aimee's sister Jill, and Luke and Aimee.

Luke charmed our whole tour group. They loved when he got up on the podium and Dallin had him pose like this.

It was a great tour, but there was a lot of talking that Luke didn't sit through well. Luckily there were a lot of us to rotate entertaining him.

Pumpkin Patch

About a week before Halloween, we met some friends at a pumpkin patch in Indianapolis. They had other activities there, too: a wagon ride, a corn maze, a sand pit. It was a very cold, very rainy day. It had stopped raining by the time we got there, but there was a lot of mud.

Luke and Owen both missed their naps. Owen fell asleep in Dallin's arms, but Luke never did sleep. For being such a miserable day, he was still in relatively good spirits.

Usually they do the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch where you can go pick a pumpkin out of the field. It was so muddy out there that we decided not to go pick a pumpkin, we just took the wagon ride.

They had a pumpkin-eating dinosaur. He roared while he leaned down, picked up a pumpkin, then chomped on it a few times until it was smashed. Luke didn't like it.

As I said, it was a cold, windy, rainy day, so this was the best picture we could get.

Brown County "In the Buff"

We were driving along State Road 46, from Bloomington to Columbus, this week. Dallin made a comment about Brown County "in the buff" and we both laughed about it, and took a few pictures.

Luke and Owen

One evening we gave Owen a bottle lying in the boppy, then went up to put Luke to bed. We came back down and Owen was asleep already, much sooner than we expected. He looked very peaceful and cute, so we took advantage of the picture opportunity.

Luke sees Owen sitting in the boppy a lot and surely wonders what all the hype is about. He tries it out occasionally but doesn't stay in there for very long.

Luke loves chasing that cat at his Grandma and Grandpa's farm. Some of them let him pet them, but others run away. He doesn't care. The chase is probably the most exciting part for him, anyway.

These pictures are from the day after we got home from the hospital with Owen, Saturday November 1st. It's amazing to look back and see how different he looked then; so much more swollen and bruised. It only took a few days for the bruising to go away and then about a week for the swelling to go down.

We took these pictures outside our house about a week before his surgery.

Halloween

Luke was a lion and Owen a peapod. Luke didn't like his hood very much (the lion's head) but we got him to put it on every once in awhile.

Our ward did a Trunk or Treat which Luke really enjoyed. We would just like to say here that it's pretty handy having Aimee's sister here for times like this. She came to the Trunk or Treat with us. While Dallin was taking Luke around and Aimee was handing out candy, she took pictures for us. We can really thank Jill for a lot of the pictures that have been taken in the last 3 months.

There was a costume parade before the Trunk or Treat.

Luke's friend, Joseph, is in the blue shirt. He was Roo, from Winnie the Pooh. Luke is on the left but his face is hidden; you can only see the lion's head.

Birthdays

Luke's Birthday:

Yes, this shirt says "Ladies, I'm Single!"

A picture that Aimee's sister, Jill, drew for Luke. He loves trains.

Our neighbors, Jenny and Joseph, came over to celebrate Luke's birthday with us. Luke was so excited to see and play with Joseph that he couldn't concentrate on opening his presents.

Luke got these Elmo slippers for his birthday. Unfortunately, they are too small. He tried to wear them, anyway.

Here's Luke and Joseph goofing around.

Luke got this tool table and a whole bucket of tools. Dallin had a great time helping Luke set it up. Except once again, Luke was distracted by Joseph, so Dallin did a little bit of "setting up" on his own.

Jill's Birthday:

We gave Jill an Indiana sweatshirt for her birthday. We've seen her wear it a few times since then, so apparently she has decided that it's OK to be a fan of her school.

Don't tell anyone we told you, but Jill had to take a few tries to blow out all her candles! Guess she's getting old.

Makeshift Bowling

Another fun Family Home Evening game: bowling! We set up some cups and got a ball and had at it! Luke doesn't have the "rolling" concept down; the ball was airborne a lot more than you would normally see in a bowling alley. But overall he did a good job and had a great time.

Luke and Dallin got a little sidetracked and discovered this fun talent: stack the cups on Dad's mouth.

Fun in the Bathtub

Typically, when we ask Luke if it's OK to put Owen in the bath with him, he says no quite a few times. We put Owen in anyway, and as soon as Owen starts splashing then Luke joins him and forgets that he didn't want to share his bath. Then Luke has fun pouring water on Owen's head (ironically, he hates it when we do the same thing to him).

Aimee's Projects

Aimee is finding that she has a little more time these days (emphasis on "little") but it's just enough to start doing a few projects.

Bow hair clips that she learned how to make at Enrichment.

Aimee and her sister Jill spent an afternoon with apples. They made applesauce, apple chips, and apple butter. The kitchen was a mess and it took Aimee a few days to recover from that, but they had a lot of fun and all the apple stuff turned out good.

Meanwhile...

Here's what Luke was up to this week:

Charming people at the Ronald McDonald House and Hospital into giving him all manner of toys and stuffed animals. What a cutie!

He spent a very minimal amount of time looking at or paying attention to his brother. Granted, Owen did even less moving than usual, and it's typically movement that captures Luke's attention. So we'll cut him a little slack this time.

He did do a little sharing with his dad. Everyone loves Teddy Grahms!

We can always count on Luke to do the exploring. We didn't keep him in the hospital rooms very long, but most of the time he was there he was on the run when he was there.

We all enjoyed the beautiful glass elevators at Riley Hospital. It was neat to look out at the main lobby area while we were going up and down.

As always, Luke spent as much time as possible playing with balls. And what a great ball player he is! (Don't pass it on, but we heard that he played for a long time and missed every shot except for the two he took while he was being recorded).

Leaves are always good for a few hours of fun.

And of course we can always count on Elmo to entertain Luke for a little while. Good, old, reliable Elmo.

Trains have captured Luke's attention in the last few months. And the electric train at Janna's house is especially captivating. By the time we picked him up on Friday he had learned how to turn them on and off. Apparently his main problem was putting the two different trains on the track at the same time but going in opposite directions. This, as you can imagine, can only lead to disaster!

Halloween - Day Three

On Friday morning, Owen's eyes were open just a little, much to our surprise. He spent longer awake and alert in the morning. He played with toys, watched TV, and sat up for a little while. The sides of his forehead were more swollen, but the front forehead and eyes were much less swollen.

Here's an "almost smile" from the trooper!

Dallin's parents came up to see Owen in the morning. Jill and Dallin came back from Bloomington, and while Owen was napping we went down to eat some lunch. When we got back, the nurse told us that she had his discharge papers ready. That was a bit of a surprise! No one had said anything before that, but we were so glad!



We didn't have any clothes for Owen to leave the hospital in (they were back at the Ronald McDonald House). It was a very pleasant day, so we wrapped Owen up in an extra sweatshirt and headed off. You'd think after 3 surgeries we would learn that it's wise to be prepared for anything. I guess some heads are thicker than others, and ours are right up there.

Owen' has quite the knack for timing and holidays. He was born on the Monday after Dallin's Spring break, but that was St. Patrick's Day. Then his surgery was the Tuesday after Dallin's Fall Break. But he was released from the hospital on Halloween. And he had a bit of a costume on without any clothes - that scar is something. Dallin called him "Owen-stein" all day.

Second Day After - Thursday

Thursday was much of the same. Owen's face and eyes were still swollen, and he spent most of the day sleeping and eating. It did seem, in the limited time that he was awake, that he was more irritated by not being able to see, but never to the point that he was fussy or upset.

One of the things that they keep track of is the oxygen saturation level (amount of oxygen in the blood). They use a sensor with a red light that they can put on the toe or finger to measure that. That's what the red light is under the blanket in this picture.

Owen's oxygen saturation level was between 98 and 100. That was sure different from Luke's! Even now Luke's isn't quite that high. It was a little weird to be in the hospital and not watch that number vigilantly.

The first time we saw the incision was on Thursday night. There was some blood on the dressing, so the doctor came in to change it and see if something needed to be done. They found a large, dried blood clot on the surface. The doctor talked to the surgeon, who said that it needed to be stitched up again. The nurse went to gather the supplies while the doctor continued holding pressure on the area. The nurse had some problem getting something they needed so it took awhile, so by the time she got back the bleeding had stopped, and the surgeon and doctor together decided that they didn't need to add that extra stitch.

So that saved Owen from being poked again, this time without any anesthesia. But we still got to see a little bit of excitement, without the trauma or crying.

The purple around his ear looks like bruising, but it's actually pen. They marked the path where the incision would go and left a little mark by his ear.

When the doctor wrapped Owen back up after the almost - incident mentioned above, he made the turban even bigger than before. It's not all swelling under there.

Aimee thought this was cool. The thing that the nurse needed but couldn't find were the "sutures," which we assume means the thread or whatever they use as the stitches. She opened up this tube and they were sitting in the middle of some padding (the orange stuff inside the clear tube). Apparently they have some kind of air tube system throughout the hospital and they can transfer supplies that way. It makes perfect sense, we just never thought of it!

First Day After

Wednesday morning we went back to the hospital to find that Owen's eyes were swollen shut, just as everyone told us they would be. His forehead was much more swollen, as well.

He stopped receiving morphine on Wednesday, although he still got Tylenol-Codine, which helped him sleep more soundly. Which he did, almost all day. He woke up only enough to eat and when he was disturbed by nurses and others. We picked him up some on Wednesday but found that a lot of movement agitated him, so we tried to be very careful.

He ate pretty well on Wednesday, although not nearly as much as he usually eats. But he tolerated food well, which was important.

Owen's Surgery

Dad and Owen waiting for the surgery to start.

Here's Owen immediately following the surgery. He was asleep, receiving morphine for pain, and looked like he had a turban on his head. The surgery lasted just over 6 hours. The surgeons said that everything went well and there were no complications.

Aimee's sister, Jill, with Luke.Owen went to the recovery room immediately after surgery. Since it was later in the evening and no one else was in the room, they let our whole group go in to see him at the same time.

Owen was only in the recovery room for about an hour, then he got moved into the Pediatric ICU. We caught a picture of him "on the move."

They told us there would be a significant amount of swelling and bruising in the days following the surgery. At first we thought that his forehead was bruised right out of the OR, but it's actually just antiseptic solution that makes is yellowish right here.

We love his little tongue sticking out of his mouth.