update on Brian and new blog

First, thanks folks for your kind words and prayers. Brian is progressing to a degree no one expected. The doctors brought him out of sedation momentarily today, earlier than planned, just to see about his responses. He opened his eyes and looked at Sarah and also wiggled his thumb when instructed to do so. It reminds me of pulling somebody up out of a dark, murky lake, waving hello, and pushin' 'em back in. Kind of strange. I'll be really curious to hear from Brian, Lord-willing, what memories he has of the whole thing, if any.

For those of us who saw Brian while the emergency crew was working on him on the mountain and knew how much time was passing until they could relieve his cranial pressure at the hospital, this comeback is truly astounding.

My sister has begun a new blog on behalf of Brian and Sarah, where she or Sarah will record his progress as the days go on. It is www.milehighbriandtheconnellyfamily.blogspot.com.

Brian's skiing accident

We got home late this evening from a road trip that was unexpectedly full and rich but which ended on an extremely sad note. Yesterday we and Rachel drove to the Stomp Games at Schweitzer Ski Resort in Idaho, to watch Cam and his friends race today. For you friends of Rachel who know Cameron's very close skiing buddy, Brian Connelly, I wanted to post a quick telling of his situation. (Hopefully you'll remember him from being in Rach and Cam's wedding party - he lives in Colorado, is married to Sarah, and they have an 11 month old girl. Tall, dark curlyish hair. Very sweet and sociable.)

Toward the end of the races, about quarter to 3, in either the semi-final or final heat, Brian crashed at a jump and landed very hard. Long story short, he was totally unresponsive at impact and has remained so ever since, was taken to Coeur d' Alene hospital, had brain surgery, and has a 50/50 chance of surviving. His wife should be arriving there about now, having flown in from Colorado.

We would be grateful for anyone who pauses to say a prayer for Brian and his family.

The album in our cd player as we drove away was Don Chaffer's What You Don't Know. The song "Long on Diagnosis, Short on Cure" has these lyrics:

Now you been close dying
In fact you’ve crossed the line
You done sailed right past the turning point,
thinking everything’s fine
But when the gas runs out
and you're sitting there stone cold
You think, “I was young when all this started and now I’m old.”

But when the doctor pushes the triage crew aside
he says, “You’re all long on diagnosis, short on cure.”
And he turns to you and says,“Come on, Darlin’ we can make this.
Yes, I’m sure.”

I hope to tell of our trip soon and show lots of pictures, because it was monumental in so many ways. It may be a bit before I feel okay doing that though, particularly while Brian still clings precariously to life. We are very heartsick, a bit disoriented, and reminded again of the fragility of all we know.

road trip

We are away from home, on our first road trip with Zoralee! Well, with Zoralee outside of the womb. Portland is where we are at the moment, though we hadn't planned to be here. Jason had a job related test in Bellevue, Washington last week, and we intended to be there and then Sequim to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins for a few days, then back home. Now our time away is approaching two weeks, and we've had some unexpected sweet times! I'll write more later and show pics. Just wanted it to be known that we are alive and well.

Z with Sophie, the baby-lovin' pup of our Sequim relatives

Zoralee's 3-month Interview (+ other ramblings)

In this expression-all interview, Zoralee lets us in on her innermost feelings regarding life on planet Earth after three months. If you think Dave Letterman's interview with Joaquin Phoenix a few weeks ago was something, watch this.

A cute irony about Zor is that she sleeps the very best when there's the hum of a crowd, yet in normal everyday rooms where there are one or two people present, she'll startle in the middle of a sentence. The middle. Here are a couple things about parenting Zor.

We're discovering with increasing intensity that often mommies and daddies have different ideas of how things with the kids should be handled. Example: if I hear Zoralee waking from a nap, and there's a chance it's a premature wakeup, I'll sneak in real quiet and wind up her swing to see if maybe she'll drift off again. What Jason likes to do is run in wearing neon clothing, carrying a spot light and sounding off a foghorn. He'll ask Zor through a megaphone how she's doing. If he surmises that she is still sleepy, he'll put her back to sleep. Otherwise, wonder of wonder - she wants to get up!

This week has been by far our most successful week on the EC front. Zor has peed in the potty numerous times and even pooed three or four times. Though I was reluctant to try ECing in the middle of the night (because I'm the most tired, and it seemed like a real chore), that has been one of our better times. If she wakes up fussing and has a dry diaper, I immediately take her to the potty and give her the cue word. When Jason hears her tinkling in the pot, he comes out of his deep slumber to utter a disbelieving "Nuh-UH!" and then promptly falls back asleep. Today, he took her to the potty with success. Folks. I am not putting you on. We are as astonished by this as the next guy who lives in an industrialized country. It's freaking cool.

And to end on a sweet note - sometimes when I'm nursing Zor, especially if we're lying side by side, I feel the most comfortable I've maybe ever felt, the most fulfilled, and it seems that being a mom is the luckiest endeavor one can fall into.

textures

Blue Lady teaapplesauce made from a bag of apples that weren't crisp enough to eat plainrock art that Jason found on the ground down town
(that last phrase sure is like a rap)
The flour on our countertop was the closest thing to sand the lizard could find.

shredded soap for homemade laundry detergent

(thanks to Elisha, Shelsea, and Holly for the recipe tips - you gals are inspiring!)

the 5 gallons of detergent that the recipe makes,

which winds up costing you 1 cent per load (!!)
By the way, if you want to make this, I highly recommend purchasing one of these wooden-handled, metal-wired ladle doo-lollies at a thrift store several months before you hear about making laundry detergent, though you're not sure at that point what you'll use the tool for. Crud, it's only 50 cents. You'll use it for breaking up the gel that the detergent forms into overnight. It's wacky stuff, y'all.

the blog of my leetle seester

Rachel has begun writing on her blog! I think some of you readers might enjoy it. She and Cameron just returned from a short trip to Spain and Germany, and she has photos and stories from those places. Do leave her a comment to encourage her on this new venture of self-expression. Not that she has ever had a problem with that. But she has had a problem with blogging. And now she doesn't.

http://theclearscamandrach.blogspot.com/

Lent

But for a couple of times, I have only given mild head nods to Lent. I read on Tamie's blog that she has given up "being right" for Lent - the need to come away from a conversation or encounter having proven her rightness, whatever the topic. If you want to read that particular post, go to her blog and scroll down to the entry for February 26th. Also, check out people's comments. (I hate to post the link to just that post, because you'll want to read her other posts too!)

I think I'm going to give up "self-imposed guilt that is incongruous with health." I know that's a mouthful; there must be a word that sums it up better. Maybe some guilt is healthy motivation. Not sure about that one. But a lot of it is simply paralyzing, causes anxiety, and does nothing to move you forward. I would say I'm giving up others'-imposed guilt too, but really, that kind of guilt has to go through the filter of my acceptance, making it self-imposed too. Right?

What things are any of you letting go of/have you let go of for Lent or for any short period of time, just to see how you like it?

a whole bunch of Zoralee

I do adore my Zoralee Rena girl, who is now approaching 3 months of age! Here she is in all sorts of recent settings.

with Grandpa Larry, in her new hat from J, J, J, J, J, and J

(the neighbors, whose names all begin with J)

wearing her new sleeper that now bears a Z
in place of the annoying name brand with which it came

demonstrating new fist-sucking skills
demonstrating new pouting skills

Zoralee still does great by herself in quiet observation if she has something to look at. Then when a human face enters her realm of watchfulness, she breaks into smiles and chattering. That is THE BEST. She continues to amaze us with her recitations of the periodic table and various founding documents of the United States. At least, that's what it sounds like to us. What a gal. She is experimenting with coughing sounds and other vocal exercises. Recently, she was not happy about me putting her down for a nap. Cry, cry, cry she did, and then suddenly came out with a deep grunt/hollar thing. We were both surprised. She stopped crying, and we looked at other with big smiles.

Learning Z's potty cues has been an important activity of my week (for those in the dark who wish to be in the light about this subject, visit my previous post about EC). Unhandily enough, her main cue seems to be fussing. That's also her cue for hunger, discomfort, boredom, and fatigue, albeit with slightly altered deliveries. Weeeee.

pottying at the sink

(This brings to mind my Pops saying, "Boredom is a terrible thing")

And finally, middle fingers. I've got one that doesn't quit. Since I am not prone to flipping people off, it pretty much goes to waste except for at family gatherings when we run out of other Stupid Human Tricks. Well, we knew Zoralee had long fingers too, but it wasn't until I'd downloaded this picture that I noticed she might have the same superpower as old Mom.

microwave hairs, snow, dates, death, and chickens

When washing out the microwave, does everyone have the experience, like I do, of finding a single, mid-length hair in there? Doesn't matter whose microwave oven it is, or how many weeks, months, or years pass between cleanings. One hair. Mid-length. A nondescript shade of brown.

*

We got a snow dump over the last two days. We'd heard from the news guy it was coming, and it was confirmed by the horses running all over the place a few hours before it hit. A group of five got so excited that they broke through a fence to the adjacent property and had the run of a virgin field of deep snow. It was beautiful to watch their legs lifting high and hair flying, and fairly easy to lure them back since it was close to feeding time.

*

In other critter news - we have empty nest syndrome. Literally. Jason got the coop enough finished late one night to take the chicks from the spare room out to it. Rather than wait a few hours until morning, we moved our two flocks of chicks to their new digs in their big awkward brooders in the dark across slick ice without headlamps. Don't misread this to be critical of my husband's exuberance at strange times. He's a wonderful fellow. Just exuberant at strange times.

We went out for a breakfast date yesterday. Jason has been so focused on the chickens and their coop, and I've been so focused on Zoralee, that we've been out of each others' loops. We sat down at a cafe and looked at each other for awhile, then had this romantic conversation:

"Hi."
"Hi."
"What should we talk about?"
"I dunno."
"Hm."
"Nice art on the walls."
"Yeah."
"Can't believe she wants to charge $1000 for that one."
"Yeah. Crazy."
"Yeah."

But then our date picked up when we started talking about death and depression and how some people cope just fine with darkness and winter and how some don't.

*

Speaking of which, death has been shadowing us a little more than usual. Living with my folks means there are real deaths to contend with all the time rather than just my imagined ones. As pastors of a church in a small town and with Dad's involvement in a couple different chaplaincy programs, it's always something. This week, shirt-tail relatives of our shirt-tail relatives lost a woman my age who left behind an eight year old girl and a one-month old baby. Then Dad was called to console a young couple who'd just delivered their stillborn baby. Then yesterday close family/church friends lost their 82-year old mother. All were unexpected. Three separate generations, one week. I have been sad for the families. And freshly inspired to make sure my daughter knows she is loved. I don't have any brilliant or reassuring follow up to all that; just stating what has happened.

What have you googled?

I'd really like for this blog to be more interactive, you know, like a conversation, but I'm not very good at making that happen. This is a step in that direction. I think it'd be fun to hear what words or phrases some of you have googled lately and if you so choose to state it, what actions you took after you googled that word or phrase.


I have googled these:

• "white wine roast" - and then I baked a roast in white wine
• "homemade shampoo" - and that led me to a conditioner recipe using egg and olive oil. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds simple enough.
• "Ergo carrier coupon code" - because I'm poor but want an Ergo carrier. I found a free shipping code, and randomly got money from a couple of great-aunts this week. My Ergo carrier is on its way!

Something we want to google but haven't yet is "correlation between eye color and eyesight." Zor has Jason's eye color, and we hope that correlates to his good vision and not my fuzzy.