happy birthday owen + handlettering day 2

Happy birthday little man! As I write this, you are currently sprawled out in my bed like a starfish snoring quite loudly. 6 years old already. Although, having so many older siblings makes you seem much older. You have a quick, witty sense of humor and know how to keep up with the big kids. You currently enjoy playing WWF wrestling on the Xbox (followed by real wrestling with your friends), playing with little Sam every day, playing on a soccer team, and playing baseball for much longer than anyone else is willing to throw a ball. (It would seem that it took 6 tries, but dad finally got himself an athlete (: ) Today mom is taking you to pick out your birthday present (a brand new bike to replace the one you insist is much too small). Happy 6th birthday, Bubby! P.S. Day 2 of my handlettering project is for sale in 5 different colors (: Today is the real first day of summer for us and with all the fun/exciting/new/challenging/awesome plans I have, life really is just peachy right now.

birthday photo shoot

Since we were gone for Ainsley's birthday, Owen's is tomorrow, and Finley's is at the end of the month, I decided some birthday pictures were in order. Ainsley wanted some pictures with her best friend, Jordan. We like Jordan. She makes our home a happy place. She might move to Washington. And I might cry. We moved around our yard a little bit as the sun was going down, giving us some really spectacular lighting. My favorite spot was in front of my neighbor's worn storage shed. Really it's worth looking through all of them just to find the one of Owen that cracks me up every time I see it.

he likes to ride his bicycle

A couple of weeks ago, one of Owen's best friends learned how to ride a two-wheeler. Owen just knew he could do it too. He came inside begging for his training wheels to get taken off. His words, "I've riden my bike a million times. I know I'm ready. I just know I can do it." Drew took them off the next day. After about 30 seconds, Owen decided it was too hard and begged for his training wheels to be put back on. Nobody did. Owen is stubborn enough that he finally just taught himself how to do it. These pictures show the first time he made it more than 3 seconds without crashing.

the one where drew comes home

I'm feeling a bit better, but Sam is getting worse. We stayed home from church today and got to bring Drew home. We are still waiting on test results, but some of them won't be back until Wednesday. Depending on those results, Drew might have to go back to Primary Chidren's to get IV medications. We are somewhat quarantined until we know what he has. If he can't stay hydrated, he'll have to go back on IV fluids. We have to keep blankets under Drew and then wash them every few hours. No one is allowed to be right where he is so we can hopefully keep anyone else from getting sick. We have 2 super soft blankets from Costco. I brought one up for Drew. When Owen saw me about to cover Drew with it, he lunged for Drew's couch, crying, "Noooooooo!" He burst into tears the second it touched Drew because that meant it was contaminated and he couldn't use it. My mom and I ended up running to Costco for super soft princess and Spiderman blankets so everyone could have their own.

hospital: day 3

Thanks to Siri, I navigated myself through Salt Lake for the first time today. Owen and I decided to go visit Drew. He had to wear a mask because of the sores on his face, so I'm sure plenty of people we passed thought he was the patient.

Rainbow pony in front of the hospital.

My mom told owen about the Superman and Spiderman at the hospital. He demanded a picture. This is what we got.

When we got to the hospital, Owen needed to have pictures of his own.

Drew was awake for a little longer today, but he's still not ready to come home. We didn't quite get the news we hoped for. Drew has infection in his ear and in the bone behind it. He also has sores on his head, mostly in his hair. Dermatologists made a visit and they're not sure what it is. They're running some tests, but they're pretty sure it's a virus. Antivirals have been added to his doses of antibacterials, so hopefully we'll see some improvement. It is likely the sores are either Herpatic or Chicken Pox. Depending on the test results, he may be in the hospital for another week. We are hosting Thanksgiving this year, so hopefully we can get him home and feeling better by then. 

I started feeling sick, so my grandma and grandpa picked up the other kiddos and let them spend the night at their house. 

One of Drew's sores had to be broken in order to get a swab for a test. Afterwords, the nurse came in with a mask and full body gown. She told us the dermatologists had been talking in the hall and decided that whatever Drew has is likely contagious and, because the sore was broken, was now airborne, and we had all been exposed. We were moved into a Bubble Boy room with it's own air system. An alarm went off every time the door was opened. This silly ear infection he had last week has become a big deal. Drew has zero energy. He has a Playstation in his room, but he hasn't even touched it. He pretty much sleeps all day. We finally got him to eat today. 

mask & full-body gown.

This giraffe was the source of the only smile we've seen from Drew. Owen wasn't ready to give him up, but Drew loves him. He has a whole giraffe collection. My mom thinks his name should be Gus, to rhyme with all the pus draining out of his ear.

The only improvement we've seen is the reduction of pressure in his ear from getting tubes. Hopefully the antivirals will start to help. 

hospital: day 2

Drew had tubes put in his ear today, so hopefully he will start getting better. He might be able to come home tomorrow, if he doesn't need an IV anymore. Owen is still home-bound, due to the sores on his face, and he is really missing his friends. I worked hard to keep him entertained, but throughout the day, I kept noticing his fascination with getting taller. He stood against the wall and measured himself no less than 15 times today. So I decided to ask him about it.

Me: Owen, why are you measuring yourself. Owen: To see if I got taller. Me: Why do you want to be taller? Owen: I want to be bigger than all my friends. Me: Why's that? Owen: I just want to get taller, so I can be a grown up so I can unlock dad's iPad because his has a password.

I tried getting kids to help clean once they got home from school, but we didn't have much success. Ainsley was beside herself because I was a meannie who made her clean and she just wanted Jessica (my roommate) because she would be nice to her and let her do her hair and not make her clean anything.

Owen has really been into rhyming for a while. He is particularly fond of the letter D. Examples:  Ains-a-Dains, Fin-a-Din, Kens-a-Dens, Sam-a-Dam, Owen-Dowen, Mom-a-Dom. But he runs into trouble once he gets to Drew or Dad.