And, the twirling continues...

Stitches.

After the kids had their first church Christmas concert last Sunday we went to g-ma & g-pa's for lunch.  Axel fell off his chair, hit the chair next to him on the way down & split open his chin.

As they were sewing him up with 5 stitches my relaxed little guy fell right to sleep.

Drawing while we waited for the doc...

All tuckered out.  

Unfortunately, he was not as well behaved for the stitch removal.  Who knew it would take 4 of us to pin him down...  Again, thankful for Children's being so close by.

Met g-ma & g-pa at U Vill after, for some celebratory hot cocoa.  No more stitches!  

Hike.

We invited ourselves to join my sister's family on a hike (thanks A-K for letting us crash your party!)  I didn't think I would do the whole loop with my kids in tow but, they did great (thanks to massive help from all members of the Bazan fam-dam).  It felt so great getting out in nature.  I'm now inspired to get my kids on that trail at least once a week this summer.

Ax did great (even with 2 left shoes on!)  

Breakfast brilliance.

Bored with the same-old breakfast stand-bys?  Try this super easy savory oatmeal!

Oatmeal  (For one serving, I used 1/2 c oats with 1 c water.)
While oats are cooking, whip up an 'over easy egg'.
After oatmeal is fully cooked, mix with as much chopped fresh spinach as you'd like.
Pour oatmeal/spinach combo into your dish.
Place a few slices of cheese over the oatmeal, I use Tillamook (of course) medium cheddar but, swiss or mozzarella would probably be yummy too.
Then place your cooked egg on top.  Wa-la!

I feel so great after eating this healthy meal & it stays with me for hours.  Let me know what you think!

Teach every child about food.

This Jamie Oliver clip is about 20 minutes & well worth your time.  Are you are a parent & need a little kick-in-the-pants to get your family eating healthy?  I know this video will inspire you to eat & cook REAL food; cut out fast food & school-made lunches; as well as make time to teach your kids about veggies, cooking, avoiding obesity etc.  All such vital life lessons.  If you know me, you know that I struggle with fun, healthy food ideas for my children.  However, seeing a clip like this reminds me of it's importance.   I will press-on!  

Ballet

Before L walked in to her new (& very first ever) ballet class she said that she was hoping a boy was in the class that could "lift her up" (I suppose like she's seen in TV ballet shows) .  Alas, there were no boys but, she LOVED the class & as you can see was a total dolly.  Yay for fun classes at our local community centers!

All the other girls had skirts to hold with their curtsies, L improvised with her leotard... 

Her form was consistently right-on with her teacher's.  Atta girl.  

Our words have power.

We have heard about this experiment  - mainly scientists doing this & looking at the ice crystals under a microscope to see the difference between the two.  J decided to do our own experiment.  One doesn't have to be a scientist to see the difference in the cups of water that exited our freezer.  We did it twice with the same results. We don't know what the results mean, but they are clearly different.

Left cup:      Right cup:

Satan            Jesus
Death           God
Hell              Love
Idiot             Peace
Hate             Forgiveness

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29

Say "NO!" to bottled water.

Please watch this important video.  

Healing.

I didn't want this day to slide by without acknowledging my 5 year back healing anniversary.  After a slip at work & 2 1/2 years of pain - God healed my back 5 years ago tonight at a prayer meeting.  I've given my testimony at our previous church as well as at a church conference.  If you ever need encouragement or would like to know more about my amazing story - I'd be happy to share.  I love my story.  God is so gracious & good to those that follow.  As a result I was able to carry 2 beautiful kids in my heavy belly for a total of 18 months pain free.  And, I can now carry my heavy son on my hip - pain free.  All the glory goes to Jesus Christ my Savior & Lord!

Look who's officially 27 lbs!

Ax is completely off the charts all around.  Our favorite doctor kept commenting on what a great disposition our little sweety has & thought he was looking great!  

In this pic - I had to grab a shot of this guy playing with the lights as we were finally getting all Christmas decorations put away last week...

So very thankful for prayer warriors!

A few nights ago our son come down with a serious & sudden case of croup.  It was nothing less than terrifying.  It still feels like such a blur because it all happened so fast.  We went from "maybe we should call the on-call pediatrician to ask what we should do about his funny sounding breathing?" to "CALL 911!!!" within 5 minutes.  We've never experienced croup or stridors before & we aren't experts but, please read this link so that you are more informed than we were.  If I knew then what I know now, we would have called 911 sooner.

Thank God he is now almost back to normal.

I am so thankful for:

#1 praying g-parents - God is our Healer & I know that he recovered so quickly because of all the prayers for our son.
#2 g-parents that live close & are willing to help at a moments notice (even in the middle of the night!).  It was such a blessing that we didn't have to wake Laila & take her to the hospital with us.
#3 speedy medic units
#4 Children's Hospital
#5 that a few months ago we happened to change the dates we would be in Canada (so thankfully, we were at home for this scary event.)
#6 that Jason was home - (it was his normal shift to work but, he decided to keep it off even though we didn't end up going to Canada...)  It would have been close to impossible to give Axel the care that he needed let alone do that while calling docs, g-parents, 911 etc...
#7 & finally that our son is alive & well!

By the time the medics arrived he was getting more air & looking better.  Daddy rode with him in the medic unit,  g-pa drove me & we followed.   Here are pics that I took once we knew for certain that my Axey was okay.

 His sweet little noggin in the bottom R corner of the window on the L.  

As usual - all smiles...

MOvember is MOver!

December 1st has been a long time coming.  Movember is over so we celebrated before making daddy shave.  He was a sport and raised over $300 for the cause.  I for one am excited to kiss a clean shaven face!  

10k on 10/10/10.

I haven't run a 10k in almost 10 years.  So, it seemed fitting that the first one I run would be to help raise awareness and support for prostate cancer.  Luckily the rain let up just enough to give us time to do our thing without getting drenched.  My goal was to finish in less than an hour.  My time?  58:10!  Here are some pics documenting the day.  

 This race was in honor of 2 of my favorite patients that I still keep in touch with.  These men & their wives are SO special!   

 And on my back...

 Claire & I pre-race (at this point she thought she was going to run the 5k but, decided to do the 10k at the last minute!!!  Who does this!?  What a gal!)  

 Lai was really getting into the group pre-stretch

 As you can see I had quite the cheerleaders!  

 L was hilarious yelling, "go people go!"  All day today she's been asking me if I "ran with the people" & giggles when I tell her that I did.

done & done.

duty calls...

 Ladies & gentlemen: Dr. Tia Higano & Claire Works, ARNP - they did FABULOUS!  

Team SCCA (plus L, Ax & a dog)

  Aren't these cookies darling?  (I took 2.)  :)

In the end L was wetter & dirtier than I've ever seen her, Ax crashed in the stroller & I wanted to join him.  What a fun morning.  A BIG shout-out to my man for all his support & encouragement.  Love you babe!  

It felt good.

Today I ran six miles.  SIX miles without stopping to walk.  Six hardcore miles with hills all over the place.  It felt good.  As I was running I had one hour and five minutes to think.  Since having Axel I realized I haven't been honest about losing my baby weight.  I feel like I just blow-it-off & chalk-it-up to how much the kid eats & then change the subject... But actually, I've worked really hard, REALLY hard.  I've done cross-fit, weights,  runs on my own & runs pushing 50 lbs of kid in the double jogger... I've worked hard.  I don't think anyone will know the excitement that overcame my body when I finished my run today.  I haven't run this well since before the back injury, the back healing, kid #1 & kid #2.  It felt good. I love this video Julia posted.  It did inspire me today.  Maybe it will inspire you too? 

Thank you Cynthia Lair.

Quinoa, carrot, parsley, sunflower seed, garlic, lemon, evoo, & soy sauce goodness.