We are on the other side!!!!!!!!

The past three days have been a blur of sleepless nights and long days. The good news is that Jonathan's surgery is done and without any complications! He is sleeping in my arms as I type this one-handed.

Here is a recap of the past few days:
Thursday we three arrived at Children's Hospital at 6:30am. John was in a great mood despite having an empty stomach (surgery requirement). He was all smiley to the nurses and anesthesiologists (poor little buddy had no idea what was coming...), then Wes and I went to the ICU family room and waited. And waited. And waited some more. A nurse would page us every so often to give us updates about how the surgery was going, thankfully they were always good news.

Finally, at about 5:30pm we got to see Jonathan. He looked like an angel. He was so peaceful- still very sedated. He had a long zigzag of stitches across his noggin (we counted around 80) but his head looked great. The swelling hadn't kicked in yet. We met with the surgeon, Dr. Hopper, who briefed us about how the surgery went and showed us the before and after CT scans of Jonathan's skull. The difference is amazing! John's skull is put together like a jigsaw puzzle, held together by plates and screws made from natural lactic-acid based materials that will dissolve in about a year. Cool, huh!

That night was a sleepless one, and the next day was exhausting. John began to swell everywhere, especially his poor little head. He was very cranky and it was hard to comfort him. Happily, his vital signs were great, so we knew he was healing good.

And that brings me to today. We finally got to hold him!!! Jonathan has been in our arms for most of the day which has helped his mood. His poor little face is so swollen...his eyes are swelled shut. He is frustrated because he can't see anything. We are down to one IV line now (he had three to begin with!) and a few chest monitors for breathing and heart rate. He keeps trying to rip those off :-P

Wes and I are doing good, just very tired. We are happy that we get to room in with Jonathan, but we cannot wait to go home, hopefully on Tuesday. I am grateful that everyone who is helping John has been great. The nurses are working hard to make sure that he is comfy and getting pain-relief meds.

Well, that about sums it all up. I was only able to download a few pics from the first two days. I'll post more pics tomorrow.
Thank you for all your support and love! We feel blessed that so many people care about our wonderful little boy.

Day One: Right after his surgery

Day One: you can see part of his scar

Day One: another scar shot. The tube is for draining excess fluid in his head.


Day Two: Starting to swell more

Below are some before shots. Our family picture was taken the day before John's surgery.

Can't wait to see this smile again :-)

Surgery Tomorrow

The day that I've been dreading is finally upon me. Tomorrow we are bringing Jonathan to Children's Hospital at 6:45 in the morning. His surgery is expected to be 6 hours long, I'll try to post an update here during that time.

We had a fun day today. Wes started his leave from work today so we got to hang out as a family. Took some really cute photos, which I will have to post tomorrow. I'll have a lot of free time to do so!

Thank you for all your good thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful and touched by the love and good thoughts from our family, friends, and even strangers.
Until tomorrow!

Lots of play in May

Jonathan's surgery is less than two weeks away, ack! Wes and I are holding up good- Wes has been extremely busy at work. As for me, I am a born procrastinator. I am really good at not thinking about upcoming deadlines until two days before the event. So, come Tuesday June 2nd...I might not be so calm. But for now I'm all smiles :-D

We have had some beautiful days here and I have been packing the Little Buddy around to various places (mostly just the off-leash dog park with Maggie). After such a long wet Seattle winter it is nice to feel the sun again!
Jonathan and I went to Ballard last weekend for the Norwegian Constitution Day Parade. John got to hear his first marching band, it was a huge hit! Do you think I could ask the Ballard Beavers Marching Band to march past my house every day at noon? hehe

Lately John has been getting his baths in the kitchen sink, much to his delight. It is way easier on my poor old back, too. Posted a bath picture below. Warning: You may die of cuteness upon viewing!...at least I did :-)

We have been working on finger foods. So far John has tried watermelon, avocado, and banana. They were all a hit. Unfortunately, more hits the floor than his mouth. Maggie is good at making the dropped bits disappear. Whadddya do? lol

I hope you all are enjoying your Memorial Weekend! We will be up at my friend Tina's cabin. Our last hurrah before the op.

Being all cute at the Norwegian Day Parade

This pic cracks me up

Annndd...its time to go home


I'm going to be so sad when he doesn't fit in this anymore

Play time!

Making a break for it...

Starting his break-dancing routine

the adorable bath picture



Another self-portrait attempt.

How old?!

The Little Man is 8 months old now...How does time go by so fast??
Jonathan is so active these days. He's been climbing all over me when we're sitting on the couch. He is getting really good at his floor break-dancing, I watched him wiggle and roll his way across the living room. Yikes! :-) He really loves running around in his walker- there is a short video at the end of this post if you want to watch our speed demon.

On the social front, Jonathan got to attend another birthday party (he's getting popular! ;-)) His buddy Nathan turned 2, yay! We all went to the zoo after the party, it a good time.

As we are getting closer to John's surgery, I'm still a little bit in denial, which I think is good. I've got to focus my energies on raising this boy, not dwelling on things that haven't happened yet.
Thanks for reading this, I feel so amazed and blessed to have great people in our lives <3<3<3

And now the best part :-D

So happy to run around in his walker

Birthday boy in his new super cape

Nathan tamed the Dragon :-)

Jonathan did a double-take at the tiger growling

Wes packs, I take pictures. Hehe

Cherry Blossoms!

He loves our guard bear

Showing off his new teeth

Busy Boy

Happy Spring Friends and Family! It feels like it finally arrived here in Seattle. I love the cherry blossoms and tulips everywhere.

Jonathan has been very social lately. We went to his friend Corine's 3rd birthday party at a pool & park in West Seattle. Jonathan really enjoyed splashing around and floating with me, and then he got to play on the swings. A few days later we went to visit my friend Christine and her two daughters Olyvia (age 20 mos) and Lola (8 mos). John loved playing with the girls and I enjoyed hanging out with Christine. Yay for adult interaction!

Last Monday Jonathan had a BAER hearing test, which he got sedated for. The test confirmed he has a mild hearing loss, his hearing is slightly better than mine! Woohoo! The audiologists are still recommending that he get hearing aids. We plan to deal with that after his surgery.

Speaking of his surgery... it is less than a month away!! Time is going by so fast. I am trying not to stress too much about it now, it helps that John is keeping me very busy these days. He gets around on the floor by spinning on his tummy and rolling. It looks like baby break-dancing, hehe. What else is new?...his two front teeth are coming in at the same time, ouch! Little Buddy has been a trooper and not complaining too much as long as he has something to chew on.

In other news, Wes and I have been getting out sans baby. We have a great babysitter that we all like, her name is Sara. She is awesome! Wes and I look forward to getting out more :-)
And now for the fun part: Pictures!

Jonathan loved this swing

Whee!!!

Happy Birthday Corine!

Playdate with Christine

Lola and Christine

Lola says good-bye...too cute!

climbing on the couch with Daddy

I got my hair cut. Less hair for John to grab, yay!

Me with my baby :-)

John is enjoying the spring flowers too!


Jonathan's favorite toy is this giraffe that Christine gave him. He loves it so much! It makes a squeaky noise like a dog toy, so every time he squeezes it Maggie comes running. The temptation has been great, but she has not touched it. Good girl Maggie!

Pictures Galore!

I love my new camera! And Jonathan has been such a great sport about me snapping pictures of him :-) Here are the latest greatest:

He is almost crawling. Time to babyproof the house!

Enjoying a rare sunny day outside

He kept trying to eat the dandelions.



John got to play while Mom made lunch

I can't wait until he gets bored of this NOISY toy :-)

Jonthan and I took a field trip over to Redmond and Bellevue last week to visit my friends Ingunn and Kathy. Baby John had a great time!

With Aunt Ingunn

And Auntie Kathy!

7 months old

Jonathan is seven months old now! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. Let's see, what is he up to these days?


He Grabs Everything within reach.
This has been funny (he loves the crinkly diaper wipes package) and embarrassing (he took out a whole rack of business cards at a busy supermarket checkout).
He is Standing Up good.
Jonathan can stand up holding on to something for a few minutes. He can take a couple of steps hanging on to our hands, although he usually gets sidetracked after the first step (oooh, I need to chew on my fist!). He can also roll and he is pushing himself backwards when on his tummy.
He has Two Teeth.
His bottom two are in. Makes for very cute smiles. Makes for not very fun nights. I've heard every parent sigh about the teething process and now I understand your pain! Poor baby. I've heard a few recommendations for 'Hylands Teething Tablets' and I'm going to find some this week.
He is Eating Well.
Jonathan is finally getting the hang of eating. We hit our peak messiness with split-pea soup. Yikes! Luckily this week more food is going down the hatch rather than spit back out. Yay!
Here's some cute pics:

The aforementioned split-pea soup night.

Happy Solider

Cute story behind this pic: Whenever Jonathan sees Grandpa Don's painting he gets the biggest smile on his face. That's what he's looking at here while playing with Dad and Maggie :-)

First Party

Jonathan went to his first birthday party. His little friend Audrey turned 1 years old and had a fabulous party. There were six other adorable babies there, it was so cute watching them play with each other on the floor.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Our family photo

Oooh, I want that toy...

Look at all those babies!
The Birthday Girl


He loved this slinky!