Xander's Surgery Day

Xander's surgery went really well yesterday. He survived his pre-op fasting much better than I expected and after an hour under general anesthesia he was willing and able to nurse right away. The doctor was very pleased with how the procedure went- and informed us that the initial assessment was correct- it was absolutely the right call to get things "straightened out" now when Xander is young- he would have had some challenges as an adult otherwise.

We returned home and have been alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours. Xander is just a little stoned from the meds I think- but very, amazingly cheerful. This is not at all what we expected! With my mother's help, I was even able to spend the entire day cooking casseroles and breakfast burritos for the freezer!

Mom's been great with Xander, and with us. While the surgery did go exactly as planned, it was still a stress for Jake and me- and it was wonderful to have her here to take care of us all!

Running - a lot

I've been running a lot lately in preparation for the California International Marathon, December 6th. I've never trained this much for a marathon before. Typically my training plans have peaked at 50 miles a week. This time I'm going up to 70 miles a week. Now, that may not sound like a lot more, but it is. It really is. 70 miles a week, running 6 days a week, means that you average more than 10 miles a day. A typical week looks something like this:

Monday: 8 miles with 10 100m sprints
Tuesday: 15 miles
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery day
Thursday AM: 11 miles speed workout
Thursday PM: 4 mile recovery
Friday: 7 miles with 6 100m sprints
Saturday: 20 miles
Sunday: Rest :)

I'm on my 4th week of a 12 week schedule. I feel really good, I'm getting really fast, but it is hard. It is hard to get up in the morning, when it is dark and cold out, and head out the door to run 15 miles, and then go to work. The good news is that I have lots of company on my runs. Blitz runs with me all the time, and he is always enthusiastic. Xander often accompanies me in his chariot. Afterwards he needs his "recovery drink" too. Since he kept trying to steal my bottle, I gave him one of his own.

It is beautiful of course. I watch the sun rise almost every morning on my runs. Sometimes it is clear and the horizon brightens to a beautiful red and orange, then the sun comes up casting a glowing golden light on the mountains. Other days the sun comes up into the clouds and paints a warm rosy glow on the wheat fields. On the cold days, a light mist hangs over the ponds and streams and glows orange and gold as the first rays of the sun peak over the horizon. Almost every day I see hawks perched in the trees and and soaring above the fields hunting. Some days I even see owls, looking like giant cats perched on the power poles.

Getting out of bed is hard in the morning, but I never finish a run wishing I was back in bed. Love - hate. It hurts some days, but some days I pulse with energy, feeling like I could run faster and faster. Why? I'm not sure, it's a test, it's a challenge, it's miserable, it's beautiful, I love it.

-Jake

Xander's 6-Month Doctor's Visit

The new stats are in....

Xander is still growing steadily in the 75-90 %ile.

Length; 27"
Weight: 19 lbs 8 oz
Head: 45 cm

A few interesting tidbits:
#1 Xander was probably at least .5 lbs heavier this afternoon before giving Nicole a memorable blowout to clean up on his last few hours of daycare with her for awhile. (It required not only new clothes, but a complete head to toe bath.)

#2 Xander's Length, at least right now, is closer to the 75th %ile whereas his Weight is closer to the 90th %ile- he is quite plump, and ready for his 6 month growth spurt to kick in.

#3 Growth and other spurts aside, this is the first week since he was born that he hasn't gained at least 5 oz.

6 Month Xander Portraits

For Xander's 6 month birthday we decided that some new portraits were in order. I really haven't done much with Xander in the portrait studio since he was really little. Boy, what a difference a few months makes. Before we struggled to get photos of him with his eyes open. Now, he laughs and plays and giggles for the camera. What fun!

Xander warming up for the photo shoot. You have to get comfortable with the camera before you can take really good pictures.









-Jake

Xander is 6 months old!

Today we all hit a major milestone- Alexander Jackson Lewis, known as Xander to his friends, is now 6 months old! We thought of all sort of elaborate ways to celebrate, but truth be told, Xander is a child of simple wants and needs. We settled for taking him for a nice morning run and later picking him up early from daycare, reading stories, playing for hours with songs and blocks and the dogs, and loading up his dinner plate with all his favorites: home-made carrots from Sarah, home-made applesauce from Lori, mashed bananas, and some beef puree.

Xander is now strong enough to assume the crawling position, but has no idea what to do when he gets there!

We also bought a new Sherpani backpack/kid carrier so we can take him adventuring a little more comfortably. Xander had gotten heavy enough that it was hard on my back to carry him in the Bjorn anymore, and tall enough that Jake feared his long dangling legs would jeopardize any future consideration of a sibling. We're looking forward to our first outing with it!

It's what's for dinner

This year I have been reading a lot about "nutrition" and the American obsession with food. Living in Boulder, we are quite inundated with options when it comes to eating all types of yummy food, be it at restaurants, or buying from natural food stores, whole food stores, Asian food stores, farmer's markets, food suppliments, etc. etc. etc. With Xander starting to eat solid food, I want to give him "the best" whenever possible. But what is best? What is worth the extra money? Organic? Natural? Local? What's best for the body? What's best for the environment? Is high fructose corn syrup any worse for you than sugar really? How much good fat is still good?

One things is certain- there's a lot of uncertainty. But I do like what I read about eating locally, and I like what I read about eating meats that are raised on their natural diets, as they tend to have more concentrated nutrition and flavor. To this end, I researched some local ranches and asked a bunch of friends if they wanted to go in on buying a cow raised and finished on grass pasture vs. corn. A bunch of folks all thought it was a good idea, and so today we got a shipment delivered of 1.5 cow's worth of beef. 1150 lbs of hanging weight ends up being approx. 700 lbs of finished meat. What does that much meat look like? Like this!

Oh, and by the way, you can taste the difference and it's delicious!

-Erin

An Early Morning Drive

It is definitely fall in the mountains. The aspens are golden and beautiful and I really wanted to take a drive through the mountains, catch a beautiful sunrise, and get some photos. There is this picture that Erin has in her head of aspens that I've been trying to find for a few years now. I didn't get it quite right, it is sooo hard to know exactly what's in her head, but I got close this time. So, Sunday I got up at O-400 (what's the O stand for, oh my god its early!, thanks Robin Williams) and drove the Jeep up to Kenosha pass to see the sunrise. Blitz accompanied me, he loves to ride up in the passenger seat of the Jeep. We started out so early that he curled up in a little ball beside me and napped for a while.

From Kenosha you can't see the sun rise, there's a mountain ridge right in your way, but the light on the aspens is beautiful.



After watching the sunrise, and giving Blitz a chance to stretch his legs and roam through the aspen forests, we headed off to Georgia Pass. There were some beautiful stands of aspen along the way and I stopped for a few more photos.


Erin said this one was close to what she wanted, but not quite. Oh well, I'll have to try again next year :).

I headed up over Georgia pass, sorry no photos. There was some snow on the trail and some of the tippy sections were a little unnerving, since half of the road was covered in ice! I cleared through those sections fine and headed back down below tree line and then BANG - hissssss. I had hit a rock and torn a giant gash in one of my tires. Fortunately I was able to get the tire changed fairly swiftly. From there I had a very steep and rocky descent, it wasn't icy, but was wet and sometimes seemed more like a slip and slide then a trail. It was so steep and bumpy that poor Blitz was getting bounced all around the Jeep. I let him out and he trotted down the trail and waited for me at the bottom. He seemed much happier on his own four feet through that section.

We stopped again in Georgetown for a few more photos and made it home by 1 PM so I could spend some time playing with Xander. It was a fun trip.



-Jake

Xander's Day at the Library

Under the category of

"You never knew how fun this was until you had a kid" :
Visiting the Library for some story time.

Yes, that's Xander *standing* and playing on his own! Just don't ask him to let go of the table quite yet.

Goofing around

The Moms: Erin, Sarah, Elizabeth, Audra and Amy

The Kids: Xander, Leah, Jackson, Alex and Caroline

A quick 24 hours in Crested Butte

We decided over the weekend to make a mad dash to Crested Butte with the Fossums. Considering it was 5 hours of driving each way, with 2 babies on board, the trip was a rousing success. Here are a few pictures of Xander and Jackson's first trip to "the Butte."

Xander is Growing up so fast

Xander is almost 20 lbs now (19.5 this morning), and almost 27 inches long. He's getting so much stronger every day it is just amazing! Last week we were so happy to see him sit on his own for up to 5 minutes or so- now he now sits quite well for half an hour or more, and can reach for things and come back to a sit, or even (sometimes) keep himself from falling to the side by putting out a hand to the floor! He's using this new skill to rediscover his playgym, and to play piano or guitar, and play with board books and the dogs!

He's not the only one growing up-
Check out Leah, Jackson and Jaden in their amazing cuteness glory!




Xander's also getting really good at eating- we're giving him oatmeal, carrots, and peas, he's gotten tastes of lime and lemon and orange and pear and just last night we tried chicken for the first time (not a huge hit, but tolerated if mixed with carrots). He's even holding his own bottles now!

I'm ridiculously proud of him. I'm pretty sure he knows his name, and Mommy and Daddy, and Blitz and Otto and Up and Milk. He's got the sign for "up" mastered and I'm so happy to reward it! Maybe soon I'll get sick of picking him up so often, but I am really just loving the time I have with him. I find that I can't wait to pick him up in the afternoon so I can find out what new and amazing thing he has figured out! Jake and I actually compete for time with him- he is such a joy!

This week GE Transportation announced huge additional layoffs- 1400 hourly and another 150 salaried folks were affected, including my department- and me. Now, being told that one's services are no longer needed is a terrible thing, but I have to admit that an extra 3 months paid time to be with my son sounds pretty darn great. I have already started the job hunt, but I'm not in a panic over it. On the other hand, my connections and networking (thanks Meg!) within GE here locally may have already yielded me a new position.... we'll have to see. Either way, I'm going to take advantage of as much time as I have with Xander.

-Erin