Fogarty Creek

We had gorgeous weather last Saturday so we put off our house projects once again and made a super fast trip to the beach. We went to a new beach this time, where Fogarty Creek runs into the ocean.

We got there about lunch time and had a picnic on the beach. It was windy and cold while we were eating and I was shivering. Luckily though, the wind died down right after we ate and it was getting hot by the time we left.

The ocean was pretty turbulent on this particular beach and Spencer wasn't interested in getting too close. The creek, however, was another story. He just walked right in with his pants on and had a great time pouring water and throwing sand and rocks. It was a little too quick of a trip, but we had a good time anyway.

Here are some pics:




Skipping rocks
















Cheeto face and hands. :)

Health update

This is just an FYI of all of Spencer's weird health stuff and injuries. I realized that I have posted about several health related things, but have never finished the stories. So...

We met with Spencer's pediatric dermatologist about the veins on the side of his face in August. They haven't really changed at all during the last year and aren't causing any problems. We won't go back for another follow-up until Spencer is 6 years old and has had a couple of major growth spurts. Those can change blood-flow a little I guess. So, Spencer will probably always look like he has a bruise by his eye. People don't ask me about it very often anymore and that makes me feel better.

Spencer's arm is completely healed from his fall off a stool in July. He only wore the splint for 6 days. We had to pay for 2 sets of x-rays, but it wasn't fractured. The doctor's best guess is that he dislocated his radius bone, but it popped back into place before they did took any x-rays.

Spencer had a funny reaction since the first time I gave him peanut butter at around 13 or 14 months. He just acted like his mouth was itchy and wouldn't eat any more. I didn't worry too much about it and would try giving him a tiny taste every 6 months or so. In June or July, he got some by accident in a power bar, threw it up and then was fine. I decided then that it would probably be a good idea to have him tested for a peanut allergy in case he had a really bad reaction some time. The allergist I took him to a couple of weeks ago tested him for about 15 different allergies. Spencer thought the purple dots they made on his arm were really cool, but he didn't have a reaction to any of the skin pricks. That conflicted with what I've observed when he's eaten peanut butter, so we don't really have any answers. The doctor advised us to stay away from all peanut products and prescribed an epi-pen just in case. No pb & j's for this little guy.

For some reason, Spencer has been pretty uncooperative in pictures lately. This was the best shot I could get of the purple dots they used to mark where the skin pricks began and ended.




Last of all, Spencer got two of his fingers smashed in the hinge side of a heavy door at the church yesterday morning during my clogging class. They were pretty flat and scary looking when another mom brought him to me. He cried pretty hard for 15-20 minutes, but calmed down once we got in the car. Even though he was acting fine at home, Spencer's doctor wanted me to take him in for x-rays. Again, no breaks. Whew again! His fingers are still a little purple and swollen today, but he is using them a little.

Thankfully, nothing is seriously wrong with Spencer and Alan and I have been very healthy. We've had a lot of doctor's bills the past few months.

I Am A Mother

I just finished reading a great book by Jane Clayson Johnson called I Am A Mother. The author was a well-know national new anchor before she quit her job to be a mother. I got to hear her speak at a Time Out for Women Conference almost 3 1/2 years ago. It was during the time after I'd had a miscarriage and was struggling with knowing my identity without being blessed with children. Jane talked a lot about learning to enjoy the different seasons of our lives and learning to mother whether or not we have children of our own. Her words really touched and lifted me at the time. I have been feeling so grateful to be a mother lately and this book put a lot of my thoughts into words. My favorite part was a short section debunking the myth that becoming a mom means giving up your own identity.

"Certainly, motherhood involves some sacrifices. Every worthwhile venture does. You will certainly lose some sleep over the year, and, ever now and then, you might temporarily lose your sanity. But you will also learn - about yourself, about the world, about the Spirit. The woman you can become as you nurture your children is a woman of faith, a woman who trusts in the Lord and know he has a plan for her, a woman who has developed patience and empathy and knows how to listen, a woman of courage."

"As you learn these things, and as you grow into the woman God knows you can be, inevitably little pieces of you will rub off on your children - and their children. And on it goes..."

I would encourage every woman to read this book no matter what season of life you're in. You will feel encouraged and empowered as a Daughter of God.

And, here are a few pictures of just a little bit of my happiness...

Angel's Rest?

Hiking is one of our favorite things to do on Labor Day. It's a perfect way to take advantage of some of the last of the nice weather. This year, we decided to do a hike in the Columbia River Gorge. There are probably hundreds of trails there, so we looked on-line and found an easy 3-mile hike. Spencer hadn't been in the backpack at all this year, so we wanted to do something fairly short in case he didn't last long. As you can see from the above picture, Spencer was actually pretty happy about the back pack.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find very good directions to that particular trail head. After driving around in the Gorge for a half-hour, we decided just to pick one of the other trail heads and try a different hike. We wound up on an easy-sounding trail called Angel's Rest, but soon discovered that the name referred to how high your had to climb (up to the angel's) instead of the restful part. We wound up climbing 1,600 feet over 2.3 miles instead of our planned 400 feet over 1.5 miles.



I love the way the sun filtered through these leaves.




Alan was worried about his sweat showing in this picture. I was sure glad I only had to carry our lunch and not a 30-pound little boy all the way up. I love my strong husband!




Eating our picnic almost at the top. We didn't know how much further we had to go and decided we'd better eat here since it was way past lunch time and there was a place to sit.




It turned out that the top wasn't much further, but was pretty crowded. It's hard to take pictures of a two-year-old all day without getting at least one nose-picking shot.




View from the top. Proof that it's not always cloudy and rainy in Oregon. We couldn't have had more perfect weather for a hike.




Waving to mommy on the switch backs on the way back down. Spencer thought the switch backs were pretty neat and had fun counting them on the way back down. He was happy until the last 10-15 minutes. Spencer was a little saddle-sore when we finally got to the bottom and he got out of the backpack. It was pretty funny to see him walking bow-legged.

It was a great day even though we got a little more than we bargained for and all came home tired. So fun just enjoying each other and the outdoors. What a perfect end to summer! Hopefully we'll have a few more nice Saturdays this fall to do more hiking.