Rescued Plants

After I harvested our garlic, there was a large void in the garden.  It was an awkward time to plant anything because summer was in full swing.  Plants that would enjoy the heat wouldn't have enough time to produce if I started them from seeds.  I needed starts--but the season for that had passed.

Behind one of my favorite organic garden stores I discovered some plant starts.  

The sign said FREE and there was a reason.  These were the leftovers...they were sad little plants, yellow leaves, root-bound in their containers, and hadn't been watered.

Free plants was just my bare plot needed--they wouldn't be any worse off and maybe they would grow.

Thanks to fluffed up soil, chicken manure, sunshine, and water---the neglected plants came back to life.

At the time of planting, I wasn't sure what I was even putting in the ground because the plants were no longer labeled.  I could tell generally that I was planting some kinds of peppers, eggplant and some vines...watermelon?  squash?  It was fun to discover what was actually growing.

Today the weather shifted; it is much cooler and we are going to have rain for several days.  It was time to harvest all the heat-loving veggies and fruit.

I also picked my flowers and made two lovely dahlia bouquets.

I'm so thankful for the rescued plants....

....and to have so much color to make the grey days cheerful.

Thank you Nanna for the gift certificate for the dahlia tubers.   And thank you Mom for the chicken manure.

Blueberries

This morning we headed out early to pick blueberries with Nanna.  It's an annual tradition that we enjoy doing every summer together.  Here's a look down memory lane: Plenty

I told Jonah he could eat blueberries for breakfast...and he did.

We picked 7.5 pounds which came to a grand total of $11.25.  Worth it!

Jonah's six year old "blueberry eyes."

Have a lovely weekend!

xoxo

The last hours

Dear Jonah,

In a few hours it will be a new day....your birthday.

Right now you are sleeping.  Sleeping in the forest where tall cedars will shade the morning sunlight and the hushhhhh of the creek will muffle the sounds of other campers.  Because, for your birthday, you asked to go camping.  And go fishing.  And ride your bike.  And play frisbee golf.  And go swimming.  I love that you want to do it all.  And I especially love that being outdoors is essential to your ideal day.

You are incredible.

The video is a "rough cut" of the ad that Jonah did for Cleary Bikes last autumn.  The final was too big of a file for me to upload....and since we are moments away from you turning six...I thought I better post this while you are still five!  If you click on the Cleary Bikes hyperlink and scroll down the bottom of the home page, there's also another movie under the Trail Videos heading which features Jonah riding with his buddies Rocket and Sierra (the video on the left).

We love you Jonah!

Happy Birthday

Victory

A weight has been lifted.  Many of you don't know that I have been battling with our insurance company since the end of 2016 to get more therapy visits covered for Ezra.  As a parent of a medically complex child, we see specialists from practically every rehabilitative sector: physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dietitian, audiologist, chiropractor, etc.  I have learned that within every discipline there are therapists who have specific expertise in different areas.  We have been fortunate enough to be connected with therapists who share the same title but have unique and relevant experience to help Ezra.  For example, we see several Speech Pathologists.  One of them is part of Ezra’s Cochlear Implant Team and specializes in therapy for children with hearing loss.  We also see a Speech Pathologist who is part of Ezra’s Cleft Palate Team.  The third Speech Pathologist we see is part of our Feeding Team.  I consider each of these therapies to be distinctly different and vital to Ezra’s progress.  That's what I was trying to communicate to our insurance company.  Our policy provides exceptions for certain "chronic conditions" and my claim was that Ezra's diagnosis should fall under that category.  

This 6+ month conflict was such a slog.  It involved so many hours on the phone, waiting on hold, getting transferred around to different department experts, acquiring letters of support from Ezra's therapists, explaining our unique situation, defending the medical necessity, petitioning to defer payment for services, paying for visits to avoid collections, receiving denial letters, feeling frustrated by contradictions in the health system, advancing to higher levels of appeal...it was a LOAD, and as a non-complainer, one that I held privately.  A few weeks ago, I argued Ezra's case to a panel of doctors.  It is the highest appeal option and that ruling is final.  We won.  I got the call today.  And not only did they retroactively approve his therapy visits for 2016, they are giving him unlimited therapy visits the rest of this year.  They told me his case was the first to successfully appeal under the "chronic conditions" exception and that they would be looking into the policy language with their lawyers to see what modifications could be made so that we would not need to appeal for services in the future. 

I'm going to love not thinking about this anymore.

So much effort.  So much relief.

Go Team Ezra!

Colander Party

What is a Colander Party, you ask?  It's Ezra's dream come true!

Yesterday, we celebrated Ezra turning 3 with a theme like no other: colanders.

Ezra loves colanders, mesh hats, salad spinners...anything that's perforated.  He enjoys stacking them, flipping them, feeling their texture, wearing them on his head, banging them together, and especially looking through them.

Jonah and Renee...remarkably neither flipped out of the hammock.

It was a beautiful day to enjoy with our family and friends.

What a difference a year makes!  Ezra now enjoys tasting all food, he will even chew and swallow--those are strawberry remnants on his face and hand.  He's making great progress and it is really exciting to see regular improvement in every area.

So much of Ezra's development is due in part of the wonderful therapy services he has received since birth.  Since Ezra's arrival, he has been part of Early Intervention which serves kids with developmental delays from birth until age 3.  We had our final visit with our Physical Therapist, Kelly, last week and it was sad to say goodbye.  Kelly has been coming into our home twice a month for the past three years and she basically feels like family at this point.

Here, Ezra is playing with his Occupational Therapist, Paul.  

We feel lucky to have had such a great local team.

And while it is bittersweet to be moving on, it means that Ezra is ready for the next chapter....

SCHOOL!

Yes, we have been busy planning for Ezra's transition out of the Early Intervention program and into the Special Education school-age program.  So today, Ezra went to preschool for the first time!  There are only a couple days of school remaining before summer vacation starts, so we are looking at these few days as "practice school".  We are big fans of our public preschool and I know that Ezra is going to grow tremendously in that environment.

Happy Birthday Ezra.  

You are amazing!

xoxo

A Winter to Remember

It is hard for me to recall the exact date that the snow began, but it was weeks ago.

Since that time, we have had cold temperatures, daily soaks in the hot tub, school cancellations and late starts, brief power outages, chains on the truck, lots of cocoa, and immense fun.

The weather forecasting has been tricky for this La Niña year.  The precipitation in the prediction above materialized, but the high temperatures never warmed above freezing, so we ended up with more snow than expected....and it just kept coming!

The snow was appreciated for the holidays and New Year.  I happen to love seasons, and I much prefer a true cold, snowy winter to the grey and rainy ones typical of the past decade.

Blurry, I know...but how cute and cozy does our little winter cabin look?  I've always had a fantasy of having a summer cottage or cabin in the woods...so I have started referring to our home with those darling titles in order to embrace the charming qualities of a tiny house.

Ezra LOVES the snow.  He would post up by the window every day and yank on the blinds until I would open them.  Then he would stand there, head tilted back, giggling as the flakes fell from the sky.

Daisy, on the other hand, did not appreciate the winter conditions.  

She would get giant snow-marbles stuck to her hair when we would go on walks.  And once the snow was over 8" she was confined to our shoveled paths.

Jonah sure had been a trooper through all the schedule changes.  It's the 19th and since the New Year, he's only had FOUR days of normal school plus three late start days.  We have been embracing the time at home though with lots of "outdoor school", baking, coloring, and card games.

As I'm sure you gathered from my last blog post, skiing right from our house is one of my favorite things.  It's been a great year for zero-commute outings.

Skiing the old hwy is also an easy local trip.

So much grinning!

Animal tracks.  My snowshoe tracks on the left and deer tracks parallel to the right.

The pace of the last few weeks has had a unfamiliar energy.  It reminded me more of summertime than anything else.  Days where we were unbound by schedules and effort was made to pack the activities in like the snow might melt....but it didn't....so we kept going.

There were bluebird xc ski days with friends: Tabitha, Kerry, and Rich.

There were blustery snowshoe outings to the river.

After dark snowshoe and sledding adventures with Jesse.

More sledding while Jesse was at work.

Play dates with friend, Josie.

A sunset ski with Tabitha, Jen, and Rich (kitty cat).

Full moon snowshoe with Amy.

Sunrise snow shoveling.

Downhill skiing with Daddy.

More snow shoveling.

More sledding.

Drinking hot chocolate with preschool friend Sophia.

Trying out Mommy's snowshoes.

Trying out borrowed kids snowshoes.

Through out this time, Jesse was able to get to work, so the photography ended up being mostly of me and the kids.  I have a few more photos to share.

Keeping track.

Ezra celebrated his 1 year Hearing Birthday on the 11th....
so Jonah and I made him an applesauce molasses cake.  He didn't really love the cake, but we did!

Staying cozy.

Master snow shoveler.

Our beautiful son.

Our silly son.

Winter textures.

Our deck piled high.

Snow even makes our shed door prettier.

An ice storm was the grand finale.

We are just beginning to thaw today.  Jonah is outside now "ice surfing" on 2 inches of frozen rain.

Although it is treacherous, it is also beautiful.

Lots of love from our winter playground.

xo

-c