Santa Jackpot

"Santa?" asking as he wakes up on Christmas morning. Gus must remember Curt telling him the night before that Santa would bring him presents if he went to bed. "Let's go see the tree!" I reply as we strength his nearly awake body out of bed. Christmas morning creates a magical feeling in our home. The crystal glare of the tree lights bounce off the tops of boxes wrapped in metallic green and blue wrapping paper. A bay toddler-sized riding horse, stuffed Pixar "Dispicable Me" Minion, and a group of Mickey Mouse toys creates a focal point in front of the tree. An over-flowing stocking lays turgid on the floor, waiting to be explored. We confirmed Santa's visit by the crumbs of cookies and empty glass of milk along side of Gus's Christmas letter. The season's 'nautry or nice' tradition now made sense and Gus realized he had hit the Santa Jackpot!

Scoot, Scoot

In front of his toy case, in his new room, is the first place I sat Gus the day we came home from the hospital. Gus looks up and asks me "Hey, hey, that!" Before long we had every toy and book off the shelf and spread across the floor. Getting reacquainted with all of his toys is how Gus spent his first few days at home. His train set needed new batteries and all of his tractors and cars had been pretend fixed several times. If you want your children to be excited with all their toys again, just hide them for a couple of months. 

The Road Never Taken

The Road Not Taken Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Recovery by Numbers

12, the minutes it takes to get to the hospital by life flight. 15, days in the PICU. 13, days on antibiotics. 46, the day that Gus took a first step with his left foot. 28, the number of times we have watched the 'Crystal Mickey' episode of Mickey Mouse. 1280, Gus's mL fluid goal for each day. 4, how many times we had to put the feeding tube back in. 500+, hours of the liquid mind radio station played on Pandora. 2, the months ago that I deleted a section of information in my brain for more storage.

Thanksgiving Wish

Curt and I share fall time pictures and find ourselves comparing crops. Curt shares pictures that he had taken during the drought year. First, a picture from the silage corn field. The picked cob was small enough to fit in Curt's hand when he took the picture with his phone. Peeking out of the husk you can see shaded dent on the golden yellow kernels, showing the lack of water. Paired with it is a picture our newly arrived baby Augustus. A crop I am personally very proud of. Captured in his Daddy's arms as they both rest in the window of his first hospital room. A light green blanket wraps around his newborn body, only revealing his soft cheeks and closed eyes. Pictures that can describe the first harvest.