On his 4 month birthday, Little Linus Newberry’s dear momma, Olivia, let me bring the camera in. Here is my favorite shot (note the dazzling blue eyes!):
29 Oct
Congratulations, Kay & Jody!
The Daily Burget would like to extend a heartful CONGRATULATIONS to our dear friends, Kay & Jody, who finally met their little Jack this morning!
Jack was born at 1:01 am, Wednesday October 28, 2009. He is completely healthy, beautiful and weighs 8.5 lbs and is 20.5 inches long AND has a full head of hair! We haven’t been allowed to visit him yet (the hospital will only allow two people in the room due to H1N1 regulations) but we hope to meet him tomorrow after work when the Family Darling gets to go home.
We love him already!
Mama Kay is doing quite well, herself. She had not quite 12 hours between water break and baby birth — by far, she is the most efficient baby birther I’ve ever met!
24 Oct
#23 CHECK!
#23 Go to a vineyard I’ve never been to
Done.
For our friend Jeff and Susie’s wedding last weekend, not only did we make it to one vineyard we’d never been to, but we made it to two vineyards we’d never been to.
The first vineyard, Bethel Heights Vineyard, was the location for the rehearsal dinner, which was not only delicious, but also beautiful! Susie asked me to take some photos at the rehearsal, so here are some of my faves:
We lucked out and had no rain!
Looking out onto the vineyard.
Our happy couple!
Secondly, we got to spend the wedding celebration at Zenith Vineyard, which is right down the road from Bethel Heights. Susie and Jeff’s wedding was truly a beautiful occassion full of love, good friends and happiness. I must say, I felt particularly moved by Susie and Jeff’s ceremony because not only did it have a similar feel to ours, but I feel like Susie and Jeff are our parellel couple living in another world… they remind me of us, I guess I should say. I really respect the very evident love and affection and friendship they share. Congratulations, Morris’!
I got my hair all did.
Our new friend, Tom, was also a groomsmen.
Susie was a simply gorgeous bride!
Aaron and Jeff, caught dancing! Blaspheme!
Self! New (beautiful) friends Tom & Shannon!
16 Oct
30 By 31 – The List
Okay, so after only achieving marginal success on my 29 By 30 List, I am fully committed to my 30 By 31 List and FINALLY have it completed. I am happy to report that I’ve already had opportunity to cross some things off. LOVE crossing things off lists! (See strikethroughs)
For those of you who are late to the game, my friend Katie gave me this idea when we were in Toronto earlier this year. Basically, around your birthday time, you create a list of XX (your age) number of things you want to do by your next birthday. They don’t necessarily have to be giant goals or anything… more like things you’ve always wanted to do or just know you want to accomplish.
Without further adieu:
- Establish a online photo site for Portland Fresh Photography (my photo business). (http://pdxfresh.wordpress.com/)
- Visit Sauvie Island (http://thedailyburget.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/the-punkin-patch/)
- Purchase a Lensbaby
Read On the Road- Get new passport with new last name
- Go to some sort of music festival
- Pay off credit card
- Sell a photo
- Visit another country
- Have a photography display
- Make a pie (never done it)
- Visit Bagby Hot Springs
- Visit my little friend Katie — wherever she might be in the world
- Ride the Portland Tram
- Learn Photoshop Elements OR Lightroom if I can get my hands on it
- Go to Oregon Zoo (never been)
- Get wedding video made (Thank you to Karl at In the Can Productions!)
- Visit Oregon Historical Society (never been)
- Visity a city I’ve never been to
- Go to Portland Art Museum
- Start back in to yoga classes
- Buy new house (you know… little things)
- Go to a vineyard I’ve never been to
24. Get Pele framed (print Aaron and I bought in Hawaii)
25. Eat breakfast out after having been up all night long
26. Go to Europe or at least have a trip in the work
27. Purchase a “real” piece of art
28. Help Pixie Project in a new and different way
29. Make scones (never done it)
30. Visit a lavendar field
16 Oct
Birthday Surprise Queen Strikes Again
Aaron’s birthday is on Saturday and instead of hosting his annual surprise party this year, we’ll be at our friend Susie and Jeff’s wedding. So, I had to get creative. I knew I still wanted a surprise of some sort, but it couldn’t be the same surprise party I’ve pulled off the last three years.
Well, lo and behold, I stumbled upon Portland Home Chef who turned out to be maybe the best birthday surprise ever. Since Aaron loves to cook and is always looking for new kitchen ideas, I knew he’d love some one of one time with a professional chef. So, I arranged for Portland Home Chef, Brittany Baldwin, to come to our house (SURPRISE!) last night and give him a 2 hour cooking lesson in Spanish tapas.
He also got lots of presents, of course, because what is a birthday for my husband if I can’t spoil him with all the things he loves. And that’s just what I did. I divided his gifts into four of his favorite pastimes: cooking (tapas class), grilling (new supplies), beer (new beer stines and some beer) and camping (new electric camp stove and this camping chair he has been lusting after for a couple months).
How did I know my plan was successful? Well, for one, the birthday boy promptly set his new camping chair up in the living room, poured a beer in one of his new steins and got out his new camping grill to “play around” with it.
Secondly, he was, quite literally, aglow while in the kitchen with Brittany. She turned out to be one of the coolest people ever and we BOTH really enjoy spending time with her. I just watched (and wined) while those two cooked up everything under the sun! I could feel how good of a time he was having!
And then we ate. And then there was a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cake which we could barely get down because he was, literally, so stuffed that he fell asleep, sitting up on the couch. It was birthday madness!
All in all …Score 4/4 for Jennie. (4 major birthday surprises in four birthdays spent together)
8 Oct
Happiest. Dog. Ever.
After work today, I took Newman to his favorite dog park for the first time since… THE INCIDENT. He wore himself out quickly having been on no-low exercise duty for the past two weeks, but had the best. Time. Ever.
Seriously. I think he was smiling. He has been in desperate need of some exercise.. getting stir crazy, almost!
See?! He's smiling, I sware it!
7 Oct
The Perfect Birthday Gift …Shhh…
Shhhh…. I’ve uncovered the perfect birthday gift for my bacon loving (or obsessed, as some might call it) hubby…. Tac Bac, or Tactical Bacon. It’s 9 ounces of bacon. In a can.
This means that he can acquire such product and put in his 72-hour emergency preparedness kit. Which means that should the end of the world come to Portland, Oregon, he’ll never have to go without bacon. Phew.
And P.S. his birthday is 10/17… right around the corner.
Aaron's Perfect Birthday Gift
6 Oct
My 13:33 Minutes (ish)
We all know Aaron’s job is the coolest ever, but sometimes my job is cool too. This morning, for instance, I was asked to go on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud to discuss the role of social media in public discourse. I admit that I was very nervous, but it went really well. And, I had the opportunity to meet Multnomah County Chair, Ted Wheeler, who turns out to be fun and energetic and awesome! As my little friend Elizabeth put it, “I’ve got a political crush on Ted Wheeler!”
Anyway, here is a link to the Water Blog, where you can download the interview if you want to hear me in action: http://www.portlandonline.com/WATER/index.cfm?a=266250&c=39678&nocache=1 My interview about my work at the bureau lasts from about 5:00 – 18:33 — Chair Wheeler follows with some other great guests mixed in.
Jennie
6 Oct
The Punkin’ Patch
After having a couple nights of Aaron/Jennie time this weekend (for the first time in like a month) we thought we’d come out of hiding and visit the Kroeger Farm Punkin’ Patch with the Darlings on Sunday. It was so, surprisingly fun! We took Newm along for the ride, although he is still on exercise probation so he had to wait it out in the car (with the windows down of course) … though we did let him out for a tick to say hey to Mae!
Aaron ended up finding like three perfect pumpkins and the Darlings found their share too. Aaron also bought two pie pumpkins and now plans on making a pumpkin pie from scratch. Kay’s grandma even advised against such an act, but he’s intent — we’ll see what happens.
Tough guy at the Pumpkin Patch
A whole lotta pumpkins...
I was tempted, but heard Brandy in my head screaming "NO! They'll pull your teeth out!"
Kay, victorious in her findings!
Mae attempts to steal a pumpkin off Aaron.
25 Sep
An E-Collar for Newman…
Our boy came home last night and we’re so thrilled to have him back. He was exhausted after going through the check-out process at Dove Lewis and went to sleep shortly after we got him here, but you could tell that he was so excited to be at his house again, in his bed with his fam — not so sure he was elated to see his brothers, but Timber, at least, was excited to see him.
His incision site is huge — it’s probably 6 inches long and has 10 or 15 staples in it — It’s very Frankenstein-chic. And while he’s clearly still a bit sore and tired, over-all, you can see that his spark is back!
He’s on a “bland diet” until Monday, which I’m sure he probably thinks is spectacular — baby food, cottage cheese, boiled chicken, etc. And he can’t have any exercise for two weeks! That’s going to be torture for him. He’s already managed to get over-excited and jump off the couch too hard, causing a big yelp to come out of him, (which killed me), but I’m sure he’ll learn not to do these things… at least I hope so.
When I left for work this morning, I had to put an e-collar on him to make sure he doesn’t chew his incision site. I’m going to let you all fill in the caption for this photo!
"Mom?! Are you serious with this? You're not really going to leave and not take this stupid thing off, right?"
24 Sep
Appetite Karma Needed!
I went and visited my guy after work today and was pleased to see that a) he still loves me b) his butt still wiggles when he sees me c) he’s not in a noticeable amount of pain (though, he’s still a bit sedate from being on pain pills d) he was able to pee like a race horse e) we walked outside and he was happy to be in the sun f) when I left he made it very clearly he was leaving with me (though he couldn’t!) by hiding behind me and nuzzling all over my legs (Heart. Broken).
So, yeah, the hardest part was leaving.
I stayed for almost an hour loving and snuggling him — and I tried to feed him (still not eating) he sniffed at and licked at the food… which is a vast improvement from what he has been doing — totally turning his head away. The doctor said that animals, just like people, can develop food aversions and that’s probably part of what’s at play. The last time he ate (Friday morning), he puked 6 times in 12 hours, so eating may seem really unappealing to him. Let’s hope that’s the problem.
So, another night he’ll spend at Dove Lewis, with them continually trying to get him to eat every 4 hours. If he doesn’t eat by tomorrow, mid-morning, they might put a little nose tube in which will put food in his belly. Sad. So, again, cross those paws for eating!
Newman, when I went to visit today. Looking much better considering what he's been through.
23 Sep
Dove Lewis is “In Love” With Mr. N
So, Newman’s day-time vet technician from Dove Lewis called me today to let me know that a) he still has not eaten b) despite that, his vitals are FANTASTIC and he is doing awesome c) Everyone has fallen in love with him and some people are going to be a bit upset when I come to take him home.
Perhaps this sort of flattery was a trick she learned in vet tech school, perhaps not. Either way it worked — for an upset dog mom to hear how in love everyone is with her sick pup is priceless. But upset or not, mommy wants her pup back — pronto!
So, thank you, Dove Lewis people!
Will be headed over to see him again after work today — whether or not I’ll get to take him home is still up for debate – but honestly, I’m in no rush. If he needs more guided care over the next 24 hours, we’re totally okay with it. Getting that angry intestine feeling happy again is my only priority! And really, at this point… what’s another couple hundred… I mean, really?
What have Jennie and Aaron learned from all this business? We’ll be purchasing pet insurance by the end of the week.
Newm's first night home with us!
23 Sep
Visiting Hours
Aaron and I got to go visit our boy tonight at 8:00 pm. He was incredibly stoned, but I was lucky enough to get a little tail wag when I bent down and loved him. It made my whole night. Dove Lewis assigns a technician to each recovering patient; his was incredibly competent and intelligent and wonderful. It made me feel great to know he is in charge tonight.
Now, we’re just anxiously awaiting the true recovery tests: tomorrow morning at 9:00 am… eating w/o vomiting, pooping, interest in eating. The next 24-hours will be very crucial. If he passes all his recovery tests, he will get to come home tomorrow night — cross your fingers.
Poor Newman was almost incoherent... but we did get a couple doggy wags.
This is the offending object they pulled out of his intestine. It is about the size of a bottle cap -- or a bit bigger and really rubbery. We have NO idea what it might be.
22 Sep
The Newman News
YAY! The vet just called and everything went swimmingly with Newman’s surgery. They eradicated a bottle-cap sized piece of rubber from his intestine – totally unidentifiable to the vet at this point – but they saved it for us to see if we could figure it out later. She said that he has an “angry” upper intestine because the size of the rubber object was stretching the intestine for the past four days, though, thankfully, it wasn’t cutting into the intestine because the piece wasn’t sharp.
He is in doggie ICU recovery right now, where he will remain until he gets to come home either tomorrow evening or the next day. They’ll begin trying to feed him again in 18 hours, so tomorrow, mid-morning… probably starting with baby food of some sort. If he eats (and processes) that, then he’ll be good to go. He could, potentially, face some issues with the inside, incision point leaking or with getting the upper intestine stimulated to “go” again, but she didn’t anticipate that those would be problems.
Aaron and I will get to go see him tonight at 8:00, which we will do eagerly and thankfully!
Thank you all for your words of support and good doggie karma! It worked!
Newman and I; first night home!
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