Fins Up!

We are the people your parents warned you about...classic lyrics from a legend. This year's Jimmy Buffett concert was just as good as the 3 I have been to previously. We actually had a conversation on the way to the concert, wondering what # Buffett concert this was for each of us. Jeff ranked it at #3, myself #4, Tiffany #8, and Tad, the winner with 13! Seeing a Buffett concert is nothing short of a great time!

We travelled to Irvine, Saturday morning, met up with our friends Cindy and Stephen, picked up Tad's brother Eric and our good friend Amy. We had a nice relaxing lunch and then started our preparations for the tailgate party at Irvine Meadows.

We arrived in the parking lot about 4pm, set up "camp" and the fun began. I am not sure there is any other tailgate like this one in Irvine. Walking through the RV's is definitely something you have to see to believe. The outfits, the beach scenes, the games, the people...everything you see just shows Jimmy's huge fan base.

My friend Paige, met up with us a little before the concert began. It was SO great seeing her and hanging out during the whole concert. I haven't seen her since her wedding this past January, and what better place than a Buffett concert to see a great friend.

Jimmy started right on time and played, nonstop, for over two hours. He commented to the crowd (which was HUGE!), how he was so lucky to have this job. He thanked the crowd for letting him entertain us for the past 40 years...here's hoping he is singing and entertaining us for many more years ahead.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Surgery Day

What a long, long day. I know that we will all be in bed early tonight! I am not sure how much Jeff and I slept last night, anticipating today. We finally just got up about 515am, got showered and dressed and were at the hospital at 630am this morning. We waited for a bit, then we were called in about 715am. We got Brennan dressed in this cute little pj outfit, with pants and a little shirt that tied in the back. I should have brought my camera for that one! We answered numerous questions from nurses, Drs., anesthesiologists, etc. regarding medical history and such. Then finally at 815 am we were able to walk him back to the operating room doors, they let you go right up to the doors. I remember doing this with him on his first heart surgery, although it was a much longer walk and much harder to leave him then. They told us it would be about 30-40 minutes until they were done. And of course at 30 minutes we were watching the clock, but it wasn't until an hour and 15 minutes later that they finally came to get us. The Dr. apologized for taking so long, but it turns out that poor Brennan has terrible veins for getting an IV started. They worked for over 30 minutes and had to poke him 20+ times to get the IV running, finally in his foot (poor baby!). Thank goodness he was mildly sedated at that point, thanks to the gas mask they give right when they come in the OR. Then after the IV was started they had to start the antibiotics he needs for his heart condition, and let those get running before they could start the procedure.

They ended up removing his adenoids and placing ear tubes in both ears. He had a fair amount of fluid that had built up in both ears and his adenoids were almost completely blocking his nasal passage. So I am glad that had both taken care of.

When we saw him afterwards he was thrashing around, coming out of the anesthesia. He had a difficult time with that, and they were ready to sedate him again, when he finally settled down in my arms. He rested on and off for about 45 minutes. Then they finally removed his IV and had him drink a bit of apple juice and we were finally able to head home.

The recovery time isn't bad, just today and possibly tomorrow, with him out of sorts. The hardest part of this whole process is that now we need to be extra cautious with him in any sort of water. He cannot get his ears wet at all, so bath time should be interesting!

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers. It really keep us calm knowing that so many people were thinking of all of us today.

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Jimmy Buffett - Irvine - Can't Wait

Hello World - Here is my first try at "blogging".

We are preparing for a weekend that will be a party to write about. Yes, Jimmy Buffett is returning to the So Cal area for what will be an experience. We will be heading over to the coast, with a few fellow desert rats, to experience 5 hours of tailgating and 3 hours of music. Wish us luck as we break in quite a few virgin Parrot Heads. All I can hope is that it is half as fun as our experience two years ago with the Butiers... then we have reached our goal.
This is the setup party to an RV trip from La Quinta to Vegas in a RV road trip coming in October....Jimmy Buffett at the MGM.

Stay tuned for what I am sure will be some great pics to come.

By the way ----- part of what inspired me to partake in the blog experience has been reading Paige's blog (The Rober's). http://pkrobers.blogspot.com/
In line with how Paige ends her updates.........Grady's out!

Jeff

What a weekend!

So weekends are supposed to be restful, right? We were looking forward to a relaxing weekend and a fun visit with our friends Connie and Andrew and Hayden, visiting from Arizona. They arrived Friday night and we were able to visit a bit before heading to bed. About 4am Emerson wakes me up (totally not unusual for her), but this time she is crying and saying her leg hurts. I chalk it up to growing pains and lay with her for a bit rubbing her leg. We fall back asleep only to have Brennan to decide that he would like his morning to start at 515am. So I get up with him and hope that he will be quiet enough to not wake Em since she has fallen back to sleep. Well, she wakes at 6am screaming in pain. Her leg is hurting again, so I decide to give her some Motrin, rub her leg some more, then have her rest while watching cartoons. Meanwhile, Jeff is getting ready to go play golf with Andrew in a little golf tournament. So they leave about 730am. Emerson is still laying down and resting and by this time Connie and Hayden are up too.

Emerson starts complaining about her leg again and now she won't even move it. I truly think she is milking it, but as an hour of this continues and she won't even stand on, I begin to worry. My mom comes over and takes Brennan, Connie, and Hayden to her house, because I have decided to take Em to the Urgent Care. The next 3 hours were spent in the urgent care. Poor Em was in so much pain. The Dr. suggested we take some x-rays to see if we can see anything. And suggests that there is a possibility of some terrible bone disorder and if not that, then the pain could be caused by a mass of some sort (aka: tumor). NICE. Thanks for the freakin' reassurance. So we do the x-rays and Em is screaming in pain as they have to move the leg in a certain direction to take the picture. Then we sit, and sit, and sit. And finally the x-ray tech comes back to the exam room and says, "sorry it is taking so long, but we had to send the x-rays for a 2nd opinion at the hospital". Are you freaking kidding me????? So, I sat there trying to keep Em entertained and meanwhile my stomach is upside down in panic. Finally about 45 minutes of waiting the Dr. comes back to tell me they don't see anything that she suspected. And in fact they don't see anything abnormal at ALL! She seems to think, now, that Em must have really strained a muscle in her upper leg and that is what is causing the pain. She told me to keep the Motrin flowing and to just let her rest for the remainder of the weekend. Finally, after 3+ hours we finally left, at least knowing that it was most likely nothing to be super concerned about.

I finally made it back to visit with Connie and Hayden at my parent's house. I decided I should finally call Jeff to tell him about our morning, I hadn't called earlier, because I didn't wan to worry him unless something was truly wrong. Good thing I didn't because as it was, they cut their game short and came home. We had a nice dinner at home with the Black family joining us. Made for an exhausting day, starting that way, but at least we were able to end it on a mellow note.

Emerson is back on two feet today, a little limp and she seems to be cautious on putting too much of her weight on it, but all in all, the strained muscle diagnosis seems to be the correct one. Thank goodness!

So, onto our week ahead! Surgery for Brennan on Tuesday...let's pray that that is less eventful than our Saturday with Emerson!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Busy Days

September has sure come in with a bang! The last two weeks really seem like a blur to me. We have all been really busy getting back into our routines.

I seem to have a nice class this year, a little lower academically than I would like coming into 3rd grade, but we will see what I can do about that. We have a lot to live up to this year, in terms of CST scores, so it should be quite a challenge.

Jeff is as busy as usual. Especially with the season starting back up again, business always gets busier too. And with his new daddy drop-off duties he is going to be really busy.

Emerson is doing SO much better at school....I should rephrase that...getting to school. She has never had trouble AT school, more like leaving mommy, then daddy to get into school. But we have had a few mornings now with NO tears. Yippee! She also started a dance class on Monday. It is a jazz and tap combo class, once a week. And of course our little dancer LOVES it.

Brennan has become quite his own little person the last few weeks. I really think he has matured worlds since going back to Patty's and doing it without his sister. He is so happy and willing to help at daycare, I LOVE it!

Well, just wanted to update everyone on all of us. In case you were wondering what happened to my weekly post...this is where we have been!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Back to School

Well, it is that time of the year again. Emerson and Brennan have already headed back to school and now it is my turn. I have been working hard in my classroom for about two weeks now and I "think" I am all ready, although I am not sure I could ever be perfectly ready. Anyway, the little kiddos start with me at 8:15 am tomorrow, hopefully excited about starting the 3rd grade.
Wish me luck!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Where does the time go?

Once upon a time, not so long ago, we were blessed with a beautiful little girl. After 9 months and an anxious wait, we saw her sweet little face.



Little did I know how quickly the time would go....learning to walk, learning to talk, and now here we are, her first day of preschool!



Emerson started Sacred Heart Preschool this morning, with a few tears from her (actually more like sobs) and some tears from mommy. Jeff took her to school, which will be their morning routine each day. She cried the whole way there and then walked in with her teacher to the playground. I picked her up this afternoon at 330pm and you would never have known that she was scared or nervous this morning. She had a huge smile on her face and actually asked if she could stay and play a bit more. So hopefully tomorrow morning there will be less tears from the both of us.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Another Milestone

From this....

To THIS....

Brennan has been climbing out of his crib for about 2 months now. He has gotten so good at it that he can climb IN and OUT without us even hearing him do so, no crashing or falling at all. But even with that, we thought it was about time we got the little guy a real big boy bed. As you can see he loves it!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

One, Two, Three Strikes!

Nothing really beats watching a baseball game live. We had tickets to see the San Diego Padres play the Houston Astros this past Saturday night. We had been wanting to see the new ballpark in the Gaslamp area of downtown San Diego. Well, it surely did not disappoint! That park is really amazing!!! Tad, Tiffany, Eric, and Amy, joined Jeff and I for a fun filled day/night to just hang out, sans kids, and enjoy an all-American tradition. Our hotel was literally 2 blocks from the park and just blocks from all the restaurants and nightlife. The game was a blast, complete with hot dogs, beer, and popcorn. Too bad the Padre's didn't win...but we can't wait to go again!

Another surgery?

Yes, you read that right....our little man has to have another surgery in a couple of weeks. Two heart surgeries as a baby and now one to put tubes in his ears. Yeah, I know, it is minor, but hey it is still surgery. Stinks! But what can we do. Poor little guy can't hear like he should, has too much fluid on the backside of his eardrum. I spent over 2 hours with him at the ENT Dr. today, running different hearing tests, looking in his ears, and chatting with the Dr. This is after spending over 8 weeks on a high dose of antibiotics to try to clear the fluid. Jeff and I didn't want to jump right into surgery and neither did the Dr., until we tried everything else. But to no avail. Surgery it is. I will update when I know more when it will take place.

***UPDATE*** Surgery is scheduled for Tues., September 25th

Lots of love,
The Grady's

One more vacation!

Can you believe we just got back from another trip? That concludes all 9 of the plane flights I have taken this summer! WOW! My parents have a boat docked on Lake Union in Seattle. So we decided this would be a great time of year to escape the desert heat and head north for some cooler temperatures.

The kids and I left with my parents on Aug. 1st for Seattle. The flight up there was relatively easy, both kids slept. We got our rental car, and headed over to the boat. The kids were in heaven, they had their very own room with a bunk bed! We spent the next three days touring Seattle. We went to Pike's Place Market, The Aquarium, shopping downtown, and cruising around the historic area of Seattle. Such a cool city!

Saturday morning we set off through the famous locks that separate Lake Union from the Pacific Ocean. I have been through the locks a few times when I was younger, but it is always an interesting experience. Then we boated to Anacortes, WA to meet up with Jeff, who flew in that morning. We spent the night in Anacortes and then set off for Victoria, British Colombia. Victoria is a beautiful city with a lot to see. We went to the BC Museum, The Empress Hotel, on a carriage ride, and we were even treated to fireworks on our first night there in celebration of BC Day. On Wednesday, we set off for Friday Harbor, WA in the San Juan Islands. I used to spend most summers up in Friday Harbor at the condo that Mom and Scott used to have there. So it was so fun to see the cute, little town again. Not too much has changed:)

Thursday, we left for Rosario Resort, on Orcas Island. There is a small marina in front of a historic resort, which resembles something out of the movie Dirty Dancing. And finally, Friday night, we were back in Anacortes for our last night on the boat. We left early (4am!) Saturday morning for Seattle airport for our flight home.

I was so impressed with how the kids were for 10 days on a boat! They had a ball, playing games, watching movies, and actually driving the boat themselves.

We really enjoyed the beautiful scenery and cooler weather, we even had to wear our sweatshirts and long pants sometimes!!!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Personality Test

Nothing really family related....just wanted to share this interesting personality test I found on another friend's blog site....pretty accurate I think..

You Are An ESFJ

The Caregiver You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people. In love, you value harmony and mutual understanding.You will apologize or give someone the benefit of the doubt, if it means getting over a fight sooner. At work, you are good at building relationships and connecting with people.You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher. How you see yourself: Organized, dependable, co-operative When other people don't get you, they see you as: Opinionated, critical, and know-it-all

What's" Your Personality Type?

Congrats!

We would like to congratulate our good friends, The Butier's on their newest arrival!

Maggie Jordan Butier was born this morning at 11:11 am in Sacramento, CA. She was 9 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing wonderful!

Congrats Michael, Aimee, and big brother, Mason!!!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

They just grow up TOO fast!

So after on our trip to Catalina, Emerson was complaining that her two lower teeth were bothering. Upon further inspection, I discovered that BOTH of them were loose. So once we were back I took her to the dentist, who took some x-rays. Low and behold, those two teeth were loose, not because she bumped them, but because her permanent teeth are right below them pushing them out! Can you believe our little girl is already losing her teeth???

Well, this past weekend she lost the first of them. So now our little girl is looking so grownup! Two teeth gone, and one more soon to follow.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Love is in the Air!

Have you ever seen a real life fairy tale? Well, I can say I saw one this past weekend. My friend, since 4th grade, Stacy, married her perfect other half this weekend in Sacramento, CA. I was honored to be a part of their day and the beginning of their lives together.

I flew up to Sacramento on Thursday to give her hand with the last minute details of a wedding. Everything from getting nails done to buying some last minute honeymoon clothes to packing up everything. We had some great laughs, a few tears, and an all around amazing time getting her ready for that amazing day.

The wedding was held at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg, right in the middle of lush vineyards. The ceremony was performed by her dad, the honorable Rodney Melville. He did an amazing job of combining his own heartfelt feelings into a gorgeous story of what marriage is. The ceremony was followed by a reception with great food, lots of smiles, and plenty of dancing.

I would like to thank Stacy and Scott, for letting me be a part of your gorgeous love story. Love you both!

Lots of the love,

The Grady's

Good Times Club Part 3

How is it that a week of vacation feels like such little time? Our 7 days in Catalina were fantastic, the perfect combination of rest, relaxation, and fun!

We arrived in Long Beach, Sunday morning, The Black's and the four of us. We meet up with Amy and Eric for lunch at our usual stop of Island's restaurant. We then made our way over to the Catalina Landing to wait for the boat to come in. After a longer than usual wait and a screaming toddler (yep, Brennan was DONE with the wait), we finally boarded and set across the ocean. Soon to find out that our normal 50 trip would take closer to an hour and a half this time because one of the boat's engines wasn't working at full power. Not a problem, made it to Catalina by 4ish, got our keys to the office and settled ourselves in. We had a mellow night at home, eating dinner, playing games, and hanging out.

The week continued with everyday spent at the beach lounging, playing in the sand with the kids, and some (Tif and Tad and Kaitlyn) being brave enough to jump in the cold waters of the ocean (can you tell I am used to our 90 degree swimming pool?). On Wednesday our awesome babysitter/nanny Brittany arrived to give us a helping hand. The kids were SO excited to see her and it seemed that one of them was always seeking her out. She gave us the opportunity to head out to a very nice adult dinner one night, and even just sneak away for an evening cocktail while she entertained the kids. She even gave us an kid free afternoon on Decanso Beach, our favorite "resorty" beach on the island. The kids were tired so she took all FOUR of them back to house on her own while we read books and had frosty beverages. What a treat it was to have her around!!!!

Jeff and Tad decided to take advantage of one of the many tours that the island has available. They headed out on a 4 hour tour of the inland island. They were able to see many of the badly burned spots. the other side of the island, and learn an incredible amount of island facts. The shared these with us for the rest of that night!

Sad to say, we did not reserve a house in Catalina for next year...thought we might try something new for one year. But I have a funny feeling we may just end up back there in the summer of '09...we just love it!

So here is an overload of pictures for you! Enjoy!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Vacation Bound!

Well, tomorrow morning at 9am our vacation officially starts!!!!

We are off to Catalina for 7 days!

Relaxing, swimming, laying on the beach, and basically doing nothing more than hanging out...really looking forward to it! I am sure I will have some great pictures and stories to share when we come back.

Have a great week!

Lots of Love,
The Grady's

Little man's heart

Brennan and I took our biannual trip to see our favorite heart doctor, Dr. Hashmi in Palm Springs today. I am always a bit apprehensive leading up to these appts. with the fear that we won't get the green light. They took us right in today and we headed straight for the EKG. Now usually Brennan is not super happy about being there, but today he did remarkably well. He fussed a bit during the EKG, but held super still. I think I might fuss too if you stuck 12 super sticky tabs no my chest and then ripped them off! Next onto blood pressures, height, and weight. He weighed in at 31 pounds! Then for the tough one, the echocradiogram, essentially an ultrasound of his heart. It is always a scary thing for him because the room is dark, he has to lay on the darn crinkly paper on the table and they move the wand over his chest for about 15 minutes. He did really well, fussing, but not moving much. Finally we saw Dr. Hashmi to go over all the results...his pulse rates, blood pressure, and EKG looked great. He didn't like the view he got during the echo of his actual aortic arch so he wanted to scan him again to get a better look. So back down to the echo room for a quick peek. Dr. Hashmi took all of 30 seconds to get a perfect picture of his arch and even I could see how wide open it was! He said his heart has not changed at all in the last year (no thickening of the archway) and his aortic valve is leaking a bit, but nothing to be concerned about. He said we will continue to watch both areas and worst case scenario, he will need a balloon catheterization when he grows bigger (5-10 years) and possibly some exercise limitations if his valve begins to leak more, no bodybuilding for our little man!

So the bottom line...we have one HEALTHY heart over here...so much so, that we don't have to go back for 9 more months!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Farm Life

Emerson and I just got back from a great trip to visit my friend, Christa, in Iowa. Having never been to the Midwest, I can only picture in my head what I see on the news or on TV. Well, in person is much better, as you can imagine.

Em and I flew into Omaha, Nebraska, courtesy of two free Southwest airline tickets. We met up with my other good friend Carrie and her son Cameron. We rented our minivan and drove the next two hours through the Iowa countryside. Iowa is a beautiful state, much greener and hillier than I had imagined.

We got to Christa's house, right about dinner time. Christa, her husband Greg, and kids Caleb, and Lucas live on 10 acres of beautiful land in the middle of many corn fields. They have everything from bunnies, baby chicks, full grown chickens, cattle, and of course a black lab dog, Cy.

Emma on Little Britches

Emerson had a ball seeing the animals, feeding them, climbing in the barn on hay bales and just running around outside. You see, living in the desert like we do doesn't really enable us to run around outside much in July. So we spent a lot of time enjoying their temps, even though they were in the 90's and warm to them. But to us, it was a cold spell.

We had many fun adventures at the new Iowa Science Center, the local park (more like a national park with beautiful Lyme rocks, creek, and huge trees), and a local aquatic center complete with water slides. The kids all got along really well and enjoyed playing from the time they woke up until they crashed hard at night.

Luke, Cameron, Caleb, and Emerson

The plane flights going there were quite easy, coming home was a bit of a different story. Delays and rude people made for an interesting trip home. But we are back safe and sound.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

In case anyone was wondering...

We certainly have a little guy over here who is ALL BOY, 110%!

Last night he was swimming in the pool with us and showing off his skills by putting his head under the water. Well he got a little carried away and slammed his head onto the step, thus biting his lip with his upper teeth. And his streak continues...

Brennan who seems to think he is indestructible!

Lots of love,

The Grady's