Catch up from LA and Tahoe

 My last pictures of everyone meeting Harrison, were taken during our week long vacation.  Here is the cheering squad for Drew at the PAC 12 meet in LA.

 Cougars warming up!

 Here are the PAC 12 teams.  For cross country, many of the top teams in the nation are represented here along with the last two national champions.

 I always love the colorful starts of cross country races.

 Great picture of Drew in the croud.

 Love the intensity he shows when he is racing.

 Four cougars all packed together.

 This race was from late October and we knew Drew was battling some type of lung issue.  They were treating it as either an allergy to the smoke from the forest fires that had settled in the Pullman area or a smoke induced asthma.  He was struggling with chest tightness and inability to breath correctly when he was really pushing his body.

 We were all hopeful that the abundance of medication and inhalers they had him on would relieve it enough for him to race well here.  Sadly to say about 2/3 of the way through the race it came on full force and he finished about a 1/3 of the way back in the pack.  He was hoping for top 20.

 Gotta love perfectly timed pictures.  Spitting is just part of the game in racing, as well as spike wounds and snot rockets.  Lovely, I know.

 After a couple of days with Danielle, Ryan and Harrison we headed to Lake Tahoe.  Love the pictures when kids are trying to figure out how to smile.  I think he is transitioning to wanting to find a 'cool' smile instead of a 'sweet' smile.  I don't think he succeeded!

 I love my family.  This little 4 day break from everything was much needed for David especially.  It was wonderfully relaxing.

 David loves photographing God's beautiful creation.  I think I am going to try and do the upstairs hallway full of his photos.

 Yes, the kids kind of played in the water at the end of October in Tahoe.  The weather was wonderful~

 Sunrise and moon setting over the lake.

 Isn't God's creation amazing?

Isaiah 55:12

 “For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 This little island reminded us of Crater Lake here by us.

 We were amazed to get cell coverage so far up in the mountains.  We were thankful to get an update from Drew and what the doctors were going to try to get him to regionals and then to Nationals if he could run well at Regionals.  They got very aggressive an moved all the meds to max and put him on some new ones since there was not time to schedule with an allergist or pulminologist they were just shooting in the dark.

 Our amazing, innocent Hannah showing pure joy!

 What a treasure she is!

 I am blessed!

 

 Beautiful spawning salmon.  One of the joys of the Pacific Northwest.

 A quick stop at kids museum in Reno thanks to our museum pass, was a great break on the trip home.

Meeting Harrison

 Grandpa got to meet Harrison for the first time a few weeks ago.  I think it was love at first sight for both of them.  If you look closely you can see that David's shirt has already been 'initiated' with Harrison's spit-up!

 Uncle Caleb---let me tell you this guy is a natural with kids.  You would have thought he had tons of experience with little ones, but this was the first baby he had ever held!

 Auntie Hannah did so much better with Harrison this time.  Having her big brother to watch gave her lots of confidence, plus the fact that Harrison is quite a bit bigger now!

 You gotta love Drew's contribution to Harrison's wardrobe!  He wore it out to watch his Uncle Drew at the PAC 12 Championships in LA.

 Harrison trying to 'talk' to Caleb!

 Isn't it interesting that babies are so cute, even when they are yawning!

 Uncle Drew's turn!  and at 20 years old this is the first baby he has ever held!  Harrison was not so sure of the stinky Uncle and all the bright sunlight.

 So many of my blessings in one place.  It makes a mom's heart sing.

 A beautiful October day on the Santa Barbara beach with my oldest daughter and oldest grandchild.  I am one blessed woman!

Fun watching these two in the last week of October building a sand castle close to the water's edge.  They never did move it back, they just kept rebuilding.

Harrison Keith Fowler

 On Saturday, September 15, we welcomed Harrison Keith Fowler as the first grandchild into our family!

 Harrison weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and I think 21 inches.  He was born after 6 1/2 hours of labor in Santa Barbara.

 Hannah and I headed out about 7:30 that morning for our 12 hour drive to great him that evening.

 Thankfully Hannah was allowed in that first day to see her new nephew.

 Isn't he beautiful.  Life is amazing!

 After 24 hours the doctors finally agreed that there was much more going on than his rough start.  He started with an APGAR of 3 with blue skin tones, very weak cries, and lots of oxygen support needed.  At first they believed his low blood sugar to be most of the problem.  After fixing that he was still unable to maintain a healthy body temperature and still a very weak cry.

 He was sent to the NICU with suspicion of an infection.  Numbers came back that should have ranged with a high of 10, his were 120.  They now were sure he was fighting an infection and he was placed on IV antibiotics and fluids.  Within 24 hours that number was down to 70.  They knew they were on the right track.  But with antibiotics taking 5 days and his need for them to be administered by IV, Danielle was discharged on Monday without her son.

 I was so very thankful to be able to be there to support both of them.  Ryan was required back to class on Tuesday, so we made daily trips to the hospital.  Hannah was not allowed in, and one day she spent with one of Danielle's friends, and the rest of the week spent a lot of time by herself in the waiting room watching the Disney channel :/

 After 5 days our little man's numbers were down to 7.2!!  And he was released to go home!  Weighing in at 6.2 and 6 days old our little man ventured out into the big world!

 He has struggled with lots of throwing up since he was born and that still is not resolved, but reflux was an issue on both sides of the family, so he may have a bit of a haul with that one.

 But otherwise he is doing great, up to 6lbs 10 oz on his first doctor visit!  He is smothered with love by his parents and dog---who so far has only chewed up pacifiers!

 Hannah sure did love holding him, though I think like lots of kids she thought he would be much more fun to play with!

 When we finally got a day to go to the beach we thought the dog would go crazy, which he did, but so did Hannah!  She really needed all that running around after a weeks worth of waiting rooms and TV.

 The little family on the beach!

 Justice loving in his freedom!

 Hannah holding the sun in the palm of her hand!

 PRECIOUS!

A little taste of heaven on earth!