The World of Mackay

"Ball." This is pretty much his favorite word, his favorite toy, and anything remotely round is put into this category.

Dear Santa, I would like a bicycle and real fruit. Oh, and lots of presents. Love, Mackay.

Miss Mackay officially turned 3. Owen is back from the hospital and doing a good job gaining some weight back, and generally keeping us entertained with his new words. We got our tree (a sad, Charlie Brown sort of tree as we were pressed in time and realistic about its survival among two kids). Within minutes of decorating it, I - who thought I placed any breakable ornaments well above Owen's reach - saw Owen stretch up and pull a red, shiny ornament off the tree. As always happens, slow motion ensues, as I yell 'Oweeennnn, nooooooooo', he says 'Ball!' and hucks it across the room. Needless to say, the ornament shattered into a million pieces. He was quite impressed. So, our already less than ideal tree is now naked of ornaments on its entire lower half. I guess we won't be making Sunset Magazine this year. And, I apologize in advance, but I simply am not going to be able to manage holiday cards... I promise to post one here! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and...

Owen is home from the hospital, and gaining weight - all of this is good. Despite many tests, the docs can only tell us so far what is NOT wrong with Owen, but he is doing better regardless. We hope the trend continues. Mackay is happy to have him home, and continues with her wonderful verbal development, thanks, in large part, to her dad. She was sitting across from the sink this morning - up at the breakfast bar so Owen couldn't get to her crayons - when I turned on the garbage disposal. "That scared the crap out of me!!" she said. Great.

Here's a pic of Owen in the hospital. He had a probe inserted through his nostril this am to test for possible acid reflux (he was NOT a happy camper about that process). But he's adjusted with his usual aplomb. The biggest issue is that there is a fairly heavy monitor attached to the wires that gave only about two feet of distance to the person holding it. With Owen being 'on the move' - this kind of tether was pretty much unacceptable. Bill,being the resourceful guy he is, quickly ran to a local shop and found this little backpack, so Owen can now tote around his monitor himself. After some adjustment to walking with this weight on his back (he'll probably fall flat on his face once we remove the backpack), he is now roaming the halls at will, with his food intake paperwork in hand - looking for all the world like one of the doctors checking their charts. This little guy is truly amazing.

Owen continues to struggle gaining weight, and we - and the docs - continue to be perplexed at the cause. Owen is back in the hospital this weekend, unfortunately, as they try to figure out what is causing his digestive issue and the constant cold he seems to have. We will keep you posted. Miss Mackay, to every contrary, is doing so well. Her entertaining comment of the week is, when I showed her two recently deceased fish gifted to us from our neighbors, complete with head and tail, 'Mommy, I don't know how to EAT that!' Love that kid. More to come soon on Mr. Owen.

Mackay, Owen and I have all been fighting some nasty bug for the past few weeks, finally prompting visits to the doc for all of us. Mine resulted in a sinus infection. Owen's, an ear infection, and Mackay has a really awful cough. Mackay takes things very literally these days, resulting in the following conversation. Bill: "We're going to take you to the doctor today. It won't hurt -- They are just going to look in your ears." Mackay: "I'm not coughing from my ears."