Slacker Bloggers Return with Much News to Report

Daddy and Owen in the ER

I hope anyone holding their breath in anticipation for the next blog update on Owen has been successfully resuscitated and will accept our sincere apologies.  It has been a packed couple of weeks (including many firsts), as a brief list will hopefully demonstrate:

• First trip to Balboa Park (and many successive trips): It's a beautiful place to walk and the dogs at the yuppy dog park have therapists instead of drug habits like the local hippy dog park in our neighborhood.  And yes the dogs and owners are a bit better groomed with less fleas too.
• First trip to Coronado
• First trip to Mission Beach Boardwalk. Mom ran two miles the other night and didn't drop any vital organs, and Laila only dragged the jog stroller with Mom and Owen into the bushes once.  
• First, Second, Third, Fourth, ... & most days ending in "y" trip to Fiesta Island: It has been a bit drizzly and overcast the past couple of days, but we have been enjoying a ridiculously warm, beautiful San Diego January thus far.  Amidst diaper explosions and marathon nursing sessions, we try to get to Fiesta Island (in Mission Bay) in the afternoon.  They have what we estimate to be a three-mile dog beach where Laila can run and swim off leash.  We go there or Dog Beach, but Fiesta Island has hard packed dirt that we can push the jog stroller or ride bikes on (more on that later).  Fiesta Island is where we get a little fresh air and Laila gets enough time to run around like a lunatic so that we all return home happier and healthier, especially Laila who is starting to adjust to having a little brother and has spent less time cruising Craigslist looking for people wanting to adopt a large, high-energy, emotionally dependent dog. Fortunately for us, no one has responded to her ad, so she is pretty much stuck with a squawking baby and mild neglect.
• Almost first trip to Mexico, Uncle Nicholas is living the Multinational Corporate Capitalist (formerly known as the American) Dream and was doing some work in Tijuana  (known as T.J. by us locals) for his company now headquartered in India which recently outsourced its manufacturing to the border towns of Mexico (he's been to Juarez and India on recent trips).  On his day off Nicholas thought it would be fun to go down the coast of Baja with Drew, Owen, his wife, and me, but Owen doesn't have a copy of his birth certificate yet, and I didn't want to become another fatal statistic in the drug wars of T.J.  There's something about 27 hours of back labor that makes life feel more precious and fleeting.
• First, second, third, ... most weekdays trip to San Diego City College with mom.  Even though I don't officially go back to work until the start of the semester next Monday, I have had to be on campus for meetings, professional development, and planning my classes most days for the past several weeks.  Owen has visited about every office on campus, and is of course the most adored baby ever!  He has slept and nursed through most of the days, except for the three hour meeting this morning mom had to pace around bouncing him through while everyone else took notes on the guest lecturer.
• First, second, third, fourth trip to Balboa Medical Center and Emergency Room: No not for Baby Owen, but for Dad. Remember under the bullet point about Fiesta Island I said it was a great place to ride a bike? That was what in literature classes we would refer to as foreshadowing.  Yes Drew is broken, let us all collectively say, "AGAIN!" Riding his bike down a little hill at Fiesta Island at dusk, Drew tapped his brakes to stop in front of Owen and me. He did this just as he hit a patch of fill sand and flipped his bike, or as he and my brothers would say, "He took a header."  So Drew snapped the wrist that has already been surgically repaired once and already has a permanent pin in it.  This is actually why the bone broke again.  It is still weak from the original break (apparently the worst bone in your body to break because it is so difficult to heal) and he is meeting with his surgical team Monday, so they can decide best how to proceed. None of the options look particularly great for an excellent outcome and normal wrist, so those of you inclined to say prayers can pray for a swift and speedy recovery so Drew can get back to changing diapers and bathing himself and a have a strong, mobile wrist that can do a royal wave should he ever find himself on a parade float or on the back of a convertible in a presidential motorcade (not sure if they still do those after JFK). Those of you more secularly inclined can of course send your well wishes along with fine Belgian Chocolate or a Microbrew IPA. Drew will gladly accept any combination of those three to help heal the pain of a broken bone and detract from the distinct odor of a three-week-old cast. So for those of you counting down the days 'til Drew was supposed to get out of the military with the anticipation of a child on the eve of Christmas along with him, he regrets to inform that his recent injury will keep him gainfully employed by Uncle Sam until he is healed.  Considering he may require surgery and months of physical therapy and the country may still collapse and revert to the barter system, this isn't bad news, and as long as he is broken his primary job is to get better and with Obama as president (sorry McCain fans) we're not as fearful of World War III. We do, of course, still stay up nights worrying about Russia rearing its head and a ground/sea invasion of Alaska, but we have a pretty decent stockpile of survival gear in the closet and meat in the freezer for the dog.
• And last but not least of firsts for Owen: Family Court with Mom.  We are very happy to report that after more than two years of muddling through the California Court system and  with a less than cooperative ex that headed to the mountains of Colorado leaving me with a stack of bills and no forwarding address, I am divorced.  With my parents as babysitters and emotional support, I went to court on Wednesday in Los Angeles County expecting to only have a hearing to request a hearing (and we wonder why the courts are backed up) in the near to distant future to settle my divorce.  Instead, we got a judge who meant business and he allowed us to resolve the entire case that day! Even though family court is now place for a baby, it was a good thing Owen was there for me to feed because we were there waiting all day, listening to one depressing divorce, child support, or custody case after the next.  Just like all would-be parents should spend a few sleepless days and nights caring for a newborn, anyone considering eternal wedded bliss should spend a few hours in family court to witness just how wrong it can all go if you don't marry Mr. or Ms. right.  This chapter of my life was definately more of a learning experience that all those years of college, and while I won't matt and frame my divorce decree like I would a diploma (if I were the type of person that ever got around to framing things), it will serve as a memory of the most difficult chapter of my life.  I  can only say that I am both humbled and blessed by all the love, support, and compassion I received by all of my friends and family, and that Drew ever went on a second date with a girl with so much baggage (including a restraining order on the psycho ex).  There aren't words that can describe what it feels like to finally close this chapter of my life, when I have already begun the best chapter ever-- a love affair of a lifetime with my two most precious men : )

So for all of you who were wondering how Drew, Annaliisa, and Owen have been doing, here is the update.  For those of you who are thinking TMI TMI, so sorry, but first go to the link on this page to our Flickr album and look at how big Owen is getting! Love to all!