twas the night before christmas and pacito came running out of his babysitter's house in the dark with these babies on. it cheered us up, but he wasn't too thrilled.
christmas was... interesting. everyone was sick and pretty darn tired. his mom got hit with something like strep and his dad got something like the flu. we had lots of quarantine and lots of chores to keep it sano around here. we loaded up with extra z packs and both of the folks went through one round of the antibiotics. franco came and helped us sooooo much! don't know what i wouldv'e done with out my momma. she is amazing.
i was thoroughly exposed, but fought it off like a luchador ninja thai fighter. lots of symptoms but no defeat! i used everything in our arsenal from ozonated water to mushroom derived anticancer supplments. i did NOT want to get this and pass it onto n! 
to boost our efforts, cho and i made this gnarly, good soup from zuppa! (great italian country soup book).
it's called poor man's soup with field herbs or something to that effect. i doubt many peasants could afford it. italians load it with greens and herbs: watercress, kale, mustard, dandelion, spinach, parsley sage, rosemary, thyme etc. then you top it with an herb, walnut, cream garnish after it's been cooked for hours with pork fennel sausage and cranberry beans (we used good mother stallards from rancho gordo... yummmmm... highly recommended). i felt like i was going to die after i ate this. cho loved it and felt fantastic. vive le french genes! apparently it's the italian peasant remedy for kidney problems. umm... eat at your own risk!!!!!! 
i did manage to sneak a few presents in. we didn't have a tree, but i had visa points so ho ho ho!tubbery got a new cashmere sweater! 
...and chonis! sorry, but if you follow this blog, you've noticed that has been his wardrobe since june. maria even felt sorry enough for him to buy him a 6 pack of hanes white t-shirts for a gift. she was showing me up so i had to take action. she acted impressed, but was probably thinking, it's about time she got the poor guy some new underwear!
for the record, i also got him a meaningful gift: simpsons season 6 with his favorite episode "homer badman" where homer is accused of sexually harassing the babysitter by removing the gummy venus de milo from her rear end. n has recalled this episode in detail to meag and me over the years to illustrate many points, which i'm sure were just excuses to make the conversation more interesting.
he has gained nearly 12 lbs. after doing 4 umbilical stem cell treatments. it's pretty amazing, but as i always have to say, i can't get my hopes high cuz it's too painful. i'm just thankful for where we are at now. he is still bed-ridden and dependent on us for full-time help and still has the port in his chest. we are looking forward to a few more treatments and seeing what will happen. when i sponge bathe him i see a terribly crooked spine and i can't fathom how it will be repaired sans a total miracle. but we know our Creator and trust Him no matter what. the routine has become exhausting. i am working 40 hours again, plus go dog go when i come home. just can't keep up with much beyond the basics. we ask for God's help and are receiving it though it has become quite hard.
who let the dork out? anyhow, thanks for checking in. we love you and don't know everyone who's out there reading, but we'll keep you posted. in His grace,
rocko
the weather outside was frightful! not really. it was beautiful. but driving home after work on thursday after sundown on a slippery snow packed and blizzardy freeway was terrifying and i won't be doing that again if i can help it! 
apparently the lamo area got about 4 times as much nieve as fanta se. woo hoo! love that country livin'. the plowers wouldn't even come in the hood until sabado. however, it's all melting now with 50 degree days. what a wierd winter.
glad it wasn't trash day.
pacito y yo took an adventurous walk to the mail box. it was supposed to be my last day of work before winter break. what a treat! love getting that "campus closed due to weather and road conditions" text!
the neighborhood looked magical.
paco loooooooves the snow. he eats any snowball you can chuck at him and can track lost tennis balls in over a foot of snow. yes, that's right, folks. he even helped pull me out this embankment after i went in to take this photo and got stuck. he came right back when i cried "help me, paco!" and he let me pull on his harness to get out since my legs were all twisted up in three feet of snow. i pretended he was my hero and felt like i was 9 again. 
he's a rad dog, wouldn't you say? 
it's because of all the brussels sprouts we feed him. 
wally was so cold she had to get in the infared sauna. she loooooooves a sauna and cries to go in when it's off and gets ticked if we let her in and it's not on. she a real baby boo bear who knows what she wikes.
just a few weeks or so ago this was the morning routine when N's sternum cracked and he was stuck in bed for weeks on end. i'd rush off to work and our beloved friend and caregiver, maria, would give N his sponge bath in bed. everyday we say, "thank God for Maria!"
for the last month he's been on his feet 2-3 times a day using the walker with assistance getting up (i can get him up on my own now!) and following with O2. however, his tendons are so fragile and the left one is on the verge of tearing so he has to be careful. this week he feels the compensation in taking pressure off his feet causing a spasm in his upper back from bracing the walker. he is bummed and couldn't walk tonight. 
my other handsome boy... POWERMAN!!! thank you, God, for gifts on this earth to comfort us.
another step: despite the sternum and foot set backs, we may attribute some progress to the fact that n has been graciously given the gift of getting 
another eventful semi-disaster: pungent smell eminating from our bathroom for months. at first i tried to ignore it-- my usual first strategy for dealing with problems, but it didn't go away. then we had the "mold guy" come out and charge us a buttload of $$$ to tell us we had stachybotris (nefarious black mold) incubating in our dry wall in between the garage and bathroom (we had a couple of leaks in the summer). we are still getting it remediated (having a built-in cupboard and a good portion of the bathroom and garage walls etc. ripped apart so you could see clear through our bedroom to the garage and then cleaned up and repaired for another buttload of $$$). yikes. 
did you get all that, kids?
she and her amazing husband marty and my wonderful aunt (well... my mom's cousin, but i call her an auntie) jennifer came to our house one day and we met in town for dinner the next day. they doted on N, or natty, as bamma calls him:):):) and brought calabasitas and peas from our relatives gardens in mora...
fee bird was also here at the time since her dad had to return to california to do much needed work. she was AWESOME and adorable and made great progress with N. see... no oxygen and she got him outside and he was only holding one hand. we were so excited. she would make N laugh a lot and he would have to say: "i'm not listening, i'm not listening" so as to prevent any cracking up. she's the best! 
fee was very disheartened to hear that the saturday she left, N had a huge setback while her dad was taking her to the airport. after his sponge bath, he literally clung onto me for 20 minutes in a severe spasm that left him panting over my shoulder and completely locked up. thankfully maria showed up and she, hils and i got him painfully back into bed. he stayed there until tuesday afternoon. 
