Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Samhain, or Halloween for the rest of the world

The evening is almost over, but I hope you all have enjoyed your evening of children in costume - both the little ones and the not so little ones - and the ensuing sugar rush.

We've had a quiet evening ourselves - a nice family evening. Acorn spent some time dressed up as Darth Vader (complete with action breath sounds!), and playing with Auntie K (Big Oak's girlfriend). We handed out candy and had a nice dinner - salads, and spaghetti (homemade sauce, out of the freezer). No trick-or-treating for Acorn - he's too small to appreciate it, and he doesn't eat candy either, so no need to have a lot of it on hand.

I made applesauce and banana bread this afternoon too, and I feel really good about staying on top of things and taking care of what we're eating. It's about time to head up for a brief private holiday ritual, and then bed.


Today, one year ago, we were crushed when Acorn had worsening respiratory distress, and what may have been his worst blood gas ever. Just two weeks before, we'd been working on breastfeeding and planning to bring him home for good. Instead, we'd moved back out of the special nursery, and into critical care again. A few days later we were discussing a tracheostomy for "long term ventilation" and a g-tube for feeding, because the risk of overstressing his system was too high. It took less than two weeks to get things lined up and get him into surgery.

In that respect, it will likely always be a bittersweet day for us. Even so, it's a good time of year for us to remember what's important.

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