Homebrewing

Brew time means it gets hot and steamy over here.

For Jono's birthday this year he wanted a home-brewing kit for beer. I got a few family members to go in on one together, and now he reminds me of a moonshiner during Prohibition. There are bubbling jugs tucked away in our basement and coat closet almost continually.

So far his brews have been delicious, and it saves us money. Jono's favorites are heavy on the hops, while I prefer porters and stouts. He has brewed two different recipes for me now (out of four total, I think).

I'd recommend DIY brewing for anyone who loves micro-brews and doesn't make six figures ;) We got our kit at a local make-your-own stuff shop called Siciliano's, but I'm sure you can get kits and recipes online as well.

Here's one I had the other night. Yum.

Milk Stout

the dragon mask

This is not a Halloween post, unfortunately ;)

Both boys are on a daily inhalant medication, a mist they breathe into their lungs through a nebulizer machine and mask. Jude has grown out of his more extreme symptoms but still needs seasonal treatment (fall and winter), and Theo is now on it as well because of his recent asthma episodes. In spring, once the cold/flu/respiratory virus season is over, I'll take them both off of it through the summer.

We had another ER visit with Theo about a month after the last one, and this time he was admitted into the children's hospital where we had what they called an "aware" sort of situation (eight or nine docs lined up at the door to check him out), and he was close to being moved to the ICU before he turned around.

Election night jitters

Trying to remove his IV

The nebulizer mask is a dragon, in an attempt to make it friendlier for children. I don't know though. "Smoke" coming out of the holes in its beak-ish nose? It would be horrifying except the dragon has orange raised eyebrows that give him a more benign look. But either way. "Now, young child, put this rubber serpent thing over your face and breathe deeply."

The med is potentially life-saving for our kids though, so I appreciate any effort that makes giving it to them less creepy.

For Dad

A special edition (for Grandpa G):

The Twelve Months of Theo

You'd all seen the first six months, and the second six months only got better with the chub and fluff... so there you are.

Here's an example of the difficulty I had in capturing him lying *still* at 12 months. I had to anchor him with my boots, which he thought was hilarious. What a little squirrel.

 
Amateur photographer's note: the natural light coming in from my windows varied quite a bit in these, so I brightened them up, producing the Andy Warhol-esque effect on the colors. And yet his eyes stayed dark because of the angle of the light. You can still mostly tell what he looked like, and I'm just being anal about it ;)