Awwww...

When we were last home in September, we managed to squeeze in a quick family photo shoot with one of Dad's photographer friends. I completely forgot about them until Dad sent me these this evening; now I'll have to hound him for the remaing 57 shots!

The Recaido Women

The Recaido Women's Security Detail

And, us, just because a picture of "us" is such a rarity.

So, take a good look at the picture of the guys, and tell me if it comes as any surprise that many people think the reason my sister and I are related is because of the two white guys. :)

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These Pills Are Making An Honest Woman Out of Me...

So, as I was leaving the hospital yesterday, the nurse reminded me not to drive, operate heavy machinery, or make legally binding decisions. That indicates that I am incapable of acting in my true, normally responsible nature, and cannot be held responsible for anything I say or do. So, of course I thought to myself, "What a great time to post something on my blog! I can't be held accountable for it!" :D Just joking. Sort of. :D

First off, let me start with a visual:

Oui, c'est moi, apres-l'hopital. This post will probably be a bit redundant for some of you; I thought I'd say something here primarily for those with whom I'm not in touch with via phone or e-mail.

Anyway, I had surgery yesterday to start the process of correcting my atresia-microtia, a condition I was born with; my "symptoms" include a little ear ("micro" and "otia"), no opening in that ear, or real ear canal (atresia), and hence, no hearing on my right side. This is what it looked like (close your eyes and scroll down if you are easily frightened; my girls took these pictures, so you're a wimp if you do! :p Just teasing):

Go ahead. Stare. :p

So. I was actually fairly oblivious to this for the first 15 years of my life. I mean, I knew that my ear was not normal, but I honestly recall no negative experience surrounding it. My parents did not make a big deal about it, or treat me as anything less than capable, and so I wasn't. :) My peers seemed fairly "oblivious" to it as well, despite the fact that I was a regular ponytail wearer; if they did become aware of it, they just asked. Or maybe I could just never hear them teasing me. Hmm. :p Either way, I was very fortunate not to have to deal with things like that. The change for me came when I was accepted into a "prestigious" boarding school my junior year of high school; it wasn't the first time I'd changed schools, by any means, but this time was different. I think I already felt out of my league in the first place, and felt my ear was just one more difference. So, from that day on, I started to wear my hair down. Constantly. Except for meeting, of course, but I'd already known those people all my life, so that was okay.

Anyway, that continued on into adulthood. I wore my hair up more often as I got older, but always made sure there were "wispies" to kind of camouflage my little ear. During this time, it occasionally crossed my mind to look into doing something about it, but there seemed to be real no need, aside from my own vanity. :p My hearing in my left side is completely normal, and I was/am able to function in most situations; I certainly was not going to address appearance, if there was no need to address function.

Well, that changed once I started helping out in my girls' classrooms. Spending more time in generally noisier environments helped me to realize how difficult it was for me to localize sound; all the background noise kind of drowned out the voices of anyone speaking to my immediate right. At this point, I also realized I had been avoiding noisy social situations as well; I didn't make the connection before that perhaps I was not enjoying it because I couldn't really hear anyone, and could only hear everyone all at once. It was confusing. :)

Anyway, I didn't even know if anything could be done, but started looking into it very casually. (Translation: I Googled it. :p) Found a lot of information, but finally decided to actually see a doctor about it. I've had the good fortune of working with only excellent doctors on this, so that has definitely made the process easier. Here's an excerpt from an email to Kat:

"Anyway, I’m sorry to spring this on you as if you knew what was going on all along; it’s been such a long “should-I-or-shouldn’t-I” decision-making process, and an on-going conversation with so many people I can’t keep track of who I’ve spoken with. And, of course, once I made the decision to go ahead with it, things moved really fast. In fact, I had gone in on a Monday (back in early May) to see the doctor, feeling all brave, and saying “Let’s do this!” and he shoots back with, “Well, do you wanna do it on Wednesday?” I’m like, “You mean, 2-days-from-today Wednesday?” My husband has never seen me back down so fast! I SO was not prepared for THAT! Anyway, we obviously agreed on a more-reasonable-to-me date, and I quickly figured out not to act all tough around my doctor! :9 Seriously, though, he’s really awesome; he’s the director of the Hearing For Life center at Virginia Mason, and does a lot of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) procedures, but has not had opportunity to work with much microtia (little ear) like mine. When he first came in, you could see the slightly crazy look in his eye, like he wanted to just put me on the operating table right then! lol Initially, that made me a LOT nervous, until he walked back in after reviewing my films and said, “You know, I’d LOVE to do a reconstruction on you, and build an ear canal, but you’re just not a good candidate.” At that point, I understood him to be the kind of doctor who put my well-being above his pipe dreams. And I’m glad for that. You hear all these horror stories about docs who lose sight of the fact that their patients are humans, and not just test subjects to further their craft on."

So, as you can tell, I feel like I'm in really good hands, and that helps SO much. Yesterday's original surgery plan was to remove my little ear, and install the posts to which the hearing aid and ear prosthesis will be attached, but the doctors came across the unexpected need for additional thinning, and were concerned that attaching the posts now would restrict blood flow to the site, hindering healing, and actually possibly causing the skin to die and fall off. I know; sounds great, eh? So, after a quick consult with my hubby, the decision was made to just hold off on the posts until after this first procedure heals completely. I should be going back in late July/early August to complete that stage. After that surgery, I'll need to give the posts 6 weeks to "osseointegrate" before going in to fit for the BAHA; then I'll walk out a bilaterally-hearing woman, like the rest of y'all! Pretty exciting! I was able to "test-drive" the BAHA, and I'll tell you: I didn't know what I was missing, quite literally! It was amazing, and I can't wait until it's official.

So, now you know. :) I hope I didn't weird anyone out; I've been so grateful for the care and support I've received, sure don't want to scare anyone off now! :-9 By the way, let me just say my husband has been amazing through this; I think he likes being the hero. ;-9 He's taking really good care of all of his girls, and has gotten amazing help from Josh, and our neighbor Michele. The girls stayed with Michele during surgery, and she is so awesome with them . I was telling Uncle Rob, whenever the girls stay with her, they don't want to come home; I have no hurt feelings over this--it just makes me love her more! And Uncle Josh took the girls with him to meeting last night; I thought that was so brave of him! :-9 And they were thrilled, of course; they love their uncle!

So, I think this is more than enough for now. I've definitely got some great pictures to post of things other than myself, but have been kind of busy. :) Hope this finds you all well! Until next time, I'll close with a picture to remind you of how cute my kids are--I sure did miss them yesterday!

Kiana Re', Documentarian...(is that a real word?)

Hi, sports fans. It's been a while since I've posted, so I've definitely got my share of shots I could share with you, but I thought I'd give Kiana's shots first shot. (huh?) Last week--no, longer than that--she asked if she could borrow my little pink camera for a minute. This is what happened:

There were about 17 shots exactly like this one. Obviously, this scene is a rare one around here these days...

Yes. That is a tent in the front yard. It actually looks mini, next to the house. Those of you who were at Olympia convention will recall why I have dubbed it "The Tent-sion." Hint: We needed our own zip code on the grounds. And it made me kind of tense. :)

Inside the mansion--I mean, tent.

The uppity-types who reside in such a place.

Vehicles of the Rich and Famous.

Rich.

And Famous.

What happens when Famous insists on dressing herself. :D

Hot Rod Bicycle of Rich and Famous.

Uncle Josh's Hot Rod.

Uncle Josh.

(I think he looks like this when he's driving his hot rod, too.)

And, finally, l'Artiste.

I mean,


Well, wasn't that a treat? :) When I dumped my memory card, and found 80 of the 102 images transferred were property of my daughter, I had to pay tribute.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

"Can You Please Repeat The Word?"

True story:

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to read. Her parents did not keep a television in their home, which meant the little girl had LOTS of time to spend with her nose in books, and, indeed, she did. As she read, her vocabulary grew, and she was often teased for using large words, and speaking them in perfect english. :p Sometimes that bothered the little girl, but she carried on, because you cannot stop greatness. :p :p :p

One day, the little girl participated in a classroom spelling bee, and won. This led to the school spelling bee, which she also won. The details beyond this are a little foggy in that little girl's head right now, because she sort of had no idea what was going on at the time; but she DOES recall spending MONTHS in Mrs. Giffin's portable in the woods, studying for the district spelling bee. The little girl only recalls going to districts once, but maybe she went twice, since she did win the school's bee 2 years in a row...??? Anyway, that little girl bombed out at districts, and spelled herself out on the 3rd round with "pallor." (The little girl just had to google it, to make sure it IS spelled with two "l"s, and not the one "l" she spelled it with that fateful night.) Oh, well.

That little girl went on to become a published writer in high school, with her poetry, essays, and stories found in various books throughout Hawaii. In college, she also earned her spending money by writing a column for the university's newspaper--what fun!!! (She thinks she got the job in the first place because the editor had a crush on her roommate, but she DID eventually go on to prove her worth, so there!)

Fast-forward about 10 years. The aforementioned little girl grew up to be a mommy, and her little girls seemed to be fond of reading as well. This made the mommy very glad. One day, the little girls were watching TV. How ironic. :P Anyway, on this TV was a spot reminding viewers that the national spelling bee was being televised next week. The mommy's oldest daughter came and told her about it, and so was regaled with this story of her mommy's glory days as a champion speller. :p Daughter showed her (undue) admiration for her mother's accomplishments, and then purposed on the spot that she, too, would become a spelling bee champion. The mommy thought that was cute, and had visions of her daughter actually winning nationals, but did not realize the seriousness of it all until she came upon this:

Yes, said little girl went out that very day, and spent almost 2 week's worth of allowance on--TA-DA --a DICTIONARY!!! (Yes, we DO own dictionaries in this house, but she wanted one of her own.) In the last picture, you are looking at the sweet daughter who is trying to understand the humor her mother finds in this whole scene, and WHY she would want to take a picture of her reading a dictionary--"What's so funny about that?" Oh, Kiana....

So, I believe that we have, in effect, spawned the next generation of nerds. (Daniel's demanding a paternity test. WHAT-EVER.) Don't worry; I won't let them buy pocket-protectors. But won't they look cute in the latest eyewear fashions? :D

"Bye-bye, love/bye-bye one-sided deafness/hello, noisiness/I think I'm going to try-y"

Good morning, gang...

I wonder if this isn't too public a forum to post on a matter as sensitive as this--ha! Now I've got your attention, eh? :D

No, really, in all seriousness, I just wanted to let the interested and concerned know--and there seem to be more of you out there than I realized--that my ear surgery is scheduled for June 11th. If you don't know what I'm talking about, but would like to, feel free to e-mail me; I'm going to spare the faint-of-heart the details here. :p

Anyway, I hope you're having a great weekend; I'll check in later, and let you know how I feel about laser light shows...(oh, the suspense!)

A hui hou!

Armed Forces Day Parade

It was a big day here in Bremerton. As many of you know, Kitsap county has a huge military population, being home to a naval shipyard, a trident submarine maintenance facility, and a naval underwater weapons center (obviously, my husband is sitting here with me, feeding me this information. :p And he says I should not fail to mention all of the other military installations found throughout the Puget Sound. :)). So it should come as little surprise that it is also home to the oldest, and purportedly largest, Armed Forces Day parade in the nation. Armed Forces Day is celebrated every third Saturday in May, to honor those in all branches of the military. Apparently, it's a bigger deal than I realized; we saw the likes of local TV personalities, Congressman Norm Dicks, and even Adm. Gary Roughead, the Navy's top officer, flew in from D.C. to be part of the festivities. (You learn something new every day...as his vehicle--with security detail--went by, I asked Daniel, "Who's that guy?" He could only look at me in disappointment and shake his head. :p)

It's been a while since I'd been to this parade, so when Uncle Josh--known around B-Town as "The Man"-- told us he was helping build a float for it this year, we just knew we had to brave the crowds and go cheer him on. Here are a few pictures from the chaos--I mean, the fun:

Local Royalty

Military Vehicles (Seabees, Uncle Terry!):

Various car clubs

And some pretty cool floats:

Of course, our favorite happened to be PSNS's Apprentice float:

Heyyyyy....wait a minute! I recognize some of those kids!

Yep, the girls also got to be in the parade this year! Like I said, Uncle Josh is "The Man." Here they are with the float, post-parade:

Needless to say, they had a blast. In fact, Malia wants to go back tomorrow and do it again. :) She'll be kind of lonely! :)

"Fruit-O, O Fruiti-O, Where Art Thou, Fruiti-O?"

Okay, so this may be the oddest post ever, BUT....

The girls and I were having a deep, intellectual discussion about--ta da!--fruit snacks. (Yes, this is my life. And I would not trade it for anything.) We were comparing the merits of various brands, considering what makes a fruit snack worthy of falling upon our lips. (Believe me, we're not that picky. Some of us less so than others. "Ha-choo-malia-ha-choo!").

In any case, this brought to remembrance an old favorite--Brach's Fruiti-Os! Do you remember those? I'll be honest--when my sister whipped out my inaugural packet, I was not impressed. But, over time, they kind of grew on me. I don't know if it was the simplicity of their plain O-shape, or the perfect consistency of these little treats, but they did become a matter of habit for me. Fortunately, I had a child with which I could justify this kid-ly indulgence. I hear real grown-ups don't eat fruit snacks.

In any case, I scoured the internet--okay, not really--but could find no sign of them.

Does anyone know what ever happened to the Great and Wondrous Fruiti-O?

By the way, if you're still reading this, I applaud you. You either have a high tolerance for the mundane ramblings of a chaotic mind; or you're a great friend who loves me more than I know; or maybe now, you were once a great friend who has lost all respect for me after reading this post. :p

Kiana's 8?

So, Kiana Re' turned 8 years old yesterday.

I meant to post on her actual birthday, but I was a tiny bit busy trying to put together the mini birthday party I said we weren't having. I kind of burned out on birthday-party planning, just in time for them to become important to my children--go figure!

Here's the birthday girl, on her way to school.

Her birthday cake. She originally requested a purse cake from Baskin-Robbins, but then changed her mind after she sampled some "Sin" at Aunty Jen's house. We made a chocolate-peanut butter version of it.

(It was her idea to sprinkle her name into it. :) )

The birthday girl, post-present-opening. Her "theme" this year is American Girl, and everyone kindly indulged that. Thanks, Uncle and the DeGroots!

Josh, hassling Anya; Anya, pretending she doesn't notice

Earlier in the day, we did the cupcake thing with her classmates. I was going to take pictures of that, but, as usual, I forgot my camera. Oh, well. It was fun, she was smiley, spent a good amount of time on the phone with various ones who called with birthday wishes. I should end this post before I start getting all sentimental; I just can't believe how quickly time flies!

A hui hou!

A Message From The Girls