Part 6 Rose Garden & Pittoch Mansion
Monday was also SUPER BLAZING HOT, well, at least for us Oregonians! At least it wasn’t muggy!  It was our Rose Garden/Pittoch Mansion day. 

It was a beautiful day for photo’s!!  And there were still a TON of blooms about!  The heat made it so that you could actually smell the roses in the air as you walked about! So cool… probably one of the nicer times I’ve been up there (except the time I took Sam there when we first came to the states for Craig’s wedding, it was just as gorgeous and not so hot) but it didn’t take much for the heat to get to us!!
 
We had lunch on NW 23rd at Pizzacato (stretching my Aunts tastes buds to the limit!!! She’s not used to “weird” pizza or foods, oh how I wish I could have shown her the menu from Chili Pizza in Latvia!!) .  Then it was off to the Pittoch Mansion.

Vienna loved playing on the veranda of the mansion! 


Though she was quite “done” with having her picture taken!!

The view of the city from here is gorgeous, but with the haze of the day,  and standing in the shade to take a photo they didn’t’ turn out so well.
We headed home to get ready for the next days events.

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Jill & Gaby Arrive! Family BBQ and October Fest
 I had a list a mile long of places I wanted to take Jill. I had to limit it to things we could do with the baby in tow.  We made our plans and our mom’s decided to join us for some of the trips… so for two days in a row my dad was a SUPER TROOPER and he watched Vienna ALL DAY for us!  She had soooo much fun, and he’s still alive, so all went well there.  He’s a FANTASTIC grandfather (Poppie we call him).



This visit started with an immediate family BBQ.  Directly from the airport we drove, once again, to Craig and Joan’s for more yummy grilling!!  Joany made fresh hot cookies after dinner.  it was great seeing everyone (this aunt is from my moms side of the family, the other aunt and uncle visiting is from my dad’s side… so this party was a bit bigger).  Vienna had a fabulous time playing with my cousin James’ daughters Adrea and Miranda.

They gave her a birthday card that plays “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, we’ve taken that card just about everywhere we went since then!!  She opens it and waltzes to the music all the time as you can see in this photo:


And we can’t wait to go to Build A Bear with the gift card they gave us.  It was a great family gathering with my Aunt Ruthann & Uncle Jim and their youngest son and his wife Jeromy and Cyndi whom we don’t often get to see.

The next day was Sunday, church and October Fest in Mt Angel!!  We had our friends Jason and Amy join us down in Mt Angel for the festival.  It was BLAZING hot, which pretty much ruined a lot of the event for me. I was so worried about Vienna being so hot and drinking enough. So worried in fact that I let her drink COKE!! (which I now regret as she begs for it!)  But we ate some sausage and fondue and found some shade and waited for the Glockenspiel to go off. As we waited we had deserts.  I had chocolate and nut dipped icecream that was soooo thick it was great!!  We walked about and looked at the arts and crafts booths (if we had more cashola I’d have bought myself a few of those hand made soaps I love so much… next year).  We headed home exhausted! but had to get ready for the next day

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Part 3 Auntie Es Leaves, Deana Visits

Back! I had to kill a few flies too (Warrior Mom just broke the fly swatter trying to kill more of those obnoxious things… but I digress) So, party over, great fun had and the rest of the  next week was spent doing more shopping (oh such a chore… no really, twist my arm, harder). 

So then next Saturday comes up and we decide as a family we’ll try to go to the Beach. It’s hot for a change, even at the beach, so we stop by Matty’s place on the way to get some swim trunks for him (he had stayed the night) so we could take a dip in the ocean (not me, its far too cold, and I’m far to wise to do such a thing!) We got a decent start… got half way there… traffic.  LOTS of traffic.  So much traffic that I had to pull over to feed Ziva.  Sam, with his new iPhone toy, looked up the trouble, and apparently there were several festivals and some road construction and it wasn’t going to get much better.  So we called a friend out at the coast and asked him what he thought… We decided to turn around and head back to the valley.  We called my brother, since it was a blazing hot day, and asked if we could come cool off in his pool.  So we went out there.  I was still recovering from birth so i didn’t swim, but it was nice relaxing under the tree while everyone else swam.  Vienna had a blast… Ziva slept.  Craig and Joan let us borrow their grill and we grilled some burgers and had our lunch (at this point really dinner) out there (I remembered the bread this time though!!) 


The next day (Sunday) was Ziva’s dedication.  Es helped me make salads for the family lunch to follow and i baked a turkey to cut up and put in the fridge for Sunday too.  I was up until midnight putting Swarvski crystals on Ziva’s dress.  When one is being presented to a King one must look their best! and a girl’s just gotta have bling!!  We had a bit of a fiasco with the video camera, but we wont go into that ridiculous moment but it explains the lack of make up on my face!





All too quickly Esther’s visit came to an end.  We had some excitement with her passport and visa, and we had thought that we might get her a little bit longer, but the Lord once again pulled through and resolved everything for her so she didn’t have to spend a small fortune waiting for her visa to come through.  Vienna still asks where Auntie Es is… and now has started to lament “She went across the ocean” and get a sad look on her face.  She’s totally a people person, and seems to just love people quickly and deeply.  For many days after Es left Vienna would take the photo magnet of Es off the fridge and kiss it.  Hopefully Auntie Es will be back soon.  That next Saturday, passport with visa in hand, Sam took Esther to the airport and we wished her farewell for now.  That afternoon, Deana arrived from Seattle for a quick visit to meet little Ziva.

Part 2 Uncle Dan & Aunt Mary Jean and Auntie Es…
I don’t have ANY photo’s of them with the babies!  I hadn’t yet picked the camera back up and started snapping photo’s at anything that breathed!)  The next day Matthew (Sam’s youngest sibling) went to the airport and picked up Sam’s youngest sister Esther (number 4 out of 5 in the birth order). Esther stayed for a while, so we have lots of photo’s with her.  She flew in from Ukraine for a visit (oh, and to get that pesky Visa renewed… for which I’m thankful for the hoops or we wouldn’t have gotten to see her!)

We had a great family BBQ for Uncle Dan & Aunt Mary Jean’s visit, out at my brother’s house.  Craig is a fantastic griller!! and his wife Joan is a wonderful hostess, and their house is soooo delightful!  Vienna loves their animals!!! It was a beautiful day, and so nice hanging out with family.  We were tired though, so as Ziva was being passed around we went over and had a snuggle on the hammock. 


It was so cozy, I fell asleep and took a nap after everyone else went inside!

My Aunt & Uncle’s visit went very quickly.  Ziva had her first dr’s visit so my mom, Aunt Mary Jean and Joany all met out in Silverton for antique shops and the dr’s.  While shopping I got the call that informed us that Vienna indeed has scaring on her kidney (only 7%) and that the other kidney is picking up the slack.  I got pretty emotional, I was in denial and didn’t expect any damage.  So I went ahead and scheduled her for the surgery she’s having October 3rd to correct the problem (she’s been on antibiotics for months now trying to keep her from getting more infections). 

The rest of the week Esther stayed with Matthew down in Salem, and the girls and I tried to spend time with our other guests before they headed home that next weekend.  Esther and I got about a lot to do her shopping (she had lots of things to get done, and get bought to take back to Ukraine).  Vienna loved having Auntie Es here!  And Ziva… well, this is where she spent most of her time:


Making both Ziva and Auntie Es very happy

One of the great days with Auntie Es was spent at Ikea… yes, the whole day! We had Taco Bell on the way there.  I know there’s a great cafeteria there in Ikea, but when you are home from over seas you have to get in as much Taco Bell as possible!!  You don’t get lots of stuff when you live over seas.  Taco Bel (or anything Mex), Dr. Pepper, Pop Tarts, Golden Grahms, Dairy Queen and Icecream Cakes, a good steak!, Rootbeer, Mountain Dew, Pizza (well, NORMAL, good pizza), Oreo’s, double stuffed Oreo’s, Mint Oreo’s, good peanutbutter, Chinese food… the list goes on! and it was my dut to help Es get through all these delights    so, back to Ikea   We met my friend Mary Lou and her daughter Dacia up there and spent the day dreaming of all the things we’d like to take home.  Our trip was to pick up Vienna’s Art Easel that was to be her big birthday gift (which she loves by the way).  It was soooo tough not to spend a fortune there, but I’m happy to report that I (unhappily) stuck to the budget that Sam gave me I am however going back up there next big check we get and picking up a few more things for the girls   We had a good day!  We were tired by the time we got home!  Another fabulous shopping day with Auntie Es was our trip to Red White and Blue thrift store.  We picked up my friend Ronda and my mom, and again met Mary Lou up there and hunted for great stuff!  Found some things I needed for Vienna so I was excited and the trip was WELL worth it for Esther… Ronda found some great stuff for her kids too, and Mary Lou got some good stuff for Dacia.  My mom found several things and picked up a coat for Vienna that we just couldn’t pass up (I’m glad she did, because Vienna’s grown enough now that she’ll need that bigger size if we do make it out to Bend this year for Christmas). After shopping there we went to… you guessed it… Taco Bell for lunch It was yet another good day!!

Several of the evenings that Es was here we played D&D with Matthew (his new “obsession” ha ha ha) Unfortunately, with two little ones now, and Sam’s work schedule vs. Matty’s schedule we were only able to do two short quests.  (Humm… I’m thinking Uncle Matty needs to come up to play some Settlers soon!)  But it was so nice to be together with some of Sam’s family again.  We are often with mine, but as most of his lives far away in Ukraine or Ohio or Virginia, we are not often with his.  Hopefully some day Dan & Pris will be able to come, and then maybe we could convince Bill & Sarah to come too and we can all be together (our goal is to convince Es to move to Oregon soon as she is almost done with her “tour of duty” there in Ukraine tee hee hee… we got Matty   the single one’s are easier to move about!  it’s a long shot, but we can hope).

During Esther’s visit we tried to do family things on the weekend when Matt was off and Sam only worked short days.  But since Matty had a wedding on the first Saturday,  we only had two weekends really do do things.  We took a trip to Silvercreek Falls (Matt even went willingly… Esther is a great motivator as the two of them are not just siblings, but great friends).  We took both the little ones too and surprisingly they did quite well.  We had a wonderful family day! 

Auntie Es and Vienna standing behind South Falls.

The most precious photo ever!!! Uncle Matty and Vienna… they love each other!!  He’s a great Uncle and Vienna gets very excited anytime I say Uncle Matthew is coming!

Daddy and Vienna on the trail to go behind South Falls.


We hiked about, Ziva in her baby pouch, Vienna carrying her birthday Minni Mouse back pack with “Chappy” in it (that would be chapstick!) It was a beautiful day and the trails were warm and wonderful.  Es & Matt went a bit farther down the trail than we did… we stopped to let Vienna go down and touch the water. 



Vienna would have sat there all day and played in the water, but we were all getting hungry so it was time to go back to the van, get the picnic and head for the play park area.  Vienna headed right for the play structure as Sam and Matt pulled a picnic table closer.  I unpacked our Ham Sandwich fixings… everything… but the bread!!! Yep, once again (I did this last time Es was here for a visit and we went to the Rose Garden) I packed everything except the bread!!!  So we had a Dorito and Oreo snack and headed back home for Vienna’s birthday party!!! (well, we did stop at one shop on the way home and looked for used Croc’s for Pris’ kids back in Ukraine, no luck, but I found a few cute and very cheap, things for my girls!).  I already blogged her birthday, so I will skip along.

(here’s a good spot to refill your coffee… i gotta take a potty break)

apparently this was sooo long that it wouldn’t upload, so here’s Part One…OHSU
We’ve had quite the summer.  As I ranted before I’m exhausted from all the excitement, but I’m starting to recover. I don’t want to forget all the fun stuff that happened this summer! So, I thought I’d blog about the great times we’ve had since Ziva was born!
I already blogged her birth, but can I restate here how wonderful it was to have such a short “active” part of labor??  Whhheewwww…

The first 9 days are a blur, we had a ton of visitors come to see us and welcome the baby.  Then our first event and first visitors arrived.  The first event was Vienna’s trip to OHSU/Dornbecker  Children’s Hospital for tests on her kidneys to see if the infections she’s been getting had done any damage. I was a basket case all day… super emotional/hormonal and dealing with what may happen to my baby as she goes under deep sedation   Praise The Lord, not only was Sam able to be there with us, but my mom came along to mind the baby and be there for us!  She was such a great help!  Vienna, unaware of her mother, father and grandmother’s trauma… had a great time!
They numbed the backs of both hands in preparation for putting in her IV port (or what ever you call it…) They got the port in on the first try. Vienna hardly cried at all!  She was nicely distracted by the very large “Deisel” ( a great big stuffed horse they had in the room, they had two, and if you pinched  the ear they’d whinny… quite cute). 



She was very careful with her hands when they were just wrapped, and careful with her hand once the port was in, and she never complained about it once! What a champ!
Then began the waiting… we waited for the isotope to be put in, we waited for the isotope to go through her system, we had the test and we waited for her to wake up! During all the waiting before the test she ran up and down the ramp with Daddin’, she read books and colored with Mimi, she kissed mommy and baby Ziva… she had a grand time.

The test went very well, but man did it seem like she was asleep forever! The injection they gave her to put her under sedation is one that stings when it goes in. Thankfully the lady in the lobby, who’s 9 year old daughter has had this exam done MANY times, warned me it would sting.  Having also watched many medical shows and always being interested in such things, I knew what to expect as far as Vienna’s reaction to going under.  Even being prepared it was no fun holding her as they injected her and having her get rigid and arch her back and cry. 

So, test begun, all going well, almost finished.  Sam went back out to get her snacks and juice box because she could eat when she woke up and as soon as she had something we could go.  He comes back and lets me know that my mom would appreciate me heading out to the lobby to give Ziva, who apparently is inconsolable, at least a snack (thankfully I couldn’t hear her in our room!)  I ran out there and nursed her for 5 minutes (they said we had about five to ten minutes before the test was done). Ziva appeased, I ran back into the room and they finished the test and Vienna started to wake up. I can’t tell you how comforting it is to be able to hold your baby while they are going through all this.  I am also so thankful to the staff at Dornbecker’s for letting us sit in the room and watch the whole thing and let me cry like a momma tends to do   They were quite understanding.   Sam even got to just carry Vienna into the recovery room.  Seven hours after our journey began, we had our baby, good as new, in the van and headed home!!   That night my mom went to the airport with my dad and picked up our first visitors.  Uncle Dan (my dad’s twin brother) and Aunt Mary Jean.  (I think that Aunt Mary Jean and Uncle Dan got the shaft!