Our beautiful nephew Ayden turns 1 today! Here is a little video tribute! :)
If you have a slower connection, watch here instead.
Category: family
Paul and Jess are having a baby boy. Awesome!!!
Round 1 goes to Ayden.
We’ve been having lots of fun with the family this week. We spent Friday through Monday up at Mom and Dad Matthew’s in Foresthill, and got lots and lots of snow! We took a treacherous drive down the hill Monday morning. I love looking at snow but can do without the cold, thank you very much.
We’ve been staying at Shane and Shawna’s this week and helping take care of Ayden (it’s a rough job but someone’s go to do it!) I like to read him books in Spanish. He loves it!
He’s a very good baby and so stinkin’ adorable. Wednesday night we packed him up in his new outfit Auntie and Uncle got him for Christmas and took him up to Nevada City for their Victorian Christmas. He was snug as a bug inside Michael’s jacket. The rest of us, however, were freezing!
After some hot cider, we settled indoors and had Thai food with some of Shane’s friends.
Last night we met up with a few friends at Claimjumper. We also got to see our old friend Rachel (Jupin) Clark on Monday night. She’s expecting a boy at the beginning of February! We had our server take a picture of us but it did not turn out.
Tonight we’re meeting up with the extended family on my mom’s side for dinner. Tomorrow, we have Michael’s extended family Christmas. Then we’re off to spend a couple of days with the grandparents. Michael’s going to try to snowboard on Tuesday, then we’re headed back to Texas. Good times!
Well, interesting weather it has been. Highs in the 80s followed by a hard freeze overnight! Courtesy of the great state of Texas. Yesterday morning there was snow/ice on the ground and our rooftop.
This morning’s temp was a cool 28 degrees. We thought we’d escape to California to thaw out, only to find there’s a cold front blowing in there soon too! We are not cold weather people, people, what are you trying to do to us!
Nevertheless, we’re breaking out the thermals and mittens, and heading back to our CA home for the holidays. We fly out tomorrow morning and we’ll stay until Christmas Eve. Hope to see you sometime! Give us a call at 512-965-3481 or 3482 if you want to meet up. We plan our regular Claimjumper gathering next Thursday night.
Big news, big news, big baby news.
Jess is pregnant! Today Baby Bernstein is 12 weeks along. Congratulations Jess & Paul! We’re so excited for them. We can’t wait to see how curly the baby’s hair will be! Oh yes, and to be auntie and uncle again too.
Here’s a recent photo of Jess. Hey wait a second, my bump looks that big when I’ve just eaten too many buffalo wings … It’s so much cuter when it’s a baby :)
Doesn’t she look amazing?!
Here’s the latest sonogram (at 11 weeks).
Baby Bernstein is due June 24th. Mark your calendars!
And here’s the cutest thing ever – Christmas at the Bernsteins!
My dad just came out of surgery and is in recovery. The surgery went as well as expected. They were able to fuse and decompress the problem vertebrae (L5/S1), and found no additional nerve damage in the L4 area. The missing disc had caused a complete vertebral collapse, meaning there was no other alternative for him than this surgery.
It’s going to be an extremely difficult recovery process, so this is just the beginning. We’re very thankful for a safe and successful surgery.
So most people know my dad has had a really rough decade (and then some). He’s had major back problems due to degenerative disc disease and other nerve-related complications, and was forced into early retirement several years ago. He’s had multiple failed back surgeries and countless unsuccessful treatments. It’s only gotten progressively worse over the years, and I haven’t ever seen this much pain. He can’t even walk to the mailbox at the moment. One of his discs is completely gone, so there is just “bone on bone” in his lower spine.
There is some new hope though. He’s scheduled for extensive surgery (including decompression and fusion) this Tuesday morning, October 7 with a highly qualified pair of surgeons here. I’m asking for your prayers and healing thoughts. This has to work, and we need a miracle.
Here are some details on the procedure from my mom:
“Dr. Tumu will be working alongside a vascular surgeon, who will go through his stomach to reach his lower spine – the vascular surgeon is there to work around major arteries. They will graft a piece of bone between the two vertebrae that are missing the disc in between them – this will decompress that area and relieve pressure on the nerves. He will also be examining the facet bones – small bones that can also impact the nerves in that area.
“Then they’ll flip Dad over and open up his back, where they will insert screws into the bones which will stabilize that area of his spine – this is called fusion surgery. The surgery will take 3-5 hours and he will remain in the hospital for 5-6 days after surgery. Extensive physical therapy will follow. Our family doctor said the recovery is pretty rough. But Dad is ready and excited to be getting this done.
“We were encouraged to learn from our family doctor that Dad’s surgeon, Dr. Tumu, would be her number one choice in all of Central Texas if she were having back surgery. She said he is excellent.”
Please pray for my father and family. Pray for the surgeons and medical team. We’ll keep you posted. Thank you.
So I’m a little behind in relaying some big important news to y’all. Jess and Paul (my sister and her husband) have made it to San Antonio successfully. Paul was accepted to nursing school there on the first shot, after being denied dozens of times at numerous schools in CA (thanks to a LAME system). They arrived two weeks ago, and we flew in from our scuba trip just in time to help them move in. They’ve got a great new apartment that’s just a mile from Paul’s school. They’re both looking for jobs in the neighborhood as well, and are going to try to stick to having just one vehicle as we do. Yay for the environment!
Eating some wings after the big move-in
Paul’s been keeping up with his new blog that’s great fun to read. So check it out to read more about their journey.
This really is a huge milestone for our family, that we’re all actually here in Texas. It’s been a rough year for most of us, for many reasons that were not in any way improved by our physical distance. The original excitement of our family’s Great Migration (aka Getting the Heck Out of CA) seemed to be temporarily sidelined as we dealt with the reality of leaving friends and family behind, and the feeling that the end goal – all living side by side in a better place – was somewhat out of reach, even if only for the time being.
Now that the family is here and success is once again visible on the horizon, the original mission does indeed seem possible.
Jess & Paul and Anna came up to stay with us last weekend (see pics), and it’s almost as if we were never apart at all.
As many families might sit around and reminisce on the past and precious memories together when they are reunited, our family now “reminisces” toward the future. (Ok, the tense doesn’t quite work on that.) But what I mean is that when we gather now, we speculate fondly about what the future will be like in this new place.
And the future looks bright.
Jess & Dad
We’re getting ready to fly home tomorrow. It’s been a great two weeks!
Today was Paul & Jess’ last Sunday at One Life, and we got to play in the band. You can read Paul’s review of the day on his new blog: Letters From Fat Camp. Pictures are at their Gallery. It was very memorable, and really fun. Lots of familiar faces. Michael’s parents and grandparents came too, which was a treat.
We made them a farewell video using photos and comments from friends. You can watch it here.
Well, a sad day for everyone else, but happy for us because this means J&P are headed our way. Yay!!
MichaelandSharon.com 
