Vacation Day one.

Liam fell asleep about 6 hours ago and so I figure I better throw something up here quickly before he wants to get up at about 2am and play for the rest of the night.

I had a great first day of my vacation. The Wife and I took turns helping my parents get some things done without a car while theirs was in the shop, which gave each of us an opportunity to wake up playing with Liam. There's no better way to start the day than by playing with this wonderful son of mine. He's just about over the cold I gave him last week and so suctioning and ventilator maintenance has gotten a bit easier yesterday and today. He's also finally back to his playful self and spent most of the day wanting to play which is fantastic.

The afternoon was spent reading to Liam aside from the short while that I made it out to the gym. I haven't been since I got sick last week and so it was very important to me to get there today. More important though was the time spent in the living room reading and playing with the boy which is how I spent the majority of my day.

If he's awake and engaged in what daddy's talking about we read his books. Mo Willems, Chris Van Allsburg, Grover. But when it's time to calm Liam down or to help him sleep with the soothing melodious voice of his father I usually just read whatever I'm reading. I didn't want to read him Maus by Art Speigelman. We'll save the holocaust for a couple years at least and so I picked up the copy of Neil Gaiman's Stardust that I had on the kitchen table. It was prominently displayed by the check-out counter on a shelf marked Librarian's Picks on my last visit to the library. Liam likes Neil Gaiman. He's heard Coraline, The Graveyard Book and selected chapters from American Gods. Stardust reads like a fairy tale anyway, and though Karin took issue with me reading about a witch gruesomely field dressing a unicorn, the book wasn't all that inappropriate. A boy on a quest for a fallen star to bring back to his true love. How bad for him could that be?

Reading aloud has changed the way I read. It is a different type of reading and one that I feel I am getting very good at. Scanning ahead to the end of the sentence to ensure proper inflection and tone. It helps my comprehension, recall and understanding of how sentences are constructed and flow. I find myself lately reading aloud even when alone. You should try it.

A few night's ago I noticed that our overnight nurse carried in a copy of Huckleberry Finn. "Are you reading Huck Finn to Liam?" I asked with great excitement.

"umm well, ... I'm reading it, but...sometimes if he's almost asleep I'll , umm quietly..." It seemed to me that maybe she thought I didn't approve. That maybe she thought my excitement was because I was upset.

"Please do! I would love it if you read him that!" As one of my favorites I was a bit jealous that I hadn't yet thought of reading it to him. I may need to get out my tattered, worn copy of The Grapes of Wrath and make sure that Liam hears his Daddy's favorite American novel. The syndrome that Liam has been diagnosed with greatly effects his brain. Because of this, we are unsure of how much verbal communication Liam will ever understand. The excitement that Karin and I bring to a story that we love reading to him means so much more than what words we are reading. I love reading fantastic stories to Liam like Stardust and The Hobbit because I get to make up fun voices for characters like dwarves and witches and put on a little show. Reading The Grapes of Wrath with him will allow him to hear how much that story means to me. It will also allow me to dig a bit deeper into the writing than I ever have before as I read the book aloud for the first time. Not sure I'll get through it all though. Damn Steinbeck makes me cry even when I'm reading silently to myself.


After a wonderfully relaxing afternoon I dragged the grill out of the garage and cooked burgers in the cold for dinner. After stuffing ourselves Karin and I watched The Night Train win gold in the 4 man bobsled before I set up camp on the couch by Liam's crib for the night and Karin went up to bed. Not a bad way to start any weekend or vacation if you ask me.


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They're starting to pile up again so here's a bunch of links of the crap i find on the internet.

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Apparently the state of Utah has gone batshit crazy.

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Sleeveface some very cool photos involving album covers.















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These guys wore over 200 different T-shirts to make this very cool video. Check out the carnage of the T-Shirt War.








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Karin told me to check out Jeff Bridges website

Speaking of celebrity websites and blogs; if you are not reading Roger Ebert's Journal you're doing it wrong. It's not just about movies.


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When we were kids my brother and sister and I would call this Christmas Eve Eve.

Another award winning photo taken by Karin and sent by email to cheer me up at work. The Boy takes a nap on the couch just like his daddy.

I've been late to my blogging duties but the good news is that thanks to a whole new strategy my scores in Tower Defense have climbed considerably. (I have a problem with these addicting little flash games and this one has taken over the past few nights.)

Karin has a phobia of people dressed up in those big head costumes and holiday characters. She already has anxiety about the prospect of a future trip to Disneyland. Its the way you can't see who people really are that bothers her. The Easter Bunny came to visit us all in the NICU on Easter and Karin's expression is priceless in all of the photos. So it comes as no surprise that all responsibility of bringing Liam to sit on Santa's Lap will fall on me. Still too susceptible to all the germs out there it isn't possible this year but in the future you can bet that Karin will be on the other side of the mall when Liam screams about the scary man in red shouting "Ho, Ho, Ho." in his face. Some of these Santas make me start rethinking whether or not I want to subject him to that either.


Liam and I are still plugging along with Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves of Middle Earth. I'm excited because Liam is about to meet Gollum. And The Ring. I on the other hand have taken a very short break from fiction to read Barry Moser's In the Face of Presumptions. A gift from Mom for Christmas a few years ago I have read it a few times already but the essays lend themselves to re-reads. Born in the deep south and spending a few years as a Pentecostal preacher, Moser would later pick up and move to Massachusetts to become a master Print and Bookmaker as well as teaching at colleges all over the Northeast. My dad met him by taking his class at RISD. They would later become colleagues and friends. His pieces inspire art. His attitude that talent is far more common than the determination, and hard work needed to produce "good" art reminds me that anyone can do what they want as long as they are willing to do the work. A good read and helping me to tap back into my more creative side.

We are a bustle of energy here at the Olson house as we prepare for Liam's 1st birthday with a frenzied sense of anticipation. A major milestone for sure. Christmas morning with my family will also happen here and so we are eagerly awaiting a fun weekend of holiday cheer.




It occurs to me that I have never introduced the cats. The Boys. Or at least that's what we used to call them before The Boy came around. Linus and Calvin. They are incredibly good with the baby. Linus (the mostly black cat in the back of the photo) has been a part of the family since Karin and I first moved in together in Vermont. October 1998. Linus' mother was a mostly feral Vermont barn cat. He was only 4 weeks old when we got him. Smart, fast, and strong he changed the way I always thought about cats, as I am partial to dogs. He has always ruled the house and now that he realizes he still comes before me in the pecking order is ok with handing over control to Liam. He is usually not far from Liam although he has only rarely gotten close enough for Liam to touch him. Protective and observant, the nurses have taken to calling him Nurse Linus as he is always there watching them. He's my eyes on the boy when we aren't around. Calvin is the mostly white cat front and center. Rescued from a New Jersey shelter at 9 months he is much less intelligent than Linus. Kind of fat, a bit lazy and always begging to be fed he would never survive outside but he is the affectionate one and loves to be around Karin. He is fine with Liam being around but shows little to no interest. He is much more interested in the stuffed animals in his crib than he is in the baby. There you have it, Mom and Dad, Liam and two cats, now you know the whole clan.

I hope Christmas treats you all well. I hope you all get to spend time with the ones you love because it really is all that is truly important. Night all.

RAWR! Halloween in the Hospital.

Cutest. Halloween Costume. Ever. Plain and simple.

I have been away from the blog while Liam is back in the hospital. He's doing very well and at this point we are simply biding our time until he finishes a treatment. The five day course of inhaled antibiotics can't be given at home so we must wait until Friday before going home. Yesterday Liam was moved out of the ICU though which is a good thing. The Docs decided that he was less likely to catch something really serious (the true fear of coming to the hospital) up on the normal floor rather than in the ICU. Liam is comfortable and sleepy.

Liam's first Halloween was as fun as it could be in the hospital. We put him in his costume and had many nurses visit and take pictures. He was the best dressed baby in the unit. He had fun and so did his mom and I. The costume will be used again during his jungle themed first birthday party.

One of the worst parts about being in the ICU is the closeness to all the other patients. Not closeness in terms of distance but in the camaraderie and bond that is formed between families nearly instantly. Its a small and exclusive club; one that no one really wants to be a part of. Since you can only understand what this is like if you have experienced it your fellow patients families can be a comfort with only a head nod or a wave. And so it stands to reason that if one family has a truly terrible day, we all do. It is very hard to distance yourself from feeling that it just as easily could have been my kid rather than theirs that had to go through this or that. I don't want to get into specifics out of respect for every other PICU family but this stay has been very hard in that regard.

I thought that I would have all sorts of insights into our day to day life in the hospital now that we are back but it is so mind numbingly routine that there really isn't anything to tell. Liam sleeps, and eats, and poops, and not much else. We are constantly visited by respiratory therapists, nurses, doctors, physical therapists, and housekeepers. There isn't much to do other than hold Liam and read to him which I do most of the time I am with him. The TV only has a few channels most of which we don't watch. The windows to the room truly give a fishbowl feeling. As if all of the families are part of a big aquarium for the docs. I keep tripping over the bubbling treasure chest and Karin still finds enjoyment in swimming through the skull's eye.


Side Note about being in a private room at a Children's Hospital: Its hard not to feel like Gulliver when going to the bathroom on a toilet about 8 inches off the floor.

In which pizza is made and eaten.

I did a lot of work around the couch today. I didn't get much sleep (surprise) and had to get out of bed early so that The Wife could get to the doctor's office early. Her suspicions were correct and she has pink eye. Conjunctivitis as a result of a blocked tear duct. Not a viral or bacterial form and so no worry of passing it along to The Boy but still a royal pain in the ass. Who doesn't want to spend four hours in a walk-in clinic for a small tube of ointment. Anyway, I had some fun hanging out with Liam and we had a nice little morning of hanging out together. I read to him and he listened. He seems to like that. Well, he hasn't told me to stop yet so I'm assuming he likes it.


In the evening we had my mother over for dinner and I used the pizza stone I got for my birthday. I got some fresh dough at the bakery and decided to go a bit non-traditional for the first pizzas. My father roasted a whole chicken for dinner last night and only used half and so I put the other half to good use. Pictured above is the Chicken Alfredo Pizza of Alfredo sauce, chicken, thinly sliced red onion and mozzarella cheese. For the second I made a BBQ Chicken Pizza with BBQ Sauce, onion, chicken and both cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese. Both were delicious and I'm looking forward to next time where I'll try some more traditional pizza varieties.


I have really been enjoying reading aloud to Liam. I haven't read aloud since my public speaking class in college and it truly shows me what makes a good flowing piece of dialogue or description. I am learning about style and voice through this and will be reading aloud more and more of my books since the subject matter doesn't matter for Liam as long as I read in a soothing voice.


As I played around here on the laptop and listened to the rhythmic breaths of Liam's ventilator Ricky Gervais' Ghost Town was playing on HBO in the background. I must say I found myself watching it rather than doing what I originally planned to do. Afraid it was just another romantic comedy ( and actually when you get down to it - it was just another romantic comedy really) I liked it. Gervais kills me in pretty much all that he does and I am looking forward to seeing his new one. Even if I do have to wait until it comes out on HBO. I also fell asleep watching Hamlet 2 last night which cracked me up. That one I highly recommend.


2am. Time for some of The Boy's medicines and an attempt at a few hours of sleep. We'll see.