Welcome to the Family!

So my dad just told me that his cousin, Erik, and his wife, Jane, just had their second baby- Owen Thomas! That's right, another boy to add to the clan! I guess they (and everyone else) were a bit shocked when Owen arrived since he was supposed to be a girl, but how pumped must Dylan be to get to be a big brother to a BOY. And how lucky is Owen to have such a hip older brother and mom and dad. WOW! Congratulations and welcome to the family!

Another Beach Trip Part 1

So, I am healing away after the surgery. Everything looks good. I did have a black eye for a day, which I neglected to get a picture of. Or maybe I did... who knows. If I did, you'll see it, and if I didn't.., well, you know, you won't.

OK back to catching up on past entries!


So a few months ago my buddy Jack and his family came down to stay with us at the beach house. It was a pretty fun trip, and we did a lot. The first day we went and played down on the beach which was really fun, and that night the parentals made yummy food while Jack and I ran around playing. The second day we went to the Aquarium and also the Rogue Brewery for lunch.

Of course, I have to drag these things out as long as possible, so I'll be splitting the pics up into two or three different posts. Yay!

The Beach:


My dad and I at the beach!

Do we walk the same?

Jack and his mom and dad silhouetted against a very bright and shiny ocean

A very professional looking picture my mommy took of Jack and his mommy!

 Doesn't this look like some like a rock band photo or something? 

 Jack and I on this awesome log we found. From my P.O.V (point of view if you didn't know).

 Same log from Jacks P.O.V.

 













 Another epic photo! Look at all of the excitement going on in this one!

 Dance Moves!

 They call me the Shaman!

 As the sun sets.

 After the sun has set. I can't believe the radical change in colors from one minute to the next. There may have been two or three minutes between the above pic and this one. Pretty crazy, huh?

Surgery Done

Well the surgery went off without a hitch. I think all around it was not as bad as the first surgery because we all knew what to expect. I want to thank all the people who sent messages, or called, to let my parents know that they were thinking of us. It is a reminder of what supportive and wonderful friends we have.

Well that is all just a small update, now I am off to bed.

Oh, and of course I want to thank Grandpa Joe, Grandpa Jim, and Grandma Jane for making the early morning trek to be with me on this day.

I love you guys.

The Word(s) and Assimilation Countdown

So the other day I was out at my Grandpa Joe and Grandma Steph's place when I said with perfect clarity "uh oh" as I dropped my cup while sitting in my high chair. It shocked everyone in the room. I have been trying to say this for some time, but usually the word comes out "ugh ugh uh ohhh".

This was maybe my first real word in which it was perfectly clear, and was used in the right context. Now I say it constantly. Since then I have picked up a few more words. Not all perfectly clear but in the right context.

A few other words I am using all the time (not as clear as my "uh oh" but I'm working on them), Up (uh), Hello (eh-oh), Bye-Bye (aye-aye), and All Done (ah-uhhhh). Impressive, no?


Well tomorrow is my next implant surgery. We have to be there at 6:30am, and then I think I go in at 7:30am. So I should be out around 9:30am or so. My parents, as usual, are stressed out. I feel sorry for them, they need to meditate or something, just relax!


Anyway, here is a photo of me being super fly in my shades and my dad being a super dork behind me......

Fountain Head

The Summer was hot so I spent most of it in water, either at the pool, in the sprinkler, or at the fountains down by the capitol. Actually, I only made it to the fountains once, but once was all I needed.

Here I am inching my way toward the powerful spray of the fountain.

I feared that the rush of water was going to somehow capture me and toss me up into the air.

A huge gust of wind came from nowhere and completely drenched us with the freezing water. In this picture you can see that the wind has just started to blow the water right toward us. If this picture would have been taken just a split second later you would have seen two very wet, and very surprised looking people!

 

After surviving our hypothermia and embarrassment we hit the road and let the sun slowly dry us. My hair twisted and twirled its way into odd snake like shapes and patterns (similar to Mama and Grandma's hair).

Eventually it crinked itself into this mass of writhing snakes. It reminded me of that one techno band from the 90's. He had odd little spiky hair and the lyric (hell, I think only lyric) was "I'm a fire starter, terrific fire starter!"

A view from the front, not as cool as the back, but still pretty stylin'.

The Great And Wonderful Blumes!

So my Aunt Phoebe and her two boys, Nolan and Wyatt, came to visit the other day. It was cool to see them. We went to the park and played, and I ate some (all) of their snacks!

Nolan and Wyatt are giants compared to me. Imagine you are standing there and all of a sudden Yao walks up next to you. Even if you are six foot two you have to crane your neck to get a look at his face, and then all you see is his chin anyway. I don't care how tall you are, around Yao or the Blume Boys you feel very very short....



This is my expression as I looked up at the giants..."how old are you guys?"

The one on the left is Wyatt, the one on the right Nolan... Can you tell which one is older? Or which one is taller? And would you believe me if I told you that Nolan is at least a year and a half younger? Yea, me either.




















Auntie Phoebe!  Actually she will probably kill me for this, but we get a lot of visitors from all around the world here so the blog is a good place to give my friends out there a plug for whatever they happen to be working on. My auntie is releasing her first album. Check her music out on her website at Phoebe Blume.com
and if you like it pick up her album "The Homing Beasts"

For some reason I get a lot of traffic from Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and Italy (and of course all around the US) so I hope you dont mind being an international superstar!

Cheers!!!

Surgery Update

So I wanted to update everyone on my second surgery, which is a week from Friday. It turns out that I will, in fact, be getting two of the new processors from Cochlear.

I mentioned these in passing a few posts ago and basically, at the time of that post, we weren't sure if I was going to get only one of the new processors or not. But the FDA approved them so now I am getting two for sure!!!

These babies are 40% smaller and have better speech recognition as well as a remote and better resistance to water.... I can,t wait to not have that huge thing on my ears... although lets not kid ourselves, these big ol' ears could hold anything. It will just be nice to not have all that weight.

Oh, and I guess the new internal implant is supposed to be easier to implant with a lot less possibility for damage to the ear.

Here is a link to quickly read about the whole thing, only a few paragraphs long and some closer pics of the processor and remote.

Check out this link for information about the New Processor

Here is a pic of the new one verses the old one. The round coil that sticks to my head is the same size in both pictures (at least I believe it is) so you can definitely tell the size difference.

Happy Birthday Wishes

I just wanted to take a second to wish Jack's mommy, my Auntie Allisa, a very Happy Birthday! Thanks for always being so nice and for sharing snacks with me. I hope you have a fun day and that you get some yummy birthday cake!

Oregon Aquarium

A few weeks ago, during the million degree weather, we left my dad in Salem to burn up in the heat and we escaped to the house in Waldport. While there, Grandma and Mom took me to the Aquarium in Newport. It was amazing to say the least.

Grandma and I in front of a tank with fish that zoomed around in circles around the tank...almost like the merry-go-round at the park.





This is a sea otter, he was carrying a clam on his stomach and cracking it open with his powerful jaws. I asked if we could take him home because he kind of looks like my cat Ripley and I thought they would make good friends.....

Mom told me no.






Along one of the trails I found this spot with all of these sea creatures you could ride!






"Excuse me, are you thirsty Mr. Dolphin?"
This one seemed a bit dried out.... I felt bad for him.




If you have spent any time with me in the last... oh, I don't know, ten months of my life, you know that I am obsessed with three things. Cars, Planes, and Birds. So you can imagine my delight when I found out that there was a bird area at the aquarium. They didn't have many different types of birds but enough for my taste.




As I climbed up the rocks to get a better look, I spied the coolest bird ever.





This little guy who looks like a puffin (and for the life of me, I cannot remember what he is exactly) but he is not. He was crazy in the water, dipping his head under splashing around... almost like he was imitating me when I take a bath....





The best part of the whole thing was the tube that went under water and you could see fish swimming all around you.






This shark was gigantic.... really.....I mean look, it's so big it spills out of the frame.




This is the end of the day. I am worn out and getting a ride from Grandma back to the car. I have my milk, my belly button

and my.....




PENGY!!!!!

It's sad but this may be the last pic of me with Pengy, unless we find him...*sob*





When we got home my dad was there and we headed down to the beach... and off into the sunset! Returning to the waters that we crawled out of zillions of years ago.