I love that Galen has my eyes...
As many of you know, I took the plunge and pursued a long-time desire/need for myself. After having Galen, I was extremely "top endowed", even though I was back to my pre-Galen weight. This new figure was difficult for me to deal with, both physically and emotionally. In small Flagstaff we are lucky to have a fine plastic surgeon, with high accalades for breast reduction procedure. I met with him and in early March I got my upper body back. I am so happy. Now all I have to do is heal.
In the process of healing, my task was to be a bump-on-a-log. My friend Katie was wonderful and helped me with Galen the first week by taking him to school and picking him up, getting him dressed and fed for the first several days and basically fielding any kid crises. On the first day, in the afternoon, she and Galen were at the grocery store, and Galen picked out roses for me. He came into my room and gave them to me and told me he loves me and hoped the flowers made the ouchies better. My son is the greatest kid I could have ever asked for!
So poor Galen had a dull week in that first week of my recovery. The following weekend we had a silly photo session and a trip to the movie theater to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D! Neato!!
Nothing in his nostrils stand a chance!
My beautiful and glowing son
Well a few days after these shots were taken, I decided to fulfill another desire, one I was told that I should not do by a beautician. I went to a salon and had my hair dyed dark brown. And it's a gorgeous color! However...I got the dye job I wanted, but not the haircut. In fact, I never asked for this kind of haircut. To emphasize, I specifically told the woman to only cut the dried ends off and layer only extremely subtle layers as if it's almost a blunt cut. I guess this was her definition of subtle layering. Now I have a year of work in growing my hair back out.
Color Good!
Cut Bad! Not happy, can you tell?
So later in the second week we took a trip to Grandma Carole's and Grandpa Bob's house. We had a ball and the weather was perfect. We went to the Living Desert Museum, which is a wonderful zoo and botanical garden featuring desert adapted animals and plants. We saw giraffes, including a brand new, one-week-old baby giraffe, tortoises, a serval cat, antelope, various birds, meerkats, wild dogs, a warthog and a brief hyena spotting. There was a petting pen with goats and sheep for the kids to pet. From this pen we could seen African cattle that dwarf the longhorns by nearly a foot per horn! These cattle were impressive and I really want to analyze their cranial and vertebral morphology! Okay I digress into nerd-dome.
We both got to ride!
We rode a carousel and Galen was grinning the whole time. Later that evening we hit one of my favorite Mexican places for dinner and it was as fantastic as I remember. The next morning Grandma and I got up early (yes I can get up early) and we went to a farmer's market that puts all other farmer's markets to shame. It was more of a bazaar without all the animals and meat hanging around. You could buy an entire wardrobe of shiny gold jackets, studded tee shirts and rhinestone bangles. Very Palm Springs. But you could also buy nice athletic gear, hats and tools. But to me the highlight was the produce. Bright, colorful and ready to eat produce. None of it looked like the sprayed-to-ripe-fast and then waxed stuff in the stores. I bought $25 worth of fruit and a bag of Boston Baked Beans because Galen had never tried them. By the way, he is now a huge fan.
When we got back, Galen and I took a ride in the golf cart all over the neighborhood with Grandpa. It was the first time both me and Galen had ever been in a golf cart! We both had fun. Then is was time to swim.
Now, despite the postcard views and beautiful forest around my house, we have little water. The last time I can remember swimming with Galen was when he was 1 year old, and obviously he didn't swim then. So we had his life vest and a borrowed noodle and some toys. He was extremely excited but when we got to the steps, he froze. No way was he going in. Well as you'll see from the photos, that didn't last long and in about 20 minutes of coaxing and reassuring he was floating while I kept him propped up. Then after touring around the pool, Galen's adventurous spirit grew and he wanted to use the noodle by himself. Well he was a little wobbly, finding his water legs by himself, but with a little guidance from me and Grandma and Grandpa, Galen found his balance and began kicking around all by himself! In fact, by the next morning, when the pictures were taken, Galen, with his life vest and noodle in hand, marched into the pool, positioned the noodle in front of his body and launched himself into the water to kick around. There was nothing but shear pride and joy emanating from my heart and I was an exuberant cheering section of the pool. This boy was born to swim and I believe by the end of the summer it'll be very difficult to keep him out of the water! Everyday I am reminded that Galen is an amazing kid and getting more so all the time.
Getting ready
Doesn't he look so proud!
