Today we decided that Stuart needed a day to rest, so I tried to occupy the kids on my own for most of the day.  This morning I had them out in the backyard while I tried to work on the garden.  The boys played with sand and water, then with water guns and spray bottle.  I wanted to move things around, the newly placed mulch to one area, then some small rocks to another area.  Connor volunteered to help me first, then Logan followed as well.  They had fun wearing the large work gloves and picked up the clean mulch into the bucket, then they especially loved carrying the bucket to dump them onto the open area.  They were so eager that I had to make sure they took turns.  When we moved onto picking up the small rocks, I stopped their use of the heavy buckets which finally ended their help to me.  They resumed their own playing while I continued to work some more.  We were out in the yard for at least an hour and a half before we returned inside the house to have our lunch.

    In the afternoon, I decided to take the boys to play at the swimming pool as it was hot.  Logan was fine with the idea but Connor wanted to stay home with Daddy until I offered him to bring a water gun.  After we arrived at the pool, I put sunscreen on the boys while they put it on my shoulders and back.  We had to start with a snack as usual on the lounge chair before we moved on to the pool side.  They both were happy sitting by the steps and playing with some pool toys while having their feet in the water.  Logan had made it clear that he did not want to go into the water, and I did not want to push either as I was on solo duty.  The boys had a lot of fun playing on their own.  Unfortunately 20 minutes later, there was an announcement to clear the pool for 30 minutes as they needed to clean up some contamination (bird poo).  We just hung out a bit longer at the lounge chair watching the action before we cleaned up to get home.

     We had planned to attend Jeannette and Fredric’s wedding on Saturday, so we arranged a babysitter to watch the boys.  Mollie (the boys’ ex-teacher) arrived just right before 3:30pm, and it took just a few minutes to orient her to the house and the boys’ routine.  Logan seemed excited to see Mollie and started bringing different toys to ask her to play.  Connor on the other hand was very nervous and was hiding from her.  He even spent a couple of minutes on his bed on the verge of crying.  He came holding onto my hand and dragged me toward the door hoping that he could leave with us, then he did the same thing with Stuart too.  He then broke out crying as well.  Stuart and I just said goodbyes quickly and left to avoid dragging out this separation for Connor.  Mollie did text me shortly later to tell us that Connor was fine after we left and played Legos with Logan and her.

     We arrived at the winery in Pleasanton in good timing.  We chatted with Theresa and Martin who were there first, then the rest of our friends/coworkers slowly arrived.  The ceremony was held in the courtyard; it started a bit late, but it was lovely.  Afterward we got our drinks, Stuart and I took a break inside the winery.  Shortly after group photos with the bride and groom, the reception hall opened up for everyone.  We enjoyed the nice meal and company of everyone at our table (Michelle, Ted, Theresa, Martin, Julie, Erika and Victor) while watching the wedding entertainment.  We also had fun at the photo booth and loved the photos.  We waited until the cake cutting was completed and the open dancing started before we left to drive home.

      Mollie had texted me at 8:30pm to inform us that the boys were sound asleep.  When we arrived home before 11pm, she told us that they had a good time playing together.  They played with water in the backyard, and played with toys in different rooms.  They enjoyed pizza for dinner while watching TV.  When she suggested that it was time to start the bedtime routine Logan was sad that the evening was ending; he later told her that he wished to see her again.  Connor was a bit sad without us at bedtime, but both boys went down to sleep without any complaints.  We were happy that our first babysitting of both boys went very well.

     Stuart went to the gym to work out during lunch yesterday.  He did some weight lifting and basketball shooting.  Shortly after, Stuart felt some pressure on his chest.  It was concerning enough that Stuart decided to stop playing and come home.  During the drive home, Stuart also felt that his left arm was weaker and felt anxious.  Stuart decided to call the Advice Nurse for help.  The nurse (with some advice from a doctor) felt that since had no prior history she would just book a telephone appointment for him at 4:30pm.  The symptoms went away about 10 minutes after talking with the nurse….However the doctor during the appointment call strongly suggested Stuart to be seen and made an appt at 6pm.  During the clinic visit, the doctor listened to Stuart and did an EKG which was not definitive.  Stuart was sent home after doing some lab blood work.

    I picked up the boys after school and we waited for daddy to return home before we had a late dinner.  Stuart was feeling fine and had a good appetite as usual at dinner.  Right when we finished, the doctor called Stuart to report abnormal lab result and he was told to be driven in to the hospital right away.  We got the kids ready quickly, and we arrived the hospital in 20 minutes (around 8:30pm).

    The emergency room staff took care of Stuart right away.  They did another EKG and drew more blood.  The boys were quietly watching all the actions and they both had a nervous yet interested expression on them.  When one ED doctor came to see Stuart, Logan kept telling me that “The doctor is MAD, the doctor is MAD”.  I was confused until I realized that she had a big “M.D.” tag under her badge. 

     Stuart had learned early on that he would be spending the night, and so we had been preparing the boys that they would going home with just me.  So after spending probably 40 minutes there, I decided to take the boys home.  We all gave kisses to daddy and left Stuart in good hands with the doctors.  Both boys were fine walking away with me; but once we left the ED area, Connor changed his mind and wanted to stay with daddy.  I had to calm him down by promising that we would call daddy to say goodnight.  Logan later remembered that it would be Stuart’s birthday the next day as he told me “It will be a sad and boring birthday without Daddy”

      The boys were cooperative at home.  We took a quick bath, and read books together.  Logan was very good and went to sleep on his own while Connor took a few minutes of messing around before he fell asleep for the night.  I cleaned up our dinner dishes while waiting to talk with Stuart.  He was occupied with different doctors and nurses, and then he was admitted to the hospital and moved to a telemetry room.  We finally could have a longer conversation after midnight.  The next morning the boys and I did our usual things in the morning, then I dropped them off to school before I could head to the hospital to see Stuart.

     The cardiologist came visit Stuart shortly after I arrived.  She discussed the situation and options with us.  Since Stuart’s blood tests showed slightly elevated enzymes (troponin) which did indicate a heart attack, she recommended doing an angiogram to take a closer look at the the coronary arteries and be prepared to intervene if occlusions were found.  We agreed and Stuart was scheduled at 2pm.  Due to the schedule, Stuart would most likely be spending another night especially depending on the outcome from the procedure.

     Stuart was feeling fine but of course a bit nervous.  But we were able to just lay down together and relax a bit.  Within an hour, we were notified that Stuart’s schedule got moved up and a few people came to talk with us about the procedure.  He then was given Benadryl and Ativan, hooked up to a different monitor, then he was wheeled to the cath lab while I was sent to the waiting room.  Sitting there waiting was uneasy as I kept thinking back to what the cardiologist’s warning of 1% procedure risk of stroke/heart attack or death.  Fortunately the procedure only lasted 40 minutes; Stuart was wheeled back out and they also shared the good news that all his arteries were clean.  Another good news was that as no interventions were needed during the angiogram, Stuart could be released in 2-3 hours.

    Stuart was feeling quite well and relaxed with the medicines he was given.  By then he was finally allowed to eat, so I fed him his lunch while he had to remain laying down.  Then Stuart became very tired and took a very nice 3 hour long nap.  I received the discharge instruction and picked up Stuart’s new medicines.  We left the hospital at 4pm after Stuart changed back into his clothes and demonstrated that he could walk without any dizziness.

     It is very nice to have Stuart back, and the boys are super happy to see him after school.  I am happy that we could celebrate his birthday at home.  I made one of his favorite dinners and we had our favorite birthday cake afterward too.  It was a nice birthday after all.

   The weather was very nice this weekend, so we went to check out the swimming pool at our new gym for the first time.  Logan was not too thrilled initially as he said “I don’t know how to swim” and “I don’t like to get wet”.  But both Logan and Connor were excited when we arrived.  It was a nice place, and Logan wanted to hang out on the lounge chair while Connor walked around.  We finally encouraged them both to go into the water.  We hung out in the water for awhile; the boys were held by us and they had fun kicking their legs a bit.  Logan seemed to be a bit cold, and we are now looking into getting a different wetsuit type shirt, yet Connor was fine.  We then just relaxed some more on the lounge chairs and had a snack.  Right before we were considering to leave, Connor suddenly wanted to return to the water.  He just wanted to sit with me at poolside dipping our feet.  We finally left after two hours at the pool.  It was a great way to spend our first 80-plus degree weekend and both Connor and I took a wonderful long nap afterward.

    We attended Rohan’s 5th birthday party yesterday right after nap time.  We arrived to their house and the party was held in the backyard with a large jumpy house.  A few of Logan’s ex classmates came over to say hello to him, but Logan was not ready to play with them yet.   Both Logan and Connor spotted the popcorn machine and wanted to take a snack first.  They sat down nicely to have popcorn and fruits while watching other kids played.  Finally Stuart volunteered to go inside the jumpy house with Logan to encourage him, but Logan actually jumped in and started playing without Stuart.  He had a good time in there with the obstacles, climbing and sliding.  After seeing Logan inside, Connor wanted to play too.  Connor was quite self sufficient that Stuart did not need to accompany inside.  According to Stuart, the big kids were not too rough around Connor, giving him some space.  We took a break to  eat pizza, then the boys played inside the house instead.  We then sang the birthday song to Rohan, and Connor as usual ate the entire piece of cake while Logan only had a few bites.

    When the party came to an end, we stayed in the Gopal’s house to hang out for a bit long.  Both Logan and Connor climbed back in the jumpy house to play.  Then we had some more popcorns and they migrated back inside the house to watch some TV while we stayed out in the yard to relax in conversation with Rohans parents.  We ended up staying there for a couple more hours before we had to get going.  Logan had even suggested that he spend the night.

     We just came back from a quick trip to visit the grandparents.  The drives both ways were smooth.  We did not hit any traffic and the boys were very good; we made each way in total 6 hours with only one stop.  On the way there, the boys were so excited to see the grandparents that Connor kept asking “Here?”.  They gave hugs to grandma and grandpa, and jumped right in to play with grandma.  During this trip, they spent lots of quality time with the grandparents, especially with Grandma.  They played with blocks and cars, played in the backyard, and on the Nickjr website.  Grandma also watched Logan during his quiet time each day while the rest of us taking naps.  Grandma has learned to understand Connor’s imperfect pronunciation quite well by the end of the trip.

     On Friday as the weather was nice, we all headed to the beach.  It was a quiet day there and so we felt like we had the beach all to ourselves.  The grandparents sat and enjoyed some sunlight while the boys played with sand and water.  Logan enjoyed playing near the waves while Connor was scare by it and only wanted to watch.  Connor also liked carrying water back to mix in with sand.  The boys also had fun having their feet buried by Stuart in the sand; they had quite a giggle there.  We had a picnic lunch at the beach too; so it was a very pleasant afternoon.

    We went for a walk at Manhattan pier on Saturday morning.  It was cloudy and much cooler that day, so we all had to bundle up.  We walked down the pier and took a look inside the small aquarium at the end.  On the way back, we spent some time watching the surfers.  We were playing a game watching which surfer would make it up on wave or not; the boys had a great laugh calling out “Maybe not”.

   On Saturday night, Andrew, Trevor and his friend Deanna came to join us for dinner.  We had a nice dinner out, then we all returned to the house for some tea and cookies.  Somehow the boys started a game “Hide the gun” with everyone; we all took turn hiding their pirate gun in the room, and Logan and Connor would come back to the room to find it.   Logan got slightly upset initially when Connor found the gun instead, but he got over it and continued to play.  They loved the game and we all had a good laugh watching them finding the gun too.  It seemed that we had played more than a dozen time before we had to finally end the night.

    The trip was a nice way to wrap up the boys’ spring break.  Now everyone is back to routine, and back to school and work tomorrow.

Here are a few video clips at the beach.  Logan, Connor, Burying feet