Catching You Up

I have received enough feedback on the blog that I have decided to no longer write in the third person. I thought it would be cool because you wouldn't be able to know who was or wasn't the blogger of the family, but the critics have spoken and found it to be a little annoying. Thanks for those of you that put your opinion in the hat. It really was appreciated.

In November Kristen and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. What a great six years! My wife is truly amazing, and does so much for me. She is terrific! We did go out and spend a night on the town. It seems like that is something that just doesn't happen as often as we would like. Babysitters are so hard to come by, but we were able to get out and have just a wonderful time together.

In December, we have had quite a busy schedule. We have had Christmas parties galore. We have had two work parties, three family parties, and then we have pictures to get taken, family to see, and all sorts of other activities that seem to conflict with something else that we could do. Then on top of all that, you have to find time to shop. It really can be a stressful month. One of our goals to make this a less stressful month was to get all of our Christmas shopping done by December 20th (that's today), and I am pleased to say that I have done all the shopping that I needed to do. Kristen and I are going out today to get a few last minute gifts all taken care of. And after today we will be all done.

One of the exciting things that happened to me was at work. I was the winner of the Presidents Award. This is an award given out to three or four people each year that have proven to be outstanding associates. It is Deseret Mutuals top award. I didn't think that I would even be in the running, but I guess that I was. I was nominated by a fellow associate (I don't know whom) and they wrote some pretty nice things about me. When they announced my name at the company meeting, they had arranged to get my family there to share in this honor. Kristen (my wife), Luke (my son), Craig and Karen (my Father and Mother in-law), and Karen (my Mom) were all there to celebrate with me. That was a fun surprise. When I got back to work, I had several emails from family telling me all sorts of congratulations and support, and that was just a huge blessing and honor for me.

We recently got another Ultrasound for Kristen and Baby Jack. Kristen is almost 23 weeks into the pregnancy, and is looking and feeling great. We were really nervous about this pregnancy since Kristen would be on her medications and we were not sure how she would react while being pregnant. Thankfully she is feeling even better that she was when she was pregnant with Luke. Everything is looking great with Jack, and we are getting more and more excited by the day.

Halloween 2008

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. This year Kristen made Dave dress up as something other than a cowboy. Kristen likes to tell the story about a friend at work seeing Dave for the first time on Halloween dressed up in his cowboy hat. Dar, Kristen's work friend, didn't think that Dave was dressed up, but that he was just a cowboy. The next time Kristen and Dave were with this work friend, he asked Kristen, "Who's this guy, I thought your husband was a cowboy??"

This year Dave wanted to be the Transformer, Optimus Prime. It would have matched perfectly with Luke's costume Bumblebee (another Transformer). However, we couldn't find an Optimus Prime costume in Dave's size anywhere.

So the Monday before Halloween, the whole family went out to a Halloween Store, and tried to find something that would work. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, Luke said "Please" a lot, and the next thing you know Dave was buying a Fred (from Scooby Doo) costume, and we had borrowed a Scooby Doo costume (for Luke) from Kristen's brother. The next day we went to Trunk or Treat as a Witch, Fred, and Bumblebee (you can never count on a little boy not to change his mind a time or two).

Without a little Scooby by Dave's side people were not quite sure what to think about Dave's costume. People would ask if he was Austin Powers, Chef Ramsey, Olivia Newton John, Marilyn Monroe, and even the "Girl from Scooby Doo".

On Halloween, we went to Dave's work, Kristen's work, and Grandma & Papa's house, and collected a lot of candy in the process. The good thing about having a little boy with food allergies, is that Mom and Dad get a lot of the candy that Luke received. However, it's hard to keep candy out of a little boys mouth, and so Luke did get some things that he shouldn't have. After Mom and Dad had a chance to go through his candy, Luke would look into his little pumpkin and ask "Hey where is all the chocolate?" he did get a few pieces of chocolate from time to time, usually Tootsie Rolls. At the end of the day, we were driving home, and asking Luke about his day. Dave asked "What was your favorite part of the day?" to which Luke replied "THE CHOCOLATE!"

It's a Boy, Three Crowns, and Pizza

This past Thursday was a big and eventful day. Dave's first final as a student at University of Phoenix was due, Kristen had an appointment with Karen McBride CNM, and Luke was going into the dentist to get some cavities filled.

Kristen's Appointment:
In the morning we had Kristen's appointment. This was her 14 week check-up, and possibly the day that we may be able to tell if our little baby is a boy or a girl. We had been teetering back and forth thinking that it was going to be a girl, then we'd think it was a boy, and back and forth. Luke even did some teetering too, however he decided long ago that the little baby would be a boy. We would even try and trick him by asking "Luke, what should we name the baby girl in Mommy's tummy?" and he would even get mad and say "Its a boy! not a dirl" (sometimes he has a hard time with his "G's"). So we finally got into the exam room, and they started up the ultrasound, and after a few moments of pushing around, she had located the little legs, and spotted something in the middle... she said that she was 80% sure that it was a little boy. She pushed around a little more, and says "oop, I am now 90% sure".

When Dave started to call family to tell them the great news, he found that everyone was just as excited as we were. Dave's sister Carrie told him one thing that she had found with her own children is that they are born in a certain order for a reason, and that they may have unique talents, behaviors, or personalities that makes them a perfect fit right where they are in the family. We thought that point of view was pretty cool, as we had never thought of it that way before.

We have a lot to do now, we have to box up our computer room and turn it into a bedroom for our little baby boy. We have to repaint since we painted the room purple about 4 years ago. We have to figure out a name for the baby, and other things in order. We are so excited to have another little baby in our family. Yahoo!

Luke:
Luke has a few cavities that are needing to be filled. When we went to the dentist for the first time, Luke was not very cooperative, and who would be... its a dentist, and he wants to shove sharp things in your mouth. They were not even able to get x-rays the first time around. So this time we had a very different plan. We were going to go in, and put him under some anesthesia, and then take some x-rays and fix all of the cavities, and get him all polished up.

When it came time for Luke to go back, the Anesthesiologist came out, and kind of gave us a little game plan on what they were going to do, and how they were going to do it. Luke was so nervous, he kept telling us "I'm going to cry". We got him into the back room, and they gave Luke a shot in the arm as Daddy held him. Luke was not very fond of this shot. However, the shot worked really fast, and soon Luke was limp in Dad's arms, with eyes wide open and unable to focus. This is the part that made both of us tear up. We didn't like to see Luke like that.

We went back into the waiting room, and sat there for over an hour and a half as they got Luke all taken care of. When they came and got us, we were so relieved that everything turned out okay. We went back to post-op, and Luke was laying there on a bean bag, mouth open, still under the effects of anesthesia. We sat there for another 30 minutes until Luke woke straight up. Pushed off the towel covering his eyes from the bright light, and tried to get over to Dad. Dave picked him up and just held him for awhile. Kristen kept praising Luke for being a brave boy, and Dad just loved that Luke was being a Daddy's boy (Dads live for the moments when their child just wants Dad). Luke kept saying "my mouth feels funny", and would start to cry, and bury his face into Dads chest.

We took Luke home, and turned on a movie for him, as Kristen cuddled with him on the couch. After a few hours Luke was up and running around.

Dave:
After the dental appointment, Dave had to get the family home, change clothes, and get to school. It was the end of his first class at the University of Phoenix. Dave had to turn in an individual paper, a team paper, and also do a team presentation about ethics in an economic environment. Dave had invested five weeks into this class, and has worked very hard to do his best. Dave's presentation went well, and the class even got out early. The University bought Pizza for the students, and at the end of class the teacher told the students to take home a few pieces, and so Dave did.

When Dave walked up the drive way with an arm full of folders and few slices of pizza, Luke was waiting at the garage door for his Dad. Dave was so excited to see that Luke was up and walking around. As Dave approached closer Luke got even more excited and gasped and said "Yeah Pizza!".

All in all it was a very good Thursday. We were excited for our family, sad for Luke's experience at the dentist - but pleased that he was able to be taken care of, and proud that Dad was able to finish his first class back at school (he got an A in the class).

Reba & Kelly

After a week of head aches, long nights and long days Dave and Kristen went for a night on the town. This was a welcome relief for Dave because he had been laying down for most of the previous week, and would finally get some time with his wife. Kristen had been looking forward to this date for a long long time. We were going to go to the Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire concert. We went to a Kelly Clarkson concert the first time Kristen was pregnant, and so we had to go to her concert this time around since Kristen is pregnant (it appears that this Kelly Clarkson concert thing is going to be a pregnancy tradition).
I know what you are thinking, because I thought it too, Kelly Clarkson (Pop) and Reba McEntire (Country), but the opening act ("Barbara Jean" from the show Reba) was the opening act, and described it as Peanut Butter and Jelly, two apparent opposites that when combined make something even greater. Now I wouldn't go that far, but they did put on a pretty good show.
Dave enjoyed watching the people at the concert that you know practice in front of the mirror. The crazy thing is that some of those crazy people were 15 years old while some others were 50+, but all of them were standing up dancing and singing their lungs out.
Kristen really enjoyed the Kelly Clarkson's songs, though she wasn't one of the crazy people Dave was watching. She would stand up and cheer, do a little dance move, and then tone it down a little, in case someone was watching.
Dave and Kristen had a wonderful time at the concert.

Septoplasty with Turbinate Resection

For at least over a year, Dave has known that there was something medically wrong with his nose. He has always had difficulty breathing through it, but it seems like it has gotten progressively worse over the years. About a year ago, Dave went into an ENT to have something done about it. He was told that he was suffering from two problems, a severe deviated septum to the right, and inflamed turbanates to the left. After getting this news, he was supposed to schedule a date to have them both surgically repaired. However, he didn’t do that. Dave was a bit nervous about going under the knife at that time, and decided to put it off.
Now 12 months later, Dave felt that this just had to be done. He couldn’t wait any longer with another child on the way, and so he went back into the doctor, and to no surprise was still suffering from the same two ailments. We scheduled the procedure for October 6, and Dave had no reservations about it this time.
Yesterday Dave went in to Davis Surgical Center in Layton to have a septoplasty with turbinate resection to correct his nasal problems. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes, and was deemed a success. For those unfamiliar with this procedure, the problem is that Dave’s septum (nasal bone) was sitting crookedly on the cartilage. This caused problems with his breathing through his right nostril. The left nostril had some larger than normal turbinates, which made it difficult for him to breathe through his left nostril. Combined together it made breathing very hard for Dave and sleeping very hard for Kristen (his snoring would keep her awake).
Dave’s pain was pretty bad at first. It took him about 4 hours and a few percocet to get on top of the pain. He would wear a gauze bandage under his nose to catch all the post surgical drainage and bleeding. And also would wear an ice pack over his nose to help calm down the swelling (though the weight of the ice pack was a little uncomfortable from time to time).
Luke has been rather cute through this whole process. He keeps checking on Dave and asking things like “You doing Okay there Dad?” and when Dave took off the gauze this morning Luke said “Hey Dad, you are getting better, that is sooooo good”. He really wants to help Mom take care of his Dad.
Last night was an unusually long one. Dave got most of his sleep during the day, and did get some during the night, but was waking about every hour to readjust. Kristen had spent the last 14 hours tending to the needs of Luke (which can be demanding) the needs of Dave (which were more demanding than normal), putting herself last on this list. Kristen is a wonderful nurse, mother and wife, and was totally exhausted from running up and down the stairs to wait on both Luke and Dave. When night came, she was really hoping to get some much needed rest. However, her instincts to nourish her family kept getting her up in the night just to check on the others. We finally got up in the morning around 6:00 am, but it felt like we had been in bed much longer.
Today Dave is doing much better. He is still taking the percocet every four hours, but is feeling that is probably not necessary any longer. He has taken the gauze from under his nose, and can now see the two tubular splints that are holding his septum in its new place. There is a little swelling, but that is to be expected. The bleeding has, for the most part, stopped. Kristen was able to get out of the house, and just be a mother for a few hours while Dave slept.
We will reward Kristen for all of her efforts this week by going to the Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire Concert on Friday just a few hours after Dave gets the splint removed from his nose.

New News

Okay, so here it is, our very own blog, and this is the very first entry. Our family is going through a little bit of a transition. For starters Luke is going through the rough time of life known as Potty Training. He does pretty well, but has a few accidents from time to time. Dave has returned to school, this time at the University of Phoenix. He is determined to get everything done this go around. Kristen has the most life changing news of the bunch, she is 11 weeks pregnant. Yipee! We are so excited to have a new little addition to our family, and we should know if it is a BOY or if it is a GIRL within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more exciting news.