Catching You Up

Sorry it has been awhile since I have blogged about anything. Life gets busy with a brand new baby, summer, school, and all other responsibilities that come with life. Today I decided to put those on hold for just a few minutes and blog about life over the past few months, and what each member of this family is doing.

Dave - sorry to start off with the boring one first, but I figure it can only get better. I am still plugging away at school at the University of Phoenix. I just finished Computer Information Systems and got a B+, which is my first non-A since I've gone back to school. As of today my cumulative GPA is 3.83 which is really unbelievable, I think that the format of one class at a time really benefits my style of learning. Currently I have 7 classes to go before graduation.

DMBA has been good to me, but I am getting bored with it. I have worked there for almost 4 years, and need some sort of a challenge to keep me interested. I will go through periods of real engagement, and then through periods of really needing some sort of motivation. I keep hoping for an opening in another division, that is also a move up the corporate ladder, but with the way the economy is right now, no one is moving. I am trying to stay at DMBA at least until I am fully vested (5 years), but will take something if the opportunity is right.

Kristen - oh my goodness, she is doing great and looking great. She is still working at the University Infusion Center, and loves having weekends off (except once every few months). She is being super supportive with me in all of my schooling and work. She is also teaching Piano Lessons to about 6 people I think it is. She enjoys the challenge of that very much. Kristen is loving the summer, and spending time with Luke and Jack. She is always laughing and bringing joy to the family, we wouldn't make it without her.

Luke - he is almost 4 years old, and has really developed into a GREAT big brother. He is a little singer, often making up words to his own little songs (on occasion he has even sang Jack bed time stories). He has also really became a great baseball player. We went out and bought him a Fat Bat, and when I pitch him balls, he hits them far over my head. Another of Lukes funny things is that he is a dancer (Kristen took a Zumba class at her Gym, and wasn't able to do one of the moves, but Luke has no problem with it).

Jack - as we celebrate Jacks 3 months, we come to just really enjoy each and every stage he is going through. Jack started smiling around the begining of June, and really hasn't stopped. Jack is just such a happy boy, it's amazing what happens when you doing have a child on Prednisone. We have a few nicknames for little Jack. They are as follows, with reasons.

"The Demon Drooler": This boy can drool with the best of them. When holding him in your arms so that he is on his stomach, he will drool so much that your arm will be covered and dripping drool all over your pants, shoes and floor (for a pictorial example scroll up to the first picrute in this post). The term comes from a Qubo Cartoon, Jacob Two-Two (One of Kristens Favorites).

"Jack Attack": this name was given to him by Uncle Mitch. No real reason other than it rhymes. "Jackanator": This nickname comes from Kristens dad. From my knowledge, he calls all of the kids by their name with "anator" at the end. Luke has even said with pride, "my name is Luke, except when I am at Papas house, then I am the Lukanator".

There are other nicknames, but I can't think of them right this moment, I hate it when that happens.

Anyway, I hope that this update has been to your satisfaction. Sorry it has been so long since we have filled you in on the 4 Norths. I will try to be more consistant as time goes on.

Jack Everett North

Baby Jack is here! It has been a long time coming, but he is here! At times the nine months seemed to be more like nine years, and it seems that no matter how much you prepare for it, you still have to make some real life adjustments. For instance we went from not changing diapers back to changing diapers. We went from getting 6 hours of sleep a night to being at the mercy of a baby's hunger (luckily at the hospital we have the nursery that we can utilize).

But let me tell you a bit about how we got here. Last week Kristen had an appointment with her midwife, and at that time she was only dilated to a one, with no end in sight. Then at our appointment just this past Wednesday, we were only at a two, and still there was no end in sight. We were told that we could induce at anytime to start the process, but Kristen was unsure about how she felt about getting an induction. After a night of thinking things over, on Thursday she had decided to schedule an induction for April 20, 2009 a day after his due date.


Well, we believe that scheduling that induction was all that needed to happen to get her system going. Thursday night she had her first real contraction around 9:00 pm and another at 9: 13. The contractions were hard and would take her breath away. They went from 13 minutes apart to 10, and then 8. At this time we had decided that perhaps it would be best to get to the hospital. We called Papa and Grandma, and asked if Luke could go sleep over. Papa came and got Luke around 11:45. Luke was looking forward to a sleep over, but was really tired. When he got to Papa & Grandma's house he was so excited, and was telling them that tomorrow would be Jack’s birthday. He was so wired that he couldn’t sleep; instead he stayed up with Papa singing his ABC’s.

Kristen and I got to the hospital around 12:30 am Friday morning. We checked in, and found she was dilated to a 4. They found her a room, and started going through all of the paper work and such. The anesthesiologist came in and gave her the world’s most uncomfortable epidural. But once that epidural took, it was far better. Kristen and I tried to get some rest, but between the nurses and other staff coming in to check one thing or another, we probably only got an hour of rest between the two of us. At 5:30 am our midwife got there and asked us if we were ready to begin. Kristen was so excited. The staff brought everything into the room, and at 6:15 we began the process of delivery.


Eight strong contractions, and 55 minutes later we had a 21 inch, 9 lbs 7.5 oz beautiful baby boy with inch long brown hair and big hands and feet. Jack is a rather calm baby, curious about the world around him. He loves to open his eyes and look around. He is relatively quiet and eats a lot (which could explain why he is so big).


Luke was the first, other than his Mom and Dad to hold him. Luke was so excited to meet him, and you could tell that there was a Big Brother built into Luke. He held him close, stroking Jack’s face with his fingers. Luke just sat there and smiled while holding his little brother. It was fun to see them interact and build a connection with each other.




Kristen and Jack are both doing well. Kristen has a sore back and tailbone, but has a perm-a-grin. She is so happy to have Jack that it far outweighs any of the soreness’s associated with delivering a 9.5 lb baby.

Dave's Anxiety

Okay so I totally misunderestimated (new word, you heard it here first) just how long Kristen would be pregnant. Now I know that the typical human pregnancy is nine months, and I know that we have only been pregnant for approximately 8 ½ months; however for me it has seemed like the first 7 months flew by really fast, but the last month and a half have taken twice that. I keep anticipating “The Call”, and I think that may be the reason for the long last 6 weeks.

The anticipation for “The Call” all stems from 7 little words: “The baby could come any day now”. In my mind there is nothing worse than being in Salt Lake City, 30-40 minutes away from a wife that is pregnant, and asks every day before I leave for work, “Do you have your Cell Phone?” Each and every time that Kristen’s Ring Tone starts to play, my heart beats really fast (kind of ironic that her ring tone sings the words “You have stolen, my heart”) anyway…whenever it rings I think to myself...here it is, “The Call”. However to this point whenever I answer the call it’s only a question about shopping trips, bills, gas mileage or another usual everyday question. I then take a big deep breath and calm myself down.

I think all of my anxiety comes from having a wife with an incredible pain threshold. As a nurse, Kristen ignores her own pain, and only goes into the doctor when things are really bad. When Kristen was pregnant with Luke, we were about a week late, and finally going into labor. We had an appointment the next morning to go in for an induction, and Kristen was willing to wait until then. I didn’t think we would make it that long, and was barely able to talk her into going in that night. When we arrived at the hospital, Kristen was already dilated to an 8. All the nursing staff told us to come much earlier next time or we would be having our next baby in the car. So my job with Jack is to get Kristen to the hospital much earlier so that doesn’t happen.

Sure this may seem like a simple task, yet I have more to deal with this time. Luke needs to go to a babysitter’s house or the grandparents (depending on the time of day), we are going to a hospital that is further away, and once again I work 40 minutes away from home. From the time the call comes in, to the time we get to the hospital, it is possible that it could be near 2 hours later. Is that going to be enough time? I just don’t know, and it is driving me crazy.

Despite my anxiety, I am very excited for what the near future holds, and can’t wait to welcome our little Jack into the world. Once Jack does come I will be sure to add some pictures and get some of Kristen’s thoughts out there for everyone to enjoy. I know that Kristen is also excited for the arrival of Jack, and I can’t wait to watch her hold him for the first time.

T-Minus Three Weeks or so.

So here we are entering the home stretch of a nine month adventure. Sometimes it has seemed to go by really fast, and at other times it seems to have taken forever. Kristen has done really well this pregnancy. We were a bit worried with her health that having a baby might not be good for her, but so far so good, she even mentioned at one point that this pregnancy was better than her first.

We have decided to name the baby boy Jack. We are still deciding between middle names, but it is down to Phillip (Dave's Step-Dad's middle name) and Everett (Kristen's Grandpa's name). For last names, I guess we will just have to go the traditional way and so the Jack's full name will either be Jack Phillip North or Jack Everett North.

Lately Kristen has been having a few contractions on days that she works (she really doesn't like those very much, they are kind of painful). And oh my gosh, that baby is a mover. Each night Kristen and I will watch as Jack pushes and kicks and prods Kristen's belly, possibly trying to make more room for himself.

Jack is going to be a big boy. About five weeks ago, Kristen was at a Doctors appointment, and when they measured him, they came to the conclusion that he was already measuring about 5 lbs! (some say that a baby will gain about 1lb every week the last month, so that is going to make for a BIG BABY).

When we had Luke, Kristen was about 1 week late. We went into the Hospital already dialated to an 8, I think it was. All the nurses and our midwife suggested that next time we come in a little earlier, or we would be having the baby in the car. So this time around, I am wondering when it is that I need to talk Kristen into coming in. This is a hard task because Kristen, as a nurse, hates when people make a big deal out of a little pain, and it turns into being nothing at all, thus her pain threshold is pretty high. So I need to convince her that "YES, this is the time", oh and so it would be helpful if I knew when that time was, it's a mystery to me, but yet I may be the one to tell her that this time is the time.

With Jack, we might just have him at any of three hospitals, depending on where we are. If we are at work, and Kristen has starts going into labor, she may just end up having the baby at the University Hospital. If we are in an emergency situation, we may just go to Davis Hospital as it is the closest. But if things go as planned, and I am home while she starts going into labor, then we will just go to Ogden Regional. Don't worry, we already pre-registered.

We have the car seat ready for Jack, and his room is ready, clothes are in his drawers, and most of all Luke is excited to have a little brother. He already told told us that he is going to teach Jack how to walk, how to talk, and how to eat. The only problem that I am anticipating is that Luke may try to be TOO helpful at times, but that is only because he really wants to be a good big brother.

Kristen is sick

This week has been no fun especially for Kristen. On Tuesday when I picked her up from work, she was so tired, and wasn't feeling well at all. Her throat hurt and she had a fever. So as we went to pick up Luke, I arranged to have our babysitter watch him on Wednesday as well. Kristen seemed to be getting worse and worse as the week wore on.

There have been some times this week where Kristen has seemed to be healthy, but then again, there are times when she is just so worn out and tired, that it makes me feel terrible. Sleeping has not been fun at all. Kristen has a hard time getting comfortable, and ends up adjusting and moving around most of the night, and not getting much sleep at all.

Luke has been a great helper. On Wednesday morning Kristen and Luke were home alone for a few hours, and Luke took great care of her. He went up to the Kitchen, got a baggy, and filled it with ice so that Kristen could put it where it hurts. Luke does some of these little things every day to make Kristen feel like she is being taken care of. He is a great helper and seems to love doing it.

With Kristen on Remicade, it makes it very difficult for her to fight off disease or virus's. So basically when someone gets a cold, it takes them about two weeks to get over it, Kristen might take 3 or 4 weeks to get over it. Lets just hope that this sickness doesn't develop into something more.

It is just 8 weeks until Baby Jack arrives, and we seem to be doing something everyday to get prepared for him. Yesterday, we painted his room. Luke helped and really enjoyed paining. Luke is a great helper. He put the tape on the baseboards, with Grandma's help, and of corse he got his own roller. The other day he helped me put together a toy box, and he has helped me to move the computer. He is a great little helper, and really enjoys doing some of the more grown up things in life.

Everyone keep Kristen in your prayers as she continues to struggle to get over her illness. She has quite a bit on her plate with just 8 weeks to go, and hopefully she will stay strong and healthy.

My Valentine

On this Valentine’s Day 2009, I would just like to mention how much I love my wife. Kristen and I have been married for six years now, and each year has been great. I remember when I first realized that I really loved Kristen. We had been dating for about four months, and my little brother had a few baseball games down in St George, UT. I invited Kristen to go with me and Mitch and my parents.

When we got down to St George, I broke out in a terrible fever, developed a deep pain in my ear, and found it hard to swallow. We went to an urgent care, and got some medicine, but it didn’t do anything for me. Kristen just kept smiling. She took care of me and made me feel so special. At the baseball games, I found myself wrapped up in a sleeping bag, lying on the ground with a fever of 104. I got so sick that Kristen just took off with my Mom, Dad and Mitch, and just spent some time with them (had to be pretty awkward for Kristen). I felt so bad, but when they would come back, and I would see Kristen, she would just be smiling and would be so concerned about how I was doing.

It was the way that she would smile at me, and the way she would put her hand on my back. It was the way that amidst all the adversity she kept treating me like I was everything to her. And all the while, I had nothing to offer, I found it painful just to talk, I couldn’t even sit up straight. She calls it the weekend from Hell, but for me, it was the weekend that I fell in love.

Since that day, I have been devoted to Kristen. She has been everything to me, she helps me to be a better person and I am truly the lucky one in our relationship. She has to deal with me and all my little annoyances. I know that I am not a perfect husband, I make mistakes all of the time, but just like St George, Kristen has stuck by my side and made me feel good about myself at all times. Kristen is the love of my life, and I am lucky to have found her. She is my Valentine, and I am in love with her.

Church Ball has always been a fun thing for me. I have found that when I play church ball, I get closer to the members of my ward. After about a two year absence, I found myself playing ball again for the Chapel Hills Warriors. I call us the Warriors because we usually only have five people show up, and we really have to fight to keep up with the other wards. So far our record is a blistering 2-2.

Today however was my last day of church ball for the season at least. You see, I think I may have torn something in my knee (ACL, MCL, or PCL). Let me tell you the story, because there are parts that are kind of funny.

We were playing another ward in our stake, it was the 11 o'clock game, and we were playing a team that had 7 players, one of which was an ex-Weber State Wildcat. He is a big kid, and is by far the best player on the court. We were in the fourth quarter and it was a close game. I believe we were up by four points when one of our towers blocked a shot and kicked it ahead to me for a fast break lay-up. As I was racing down the right side of the court, a defender was coming down the left side (not just any defender, but the one that was complaining about every call, and fuming from the ears because he wants to win so bad). There was under two minutes left, and I was going to take the ball to the rim, draw a foul, and dunk on him. Well everything was looking good, I had done the same thing a million other times, I jumped into the air. There was contact, and so all I had to do was dunk the ball in the rim, and sink a free throw. The only thing is, I can't dunk, heck I can barely jump. The defender and I collided, and came crashing down to the floor. I felt something in my left knee, and looked down to see that it was bending in a way that it shouldn't (kind of towards my other knee). In very slow motion, I thought "Crap there goes my knee" but those weren't the words that came out of my mouth, all that came out was a high pitched blood curling "Aaaaahhhhh". Kind of like how a girl would scream at a Haunted House. Then I thought to myself "Man, I just scream like a girl". I held my knee, as I laid on the hardwood. My team huddled around, and after a few moments, we got me up off the floor, and over to a nearby chair where I watched the last few minutes. Good news, we won the game.

After I was helped out to the car, I drove my way home. At a stop light, I had a moment to reflect about how this injury would change things. I wasn't really worried about any of the finances, but more concerned about how I was going to clean out Baby Jack's room, a worry that has been on Kristens mind for about a month. As I thought about this, I started to cry a little bit because I felt that I have let Kristen down. The last thing I wanted to do was to let Kristen down. So somehow, someway, I will get the two desks out of the room and get the room painted.

Boys can play Dress Up too.

Luke has always been such a good little helper. It seems that whatever the task, Luke is willing to get his hands dirty. He wants to be dressed up for whatever the task may require. If Dad wears gloves, Luke needs to wear them too. If Mom wears an apron, then Luke wants to wear one too.

But dressing up in work clothes isn't the only thing he does. The other day Luke wanted to dress up in his Spiderman costume while Kristen and Luke ran their errands. Kristen called me at work to tell me what he wanted to do (I think that was by far my favorite phone call ever recieved at work). So Kristen let him. Luke got dressed up from head to toe in his spiderman costume and put on his Spiderman mask, and they were off. They went to Lukes "Circle Time" (kind of like preschool) to return a game, and then they went into the Elementry School to say hi to his Grandma who is the principal where Luke goes to Circle Time. Grandma took him around to show all of her teacher friends. Lukes favorite stop was the First Graders. They all thought that Luke was really cool all dressed up like Spiderman. Luke would shoot pretend webs at them and even strike poses as all the kids hooted and hollered. The next stop on the Spiderman tour was to Lukes Grocery Store (we have to go to a special health food store to get all the food that he isn't allergic too). Spiderman looked really cute as he pushed around a kid sized shopping cart.

When I got home we went out for our Monday Night Snack, and Luke was once again dressed up like Spiderman. My favorite part was watching all of the smiles that Luke put on other peoples faces. He didn't realize that that he was making so many people happy, but he was and it was cute.