Ben's Big Day

Friday was Ben's 1st birthday. We started off with a bang at the doctor's office. He officially weighs 20 lbs on the nose and is 30 inches. He can now ride in his new car seat. He also received his next round of immunizations and was a trooper. After getting stuck he crawled over to the nurse and gave her a big hug! It was really cute and the nurse almost cried. We invited the neighborhood over for cupcakes that evening. About 20 people showed up to eat the 50 cupcakes we made. The boys had fun helping to make them and Charley did a great job entertaining the boys while Mom frosted them. We went to McDonald's for dinner and Ben clapped jabbered and was so excited to be turned around in the car. It was funny watching him get so excited to see things we take for granted on the normal car ride. Lately he loves to crawl to the edge of the stairs and throw things down watching them bounce all the way. The other kids love to throw balls up to him and have him throw them back down. I can always count on a good 10 minutes of work time if I suggest this activity however after 10 minutes the game gets a little brutal and we have to find a new one.

Sam's latest achievement is to put away his clothes and get dressed all by himself. We have labeled his drawers for him so he knows what's in each drawer. He sometimes gets lazy and gets things out of Joseph's drawers though. It depends on whose helping as to whether he gets away with it or not. I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday to find Sam wearing Joseph's clothes and Joseph wearing Sam's clothes and when I mentioned it, Ronny shrugged and said that's what they brought me. Sam has also started a new way of getting out of trouble. He seems to be hitting a lot lately and when called on it he runs and with the most pathetic face and sugary sweet voice says, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". He's figuring the system out, however he still gets put in time out.

Charley is doing much better lately. She is playing with the boys and not complaining so much. Happy day for this! Of course now that I say something she will have a bad day today.

Ben has just found me so my time here is done.

Disappointed Charley

Last night Nana called and said she had missed her flight to come this weekend. Unfortunately she isn't able to come for another couple weeks. We have been counting down the days until Nana comes so you can imagine the kids were a little disappointed. The boys puckered out their lips and complained but then we told them she would come in a few more days so they were satisfied with that. Charley on the other hand took this to the extreme. I think she was tired to make matters worse. She cried for a good hour wailing and screaming and all, you would have thought someone had died the way she was going on, oh the drama. When we finally calmed her down and got her into bed she slept very soundly. We know Nana feels really bad about this but this is a good lesson for the kids to learn, life just happens and we need to be flexible sometimes.

We are now trying to come up with some ideas to do with the kids for Ben's birthday. The kids just want to go to McDonald's (not my first choice!). We are watching the weather and might be able to make a trip to the zoo or the coast or maybe we will just go find a new park to play at if the weather is nice.

The kids will be out of school the last week in March so we will get to spend a few extra hours with Nana when she is here. We will have to do something fun then. Ronny will also be off school then too, however that really doesn't mean anything anymore. We may get him to take a day off though.

Tomorrow is Ben's 1st birthday. Fun! He is so much fun to have and is such a good baby, most of the time, he wouldn't nap for anything yesterday. We decided to make a cupcake tower instead of an actual cake. We will make the cupcakes together as a family tonight. The kids are all very excited.

Busy February

Ok, so here is my very first post. I would add pictures to this however we can not seem to find our cable to download pictures from our camera to the computer. Another day I guess. So this has been an extremely crazy month, more so than usual which is saying something for us.

We started off the month with Ben and Denise taking an unplanned trip to California to conduct a moving sale and pack up what boxes we could from the house I grew up in. It took three different flights and airports to get us there as the airline canceled our flight and changed our arrival destination twice but we finally arrived in LAX. It was a bitter sweet experience as it was a monumental task that needed to be done and the house we had been praying would sell finally sold, however at the same time it was sad knowing that it was the end of the family ties I knew growing up. My parents are hopefully towards the end of their divorce and then we can all move on as a family separated, yet still very closely knit together. It was probably the last time I will return there and that is sad to know. I am happy I was able to go and do what small things I was able to accomplish and have that last sleep in the house I grew up in. At the same time I had the very distinct impression that that house was not home to me anymore.

Ben and I arrived home that Sunday morning to find Ronny passing a kidney stone and Joseph running a high fever. We called two neighbors to come and give Ronny and Joseph a blessing. Once we were able to get the kids to bed that night I stayed up to put Charley's Brownie patches on her vest as she and I were scheduled to man the cookie booth at the store the next day. Monday morning came and Ronny was still having pain but was able to take advil and tylenol to alleviate most of it. Joseph however was still running his fever so I called the doctor and was able to get him in later that morning. I made Ronny come with us so in case he fell over in pain we were only down the street from the hospital. I didn't think Joseph was too bad, I thought he just had a cold and he would be fine in a day or two. I was wrong. The doctor looked at us and asked how long Joseph had been sick. Only a couple of days we told him he shook his head and told us Joseph had pneumonia. I was stunned. We were told to bring him back on Wednesday if he was still running a fever for a chest film. Ahhh! We filled his prescription and took Ronny to work on the way home. After getting home Joseph took a turn for the worse. He was moaning and delirious. I was ready to take him back but said a little prayer and hoped the antibiotics would kick in soon. He slept the rest of the day. We called his school and informed him he would be out for at least a week. I also called Charley's Brownie leader and told her we couldn't make it. This was too much in one day.

Tuesday came and Ben and Sam were sick. Ben was running a fever. I called and got him in to see the doctor as soon as they could. He has extremely small ear canals so I am not able to see in his ears at home with our otoscope. Ben had a double ear infection. I filled his prescription and went home hoping we would not have to go back the next day.

Happily we made it through all that within about a week and a half. Joseph bounced back and was able to make it to Tyler's birthday party and returned to school after a week off. I was ready to send him back. The next week was filled with errands trying to make up for all the time we spent at home. During these nights Ronny would put the kids down and then work on his pinewood derby car. The Elder's Quorum decided to have their own derby. Although Ronny didn't win he did have the "smoothest" car and won a prize for that. We took the family to watch the race. Between the races the boys would race their matchbox cars down the track. They loved it! Some of these cars we really cool. You could tell these guys spent a lot of time on them. It turned out the Elder's Quorum Pres. car won overall but the two guys that took 2nd and 3rd place were new converts which was really nice.

During all this we were selling and delivering Charley's girl scout cookies. She ended up selling 100 boxes, the most in her troup. We are happy to have the last boxes delivered and all the money turned in. I have also started to wean Ben. He is doing well with this and hopefully we will have an easy transition. He is looking forward to turning around in the car and being able to see were we are going as opposed to the back of the seat. We also finally sold our van. Hooray! It only took 11 months and 3 weeks to do it but its finally gone, ironically to a neighbor so we will still see it everyday.

We are looking forward to a calmer March and a visit from Nana. Ben will also celebrate his first birthday.

Things I love

My sister Liz tagged me. Apparently I'm now obligated to share 5 things I love.

1. I love my family. I love Denise. I love Charley. I love Joseph. I love Sam. I love Ben.

2. I love fresh air. I used to think I loved warm weather. After living in Utah, where the weather may be warm, but occasionally the air is horrific, and living in Oregon, where the weather is oft-times dreary, but the air quality is superb, I realize that I just want fresh air. I can take care of the rest with the right equipment, but I can't fix the air.

3. I love to run. I don't necessarily mean to go running here. I love long and deliberate strides. I love the rush of power. I love the idea that I'm getting somewhere faster than I would if I walked.

4. I love sleep. I miss it, but I'll love it just the same when I see it again.

5. I love discovery. That moment when you realize that you've found something entirely new to you is amazing. It may be self-discovery, when I learn something new about myself. It can be academic or spiritual. I love learning new things and probing and testing and hypothesizing and experimenting.


... you can now mark me as "tag fulfilled" Liz.

Traumatic Tooth Losses

Tonight, I pulled out one of Charley's teeth.  This one has been loose for a month or so - perhaps longer. 

Denise's talk, Oregon School District 509J

Denise spoke in church today. She did a really great job (what I saw of it). We sat on the second row so the kids would be close to Denise when she spoke. This seemed to help when I gave my talk in church a few months ago. Denise and I had enlisted the help of one of the couples (the Glassman's) in the ward that now has only one child left in high school for help with the children, should the need arise. Denise sat with the family until it was time for her to give her talk, at which time, she passed Ben to me, and went up to the podium. Reid Glassman handed Ben as plastic toy alligator that had a light inside that would glow when squeezed. Sam saw it and wanted his turn. I told him no, so he instantly turned to Denise, now a few minutes into her talk to appeal my ruling. He began shouting "Mom, Mom, Mom!", waiting for her to respond. Knowing Sam, I quickly picked him up and moved him out of the room. I was able to return a few minutes later, when one of our neighbors volunteered to take Sam for a walk so I could listen to the remainder of the talk.

The real big news in our house these days is the formal complaint Denise and I have filed because of the kindergarten policy at our local elementary school. When Charly attended, she was in a class of 27 students (large for kindergarten) and attended 5 half-day sessions each week. There was also a 3-day all-day option or a 5-day all-day option, but only the half-day option was free. The other two options had monthly fees attached. For whatever reason the district deemed necessary, they appear to have squeezed out Gail Gerdemann (Charley's teacher), and eliminated the 5-day half-day option.

We have neighbors who have a daughter in kindergarten this year. When she asked about kindergarten she was told the only options were the full-day options, with the monthly fees attached. Those who could not afford the fee could apply for a partial scholarship. Those who could still not afford the fee could enlist their students in the 3-day full-day option, and pull their student out during the lunch break on the third day. When she asked if the students would be allowed extra time to make up the missed instruction, she was told that they could not.

We have filed a complaint on Friday to Corvallis School District to reinstate free kindergarten.

Denise has been in contact with two local newspaper reporters (one happened to be a parent at one of Joseph's play dates), who are going to jump on this pretty quickly. I've been in e-mail contact with the Oregon Department of Education, who led me to a clause in the Oregon Administrative Rules that pretty clearly states that each school district in Oregon must offer free kindergarten to all students in the district. Even if we give the district the benefit of the doubt, they are still walking a really fine line.

We'll see how things play out.

elbow pain

Last night, I was running up the stairs, and I tagged the corner of my elbow on the the molding half-way up the stairs (as I turned the corner on the landing). Man, it hurt a lot. I haven't felt pain like that since The Great Kidney Stone of 2004. This morning I have a visible bruise, but most of the pain has moved into my shoulder. I don't know why. This pain seems worse than my elbow pain last night. It feels like I have a deep and intense bruise in the lower section of my deltoid. This makes it difficult to hold Ben and still get things done. I'm doing much better after 400mg of Advil that expired 5 years ago.

On another note, today Denise will mail off Christmas presents, marking the end of our holiday shopping and shipping season. Hooray for that.

The black eye

Last night, Joseph tripped on the downstairs bath mat and caught the sharp corner of the bathroom counter-top just below his eye. The skin was not broken, but we called the doctor's office to see if there was anything we could do. We already had ice on his eye, and they recommended that we give him ibuprofin, which we did. He looks much better this morning, although he does have a moderate black eye.

It was the perfect end to a long day for Denise, who traveled all the way to Albany just to have pictures developed. You see, our local Fred Meyer store here in Corvallis had a photo machine whose Matte finish wasn't working. We prefer the Matte finish to the glossy for photos we are going to hang on the wall (or give to others). So Denise went to Albany - only for them to do all the photos in Glossy. Denise had already done all of her Albany shopping (while the 1-hour photos were being done), so she waited in the parking lot while they did them again.

There really wasn't any other choice, but of course the three boys didn't take it patiently, as they had already been having bad days at Target (and Fred Meyer and hour earlier).

After the obligatory half-hour, Denise picked up the Matte-finish photos (with a 10% discount), and came home. When she got to the car, she took a peek at the photos, and there seemed to be about twice as many as we ordered, and most of them were wrong!! There was not going to be a fourth trip into Fred Meyer, so she continued home. I can't believe they messed up as badly as they did - twice - and in two different ways. Most of the pictures they picked instead of the ones we chose are actually pretty nice poses, so it's not a total loss.

I tried to hang some of the pictures this morning, but we couldn't find any nails for hanging. Maybe they have some at Fred Meyer.

Sam and potty-training

This weekend was our first honest effort at potty-training Sam. He does pretty well. On Saturday, he had two accidents compared to 4 successful trips to the toilet. On Sunday, we backed off a bit and put him in diapers for church time. After church, we put him back in the briefs. He had an accident all over the kitchen floor, but overall, he's doing a great job.

When he sits on the toilet, he looks up at us and exclaims "I do good job!" This is his standard remark whenever he does something we praise him for. On the flip side, he also knows what we tell him when he's in trouble.

Take this morning for example. He likes to follow Charley out to the bus in the mornings and makes every attempt to get on the bus without me noticing. This morning he got all the way to the steps of the bus and he really threw a fit when I picked him up and carried him home. After I put him down inside our apartment, he looked at me and pointed to the stairs and screamed "No, Dad. On the stairs! You go your room!!" You see, we sit him in time-out on the stairs and send him to his room when he's in trouble.

Last project done

Today I officially handed in the very last class project I will ever do in my school career ... so long as you don't count my dissertation. My next hurdle happens on Thursday when I take my last final for my last class that I'll ever take in my life. I sometimes joke with Denise that I can still always go to medical school. She doesn't think that's a funny joke.

We are now in the midst of making our Christmas plans. We'll head down to California for a few weeks and enjoy time with my family as well as Denise's. It will be a great trip, and a much needed vacation for all of us.

weekend update

So the big news over this last weekend was the purchase of a bunkbed. Denise and I took the kids shopping in the morning. We looked at Gibbs furniture first. We were in the market for a bunkbed, mattress and some dressers - all as adjustments for the new baby. We figured the kids would need to adjust enough when the baby came that we could take care of sleeping location adjustments before Baby Ben came. Anyway, we looked at three places and I went back to Gibbs around noon to get the first bed we looked at. They were able to deliver around 4pm, so the kids were very excited and practiced the rest of the day climbing over, under and through the bed in every way possible.

In other news ...

Denise came home with Charley (fever) and Sam (cold) after Sacrament meeting. They both seem to be doing much better this morning.

Charley officially has three loose teeth. The one on top has been loose since before Christmas, and we haven't even been paying attention to the bottom teeth, so we were plenty surprised to find her two new bottom teeth already broken through and the two bottom baby teeth almost falling out. I pulled on them tonight for our Family Night activity, but couldn't get either of them out. Charley was very brave. I remember how much I hated having other people's hands in my mouth when I was a kid. She was a trooper while I tugged on them.

Joseph is having a tough time adjusting to the new sleeping arrangements. He's used to having me put him to sleep, but now he's in the bunk beds with Charley. I wish this were easier, but I'm glad we're doing this now and not with a new baby in the house.

Sam is so excited to learn his letters, colors, numbers and everything else. We only wish we could get Joseph to be so excited.

still sick, Sunday assignment

We've all been sick over the past few weeks. Right now, it seems that Sam and I are the only ones with lingering coughs. Of course, I heard Charley couging up a storm about an hour ago.

We were asked to lead a discussion in church tomorrow. Sam and I won't make it past Sacrament meeting, so we contacted the bishopric,and they got someone else to do it. The discussion will center around two questions:

1. What should we focus on in our families?
2. How do we focus on those things?

Denise and I talked about this a little yesterday. The typical responses that you would receive from question one would be:

-Family Home Evening
-church attendance
-daily prayers
-daily scripture study

Denise and I feel that these should be the answer to question two.

The answers to question one should be:

-that we have a testimony of the gospel
-that we have a personal relationship with our Savior and our Father in Heaven
-that we have an increasing understanding of the gospel
-that we have a love for our family members
-that we feel, recognize, and respond to the Spirit
-that we teach our children these things

We feel that people go about doing the things they should be doing, but forget why they should be doing these things - and in the process lose a good deal of the benefit they should be getting.

Mosiah 13:30-32

They didn't understand why they were given the law, and they became lost, even as they performed the law to its letter.

update on boys

Well I wouldn't call Joseph's cold croup, I would just call it a winter cold. He is doing better, he just has his residual cough left that will go away soon. Sam is running a fever but we aren't sure if its related to the cold Joseph has or something new he picked up from nursery.

I went and helped in Charley's classroom today. I really like going in there and helping the kids. I only get to go a few more times in January before the baby comes. We are looking forward to our upcoming trip for the holidays. Hooray for warm California weather.

First Post, Boys are Sick

My brother-in-law, Mike Dutton, sent us the address of his blog site, and told us to point him to ours. This post is for you, Mike.

Sam and Joseph are sick. Joseph has had a cold for three nights now, and last night Sam came down with fever. We're not sure exactly how hot he is, because the batteries on our thermometer ran out. At least the two of them seem to do better during the day. Of course it may just seem that way because I'm gone during the day. We just hope this is over before we travel on Friday.