The Big Adventures of Li'l' Max

The last ten days of my Li'l’ Max have been quite adventurous for such a young boy. Most of the adventures were experienced by him under a blanket or with his nose buried in my chest, but hey, he’ll never be able to say that we never take him anywhere.

The start of his adventurous time began at the ward overnight campout. Max loved the tent and loved even better going home before the rain came. The rest of the kids and I braved the elements and made it through the night relatively dry.

This past week Max got to see his Dad in action as he and Deb joined me in Pleasanton, California for my Young Living meeting. Of course like half the crowd, he slept right through it. I was still very happy to have my “Why” there to inspire me throughout the meeting.

After business, it was all fun and games as we headed over the bridge to San Francisco. Max got to see his very first baseball game in, of all places, one of the coolest parks around, AT&T Park. We saw some Dingers, sang “Take me out to the ballgame,” and got a little sun while overlooking the beautiful bay. Max didn’t exactly take in the sights as he snuggled up to Dad in his state-of-the-art Snugli and slept through the whole game.

Once the game ended in a disappointing loss for the home team (creating quite a stir with two “lovely,” Sailoresque lady fans behind us) we took up the task of cramming all of San Fran into one afternoon. This included an open air bus tour, riding across the Golden Gate, visiting various neighborhoods, getting Tourist Trapped at the Wharf, and riding a Cable Car up and down while our narrator told us all the different movies filmed along the route.


And through it all, Max was warming my chest with the steady breathing of a sleeping child.
The getaway ended with a short flight back home, which Max slept through of course, and reuniting with the other kids after a trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house (thanks so much you two).
We’ve reached the boiling point several times with having FOUR kids but we have loved it so much. Max has been the consummate baby and is surviving being mauled by his siblings on a constant basis.
** In addition to this great 10 day adventure, I wish to shout from the Cyber rooftops how great the past 10 years of marriage have been with my lovely wife Deborah. I love you, Deb.

What's important

I had plans to make my next blog entry a discussion of Tweeting and how far communication has come from the Pony Express days. It would have been very insightful, trust me. Instead, last night, my basketball game started a chain of events that were far more important.

Even before I was sweating the night away at my Wednesday game, I was instructed by my wife to have the phone close. "just in case". Well in the middle of game 8 or 9 the phone rings. Amid the chuckles and comments I stop the game to answer the call. "I think this may be it" she says.

After getting home we made the call to my Dad to come watch the kids. He arrives, we leave.
At Timpanogos Hospital the monitoring begins. The contractions were short, but very painful. Painful enough to convince the doctor on call to make the decision to perform the C-section today.

So at 6:15 the doctor comes in, quite an upbeat guy I may add, and carts my wife away to the O.R. Meanwhile I get a brief chance to reflect, and since we hadn't slept all night, I doze off in the 4 minutes I had to sit and prepare.

After getting decked out in the new throw away scrubs I head over to meet up with Deb. The procedure was quick and painless...well for me. But at that moment, when I saw his face, his wrinkled body and mussed up dark hair; I knew what was important.

Our baby boy is here! Four days earlier than planned, and we still have some preparations to do but we couldn't be happier. Mom, baby, older siblings, and even Dad are doing well. What a surprise it was for our kids to wake up with a new brother. He is well loved already.

Enough talk..here is what we're all waiting for...the photos. Enjoy.

Brackification

So March Madness is here and every fiber of my being is aching to just let it go one time. No brackets, no checking my phone every 5 minutes, and no heartbreak. But alas the siren call of the NCAA Tourney has lured me to her sharp rocks of pain and I'm knee deep already in it all. I have cut back from my usual 2-3 brackets to just 1. However I do have to admit I am working to pass on the torment to my kids. Last night we had them fill out their own brackets. Good ol' Sam had his eye on the prize as he picked his brackets very carefully. Here is his Final Four in a nutshell for all you "Bracketologists" out there.
1. Utah- He's heard of them so why not.
2. BYU- Always the faithful Cougar that boy
3. American- I have no idea why...maybe patriotism
4. Stephen F Austin- Because he has a friend named Steven at school.

So good luck Sam, and good luck to the rest of you weary travelers in search of the perfect bracket. Oh and best of luck to President Obama's bracket. Wouldn't want the fate of the union in someones hand who can't pick a decent bracket.

Goodman Hospital Ward update

What better time to write a blog then when you are waiting on your wife to have her Glucose levels tested. She just drank a delicious looking orange drink (makes me really want a Sunkist right now) and so now we wait.
A couple of days ago my morning consisted of the hour long drive up to Salt Lake for Cameron's check up. This isn't one of those turn your head and cough check ups but one that involved a chest X-Ray and an EKG. The X-Ray's are now a traumatizing thing for my poor boy thanks to good ol' Dad (me). A few months ago he needed one done at Timpanogos Hospital. Well, for little kids who don't sit still they put them in this strange contraption that locks them into a sitting position with their arms over their heads. Well, to make it not so scary Dad (me) started calling it "The Spaceship". So for about 10-20 minutes Cameron screamed at the thought of having to go in The Spaceship. Now every time we go to the hospital he immediately tells me "I don't want to go spaceship". Thankfully Primary's doesn't use The Spaceship. It was also nice that he got two stickers including a really cool Ironman sticker. If you have read Deb's blog you know how much he likes Ironman. That's right, my 2 yr old likes Ironman (and no I have not shown him the movie...yet).

Oh so back to the visit. I am happy and relieved to report that Cameron still is as healthy as can be with surgery not needed for another few years. We took a survey recently that was studying his condition (because it's so rare) and they asked if he is as active as other 2 yr olds. Well as I've been writing this blog he has thrown several balls down the stairs, retrieved them, and thrown them down again. He has also fallen off the bean bag (very gracefully I may add) twice and jumped right up.

We are so blessed to have this boy (and yes the other two are amazing as well) in our lives. He truly is a reminder to us every day how special life is.