Father's Day; Softball; Brotherly Love

Been a week...I hate saying that as an excuse not to have blogged sooner...but it's just been a week. Actually, more so than that is the fact that by the time we put Abigail down for the night around 9:30PM or so, I am so sleepy that to even try to blog on something would be hard. *sigh* Am I just getting old?? Don't answer that!

So, a week ago today was Father's Day. My second one :-). We dedicated Abigail at church similar to how we dedicated Joshua last year on Father's Day which is kind of cool. And no, we don't plan on dedicating our next child next year on Father's Day. It's fun to do consecutive Father's Day dedications...but not that fun. Anyway, later after church, when Danielle and the kids took their naps, I went to play softball with other men in the church. It was more of a practice in preparation for the summer softball league. Been a couple years since I've played, so was a little rusty. But I didn't pull any muscles or get hurt more than just a little tightness, which is fabulous.

That was until this past weekend. Saturday morning, the men did another practice and this time, I wasn't so fortunate. I was fielding balls at the shortstop position when I took a ball right above the ankle. I didn't think much of it at first...yeah, it stung a little, but didn't seem that bad. After a couple minutes I looked down and noticed a rather large bulge in my sock and I didn't think it was my ankle. So I quickly excused myself from the field and took a look. Yeah, it was like the size of a tennis ball, right above my ankle. So, got some ice, elevated it and rested for a little bit before heading home. Today, it's still a little swollen and sometimes hurts more than not. It really looks a lot worse than it is. Here's a picture I took earlier today. I had just taken off the Ace bandage I had on it (which explains the indentations).

One of the neatest things I'm seeing with Joshua is how much he really loves Abigail. It's hard to imagine that it's something we've taught him, except through our own actions perhaps. But it's as though there's something we're born with that immediately gives us the capacity to show love to another person, especially an immediate family member. I guess I've shared this before, but it's just so apparent...and so cool, that it bears repeating. He really loves giving her kisses. Here's a picture we got of him kissing her. I hate to say it, but it almost looks like he's giving her a french kiss.

Goldie comes home and Reception for Denise

Thursday, we went to the pound to pick up Goldie. It's good to have her home. She spent most of the rest of the day laying down...as though she hadn't done that the whole time she was in the pound. Here she is in one of her favorite positions...especially when one of us starts petting her.

We found out a couple of days prior to picking her up that there would be some "fees". Once we got a hold of someone, we found that there was an $18/day board and care fee (go lightly on the care!), a $57 quarantine fee and an $8 shot that they give to every dog that comes into the pound. Once I found that out, I spent some time trying to figure out if there were ways around this. I figured the quarantine fee was sort of non-negotiable. But in the County Code, it made it sound like it was optional for the animal control worker to impound the dog. So, I tried to argue that given our environment, there's really no chance that Goldie would get rabies. But they told me that beyond the "code", they have a policy that any dog bite to the face that breaks the skin, they take the dog in to the pound. I asked them to mail me the policy. I haven't received it yet.

Today, we went to a reception for our friends, Phil and Denise, to celebrate Denise's recovery from a rare form of Valley Fever. What makes this so remarkable is that Denise is the only person on record to have recovered from this disease who was also 6 months pregnant. She went into the hospital July 18 of last year and came home earlier this year on March 30. It's been an incredible ride and it was fun and exciting to see today how far Denise has come. Phil had kept up a blog this entire time chronicling the journey...so if anyone's interested in reading through it, please do so. Just go to: http://pullingfordenise.blogspot.com/.

Late Monday Post

I started writing this on Monday night...and just hadn't gotten around to finishing it.

Danielle's still fighting something. Abigail goes back and forth. Last night she screamed the loudest scream I've heard from her. Not quite sure why because she went back to sleep pretty quick. I almost think she couldn't breathe for a second because of congestion, but I really don't know. Of course, if you try to suction her nose, it's dry. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep last night. Sort of a repeat of last Thursday night. Then I felt like I was coming down with something. *sigh*

But aside from that, we still have had some accomplishments recently. Danielle would say he's been doing this for awhile. But I have now distinctly heard Joshua say "mommy". And more than that, it seems very intentionally stated as a call for mom. That compared to his ability to say "daddy" which in the past has always seemed more like babbling. However, in recent weeks, his "daddy" has been much more intentional as well and now coupled with "mommy", it's kind of cool to hear.


Today we started Abigail on solid food...i.e. rice cereal. We're actually a little late in doing so. For Joshua, our pediatrician had us start him a week before his 4 month checkup. He wanted us to start doing it after we had her 4 month checkup. Abigail is just over 5 months old now. The delay is mostly just due to our own laziness. Of course, we could blame it on being busy with two kids...but that's not always a good excuse. But she did really good. Almost as though she knew what she was doing already.

Here's a few pics I just have to post that we took this past weekend. The two of them together is just way too cute sometimes to not share. So...here ya go...

By the way, I should note that you can always click on every image that I post to view a larger size of that image. Just a public service announcment.

More later...

Just another week in the Cannon household

It was just a matter of time...not only does Abigail seem to be getting a cold, Danielle and Joshua also are battling something. We have a feeling they got it at MOPS on Thursday. But we hate to blame stuff like that too. Whatever the case may be, Abigail had a miserable night last night which meant mommy and daddy didn't sleep well either. I was reminiscing a day or two ago my statement previously about finally getting to the point where we weren't giving medicine to anyone after having done so for a couple months straight. That ended when Joshua got his antibiotics for "the incident". Now everyone's sick so who knows when this little stint will end. Let's hope it ends soon. I'm not sure we have the emotional strength to handle another couple months of someone being sick.

Speaking of "the incident"...we had a visit from Animal Control today. Sadly, they said they had to take Goldie for a few days (6 days I believe) since this was the second reported incident. The first being that Goldie had nipped at Joshua's cousin Jefferson a year and a half ago. Wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to Joshua, but it got reported nonetheless. But because it was the second time, they have to quarantine Goldie at the pound rather than let us keep her inside here. State law apparently. Will have to read up on that law (yeah right...like I have time to do that). It was very sad seeing them take Goldie knowing we wouldn't see her for almost a week. Sort of sudden and unexpected. Not sure it's fully sunk in for me yet.

Kind of unrelated to all that I'm blogging about, but it's just too cute a picture to pass up sharing here. This is Goldie and Joshua doing what they do best - trying to get mommy's attention while she's feeding Abigail. They will often climb all over Danielle without the slightest concern over Abigail. It's actually quite humerous even if it's annoying at times.

This isn't something I've blogged about for awhile, but it's certainly newsworthy. Back in October 2004, I blogged about my company's stock price, which at the time was in the high 5's to low 6's. This week, it's been hovering in the $15 range only today closing below that to $14.93. Either way, it's pretty cool. I'm not sure I could've imagined back then it would get to this point. Now I'm imagining it hitting $20! ** calm down Brent **

Back to more mundane things...it is now jacaranda season here at the complex. That means an endless stream of those beautiful yet annoying little purple flowers come down in our patio only to be dragged into the house by anyone walking outside even for a moment. It does look really pretty when you look out over the "greenbelt". But what a mess they make!

The two plants I have in our patio are blooming really nicely. We have a rose bush that Danielle's sister Lisa got as a gift I think and so I planted it not thinking it would last more than a month. It's now been there over 3 years I think. I had planted three jasmine bushes and liked how they were growing so much along the fence, I planted three more thinking I'd fill up that fence. It's been a few years, but it's finally producing a generous amount of its fragrant blossoms.

Joshua and Computer Update; Abigail 5 Months

A couple days from "the incident"...and Joshua is doing pretty well. It seems he's getting some nasal congestion, but we can't tell if that's due to getting sick or an outcome of the injury. Danielle took him in to see our doctor this morning because it was recommended we see him after a couple of days. Actually, it was our doc's PA, but she's good too. She gave us a prescription for a different kind of cream ointment to put on his wounds saying that the stuff ER gave us is keeping the wound too moist and not allowing it to heal as fast. Otherwise, he's doing fine.

I was able to get my computer working again. Some guys at work gave me some advice given the symptoms I was experiencing. Required me to go to Fry's and get a couple of things, but it actually worked! Kind of impressed myself really...especially since I'm not sure I grasped half of what was going on. I'm just glad to have it working and not have to buy a new one yet. We'll see how long that lasts.

Abigail has now turned 5 months old and she is really adorable. I think I've already said she's started laughing. She's becoming a lot more interactive where we can "eat" her tummy or her sides and she'll smile really big or even laugh a little bit. Danielle says that she responds to her name. I tried that tonight and she just kept doing what she was doing. So, I have yet to experience that. But I'll take her word for it...

100 Years; Computer Woes; Another ER Visit

We had a crazy weekend that culminated today with another trip to ER for Joshua, this time for something a little more serious than just a rash. But I'll get to that.

This past weekend, the church we used to attend, East Whittier Friends Church, celebrated their 100 year anniversary. They started back in 1906! Pretty cool stuff. Danielle basically grew up there (even though she didn't start going till elementary school) and is the person she is today because of the influence this church had in her formative years. I can't say I have that much history with the church except that I went there for a few years while dating Danielle (and a year after we were married) and that I kneed the pastor in the eye while playing flag football. And he still performed our wedding...what a guy!

Probably the worst part about the weekend was the heat. I don't know what the temperature ever got to, but it felt like 100 degrees, especially in the sun. That just made it a tad uncomfortable at times when chasing after Joshua around the church. I don't think the church building itself has AC...probably because it was built in the 1920's I think. Nonetheless, it made sitting through the celebration service (which was on Sunday afternoon) a little more distracting then it might normally have been. But it was a still a good time to hear stories of the past and to see people who you didn't realize had some connection with this church.

During the weekend, we also had a guest staying on our hide-a-bed. It was sort of last-minute, but we were happy to accommodate her. Julie was someone we knew from Westmont when Danielle went there. Julie's sister wanted her to meet her boyfriend by meeting them at Disneyland. I guess they came down from up north (Oregon or maybe bay area) and Julie is working with a mission in Ensenada. So, she remembered we lived near Disneyland and looked us up. We always love being hospitable and opening our home up to friends and family, so we were glad to have the opportunity. And it was also fun to reconnect with her a little bit.

Needless to say, we were pretty tired going into Monday. Oh and another "fun" thing happened Sunday morning...my computer wouldn't boot up. Of course, this is the spare we've been using because I just don't have the time or money to spend trying to fix up the "new" one I had put together last year. Now I'm sort of forced to put time and/or money into doing something. I'm ready to just bite the bullet and buy one from Dell or HP or something and use these other two as my hobby machines. So, I had to spend some time today making sure the harddrive was still good, which I think it is and trying to figure out what's wrong. The guys at work really helped offer some good suggestions, so maybe I'll be up and running soon. We have to...we do too much stuff on the computer NOT to have it. I guess it shows us how dependent we've become, for better or worse.

So...just when we think the drama is finished...I was finishing up getting dinner ready, Danielle was upstairs getting ready to go to a bridal shower and I guess we just didn't worry too much about what Joshua was doing. We've been leaving the gate open more because he climbs the stairs well, we don't worry too much about him falling. But we've also trusted him more around Goldie's food, especially because Goldie isn't often eating when he comes by. I guess this time was different and Joshua must've gone over to the food while Goldie was eating. We weren't there, so we didn't see exactly what happened. But all I remember hearing was a growl from Goldie and a second later, Joshua started wailing. I don't want to downplay the situation or appear casual when I say that it really isn't THAT bad...it could've been a LOT worse. But it was definitely more than a quick nip. Needless to say, Danielle and I freaked...hey, this is the first real injury Joshua's every had! Okay, I know I know...it won't be the last one and there will likely be worse injuries we'll have to deal with. Danielle and I both learned a lot from this experience, namely how we should react so as to give Joshua a greater assurance that he will be okay. Attached are pictures so you can see...it doesn't really do it justice, but gives you an idea.

So, we took him into ER because we were told by nurse friends that the biggest concern is the risk of infection. So we packed up some food (since we still haven't eaten dinner) and headed out. After coming home, we had to go to two different pharmacies to get the prescription filled. Since we now know he's allergic to penicillin, they prescribed two different things to make up for the augmentin they would have prescribed. So, I didn't get home till almost 10PM at which point we were able to give him his medicine and put him down. Joshua's really a trooper. He still doesn't seem afraid of the dog which surprises me. We'll see how he does tomorrow.

Photo Site Organized and Updated

I have finally taken the time to not only update our photo site, but to do some reorganization so that it's not so overwhelming to anyone going to it (at least, that's my perspective - right or wrong). I'm not too fond of this photo site, but it's free for me, so I deal with it. At any rate, I redid the "Abigail and Joshua" album and split them into two, First 3 Months and 3-6 Months. Then I consolidated all of Joshua's photos into fewer albums, removing some along the way. And of course, I added several more photos - Joshua photos from 18 months till today, Abigail photos from 2 months till today, "The Kids" photos for the past couple months and also photos from Easter this year as well as our trip to the Santa Ana Zoo. So, to access the photo site, click the link on the right side or to make it easier, click the link below or copy and paste it into your browser.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bdcannon@sbcglobal.net

Have fun!

Santa Ana Zoo

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Santa Ana Zoo. I think we might have been once or twice in the distant past. But Danielle read about it in a book about activities you can do with your family in Southern California. So, we thought it'd be a fun activity to do in the morning. Turns out we loved it so much, we went back in the afternoon and bought an annual pass for the family. Not only that, but we will likely have Joshua's 2 year birthday party there. Wow...is that extreme or what?

What's really nice about this zoo is that it's the perfect size for a toddler. Not so large that they get overwhelmed, but not so small that he gets bored easy. They have a really nice area where you can get snacks, have a picnic or just rest while the kids can use the playground area.

Funny story...we're at the playground and I needed to change Joshua's diaper. So, I took him into the restroom where there's one of those diaper changing tables that fold down in the large handicap stall. I stood him on it to pull down his shorts which I got down to his ankles and then proceeded to lay him down onto the table. I went to grab the shorts and...they weren't there! I looked down and found that as I picked him up to lay him down, the shorts sort of slipped off over his shoes and fell off...directly into the toilet. I quickly went to grab them and start ringing them out. I let out a little word of frustration - don't worry, it was clean - and Joshua just started laughing at me. Needless to say, I felt dumb. Of course, I came back out and confessed to Danielle what had happened - hard to hide something like that when he's no longer wearing his shorts - and a couple other parents just said not to worry...that we've all done it :-).

What's going on? cont'd

First off...here's a picture of Joshua's rash/hives. He'll probably kill me someday for posting this one, but at least he's covered. As you can see, it was concentrated around his waist. He actually scratched through it once to where it started bleeding. Poor guy!

After he got on the steroids and off the antibiotics, he started clearing up pretty quick. Probably took about 3-4 days before it was cleared up for the most part. On Tuesday, as Joshua was starting to get better, we noticed Abigail starting to get a temperature *sigh*. It seemed to get into the 100 range pretty quick. But we tried not to panic and just figured if she still had it after a couple days, if it didn't get higher first, we'd take her in. By Wednesday afternoon, it had stayed in the 100's and would occassionally creep into the 101's and 102's. Once it hit 103.0 and that's the magic number for sure. We also figured, even before the 103 reading, that since we're planning on heading up to Big Bear that weekend (more on that later), it'd be good to get her on antibiotics as soon as possible, if that was the appropriate course of action.

So, Danielle took her into Urgent Care and of course, they first read her temperature at something like 99.6! But since she really didn't have any other symptoms, they really couldn't do much. Later they took her temperature and it was in the 102's, so we felt more justified. They decided to try and take a urine sample in case she had a urinary track (or tract?) infection. Weird to think she could have that at such a young age. To do that, they had to put on this contraption around her private area in hopes that when she pee'd, it would catch some of it. Of course, she wouldn't go, but they did get enough to test positive that she had one. Now, they had to get more so they could do a culture and figure out what kind. That was more difficult. To make a long story short, they sent Danielle home with a couple more of these bags and explained how to collect the urine and put into the tube. If we didn't get enough to do a culture, they'd have to put a catheter in, which is not very pleasant for a baby. Fortunately, we got it, though it took us until about 2AM to do it! Oh and they gave us some antibiotic...the same kind Joshua had. Nice. We explained what happened to Joshua and they said don't worry about it, she'll probably be fine.

Friday, we went up to Big Bear with my brother and his wife and 4 year old son. We share a cabin up there and that was our week to use it. Here's a picture of the lake from the living room. It was beautiful that weekend. By that time, Abigail's temperature had come back down and she was generally doing better. Seemed she was getting congested some, but maybe that was the altitude change. The hardest part about that weekend was not realizing how much effort would have to go into taking care of our kids. Even on the way up, they were both a handful. Joshua was having meltdowns. *sigh* What a great start. I knew I wouldn't get much rest. But they've been sleeping so well in general, I didn't expect the struggle we'd have with them sleeping at night. That just made the days seem that much harder. We do look forward to going again, especially with family. But we'll have to make sure we're emotionally ready and have a better plan for handling meltdowns and such.

Nonetheless, it was fun seeing Joshua play with his cousin, Jefferson. I think Jefferson really enjoyed it. Joshua is in an imitation phase right now and I think Jefferson learned that pretty quick. One of the things he did was let out this loud high-pitched screech, which of course Joshua followed right behind. For the most part, it's quite humerous...unless you're in a restaurant or when Abigail's nursing or trying to take a nap. And of course, Joshua likes doing it on his own, even without Jefferson's help. But we all managed. Just before we left on Sunday, we all went to a place that has a long slide where you ride down in little carts, similar to bobsleds, except with wheels. Danielle and I each took Joshua down and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. That was a good ending to a long weekend. Not only that, but on the way down, the kids slept practically the entire time...a far cry from how it was going up. Joshua was especially funny...he slept so hard, he had bed-head...or is it carseat-head?

One final note concerning Abigail. When we got home, we had a message that told us the results from the urine culture and that they came back negative to having any infection. So, the original test was a false positive I guess. And we could stop giving her the antibiotic, which was just as well. Not only were we having trouble giving it to her, but Danielle thinks she started seeing a rash begin on her. But since we stopped it, we won't know till next time whether she really is allergic to it, like Joshua is. While it's nice to know that Abigail didn't have that infection, it's still a mystery is why she had such a high temperature in the first place. Another question for heaven I suppose.

So, it took us a few days to recover from that weekend. Not sure if Danielle ever fully recovered. But this past week has been pretty good. The biggest thing I realized this past week is that it's been the first time in a couple months that we haven't had to give our kids any kind of medicine. For so long, we've had these droppers and medicine bottles collecting on our kitchen sink and we've finally been able to move all those upstairs and not have to think about them. The other fun thing is that Abigail is really starting to show more personality, is smiling a whole lot more and is now starting to laugh. It is ADORABLE!! Talk about bringing joy, just like her name.


Joshua has begun to get into bugs more. He loves going just outside our patio and looking for snails, pillbugs, whatever. Here's a couple examples. Joshua also seems to be gaining more and more energy and has a huge need to expel it, despite his parent's inability to keep up sometimes. Actually, he's probably always had this much energy...but he seems to really enjoy just running around the entire complex. It's really fun watching him run because his arms just flail around, I'm sure to help keep his balance...but he looks so out of control too. Every few seconds, I can just envision him losing that balance and BLAM! Face plant into the sidewalk. I hate to say this, but I'll probably have to keep myself from laughing when it happens.

Enough for now...will share about my weekend later.

What's going on?

Wow...has it been over two weeks since the last post??? So much to share, so little time before I likely fall asleep. I suppose I ought to first start with a final American Idol comment being that the season ended tonight and it's fresh in my mind.

Of course, we knew Taylor would win. At least over Katherine. Once Chris was voted off it became a no-brainer. You could even see it on Katherine's face right before they announced it. It was the same face she had right before Chris got voted off. Anyway, I'm glad that's over because now I can have my Tuesday and Wednesday nights back...at least I'm sure my wife's happy about that. Oh yeah and the LOST season finale was tonight as well, so another reason my Wednesday's are back...not only that, Smallville finished a couple weeks ago, so my Thursday nights are back. It's a beautiful thing...

Now...let's go back in time...Friday the 12th, we had Abigail's 4 month checkup. I would share her measurements except I can't remember them off hand and the info is downstairs. Umm...I believe she weighed in at 15 lbs 10 oz and measured like 25 or 26 inches. I'll have to post an update later. Either way, she's doing well which is nice.

Saturday, we test drove the Honda Odyssey. That was cool. We even transferred the car seats over to it just to see how it would all fit. We'll definitely get this car. Just a matter of time. Later that day, I took our dog, Goldie, in to get a bordatella shot. That's always an adventure. Found that Goldie is at 22 lbs. She's been at 19 or 20 lbs forever! So, maybe she's beginning to pack it on now.

Sunday the 14th was Mother's Day and so after church, we met up with Danielle's family at a nearby park to have a picnic lunch. Earlier that day, I had noticed what seemed to be a rash on Joshua, but it wasn't that bad and we were in a hurry, so I didn't do much with it. Later in the day, it became worse and we initially thought it was a heat rash because it was so warm outside and because it was occuring mostly around the waist where his diaper is. By morning, it was a lot worse, appearing over a larger part of his body, and rather than wait the whole day for Urgent Care to be available (after 5PM), we decided to take him to ER (actually, Daddy took him to ER). The ER doctor suspected it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotics he was on the previous week. He told me to stop the antibiotics, he gave him some steroids and told me to have him see our pediatrician in 1-2 days to follow up. The weird thing is that we think he already had this antibiotic once before and didn't have a problem. Not only that, but he began this antibiotic a week prior to reacting. But reading some things online debunked that theory.

MORE TO COME...I'm falling asleep fast!

Conclusion of My Birthday Week

Wow...what a whirlwind this week's turned out to be. But it's been a good whirlwind except for Joshua getting another fever today. But I'll talk about that later.

Friday morning, we all met up with Danielle's parents at the Original Pancake House for breakfast. We always enjoy going there and this was no exception. Chocolate pancakes for me, thank you very much. Later that morning, we went to the mall to go birthday shopping - Robinsons May to be exact since the store here was closing because Macy's bought it. Later that afternoon, I took Joshua to pick up the portraits at Sears (because we forgot that morning). Then after dinner, the two of us went to church where MOPS put on a Dad's night where the Dads and their kids could make Mother's Day crafts together. Of course, Joshua lost interest pretty quick. But it was fun nonetheless. Next year should be more fun if they choose to do that again.

Saturday, we did some minivan shopping. It was actually sort of spur of the moment, but something we'd been needing to do for awhile. In the morning, we went to a Honda dealership to look at the Odyssey and in the afternoon to the Toyota dealership and looked at the Sienna. We were amazed at how much less room we felt in the Sienna. There were lots of other features we really liked in the Odyssey that either weren't in the Sienna or were just designed differently. Ultimately, it looks like the Odyssey is where we're leaning. We just need to do the test drive and the kid test (i.e. how does the stroller fit, get the car seats in and how easy is it to move in and out, etc) and then figure out how we're going to pay for it and we're all set.

That evening, our neighbor's, Tara and her mom Cheryl, came to babysit while we went out on a birthday date. We are very appreciative of them for taking care of the kids while we got some time together. We went to the Irvine Spectrum and specifically to the Yard House for dinner. We would have gone to the one in Brea, but figured we hadn't been to the Irvine Spectrum in a quite a while and it would be fun to walk around the various shops that are there. I wasn't impressed by the food or atmosphere. Not bad, just wasn't impressed. Danielle, on the other hand, really liked the food. Probably didn't help that it was on the night of Game 7 of the Lakers series with the Pheonix Suns. But since they lost so badly, we didn't hear as much from the crowd as we would have had they won. Overall, it was a fun evening just hanging out with my bride of 9 years (soon to be 10!) as we celebrated my birthday.

Today was really a regular day, going to church, going shopping, etc. During church, our pastor told us that there was an article written in the local paper (Star Progress) about our church and the series we were going through. Pretty good article. Here's a link and I hope you're able to see it.

Orange County Register - Star Progress for La Habra/Brea

After church, we began realizing that Joshua wasn't acting normal and felt really warm *sigh*. We took his temperature and it was somewhere in the 101 range. We took it again later and it read somewhere in the 103 range. Seeing that he had been pulling on his ear for the past day or two as well and that Urgent Care closed at 5, we decided to take him in rather than wait a full day. So, we got him on antibiotics...again. Sheesh! Does this ever stop, even for one month???

My Birthday; 83

I'm not one to toot my own horn...even if I had my own horn...and advertise that it was my birthday today. But I guess I already spilled the beans in the previous post, so there's not much tooting necessary. And no, I'm not turning 83. That was my golf score today. And for those not in the know about golf, 83 is pretty darn good (there I go tooting my own horn again).

I played with a friend from our old church and he invited his neighbor. It was a great time. I already knew that I like playing golf. I just don't always remember that I LOVE playing golf. And it's not just because I do pretty well, I love being outside with the green grass and trees. We played at the Westridge Golf Club in La Habra, my hometown. Really nice course built in the southern hills of the city.

On the way home, I treated myself to a lunch from The Hat. Pastrami Dip and fries...too much for one sitting, so I'm saving the rest for lunch tomorrow. After filling up with that and getting the mail, I took a nap with my wife while the kids were asleep. Only one hour long opportunity a day to do that.

After our nap, Danielle arranged for us to go to Fullerton College and get a massage. The students who are going through the program are, at this stage, just working to get their hours in before moving on. So, they're all relatively experienced, yet still new. So you still get a good professional massage at a fraction of the cost since you're not paying them, you're paying the department.

I would write more, but I'm falling asleep. I think it took me 5 minutes to write the last paragraph.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Another week

Another week has gone by without a post...*sigh* I'll try to recap a few things as I think of them.

Last Friday, I went to a Men's BBQ at church. They had Big B's catering. They specialize in BBQ ribs and chicken. Good stuff. They're actually right behind us in the Albertson's shopping center, so everytime I walk over to the store, I smell the delicious spread. It was a good time at the event...and I didn't have to deal with the kids :-). But thankfully for Danielle, our good friend Stephanie came over to help out. Thanks Stephanie!!!

Saturday morning, we all went to the driving range so I could hit a bucket of balls and practice my golf swing. It's my birthday this Thursday and Danielle arranged for me to play golf with someone from our old church. Since I haven't even swung my clubs for almost a year, it was a good idea to get out a few times. Abigail fell asleep and so she stayed in the stroller while I practiced. Danielle took Joshua around and let him explore. It was fun for all. That night, we went to the Friends Center banquet. This is where Danielle recently finished her Master's degree. We love going, but it's especially nice because you not only get a dinner out of it, but also childcare. Gotta love that!

I went Monday night to the driving range again to get some more practice in. The place was well lit and it was nice and cool outside. I'm actually starting to feel a little more at ease and will get one more practice in tomorrow night. While I was there, they brought out the vehicle that goes around collecting all the golf balls that have been hit. It was the weirdest thing...as soon as the vehicle came out, it was as though every ball that was hit was aimed directly for it. Like there was either some gravitational pull or a certain collective motivation to hit it. Whatever the reason, to see a group of white balls all of a sudden attempt to descend on this thing was quite humerous. I had to stop myself a few times because I could just feel myself starting to crack up while trying to hit the ball.

So, Danielle was just reading a MOPS Magazine and came across an ad for Holy Folks. There's always comments made about how commercialized Christianity has become. This seems to be the epitomy. 'Nuff said.

More to come later. I'm falling asleep and need to go to bed.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleep deprivation; poop in the tub; Idol Wrapup

Just when you think you've got things under control...Abigail's been sleeping 8-9 hours a night for a couple weeks now. We get her down by about 11PM and she sleeps until well after 7 the next morning. Joshua's been even better, generally going to bed by 7:30-8PM and not waking up till 7:30 the next morning. We've been really blessed by this, we know and we try not to take it for granted.

A couple nights ago, the two of them woke up around 6:30 and didn't go back to sleep. Fortunately, I had already left for work. Danielle wasn't that fortunate. Last night, Abigail woke up just before 5AM. So, Danielle fed her and put her back down. What made that hard for me is I had set my alarm for 5:30. I knew if I tried falling back to sleep, it'd be a major struggle getting up when the alarm went off. So, needless to say...I'm a bit sleep deprived. Danielle usually can get a short nap in during the day, but she's even more tired because she has to take care of the kids all day. Let's hope tonight is not a repeat.

A new ability Joshua seems to have is to poop in the bathtub. I think he's done that three times now in the past week. What makes it even more funny is the fact that he'll grab the shower curtain and hide behind it before doing it. We just think he's being cute with the curtain until we realize he's grunting back there! And in the "it's all about your perspective" category...at least they're solid. Maybe he's at the beginning stages of potty training already. Wouldn't that be a treat.

And what Tuesday wouldn't be complete without my take on American Idol. Granted, I missed reporting last week's festivities. Last week they sang the classics and Rod Stewart was their coach. I guess he's old enough to remember the classics. I wasn't really impressed with much of the performances. Ace was voted off which wasn't surprising except that I thought he did better than some of the others. I think what was even more surprising is having Kellie be in the top 3...I mean she even admitted that "ah butchered it".

So tonight, they did love songs. I again wasn't all that impressed with most of it...except for Chris' performance of a Bryan Adams song. Kellie again butchered it. Man...if she doesn't get voted off this week...actually, I have no idea what I'd do. Screaming doesn't seem like it would cut it. But she just seems totally out of her league right now. I used to like her, but now she's just an annoying ditzy blonde. She's way outlived her usefulness in the competition and it's time for her to leave.

I ran across a couple of sites that offer their own comments about the show that are pretty fun to read: http://althouse.blogspot.com and http://www.imao.us. You'll have to scroll down if you're reading this a couple of days after the fact. Have fun!

Sick again; Portraits

Another lag between posts...shame. Joshua got sick again this week. This is just weird...he was so healthy his first year and now in the past 6 weeks or so, he's just getting sick over and over. I ended up taking him into Urgent Care on Wednesday night. You know...that makes it sound so...well...urgent. It really wasn't that bad. It's just we didn't want to wait till the next morning to take him into walk-in hours. Not to mention the fact that Danielle would have to do that on her own whereas I could take him in to Urgent Care myself without having to take Abigail. Anyway, it just worked out better. The doctor said he had a lot of snot build-up in his ears which I guess is a sign that an ear infection is budding...which is really what we wanted checked. So, we got another prescription for that. I think he's beginning to feel better now, which is nice. Now if they could just come up with some prescription medicine for whinyness and tantrum-like symptoms.

On Friday, I stayed home from work and we took the kids to get some new portraits. We were supposed to do it as Abigail's 2 month and Joshua's 18 month portraits, but that didn't happen with everyone getting sick so darn much. So, now it's more like Abigail's 3...almost 4 month portraits and Joshua's 19...well, almost 20 month portraits. Nonetheless, we got 'em done. One things for sure...we won't be doing them together at the same time for awhile. OH MY GOSH!!!! Perhaps we just have to schedule it a bit better. But something was in the air that day that wasn't entirely right. Granted, we got some really cute poses. But that doesn't communicate what we went through just to get those. Maybe when they're teenagers, we'll try it again.

But I thought I'd post a few of the proofs so you could enjoy them. We got a pretty full package and since I have no idea who's reading this blog, if you're interested in one of these in wallet size and we have one, I'd be happy to mail one off. I suppose I could try scanning them in once we get them to make them email-able. Hopefully Sears doesn't get mad that I'm posting these.

UPDATE: After posting this, I realized I should comment on Joshua's outfit. We actually got those outfits BEFORE Joshua was born. They were a baby shower gift from friends at our old church. We loved them, but they're size 2T and we thought we'd never get around to wearing them. But Joshua is already fitting into 2T clothes, so we thought we'd try them for the portraits. The tops fit pretty well. The bottom part on the other hand...you can see the plaid shorts...yes, they're shorts, not pants. We didn't quite feel socks and shoes were appropriate in this case. For the other outfit, we used another pair of tan slacks we already had.

Easter

Happy Resurrection Sunday! It is good to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, though we should celebrate it every day. We had a pretty good day, although it started out late. Not only did Joshua not go to bed at his usual time, he decided to wake up between 5 and 6am this morning for no particular reason. Actually, the last time I went in to check on him this morning, he pointed to a pillow on the ground. I put it in his crib and he laid down and fell asleep until past 8.

At church, they had an easter egg hunt between services. I hadn't really considered that he'd take part in it. But when the time came, we gave him a bag and set him up. We tried to explain to him what he would do and when it was time, he sprang into action.

After that, his dad relented and allowed him to have a cupcake that they made available to all the kids. Joshua REALLY enjoyed that. I'll post pictures of that to our photo site sometime. We took a family picture while we were there and while it would've been better had we taken the picture earlier, it turned out pretty good.

When we got home, we made sure to take a cute picture of Abigail. After Joshua's nap, Danielle put some eggs around our patio and did another easter egg hunt here. He loved it and it was very enjoyable to watch him "get it". We videotaped that, so I don't have any pictures of it to post. Hopefully, someday, I can create some streaming video to post.

Getting together with family

Today we had my brother, Brian and his wife and son (Sharon and Jefferson, who's turning 4 this month) over for dinner. They were up from the San Diego area (Poway) and staying at Sharon's mom's house in La Mirada. Anyway, Danielle cooked this really good dinner with pork tenderloin and red potatos. Joshua was kind of a pill at first, but I think it was because he was hungry and smelling all the food being cooked made it worse. But it all turned out pretty good with the kids and Joshua and Jefferson really enjoyed taking a bath together. Danielle was quite brave taking on the task of bathing both kids while the rest of us chatted. She did great and got some great pictures! One of which is here.

Earlier in the day, I was supposed to be watching Abigail...which I was. But I was so tired and she was playing so well, that I fell asleep. Of course, Danielle was right there to take a picture of it. So her caption for this picture is "Brent's idea of watching Abigail". I guess I got caught sleeping on the job.

Fun With Kids; Good Friday

We've had so many photo ops this week, it's hard to know where to begin. So, I'll post a few here and hopefully get our photo site itself updated soon with a full range of photos.

Joshua is such a funny kid. He's totally into the "I want it my way" attitude and yet he's so funny sometimes, it's hard not to laugh so as to encourage the behavior. The past few days, he'll come over to me (or Danielle), take my hand and literally try to drag me over to where he wants me to go and then show me what he wants (a drink, go outside, food, video, etc).

Wednesday night, I took this picture. Danielle was going in to put Abigail into her crib and she comes back out quickly for me to get the camera and take a picture of this. Turns out tonight, the same thing happened. Of course, about a half hour after taking that picture, Joshua wakes up coughing and ultimately throws up. *sigh* I'm not sure we were expecting that. But it wasn't too bad...we cleaned it all up, got him back down and he slept fine.


Thursday, I took the kids for a ride in the wagon...really just to get the mail. But they seemed to enjoy it. I think Joshua had a kick out of having Abigail with him.

Sometime this week, Danielle got this picture of Abigail wearing some small sunglasses. Of course, she could've been asleep here and no one would have known. We have another one of her wearing bunny ears for Easter, but I'll post that another time.

Tonight was the Good Friday service at our church. It started at 7 which is a challenge for a kid who normally takes his bath about then and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. But Danielle gave him some Benadryl before his nap (because he had some drainage going on) and he slept for nearly 4 hours!! So, that made it a little easier to expect him to stay up a little later and he did fine. He didn't get his bath, but that's okay.

Haircut, Fever and Idol

So much for being healthy. Joshua woke up Sunday morning coughing. We took his temperature and it was 99.8, so we decided to keep him home from church. After his nap, it was at 101. Since then, it's hovered in the 99 and 100 range dipping occassionally to normal. So, it's not enough to really take him in, but it sure makes him hard to live with. We love him dearly, but he's being such a pill this week. Either that or he's just exerting his will more. I think he just doesn't feel good. We started to think today that maybe he's teething again. He's got his bottom two molars now and perhaps he's starting to his top ones.

Of course, what one kid has typically gets passed to others. Abigail has shown a slight fever the past day or two. Nothing alarming, but enough that it makes her uncomfortable sometimes. Then I've been feeling under the weather the past couple of days as well. Mostly a really bad sore throat and just a general "blah" feeling. *sigh* I feel like it's been forever since all of us were healthy.

Saturday, we took Joshua to a kid's place to get his haircut. We had tried cutting his hair a week ago and he would have nothing of it. At least at this place, they have videos and games and other fun things to distract him. He did alright and they did a pretty good job with his hair. They even put gel in it and made a little ramp on the front as you should be able to see in the picture. He really looks like a little boy now. Kinda fun.

Finally, since it's Wednesday, I must provide my brief thoughts on American Idol. Bucky is finally gone. Unfortunately, this week, I'm actually sad. He did pretty well...especially compared to Ace. They all did the music of Queen. Ace attempted to do We Will Rock You and butchered it. I don't mind his falsetto so much, but that song was not the one to do it with. Last week, I thought it would be great if Bucky did Bohemian Rhapsody. Instead it was Kellie. Aside from her hair, I thought she did alright.

Top 9 Idol Results; Healthy Again; Kids

Just got done watching the American Idol wrap up show and I'm a bit sad. No...I'm really sad. At least you can't say..."it's just a TV show, Brent!" It's not just a TV show...it is reality. Someone really got voted off this week that I liked. Mandisa...or as some had called her...Mandiva. She exited with class, though, and even blessed everyone in the name of Jesus...on national TV! I bet the censors went crazy :-). Actually, to see Paris, Elliot and Mandisa in the bottom three was even more shocking then to not see Ace, Katherine and Bucky there. But like I said before, because it was country week, Bucky was likely safe for another week. Speaking of next week, they're doing the music of Queen. I'd love to see Bukcy try to do Bohemian Rhapsody.

Back to the family...so, Joshua is beginning to really assert his independence and display some tantrum-like episodes. I think I've always felt like he has the potential to be a strong-willed child. This is beginning to confirm that. He's still a joy, mind you. But when he starts to throw a fit because he doesn't want his pants or sweats put on, that's a problem. Of course, 5 minutes later and we can put them on without a struggle *sigh*.

Tomorrow, Danielle is taking the kids back to the doctor for what is hopefully to get a clean bill of health from all the sicknesses they've been passing between each other. It's been three weeks since Joshua initially got sick. I feel like it's been three months. Glad everyone's healthy again.

Abigail turns 3 months tomorrow. We finally transferred her to her crib in Joshua's room (which is hard to say since it's not just Joshua's room anymore). We would have done it sooner, but when she got sick and was having so much congestion, we felt she wouldn't sleep the whole night and would wake Joshua up. This past week, she's been sleeping consistantly for 8 hours (like between 11PM and 7AM). I don't know if I blogged about this, but she is smiling and cooing so much more now. It's SO cute! For whatever reason, she smiles almost everytime we pump her legs. She's also started sucking on her fist. We tried giving her a pacifier, and she would take it initially and start sucking. But inevitably, it gets spit out...but I don't think she intends to. I think her bottom jaw doesn't come out as far as most and so she can't keep the pacifier in her mouth very easily.