Caleb's Third Birthday

Caleb's third birthday was last Saturday! I can't believe he is three years old already!!! It is exciting to watch him learn so many things, but it's also sad--I wish I could keep him this age forever!!!

Caleb's biggest present was a baby brother.

Carson was born the day before Caleb's birthday.

So we celebrated early. Chris had Martin Luther King's Day off from work. So we spent the day celebrating Caleb's birthday together. We had so much fun!!

We made cupcakes together:

Caleb LOVES to help us make anything and everything in the kitchen.

This is for my brother, Kody!

Notice the kind of cake mix we used? With "pudding in the mix?" When we were kids, my brother and I decided to make a cake. We put it in the oven and it looked done on the outside even though it had only been in like half the time it was supposed to. So we took it out and sliced it up--only to have it gush all over. But we noticed the box said, "pudding in the mix," so we thought it was just the pudding that was coming out. We are a couple of smart ones. Every time I see "pudding in the mix" on a cake box, I have to giggle.

Anyway. Caleb got to open all his presents from us:



Here are a couple of his favorites:

The kid LOVES trucks!

This is a video of one of his other favorites. I was trying to explain to someone exactly what it was, but here is the video instead.

Caleb LOVES airplanes. He can be seen walking with us through any store, or to get the mail, or wherever, with his arms out like an airplane and making the sounds of the airplane. He has to show (and have them fly) this Geo Air thing to everyone that dares enter our house these days.


We also went to Chuck E Cheese as a family and then took in a movie together--Madagascar 2. That night we did the whole sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles. We actually sang and blew out the candles about ten more times over the next few days. Anytime we went to have some cake, he would ask to do the candles/sing thing. We figured...why not?!? He is very proficient at blowing candles out now. :)

His other big present was to celebrate his birthday with the Plumlees. Caleb absolutley loves them and I know they spoiled him a bit. He came home with a big truck that I think they let him pick out from the store! What a spoiled boy!!!

Then when we came home from the hospital, he had presents waiting for him on our front porch from the postal man from all his grandparents. So we had another round of opening gifts. I'd say he made out pretty well this year, huh?!? Thanks for the gifts guys...he loves everything he got! We love you and miss you tons!

At his third birthday, here are some of the things Caleb loves:

He would live outside if I let him. He loves to ride his bike and is very good at it now. We are trying to find a bigger one for him. We found one he loved at Christmas and now we can't find it again! I hate that!!

Caleb still likes to line things up anywhere and everywhere:





Caleb LOVES to play the game Candy Land and is very good at it. I swear he gets that ice cream card every stinkin time. Not that I'm bitter.

He also loves to be a ham, just like his dad. He would make a great game show host. He likes to use the microphone and likes to "announce" all kinds of stuff. I'll have to do a post about this in and of itself.

Caleb also loves to be on the computer and is very good at it. He can navigate anywhere he wants to go using the mouse and the keyboard. His favorites are pbskids.org and the Elmo game he got from the Giani Mob (thanks, guys!)

During the last few months, Caleb has been very into his letters, numbers, colors etc. EVERYWHERE we go, he reads off letters from various signs and then asks, "What that says, mom?" It's cute, but sometimes gets tedious! :) He can spell his name...and on good days, can spell mom and dad too.

I'll have to do a post with his 3 year old pictures later, as I haven't had a chance to go do them yet. They'll have to be his 3 year plus a couple weeks pictures. We missed having a big party with lots of friends this year, but we did enjoy our little bit of family time together.

We LOVE our little man so much. He brings so much fun and laughter into our lives. He is such a happy guy and is a huge helper. I don't know what we would do without his fun and loving little spirit in our home! Love you, Caleb!!

More Carson Pictures

Here are some pictures of my three amigos:
















We are all loving the new little adorable addition to our family!!

Carson Is Here!

Written by Krista, edited by Chris.

Caleb holding Carson (who is searching for food).

Chris holding Carson (who is searching for food).

The Dial family, January 23, 2009 (imagine you can see Carson's face).

Carson Justice Dial was born on Friday, January 23rd, 2009, at 3:31 pm. He weighed in at 6 pounds 8 ounces (which we were VERY excited about) and 19.75 inches long. He surprised us with a full head of dark, dark hair!! I guess we were expecting bald/blond like Caleb.

Carson is just a name that we liked, though Chris may claim some influence by the late Johnny Carson (you be the judge when you see Carson dressed as Carnac the Magnificent for Halloween. Kody thinks we named him after Carson Palmer. We'll settle this during Halloween!).

The name Justice has a story always worth telling. Chris served his mission with many great missionaries, including one named Justice Parker. Elder Parker was a peace maker and a great missionary: quick with a joke, endlessly happy, a good athlete, and an all around good person. He was without guile and the spirit was strong in Elder Parker's life. Everyone that knew him couldn't help but love him. Tragically, a few months after Elder Parker's return home, he was swimming in an Idaho lake and was caught in a current that pulled him under, causing Justice Parker to drown. Chris thought a lot about the tragedy of this loss. He was going to be the best father, the best husband, the best person. Chris always thought it would be an honor to name a son after such a stalwart individual. We are humbled each time we share this story and hope to help retain the memory of such a valiant, honorable person by raising a son to not only share his name, but to also share his attributes and character.

As for the labor and delivery, everything went pretty well. But, with all the surprises during the pregnancy, who could settle for a perfect delivery? As if it were not enough to vomit every single day during the pregnancy (including one last hoorah after her last meal on Thursday night), we decided we needed a little bit of bonus excitement during the labor and delivery.

We got there and they started the drugs to induce labor and started the antibiotics for the Group B Strep. They weren't in too big of a hurry to speed things along as my doctor was doing a surgery somewhere else that was delayed and we also had to make sure all of the antibiotics were administered before we actually delivered.

Carson's heart rate dropped below the baseline heart rate a few times, indicating that Carson was under stress during the contractions, so they put me on oxygen for awhile and had me flipping from side to side, which seemed to help Carson and we didn't have any more problems that way.

Things were good - until about 1:30pm. I was only dilated to a 4 and 50% effaced at that point. My doctor came to break my water and said I shouldn't really notice too much since I already had the epidural. That was my first clue. I definitely felt that. Then the contractions came very hard and very fast and I could feel everything. (It is important to note that there were two nurses working in our room - a 22 year seasoned veteran and a 2 week unseasoned newbie. The noob should have had more training, but we'll get to that). Finally they called the anesthesiologist back in who gave me another dose and said to let him know if it didn't work in 10 minutes. 20 plus minutes later the nurse (noob) called him back and he tried a stronger dose. Again, he said to let him know if it didn't work in 10 minutes. 25 plus minutes later the nurse (noob) called him. He came back and checked it and realized that the catheter on the epidural had completely come out. So he hurriedly put it back in. Meanwhile, I was in a lot of pain and had told the nurse (noob) that I felt like I needed to push. She said whatever I did, not to push or it would tear my cervix. So I was laying there just trying to breathe through everything and trying to convince myself that epidural would kick in soon. When the anesthesiologist left for the last time, the nurse (veteran) started to check me and realized she could see Carson's head. So she paged my doctor (whose office is just next door) who said she was on her way and to go ahead and get me ready. I had been laying on my side, so the nurse had me roll over and basically, Chris said he could see Carson's forehead. The nurse (veteran) told the other nurse (noob) to push the Staff Emergency button since she (veteran) didn't have any help (editor's note: the two weeks of experience that the new nurse had was no help) and about a dozen people rushed in. My doctor saw all the people rushing in and ran down the hall, too. She had just enough time to put some gloves on and grab Carson. The epidural worked just in time to keep me numb for awhile after labor. Obviously, if it was known at that point how far things had progressed, they wouldn't have done the pointless last epidural. Oh well! The list of things I would do differently next time is a mile long...but I guess all is well that ends well, right?!?

Chris teased that we wouldn't be able to beat our record of only having to push 2-3 times with Caleb. But somehow we managed with no pushing this time. :) (Note: I wanna see how you break that record. Maybe our next one can come out by Star Trek Transporter Beam. Maybe we can also have a Star Trek Replicator and drink all the hot cocoa we want while we wait for the nurse to push the Staff Emergency button.)

Carson's kidneys are looking a lot better, but not completely all better. So they will be watching them closely during the next little while to see what will happen. We're still hoping they'll clear up on their own! :)

Caleb is giddy with excitement to be a big brother. Here is a little video of when he met him at home:



We can't thank enough the Plumlees who watched Caleb while we were at the hospital. He loves being at their house and the week leading up to it, he kept asking when he could go to their house. It was such a comfort knowing Caleb was being so well taken care of and that he loved being where he was. Thanks again, guys!

We were lucky enough to be able to head home late Saturday night. We are very relieved that he is a healthy little boy and we are very excited to have this cute little boy with us in our family.

Nature and Nurture, v2

A while back, Krista posted an entry about Nature and Nurture. It was a comical post about Caleb's intolerance of creepy things even approaching our house (nurture against nature?) and his astute observation about how birds fly over and poop on our car (nature against the automotive industry).

I would like to comment that there are more things that appear to be nurture than just disdain for insects and bird poop. Sarcasm is also nurture. Tonight, Krista was shuffling about and knocked something over. Caleb's comment was, "nice, mom." Pretty sarcastic for a soon-to-be three-year-old.

This is not an isolated incident. Earlier today, they were playing a game of tag in the kitchen where the object was to hit the other person with a soft, Nerf-style basketball. Krista tossed one in Caleb's direction only to miss him and send the ball rolling along the floor. Caleb's response? "Nice miss!" Sarcastic beyond his years.

A competitive spirit may also be nurture, whether you are nurtured to have said spirit or to avoid it. In our case, you may have guessed that Caleb is adopting that spirit, seemingly to no end. Here is a list of daily competitions:
- Caleb vs. dad: who can use the bathroom first
- Caleb vs. mom and dad: who can buckle the seat belt first
- Caleb vs. dad: who can touch the car first (mom may qualify once she can move above a waddle's pace)
- Caleb vs. dad: how good he can hide without dad being able to find him
- Caleb vs. mom and dad: full-contact Candy Land
- Caleb vs. dad: who can put their shoes on first (he even cheats - if I am a threat [aka out of the shower], he'll pick up my shoes, run them to the stairs, and laugh as he hurls them down 'cause he knows I have a long trip to make before I can compete!)
- Caleb vs. mom and dad: who can finish eating first
- Caleb vs. mom and dad: who can clean up after dinner first (this one is awesome!)

If anyone has any questions about nature vs. nurture, I will be the first to say that sarcasm, competitive spirit, and a disdain for creepy crawlies are observed and modeled. Now, I gotta go kill a spider before my shoes disappear down the stairs.

Another Baby Update

Well, first I have to thank Gabrielle for throwing a very surprise celebratory luncheon yesterday. I was very shocked and it was very fun and very thoughtful of you. And thanks to all that came!!

As it happens, it was very timely. Going to doctor visits has kind of lost it's fun the last few times. Not that anything is majorly wrong. My last few visits, we had more discussions about needing to gain weight. (I still have only lost weight.) Where have I lost weight, you may ask? It must be just from my big toe, because I don't see it anywhere else. But then again, even my big toe looks bigger to me. So that must not be it either. I guess I'd rather have this problem than them telling me I've gained too much weight... It would probably be easier if I wasn't STILL THROWING UP!! Then again, maybe I shouldn't admit this, and I can just blame all my weight on baby weight. :)

Then there is the Group B Strep testing. They said they normally would have tested me a couple weeks ago, but my urine is already testing positive for it. Sweet. I guess all that means is that I have to have antibiotics by iv during the labor...that's what I gathered anyway. And as Chris said, at least I was saved from getting the fun swab test done! If it's going to be positive anyway, might as well save myself that fun, right?!?

Cute story: After one of my last appointments, I came home a little bit teary eyed. Not that anything major is wrong, a lot of little things seemed to stack up all at once. I just would like to go to an appointment where they at least say that nothing is worse! :) Anyway, I walk in the door and Caleb (who is very perceptive to how I am feeling--almost too much so sometimes) says, "Oh! Mom sad because she missed me?!?" What a cute boy. Of course that is why I was sad. :) Would there be any other reason?!?

Which leads up to today's visit. We had another ultrasound and unfortunately and fortunately, the baby's kidneys are the same. Unfortunately because they haven't cleared up yet...but fortunately because at least they're not worse.

But they are also concerned with the baby's size. He went from being in the 66th percentile last time we had an ultrasound to the 13th percentile today. We also had a heart stress test on the baby (is that what they're called?).

Basically...the bottom line is that we are going to be induced next Friday, January 23rd (the day before Caleb's 3rd birthday!). Assuming that any heart stress tests done between now and then are ok.

I definitely experienced several moments of shock. Even though it's only two weeks early, it really felt like I still had lots of time and now all the sudden I have a week! So much for all my projects! :) At least the baby's room is almost ready. It has turned out very fun. I will have to post pictures later as I'm too lazy right now to take, download, and then upload them. :)

And so much for Caleb's 3rd birthday party we were planning! We like to celebrate big. But it will have to be postponed or something for this year. Luckily, he's not old enough to know the calendar yet. I hope. And luckily, mailing the invitations is still on the top of my "to do" list and will be moved to my "postpone" list. I'm not sure how I feel about having birthdays that close together, but what are you going to do?!?

And now I'll finish with a greatly edited and altered version of my last paragraph. A "little bird" seemed to change and add a lot to it when I left it up on the computer...a few of the words are the originals. (Hmmm, maybe I should actually read my posts after I post them to see how often this occurs...:) But I will post it anyway, cause I thought it was funny:

I guess the bottom line is that things could always be worse and I'm very thankful that they're not!! With such a loving husband (more perfect than any I could have conjured up in my imagination) and such an adorable toddler, it would take a LOT to really have anything to complain about more than achy limbs and regular alms to the porcelain gods. Now, where's my personal masseur? CHRIS!!!

Christmas and New Year's

So this is probably going to be a big long post. That's what happens when there's lots of fun stuff going on, but I'm too lazy to break it up into several posts.

What a fun holiday season! Caleb is at such a fun age! He has been just giddy about everything from the lights, to treats, to wrapping and giving gifts, to receiving gifts...it has been awesome!!

Christmas Eve we were able to visit a few friends and then spend some time with some of those that we consider our Texas family--the Weatherholtz. We had tons of good food and fun visiting and then joined them for their traditional caroling and treat delivering.

And of course we saw tons of lights while out driving around. Something I think we've done every night since early December. :)

Once we got home, we let Caleb open a gift--new pajamas! Of course some of them were Lightning McQueen! Here he is showing them off:



We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then went through the nativity story with Caleb's new Little People nativity set that he got this year.



Finally, we set out some yummy cookies for Santa that we had made together earlier in the day:



Here are some of my favorite moments from Christmas morning:



Growing up, we would always get a picture with all of our loot. Somehow I missed taking that picture this year. But among Caleb's favorite gifts was this cool demolition dinosaur that some awesome friends gave him:

You build up this tower (only half of which can be seen in this picture) and the dinosaur has wrecking balls that smash into it. Can life get any better?! Building a tower, a dinosaur, AND then that dinosaur wrecks the tower?!?!


Not the most manly of gifts, but among other things, Santa brought Caleb a little kitchen. But I'm a firm believer that guys need to learn how to cook too. :) He has cooked us many thousands of meals on it already.



And last but not least, this video is for Grammy. She sent Caleb this little keyboard and he absolutely loves it. Here is the proof:

Thank you Grammy!!!


So here is a funny story: On Christmas Eve, Chris and I decided to ask Caleb what he thought Santa would bring him. I'm not sure why it never donned on us to ask him this earlier. But Caleb was very certain that Santa would bring him a truck, a ball, and a choo choo. Over and over and over he mentioned all three items. Hmmm.... I was fairly certain that Santa would bring him a choo choo. But as for the others? Well...at least Santa got one out of three, right? Not the best record, especially since the requests were so simple. But what are you going to do on Christmas Eve when stores are closing? Well, Chris remembered that LAST YEAR Santa brought Chris a basketball arcade that has been still in its box in our garage. So Santa brought it again...this time all set up in our living room--instead of just in the box. Caleb was so excited to see that Santa brought him a ball too! Not bad, Santa! 2 for 3 this year! But wait.... Funny enough, Chris's awesome cousin who lives just a couple blocks away and her awesome family show up at our house with a present for Caleb. Guess what it is.... A truck! Quite the coincidence, huh? Sweet! 3 for 3. You guys are the best!! And you rock, Santa!! :)

Here Chris and Caleb are enjoying Santa's gift from two years in a row:

Many, many, many hours have been spent playing this.


NEW YEAR'S
As for New Year's...well, we ended up throwing together an impromptu get together. Lots of food, good friends, board games, video games...and of course...arcade basketball. Thanks to those that came and celebrated with us! Sorry...no pictures.

Overall, we've just been enjoying lots of time together and with friends. At first I was really sad not to be traveling to see family at the holidays. But I think it was good for us to save Chris's vacation days for the upcoming baby and it was fun to start and reinforce some fun traditions of our own. But we sure did miss our family and friends far away this holiday season!