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!

Moonlighting

One of us has been doing a bit of moonlighting....

Let's be honest. I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, I'm still laughing. Chris is certainly a good sport.

Miserable

Well, so much for the ol' 10th anniversary. Good thing we celebrated a couple months ago. Chris flew back into town on Wednesday night and soon after I realized I had caught some sort of stomach bug. It was awful, awful, awful. I threw up (among other things that I will avoid mentioning here) every hour for 24 hours straight. I was so glad Chris had our anniversary off from work...so he could take care of me and Caleb. :) He is such a good guy. He really is a trooper and took good care of me!

It was especially ironic since that same morning (Wednesday) I had a doctor's appointment in which we had a long discussion about needing to actually gain some weight during this point in the pregnancy. So far, I've only lost weight. Which I'm not sure how that works since I feel HUGE! I told my doctor that I had gained enough weight the five years before I ever got pregnant the first time to cover it all, but she didn't go for that.

At first I thought it was just a weird pregnancy thing since that's kind of been the story of this pregnancy...but after several hours, I realized it was probably something else. So I was just hoping that Chris and Caleb wouldn't get it. We kept an eye on Caleb, but everything seemed normal. Until tonight. At Walmart. Picture a jam packed, last weekend before Christmas, full store, and a two year old who had just eaten dinner, a nice dad that picked up that two year old...only to have that two year old lose what looked like every meal for the last two years all over both of them and a very busy aisle of Walmart. Poor Chris and Caleb. They were just covered in nastiness. And poor Walmart employees who helped us clean it up. I'm sure we made their already fun day even better. Merry Christmas to them! Caleb fell asleep on the way home and even slept most the way through a bath. Poor kid. I was really hoping he didn't get it because I knew how miserable I was, and wouldn't wish it on anybody. Any tips for containing messes when kids puke every hour or so? I've never been so thankful for the "Little Green Machine" (an awesome ready to use mini steam vac that is perfect for such messes at home!) Looking forward to a long night and day tomorrow! :) Hopefully it only lasts 24 hours like mine did!

Unfortunately, the beginning of the week was fairly busy and we interacted with lots of different people. So to anyone out there that we are responsible for spreading this Christmas cheer with, I AM SO SORRY!

The Best 10 Years

So tomorrow is our 10 year anniversary. Hard to believe!! We've had so much fun and so many adventures together. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how truly lucky I am to have been able to marry Chris. Here are some pictures from the big day ten years ago.






Wow. You don't realize how much you change til you look at pictures from long ago. Yup. Several hundred pounds ago and....well...yeah...nuf said. :)

We already mostly celebrated with a trip to Hawaii a couple months ago, but thought I would recap the last 10 years here.

We love to travel. Here are the places we've been together (that I can remember off-hand):

• Cincinnati (lots of times)
• San Diego (at least twice)
• Seattle (several times)
• Las Vegas
• Boise (to see the Cincinnati Bearcats whoop up in basketball!)
• Anaheim
• Miami
• Washington D.C.
• Phoenix
• Hawaii
• Wyoming
• Houston (several times)
• Utah (lots of times now that we live in Texas!)
  
• 3 cruises (one from Galveston, one from LA, one from Miami--visiting such places as Cozumel, Progresso, Ensenada)

Other cool entertainment;

• Les Miserables
• Phantom of the Opera
• Brian Regan (lots of times!)
• Gabriel Iglesias
• Spurs Games
• New Jersey Nets game (ok, so it was in Utah vs the Jazz, but we were there for the Nets)
• Reds games
• Astros games
• Bengals games
• Lots of USU basketball, football, and hockey. Go AGGIES!
• Cincinnati Bearcats basketball games. Go BEARCATS!
• Disneyland/California Adventure
• Kings Island (best roller coasters ever!!)
• Alamo Bowl (twice)
• Monster Truck Jam :)
• A few concerts, (someone else liked most of these better than I did! But I'll include them anyway. :) Reba, Sugarland, Gretchen Wilson, Sarah Evans, Voice Mail
  

We've only lived in two different towns

• Logan, UT (tiny upstairs apartment for a few months, then bought a condo)
• San Antonio, TX (nasty apartment for a few months (still too many months for me!), then a nice apartment for a few months, then bought our house

Between us, we've completed 4 college degrees

• Only one for me--my bachelor's
• For Chris: one bachelor's and two masters degrees

4 Vehicles (owned together)

• When we got married, we traded in our two cars (that I didn't count in the total) for one more reliable
• We still have two of the four we've owned
• Oh, and one motorcycle. We sold it when we moved down to Texas...thinking we would buy another. Still haven't done it (because Krista's not sure she wants Chris driving it around here with all these crazy drivers). Chris is still mourning his loss.
  

Hospital/ER visits (We averaged at least one a year there for awhile...we've slowed down the last couple years though)

• Broken shoulder (Chris)
• Kidney stones (Krista)--at least a couple times :(
• Lots of stitches in forehead (Chris)--result of a run in with a racket in an intense racquetball game :)
  
• Gallstones/surgery to remove gall bladder and two accompanying fun endoscopic blah blah blah procedures to place a stint in the pancreas and remove it
• Broken finger(Chris)-- this happened like a week before we had Caleb--luckily the surgery they thought they'd have to do, didn't end up being needed. The things Chris will do to try to get out of changing diapers).
• Lumpectomy (Krista)
• One delivery of a very cute baby :)

Kids

• Well, we're way under par on this one--we only have one. But he's very cute and very fun.
  
• And another is well on his way!! Only 7 weeks left!

That's all the excitement I can think of for now. Here's to the next 10 years being even better than the last!

Shamu!

For the last month or so, Caleb has been obsessed with Shamu from Seaworld. He likes to reenact the Shamu show for us.

He assigns us a place on the stairs to watch the show...either high or low. When we are assigned to a lower spot on the stairs, we get splashed like the people at the Shamu show who are sitting in the splash zone down low. When we are assigned a higher spot on the stairs, we do not get splashed...just like those at the show that sit above the splash zone. For those that haven't been to the show, they have the audience chant Shamu! Shamu! while you move your arms in imitation of Shamu's tail which splashes everyone. With that explanation, here is Caleb's reenactment that happens about 10 times a day:

What a heart breaker dad, huh? Caleb just wanted his dad to be a second Shamu for double the splash...but dad just wouldn't do it for the camera. I don't get it. :) For the record...Chris has no problem joining in when the camera is not on. You should ask Chris to see it next time you run into him. :)

Ok, maybe I've been Shamu a time or two too.

Mac Heaven Ever Expanding

Much to the delight of Mac users everywhere, the general populous is now able to participate in video chat via Google's new Video Chat tool. Comparable solutions, such as iChat, required premium memberships to utilize the video chat feature. With Google's free version, you are only required to have a Gmail account and to download a small file to enable this revolutionary communication channel.

Serge, a Google Video Chat engineer located in the Google Sweden office, explains how to use this new tool in a short three minute video (located here).

This tool is compatible with Mac computers and does not require any special set up to work with the camera built in to your Mac. Krista and I downloaded the required 6 MB software on each of our Macs (download), followed the simple instructions, and we were able to have a great face-to-face chat while she was at home and I was in my office (diligently laboring, of course). It also works one way, meaning that if you are on your Mac and want to chat with someone who does not have a Web cam, you can both install the software and the technologically challenged party will still be able to see you. You will only be able to hear the audio portion of their conversation (provided they are at least using a computer with a microphone attached). This sounds a lot like a Mac commercial...hmmm.

I see many possibilities here. I am continually impressed with the innovations I see from both Mac and Google. (i.e. Shazam, Chrome, and the new MacBook.)

See the latest on how Windows compares by clicking here.

I Don't Get It

I really don't get it.

I have all these theories when it comes to parenting. Some work. A lot don't.

When I put Caleb to bed, I give him a bath, help him brush his teeth, and have a vitamin. I help him put on pajamas, read soothing books, sing a couple soothing songs, and tuck the cute boy in with lots of kisses. I leave his room and then lately, the fun starts. The Battle of Bedtime, if you will. Last night he was up until midnight messing around.

Now there is Chris. When Chris puts Caleb to bed, he gives him a bath, helps him brush his teeth and have a vitamin. That's where our similarities end. He chases Caleb all around, wrestles him while putting his pajamas on, reads the craziest loudest books he can find, sings the least soothing and most ruckus causing songs and the room just resounds with giggles and hyperness. Chris puts Caleb in bed with lots of kisses and friendly banter and leaves the room.

Now in the meantime, I am thinking to myself, that kid is never going to go to sleep now. I prepare to give Chris my motivational speech, (I don't like to consider it nagging, right Cindy?) about how Caleb needs to calm down before going to bed. I hold my tongue and save it for when I first hear that little puff of air when Caleb is opening his door to start the Battle of Bedtime. Just so I have evidence on my side, right?!? But you know what?!? That puff of air doesn't ever come. The kid lays in his bed and goes to sleep. The first time...I thought...hmmm...he's lucky tonight. Second time...what a fluke. After lots of times, well...I'm at a loss.

Can anyone explain this to me? Again...I just don't get it. I can't bring myself to use the same method at night either.

New theory: Chris should just put Caleb to bed every night.