This and That

A little of this:

(Missions Baseball game)


A little of that:

(Caleb and Chris working hard. Caleb especially loves to help mow the lawn, trim, and then blow the cut grass off the sidewalks. And they don't just stop at ours. Caleb insists on doing all kinds of people's. They are now known in the neighborhood as "those guys that cut everybody's grass." At what age will helping no longer be fun? At what age will I not be able to use not being allowed to help as a punishment? I hope age 30.)


A lot of this:

(Carson smiles)


A lot of that:

(Snuggles from my boys)


A bit of this:

(Caleb making himself at home in the stroller doing puzzles)


A bit of that:


(That right there? Those are the best kabobs ever. Miss you, Deonne. Bacon wrapped steak and jalapeños smothered in spicy barbecue sauce. Oh, and no, I do not think nursing babies appreciate them. Sorry, Carson! I couldn't resist.)


Some crazy this:

(We hosted 6 youth at our house for a youth conference for church. SO FUN! And of course they had to raise a bit of mischief. And since Chris already spilled the beans and admitted what was done, I guess I can post the picture to show all the guilty to the Charles. Notice I was not in the picture. Must mean I had zero participation, right? I am innocent. :) Thanks for being good sports Charles family!)


Some crazy that:



(What is that you ask? Poor Caleb was desperate for any change in taste after having his tonsils out. Yes, that is him eating sour cream, cool whip, and miracle whip by the spoon. Sick.)


But there was also some of this:

(Proof that I did give him good stuff to eat and that he did not need to resort to the nasty stuff, here is Caleb eating soft serve ice cream.)


And finally...my favorite that.
Chris started a new job on June 8th. And he absolutely LOVES it! He loves the people, and loves the work! Thanks again, NCI!

Funny Kids

I'm not sure when/where it started. My brother (the famous Kip D a.k.a. Uncle Dip) and I like to make up songs. Sometimes it is just a normal every day conversation except we both sing what we would like to say to each other. Or then there was the time that we took a 12 hour car ride and made up the coolest song ever. Just ask Chris. I think he really enjoyed it. Something about 12 hours of a really repetitive, yet lively rendition of an awesome song about how many more miles to go set to the tune of 100 bottles of "milk" on the wall. Yeah. Good times. You know you enjoyed each and every repetitive verse of that 12 hour song, Chris. Both directions of our road trip. :)

So imagine my pride when lately my sweet three year old makes up a song about everything. My favorites? "I love milk." "I just like to beat dad." My all time favorite? "I want to go outside but my mom won't let me." I've been meaning to get some of them on video because I think they're so funny, but I'm usually too lazy to go find the camera. Well, not lazy necessarily, but, well, ok...yeah...lazy. So today the camera happened to be right by me, so the version you get to hear is entitled, "Good job."

"I'm singing 'good job' because mom got me root beer." Not sure if the good job was for me for letting him have the root beer or to himself for convincing me he could have it. Either way, I enjoyed the song. Does it make you proud, Dip? Passing on our legacy to my posterity.

What can I say? The kid loves his root beer. Especially after two weeks of eating nothing but yogurt and applesauce after having his tonsils out.

I'm thinking of recording them and making an album. Kind of like that SNL where Eddie Murphy plays Buckwheat and has a random album with random songs...you know the one. Anyway.


Then there is my cute Carson. Poor boy has been running a fever and is congested. Doesn't stop him from being a happy little guy though.

Chris was throwing the ball to land on the high chair and Carson just thought it was hilarious. The kid seriously loves to laugh.


And finally, my favorite quote of the week:
What? No, the first was my favorite random made-up SONG of the week, and the second was my favorite GIGGLING of the week. This is my favorite QUOTE of the week:

Chris told Caleb he needed to clean up the toys in his room. Caleb said, "Dad, I have a plan." (Good quote, but still not my favorite.) Chris asked him what his plan was and Caleb said, "I'll play with this toy while you clean up my mess. That's the plan...ok, dad?" Kudos to Caleb for coming up with such a good plan.

I just love my boys. All three of them. They make my life so fun.

Dear NCI

Dear NCI,

On May 18th, 2009, one of your vice presidents walked into my husband's office and told him that his five year career with your company was over as of that day. I just wanted to say thank you.

I understand that there just wasn't any work to be done anymore. For an established company to be unable to win bids is a sure sign that it's time for a change. But still, to tell an awesome and very skilled employee that they are done that same day with absolutely no notice and minimal severance pay?!? It may make business sense for a company against the ropes, but it certainly isn't very compassionate. Either some notice or a real severance package would seem more appropriate.

You would think I would be angry, after all, we had a 3 month old baby whom we thought at the time may have some serious kidney problems. We have bills to pay just like everyone else. I was shocked, but it only lasted about an hour. To quote Chris, "I should probably feel bad, but I'm actually really excited to see where this takes us and what our next adventure will be." So, in fact, I'm not angry at all. I just wanted to say thank you.

You see, because he no longer works for you, many wonderful opportunities have presented themselves and we are very excited about the prospects. He probably would not have chased down any of these leads if he was still working for you. Again, thank you.

I'd also like to thank you for the three week paid vacation. We thoroughly enjoyed having dad home for three weeks and the timing, for our family, could not have been better.

And thank you for paying for a lot of Chris's MBA. It looks like he can now put it to work for someone else.

We grew closer as a family and to our Father in Heaven. And because we were taking inventory of everything, we decided that less is definitely more. We can do much better with the money and things we have been blessed with. And we are. And for that I say thank you again.

In some ways, I actually feel responsible myself for this job loss. When Chris first started working for you, he absolutely loved it. He loved the people--he loved the work. Monkey stickers on his badge, hilarious experiences on the plane ride home from Dallas, regular team lunches, daily challenges: he was actually excited to go to work each day. I told him that it isn't work if you enjoy it that much, but he continued on. But over the last little while, I have noticed a change. I felt horrible watching him day in and day out go to a job where I felt that he was not enjoying it anymore and where I felt he was being unappreciated. Thus, I had been praying for quite awhile that things would change at NCI or that he would find a different job where he felt valued and appreciated and excited to go to work again. You helped answer that prayer.

I'm sorry to say that you definitely got the worse end of the deal. You see, you lost a great employee. (Actually lots of them, I hear. But I only knew one really well.) The one I know worked hard for you and made you a lot of money. He always made his deadlines, even if it meant working all night a couple different times. While others would lose money on their projects and simply say they couldn't make the deadline, Chris made it happen. He and a couple others did such good work that it led to a huge project with a company that brought in a ton of money and work to your company. He did such a good job that you even promoted him three times in the five years he worked for you. I could go on and on. Really, I am just sorry for you. Some other great company just recently gained a very hard working, valuable asset and all around good guy-- thanks to you.

I sincerely hope you will take better care of our dear friends that are still working for you.

Thanks again!

Krista Dial

Lest

Lest you think after my last post that we're not finding some time for fun too...here are some random fun things from last month:

Caleb often decides that he likes to help Carson out with his sense of style. Here is one example I caught on camera:


Carson pretty much said, "I can dig it. I can still eat my blanket...and that's what matters." He really loves to eat his blankets.


Speaking of eating stuff.... Carson turned four months old! Yikes!! He is just soooooo much fun!! He is a rolling madman these days. Rolling from his back to his tummy and back again. He also got to try his first food. The kid is seriously digging this food thing. He absolutely loves it. Chris was feeding him one day and walked away for just a minute. Carson decided to take things into his own hands....



Here is a video of him trying his first rice cereal:

I love how excited Caleb was to cheer him on and help feed him. They really do love each other and I think it is so cute!!!! Since my last post about Caleb's tonsils, the medicine started to make him pretty sick. But he was in too much pain to not take it. He was pretty miserable and puking and stuff. Have I ever mentioned how much I love to clean up puke? Every time it was just after Chris left. Figures. Anyway. Not the point. Even when Caleb was at his sickest, he would go lay down by Carson and just hold his little hand. It was just too cute.



We've been having a bit more rain these days. Really, any rain is a bit more than we've had for a long time. But Chris and Caleb had to go out and enjoy it while Carson and I enjoyed it from the front door:

Hmmmm, could this be related to my last post about being sick? :)

Month O' Owies

I'm not going to lie. This month has been awful. And yet wonderful. And yet horrible. And yet great. Not sure how that works.

Part of our fun has been all the fun owies.

CARSON

We finally got in to see the kidney specialist and Carson was then put on an antibiotic for some testing on his kidneys. The antibiotic made the poor boy sick--diarrhea (and the raw bum that goes with it) and vomiting and just kind of fussy. Then we got to take him to the hospital for the actual VCUG. Thank goodness Chris came with me to hold him down. I wanted NO part of it.

And we had a momentous occasion this week. I actually took Carson BY MYSELF to get his shots. This day has been 3 1/2 years in the making. I pretty much hate needles. They tend to make me throw up or pass out...yeah...I'm pretty much a wimp. Say what you want. At least I'm a self-aware wimp.


CALEB
Caleb has had a bit of a rough month.

The normal:
Bruises and goose eggs like this:

You know. The falling-off-the-kitchen-chair-hitting-your-face-on-the-floor bumps and the running into the wall bruises. Caleb usually has at least one good bruise and/or bump on his forehead at any given time. One heals just in time to get another.

He also sliced his head open and we were seriously debating stitches. Luckily, it didn't come to that. But I also realized one more important failing as a mother. Caleb hates band aids. I thought all kids loved band aids!?! I thought band aids made everything better!?! He sliced his foot open and I tried to put a band aid on it and he would have none of it. Where have I gone wrong?!?!

The strange:
One day he randomly puked during his nap. But he seemed totally fine before and after. Then three days later he woke up and seemed like he had a temperature. I knew he was sick when I turned on the tv so he could watch Diego and he jumped up to dance like he always does to the Diego song. He quickly said in a sad little voice, "I don't want to dance to Diego this time..." and laid back down on the pillow. By noon his temperature was up to 103 and stayed that way despite drugs and he was just miserable. We had to keep giving him baths to keep it down since the alternating drugs were not working. Anyway, the next day the fever was just as randomly gone and there were no more symptoms.

The ugly:
His eye was red and swollen for about a week and a half before I finally took him to the doctor. It ended up that he had a sty in the lower lid of his eye. We had to do antibiotic eye drops (that he did not really appreciate) and warm compresses for awhile. While we were at the doctor for his eye, I mentioned that Caleb had been sleeping like 14 hours at night and still taking long afternoon naps and snoring really bad the last few months. The doctor was like...uh yeah...that's not normal! and we were referred to an ear nose throat specialist. Turns out, it was his tonsils. They were pretty much ginormous and causing sleep apnea. So we started with the fun of going to get more blood drawn for some lab work. Can I just say how much I enjoy having Caleb on my lap and having them draw blood from his arm. That's twice this year. There's my wimp factor again.

So yesterday we did the tonsils. If I never have to do something like that again, it will be too soon. I felt so bad doing that to Caleb. He did awesome...I felt horrible.

We went early yesterday morning. We got to wait in the waiting room for a long time. Caleb and Carson entertained each other.


I love how much they love each other and how much fun they have together.

We finally got called back and Caleb got to sport an awesome tiger gown and bright red socks. His favorite color, so he tells me often these days.



Even more waiting. Caleb was SOOOO good. Nice and calm and patient. We read lots of stories.



They finally came and got him and I just wanted to bawl. I didn't want him to have to go through this. When he was in the recovery room, they called us back and again, I just wanted to bawl when I saw him. His little face looked so miserable. He was being so good though.

The nurse said he didn't even cry and that he was by far the best patient she had had for a long time. Most of the kids in the room were screaming and crying. Caleb was just chill. He would wake up and we would get him to drink some juice and then he'd go back to sleep. We took him home and he did a lot of sleeping on dad

And a lot of sleeping on the couch.


It seriously broke my heart to listen to him sleep. He kept coughing and moaning. And sweating a ton. But when he was awake, he was in good spirits and gave us lots of smiles, talked quite a bit, and drank a ton. But he never really moved off the couch at all.

Until he got a dose of Weatherholtz. It is the best medicine apparently. As soon as they stopped by, he jumped off the couch and played with his toys and was being his usual crazy little self. He even yelled goodbye several times to them from the front door as they were leaving. And since then, he's been great. This morning he was all smiles and asked for his brother to sit by him



And yes, he even did his usual dance to the Diego song



As I am typing this, he is back to entertaining his brother



Anyway, after a small fortune being invested in doctors, specialists, hospitals, and drugs...hopefully we are all on the mend. We are extremely grateful for the good news we received this month about Carson's kidneys. We're thankful that we were able to get Caleb's tonsils out so that he can sleep better and how well he seems to be recovering. And I'm especially thankful that Chris is such an awesome husband and dad to help me out with so much this month!

And finally, when asked to recount his version of events this month, here is what Carson had to add to the details above:
.
Nuf said.

An Awesome Day

Today was such an awesome day. For the last four months (and several months of the pregnancy before that) we've been trying to find out what is going on with Carson's kidneys. We finally got some answers today and we feel like it is such a miracle.

We took Carson to the hospital for a VCUG today. Sweet boy didn't even cry. I've been dreading it and Carson made it look easy. Carson doesn't have any reflux (urine going back into his kidneys). They think the muscles are not strong yet and so they're being lazy. So the kidneys fill up with urine to capacity and then the muscles finally contract it out--thus causing his kidneys and the funnel to be enlarged. But the kidney specialist did not think it was a big deal and that he will just outgrow it as those muscles get stronger and contract the way they are supposed to. So for now, unless anything else develops, we just watch it. We'll go back for another ultrasound when he is eight months. I even got to take him off the daily antibiotic he was on which was causing some vomiting and lots of diarrhea. Overall, I am sooooooo excited and soooooo relieved!!!!!

As a disclaimer, she did say that it is still possible that the enlargement is because his kidneys are obstructed (different than reflux), which would be bad. But all signs point to that not being the case. Both kidneys would have to be obstructed, which is fairly rare. And they would have to be obstructed about the same amount because his kidneys are both growing at the same rate. That kind of obstruction is even more rare.

This stuff and some other stuff have made for kind of a crazy week. I'm not ready to go into detail on a public blog yet. But suffice it to say that we have seen miracle after miracle after miracle and that we feel truly blessed. Good things have come and are still coming for the Dial Family. I can feel it! :)

My Happy Baby

Well, we took Carson to the kidney specialist yesterday. The doctor told us that one of three things is causing his kidneys to be enlarged that I'll sum up as ok, worse, and very bad. Or something like that. She was encouraged about a few good signs though. I'll spare you all the medical terms and details, but the bottom line is that we are going for more testing next week to see if we can narrow it down. Carson will have a VCUG next Thursday. Basically that is a test where they use a fun catheter and fill his bladder full of fun stuff and use x-rays to see how much of it goes back into his kidneys. Let me tell you--I'm so looking forward to that fun test! After we get the results, we can go from there. Meanwhile, he is on a daily antibiotic to make sure that any urine flushing back into his kidneys is not infected as that would be bad.

Poor Carson. He is just such a happy go lucky, smiling, giggling, talking kid lately. He just doesn't know what's coming! Here is a video of our fun boy from a few weeks ago (that I've been meaning to post for awhile. Better now than never, right?!?)

The kid seriously loves to talk. He'll talk to his blanket, his toys, his brother. It doesn't really matter. If he is awake, he is babbling and giggling and we LOVE IT!

New Toothbrush

Does anyone have a new toothbrush I can have? I won't be using mine anymore. It accidentally went flying through the air.


Who left the seat up?!? Not cool.


p.s. Chris--stop laughing

p.s.s. Seriously. Stop laughing.

Research

Sometimes I miss school. I actually like to do research. But don't tell.

I've decided that I still do a ton of research. See? That college degree paid off, right? I mean...I don't mean to brag, but I think I am one of the top researchers in the world. At least in quantity. Not in quality.

I have so much scientific research going on each and every day. The whole process--beginning to end. Hundreds of times per week. It's exhausting really. But fun all the same.

Ask a Question
Here are some examples of my past research questions:
Why didn't Caleb take a nap today, but not yesterday? Why did Carson sleep through the night last night, but not the night before? Why was Caleb such a good eater tonight at dinner, but not last night? Why did Carson laugh so hard when I did that yesterday, but not today? Yeah, and why does Carson think Caleb is so funny, and not me? (Yeah, yeah, I know. None of those research questions are phrased in a way to make them good research questions...blah blah blah. You get the idea though.)


Do Background Research
I search the internet, read all the books, ask all the people who will give me the time of day. You know. Stuff like that.


Construct a Hypothesis
Construct a hypothesis? About a thousand hypotheses for each research question. This is really my strong suit. Let me give you some examples:

Perhaps the reason Carson slept through the night last night is because he wore his lucky blue shirt and snazzy yellow socks that day. Perhaps the reason Caleb was a good eater tonight was because he did three somersaults and played with the green train instead of the blue. I know. Genius, huh?


Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
Meet my guinea pigs.

Caleb (testing another hypothesis of mine about how he will be in charge of his own bag for church if it is a bag he is excited about...so far it is a working hypothesis...)

My other guinea pig, Carson

(seen here sporting the gansta pajama look)

They’re the best kind of guinea pigs really. Although I used to really like the guinea pig my friend four doors down would walk to my house on a leash. Anyway. My poor guys are tested on hundreds of times per day. I wonder what the animal rights activists would think of my experiments on my poor boys? I expect a line of picketers outside my door any day now.


Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
Yup. It was definitely the lucky blue shirt and the green train. Carson better wear that blue shirt every day and Caleb better keep up on his somersaults and play with that green train. No blue trains. Sorry.


Communicate Your Results
Yup. I communicate them all the time. Poor Chris.

Then, a couple days later, I realize my hypothesis was incorrect and no longer holds true. Back to the next hypothesis. Don't worry, that too is communicated to Chris. Poor Chris.

My latest conclusion? Kids will do what they want/need despite my trying to analyze everything and figure them out. I can make all the adjustments I want...but I've decided that the kid is going to decide ultimately how things are done. And I've decided I need to just sit back and enjoy the ride more--analyze less. At least I decided two things, right?

It’s kind of like in that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the girls convince the dad it was his idea for her to go to school. Same principle. Sometimes my kids let me think it was my idea when things work out.

Research for school was so much easier. It was usually a bit more clear-cut. Not quite as fun though. And at least I still use my brain every day, right? In fact, my brain usually hurts from thinking so much by the end of every day. Which leads me to my next hypothesis....

The Three Amigos

Here are some random pictures of the three amigos.

These are some random bedtime pics.






Poor Chris...he's a great place on which to stand...and sit:

What?!? I was not laughing to encourage such things!





Chris also makes a great tunnel to crawl under:


And a nice jungle gym to climb on:


What up.




The Cheneys bought a motorcycle and asked Chris to go pick it up. You guys know you're in trouble, right?!? I've heard about motorcycles every day since. :) You see, Chris had one that he sold before we moved down here thinking he would buy a new one once we were here. But once we moved here, well, his wife wasn't so excited about him riding one around all the crazy drivers and traffic here on a regular basis. So he has yet to replace it. But of course, Chris had to come by and give Caleb a little ride and take some pics before parting ways with the bike. Thanks for the fun, Cheneys!



And do you see all that fun stuff in the background? I thought about calling that paving company and thanking them for all the big trucks, tractors, etc. It provided HOURS of window and porch watching entertainment that week. Good times.



Hangin' on the couch:



Not sure...gang signs?



Caleb loves to hold Carson:



Love his little smirk:



Lovin' life with the three amigos.