No, No, No

You've got it all wrong. Tape? Never! Elastic? Ouch, man!

The solution is . . .

Baby Pacifier Glasses Frames! Safe, simple, effective, affordable. AND, they come with their own case!

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Ellie saying prayers before having a snack of cheese and Barbie fruit snacks: "Thank you for cheese and barbecue sauce."

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Carla: Walker, get your shoes, we're going to Grandma's for her birthday.

Walker: Who's birthday? Wii grandma?

Go Mavers!

Ellie was sick over the weekend so Carla and I were pretty much on cleanup duty the whole time. Friday, basically from sunup to sundown, Ellie laid on "her" couch and watched Dora DVDs. Finally on Saturday morning, she proclaimed herself healed . . . "My tummy's all gone, Daddy." Well, her tummy may have felt better but it hadn't told her small intestine yet so we had to make sure she still ate a very mild diet.

Kurt: Ellie, would you like some noodle soup for lunch?

Ellie: I want cheese.

Kurt: Ellie, I don't think you'd like cheese right now. It'll make your belly hurt.

Ellie: Yes I do like cheese. It feels me good in the afternoon!

When Walker doesn't have anyone to play football with, he just throws the ball in the air and catches it, pretending to play against an imaginary team. He makes up the team names. One day last week it was the Salamis vs. the Mavers. The Salamis won, 3 - 0.

I'm also seriously considering inventing something like this:

A few close calls

* Warning to Bill and Keely - this might be a good one not to read *

OK, so it's been 2 weeks now, but here goes:

Monday, Nov 26, Carla called me at work and said she hadn't been feeling the baby move much and she had said that the night before, too. We decided to go ahead and call the doctor and they had her come in. They hooked her up to the non-stress-test-machine-thing and found a good steady heartbeat but not much movement. Dr. Chitra apparently walked in, looked at something, and said she didn't even want to mess with it and to go have a baby. We got to Mercy at about noon and Dr. Chitra broke Carla's water at ten 'till 2. From then on, I could have set my watch by Carla's contractions (I didn't, though, she would have gotten pretty mad if she was having a baby and I was messing with my watch). She had one every 3 minutes until we had a baby at 5:45. Yes, she went natural again because she's just that tough. Anderson had the cord around his neck, which is probably why there wasn't much movement, but his heart rate stayed steady the whole way through. We're thankful that the good Lord was giving us a hint that we should get to the doctor. Things could have been much more complicated had we waited. Anyway, healthy baby, healthy mommy, happy family.

Except for Ellie. Did I ever write about how she likes to play dead? She's very convincing. Sometimes, if she's really tired and really upset, she'll hold her breath until she passes out. I mean blue in the face, eyes in the back of her head, and totally limp. Well, yesterday, Walker tackled her for the 200th time. Ellie was a little mad but Carla didn't think much of it. I was in the garage so Carla took Walker to his room for a time out. When she came back downstairs, Ellie was across the room from where Carla had left her, laying on the floor passed out and not breathing. Carla woke her up and got her going again but it was a little scarier than usual because neither one of us was right there. Before when she's looked like she was going down (probably 10-12 times now) one of us was always there to blow in her face to make her breathe again or wake her up when she actually does pass out. I'm going to have to have a stern talk with that girl. Which will probably really really upset her . . .

Catch up ball?!? Gross!

Really quick highlights leading up to Anderson:
Thanksgiving was nice. Lots of food, of course.
The day after Thanksgiving (which was on a Friday this year), I built a little wall to hold the door to my future basement stairs. That's been a project 2 years in the works. Well 1 yr and 11 months in the planning, 1 month in the works. Then we almost went to the hospital but Carla's contractions finally stopped.
Saturday, lots of running around. Carla really wanted to take the kids to Build-a-Bear. I had been dreaming of that day for oh so long and, finally, it was time! The kids had fun, although they were really tired, and I hardly complained at all. Walker got a dog, which he named Vixen (then changed his mind to Dancer, then finally settled on Vixen Dancer Kandel, although he usually calls him Vixen Kandel Dancer). Ellie got a bunny, which she named Hoppy:
Kurt: Is your bunny a boy bunny or a girl bunny?
Ellie: No, it's a Hoppy.
Kurt: I know, but is Hoppy a boy or a girl?
Ellie: No! Just a bunny!

Here they are stuffing their animals:
Ellie was too tired to stand on the pedal.
Posing with their new friends:



And Ellie "taking a bathtub" because I thought it was a cute picture:

Sunday: Sunday must have been relatively uneventful, because I don't remember much of it. The youth group placed their wagers on whether the baby would be a boy or a girl and how much it would weigh - not a minute too soon, either.

Monday: Well, I'll tell you later I guess . . . By the way, go to Jen's blog to see some professional pictures of Anderson. They came out really good.

Time to play some catch up ball

Yes, we had a kid and, yes, he's cute. If anyone doesn't know by now:
Anderson Dale
11/26/07
7 lbs 4 oz
19.5 in

Everything went fine, except he had the cord wrapped around his neck, just like Walker did. What is it with these sons of mine? More on that later but, since I know that I haven't posted since before thanksgiving, I might as well start then with some things the kids have said.

Thanksgiving morning, I heard Ellie talking to herself in her room so I went up to get her.

Kurt: Good morning, Ellie

Ellie: Meow!

Kurt: Why'd you say Meow?

Ellie: Because, I'm a kitty cat. Meow!

She's been a kitty cat for over a week now. Meowing all the time.

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Later that day, we were looking through our window for deer in the woods.

Kurt: I don't see any deer.

Ellie: I see a lion!

I used to do the same thing with Walker when he was Ellie's age.

Kurt: Walker, I don't see any deer. You'd better call them with your deer call.

Walker: DEEEEER!!!!

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Walker, recently and randomly: Daddy, I'm forth and you're back so I win, right?

At first I thought he was saying fourth, so I was extremely confused. Once I figured out he was saying "forth", like back and forth, I was just very confused.

More later, including highlights from the labor and delivery (not video highlights, though, that's a bit much).