System.out.println("Hello World!")

I once had a goal to learn how to write the "hello world" program in as many programming languages possible (it is just a simple program meant to get a novice familiar with a programming language). Well, I only learned how to do it in Java, C, Perl, R, Splus, and SAS. Not to impressive from my original lofty goal. But I don't care because the "hello world" program is just a bunch characters compiled into a bunch of 0s and 1s which in turn tells a computer to do something insignificant.

Well, something significant happened today. We had a REAL "hello world" experience. And this is the real deal. Behold:

The boy gave us quite a scare this morning. When he arrived, the umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around his neck and body. He took his first breath just fine, but for some reason his body remained very pale and his breathing was erratic, shallow, and fast. He was rushed to the nursery and given an IV, blood tests, and a chest x-ray. I guess when an umbilical cord is wrapped around a baby during his/her leisurely stroll down the birth canal the blood supply to the baby can be crimped leaving the baby with low blood pressure. And stuff. Yeah, I've worked in healthcare for the last 7 years but I really have no idea what was being explained. Please consult someone smart for a better explanation. Anyway, I was too worried about the boy to be concerned about these minor details. To make a long story short, the boy was monitored closely in the nursery for 5 or 6 hours before the docs said that he could leave to be reunited with his mother. That much time for a mom to be separated from her newborn is an eternity! By the time Julie was finally permitted to see the boy, he had pretty much grown up and was eager to have a conversation about the theory of special relativity.

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment.




P.S. Julie is doing great! The baby was birthed at 2:00 am on April 25th weighing 7lbs and stretching 18in long. He has already filled his diaper 4 times with substance similar to that of the La Brea Tar Pits. And he has been held in the loving arms of many aunts, uncles, grandpas, grandmas, and cousins. He knows he will be loved. That is for sure.

Springtime - Utah Style

Here's our Easter and Spring Break (in the condensed version, but with lots of pictures):

2 Easter Egg hunts with 2 sets of grandparents, lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Who could ask for more? Jef and I sacrifice our own health for our children. We eat all of their candy so that they don't have to.

1 Annual Eagle Mountain Easter egg hunt - and only 1 - ever. Thousands of eggs, but millions of children. 3 out of 4 kids crying. Kind of sad, but Taylor was nice to share all of the candy he got, and candy cheers children up quickly.

3 Warm days, 2 rainy days, 1 really windy day, and 1 day with several inches of snow. Bike rides, walks, a picnic at the park, friends and cousins over, lots of Wii time, lots of movies and computer games, more trips to the grandparents. Thank heavens for lots of family around to keep things exciting.




5 family members who are patient with the other 1 and 1/2 during the final stretch of pregnancy. We're getting close...

Random List #1

Things I am becoming an "Expert" at that will probably never do me much good in an academic setting, (or even in a game of Trivial Pursuit) but that help me a lot in my chosen occupation.

1. Where you can find the closest bathroom in every Wal-mart, Smiths, Target, and Maceys along the Wasatch Front.
2. The names of several different antibiotics and the effect they have on each of my children's digestive tracts.
3. The names of most (if not all) Disney characters, Thomas the Trains, Transformers, and Speed Racers.
4. How to translate frantic sign language while trying to carry on a phone conversation.
5. How long is the perfect amount of time to cook Easy Mac, Hot Dogs, Bagel Pizzas, and Chicken Noodle soup in the microwave.
6. How to snap Polly Pocket heads back on in 30 seconds or less.
7. Finding "lost" toys, blankets, and sippy cups. (Hint, always check the most obvious places first. The best way to trick a kid is to put something where it actually goes.)
8. The difference between a "fighting scream," a "playing scream," and a "something is actually wrong, go see what it is," scream.
9. How to make cats out of Play-doh.
10. Which child is approaching our bed at night judging by only the sounds their feet make running down the hall.

Chronological Order

I'm not sure exactly what's causing it - maybe it's the fact that I turned 30 last month. Probably it has something to do with the baby about to come to our family. But whatever the reason, I have been very sentimental lately. I can't believe it's been almost a whole decade since first my father offered Jef a Geo Metro as my dowry and he said yes! Anyway, here is a slide show of our growing family. So much has happened in such a short amount of time...

I wanted to stick some really groovy dating and wedding pictures of us in here, but we didn't get the digital camera until after Taylor was born, and I can't find the cord for the scanner. That's okay, just picture us about 2 years younger and skinnier.

One of our first family pictures I could find - we lived in a sweet one-bedroom basement apartment in Orem when Taylor was born. The neighbors were crazy.

Just for the record, I'm pretty pregnant in both of these pictures. Poor Taylor didn't get a whole lot of time being the youngest, did he?
Anyway, this one with the Christmas tree was taken shortly after we moved to to our townhome in Minnesota and shortly before Jane arrived.

It was hard to find a family picture of us during this time, but here's some of the two kids alone. Sigh, I remember thinking that two kids was enough to keep anyone busy. Well, actually I still think that - I even believe that's true about one kid.
This one underneath is our right after we moved into our house in Minnesota.

Jane was our only kid not to have brown eyes right away. They were blue for like 6 months.

Now Hannah comes into the picture. This picture was taken on Easter in our backyard. If you look close, there is snow all over the backyard.

After we moved back to Utah. SLC to be exact, but you could probably tell that.

This picture is pretty random, but I just had to throw it in because it made me laugh. Hannah has probably changed the most look-wise out of all of the kids. She was such a cute little tank (she's still cute, but no longer a tank.)

This is our townhouse in Lehi not long after Jono was born (he's the little one with drool all over his clothes.)

This is right after we moved to Eagle Mountain (the first time). If you're really bored, you can go back and see that this is kind of where our blog started, so we've come full circle.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we post some pictures of a new baby. Those of you who know me well know that the last month of pregnancy is torture for me. I just get so dang impatient, and cranky. Sorry if you thought I wasn't that way, but it's important that you know the truth about me and my bad attitude. I will try hard to do better. I will also try to remember that in ten more years, I will probably feel even older and crankier and wishing I could remember what it was like to be so young and lucky to have a house full of cute little kids. Oh my gosh, in ten more years, we'll almost have 4 teenagers. That thought definitely makes helps me be more patient!