I added some new pictures of mothers day and the slow going progress on the deck.  Grandma was visiting and spoiling Kelby like Grandmas do for two weeks while I got some work done on the deck.  As you can see I still have work to do.  You can also see Kelby's new hair cut.  I think it is cute.

God Bless

Kirk 

Kelby is back to his normal happy fun loving self.  He has not been sick for a full week now (I hope I didn’t just jinks it) and was not sick at all this weekend the first full weekend since January.  In the last week he gained back the 2 lbs that he lost plus some. He now weighs 27.5 lbs, last week he was down to 24 lbs.

On Saturday I gave Kelby his second haircut. Last time he sat pretty still while I cut his hair, but not this time. It was like trying to give a wild cat a haircut. It is just a good thing he does not have sharp claws or I would have bleed to death. KayLynn thinks I cut it too short. I think it looks cute. He looks just like a handsome little boy.

God Bless

Kirk  

 

 Kelby is finally feeling good again.  Last week was hell. He continued to be sick for the rest of the week and on Thursday I took him back to the clinic to see the Doctor this time he suggested I take Kelby to the hospital and have him admitted for dehydration therapy. I was so tired from lack of sleep I didn’t even feel safe driving Kelby to the clinic let alone to the hospital 35mls away.  I asked the doctor how long the procedure would take because I had not slept in 24hrs and had to go back to work in 5 hours. He told me that he would call ahead and they would be ready for us so that we would be in and out in @ 30min. Even with only taking 30 minutes with drive time it would be at least 2 hours so that only left me with 3 hours left to get a nap before going to work. Luckily for me I decided to drop Kelby off at KayLynn’s work and let her take him in to the hospital. The doctor said in and out in 30min what a bunch of crap! KayLynn was there for 5 hours and had to wait in the ER waiting room most of that time(with a lot of scary looking people) and Kelby crying the whole time, while I am at home too worried to sleep calling KayLynn’s cell phone every 15 min to see if they got in yet.

 

The next day Kelby looked a lot better and was not throwing up anymore so getting his fluids replenished was worth the (unnecessary) trouble it took.  As of today the diarrhea is gone and he is eating lots. He has some making up to do as he lost two pounds last week. The doctors determined that he had the flu. When we called the daycare they said a lot of the other kids were out with the flu also. Humm, go figure.

 

We took Kramer to the groomers (Petsmart) today and when I told Kelby where we were going he went and got Kramer’s leash and tried to put it on him. I helped him and he walked Kramer out to the car. When we got to Petsmart Kelby held the leash with one hand and my hand with the other walking through the parking lot and into the store. It was absolutely the cutest thing ever. Everyone in the store was pointing and saying “look at that” “isn’t that cute”.  Then when it was time for Kelby to give Kramer to the groomer he hugged Kramer around the neck and kissed him on top of the head before he would let the groomer take him. That right there makes it all worth it.

 

Now the big dilemma. Friday is coming up again do we throw him back to the wolfs or keep him home in a sterile bubble?

 

God Bless

Kirk

 

I get home from work @ 7:00am and like usual so tired I can hardly stand up. I had to use the toilet, when I flushed it, it didn’t flush, it was plugged up, and came within a second of overflowing before I franticly get the valve shut off.  Kelby was awake so that meant no nap for me.  That was the start of my day and it went down hill from there.

Kelby was still sick but looked better then the day before so I figured that was a good thing.  After giving Kelby some milk he started crying and wanted to be held, shortly after I picked him up I felt wetness on my arm (not good) diarrhea was running down his leg and my arm.  I got us both all cleaned up and he was still crying and would go into meltdown if I set him down.  I tried giving him something to eat but he would not eat anything but was drinking milk and water so I figured at least he was getting liquids. Then while I was holding him he was looking right at me still crying and vomited like a fire hose right in my face.  He soaked the whole front side of both me and him head to toe with really bad sour milk smelling vomit.  At our house when there is vomit on the floor Kramer our dog freaks out and starts running around in circles which includes running thru the vomit making little vomit tracks all over the house. I dripping puke while holding Kelby who is screaming (and still a potential vomit bomb) catch and throw Kramer outside. I strip both of us down and hose Kelby off in the laundry room sink and throw all the cloths in the washing machine then move on to cleaning the floor. I clean the floor the best I can with Kelby crying trying to get me to hold him while I’m trying to keep him from stepping in the mess, by now Kramer is tired of being outside and is crying /screaming (Kramer sounds just like a screaming baby when he crys) wanting in. Dealing with all this in addition to having almost zero sleep was, to say the least, a bit mind frazzling.

Now the cloths are in the wash, most of the big chunks are cleaned up, we all have on fresh cloths, Kelby has stopped crying and things are calming down a bit. I call the Doctor and see if we can get an appointment to see him and there is an opening in an hour.  For the next hour Kelby is looking better and is even playing a little bit and drinking milk and water and not throwing it up.  We get to the Clinic and by now Kelby looks perfectly fine.  He is laughing and playing with the toys in the waiting room. When we see the doctor Kelby looks like a perfectly healthy little boy.  I was thinking that last weeks ear infection had flared up again but the doctor looked in his ears and said they look great no signs of infection they were all cleared up.  I guess that is good but what is wrong with him then if not the ears?  The doctor said he looks perfectly fine maybe he just had an upset stomach.  I explained that he has been sick for 4 months now with a whole list of different things and that he has been sick since Saturday night with whatever it is he has now.  He told me that kids get sick a lot especially after starting daycare or school and it just takes awhile for there immune system to build up. So there is nothing to worry about.  He did look perfectly fine right then, so I’m sure the doctor thinks I am a nut job or a very over worried first time parent.  Other then finding out that he does not have an ear infection the doctor visit was a complete waste and I was made to look like a fool.

Right now would be a great time to say that is the end of the story and all is well. Not so. We got home and Kelby was asleep so I put him in his bed for a nap and I had time to finish the clean up and unclog the toilet and get a few things done outside. When Kelby woke up from his nap he was cranky again. I figured that he must be hungry so I fed him some yogurt figuring that would be good for his stomach. He ate some but not a lot and he drank some Pedialyte.  Now the crying started again and in half an hour he was vomiting again and a whole new mess and another load of cloths to wash. The holding, crying, vomiting, and clean up cycle continued until he went to bed.  Luckily for me KayLynn took off work a little early and got home a little after 5:00pm and I was able to get to bed @ 5:30pm.  When I got up at 9:30pm to go back to work Kelby was sleeping soundly and KayLynn was already in bed. Maybe I’m just jealous but that just does not seem fair.  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow (or today or whatever it is) will bring.

 When working this weird shift I start work one day and go home the next and tomorrow is already today and I never know if I’m coming or going.

 

God Bless

Kirk

I think I am starting to sound like a broken record, Kelby is sick again, Kelby is sick, Kelby is sick, Kelby is sick. Kelby has been basically sick for over 4 months now.  From the day he started going to daycare he has had one thing after the other.  He gets sick for about 5 days he is well for two days and then sick again.  He goes to daycare on Friday and by Saturday night he is sick and then starts feeling better around Thursday and on Friday the cycle starts all over again. I can not remember a weekend that he has not been sick. I think we are going to go completely and absolutely crazy.

Last week it was an Ear Infection along with Oral Thrush the Doctor put him on antibiotics and some other medication for the thrush.  He started getting better after about the third day of taking the meds. Now this Saturday night he got sick again this time vomiting all over the place that lasted thru Sunday.  I think the ear infection has come back along with the oral thrush. Yesterday/Monday he was not throwing up any more but has Diarrhea really bad.  I can’t wait to see what today will bring.  It is so frustrating. We were so proud that he was never sick. He went his whole first year without being sick at all and from his first birthday on he has been nothing but sick. Sick sick sick. I just want to scream. I know it won’t help but I nothing else seems to help either.

I think we are going to wear out our washing machine. We may have to get another large garbage can just for all the dirty diapers. Are kids all this sick all the time or are we just lucky?

God Bless

Kirk

 

 We decided that the time had come to replace the deck.  Every spring I have to pound down hundreds of nails that work their way up. The surface is full of splinters just waiting to happen.  We paint it and two weeks later it looks like it needs to be painted again. We also always wanted to have a small deck off of the master bedroom and the front porch is looking pretty battered also.  We wanted to get it all done at once and be done with it.  We started out thinking that I just don’t have the time to do it myself.  I called three different contractors to give me estimates.  For the back deck alone the estimates all came in at @ $32,000!!!!!  Granted it is a big deck and I want it done in composite decking so I don’t have to continue to be a slave to it, but, come on 35K.  The grand total after adding the small deck and front porch, get this 45,000 dollars!!!  I am obviously in the wrong line of work.

So I will now have to find the time to do it myself. Since the local schools had spring break last week we was able to have our good friends daughter come over to baby-sit while I tore the old deck down. 

What a long week it was. I got home from work (job) at 7am luckily on a couple of days Kelby was still sleeping so I got @ a hour rest before the baby sitter got there at 9am. Then I worked on the deck until 4 or 4:30pm.  Then I stumbled off to bed so I could wake up at 9:30pm and get ready for work (job) again. It has been a very long busy week.

Now I have the deck completely torn down and discarded boards laying all over the place. I have no idea when I’ll get another chance to work on it.

 

Kelby spent a lot of time watching me work from the patio door.  Now when he walks up to the door and looks out at the mess that used to be a deck he says, “Uh ohw”. I have to say that about sums’ it up.

 

God Bless

Kirk

I added a few pictures from Easter day.  Need to write more but I have no time.

God Bless

Kirk

 

Kelby had a 102 temp on Saturday and then on Sunday went up to105. We gave him sponge baths every three hours all through the night to keep his temp down. On Monday morning and afternoon we thought that the fever had broken, his temp was back to normal. Then that night he had a temp of 102 again. The doctor say’s he has pneumonia in one lung.  He has now been sick for 43 days straight starting with a stomach flu that turned into diarrhea that turned into a cold that almost went away then came back and now has turned into pneumonia.  The doctor has prescribed antibiotics. I hate to use them with all the over use of them causing all these new super bugs but at this point what can we do.  This is getting so tiring for us, I can only imagine how sick of being sick Kelby is feeling. It is a good thing that I work this sleepless shift so that at least one of us can always be at home with him without taking time off work.  If it wasn’t for that we would both already be completely out of vacation and sick leave for the rest of the year.  

 

 Ok, I admit that I’ve always thought Valentines Day was just another Hallmark Holliday.  Maybe I’m just a cheap stick in the mud, but what is the deal with this day.  The Friday before the big Holliday the early learning center where Kelby is at on Fridays sent him home with a list of all of the toddlers names in his class so that he could get them all valentines cards.  What the heck is up with that?  For one thing he is only one years old and I doubt if he is in any serous romantic relationships that would require a Valentines Day card, second he is there on Fridays and Valentines day was on Thursday.  I figure they must be sending the list home with everyone and since he is not going to be there on V day that it does not concern us.  Wrong.  On Friday the 15^th when I pick him up he has a bag full of cards and candy from his classmates.  All of the cards have hand written notes inside and some of the cards are really nice hand made cards.  Now all the kids in his class are younger then two years old so the kids did not write in the cards themselves (most, if not all, can’t read yet) and definitely did not make the cards.  So who was this all for? Kelby could care less about cards as he just tries to eat them and the candy he didn’t eat.  Obviously everybody else must have way more time then I do because I surely don’t have the time to put together Valentine card and candy packets for 20+ kids.  As much as I think the whole Holliday is a crock, and, at that blown out of proportion, I still feel guilty that we didn’t get cards for his classmates.  I’m pretty sure that the whole purpose of Valentines day was to mess with men and now it has gone to the next level to mess with all parents.  I’m sure the day is near when we will all be treated equal and everyone can have the same opportunity to feel inadequate by the card, candy, and flower retailers.

 

God Bless

Kirk      

Ok I finally got the video thing working.  Thanks Jane McHowat for your help.  The problem now is almost all of my videos are too long.  I was able to find two that were short but they are not the best.  I have to take some new short videos or figure out how to shorten some of the ones I have.  Right now Kelby is sick again so it is not the best time for videoing.  

We decided that when Kelby turned a year old we would start him in an early learning/day care center one day a week.  Mostly we want him to learn how to interact, share, and play with others at an early age.  Well unfortunately the interacting part includes the sharing of every sickness bug around.  His first day was the Friday before his birthday.  Three days later the day after his birthday he was sick with a stomach flu that turned into a cold.  The cough from that cold never went completely away and now he has another cold.  He only had about two very minor colds in his whole first year.  His second year he has been sick the entire first month. I’m hoping that all this getting sick will build up his immune system and he will become stronger from it.  It is so hard to see him sick.  What can we do?  Put him in a sterilized bubble?  Hopfully he gets better soon and I can get some new (short) video footage to add.

 

God Bless

Kirk

What I remember about my Grandpa

 

When I was growing up we would go visit our Grandparents every weekend usually Sunday afternoon or evening.  Grandma would cook some of the most wonderful food.  Then we would go out and watch Grampa milk the cows and feed the cats. They always had a lot of barn cats and I would like to look for kittens in the hay loft.  After that we would play cards, or, I should say the adults would play cards and us kids would watch and listen to the conversations.  Grampa would tell stories about when he was growing up and I was always very interested in Grampa’s stories. Too bad that it was so long ago and I was so young that I can only remember bits and pieces of those stories.  If I could go back in time I would tape record some of those card game conversations.  I’ll bet I could write a history book just by writing down all the stories Grampa told.

 

When I was a little older I would spend a week or more every summer at Grandpa and Grandma’s house.  That was always a highlight of the summer.  I was Grandpa’s helper.  One time I helped him build an addition on to their house that became their living room.  Of course looking back I don’t really think I was much help but Grampa made me feel like it could not have been built if it wasn’t for me helping.  Other times I would help cut, rake, and bail hay.  The raking is the only part that I really helped on and even that Grampa could have done by himself.  Grampa drove the tractor and I would ride behind on the dump rake and pull the lever to dump the hay in a straight row so it could be later picked up and bailed by the bailer.  In the cutting and bailing part I would ride on the fender of the tractor and jump off to move rocks or sticks out of the way and run and jump back on the tractor.  Yes! I jumped off the moving tractor and moved stuff out of the way from the running machinery and ran to catch back up and jumped back on the moving tractor (without even wearing a helmet ha ha).  Grampa paid me for all my help so I felt like I had a very important job. If it was hunting season Grampa would bring along the shotgun and he would shot pheasants and prairie chickens from the tractor or from inside the pickup while driving out to the field (yes it was legal to do that).  Sometimes when Grampa had things to do, that I couldn’t help with, he would let me take his Red Rider BB gun and go out hunting in the field or into the tree grove and I shoot gophers or sparrows.  I remember Grampa always woke up and started working before the sun came up.  I would always try to wake up as early as he did but every time I got up he was already up and out in the barn milking the cows. Grandma always came out and helped milk the cows and would take in some fresh warm milk that we would have with our breakfast after the milking was done.   

 

There was always lots of work to be done but Grampa always took the time to take me fishing.  Sometimes after the evening milking he would throw his old flat bottomed John boat into the back of the pickup and take me fishing at the Leola Dam.  We would not have much time but the lake wasn’t very far away and Grampa would drive fast.  Back then Grampa always drove really fast on the gravel roads and Granma would not like it.  She used to say that she can tell it is him coming down the road because the dust would be flying a mile high. We always caught some fish even if sometimes they were too small to clean. Nothing ever went to waste and the fish we caught that were too small they got fed to the cats. They never had enough money to buy boughten cat food so they were fed all the table scraps and the fish cleaning scraps. 

 

Grampa built every thing they had himself.  Grampa was a man of many trades.  He was a carpenter, electrician, cabinet maker, farmer and toy maker.  He even built the church in town and I’ll bet he didn’t take any pay for doing it. They surely could have used the money as that is one and only thing that they never had a lot of.  They had ten children three boys and seven girls and that’s a lot of mouths to feed. Thinking back I bet that is why they started milking cows. They grew and raised almost all the food they needed right there on the farm.  They always had a giant garden that was big enough to feed the family fresh vegetables in the summer and canned enough to last through the winter and they had all the fresh milk they needed and sold the rest.

 

This was my Grampa as I remember. The facts might not 100% correct but they are 100% the truth as remembered by a boy, that’s now a man, that idolized his Grampa.

 

My Grampa was born in 1918 and he married my Grandma in 1940 until death do they part.  My Grampa died this last Sunday February 3^rd 2008.

 

I’ve heard people say that the good die young, well I guess those people never knew my Grampa.

 

God Bless

Kirk

 

We got a little dusting of snow last night. Kelby had a great time playing in it.  Too bad it is already all melted :-(.  I added some pictures of Kelby and the dogs playing in it.

 

Kirk

It’s all Momma now.

 

Kelby is one year old.  His new word is momma, and only momma, he will not say dad da anymore.  I say dadda, he says momma and laughs. I say “can you say dadda” he smiles starts to say daaa then smiles again and says momma and laughs. He knows he’s messing with me, I guess this is payback for him saying dadda first, ha.  Kelby is also walking now, he took his first steps before Christmas and has been adding steps ever since.  He can now walk completely across any room in the house.  He still crawls when he needs to get somewhere fast and man can he crawl fast.

 

We had a birthday party for him last week Saturday. Kelby got lots of new toys for his birthday and he ate lots of cake.  That night all the cake came back out. He thru up all over the wall, the crib, the floor and anything else close to where he was in the crib.  We were just sick also, asking ourselves how could we let him eat all that cake, it was our fault that he was sick, how could we be so stupid, exedra, exedra.  The next day it turned to diarrhea (that has lasted all week). KayLynn got sick on Monday night throwing up and was sick for three days (so maybe it was not the cake and we can stop kicking ourselves now).  On Wednesday he started coughing and having a runny nose and a temp (on top of still having diarrhea).  The poor little guy looked so miserable I just wanted to cry for him.  He was taking it way better then me.  I have never in my life seen such a happy miserable sick little kid.  So he has diarrhea, diaper rash, terrible cough, snot constantly pouring out of his nose, red eyes, a fever and still a smile on his face. Though he did not have much energy and mostly he just wanted to cuddle.  Today was the first day in over a week that he has been getting better, not as much diarrhea, less coughing, and has gotten his energy back (knock on wood).

 

Since I didn’t post anything about Christmas I’ll do some catch up here.  We went to visit our families in South Dakota for Christmas.  We had a wonderful time seeing family and Kelby got to meet a lot of his relatives for the first time.  My mom learned how fast Kelby can move.  Kelby was able to break almost all her casserole dishes under her watch.  Kelby was also able to remove all the ornaments from the bottom two feet of the Christmas tree even though he was under constant surveillance.  At KayLynn’s dads house he was only able to break one potted plant.  KayLynn’s dad calls Kelby the energizer bunny and I have to agree the name sure does fit.

 

KayLynn had Christmas planned out completely.  She had it planned for what days we spent where and what clothes we were to wear for each event.  We bought Kelby a snow suit so Kelby could play in the snow.  Kelby had elf pajamas for Christmas Eve night and a Santa outfit for Christmas day.  We all had our best Sunday go to meetin clothes freshly pressed for the Christmas mass.  But nothing ever goes as planned and we all wore the same cloths every day.  Not by choice of course.  The airline lost our luggage until the day before we came back home.  So the only thing we got out of spending a week packing our luggage was we got to lug it though the airport to the luggage check in both ways.  We also got the pleasure of speaking to Frontier Airlines customer dis-service at least two times a day eight days out of our ten day vacation.  Is it just me, or do all the people who works in customer service seem to be getting stupider, lazier, and most of the time just out right rude?  Next time we fly (if we fly) I think we are sending our luggage FedEx.  I would have said UPS but they just lost a package of ours last week and I was privileged to speak with there geniuses in customer service.

 

Complaining aside it was still the best Christmas ever.  We are so blessed to have a child this Christmas and as it was his first Christmas it was our first Christmas to share with our first and only child.  Nothing could have messed that up.  

 

God Bless

Kirk

 P.S. Samantha Joy, I’m praying for you that you can come home with your family soon

 

If there is anyone still checking? I know, I know, it has been a long time since I've posted.  Sorry. 

 

Kelby is now eight and a half months old and is growing so fast. Now he is crawling, climbing, and trying to walk. I should say he is now constantly cruising for trouble.  He can get from one room into the next before you can say where did Kelby go?  If you open a cabinet or closet that you don’t want him into he is in it before you can get what you wanted out and close the door. He is also climbing up on anything he can.  He can also read minds!  Really I’m serious. If you look around the room and think to yourself “I sure hope he does not try to get at that, pull on that, open that, or climb up on that” what ever it is you think of, he will go directly there and try to do that what you were thinking you didn’t want him to do.  Today (before I could say where did Kelby go) he had climbed up on the upright vacuum cleaner and knocked it over onto himself.  Luckily he just got a small bump on the forehead which I’m sure will turn into another black and blue mark. KayLynn is worried that when she takes him in for his checkup that the doctor will think we are beating him or something with all the bumps and bruises he is getting. I think it is normal for him to get a couple bumps and bruises while he is learning to crawl, stand, and walk.  Isn’t it?  How would he learn how to walk if you don’t let him stand?  Maybe I have to much USMC no pain no gain mentality.

 

Kelby is also eating and eating and eating. He has two bottom teeth and one upper tooth and does a good job chewing his food.  He loves cheerios, baby crackers, animal crackers, whole cooked peas, beans, and mostly any food at all.  He even likes spinach now. He will easily eat three jars of baby food in one sitting in under five minutes.  It is so cute he sits there with his mouth wide open looking like a baby bird.  If I don’t get the next spoonful in his mouth fast enough he gets really mad.  I can hardly spoon the food in fast enough.  I timed it, feeding him a full bowl of oatmeal takes only five minutes. We say "he is a good eater".  I say that I hope he does not get to be over 400 lbs and we are still saying “oh he is such a good eater”.  Then of course all that growing, crawling and climbing burns up a lot of energy. Kelby is also very good at shareing.  I give him cheerios in his walker and Kramer (our little dog) follows him all over because Kelby gives Kramer two cheerios for every one that he eats himself.  He also eats half of his cookies and gives the other half to Kramer then of course wants another cookie. We may have to put Kramer on a diet before to long.

 

Two weeks ago Kelby’s Grandpa and Grandma came to visit so I got a break from full time daycare duty for a week. Grandma was more than willing to take over Kelby care. It is salmon fishing season here so it was a great time for a break.  Dad and I went fishing almost every day.  When we started the fishing was great but the catching part was not really working out, only one salmon in two days.  Then by chance while salmon fishing Dad hooked onto something big.  He fought it for over an hour and we were just hoping we could get a look at it before it broke the (12 lb test) fishing line.  The fish finally tired out and we not only got to see what it was but actually caught it.  A 57 inch 50 + lb white Sturgeon.  We figured that it was just a fluke that he caught it until he hooked into another one.  I had to reel that one in because the legal daily limit is one (I think the physical limit is one also).  This one like the first took over an hour to tire out and bring in.  This one was 63 inches long.  Unfortunately there is a size limit on how big the fish can be and it cannot be over 60 inches long to keep.  It was really hard to throw it back after working that hard to bring it in.  The next day we went right back to the same spot (we wasn’t salmon fishing anymore Ha).  We caught a 47 inch and a 59.5 inch Sturgeon.  The big one we measured at 59 inches and we hoped we had measured correctly as it is really hard to get a good measurement on a slippery, tough, fighting, thrashing and jumping fish. When we pulled into the boat dock we really, really hoped that we measured correctly because the game warden was there checking.  The game warden had a much easier time measuring it, dead and not jumping all over the place.  That measurement came out at 59.5. Talk about cutting it close. The next day was time for Grandma and Grandpa to head for home.  I think Kelby was wearing Grandma out, ha ha. Thank you Mom for watching Kelby. It was awesome to get what I think of as a once in a lifetime great father and son fishing (and catching) experience.

 

I added some pictures of Kelby climbing and some pictures of us with the big fish.

 

God Bless

Kirk

 

Kelby is now eating baby food and baby crackers.  He loves the rice crackers although mommy thinks he will choke on them.  I have been feeding them to him all last week and he never choked.  Of course when I feed him one when mom is home he starts coughing as he tried to swallow too big of a piece, so no more cookies while mom is home.  Kelby has liked all the baby food that we have given him until we gave him some spinach.  He did not like spinach!!!  He coughed and gagged and was mad at us for an hour afterwards.  Here are some pictures of Kelby laughing (he is almost always laughing except if you give him spinach) and of him eating the cracker that mommy thinks almost killed him.

God Bless

Kirk 

 

Kelby is over six months old already!  Wow, how time flies.

 

On the 4^th of July Kelby, Aunt Misty, KayLynn, and myself went clam digging and dug up our limit of butter clams, yum yum. Kelby was not yet able to work the shovel so I had to help him dig up his. After that we went over to the neighbor’s house for a BBQ and watched fireworks.  We stayed up much after Kelby’s bedtime (too much excitement throughout the day to even take a nap) so he was getting really cranky but once the fireworks started he was mesmerized.  As soon as the fireworks stopped super crankiness returned and we high tailed it for home.

 

On the 6^th of July we went for a three hour drive to Leavenworth for a friends wedding on the 7^th.  Leavenworth is a Bavarian style tourist town that is in continuous celebration mode with lots of cool shops to spend money in. Kelby’s Godparents came to Leavenworth and watched Kelby while we went to the wedding. We stayed at a Bavarian lodge (Hotel) with a nice pool. We shopped in all the shops watched the shows and did the German polkas. It was hot out and Kelby and I spent time chilling in the pool.

 

On the 14^th of July friends from Utah came for a visit and we went on Kelby’s first boating and crabbing trip.  We put out our crab traps and relaxed in our favorite cove in the San Juan Islands. This cove is right in front of a secluded public beach that is hardly ever used or even known about. Most of the time it is like our own little private beach.  Not this time.  We had a guy (freak boy) on the beach nude.  He was totally stoned on something and was giving us quite a show. It definitely gave our friends something to talk about back home in Utah. We pulled up our traps every hour or so and kept catching all undersized crab. Every pull would have 15 or so crab but all too small and most by only an eight of an inch. When we was ready to call it a day, say goodbye to freak boy, and pull up our traps to go home we only had one keeper. On that last pull we got lucky and had our full limit of big crabs. That evening we had a steak and crab feast. Now let me tell you that is some good eatn right there. Kelby smiled and laughed continuously and was just the perfect baby all day.

 

Last week Kelby and I built a large planter in the front yard. We went to the landscape place to get a pickup load of dirt and Kelby was laughing his head off at the lady behind the pay counter who was making faces at him.  She asked if he is always that happy and I told her that yes he is a very happy baby.  As I was leaving I heard her tell the other lady working there “I have never seen such a happy baby in my life”. We planted a Magnolia tree in the planter (Kelby’s tree) planted the year he was born.  

 

Yesterday we went fishing at the lake a couple blocks from our house. We caught 16 perch. Kelby thinks almost everything is funny and makes him laugh but fish and worms are especially funny.

 

Kelby is able to sit unassisted without falling over.  He does not crawl but rolls all over the place. Kelby loves being outside and if he is (on that rare occasion) crying and nothing seems to make him happy all I have to do is go outside with him and he starts smiling.  I have both a front and a back pack baby carrier that I alternate using in which Kelby spends most of the day while I/we walk around and do yard work outside. Kelby at only six months has already been hot tubing, clam digging, boating, crabbing, fishing, long car trip, flew in an airplane, watched fireworks, stayed at a hotel, seen a freak boy, and went swimming in the big pool.

 

It’s a wonderful life.

God Bless

Kirk

 

Kelby loves the hot tub.  I added some pictures of him playing and spashing in the hot tub for the fist time.

 

God Bless

Kirk

The ten things I like most about summer.

 

I was tagged by  http://itsagirlseyler.spaces.live.com/  to do a summer top ten list. The hardest part is getting it down to only ten because I really really love summer.  All of the things on my list I enjoy most doing with my best friend KayLynn.  I can not wait until Kelby is old enough to enjoy some of these things with us.

 

1. The sun!
2. Boating which includes crabbing, fishing, boat camping, and sight seeing.
3. Shore fishing, the simple old fashion way with a bobber and a can of worms.
4. Barbequing and sitting around the fire on a warm summer evening.
5. Camping, roughing it out in nature with all the dirt and grime that goes with it (I’m sure this is not on KayLynn’s top ten list especially not the roughing it part. Ha ha).
6. Spending more time outside with our four legged friends.
7. Thunder storms (not while camping).
8. Growing, picking & eating fresh vegetables from the garden (freshly made pickles are my favorite vegetable). 
9. Ice cold beer on a hot summer day.
10. Clam digging and then eating the fresh caught & cooked clams.

 

For those that read this blog, tag now your it.  What is on your summer top ten list?

 

God Bless

Kirk

 

Long time since I last posted.  There was really no new news until now. Everything happens all at once. 

On Memorial day weekend KayLynn and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary.  Our friends (Kelby's godparents) anniversary is on the same day as ours so we celebrated it together We went on a winery tour and stayed overnight at Crescent Lake Lodge (Grandma was here so we had a reliable babysitter). I posted pictures of the trip.

 

On Sunday morning June 3, 2007 was Kelby’s baptism. Kelby and six other babies’ were baptized at our Church. Kelby’s Grandma (my mom), his Aunt (KayLynn’s Sister) and lots of friends showed up for the event. The baptism went really well and none of the babies cried. I figured that out of six at least one of them would start a chain reaction of crying but thank god I was wrong. There was a Reception afterwards at Kelby’s godparents’ home.  Kelby got lots of attention and was held and carried around all day and he loved every minute of it.  It was a long day with no nap so when we got home he was overtired and cranky.  He slept for @ 12 hours straight that night. Pictures of the event will be posted as soon as I get then downloaded.

 

On Monday June 4, 2007 was our adoption court date. Kelby is now officially and legally our baby.

 

Lots of happy times in the last couple of weeks but as always with the good always comes some bad.  Friday May 4^th my dog and good friend Cosmo died.  Cosmo started having really bad seizures on Friday and never came out of them. Cosmo had a good life except for the bad times when he was having Grand Mal Epileptic seizures.  He was on medication that we gave him twice a day since he started having them (1 hour after his first rabies vaccine).  The medication helped but he still had seizures about once every 6 months. Considering his medical condition I guess he lived full life of almost 7 years.

 

I added pictures of the stair banister and railing that I finally completed.  It is made out of trees from our property.