Seems like i have lost alot of steam for this site. I am going to try picking up where i left off.

Lil Johnny had his Uroligy appt. He is normal without any concerns. We couldnt have gotten better news.

Its strange to me how grief comes in waves. I was looking through LIL Johnnys Diaper bag and came across my Dads Memorial notice. I read the poem that was on the Memorial paper. The poem is “the Dash” by Linda Ellis It instantly made me tear up. It was the best poem that could have been placed on my dads memorial paper. Needless to say i cried for about 10 minutes and had to come to the back room and hug Monica and the baby. I can only hope i spend my dash as well as my Dad did.

He noted that first came his date of birth and spoke the following with tears.

For the dash represents, all the time he spent alive on earth.

For it matters not, how much we own; the cars, the house, the cash, what matters most is how we live and love and how we spend our dash…
So think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left, that can still be rearranged.

by Linda Ellis

Took LIL Johnny back to the DR. for a follow up. The found that he had a urinary tract infection. They said it was rare for a baby his age to get them so they want him to see a pediatric urologist. Just to make sure it isn’t something congenital. We hope it isn’t that and he just got poo poo where his pee pee should be.

When we took him in they also notice a Heart murmur. They also want LIL johnny to see the cardiologist. They said most of the time its a benign. Again we will pray that it is just something that will pass with age.

We had to take LIL Johnny to Urgent Care. He had a Temp of 99.9 when MON checked. In Lamaze they told us to take him in if his Temp was over 100. So we figured it was close enough.

When we got there his temp had gone up to 103 in about a half hour. He didn’t have diarrhea or vomiting just a high temp. Didn’t actually seem sick but the thermometer doest lie. They gave him a Tylenol Suppository it worked fast. Temp went done right away.

We gave them the go ahead to draw blood. I swear there must be amateurs working in the Urgent care. They wanted to draw blood by pricking his heel. The first LVN tried and his heel clotted before they could get the blood in the the vile. Then they got the “PRO” She tried and got blood on herself, LIL Johnny and the floor. Come to find out they had the “wrong Vile.”

Now they wanted to draw blood with the needle from a vein in his arm. They got him all prepped and stuck him with the needle. They actually seemed to have given after a few pokes. They had an argument about who was going to try again. As they poked away i almost asked if i could just do it. After all i did visit the plasma center about 100 times when i was a teen. It took the better part of 5 minutes to get the blood to flow into the vile. The whole time he screamed and stared at me like aren’t you going to do something about this.

They also did a chest x ray. I wondered how they were going to fuck this up. However they seemed to have a good x ray tech they actually knew how to work the machine. I was shocked with the techs mediocre competence. I figured he’d be on break or something and the stooge LVNs would have to do it.

We went back to the room and waited. All they could find was an pre ear infection. One ear was a little more red then the other. Gave him a shot of Antibiotics and sent us home. Seemed to be much better today.

Sure is scary to think he could get a fever and it be so high in a short period of time. Even more scary to think these are the people that save lives. I hate to be a sceptic but the mdicle field has become just like any corporate job. They seem to be calloused and there just for the check.

On the other hand i am thankful that he is ok and they were there so we didnt have sit down at the ghetto ER

I was flipping through some old pictures of LIL Johnny. I came across these pictures below. He does this all the time. He will be just fine one minute and then let out a big scream. Then instantly go back to being ok and wait and see if any one looks at him. If no one is talking to him he repeats the cycle. This is an excellent capture of how he looks.

I think we should change LIL Johnnys name to LIL Pavarotti. Last night I had one of my MP3 player ear buds in his ear. We were listening to a Tenor sing a classical song about how everyone will be exalted. As the song would crescendo LIL johnny would let out several loud COOOOOOOOs as if he was singing. We did this for about 10 minutes.

When we woke up,  i played then song again and he got a huge smile on his face as if he remembered the song and liked it. Maybe we have a future Tenor on our hands. HMMM…

 LIL Pavarotti Singing Save to desktop, Right click and use “save target as” if it isnt working by clicking.

More images added to page 2 of of the July 2008 page here.

Click Here

I have been racking my brain about this issue for a week or so. I don’t really know what to write about my Father dying suddenly. I have so many feelings about it. It is so strange and heartbreaking to get that call that your 52 year old Father died from an aneurysm. What the fuck? It isn’t supposed to be like that.

I find myself thinking that i wasted so many years i could have spent my Father because i was an asshole kid that just wanted it my way. I wouldn’t compromise. We had a 10 year falling out when i was 12. Mainly my fault since i wanted to be with my Mom. It was the facade of freedom that lured me and brought out the worst in me. Looking back now it wasn’t freedom but a lack of structure. I know now why he fought so hard against me about it.

After we reconciled, we had a lot of good times. I went to my Fathers wild game dinner after his trip to Africa. Flew out to MN again for my brother Nicks wedding. We also were there for my Fathers 50th birthday. We even met up in Reno, NV for a huge Safari Club convention. Mon and i loved visinting My Father and Mother Larson in MN. We always have lots of good times. We Hope they continue into the future now that my Fathers life has ended.

We communicated via email mostly. Email is what i miss the most about my Fathers passing. I would ask for advice about life, love and work. He would tell me about the many exciting things that i wasn’t able to make it to MN for. We would send emails daily for multiple weeks then not for a month or so. We enjoyed communicating this way.

MY Father Loved his family and friends. He took very good care of us all and was the most generous person that i know. I couldn’t list all the kind things he did for people unless you wanted a book posted here.

After my fathers service we were back at HE and Mom Larsons house to celebrate his life with lots of family and friends around. One of the friends Shawn proposed a toast. He said. “Here’s to the death of fun” We toasted and i pondered that it truly was. I hope not.

  RIP Father. I will miss you.

LIL Johnny has the funniest cry. He does the typical baby Wah… WAH!! But in between each Wha he does a huge pig snort. The snort is the deep nasal kind that some people do when they laugh. It isn’t just once in a while like the laugh though. It is everytime he cries. In fact this is the noise that we usually hear at 3am and 5am when he wakes up to eat. It has actually scared me a few times.

The cutest thing happened. I was sleeping and monica and baby were in the bed with me. When i opened my eyes LIL Johnny was staring at me with the biggest smile. He is sooo cute.

Nothing funny to say just added a few pictures to the photos page. Our boy is getting big so fast and changing by the day.

Photos page 

Johnny Really makes some funny faces. He has a range of faces that he makes. Everything from puckered lips to the tounge out waiting for food.

I just cant help but to laugh at the lil guy.

Everyone says to enjoy it while he’s little. We certainly are.

One week has went by for our baby. He is a joy. I cant seem to keep my eyes off of him. I watch as he sleeps, eats, and poops. I swear there is not a feeling more special then holding my child in my arms as he stares at me and studies my face.  I truley know what it is like to be blessed.

When i see him now it is hard to believe that he was in his Mommys tummy just last week. He seems so big. I do understand better now why she was having so much nerve pain at the end of her pregnancy.

Happy 1 week birthday LIL Johnny. Mommy and I love you so much.

Johnny’s here. HE is so awesome. He is all i could imagined and more. He was 8 lbs 11 oz. They say that is a big baby but he came out pretty easy according to my view. Lie the nurse said. An epideral is like “taking a 747 jet instead of horse back.” I have to agree.

Well here is what people want to see.

[Show as slideshow]

We had Mons last prenatal appt today. It was they typical appt. They checked for her to be dilated and they were expecting about a 1 or 1.5. She is dilated to a 3 and is 100%. I guess the 100% means her uterus is thinned out as far as it can.

If Mon doesn’t have the LIL Johnny in the next few days we go in at 6 am on wednesday for her to be induced. The tension is mounting.

Its me the wee knee. I did it again. I unintentionally hurt someones feeling. That person this times happens to be Mon. I posted something called “Lesson Learned” It was completely out of context. I realized that it was not accurate after i wrote it and well Mon was upset.

I should have prefaced it that i was begging for her to read my blog. She was fully engulfed in the season finale of American Idol. Being interrupted during American Idol is enough for some women to kill a man. Let alone be forced to read something she could have read after America Idol.

I also was off with my quote of her. I dont think she put the statemet that harshly. Most people reading this know she is a nice person and doesnt have a mean bone in her body. She enjoys reading what i write and is actually my number one fan, i think. She reads what i write the minute she gets home from work.

I would never intentionally make her look like a bitch or mean or anything else that people could think. I assumed that you all, at this point with the blog being very young, know that she is not. As the old cliche goes  “you know what assuming does.” Well i ended up being the ass this time.

I hurt her feelings, possibly made her look bad, for that I’m sorry. 

Sniffle sniffle… (well not anymore but earlier i was.)

We just went on a “Tea And Tour”  at the hospital. It’s a tour of labor and delivery and recovery areas. The “Tea” part is a fine meal of hospital food. pasta in ketchup and mystery meat. I think this is to get us used to it for the two days that we will be there. I will be making a trip to In-n-out for our lunch.

 The crying part came in on the tour of labor and delivery. They were showing us the all-in-one labor and delivery room. This room is one of the more high tech rooms Ive been in. A few computers and a baby monitoring center with a bun warmer for LIL Johnny’s buns. At our hospital LIL Johny only leaves our side for about an hour to get weighed, shots and eye treatment. This is great as i remember the days when you requested your child and waited for him to arrive on a cart.

I got all teary in the labor part. They said if the nurse doesn’t ask for skin to skin time after he is born then we need to request it. They went on to explain how it important its and helps with breast feeding and bonding. I don’t know why i tear up about this. Maybe it is that i know he will soon be here and love Mom and me unconditionally, as we will him.

Now onto recovery. We looked at the modest rooms that we would likely spend the better part of 2 day. My first thought was wow they are small. Then i told Mon ” I see there is no place for dad to sleep so i guess ill be going home” Just as i said that the nurse doing the tour said “we have folding cots for dad to sleep on.” Damn shot down again.

Then we went past the nursery. There was only one lone baby in there. Sleeping like he just had the ride of his life down the birth canal. Seeing him there so innocent and peaceful made me well up again. I managed to suck it up by staring at the ULTRA bright fluorescent lights overhead.

I like this new side of me but damn. I am the only guy crying and all the women are saying how cute. I was thinking of getting a mask like this so people don’t stare.  The wont stare at me because im crying at least. LOL

It all seems so final now. The baby shower is over and all that’s left is LIL Johnny to arrive. If you have read any of my previous posts you already know that I’m EXTREMELY excited about that.

I didn’t really want to go to the shower at first as it is a “chick thing.” However i really enjoyed myself and feel like i got to know some of our family members on Mon side a lot better. I have talked to them in passing at family get togethers but never really like i did at the shower. Actually i am usually drunk at the other functions. :-)

We are so grateful for all the stuff that we received from our friends and family. We got so many clothes, diapers and accessories we shouldn’t have to wash baby clothes or buy diapers until Little Johnny is a year old. We even got a Diaper Champ. I didn’t know what it was but was very sad to find out it wouldn’t change diapers for me.

I have pictures up. They are a little blurry since i handed the camera off and didn’t check the mode. So they were taken in “action mode.” They still turned out good i think.

The full Gallery is here

OK so I’m not working. I have had the opportunity to get to hang out with Andrew a lot. With this comes a lot of him trying to push me and see what he can get me to do if he begs and pleads.

Yesterday he insisted he needed a chunk of 2×4 wood. He asked for it about and hour before we were to leave for karate. He said it was for an emergency soap box derby car due at school the next day. I asked why he would wait so long if he has know about it. He didnt have an answer. I told him no since we didn’t have time to get the wood, the tools and cut it before we went to karate. He got an attitude and started begging.

I didn’t say anything but i knew it was just for fun and not for a project.  As he begged i would say “no i don’t want to get the tools out and cut it.”

He said inth te ususal smart ass 12 year old way ” ill use the saw and do it myself.”

I thought uh huh you have never even used a saw and wouldn’t even know how to get the guard off. And still somehow manage to cut his finger off.

Anyway back to the confession part.

After a few hours of Andrew begging i sort of get a kick out of watching the instructor basically beat Andrew and the class with plank ab exercises and jogging in place.  Andrews instructor is a olympic medalist in Judo so he know how to make them sweat. After this they practiced a form that involved an arm lock. Andrew and a partner his size took turns punching at each other and taking each other to the ground with arm locks.

This is sort of satisfying. I guess secretly i would like to take him out this way after a 2 hour begging session. LOL

Anyway i probally could do and it wouldnt matter since he is a huge effin stud anyway. I guess if he stays in karate long enough he will take me down with a arm lock if i dont cut the board for him.

You all know her. She is super sweet and READY TO POP. Im sure nanny will think this picture is highly inappropriate for the internet so i removed the face.

Click here to find out. ( No not gramma hopper)