Our house, in the middle of our street

Please enjoy this song and video while reading this post.



This post is about our new home in Columbus, Ohio (assuming we close on it, as planned, on Aug. 1). The home is part of a project called "Home Again," through which the city bought run-down properties, gutted them and refurbished them completely. My brother, David, and his family live in a home done by the program and love it. When we were looking for a place, we were first drawn to the Home Again properties, but there was only one left in Franklinton, the area of Columbus where David lives.

Long story short, we got the last Home Again house in the area, only three blocks from David and Megan. Hooray! It is a beautiful home, built originally in 1893, but completely refurbished in 2007. It has lovely wood floors on the main floor and carpet upstairs. It also has three bedrooms, so we can have visitors! You are all invited to visit.

Here are some Before and After shots for your perusal.

The part of it, however, that I am most excited about is the kitchen. It is large, with lots of cabinetry, so Crystal can continue her self-proclaimed "baking problem." To quote Earl Hickey, though, saying Crystal has a baking problem "is like saying Michael Jordan has a basketball problem, or Def Leppard has an awesomeness problem. So ya'll can just pour some sugar on that." Here's the kitchen:
It also has a yard, not huge, but good-sized, and it has parking for our cars in the back, with access from an alley. We are very excited to move in.

As well as being close to David and Megan, it is also about a 5.5-mile bike ride to school for me. I am very excited to commute by bicycle, to get in better shape and to avoid paying for gas.

Pavlov's Baby

Jordan and I have inadvertently done some scientific experimentation on Clara. Since Clara was in the NICU, she had to be formula fed as well as nursing so that her glucose levels stayed at a good level. Because she was used to having as much food as she wanted then, we are still supplementing her diet with formula, even though we are trying to ween her off of it. One thing is for sure, she LOVES to eat! Usually during the afternoon I end up nursing her almost every hour, but it still isn't enough and boy does she let me know! She will scream and cry and be very unhappy as I make a bottle for her, but as soon as I tuck a burp cloth under her chin she stops crying and opens her mouth. I thought that was a little funny, so when she was a little fussy I tucked something under her chin and low and behold, she stopped crying (for a little bit). By supplementing with formula, we created a Pavlovian response in Clara! Every now and again when she gets fussy, I will tuck something under her chin and she will stop crying for about 10 sec0nds until she realizes that food isn't coming, then she gets mad.

Here are some random cute pictures of Clara:

This is her Independence Day outfit.

This is her first week going to church
And this is her oh so cute tomato outfit. Isn't she the cutest baby ever?

So I bought a new backpack...

I got a new backpack the other day in preparation for hefting my stuff for law school. I was very excited about searching for my pack, and I finally chose the North Face Recon pack, which has a lot of space, sternum and waist straps for stability (helpful because I plan to commute by bicycle), a sturdy construction and even an emergency whistle built in.

This morning I was getting ready to pack up my backpack, so I cut off the tags and made sure all the straps and zippers were ready to go. That is when I found this:


A plastic baggie with eight individually wrapped Summer's Eve Feminine Personal Cleansing Cloths! Inside my backpack! I quickly found Crystal to find out if they were hers and she had begun packing my backpack for me. They were not hers.

So, now my questions begin. Did someone use my backpack already, then return it? Did someone (some lady?) buy it, pack it up, decide to not use it, unpack it and return it? Is there someone out there that is very concerned about the personal hygiene of the general public, concerned enough to leave hygiene products hidden in various places at retail establishments?

Who knows? It is just kind of funny to me, over all.

The one concern I have, though, is that this is irrefutable proof that I bought a girl backpack. I'll be picked on by everyone in school!

My last story

The last story I wrote for the Standard-Examiner was about a family with Job Syndrome, a hereditary auto-immune disorder which limits the body's ability to fight off infections. It also leads to dental problems and brittle bones.

The story ran today, making it possibly the last of my journalism career.

The family was very gracious to let me, and especially the photographer, who came up with the story idea, to come to their home and talk about their trials. I wrote two stories, one about the disease itself, and the other about how the family deals with the disease. In the one about the family, I was able to use five verses from the Book of Job and weave them through the story. I think it turned out really well.

Here is the story about the family.

And here is the story about the disease.

Take the time to watch the video of the girls, too (it is embedded in the first story). It is long, but very poignant.

Family picture, new wardrobes, some fun and a concern about what America's hospitals are teaching our children

Yes, we have become parents.

Those parents.

Probably your parents.

The parents who tell everyone, "hold on," right when you get home from church because they want a family picture before everyone changes into more comfortable clothes. And you know what? We like it.

And so do you. Admit it. Having a current family picture is a great thing, and it helps that we can show off our kid's cute new outfit.

(Speaking of new clothes for Clara... She has an entire wardrobe right from the get-go. Can you imagine having 30 new outfits just waiting for you when you got home some day? It would be incredible. I think we should implement "30 showers," in the same vein as baby showers, but when you turn 30, all your friends and family get together and buy you new clothes. It would be great. Thirty years old is about when you need to get rid of your high school T-shirts and punk-kid clothes and start dressing like a grown up. The only downside to this is with about half of all people (the group called "men") you would have to do a follow-up shower every 10 years or so, or the 30 Shower clothes would still be used at the 60th birthday party. NOTE: The age 30 has nothing to do with the fact that I would love a new wardrobe in about 34 months.)

All is going well for us in Heber City. We are settled in to living out of our suitcases and various boxes on the floor and loving it. Clara's doctor said everything is great for us to go to Fresno for the 4th of July, too. We have also been able to have some fun, including hauling more than 1800 pounds of bunk beds for Crystal's dad, having a cook out at the family cabin and picking up our forwarded mail from Ogden. (Yeah, we used to be cool, but remember, we're parents now.)

Here are some pictures of the cookout and the bunkbed move. Thanks to Crystal's mom for carrying so many futon mattresses. S'mores are so good!



Finally, I have a quick comment on something we saw while in the NICU with Clara. In her room, there were eight "pods" for the babies. Each one was lettered, A through H. All the pods were decorated with cute, hand-painted signs indicating their letter, and also with an animal in a Noah's Ark theme, with birds on the B sign, camels on the C, elephants on the E, etc. All of it made sense except for the A, Clara's bed. This is what her sign looked like.


A is for ... Zebra?

If Clara turns out illiterate, it is going to be on the head of the hospital. That's my decision. After all, I'm the parent.