So.

So. Dave's been gone for almost two weeks, boo, in Panama City, Florida. He comes home on Thursday, yay! Since he's been gone I've attempted to keep busy. I attended a surprise birthday party for a friend from church, attended a birthday soiree for a friend/Katie's neighbor, and saw a local production of Butterflies Are Free preformed by the King's Players. I met the director at Jo's soiree so it was fun to chat theater for a while. Our church was scheduled to have a church picnic on Sunday at a local ancient park with big trees, but due to high winds (25mph) we had to stay at the church (not nearly as fun). I also pet-sit Topher last weekend. Slider enjoyed having some company and playmate, but I think he was worried Topher would be a permanent addition - he just wasn't himself all weekend. This week I've been preparing for the Hamilton Invasion, who also arrive on Thursday. I'm driving to LA to pick them up, and we're banking on their "packing light" abilities so that' we'll all (7 of us) fit in our Highlander - with 3rd row. So I've been busy making nest-beds for the youngest boys, including a "clubhouse" in the walk-in closet in the guest room. I decorated it with Dragon and Navy paraphernalia and put a touch light and night-time reading books in there. It's pretty cool. It's like Nathan and John's own room, and I think Connor's going to be bitterly jealous. Ohwell.

Noah and I are off to our regular doctor's appointment with Dr. Shipper, Katie is accompanying.

more updates

I'm making this quick because I'm super tired of finding more things wrong with Noah.

We had a fetal echo cardiogram on Monday and the Tech found that Noah has Trucus Arteriosis. Click the link to learn about it becuase I don't feel like describing it. The good news is that it doesn't harm him while he's inside me, cause I keep him safe. As always, if it were the only thing wrong, it is treatable.

We had a really good expereince with the doctor there, super nice, easy to talk to, willing to listen, appreciated and supported our decision, inspired by our bravery, etc. The Tech offered to see us whenever we wanted to have an ultrasound - regardless of insurance - during his lunch any day. He's willing to do as many pictures as we'd like.

We also discussed that a) Noah's cute; b) we are blessed that he doesn't have any facial deformities; many babies with these types of abnormalities have cleft palates or the like. It's comforting to be able to just look and him and think he's beautiful, and not have to see everything that's wrong.

Slider's busy eating cat vomit, so I'll leave it all at that.

There he is!

There's our little Noah-boy! We had an ultrasound in Fresno today and were able to get some 3D glamour shots.

Baby's name

We've decided on a name!

Noah Patrick

We decided on Noah for the Biblical references: We have to trust that God will guide us through this storm and keep His promise in the end - that Noah will be awaiting us in Heaven, keeping seats warm for us. So we're banking on that rainbow.... Dave also points out that Noah in the Bible is first recorded drunk. I think this will bear no similarity to our Noah.

Patrick is for my cousin, James Patrick Walthall, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in 2007 at the too-young age of 26. Noah will also be taken from us at too young an age, but both son's memory will still live after them.

Another week goes by..

Another week passes by. It started off pretty rough - as is usual - with trying to make doctors appointments and not being able to and trying to sort through it all. The week picked up though. Katie and I - with Maya and Caleb - went shopping in Fresno, and visited Laura at Anthropologie as we oogled over the clothes there. Dave signed us up as volunteers to work a concession stand at the Fresno Grizzlies AAA baseball game. While we didn't have to actually cook the burgers, we did everything else, serving hundreds of people, and it happen to be Dollar Beer Night so the place was bouncing, even though it was a crispy 55degrees out and progressively getting cooler. I can honestly say that I have not worked that hard in a long long time. Another wife and I even did the dishes after the park closed. We raised money for the squadron's MWR fund, and I'm not sure what our total is yet. I also do not recommend eating anything from a ballpark: while the place was "clean", the food is "fresh", but it is all SO gross. Stick with hotdogs: at least there you know you don't know what you're eating. The "most interesting" item we served was a Frito Pie. I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but it does not sound appetizing to me. Two bags of Frito chips, topped with Nacho cheese, tomatoes... I don't even know what else, but I stopped listening after they said chips and cheese.... Friday, Dave and I had date-night and ate at Toshiko's restaurant in Hanford. It's a Japanese restaurant, but pales in comparison to those who've recently eaten real Japanese food. They don't even serve Toro, I mean really! And no Ramen! Blah! Saturday, Dave and I drove to Monterey for the day. We ate at a place called Pepper's Mexicali Cafe in Pacific Grove and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I now want to live in Pacific Grove - the houses there are just my style. I can't even imagine how much many millions they cost...We drove up "The Five" on the way there, and took 198 all the way back. I-5 is a major highway and not too scenic, but 198 was really scenic, very twisty, and lots of valleys and peaks to look at. Today, Sunday, we drove up to Fresno to leisurely watch a Grizzlies game, which is definitely the way to see a game. I even kept score, using all the nerdy stuff my dad taught me. I had some trouble remembering how to mark everything, but the basics were there. The Grizzlies won 4-3 with an exciting 2 single run back to back home runs in the bottom of the Eighth.

We've chosen a name and will reveal it after we've told our parents.