M&M Friedl & Family

St. Nick

2011-12-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

In preparing for Christmas, Grace decided to write a biography of Santa Claus. I really liked her take on the jolly old elf. Here it is:

Which goes to prove it's never too late to start something new.
Ho Ho Ho Everyone!

Lukey Boy Reading the Grinch

2011-12-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

Luke reads the How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, by Dr. Seuss. Luke is 4 years, 4 months old, and this book is nearly a fourth grade reading level. Of course, there is some memorization because he knows the story, but he is definitely not just reciting from memory. What a good boy!

Welcome to our new site!

2011-12-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has visited this site recently could see how far behind we had fallen in recent months. Indeed, the newest photo on the old home page was two years old!

We've done a better job of posting photos in our Picasa albums, plus the occasional video on Youtube. These things, together with the occasional blog post, have rendered our old HTML site obsolete. So we've now made the blog the main body of the site, with links to photos and videos we add. Oh, and we've retained an archive copy of the old site. See link below right.

Happy 2012 everyone!

Ouch!

2011-10-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I'm writing this as much to remember these events as to share them, so my apologies if I don't leave anything out.

It started out as a normal, everyday evening. I had had a late night at my desk the night before and was dragging. Chickee was out running errands and I finished putting the girls to bed. Lukey had taken a good nap at school so he was going to bed last. Lizzie offered to do Luke's bath and bedtime so I could get back to my desk. I heartily accepted her offer, gave Lukey a goodnight hug as he was headed up with his auntie.

I headed straight for the fridge in the garage. In the 10 seconds I was out there, I heard a muffled commotion through the walls. Puzzled, I hit the door and heard the screams. I immediately recognized Luke as the screamer but also heard Lizzie hollering for me as well. If I wasn't already concerned, the sight of my son's blood dripping down from the landing above was enough to make me practically levitate up the stairs to see Lizzie holding a screaming 4-year old with blood spurting from a gash on his forehead.

Turns out my little monkey was jumping on the bed. And as the song goes, he fell off and bumped his head. They must sanitize all the 'the-head-is-so-vascular-it-bleeds-like-crazy' stuff so it doesn't freak out young readers. But I suspect that the doctor tells mama that but I digress.

In any case, I had never seen that much blood. Not to get graphic, but the house looked like a crime scene. I knew that job #1 was to get the bleeding stopped. I put him on the counter with a towel under his head and held a wash cloth on the wound. I couldn't get a good look at it because it was positively gushing (read: fountain), and Lukey-boy was anything but calm. His thrashing didn't help much, poor little guy. He just wanted me to stop touching his aching noggin. The gash looked to be nearly an inch long at the top of his nose directly between his eyebrows.

Lizzie was a huge help. She immediately was on the phone to Chickee, who was now SPEEDING home. I quickly became concerned that I couldn't take a flailing, bleeding boy to the ER for stitches, so unless I could get the bleeding stopped we were going to be stuck in that bathroom. Thank goodness the floor is tile. It was already too late for our clothes. Given the situation, I asked Lizzie to call the paramedics just in case I couldn't get the bleeding stopped.

The guys were there quickly. Seems like a cast of thousands, but I hear it was only six. Chickee arrived about the same time to the chaos and still crying Luke. Grace, having seen him fall in their room, was freaking out with worry, but thankfully she stayed in her room and away from all the color.

The good news is that the bleeding was slowing down about the time the firemen arrived. They busily made sure he didn't have a concussion or other life-threatening injury, while at the same time sizing me up and checking him for unexplained bruises.

Finally the crying and thankfully, the bleeding abated.

Before heading to the ER at Mission Hospital, we thanked the fire guys and bade them good night. But not before Lukey got to sit in the fire engine. And not a little pickup or ambulance, mind you, but the real, 4-alarm monster. I'm sure our neighbors were horrified to see this hulking thing racing up to the house with the siren blaring. Seeing the fire engine was surely the best part for our injured boy. He loved when they flashed the lights on their way off.

Mission's ER was jam packed, but there is something about walking in with a blood-covered child. One lady in the waiting room looked at us and said, hopefully, "I hope that's ice cream all over his shirt." They saw us quickly.

Luke at the ER waiting to be seen.

We waited around, saw the triage nurse, then we angered the ER doc when we told him we would wait for a plastic surgeon. "I stitch these things up daily" was his comment. "Then you won't miss one more" was ours. When Dr. Nolan arrived, we all were really tired (remember the evening started with me dragging). He was comforting, commenting, "this isn't bad at all" when he looked at the open wound on Lukey's head.

They put Luke into a so-called twilight anesthesia, which was strangely uncomfortable to see, but it sure beat the protesting of the shot that got him there. We stepped out of the room while the stitching took place.

A short time and a lot of worrying later, Dr. Nolan validated our insistence. Luke's cut was deep - to the bone - and required quite a bit of internal suturing. Indeed, he took 10 stitches in three layers inside, then 9 to close the wound. He said the result would be very good. Much better than had we just had the ER guy start sewing. He might say that to everyone but it was comforting to us nonetheless.

It took seemingly forever for him to wake up from anesthesia (it was 1:00 a.m., after all, a time when this boy is typically sawing logs), but we finally piled him in the car and gingerly strapped him in.

We are eternally grateful to Lizzie, not just for her quick action after the accident, but for looking after Grace and helping her get to sleep after such drama, AND for cleaning up the bathroom after we left. You'd have never known what the place looked like just hours earlier, but it was clean and quiet at 1:30 when we returned. Chickee took to the carpets with Resolve with such gusto that we now have white spots where there were red spots. We finally dropped into bed at 2:30. This on a night I was tired to begin with.

They said the drugs were amnesiacs, and that he wouldn't remember anything....WRONG! He remembered, and seemed traumatized by everything - except the actual bonking of his head! The good news is that over the ensuing days he seemed to get past it and was his irrepressible self.

The Sunday following the Wednesday adventures, we went to the fire station to bring cookies and thank the guys for answering the call.

Luke in his fire hat.

Helping a firefighter at the station.

"Driving" the fire truck (sorry about the bad lighting)

Luke with a real firefighter (a dad of kids the same age and with similar stories)

All in all, we hope these are the things that dominate his memories. Grace's too. Good thing Claire slept through the whole thing. Let's hope this is something he looks back on and remembers only when he reads this post and sees the pics. For the record, they don't do justice to how scary this injury was. But even as awful as it was, we thank God that it is a story we can tell without it being a major crossroads for this boy who has already been through so much.

We've already encountered so many people whose sons have similar tales. Sounds increasingly like a rite of passage. Let's hope it's an isolated occurrance.

Right before the stitches were removed.

One week following stitch removal.
Note that he is wearing the same shirt as the accident. Mommy works magic with Oxyclean!

Luke's Art

2011-06-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

I've previously posted some photos of Grace's art, but now's the time to share some example of Luke's work. Luke won't turn 4 until August, so bearing that in mind, I think he does quite a good job.

This piece is a portrait of Mommy. I thought it was quite detailed. I also was impressed & entertained that he draws hands the same way Grace does. I don't recall drawing hands that same way, nor do I recall seeing kids doing that when Chickee was teaching, but Grace & Luke both do.

The second images are from the Father's Day card Lukey made for me at school. When his teacher asked him "where's his face?" Luke matter-of-factly replied, "he's looking the other way."

Well duh.

The inside of the card contains Luke's answers to the questions about me. Pretty insightful.

Fairy's Life

2011-02-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's time for my annual blog post. Or so it seems that, despite my best intentions, I see that it has been over a year since my last post. Not that I haven't had things to say. It's just that I usually think about writing something when I'm in the car or at work. When I'm home, it's either dealing with kids, doing paperwork at my desk, or trying to unwind.

But today is a little different. I'm hanging out with Grace and the two little ones are napping. She wrote her first book yesterday, and I'm really pleased with it. It's entitled "Fairy's Life" and the electronic version is at left. Not sure when a Kindle or iPad version is coming out.

She and Mommy insist she had no help in putting it together. I quite enjoyed it and am posting it here.
Title Page:
Grace
Fairy's life
Feb 11, 2011

Grace's comment: The blond fairy is Grace (the "5" is the giveaway), and the dark-haired fairy is her friend Nadia. Note that the decoration is a swirl, not a 6.

Page 1: "Once two little fairies went for a fly"

Grace's comment: Because they can fly, fairies don't go for walks.

Page 2: "And then they went into a cloud"
It's hard to see, but the fairies are peeking out from the cloud.

Page 3: "And then it was time to go home and they hugged each other."

The End

The Christmas Picture

2010-01-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

One of my 2010 resolutions is to write more posts to this blog than in the past. It seems as if I'm always thinking of things to write, but that I always happen to find things that take priority. Let's see if I do better this year, even if my first few posts are very brief and likely contain lots of typos.

Here is our 2009 Christmas card. I really like how it turned out and we have received many compliments, mostly from people who remarked on how lucky we were to catch all three kids just at the right moment. Well, anyone who may recall my post from Christmas 2007 with the photo montage set to music and titled "Herding Cats" you will know that there was more than pure luck going on here.

Indeed, and many thanks to my good friend & photographer Wen Peng, for her good work in snapping nearly 500 photos in early December. But alas, there was not a single image where all three kids were looking good. We were confronted with the prospect of going back to the drawing board, which, with Christmas rapidly closing in, was daunting.

So I started tinkering with photoshopping. And I use that as a generic since I don't have Adobe's PhotoShop. I use Microsoft Digital Image 10, but you get the idea. The above is the result of combining three different images. Here they are. I think they are mostly self-explanatory. I took Grace from the first "Image 1" , Luke from the second "Image 2" and Claire from the last "Image 3".

The first two were the most exacting because I had to match up the backgrounds and the images weren't taken in *exactly* the same place (note to self: request photographer use a tripod next time). In the end, I was able to take the left third of Image 2 and overlay it on Image 1. I had to take care to resize Image 2 ever so slightly so it matched Image 1. then position it so both the tree and the red sheet matched up.

Claire actually looked pretty good in Image 2, but we liked her better in Image 3, so I took advantage of the red sheet by cutting her out wide and using the width to cover her

in Image 1. Because the shade of the red was a bit different due to lighting, I needed to blend in the seam all around.

I think it worked out pretty well but hope that next year all three kids will be old enough to be bribed.

2009-03-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Grace came to me with her "magic drawing tablet" and said, "Daddy, look look! I drew a heart because I love you!"

What could I say? It looks darn fine to me!

Busy summer!

2008-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it is now mid-September, and I haven't posted anything new since May. We've had a great summer, highlighted by Luke's first birthday. He turned 1 on 8/8/08, the first day of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. In China, 8 is a very lucky number, so it was no accident that they kicked off the opening ceremonies at 8:08 pm that day. We used the Olympics as the theme for Luke's birthday party the next day. It was a real blast. We then spent the next two weeks watching Olympics on TiVo and being sleep-deprived.

More recently, Grace started preschool twice a week. So far she seems to like it. What a big girl!

At my recent birthday, I entered a new "age group" (which is one of the few good parts of getting older) in running, so now I'm one of the youngest guys in the group, instead of the oldest.

I've struggled with recurring injuries over the past few years, so I'm finally doing some cross-training. I've been meaning to do this for years, but now weight training and get this, yoga! really seem to be helping my overall strength and flexibility. It of course remains to be seen whether it will help my running, but I'm optimistic.

On my birthday, with very little training, I ran 1 mile in 5:28. Not bad, but it's a pace I used to be able to keep up for a 10k. Now that's all out. I plan to work on my overall speed this fall, and will be trying to bring that down. Stay tuned.

I'll try to post more regularly.

In the meantime, Luke recently joined me on a run. He seemed to be enjoying himself until he finally conked out. It is how our summer has been - rolling fast and occasionally exhausting.

Dis-a-nee-land

2008-05-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Grace made her first visit to Disneyland on Wednesday. She is free until she turns three, so our window is closing next week. We left Luke in the able hands of his grandma (thanks Omi!) and successfully gambled that a midweek crowd would be manageable.

What's more, the opressive heat from the previous weekend had passed and we were left with a beautiful day with just enough sunshine and just enough of a cool breeze.

Grace wasn't sure quite what to make of the experience at first, but she really was a great little trooper. We started with the carousel, and moved on to Dumbo and the little train and boat rides. She really liked all of them, but absolutely LOVED the teacups, particularly when we spun around really fast. We rode the orange one.

She didn't much care for Alice in Wonderland, or any such ride that went inside where they became dark and loud. There were thankfully no freak-outs or melt-downs, but we could tell she was apprehensive during those rides. Pirates & the Haunted Mansion will have to wait until she is a little older.

The one ride that topped the teacups was the roller coaster in Mickey's Toon Town. Turns out our little girl feels the need for speed. I held the camera just in front of us and let it record during the ride just to see if I could get anything usable, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

We powered straight through from 9:30 until just after 5:00. Going without a nap is unusual for Grace, and she was really, really tired when, with her ice cream cone melting down her hands, she looked up and sighed, "I love Dis-a-nee-land. I love my ice cream."

Well, I've always loved ice cream. And now I love Disneyland.

The Sweet Suite

2008-04-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it's baseball season again, and it's time to head out to the ballpark to watch our local team, the Angels, dominate the AL West. I really like the Angels, except for when they play my beloved Indians.

For the past two seasons, my company has had the exclusive "dugout suite", or as my friends call it, the SWEET suite. It's as close to the action as you can get without a uniform and some pine tar. Sadly, this season we moved upstairs to a more "pedestrian" suite, which is still pretty darned great.

Over the past two years, I've taken a handful of video clips at the game with my old digital camera. Keep in mind that I couldn't zoom while filming, and the video quality is really low. I had hoped to shoot some better quality stuff this season with my new camera, but alas, we moved to the lower-rent district.

The Angels were really great to work with, and we have dibs on the dugout suite for next season. Let's hope my company hits a home run this year!

Laughing Kiddos

2008-04-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

In addition to playing together, the three kids learned that they could make each other laugh. In these segments, first Josh and then Grace are showing off to make the others laugh. Some of the clips are very grainy, but the sound is what is what was so much fun.

Running Laps

2008-04-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Aunt Marci & Cousin Josh came to visit for a few days. Grace is ten months older than Josh, who just turned two. Just three months ago, these two didn't so much as play together as they played separately in the same place. Well, today they got along famously and had a great time together. We caught a little video of them playing what looked like "tag" around the dining room table.

I could listen to these happy squeals all day.

Congratulations, Aunt Marci!

2008-03-21T22:54:00.001-07:00

My sister and her husband just announced that they were expecting their second child in September. We are overjoyed for them, and are happy to share Grace's words of congratulations.

Lukey says "Congratulations" too!

Merry Christmas Cousin Anthony!

2007-12-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

From left, Josh, Luke & Grace wish Cousin Anthony a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and hope that he can join them for a "Fab Four" cousin photo sometime really soon!

Of course, the photo above wasn't so easy to snap. There were at least a dozen rejected shots, lovingly compiled below. It's never dull with three kids under 3 in the house!

Boxing Day Bouncing

2007-12-26T21:13:00.001-08:00

Grace & Josh spent part of the afternoon bouncing around the bounce house with their buddy Ryan. Didn't anyone tell them that it was Boxing Day, not Bouncing Day?

Christmas morning

2007-12-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

This is a ten-minute video of Grace & Luke on Christmas morning as they discovered much to their delight that Santa had brought them many gifts.

Ho ho ho.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2007-11-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

On the left is Luke's face at the height of swelling, and on the right is Luke just 24 hours later. They took off the dressing this morning and the little trooper was pretty much himself. He made friends all over the pediatric floor just in time to say goodbye to everyone who treated us so well. We are home now and life is hopefully returning to normal, although it seems eerily quiet with Grace still with her grandparents.

This is our last daily post of Luke's progress. We will go back to occasional posting when notable or funny things happen (or next time Grace gets her hands on a baseball). We will eventually post some more pics in his regular photo galleries, but we will spare the general public images of his gruesome 6" scar. Instead, we will thank everyone for their many calls, notes and prayers for his recovery and our well being. We really felt the support from everyone.

We will have much for which to be thankful on Thursday, and Luke has become a fan of UCLA for life. We just hope that they have a decent football team by the time he is old enough to know better.

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed.

A Swell Day

2007-11-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

[Disclosure: This photo is from yesterday but I left the camera at the hospital so didn't have any shots from today. Besides, I like this pic because I'm in it.]

They weren't kidding when they said Luke's head would swell up. After a semi-restful night, he had a rough early morning as his noggin kept growing, swelling his eyes completely shut.As has been his pattern, once he was full and comfortable, he conked out and slept for many hours.

By mid-afternoon, he was clearly feeling better and was trying to open his eyes. Shortly thereafter, the swelling started to recede ever so slightly and Luke was able to look around. I put him into the strap on carrier and we went out exploring the floor. He immediately commenced flirting with the nurses and was all smiles anyone who came by. It was SO GREAT to see him acting like himself!

It was a lot for him to do and he got kinda pooped out afterwards. It took a little doing to calm him down and off to sleep. I hope he has a good night.

Tomorrow they will remove the bandages and the drain tube that has been hanging out of his head, and evaluate whether to send us home Monday or Tuesday. I'm looking forward to being home but hope they don't discharge him until he is feeling a LOT better.

We can't say enough about the fabulous nurses we have had. They are great at what they do and clearly love babies. Or maybe they just love our Lukey Boy. Either way, they are people we would choose for friends, and we are very fortunate to be in their care.

Recuperating

2007-11-18T00:32:00.000-08:00

All things considered, Luke is doing really well. Poor little guy has been through an awful lot, but the docs say he is doing great. He spent a fitful night in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) trying to get comfortable. He was on pretty hefty pain meds but was hungry from not eating all day. His throat hurt from the breathing tube that had been inserted for the operation. They elected to give him a unit of my blood after all, but it was his constant snacking that ultimately satisfied him at around 5:00 am, when he finally conked out for a good long sleep.

We came back in around 8:00 and Luke spent a happily uneventful day eating, snoozing and watching football with me. By afternoon he woke up and gave everyone the huge smiles that he is famous for. What a lift!

We alternated between being watchfully concerned for him and for being thankful that he didn’t have the dire conditions that many of the other PICU kids were dealing with. Spend a day in a hospital intensive care unit and you will undoubtedly find yourself counting your blessings. Ours are many.

As expected, Luke’s head and face are swelling. He’s already pretty chubby, but his face seemed to be popping out of his dressings. That is expected to continue through tomorrow, after which is should improve rapidly.

By mid-afternoon, we bade farewell to the PICU team and were moved to a semi-private room on the normal pediatric floor. He’s off his IVs and one by one seems to be losing his tubes and monitors. We have really liked everyone who has been caring or him, but do feel the need to stay on top of his pain management schedule. We were able to hold him briefly, but the tubes and cords that he still has make that a little tough. We think that he should lose the rest of them tomorrow.

They gave him Tylenol with Codeine this evening, but he didn't seem nearly as comfortable as he did with the regular Tylenol. In fact, it became clear that he was fairly uncomfortable. If he could talk, we're guessing that he'd say he had a "splitting headache." They switched back to regular Baby Tylenol and he was snoozing comfortably.

The room has a “bed” for one parent to stay, and looks like Chickee drew the short straw, so she will attempt to stay with him through the night. I hope she gets some sleep.

We are VERY thankful that he is doing well, but nobody would confuse this with a day at the spa.

Luke's Surgery

2007-11-16T22:55:00.000-08:00

Luke's cranial surgery was today.

We arrived at 7:30 this morning and we had to spend the day waiting for the first case to be completed, and it was running long. They didn't take him until 3:00 pm. He couldn't eat for most of the day, but we were able to keep him happy for the most part. He was a really good boy.

The surgeons said surgery went great. They finished by around 6:00 and we finally got to see him around 7:30. He was in recovery and then he was moved to the pediatric ICU for the night. His head was bandaged up and he was connected to all manner of tubes and monitors. It was fairly difficult to see him this way, but the nurses assured us that he was doing really well, in fact better than most babies in his situation. He didn't seen to be in pain, but he seemed really hungry and was grumpy at times. Once he got a little snack he conked out and was resting comfortably when they urged us to head back to our hotel and get some sleep.Oh, and it turns out that he didn't need a blood transfusion af ter all, which is really great news.Time for some sleep. And some prayers of thanks.

We are staying at the Hotel Angeleno, and we have special thanks for Thomas the bellman, who took an interest in Luke when we checked in last night. We returned today to find a little gift and a sweet note from him to Luke today. It was really unexpected and much appreciated. Thanks, Thomas!

And thanks to everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for his wellbeing. It's going to be a rough weekend as he recuperates, but he is in good hands.

Craniosynostosis

2007-10-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

In addition to all of the ups and downs a newborn brings, we have one more thing to contend with. Luke has a condition called Craniosynostosis. It will be fixed next month with surgery on his head. We have undergone a crash course in this condition and describe it in a Q&A format to follow:

Q: What is Craniosynostosis?
A: Babies’ skulls are very soft and moldable, which allows for them to navigate the birth canal, and then provide the rapidly-growing brain room to grow. The bones of the skull are connected by tough, flexible tissues called sutures. There are several of them, and they eventually harden into bone as the skull matures, by age 5. Craniosynostosis results when one or more of these sutures hardens prematurely.

Q: What is the big deal when the suture fuses too soon?
A: Several things could happen. The most common issue is that the brain can’t grow in its normal shape, so it pushes the head out where the sutures are open. The result is that the baby's head can become badly mis-shapen. In more severe cases, the growing brain doesn’t have anywhere to go and pressure develops in the brain cavity. Thankfully, Luke doesn’t have this type.

Q: How common is this?
A: It’s not common at all. Only 1 of 2,000 babies have this condition. Luke has premature fusion of the Sagittal suture, which is directly at the top of his head, running from just above his forehead straight back to the back of his head. It is the most common form of craniosynostosis.

Q: How is it fixed?
A: Surgeons perform a craniectomy. They literally will cut out the portion of his skull that is affected. They will also do some other things to free up the space for his brain to grow, but the removal of the fused suture is the crux of the surgery.

Q: It sounds awful! Are you scared?
A: Yes, of course we are.

Q: Will this impact his brain?
A: No. The brain is sealed in a tough pouch called the Dura. This surgery is on his skull and they don’t plan on puncturing the dura.

Q: How long is the surgery?
A: Less than two hours.

Q: When is the operation?
A: November 16th.

Q: How long will he be in the hospital?
A: Three or four days.

Q: Where is it going to be done?
A: At UCLA Medical Center. We are fortunate to have so many great facilities to choose from. We visited with surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) and Loma Linda before settling on UCLA. They were all excellent, but we felt the best about the team at UCLA.

Q: Will he need a blood transfusion?
A: There is a very large blood supply to the head, so he will likely need a transfusion. The good news is that he has the same blood type as me (O+), so I will be donating as much as he needs.

Q: What is the prognosis for recovery?
A: The success rate for this procedure is excellent. Other than a scar on his scalp that will soon be covered by hair, nobody should ever be able to tell he’s ever had anything done. Someday we will tell him about this scary adventure during his first few months of life.

Q: He got sick and had to spend a week in hospital when he was a newborn. Is this condition related to that illness in any way?
A: Not at all. This is a condition he was born with. That was a random bug that made him sick for a few days and went away. Probably came from his sister (thanks, Grace!). In some ways it was a blessing, because we took the opportunity to ask the neonatologists at the hospital about the shape of his head, and by the time we brought him home, we had a referral to the surgeon who diagnosed his condition.

Q: When and how did you first notice this?
A: He was born via C-section, and I noticed the minute he was born that the shape of his head wasn’t quite right.

Q: Is there any risk of developmental impact?
A: There are some types of craniosynostosis that are connected to developmental syndromes, but thankfully, Luke does not have that type. He should be just fine.

Q: Is this a genetic condition?
A: Not likely. There is no family history on either side.

Q: Then what is the cause?
A: We don’t know. There are several theories but none have ever been proven in a proper study. Everyone keeps telling us we are just lucky.

We appreciate all of the prayers and kind wishes. We will keep everyone posted after we get home right before Thanksgiving.

Omi Gets Beaned

2007-09-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Melissa's parents spent Labor Day weekend with us, and her dad brought a baseball and his mitt, ostensibly to play catch with me in between "honey do" projects or assorted babysitting.

Well, Grace decided that she wanted to play catch with her grandma, (she calls her "Omi", which is German for grandma) . Unfortunately, Omi was on the receiving end of one of Grace's fastballs...and it was caught on videotape.

Lest I divulge too much, click the video:

Happy Birthdays!

2007-08-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. It also happens to be my sister's birthday. No, we're not twins. She was born on my 6th birthday [evidently I told my mom I'd have preferred a truck].

Some people think having to share a birthday is a drag because they only get half of the spotlight. Quite to the contrary, I always felt that made me special, and that in a family of five children, that my sister was special to ME. Indeed she is, but not in the "special olympics" sense.

So today we celebrate our birthdays. We live far apart so we will have to make do with a phone call. She always identifies herself as "your sister" which is specific because she is the only girl, but it still strikes me funny.

This morning, I asked if Grace had anything to say to her Aunt Marci:

Happy Birthday Marci!

Love,

your brother

Luke Came Home Today!

2007-08-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

After a week in the NICU, Luke finally was feeling well enough to come home. "Well enough" is sort of an understatement based on how much he has been eating. Just 16 days ago, he was born weighing in at exactly 8 pounds. Newborns normally lose a little weight at first, but the rule of thumb is that babies should be at their birth weight within two weeks.

Well, our not-so-little boy now weighs 9 lb, 10 oz, a whopping 20% increase since his birth! Wow. The nurses at the NICU, who are normally used to dealing with preemies, were amazed at his appetite, and warned us that he would eat us out of house and home when he becomes a teenager.

We can only hope. We thank God that he is well and home.

Chinese Duds

2007-05-30T01:54:00.001-07:00

I just returned from Hong Kong and brought back a couple of traditional silk outfits for Grace. She seemed to like wearing them as much as I enjoyed snapping photos. I particularly enjoyed shooting pics in the bathroom as she checked herself out in the mirror.

Check out more at http://picasaweb.google.com/mmfriedl/GraceMay

Fix it, Daddy!

2007-05-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

When Grace found the chin strap on her Elmo party hat had broken, she knew where to go for repairs!

Toddlers & Cupcakes

2007-05-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Grace just turned 2, and she and her 20-month old friend Sydney celebrated with cupcakes together. We don't often give her sweets, so this was a pretty new experience for her. I think the same went for Sydney, but they figured out what to do with their cupcakes. It was priceless. [Grace is on the right. Sydney is on the left]

Ultrasound pics of the new baby

2007-05-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

We had the so-called 4-D ultrasound on Monday afternoon. This is a process whereby they use imaging technology to turn a 2-D ultrasound image into a 3-D image with motion (presumably the fourth dimension). It's very cool.

We had this done with Grace when she was around 30 weeks along, but she was sleeping with a hand over her face so the images were very poor. This time, the baby is 28 weeks and so has more room to move around. Melissa drank some juice right before and the baby was very active, so the images are much better.

We got some video, and may try to post it later, but for now, here are some images. Very cool!

Oh, we still don't know what we are having, and told the doc to make sure he 'stayed north. Click here for more pics: 'http://picasaweb.google.com/mmfriedl/4DNewBoo

Found one!

2007-04-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Gracie's first Easter egg hunt was successful!

My Two Models

2007-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Grace got called to audition for a Graco catalog. And when Chickee and Grace arrived, they said they needed some cute moms as well, and they asked whether Chickee would audition as well.
She did, and BOTH got hired! They spent a busy day in Malibu shooting countless poses with Grace in a highchair and Chickee trying to look natural while looking at both Grace and the camera.
They told us that the photos would be used in two catalogs. Here is a shot that landed in the first one.
In mid-February, we were shopping for stuff at a baby store and after we were there for a while, a clerk came up and asked to Chickee, "were you two in a Graco catalog?"
They had recognized them! And because we hadn't seen the catalog yet, we were really excited to take a stack of them with us. My girls are famous!

Speedwork

2007-04-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

I did my first track workout of the year last night. It was really sort of a half-workout, in which I went over to the track at Soka and did 4x200 with 200 recovery. My goal was to be between 35 and 38 sec per rep, and to not be hurt afterwards.

My times were as follows:

37.5
36.4
35.6
35.0

total is 800m at 2:24.5, or 4:49 mile pace. It's a good start.

I iced my right Achilles aftewards and seem to be no worse for wear. The plan for next week is to do 8x200 at the same speed.

Testing

2007-04-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm finally joining 2007 and starting a blog. I plan to post a bunch of things. No idea what they will be. Probably lots of kid pics.