Help! My mom wants me to take a nap!!!

Last Saturday I put fin down for his morning nap. Little did I know that Fin had some how smuggled my phone into bed with him. Apparently Fin wanted to use his morning to make prank phone calls instead of taking a nap. When I retrieved Fin and my phone an hour later I noticed that I had a new voice mail in my inbox. I was surprised to learn that it was from the police department! The message told me that they had gotten a 911 call from my phone; it asked me to call them back to report a real emergency. Felling very embarrassed, I called the police station and explained the situation. The 911 operator was very understanding, but had been worried. I guess she talked to Fin for a few minutes before he hung up on her

Fin: escape artist extraordinaire

Ever since we came back to visit Spokane Fin has been having a hard time sleeping through the night. He shares a room with me here, and since he knows that I’m only a few feet away in a nice warm bed he can’t understand why he should stay in his play pen. Now when he wakes up at night he cries inconsolably until I cave in and drag him into bed with me. That wouldn’t be too bad except for the fact that once he’s in my bed he forgets about sleep and wants to play. He pulls my hair, sits on my face and tries to impress me with is large vocabulary by honking my nose and saying, ‘nose, nose’. All this might be cute and fun in the light of day, but it is not amusing at night. A few days ago Fin woke up and started yelling for me. I didn’t want to do anything to Fin that I might regret in the morning so I just left the room to find somewhere else to sleep. I figured that after awhile he would realize he was alone and fall back to sleep.
My sister Ariel’s room was available to sleep in. Ariel has the habit of falling asleep on the couch in the family room with a movie repeating all night. I cuddled up in Ariel’s bed and was soon asleep. I’m not sure how much time passed, but I woke up needing to go to the bathroom. To my surprise, as I walked through the family room I heard Fin’s voice calling me from the couch! I looked over to find Fin sitting on the couch watching TV! Apparently, he had climbed out of his play pen and went out to the family room to watch a movie. I hope that this was a one time thing and that fin doesn’t make a habit out of sneaking out at night.

just wait till your Dad gets home!!!

I have definitely missed Reed these past few months but I think the person who has been affected the most by his absence is Fin. I realize that there are just some manly things that I just can’t relate with. I can appreciate the importance of a father figure in a young boy’s life. As you can see, Fin has been slipping into several bad habits. First, he prefers to chug Martinellie’s sparkling cider instead of his milk. After a long night Fin likes to start his morning right, he chases away the morning blahhs with hot chocolate. He is starting to listen to questionable music and seems to really like KISS. Lastly, he seems to be developing an interest in pole dancing! I’m just so grateful that Reed will be back in a few weeks to help me get him back on the right track!!!




 

Fin's surgery

 

As many of you know, Fin had a minor surgery on his eye this Tuesday. Fin has been having problems with a blocked tear duct in his right eye. The tear duct had a little layer of skin blocking his tears from draining and blocking gooey infection in. Fin’s eye was getting to be so gooped up that he wouldn’t be able to open it on some mornings (like in this picture). Usually the problem will correct itself with in first year, but if it doesn’t surgery is the most effective option.
The procedure Fin had is called a balloon dacryocystoplasty, it is a type of surgery used to open the blocked tear duct without making an incision in the nose or face. During surgery, a thin guide wire is inserted through the hole in the corner of the eye where the tears drain. The wire has a tiny, deflated balloon attached, which is threaded through to the blocked area. The balloon is gently inflated and the pressure from the balloon opens up and expands the blocked duct. The balloon is then deflated and removed along with the wire. The entire process, from when I left his side to when I met him in the recovery room, took less than 15 min.
I was very worried about having Fin put to sleep and having a crazy reaction to the anesthetic. Verne and Brett gave Fin a blessing the night before the procedure and that made me feel more comfortable about the whole ordeal. Reed called me from the ship at 5:15am (we had to be at the hospital by 6am) to reassure me that this was the right decision.
Fin was a real trooper. Before the surgery he had fun riding around the waiting room in a little plastic car. He didn’t cry or complain when I handed him off to the Anesthesiologist and his team, but when the nurse came to lead me to the recovery room I could hear him crying from down the hall. I was glad to hear him crying from a distance because I could tell that he was awake and ok.
The rest of that day Fin was drowsy and sick from the anesthetic. But those effects wore off by Tuesday evening. His eye has been completely clear ever since, so it seems like the surgery was a success!!! I’m very proud of my tough little boy.

Stephen and Jenna's wedding cake

As most of you know I’ve been taking cake decorating classes this summer. I am currently enrolled in course 2 out of 5. My teacher was amused on the first day of class when I asked her for a couple of pointers for stacking wedding cakes. When I told her that I would be making a wedding cake the next week, her amusement faded and was replaced with shock!! I’ll have to bring a picture of the cake to class this week to prove that I wasn’t biting of more than I could chew.
Pictured here is the final project!!! I had so much fun designing and creating (and eating) this cake!!!


 
 
 

stachin'

So I've got a moustache - a real moustache. A lot like the one you
would see on an old Magnum PI poster- minus the beach volley ball,
yellow corduroy shorts and Ocean Pacific polo shirt. Indeed, I am
stachin'. I'm extremely stachin'. It's big too - much more 'stache'
than 'mous'. I am not sure why I grew it, but I am glad I did. I tell
myself that I am just trying to fit in out here it the Middle East - a
land where "if you aint stachin' you aint @#$%". The real reason is
that I am simply responding to curiosity, to the situation (maintaining
military bearing while at sea), and to peer pressure and good humor. It
has been growing now for three months and has approached a form of
maturity. It functions nicely as a sort of internal control measure
that keeps me from taking myself too seriously as it is really hard to
look at myself in the mirror and keep a straight face. I thought it would look better as it got fuller, but it still looks funny. I guess
that is just the nature of a moustache though - funny looking. You
can't have a thick tuft of wirey hair spewing out of your nose and
colonizing the thin strip of real estate above your lip and make any
claims to looking natural or good. But now that the stache is full, it
has left the awkwardness of a new moustache and taken on the awkwardness of an old moustache.


I look at this moustache thing as a rite of passage. There is something
uniquely cool about growing a third eyebrow slightly bushier and thicker and crazier than the other two offset above my upper lip that makes me feel closer to being a grown-up, a dad, a husband, a high school wrestling coach, a Kevin Cardwell, a cop....a MAN in essence. I like to think about when Dad used to have a moustache. It is funny to me to think of that. I didn't think much of it at the time, and I thought he looked good with his stache, but I'm not so sure by him growing one the joke wasn't really on all of us, those who had to look at it. That is kind of how our parent's 1970's humor works - it's subtle but the entire country was in on it because the staches were "in vogue" at the time of their maturing senses of humor. I have to believe that they were making fun of moustaches in much the same way I am now. The only difference is that my generation is close minded and small minded enough to believe that we started the great moustache joke - but I doubt that is the case. That is why the moustache will never die - every generation will insist on making fun of them by growing them (because they can) and thinking they are really clever by so doing. And then their kids watch them doing it, not knowing it is a joke, and they grow up to mimic the joke thinking they are being really funny by poking fun at and mocking their father's staches. It is an unvirtuous cycle that has no end in sight.


Anyway, I am now in a bind. This thing has taken on a life of its own
and has become a force to be reckoned with. If truth be known, I admit
that I don't really like the moustache. Its not just that it doesn't
look super good, but more importantly, it is not comfortable. It is
like having an SOS pad on my lip all the time. Stuff gets stuck in it
and it pokes my tounge and I can't stop playing with it, and when I run
I perspire under it! That is gross. I can't wipe the sweat off of my
upper lip - a common place for beads of perspirations to form. The sweat just drips down my lip. Very annoying. I also get called "Chief" more, even though I am an officer. But the dilemma remains in that I have sacrificed too much comfort and invested too much energy and lack of comfort into this thing to shave it off. If I shave it now, I will
never know what it could have turned into! I see people running around
with moustaches who have had them for over 60 years! I see other people
who are well on their way to that same path - people who you can't
imagine without their moustache and who have developed an organic
relationship with their staches. They love them and if they were to
shave them and you were to see them in their hairless-lip state, you
would think of them in much the same way you think of a hairless
dog....repulsive and weak and funny looking. So I simply have got to see where this thing leads. I figure now is the time - nobody around to
boycott my kisses and tell me to shave. I am thinking that I owe it to
myself to let the moustache develop at least until the upper hairs go
all the way down and cover all the under hairs like a protective
umbrella. I am close.


Until then, please excuse my pictures. I will continue to enjoy the good and the bad and experiment with this crazy tradition of civilized
cultures known as the 'moustache'. I do find that there are virtues -
one being an instant brotherhood with other moustache men. It is sort
of like being bald, or driving a Harley. You automatically are friends
with all other bald men and all other Harley drivers just because you
share a common bond. I can walk down the passage ways and exchange nods
and unspoken tokens of brotherhood and binding friendship with all the
other jokesters who are nurturing caterpillars on their lips too!


So long live the moustache. If I shave this off before any of you get
to/have to see me with it, don't worry because it will most likely come
back at some time - I have to let Fin and his future brothers see it so
I can plant some seeds and hopefully do my part in giving them a memorable target to mock twenty years from now when they can grow their
own.

where in the world is Reed?

I found this article about Reed's ship today. It's interesting to read about where he's at and what is going on around him.

USS Abraham Lincoln in Arabian Sea to support Afghan operations
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, July 9, 2008



ARLINGTON, Va. — The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has moved from the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea to support operations in Afghanistan.

NBC News first reported Monday night that the carrier has been moved because of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber killed more than 40 people Monday outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

A spokesman for 5th Fleet confirmed the move Tuesday.

"Conditions are worsening on the ground in Afghanistan and commanders have requested additional air support," said Lt. Nathan Christensen.

The deployment is not meant to send a message to Iran, Christensen said.

"It’s absolutely not in response to Iran whatsoever," he said.

For security reasons, Christensen could not say how long the Lincoln would provide air support for Afghanistan, or when it is expected to leave the 5th Fleet area of operations.

"They are there for the foreseeable future," said Lt. Cmdr. Bill Speaks, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

Speaks would not say if the move was prompted by the worsening situation in Afghanistan.

"This is simply a move to ensure strategic flexibility and responsiveness through the posturing of our forces," he said.

He also could not say if the Lincoln’s trip to the Arabian Sea had been planned or was an adjustment due to conditions on the ground.

"These kinds of things are constantly under review and assessment," he said. "I honestly don’t how long ago that decision was made or thought of."

A Navy official could not give a specific date on when the Lincoln would be replaced by the USS Ronald Reagan.

The Reagan is currently in the western Pacific filling in for the USS Kitty Hawk, which is taking part in the Rim of the Pacific exercises in place of the USS George Washington, which is being repaired following a fire in May, the official said.

If needed, the Navy can send carriers to the 5th Fleet area of operations ahead of schedule, such as the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is slated to deploy in late summer or early fall, the official said.