Update

So tonight Marian and I were driving and talking with Clark when he started telling us how he wanted to buy himself and mom some Raccoon pajamas. Marian said that would be great. He then preceded to tell us that he would buy the pajamas for he and his mom at "Pajamas R Us." We laughed all the way home.

On a little more of a downer note, Charlotte has Thrush. It's an infection that babies and adults can get. It's in her mouth. We have medicine for her and it stains her mouth purple. It makes her feel better but when she spits up it will stain anything it comes into contact with. We have to trade one problem for another. Who makes that stuff anyway?

How funny is Charlotte?

More pictures

Dr. McDreamy...

Does anyone need a house call?

Where have I been?

I know it's been awhile. However, we have been so busy lately. Clark and Charlotte are doing well as is Marian. We went to Ya Ya's to swim today but ended up doing a puzzle instead. We are going back tomorrow. In other news...I am stepping down as a Sunday school teacher in two weeks. I have been a teacher for six years and I'm going to miss it. But, it will be nice to spend time with Marian in a class together. I can always teach in a year or two. I don't like change very much. I will miss the boys I have taught for the past two years very much.

More later...

For Jason...

It's fun to see how far they've come!



Enjoy brother!

Best new Charlotte picture

New pictures

Please look at these new pictures of Charlotte. They were taken several hours ago. She is still as precious as ever.

Clark is asleep. Charlotte is asleep. Marian is next to me falling asleep.

We had a great weekend. Yesterday we went swimming at Ya Ya's house. Clark was tons of fun. He jumped off the side of the deck into my arms and loved it. We had a blast. I took some time to try to teach him how to float. I laid him on his back with my arms under him. Clark was not too fond of it but, he would relax and allow me to hold him up. He loves to swim but I want to make sure he is learning how to swim.

While Clark was at the side of the deck waiting to jump into my arms, Scottie, mom's dog, yelped and ran off. He had been standing directly behind Clark. I didn't know what happened. But he would not put any pressure on his back port side leg. I watched him for a minute then told mom. When she called Scottie he wouldn't come to her. She went to pick him up. While she was carrying him he puked on her (reason one I don't want a dog). Then he became very lethargic. About three minutes later, mom was out the door on the way to the pet hospital (reason two I don't want a dog). The vet kept him overnight to see what was going on. Apparently he was stung by a bee and had a reaction. Mom picked him up today and all is well. However, she had to pay a whopping bill for the overnight care (reason three I don't want a dog).

Clark has pee'd in his bed everynight for the last week. We are still trying to help him remember to get up and go to the bathroom. He usually comes to my side of the bed in the morning and tells me he's pee'd on himself and wants me to dry him off. Needless to say, it's not the most fun way to wake up. Hopefully, he will rebound from his new trend.

Gotta fly.

Short update

We are swimming tomorrow at Ya Ya's house. We are excited. Charlotte is doing well. Clark is not very fond of me at the moment. I'm crushed with it. Hopefully that will change soon.

Please use the following if contacted by a telemarketer.

1. Use a husky, dirty sultry voice but ask normal questions about the proposed offer.“Is it a low interest rate? mmmmm…I like low interest rates…really low…”

2. In an outrageously excited tone: “Thank god you called!!!” Explain that an online psychic told you that your future lover would randomly call disguised as an jerk.

3. Say you are hard of hearing and see how loud they will shout into the phone.

4. Allow the telemarketer to fully explain his offer. When he is finished explain that his company hired you to randomly spot check telemarketers on their performance. Tell him that he did a good job overall, but that he is a bit monotone and needs to fluctuate his tone of voice more to sound convincing. He also should pause longer between sentences, and more clearly pronounce the letter “s”. Tell him you won’t report him if he repeats his speech to you with the appropriate corrections. Repeat.

5. Be incredibly polite as they explain their offer, but make farting noises once in a while and ask whether there is something wrong with the connection.

6. In an annoyed tone cut the telemarketer off mid sentence: “Dan, stop screwing around…we have to get rid of this body fast, did you find a chainsaw or not?”

7. “Congratulations! You’re the 100th caller on the (insert local radio station) Sweet Vacation Giveaway Blast Marathon. You’ve just won a pair of tickets to Negril, Jamaica and the use of Sean Paul’s celebrity vacation house.” Take down her address and send her all of your L.L.Bean catalogs for the rest of your life...after you use them as liner for your cat’s litter box.

8. Flirt.

9. Keep repeating, “I knew you were going to say that…”

10. Stutter on a syllable of an obvious word in a sentence… see how long it takes before he completes the phrase. When he does, get upset, and say “That really hurts my fee…fee… fee… fee…feel…fee… fee… fee…” ad infinitum.

11. Pee on the phone while he’s talking.

12. Mid pitch, stop him and complement him on his wonderful voice. Explain that you are a voiceover scout and might have a breakthrough commercial job for him. Ask if he wouldn’t mind doing a quick test. Ask him to say in a deep husky voice “May cause dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting and shortness of breath. A small number of participants in a recent clinical trial experienced weight loss, irregular clotting, abnormally frequent and/or painful urination and hair loss. Results may vary”

13. Ask how much it would take to get him to stop working as a telemarketer. Start at $1000. Say you are dead serious.

14. Ask if he will be your friend if you sign up.

15. Tie obscure facts about Barbara Streisand to everything thing he says,, “2.3% interest rate? oh my…did you know Barbara was 23 when she filmed Funny Girl…”

16. Every few minutes repeat, “You’re going to have to bear with me, I have a slight short term memory loss problem…who is this again?”

17. “Oh my god, I used to have your job…does Bob still work there (repeat names until you find a match)…which building are you in?” Escalate coincidence until you both realize that you sat in the same chair. Explain that you had to quit work when your genitals mysteriously vanished.

18. Regardless of the offer tell him you’ll take 7. If he asks what you mean say he drives a hard bargain and you’ll take 9, but that’s as far as you’ll go.

19. Every half-minute ask him to hold and pretend to scream at your invalid mother. “You want to use the bathroom??? Well stop whining and get up out of the wheelchair for a change. You just sit there and think about that for a while, mother. Can’t you see I’m on the damn phone?”

20. Forgive him. Tell him you did. Over and over again, until he hangs up. Then secretly take it back.

Think about this

If Earth's population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people- with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining-what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found.

57 would be Asian.

21 would be European.

14 would be from the Western Hemisphere.

8 would be African.

52 would be female.

48 would be male.

70 would be nonwhite.

30 would be white.

70 would be non-Christian.

30 would be Christian.

89 would be heterosexual.

11 would be homosexual.

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth.

All 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing.

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition.

1 would be near death.

1 would be pregnant.

1 would have a college education.

1 would own a computer.

The following is an anonymous interpretation

Think of it this way. If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are fortunate, more than three billion people in the world can't. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... You are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer healing touch. If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Playmobil

Uncle Jason sent Clark a Playmobil helicopter along with some Playmobil firefighters and finally a rescue worker with a baby. Clark absolutely loves his new toys. Dad likes them too because they are easier to play with than many of Clark's younger toys. The Playmobil toys are very detailed. I know it's good for Clark's imagination. We pretended like a family is floating in the ocean and needs rescuing. We fly his new helicopter to the scene and lower a rescue worker down. We then put the family members into the rescue basket and raise them back to the chopper. Of course, we always save the "mommy" and "sissy" first. Clark loves helicopters and really loves his new one. Thanks for sending it to him Uncle Jason.

I am really surprised by how detailed and well made the new Playmobil toys are. Clark likes the toys because he can use his imagination to do many different things with them. Check out Playmobil on the web here.

We bought a new music machine for Charlotte's crib tonight. We are praying that the new toy will help her go right to sleep. It's a really cool tool for keeping baby's attention. There is a blue waterfall in the middle of the rain forest scene. It also has a monkey that swings from side to side. There are various lights and other animals that move. Finally, there is lullaby music that plays as the animals swing. We are hopeful it will keep her nice and calm. She is next to me right now pooping and coughing at the same time. It's coming out both ends. Whew. I don't care as long as she sleeps!

The sanctions are a joke!

Marian's Shower

Marian's friends threw a shower for Charlotte today. Charlotte received a TON of stuff. Marian's mother, sister and my mother, sister and niece were all in attendance along with many friends. She received some great gifts for the nursery, girlie clothes and some keepsakes. One of my favorite gifts is the car seat cover that Anne (Marian's sister) gave Charlotte. It's another nice girly item. While I'm not used to girlie things, I'm slowly coming around. There is not much as cute as the tiny dresses and frilly shoes and blankets.

Have you ever seen such a sweet baby in all your life? Look at the darling little headband. Normally, Marian and I are not big lovers of headbands (we try to keep her upper lip shaved so people won't assume she's a boy thus making a headband unnecessary), but this one was especially adorable.

We feel very blessed to have two amazing children. Charlotte says waaaaaaaaaaa! That means, thank you.

I know Marian feels thankful for each gift. I do too. We are also blessed to have such kind and generous families and friends.

Bedtime

I'm going to bed. However, I couldn't help but post this amazing picture I just came across. That's an anaconda pulling up a deer. Creepy.

Tonight

We are at Ya Ya's house. Clark and I froze our rears off while we swam. But we had a good time. Marian has been trying to feed Charlotte only every three hours. Charlotte has been trying to have Marian feed her every two hours. It's a classic struggle of wills. Will the little one win or will the older one win? Clark is only wearing his Bob the builder underwear and while dancing in front of the TV with Elmo. This is one of the only times he sits still.

I like pie.

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Boomer...

First blog

This is the first blog on our new webpage. Hopefully, Marian and I will keep up with this.

We had fun tonight with Clark. I bought him a Playmobil Police boat today. He and I assembled it and then he got to play with it in the bath tub. He loved it. His toy boat includes a dinghy like Gandy's big boat. He liked that. Marian's cousin Melanie and her husband stopped by to bring a gift to Charlotte. Clark literally ran around the house for the entire time they were here. He would run into the living room then race back to his room. He must have done that 10 times. Finally Clark came into the living room with his shorts and underwear around his ankles holding a brown object. I got up and went over to him hoping it wasn't poop in his hand. As I got closer I realized it was a plastic tool basket from his new toy boat. He also had several toy tools that go in the tool basket. I asked him if he wanted me to put the tools in his basket for him. He said, "yes." After he dropped the tools in my hand he said, "One of the tools is wet." I knew right then what that meant. I said, "Clark why is this tool wet?" He responded just like I expected saying, "It's wet because it fell in the toilet." We all got a chuckle out of that one.

Charlotte was pretty fussy this evening. Neither Marian or I could calm her down. Finally, I think she just gave up and went to sleep exhausted. I kept having to change her diapers so I'm thinking maybe she had an upset stomach. Our little sweetheart is three weeks old today. We love her and can't believe she is so pretty. It's amazing how much they change in only three weeks.

Marian is been having a tough time keeping up with both kiddos during the day. She is still not back to normal since giving birth. When I get home in the evenings she is pooped out and ready for a break. I'm trying my best to pick up the slack. She just doesn't feel like she will ever get it all done! However, she is going to a baby shower for Charlotte on Sunday and I know she is very excited for that. Today she told me she had 14 people confirmed. I'm excited for her because I know she loves spending time with family and friends.

That's it for now. I think I hear a baby crying.

Ryan

Official Blog Launch

Marian, Charlotte and Clark are asleep. I am here updating our new website getting ready for the exciting launch. There are no search lights or red carpet. I don't guess I really know why I'm so excited to send out the link. Hopefully everyone will like it. Marian and I are in the process of making some more spectacular updates. Please check back very often. Like why don't you all go ahead and make www.freeville.net your homepage.

Please eat more chocolate.