David Kleparek

Park

2011-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

On south Whidbey Island, there is a park called Discovery Park that I remember helping to build back 15 or more years ago. We've visited the park a couple times since living here.

If Tayla had it her way, she may never leave the park. It is one of her favorite things to do.

Tayla loves the swing in particular. We decided to make it easy and stick both of the kids in the same swing.

Fishing

2011-12-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I did when we moved to Washington was go fishing. The kids didn't have patience to sit in a confined little boat for very long so it was rather hard to fish with them.

I caught a sun starfish while fishing and Tayla poked it a little.

We went crabbing a couple times and caught some dungeness crabs. Tayla didn't want to risk touching it.

Dungeness crabs have to be at least 6 1/4 inches in order to keep them.

While it's possible to just throw them in boiling water to cook them. I went a less stinky way and shelled and cleaned the crabs before baking them.

Camille took it from there and prepared the crab with butter and garlic.

I'm not much of a crab eater myself, and crab is so annoying to break apart and get the meat out that I'd just assume not eat it.

Liam

2011-12-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

When we first moved to Washington back in March. Liam was only starting to move himself around on the floor. He found our plasma ball and tasted it.

He's such a silly kid. Here he is wearing my hat.

Monterey

2011-12-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

Back when we were spending our last few weeks in California, I had to go to Monterey for some military processing. We all decided to go together and have a little vacation and see the sights.

We went to the Monterey Aquarium that is a very popular place to visit.

This particular angle of the aquarium was also seen in Star Trek 4, where the whales were living. There were no whales there.

Liam and Tayla both thought the fish were interesting.

We went down on the beach for a little while.

On Fisherman's Wharf, a fellow was letting kids hold his parrots.

Tayla was nervous, but Liam was just confused.

I saw this bicycle type of contraption that looked really cool. I'd love to have it, but it probably wouldn't fit in the bike lane on most roads.

Space Museum

2011-12-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Back in February, we went to visit the Discovery Museum in Sacramento. There were many child-friendly displays. We had a lot of fun dressing up and playing with the buttons as if we were inside a spaceship.

There was a section of the museum that had some animals like spiders, lizards and the rare Child Eating Bunny of This Small Cubby-Hole. It was pretty big.

We had fun until Tayla climbed up on a stool to look at one of the displays. I turned my back for a couple seconds and Tayla fell off. She must have knocked her head pretty hard because she immediately started screaming very... very loudly. :(

Tayla

2011-12-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a long time since I last posted, but late is better than never, right?

These are pictures from earlier this year... January and February, in fact.

Here's Tayla enjoying a bedtime story with me.

She loves sitting on the counter doing here hair and make-up.

Everywhere that Tayla goes, Bear is sure to follow. Bear is obviously hungry. Maybe he's testing out the cat food to make sure it's safe for Miss Kitty.

The Zoo

2011-05-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

One of Tayla's favorite toys was her Schleich giraffe so one day we decided to take a trip to the Sacramento Zoo during a time when we could feed the giraffes.

Tayla was amazed at how big the giraffe was compared to her toy.

While we took Tayla to feed the giraffe, we let Liam hold Tayla's toy.

The helper picked out some food that the giraffe would like to eat.

Tayla thought that the giraffe's tongue was funny.

When time for feeding the giraffe was done, Tayla was disappointed.

We went on to look at other animals like the zebras.

Camille and Tayla make a very good pair of Kangaroos.

Tayla liked the pink flamingos as well.

Really she liked all the animals and we had a lot of fun.

Liam Eats

2011-04-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

We started feeding Liam solid foods around New Year's Eve, 2010. He had a hard time at first, as you can imagine any kid would, but he definitely enjoys food. Mmmmm!

Dance!

2011-04-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

One evening, we were home and I started dancing Liam around. Tayla helped out as well and we were all dancing together.

More Christmas

2011-04-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Tayla loved eating olives on her fingers for the first time. She didn't figure it out right away, but as soon as I showed her how, she didn't stop.

Tayla and her cousins got matching new pajamas for Christmas.

Here's Liam, Tayla, James, Sherry and Jacqui... and my mom.

Panorama

2011-03-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

On Christmas day, 2010, I stepped out onto the back porch of my childhood home and took a bunch of pictures. I used a computer program to stitch the pictures into a big panorama.

You can take a look to this similar panorama from July 2007:

Christmas 2010

2011-03-28T14:55:00.001-07:00

On Christmas morning, Tayla and Liam got a small pile of presents. Tayla didn't know what was going on. She was still too small to grasp the concept of presents. At age 1 1/2 she still thinks that everything is hers.

Liam was even less aware of what was going on at 4 months old. He just wanted to eat his new toys.

Tayla's favorite toy was a train we bought her, though later she got a present from her uncle's family that was even more fun.

All of Liam's toys ended up being chew toys.

Tayla with her toys:

It was a fun morning.

Christmas Eve

2011-03-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

The night before Christmas, we let Tayla open a present from Grandma. By family tradition we open pajamas to wear on Christmas morning. Tayla opened the box with a little help from dad.

She got new pink pajamas as well as a new dress.

Tayla tossed aside the clothes and picked up a piece of packing paper.

Washington Beach

2011-03-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

On Christmas Eve 2010, we took a trip down to the beach. Camille, Tayla, Liam and I were joined by my sister Sarah and two of her kids James and Sherry.

My mom lives on and owns beach front property on Holmes Harbor on Whidbey Island in Washington. I am intimately familiar with the beach because I grew up on that property always having the opportunity to go to the beach and mess around.

Tayla loves it whenever we go down to the beach because she gets to throw rocks into the water.

Liam just was happy as a clam watching everyone else play around.

It was hard to get Tayla to look at the camera because she just wanted to throw rocks.

I helped her find the good rocks to throw.

In the background of this picture you can see a bulkhead. That is all my mother's property all the way down to that great big rock. As kids, my siblings and I referred to it as the "Big Rock."

Several stumps and logs wash up on the property there. This was a good opportunity for a photo.

It was a fun beach trip and Tayla had no desire to leave.

31st Birthday

2011-03-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

On December 23rd 2010, I turned 31 years old. I don't mind being 31 years old. I don't think age makes you old.

Having kids made me feel older than any birthday party ever has.

It was a great birthday. I got cake, ice cream and presents, but more importantly, I was able to spend the day with my favorite people: my family.

Bee

2011-03-26T11:26:00.001-07:00

Tayla got many great presents for Christmas, but her favorite was from her Grandma Maxine who gave her a pillow pet bee.

For a long time, she wouldn't go anywhere without it.

Nebulizer

2011-03-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Shortly before Christmas last year, Liam got sick. When we took him into the doctor, he sent us to the emergency room to get a chest x-ray because he had such a bad sounding cough. The emergency room sent him home with a nebulizer and a couple prescriptions. For several days we had to give him medicine through the nebulizer to help him breathe.

At first he wanted nothing to do with the nebulizer but after a while he liked chewing on it while the vapor went into his mouth.

He quickly improved and completely recovered.

Copycat

2011-03-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when Tayla's bathing I will shave. Tayla sees what I'm doing and puts some shaving cream on her face. Since I'm doing it, it should serve some purpose to her, right? She is very funny.

We took a blade out of one of Camille's old razors so that Tayla can use it without risk.

Sometimes she'll bathe with Camille and will faux shave her legs as well.

Liam Photos

2011-02-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

We have a bunch of pictures of Liam when he was only a couple months old.

We propped him up on the couch and tried to get him to look grown-up.

He was still swallowed up by the couch.

Tayla didn't like us giving all of the attention to Liam, and jumped in to get her picture taken too.

Liam sleeping:

Down 30 Pounds in a Year

2011-02-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

A year ago, I weighed 30 pounds more than I did today.

For the past several years, I have weighed myself at the gym after every workout. Below, you can see my chart from the last year.

I was dropping weight slowly from February 2010 until October 2010 when I did my fast. During my fast I dropped a quick 15 pounds. In January, I had a cold and got sick, so I lost a few more pounds.

I am happy with my current weight so long as I maintain a decent body fat percentage. I'd be happy with gaining a bit of weight as long as it is muscle mass, and not a belly or love handles.

Washing Hair

2011-01-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

One day, Tayla was extra messy when she was eating. She had rubbed some banana (or some other food) all over her hair. I decided that instead of stripping her down completely and giving her a bath, I'd just wash her hair in the kitchen sink.

Tayla didn't mind at first and though it was rather fun, but when I starting shampooing her hair and holding her under the faucet, she didn't think it was fun any more.

I dried off her hair, told her not to get any more food in her hair and sent her off to play with something else.

Confused Tayla

2011-01-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Tayla is a silly girl sometimes.

One day she decided that she wanted to put her foot through the toy basketball hoop.

She was very determined.

Finally, she put her foot in a small hamper. She first tried putting both feet in the hamper, but when that didn't work out, she tried the basket again.

Sometimes Tayla just makes me laugh.

I love my silly little girl.

Newsmaker

2011-01-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

On November 19th, 2010, I was helping at the Sacramento Food Bank. My Army unit was supporting the Thanksgiving food drive whose main goal was to collect 7000 frozen turkeys. They dubbed it the "Turkey Drive 7000."

Someone took a video of the TV, from which I took these snapshots.

Growing Up Family

2011-01-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Recently we started letting Liam have some "tummy time." He holds his head up pretty well and looks around for a while. He only lasts a couple of minutes before his face is in the carpet and he's being fussy.

It seems like he's growing up very quickly.

We decided to take our own family photo this year with our camera. We had to pull out the ironing board and use it as a tripod. We set the camera to take 10 pictures in a row. We did that twice and got a total of 20 photos. We only had a couple photos that were usable and this was the one we ended up using.

In most of the photos, Tayla was either closing her eyes, squirming around or Liam was looking down.

In Utah for Thanksgiving

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

While we were in Utah for the week surrounding Thanksgiving, we had quite a bit of fun.

We stayed at Camille's granddad's house. Tayla found the piano and loved to play it.

Whenever she sees a piano or an organ, she wants to start playing it.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to a couple different places for dinner. We were able to visit a lot of Camille's family that we haven't seen for a while.

No matter where we went, Tayla was always able to find the toys.

We had a fun time showing off Liam to everyone.

Camille's dad got his picture taken with a group of his grandkids.

At my Aunt Kaye's house, Tayla found a fun wicker chair to sit in.

She loved posing for the camera.

Tayla stole the bed of her uncle Josh's dog.

Liam got his photo taken with his great-grandpa.

Before heading back to California, we stopped by and had breakfast with my brother Anton and his family.

While Liam spent hours upon hours in his car seat, he worked on getting his whole fist in his mouth. He's just about got it.

It was a fun visit to Utah, and hopefully it won't be a terribly long time before we go back.

To Utah for Thanksgiving

2010-12-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

We traveled to Utah for Thanksgiving. We decided to take a two-day trip each way because it's hard to do the whole 11-hour drive in one long sitting. We could break up the trip down to a couple hours at a time with breaks to walk around and stretch our legs.

The first leg of the trip took us up through Donner Pass. It was a miserably long drive with awful snow. We had to put on our chains and drive very very slow for a couple hours.

We made our first stop in Reno where I gambled away our life savings. No, I didn't! We went to Circus Circus and played some fun games and watched a dog trick show.

We won a couple cheapo stuffed animals with which Tayla fell in love immediately.

We eventually did get to Utah without many problems, thanks in great part to a portable DVD player that a friend of ours lent us for the trip.

Bumbo

2010-12-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

We pulled out the Bumbo seat that Tayla used when she was younger. Liam was great at holding himself up even though he was only three months old.

Tayla couldn't resist the opportunity to jump in and give it a shot.

Tayla has really gotten good at being a big sister. She's starting to realize that Liam is an actual person, and she has always been gentle with him. I think they will be a great couple of kids.

So Sick

2010-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Camille pulled out a jumper out of our garage for Liam to get into so he could play around. Tayla saw it and immediately remembered back to when she couldn't walk and we would put her in it. She wanted to get in it right away.

She quickly learned that she could spin around in circles. She would go clockwise for a while and then counterclockwise. After several minutes of this, I went to check on her to see how she was doing. She was sitting still and holding the side of her head. I knew she was feeling sick.

I gently picked her up and put her in her high chair to help her calm down. She said "Uh oh! Uh oh!" and soon threw up all over the place. She threw up all her dinner she had recently eaten plus everything else in her belly. I didn't know little kids could hold that much in their stomach!

She was traumatized and started bawling! Camille took her upstairs to take a bath and I cleaned up the kitchen.

The bath cheered her up and as soon as she was done bathing, she wanted to get back on the jumper so she could spin around!

Bad Fall

2010-12-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

In mid-November, Tayla was playing around our family room when she had a bad fall. Instead of jumping right back up like she usually does, she hollered out in agony. She had fallen and hit her eye right on the corner of a step.

She wouldn't go to Camille to cry. She's a daddy's girl. She crawled up in my arms and cried for a while. When I got a good look, I saw that she was developing a black eye. Poor girl.

The black eye went away after about a month, but in the meantime, I had to keep telling strangers that she fell down. She doesn't have abusive parents.

She has so many falls at this toddler stage that I worry about her getting some sort of permanent brain injury. We just have to keep a close eye on her and keep her from hurting herself too badly.

Photos of Liam

2010-12-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Liam has grown a lot in his four months. He's about doubled in weight and his personality has also grown by leaps and bounds.

He loves to smile if you make funny faces and noises at him and has even started to laugh. He's such a funny kid.

The one bad habit he has is that he feels he needs to be constantly held. He will cry and cry but when you pick him up he doesn't want to eat or be changed or anything else. He sometimes just wants to be held.

He's a cutie. He's got big eyes and a big grin.

We love both our children.

What Tayla Likes

2010-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tayla loves going outside. She particularly likes going to the park and playing on the swing. More recently she's been most interested in going down the slide. She'll even go down the really steep slides that are meant for older kids.

I don't like these slides for one reason: they charge you up with static electricity. While it gives you a nice hair style, it is never pleasant the next time you touch something metal. Ack!

I sometimes will feed Tayla while she's on my lap. She sometimes reciprocates by trying to feed me as well. Sometimes it's cute and other times it's annoying.

Tayla sometimes will play with her brother, like this time when she brushed Liam's hair.

Tayla's a cute girl and we really love her.

Halloween!

2010-12-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

On Halloween, we dressed up and went to our Ward Halloween party/chili cook-off. Camille had worked very hard to make a top-notch chili. We called it her Triple Triple chili because she used three types of beans, three types of chilies and three types of something else that I can't remember.

We dressed up Tayla as a butterfly. She didn't like wearing the antennae, so we put her hair in little bug-bows.

So Tayla was a butterfly, Liam was a caterpillar, I wore a bug hat and Camille was a flower. We sort of had a theme.

There was a trunk-or-treat after the chili dinner and we collected a bunch of candy for Tayla.

Camille didn't win the number one prize in the chili contest, but when I went to pick up the dishes the lady there told me that it was a tie between Camille's chili and one other guy's. I think Camille's was the best there by far. Some of them were nearly inedible.

Tayla was nervous about trick-or-treating at first, but after a couple houses she had really picked up on the whole gig.

When we got back home, Tayla pulled out her whole stash and picked at it.

For weeks afterward, she would love to pull out her pumpkin bucket and dig through her stash like a little chipmunk checking on her acorns.

Family Photos

2010-12-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

We've been trying to get nice photos taken of our family. These are some of our attempts.

Liam is handsome in his spiffy suit. Too bad he grows out of clothes so fast.

He started smiling at just a couple months old. Tayla was a little older when she started smiling at us. Hopefully Liam will be a very happy person.

Bike Trailer

2010-12-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago, we bought a trailer that could attach to our bicycles and where we could take our kids out on a bike ride. It was a Burley brand bike carrier called the "Burley Bee."

Normally the trailer would cost between $250 and $400, but Camille did some smart shopping and checking of Craig's List to find us a great deal on a barely used one.

We've taken it out several times and the kids really seem to like it.

It's not meant for a child as small as Liam, so we had to bundle him up in a lot of blankets so he wouldn't bounce around to much.

Hopefully we'll use the trailer a lot before the kids grow out of it.

Suited Up

2010-12-22T21:26:00.002-08:00

In October, Liam was blessed at our church. We all dressed up in our best apparel for the occasion. We bought a nice suit for Liam.

We tried to get the whole family together for a good photo, but Liam wasn't in the mood and Tayla was tired since it was past nap time.

Clown

2010-12-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

A while ago, we bought some washable markers. Camille will pull out the markers on occasion to let Tayla color with them but Tayla prefers to draw on herself rather than on paper. Camille helped this time.

Tayla even drew inside her nose.

Luckily, they were washable markers so the ink came off fairly easily in the bath.

This time, Camille helped Tayla get the chicken pox. Too bad she still has to get the real chicken pox at some point.

Cleaning Up

2010-11-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

Whenever I try to clean up, Tayla wants to participate. We bought her a small broom so that she can help out... and leave me alone so I can clean.

Tayla has her own way of sweeping:

The Kids

2010-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Liam looking more and more awake:

We've been teaching Tayla her body parts. "Tayla, where's your nose?"

At least she's not sticking her finger in MY nose, as she often does.

2010-11-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

Camille was taking some photos of Liam when he was a month old.

Tayla wanted to get in on the fun and get her picture taken as well.

We all lay down for a photo together.

Slide Whistle

2010-11-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Tayla was digging through Camille's music supplies when she came upon a slide whistle. After a short tutorial, she was ready for her musical debut.

After an hour, we were ready for her musical farewell. Unfortunately, she now has a new favorite toy.

We do hide the whistle as often as we can, but she's getting to the age where she really asserts her will, vocally and by throwing temper tantrums.

She loves music, though. She will bang on drums, shake anything that rattles, play the whistle and even sing sometimes. I'm musically inclined and Camille is a music professional, so it must be in Tayla's genes to be a musician.

Ubercute

2010-11-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Awwww!

By the way, Camille didn't let him sleep like this for long. We've got to watch out for those SIDS you know.

At the Park

2010-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

One sunny Sunday, the family went to a park to watch a local pet dog show. People brought their pet dogs and were judged and given prizes based on the best trick, the best outfit and the fastest.

Tayla got a front row seat while I got to be a front row seat.

Afterward, we went to the nearby park where I took Tayla down a fun slide.

It was a very big slide.

Just in the past month or so, she's gotten to the point where she can go down slides all by herself whereas before I would worry that she'd tip over and bump her head. Going down the slide is now in a heated rivalry with the swing for Tayla's favorite pastime.

2010-11-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

When Liam was a couple weeks old, he was already opening his eyes and looking at faces quite a bit. During the times when he wasn't crying uncontrollably, he was an observant baby.

Me and the House of Representatives

2010-11-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

On September 10th, we had a big ceremony to cut the ribbon to our new building where I work. At the ceremony, there were a couple members of congress that I was able to get photos with. They were the members of the House of Representatives that helped us get funding to help us build the new schoolhouse where I work.

Dan Lungren (R) California's third district.

Doris Matsui (D) California's Fifth District

Backpack Harness

2010-11-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

Tayla likes to escape. After she started walking at 11 months old, she has progressively been more and more prone to running away.

We bought a backpack harness for her. We wanted a harness to keep her close when going into stores or the farmers market, but we also wanted it to be something fun for her to wear. We bought this:

Right away she wasn't very fond of it. She kept trying to wiggle out of it.

We've only used it a couple times because she really doesn't like wearing it. She keeps getting mad at us for stopping her from going where she wants.

For now, we can catch her when she tries to run away by chasing after her, but it's getting harder and harder to keep up with her.

So Embarrassing, Dad

2010-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

We got a pack of bumpy balls for Tayla to play with. We were messing around and I thought it would be hilarious to put some in her shirt. I quickly grabbed the camera.

At first, I figured that I'd just use this photo as blackmail when she starts having boyfriends in another 20 or 30 years. Then I decided that I could just play the traditional dad role and embarrass the heck out of her now.

When she's old enough to understand, she may get mad at me for posting this photo on the internet. But I'll still hang on to it just in case the need for blackmail arises.

Booktime

2010-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

Every night before going to bed, Tayla likes me to read a book or two with her. Camille tries to read to her sometimes, but when she does, Tayla will just wiggle away and come over to me. She has her preferred evening routine.

Tayla likes books where she can recognize the pictures and point them out to me. I also like to quiz her on what she's looking at. We have also been helping her learn some sign language. I think it really helps her feel that she communicates better. When we went to the doctor this week, he said that by this age Tayla should know at least 5 words. We laughed because she knows around 50 words.

Then and Now

2010-11-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

This is Tayla playing in her rocker at 3 months old.

This is her at 16 months old. We took this out so that Liam could sit in it, but Tayla remembered how much fun it was when she was smaller and jumped in. She's a bit big for it now.

Juggling Kids

2010-10-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tayla doesn't have nearly as much cuddle time with Camille and I since Liam arrived. She gets it when she can, though. One day, I tried to take a nap and Tayla tried to join me.

Often when Camille or I are holding Liam, Tayla will try to bud her way in. She just wants a little attention. We definitely try to accommodate, however. We don't want her to grow to dislike her brother because he took all our attention away from her.

Tayla's a bit of a geek. She loves playing with the computer. She will tap on the keyboard and move the mouse around, but she doesn't yet understand that doing so corresponds with things that are happening on the monitor. She mainly likes doing it because it's what Camille and I do.

Liam loves getting held.

When we take photos of Tayla, the flash bothers her so she started squinting. When she discovered that squinting made us laugh, she pulls her squinty face almost every time we pull out the camera. It still makes us laugh.

Brother and Sister

2010-10-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

Liam was 3 or 4 days old when he had his first bath. Tayla took a bath at the same time.

Liam was very small for some of his clothes. We've found that each clothing brand name has a different standard for what size baby clothes should be. There are different baby sizes: newborn, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month, 18 month and 24 month. Unfortunately while Liam might barely squeeze into one set of 3 month clothes, another set might be hanging on him like a bag.

The places where Liam now sits and rocks used to be where Tayla would sit and rock. She gets a bit jealous sometimes. She's really good and doesn't get mad at Liam because of it...

... but as soon as we pick up Liam, she'll take back her seat.

We've pulled out a few more bottles so that we have something to give Liam if he needs it. Tayla had different ideas:

Outing at the Train Park

2010-10-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

A couple days after Liam was born, we decided to go on a walk with him outside. He didn't really know what was going on but Tayla was getting stir crazy and so was I. Camille was also anxious to start exercising to get rid of the baby weight.

We used our double stroller that one of Camille's Army friends so kindly gifted us. It's very handy. I don't know how we'd go on walks without it.

While Camille walked around the park Tayla and I played around the park. This park is very appropriate for kids Tayla's age, but some gross teenagers also hang out there sometimes and leave cigarette butts, condom wrappers and energy drink cans sitting around making the place gross. I sometimes have to get after Tayla for playing with that garbage.

Other than the swing (Tayla's favorite past time ever!) Tayla also plays on the train play area.

I will chase her in on one side of the tube and then run around to the other side and scare her.

I also like getting in and playing with her. When I play with Tayla I feel much younger than I did even back in high school when I was way too cool for playgrounds.

I really love my kids. There's something about having your own kids that makes me incredibly happy. My love for them is different (if not more potent) than any romantic love I've felt before.

When I took my ACT back in my junior year of high school, I was stuck at a desk for hours and hours on end. By the time I was done with the test, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I got into my car and started to drive home. The contrast of experiencing the beauty of the sun-bathed mountains compared to the exhaustion of taking that test caused immense joy to build up inside me and audibly gasp.

I have that same feeling almost every day when I'm watching my children. It's a feeling that is worth every moment of kids crying or barfing all over the place or peeing on me. Is that feeling love? I think so.

Liam Comes Home

2010-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

When we loaded Liam into the car seat to go home from the hospital, he kind of disappeared into it. We had an insert for the car seat that created a buffer around Liam, but it didn't fit quite right. We took it out shortly after.

Our cat, Miss Kitty, was anxious to get some attention from Camille. She was also curious about the new baby.

Camille usually has her hands full.

We wrap Liam up like a burrito to put him to bed. He only fell for that a few times. He loves to be held. We soon learned that he had colic and cried for seemingly no reason. One thing that sometimes calms him down is being held and being walked around the house. He doesn't like being held if you are sitting down while holding him. Ahhh!

I liked Camille's photo (above) so I had to pose for one myself. Tayla is really understanding of the new baby, but will sometimes get jealous. She will climb up on your lap while you're holding Liam and beg for a bit of attention.

We adjusted quite quickly to having two babies at home. We just got to the point where Tayla would sleep from 8:30 at night until 7:30 in the morning, and now we have another baby that will keep us up at all hours of the night.

Camille is really the one to feel the most pain. She's been exclusively getting up at night to feed Liam.

Nice Dinner

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another friend offered to watch Tayla for a couple hours while I went to the hospital to visit Camille and Liam, the day after he was born. Camille had been trying to sleep most of the time, but wasn't getting much luck.

I held Liam for a while. Camille was glad for the break.

******* ******** Hospital offers a "7 course" meal to the parents of all the children they deliver. It is probably a way to buy us off for the other inconveniences of the experience.

The seven courses were:

1-Chicken cordon bleu

2-Vegetables

3-Potato

4-Salad

5-Bread

6-Cheesecake

7-Apple Juice

I don't think all of those count as courses as far as fine dining goes, but it was a decent meal anyway. I can't complain, it was free to us.

By the time we finished up with dinner, it was time for me to take off and pick up Tayla and take her back home to go to sleep.

Tayla Meets Liam

2010-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

The day after Liam was born, I brought Tayla in to see him and visit with Camille. She was curious about the new baby and didn't really know how to react to him. She hadn't really been around many children younger than her before.

Camille had not slept very much because Liam had been fussing much of the night. She tried to hold Tayla for a couple photos.

Tayla didn't like to be held down. She started to really fuss.

We gave her some goldfish crackers and she calmed down for a while.

Still, Tayla wasn't in the mood to sit around a cramped hospital room for very long so we headed back home.

My 2-Week Fast

2010-10-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Day 0, 8 Oct 2010, Friday
Beginning weight: 180.1 lbs
Waist: 38.25 in
Neck: 16.5 in
Bottom: 41 in

I start my fast tomorrow.

I was originally put on to the idea of a multi-day fast by a story on This American Life that was aired a couple months ago. I started thinking that doing a cleansing fast would not only help me physically, but allow me to have more control over my mind and body and maybe allow me to have more clarity of though. I've fasted without food or water for a day at a time on several occasions for religious purposes, but this fast would only deprive me of solid food and it would last a full week or two. I would still be able to drink vegetable and fruit juices, broths and herbal teas on a strict regiment.

I found a fasting plan online that gave me a solid plan of attack. It also includes eating some digestion supplements and doing a couple other things.

Once I told Camille that I was interested in doing this fast, I expected her to oppose the idea and give me several reasons that I shouldn't do it, to my surprise, she was completely supportive. So we put the plan into motion. Due to the lack of certain types of food, the fast would have obvious effects on my body such as weakness and exhaustion for the first several days. I had an Army physical training test scheduled, so I knew that I would want to wait until after that test before I started the fast. Since it's coming up on the long Columbus day weekend, I figured this would be the perfect time to start my fast.

Now that I've bought all the necessary foods, supplements and equipment, I'm ready to start my fast. I'm very apprehensive about it because I know that I'll feel weak for a time and I will go through a period of feeling extremely hungry, so I've been psyching myself up about it for several days. I am nervous that I won't have the willpower to continue my fast after the first day or two. I'm also nervous that I'll be so tired from it all that I won't be able to help at home and with the kids as much as Camille needs. Regardless of these worries, Camille is supporting me and I want to be successful in this personal journey.

I'm about to go to bed now, and start the fun tomorrow morning, first thing!

Day 1, 9 Oct 2010, Saturday
Weight: 177.2 lbs

It's been a very interesting day. I started by taking a tablespoon of Epsom salts with some water. This worked as a laxative and started clearing me out. Then I drank an abundance of citrus juices mixed with water. I also drank some other vegetable juices, fruit juices, chicken broth and plenty of water. At times I even felt full.

There were many times when I felt a strong urge to just pop a little bit of food in my mouth. It's tough to be around food when I can't have any myself. I fed my daughter a couple times today, and if I wasn't thinking, I probably would have just popped a bit of cracker, bread, fruit or something in my mouth as I was giving it to her.

I didn't even really feel hungry at all until after noon when Camille made herself lunch and I didn't feel strong hunger until around 4 PM or so. Many times during the day I realized certain foods that I am really going to miss for the next couple weeks. I hardly ever eat them, but now they are something to daydream about. Imagine a slice of pepperoni pizza... or a meal from Panda Express. I try not to ponder too long on that, though because it just makes me focus on my hunger.

I notice that my brain feels a bit different. Maybe it's just the fact that I've been so focused on myself, but this evening I've started to feel a little euphoric: kind of like that punch you get when you feel medicine finally kicking in.

I haven't really gotten to the hard part yet, I think. I'm worried that I haven't felt anything yet.

Day 2, 10 Oct 2010, Sunday
Weight: 176.6 lbs

I've had a headache most of the day today. I even had to take an aspirin on a couple occasions. I am still having mad cravings for food sometimes. Mainly for potato chips, probably because I have much less salt intake than I normally do. I haven't been as hungry as I expected so far. I have had moments, but they pass and I feel mostly just fine.

I have felt weak. I can really tell when I have to get some sugar into my body. I do so my drinking some orange juice or apple juice. It still doesn't give me energy to do much, just keep from passing out. I find it hard to have any energy to chase kids or even stand in the kitchen and use the juicer.

I took an hour nap when the rest of the family was asleep and It was hard to wake up. It kinda feels like I've been sick and throwing up... that kind of weak feeling from exhaustion. I still expect it to get worse, though. We'll see what happens.

Day 3, 11 Oct 2010, Monday
Weight: 175.2 lbs

I did well today. I still got hungry sometimes, but no more than a nomal day. When I got hungry, I would just drink some juice or do something to distract myself. I did feel rather weak at times. Not shaky weak, but just when I would go upstairs, for example, I would notice that my muscles were a bit fatigued.

I got cravings more often than I got hungry, and the cravings mainly came when I was around food, like when I made Camille's breakfast or fed Tayla something. If I was able to distance myself from food more, it would be much easier.

I feel more mentally balanced. I took care of my newborn baby for a while and he was really angry and crying. He's had colic. Usually I feel myself get very angry with him and I get clenched teeth and have to put him down, but today I didn't feel any anger at all. I just calmly held him and tried to get him to stop crying. I didn't notice any guttural reaction at all. It was very nice to not even have anger inside of me like that. I don't know if I didn't get angry because my brain is getting different nutrients from my juice diet or if my body was just too weak to get angry.

I keep feeling that it will probably be harder tomorrow than it has been so far. It's really not that bad yet.

Day 4, 12 Oct 2010, Tuesday
Weight: 175.1 lbs

I had to get back to work today. It was hard to go out of the house because I kept being tempted with food. At the gas station, in my office, driving down the street. Everywhere you look is food, food, food! No wonder Americans are overweight. Being around food makes me crave it and makes me hungry. I was hoping that I would lose all appetite by now, but no such luck. I think it'll still be with me the whole time.

I went to the gym today and worked out my muscles. I didn't lift very heavy weights like usual, but just enough to let my body know that my muscles can't be used as fuel. I didn't lose any weight since yesterday, and maybe it's because my body has finally cleaned itself out and now it needs to focus on burning fat. At least that's what I'm hoping.

My skin feels vaguely numb most of the time. I think it could be that my diet is affecting my nerves in some fashion. I've heard that nerves communicate using fat somehow, so maybe the lack of fat in my diet is interrupting the nerves slightly. I don't think it's a problem unless it starts getting worse.

Day 5, 13 Oct 2010, Wednesday
Weight: 173.1 lbs

Today was quite tough. Work was stressful because I had too much to do and no one was giving me time to do any of it. When I would get worked up or stressed, I would get hungry. I now understand how some people feel when they go home from work and say "I need a drink" because when I got home I felt like I really needed a bite to eat. I guess I'm addicted to food.

I didn't eat, though, no matter how tempted I was. I had to rely on willpower, though, especially when my wife made a huge lasagna and left the leftovers on the counter for me to put in the fridge.

I was grumpy today. In the past I know that lack of food makes me very grumpy and as soon as I get something in my system I feel happy and cheerful again. It's probably the same effect of either low nutrients or low blood sugar.

Day 6, 14 Oct 2010, Thursday
Weight: 173.3 lbs

It's surprising how much energy I have for not having eaten any food in 6 full days. I also have had more focus than I feel I usually do. At work, I went from task to task and I didn't get sleepy or frustrated. When we went out shopping today, however, I began to feel faint after we were walking around for over an hour, luckily we were already in the checkout lane.

A coworker told me that I was looking thin in the face today. He joked that he thought I might be sick or have cancer. I have not been telling anyone that I'm on a fast or that I'm even dieting. I figure I'll let people know after the fact because I don't want people bugging me about it every day.

I didn't know how long I was planning on fasting when I started. I was dead set on at least one week and then judge if I was feeling up to another week. I certainly feel like going for another week. I'll break the news to my wife this evening.

Day 7, 15 Oct 2010, Friday
Weight: 171.4 lbs

From the This American Life story (mentioned above) I was under the impression that after a few days I wouldn't be hungry any more. I was wrong. I've been hungry most of the day today. It could be partly due to the fact that I have been running around doing stuff all day and working up an appetite, but I have been hungry every day at various times and to varying degrees. If you are thinking about doing this fast, be sure that you can put up with being very hungry.

I'm half way through the fast. I feel great. It may be the fast that's doing it or it may partly be due to the fact that I'm not eating any processed sugars or caffeine. It allows my body to get to feel more like it naturally should. On day 2 of my fast I had a headache most of the day. It was probably a caffeine headache. Now that I'm over that withdrawal, I've felt fantastic. Why did I ever feel the need to drink Pepsi or Red Bull?

Day 8, 16 Oct 2010, Saturday
Weight: 170.4 lbs

I only had a tough time with hunger at dinner time. We went to a barbecue and it smelled and looked so good. Burgers, hot dogs, chips, salads... mmMMmm. We went because it was a birthday party.

I'm down 10 pounds in 8 days. It's startling really. I guess I'm starving myself without protein or breads. I can finally tell that I'm losing weight. Other people have noticed, but I guess looking at myself in the mirror every day makes it a little hard to notice things in the long run.

Day 9, 17 Oct 2010, Sunday
Weight: 170.1 lbs

I've noticed that even when there's been hot weather, I don't feel as hot as I used to. I really can tell the difference in the body fat that I've lost so far. Not just with how warm or cool it is outside, but also with how I look. I can tell when I look in the mirror that I've lost weight, especially in my face.

It's tough to be around food at all. When Camille ate lunch, even sitting near food was very difficult.

Day 10, 18 Oct 2010, Monday
Weight: 169.1 lbs

I've really noticed that I've been in control of my impulses since being on the fast. I feel like much less of a servant to my body. I haven't taken any pills (except the occasional aspirin) whereas I would take my daily muscle relaxers and a pain pill for my back. I feel no need for caffeine at all. I don't crave chocolate bars or other junk food. The only thing I really crave is food of any kind, whether it's healthy or not, I crave it the same. I also have my emotions in almost complete check. I feel much slower to anger or passion. Is this control over my body a byproduct of the nutrients in my diet or is it a psychological effect of having to deny myself the simple pleasure of eating for such a long time?

I haven't caught myself about to eat by accident in the last few days. Not eating has become as much of a habit as eating was before. Eating really is a habit that many of us have become accustomed to. It is almost second nature to just have food in front of us much of the time. Maybe it is boredom. If more of us found hobbies, we wouldn't eat so much. As it is, TV is the main recreation for many of us, and we are restless sitting in front of a screen for so long that we must do something with our hands, and mouth... we must always be eating.

Day 11, 19 Oct 2010, Tuesday
Weight: 169.8 lbs

A person I met for the first time told me that it must be easy to be as young as I am because it's easy to stay thin. I haven't gotten a comment like that in a long time. That shows that even people that don't know me think I'm thin.

I've been getting cramps in my legs. I'm not sure if it's because of the fast or if it's due to the fact that I haven't been to the gym in over a week when I regularly go a couple times a week at least.

I'm on the home stretch now. I just have a couple days left until I start eating food again. I'm rather nervous to start eating food. I'm concerned that my weight will bounce back very quickly. I'm going to make a strong effort to eat less and eat healthier food from now on in order to keep from gaining too much of my weight back. I really feel more confident and happy with myself at this weight (but I wouldn't mind being a couple pounds lighter).

Day 12, 20 Oct 2010, Wednesday
Weight: 169.2 lbs

I really feel I need to get back to the gym. I have only gone once since being on the fast because of how little energy I've had.

I've come to realize that one main reason that I wanted to fast for 14 days was to prove to myself that I could do it. It was a subconscious goal. It really is an exercise in willpower. It takes a lot of effort not to eat. I think any other benefit was secondary. Of course I wanted to lose weight and get a clarity of mind, but proving to myself that I could do this is really an achievement to me.

Day 13, 21 Oct 2010, Thursday
Weight: 167.0 lbs

When I work out at the gym I lose a lot of water. This is partly due to the fact that I go to the sauna for 10 minutes or so each time. I always weigh less after a workout. Today after the gym I weighed 165 lbs. I haven't been that weight since I got married 6 years ago. During this whole fast, I kept hoping to myself that I would somehow hit that magic number. If I could maintain this weight I'd be happy, but I can't go on eating nothing for very much longer; my fast ends tomorrow. I just hope I don't gain back too much weight.

I've been feeling pretty much normal these past few days. The tingling skin went away and the weakness is gone. I do feel more energetic though. I sleep better. I also have a better temperament. I guess my brain likes my current diet. After I start eating tomorrow afternoon, I will definitely cut down (or out) the caffeine, eat much less junk food, eat more fruits and veggies and less meat. I also plan to eat less food in general.

I'm nervous to eat again tomorrow. I don't know how my stomach will react to solid food after so long without. The fast plan does layout a set of instructions for eating again. I also wonder if my jaw will become fatigued having not chewed anything in two weeks.

I give myself a certain amount of spending money each pay period. Usually I run out of money by the next pay period, but I hardly spent any money at all in the past two weeks. I guess I only ever buy food. What a waste.

Day 14, 22 Oct 2010, Friday
Ending Weight: 165.4 lbs (down 14.7 pounds)
Waist: 36 in (down 2.25 inches)
Neck: 15.5 in (down 1 inch)
Bottom: 40 in (down 1 inch)

Well that's it. My fast is over. I ate some cooked carrots around dinner time, making it a full 2 weeks since I ate anything. A couple hours later I ate some raw vegetables and a couple hours after that I ate some cooked potato. I wasn't really hungry at all after I ate the first food. In fact, eating itself seemed rather like a chore.

Do I feel I accomplished what I set out to accomplish? Yes, I think so. I lost weight, I had insights into myself and my own eating habits and if nothing else, I proved to myself that I had the marathon mentality to accomplish this feat.

Its not the longest anyone has ever fasted. Gandhi fasted for 3 weeks and Jesus supposedly fasted for 40 days, though I don't know if they drank any juice and broth like I did. I don't consider myself holy for doing the fast, though I do think that I was able to gain a better sense of myself through this experiment.

Will I do it again? I don't know. If I do, it won't be for a while. But I'm not nervous about doing it again. Once I was able to realize that feeling hungry isn't the worst thing in the world it was a very positive experience.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Liam's Birth

2010-10-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

On August 17th, Camille had a doctor's appointment. It was still a week before the due date, but Camille' had been having bouts of contractions for a few days. While Camille was at her doctor's appointment, I went to 24 Hour Fitness during my lunch hour.

11:30 AM: The doctor stripped the membrane.

When I got back to the car after my gym workout, I checked my cel phone and had 4 missed calls from Camille and a text message which read: "Call me now!"

I had a good idea that Camille was in labor and I figured that she probably wanted to go to the hospital immediately. I called her as I drove home. The doctor had apparently 'stripped the membrane' therefore inducing labor. Camille was having regular contractions.

I also called work and told them I wouldn't be coming back in that day.

When I got home, I found Camille layed up in bed, trying to get comfortable as she went through her contractions. I was wrong, however. Camille didn't want to go to the hospital right away. We still needed to wait until the contractions reached 3-5 minutes apart.

4:30 PM: When the contractions reached 3-5 minutes apart, we headed to the hospital, dropping Tayla off at the Campbell's house for the night.

5:00 PM: We checked in to the hospital.

Camille grabbed her phone and started announcing to everyone what was happening.

6:30 PM: The nurse measured Camille at 4 cm dilated.

They mentioned that because the contractions had slowed slightly they might send us home. We were bothered by their lack of concern. They didn't even come and let us know what the plan was for hours at a time.

6:45-8:00 PM: Camille walked around the hospital trying to get the baby to hurry up so that we wouldn't have to go home.

While Camille was walking around, I went down to the hospital cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was hungry.

8:25 PM: Camille was 5 cm dilated with a thin cervix, according to the nurse.

They decided that we wouldn't have to go home because the baby was definitely progressing.

9:30 PM: After prodding, the nurses retrieved the anesthesiologist to put in the epidural.

10:15 PM: Camille was dilated 7-8 inches, and the doctor decided to brake the water.

There was another long time before anyone came and checked on us. I guess it's a very busy hospital. I guarantee that we're never going back to ****** ****** Hospital again, that's for sure.

11:55 PM: Camille was fully dilated. The nurse got excited and ran and got other nurses and the doctor. They told us the baby had almost popped out by itself. Thanks for paying attention nurse!

18 August 2010, 12:03 AM: Liam Gordon Kleparek was born! It only took 1 contraction.

I grabbed the camera to capture the moment.

Camille held him for a while and they eventually wrapped him up in a blanket and gave me the chance to hold him. After carrying around 1 year old Tayla, this baby seemed very light in my arms.

They checked to make sure everything seemed good. They said he appeared fine!

1:00 AM: They weighed Liam in at 8 lbs 5.4 oz. They also measured his length at 20 1/4 inches.

After a while Camille was starting to nap so I went home. This hospital didn't have any comfortable chairs or bed for me to sleep in, and I needed to get some rest.

Tayla was still at the Campbell's house, and I wasn't going to pick her up in the middle of the night. I went home and slept. The next day, I picked up Tayla and headed back to the hospital.

Tayla

2010-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Whenever Tayla gets outside, the first thing she wants to do is play with the hose. In this instance, she soaked all her clothes. I took her clothes off and she got her diaper completely wet. I wanted to take photos without being arrested for child pornography, so I strategically arranged the photo with the chair blocking her.

I'm sure she will eventually prefer me showing this photo to her first boyfriend than the alternative.

Train Museum Revisited

2010-10-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Shortly after Tayla was born and my mom was visiting from Washington, we all went to the Train Museum near downtown Sacramento. When Anton and his family were visiting back in August, we suggested that they might enjoy a visit. We all went down together and had a good time.

I had to carry Tayla on my shoulders or she would run around and maybe get lost.

Sometimes she wouldn't grab me in the eye.

There was an area that had toy trains for the kids to play with. This area was by far Tayla's favorite.

When it came time to go, she got very upset.

There was this exhibit where you could listen to a brief history of one of the trains. Tayla loved holding up the telephone to her ear and hear the woman speak.

Anton's kids also got in on the action.

When we were leaving, we saw a bunch of these Google cars driving around. Maybe you can see our picture if you go to Google street view.

All Grown Up

2010-10-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tayla likes to pretend that she's grown up by copying what Camille and I do. She's always copying how we act, what we say or what we do.

She likes to try on my shoes.

One of her favorite pastimes is carrying Mom's purse. We got her a purse of her own, but she only likes playing with Camille's.

Fun in the Water

2010-10-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

Nearby our house there is a water park. We took Tayla there several times this summer. She loved going, but oddly enough, she doesn't like to play in the water that much. I have to take her into the middle of the fun, set her down and watch her run away.

In one instance, we stood under this innocent looking palm tree.

That scared her a bit.

She really enjoys the water, but she doesn't like not being in control of the water, I think. At this water park, several of the attractions would go on and off without notice, and that made her nervous.

I got plenty wet myself.

At a different location, we went swimming one day. This is at park up the American River several miles.

Tayla only would willingly go in the water up to her ankles or so. I would have to urge her into deeper water. By "urge," I mean "pick up and take her."

She was more interested in the rocks and the ducks than playing in water.

...but she still enjoyed being tossed a little.

Fun at Home

2010-10-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of fun stuff to do around our house. When Camille was nearly 9 months pregnant she didn't really have the energy to take Tayla out and about, so we just let Tayla play with things around the house.

Here she is out back playing with the hose. She figured out that covering the top makes it spray.

She likes playing in our clothes bin.

She can even roll it from side to side.

I decided to give it a try.

Maybe if I roll to the side?

There we go!

Tayla even climbed in.

This is a cat play box, but Tayla found that it was just her size.

Now that she discovered that she can get in this box, she's been trying to climb in all sorts of other things including clothes baskets and even drinking glasses.

She tolerates playing around the house, but she really enjoys her time outside or when we go on trips to the store. She's a doll.

Fun House

2010-10-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Camille's mom is a super-seamstress. She was able to make a cloth covering to go over a card table. Using a pre-printed fabric, she makes a little house that Tayla can play in and around.... and she loves it!

There's even a window on the side.

"Thanks Grandma!"

If you ask nicely (and pay Camille's mom enough money), she might even make one for your kids.

Fun in Utah

2010-10-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah, Tayla had many opportunities to play around...

Here is Tayla playing with a toy at her great grandpa's house. It has all her favorite things to push: buttons!

Push those buttons!

Here is Tayla and her cousins cleaning up after writing with chalk all over a wall.

Get into Dad's backpack. There's always fun things to play with in there: keys, things that make noise when they shake and coins!

Here's Tayla with her second cousins.

David with his cousin Brent.

It was a fun trip to Utah.

Baby Doll

2010-10-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

"Okay Tayla, soon you'll have a new baby brother. Pretend this is him."

"Give him his binky."

"No don't suck on the binky. Give it to him... like this."

"See?"

"You'd better not do that to your brother."

Aquarium Etcetera

2010-10-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Back in July, when we were visiting Utah, I made plans with my friends Justin and Kathleen Lofley. We went to an aquarium in Sandy.

Tayla seemed to enjoy most of the exhibits, but didn't have as much patience as the rest of us to read the information about the different animals.

I helped her to touch a sting ray. She wouldn't have done that on her own... Gross, dad!

She was finally getting the idea of what fish were by the time we left.

Camille gave a hand, though she was 7 1/2 months pregnant.

We had to help Tayla pose for some photos.

It's good to have Dad around to help get high enough to see everything.

After the aquarium, we went over to the mall for an Orange Julius. Camille helped Tayla ride a carousel. She had a lot of fun doing that.

And here's me, Tayla, Justin, and nurse Kathleen.

There was a "tornado" machine that I spent 2 bucks on, but all it did was mess up my hair.

It was a great time. I don't get to see most of my friends enough now that I live in California, so it's nice when I do.

Visiting Family

2010-09-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of July, Camille and Tayla took the train to Utah before me. They spent several days visiting with family before I was able to get there with them.

At Camille's grandad's house, Tayla liked playing with the dog.

She even dared to feed him out of her hand.

She also found a basket full of books which she found extremely interesting and informative.

... and fun.

Here is Camille sitting between both her sisters: Stephanie and Natalie.

Camille rode the train out to Utah on Sunday, July 4th, and I drove out on that next Friday.

Tayla in a Bag

2010-09-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Tayla and I were playing with a gym bag.

I could probably put her in there and she could travel for free.

Week 31

2010-09-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Way back in June, we took a photo of Camille when she was 31 weeks along with Liam. I was diligent in taking weekly photos of her during her pregnancy with Tayla, but the novelty wore off. We took a few photos, however and here is one.

Being pregnant does make one's belly bigger, but it doesn't make you any less beautiful.

Camille is as beautiful as ever, and people are consistently shocked at how fast she has lost the baby weight. She is already about the same weight that she was when she got pregnant with Liam.

Lois in Town

2010-09-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of July, my mother came into town from Washington. She hitched a ride with her friend Ula Lewis who was coming down for her daughter's wedding down in the bay area.

My mom stayed with us for a few days before heading back to Washington. While she was here she went with us to see Camille perform with her Army band. On July 1st, she performed as part of a street fair in Lodi. Tayla borrowed her mallets and beat on her stroller for a while.

Later that week, we went to Napa where we had a picnic and watched Camille perform another concert. The performance was really great, but Tayla was not being cooperative. She had missed her nap and was quite tired. The performance was inside a theater, and small children were not the target audience. In fact, 95% or more of the audience appeared to be of retired age. Fortunately, the theater was equipped with a small room at the back of the theater that had a viewing window which allowed me to watch the concert while sparing the audience from Tayla's grumpy and noisy attempts to fall asleep.

The band had asked me to take a photo of them prior to the concert. It was rather difficult with the lighting, but I think the photo that I took for them was fairly decent for an amateur like me. You can even see Camille in her civilian clothes (because her uniform wouldn't fit her pregnant belly).

Camille took off to Utah on July 4th on the same day that my mother and I went to the aforementioned wedding in the bay area.

On July 6th, my mom went back to Washington State. It was fun to have her visit.

Parade

2010-09-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged much in the past few months, so now I'm going back and catching up. Today we will be revisiting the far off days of June 26th, 2010, when "California Gurls" was the number one song and "Toy Story 3" was the number one film. Ah, the good old days.

On that particular Saturday, Camille, Tayla and I went to Citrus Heights where the National Guard Army band was marching in the local community parade.

The parade was about an hour long. It was fun.

Camille was 7 months pregnant at the time, so she didn't actually march in the parade, itself. She was there for moral support.

Tayla took a little bit of work to keep entertained, though it was fun to see things like horses and little cars passing by.

Tayla is getting to be more and more of a handful. She really doesn't like sitting still for very long. We have to find new ways to keep her busy. She's great though. It seems like everyday she is showing us something new that she's learned. A toddler's brain is a very impressive piece of machinery!

Liam Gordon Kleparek

2010-08-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Liam Gordon Kleparek was born on the 18th of August, 2010 at 12:03 AM.

He was 20.25 inches long and 8 lbs 5.4 oz.

Here is one of the first photos we took of him.

Here he is at exactly one week old.

At 10 days old he really started opening his eyes. What a cutie!

I've been rather busy with things, so I haven't blogged much. Don't worry, though, I'll be posting more soon.

Outside

2010-07-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

Because it's been very warm outside recently and Camille currently has an internal oven, she and Tayla have been spending most of the time inside the house where it's nice and air conditioned.

Sometimes in the morning before it gets too hot outside, they will go for a walk outside, but because Camille is now 36 weeks pregnant, she can't do that for very long without getting sore and tired.

Tayla loves it outside, though. There's a lot of fun stuff to do, like dig in the grass.

I took these photos a few weeks ago. She loves picking up the tiny flowers or twigs. It's way more fun than staying inside.

I can't really blame it all on Camille's pregnancy, though. When I get home, I'm tired and hot and wore out as well, so all I want to do is lay back and relax for a while. But poor Tayla has to rely on two old lazy people for all her entertainment needs. I know that she loves going outside, so I'll just have to make more of a point to play with her outdoors more.

Eclectic Electric Lawn Mower

2010-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, we've owned a push mower: that's a spinning blade that is powered by pushing it across the lawn. The problem with that mower is that the blade got increasingly less effective and it got harder and harder to push. While I do like a workout, I don't enjoy breaking my wrist and arms just to end up with a hack job of a lawn.

A month ago or so, Camille and I went to Lowe's and bought a new mower. We decided that since we have a small lawn (and are likely to for some time) that we would buy an electric lawn mower. It's cheaper than a gas powered mower and it's quieter as well. It also doesn't take gas, so we don't have to worry about that.

The only problem is the extension cord. We have a one hundred foot extension cord, so we can reach all our properly. The extension chord limits how far from an outlet you can mow. It also makes it rather annoying to mow with. It's like running a very big vacuum cleaner than can chop it's own cord in half.

Tayla loved the chord, but she kept getting in the way.

They do make cordless lawn mowers, but they cost about 3 times as much and then you have to worry about how long the battery will last. At first the cord really bothered me, but now that I've been using this mower for a while, I think I've gotten used to it. Just be sure you don't let your grass grow too long.

After I got back from our Utah vacation, the yard looked like the Amazon rain forest. When mowing some of the heavier patches of lawn, the mower's motor would struggle a bit. If you are thinking about getting an electric mower and have a thick lawn, be sure to get a mower with more amperage. Our 12 amp mower is fine for the burbs, but if we need to start mowing our own hay, we'll have to look into getting stronger.

Final product review 4/5 stars. I love how quiet and easy to use it is.

Army Birthday

2010-07-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

On last June 14th, the Army had it's 235th birthday. To celebrate, my Army unit had a birthday celebration. Maybe "celebration" was a bit of a strong word. It pretty much consisted of a formation with a short speech and a birthday cake cutting "ceremony."

I was dubbed the announcer for the ceremony. This is the first time that I've been an announcer for anything. Besides one small mistake, I did a pretty well.

All the students and staff at our school gathered up for the short ceremony. It was warm outside and I was glad that I was able to sit down in the shade during the speech.

I don't know how cake cutting turned into a ceremony in the Army. I guess with an organization as big on ceremony as the Army, everything will eventually turn into a ceremony. There's military courtesy for what you say and do when you pass someone on the street. There's "drill and ceremony" for how to correctly walk. There's an official way to write a letter. There's even Army custom for weddings.

The official custom for the Army birthday cake cutting ceremony ® is that the highest ranking Soldier and the lowest ranking Soldier together hold a sabre (a military sword) and slice the first piece of cake.

Maybe even more important is that the announcer looks on in a very serious manner from the podium.

Maybe this will launch a career in Army Ceremony announcing. It's a flourishing career field at the moment.

The Zoo

2010-06-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, we hopped in the car and went over to the "Friends of Folsom Zoo Sanctuary." Yes, it's the same Folsom where Johnny Cash went to the prison to perform back in 1968 for his famous album. I was hoping to see a band perform "Folsom Zoo Blues" while I was there, but no luck.

When we arrived, we immediately noticed several chickens roaming the grounds outside the zoo.

Inside the zoo, we saw big cats, wolves, monkeys, bears, tigers and so forth. Since it was a sanctuary, many of the animals were rescued from homes where people had been raising them. Silly people, don't you know that cute cuddly baby bears turn in to big giant head-eating bears?

Tayla amazingly left her hat on for most of the day. I wore it around the house before we left so that I could show her that you're supposed to leave it on your head rather than take it off and throw it around.

Tayla liked seeing the animals. We tried to teach her the names of the animals, but her animal vocabulary is pretty much limited to "kitty."

She really enjoyed getting to see animals for real rather than through the TV.

A deer even came up to us to say hello.

There was one of those wood face cutout things, so I had Camille and Tayla pose. With the odd positions of the holes, Camille had to hold Tayla at an odd angle. I got this really great shot.

Tayla was amazed when the peacock spread it's feathers. She stared for a while and then went after it. Maybe she thought it was a toy.

Before leaving, we saw a lady who was letting kids get a close up look at a really big rabbit. Tayla didn't know what to make of it. She liked looking at it, but we had to help convince her to pet it.

We took off and went home. It was a nice outing. Much better than the alternative - sitting around the house and trying to help Tayla not go crazy with boredom.

Bigger Cake

2010-06-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Saw this photo on wedinator.com.

We should have had a bigger cake at our wedding.

Fan of Music

2010-06-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

I couple weeks ago, I pulled out my guitar to try to hone my skills a little bit. Tayla was very intrigued with the instrument and even tried to play it a bit. She liked the guitar case even more. She climbed in the guitar case and played around.

She thought it was real neat. I guess all of the toys she has in her bin are getting boring. The new generation: kids that get bored with stuff real fast.

She tried to climb out of the guitar case and close the lid, but one of her legs wasn't out of it yet. She tried to pull her leg out of the case by bracing herself on the lid, but that just caught her leg more. She's a silly girl sometimes.

What a Geek

2010-06-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tayla sees us using the laptop computer and she just has to get a chance to try it out. She loves getting into the little crevices where we hide the computer. She opens it up and starts typing.

When we take it away from her, she screams bloody murder. It's just so much more cool of a toy than a stuffed bear. After watching Camille use Facebook, Tayla really wants a Facebook profile. Knowing the security issues that could be a factor with Facebook, we're not going to let her get a profile until she's at least 3 years old. Before that, who knows what kind of trouble she could get into.

Concert in the Park

2010-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, June 6th, Camille played with the California Army National Guard Band in a concert in the park in Carmichael California.

Tayla and I went along to watch. I snapped this photo as we were waiting for Camille to play. I think it's one of my favorite photos of Tayla that I've ever taken. It really gives the perspective of being a dad. Last Father's Day, Tayla was just a month old, but now that she's over a year old, I feel much more like a real dad.

Here is a picture of the performance.

Summer is the busiest time of the year for the National Guard Army Band, so Camille's been doing concerts quite a bit. She even has a parade coming up this coming weekend ...and the next.

Pool Party

2010-06-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tayla loves her inflatable pool. Camille bought her some new toys to play with outside. She bought a beach ball, some toy boats and some finger paints.

If you're going to play with finger paints, a good place to do it is in a swimming pool where cleanup is easy and fast.

Memorial Day

2010-06-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

On Monday, May 31st, Camille went to "Mount Vernon Memorial Park" in Sacramento to perform with the California Army National Guard Band as part of the local remembrance ceremony.

Tayla and I tagged along. Tayla was intrigued by the bagpiper. I wasn't sure if she liked the music or was just surprised by the noise it made. Bagpipes are very loud.

As she was setting up, Camille let Tayla play on the Timpani.

She loved it so much that when I tried to take her away, she kicked and screamed. Then during the entire ceremony, Tayla kept going over Camille in order to play some more. I think Tayla loves making noise, whatever the means.

It was sunny, so when I tried to giver her a bottle, the sun hurt her eyes. I put my sunglasses on her. To my surprise, she just left them on her face. Usually she won't put up with anything on her head or face.

The ceremony was very nice and the music was performed very well. Camille wasn't in her uniform because it doesn't fit her now that she's 7 months pregnant.

The summer is the busiest time of the year for Camille's band. In the next several months, she has several concerts planned. She'll keep performing until she's too uncomfortable (ie too pregnant).

Through the Bars

2010-06-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Swinging

2010-06-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

Tayla loves to swing. When we take her to the park, she never wants to leave.

She could probably stay there all day.

When we finally take her out of the swing she cries.

Other things that make her cry:

- taking her out of the bathtub

- make her stop brushing her teeth

- not letting her run around in the grocery store

- when she gets tired

The Best Summer Ever

2010-06-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'll give you three reasons why this is gearing up to be one of the best summers of my life.

Reason #1: On July 13th, I'm going with my brother to see my favorite musician of all time: Paul McCartney live in concert! He's going to be performing for the first time ever in Salt Lake City. Anton and I went online and and bought tickets a week ago. We didn't buy the VIP front row tickets: mainly because they were $2000 a pop. We bought the $80 something tickets toward the back of the field. We could have gotten the $40 something tickets in the nosebleed section but that would mean we would have needed to buy binoculars to see the stage.

Reason #2: In August, I'm going to see my favorite band of all time: They Might Be Giants live in concert! They will be performing in Napa, California, so I bought a ticket.

I've been a fan of TMBG ever since 1996 when I would listen to their CDs nonstop while delivering pizzas. They were my inspiration for several of the stranger songs I've written. If you haven't heard them before, they are described as Nerd Rock. They are characterized by their nasally voices and peculiar lyrics. Maybe you've heard the 1990 super-hit "Birdhouse in Your Soul" or the theme to Malcolm in the Middle: "Boss of Me."

There's a chance that I won't be going to the concert, though. If our baby comes early I might not make it to their show.

Reason #3: We're having a baby! On August 24th, our baby boy is due to be born.

If you know me, you know that I love music. And the chance to see my favorite musician and favorite band in concert is uber-exciting. Only two summers might be more awesome than 2010. In 2004, Camille and I got married and went to Mexico for our honeymoon. Then in 2005, I went with Camille's college band to Europe where we went to London, Paris, Holland and Belgium.

Week 27 and a half

2010-06-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken on May 23rd. That means that we were about 3 months from the due date (August 24th).

That means we're starting the 3rd trimester now. They say that the 2nd trimester is the easiest and the third the hardest. Camille can attest to that. Camille is really starting to feel the aches of getting bigger.

It also doesn't help that her allergies have been really acting up recently.

I was also recently diagnosed with bad allergies. I lost my voice and even missed a few days of work. The doctor prescribed me with a couple medicines. I never had allergy problems before (that I know of) so I was surprised that it was a problem.

Tayla also has been having difficulty breathing and has had a super-snotty nose. Too bad they don't make allergy medicines for kids under 6 years old. Tayla just has to suffer!

We're just one big allergized family.

Turkey Dinner

2010-06-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

When we moved in to our new rental, my friend gave us some stuff that was in his house that he didn't want to take with him back east. Among the things he gave us were several four year old expired cream cheese. We threw that out.

He also gave us a 25 pound frozen turkey, so we decided to go ahead and make a nice dinner. Camille did all the hard work of making the brine and spending hours over a hot stove to make all the dinner.

Take a look at that turkey?

Stephanie: That's awesome... but what's that on the table.

Me: Very funny Steph. I'll get you for that one.

We invited three different groups of people over to have dinner with us. Our friends from church couldn't make it, neither could two different families from work. That's okay. More for me... MUCH more.

These were the turkey leftovers:

We had this dinner a couple weeks ago and we still have turkey in the fridge. It probably needs to be thrown out. It'll go bad soon if it hasn't already.

Texting Babies

2010-06-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

They say kids are getting more and more tech savvy at a younger age, but this is ridiculous.

I mean: they were sitting right next to each other, so why did they need to text?

This transcript was taken from Tayla's phone after bedtime that night...

Tayla: WYD l8r?

Preston: bn crabby n takN a nap

Tayla: lol. DY wn2 play w toyz?

Preston: knda. Im bord

Tayla: Me 2. ll Ive S stufD bears.

Preston: parNts r lame

Tayla: u z it.

To translate go to the lingo2words website.

Tall Tayla

2010-05-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks after her birthday, I made a measuring stick where we can keep track of our children's height as they grow. I took this photo.

Tayla is 2 feet 6 inches. The toughest thing was trying to get her to stand in front of the stick for the photo. she kept wanting to sit down or play with things.

Before and After

2010-05-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

While we were getting ready to move into our new rental house there was a little complication. We were going to be moving in on April 30th and my friend at work wasn't moving out until the next day. This was a complication because we couldn't move our things into the house: his things were still in the house! We remedied this situation by putting all of our things into one bedroom upstairs and the living room in the front of the house. Things were piled very very high.

After my friend, Dale, moved out, we were able to move our things to their proper location. Here's what the front room looks like now.

We're almost finished getting everything where it needs to go. There's still a few boxes around the house that haven't found a home, but hopefully I'll finish putting things away in the next few days.

New House

2010-05-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

When we moved to California, we found a house to rent while we were driving around the neighborhoods near where I worked. Unfortunately, we soon found that it wasn't the most pleasant of neighborhoods. At the end of April, a friend at work was retiring and moving to his home back east. Because of the current housing market, he only wanted to rent out his house instead of sell it, so we were able to get a pretty good deal. We are paying just a little bit more than our last house and there is a lot more room. It's also in a much better neighborhood.

The house isn't as pink as it looks in the photo, but the setting sun cast a red hue over everything.

We're pretty happy with the area. So far Camille hasn't seen any drug deals and our house or cars haven't been broken into... but then again, it's only been a month since we moved in.

Tayla's Birthday

2010-05-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

On April 30th, we were moving out of our old house and into our new house. Since we had people helping us move our things, we decided to double the fun and turn it into a birthday party. We bought some pizzas and an ice cream cake. We posed Tayla in front of her birthday cake for a photo and she immediately grabbed a handful of cake.

She really didn't know what was going on when we sang to her or when we helped her blow out the candles.

We opened some of her presents including some toys and a few outfits from both her grandmothers.

Though Tayla didn't know what was going on, we still had a good time.

College Graduate!

2010-05-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I got a suspicious-looking package in the mail. I opened it up quickly and curiously because I hadn't read the "what to do when you get a suspicious-looking package" memo at work.

To my great delight, it was a college diploma with my name written on it. It read "On the recommendation of the Faculty and by virtue of the authority vested in them by the Regents of The University of the State of New York, the trustees of Excelsior College have conferred upon David Solomon Kleparek the degree of Bachelor of Science with all the rights, honors, and privileges pertaining to that degree" etc. with a date of 21 May 2010.

Here's my official graduate photo. Sorry, no cap, gown, processional music or anything of that sort.

As a sort of graduation celebration, we went out to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

I brought my new baby, "Diplomee" along with with Camille and I. Oh yeah... Tayla came, too.

I tried to feed Diplomee some of my dinner. I guess that's counterintuitive. I've been feeding into that degree since 1996 when I took my first concurrent enrollment class. Now it's time for the degree to feed me!

Along with the diploma, I got a transcript that showed all the course credits I've gotten that applied toward my degree.

6 hours of classes from Pleasant Grove High School and UVSC in 1996-1997

14 hours of classes from Southern Utah University in 1998

45 hours of classes from Utah Valley State College (now UVU) in 2001-2002

4 hours of classes from Empire State College in 2003

9 hours of classes from University of the Incarnate Word in 2004

18 hours accepted as credits from military education from 1997-2009

25 hours of classes from Excelsior College from 2007-2010

That means that I've earned a total of 121 hours of credits toward this degree and I've been working on it for nearly 14 years, longer than many doctors!

When we got home from eating steak at Texas Roadhouse, we went to a park where I pushed Diplomee on a swing for a while. Tayla might have been jealous, but she's only been part of my life for a year or so.. not 14 years!

Now that I'm a college graduate, I have joined the ranks of such people as my dad, my mom, my wife and my younger brother. Oh... I guess I've finally just caught up to everyone else.

Imagine you're sitting in an overcrowded auditorium next to a bunch of people with camcorders. The music plays and at the podium stands the valedictorian: ME!

"Congratulations Kleparek class of 2010!" (pause for thunderous applause)

"I'd like to thank all the people who made this diploma possible. My mother for constantly telling me that music wasn't a career so I'd better have a back up plan. My father who encouraged me to join the Army which led to years of putting off college. My 9th grade science teacher, if I had one... I don't remember. My older brother, Kyle, for turning me in to an introvert. My younger brother Anton for turning me into an extrovert. My sister Sarah for being a sweetie. My younger brother Jakob for being a Kiwi.

"But most of all, I'd like to thank my supportive wife. If she didn't let me go and study sometimes, I would've never made it. And whenever I saw a fancy car or computer game system I wanted, she would say: 'You can have it when you graduate college.' Now she says: 'You can have it when you get promoted.' She'll always be hanging that carrot in front of me to help me keep moving.

"I'd also like to thank the academy.

"I'll always have fond memories of many of the classes that I've had: good and bad. During my first semester of full-time college at Southern Utah University, I overloaded myself with too many classes. I even had to drop a chemistry class altogether. It was my toughest semester I ever had and resulted in the only "D" I ever got.

"In 2002, I took an evening class called Modern Social Problems: a sociology class from UVSC that went in to depth on the various social problems in our culture. As part of the class we went down to the Utah County jail in Spanish Fork. The inmates all whistled and barked at the girls in the group.

"Taking online classes was very difficult. Less than a quarter of my credits come from online classes, but it took 7 years to complete those credits. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with the reading, research or writing assignments without the help of a professor present to talk to. I had to rely on email and computer connections, but I suppose that is how much of the world works today.

"It took a lot of work to earn this degree. During my entire college education, there was only 1 semester when I wasn't working full-time as well as doing college. Camille can attest that there were some lonely nights and weekends when I would hide in the garage to read my textbooks or take off to study at my work office for hours at a time.

"Many of my credits were applied from training I received in the military. I have to thank the Army for the training I received from them as well as paying for my educationwhich allowed me to never get in to any debt for my education.

"In life getting a college degree has enormous significance. It's one of those life achievements like getting married or having kids. There's not much that can top it. It will help to define who I am. My children and thier children will look to me to be an example. I will be able to tell them, from experience, that getting an education is important and even essential in today's world.

"I am so proud of the entire 2010 Kleparek graduating class! (more thunderous applause) Thank you."

Jupiter has Changed!

2010-05-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Take a close look of these images of Jupiter. The one on the left was taken in June 2009. The one on the right was taken this month (May 2010). Can you spot the change?

According to an NPR story, the lower equatorial belt has somehow disappeared. Amateur astronomers started noticing this last fall. They're not sure if the belt is just obscured by something or if Jupiter has actually changed. What has happened? Nobody knows for certain yet.

Dang Puzzles

2010-05-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

I saw this story on a UK news website called the The Daily Mail.

This retired man spent nearly 8 years making a humungus puzzle on his dining room table. When he finally finished...

... he found that his puzzle was missing one piece. Ahh! I hate when that happens!

Close-up

2010-05-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Tayla's New Birthday Dress

2010-05-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

A week or so before her birthday, Tayla got a package from Camille's sister, Stephanie. We figured it was for her birthday, but we opened it anyway. It was a new dress.

The next day, I put the dress on Tayla, combed her hair and took her outside for a few photos.

Tayla loves being outside, so she was very happy just to be in the backyard.

I took a few photos from a lower angle. It rather makes her look like a giant towering over a small city.

Thanks Stephanie for the new dress!

Later we got some other new birthday outfits from both of Tayla's grandmothers. I'll have to take some photos of those as well.

Our Missing Cats

2010-05-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of May, we moved in to our new house. Since we've been married (and since we got our cats), this is the fifth house we've lived in. Every time we move, we keep the cats inside for a few days and then let them start exploring the outside. Soon, they are comfortable and do perfectly well. They've never had problems with being outside. They were very good with staying away from traffic, even when we lived next to big roads. They're also good at defending themselves against dogs. One of our cats even chased a large Labrador around our yard once.

One week ago, Camille's mom and sister were visiting along with their little dog, Lucy. Since our cats are rather nervous around dogs, they stayed outside until very late at night.

They didn't come back.

We figured that they would come back, but a couple days passed and still nothing. So we put a dozen of these posters around the neighborhood.

It's been a week, now.

Today we went to the SPCA and then Camille went to another animal shelter looking for our cats. We looked at dozens and dozens of cats but we still had no luck.

If you see them, let us know. :(

Sleepy Girl

2010-05-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

We took these photos one night when we were at home. Tayla is usually very active, but this night she was being very mellow. She started getting some molars in the back of her mouth and began acting sickly. We figure that she didn't feel so good partly because her back teeth were coming in.

It's a rare occasion when Tayla will cuddle with us for very long. Too bad it usually happens when she's sick.

Now she has 12 teeth in her tiny mouth!

Week 20

2010-05-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

On April 11th, we took this photo of how Camille was progressing. At this point she was half way through the pregnancy.

We haven't been as diligent at taking photos every week. Every few weeks seems to work just fine for our purposes.

Drive-in

2010-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

We haven't been to a movie in a while and I really wanted to go see the movie: Clash of the Titans, so on the second weekend of April, we went to the local drive-in theater.

It started getting pretty cold after just a few minutes, so we loaded the chairs and everything back into the car and sat in the car the whole time. Tayla wasn't being very happy, so I ended up missing a lot of the film. Maybe I'll have to rent the film when it comes to DVD.