So much to say

Well, it's been a while since we've updated and so there is a lot to talk about. That means that there are also a lot of pictures included in this post. I suppose the best way to go about this is to just explain each of the pictures:


This first one is Ethan with his teddy bear. There was a two day period where he decided that he was interested in it. He hasn't touched it since. Challene had been carrying Joshua in the body-pack and Ethan wanted to emulate.


This next picture is an aftermath photo. Ethan turned two recently (see the last post) and many of you may know that this time is a challenging one. Children realize for some reason that they can get their way by throwing tantrums. Ethan threw his first (and only, so far) tantrum that day. He was screaming, kicking, crying, yelling, banging his head on walls and floors. Challene and I had never seen anything like it. We tried to calm him down to begin with, but soon realized that reasoning was just not going to get us anywhere. So we sat down, continued our dinner and ignored him. After nearly 45 minutes of this, he climbed up on the couch, curled up, and fell asleep without a single word said. Like I said, this hasn't happened again... yet.

Valentines came around and Ethan just couldn't keep off the sauce. When attempting to take it away, this was the response.


We decided to go bowling as a family one day. This was Ethan's first attempt at bowling and he loved it.


You know, Ethan doesn't like to do more than necessary with some things. He knocks on doors with just his pointer finger (oddly enough it ends up being just as loud as if he'd used his fist), and he bowls with his pointer finger. He did quite well, considering. Challene won with a 140, I came in second with a 104and Ethan third with a 94. Listen, the bumpers weren't working for me very well. They were not forgiving in the slightest.


Joshy turned 5 months on the 26th of February. This was his picture that day. He most certainly is a thumb sucker, but beyond that he is a double thumb sucker!!!

Joshua finally decided he wanted to roll over the other day. Challene has seen it several times, I have yet to view it. Thank goodness for photos or I might not have believed her.

I think this picture describes the personality differences between Joshua and Ethan quite well. This is a celebratory exchange between them for Joshua rolling over. Ethan is goofing off as usual, and Josh quietly and discreetly reaches over and tweaks his ear. Notice the apparent lack of expression on Josh's face. He's trying to play it cool, but the glint in his eyes gives it away everytime!

That's it for photos. School has been going well. Midterms were killer and finals are coming up in a few weeks. Part I of boards is the weekend before finals, so it's not going to be a fun couple of weeks. PDX lab has been quite interesting the last couple of weeks. Last week we learned the Male Genital-Urinary exam -- that was just disturbing. At least the school changed its policy and we don't perform these exams on each other any more! Now they hire people to come in and be checked out. But, if you need your prostate checked, or if you think you may have a hernia I can check it out for you. This week, was a little more entertaining. We completed our ear/nose/throat exams by performing nasal-specifics, endo-nasals, and the application of the silver protein Argerol. These techniques are designed to drain the sinuses, lacrimal ducts, and eustachian tubes.

The nasal specific uses an inflatable balloon that is stuffed inside the nasopharynx via the nose. It is inflated in three different and specific areas. It is designed to physically move certain areas up there in attempt to get things flowing right.

The endo nasal is performed for those who may have an "ear infection" or otherwise blocked eustachian tube. It's done by the doctor reaching his index finger to the back of the mouth, curling up behing the uvula (hangy ball thingy) behind the soft palate and into the posterior nasopharynx. You then twist the hand to the side, and feel for the opening of the tube. You stroke the opening with your finger, tug on the soft palate and then remove your hand. It's crazy how immediate things start flowing. For those who have been suffering with inner ear issues, the relief is incredible. The flow of stuff is gross, though.

Lastly, is the Argerol. Argerol is a silver protein which relaxes the constricting muscles (or sphincters, if you will... but most of you wont) of the converging sinuses and lacrimal ducts. You saturate two long Q-tips with the Argerol and insert them up the nose until they touch this convergence of openings. You hunch them over, give them a bucket and let them drain for an hour. For those with a serious sinusitis or congestion problem, the drainage is absolutely tremendous... and disgusting. The silver protein stains everything black. When we did it in class we didn't use the Argerol because we would have been draining all day. We just soaked the Q-tips in water.

If you were grossed out by this, you probably shouldn't have read it.

School is fun. I'm loving it. You may be interested to know that my venipuncturing technique has improved significantly. That's been an interesting class! You thought the PDX stuff was gross, don't even get me started on the Clinical Laboratory stuff. Let's just say that if your body makes it, we'll be testing it.

I will be treating in the Student Health Center starting next quarter. This is an exciting step as I'll be getting patients of my own to treat.

Well, have a splendid time, and leave comments!

Warmly,

Will, Challene, Ethan, and Joshua.

You say it's your birthday, ba da na na. It's my birthday too, yeah, ba da na na

Well, we had Ethan's birthday party last Saturday, and it was a big success. The house was packed full. Probably because we were serving delicious pizza. Megan had come the day before, and was ready and willing to help out. This was a relief to me because I am not really one for baking, or offering advice on baking. Challene has decided to make it a tradition to bake a cake for our little ones on their days, which I commend and support whole-heartedly. I just know so little of the subject that I'm not very much help and then frustration takes over. Lucky for me, Megan was there to give well placed advice. I think Challene's cake skills have grown three-fold in the last year. Yes, three-fold. She found a "ball" cake mold in Michael's and decided to give it a go. She made Ethan a baseball cake. The very second he saw it he gasped, hurriedly pointed his finger and said, "ball, ball!" Gosh that kid likes balls. That reaction made the whole thing worth it in Challene's opinion.

The Birthday Cake

The instructions recommended icing the cake in this fashion to save any frustration for not having an equi-smooth cake. I feel that recommendation was very wise. Kudos to the vendor.

Ethan just loves to blow out candles, blow on hot food, blow in your face, anything. So he was ready and waiting to blow that thing out. He didn't even want to wait for 'Happy Birthday' to be sung. He was blowing before we moved it to a reachable place.

Ethan blowing out his candles

Notice the well pursed lips and the ne'er blinking eyes. He's got great form, that one.

After dinner and cake it was game time. Challene had purchased a cheap little "pin the tail on the donkey" game. "That's cheesy," I commented reminiscent of Dave. Cheesy or not, it was a huge hit. Each of the kids (and one dad -- not me) took a turn at pinning a tail to that ol' donkey. Actually, the tails were stickers. So they stuck a tail to the donkey. It accomplishes the same thing without having to give 2 year olds sharp objects. And that, I think, made it all worth it. It was during this game when it dawned on us that Ethan doesn't have any friends who are boys (note -- I did not say 'boy friends' that would have just been wrong). There are no boys his age in the ward. I take that back. There is one boy, but he's somewhat of a bully so we don't encourage play with him. He kicked Ethan in the crotch while pretending to pop some bubbles. Ethan doesn't really appreciate him anymore. So, he's learning at an early age how to handle the ladies. Liza Woolsey, Gwen Marshall, and Jessica Turner came. Plus their parents and an additional couple who are our friends but haven't any children yet.

Ethan takes his turn

Note - Gwen (just behind Ethan) is the one who got the tail in the perfect spot -- she cheated though! We kicked them straight out of our house. We have a zero tolerance policy on cheating!

Gwen (curly hair) is right behind Ethan, and Jessica is right next to Gwen

After each of the other children finished "pinning" their tails, they took off the blindfold and ran back to their respective parents. Ethan, though, turned around and began walking with the blindfold on. He didn't seem to care that he couldn't see anything. He nearly walked into the table. We all had a good chuckle.

As reward for stalwart efforts in pinning donkey tails we gave everyone a bouncy balloon (the ones with the elastic attached). Beyond the game, beyond the food, beyond the presents, this by far was the greates hit of the evening. They went absolutely nuts! Running in circles, screaming at the tops of their lungs chasing each other trying to bounce the balloon off of the head of the nearest person... oh, the kids liked them too! But seriously, you've never seen competition until you've seen grown men attempt to bounce a balloon closest to anothers nose from four feet away.

The Madness

If you're wondering where Joshua is during all this, he slept through the entire party. I think he may be the only one on the entire block that was able to sleep during that time.

We kindly thanked everyone for ditching the adult session of stake conference for our little party and sent them on their way.