Pink

I don't know how it happened, but Julia is a pink girl. Now, despite rumors I've heard to the contrary, I have nothing against pink. I did make comments before Julia was born that we didn't need to overload her in pink. We don't need 50 pink outfits, a pink crib, pink sheets, 11 pink blankets and a sign for her room that says "Julia's Pink Kingdom".

But, Julia loves pink anyway. If we let her pick anything, she's pretty much guaranteed to pick the pink option. Pink bowl for breakfast, pink shirt, pink blanket, pink pajamas, pink toys. She's just a pink girl, I suppose.

Now, this still doesn't mean that we need to overload her with pink stuff. In 6 months, her favorite color could be orange.

Diapers

Tonight getting ready for bed:

Clark: Are there any poops in your diaper?

Julia: Nope. Just a wet diaper. No wipes.

Chart

We are in absolutely no position to be promising any sort of regular updating at all, but various people have been interested in a current puking chart. So, here it is.

The mayhem is staying at fairly reasonable levels, though Shannon still doesn't feel well. Julia is doing admirably with 2 parents that have both been battling their own issues. I am nearly better these days, except for the cough that shows up around bed time.

You'll note that this post has been tagged "Baby #2" because we still haven't come up with a name for it yet.

Terror

They say that you should do something every day that terrifies you. I'm now set for about a week. Tonight I was the musical entertainment at the ward Christmas party. It was supposed to be me and Shannon, but as she is both sick and in SLC, I did it by myself. I've been sick for the last 2 weeks, and while I am generally recovered, I still have a cough, and my voice starts to disappear each night at about 8pm.

But, I did it. I played one song on the piano AND SANG, then did Mele Kalikimaka on the ukulele, and then lead everyone in the 12 Days of Christmas. I'm not sure I've ever sung a solo in front of a group bigger than about 5, let alone two numbers, on two different instruments. It wasn't perfect, there will be no calls from any recording studios, but I made it through alright. There's even video of it, but I don't think I need to see it any time soon. In fact, I don't think anyone needs to see it. Ever.

Puking Chart

Apparently my promise of a graphical accounting of Shannon's queasiness was a big hit. So here it is.


A "puke" is defined as any trip to the toilet (or other puke receptacle as available) in which heaving is accomplished, without regard to the presence of actual vomitus. After successive "pukes" throughout a single day, they tend to degenerate into dry heaves, but are tallied for this chart anyway. This is not a count of heaving events, which would be at least equal to, but in fact much greater than the number of pukes; heaving events generally occur 2 to 5 times per puke.

Analysis:
Hyperemesis gravidarum is certainly a complicated issue and a full study of all related factors will not be done at this time. It would require much more data than is being collected with regards to diet, hydration therapy, weight, time of day, etc. One interesting fact is this: the embryo hates St. George. The red boxes below enclose days that Shannon has been in SLC.

Since the 20th of November, Shannon pukes 5.6 times per day on days that she is not in SLC, and only 0.2 times per day on days that she is in SLC.

Announcement

Here is the big announcement. Everyone head for the edge of your seats . . . .

Last Thursday, Shannon and Julia packed up their things and moved up to Shannon's parents house in SLC for a little while.

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

This is because Shannon had been puking her guts out, because she is pregnant! (I hope you weren't too close to the edge of your seat!) Yeah, I know that probably borders on distasteful, but you just don't get an opportunity to throw something out there like that very often. If I were really tricksy I would have let that sentence up there just hang out by itself for a day or two before explaining.

Anyway, for those of you who remember, Shannon and pregnancy don't quite get along. (Question of the week comes from my dad: Do other species get morning sickness?) Last time she threw up a gazillion times, got many IVs and lost 15 pounds. This time she also had to deal with a sick husband and a child. It wasn't working well, so she's in SLC at her parents. She'll be back on the 12th probably. And probably her mom will stay down here a few days after that. We're playing things by ear here. She's doing reasonably well up there, and I'm bored down here. Its even worse that I'm sick, because I can't get out and do much, so I just sit at home by myself and sniffle. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: babies!

Baby #2 should arrive in mid July. We haven't given it a fetus-name yet. Feel free to offer one up. If last time is any indicator, Shannon has another 2 months of unpleasantness to go through before things normalize. But, on the upside, this time we've got graphs! Yes, we're tracking the vomitous activities, doctors appointments, medications and other key indicators so I can really quantify for people Shannon's discomfort. Then I don't have to use phrases like "she threw up a gazillion times" and can instead reliably say that she found herself bent over the toilet 18 times in a 36 hours period from Monday at midnight to Tuesday at noon last week.

Ok, I think that covers it. Don't worry, we still have lots of time to discuss puking yet.

Absenteeism

Neither Shannon nor I have blogged much at all lately. Usually this is ascribable to either traveling or illness. In our case, it is both.

We went to SLC for Thanksgiving, and got to see all the Grandmas (ours and Julia's). That's not always an easy thing to do, as they live in Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Taylorsville, South Jordan and Sandy. Among the highlights were:

- Turkey

- Not working

- BYU beating Utah. (My very brief comments on that game: this is 3 out of 4 close games where BYU has beaten Utah. I thought Utah was supposed to be the team that came up big in the important moments. On Halls comments: a small percentage of fans on both sides are absolute jerks. Let's not try to deny they exist, or pretend that it is easy to turn the other cheek when they do get in your face. It would be nice if Max had done a better job of ignoring them, but he didn't. But just because he made some stupid and unfair comments doesn't mean that all of us should go join that small percentage of jerky fans.)

After the vacationing was over, we decided to start the illness phase of our non-communication. I started Sunday on the drive home, Shannon shortly after, and Julia on Wednesday (I think). I am still fighting through the cold that will not die. I don't have a fever. If anything my temperature is abnormally low. So, I don't think I have the pig virus. But whatever I have has made the rounds from my head (as achiness), into my throat (as soreness), to my whole body, back to my throat (as an inability to speak) and back to my head (as every imaginable sinus issue all at once). I like to think that as it has made the rounds, it's got to be just about ready to leave my body. For the last 24 hours it has been doing its darnedest to escape via my nose, taking every last mucus membrane with it.

Finally, I would like to announce a big announcement. But, the announcement deserves it's own blog post. So, like all good bloggers do, I'm telling you that I'm going to tell you something, and then make you wait. Unlike the other bloggers though, I'm not going to string you out for days or weeks. It'll be up in 18 hours or less. (For those of you who know (or think you know) the secret, you can hold onto that little treasure of knowledge for another day.)