Night Terrors

Anyone out there that has ever had the privilege of sleeping overnight in the same house as Kim knows what I am about to talk about. She is the night terror queen. I've been married to her for 8 1/2 years, and I thought I'd seen everything until this last one. Let me give you a few examples before I begin:

1. Kim and I had just moved from Provo, Utah to her parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado. I was watching t.v. one night, and she went down to bed early. When I came down a few hours later, I creaked the door open as softly as I could, but it wasn't soft enough. Kim shot out of bed so fast, it almost made me scream because I was so startled. She pulled all of the blankets off of the bed, huddled into the corner, and screamed as loud as humanly possible. Everyone in the house woke up. Her dad came running down the stairs. My heart was beating a mile a minute. Kim was screaming so loud, she started losing her voice. The closer I got to her to try and calm her down, the louder she screamed. I didn't know what to do. Her dad barged into the room, probably thinking his new son-in-law was murdering his daughter. She finally snapped out of the night terror, everyone got a good laugh, and I'm pretty sure we both had to change our underwear.

2. I believe I was playing dominoes at the dining room table with Kim's two younger sisters, Courtney and Melissa. Kim was sleeping on the couch in the t.v. room. All of a sudden, we hear Kim screaming at the top of her lungs and see her running straight toward us, blanket in tow. She stopped, turned around, huddled on the ground, pointed at the ceiling, and started screaming, "Spider! Spider!" There was no spider on the ceiling. In fact, with the hundreds of spider on the ceiling night terrors I've witnessed, there has never actually been a spider on the ceiling.

3. Kim and I had recently bought our own house in Centennial, Colorado. As I was in peaceful slumber in our very own master bedroom one night, I felt all the bedding being ripped off of the bed. I looked up just in time to hear Kim scream and then catch a glimpse of her as she bolted out of the door with the comforter, sheet, and a pillow in her death grip. I don't remember exactly what she was screaming about that time, but I do remember being uncomfortably cold waiting for her to come back with the blankets.

I could go on and on, but let me get to the point. Kim had the strangest night terror a couple of nights ago. Ever since her belly has started protruding, Kim has not been able to sleep on her back in the bed. She bought this big nest/pillow contraption that she wraps herself in and sleeps propped up on the couch. She went to bed early one night, but I wasn't tired yet, so I was quietly trying to watch some t.v. on one couch as she slept on the other. I was deeply engrossed in Sportscenter highlights when I started to hear opera singing. Loud opera singing. It scared me so bad, I dropped the remote. I picked it up, muted the t.v., turned around, and saw Kim propped up on her elbows singing opera with full vibrato. Her head was pulled all the way back like a coyote howling at the moon. I asked out loud, "Are you serious?" (She was in a deep sleep and has no recollection of the incident.) I had to wake her up to make her stop. I tried telling her that was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen in my life, but she fell right back asleep.

I need to invest in a time-lapse video camera or something so other people can enjoy these episodes as well.

Holy Road Trip, Batman!

I am not feeling creative right now, so here is a generic travelogue filled with great pictures and boring captions:


After months of debating between Frankenstein, a ninja, Spiderman, and Batman, Owen decided he wanted to be Batman for Halloween.









We made the 16 hour drive from St. George to Pasco, Washington to spend Halloween with my side of the family. We stopped in Tremonton, Utah to pick up some skinny lady named Mom. I don't even recognize this woman anymore.


When we got to Pasco, there was some skinny girl named Kim who apparently is my sister. They've lost 100 pounds between the two of them.



Luckily we had some time for a brief visit in Spokane to see Tim, Julie, Jeff, Drew, Jason, and Nick.


Kim runs a preschool out of her house. I got to relive my teaching days and read some Halloween books to the kids.


Owen got to be a student for 3 days, and he absolutely loved it.


He joined the 4 year old class for two days, and the 3 year old class for one day, so he got double the treats and candy.


We made a trip to the pumpkin patch.


We climbed the hay pyramid.


We found some nice pumpkins, but we ended up not buying them due to a misunderstanding on price. How do those people sleep at night knowing they charge so much?


Aaaaahhhhh. How cute.


The 30th was the Myers' ward Trunk or Treat party.
Me=1967 Seattle Supersonic,
Kim P.=pregnant housewife,
Owen=Batman,
Brady=the Scream guy,
Cameron=Batman,
Ally=Jasmine,
Maddie=lion,
Kim M.=hippie



Jeff=Urine-bag-toting, rear-end-exposed hospital patient


We trick-or-treated around Kim's neighborhood on Halloween night. Owen had a blast. We found out his favorite candy is just the plain old Hershey bar. It was hard to get to sleep that night being hyped up on candy, but we eventually did. We woke up at 4:30 the next morning and drove 16 hours back to St. George.

Click Below

Check out our family pictures:

www.daveharrisphotography.com/powell

Ultrasounds and Microwaves

The day has arrived. We had our ultrasound today. We know what we're having.



IT'S A .........

































HORSE!!!






















Man, I make myself laugh sometimes. Sorry. Back to the announcement.


IT'S A ................

DUCK!!!

Wow. I apologize. This is totally uncalled for. Here, why don't you just look and see for yourself?

Do you see what I see? That is not an eyeball and a tongue sticking out. That's an 18 1/2 week old poop chute and a male organ. Yes, indeed.

We're having another boy!!!








Here he is face down, smelling the uterine lining.











Here he is laying on his side, looking right at the camera. Notice his mouth. He just got done saying, "See you guys in March."




Everyone is a little shocked it's a boy in there. Don't ask me why, but we were all expecting a girl. I would be lying if I said we weren't a tad bit disappointed for a brief moment. We got over it quickly and realized how blessed we are to have another child at all. It could be worse. We could be having a horse or a duck.


To celebrate this momentous day, we went out and bought two more microwaves.


Actually, this has nothing to do with anything, but it's kind of funny. We haven't sold our house in Denver yet. We're renting it out to a military guy and his wife. We obviously don't want two mortgages, so we are renting here in St. George. The microwave that came with our house stopped working. Kim's brother, Scott, loaned us his old microwave a while ago. I put that one in the Cedar City store. When ours stopped working, I brought back Scott's microwave to our house. The property management people said they would try to fix the broken microwave. They couldn't fix it, so they left a new one on our counter while we were at the ultrasound. When we came back, Scott's microwave was missing. We thought they tried to fix Scott's instead of the broken one. We called the property management people to tell them they took the wrong microwave. They said they put that one in the garage. Kim tried warming up some food in the brand new microwave, but it did not work. I got Scott's microwave from the garage, and put it back in where we had it in the first place. Hence, the trifecta of microwaves in our tiny kitchen.

Side note... we are open to suggestions for names. I just don't want to hear any of that made up stuff like Colton or Cason, or last names turned into trendy first names like Carter, Carson, or Cooper. Those kinds of names drive me nuts. (Sorry if I offended anyone.)

Old McPowell Had a Farm. E-I-E-I-O.

Saturday the 13th was my 31st birthday. Very anti-climatic. Very non-monumental. I loved being able to just work half the day and spend some time with Kim and Owen. They got me this really snazzy tie that looks very Halloweenyish with my black pinstriped shirt.

After I got home from work, we went to a local Fall favorite hotspot called Staheli Farm. We jumped on the redneck trampoline,...

played on the redneck slides,...

pet the animals,...

sat on some hay,...














stood on a fence,...















rode on the "Cow Train,"...
tossed some cow pies,...
picked some pumpkins,...

admired a bug-infested pumpkin,...












and navigated our way through the corn maze.















After gorging ourselves at Texas Road House, we came home for some cake and ice cream. Owen decorated this one all by himself with Lightning McQueen and Mater candies.



I can't believe I'm halfway to 62.



Pregnancy update!!! Kim's co-workers have been pulling her into the ultrasound room during slow times at the hospital. So far, nobody has been able to find any boy parts. So I think we're having a girl! (Or a boy with some serious life challenges ahead of him.)

Rumblin' Bumblin' Stumblin' Tumblin'

Owen started his tumbling class today, so I thought I'd post some pictures that I took through a dirty racquetball court window. It ended up being a ward activity with a total of 9 kids from our ward. Kim had to work, so I was the only dad there. It's alright though. I got pretty used to being the only guy around after choosing elementary education as my college major.

Owen loved the class. He's a shorty compared to the other 3 year olds, but he kept up. I'm so competitive. I wanted so badly for him to do somersaults better than the other kids.



Here he is doing the crab walk. (Please excuse the shot of the instructor's hind quarters.)





Here's Owen hovering in mid-air. You should have seen him floating around the entire racquetball court.






Only one kid rolled from one end of the mat to the other without hitting their head on the wall. Guess who it was!...Some 5 year old named C.J.






This is a shot of Owen showing the instructor his ability to do that Karate Kid move where you jump to your feet from a lying position.






Owen gets his skills from Kim. I can't do anything physical anymore without pulling a muscle, slipping a disc, or having an aneurysm.

Everybody Dance Now

We were flipping through the music channels, and Owen decided it was time to bust a move. He actually busts quite a few moves, and just like the end of his piano recital video, he falls down.

I don't know what's funnier in this video...Owen's dance moves, Owen falling down again, or listening to Kim's laughing and commentary.

Piano Recital

There is no new pregnancy news to report on, other than Kim is starting to feel little flutters of movement, so I thought I would have Owen show off his piano skills. As a father with a son, I have to say that he is talking in an unusually fake high voice. His voice goes up 3 octaves when he is being shy. Normally it is more manly.

Click and enjoy.



Hot Cross Buns



Twinkle Twinkle



Scooby Doo

Owen's Heart, Mom's Move, and the Packard's House

I don't have the energy to be creative right now, so here is a simple report from our weekend:

Owen has had a slight heart murmur since birth. The doctor at his last appointment referred us to a specialist in Salt Lake to finally check it out. Everything is fine. He just has a flow murmur. The way his blood goes into his heart just makes a funny sound.














Since we were in northern Utah, we decided to drive the rest of the way up and visit mom. I guess she just couldn't handle the big city life of Brigham City, so she moved to Tremonton. Never heard of it? Not surprised.















Mom has lost 53 pounds. She gave a great talk in church. She made my favorite pork chops, rice, and gravy for dinner. She cleaned Dexter's poo off of her shoe and the carpet. It was good to see you again Mom. We love you.














We also visited with the Packards in Logan. This is the view from their back deck.





We celebrated Courtney's birthday 2 days early. Owen loves his Aunt Nee Nee.










All in all, it was a very short and relaxing weekend. I really enjoyed a break from work. The weather was 20 degrees cooler than St. George. Owen is healthy. Kim's belly is pooching out a little more from the new baby. I got to watch some football on Derrick's new HD TV, and I didn't have to fire anyone when I got back.

(The song I chose for this post is just a sample of the music that helped us pass the time during the road trip.)

I Don't Want to Jinx Myself

Here I go again being slothful in my blogging duties. Sorry it's been 12 days since the last update. Things have actually been going very well. I hired a new employee that actually knows what he is doing, and I interviewed someone else this morning that will probably work out as well. I hope I haven't jinxed myself by blogging about it. I really don't want to fire anyone else right now.

As for baby news, Kim had another appointment today. The doc found the heartbeat right away. We're past the 12 week mark, so Kim isn't feeling nearly as nauseous anymore. I can't say it enough. We are both still in shock about this whole thing. There is another couple in our ward that has been trying to have a baby for 4 years. I almost feel guilty being so happy about our pregnancy. I really hope they can have a child soon.

Owen was such a good boy at Kim's appointment this morning, she decided to buy him a new toy. (See picture below.) We are enrolling him in tumbling and karate classes this Fall. He is the sweetest boy I know, but he also has a very aggressive and somewhat violent side. Uncle Derrick doesn't come down to St. George enough to take Owen's abuse, so we'll have to pass that on to unsuspecting karate students.

And the Beat Goes On

I think it's funny that my last post was the shortest one I've ever done, but it generated the lengthiest comment list. I hate to break it off, but I've got some pregnancy news:

I believe our new baby is going to be a professional prankster or a magician. Kim went in for another appointment yesterday, and the doctor had the hardest time finding the heartbeat. The baby was either sneaking around in some dark recess of Kim's womb or performing some magical Houdini-ish heart-stopping trick. After rolling around on the examination table a few times, Kim found the right position for the doctor to hear the reassuring thumps. Kim was pretty worried, because she has been extremely sick the last week. The doctor let Kim listen to the heartbeat for a long time to let her know the baby was fine. In fact, she said by hearing the heartbeat, the chances of a miscarriage went down from 30% to 5%.

So we are at 10 1/2 weeks now. Everything is going very well except Kim's nausea. That should clear up soon though with this recent addition to Owen's prayers: "Please bless the baby that it won't make Mama puke."

A Footnote to the Last Post

9 weeks and 4 days from the last post was Fathers Day. Hmmmm.

The Countdown Begins

Kim just called me! I had to work while she was getting her first ultrasound. The doctor thinks she is 9 weeks 4 days along. That gives us a March 22nd due date. The heart rate was 167. It's really really real now!

Oh Baby!

Now that Kim is in Colorado and has told her family in person, I can announce our news to the world...

We're going to have another baby!

As you can imagine, this came as a total shock to us. We never thought we'd ever have a baby on our own without the help of a needle full of hormones, a turkey baster, or an adoption lawyer. If you remember, the whole reason I started this blog was to keep everyone up to date on the adoption process. Now that process will be put on hold.

You are probably wondering, "What on earth happened to make Kim want to take a pregnancy test?" Here's the story:

Kim has been a night shift nurse ever since she graduated. I don't know how she does it, but she can stay up all night at work, come home and get some sleep, and then she's on a regular day schedule again. I think it was finally starting to wear her down. She had the opportunity to switch to day shifts at the hospital, so she snatched it up. She had been on day shift for about a month, but she seemed to be more exhausted than when she was on night shift. We couldn't figure out why. Then on Sunday, August 12th, she felt terrible. She was going to see a doctor the next day, and she knew he would ask her if she had taken a pregnancy test.

I was up at the crack of dawn Monday morning to help pick peaches at the stake orchard. On my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and bought the cheapest pregnancy test I could find. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that I knew would just slap our faces with rejection again. I got home, Kim was asleep on the couch, and Owen was watching Scooby Doo. I poured some cereal for myself and Owen, woke Kim up, and handed her the pregnancy test. Owen and I were chowing down on some Frosted Mini Spooners when I heard a soft voice come from the bathroom..."Chris?"

I walked to the bathroom, ready to console Kim for the umpteenth time, and I saw the positive result. Kim said she didn't want to get our hopes up, but that I should probably drive to the store and get another test. After lots of crying, hugging, and screaming, I calmed down enough to find the car keys and drove to the store again. I bought a 3 pack this time. Over the next couple of hours, all 4 tests were lined up with positive results. Everything was confirmed a few hours later with a blood test at the instacare clinic.
















I apologize for the lengthy story, but I can't contain my joy right now. We had accepted the fact that we were probably never going to have kids again unless we adopted. Owen was a miracle, because every other time we tried the fertility medication, it failed. Now this baby is a miracle.

So this blog now takes a drastic turn. I will keep everyone up to date with the pregnancy. Who knows? We might still pursue adopting when this is all done. We felt so good about it, we can't just ignore it.

The Powells Went Down to Georgia

To my one or two faithful readers who are not family...bear with me on this one. It might be kind of long and boring for you. To my family members, I hope this post stirs up some nostalgia.

We had a great time down in Georgia during the last week of July. Kim and I hadn't been there since 1999. I'm glad we went down the same time as the Andersons. Owen absolutely loves spending time with his cousins.














The first day was spent exploring Dad's property.















We found a moth the size of Chloe's hand.















Then we found a turtle.
Garrett wanted to hold the turtle.















Walker wanted to hold the turtle.















Chloe wanted to hold the turtle.















Owen wanted to hold the turtle.
(Morgan was probably sleeping.)
(Brock was probably eating.)















That night we met some old friends, the Bolands, at Herb's Fish Restaurant.
(Don't ask me why I didn't get a single picture of any of the Bolands.)















How can you not smile when the smell of fried catfish is in the air?















Earlier that day, Kim, Mindy, and Morgan went shopping. Owen and I scored some cool Georgia Bulldogs hats.















The view behind the restaurant was amazing.















Peeing outside is pretty amazing too.















The next day, I got to go flying with Dad down to Mobile, Alabama.















I was pretty impressed with how effortlessly Dad flew that plane.















He couldn't control the weather though.
We had to avoid some rain clouds.
Motion sickness.
Not fun.















We couldn't land in Mobile soon enough.















After a quick bite at Po' Boys Chinese Palace, we were headed back to Georgia.















Then it was swim...















swim...















swim.

We probably spent as much time in the water as we did on land that week.

Owen is becoming quite the excellent swimmer.















Sunday afternoon, we went to visit Grandmother in the nursing home.
She just turned 99. She doesn't remember anyone anymore, but she seemed to really enjoy being around the kids.















4 generation picture















Uncle Daley and Aunt Mary just happened to show up the same time we were there.















After visiting with Grandmother, we went to Uncle Daley's to ride his 1930s restored tractors.















The kids had a blast.















Luckily, every kid got to ride on every tractor before a bone-rattling thunderstorm rolled through.
(Notice the dreary sky above the scary green-eyed cow.)















Tuesday, we went to Grandmother's house.















Driving up the dirt road brought back many memories.















The house where Dad was born.















I had to get a picture of the tree.















Front porch















Back porch















The pond















After Grandmother's house, we drove down to Warner Robins,the place of my birth. We stopped to put new flowers on Jeff's grave.















It's hard to believe he would be 40 years old. I wonder what he would have thought about his 16 nieces and nephews.















We had to drive by the old house...















...and the old school.



















We wanted to eat at Po' Folks for lunch, but they went out of business.















There are about 100 other pictures I'd like to post, but it is getting late, so I will leave you with this message that was so eloquently put on a billboard on the road to Dad's house.