My Dad

Today is Father’s day and I had to teach sharing time at church today.  After a lesson on the Holy Ghost we made cards for our Dads and handed out a “How well do you know your dad” list of questions.

When the boys and I got home from church we made cupcakes that looked like owls then the boys filled out their answers to the questions.  We sat down with Roger and we all said our answers then Roger gave us the correct answer.  It was fun, I even learned a few things about Roger that I didn’t know.  When he was a kid he spent  a week in the hospital in a oxygen tent and when he was in Saudi Arabia he had a very high temperature and stumbled to the medic and was immediately put on an iv.  Band of Brothers is his all time favorite movie.    So each of the boys got a cupcake if  they could answer one question correctly about their dad because they were deemed a Wise Guy if they got the answer right.  We gave Roger a card that said “Happy Father’s Day to a Wise Guy!”

Well this got me thinking about my own dad and all the things I don’t know about him. So I called him and with my list of questions in hand, some of his answers I expected and some I was surprised about.  For all my siblings here is what he said:

Who is he named after? Dennis for a trumpet player grandma had a crush on in the 20’s or 30’s and O'Neil for his Dad’s brother Uncle O'Neil.

What is his favorite cereal? cheerios

Where was he born?  Santa Monica, CA

Are his parents members of the church? their work is done

How old was he when he got married? 21

What is his favorite flavor of ice cream? Neapolitan

Would he rather visit a mountain hideaway or a beach house?  both you know he loves to explore

What is his favorite movie? Avatar

What is the sickest time he has ever experienced?  Ulcers in 3rd grade till he was a junior in high school, he said it was so painful and the doctors would have him take aspirin for it.  Then when he was 17 they cut out 3/4 of his stomach.

What does he do in his spare time? invent /create

What is his favorite song? If I can dream by Elvis Presley and Don’t take my love away unsure of who sings it he said it is kind of reggae.

What has been his happiest moment?  Spending time with the kids “They are my best friends!”

Who are 2 of his  best friends? grandkids

What is his favorite sport?  racing planes “right now they are in NY they fly all over the world in a race”

How many brothers/sisters does he have? 3 brothers

What hardships has he overcome? Being brought up poor so he wanted things, a lot.  He has have overcome his want mostly.

What does he enjoy most in life?  His kids/grandkids and church

Regrets?  He didn’t realize his best friends as much as he wanted to.  Would like to have treated my kids the way I treat my grandkids.

My dad is a kind-hearted, loving person.  He was hard on us at times but I never doubted his love for me.  He taught all of how to work hard and to have pride in our work. Love you Dad, Happy Father’s Day!

Miss Scarlett Rebekah Fleig

39 weeks and 3 days into my pregnancy

We welcomed Scarlett at 4:47pm on February 16, 2010 although it took a day to decide on her name.  She was born weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and 21.65 inches long.  This is the shortened version of events, if you don’t want to know anymore about Scarlett’s birth don’t read any further.

I started the day out at 4:40am, I had to call the hospital and confirm I should still come in at 6am for my induction.  The answer was yes, so I texted my friend Shannon “the Paparazzi” that it was still happening at 6am.  After I took a quick shower, Shannon arrived to take pictures of me as I was ready to load my things in the car (this was before 5:30am).  Shannon is a really good friend, I can’t believe she got up so early!  Roger stayed home to get the kids to school in the morning, only after I assured him I wouldn’t let them break my water without him there.  He was a little worried he might miss the birth of his daughter.

When we got to the hospital, Arla my intake nurse checked us in.  Then later in the morning she let Tiffany and Lisa  take over since Lisa was training to become a Labor and Delivery nurse over from post par dome nursing.  I got a two for the price of one deal!  They took great care of me, it was awesome having two dedicated nurses all day from start to finish.

I had group b strep so I had to have antibiotics before delivery and since my previous births were quick we decided to induce.  After getting hooked up to the monitors they started the antibiotics and the pitocin.  It was a lot of walking the halls then stopping because the monitor would lose the signal on the baby’s heart (which really means the cord was wrapped around her) and I would come back to room and reposition the monitor and sit for them to get a read on her heart.

At 11:30 or so the contractions were going consistently but not painful and Roger had made it to the hospital. Dr. Wells broke my water I think at 1pm.  We did some more walking and Amy Barry arrived as well as Brett Ross.  We had a lot of joking and laughing with the nurses, it was a party.  Lisa my nurse had never heard the song “Business Time” by Flight of the Concords so we showed her the you tube video of  the song and laughed ourselves silly.

This picture I think was after Dr. Wells broke my water and I was making Roger massage my feet to get my contractions going more.

At 3pm the contractions were getting a little more intense and at 3:50pm I got into the bath and it was so soothing.  The nurse got me a doughnut to sit on and towel to cover my front up and Roger sat next to me and poured warm water all over me while the jets made my back feel better.  Then it started to get really uncomfortable and I got out of the tub. 

At 4:30 the baby was transitioning and I was in pain.  Shannon captured a great picture of this.

Brett and Amy were putting cool clothes on my neck and forehead. During contractions I would smell my mint lip gloss to get through the pain.  I was asking the nurses for some tylenol or something and they said they would check to see if I could have something to shut me up cause they knew it would be over soon.

At 4:40pm I got in bed and they took off the end of the bed.  After a few pushes her head was out and the cord was wrapped around her neck four times.  Then she delivered the rest of the way at 4:47pm and I didn’t tear this time, so no stitches!

This moment was so sweet made even sweeter that my friend Amy was there. Four months earlier Amy delivered her little boy Calvin 8 weeks early via emergency c-section and he died shortly after birth.  Losing Calvin makes me hold our children a little tighter because of the awareness at how fragile life is.  So precious and desired this little girl is to me.