Final Update

Well, Darrian's in the clear. The doctor said the bloating had gone down, and he was hardly complaining about his stomach. Yesterday he said his tummy was all better, and didn't complain at all. Yay!

Unfortunately, the doctor also said that it was likely just a virus with odd symptoms for him. I say unfortunately because Terra and I confirmed that diagnosis by getting sick yesterday. Bleah. No throwing up for either of us, but I see why Darrian was complaining. It seems to be mostly past now, but still getting the odd twinge. Cayden seems entirely immune. He's got a bit of a runny nose, but no hint that his stomach is upset. And he's starting to walk. Hooray! (Just because I already said yay).

Update

So Darrian felt much better yesterday, but still complained some on and off. Today he was complaining again, but still not in as much pain as on Monday. We have a doctor's appointment for him (same doctor) at 11:45. We are starting to think that it's related to food - possibly milk. Both Terra and I noticed that one of our jugs of milk tasted a bit funny on Monday (just before we finished it off we noticed, but the boys drink most of the milk). We each thought it was just our own taste buds, since the boys didn't really complain, until we talked about it some yesterday. It wasn't expired, but I guess that doesn't guarantee anything. Darrian was fine this morning until he got up to the table and drank a glass of milk. Even though this milk seems fine, we wonder if the bad milk has caused some sort of reaction against milk in general. Or maybe it's something completely different. I don't know.

Hospital Run

So Sunday night, Darrian starts complaining about his stomach hurting. No vomiting, no fever or anything, just upset stomach. We figure maybe he's a little plugged up, and that's all. But no, between Sunday night and Monday morning he demonstrates that he is not, in fact, plugged up. Everything is working fine (but it's not runny, so again, an atypical symptom for normal sicknesses). He continues to complain all day yesterday, at times doubled over and writhing and crying in pain. Finally last night we (I) took him to the hospital.

Of course, as soon as we get there he's walking around like normal, and I think that I'm an idiot. But while we were waiting, everything starts up again, so I felt vindicated (I was going to say happy, but it didn't really make me happy). The doctor finally comes in, and notes that his stomach is bloated. She orders some x-rays, and confirms that his intestines are "distended" (bloated. A funny aside, she asked Darrian if his stomach felt bloated and he just stared at her like she was speaking Portugese. I was wondering how many 4 year olds she knows who use the word bloated). She can't find any reason for the bloating, so she finally ends up sending us home, although she did give us the option of staying in the hospital over night. Darrian slept well, and feels better this morning, but still complaining on and off (to a lesser degree) of stomach pains.

We have no idea what's wrong with him, but we hope that it's passing. Not quite as brutal as Scott's throwing up story, but apparently it's not a good time to be a child of an Ulriksen.

We're Moving, Baby!

For the record, I got Terra flowers. And she liked them. I guess it doesn't matter if it seems cliche-ish if it's still appreciated.

So we just finished out annual meeting last night, and approved the purchase of the Baptist Church building here in town. So someday sooner or later, we'll be moving. Now we just have to figure out all the details. As it stands, we're expecting possession on May 1. I assume our offices will move over there fairly quickly, but beyond that, I'm not sure. It's technically too small for our present congregation, so we have to build an addition. The question is, do we keep our services at our present location until then, or do we find some sort of creative way to move into the building? There have been some fun ideas proposed for either option, so we'll see what happens. And how quickly the money comes in. Now things get really interesting.

Valentine's Day

Okay, I have nothing against the concept of Valentine's Day, but I can find that it gets really cheesy. Hokey, even. Which presents a bit of a problem. See, I want to do something for my wife, but all the "traditional" things (flowers, candy, etc.) don't seem to hold much meaning in some ways, because they are so stereotypical. But I rarely have the energy in the midst of the hecticness of life to come up with anything else fancy or romantic. So I have been known to do nothing, which usually doesn't go over well, either. Sigh. Fortunately, this isn't the biggest deal for my wife, but still, I want to do something. Ah, never mind. I'm going back to work. At the very least, it's a good excuse! :D

Cake, earaches and coughing

Guess which of those three is my favorite. That's pretty much what our weekend consisted of (although I should note that Darrell came up for Cayden's birthday, and he's not really covered by any one of those topics.) Avery coughed till he threw up last night, then almost did it again. Darrian was screaming with an ear infection that now seems to be under control, and Cayden had his birthday, which was kind of neat, but kind of weird (just because it's hard to believe he's one already). He got some more shots today, but our kids never seem to care about that.

Annual meeting coming up. We're voting on whether to buy a new building or not. We've never had stressful annual meetings here (shortest on record - usually about an hour), but I'm kind of nervous about this one. Building projects often seem to bring out some of the worst in people....