Firefighting

I suppose I should explain my actions so that there will be no misunderstandings. I love my family very much! I am not trying to escape from them in any way, shape or form. The truth of the matter is I love fire. Wildland firefighting is filled with pros and cons. The most significant con is the entire state of Nevada. Who cares anyway? Nothing is worse than running all over a miserable dessert trying to save juniper trees and sage brush. It’s just not worth it. Among the pros are clear skied Idaho nights, lying under the stars after a hard days work. The work itself is rather hard and unglamorous. We work 16 hour shifts digging fire lines as far as the eye can see. In wildfire there is just no way to bring enough water to the fire to extinguish it in such a way. Instead we remove the forest from the fire. We cut down trees and dig up grasses and roots until there is a swath of mineral soil surrounding the fire. When it burns to the cleared line the fire dies down and goes out. At least that is the theory, though it gets much more complicated than that. So essentially, my job is to swing a tool for 16 hours a day with 40 to 50 pounds on my back. It does not sound that fun, believe me I know, but there is a strange appeal to such work. It brings satisfaction, not to mention a good paycheck. Besides, who doesnt think that camping for 6 months in some of the most beatiful vistas eye has ever seen is the greatest blessing on earth?

The ideal Brady existence

With all of this talk of moving to Montana, I wish to impart unto your minds the ideal living situation.

It starts with anywhere from 15 to 40 acres of prime real estate. Keep in mind that not any land will do. We are talking about pristine Montana or Wyoming country. Now open up your minds and prepare to receive heaven on earth! Smack dab in the center of the property we will build a nice little two story Victorian style home. 5 bedrooms and 2 baths will do; nothing too extreme. However, there will be the most elegant wrap around porch you have ever seen. This will be absolutely necessary to keep track of all six kids as they run wild all over their paradise. There will be a small barn and modest pasture for our cows (at least one milk cow, the rest will be beef cows) and sheep. The chickens and ducks will have free rein over all of our land. Situated up near the hundred year old oak will be our fish pond. It will be beautifully landscaped with a waterfall flowing into it. Inside it will be koi (a Japanese pond fish), turtles and frogs. Add to this our modest garden and now you are beginning to see the picture.

Montana here we come!

I wish now to dwell on a more positive theme. Though this one also has its share of sadness, we are mostly excited for OUR MOVE TO MONTANA! These are the plans: throughout this and next week we will move out of our apartment and into mom and dad Brady’s basement. On April 14th I will begin refresher training with the crew and get ready to fight wildfire. I am on call starting April 30th. Kristen will remain in the basement until sister Kara’s wedding. Then she will move to Montana and spend the rest of the summer in mom Asay’s basement. From our basement apartment to a basement, to a basement, we just don’t like the sun very much as you can tell. Come November when my baby has grown up without me and I am finally done fighting fire I will rejoin the family in Montana.

Through Kristen’s brother Steven I made the acquaintance a man named Tom, who is a Billings firefighter. He has been genuinely enthusiastic about helping me get a job with the Billing Fire Department. If I get the job Kristen and I will settle in for a few years while I continue to take classes here and there, then we will start applying for medical school. In this way we hope to have some grand adventures together before getting thoroughly trapped in school and debt. Our philosophy is this: if you sacrifice your ability to have fun in the present for the pursuit of having fun in the future, the future will arrive and you won’t remember what having fun is. We want our lives to begin today, not after medical school and a residency.

Developmental dysplasia of the hip

I guess life’s latest lesson is that bad things happen to little people. Of course I have always understood and accepted this, but I never expected to face it in my own family. With the plethora of diseases, disfigurations, syndromes, injuries and all the others that can befall our young ones, I suppose I should be grateful. Nonetheless, it is not easy to see the bright side of things when one so small and innocent is involved.

We still don’t have all of the details. We are expecting a referral from our pediatrician to see an orthopedic surgeon at primary children’s hospital. This is what we do know: Alexandria has bilateral hip dislocations accompanying her underdeveloped hip sockets. Best case scenario the dislocations will be reduced and she will wear a harness that holds her hips in a flexed position while they continue to develop. This could take anywhere from 1-6 months. Worst case scenario she will need a body cast for the present and face possible hip replacement surgery in her adolescent years.

We hope and pray for the best and ask for your prayers and faith also. Hopefully, when we finally get all of our questions answered, the problem will not be as severe as presently anticipated.

March 17th

Post by Tyler (note, this introduction is meant as a disclaimer). That's right, Kristen is no longer at the helm. I will try not to make this a disagreeable experience. Let me begin with March 17th. This is the day that my wife, with the help of an anesthesiologist, two surgeons, a scrub nurse and an obgyn nurse brought a small squirming purple creature into the world. I guess I should also add that said creature was wet and gooey. Upon careful consideration, my Kristen and I have decided to give this creature a name; it is now known as Alexandria Kara Brady. I suppose I should also add that the creature is female, but I am already getting ahead of myself. Let me backtrack to where the adventure of March 17th began. It was four-thirty in the morning when peacefully sleeping Tyler was brought into consciousness via some gentle Kristen nudges. This, I must admit, is not so deplorable a fate, for my blissful slumber was only destined to last a few minutes longer anyway, and the way I see it, better my wife than that horrible alarm clock, oh how I hate the sound!
We dressed and were off. Where? To a place which specializes in the birth of all such little creatures. The obgyn nurse obliged us by completing all of the requisite checking in, while an anesthesiologist prepared to harpoon my poor wife. I don’t know that I have ever seen her so pale in all my life. I take this as strong evidence that I am a good husband! If not so, I should expect to see such paleness regularly as a result of my own actions. Once numb from chest down, she was lead across the hall on her chariot. I followed closely wearing my handsome new space suit.
Moments later, I enjoyed, not really, the scene of what I will describe as "methodical disembowelment." Kristen's paleness increased. So did mine! I will liken this experience to one that occurred not so long ago in far away Montana, my first chicken butchering. I believe my paleness was, in great respect, correlated to the similarities between my wife's innards and the chicken's. We did not have to wait long before I was holding this new creature in my arms and with tears in my eyes celebrating its strange beauty. My wife also, I suppose, would have great cause to celebrate, but she was still intimately concerned with the state of her exposed entrails.
So, that is the story of how I came to have, in my very own personal possession, a cute little poop maker.

9 months

So here is our update on life I suppose.

We went to the doctor on Tuesday and found out that our little baby girl is in breech position. Feet down in my bladder and head squashing my stomach. This explains the little foot that randomly tries to push out my lower left side while I'm teaching math in the mornings.
We are going to go into the Hospital on Monday and the doctors are going to try and manually turn her over. This sounds like it involves lots of lubrication and pushing on my belly. If it doesn't work then we will be schedualed for a c-section, and from the sounds of it, this will take place either on or to close, to my birthday (the 18th).
In similar news, I found out that my principal told the teacher who would be taking over my class, that I would be there until April 7th. The sub was pretty shocked when I told her that while I had made lesson plans up until March 31st, I expected to be gone way before then. Just as I was shocked to hear she wasnt planning on comming until April 7th, March 31st at the earliest. I wonder just exactly what the prinicple was thinking when she failed to mention my March 24th due date to the sub. This is not my schedualing problem, My hands are clean, although it is so very frustrating.
For being 9 months pregnant i'm feeling pretty good. Much better than I was a month or two ago and I can only attribute this to all the prayers that have been comming our way. Thank you to everyone who has remembered us. Tyler has some news that I know he will want to post and so I will let him do this, as well as fill everyone in on the hilarity of our LaMaze class.