Luke's Sixteenth Week

How many weeks will we keep this up? Guess you'll have to keep checking in to find out...

Our Favorite Ice Cream

Since Luke doesn't let us get out of the house anymore, we have to take pleasure in the simpler things in life, like ice-cream. Natalie and I's favorite ice-cream is Ben & Jerry's "Half Baked" -- half chocolate chip cookie dough and half fudge brownie (hence the name) Mmmm.....

Luke's Fifteenth Week

The Today Show

Looks like Meredith Vieira is in the office next to me interviewing a doctor today so maybe we'll be on the Today show soon...

UPDATE! Here's the TODAY Show video:

Date Night

Last night Natalie and I went on our 4th date night since Luke came along. Natalie has been under the impression that she doesn't like Indian food, so I set about to prove her wrong and took her to Shivas in downtown Mountain View. It worked, she likes curry now -- just needed a taste of the good stuff. Then we walked down Castro St. to Red Rock Coffee, a non-profit cafe run by a local church, where we drank tasty hot chocolates and ate a peppermint truffle while listening to a young guy play the guitar and attempt singing. The building has been there since the late 1800s and we enjoyed sitting by the corner windows on the second floor for a bird's-eye view of Mountain View nightlife. We came back refreshed and ready for another night of interrupted sleep.

Luke's Fourteenth Week

Braces are coming

I'm getting braces (again) soon! Woo hoo!

(this picture is not of my mouth, it's just a gross picture that I found that illustrates how I feel about braces)
Here's why braces are coming: My mouth is a little messed up because I was born with a partial cleft, so the bridge of my jaw is weak, allowing my teeth to all cave in on each other.

To fix it I need to do a year of braces, then some surgery, then another year of braces. None of it is going to be fun. I've had expanders in my mouth for two months now, top and bottom, to prepare for the braces. It's basically a metal bar across the top of my mouth -- makes it very hard to talk and eat. That's why I've sounded funny the last two months.

I wanted to warn everyone so you can get all of your jokes ready to make fun of me next time you see me.

31st Birthday

Lunch at BJ's Pizza with friends. More low-key than the 30th birthday, since now I'm over the hill and all.

twenties@CPC Church Group

This is what our 20s group looks like:
Luke is the crying baby in the center. Each week in this group we split up into smaller groups to discuss the Bible passage we're studying that week. The makeup of my group this year was of note: 1 Palestinian, 1 Iraq war combat veteran, 1 Homeland Security agent, 1 Chinese guy, 1 Egyptian, and me, the white Californian.

I know what you're thinking: "Dave, why are you in a 20s group when you're almost 31?" I can answer that. This group's official age range is 21 to 31, and if you're married to someone younger you get to average your ages so I'm good for a year or two. However, it looks like we're going to stop going to this group and host a small group bible study in our home. That'll be a lot easier since Luke's bedtime is the same time that we meet.

Wii New Year's Party!

Wii played Wii until the Wii hours at the family New Year's Wii Party. I think the biggest hit was watching everyone make fools of themselves in the dancing game.