Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Something I post every year...

In the spring of 2003 news came, we're pregnant!!! Our lives instantly change.

Months later, we find out we are to have a little baby boy. Excitement, tension and all things good and bad consume us. Adding to the stress, news was received by the Doctors that put a wrench in our stomach. Due to an anomaly in the ultrasound we are told there is an 80% chance our child could have down syndrome or cystic fibrosis. We stayed positive and went into team mode, our pregnancy was one of the best periods of my life.

Finally, it's time!

The most intense and emotionally filled moment occurs in both of our lives, Alden Michael Leslie Purkey is born. He is delivered, not breathing and eyes closed. They suck the goo and liquid from his lungs and the first sound he makes is a gasping baby scream. Instantly, all control of my own emotions fall helpless and I cry.. I cry like a little girl. His umbilical cord was cut and the Nurses wrapped him in a blanket and thrust him into my arms. We rushed him into the next room where I cleaned him and held our new born little boy.

He was healthy and he was... he is perfect.

Every nurse on staff that night lost the bet on how much they thought he would weigh. Due to the tiny stature of his Momma, it was anticipated he would be heavily underweight. Nope, 7lbs 6ounces, we like to call that part "Vegan Power". :)

In the last 6 years since that tremendously amazing day, Alden has grown to be the most adorable and intellectual miniature person of his age. He is loving and loyal and most of all forgiving. He knows and understands more about life than most people I meet on a daily basis. He is my reason for everything; he IS my life. I love being his Dad more than anything I've ever experienced in life…

Today, we had an early celebration for his special little day of his. He woke to streamers, balloons, gifts, friends and pancakes. We went to the Nicklecade where Emily, Jesse and Rory won him over 500 tickets so he could have whatever his heart desired, which turned out to be a giant inflatable Spider Man along with many tiny treasures of which he shared with Teagan.

Amazing







Thursday, December 10, 2009

Best Mail, EVER!

This Kindergarten picture is ridiculously cute. It's almost sickening.



I've made and mailed him a couple of cards over the past few months. He's either referring to that or the Wolverine trading cards I sent him before Halloween... probably that. Either way, I see love letters to 3rd grade girls in his not so distant future.




Sunday, December 6, 2009

Alden's been sick these last few days. I guess Austin went to check on him around 1am in the morning and found him asleep, on his bed room floor, laying in a pile of vomit. Poor little dude. When we talk on the phone he tells me about how his tummy hurts. He broke the news of him being sick late last week, the conversation went something like this...
  • Alden: "Dad, I've got to tell you something and it's going to make you real sad."
  • Me: "Oh? Tell me."
  • Alden: "I'm really really sick. My tummy hurts and I have a headache. It makes you so sad, huh Dad?
  • Me: "The saddest."
It's hard being away, especially when he's feeling so vulnerable and helpless. At least I know he's in good hands. I'm thankful he has the Mom that he does. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Alden: "Mom, where were all the kids from school today?"
Candace: "They were visiting their families."
Alden: "Hm... No Mom. I think they were at Walmart because it's Black Friday."
Candace: "What?! Where did you hear that?"
Alden: "I just thought of it when I was playing."

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Yearrrrg!

Alden is spending the week with my Mom. He called me last night to tell me about his bowling adventures. Apparently, he found a pretty rad arcade game that sucked his attention - he was pumped. Yes, my son is a gamer geek. It's true.

My brother send me this photo of him yesterday. Haha.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

NEWS FLASH of horrid proportions!

This was an email that Candace sent me this morning. I still can't believe this happened, we were both literally speechless.

Bare in mind, he is ok. You should know that prior to reading this, it gets a little intense...

---------------------------------------------------

So, yesterday at work I received the most horrifying phone call of my life.
It went something like this:

"Alden is missing."

My stomach sank, my heart froze.. I didn't know what to do.

Alden's day care picks him up every afternoon right as school lets out. He literally steps off the sidewalk and in to their van; doesn't cross a parking lot, doesn't have to walk anywhere... comes right out of the school doors and gets in.
But yesterday when they arrived, he didn't come out.
Eventually they sent someone looking for him, only to have the teacher say "he left and went to wait at the doors already"... so they did an all-page through the school. They checked the bathrooms, the library, the playground, no Alden.
When I got the phone call the daycare driver had all the other kids holding hands and scouring the neighborhood next to the school, yelling his name. The teachers were doing another search of the building.
I was asked if anyone else could have picked him up, if he has friends that live nearby, if he knows anyone in the neighborhood and could have gone to their house.
"No, no, NO! He was there, he should still be there!"
She said a teacher was coming and she needed to call me right back.
I didn't hang up-- scared to death and frozen-- but the line disconnected anyway.

I sent Austin a text that Alden was missing, so he started to panic also and called wondering what to do.
Then my other line rang.. it was the driver again. She was crying.

"I have him, I have him," she kept saying, "he's here. We found him." This was forty minutes after school let out.

So, apparently, Alden thought he "missed the bus". He gathered up his things and went walking down 27th south. He stopped at a cross walk and waited to cross, but no cars were stopping. He continued down the street.

An older lady was watching him out of her window, and knew he was too little to be by himself. She went out and grabbed him, asking him where he needed to be. He tried to explain that he missed the bus, "the one with the green writing", but couldn't say the name of his daycare. She walked him back to the elementary school where they found a teacher who had been looking for him, and eventually found the driver.

Alden told them all he thought he could get back to the daycare if he walked.

I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the event.. picturing little Alden making his way down the street all by himself.. and thank god for that lady who took him back! Anything could have happened.

So, Alden and I had a long talk about what to do if he thought he got left behind at school again. I told him no one would ever, EVER forget about him; that someone will ALWAYS come and pick him up, and that he needs to go to the office and wait if he doesn't see the van.

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Stalone

I haven't spoke to him since our good bye on Sunday. Sometimes I get really worried when I don't hear back from missed calls or texts. I know they're probably just really busy... it doesn't stop one from thinking of the worst though.

I think rather than do anything else, I'd prefer to have a thumb war & arm wrestle battle today. He's watched Over The Top way too many times and always knows how to bring it back for the shake down.





I miss him...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Good Bye

It's time for another good bye. Alden bid his little friend Teagan farewell. It was adorable. They told one another that they will be friends forever and that when they are not with one another, they miss each other. Haha.



This thing, good bye, it makes my stomach turn and my hands shake. I don't know when it will be that I get to see him next, it's usually never more than a month... sometimes two. Still, not knowing is the scariest feeling I've ever had to deal with. At this point I'm at a loss at why I am not here, with him. I thought I was doing something noble, something good for his future... this fact is starting to unravel and may actually not be so absolute.

Coming to and end

This trip has been absolutely perfect. We've done nothing but everything that matters; park days, baseball days, homework everyday, reading more than we ever have and books fit for older little boys, bored games, craft days, long walks, forts, epic battles, hiking, cooking in, FAMILY hangouts and endless adventures. I do not want to leave!




Saturday, September 12, 2009

Avenues Street Fair

We went to the street fair in the avenues today. Alden and Teagan had their faces painted, ate free cotton candy and had an all around good time.






Farmers Market

We did our best to get out of the house early in the AM to hit up the Farmers Market in downtown SLC. Jen and Key bought a plethora of local produce. Alden and Teagan ate fruit samples and had balloon animals/swords made.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Serious conversations of tiny minds...

Alden: Dad, can I ask you something?
Me: Sure Alden, you can ask me anything.
Alden: What do you want me to be when I grow up?
Me: Haha. Well, I want you to be whatever you want to be.
Alden: But Dad, where do you want me to work.

I'm laughing a good one right now but trying really hard to contain composure as I can tell he's dead serious and not taking the laughter well.

Me: I want you to work, or for that matter not work, wherever you're happy.
Alden: Dad... can I tell you where I want to work?
Me: Yes, please do.
Alden: I want to work at the Toy Store.
Me: The Toy Store, huh? Haha. Now, why's that?
Alden: I want to work at the Toy Store because I love to look at Toys all day long.
Me: That's makes pretty good sense. I think that's a pretty fantastic idea.
Alden: Dad?
Me: Yes?
Alden: Can I tell you where else I want to work?
Me: Of course!
Alden: I want to work at the Baseball Park, not the small one, the big one. I want to work in the Baseball Park and play Baseball when I get big. I want to work in the Toy Store and I want to play Baseball in the Baseball Park. Can I do those things?

Things just went from being way too hilarious to getting all choked up and feeling incredibly proud that this imaginative little boy is ours...

Me: Yes, you better believe that you can do those things. You can do anything you want.
Alden: I love you Dad.
Me: I love you too, Pipsqueek.

KINDERGARTEN

Holy smokes!

I can't believe he is already starting school. His Mom worked some sort of sorcery and got him into the nicest grade school I've ever been in. He loves his teacher to death and has already made 5 friends in his first week. He's all about doing his homework and tells me in detail at the end of everyday about all the awesome things he learned in class.

The main purpose of me coming to town this week was so that I could be a part of this tremendous step in his move into the kid realm. I think this is where I need to grasp the arms of my chair and realize tomorrow he will be in Highschool, kissing birds and getting into trouble. Sheeesh.

I'm so proud of this little man.


Monday, September 7, 2009

Baseball!

Today was the last Bees game of the season. Alden, Jen, Teagan, Todd and I made sure to be a part of it. The game itself was awful and I didn't end up watching much of it. Instead, I played a mean game of catch with Alden, watched him climb trees, took him on the train and played in the playground. Epic.




Labor Day

There's this spot in Draper that Candace and I used to hike to. There is a couple of hidden waterfalls, just small ones... a neat little rock overhang and lots of tiny creatures. Jen, Alden and I decided to add this spot to our list of places to be today. I packed us a tasty lunch and we set off.



Sunday, September 6, 2009

Park Day Best Day

Alden and I wandered over to Fairmont tonight for a climbing adventure. He's gotten so sooo good at the monkey bars, it's insane. There was, however, a point at which he fell off straight onto his chest and the side of his face. He was super bummed and had to cry it out for a few minutes. We talked it over and he had decided to not give up and to give it one more go around. Well, obviously he did it not once but at least a dozen more times. He was proud, he flexed one off.





LOOK AT THESE HOPS!



Monday, July 27, 2009

This last week has been completely amazing.



I miss him so much. I have another week of his company to enjoy and then I need to start planning... for something new and different. Something that means us, together.

Friday, July 10, 2009

It's official!

Alden will be making his first solo flight to Kansas City on July 19th, staying till August 2nd. I'm soooo nervous and sooooooooooo excited all at the same time!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009


Candace and I are talking about letting Alden make his first solo flight this month. I can’t afford to pay for someone to escort him out and then for someone else to escort him back and neither of us are stoked about him doing the 15 hour drive, two ways. The more I read about him flying alone the more I feel comfortable with it. I guess he’d get his very own flight attendant assigned to him, his Mom would be able to escort him all the way to the gate and I would be able to greet him at the gate. He’s flown enough and does well enough that I think he could manage ok, especially if he took his little leap frog or had a movie on an ipod to watch. The only bad part to this situation is that I have to buy the tickets direct through Delta, which are already waaaay more expensive then priceline or cheaptickets and then I have to call them to arrange an additional fee for him being a minor flying solo. Anyway, at this point I’m just waiting on the OK from Candace. She’s been talking to Austin, who I guess used to fly a lot when he was young as well. He’s making her feel a lot better about the whole situation, so that’s good. I hope it all works out; she’s going to let him come out for 2 weeks. I am soooo ecstatic about it! There is so much I’m going to do to prepare for him coming out. I can’t begin to express how much I miss that tiny individual.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

This month has been one of the hardest to date.

Every time I take a moment to breath, every time I close my eyes, every second I lay in bed... I miss him. The one thing I know I'm good at... really, really good at - I'm unable to do. All because of this thing called distance. Sometimes it's so hard to believe that I'm doing good by him, something that will benefit his future.

I want to role around and wrestle. I want to tickle him until he cries because I'm an asshole like that. I want to dress in costumes and build forts and fight imaginary bad guys. I want to play baseball and let him ride his bike around the parking lot. I want to fly kites and run in open fields. I want to help him color pictures of Ben10 for the people he loves. I want to read him books and play with all his action figures while he takes baths. I want to help him surprise Kita with his presence and watch cartoons in the early morning weekend hours. I want to go on all the adventures an adult could never dream of.



I just want to see my(our) son... I want to be his Dad every day, not just 10 days a month.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Ear Infection

Alden's Mom received a distressing call from his school letting her know that Alden wouldn't stop crying and kept complaining that his ear hurt. Luckily, she was able to get him into Dr. Parznych today. Prognosis, "raging ear infection." Poor little guy... I feel so bad for him, I hope he is ok.

These are the hardest days to justify what I'm doing and why I am not there with him. I hate this...

Emily got in today, she was able to bring some cheer to the day. We went to the gym and did cardio for about an hour and went to Constantinos for the salad bar and falafel. We are going to take it easy the rest of the night and watch This American Life. I'm happy she's here.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Viewfinder Alden

Alden was slightly upset that I didn't let him play video games today. He kept offering negotiations of future compliance in exchange for only minutes of game play. I've actively been reducing this to a weekly minimum in fear of him becoming one of "those kids..." I don't really feel it necessary to expand on that. Ha.

Since he was so upset with me I gave him a camera for the drive to the airport, as a peace offering. He loves taking photos, so it really turned out well. These few photos are some of my favorite.




Friday, February 27, 2009

Mick Foley, get your swole on

I ran a bath for Alden and told him to get undressed. While he was doing this, I went to the other room to grab him the glass of water he so politely asked for. As I was in the other room I could hear him grunting and yelling, I ran back into the bathroom and caught him flexing in the mirror, hyping himself up for... something. Ha.




He is best.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Do they come back alive?

It's an odd thing when a 5 year old asks you what it feels like when someone you love dies and then proceeds to ask about reincarnation. This was the bringer of all downers followed by the most intense dress up costume wearing fort building party we've ever had.

Warm it up

I was late to work today. I blame Alden. He has the tendency to take his sweet ass time in the morning. It’s due in part to his attention span when Curious George or whatever cartoon might be on the TV. It’s a friendly way to ease into the day. His concept of time constraints is lacking though, which is ok. He must get it from his Mom. Ha. So I guess in reality, I blame myself.

I made it all the way to work before I realized he was still sitting in the back seat, my mind wonders.

When we pulled into the school parking lot, I got out of the car and walked around the back to open his door as I always do. This time he pretended to be asleep when I opened his door, despite the fact we were having a conversation only seconds before. He rolled out of his seat and with half a banana in his mouth he muttered something about his tummy hurting and expressing his desire to go to work rather than school. I ignored his request and voyaged on through the doors of the pre-school.

Glancing towards the offices, the tuition box reminded me that it had been 2 months since I have given them any money. I figured since my door code was still working they must not have noticed, nor cared. Still, I decided that I would leave a check in the box before heading to work.

Usually, when Alden returns to school after being away for a while he is VERY shy. His big blue eyes and adorable little face usually melt the teachers hearts and they hold his hand and get him warmed up by taking him to different stations where he can play with his choice of toys before the other kids are allowed to touch them. By the time I return to pick him up he’s deep into socializing and has rediscovered his place.

Today was different.

Alden stopped and stared at the window into his classroom before walking in. There were two small boys, about his size, having what looked like seizures on the other side of the window. Their eyes were large and they were looking directly at Alden, screaming. AT first I hadn’t noticed but after watching them I realized they were screaming his name, over and over. “Look everybody, it’s Alden!” “Alden is back, everybody, it’s Alden!” I nudged Alden forward through the door of his classroom, where we were met by 6-7 tiny boys thrilled over the return of their long lost comrade.

I took his coat off, kissed his head and walked out of the classroom. I stood and watched through the glass as he passionately discussed such worldly topics as super heroes and the new toys he has acquired since visiting these friends last.

I miss being a kid.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Today

Kite flying in frigid temperatures.




Story time in immaculate Libraries.

Monday, February 2, 2009

AND they're gone.



Shitty.

Down in the dumps

He leaves today...


We had an amazing time.
I hate this part of the month.
Eighteen days until our next visit. <3

Saturday, January 31, 2009

I woke up and made breakfast; scramble w/ peppers & onions, cheese cause, potatoes, pancakes (with cheesecake filler in them SOOO GOOD!), coffee & OJ. It was dope.

We got showered and took Alden to Kaleidoscope where he made a bunch of awesome stuff and possibly projectile vomited all over their hallway as we left. The worst part is that I didn't want to be held accountable so we booked it. I held him facing forward and we ran out the door as the steady steam continually spewed on the walls and floor in front. It was really sad but afterthought made it potentially hilarious. I kept thinking about all the kids who probably slipped in it. Gross.

He doesn't have a fever, it was odd. We've been eating all the same stuff and I feel fine. Hm... He's napping it off right now.

It's AMAZING outside today, it's got to be 65 degrees. I want to go walk down by the river and maybe do some urban exploring. My camera is out and wanting to be used.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Things he says...

As he plays in the tub with Buzz and Spiderman; "you want a fight? why don't you go pick on someone that is your size and my size too?!"

"Dad, why are you not closing your eyes and going to bed?!" He wasn't even in the same room so I responded with, "I am!" He says, "Dad... then why are the lights still on. I think you're reading a book." "Go to bed!"

"If you finish all of your dinner you can have a cookie too Dad!"

"When you say that you'll think about it, it always means that you are just taking a long time to say no."

"You're squishing my peanuts!" I had no idea what he was talking about, we were having a tickle war at the moment, so I responded "your peanuts... what are you talking about?" "Dad! You're squishing my peanuts!" Ohhhhhh, you're penis!? "Yeah... you're squishing my peanuts."

Ridiculous.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

This weekend was full of adventure and all things awesome.


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Three days until Alden arrives. :)

I found these today on Emily's flickr, so old. There's even a ring on that finger! Ha.

Little beast

A dawg

It's insane how much he's grown. I remember the day these were taken...