What Does Norah Want To Be When She Grows Up?

A honey bee.

Norah pneumonia update

While Norah was visiting her grandparents in Nampa, she had a mild case of pneumonia. She took some breathing treatments and was unhappy for a couple of days but recovered without having to be admitted to the hospital.

On Sunday, April 17th we drove from Boise to Moscow and we heard Norah cough a little. By the morning she was coughing and struggling with breathing so we went in to our doctor’s office and they sent us to the hospital in Moscow. Norah was struggling to breathe—indicated by her neck and belly muscles having to work to breathe. For Norah, being poked and prodded at the E.R. was terrifying. First, a pulse oximeter—a little red light thing that wraps around the toe and measures how much oxygen is in the blood. Second, a blood draw and an intravenous catheter (I.v.). Norah was screaming, mom was crying. Meanwhile, what to her must have been a scary plastic thing got shoved over her face (for oxygen). By the time the E.R. had called the anesthetist to put a respirator tube in, Norah had passed out from exhaustion and respiratory failure. I was crying too. They raced her up to the O.R. for the intubation—that’s what they call it when they shove the tube down into her lungs. Hilary and I hadn’t realized how dire this was until we saw the panic of the doctors, nurses, anesthetist.

The intubation was not easy and took two tries. When we got up to Spokane, the doctors said that Norah had likely aspirated something, and that it was probably stomach acid that had pulled up and sucked down because she was breathing with so much force. I guess this is typical. At one point her oxygen saturation in her blood dropped into the single digits. They decided that Norah had to be flown to Spokane. So the helicopter came. The helicopter people loaded Norah onto their gurney. Then they decided that Norah would be better in the jet because the jet has better respirator equipment and respiratory drugs. So they unloaded Norah and we waited for the jet to dodge a snowstorm and land in Pullman.

Our good friends from our ward and law school, Eric Reiersen and Nate Cuoio, were there. We gave Norah a priesthood blessing: a special prayer with hands placed on her head. Hilary and Norah rode the ambulance to Pullman and the jet to Spokane, then an ambulance to Sacred Heart hospital. Norah is now in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). She had her 15-month birthday here and tomorrow will be her 1-week anniversary.

On her first days here, Norah got a little worse. We’ve learned a lot about respirators and pneumonia treatment. Though the doctor told us that the respirator machine is fairly simple technology, I am impressed. And my description here is based on a limited and probably faulty understanding, but I’ll give it a shot. The machine can control the volume, frequency, humidity, pressure (in various forms), and oxygen concentration for each breath. When Norah was first here, it only “assisted” her by adding a little pressure to open up her lungs as she breathed. But Norah wanted to breathe quick and shallow—like a pant, and that wasn’t getting enough oxygen into her system. So they had to paralyze her by giving her muscle-relaxing drugs (in addition to the sedatives—some kind of narcotic I think), and leave the breathing to the respirator entirely. They also turned Norah on her stomach because the best blood flow in the lungs comes from the posterior inferior region of the lungs, and so if you lay on your back gravity pulls the edema and mucous down and doesn’t allow the blood to circulate well. (Hilary told me to put that last sentence; I don’t know what it means).

Norah has been stable but not making too much progress for the past 4 days. She gets respiratory therapy treatments every couple of hours. It includes a percussive massage thing and inhalation aerosols of some sort. They have not been able to identify exactly what caused the infection, but they say that it is typical to not know what caused the initial infection when it was a virus. Norah has also been on strong antibiotics. The doctor says that her biggest pneumonia factor now was probably the aspiration: the breathing in of some fluid, probably stomach acid, likely during the initial intubation. Norah has great nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists. Norah is making slow progress, it seems. The doctors, when pressed for an optimistic but reasonable prognosis say that Norah might be able to come home in another week. We thank God we live in a time and place where her life could be saved thanks to technology and medicine and care available. We’re thankful for the good doctors and especially nurses.

We are overwhelmed with how much love and support we have received from our families, friends, and even strangers. Tonight Hilary and I were invited to a wonderful Easter dinner at the home of a friend of a friend of the mother in law of Hilary’s sister. We always have to wonder why bad things happen to the innocent and vulnerable like Norah. And though I’m not trying to answer that question fully here, I can say that Hilary and I have learned much and seen many great things come of this—

We have learned that our Heavenly Father loves and cares and worries for us as we would worry and care for Norah, but in a more infinite and perfect way. We have learned that our faith needs to grow, but also that it is strong enough for us to rely on. We have seen the grace of God manifested in the kindness of others. This one is hard to explain but it is undoubtedly the clearest truth we have learned from all of this. When others fast, pray, bring gifts, and feed us, we witness how friends, family, and strangers are all God’s family and there are powerful bonds of love. The bond that I see as I watch Hilary at Norah’s side—combing her hair, holding her hand, singing to her “whenever I hear the sound of a bird or walk by a lilac tree”—is the same bond that Heavenly Father has for us. And I see that bond between everyone who is praying for Norah or helping me by sharing notes or feeding us dinner. God’s love is always there among us, but it is made more powerfully manifest in trials like this.

Why all this learning for her dad has to be at Norah’s expense I can’t explain, but someday I’m confident I will understand it. Thank you all for your love and prayers and healing thoughts.

Do I REALLY want to do this?

I just read this paragraph I pasted below, and I understood about as much of it as you probably did. I thought, do I really want to be a lawyer?

We agree that Rule 12 "purports to have universal application, and we see no reason to deviate from its plain language." Kersh, 851 F.2d at 1512. One court has commented that to hold otherwise "would lead to the indefensible proposition" that a defendant, who voluntarily waives an objection to a Rule 4(j) (now Rule 4(m)) violation, can be precluded from doing so by a requirement that the court dismiss the action. Pardizi, 896 F.2d at 1316-17 n.2. Once it is recognized that the mandatory language of Rule 4(m) is applicable until occurrence of one of the circumstances covered by Rule 12(h), which governs thereafter, any facial tension between the two rules is avoided. We hold, therefore, that a defense that service of process was untimely under Rule 4(m) is subject to Rule 12's waiver provisions and may be waived if not raised in compliance with that rule. Accordingly, ABPS waived its objection to the timeliness of the October 28, 1996, service when it omitted that defense from its January 17, 1997, motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2), and for improper venue pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3).

Norah's First Lollipop--pretty dang exciting

Some of Norah's first steps about 2 months ago

The Girl is Mine

Norah has Andy's lips, nose, ears, hair--everything discernable on a baby. However, there are two physical attributes that signify she is my daughter:

1. Although she rarely does it now, her furrowed brow is mine.



2. She has a diastema! [dahy-uh-stee-muh] a space between two teeth

Celebrity Crush

I know these two have practically nothing in common except for the fact that I'm totally crushin' on 'em both. But I can't help it.




And The Price is Right has never been better.

Love My Hubby

I walked into my house a few years ago after work one day to find a bazillion Post-It notes plastered all over everything saying things like, "What makes me happiest is when I can make you happy." or "Thank you for inventing kissing with me. Good work! We make a good research and development team." or "I love (and here I'm writing to your bum cheeks, not to you directly, Hilary) you two." We were engaged 5 minutes later.

Valentine's Day 2011 was reminiscent of Engagement Day 2008. I woke up in the morning to find Post-Its plastered everywhere. Here's one of my favorite.



If you don't know where these lines come from, I'm not actually sure if I wanna be your friend anymore.

365 Days and Counting

Day 1


Day 54


Day 99


Circa Day 150


Day 189



Day 226


Day 282


Day 305



Just yesterday, actually. Day 365.

Thinking About Home Schooling Your Kid?

It might not be worth all the possible accolades.

Melville on Property Law

Moby Dick, or, the Whale
by Herman Melville
Excerpt
Chapter 89 “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish”

It frequently happens that when several ships are cruising in company, a whale may be struck by one vessel, then escape, and be finally killed and captured by another vessel; and herein are indirectly comprised many minor contingencies, all partaking of this one grand feature. For example,- after a weary and perilous chase and capture of a whale, the body may get loose from the ship by reason of a violent storm; and drifting far away to leeward, be retaken by a second whaler, who, in a calm, snugly tows it alongside, without risk of life or line. Thus the most vexatious and violent disputes would often arise between the fishermen, were there not some written or unwritten, universal, undisputed law applicable to all cases.

Perhaps the only formal whaling code authorized by legislative enactment, was that of Holland. It was decreed by the States-General in A.D. 1695. But though no other nation has ever had any written whaling law, yet the American fishermen have been their own legislators and lawyers in this matter. They have provided a system which for terse comprehensiveness surpasses Justinian's Pandects and the By-laws of the Chinese Society for the Suppression of Meddling with other People's Business. Yes; these laws might be engraven on a Queen Anne's forthing, or the barb of a harpoon, and worn round the neck, so small are they.

I. A Fast-Fish belongs to the party fast to it.
II. A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it.

But what plays the mischief with this masterly code is the admirable brevity of it, which necessitates a vast volume of commentaries to expound it.
. . .

Some fifty years ago there was a curious case of whale-trover litigated in England, wherein the plaintiffs set forth that after a hard chase of a whale in the Northern seas; and when indeed they (the plaintiffs) had succeeded in harpooning the fish; they were at last, through peril of their lives, obliged to forsake not only their lines, but their boat itself. Ultimately the defendants (the crew of another ship) came up with the whale, struck, killed, seized, and finally appropriated it before the very eyes of the plaintiffs. And when those defendants were remonstrated with, their captain snapped his fingers in the plaintiffs' teeth, and assured them that by way of doxology to the deed he had done, he would now retain their line, harpoons, and boat, which had remained attached to the whale at the time of the seizure. Wherefore the plaintiffs now sued for the recovery of the value of their whale, line, harpoons, and boat.

Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defendants; Lord Ellenborough was the judge. In the course of the defence, the witty Erskine went on to illustrate his position, by alluding to a recent crim. con. case, wherein a gentleman, after in vain trying to bridle his wife's viciousness, had at last abandoned her upon the seas of life; but in the course of years, repenting of that step, he instituted an action to recover possession of her. Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying, that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that she became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman re-harpooned her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman's property, along with whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in her.

Now in the present case Erskine contended that the examples of the whale and the lady were reciprocally illustrative to each other.

These pleadings, and the counter pleadings, being duly heard, the very learned Judge in set terms decided, to wit,—That as for the boat, he awarded it to the plaintiffs, because they had merely abandoned it to save their lives; but that with regard to the controverted whale, harpoons, and line, they belonged to the defendants; the whale, because it was a Loose-Fish at the time of the final capture; and the harpoons and line because when the fish made off with them, it (the fish) acquired a property in those articles; and hence anybody who afterwards took the fish had a right to them. Now the defendants afterwards took the fish; ergo, the aforesaid articles were theirs.

A common man looking at this decision of the very learned Judge, might possibly object to it. But ploughed up to the primary rock of the matter, the two great principles laid down in the twin whaling laws previously quoted, and applied and elucidated by Lord Ellenborough in the above cited case; these two laws touching Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, I say, will on reflection, be found the fundamentals of all human jurisprudence; for notwithstanding its complicated tracery of sculpture, the Temple of the Law, like the Temple of the Philistines, has but two props to stand on.

Is it not a saying in every one's mouth, Possession is half of the law: that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow's last mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain's marble mansion with a doorplate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish? What is the ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from the poor Woebegone, the bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone's family from starvation; what is that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the Archbishop of Savesoul's income of £100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven without any of Savesoul's help) what is that globular 100,000 but a Fast-Fish. What are the Duke of Dunder's hereditary towns and hamlets but Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of the law?

But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is internationally and universally applicable.

What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the Spanish standard by way of wailing it for his royal master and mistress? What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish.

What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? What all men's minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the principle of religious belief in them but a Loose-Fish? What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish? What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?

The One Joy of Having 3-Month-Old Quadruplets

Okay. I've seen this video about a bazillion times and I still tear up from smiling so much (if that's even possible). Motherhood has changed me. I probably couldn't make a layup right now and I'd most likely cry about that too.