(This is Michael writing - Kris is sleepy!)

It’s a rainy day today, but we finally had Elijah’s appointment at the heart center. We had to wait quite a while, but finally they called us in to give Elijah an EKG. As it turns out, the nurse didn’t know he had Dextrocardia, so the chart came out very strange (as the doctor told us later) - the sensors weren’t in the right place!

The doctor was very nice. Unfortunately, our strategy had been to placate Elijah with milk, and we used it all during the EKG (this turned him from an upset and figety baby into a sweet docile creature). So he really started getting upset when we made him lay down for the ultrasound. Boy, there is nothing Elijah hates more than if you hold his arms down while he tries to twist away! Suddenly Kris realized that we had some ancient powdered milk in the stroller. While she got it the doctor and I endured a trail of tears! Poor fellow, he was so mad. Nothing is worse than a little guy with eyes swimming with tears looking up at you, just so frustrated he could spit! He got really sweaty from the exertion. Kris brought the milk and ahhh….he took it, and drank the whole bottle as if it were a life raft, or a pair of magic shoes that could transport him away from here.

Meanwhile the doctor started getting scenes of the heart. He was constantly surprised (in an understated way, of course) with how normal Elijah’s heart was. He’d say things like “these children normally have obstruction/regurgitation/etc. around the value,” and despite much looking he found little to no evidence of that. Later, “these kinds of children normally have…” etc, you get the pattern. So I felt really good about that.

Elijah finished the bottle and immediately fell asleep with the doctor and I hovering over him, wires attached to him. He was totally limp - full, exhausted and happy to be knocked out! So the doctor made it a long careful exam, collecting many movies and pictures so he could teach the other doctors about this kind of special heart. Elijah slept through it all, more than half an hour.

Oh yeah, I carried him a lot on the way there, and he did lots of walking around in the various waiting rooms. He’s a real little boy!

So that’s some stuff that happened. Later, Kris went to Basic with the boys and loaded the stroller with an additional 40 pounds of groceries. I met her there, riding my bike in the rain and getting soaked. We walked back together very awkwardly. Kris had the idea of pushing the stroller with her left hand, holding the umbrella over us both with her right hand, using my left hand to help push the stroller, and my right hand to push my bike. After many odd mishaps, we arranged our hands differently for much better effect.

“Chronicles of Narnia” was pretty good. I thought the witch was pretty scary. She seemed like an insane woman from “our world” who had somehow wandered into Narnia and picked up the mantel of “wicked queen” or whatever. Something not everyone knows, but I’m kind of proud of is that 14 years ago I wrote and performed the music for the Huntsville Junior High School theater production of the story. I really enjoyed it. Naturally I pointed out to Kris the various places my music would come in, and commented liberally on how, when and to what degree my music was better or worse than the current score. I lost by a few points, but hey!