Brithday News

Indeed, yesterday was my birthday (or, as us Dekker boys know it, "brithday" (thank you, Chris Buchholz)). It's good to be prime again (31). As birthdays go, it was ridiculously full: wake up; open a couple presents from my wife and girls; put everyone in the van; bring Abby to Diane's; go with Lisa and Annika to Lisa's ultrasound, where the gender of our third child is determined (more on that later); meet Diane at her Mom's house to pick up Abby; rush home; eat lunch; head up to Ferris; attend 2 meetings and finish preparing a calculus exam; proctor said exam to 145 students; create a grading rubric with the other calculus profs; get home right before 10pm; hug Mom, who is watching the girls since Lisa had conferences; eat chocolate angel strata; read a few pages in a book; go to sleep.

For the biggest news of the day: if you don't want to know the gender of our next child, do not read the rest of this post below. We only told a few people yesterday, and if this is the first you're hearing of it, I'm sorry, but I wanted to post this before I go away this weekend (and more on that later). So, here goes (SPOILER ALERT):

Our

next

child

will

be

a

um....

(last chance not to look!)



BOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOYBOY!!!!!!!!!

It was quite obvious on the ultrasound, and I identified the appropriate part before the technician said anything. Annika was hoping for a boy and thus was quite pleased, as was everyone else that we told. And more importantly, HE looks completely healthy and well-nourished, so it was a great day babywise.

And tomorrow morning we leave for one of the biggest college football games ever: Michigan vs. Ohio State, #1 vs. #2 (that's a little bold, but maybe not - it's certainly one of the most-hyped regular season games of all time). I hope the game lives up to the hype. I'm not sure who I want to win, but it would be fun to run on the field if OSU prevails.

Go Bucks/Wolverines! (and go Irish, but they better just pound Army)

Halloween Postgame Show

Here are the girls, decked out for trick-or-treating. They were "ballerina ladybugs." Abby was unwilling to wear her pair of antenna. They had a good time at Calvin going through the apartments, and then we stopped by all the grandparents to get more candy. It was freezing cold - of course, it was 61 degrees at 10pm on October 30, and then a cold front came through the following day before we put them in tights and tutus. I think I've eaten more of their candy since that night, too.

Below is an old picture of them I found while going though some stuff on the computer today. Believe it or not, it was taken in June, when it was about 85 or 90 degrees out. They found the winter clothing and Annika even went so far as to change out of her shorts and T-shirt into long sleeves and pants. Then they went outside on the swingset. It didn't last too long, as Annika got plenty sweaty in no time.