Again, long time, no post. I just spend most of my time busy with work and the kids, it seems, and feel like I have little time for much else.

The summer has come and nearly gone, with Ian starting Kindergarten in a week. That's strange to me that he is already five and ready to go to school. He is very excited, yet apprehensive at the same time. As I look back to the last two years that we've had in Charleston, it amazes me to see how much he has changed. He has been through speech therapy to address a stuttering problem and is now working on saying his 's' correctly. He's done well with that and I'm very proud of him. The school schedule is something we'll have to work out as we get into it, but right now it appears I'll be dropping him off most days on my way to work to delay him taking his Prograf as long as possible and getting as close to 8 a.m. as we can. He's excited to ride the bus home. I'm curious to see how long that lasts. I was never big on riding the bus, even when growing up in Utah and the only time we rode the bus was to go on a field trip.

Livia is quite the busy little person. She still climbs everything (Mountain Goat), and is still running and, now, jumping all over the place. She's starting to talk quite a bit, and is at least as opinionated as her mother. Easily as stubborn, too. :) HAHAHAHA She took off on me yesterday while we were downstairs (just she and I) and by the time I turned around, she was already all the way up the stairs. I heard her on the stairs and sprinted to and up the stairs. She was at the top, looked at me with a big smile, and said "Ta-DA!!!" I scolded her for going up the stairs, but also had to apologize for not putting up the gate. I knew I should have done that...

Elaine stays busy with her church calling and taking care of the kids. I know she needs a break, it is just a question of getting her to actually schedule it and go. As tired as she is, I cannot think of a time when she doesn't pull her own weight and then some. Her days are long as my commute keeps me away from the house a lot.

We're now about 20 months removed from Ian's liver transplant, and he continues to thrive. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for that blessing and that we are able to grow and learn together as a family.

Needless to say, it has been quite some time since I last made a post. Lots has happened (no, Ian has not had his transplant).

No telling whether or not this will work, but its worth a shot... Elaine and I have had a little girl, Livia Janene Herbst, join our family. Pictures are available on my Facebook profile. She is cute as a button. She has my nose, Elaine's chin, and Elaine's fingers and toes. I think she looks like Elaine (yay for Livia), but there are some who think she looks like me (which would be a shame).

The new job is going well. I'm learning a lot, and keeping pretty busy with that and some of the projects I'm working on. My current big project is creating a forecasting model that will assist in getting loads of scrap metal picked up from around the facility and transferred to one of two locations. I'm searching through freeware now to see if I can find something that will work. The catch is that work blocks the download of freeware, even if it could potentially be something of benefit to the job... that's a bit frustrating, but I understand why they do that. It means that much of my searching is done from home. With the arrival noted above of Livia, that means that the search is going slowly.

We are pretty well settled in Goose Creek (Charleston area) now... and we should be since we have been here for three months now.

I took Ian to the driving range this past Wednesday. It was entertaining for both of us, but for different reasons. I'm going to get a video of him posted to YouTube. Once that happens, I'll update this post or add another very short post providing the link. A very nice lady gave him a ball marker from the golf club we were at. She and her husband and daughter were impressed that he was out there at the tender age of 3. He had fun, and that is the most important thing. I want it to be something he enjoys, not something he feels obligated to do.

The blessing for Livy is set for next week. We should still have a decent showing by family, but not as much as for Ian's (we live further away from people and gas is much higher than it was three years ago).

I got yelled at by a friend who saw a picture of me about my weight, then by my doctor telling me I should look to shed a few pounds. I've started working on my diet already, and will be adding exercise in regularly next week. I've determined to blog on my efforts to lose weight in hopes that it may help someone else and also to make myself accountable to myself. I think and hope it will help. Why is it so hard to perform lifestyle changes?

Keep an eye out for that YouTube link to Ian swinging his clubs at the driving range... it really was lots of fun for both of us...

Just a quick update on Ian for this posting. He is doing very well... too well, if you want to look at it that way (we try not to). His PELD was a 4 after our last trip to Atlanta, leading us to develop a theory, which I'll get to in a minute. He just had labs drawn again yesterday, and his score would be a 10, further supporting our theory (not yet, next paragraph). This is down a point, still, from two months ago when he was an 11. We continue to see a downward trend in his PELD score, which corresponds to an improvement in his overall health. This is not where we thought we'd be. During the fundraising campaign, we believed Ian would get his transplant that summer (summer of '06). Now we sincerely believe we'll be waiting a few more years, though that could change, of course.

So, our theory: McDonald's chicken nuggets are full of protein and are very good for Ian. Every time we go to Atlanta, that's what Ian has for dinner the night before we are there. Each time we have had his labs drawn there, his albumin levels have been in the normal range. This was supported by yesterday's labs because he has not had nuggets for some time. So, kids, when your mom or dad tells you to eat chicken nuggets because they are good for you, here is some supporting evidence. And if they tell you not to eat them because they are not good for you, again, here is some evidence in your favor.