Insight from Lake Metigoshe Fire Dept

Overheard at the Lake Metigoshe Fire Station regarding Baby Debertin:

1. "Just to let you know, it's fine with me if you name your baby Bill."
2. "Remember, it's fine to have sex."
3. "Oh, yeah, have sex. And then later try to remember what that is like."
   

Mock turtlenecks?

There is only one reason I would wear a mock turtleneck. It's to get paint on it so I can feel okay to throw it away. Don't get me wrong, there was a point in my life when I couldn't get enough mock turtleneck. I believe I could probably find a picture of myself wearing a mock turtleneck with light blue Wrangles.

Anyways, I am down to this last Camp Metigoshe mock turtleneck from 1994. It's 16 years old, so I thought I could finally use it as a paint shirt.

It was a fun day to paint! There was about a foot of snow outside, so it made sense to be inside.

You may say, "Kyle and Betsy decided to go the FFA route with blue and yellow. Well, it's not Corn Gold and National Blue, so technically it is not officially FFA. It is Weathered Blue and Palo Verde. (Palo Verde is actually the official tree of Arizona and means "green stick" in Spanish. Even with all of that interesting trivia, the paint just looks yellow.)

This room used to be our bedroom until we moved downstairs. This rooms used to get real cold - one morning we woke up in the winter and it was 50 degrees inside.

Prior to painting, we added a bunch of insulation. However, Betsy one day mentioned that maybe we should keep it kinda cool. This "baby" spent about 8 months of its life frozen in liquid nitrogen. It may enjoy the cold.

Tomorrow the baby is 17 weeks old. We are getting close to the halfway point. We're hoping that last night's experience at the Firemen's Dance in Bottineau was helpful to in the baby's development. We have been reading that we should be talking to Betsy's belly. I think last night was an important development step in getting used to classic rock music.

Talk to you later.

Never compare weight-gain to huge-ass chickens

Three things that are true:

1. I am taller than Betsy. I rarely remember this, but when you take a side-by-side photo to see who has a larger belly, I am reminded that I am taller than Betsy.

2. Boobs will always be a mystery to me. Why do I have them and what the heck is happening to Betsy's?

3. Telling your pregnant wife that the weight she has gained over the past month is more than the size of the large chickens in your freezer, will get you the silent treatment.

I love my pregnant wife. She glows and has become naturally caffeinated.

"Betsy, why does our basement smell like rodeo"

"Dang, Betsy! What smells in our laundry room?"

"I don't smell anything."

"Betsy, just smell it. It smells like rodeo."

"Alright, I will come and smell."

"Thank you."

"Oh, you're right. It does smell like rodeo."

"Thank you."

After about two weeks, we have finally figured out what smells like "rodeo" in our basement. If you have unfortunately never been to a rodeo, "rodeo" smells like wet dirt, oatmeal, and a tad-bit-of manure.

Betsy got new running shoes for Christmas and they are giving off a western scent. It is so bizarre, but her shoes smell like Valley City's Winter Show Building during the month of March.

For me, I kinda like it. I love rodeos. Some of my first "dates" with Betsy were to rodeos! What I love the most is the sound of the announcers. If I could somehow still live at Lake Metigoshe, where I can be a camp director and play old-man hockey, AND be a rodeo announcer, I would probably do it.

I wish there was a way to describe the sound by typing words. But the announcer speaks as if he has a piece of leather stuck in his right check and talks a bit faster than normal. You also have to say these phrases SEVERAL times:
"We got ourselves a good young cowboy from Mandan/Rapid City/Watford City/New Town"
"Comin' outta the Piggly Wiggly shoot..."
"Let's get ready to rumble...."
"We got ourselves a good young cowgirl from Mandan...." (Mandan is the mecca of 'good young cowgirls."

I would give anything to hear a rodeo sometime soon.

However, today we got to hear something we have never heard before in our lives!! The healthy heartbeat of a 16 week 2 day old baby! 140 beat per minute! That has been the best thing I have ever heard!

Our clown doctor put his science fiction looking instrument up to Betsy's belly and within seconds we heard, "wush, wush, wush, wush, wush, wush..."

(Insert a giggly cry by sweet, glowing Betsy and weepy Kyle.)

Every doctor's appointment we go to we enter with some worries and anxiety. In the past few years we have entered doctors' offices with hopes and left in tears. SO, it's been a bit of an adjustment to go to appointments confidently with high hopes.

So, that is also the reason I haven't written so much lately. I'm a little bit of a worrier, so haven't always been brave enough to give updates.

But today, I can give you some updates. We had a great appointment and will be excited for the next one in a month. We have decided not to find out if it is a girl or a boy. There has been so much science and timing in the process that we are looking forward to a surprise.

Betsy has a good lookin' belly. At community theater practice tonight I looked over at Betsy and she was sporting bigger boobs and a nice baby belly. That's my Betsy!

I've been looking for a t-shirt for her to wear that says, "Don't Tap the Glass."

I promise, I will try to keep you more up to date.

Looking forward to the Baby Bash in Fargo on March 6!

Why not Minot?

Can you believe something only 2.45 centimeters long can produce so much vomit?

On Friday we got to see the spine, two legs, two arm buds, and a beating heart. Also got to see the brain!

We had a great visit in Minot on Friday. I got up at 5:00 am to shop with my sister and then met Betsy at the clinic at 10:30 am to check out what was brewing in her uterus.

Something was brewing indeed! The ultrasound lady seemed like she was not in a rush so she spent a lot of time taking a look around up there.

She took quite a few photos and we got to see the heartbeat again. That was a big deal.

At one point, it looked like the baby was fist pumping as if it was going crazy at a small-town street dance. (Could this be Arsenio Hall's baby? If that is the case, I should quit typing and go visit with Betsy.)

You know, the other day I was sharing about getting the butt shot at the Fire Hall? Well, add another location to the list.

We went to "Blind Side" on Friday night with my sisters and Andy Wintermute (local Thrivent Financial for Lutherans agent - contact him for any of your life insurance or savings questions) and had to find a place to give a shot.

There are not a lot of places at a movie theater where you can take your wife's pants off. So, Betsy found a guy wearing a movie theater tuxedo and a Bluetooth earpiece and asked if we could use his office. He seemed concerned because his office had several stacks of money sitting on the desk. So he said he knew of a place. We followed him and he brought us upstairs where all the movie cameras were rolling!

It was so funny! As I gave Betsy a shot in her evening check, I looked out a tiny window and watched a scene from some-sort-of Ninja movie.

So far Betsy has had a shot in:

• Movie theater
• Dakota Square parking lot
• Fire Hall
• Dark, scary parking lot in Lakota
• a kitchen in Velva
• three kitchens in Bottineau
• a side room in a clinic in Fargo where I believe we violated some sort of HEPA rule

Well, I better get going. Hope you are watching some good YouTube videos or checking your facebook when you are done with this.

That's the first time I pulled down Betsy's pants in the fire hall

While surrounded by a U.S. Customs officer, a retired ND Highway Patrol Officer, a lumber yard owner, a truck driver, a electric company lineman, a heating & cooling company owner, a farm supply store manager, a carpenter, a dude who sells boats, a bar owner, and a mechanic, the ol' Bible camp director/campfire song leader/outdoor game leader has to try a little harder to seem like a tough guy.

That's my life every fourth Tuesday when I get to go to the Bottineau Rural Fire Department (Station 2 - Lake Metigoshe) meeting. I love it.

If I had to name the top four things I love about living in Bottineau, they would be:
1. Denny's Pizza Inn
2. Being a Volunteer Fire Fighter
3. Having a kick-ass pastor who saves our food scraps for her chickens
4. Denny's Pizza Inn

I love being a part of the fire department. Some other day I'll tell you about the time I almost violated a dead beaver at a fire, but I gotta tell you what happened last night.

So, there we were, all the fire fighters were taking a test on Proper Procedures for Radio Usage in Emergency Situations. Training last night was a classrooms setting, rather than a hands-on training. In September we all went up on the camp high ropes course and last month we practiced pumping from Lake Metigoshe.

Anyways, we are in the middle of the test and guess who shows up in her sweatpants.

That would be the lovely, pregnant Betsy.

Yesterday, Betsy decided to wear her trendy brown sweatpants and my XXL camp sweatshirt from 1996. She looked good and comfy:)

Smilely Betsy says, "Oh, hi!" Then giggles and motions me to come over. Thankfully there was a giggle, because in the 12 years going to meetings, a wife/girlfriend has never crashed a meeting!

The reason she came over was because it was 8 o'clock and time for a butt shot! We hadn't really planned this out too well, so she had to drive over to get a shot.

If you have ever been to the Lake Metigoshe Fire Department, or really any fire department, there really aren't a lot of private rooms to go take your pants off.

So, Betsy and I walked beside Unit #7 and she pulled down her trendy brown sweatpants. I have got believe this may have been the first time there has been a naked ass next to the spare SCBA bottles and spare hoses in that building.

I poked her in the right check (aka, the evening cheek) and the shot was done within moments. We laughed quietly and Betsy was on her way and I was back to taking an open-book test on emergency radio techniques. 10-4

Hope you have a good Thanksgiving. Betsy has another ultrasound and bloodtest on Friday - we hope that goes well. Talk to you soon

She's always wearing my sweatpants

On October 31, 2008, I bought, what I would soon find out, the most comfortable pair of sweatpants at KMart in Bismarck. I needed a costume for Halloween - something appropriate to wear to the Governor's Mansion.

The costume consisted of grey, elastic-cuffed sweatpants and a red North Dakota tank-top that had a screenprint of a soaring eagle on it.

The costume was near perfect, but Betsy now has laid claim to these Joe Boxer sweatpants and I am concerned how often they are being worn.

Don't get me wrong, I love sweatpants and I am not pregnant. So, if Betsy wants to wear these men's XL sweatpants for the next 32 weeks - I say go for it.

But Betsy, here are the rules:

1. If they have cheese on them, I gotta wash them.
2. If you can't remember the last time they were washed, I gotta wash them.
3. You can wear them to Wal-Mart. But if you wear them to Wal-Mart, you can't shuffle your feet and just look at the magazine rack.
   
4. If you think the sweatpants are giving you a rash, your sweatpants are probably giving you a rash.

That's it. Only 4 rules for wearing those sweatpants.

Now, the good thing is that Betsy's sassy, malassy friend, Maurya, was kind enough to send her a pair of women's sweatpants. (Maurya, she got them yesterday and they only have been off to shower. I think I may buy her another.)

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts during this time. We continue to be cautiously excited. We have another appointment in Fargo on the Friday after Thanksgiving. If that one goes well, Betsy gets passed on to a doctor in Minot.

Talk to you soon