Getting Ready to go to the Doctor

Today, Parker got his 2 month shots and measurements. Before we took him in, Kari wanted to take some pictures sine he may not be as happy when we got home.

For the record, he was 27.5 inches and weighed 13.25 pounds.

Grandma and Grandpa Horn Visit again

Kari dressed Parker up in an outfit that my Grandparents got for him. They are visiting tonight.

Coming Home is Sure Nice

I have had several people ask me if it is hard to leave the house in the morning with my little guy looking so cute. I tell them not bad, actually, but it is really nice coming home. Above are some pictures of the little guy starting to smile more. Hope you enjoy.

New Phase in My Life

As if having a newborn is not enough of a change right now, I am embarking on a journey to battle what apparently is Psoriatic Arthritis. This is something that has dramatically hampered my quality of life for the past several months and is causing me to make a decision to make several significant lifestyle changes. However, if it helps to reduce the pain I have been dealing with, it will be worth it. I hope that in addition to my family checking in on my pictures, that I will be able to help people who are trolling for information on Psoriatic Arthritis. My journey effectively begins today.

I am beginning one significant lifestyle change today, which is to take the medicine, Methotrexate. Frankly, I am a little concerned about taking this medication as it has some fairly gnarly side effects associated with its consumption. In my brief studies thus far, most of the people I read about taking this suffer from some sort of side effect. The most common seems to be dizziness and nausea. Many people also reported thinning hair, irritability, mouth sores/soreness, and forgetfullness. Hopefully, they are the outliers.

One additional impact of taking this medicine is that I must reduce my drinking to 1-2 drinks per month. While I don't drink anything like I used to, I still probably drink 8 beers per week.

Most importantly, however, is that I must reduce the pain I am experiencing from the arthritis. This pain, treated with twice the daily recommended dosage of Alleve, still registers in the 5-6 pain scale (10 being the most pain I have ever felt in my life). Further, with this type of arthritis being degenerative, I cannot afford at the age of 29 (almost 30) and an 8 week old son to lose any mobility or live in constant pain.

In addition to traditional medicine, I am at least going to give the Pagano Psoriasis diet a shot. Even though my doctor told me that diet would have no impact on my condition, it couldn't hurt. I am not exactly sure what the Pagano diet is yet, but I know it consists of lots of fruits and veggies and very little simple sugars and acidic foods (i.e. red meat). Like I said, it may not work on the arthritis, but if I can stick to the meal plan, I will probably lose a good deal of weight, which certainly couldn't hurt.

So wish me luck. And if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to make a comment on this blog. However, I ask that if you are soliciting something, including ways to enlarge my, well, you get the point, please respect my desire not to be solicited.

Thanks for your understanding.

Dad and Nat in Town

This week, I took a couple of days off so my Father and sister could visit the little guy.

Gettin' Ducky or Just Quackin' Up

Our most recent photos of Parker feature components of an outfit we received from family and friends. It is really cute and he decided he would give us about 5 minutes of posing before it was really time to get to business.

"The Places In Between" by Rory Stewart

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable and quick read. While 300 pages in length, the author does a good job of breaking chapters into his visits to individual towns and people.

This book is a story about a Scottish historian, who walks across Afghanistan just months after the fall of the Taliban. His journey takes him from Herat (near the Iranian border), to Kabul, near the Pakistani border, and through the center of the country.

Afghanistan is a country which is dominated by Islam and tribes. Especially through the center of the country, there is a significant Shia population and, as you might recall from some of the other entries I have made about other books on the region, has been heavily influenced by imperialism for thousands of years.

Now this doesn't mean that the imperial powers have been successful in taming this country, of course. But it does mean that it came into conatct with people like Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan. It was invaded by Britain 3 times, all in an effort to keep out the Russians. It was invaded by the Russians to protect the installation of a Communist government (and likely secure a route to the Indian Ocean) and now by the Americans, to keep out al-Qaeda.

With all this history, I am sure you are thinking that what the average Afghani wants is a pluralistic democracy with freedom and human rights. Mr. Stewart tells us that this is totally absent from the minds of most Afghanis he met. In fact, most probably just want to be left alone. They want to be able to travel down a dirt road without fear of blowing up by stepping on a landmine. They probably want to be able to farm and trade. Yes, some just want to kill most everything, but most want something more simplistic.

This is not to say they are a peaceful people. They still engage in blood feuds with neighboring rivals. But I would suspect this is not a danger to our national security.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading about tribal culture and a part of the world that is very much in the news of late.