I was born and raised in a small town in Wyoming. While separated physically from the rest of the civilized world (120 miles to the nearest interstate) it may as well just been aother planet. Primarily a farming and ranching community, my great grandfather and great uncles started and operated a large ranch and my uncle and cousins worked very hard rasing barley and sugar beets. My father was (and still is) an accomplished equipment operator and has worked in many industries including uranium mining, road construction, gold mining, and most recently operating a gravel and sand crusher. My mother worked in food service for more than 20 years and was the head cook at my high school and also worked for a hospital and jail. I have one brother who is a very good mechanic (as well as being an awesome dad) and a sister who works in the escrow industry. My greatest aspiration when I (barely) graduated from high school was to be a truck driver and had resigned myelf to being single for my natural born life and my cold carcass being buried in the same samll town I lived for 20 years of my life.
Somehow I ended up being a nursing assistant in Nevada. I worked for a few years in nursing homes and a hospice until I finally realized thatlife is too short and decided “hey maybe I’ll give this college thing a shot.” Yadda yadda yadda 4 years later I graduated with an associates degree in biology and 2 years after that a bachelors degree in molecular biology and genetics. Oh yeah, somewhere along the line I went on a camping trip and met Marilyn (aka Slackermama) and got married 6 days before I graduated. A few months later I landed a very good job and have been there for nearly 10 years.
On November 10, 1999 we welcomed our oldest son Harrison (Harry for short). We were apparently trying to have children which was news to me. For 6 1/2 years he was our only child and the three of us went on many adventures. We’ve aways said we would have 10 children if they were as easy as Harry and if we would only have one child he was the one to have. He is very intelligent (scored 96th percentile on his gifted and talented assessment) and reads at a high school level. He is very much a third parent in some ways to his little brother and sister.
About 2 years after Harry was born we decided he should have siblings since we didn’t want him to be all by himself after we were gone. After 2 years of trying we discovered we had infertility issues and after another year of infertility treatments we conceived Jackson William Porter. He died in the womb on March 20, 2004, full-term and just over a week from his scheduled c-section. We buried him on March 31, 2004. We also had a miscarriage in August 2005 at 16 weeks. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump: “That’s all I have to say about that.” (Note: if you are a grieving mother or father and feel the details of our experiences would help you in some way please email me and I can provide links and am always willing to talk. We love talking about the babies we lost since that’s how they live on but also understand some people are a little squeamish.)
On July 7, 2006 we had our second son, William (aka Liam). He truly was a miracle baby and was so tiny when he was born (4lbs 15oz) that it gave us some pause. However, he ended up being healthy as a horse and is just a wee man. His eyes are bright blue and very expressive. He loves playing with his older brother and is very gentle (so far!) with his little sister. He has a big heart and loves hugs and sitting on my lap with his sippy cup and dolphin to watch a movie. We jokingly call him the “Golden Boy” since we worked so hard to bring him into the world although we’ll probably have to stop calling him that at some point. There have been many dscussions/arguments regarding his conception and if it was aided at all by infertility treatments since he was conceived very early the first month of treatment and right after the miscarriage which increases the chances of getting pregnant naturally. I say he was conceived naturally (see below) but Marilyn disagrees.
In the summer of 2007 my wife started complaining of feeling “blue” and was very hormonal which was causing her some social conflict. At some point I decided she was pregnant and forced her to take a pregnancy test. Turns out I was right and this without trying and without fertility treatment! On March 20, 2008 our baby girl, Evelyn (aka Evie) was born. She is so much more advanced than the two boys could have ever thought about at the same age and she loves sitting on our laps and cooing, screeching, and interacting with us. She has been dubbed the “Pretty Pretty Princess” and loves attention. I feel sorry for any boys who have notions of dating her when she gets older.