Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

The Kapallen’s have had a fast 2009 . . .

Jude is 22 months old and is continuing to grow fast. As we browse pictures from earlier this year, we’re reminded that he’s no longer our baby, but is becoming our little boy. He loves Elmo, our dog and cat, his friends, and his family. He is snuggly after naps, strong-willed, and smart (of course). We love the time we get to spend with him and feel deeply blessed by our little guy.

Dave has been quite busy this year. He continues to work at the local insurance companies' corporate headquarters. We are thankful for his secure job in the current weak economy.
Outside of his 9-5 . . .back in July -- and thanks to lots of help from many friends -- he started working on his dream garage. He demolished our existing two-stall and – with a trip to the emergency room and 4 stitches later – we ended up with a beautiful three-stall garage. He now can make all the furniture for our house in his new wood shop. ;)

Next on our list was finishing the basement. We weren’t sure when it would get done, but with hopes of having more children, knew it was a top priority. The time came in mid-November when my brother John (a plumber by trade) came up over a few days and roughed in the plumbing and relocated our basement laundry. It’s virtually finished now. We should have some pictures to share on next month’s blog post.

Dave has acquired lots of knowledge and skills in the last five years of living in a 100-year old home. Amidst all of this, Dave also manages to maintain a semi-regular running routine. Jude loves to go along in the stroller. Pacey, our three-year-old Vizsla, doesn’t miss a run. That is, until she got hit by a car in mid-November. The good news is that it could have been much worse. She's getting better day by day and should be ready to go full steam come spring time.

Beginning in the 2009-10 school year, I started a part-time teaching position at Bloomington High School. This transition from full to part-time has been such an answer to prayer. I have always loved teaching, but felt very torn about the time missed during the day with Jude. This new arrangement works out perfectly for our family. I feel very blessed to have more time at home.

We continued to travel this year. The New Year found us visiting Dave’s family in the DC area. Over my spring break, we joined our friends, the Jeffrey’s, in Jamaica for a week on the beach. The first week of August is always reserved for my side of the family's annual vacation. This year it was spent in South Haven, Michigan. And in October, we visited Dave’s high school friend, John and his family in Orlando. We also made fairly regular monthly visits to Edwardsville to visit my family.

The biggest news of 2009 is . . .we are expecting twins in May. We’re so excited about adding more children to our family! At the same time, we are quite nervous about the challenges that come with multiples. There's lots more to say about that . . .not sure where to begin!

On a final note, Jude's quickly approaching the terrible two's. His favorite word seems to be "No," and we’ve been trying to teach him the virtue of sharing. “People are more important than things,” Dave tells him often. Isn’t it funny how God re-teaches us these simple lessons through our children?!

If we haven’t told you lately, we want take the opportunity to say that we truly value you. Thank you for your continued friendship over the years; for being our partners in life. Our hope is that you, too, had a great 2009 and that 2010 is our best year yet!

Love,

Amanda & Dave

The Kapallen’s Top 8 in 2008

8. Pacey, our loving Vizsla, turned 2 in March.

7. Amanda had 6 months off of work (February to August).

6. Crosswinds Church moved to a new 100-year old building in the heart of Bloomington’s west side. Dave had a big role to play as the Director of Finance at our church.

5. Dave’s first political endeavor was running for a seat on the McLean County Board. Not due to his lack of effort, he lost to a Democrat riding Obama’s coattails.

4. Vacations! The Kapilla family went to Lake of the Ozarks in August. Boy, was it HOT, but the babies loved the water! We also enjoyed a weekend trip to Lake Michigan with our neighbors.

3. Time with neighbors, friends and family over the year. We are so thankful for each of you!

2. The births of our niece, Gabrielle Bustamante, and nephew, Nate Laughlin. This makes 4 grandbabies for the Van Allens and 6 for the Kapillas.

1. The birth our son Jude Mark, born February 23rd at 6:33pm weighing 7lbs and 19” long. He now weighs 20lbs and is 29’’ tall, is saying momma and dada, crawling, furniture surfing and getting into everything.
Jude is our dream come true!

Spring is here!

That's right, spring is here! One sign of the coming season is that Ellie has been trying to sneak outside more and more. As you can see in the picture below, she just loves it out there. I caught her napping in the planter on our front step. Better there than in the street! Or worse . . .


The other day, my neighbor stopped to tell me that she ran into his home and was hiding in his basement. I wish I had a picture of the look on my face when he told me that! Yikes! (To be fair, he had left his door wide open so he could listen to the music that was playing from his home stereo.)

Pecking order

It's Easter Sunday, and we're home now after a pretty good morning. We woke up and made it to church - I won't say on time - but in pretty good time. It was packed today as was expected, and we ended up taking a seat in the back corner. Jude did pretty well throughout service, but on occasion had to be taken outside to regain his composure.

I think I know how Amanda's brother-in-law Chad feels now when he's at church. I must have walked in and out of the worship room 3-5 times just to get Jude to quiet down. Needless to say, I didn't hear much of the pastor's message.

So we made it home and were ready for our typical Sunday afternoon routine. I went for a run with Pacey and Molly (the neighbor's dog) and Amanda headed for the couch with Jude for a nap. I'll give her this - she deserves every nap she can get nowadays. Sleeping two hours at a clip can't be easy, especially for someone who loves her sleep as much as my dearest.

After our run, Pacey and I took a shower and eventually made it down to the living room couch. They say there's nothing like spending time with one's familial unit. Bonding, I'm there! Pacey was begging to get up on the couch with us. With Amanda, Jude and myself already comfortable, where is she going to fit? We told her, "Sorry Pacey, baby Jude took your spot. There's no room for you Pacey!"

A few minutes went by and my wife thinks it's more important for her to take a nap on the couch than for me to sit next to her while I blog and watch the NCAA tournament. If she goes upstairs to nap, she says, she's going to wake up Jude in the process. It's too cold upstairs (under the blankets?!)

I'm thinking, "Whatever," but I say, "OK, I'm good with that." She wants to lay down on the full length couch to stretch out, so I moved the laptop and my beverage and set up over by the chair in the corner. After a while, I started to feel hungry, so I pulled some leftovers out to heat up for a quick afternoon snack.

While I'm in the kitchen, I hear Pacey get up on the couch. I'm thinking that only in the land of opposites would a man's dog have priority over his owner, but alas, I'm wrong. I've got to be at about 1000 words by now, and they say that's about what a picture is worth. See for yourself:

Pacey's new dog collar

Pacey and I went on our usual 5 mile run on Saturday. This time of year, since the water has begun to thaw, there are tons of Canadian Geese and Mallard Ducks out. Pacey just loves it -- can't get enough of it.

So we're running along the creek and she spots a Mallard. For the next 10 minutes, I watched her run back and forth along a 40 yard stretch. That was probably where I made my mistake. We got home and were about to jump in the shower when I noticed that her tags were missing.

Her HomeAgain ID tag, county vaccination tag and standard $3 tag had all fallen off. I was surfing online and found a pretty cool slide-on tag at PetSmart.com (online only) for $15, but that seemed a bit pricey for a dog tag -- and after reading about it, it wouldn't have fit anyway.
Boomerang Tags sells this slide-on tag for $7.99 shipped, and it works with adjustable collars with plastic snaps, collars like hers. Now that's a deal! We haven't gotten it in the mail yet, but I'm looking forward to running without hearing the telltale jingle noise that her old tags previously made.

While I'm on the subject of deals, I'll mention that as I write, Amanda and I are sitting in front of the TV passively watching Deal or No Deal. Why does anyone stick it out past their 6 figure offer?! The last lady just walked away with $150 -- idiot!

Staying alive! (dog park)

What would you do if you bought $27k worth of fence for a planned dog park whose plans were nixed?

Well, the local paper reports that the [redacted] has plans to expand the existing dog park at [redacted] Park. Not bad news . . .

They also said a plan for a second dog park is still in the works but it will be moved to the yet-to-be-built [redacted] Park, which will be located east of [redacted] Road and south of [redacted] Road.

Dog Days event cancelled

The local paper reported yesterday that the Health Dept threatened to take away the pool's license if they held the event. As much fun as the dogs have, it's probably not a bad idea.

Last year, the pool area was crowded by dogs and their owners by 9 am, and there was still a line waiting outside to get in at 11 am when we left. We took Pacey and our neighbor's dog Molly to the pool. Pacey was a little fraidy cat and wouldn't hardly step in the water. I guess she's more of an introvert. Molly, on the other hand, was her lab-like self and had the time of her life. She would fetch every disc we threw her way -- and a few we didn't!

A few days after last year's event, Molly had to go to the vet. It turns out that she had caught kennel cough. Her veterinarian said that the week after the event is her busiest week of the year. Because so many dogs are in close contact, they all share germs and end up getting sick.

It's unfortunate for the Humane Society that the fund raiser event had to be canceled, but it's probably better for the health of the dogs involved.

How to know your dog is in heat

I debated putting up this post. Pacey is spade now, and Bob Barker would be smiling from his easy chair. I really don't need to keep this information for my own future use -- unless we get another dog, or a friend is maybe going through the same thing we went through with Pacey. Maybe it's my inner pack rat -- I can't beat the urge to delete this file I created on my desktop named inheat.txt without saving the information for future generations.

For whatever reason, I'm going to fight my common sense and share with the world the knowledge I've collected on signs that my dog was in heat. I hope you all enjoy this revelation as much as I did! And finally, my desktop is one file cleaner.

Without further delay, here they are. The signs that your dog is in heat, and what step in the process she's in:

"Proestrus" (duration, 4-15 days)

• begins to lick her self a lot
• swelling of vulva
• increased restlessness
• frequent urination
• fatigue
• blood color will also change from dark red to salmon color
• will not accept male
• male dogs begin to hang around/notice female

"Estrus" (duration, 4-8 days)

• dog can get pregnant
• will accept male/willingness to stand for the male
• she will hold her tail off to the side called "flagging"
• she will often back her butt up to your leg as well
• sometimes spayed during this time
• shouldn't breed until 3rd heat
• fertile 12 days after the bleeding starts

From PetBitsForYou.com:

You can avoid blood spots in the house by putting little boy's jockey type underwear with a fly on her. Or purchase commercial pad holder, available at most larger Pet Stores. Initially place a Light Days pad into the shorts (or pad holder) and then put the pants on backwards, so that the tail comes out the fly. Most 30 lb. dog can use a size 6 or 6x jockey underwear. This method can also be used to avoid unwanted pregnancy, for obvious physical reasons. Disposable children’s pull-up diapers can also be used, but they are expensive, than commercial dog pad holders. Change the mini-pad regularly as needed through the day, and give the female dog time to clean herself periodically when she comes back into the house from doing her natural duties before you put the pants or pad holder back on her. Remember to remove the pants or diaper when you let her outside to relieve her self!

If the dog becomes pregnant the gestation time is 58-63 days.

"Diestrus" (duration, 6-10 weeks)

• dogs may moan/howl
• teats get bigger, may produce milk

"Anestrus" (duration, 15 weeks)

• no hormonal activity

Pacey's first birthday!

Pacey turned one on March 31. To celebrate the occasion, we invited all of her friends from the neighborhood over yesterday. First we went to a nearby park and ran around and played with the dogs. Pacey's neighbor Keslie down the street, a 5-year old Vizsla made it to the party, as did Molly, the chocolate lab that lives across the street and Wilson, her 3-month old mentee.

When we finished at the park, we invited the dog parents back for a barbeque and some cake. Thanks to Tom and Sue across the street for making the best homemade chocolate cake (with homemade frosting!) I've ever tasted!

What fun!

Pacey's first Christmas

Here's a collection of pictures we've taken of Pacey over the past few months. Isn't she a cutie!

Normal's planned 2nd dog park is history

Apparently, it takes more than 2 people to get a dog park approved. Of the 44 people contacted, Friday's Pantagraph story reported that only two signed in favor of the dog park.

I wish the city wouldn't be so anal about ticketing leash law violators. (They probably wouldn't be if residents weren't so concerned.) All I want in this world is for my dog to be treated like a human. Is that so wrong!?

Bloomington needs a dog park (reply)

My alderman's reply to my request to consider a dog park:

----- Original Message -----
From: Ward 7 Alderman [redacted]
Subject: Re: City of Bloomington Dog Park?
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:30:44 -0500

Mr. [redacted],

Here is the reply I got to your inquiry about future plans for a dog park. Seems like getting support from the residents around the park is of primary concern. Let me know if you would like more information from the director of parks or you can contact him directly at the number in his email.

Thank you and please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

[redacted]
Alderman, Ward 7
Bloomington

Councilman, wanted to respond to your inquire regarding future plans for a dog park in Bloomington. Several years ago staff recommended a dog park at [redacted] Park and got negative feedback from residents and so we did not pursue it. We then turned to [redacted] Park and again got negative response from the residents. At this point we are looking at developing one in a community park at a later date.

If you would like to discuss future plans please do not hesitate to call me.

Thanks
[redacted]
Director of Parks and Recreation

Advice on starting a dog park in your town

Note to my readers: if anyone that comes across this blog wants to petition the City of Bloomington to start a dog park, there's a good source on that topic at usa.dog-parks.org.

I've pasted the post here for reference . . .you never know when a post might be removed:

You can read a bit about our process here and that may help. The best piece of advice I can give you is to get a group of interested citizens together to plan and lobby for a dog park. While your local Parks and Rec Dept and your local government can easily dismiss one or two people with a bright idea, it is much more difficult to dismiss a group, preferably large, of determined and well-informed people, especially if they get a lot of publicity in their local papers (write letters, get interviews, photos, etc.), hold fundraisers, pass out info, and so on. If you are really lucky, there might be an enlightened person at your Parks and Rec so that the initial persuasion would be reduced. By the way, it is better to pitch the idea as a place for people who have dogs than a place that dogs need.

I got a group started by writing letters to my local papers and inviting interested people to contact me. I also put together a small brochure and some business-size cards with a brief mission statement and contact info, which everyone in the group posted anywhere they could think of and dropped into neighbors' mailboxes, etc. You need to be inventive. Keep a record of everyone's contact info and begin an email list as soon as possible to save hours on the phone. Get other people to take over tasks like that. Meet regularly so you can plan strategy.

The other important piece of advice would be to try to get someone on the inside at Town Hall on your side. This can be invaluable - all sorts of hints, contacts, and info can come your way. We had the assistant director of Parks and Rec supporting us and helping us to find a suitable spot within the existing park land. He also helped us know what hoops we had to jump through - we had to make presentations to various town commissions that had to give permission for the dog park project.

Bloomington needs a dog park

I know, there are probably bigger issues in the world today to be concerned with. It's just that, if I'm going to be forced to "donate" to a cause I don't believe in, I had better get my chance to effect change!

Here's a letter I wrote to my City Alderman:

Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:00 AM
To: ward 7 alderman [redacted]
Subject: City of Bloomington Dog Park?

Steven,

I read the recent [redacted] article regarding the [redacted] intent to create a second dog park with great interest.

Living in the heart of Bloomington just a mile from [redacted] Park, it would be extremely convenient to have a place to bring my dog where she could run off leash. I've made a few trips over to the park, hearing that it was sort of an unofficial dog park, where responsible owners with well-behaved dogs could go to enjoy some green space. On about my 3rd or 4th trip over, I was cited with a $50 ticket for an ordinance violation of the leash law. The ticket was given to me on a Wednesday morning at approximately 8:30 am. The whole of [redacted] Park was occupied with just 2 bird watchers, another owner and their dog, and a Park Policeman. Not even a slight rain was enough to deter this policeman from doing his duty. How frustrating!

The policeman tried to help me understand why he was issuing a ticket . . .apparently, some local residents had complained that dogs were running off their leashes. Possibly that an off-leash dog approached a baby stroller and scared the parent. This is an understandable concern. But why not attempt to issue tickets during the hours of 4 pm to 6 pm, when the problem likely occurred -- and when the park is crowded with kids practicing football with their families watching? This is the time that would seem to present the greatest danger!

If a citizen can't go to a city park on off hours in the rain with his 5-month old puppy, what other options are there? I suppose I could drive up to [redacted] Park in [redacted], but I don't pay [redacted] taxes, I'm not a resident of [redacted], and on a weekday work day, another 10 minutes of driving each way truly makes a difference.

Is there anything you can to do convince the Council to revisit this issue? Or how about even setting aside morning hours permitting dogs off-leash access to city parks? Surely, if the [redacted] can make plans to create a second park, obstacles like public support and liability insurance costs must be small ones to overcome.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assist you in this effort.

Regards,

[salutation redacted]

Enc:

Sources showing benefits of dog parks:
http://gazette.cyberrails.net/Archives.asp?A=109
http://www.watsondogpark.org/whatsADogPark
http://www.trumbulldogpark.com
http://www.tredyffrin.org/pdf/community/complete-prosp.pdf
http://www.seacoastonline.com/2004news/yorkstar/ys5_13b.htm

It's pool time!

Today's the big day! Pacey is almost 6 months old and we're off to the Dog Days celebration at the local pool. For the past few years, they've held a fund raiser for the local Humane Society. After the last week of pool season and before they empty and clean the pool, they invite local residents to bring their dogs in for a swim.

Violating the law

The leash law, that is. Pacey and I got a ticket at [redacted] Park this morning for violating the local leash ordinance. It was just before 9 am. The weather was about 40 degrees and raining, and there wasn't a soul in the park besides me and another lady walking her dog.

Apparently, dogs have to be on leash in all city parks. Even when you're the only one in the park. Even when your dog is a harmless puppy.

As the Park Police officer was writing the ticket, he shared with us a story about how some dog rushed up to a stroller and the mother called the city to complain. Apparently, the city is on the lookout again for leash law violators. I got a $50 ticket. Yikes!

What was slightly satisfying is that Pacey, our 5-month old Vizsla (who still hasn't lost her baby teeth) sat in a perfect sit the whole while the officer wrote the ticket. Who would write a ticket for having a 5-month old puppy off of their leash?!

It was all I could do to hold back the thoughts in my head. I live a mile or so from the park and my garage and my wife's car have both been broken into this summer. While he was writing the ticket, I asked him, "Do you know anything about catching thieves?"

Love at first sight (Pacey)

It was on June 13th in the airport in Rome that we came across a woman and her little Vizsla puppy. That moment started a romance for both Amanda and I. We had fallen in love with the Vizsla breed.

We arrived home on Friday, June 23rd. By Sunday, I had contacted every Vizsla breeder in the state and then some (25 in all).

We've been home from our 3-week European vacation for a whole 5 days and picked up Pacey last night. We got her from the [redacted], a breeder up in the [redacted] area.

A puppy surprise for Amanda (shhh!)

If we are going to get a dog, the summer of 2006 seems like the perfect time to do it. Yes, we had two cats, but knowing how much Amanda wants a dog, we are bound to add one to our family sooner or later. We both want to start a family, and it would be nice to have a dog trained before our first child comes.

And so with this in mind, I have begun looking for the ideal dog breed. I started with Golden Retrievers. Amanda grew up with Max, and we both admire the breed for its athleticism and temperament. I'm not the biggest fan of them because they are a pretty big breed, have long hair and stink when they're wet.

I want a breed that has a more commanding presence. As a runner, I wanted a breed that will go for long runs with me. The Weimaraner seems almost like the perfect breed. At 80-90 lbs full grown, they are just as large. And I have heard stories about how they can be neurotic and at times destructive.

Among the other breeds I'm considering as I plot my surprise is the Vizsla. I don't know much about them, but like their monochromatic look and athletic build. After all of the research I have done, I'm still not ready to surprise Amanda with a puppy. I really needed her input.

And so with these thoughts in mind, we're off to southern Europe for 3 weeks.