2 in 10,000

Tricuspid Valve Atresia with Malposed Great Vessels

I'm going to memorize that at some point I'm sure.

So we finally were able to meet with Dr. Roten. She was able to see that there were four chambers,
but the Great Vessels had basically switched up so that the right ventricle didn't really increase in size because of the way it all worked they weren't being used. So, four chambers but the right ventricle is basically useless.

The left ventricle is strong, which Dr. Roten said is a GOOD thing. The road ahead is long, but before you get too worked up, Amanda and I are feeling good about where we are at right now.

So how do we fix this? Well, it'll never be perfect but the idea is that Rhett will have (3) surgeries before the age of 3.

The first surgery will be when he is a few days to a week old. The second around four months old. The third around 3 years old which will hopefully be the last one.

Amanda will still deliver vaginally if everything goes according to plan and then we will have just a minute or so for her to hold him and take a few pictures. After that he will be loaded onto his cadillac (the nurse called them that) and they will roll him across the skybridge (from Harris Downtown) to Cook Children's and he'll be taken to his NICU room which will be ours for a few days until he is taken to the CVICU (Cardiovascular ICU) where he will have his first surgery which is called The Norwood Procedure. In one of these two rooms is where I'll be sleeping the first night but I'm not sure.

After his first surgery we will be at the hospital for 4-6 weeks. Visiting hours are limited but Amanda and I are allowed to come and go as we please and they make it a point to keep it very involved as to what each shift is looking for and working on for that day. Rhett will have his own room and Amanda and I can sleep there and be there anytime we want. Talon will be able to visit as well as some of our family, but they have very specific rules as to who can and can't come and for how long and when.

After the 6 weeks we can take Rhett home and all they are sending with us is a scale to weigh him everyday to make sure he is growing and a pulse oximeter to monitor his heart.

After 4 months we will take Rhett back to the doctor for the second surgery, the Glenn procedure. For this one Rhett will be in the hospital for about a week. After this one Rhett get's to come home and be a normal kid for awhile. They said he would get a bet tired quicker because he's getting a little less oxygen than a normal kid at this point, but he should grow just fine.

So at 3 years old he'll have what we hope to be and what is planned to be his final surgery called the Fontan procedure. This is where they hook up the valves/vessels and all that good stuff to run his lungs. We asked about sports and they said he probably won't be able to play most team sports passed the pee-wee level. The reason being that he needs to be in control of how hard he pushes his heart and lungs. I think we're going to take up Golf and he'll be able to fish and deer hunt for sure.

The doctor said she felt at about 90% that this would all be successful which made us feel good.

For now we feel just fine. We were pretty much expecting all of this and just wanted a name to put with it. Please continue praying, we appreciate you all so very much!

Oh and our favorite superhero is now Iron Man, because it make sense. Ready to see our little Iron Man and get to give him a kiss before all of this starts. I know he'll be ready!

#dadsimple

Tricuspid Atresia 
In tricuspid atresia, there's no tricuspid valve so no blood can flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle. As a result, the right ventricle is small and not fully developed. Survival depends on there being an opening in the wall between the atria (atrial septal defect) and usually an opening in the wall between the two ventricles (ventricular septal defect). As a result, the venous (bluish) blood that returns to the right atrium flows through the atrial septal defect and into the left atrium. There it mixes with oxygen-rich (red) blood from the lungs. Most of this poorly oxygenated mixture goes from the left ventricle into the aorta and on to the body. The rest flows through the ventricular septal defect into the small right ventricle, through the pulmonary artery and back to the lungs. Often in these children it's necessary to do a surgical shunting procedure to increase blood flow to the lungs. Some children with tricuspid atresia have too much blood flowing to the lungs. They may need a procedure (pulmonary artery banding) to decrease blood flow to the lungs. Other children with tricuspid atresia may have a Fontan procedure. In this, a connection is created between the right atrium and pulmonary artery. The atrial defect is also closed. This eliminates the cyanosis but, without a right ventricle that works normally, the heart can't work totally as it should.

Tricuspid atresia occurs in two out of every 10,000 live births. It makes up 1 to 2 percent of all cases of congenital heart disease. TA occurs equally in boys and girls.

It Takes a Village.

The say it takes a village...

Well, the village is making themselves known. A mixture of fundraiser ideas as well as checks directly to us have left us speechless. To articulate the amount of thanks we have for our friends and family would be impossible. This is the hardest thing we have ever been through, but the support from everyone is making being optimistic easier and easier with each day. The good news we've received from doctors has us in a very good place right now. Rhett is already loved by so many. So again and a million times over. Thank you.

Rhett is moving all over the place in momma's belly! Every movement shows how strong he already is and I think he's ready for all of the hugs and kisses that are inevitably coming. Amanda is doing great and mostly only cries happy tears lately. We are so looking forward to the visit to the cardiologist June 2nd! Please keep Rhett in your prayers that by a miracle we will get there and they'll say nothing is wrong, but if a secondary prayer request that in the event something is wrong that only heart surgery will be necessary and then Rhett can live a completely normal life.

Talon is so ready for Rhett to come out and play. He said he's gonna scare him outta there!

I think Talon scared him...

 Before bed one night we asked him if he was excited and he said he was going to teach him to do flips. We asked what else he was going to teach him and he walked around the room looking at all of his toys. He grabbed his toy gun and pointed at the deer and said "shoot deer", then he pointed to his tennis ball and said "play catch", he said a few other things and it was one of the most precious moments and a memory I'll never forget. He is so excited and seems to totally understand what is going on (minus the medical stuff). He knows his name and he knows he's having a baby brother. The other night after we tucked him in he called Amanda back over, lifted her shirt and gave her belly a hug and a kiss and said "Goodnight Rhett". Memory I'll never forget number 2. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. I mean...look at this guy, he's ready!

We talked to insurance yesterday and things are looking up on that front too. What we originally were told was a $1200 bill for the cardiologist visit has turned into about $300 based on the different things hitting the insurance plan and Amanda hitting her deductible. (Thank God). My plan starts over July 1st, so we'll have to start the deductible and max out of pocket cycle over again.

I was reading some message boards of people who's infants have had open heart surgery a few days after being born and followed by about a 2-3 week stay in the hospital and without insurance it would be in the $150k - $250k range. Thank God for insurance plans our maximum out of pocket is $10k at most from July thru June of 2016. So hopefully if worst case scenario happens and Rhett needs surgery that the first one will be enough to set him up for life and will limit future years to check ups and general little boy bumps and bruises!

So now the real task begins.... picking out bedding and getting his room ready for when we bring him home. Not to mention registering for baby showers, and making sure Amanda has khaki maternity pants.. khaki.

Spirits are high in the Spangler house and so much of it is because of all of you reading along. Writing this blog has been a great emotional tool for me and thank you all so much for the love you've shown my baby boy and someday when he's older and I can show him all of these posts I know his heart will be full, even if it isn't right now.

Again and again and again from the bottom of Amanda's and my heart.

Thank you.

#dadsimple

Finally Some Good News!!

Amanda and I have been trying to stay as positive as possible. Thank you again to everyone who has offered kind words and prayers. So far it looks like it's working!

Today we finally received some good news for Rhett! Amanda received a phone call today with the results of the MaterniT21 test.

"The MaterniT21 PLUS test is a noninvasive prenatal test that detects fetal chromosomal abnormalities; from common (trisomies 21, 18 and 13) to the more rare (fetal sex aneuploidies, trisomies 16 and 22, and select microdeletions"

The results came back 99% negative! This, along with the Dr's seeing totally normal growth except the heart has us hoping that ALL we are dealing with is a heart defect (super weird to say...all). Amanda and I are so relieved.

I'll have Rhett charming the ladies in no time!

We are looking forward to our visit with the Cardiologist June 2nd, but we were notified today of the $1200 price tag that we will have to pay before the appointment. I have insurance, but with all of these tests and visits we ran through the $1500 my company gives for our HRA account, which means we now have to spend another $1500 before we can hit our deductible and insurance starts paying 80% to our 20% until we reach the out of pocket minimum of $10,000 dollars. So all of that is super exciting...

3 things....

1. I thought the math on having a baby was supposed to be as simple as 1 + 1 = 3

2. Kids are expensive pets.

3. So worth it.


#dadsimple

The Calm After the Storm and THE NAME!

It's been a couple of days since we found out the news and I wanted to post again to make sure everyone reading along knows that we're okay. We are optimistic for now and that's all we can really be until we start to get into some of these test results and specialist visits.

It feels like it's been a week since Friday and we can't express enough how grateful we are for all of the comments, messages, texts, hugs, and phone calls that we have received of people offering advice and encouragement. It's been overwhelming in the best way possible. It was comforting to hear about people who have worked with the doctors we will be visiting with and who have had experiences with Cooks whether through someone they know or themselves directly.

Amanda felt him move last night on the outside! It was very exciting and it felt like it was his first act of bravery and telling us that "hey, I ain't going anywhere!" We are so excited to get to share this experience together and I know God wouldn't put this in front of us if he didn't know we could handle it. It's going to be hard, but I've got the best partner I could ask for beside me for this whole deal. She's strong when I can't be and I'm her rock when she can't find solid ground. She is my perfect match and I love her more every day.

The reveal was so fun! We laid in bed that night and it didn't feel like we could get close enough. I think we fell asleep in about 30 seconds.

Saturday we went to Joey and Lisa Calhoun's wedding with Amanda's parents and it was exactly what we needed to kind of take our minds off of things. We had a great time and the wedding and venue were so awesome. Congratulations to the happy couple! Oh and take a look at this hottie!

Sunday was mother's day so we went to Midlothian to spend time with my family at Ellis County BBQ and then back to mom's house for some hangin' out. Then we made the drive back to Azle to spend time with Amanda's family. It was great to get to see everyone again after that crazy Friday we had.

We sat at mom's house thinking of a name and we finally decided on one. See my family has a tradition where the boys get two middle names which makes the name picking process even more difficult to find a mixture of syllables and letters that flow and work together. We have decided on...

Rhett Parker Wyatt Spangler!

We wanted to give him a strong name just in case he ends up needing it. We are still hopeful that by some miracle this will somehow turn into the most boring pregnancy ever with Rhett being born to little fanfare and we can sit in our hospital room with a perfectly healthy baby boy.

Again, thank you all so much for the support and the prayers. Keep sending them up because we will need all the help we can get! We are unquestionably surrounded by the best family and friends anyone could ask for. For the strangers who read because of the people who shared the post, thank you as well for caring enough to read and to offer encouragement to complete strangers.

Rhett Spangler... we are in love already. #dadsimple

The Worst Best Day Ever.

So, yesterday was the Anomaly scan which for most people (us included) the gender reveal at the doctor. We were so excited to find out if we were having a boy or a girl!

The stay started out normal,we woke up and got ready, dropped Talon off with Cody, got breakfast and we were on a way into the hospital to do the ultrasound. It was about 40 minutes past our appointment time of 10:00AM before they called us back. Amanda sat in the chair and they rubbed that junk on her belly and pow, our baby was on the screen. Unlike last time, this really looked like a baby, perfect profile of the head and just perfect. Amanda and I were both hoping for a girl because she and I both had two nephews and we wanted a girl to add to the mix with Talon. As the technician was going around the screen I thought I saw that it was a boy, but Amanda didn't see it. The tech asked if we wanted to know what the baby was and she told us it was a boy. I was a little disappointed at first, but oh well. I was going to be a daddy and I was going to have a son! Walking out of the room, I thought everything was normal... Amanda didn't.

She had been through one of these scans before and felt like they were focusing too much on looking at the blood movement out of the heart. She began to worry and by the time we got called back into the office to meet with the doctor she was really really worrying. One of the nurses came in and asked Amanda her name again, which made Amanda worry even more.

The doctor came in and I asked him to give it straight to us, is there a problem? Without hesitation he responded, "The Heart".

Amanda broke down crying and I was in shock. He went on to explain that he was having trouble seeing the chambers of the heart and that would need to go to the sonogram specialist upstairs immediately. I tried to calm Amanda down and we were finally able to go upstairs to meet with the Specialist Dr. Thigpen. It's kind of funny because in a time of complete fear Amanda and I were still able to find a way to laugh. She thought the doctors name was Dr. PIGpen and proceeded to walk right past his door to find the right guy. We stood outside of the office laughing until we could both calm down enough to walk in, perhaps we were trying to find someway to fight the fear of what was happening.

We made our way into the specialists office to fill out load of paperwork. Amanda had to go do another urine sample and I made the biggest mistake of the day... I googled. Horror story after horror story of babies dying and all kinds of other things. I finally began to really feel the magnitude of the situation. Amanda cam back and I had to go the restroom myself so I went outside the office door to the bathroom in the hall and as I stood there alone for the first time without having to be strong for Amanda, I nearly broke. How could this be happening? I pulled it together and went back in to the office and Amanda had been called to the back. The person at the front walked me back there and I moved my chair as close to Amanda as I could. This was the biggest moment of our lives. We had to see what the specialist had to say about the Sonogram.

Dr. Pigpen was really nice. He went over the sonogram and said that there was a heart defect and that it seemed pretty major.

***I'm going to try to get through this with as much detail as I can, but it all happened in such a flash that some details will be missing I'm sure.***

It looked like the shape of the heart as whole was fine and the heart rate was at a perfect 140bpm, but the chambers hadn't separated on either side to create and atrium and a ventricle. But even then I'm not totally sure what is going on and we are still waiting to find out more information. If what the specialist saw was correct we are at the very least likely going to have to take our boy to the NICU @ Cook's Childrens immediately after being born and a heart surgery will be scheduled as late as possible to give him time to grow. The longer they can wait the better the chances of success are for.

We've now been referred to Lisa Roten a Pediatric Cardiologist at Cook's Childrens to have her take a look. We should know when our appointment is within the next week or so.

We also took the quad screening blood test to check for Chromosomal Abnormalities and should have results for that within 7-10 days.

BRIGHT SIDE: Everything else checked out great on our baby boy. Kidney size, limb length, growing normally. Everything else is fine except for the heart. Thank God for that.

As we left the doctor in shock we finally made it to the car and as soon as we sat down, I lost it. We cried and cried and sat there not knowing what to do. We had a gender reveal planned for that evening and we weren't sure what to do.

We called Jessica first (Amanda's sister in law who was watching Talon) because Talon was having issues going poop and Amanda told her what was going on and accidentally told her the sex! Haha so far we were sucking at the keep it a secret game!

Amanda then called her mom and told her and she said she felt a lot better now that she had talked to people. I then called my mom and made it about 1 sentence in before I couldn't speak through the tears and Amanda had to talk to her. My mom had worked at Cook's and was telling us the amazing things they can do now. After I was able to gather myself again I was able to talk with mom and she made me feel a lot better. I had her tell the rest of my family, but I called my dad after that and man... Thank God for parents.

We decided the best thing was to go on with the reveal. This wasn't a death sentence, we don't know what is going to happen, but being around family and letting them see us too seemed to be the most important thing right now. We went and had lunch and made it the whole way home and started to gain a little optimism after the 4 hour nut kick we had endured at the hospital.

We had to blow up balloons and fill them with paint to attach to a fence that we'd be rednecking up and shooting with a bb gun! Yee Yee!

The first one I filled up came off the bottle and splattered ALL over me. Amanda and I laughed hysterically. I looked at her and told her that I loved that somehow on this awful day I still had a great time with her. She's the best.

I popped one balloon while hammering the nails in and it exploded on me again, but the reveal went great. My favorite part was watching the great grandparents taking aim with the Red Ryder.

It was much needed fun with just our family after what felt like the longest day ever. Congrats to Daltry for hitting the blue balloon!

We're having a baby boy! and would you look at that beautiful momma...

#dadsimple

 

   
 

 

 

 

Frosted Willow

I was mowing the yard the other day and as I rounded the corner of my yard by the street, I turned back and looked towards my house and started thinking about how everything came together for my life to turn out the way it did with Amanda, Talon, and now another baby coming into this house. I started thinking about bringing the baby home and how exciting it will be!

I thought back to when my best friends Jay and Ashley brought their little girl Charlie home for the first time. I was on call to watch their house when Ashley went into labor and to take care of the dogs like I had done numerous times before so I was there when they came home.

I remember when they announced they were having a baby and while I was obviously extremely excited for them, I had another feeling, which I'm sure many can relate to, that my life was growing at a slower speed than my closest friends. We did everything together. We went out together, I could come over any time and just hang out. We even put up the Christmas tree together one year. I never felt like a third wheel, it was more like we were a tricycle. They were an extension of my own family and both of their families made me feel welcome anytime.

The day Charlie came home from the hospital I took their family picture in front of the house and I can remember leaving that day thinking about what the future would hold for me and how things would change with them starting their family now. Little did I know only a couple weeks later the story of my own family would be beginning.

Well, Jay and Ashley are in the process of selling their first home and I know they will always treasure that house for all of the awesome moments that happened in it. I realized that I had some big moments in my life that happened there as well and I'm going to be a little sad to see it go. It was their house I went to the night I kissed Amanda for the first time. It was their house that Amanda and I had our first "stay at home date" and it was their house where I first met Talon for the first time. Amanda was in the area and I was over at Jay and Ashley's, and she told me she had Talon with her. It was like the universe perfectly decided to put that situation I was so worried about (meeting Talon for the first time) in this perfect place with my two best friends there with me. It was perfect. He was just a wee lad at the time only two months older than Charlie. They were so inviting and accepting of Amanda and Talon and we all stood there in the kitchen and talked for awhile. It was one of those moments where it hits you that yea, I think this is gonna be alright.

Our friendship is as great as ever, but just a little bit different. Oh we still party plenty, it's just that most of the time it's at kids birthdays! It's been so fun raising kids at the same time!

I'm going to miss you house. You were a great home to my best friends and you were a great second home to me. Looking forward to making new memories!

#dadsimple

This was Jay's birthday present to Ashley. A custom drawing of their home. Check out https://www.facebook.com/cococustom on facebook.

Baby Love

"It's a love unlike any love you've ever felt before" is often one of those things people say when you have you first kid.

A lot of thoughts run through your head when you are going to be having a kid and I'm no different. Probably the scariest thought is whether or not my love for the new kid will be the same as my love for Talon. Someone told me that it'll be different when it's your own kid that you've created and I honestly don't know what it'll feel like. Do parents who adopt kids and aren't ever able have one of their own love that child less than parents who are able to? I just don't think "love amount" is something you can quantify.

Maybe it's a different kind of love to decide to marry someone with a baby, I don't know. I think it's so awesome all of the different ways you can make a family and if you look around and really think about it there are examples all around us. I decided to become a dad the first time I asked Amanda on a date. I knew long before that date that if I ever got the chance to take her out, it would end up being forever. It was really one of the easiest decisions I ever made. I knew I wanted to be with Amanda and I knew I'd eventually love Talon because I love her.

I wondered what that love would be like and 2 years later I can't imagine a life without him. It's like a piece of clay. An artist doesn't love clay, they love the molding that becomes a representation of their input and effort. Teaching Talon to walk and talk, that's where love came from. The 60th time you toss him a ball and he finally catches it and runs over and gives you a hug, that's where love comes from.

I think it's the same with any kind of love. The way you and your significant other do things that mold each other and your way of life to the point where you can't picture your life without them. That's where love comes from.

I think it's something that you build on and different kinds of love take different amounts of time. It's contagious and it evolves and it changes your heart forever.

I'm not sure what I'll feel for my new son or daughter, but I'm not really worried about it being a different kind of love. Every kind of love is different. Love of an idea, a wife, a husband, a child, a second child, a pet. They're all different, but they all have the same ingredients just like clay sculptures. Love is a mixture of effort, feelings, and that secret sauce that no one can really describe. The "you just know" ingredient.

I don't know if I'm out of the norm here, but Amanda asked me yesterday what my gut feeling was on the baby being a girl or a boy and I honestly don't know. I'm excited for either but I don't have a gut feeling either way and if I think I do it switches around from boy to girl to I don't know.

I'm obviously excited to be the father, but my favorite part right now is that Amanda is the mother. And for right now that's where the spark of love is at, but I'm excited to get our brand new piece of clay and see what we and the world around us create.

#dadsimple

Baby on the way!

Finally the news it out and I can talk about it! Amanda and I are so excited to be having a baby.

We started trying as soon as we were married and were really hoping we'd get to announce it at Christmas, because how fun would that be. Plus our baby kinda looked like the Grinch the first time we saw it.

It's okay... you can laugh.

We had taken a test a couple days before we found out and it was negative, but Amanda came home from work sick and just burnt out on energy so I made her take another one. She did her thing on the stick and I set it on the counter... it didn't take long at all before the line that hadn't shown up in any of the other tests starting turning blue. I said "Uh, you may wanna come over here for this" and she did and it turned dark dark blue. I think I let out a "Holy Shit" (forgive me Jesus) and we hugged, for awhile. She had trouble getting pregnant with Talon and he had to be robo-babied into her, but not those Spangler seeds (or half babies as I call them). I did a flex like The Rock.

I immediately thought that we needed to go tell my family, but Midlothian is a long ways away from Azle so we had to figure out a way to get to my family and her family in the same day, naturally I posed a nice little Chili's rendezvous the next day and it was on!

We coached Talon all night and all day to say "Mommy has a baby" as soon as he saw my mom, but we got to Chili's and he was of course overcome with Colton and Camden being there that he forgot. So I casually walked over and whispered into his ear that he was supposed to tell her something and he spilled the beans, excitement ensued and I was free to eat!

Then it was on to the other half's house, they were crazy sick but we forced our way over anyways. Amanda had her two pregnancy tests that she gave Talon in a bag to go give her mom. At first she didn't know what they were but quickly realized, tears fell, excitement ensued and we had to tell Cody and Jessica. For this, we chose Facetime but had to be sneaky, so Sandy called Cody and said she needed all of them on the screen...well.... Jessica was in the bathtub! But they all got on camera (covered) and Amanda lowered the test over the screen where they could see. Excitement ensued, I did my Rock flex in the background. We facetimed the rest of her family and my Dad, Renee, and Savannah and the news was out, to our families anyways because we were only 4 weeks pregnant.

It was pretty exciting to be able to tell someone! 24 hours and it killed me inside!

We are so excited and all of the Facebook likes, All 341 of them and all of the comments were so awesome.I would say "we read all of them" like it was such a gift to you all that we took the time to read them, but OF COURSE WE READ THEM ALL! And of course we were telling each other every time we hit a "likes" milestone. Facebook likes is the obvious judge of how awesome of a person you are, like... duh

It's funny how much you notice all of the baby stuff at the stores now. I mean come on look how cute these are. Are you kidding me with this stuff....

<----------------------> 

Now we wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl and the waiting is killing me inside.

Excitement ensues...

#dadsimple

Cake Bakin' and Mess Makin'

One of Talon's favorite things is helping Amanda and me in the kitchen, especially when we are baking cookies or something. This probably happens on more occasions than it should, but hey...cookies are awesome.

He says and does some of the craziest things when he's helping us!

This is a story about baking a cake. In order, as it happens. Talon is helping.

Talon first added the eggs to the mix.

Talon likes to stand in the chair to help and if you don't move the chair over to the counter he'll gladly move it for you.

"It's going fast!"

He still thinks we're making cookies.... 

And he already asked for the green pancakes we made during icepocalypse!

It looks even more gross in person, I promise. 

#fatkidstatus

We're making Funfetti cake, which is unquestionably the best kind of cake there is! 

The cake is in the oven and its time to make some homemade icing! 

Time to cream some butter with cocoa!

Talon got chocolate on his hands and said "that's poop"

Time to add the powdered sugar and milk!

Just a public service announcement, putting the mixer on high will result in powdered sugar cloud.

Sometimes I think he makes a mess on purpose because he gets to eat it. 

I think he likes it so far!

Oh yea, ready for some icing!

"You makin' circles?"

All done!

The icing turned out to not be very thick. 

Meanwhile, Talon is tracing his hand...

This is one way to get the extra icing off... I think something may have gone wrong. 

And now we eat!

Sorta...

#dadsimple

Sleep

Probably the biggest change of all with living with a kid is sleep.

For most of my adult life I could sleep as I pleased, especially before having a wife too! I've always been kind of a night owl, but one thing Amanda and I try to do is go to bed at the same time, even if I'm just going to stay up and watch tv or something.

Then, there's the kid sleeping. First off, I don't understand how when kids get tired they resist sleep with every ounce of energy they have left. Talon will have full on convulsions just to keep from having to sit with Amanda on the chair and go to sleep!

For those that don't know, Talon is kid of a giant so we moved him pretty quickly from his crib to a "big boy bed" simply because his legs took up so much of the crib. He really likes his room but he will fight sleep so much sometimes and then as Amanda and I are trying to get our showers done here he comes with blankets 1 and 2 and he's FULLY awake. So by the time we get him to bed, sometimes taking 3 or more times of tucking him in his room Amanda and I can finally lay down. Then we expect the worst every time we hear a sound on the baby monitor.

The other day, we heard a thump and looked and Talon was gone from his bed. Well, he fell off. After we found out he was okay, I couldn't help but laugh thinking about that thud we heard!

The cliche things people talk about with kids is sometimes so true.

But then there are those perfect nights where he goes to sleep the first time and stays in his room all night long. Those are the best nights.

People without children...do not take sleep for granted.

#dadsimple

Dad Simple.

My name is Jordan Spangler, and I'm a dad.

I haven't fathered my own child yet, but I am the proud dad of my two year old step-son Talon. His beauty of a mom you see here in the picture is my wife Amanda. We married on October 11th, 2014 and this is where I'm going to talk about the crazy shenanigans that come along with being a husband and a dad.

This will probably go into your normal loop of blogs that you read on the daily, but please don't mistake this for a blog that's going to tell you all of the perfect things you can do to make sure your little monsters are the smartest little perfect angel.

This is how to dad simple.

Love your wife, love your kids, encourage imagination, inspire aspiration, and for God's sake... keep it simple.

More to come later, but I wanted to get this thing started today.

#dadsimple