Calvin at 16 months

Calvin's baby book only has lists of accomplishments up to about 1 year of age. So for the last few months, I haven't been able to describe what milestones he has reached and what fun new things he has done. So I'm going to use my blog to do it.
I think that Cal is the smartest little boy in the whole world, in my unbiased opinion. He had mastered his box of shapes by the time he was a year old (triangle, circle, square, x, and star). He figured out how to put his puzzle pieces in the right spot in two days. He can now point at things and say their names (doggie, fish, cat, baba) and can point to pictures of animals in books.
His vocabulary is picking up very quickly, but he is still not much of a talker. He mostly likes to watch us work and play. He also likes to help load the dishwasher, even when it's clean. He knows if we try to skip a page in a book. He is learning how to float at the pool.
We got lucky that he never sucked his thumb or needed a pacifier. I am somewhat concerned that he does not seem to have a comfort item, like a blankie or stuffed animal. He always just seems to be happy with what is around him at the time.
He is learning to use a fork and spoon, but for the most part, he stabs at his food and then just eats with his hands. He has gone on a non-fruit hunger strike for the past few weeks, but we are just letting him try everything before giving up.

Here are some pics of my cute little guy:

Smilin-est baby in the world

I get a lot of comments on how Calvin is always smiling these huge, come-hug me smiles in all of my pics that I post. Such as:


Well, he's not always so photogenic; I just take a lot of pictures. He really does smile well for the camera, but every once in a while, he lays a total durp face on.

Granted, it was 95 degrees
Durp with his cousin
Covered in carrots
Not sure what he's thinking


Not yet figured out that cake is delicious

Comparisons

Darren asked me the other day, after seeing Toy Story 3, what it would feel like if Pixar ever made a bad movie. I replied, "the same feeling you had after seeing the new Star Wars movies."
Your childhood has been crapped on.

Philly Triathlon 2010

About a week after my son was born, I had the bright idea of signing up for an olympic distance triathlon. "It'll be great motivation to get back in shape!" was my thinking at the time. Knowing that we would be moving soon afterwards and that the Philly Tri (officially known as the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon) was a fairly prestigious race, I decided to go for it. I started hitting the gym back in December. I remember the first time I tried to do a pushup: I couldn't. I also couldn't run for more than about 2 minutes or push myself out of the water at the pool. I had to use the ladder (the horror!). Having a baby had completely zapped all of my strength and fitness, and left me with several pounds I didn't want (and still have).
As the months went by, I got a little better every week. Finishing residency with a little baby was hard enough, but I tried to get to the gym once or twice a week. The last two or three weeks were a lot better, since I now spend most of my days studying for boards. In the last six months, I ran a total of 125 miles, biked 225, and swam 35000 yards. A good triathlete would do that in about 2 weeks.
As I mentioned, the Philly Tri is a pretty well-known and prestigious race. There were no mountain bikes or people in cut-offs and t-shirts. I was surrounded by hardbodies in spandex with $5000 bikes. I ride a commuter road bike I bought at a used bike shop. I have a belly roll.
As I pulled up to the transition area to get marked, an announcement was made that the race this year would be converted to a duathlon. A what you say? A duathlon: run, bike, run. So, I'm not in shape to begin with, and now my best part gets knocked out. Cripes! (Sad story actually. One of the racers from Saturday's sprint race went missing in the river. The swim portion on Sunday was canceled so the search mission could continue. A 40 year-old man with a wife and two teenagers drowned and was recovered just past the transition area. Sad.)
So, with the race being converted to a 5K run/40K bike/10K run on a 95 degree day, I allowed myself to not try and win. I always try to win, no matter how unprepared I am. This time, I just told myself to finish.
I got through the first run in a pretty good time, tried not to keel over on the incredibly hilly bike portion, and walked/jogged the last 10K. I added at least 5 minutes on the second bike loop from fatigue and lack of mental toughness. Oh well. I looked great at the end carrying my cute little baby around. I know he's proud of me.

Bloggy-blog

Hello there, blogosphere! It's been a while, I know, but you know what I learned? Kids are time-consuming! Remember two years ago when I was obsessing with triathlon training? Well, guess what, I don't do that anymore! My time is now spent making gurgling noises and playing super-baby.
Not that it is time wasted. I love playing with Cal, but there is not a lot of alone time. Our average time-to-watch for Netflix: One month. Seriously, it takes a whole month to string together two hours of movie time. Granted, there's also Glee and Lost and Biggest Loser to waste our time; thank goodness summer is coming and nothing but reruns!
So what is going on in our world? Well, Darren is finishing his PhD dissertation and defends in June. This means a lot of long days in the lab, then long nights typing. I am finishing up residency, which means long days at work and plenty of studying for boards in July. My main exercise at this point is riding back and forth to work (2 miles each way, ooooh) or maybe an exercise DVD after Cal goes to bed. My fitness level is still really low (as shown in my disastrous 10 mile Broad street run this year, granted, it was 90 degrees that morning). Still 15 pounds of baby flub to go! I have been training for the Philadelphia Olympic triathlon taking place at the end of June. Will I smash the other competitors? Uh, no. But I'm pretty sure I'll finish. Here's hoping June sees some more time to work out.
Cal keeps growing bigger, 19lb 10oz on friday. He had to go in for his pinkeye so we got to check his weight. As for baby pinkeye, have you ever tried getting eye drops in a near 7-month old? Fun! He finally started sleeping 10 hours at night, which is great for us. He can also sit up by himself, and will eat anything put in front of him.
Here are some recent pics of him laughing his awesome belly laugh:

Baby updates!

Calvin is now 3 1/2 months old, and still growing like a weed. He was 13lb 4oz at last checkup in early January, and is easily above 15 now. Sleeping through the night was going well, but the past few days he's been waking up at 3, wanting to play. He holds his head up well, but hasn't shown any interest in rolling over.
He loves the blanket his grandma made, loves looking in mirrors, and loves to laugh. He is reaching Gerber baby adorableness at an astounding rate. He's still a handful at times (evenings are still fussy time), but he is as pleasant as can be most of the time.
Here are some recent pics:





On a side note, we are fully vaccinating our child on the recommended schedule. The fact that the MMR/autism link study has been fully discredited will do nothing to stop the hyper-anti-vaccine crowd from blaming the downfall of society on one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever. The author of said paper was found to have taken a huge sum of money from a personal injury lawyer while collecting his data. The lawyer then used the same study as the evidence for his case against the manufacturers. Just plain slimy.

Snowmaggedon

I know that I've been harping on this snow thing for the last few entries, but this is my record of what's going on, and quite frankly, it's what's going on.
To summarize: last Saturday, February 6th, Philly got 28.5 inches of snow. On Wednesday, February 10th, we got another 15.8. We are not expected to have temps much above freezing for the foreseeable future, and another 2-4 inches is predicted for tomorrow. I love snow, but I would like it to go away once it reaches brown icky stage. The parking situation in South Philly is getting even worse with every few spots being a giant pile of snow.
Getting to work this week was kind of an adventure. Ford Focuses (Foci?) are not known for their all-terrain agility, so I walked in to work twice this week and took the subway halfway home both times. Why not take the subway in as well? Simple, it doesn't run that early. It was amazing to me that the sidewalk in posh Rittenhouse square was more clear than our street (and still is).

I'd post pictures, but really, it's just more of the same white stuff.

Deja vu all over again

When did we move to Buffalo?
Exactly 6 weeks ago, Philadelphia got walloped with 23.2" of snow. It was the second largest snowfall ever and the largest in December. Darren, Calvin, and I enjoyed that Saturday by taking lots of pictures, drinking hot chocolate, and playing in the snow.



Flash forward 6 weeks. As of early this afternoon, we have 26.7" of snow, the second largest snowfall ever and the largest in February (January 1996 was the largest ever with 30"). We are again taking it easy, although I am on back up call. I am one of those people that counts as an emergency worker (yay?). If I have to go in, I will have to walk the two miles.
We'll take out Calvin in one of his adorable snow suits a little later.


Update: the total snowfall was 28.5". Ugh, now we have to dig the car out and get back to the real world.

Oh yeah...

I forgot to mention...



I love my little guy!!!!!

CMB part II - The long-delayed sequel!

Remember how about 3 weeks ago I finished my blog with "more story soon"? I had stupidly believed that infants sleep 16 hours a day like the books all say. The problem is my silly baby can't read yet (I'll fix that soon enough). He is a very good night sleeper, but during the day he just wants to be held while we are walking. Not a fan of tummy time, movie time, or mommy blogging time. I can occasionally get an hour-long nap out of him, during which time I wash bottles, do laundry, take a shower, and in general try to do all the things I thought I would have so much time for until I have to feed him again.
By the way, I now know why all the books and classes and everything are so encouraging to breast feeding: because otherwise all women would give up in about two days. I'll leave out the graphic details, but I will state that the only time I had to take narcotic medications, after a C-SECTION(!), was because I had back and chest wall spasms from the pain of nursing (I wussed out and took a total of four pills. I really wanted bragging rights). CMB also had a lot of trouble getting the hang of it at first. We got to make a fun four trips to the pediatrician his first two weeks because he was having so much trouble gaining his weight back. We eventually came up with a pretty good system of nursing, pumping, and some formula to fatten him up (gingerbread house not included). Well, it worked. Little buddy chubbed up like a tourist on an all-you-can eat cruise. In the span of about two days he went from looking a little Gollum-ish to being almost too big for his newborn clothes and diapers.
A few other goings-on:
Darren's birthday was last week, and the two of us polished off an entire 16" cookie cake in 4 days. Nice.

My mom stayed with us the first two weeks. We had a lot of fun taking walks with the baby and watching too much tv.

I had to take my annual in-training exam last week. It was really odd going back to work for a day in the middle of my leave, but it went well. I don't really care about the results since I have to take my residency boards (aka final exam) in July. I'll study like crazy for that one.

Mastitis sucks (see paragraph 2)

Time for pics!

The bouncer that doesn't put him to sleep!

My favorite pajamas

When he was still really really small.

CMB part I

After weeks of planning and preparation, our new baby took us completely by surprise. We had been told about 3 million times that first babies are usually late and the due date was more of a suggestion than anything. So, I had left a good chunk of cleaning and organizing of the nursery for another day. I figured with a due date of November 12th, I had plenty of time for those last minute details.
On Saturday the 24th (37 weeks, 2 days), I got an email from one of my fellow residents whose wife was due 11 days after me. She had gone into labor at 36 weeks and the baby was born without any problems. He sent me a message asking how I was doing, and my reply was "start the pitocin any time please". Ha ha, funny Jen.
As Darren and I were just lying down to go to bed that night, my water broke. Having not wet my pants in about 25 or so years, this came as a very odd experience. I think I told Darren in the least panicky voice I could that it was time to go have a baby. Another part of me is so accustomed to staying cool under pressure from years of trauma work that I calmly walked into HUP's ER with my soaking wet sweats on and told them I was in labor. By the way, no one mentioned that when your water breaks, it's not a one time deal. It's a little more every few minutes. Awkward.


We got to the L&D floor around midnight. I was 4cm dilated and everything was moving right along. Another bonus with having your water break on its own is that they give you a 24 hour window; no prolonged labor allowed. I was having contractions every 3 or 4 minutes with very little discomfort, and we got an epidural placed around 2am (wait, what's with the "we" voice here? I didn't see any catheters in Darren's back).

Darren and I played cards and watched movies and just waited for nature to run its course. And, we waited. And waited some more. Through the 15 hours between arriving and 3 pm, I was stuck at 5-6 cm dilated. More pitocin? didn't work. Tincture of time? No go. My favorite idea? Go down on the epidural to see if I needed to be in more pain for things to work. Stupid idea, and again, no progression. This kiddo was stuck. (you are allowed to not progress before 4 cm, but it's not a good idea between 5-7). Around 3pm, we decided that that it was too dangerous to allow things to not continue, and we elected to go ahead with c-section. Two quick reasons I was not totally happy with this: one, I wanted to go au naturale, and two, it was right in the middle of the Steelers-Vikings game.
I got wisked off to the OR, where I was given a bolus through the epidural for pain control. Having never had a single narcotic in my system and not having slept in 2 days, I was completely knocked out. I couldn't stay awake the majority of the time we were in the OR. I remember the baby being born and seeing him the first time, but I was so zonked I couldn't really enjoy it.

I remember crying when I first saw my perfect baby boy but it was a really muted experience. When the drapes were taken off in the OR, I was moved to the stretcher back to my room. I was so numb I couldn't move my right arm to hold the baby, so he just went along for the ride on top of me.


The rest of the night was spent trying to feed him and just get used to the idea that this was my son. My parents and mother in law took turns holding him and taking tons of pictures. I passed out for good around 11. More story to follow!

Calvin Michael
3:32pm October 25
7lb, 3oz

36 weeks

Ooh boy, here I was coasting along with the pregnancy, patting myself on the back for the awesome job I was doing, and then I hit 33 weeks. At 32 weeks, 6 days, I was hitting the gym, operating like a champ, and avoiding any semblance of whining. At 33 weeks, 0 days, my abdomen pushed its way up into my thorax and my little dream pregnancy became that third trimester nightmare of diminished lung capacity, fatigue, and inability to sleep more than 2 straight hours. Not every day is bad, but I definitely am no longer comfortable on a regular basis. I've also gotten a few of the "hey, are you having twins?" comments. Geez, I'm not that big yet.
While mommy may be cranky, baby is doing great. He's got his head down crushing my bladder and his little butt is nice and cozy with my rib cage. My weight gain is appropriate, blood pressure in the normal range, and his heartbeat is jumping along at about 120.
We've got some stuff packed for the hospital, but I'm still stalling packing some things while I'm still using them. Our labor room bag includes such essentials as extra contacts, toothpaste, a deck of cards, and Finding Nemo (it's like watching an aquarium with witty dialogue). My project is coming along nicely, although a lot more work than I estimated.
Here's the only pic of Darren and I taken in the last 4 months. We just never seem to get our picture taken together.

How is this fair?

From a recent catalog in the mail:
Male version:

Female version:

You can't teach taste

Eagles eagles eagles eagles eagles eagles. Seriously, when you live in Philly, all talk is about the Eagles, 24-7, 365 days a year. I even went to the World Series parade last year, and people were pretending that it was the Eagles' Super Bowl Parade. The sports section today has a three (3) page article about Michael Vick's creditors today, with this interesting photo thrown in:

Really Michael Vick? You were one of the highest paid players in the NFL and lived in a 20,000 square foot mansion with an above ground pool? Really? And, is that a propane tank?
I have no problem with these things per se, but when you are trying to sell your mansion, these will not aid your re-sale value.

Who knew?

A few weeks ago, the hospital cafeteria rolled out their new menu. Most of it is standard cafeteria fare: salisbury steak, spaghetti and meatballs, etc, but they added some new veggies. The best tasting ones so far were the German potatoes. I devoured those things. I even remember telling Darren the potatoes were especially good that day. I just couldn't put my finger on what tasted so different. A few days ago, they served them again, and again, I dug right in. About halfway through, I realized what tasted so good: HAM! Holy crap, I've been a strict vegetarian for 13 years and the best tasting thing was ham? Dang, no more German potatoes for me.

Arts and Crafts

You'd think with as much going on as there is, I would be blogging more about my recent adventures. Sadly, no. While waiting for the new baby has been interesting, it would be really boring to be constantly writing, "well, I gained another 4 pounds this week, and I lost the ability to see the drawstrings on my pants!" My sister suggested that I blog about what we've been doing to get ready for baby, so I guess I'll do a little of that.
Darren and I have actually not purchased one single item for the kiddo. We were given the crib and changing table by a friend, and most of the rest of stuff came from family and friends at my baby shower a few weeks ago. Since we figure we'll be buying a ton later on, we decided that we would each first make something for the baby. Darren had actually planned a long time ago what he was going to do if we found out we were having a boy. He planned and plotted and finally went out and spent a decent amount on supplies. He spent several hours working on it at the dining room table. Trust me, the final result is awesome. Did I not mention what "it" is? Too bad, you'll have to wait.
As for me, I was going to fall back on my old stand-by of making a cross-stitch sampler. I made one for Laura's baby and I was just going to use the same pattern. Then my mom mentioned she was making one and I lost all momentum for that. I think I'm going to end up making a Christmas stocking, but I haven't ruled anything out. Any suggestions? Can I make anything neat out of unused orthopaedic implants?
The nurserice/officery seems to be coming along. We're planning on leaving the desk in the room (mostly because we have no where else to put it), but the bookshelf and cds have already been moved. My in-laws are coming in tomorrow to move the bed and file cabinets and start setting up the baby furniture. The room is already yellow, so we'll just leave that as-is.
Other than that, things are pretty much normal. Work is work, but not too stressful for me right now. My doctors appointments have gone on without any problems and the baby is healthy. I do hate the heat, though. I thought it was one of those wimpy mom-to-be things that they were always hot, but trust me, I am always hot. I also laugh at the wimpy mom exercises in my books. For example: sit in a chair and lift one leg up into the air and then lower it back down. Repeat 5 or 6 times. If you get tired, take a break in the middle (slightly exaggerated, but only slightly). Seriously? Is there a version where I can strap 60 pounds on my ankles to make it interesting?
Alright, enough rambling. I think I'm going to turn the air conditioner down a few more degrees and take a nap.

Life after cable

When Darren and I first got married, we didn't get cable for nearly two years. I was finishing med school, he was finishing his Master's, and we didn't have a ton of money (which hasn't changed). So instead of mind-numbing cable shows, we played cards, played all the Simpsons games on PS2 (Road Rage is fantastic, btw), and watched our favorite shows on DVD. Our parents also loved it because we would come visit whenever we wanted to watch a sporting event on ESPN.
With the coming of the new baby, we have once again decided to cut some costs and eliminate junk such as cable. With Comcast now getting close to $90 a month for basic service, we decided to get rid of it completely. We also switched to DSL to save a few bucks. We bought a TiVo and an HD antenna to continue to be able to record our favorite shows (Lost, 30 Rock, um, and well, Pushing Daisies got cancelled, um, maybe something good will start this fall). We're still working out the kinks with the antenna (we share two walls with neighbors), but I'm hoping we'll have all the broadcast channels soon. We're also getting NetFlix so we can rent the 10 movies I don't have on DVD.
I spent the weekend reading and playing Wii, and I started to remember the good old days before I wasted time with things like Jon and Kate plus 8. Darren is working on a project for the baby, and I'll start my own soon. Here's to well-spent free time!

Nesting

In an attempt to prepare the house for the arrival of el bebe, we have finally cleaned our basement. Max was a notoriously destructive doggy, and our basement paid the price. Most of the junk was just shredded cardboard, but there were also some broken fluorescent bulbs and eaten electronics. No problem.
The disturbing thing was that we found a dead bird. An actual, skeletonized, decayed bird, in the basement! Clearly, we need to clean more often (and seal any cracks).

Baby Boy!

Despite every gut feeling I had and everyone's guess, we are having a boy. Darren claims to be genetically YY, so this was an eventuality anyway. We are registering for baby stuff later today, and I have no idea what kind of stuff a baby needs. Darren spent an obscene amount of time researching strollers, finding this perfect model that weighs 17 pounds and folds down to the size of a ham sandwich. I started re-reading Harry Potter (and if you've ever accidentally picked one up, you always end up reading the whole tome).
My last OB visit went well; I managed to only gain 3 pounds this time for a total of 15 (actually closer to 18). I've had to quit riding my bike because 1) bending over for that long results in fists of fury from below and 2) my hands go completely numb from carpal and cubital tunnel compression. Swimming is still fine, but I feel like a breaching whale doing backstroke or trying a flipturn (still faster than douchebag frat boy next to me).
Here's some pics!

legs

arm

As of today, 22 weeks, 2 days

Philly Hexathlon 2009

I wanted to try and do one triathlon while pregnant, and so I did. While I wasn't going for time or speed, I did want to at least go out and do a pretty good job. I think I saw one or two other women who appeared to be in about the same state as I was. Darren even made me an iron-on shirt that had my theme of Hexathlon (triathlon for two) on it. Because of the extra weight gain, I bumped myself into the Athena class (that's 150lbs plus, no age groups) to try and make myself slow down (I hate losing to people in my own class). It was a gorgeous day, clear with a water temp of 74 and air temp just under 80. Darren and T came to watch, along with Anne Marie's dad. By the way, her dad said he would make fun of her if she lost to a pregnant chick. Commence with the taunting (I beat her by about a minute)!

Swim: 0.9K, 16:06
Two seconds faster than this race last year! Started out pretty well, swallowed a half-gallon of Schuylkill about 200 yards in and had to stop for a few seconds. I recovered fine and finished the swim in a respectful time. You will not see pics of this because I am too chubby.

T1: 3:18
Took my sweet time, got some water, threw on a shirt, and started the bike.

Bike: 57:41, 15.5 mph
Again, although it hurts my ever-competitive soul, I took my time and tried to just keep a nice effort up. I skipped wearing my bike gloves in order to save time, and instead my carpal tunnel got so compressed in my left hand that I couldn't shift about 15 miles in. My thumb and index finger were completely numb.

T2: 2:25
More water, more gatorade, slipped the running shoes on.

Run: 32:40, 10:30 min/mile
Because of the lecture I got at my 16 week OB appointment, I was wearing my heart rate monitor for the run and bike. During the bike, I kept my heart rate around 170 and tried really hard to keep it under that. However, during the run, I went off the charts. I kept having to stop and walk because I was getting up in the upper 180's, even though I didn't feel all that tired. Ugh. But I know I have better things to worry about.

Total: 1:52:12, six minutes faster than last year (with a broken leg)! I came in 5th in the Athena division, which is fine with me.


Although I didn't break any PRs or win my division, I'm completely happy that I was able to finish in a respectable time (and 20 weeks pregnant). I'm hoping to sign up for the Olympic distance next year, but we'll see what happens after the baby is born. No more tri's this year!