(New Pictures of Ian - click the link to the right) -->
Christmas
I never thought I would really like Christmas. If you know me well, you know it's not necessarily my favorite holiday. But all of that changed this year. Now, thanks to all of you Christmas celebrating types, I get to stay home from work and hang out with Ian and Betsy. What a great four days. To help get into the spirit, I even offered to make dinner on Christmas Eve for our family members who had nothing else to do. We did without the traditional Chinese food dinner and I cooked up a storm all day. We even pulled out our wedding China -- and I thought we would never use it.
We had a great Christmas, I really enjoyed spending four straight days at home with Ian and Betsy, and I didn't even work that much! Ian is a ton of fun these days. He is smiling a laughing a lot. He is interacting with people. He is holding things, kicking at things, and even standing up (with our help, of course). If you haven't seen Ian in a while (or ever), you should really try to come visit, because he is super-cool and your trip will be worth it.
New Year's Eve
Right now I am sitting in a hotel room in Marco Island, Florida. Actually, I am in my parents' room which is connected to my room. Betsy and Ian are sleeping in our room, so I decided to take a few minutes to get online and do some work. Blogging is more interesting than work, so right now, it's winning. I should have a little more time for this now, so hopefully the updates will come more frequently. The extra is mostly because fantasy football season is over. Usually on Sunday morning I would need to be checking websites and watching pregame trying to figure out who to start. There would be 2 or 3 calls to important fantasy football type people. Now, it's over and I can just relax and enjoy my Sunday football. By the way, not that you care, Travis and I got second in our league, which was a pretty serious feat considering we came back from the bottom half of the pack at mid-season. Go us!
Ok, back to Ian. Ian is doing great. He traveled like a champ on the plane. He slept the whole way and ate on the way down with only one little cry the entire time. We drove an hour plus from the airport to the hotel without a complaint. And, he is sleeping nicely in the crib that the hotel provided. Their crib is pretty nice. It is this very cool stainless steel thing that looks more like a prison than a crib. And it is smaller than a regular crib, so it fits really nicely in the room. Had this been an option for his nursery, it might have beaten out our current crib. I wonder where they get these things? Medical supply companies? Do the hotel chains have them made specifically for their hotels? Who knows.
Oh, I almost forgot, Ian went to the ocean for the first time yesterday. He stood (parent assisted, of course) with his feet at the edge of the water just watching the waves come in and out. His feet slowly sank into the wet sand. We are all very familiar with that feeling, but it must have been very strange for him. He didn't complain, but he also didn't really smile or get excited. He just sort of hung out and watched. I am going to assume he liked it. Today we are going to take him into the pool for the first time. There are two pools here and the one we were at yesterday was too cold, but we figured out the other one is to be heated. Ian has these absurd swim diapers that are WAY too big for him, but they are required for the pool. Little does the hotel know that his regular diapers would be more protective.
If I don't get back to the blog before then, have a happy new year! Betsy, Ian, and I will be long-asleep before midnight (I couldn't even wait up to see the end of the Pats Giants game last night . . . I am old), so celebrate for us!
Oh, I almost forgot, new Ian pictures in the three month link to the right.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Long Time
It's been a very long time. Sorry about that. I hope I didn't let down all of my faithful readers -- I think that includes Betsy and . . . well, Betsy.
The reason I haven't written is really that I just haven't had a lot of time. We got back from Thanksgiving in Cleveland and we had a rough few days with Ian. He had a tough time getting back to his regular sleeping patterns. Sleep and 3 month olds is a real mystery to us. Betsy has read about 12 baby sleep books. One book says put the baby in the crib when he is awake. Another book says put him in the crib only when he is asleep. One book says let the baby cry it out. The next book says never let the baby cry. The next book says let the baby cry but only for 5 minutes. What the hell? Who writes these things? Can I write a book about how to get babies to sleep? I wonder what the advance is on a self-help baby book.
Ian is sleeping much better now, thanks for asking. We seem to have a pattern down. Except for last night. Last night Ian's grandparents babysat for the first time. Betsy and I went to watch the Texans beat the crap out of the Denver Broncos (I love when the Broncos lose almost as much as I love when the Texans win). Ian decided it was much too fun playing with his grandmother and grandfather and he didn't need to sleep. That was great until about 11:00 when he was ridiculously overtired. Once he did fall asleep he did pretty well though.
Last weekend Ian took his first roadtrip. Austin! We all had a blast. Ian got to meet his new buddy Ari and he met a lot of our good friends in Austin. Ian did great the whole time we were there. We had some pretty funny moments though including breast feeding and diaper changes in a parked car on a random side street. Those are stories for another day though.
Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Hanukkah everybody. Ian had a great first Hanukkah. Of course, he has no idea that he is getting gifts and he doesn't exactly play with a dradel, but Ian's favorite things in life are lights and fans, so you can imagine he was a huge fan of candles. He was absolutely mesmerized.
Ok, three month pictures are coming soon. I will try to write more frequently. I won't promise, but I will try.
The reason I haven't written is really that I just haven't had a lot of time. We got back from Thanksgiving in Cleveland and we had a rough few days with Ian. He had a tough time getting back to his regular sleeping patterns. Sleep and 3 month olds is a real mystery to us. Betsy has read about 12 baby sleep books. One book says put the baby in the crib when he is awake. Another book says put him in the crib only when he is asleep. One book says let the baby cry it out. The next book says never let the baby cry. The next book says let the baby cry but only for 5 minutes. What the hell? Who writes these things? Can I write a book about how to get babies to sleep? I wonder what the advance is on a self-help baby book.
Ian is sleeping much better now, thanks for asking. We seem to have a pattern down. Except for last night. Last night Ian's grandparents babysat for the first time. Betsy and I went to watch the Texans beat the crap out of the Denver Broncos (I love when the Broncos lose almost as much as I love when the Texans win). Ian decided it was much too fun playing with his grandmother and grandfather and he didn't need to sleep. That was great until about 11:00 when he was ridiculously overtired. Once he did fall asleep he did pretty well though.
Last weekend Ian took his first roadtrip. Austin! We all had a blast. Ian got to meet his new buddy Ari and he met a lot of our good friends in Austin. Ian did great the whole time we were there. We had some pretty funny moments though including breast feeding and diaper changes in a parked car on a random side street. Those are stories for another day though.
Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Hanukkah everybody. Ian had a great first Hanukkah. Of course, he has no idea that he is getting gifts and he doesn't exactly play with a dradel, but Ian's favorite things in life are lights and fans, so you can imagine he was a huge fan of candles. He was absolutely mesmerized.
Ok, three month pictures are coming soon. I will try to write more frequently. I won't promise, but I will try.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
We're Home
Ian made it. Five days in Cleveland, but Ian made it. And we made it.
We had an exciting trip. He was perfect on the flight up.
Unfortunately, Betsy and I are still learning about Ian and don't always get everything right. Our flight home was at about 6:00 PM. Ian does much better in the morning. We know that, but didn't think about it when we planned the flight. He cried the whole way home. He was really tired and just couldn't fall asleep.
When we got home as Betsy walked through the door with Ian, he broke into laughter. I don't know if he recognized our house or could smell that he was home, but he was VERY excited.
We had a good trip, but we are all glad to be home.
Here's a picture of Ian at the Texans - Browns game. His eyes are closed because he can't bear to watch the Texans lose.
We had an exciting trip. He was perfect on the flight up.
- Ian saw his first snow,
- had his first Thanksgiving,
- he went to his first football game (too bad the Texans lost, despite his Texans' onesey jersey),
- he met a ton of cousins and aunts and uncles,
- he had his first professional photo shoot,
- he met a miniature donkey (don't ask),
- and, of course, he took his first plane flight.
Unfortunately, Betsy and I are still learning about Ian and don't always get everything right. Our flight home was at about 6:00 PM. Ian does much better in the morning. We know that, but didn't think about it when we planned the flight. He cried the whole way home. He was really tired and just couldn't fall asleep.
When we got home as Betsy walked through the door with Ian, he broke into laughter. I don't know if he recognized our house or could smell that he was home, but he was VERY excited.
We had a good trip, but we are all glad to be home.
Here's a picture of Ian at the Texans - Browns game. His eyes are closed because he can't bear to watch the Texans lose.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Happy Almost-Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is the busiest travel day of the year -- the day before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow Ian takes his first trip on an airplane. Oh crap. What were we thinking? This was not good planning at all. The trip to the airport will be the farthest that Ian has gone from the house, so a trip to Cleveland, Ohio is going to be a pretty serious adventure.
I have no idea how this is going to go. I do know that carry on luggage is a thing of the past. No longer do I have to check bags only because I am bringing golf clubs on vacation with me. Nope, now we have to check bags because there is so much junk that Ian needs. You would think a 9 week old baby that only eats breast milk wouldn't really need much in the way of supplies. That's just not the case.
Wish us luck. We are going to need it.
I have no idea how this is going to go. I do know that carry on luggage is a thing of the past. No longer do I have to check bags only because I am bringing golf clubs on vacation with me. Nope, now we have to check bags because there is so much junk that Ian needs. You would think a 9 week old baby that only eats breast milk wouldn't really need much in the way of supplies. That's just not the case.
Wish us luck. We are going to need it.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Happy Birthday
Ian is two. Well, two months anyway. When a baby is two months, that means it's time for his shots. This is all probably more traumatic for the parents than the kids. It took more time for me to sign the papers than it took for Ian to get fully inoculated. I am not even sure exactly what the four shots were, it all happened so fast. He cried, but just for about 30 seconds.
Betsy and I discussed all of the pros and cons of giving him his shots. For those of you who don't have kids or whose kids are older, you might not realize there is a lot of controversy out there now about whether or not to give kids shots. Some of this surely stems from the fact that most people don't know what rubella is. I didn't, until I looked it up. We don't hear of that many people getting these diseases these days in the US. Of course, one could argue that's because kids get their shots.
I have some friends whose kids aren't getting their shots, or at least not all of them on the conventional schedule. I am proud of them for researching this and making their own decision and sticking with it despite pressure to do otherwise.
Some state require shots for kids to be in school. Some states don't. Some state have exceptions for religion. Some states have exceptions for any parent who is morally opposed. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Surprise, Texas is one of those states that doesn't make sense. Texas requires shots, but not if the parents are morally opposed to them for any reason. So can Texas really say it requires shots? This reminds me of going through security at the airport. Often the security people say they "recommend" that we take our shoes off. Ok, fine, recommend away. Only, every time they recommend and I decide I don't want to take them off because they don't have metal in them and won't make the machine go off, they stop and make me take my shoes off. If they told me it was required to take my shoes off, I wouldn't care. If they said, you have to take your shoes off, great. But, often they don't. They recommend it and when I choose to keep them on, then they require I take them off. Make up your minds people. The same holds true for Texas schools. You can't "require" shots if anyone can decide they don't want to give them to their kids. Let's be honest here and call it a "recommendation". Let's leave requirements to the shoe police at the airport.
Oh right, back to Ian. The one nice thing about giving a baby his shots is he gets really sleepy. Maybe they don't all get sleepy, but Ian did. Plus, it was this funny clearly drug-induced sleep and when he came out of it once in a while, all he wanted to do was snuggle. I highly recommend enjoying the day or two after the shots. It is a nice relaxing mellow break from the rest of parenthood, which started right back up about 36 hours later.
There are new pictures linked in the left column and the first two sets of pictures have been renamed. We are going to try to do monthly pictures, so they will now be named with months.
Here's a teaser pic for you. Enjoy!
Betsy and I discussed all of the pros and cons of giving him his shots. For those of you who don't have kids or whose kids are older, you might not realize there is a lot of controversy out there now about whether or not to give kids shots. Some of this surely stems from the fact that most people don't know what rubella is. I didn't, until I looked it up. We don't hear of that many people getting these diseases these days in the US. Of course, one could argue that's because kids get their shots.
I have some friends whose kids aren't getting their shots, or at least not all of them on the conventional schedule. I am proud of them for researching this and making their own decision and sticking with it despite pressure to do otherwise.
Some state require shots for kids to be in school. Some states don't. Some state have exceptions for religion. Some states have exceptions for any parent who is morally opposed. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Surprise, Texas is one of those states that doesn't make sense. Texas requires shots, but not if the parents are morally opposed to them for any reason. So can Texas really say it requires shots? This reminds me of going through security at the airport. Often the security people say they "recommend" that we take our shoes off. Ok, fine, recommend away. Only, every time they recommend and I decide I don't want to take them off because they don't have metal in them and won't make the machine go off, they stop and make me take my shoes off. If they told me it was required to take my shoes off, I wouldn't care. If they said, you have to take your shoes off, great. But, often they don't. They recommend it and when I choose to keep them on, then they require I take them off. Make up your minds people. The same holds true for Texas schools. You can't "require" shots if anyone can decide they don't want to give them to their kids. Let's be honest here and call it a "recommendation". Let's leave requirements to the shoe police at the airport.
Oh right, back to Ian. The one nice thing about giving a baby his shots is he gets really sleepy. Maybe they don't all get sleepy, but Ian did. Plus, it was this funny clearly drug-induced sleep and when he came out of it once in a while, all he wanted to do was snuggle. I highly recommend enjoying the day or two after the shots. It is a nice relaxing mellow break from the rest of parenthood, which started right back up about 36 hours later.
There are new pictures linked in the left column and the first two sets of pictures have been renamed. We are going to try to do monthly pictures, so they will now be named with months.
Here's a teaser pic for you. Enjoy!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Happy Halloween
I seem to be about a week late with all of my posts. A Halloween post on November 8? Sure, why not.I guess having a kid means finding new ways to celebrate old holidays. Anyone out there who happens to be reading this who went to the University of Colorado knows all about what a crazy holiday Halloween was in Boulder. My understanding is they completely stopped the Halloween stuff that used to shut down the entire city and turn all of Pearl Street Mall into one giant costumed mosh pit. That's too bad, we looked forward to Halloween as soon as school started.
Halloween seems to have changed since then anyway. As a young adult -- and possibly for college kids now too -- it seems to be all about girls wearing as little clothing as possible and guys, well, guys don't really care what they are wearing as long as the girls are wearing as little clothing as possible.
Now we are past the young adult years and into the kid years. When did that happen? Oh right, 7 weeks ago. The kid years means no more Halloween parties that involve drinking and outrageous outfits. Now it's about kids' outfits and trick or treating. Obviously Ian is too young to trick or treat. He may be able to gnaw on some candy with those gums of his, but I don't think it's advised. He did get to dress up though. Betsy's play group got together and all of the kids dressed up. I missed the whole thing, but my impression is the mothers had more fun than the kids. Anyway, enjoy the pictures of Ian. For all of you who may be confused, no, he's not a frog or a dragon or an alligator or a lizard. He is a turtle. And in the picture below, he is with Sasha, who I can only guess is Tina Turner in her better years. First girlfriend?
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Smile?
There are some things that are just meant for moms. Before Ian was born, Betsy used to sit up, gab my hand, and put it on her stomach.
"Did you feel that?"
"No! For the hundredth time."
Ian kicked and hit and hiccuped and kicked some more. Every time Betsy wanted me to feel it. That was nice of her, but it just didn't work. It probably didn't help that she would sit up, grab my hand, and yank it toward her bulging stomach when she felt him move. Every time she moved, Ian stopped moving. For some reason, Betsy couldn't break this pattern and I continued not feeling Ian move.
The same is happening now, but this time it's with Ian smiling. Supposedly Ian smiles a lot in the morning. Unfortunately, it's always after I have left for work and suspiciously he doesn't feel like smiling on the weekends. If he does decide to smile when I am around it is always right when I have given up and turned away for a second.
I would say that maybe Betsy is making up this whole smile thing. But, she has now produced proof.
Now I know it's true.
Eventually, even I felt the kicking. It was hard to miss, especially when a knee was sticking out in a funny direction. I will eventually see the smile too.
I wonder what will be next? Will he sit up? Crawl? Walk? Talk? And hide it all from me? Is he purposefully torturing me? Doesn't he realize I want to see those smiles too?
I guess I will have to wait for him to start talking before I ask him these questions, that is, I will have to wait until he starts talking around me.
Oh, yesterday was Halloween. More about that later.
"Did you feel that?"
"No! For the hundredth time."
Ian kicked and hit and hiccuped and kicked some more. Every time Betsy wanted me to feel it. That was nice of her, but it just didn't work. It probably didn't help that she would sit up, grab my hand, and yank it toward her bulging stomach when she felt him move. Every time she moved, Ian stopped moving. For some reason, Betsy couldn't break this pattern and I continued not feeling Ian move.
The same is happening now, but this time it's with Ian smiling. Supposedly Ian smiles a lot in the morning. Unfortunately, it's always after I have left for work and suspiciously he doesn't feel like smiling on the weekends. If he does decide to smile when I am around it is always right when I have given up and turned away for a second.
I would say that maybe Betsy is making up this whole smile thing. But, she has now produced proof.
Now I know it's true.
Eventually, even I felt the kicking. It was hard to miss, especially when a knee was sticking out in a funny direction. I will eventually see the smile too.
I wonder what will be next? Will he sit up? Crawl? Walk? Talk? And hide it all from me? Is he purposefully torturing me? Doesn't he realize I want to see those smiles too?
I guess I will have to wait for him to start talking before I ask him these questions, that is, I will have to wait until he starts talking around me.
Oh, yesterday was Halloween. More about that later.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
10 Pounds
Ian is growing. He is almost ten pounds. Or he is ten pounds if you don't mind counting clothes and diapers.
There is an interesting store here in Houston called A Woman's Work (I might be a little off on that name). It specializes in breast feeding products, but also has just about anything else a parent might need for a newborn. They are very serious about their breast feeding at this place. So serious, in fact, that they have a newborn scale that is free to the public. I guess you are probably supposed to be a customer to use it, but I don't think it is a requirement. At first it seemed odd to me that they have a scale. Why not just go to your doctor if you want to know how much your kid weighs? Then Betsy explained the true reason for the scale.
When a woman is concerned that she is not producing enough milk, she can weigh her baby before and after feeding. Then she will know exactly how much the baby is eating. Now, this raises a question that I think is obvious, is she going to feed at the store? I guess because it is a breast feeding focused store, this wouldn't be a problem. Still, who wants to sit in a store and breast feed? I understand doing it if you are out and your child needs to eat. No problem. But at this store, apparently, parents affirmatively go there to breast feed. Interesting.
There is another issue with this process. There seems to be a basic misunderstanding here between liquid and dry ounces. A liquid ounce is typically what is used when you measure milk or formula or whatever you are using. A dry ounce is obviously what is measured when you weigh your baby. The two are not directly correlated at all. In fact, to get from one to the other, you would need to know the density of the liquid and do some pretty complicated calculations that left my brain the minute I got through my physics class in high school. So these people's calculations do not tell them how many ounces of milk their child is getting in a feeding.
Another issue this brings up is why do we measure baby's weight in pounds and ounces? Why not just say the baby weighs 9.5 pounds instead of 9 pounds 8 ounces. You will never find a normal scale that shows weight this way, so why is this special measurement saved only for babies?
Anyway, that was a very long way of saying that Betsy took Ian to the store yesterday to see how much he weighs (not to see if she is producing enough milk) and he weighs almost 10 pounds now!
There is an interesting store here in Houston called A Woman's Work (I might be a little off on that name). It specializes in breast feeding products, but also has just about anything else a parent might need for a newborn. They are very serious about their breast feeding at this place. So serious, in fact, that they have a newborn scale that is free to the public. I guess you are probably supposed to be a customer to use it, but I don't think it is a requirement. At first it seemed odd to me that they have a scale. Why not just go to your doctor if you want to know how much your kid weighs? Then Betsy explained the true reason for the scale.
When a woman is concerned that she is not producing enough milk, she can weigh her baby before and after feeding. Then she will know exactly how much the baby is eating. Now, this raises a question that I think is obvious, is she going to feed at the store? I guess because it is a breast feeding focused store, this wouldn't be a problem. Still, who wants to sit in a store and breast feed? I understand doing it if you are out and your child needs to eat. No problem. But at this store, apparently, parents affirmatively go there to breast feed. Interesting.
There is another issue with this process. There seems to be a basic misunderstanding here between liquid and dry ounces. A liquid ounce is typically what is used when you measure milk or formula or whatever you are using. A dry ounce is obviously what is measured when you weigh your baby. The two are not directly correlated at all. In fact, to get from one to the other, you would need to know the density of the liquid and do some pretty complicated calculations that left my brain the minute I got through my physics class in high school. So these people's calculations do not tell them how many ounces of milk their child is getting in a feeding.
Another issue this brings up is why do we measure baby's weight in pounds and ounces? Why not just say the baby weighs 9.5 pounds instead of 9 pounds 8 ounces. You will never find a normal scale that shows weight this way, so why is this special measurement saved only for babies?
Anyway, that was a very long way of saying that Betsy took Ian to the store yesterday to see how much he weighs (not to see if she is producing enough milk) and he weighs almost 10 pounds now!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Picture Time
After painstakingly copying completely nonsensical URLs, I was able to get a link to Betsy's Kodak albums. Thanks for making this unnecessarily difficult, Kodak. I don't know if the links are static. I have a feeling they aren't and I will have to update this post once in a while. We will see.
The links will be permanently in the right column, but they are also below. Enjoy!
First set of pictures
Second set of pictures
The links will be permanently in the right column, but they are also below. Enjoy!
First set of pictures
Second set of pictures
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Wow
Wow, we had a serious couple of days. When we first got home from the hospital, we had no idea what we were doing. We were up all night and all day. Unfortunately, Ian had his nights and days a little confused. We didn't take advantage of the daytime sleeping because everything was so new. I went back to work after that first week, which wasn't really a week since Ian did not come home until Friday evening. It was more like a weekend.
We had a nanny come for two weeks to help out at night. Things went smoothly, we got a reasonable amount of sleep, and we learned a lot about how to take care of Ian.
Now that we are completely on our own, we really had to figure things out. It's not the new, wow we have a baby anymore. Now it's, ok, we have a baby ... how exactly are we going to survive. For me, it means trying to come home from work a little earlier and sleeping a lot less. For Betsy it means constant work. We got Ian in a pretty good eating and sleeping rhythm -- at least we thought we did.
On Saturday, Ian decided he was done sleeping. He didn't sleep more than about 30 minutes at a time starting Saturday night and lasting until Monday. Wow. Keeping a baby entertained for that many hours straight is a lot of work. Amazing. I was a zombie Monday at work and I wasn't even the one who stayed up all night with him on Sunday.
He seems to have figured out how to sleep again. Phew. Let's hope he stays on top of this sleep thing because other than Sunday, he has been the best kid ever!
We had a nanny come for two weeks to help out at night. Things went smoothly, we got a reasonable amount of sleep, and we learned a lot about how to take care of Ian.
Now that we are completely on our own, we really had to figure things out. It's not the new, wow we have a baby anymore. Now it's, ok, we have a baby ... how exactly are we going to survive. For me, it means trying to come home from work a little earlier and sleeping a lot less. For Betsy it means constant work. We got Ian in a pretty good eating and sleeping rhythm -- at least we thought we did.
On Saturday, Ian decided he was done sleeping. He didn't sleep more than about 30 minutes at a time starting Saturday night and lasting until Monday. Wow. Keeping a baby entertained for that many hours straight is a lot of work. Amazing. I was a zombie Monday at work and I wasn't even the one who stayed up all night with him on Sunday.
He seems to have figured out how to sleep again. Phew. Let's hope he stays on top of this sleep thing because other than Sunday, he has been the best kid ever!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Privacy
So writing this blog has brought up several issues about privacy. First, I have not written in a journal of any sort in years. When I have written in a journal, it was usually stuff that I didn't really want others to read. Writing for the public is very different. It's a little odd. It's even more odd writing this blog because pretty much everyone reading it, at least everyone that I know who is reading it, I personally know.
Ok, so I know everyone visiting the blog, but the categories of people reading makes things even more difficult. I have friends, family, and work friends reading. Betsy has her friends and family reading too. Eventually Ian might have friends reading the blog -- will blogs still be around when Ian and his friends are reading? Are there things I should say or shouldn't say to avoid embarrassing him one day? Are there pictures or videos that I should or shouldn't post? Will this blog be used against him at his Bar Mitzvah?
I have been reading some other blogs about kids lately. There are a lot of dads out there writing blogs these days. Most of them are much better writers than I am and spend a lot more time on their blogs. Some of these guys post 5 or 10 times a day. Of course, they tend to be stay at home dads or have jobs they can do from home. I would guess some of them are professional writers getting paid by advertising on their blogs or for writing other things during the day.
There are a lot of different theories out there on children's privacy. The most extreme of these dad bloggers won't post photos of their kids online. I haven't read all of them carefully enough to know, but I would bet some of them won't even mention their kids' names. I guess I have broken all of the rules. Then again, I don't have thousands of people reading my blog like some of these writers do. I am pretty confident that no one other than friends and family will ever know this blog exists.
So, photos and videos and details about Ian's life will continue to be posted right here.
Here is your photo for making it through this post. Screw privacy...
Ok, so I know everyone visiting the blog, but the categories of people reading makes things even more difficult. I have friends, family, and work friends reading. Betsy has her friends and family reading too. Eventually Ian might have friends reading the blog -- will blogs still be around when Ian and his friends are reading? Are there things I should say or shouldn't say to avoid embarrassing him one day? Are there pictures or videos that I should or shouldn't post? Will this blog be used against him at his Bar Mitzvah?
I have been reading some other blogs about kids lately. There are a lot of dads out there writing blogs these days. Most of them are much better writers than I am and spend a lot more time on their blogs. Some of these guys post 5 or 10 times a day. Of course, they tend to be stay at home dads or have jobs they can do from home. I would guess some of them are professional writers getting paid by advertising on their blogs or for writing other things during the day.
There are a lot of different theories out there on children's privacy. The most extreme of these dad bloggers won't post photos of their kids online. I haven't read all of them carefully enough to know, but I would bet some of them won't even mention their kids' names. I guess I have broken all of the rules. Then again, I don't have thousands of people reading my blog like some of these writers do. I am pretty confident that no one other than friends and family will ever know this blog exists.
So, photos and videos and details about Ian's life will continue to be posted right here.
Here is your photo for making it through this post. Screw privacy...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Video
Having a baby means it's time to start doing all kinds of things I wouldn't normally do. For example, 3 AM feedings. Wouldn't normally do that. Not something any normal human being chooses to do. But, this post isn't really about that. No, the thing I am doing now is videotaping.
Now, people had video cameras when I was growing up, but they were pretty few and far between. And, they were huge. I remember video-cameras that look like something they tape TV shows with. The brick cell phone had nothing on these things. My family was not a video family. In fact, we were pretty late adopters of the VCR. This is all a little surprising considering my mom actually grew up with movie cameras. She still has her old films somewhere in the attic, although we don't have anything to play them on.
Home videos have changed a lot since my mom was a kid. It has changed a lot since I was a kid. Our super-cool new camcorder doesn't even use tapes. It just has a hard drive that records the video. I am guessing the editing has changed a lot too. Gone are the days of a razor-blade and tape to edit the film. Now I get to use my MacBook the way it is actually meant to be used. Of course, all is not as easy as it sounds. First I have to get the video from my camera to my computer. Then I have to convert it to a format that works with the software on my MacBook. Finally, I get to edit. Now, I have two programs for editing. One comes with the computer and is pretty scaled down, but easy to use. The other, we got inexpensively when Betsy was a student, but it is a pretty serious full-function editing tool. I started with the full-function tool. That was a mistake. Way too complicated. Once I imported some video, I had no idea how to do anything. The instruction book is far too big.
Next I tried, the easy editing tool that comes with the MacBook. Ah, Mac simplicity at work. iMovie let me do everything I wanted to do. So, I made my first video of Ian complete with music from a musician Betsy and I really like. Finally, I had to figure out how to export it in a format that people could view on their computers. Good times. Way to waste about 4 hours on a Saturday morning.
I still have to figure out where and how to post the video so people can see it. I don't want to put it somewhere public like youtube, so it might take a while to find the right place. In the meantime, if you want to see the video, email me or Betsy and we will send a copy to you.
As always, here is your picture of the week as a reward for reading this far:
Now, people had video cameras when I was growing up, but they were pretty few and far between. And, they were huge. I remember video-cameras that look like something they tape TV shows with. The brick cell phone had nothing on these things. My family was not a video family. In fact, we were pretty late adopters of the VCR. This is all a little surprising considering my mom actually grew up with movie cameras. She still has her old films somewhere in the attic, although we don't have anything to play them on.
Home videos have changed a lot since my mom was a kid. It has changed a lot since I was a kid. Our super-cool new camcorder doesn't even use tapes. It just has a hard drive that records the video. I am guessing the editing has changed a lot too. Gone are the days of a razor-blade and tape to edit the film. Now I get to use my MacBook the way it is actually meant to be used. Of course, all is not as easy as it sounds. First I have to get the video from my camera to my computer. Then I have to convert it to a format that works with the software on my MacBook. Finally, I get to edit. Now, I have two programs for editing. One comes with the computer and is pretty scaled down, but easy to use. The other, we got inexpensively when Betsy was a student, but it is a pretty serious full-function editing tool. I started with the full-function tool. That was a mistake. Way too complicated. Once I imported some video, I had no idea how to do anything. The instruction book is far too big.
Next I tried, the easy editing tool that comes with the MacBook. Ah, Mac simplicity at work. iMovie let me do everything I wanted to do. So, I made my first video of Ian complete with music from a musician Betsy and I really like. Finally, I had to figure out how to export it in a format that people could view on their computers. Good times. Way to waste about 4 hours on a Saturday morning.
I still have to figure out where and how to post the video so people can see it. I don't want to put it somewhere public like youtube, so it might take a while to find the right place. In the meantime, if you want to see the video, email me or Betsy and we will send a copy to you.
As always, here is your picture of the week as a reward for reading this far:
Monday, October 1, 2007
The Bris
Ian became a Jew on Tuesday. Way to go Ian. It's interesting that the Bris is an important public celebration. I mean, I get it in some respects. Everyone gets to come see the new 8 day old baby. Everyone can congratulate the parents and dote on the baby and in modern times, bring various stuffed animals and other brightly colored play toys. Believe me, the parents love that part of it. Those first 8 days without some of the essential baby stuff feels like forever.
But when you get down to it, this whole thing is about a minor surgical procedure. Removal of the foreskin no less. Really, a public celebration?
We took the non-traditional approach to the ceremony. We had Ian, his two grandfathers, and me up in his nursery for the snipping half of what is known as the snip and snack in Betsy's family. Betsy's dad took the important role of holding Ian still during the process. This has a technical Hebrew term, but I don't remember what it is and I am sure spell check wouldn't help me much even if I could remember the term. My dad and I sort of hid behind a piece of paper so we wouldn't have to watch too much. Now, I have watched the snip before, but somehow it is very different when it is your own son. I did not need to nor want to watch.
After the private ceremony, we came downstairs and explained the ceremony to our largely non-Jewish crowd. It was a nice little ceremony. Both of our immediate families had reading parts. Typically letting a Goldberg know in advance that they have a public speaking role is a bad idea, so it was a little surprise. That turned into several minutes of laughter and incomprehensible prayer. You can't win em all.
Here is a picture of the happy family at the Bris. Notice Ian is doing pretty well considering what he just want through. See you at the Bar Mitzvah.
Other than the Bris, life is relatively mellow. Ian eats, sleeps, poops, pees, and cries. That's about all there is to it. We would prefer that he learn how to sleep at night, but he does most of his sleeping during the day. Great.
Today Ian was introduced to a play mat. This was his first significant outside stimulation. He seemed to get it, although he is probably way too young. But he did kick some animals with his feet and stare into the mirror looking at another blurry little baby. He now thinks we are two timing him.
Sorry for the delay in updating, I will try to be a little more active on the blog from here on out.
One last picture to reward you for reading this much.
But when you get down to it, this whole thing is about a minor surgical procedure. Removal of the foreskin no less. Really, a public celebration?
We took the non-traditional approach to the ceremony. We had Ian, his two grandfathers, and me up in his nursery for the snipping half of what is known as the snip and snack in Betsy's family. Betsy's dad took the important role of holding Ian still during the process. This has a technical Hebrew term, but I don't remember what it is and I am sure spell check wouldn't help me much even if I could remember the term. My dad and I sort of hid behind a piece of paper so we wouldn't have to watch too much. Now, I have watched the snip before, but somehow it is very different when it is your own son. I did not need to nor want to watch.
After the private ceremony, we came downstairs and explained the ceremony to our largely non-Jewish crowd. It was a nice little ceremony. Both of our immediate families had reading parts. Typically letting a Goldberg know in advance that they have a public speaking role is a bad idea, so it was a little surprise. That turned into several minutes of laughter and incomprehensible prayer. You can't win em all.
Here is a picture of the happy family at the Bris. Notice Ian is doing pretty well considering what he just want through. See you at the Bar Mitzvah.
Other than the Bris, life is relatively mellow. Ian eats, sleeps, poops, pees, and cries. That's about all there is to it. We would prefer that he learn how to sleep at night, but he does most of his sleeping during the day. Great.
Today Ian was introduced to a play mat. This was his first significant outside stimulation. He seemed to get it, although he is probably way too young. But he did kick some animals with his feet and stare into the mirror looking at another blurry little baby. He now thinks we are two timing him.
Sorry for the delay in updating, I will try to be a little more active on the blog from here on out.
One last picture to reward you for reading this much.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
NICU
So, the reason all of this is so late is that Ian ended up in the NICU. But, once again, I am getting ahead of myself.
Once Betsy got settled in the room, they brought Ian in to us. The grandparents saw him, then left us alone. We tried to feed Ian, but he was much more interested in sleeping. We assumed he was exhausted from that whole trip down the birth canal thing. His head was completely black and blue, so clearly he had been using that as a battering ram for a couple of days on Betsy's pelvis. Not much fun for Ian or Betsy.
Ian wanted to sleep, and so did we. He was a little limp, so we decided to send him back to the nursery. The nurse said she would send him back to our room when it was time to feed him again around 11:00. At midnight, we became a little concerned that we had not heard back from the nursery. We called down there and they told us Ian was under a heat lamp. Apparently he had been unable to keep his temperature up and they needed to make sure he was warm enough. Ok, that sounds reasonable. The nurse told us he would spend an hour on the lamp and then two hours off and he could come back to the room.
Betsy and I were a little concerned, so we walked down the nursery just to look through the glass and see Ian under his heat lamp. The nurse came to talk to us, but wouldn't give us much information.
I went back to the nursery a couple of times during the night and each time Ian was still under the heat lamps. This was becoming concerning. At some point the nurse told me that we would have to wait until our pediatrician came in the morning to know what was going to happen with Ian.
Our pediatrician showed up around 7:00 AM. We happened to go by the nursery when she was there. She said he wanted to talk to us about what was going on and followed us to our room.
It turns out they had given Ian three chances to warm up under the light and he still could not maintain his temperature. Apparently babies tend to get low temperatures rather than high fevers, but it is essentially the same thing. The most likely cause of the low temperature was some kind of infection, but they had no idea what. The really bad news was that Ian was going to have to spend some time in the neonatal ICU. He would have to get blood work done including a spinal tap. We would not know the results of the test for 72 hours and then if there was an infection, it could be another 7-10 days of antibiotics and Ian living in the NICU. Needless to say, there were a lot of tears and a lot of concern.
At around 10:00, we were able to go visit him after his spinal tap. Again, a lot of tears and concern. He had started IV antibiotics and was fairly limp, but he seemed to have a little more color than he did in the nursery. He had to spend 6 hours under the lights in the transition period before they would test his ability to maintain his temperature. We kept visiting him as often as possible, but we couldn't hold him or feed him until he was out from under the heat lamps.
Everyone, including our OB was surprised Ian was having this problem. He was an unlikely candidate for an infection. Luckily, Ian was able to hold his temperature and he was eating well and going to the bathroom well. Everything seemed to be checking out.
Eventually, we started doing Ian's feedings and held him as much as possible. Every time they pulled out the thermometer, we held our breath, and each time, he passed the test. On Thursday, Betsy was released from the hospital, but Ian had to stay. We thought he would be coming home on Saturday at the earliest. His tests kept coming back negative and if the cultures were clean after 72 hours, they told us he could probably come home. It was really tough to come home without Ian, but we didn't have much of a choice. The nurses let us stay at the hospital as late as we wanted on Thursday.
The next morning, we went to the NICU and met with the staff Dr. She said Ian looked good, but they needed to wait the 72 hours, which would have been Saturday morning, before sending him home. I then realized she seemed to be looking for any reason to send him home and eventually decided that since Saturday was Yom Kippur, she should send him home on Friday. We were thrilled, but nervous. We didn't want to get him home only to find out later that he had an infection requiring antibiotics and a trip to Texas Children's.
We went home to prepare the house for Ian and picked him up at around 4:00. He has been home for a little over 24 hours now and he seems to be just fine. He is doing everything a baby is supposed to do. He eats, sleeps, and poops.
Not that any of them are going to read this, but I do want to say that the nurses and other staff at the hospital were really amazing. The nurses in the NICU we had were incredibly compassionate and helpful. Not only did they take great care of Ian, but they also took great care of us. They even spent time with us teaching us how to change diapers, feed, bathe and otherwise take care of Ian. I don't know if every nurse in this hospital is great, but every one we dealt with was.
Ok, this is probably the last post that will be this long and this serious, unless there is another occasion that calls for it.
I promise some more entertaining posts soon.
Once Betsy got settled in the room, they brought Ian in to us. The grandparents saw him, then left us alone. We tried to feed Ian, but he was much more interested in sleeping. We assumed he was exhausted from that whole trip down the birth canal thing. His head was completely black and blue, so clearly he had been using that as a battering ram for a couple of days on Betsy's pelvis. Not much fun for Ian or Betsy.
Ian wanted to sleep, and so did we. He was a little limp, so we decided to send him back to the nursery. The nurse said she would send him back to our room when it was time to feed him again around 11:00. At midnight, we became a little concerned that we had not heard back from the nursery. We called down there and they told us Ian was under a heat lamp. Apparently he had been unable to keep his temperature up and they needed to make sure he was warm enough. Ok, that sounds reasonable. The nurse told us he would spend an hour on the lamp and then two hours off and he could come back to the room.
Betsy and I were a little concerned, so we walked down the nursery just to look through the glass and see Ian under his heat lamp. The nurse came to talk to us, but wouldn't give us much information.
I went back to the nursery a couple of times during the night and each time Ian was still under the heat lamps. This was becoming concerning. At some point the nurse told me that we would have to wait until our pediatrician came in the morning to know what was going to happen with Ian.
Our pediatrician showed up around 7:00 AM. We happened to go by the nursery when she was there. She said he wanted to talk to us about what was going on and followed us to our room.
It turns out they had given Ian three chances to warm up under the light and he still could not maintain his temperature. Apparently babies tend to get low temperatures rather than high fevers, but it is essentially the same thing. The most likely cause of the low temperature was some kind of infection, but they had no idea what. The really bad news was that Ian was going to have to spend some time in the neonatal ICU. He would have to get blood work done including a spinal tap. We would not know the results of the test for 72 hours and then if there was an infection, it could be another 7-10 days of antibiotics and Ian living in the NICU. Needless to say, there were a lot of tears and a lot of concern.
At around 10:00, we were able to go visit him after his spinal tap. Again, a lot of tears and concern. He had started IV antibiotics and was fairly limp, but he seemed to have a little more color than he did in the nursery. He had to spend 6 hours under the lights in the transition period before they would test his ability to maintain his temperature. We kept visiting him as often as possible, but we couldn't hold him or feed him until he was out from under the heat lamps.
Everyone, including our OB was surprised Ian was having this problem. He was an unlikely candidate for an infection. Luckily, Ian was able to hold his temperature and he was eating well and going to the bathroom well. Everything seemed to be checking out.
Eventually, we started doing Ian's feedings and held him as much as possible. Every time they pulled out the thermometer, we held our breath, and each time, he passed the test. On Thursday, Betsy was released from the hospital, but Ian had to stay. We thought he would be coming home on Saturday at the earliest. His tests kept coming back negative and if the cultures were clean after 72 hours, they told us he could probably come home. It was really tough to come home without Ian, but we didn't have much of a choice. The nurses let us stay at the hospital as late as we wanted on Thursday.
The next morning, we went to the NICU and met with the staff Dr. She said Ian looked good, but they needed to wait the 72 hours, which would have been Saturday morning, before sending him home. I then realized she seemed to be looking for any reason to send him home and eventually decided that since Saturday was Yom Kippur, she should send him home on Friday. We were thrilled, but nervous. We didn't want to get him home only to find out later that he had an infection requiring antibiotics and a trip to Texas Children's.
We went home to prepare the house for Ian and picked him up at around 4:00. He has been home for a little over 24 hours now and he seems to be just fine. He is doing everything a baby is supposed to do. He eats, sleeps, and poops.
Not that any of them are going to read this, but I do want to say that the nurses and other staff at the hospital were really amazing. The nurses in the NICU we had were incredibly compassionate and helpful. Not only did they take great care of Ian, but they also took great care of us. They even spent time with us teaching us how to change diapers, feed, bathe and otherwise take care of Ian. I don't know if every nurse in this hospital is great, but every one we dealt with was.
Ok, this is probably the last post that will be this long and this serious, unless there is another occasion that calls for it.
I promise some more entertaining posts soon.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Ian Parker Goldstein
Ian Parker Goldstein was born on September 18, 2007 at 3:24 PM. He weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 20 inches. It was one hell of a ride. But, I am getting way ahead of myself.
Labor
Monday morning, Betsy and I called the hospital at 6:00 AM to see if we could get an appointment for induction. We wavered all weekend on whether or not Betsy really wanted to get induced. She was sure she would naturally go into labor in a day or two if she could just wait. In the end, we decided if the doctor thought induction was right, it was the right thing to do.
We actually called a few minutes before 6:00. I figured if everyone was calling at 6 and we called at 5:50, maybe we would get a spot before someone else. I don't know if it really works that way, but they told us to be in by 7:30 AM. We were on our way. When we got in, our Dr. was there and we were introduced to our nurse, Maria. At Texas Women's, they assign one nurse per delivery. Maria would be with us until her shift ended at 7:00 PM. She was amazing, so we got really lucky. Not only was she good at her job, but we liked her a lot, which was important since not much happened for hours ... and hours.
In fact, the entire first day of labor was totally non-eventful. Betsy had contractions all day, but nothing very painful. Nothing worse than what she had at home for weeks. So, we sat and talked all day. The grandparents and my sisters waited nervously and I occasionally went and told them what was going on. Eventually, Betsy's parents came back to the labor and delivery room for a while. My mom visited too.
At around 6:00 PM, our Dr. decided that there wasn't going to be a baby any time soon. Betsy was not significantly dilating. The Dr. took her off of the drugs, and let her eat dinner and get some sleep. His theory is he would rather let a mother eat and rest to have energy for delivery rather than have the labor continue through the night. I also got to go home for a few hours of sleep.
The next morning, I went to the hospital early and we had a new nurse. As she was introducing herself, Maria walked in! We couldn't have been more exited. I am sure our second nurse would have been great, but we loved Maria and were definitely disappointed that after getting to know her the whole day before we were going to have to deal with someone new. Although it was her day off, she came in and then switched assignments with another nurse to be with us for day two.
Betsy started feeling contractions that were pretty significant. About 20 minutes into that, she decided it was epidural time. No reason to suffer. Betsy was very nervous about the epidural. I would have been too, but it turned out it was no big deal. They do a great job at this hospital and it was fast and relatively painless. In fact, she had a tough time with an IV the day before that hurt a lot more than the epidural. After several hours of labor (but pain-free labor), Betsy was still not dilated to even 4 cm. Generally, after 4 cm things start going a lot faster. We were relaxed enough about it. The Dr. said she had 20 hours to get to 10 cm before he would call it off and order a c-section. After we both took a nap, Betsy said she was feeling some pressure. The nurse checked and she was 10 cm and Ian had completely dropped. It was time.
Delivery
Maria decided Betsy should do a couple of trial pushes. On the first push, I could see the top of his head. Amazing. He was right there. Time to call the Dr.
Betsy kept pushing until the Dr. arrived and Ian kept getting closer and closer. The push deal is 10 seconds of holding her breath and bearing down and that is done three times in a row during a contraction. The she rests until the next contraction. Some women have trouble figuring out how to push with an epidural in, but Betsy got it pretty much right away.
By the time the Dr. got there Ian was really close. I think he was only there for maybe four contractions and then he came out. It was absolutely amazing. I watched the whole thing and was nervous as hell. The baby does not move when his head is about to come out. I guess this is obvious -- he is way too lodged in there to move around. Still, I didn't know if everything was ok. He was mushed. He was a funny color. There was some stuff on his head that looked funny to me. Our Dr. called in an extra Dr. and an extra nurse (and there was a student watching). We had a room full of medical personnel and I thought maybe there was something he wasn't telling me. I kept asking if it was ok and he promised it was. Betsy pushed for under 30 minutes total. I started taking pictures and cut the umbilical cord, which is far harder to do than you would think.
They gave Ian to Betsy for a minute and then began to work on him. He was not breathing all that well, so he got some oxygen. There was a minutes of blue baby, but it went away pretty fast. He also had some pretty serious fluid in his lungs that Maria got out right away. Then he was given a diaper and handed off to Betsy. There were a lot of tears. The Bean was born.
Within the hour, the pediatrician came and checked him out. He was weighed and measured. He took his first poop and his diaper was changed. He breast fed. And we all hung out. I also went out to the waiting room and told everyone he was born and announced his name for the first time.
The baby went up to the nursery and I followed him up. We stopped by the waiting room so everyone could see him. They got Betsy ready and eventually I went with her to her postpartum room.
And then it really began ...
Labor
Monday morning, Betsy and I called the hospital at 6:00 AM to see if we could get an appointment for induction. We wavered all weekend on whether or not Betsy really wanted to get induced. She was sure she would naturally go into labor in a day or two if she could just wait. In the end, we decided if the doctor thought induction was right, it was the right thing to do.
We actually called a few minutes before 6:00. I figured if everyone was calling at 6 and we called at 5:50, maybe we would get a spot before someone else. I don't know if it really works that way, but they told us to be in by 7:30 AM. We were on our way. When we got in, our Dr. was there and we were introduced to our nurse, Maria. At Texas Women's, they assign one nurse per delivery. Maria would be with us until her shift ended at 7:00 PM. She was amazing, so we got really lucky. Not only was she good at her job, but we liked her a lot, which was important since not much happened for hours ... and hours.
In fact, the entire first day of labor was totally non-eventful. Betsy had contractions all day, but nothing very painful. Nothing worse than what she had at home for weeks. So, we sat and talked all day. The grandparents and my sisters waited nervously and I occasionally went and told them what was going on. Eventually, Betsy's parents came back to the labor and delivery room for a while. My mom visited too.
At around 6:00 PM, our Dr. decided that there wasn't going to be a baby any time soon. Betsy was not significantly dilating. The Dr. took her off of the drugs, and let her eat dinner and get some sleep. His theory is he would rather let a mother eat and rest to have energy for delivery rather than have the labor continue through the night. I also got to go home for a few hours of sleep.
The next morning, I went to the hospital early and we had a new nurse. As she was introducing herself, Maria walked in! We couldn't have been more exited. I am sure our second nurse would have been great, but we loved Maria and were definitely disappointed that after getting to know her the whole day before we were going to have to deal with someone new. Although it was her day off, she came in and then switched assignments with another nurse to be with us for day two.
Betsy started feeling contractions that were pretty significant. About 20 minutes into that, she decided it was epidural time. No reason to suffer. Betsy was very nervous about the epidural. I would have been too, but it turned out it was no big deal. They do a great job at this hospital and it was fast and relatively painless. In fact, she had a tough time with an IV the day before that hurt a lot more than the epidural. After several hours of labor (but pain-free labor), Betsy was still not dilated to even 4 cm. Generally, after 4 cm things start going a lot faster. We were relaxed enough about it. The Dr. said she had 20 hours to get to 10 cm before he would call it off and order a c-section. After we both took a nap, Betsy said she was feeling some pressure. The nurse checked and she was 10 cm and Ian had completely dropped. It was time.
Delivery
Maria decided Betsy should do a couple of trial pushes. On the first push, I could see the top of his head. Amazing. He was right there. Time to call the Dr.
Betsy kept pushing until the Dr. arrived and Ian kept getting closer and closer. The push deal is 10 seconds of holding her breath and bearing down and that is done three times in a row during a contraction. The she rests until the next contraction. Some women have trouble figuring out how to push with an epidural in, but Betsy got it pretty much right away.
By the time the Dr. got there Ian was really close. I think he was only there for maybe four contractions and then he came out. It was absolutely amazing. I watched the whole thing and was nervous as hell. The baby does not move when his head is about to come out. I guess this is obvious -- he is way too lodged in there to move around. Still, I didn't know if everything was ok. He was mushed. He was a funny color. There was some stuff on his head that looked funny to me. Our Dr. called in an extra Dr. and an extra nurse (and there was a student watching). We had a room full of medical personnel and I thought maybe there was something he wasn't telling me. I kept asking if it was ok and he promised it was. Betsy pushed for under 30 minutes total. I started taking pictures and cut the umbilical cord, which is far harder to do than you would think.
They gave Ian to Betsy for a minute and then began to work on him. He was not breathing all that well, so he got some oxygen. There was a minutes of blue baby, but it went away pretty fast. He also had some pretty serious fluid in his lungs that Maria got out right away. Then he was given a diaper and handed off to Betsy. There were a lot of tears. The Bean was born.
Within the hour, the pediatrician came and checked him out. He was weighed and measured. He took his first poop and his diaper was changed. He breast fed. And we all hung out. I also went out to the waiting room and told everyone he was born and announced his name for the first time.
The baby went up to the nursery and I followed him up. We stopped by the waiting room so everyone could see him. They got Betsy ready and eventually I went with her to her postpartum room.
And then it really began ...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Monday Monday Monday
Happy Rosh Hashanah. A lot has happened this week.
1. On Monday we found out that Betsy is going to be scheduled for induction on Monday September 17. So barring either her going into labor before then or there being no rooms available, it looks like Monday is the day.
2. Wednesday was my birthday. Happy birthday to me. I am old. 35.
3. Rosh Hashanah. Shana Tova. Happy New Year for all of you non-Jews out there.
4. Hurricane Humberto came and went without even any rain. In fact, this was one of the first days without rain. So much for the theory that the change in barometric pressure would bring the baby.
5. This weekend coming up is the last free weekend of my life. Not sure exactly what this means, but it must be significant.
6. Monday we get to see what the Bean actually looks like. And you get to learn his name, which, by the way, is not very exciting, but it has been fun keeping everyone in suspense anyway.
There's a lot going on right now in our household, but we have all of the basics ready to go. Betsy has requested that I post a few pictures of the baby's room. It's not really been decorated yet, but you can see the furniture and bedding at least. Here it is.
So that's it, now we sit and wait.
1. On Monday we found out that Betsy is going to be scheduled for induction on Monday September 17. So barring either her going into labor before then or there being no rooms available, it looks like Monday is the day.
2. Wednesday was my birthday. Happy birthday to me. I am old. 35.
3. Rosh Hashanah. Shana Tova. Happy New Year for all of you non-Jews out there.
4. Hurricane Humberto came and went without even any rain. In fact, this was one of the first days without rain. So much for the theory that the change in barometric pressure would bring the baby.
5. This weekend coming up is the last free weekend of my life. Not sure exactly what this means, but it must be significant.
6. Monday we get to see what the Bean actually looks like. And you get to learn his name, which, by the way, is not very exciting, but it has been fun keeping everyone in suspense anyway.
There's a lot going on right now in our household, but we have all of the basics ready to go. Betsy has requested that I post a few pictures of the baby's room. It's not really been decorated yet, but you can see the furniture and bedding at least. Here it is.
So that's it, now we sit and wait.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
College Football Season Arrives
The Bean likes football, he takes after me. We are not sure which teams he will be partial to. Living in Houston, he has to like the Texans. This one is painful. We feel for the guy. But one day they have to be better. At least he won’t have to watch David Carr play QB.
The Bean will have a lot more choices when it comes to college. Most of you probably know, but I am an alumn of quite a few schools.
First there was University of Colorado, then there was the University of Kentucky, next was the University of Michigan -- also his mother’s undergrad alma matter -- and finally the University of Texas. The Bean already has a Colorado shirt, although it probably won’t fit him for a while. We planned on having some Michigan gear for him, but now I am not so sure…
Yesterday was the season opener for all of my schools. Colorado played in-state rival Colorado State and actually won. Even the University of Kentucky destroyed Eastern Kentucky (remember, this is football not basketball). But somehow, some way, Michigan lost to I-AA Appalachian State! Are you kidding me? I am very excited that The Bean is going to be born at the beginning of football season. This should be the start of some great Saturdays and Sundays on the couch with The Bean watching some football. But now, I am just not so sure. How did Michigan lose? Two blocked field goals, are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. Let’s hope The Bean’s other college choices do better or I might be done with college football within the first month.
Ok, none of that is really about The Bean. Here is a new section that I will try to make a recurring theme. This is the unexpected pleasures and annoyances section.
Let’s start with an annoyance: Wills. Being a probate lawyer must be a little bit like being a hospice nurse. You are always helping people plan for death. It’s awful. Trying to draft a will and planning for your death at this age isn’t a lot of fun. Wills suck.
Unexpected Pleasure: Baby-sympathy parking spots. At the Texans’ preseason games, we convinced the parking attendants that they should really let us park up on the first row. These spots are reserved for serious tailgaters, handicapped parking, and vips. Apparently, if you point to the belly of your 8-month pregnant wife, that will get you up there too. Not much time left to take advantage of this unexpected bonus.
The Bean will have a lot more choices when it comes to college. Most of you probably know, but I am an alumn of quite a few schools.
First there was University of Colorado, then there was the University of Kentucky, next was the University of Michigan -- also his mother’s undergrad alma matter -- and finally the University of Texas. The Bean already has a Colorado shirt, although it probably won’t fit him for a while. We planned on having some Michigan gear for him, but now I am not so sure…
Yesterday was the season opener for all of my schools. Colorado played in-state rival Colorado State and actually won. Even the University of Kentucky destroyed Eastern Kentucky (remember, this is football not basketball). But somehow, some way, Michigan lost to I-AA Appalachian State! Are you kidding me? I am very excited that The Bean is going to be born at the beginning of football season. This should be the start of some great Saturdays and Sundays on the couch with The Bean watching some football. But now, I am just not so sure. How did Michigan lose? Two blocked field goals, are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. Let’s hope The Bean’s other college choices do better or I might be done with college football within the first month.
Ok, none of that is really about The Bean. Here is a new section that I will try to make a recurring theme. This is the unexpected pleasures and annoyances section.
Let’s start with an annoyance: Wills. Being a probate lawyer must be a little bit like being a hospice nurse. You are always helping people plan for death. It’s awful. Trying to draft a will and planning for your death at this age isn’t a lot of fun. Wills suck.
Unexpected Pleasure: Baby-sympathy parking spots. At the Texans’ preseason games, we convinced the parking attendants that they should really let us park up on the first row. These spots are reserved for serious tailgaters, handicapped parking, and vips. Apparently, if you point to the belly of your 8-month pregnant wife, that will get you up there too. Not much time left to take advantage of this unexpected bonus.
Monday, August 27, 2007
What have I missed?
First, there was conception. Ok, not going there. Let's move on.
First, there was The Bean. His first good picture is here. Isn't he handsome? He is literally waving to the camera. Way to go Bean. Pretty soon he will be learning to drive.
Betsy went through all of the typical pregnancy stuff. First the morning sickness. It was lovely. Despite the fact that she never once actually threw up, we had a lot of fun with this whole period. Betsy insisted on eating very very crunchy crackers pretty much all the time. Most of the time this was no big deal. In the middle of the night? Not so much fun. The crunching was only half of the problem. Rolling over onto cracker crumbs was an unexpected little gift. Solution: buy a new bed. This whole pregnancy thing made us decide it was time to buy a king bed. So we did. I would like to tell you that the king bed is the greatest thing that's ever happened to us, but it's not here yet. What's the only thing that takes longer than the gestation period of a human (and don't say an elephant's gestation period, which is a quick 22 months -- if your wife is pregnant and complaining just constantly say, "at least you're not an elephant." She will love this). Anyway, thanks to some stellar work by Room and Board, we are still waiting and the baby will probably truly arrive before the bed.
After the morning sickness stuff came some basic stomach cramping and other maladies that come with the belly starting to expand. This was an odd period where Betsy was basically concerned that every strange feeling in her stomach was something bad happening with the baby. Of course, none of it was, but it didn't stop both of us from worrying.
Next comes a complete tease. Betsy felt just fine. Sure, she was growing, but she really felt as good as ever. This lasted for a while.
The final stage is total discomfort. Now Betsy is getting bigger (everyone says she looks really small, but it doesn't help how she actually feels). It is hot. This is Houston. This is August. After a surprisingly comfortable start to the summer, the heat finally hit. It's not much fun to be pregnant in Houston in August. It's not much fun to be married to someone who is pregnant in August.
But, we are now very well prepared. We have taken breast feeding class. If there are any guys out there who think for some reason this might be fun (the words breast and class in the title might fool some), you are wrong. Luckily, we spent most of our time checking out the other parents to be and trying to figure out if we were more or less prepared than others. Our best guess is we fell right in the middle somewhere. We were probably doing better than the girl whose husband was too busy to make it to class and not as prepared as the couple with the future dad wearing loafers with gold buckles and no socks.
We also went to a marathon baby birth class. This is where the action really gets good. Lots of videos of baby birth. The process is made to look really unappealing. A friend of mine from my poker group was in the class. I had no idea that his wife was pregnant. He didn't know mine was pregnant. Clearly we have some deep conversations at our poker game. I could tell you a lot about this guy's new grill, but I couldn't tell you his wife's name. Gotta love guys. In my defense, he talks about his grill all the time, I know, it's a little strange. The baby class was filled with lots of useful information. Most importantly, women should breathe while they are in labor. This may seem obvious, but trust me on this -- oh, who the hell am I kidding -- this IS obvious! We paid about $100 for some lady to tell us that it's important to breathe. Excellent. We didn't take the class too seriously. I hope there isn't a test. At one point I made a snide remark to Betsy and she almost lost it laughing in the class at a very quiet moment. Ok, she did lose it in the class. She was trying not to laugh, but literally had to get up and walk out of the room. Well, it was more like run out of the room. As she hit the door, she lost it and let out one of the biggest laughs you can imagine. People in the class weren't sure if she was laughing or crying. I got a lot of strange looks. I thought the teacher might kick us out and send us to the prenatal school principal. Betsy took so long, I left to go find her. I thought she might have laughed so hard that she lost a little bladder control (another nice side-effect of pregnancy). Luckily all was fine and the teacher let us back in for a little more breathing training. Breathe in, breathe out ...
Today Betsy and The Bean had a non-stress-test. This was a first for me. I think we have probably all heard of a stress test, but who has ever heard of a non-stress-test. Basically, Betsy had to lie on a Dr.'s table with two contraptions on the ever-expanding belly. One measures contractions and the other measures The Bean's heart rate. The Bean needed his heart rate to go up and down. This shows that he's moving around and healthy. That's more easily said and done. Apparently The Bean was asleep when the test started. The office has tricks to get babies to move around. They gave Betsy a lollipop, they offered one to me too but in my attempt to be a mature adult worthy of a child, I declined. They also had her drink cold water. But, nothing worked. They threatened that we would have to go to the hospital for monitoring if he didn't move. These were some serious billable hours I was about to lose. I tried talking to him a lot. That didn't work, but sometimes he moves when I told to him. He seems to like football a lot. He always moves during football games (he has seen the Texans twice and lots of other preseason games on TV). He also moves at movies. Betsy was a pseudo-celebrity as we walked out of Knocked Up. What the crowded theater didn't know is that she was so freaked out she was about to break down crying in the car. Note to self, avoid movies about child birth or parenthood until The Bean is born. Neither football nor a movie were possible in the Dr.'s office. What else? Got it, music. Betsy has an iPhone (yes, it's very cool, but that's an entirely different blog). I grabbed the iPhone and put the earphones up to her stomach. It was time for me to play DJ. Unfortunately, the iPhone is filled with chick-music, so it wasn't easy finding music upbeat enough to get The Bean moving. I started off with a little David Bowie. It seemed to wake him up a little. Then I moved on to Jet. There he goes, he's moving a bit. Next, I went to one of my favorites, The Shins. Ah, perfect. We were getting all of the movement and variation in heartbeat that we needed. No trips to the hospital. Plus, we know he has good taste in music. I was dancing along with The Bean in the Dr.'s office. I finished off with a little of The Killers (I wonder if The Bean will ever listen to any of these bands. My guess is the only one that will still be well-known is Bowie). The Dr. came in, gave us a funny look, checked the printout and told us good job.
So that's it. You are up to date. New posts will be shorter and hopefully relatively frequent.
Welcome Post
Welcome to the Adventures of the Bean. I am sure you have 100 questions already. Maybe I can help with a few of those. Here is a quick question and answer session.
Q. Why are you writing this blog?
A. Well, it's not because I think I am particularly witty or interesting or a great writer. Nope, I am writing this blog mostly because Betsy asked me to. You see, we are having a baby and you don't mess with a woman who is nine months pregnant. Those of you who have had kids know this is true. Those who haven't, trust me. She wanted me to start the blog because we have a bunch of people who live out of town and are interested in this whole having a kid thing. So here it is, my blog on having a kid and watching him grow up. By the way, it's a him.
Q. What is your kid's name?
A. I will let you know in about a month when he decides it's time to come join us out here in the real world.
Q. Does anyone know the name?
A. Maybe ... but if anyone does know the name I promise they have been sworn to secrecy and had to pass a strenuous training program that ensures they won't reveal the name without the application of the most sophisticated torture devices. Are any of you torture experts?
Q. What is The Bean?
A. It's just a nickname. Despite the fact that I was a pretty good hippie in college and still firmly believe that I am a hippie on the inside, we did not name our child "Bean". Although, there are plenty of other hippie names that I am not ruling out.
Q. Does he have any other nicknames?
A. He has been called a lot of different things. One of my favorites is what my assistant, Chris, calls him: Roscoe. I might have to reevaluate the name we have picked out.
Q. Why should I read this blog?
A. You should read this blog if you want to know what's going on with Betsy, The Bean, and me. Hopefully, I will update this pretty consistently. Hopefully, it will be mildly entertaining. We will definitely provide links to pictures, video, and anything else we can think of to post. We welcome comments and suggestions. In fact, it would be a fun way to see who is actually reading this if you will comment once in a while. If you don't feel like it, that's fine too. Unfortunately, we are not always great at keeping in touch, hopefully this will make up for that a little bit.
Q. What have I missed so far?
A. I was hoping you would ask that...
Q. Why are you writing this blog?
A. Well, it's not because I think I am particularly witty or interesting or a great writer. Nope, I am writing this blog mostly because Betsy asked me to. You see, we are having a baby and you don't mess with a woman who is nine months pregnant. Those of you who have had kids know this is true. Those who haven't, trust me. She wanted me to start the blog because we have a bunch of people who live out of town and are interested in this whole having a kid thing. So here it is, my blog on having a kid and watching him grow up. By the way, it's a him.
Q. What is your kid's name?
A. I will let you know in about a month when he decides it's time to come join us out here in the real world.
Q. Does anyone know the name?
A. Maybe ... but if anyone does know the name I promise they have been sworn to secrecy and had to pass a strenuous training program that ensures they won't reveal the name without the application of the most sophisticated torture devices. Are any of you torture experts?
Q. What is The Bean?
A. It's just a nickname. Despite the fact that I was a pretty good hippie in college and still firmly believe that I am a hippie on the inside, we did not name our child "Bean". Although, there are plenty of other hippie names that I am not ruling out.
Q. Does he have any other nicknames?
A. He has been called a lot of different things. One of my favorites is what my assistant, Chris, calls him: Roscoe. I might have to reevaluate the name we have picked out.
Q. Why should I read this blog?
A. You should read this blog if you want to know what's going on with Betsy, The Bean, and me. Hopefully, I will update this pretty consistently. Hopefully, it will be mildly entertaining. We will definitely provide links to pictures, video, and anything else we can think of to post. We welcome comments and suggestions. In fact, it would be a fun way to see who is actually reading this if you will comment once in a while. If you don't feel like it, that's fine too. Unfortunately, we are not always great at keeping in touch, hopefully this will make up for that a little bit.
Q. What have I missed so far?
A. I was hoping you would ask that...
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