Katherine and Jacque (after Suzy's attack), Sunday June 23rd.
June 2002 Archives
Now this is great news. Search for big poopy diapers on Google and this site is # 4. Hopefully another reference to big poopy diapers will move me up in the rankings. Read the original big poopy diaper story .
Katherine's a natural, it's just that Vincent's always hungry.
Katherine was having a hard time sleeping last night, so didn't get to sleep until midnight. At 2am, Suzy woke up with another gallbladder attack. Two vicodin later, the attack subsided at 3am. At which time, Vincent woke up. An hour later, he was asleep. I got my token 2 hours of sleep, and Vincent woke up at 6am ready for more. So, it's just 4 hours of rest for yours truly, second day in a row. I'm awake now, but this afternoon and freeway driving won't be so kind.
Monday, Suzy had another attack, but got on top of it faster with 2 vicodin. No trips to the ER.
Tuesday was time to face the music. Met with her primary care who referred her to a surgeon. Surgeon says: the gallbladder must come out in the next 1 to 2 weeks. Calling back later, it looks like we have a date. But first, my calendar starting Friday, June 28th (Happy Birthday Linda. Happy Birthday Jack):
Friday: Painters should be finished
Saturday: Diane & Randy's wedding
Sunday: pack for the move
Monday: work & pack
Tuesday: work & pack
Wednesday: take vacation day, carpets to be cleaned at new house, Suzy to get ultrasound before surgery
Thursday: 4th of July holiday & pack
Friday: move
Saturday: Suzy's gallbladder surgery
So today, we have some visitors. My parents come over for an hour, they see Vincent, I show them the new house and they're off to a play. Sister Suzy and Jacque come next. They see the baby, I show them the house. Arriving back, (wife) Suzy is in the throws of another gallbladder attack. Her parent's arrive seconds earlier, ready to take her to the ER. Just in time, I race her there myself.
Doubled over in pain, she's vomiting while I race down the streets. She wants me to run the reds, but I don't get the chance. Had a chance at the final light, but there were 2 cop cars waiting for green in the other direction.
Once there, the ER is uncharacteristically empty. Takes a few minutes to find the triage nurse, though. Suzy's admitted, but it takes another 15 minutes to get a bed. Her pain subsides for a few, but the pain starts in again. Intense. Bring me a bucket intense. The patient in the next curtain is constipated. I try to hurry them along (try a book, always works for me).
I have to go find the nurse in hallway.
Steve: Nurse, my wife is doubled over in pain. She's passing another gallstone.Doctor sees us minutes later. Prescribes the Cure for Pain. Nurse comes back a few minutes later with 1 pill and 5 needles, Suzy still screaming. Unfortunately, nurse has 2 charts. The lady with the blockage is seen first. Suzy's next, and the effect is immediate ":-)"Nurse: She'll have to wait for the doctor.
Steve: Great. I'll tell her to suck it up. That should work.
Pain comes and goes. Gets a little more relief.
By this time, bed A gets filled with it's next victim. Some drunk who got jumped by 2 gangbangers. Fractured jaw, and potential broken ankle. 4 cops in the room, one EMT. We're in the next curtain, listening to the interview. The cops have a sense of humor, they're just not that funny. Does this hurt? And the classic were you jumped by 2 men, or seeing double? Whatever. He's drunk and they don't have the easiest job.
The meds are wearing off, but the searing pain is gone. With a C-section less than a month ago, there's not much they can do. The attack subsided, so we'll just have to wait for the next or hope she can have her gallbladder removed before this happens again. Suzy is released and we head home... Just another day in paradise.
The house has new garage doors as of today. Replace the wood with the modern steel sectional kind, with windows on top. The doors only come in 4 colors; luckily, our old garage door / trim color was one.
Roof repairs, round 1, were finished today too. The repairs fixed some potential leaking. Unfortunately, when the house was tented (before it was ours), the termite people walked on the roof and broke close to a hundred tiles. Of course, they had a no damage waiver that the selling agent signed. Somehow, we get stuck with the bill for this :-( Roofer should come back July 2nd to replace the tiles.
The acoustic ceiling has been completely removed. Texture will be applied Monday, and painting should start Tuesday. For now, the whole interior will basically be white. We can decide on colors in the months ahead.
Finally, we have an electrician (Jen's brother Mike) coming Tuesday to scope out some work. Want to recessed lights downstairs in the family room and maybe fans or overhead lights in the bedrooms upstairs.
On the grill for tonight -- bbq'd chicken breasts, brined to keep them moist. Brining is a process of soaking chicken in water, salt and sugar. First read about it in Cooks Illustrated. Almost tried the recipe on Amazon, but I don't have the lemons or garlic in the house.
Katherine is still up, and it's after 11:00pm. Suzy and Vincent are upstairs sleeping, and I'm heading up too. Not sure what I'm going to do to get Katherine to unwind and fall asleep. Wish we luck, this is not going to be fun.
Our 4th anniversary tonight. Just the 2 of us out for dinner, nice to pop out for a few hours on our own. I'm downstairs right now, hiding from Katherine. If she knows I'm home, she'll stay up another hour.
The move is scheduled -- Friday, July 5th. It's time to start packing. Will have to change the description above to 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 computers, 1 house and 1 job.
Cloudmark takes Napster model to spam blocking. And why not? [The Register]
Yesterday did seem especially spam free after installing Cloudmark.
Getting ready for bed with Jack and Carly, at Mike's 40th birthday.
It's amazing how alert and observant Katherine is. Driving down the 405, she noticed an Apple billboard and said:
Daddy, isn't that your iMac?
Katherine uses these powers of observation for her own benefit. She has me open the freezer and cupboards and gives them a quick once over every day. Yesterday, she saw the cookies on the top shelf, a type she's never seen before, and asked if they were cookies. Confirming it, I had to give her one ":-)"
The scary thing now is she realizes she doesn't need me anymore. She pushes the chair from room to room and climbs up and explores at will.
How I've spent my father's day (went to bed @ 12:30 am)
- 2:30am - heat formula for Vincent, Suzy feeds.
- 3:30am - Katherine wakes up, walks to our room and asks where her blanket is. I carry her back and put her in her own bed, which is where her blanket already is.
- 5:30am - Vincent is hungry again. I heat his formula, feed him, change his diaper. He spits up 3 times. At 6:50am he's still awake.
- 7:20am - Katherine wakes up, Vincent is finally just falling asleep as am I.
- 8:00am - Shower and shave.
- 8:15am - Vincent's cord falls off.
- 8:30am - Go to market with Katherine to buy milk and stuff.
What do I want for father's day? A two hour nap.
Putting out the Colorado Fire:
Nightfall over Europe:
Picture of the day -- real life imitates PhotoShop:
Congratulations to Linda and Eoin on Oscar Jack, June 9th, 2002.
Action items on the house:
- replace garage doors - have estimate, waiting for it to be scheduled
- remove acoustic ceiling and repaint interior - have estimate, work should be done before June 30th
- find gardeners - have 2 bids, will probably keep previous crew ($30 less per month)
Uh-oh. BigFrog has a competitor, similar in name and look -- Curious Frog. Luckily, Curious goes with green, not blue and does not feature pictures of pregnant women ":-)"
Lots of visitors yesterday including cousins Bradley, Lia and Owen. Before - April 28, 2002
After - June 8, 2002
Buying a house gets you registered on all sorts of snail mail spam lists. Picked up mail at the new house yesterday and received the following in the mail:
- 4 offers for mortgage insurance
- 4 postcards from locksmiths
- 3 letters from security companies
Best movie in a long time and it's been sitting on my shelf for a month -- Donnie Darko. Jake Gyllenhaal (Toby McGuire lookalike) is a paranoid schizophrenic who hallucinates about a rabbit named Frank while discovering time travel. Great music and great cinematography complement this deeply disturbing movie. It's a must see. Don't take my word for it, read the reviews.
Didn't get my first cup of coffee until noon today. My head is pounding, but with a little kona in my system, that's going away. The lack of sleep doesn't help. Almost fell asleep on the pot last night.
Katherine and Bradley, kissing cousins.
It started off as a good night. Katherine was in bed by 8:00. Vincent fed and fell asleep at 11:00. Suzy was asleep minutes later. Friday night, and a few free hours to myself... Not quite. With Suzy fast asleep, Vincent woke up at 11:20 screaming. Hungry again. Well, 90 minutes and 3 poopy diapers later, I'm exhausted and ready for bed. My bottle ran dry and I had to wake Suzy. The best laid plains of mice and men...
Look into my eyes. You will feed me.
Competition on the web front - Steve and Liz had their baby last Saturday, and their website is up.
3:30am it is, that's 5+ hours. Not bad, we have a sleeper on our hands (for the second time in a row).
Vincent has been asleep for the last hour. He's a hungry kid, breast milk not always filling him up. We topped him off with an ounce of formula. Should give us a few hours before wake up call -- I'm predicting 2:30am, as he didn't get much sleep today. Which means I've got to get off this computer and into bed...
Katherine has found a new bath time play partner -- Ally. Her latest is to pretend to make tea and ice cream with her new floating measuring cup set. I had to pretend to drink and eat the food for the first few days. Tonight, Ally was thirsty and started drinking the bath water from the cup. Good dog, Ally. I'm saved from squatting next to the bath and drinking it.
One fun aspect of a new baby is that you get lots of visitors the first few weeks. And
Katherine has been incredible with Vincent so far, sharing her blanket and toys, constantly holding and hugging him. Though she keeps claiming she doesn't know his name (I don't know, she says). Today, she got out his portable changer and practiced on one of her dolls.
Most people complain about customer service. Today, I'd like to complement Time Warner Cable on the same. Cable modem out, two lights blinking (no signal). Called it in at 12:00 noon and got through to someone with a short 30 second wait. He scheduled the technician to come between 1:00-5:00, the same day. Tech strung a new cable between electric pole and house, as it had a really weak "return" signal. Unfortunately, that didn't help. First tech put in a call to a second tech, who arrived around 6:30pm the same day and fixed the problem. Two service visits on the same day, the second after standard working hours. Thanks. I'm back online.
Tonight, a powerful explosion ripped through Vincent's shorts, out his pajamas and onto my shirt. Nothing like explosive diarrhea to clear your head at 3:00 am. Of course, Suzy was a big help. Started laughing so hard she couldn't get out of bed, probably tearing a stitch or two. This is why men, or at least me, shouldn't be single parents -- it's all fun and games until liquid bowel movements.
It's 2:00 am. Vincent spent the last hour breast-feeding. We lie him down. Ten minutes later, he's awake and looking for more. He's such a big baby, we're supplementing with formula. This should help him sleep for a few hours.
His first doctors appointment is Tuesday morning, which reminds me that I need to resurrect the growth chart...
I haven't opened the newspaper or turned on the t.v. since Tuesday, and it feels good. To be fair, I have read some headlines online and watched the Lakers, but that aside, I'm news free. Family is more important and I'll let the circus back in when my life becomes boring again (or the news not so repetitive and dull).
With home coming, come coming home pictures.
After 4 long days in the hospital, Suzy is finally home. The first few hours were easy enough, but once everyone left and Vincent awoke, chaos ensued. The problem is balancing a new baby needs with Katherine's demands --
Katherine: Daddy, I'm a baby. Pick me up.
Me: Katherine, you're not a baby. I'm feeding the baby.
Katherine: Daddy, pick me up.
Vincent: (now with wet shorts) Waaaaaahhh!!!
Katherine: Daddy!!!
Me: Waaaaahhh!!
Ok, in reality, it's not too bad. Just 2 incidents like that tonight. But as I was reminded tonight, take a step back and look at all there is to be happy about:
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I have a beautiful new son
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A daughter that adores me
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A lovely wife
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Functional, loving families on both sides
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Just bought a house
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A good job
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(a dog that listens)
So life is good, but I need something to write about.
According to one baby book (as reported by Jen from back east):
Vincent: (Latin) victor, conqueror. See also Binkentios, Binky.Baby Binky? You must be kidding.
Also, popularity of Vincent over the last 100 years -- always hovering around 100.
Everything is falling into place. Katherine's napping on the couch, Vincent does not have jaundice and Suzy is on solid food (should be home tomorrow). I have the keys to the house and we've had our first estimate for removing the acoustic ceiling (cottage cheese) and repainting the interior. The contractor also wants to finish the garage, and at his prices, I almost can't afford not to :-) We'll see if he stays close to his estimate, but I'm almost making money.
