Orlando, Part 7

Legoland!  A short drive, but we made it without incident thanks to the Ipad.  Let's talk about what we did!

My favorite part about Legoland was that it was fast, all day long.  No long lines.  I hate those.  We did a dragon roller coaster twice (Tyler has become a big fan of coasters), a few smaller rides, and then a shooting Gallery with moving stuff and legos.  Jess and I tied, and Tyler didn't get any.  We are really good at rides.  

After lunch, we saw Wildstyle!  Tyler went up and nerviously waved hi for a while, we got some pictures, as you do, and then we found a place where you got to *build* with legos.  Tyler really liked that one.  We made a bunch of lego cars and raced them.  Tyler named his car "Serious Guy".  They had a place where you could build buildings with Duplos and then try and shake them down with earthquake power, but what I mostly learned from my experiments was that Duplos are really strong.  

Then Tyler got to drive a car.  It was all very controlled, but he definitely did it.  He made turns and avoided obstacles, unless mom asked him to wave hi.  It's not good to drive distracted.  We were quite proud.  

We did a bunch more rides, they move you around fast.  

Then was miniland, and that was neat.  That's where they have all the lego replicas of Vegas, the shuttle, Star Wars, various cities, it was really neat to see the stuff.  Also they had buttons that made things move.  

They had a waterski show we got to watch, too.  They had pirates, and action, and people going off jumps.  Neat.  There were fireworks at the end, and they only scared Tyler a little.  

And, of course, there were lots of legos to see.  Tyler and Jess got some ice cream while I wandered through shops.  Lots of things to like, but nothing that made me want to buy it right away.  I would have had to get it home afterwards.  I did end up getting a few small things to play with, but Jess is right, it's too small to have those around the house while Casey is learning to crawl.  Cats knock them off tables, they end up all over the place, and Casey is definitely at the stage where those things are too small and probably dangerous for her.  Soon, though.  I have some saved up for later.  

Then we came back to the hotel, got some sleep, and flew back home.  We had some fun at the airport, too.  Tyler made some new friends and drove cars and Dinosaur puppets around with them.  It was a good way to spend the time before the flight.  

Of course, then the kids got sick on the flight home, and we spent much of the past week with them at home fighting off fevers and bad attitudes.  It's definitely the most exhausting vacation I've ever had.  

-N

Orlando now 6 of them

Did you know that Epcot is still a thing?  I'm convinced that it only still exists because of 1) corporate sponsorship and 2) that sweet golf ball.  Anyway, we went.

The first thing we did was a ride where you got to 'design' your own car and then test drive it. Tyler did a pretty good job designing the car with a little help from dad.  He made a big truck with a jet engine and huge wheels.  Also there were flames on the side.  And it was green.  Then we got to go through a coaster.  Tyler was pretty into the coaster, especially when it went outside and went all fast.  Then he got a score for his car, and we went into the 'check out these cars' area, brought to you by Dodge.  Which was actually pretty cool, because one of Tyler's favorite things to do is to just sit in the drivers seat of a car.

We went on Mission: Space next.  It's in a centrifuge!  It was pretty intense, actually.  I clenched my legs, just in case.  Then you had to push some buttons or else...well, or else the computer did it for you.  I was curious what would happen if everyone on your 'team' deliberately tried to fail everything.  We probably would have still made it to Mars.

While Jess went on the ride, Tyler and I sat around and ate goldfish.  We took turns.

We went to 'The Seas" next.  There's a Nemo ride, and then an aquarium!  I liked the critters to see.  Eels, lionfish, cuttlefish, even a dolphin.  I had good fun.  I liked the part where they tried to make Sharks less scary. Cause they are just fish, after all.

We stopped for lunch and had to put up with a tantrum, but after that we got to go on Soarin', which is the dumbest name for a ride ever.  Kinda fun, though.  It's like Imax with a big moving chair.  Then a boat ride through their experimental greenhouse.  I hope some of their experiments work, because they look pretty neat.  Also, Tilapia!  Yum.

A few other rides.  Went through the imagination station where they actually used the phrase "next stop: imagination".  We decided to skip Captain EO, too weird even for us.  We saw some other stuff, and then decided to call it early.  Epcot is pretty strange.

We went to a Rainforest cafe with the family.  We had to do walk along Downtown Disney, which we had to do slowly, cause of grandparents, but I had Casey on my chest, and she was very cute, and was holding on to my fingers a lot.  We walked through the shops for a while, and then had some food at the Cafe.  Tyler was clearly concerned by the animatronic monkeys, but after a few storms he settled down.  He needed me to cover his ears for the first rainstorm, though.

I checked out the art store on the way out, which was pretty neat, but certainly too expensive, and then we went home and fell asleep.

Orlando the Fifth

The next day we went to Universal Islands of adventure, A similar thing, just with different intellectual properties involved.

Jess and I rode the Hulk coaster first, definitely too fast for Tyler, but we both really liked it.  Then we got to the Spider Man Ride.  No line, thank goodness, because we rode it like 5 times in a row.  It was really neat, it had 3d stuff, bookended by real props.  It made for a terrifically impressive ride.  Tyler loved it, though he mostly closed his eyes for the parts with the bad guys.  In the middle of all those rides, we went across the street to meet with the real, live, Spider Man.  He was pretty great.  Had spider-banter and everything.  He even did it for the spanish-speaking family in front of us.  Tyler told spider-man he had just been on his ride.  He also told spider-man that the bad guys "were using potty words outside the potty".  This is how you calibrate the moral compass of a three-year-old.

We rode a ride called the Pternadon flier, which you had to be *under* a certain height to ride.  But you got to bring an adult, so Tyler went twice and took each parent once.  Kind of him.  Then we got churros.

Next stop was Harry Potter Land!  It's really pretty looking.  They had a big Hogwarts building with a ride inside that Jess and I went on.  Similar to spider man, you went back and forth between video screens and real things, both of which looked pretty great.  The ride moved a lot as well, it was fun.  While Jess and I alternated rides, they had a ride-share room that was playing the Harry Potter movie.  Tyler was entranced.

There was a smaller roller coaster next door that was perfect for Tyler, he went on it three times.  Having less busy days at the park certainly makes it easier to enjoy yourself.  Then we got lunch.  They had butterbeer and Pumpkin Fizz.  The Fizz was pretty good, mostly just a soda, but with a nice flavor.  I'm pretty sure butterbeer might just be pumpkin fizz with foamed butter on top.  Certainly looks like beer, but tastes like candy.  I can see why they'd put it in the book.

Jess went on another ride while I looked around at the shops.  I bought a crap-ton of candy, but little else.  I considered the wands, but it didn't seem right to buy someone else's wand.  You'd want to make your own.  Anyway, while I was looking at things, the park got hit by a *downpour*.  I got trapped under an awning and ended up getting my shoes really wet.  Jess managed to ride it out with Tyler in the entrance of a bathroom.  Eventually the rain passed and we went on a roller coaster called the Dragon.  It was pretty fast and fun, though it took us some time to figure out how to reconnect for the parent-swap.

Then off to Dr. Seuss Land.  Which was neat, because Tyler finally got all the references.  We did a few rides there, and the Cat in the Hat ride is surprisingly creepy.  Tyler liked it enough to ride it twice, though.

Next we went off to a stuntman spectacular called Sinbad.  It started off with a firecracker bang that scared Tyler pretty good.  He covered his eyes and ears for a while, but eventually opened up and watched with wonder for the rest.  He got really excited when Sinbad picked up a sword.  Anyway there was fun, and stunts, and more fireworks at the end, but Tyler had a great time.  We met the stunt-people at the end, too.  Tyler asked if the Bad Guys were good now.  We told him yes.

A final thing called Poseidon's adventure, a neat tour through a few rooms with clever tricks.  My favorite was when they flashed you with light and when your eyesight came back, you were in a completely different room.  That was a neat trick.

Jess and Tyler wrapped up the day by going on Spider Man two more times (total of seven!) while I looked around the shops for anything interesting.  I didn't find anything of note.  On the way home we picked up Pizza, and went to sleep early.

Orlando thing 4

Our plan was to go back for more Magic Kingdom this day, but we decided to take it easy and go to the park later, getting as much sleep as we could after our gigantic roller coaster party the night before.  We had one more breakfast  with the Halls and sent them on their way home.  We relaxed around the hotel for a bit, too, making some plans and recharging batteries.

Then we went back to Magic Kingdom for a shortish day.  We went on the Winnie the Pooh ride a couple of times, which was nice because they had things for him to do in the line.  He liked the ride, too, which was funny because it reminded me a lot of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which scared the pants off of him last time we went to Disney.  So he's growing.

I liked taking Tyler on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.  For one, he really likes treehouses, and I got to try and explain the story to him.  It's a fun story.  I got to do that a lot on other rides, too.  There's a lot of disney lore and Tyler hasn't seen most of it.  Peter pan?  No idea.  Brave?  Not seen.  Lots of stuff like that.

After a few more rides we had lunch, then had to wait out a bout of rain.  In the afternoon we got to meet Mikey. He talks now!  I don't know how they queue it, but Mikey had a few phrases he could say, and his mouth moved and everything.  Tyler was mostly silent, but we got some nice pictures, and when we were done Tyler saw some Mikey dolls and got really excited, like this was a Mikey Mouse that was safe to talk with.  He played with the doll and shook his hand and everything.  It was cute.

When we stepped outside we were in the middle of a parade, so we stopped and watched.  There were some really impressive floats.  I liked the Tangled one a lot, the princess had a frying pan, and the guys were on swinging hammers.  We made our second trip to Splash Mountain after that and then departed the park.

Afternoon dinner was a thank-you dinner to Grandma and Grammie for watching Casey all day for us.  They insisted that they didn't need thanks, and that the Grandbaby kisses were thanks enough.  Still, we went out for some dinner, got home, and all fell asleep again.  We did that a lot, it was a fun vacation, but quite tiring.

Orlando, Post #3

The next day (Monday, for those keeping track) was all about the Magic Kingdom.  We started in the morning with the myself, Jess, and Tyler, and then continued in the evening with Shannon and her family, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We got there nice and early, and the park was largely unoccupied.  We took the opportunity to go on a Buzz Lightyear ride a few times.  You get a zapper and get to zap bad guys along a big, indoor track.  Tyler got 1200 points, which isn't bad until you consider that I got nearly 200,000!  I am the best at shooting things!  I didn't brag at Tyler too much.  We went on the ride twice cause there was no line.  My favorite way to do Disney rides: quickly.

We also went on the Tomorrowland Peoplemover, which was a nice tour of the area.  Another ride in the middle that's essentially just the Dumbo ride again (there are a lot of those, but Tyler does like them) and then a track where you can drive a car, though there is a guide bar in the middle so you don't crash into anything.  That ride was terrible, everytime Tyler hit the bar, it jerked the wheel out of his hands.  I took over the steering eventually and got us back home, but we were done with that one.  Also, gasoline powered cars in Tomorrowland?  Lame.

Mickey's Philharmagic was nice.  It was a 3D show with some puffs of air and a lot of classical Disney tunes.  The music was, as always, great to hear, even if the 3D was wonky.  Tyler's favorite part was where Donald got shot at us at the end of the movie and when the house lights came on, you turned around to see an animatronic Donald Butt stuck in the wall.  He laughed at that.

Small world, Tyler may have even remembered that one from before.  We saw the big clock at the end chime and tell the time.  Tyler wanted to have that happen every time, but we never got the timing right again.

We got some lunch (Disney is really, really good at feeding lots of people) and then Jess and Tyler went on a carousel while I wandered around and looked at stuff.  I ran into a parade in the central area that was quite insistent that 1) it was time to party and 2) you needed to put your hands up.

Then we went on a Roller Coaster with Tyler.  Definitely the most extreme ride he'd ever gone on, but he *loved* it.  We went on it twice.  He had a huge smile and kept saying "whee" as we zipped around corners.  It was called "Barnstorming", in case you're curious to look it up, but Tyler was a huge fan (and just tall enough to ride on it.  40 inches turned out be a magic number for him, lots of fun rides at that height.)

Then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which Tyler liked, and then Splash Mountain, with may have been his favorite ride of all, surprisingly enough for us.  He really liked the big drop at the end, though he closed his eyes because he "didn't want to get wet".  The main reason he didn't get wet is that he is pretty short, and most of the water just went right over him.

We were exhausted at this point, and because we took a shuttle in, we just took a taxi back.  We left the kids with Grandma, and, because we are crazy people, took the Hall family and went right back for a evening of more Disney.

It's called "Very Merry Christmas", and they limit the number of people that can go and keep the park open till midnight, which means you can go on lots of rides very quickly, if you want.  They also have free Cookies and Hot Chocolate, which we got right after we got some coffee, because we needed the energy.

Also, we ended up having a waffle with Nutella for dinner.  Not well balanced, but we had rides to do.

We did all the fast rides that Tyler wouldn't be able to do: the new 7 Dwarves ride which was not terribly exciting, but had a lot of neat things to look at.  We did all three of the 'Mountains' (Space, Thunder, and Splash) twice each.  I think I liked space mountain best, because Shannon kept shrieking at all the twists and turns.  The longest time was involved in simply walking from the exit back to the entrance again.

We were outdoors for one of the fireworks displays and took a moment to observe and wonder.  We had a nice spot, in between all the sites where they set off the fireworks.  Some of them were so big and so loud that I could actually feel them a little bit when they went off.  A fantastic finish and we even gave them some applause before running off to the next ride.

We completed the evening fully exhausted, doing a few last rides before piling into the truck to head back to the hotel.  We fell asleep on the drive home, but didn't get to sleep until about 1:00 in the morning.

Casey was hungry at 4.

Orlando, Part 2

Today was our Disney's Animal Kingdom day.  It's a neat little companion park.  We got up early, had some magic pancakes, and drove over with all of us (including Shannon and Family) in the Car.  It was really nice to have a big car on this trip.

We actually got there a little before the park opened, so we hung out by the Christmas tree in the entrance and had some coffee.  The place selling coffee also had gigantic Doughnuts and Cookies.  I declined, but we ended up getting a cookie to share with everyone on the way out of the park.

They had some neat things to see on the way in, people were standing around with huge spiders in boxes and neat bones for the kids to touch.  I liked that part.  The first ride we went on was one of those 3d+things poking you and air spraying you theatres called "it's hard to be a bug".  I liked it, but Tyler was terrified of the whole experience, and that was before the bugs attacked us.  Fortunately, he was gone by then, he would have really been spooked by that.

Expedition to Everest was their big coaster, and we went on that with the Hall Boys.  Tyler was too small, but we figured out you could do a parent swap and the second parent got to take two other people along, so we parlayed that into a couple of extra rides for interested kids.

They had a more Kid-friendly area nearby that we went to.  It had a dumbo-style ride that Tyler went on three times and really liked.  Nearby there was another ride that Tyler was tall enough for, a ride through a dark, animatronic dinoscape.  It moved a lot.  We told Tyler it might jostle him a bit, so he said the rid was a little "jossly".  Was dark and spooky for him, too, but he felt brave for having done it.  We got him a latex dino puppet to celebrate.

Nemo the musical.  A 30-minute stage production about the nemo movie.  Fun to watch, though Tyler wet his pants and had to use the  restroom halfway through.   Interesting staging tricks to move the fish around the stage.

The Safari was next, a wide, segregated area with animals that they let roam 'free' and big jeeps that drive through.  We saw a lot of neat animals, Rhino, Zebra, Giraffes, and several more whose name I don't remember.  We took lots of pictures, but I can't figure out how to get the blogger app to upload, so I'll have to share them another way.

We took a train to another area about conservation, the train ride was neat to see all the cages and other centers that they use to take care of the animals from the Safari.  At the end of the ride they had some more animal attractions: cute little tamarind monkeys, a petting zoo, and a presentation with a few animals.  I like any place with a petting zoo, and the cow they had was very friendly.

They had a Bird show as well that we went to.  Some of them flew *very* close to my head.  My favorite was actually during the pre-show where a parrot had been trained to take bottles and cans to the recycle bins, one flew by my head so close I could have touched him.  The show itself had some great birds, too.  Parrots, a hawk, an Owl, and many more.  Tyler liked it the best when one of the guys came out from the stage and sat on a bench next to us.

Then we caught a Lion King stage show that had clearly been inspired by Cirque de Solei.  They had some animatronics that were *stunningly* impressive.  They had a Simba that moved so often and with such detail that I was several times convinced their had to be someone inside.  I don't think their was, though.  Jessie's favorite part was watching Tyler's excited expression. He liked the performance so much he actually clapped on his own.

We did a couple more parent-swap rides on the Everest Coaster as the sun fell, and then we all made our way back home, put the kids to sleep, and then fell asleep soon after.

-N

Orlando, Day 1

I like writing these, mostly for me.  It's always fun to look back and remember them.later on.  So, first day!

Tyler spent most of the morning being a big jerk.  We had to put him in time out a couple of times, but after lunch and a nap he calmed down.  We picked him up from his nap and went right to the plane to go to Orlando!

Flight went really well, our plane had TVs on the back of the seats, so Tyler pretty much just watched TV the entire way.  I got to watch Lucy.  Fun movie, dumb premise.  Casey slept on Jessie most of the way.  Jessie didn't seem to mind.

When we landed, Tyler ran up and gave Grandma a big running hug.  He's getting good at that.

We all got to the hotel and fell asleep.  We set Tyler up with a long sofa mattress in the closet.  He really liked having his own room.

The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel.  The place had 'magic pancakes'.  It was a couple of robots that just sat there and would spit out a hot, fresh pancake every 20 seconds or so as needed.  Tyler really liked the magic pancakes.  I saw the thing break once at it just spit out one, huge pancake.

Our first stop on this, our mostly 'relaxing and hanging out with family' day, was just Downtown Disney.  We took both the kids and Grammie and had to park a little far away from where the action was, but our first stop was the Lego store.  We stayed there for like an hour.  They had a thing in front where you could build your own Lego Car and race it down a ramp.  Tyler was a huge fan.  The rest of the time he spent inside at the place where you can make your own Minifigures.  He made a few and we got them for him.  He really liked having "lego guys' to play with.  He would attach things to their feet and say they were Lord Business.  You have to have seen the Lego Movie to get the Joke.

We went back home to meet Anne-Marie, Jessie's cousin, and their little one.  He's one-and-a-bit, so he can walk but not talk, and he thought Tyler was the Bees Knees.  When we had to put Tyler down for a nap, he cried because his friend was gone.  Eventually, though, Shannon, Jessie's Sister, and her two older kids showed up.  They played with the little cousin.

We all went out to a nearby park to take some pictures and let the kids play.  Organizing that many young kids is always a challenge, but we managed.  I haven't looked at the pictures yet, actually.  I probably should.  Anyway, the kids had a blast on the playground and got out a lot of energy.  Then dinner!

We had reservations for Bucca Di Beppo, but as it turns out the place we were going was in a mall, and for those of you looking at a calendar, this was Black Friday.  Fortunately, we gave ourselves plenty of leeway, and once we got past the traffic getting out of the place, parking wasn't that hard.  We made it right on time.  Good for us.

We were at the Pope Table, which is huge and round and has a couple of neat features.  1) A huge lazy Susan that all the food goes on so everyone can eat it.  2) The Pope's head in the middle (yes, the current one) 3)  The top is arched so that the person directly across from you gets your voice funneled right into your ears.  It's really odd, but neat.  We ordered so goddamn much food you have no idea.  We put a pretty good dent in it before we all got stuffed, and then jessie ordered dessert.  She got a brownie sundae the size of Casey.  Collectively we polished it off, but it took some work.

We were loud and laughed a lot, and since our table was special, we got featured on the 'intro tour' a few times.  We started toasting people when they came around for the tour.  We got a lot of smiles from the wait staff for that.  Also I got to give our server a big tip, which felt nice.

Home and food comas for all.  Anne-Marie drove home with her family, but Shannon and her family stayed in the hotel near us and joined us for a few Disney days.

-N

Tyler and the Shingwovel

Tyler invented a new word, I thought you all should know about it, because it's for something that I'm pretty sure no default word exists for.  You know that thing you use to wrap up Christmas lights, one that has long sides?  Do you know what the word for that thing is?  I do.

Feel free to use this word as you need, when defeating bad guys and putting them in jail, or what have you.  Just make sure you credit Tyler as appropriate.  It's his word.  

-N

Kidneys etc

I'm pretty sure everyone here knows about this, but I wanted to note in the family timeline that I'm planning to donate a kidney. I've been planning to do this for a long time now, but I wrote about it here, in case you haven't seen that yet.

Perhaps Kels or even a guest blogger will be interested in sharing more about what that looks like to Team GW. Perhaps they will be interested in writing for my hypothetical book of short stories about kidney donation. If finding a job takes too long, that's going to be what I work on to keep myself busy. More on that later.

Things are good here- we are planning a camping trip to the Olympics for Thanksgiving, and STILL get to eat stuffing with the family this Sunday. Work is winding down, but I feel like this is a nice time of year for some free time.

More Kids, by Volume

I still have the same number of kids, but it's struck me that you are continually getting more kid available.  Especially in those early months, you get pounds and pounds of kid added on every month.  They're older now, and doing different things, would you like to hear about them?

Casey is still the smiliest baby in the world.  She still only has her two bottom teeth, but she will show those puppies to *anyone*.  She loves to see new faces and give them her biggest smile, it really melts the heart.  She's crawling, now, too.  Properly crawling, even.  She had been doing some productive army-crawl stuff, but now she gets up on all four limbs and covers *distance*.  We are officially at the point where you have to be careful, because the place where you put her down may not be where you need to go to pick her up.  This effect can be carefully mitigated by surrounding her with toys, so that if she tries to escape there is something to distract her attention and get stuffed into her mouth.  Swords, oddly enough, are a big hit in this regard.

I'll tell you the cutest way that this shows up, though.  You'll be doing something else, either on your own or with Tyler, and tiny fingers will grab your toes.  That part is pretty nice.

Also, she likes to crawl up to my pants and put her mouth (her always so-drooly mouth) on my pants.  I'm not sure if it's a kiss or if she's trying to eat me.  Though given how she interacts with nearly everything at this point, I suspect it's the eating one.

The one thing we're a little concerned with is that she's not made much linguistic progress.  She's still pretty limited to raspberries, vowels, and "kkkkkkkkkk".  Which I guess is a consonant.  We'll get her checked out to make sure there's nothing wrong, but she may just be waiting until she knows what to do with communication before just *flaunting* it all the time.

Tyler grows.  We've implemented a plan that I rather like.  If Tyler does his chore (feeding the cats) and eats his dinner (still 50/50, I put lots of veggies in things) he get 15 minute of ipad time.  He doesn't yet realize it, but this isn't a kindness for him.  For us, it gives us a reprieve from having to keep him always entertained, and it serves as something else we can take away if he's being bad.  I feel pretty Machiavellian when I think about it.

He likes to play 'Good guy and Bad guy' with me, but I'm always the bad guy.  I told him I don't like to be the bad guy, and he said I could be the bad guy for a while and then be the good guy later.  So we did that until he realized that he was going to have to be the bad guy, and he didn't like that.  So we talked about how you have to share if you want people to play with you.  You sometimes have to do nice things for other people if you want them to do nice things for you.  He was quiet for a while after that.

Today, He said I could be the good guy and he would be the bad guy.  We switched after a while, but I felt proud about that one.

Also I got sick this weekend, and now the entire household is coughing pretty much all night.  I've spent some nights in the guest bedroom with the monitors just to let Jess sleep.  It's noisy.  But we did have a date night, the two of us.  We went to a board game Cafe.  Think game store, but they will also sell you beer or coffee.  We played Lords of Waterdeep and "A Few Acres of Snow" and Jessie kicked my butt at both of them.  She's vicious.

-N

Gold medal lesson

I've been reading "The Boys on the Boat," an early birthday present from Mom. The book resonates for me because I went to the University of Washington during the years the boat in question was hung  in a commons room at the Husky Union Building.  At least two or three times a week, I'd walk past the boat and the small plaque that said something like "Gold Medal, Berlin Olympics, 1936" and feel an unspoken, surge of pride in our Husky heritage.

I had no idea of how much effort and drama went into winning that race.  Read the book, please.

The part I like best is towards the end.  The UW crew has just blown away the other crews in the US Olympic trials in Princeton NJ.  The big wheels in the Olympic committee take the UW coach aside and tell him, oh by the way our committee has no money to actually send you to Berlin.  If you can't raise $5,000 by the end of the week, we'll have no choice but to send the second place boat from the Pennsylvania Athletic Club.

Remember this as the height of the Great Depression.  Penn may have had wealthy people standing by with pockets full of money, but hardly anybody else did.

The books says the UW coach, Al Ulbrickson, didn't bat an eye.  He immediately huddled with sportswriters from the Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times, who started writing dramatic columns and headlines to be telegraphed back to Seattle overnight.  Then the book continues, "within minutes, phones began to ring in Seattle."

The director of the UW Alumni started calling prominent UW graduates.  The Seattle Chamber of Commerce sent telegrams to every chamber in "every city, town, and hamlet in the state."  UW "coeds grabbed tin cans and started going door to door."  Hometowns of the nine crew members sent what they could, $50 from Montesano, the timber town on the coast, $50 from Bellingham, and on and on.  In the first, day UW students sold $1,500 worth of lapel tags for 50 cents each.

"At the end of the second day, T.E. Davies, chairman of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce put a $5,000 certified check in an envelope and airmailed it to Al Ulbrickson."

Call me idealistic, but that's my idea of what people, especially Northwest people, can do when we work together.  Maybe someday we can do it again.

Remembering Uncle Bob

Today we went to the memorial service for Uncle Bob. I can't say that Bob and I were close, but my personal feeling is that grief is easier when shared, so I wanted to be there to support the members of his (and my) family who were grieving. And you know what? You always learn about the deceased at a funeral, and chances are you see people you ought to see more often. If it weren't so dang sad, funerals would be really cool.

Here are some things I learned about Uncle Bob today:

• Uncle Bob was a union carpenter. 
• He worked on the Kingdome and Seattle Center.
• He built rigging to support shipments sent for the drilling efforts on the North slope.
• He loved Lifetime movies.
• He was a swimmer.
• He ate a lot of icecream. Like, a whole lot. Every day, by the sounds of it.

Because I had the privileged of going to the service with Nana (and Mom and Dad), we also go to swing by the address where she grew up- 510 9th Ave SE. (She says it surprising which things stick in your memory.) The house is gone, but the address is just a few blocks from Meridian, the main drag of Puyallup, and parking for the State Fairgrounds. She told us there used to be a Japanese internment camp on the corner there. That's a bit of local history that I've never really recognized so directly.

We got to see (and hug, and share memories with) some of the farther flung cousins, which was great. It made me really glad I was able to go. Maybe we shouldn't wait until the next funeral to do that again.

Matt Makes Me Crazy

 You know how there are some couples where one half of the couple has, maybe, a strong personality or a very conspicuous habit, and you can see HUGE pull that has on the other person? The sort of, "Wow, if I had to live with someone like that, I'd go nuts!" situation? Well, I think, in a way, I might be the other half of that couple- but probably not the way you are thinking.

It's not that Matt has a strong personality, but some how, living with him has desensitized me to some things I NEVER thought I'd be desensitized to. Here is just a punch list:

• While at speed on my bike, I collided with a squirrel, who was flipped into my pedals, bounced off my leg, before he ran away. I screamed a lot, (a LOT) and then rode my bike home.
• Sometimes, I deadlift.
• For more than a minute, I was considering the feasibility of running a half marathon. (I don't have any special love for running, it's just easy to do wherever you are.)
• I ran my first 10k. It took 1hr and 17 min. I repeat, I was running for an hour and seventeen minutes.
• Matt had a race that I didn't want to wait around for, so I made our friend Adam go on a 10 mile hike with me.(We saw the changing of the larches- which was beautiful)
• The previous two bullets happened on the same weekend. My hips are punishing me today. What kind of crazy person have I become??

You see, I live with someone who apparently rides 100 miles a week, who has at least one race booked for every weekend in the foreseeable future, and who gets really weird if he doesn't get a proper sweaty workout in every day. And of course, our friends support this crazy healthy lifestyle by participating in as much running, hiking and biking as is imaginable. It's inevitable that I'd get sucked into this craziness, and even forget that while I can sometimes do one epic thing, stringing them together doesn't make them easier. Ha! Of course, Matt makes all this look quite effortless. He will often ride 14 miles in a day in his commute, then run 5 miles before dinner. And maybe lift weights with me, if I need his help spotting anyway. He ran the 5K version of that 10K I ran, and he came in second. To Jeffrey. Oh, and they both decided to run the 5K, because they had a cyclocross race on Sunday. TWO RACES in ONE weekend. Living with He-man kinda makes you want to stay in shape.

But of course, now he is in the kitchen doing the dishes and singing along to MAGIC! and the pop charts like no one can hear him. ("Marry that girl, I'm gonna marry her anyway...") I suppose this marital influence goes both ways.

On perhaps a related note, I'm struggling to make my weight lifting goals (2-3 times per week, training to squat, deadlift and press my own weight). I'm about halfway there, but it's slow going. Does anyone want to be my virtual weight lifting buddy?

I don't much like being a Parent

I feel like venting about this for a while, and being as my children are still too young to read, I feel safe putting it up here.  Perhaps some day they'll be trolling through my electronic history and stumble across this.  If so, good job, detectives!  The treasure is buried under Old Man McGillicutty's mansion.

I've given it some thought, and you know what I think I hate the most about parenting?  It's that in far too many circumstances, it's easy to identify the right choice, because it's the one that makes your children less happy.  We speak of childhood, collectively, as this great time of wonder and exploration.  It's not.  I'd be properly chuffed if Tyler exhibited a little more wonder and explored a little more.  Mostly it seems like childhood is screaming when things get difficult or confusing, and always trying to eat foods that are bad for you.  I think that line might not fit in a sonnet as well, though.

I've been waiting for a moment, or even a gradual transition, where I start to really *feel* good about parenting.  Where he does something that melts my heart or makes me proud to be a parent.  I certainly didn't feel it right away, but I was prepared for that.  Dad's sometimes don't feel that connection right away.  But Tyler is coming up on three and a half years old and I still view him as largely a series of chores.  Even playing with him isn't that much fun.  The games we are allowed to play together are pretty restrictive, mostly involving him ordering me around until I get tired of it.  This doesn't surprise me, really.  He's three.  We can't really break out Dominion or Scrabble to pass the time and bond.  But, I dunno, playing with him now just feels like work.  I'll keep doing it because the books have told me it's really good for him, but let's not kid ourselves, I'd rather be doing almost anything else on my own.

I'm afraid, actually afraid, of being generous with him, of letting him have too much of what he wants; I can't keep it up.  Any reward must be transitory, of course, and he's capable of becoming a real monster when you have to turn off the TV or take away the IPad.  So I'm reduced to just being 'proud' of him.  It feels so empty.  I hope that he likes me and that such gestures give him some sort of positive reinforcement, because it feels like the only tool of positive reinforcement I'm allowed to use.  And, of course, I don't want to give him too much dessert because I'm trying to lose weight, and on top of everything else there is to do in a day, saying no to ice cream too often strains my self-control.

Of course, we are only a few years into the whole experiment, and raising a 6 or 10 or 15 year old has to be a completely different animal, but *man*.  People say all the time that they love their kids.  I'd certainly start breaking fingers if anyone tried to take them away, But I look at him now and I mostly just feel...tired.

-N

Monthly goals

I made my two fitness goals this month: Cycle 100 km, and run 50 km. (Total, over the month).
Strava tells me I've biked 176 km, and run 51 so far. Hooray! Will see if I can keep up next month. I was pleased that the hardest part was making the time, not the fitness required. But it's going to be harder to make the time now that the weather is getting dodgier, bike commuting seems more questionable, and late night runs require more planning. But, it's nice to maintain a (comparatively) high level of fitness, so that when it is nice out, I can easily go for long hikes without killing myself.

One of my other goals for the month was job hunt related. It's definitely time in the process where I need to be putting out regular application, but I'm still... unsure what I'm looking for.

I made myself go to a networking meeting for people who are arguable in my instructional design field. And I hated it! We had nothing in common, I found them difficult to communicate with, and it was a nightmare to try and imagine myself as some self serving middle manager, fretting first and foremost over "personal branding" and leadership coaching. (Especially as it became clear that no one was in perfect agreement about what those things meant.) I might be too objective for this career path.

But, rather than write another "Woe is the perennial job hunter," I'm doing something about it. One of my coworkers used to work as a career coach, and currently supervises a team of people who help students find jobs. She agreed to work with me (for super cheap!) because she wants to do more career development stuff, and I need help! She is a very positive person, and because we work together, she has a better sense of my capabilities than if I tried to explain this to someone in a one hour session. Step one is describing some positive previous work experiences, and describing my dreams for my next job. It's amazing to me how little detail I have in the dream, but we are just starting the process. I've also been sending really nosy emails to people on campus, so hopefully I can rustle up some interesting opportunities for myself. Today I realized I have 14 weeks left in my contract, and will have 7 weeks of vacation/holiday/sick leave to expend, so now is a good time to get serious about What Next.

I know other family members are thinking about career moves, so I'll let you know how this coaching works out.

Telling some Stories

Casey likes to talk now.  It's not babble, which is when your baby starts mimicking the sounds of language.  This is some sort of pre-babble, where she just looks at you right in your face and sticks out her tongue and raspberries you.  Then you raspberry back.  Then she repeats.  This can last up to an hour. Then it transitions to happy shrieking.

Today, I was putting Tyler to sleep.  He grabbed my arm, rolled over and just said.  "Stay, Daddy."  It's been a while since he's done that.

Casey can keep her head up really well now, as well as roll from her front to her back.  We're working on sitting up, but there are two problems.  One is that whenever she gets excited, she likes to straighten out her body.  This means she flings herself onto her back without warning.  The other is that whenever she sits, she kinda leans forward, and forward, and forward, until she's essentially eating her toes.  Then she rolls to her side and then is right back on her back again.  It might be intentional.

I'm running infrequently, but being able to run at all with the kids in the house is a pretty big accomplishment.  Casey sleeps really well, though she can occasionally be hard to put down.  We've taken to cutting off her naps at 4:00, or sometimes earlier.  It means she gets a little loopy in the late afternoon, but she usually perks up when you nibble on her fingers.  Anyway, my 3 mile time is still roughly 45 minutes, which isn't good, but it's faster than when I'm sitting down.  And if the calorie counter is to be believed, it burns a lot of fuel.  (I'm not convinced it is to be fully believed.)

Fran was here last month, and Mom and (eventually) Dad are here this month.  We're going to go to a photo studio and get adorable pictures of everyone taken.  And then we aren't going to share those pictures at all.  We're just going to hoard them and look at them in dark corners where no one else can see.  This is a joke, of course.  Watch out for Christmas presents.

Tyler took some swim classes.  We're not trying to turn him into an Olympian, we just want him to feel comfortable (and safe) around a pool.  He started out pretty nervous, but got better at each class.  By a few times in, he was excited to go.  He's a decent swimmer now, he just keeps popping his head up instead of forward, and when you tell him to jump in the pool, he sits down, turns around, and shuffles in backwards.  Not a bad reflex.

It was my birthday last week!  I got to make a yellow cake.  It was really good, despite the fact that Jessie thought it was dry but who cares about her opinion anyway.  I haven't had any Ice Cream yet.  I'm saving that for later.  I don't eat ice cream as a matter of responsibility now.  Not eating ice cream reminds me that I'm being careful about what I eat.  The last time I had any was during my birthday last year.  I figure once a year is pretty responsible, I'm just going to reserve that splurge for another time.

I still hover around between 202 and 205 on the scale, with 199 always hovering just out of reach.  I'm really hungry, though.

If something big and dramatic happens, I'll try and let you know.

-N

Short sweet nothings

Another round of vignettes from our life.

The third of 4 weddings was over the weekend. We got to show up early, help with the set-up and generally goof off with the groom's part of the wedding party. It was a beautiful spot in the woodsy part of Skagit county, and I got to catch up with some old friends from high school.

The fourth wedding will be next weekend in Toronto. Matt won't be joining me (see last entry on Death Valley).

* * *

We have an apple tree.
Like all the things in our garden, it must learn to thrive with a steady pace of benign neglect. It was pruned last year, and had precious little attention since then.
Wednesday night, we pulled down 60 pounds of apples. From the fruit left on the tree, I expect another 60 lbs.
Matt wants to press and ferment these. I would be happy to make a lot of applesauce. We will see what gets accomplished before we both leave town again.

* * *

I defended my PhD more than 3 years ago. Pretty cool right? Every so often, I will ask myself if I miss benchwork, and if I should go back and do a post-doc. This is important, because many types of funding for postdocs are only available for 5 years after defense. I still don't feel like going back to the bench, but I was reminded on another type of fellowship that is only available for 5 years after defense. It's a science policy fellowship. My application is due at the end of the month.

* * *
My work has gotten "busy." To help my boss during a course of medical leave, I was assigned to project manage a small contract to create educational simulations. Fortunately for her, my boss has had much more energy and enthusiasm for her work than anyone has predicated. As a result, but job is not busy with decision making and leadership, but composing and waiting for replies to emails that need to be coordinated. This is less glamorous than I expected.

* * *

I've been lifting weights some this summer. I have a set of hobbyist weights that Shaoshu gave me when he moved. My big lifts (squats, deadlift, bench press) are just moving into the range of weight that would allow me to put weight on the 45 lb Olympic weight bar at a normal gym.
That's kinda cool.

Mosaic of Happenings

A few short notes of no special relevance, in no particular order:

I rode my bike to work on Friday.
Matt rides his bike in every day- the 7 mile trip takes him 20-25 min each way.
My 9+ mile trip took about an hour.
My friend Adam drove me home, so we could begin our weekend adventures. Next time, tomorrow, I will be driving my bike past some of the scary/trafficy part of the ride, and still probably riding 6ish miles, in 45 min or so. But I have to ride home, too.

* * *

I've been running "a lot"* lately. I bought some new trail running shoes, since my knees report my old ones were wearing out. The first pair I bought were super light weight, looked like a unicorn puked them up (vibrant reds, purples and yellows all swirled together), and made my toes fall asleep when I ran. I traded them in for a blue pair that look like keds skate shoes. The new ones meet the approval of both my knees and toes. And ankles.

*I can claim to be running a lot based on my current Strava standings. Strava is an app that tracks your mileage, records, etc, and lets you virtually race others. I've joined a "how many miles can you run this month?" challenge every month this summer, and I've been in the  top half every time. That's right- I run more than some people!

* * *

This year we were invited to 4 weddings, 3 of them in August.
One of Matt's old roommates got married a couple weekends ago. They found a beautiful castle/B&B in Tacoma to get married in. They rented out the whole B&B for thier family, but most of the family decided to make the drive home after, so we got to stay in the castle over night.
Castle weddings are awesome.
Also, macaroons are a legit substitute for wedding cake, especially (but not only) if you are marrying a French person.

* * *

This weekend, we did a hike to Mt Shuksan and Lake Ann.The trail was storybook perfect, with long meandering creeks that had wide, flat, not-slippery stones at easy points across them, and switch backs that gently climbed us the ~2,000 feet over a ridge.
The appeal of Mt Shuksan is that there are glaciers there. I haven't seen a lot of glaciers not in Alaska. Mt Shuksan has "hanging glaciers." We tried to guess how a hanging glacier was different, and I wondered why one mountain would have more than one glacier.
The actual view looked like some bits of a big glacier were stuck on the side of this mountain- so little compared to glacier attached to ice fields.
Still totally worth the hike.

We also saw some pika.

* * *

For Labor Day weekend, I am going to a wedding in Toronto, and Matt is going to spend two weeks in Death Valley doing "summer testing" of a truck. I assume this means they stress test the truck- driving it hot and hard in the worst possible climate to see if they can kill it. This seems like the weirdest possible way to explore Death Valley, but I'm really excited for Matt to go on this trip.

I'm also excited for when he comes back- we might actually spend a weekend in our own house.
Or we might go camping. With mountain bikes.
I'm excited for both options.

I need a new attitude

It's getting to be that time in the job cycle when I need to look for a new job. The current contract ends in December with no chance of renewal and it is time to move on. I like my current job and my current team, but I'm ready to try something more challenging (honestly, my work seems to have vast periods of awkward boredness to contend with).

But.... every time I sit down to do something job hunting related- update my resume, seek openings, put in applications- I find myself feeling really acutely like I want to cry. And crawl into bed forever. And cry some more. I'm not sure what it is exactly- I actually think it might be a poor habit from the YEAR I spent looking after graduation. But every time, I spend 20 minutes on LinkedIn, open a bunch of links that seem somewhat promising and then basically talk myself out of every single one of them. Ugh, that commute would be terrible. I couldn't stand to work on a sales team. That product is too mind numbingly boring to work with. There feels like there is no good opportunity for me and I feel hopeless. And then I either lose my momentum to any number of internet distractions, or I push through until I can't go any further without a hug.

Which is weird, because I'm actually fairly optimistic about my next job hunt. I've got some good experience and some interesting work to show, so I think I am well poised to find myself something more tailored to my interests. When I talk about what I am looking for, or go meet people for the purpose of talking about a job, I feel good. I have a story to tell. I know where I am headed.

And then I get home to my computer and it is all exsistential doubt.

So I'm thinking I need some new, more uplifting job hunting strategies. Any thoughts?

$30,000 in the bag!

Guys! Over at the other blog... we did it!

If you want to get in on the last chance to donate for this crazy affair, you can still donate to my 5K run on Sunday. But the important thing is that you don't have to, because I already hit the $30,00 mark.  How cool!!

Writing about my Vasectomy

Let's get caught up first. It's summer now, the weather is heating up, but is not yet at the point where everything outside is terrifying. Casey is still a baby, and still doesn't do much, but she smiles a lot more now, especially if you've been away at work for a while and you come back and look her in the face. She likes that. Tyler is still three, so he's mostly a big jerk, but sometimes he runs up when you're leaving day care to make sure to give you one last hug, and that's pretty nice. Also I got a new desktop computer.

Jessie decided, because she is a crazy person, that all of the faucets in the house needed to be changed. I attempted to change one of them, and then we hired a plumber. Which was nice, because they also swapped out all the angle valves in the house, which were all getting old, so that we don't have to worry about that for a while. It took a professional most of a day to get that done. I don't even want to think about how long it would have taken me. Money well spent.

Still working at the same job...starting giving myself injections of medicine and I'm getting used to the needle...got new phones that are very fancy and nice...starting to exercise again though my three mile pace is still really slow...yeah that about catches us up.

Monday I went in to see a Urologist named Dr. Chopp. I picked him because I wanted to get a vasectomy, and if you were going to get a vasectomy, I can't imagine why you would pick anyone else in the world to do it. After a quick consultation I decided to get the procedure done on Thursday. Quick turnaround on these procedures, let me tell you.

They offer you a 'mild sedative' if you have someone to drive you home. I wasn't sure what it was going to be, but it turns out they just gave me a couple of Zanax. An anti-anxiety medicine. If this is ever an option for you, take this medicine. I did, and am very glad.

The physical process of a vasectomy isn't that interesting, or hard to figure out. They go in, make some tiny cuts, stitch things together and you walk out under your own power. That's not the rough part. The rough part is laying down while a man takes sharp instruments to your most instinctively protected regions. It's panic-inducing. It's scary. I was lying there mostly just trying not to think about what was going on, especially when I felt stuff...moving. It didn't hurt bad, just a sting from the numbing agent. I did ask for a little extra after one of the snips felt a little harsh, but that's it. It's just laying there, thinking about what's going on. Trying not to move. Trying not to panic. I ended up humming the spider man theme song to myself a few times. Fortunately the procedure doesn't last long, but it's scary.

Later that night, I just was brushing my teeth and thinking about the surgery a little bit. Just thinking about it, hours later, almost made me throw up. The thinking about it...that's definitely the worst.

Time heals that, though, as well as the physical wounds. I'm definitely 'swaggering' around the house a lot more (sauntering?) and I can't move quickly. Also, doctor instructions were to essentially be a couch potato for the first few days. So there have been a lot of ice packs, and Jess has been doing a lot of parenting. I considered doing it on a Friday, but having somewhere to take Tyler for the first few days has been a real treat. I can take care of Casey a bit. You can do a lot of baby-rearing without getting up from the couch.

I'll definitely need some more time before I really know how I feel about this all the way. My head is quite certain, but my heart is more nervous. Especially as my biological instinct is to protect that area with everything I can. Some distance will put things in better perspective. I just wanted to write this all down so I don't forget about it later. I will want to remember things like this.

-N

Casey Smiles now Sometimes

I'm still not sure what causes it, some mood or experience or thought that she has that flits through her mind and is gone, but sometimes Casey smiles now.  She has little grins sometimes, and then sometimes they are full-on, full-face smiles that just melt the heart.  Especially since I've spent more time just hanging out and looking at her.  I like the quiet time I get with her, she doesn't ask me questions until I'm too tired to answer and then ask why I am using my 'tired voice'.  She just looks at me and is silent, as if daddy is here and that means that nothing can possibly be wrong with the world.

Today Fran goes home, so it's back down to just the four of us.  I'm pleased that I have the freezer well stocked with easy casserole dinners.  Easy to make and easy to clean up.  I keep thinking it will be 'quieter' now, somehow, now that it's just our familiy, but the 3-year-old is still with us, so it can't be *that* much quieter.

I haven't been exercising too much, the idea that I should purposefully make myself *more* tired just seems like a poor idea.

I ordered a new computer this weekend.  A desktop this time, for playing more robust games.  I'm excited by the prospects, of course.

Yesterday Tyler was singing "The Farmer in the Dell"...
T:  The Farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell.  High ho the mary oh, the farmer in the dell.
Me:  ...
T:  The Farmer takes his life, the farmer takes his life.  High ho the mary oh, the farmer takes his life.
Me:  Tyler, it's "picks his wife".
T:  No, it's "Takes his life."
Me:  Tyler, "Takes his life" means "Kills himself".
T: Oh.
Me:  ...
T: The farmer kills himself, the farmer kills himself.  High ho the Mary oh, the farmer kills himself...

-N

Weekend of Champions

I would like to support some of the blog action that has been happening here. And while my pictures aren't as cute, there are pictures. 

As part of the whole, raise $30K for charity scheme, and a general sense of learning to lead a fitter lifestyle, we've been trying to run some 5Ks this summer.  I just completed a training program for running 5K distance (using the Pear app and a heart rate monitor- it was pretty great), so I figured we shoudl find a race. Hence, the OFIT 5K for Queen Anne Public Schools. Also the race map indicated this was a mostly flat course, along Elliot Bay's beautiful waterfront. Sign me up! And Matt! And my friend Jessica who just decided to get in to running, thanks to the Oatmeal. 

My goal was to finish in 45 min. 

I finished in about 42. 

My friend's goal was to finish.

She finished about 1 minute behind me (she let me pace her for about the first 3 miles).

Matt's goal was not to wear himself outbefore his bike race the next day.

He finished third overall and first in his age group.

So all around success. What was great about this event- and I have found many similar events in the region- was that there were a lot of children running. Or "running." This is cool, because it really mellows out whatever sense of competitiveness there might be for a 5K. And it pretty much guarantees I can pass someone. Yes, some/many/most of those people were less than 10 years old. Yes, one of those 6 year olds had a prosthetic leg. Whatever. My training worked, and I was able to run as far and as fast as I planned, and I felt great afterwards, and we went to eat eggs for breakfast. It was cool.

Oh, and Matt was a ribbon.  

Today, Sunday, was the final race in the mountain bike series Matt has been riding in this winter/spring. This is a fun event, with cash prizes to top finishers, and the seasons awards are given out. Matt wanted to do well in this race, in general because he has been doing well this seasons, but in particular because of the chance to win some $$. I took a cow bell out and cheered people on. Or tried.

Let me give you a sense of what spectating mountain biking is like. So the riders are launched in groups by age- ~10 under 18 riders, ~12 under 29 riders, 6 under 40 riders, etc... the launch 2 minutes apart. The spread of talent and pace is such that the fastest over 50 rider will definitely pass the slowest under 18 rider... and everyone else in the field. So when Matt starts a race like this, he looks at passing ~26 other guys. He has a decent start (meaning he launches and elbows his way in front of most of the guys in his age group). 

There was one very technical section that was easy for spectators to watch, with these guys bounding over tree roots, then landing and turning immediately on a gravel road and shooting off uphill into the woods again. It's 10 minutes from the start line. I try to put out of my mind that there seems to be a lot of minor injury in this event- guys regularly laugh about scrapped and bloodyknees or elbows. About 6 riders in, and under 29 rider jumps out of the trees, and his bike slides sideways on the gravel out from under him. He is embarassed, but looks over his shoulder (no oncoming riders, just a small crowd of spectators who start clapping when he stands up), grabs the bike and starts running to flatter ground. This guy will definitely have gravel in his shins.

Matt goes through in a tight group with 4 or so other riders. The person at the front of his group looks like he might be 15, but it's hard to guess other ages. For each of them, as the come flying out of the woods, thier tires skid but the hold it together and continue on. I'm about to go to the next spot for spectating when another pair of kids come out of the woods. The first makes the transition with enough grace, but the second does not. The rider is down, and I can see he is tangled up in his bike enough that spectators lean in to give him a hand. I see one of the organizers go sprinting down the hill to catch a first aid kit, and in the meantime, someone has stepped into the woods to tell the next riders to watch out for the kid laying in the trail. Shudder.

The kid was fine. I saw him cooling down later with an icepack taped to his knee while he pedaled around. 

The general take away is that mountain bike spectating is boring and then scary. And then boring again if you are lucky.

Anyway, Matt came in 3rd overall on this race. He won $40 for this feat.

 

 Third overall was also first in his age group. He won $40 for this. And another medal.

 

After a season of racing, Matt was first in his category for (Intermediate riders, aged 30-39). 

He got a sweet plaque. This will probably go with the rest of his hardware, gathering dust in various corners of his office and garage.

An odd time not to be tired

Current time is...2:30.  Yes, that's in the morning.  It's odd to be sitting here because I'm fairly sure that I'm not tired enough to go to sleep, but it's been that kind of week.  To update from the last blog, Casey and Mom are both doing well.  Casey nurses infrequently, but Jess has been producing plenty of food via pumps, much more than we ever got with Tyler.  Casey's stomach continues to expand, though, so we still end up going through a lot of formula, but whatever gets the most energy into the baby seems to be the best way to go.  We have an appointment next Wednesday to verify her weigh gain, but I'm not worried, kid has been doing great.

Some more odd things about Casey, in list form so I can get to a lot of them.

1) You know how babies are supposed to grab your hands?  Casey doesn't do that much.  Her hands and feet are far to active to be holding onto one thing for too long.

2) Tyler is starting to get more curious about Casey.  He still hasn't wanted to hold her, but he helped me feed her today, and she loves watching him when he plays, which he likes.

3) She's been having rather fitful sleep recently.  There are times when she's dead to the world for hours, and then times when I'm fairly sure she's asleep, but she's constantly making noise.  I have her out here with me in the living room so Jess can sleep better in the bedroom.

4)  She's started looking at things more.  I get to feed her a lot, and she watches my face with the prettiest of eyes.  I hope she likes me sometimes.

5) She's stared to have longer awake periods.  That means we can put her on the play mat and interact with her for a while. She doesn't do too much, but she'll watch things very closely.  It's sweet.

6)  It's still too early to say, but we might have another good sleeper on our hands.  She sleeps for long stretches, and we have to keep waking her up after 3 or even 4 hours in order to feed.  Also, her stomach is getting larger, so she can eat a lot more, which is good for her, I think.  We get to let her sleep more after the first two weeks, so we'll see then how long she wants to rest for without us waking her up for feedings.

Anyway, I don't know what I've done to get myself awake at this time of night, but I'm using the time to study up on old EE stuff.  Might as well be productive if I'm going to have the time to spare.

-N

Yes, more about Casey

Well, it's almost time for us to head home.  We're going through the last few steps of our discharge from the hospital.  Jess has had her final checkup with the OB, and looks to be doing well.  Casey has been seen by the Pediatrician, who gives us high marks for all that we're doing to get breastfeeding as well as keeping her well fed.  Casey's weight has been climbing steadily as we've been using the supplemental forumula, and Jessie's milk has started to come in, which is really cool.

Casey is also the best baby.  Again.  I know, hardly fair.  We've fed her, and she's spent the last, I dunno, nearly an hour just hanging out on the bed with mommy and being entirely goddamn adorable.  She's looking making faces, receiving kisses and nibbles, grabbing hands, and showing off all her cutest baby skills.  No fussing. no nothing.  Just cute faces and and curious eyes .

Nursing continues to get better.  Jessie still winces (and occasionally curses outright) whenever Casey latches, but we've gotten pretty great with the suplemental feeding

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Time warp!

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I started this entry before we came home.  After writing those first few lines, it was time to start packing things up and knocking things off the checklist of stuff you have to do before the hospital will let you go.  It was pretty busy.  I got everything packed up, and then Jess walked, yes, actually walked, out of the hospital to the car waiting outside.  She's doing much better with her recovery the second time around.

We drove home at about 2 on Saturday, and wheeled up to the driveway to see a lovely banner made by nana and grandpa (and presumably by Tyler as well) welcoming us home.  We got into the house and it's been a flurry of activity ever since.

Getting things organized has been the main challenge.  Between all the critical stuff we brought to the hospital and all the things we had to move from downstairs, things have rapidly disorganized.  I've done my best to keep on top of the clutter.

We're managing, though, and Jess is continuing to recover and improve, though we have to often remind her that she has a giant hole in her abdomen, and she needs to just sit down and rest every once in a while.  I'm taking the first shift today so that she can rest.  I'm hoping Casey sleeps a lot.

The real bummer hit today.  Casey has been great at latching, and today, Sunday, for some reason no one can fathom, she just stopped.  She grabs hold, shakes off, grabs hold, shakes off, and doesn't eat.  We're supposed to feed her every three hours, and she straight-up missed one of them because we couldn't get anything in her stomach.  Then she woke up again and same problem.  We've tried everything we know how to do, burping endlessly and trying again and again, but with no success.

For those of you that have never gone through this before, this isn't just 'bad news'.  It's heartbreaking.  The moment you get you baby you are inundated with an endless stream of people desperately trying to convince you, for some reason, that you should breast feed your baby.  I mean of course, you should, right?  Well it turns out that doing so is a massive pain in the ass, and often entirely contradictory.  We got Casey breast feeding just fine, and then her weigh dropped below some invisible line and now we are *required* to do something to get her weight up.  That's right, don't feed your baby formula, no matter what, except unless we tell you to.

And then again with this!  Which is it?  Feed your baby every 3 hours no matter what, or don't use a bottle no matter what.  Go ahead, pick one. Which piece of desperate advice, which of course will determine the *entire* future of your beloved child, will you follow, and which will you break?  Hmm?  Not *will* you doom your baby, but how.

Not to mention the endless insistence on parental behaviors that essentially assumes that mom has no needs of her own.  She doesn't need to sleep, doesn't need to recover.  Her real, physical pain at breast feeding is something to be ignored, or mentioned in passing as 'discomfort', as if suffering through this is immaterial.

Pisses me right the fuck off.

Anyway, Casey's last few feedings have been via bottle, and just barely at that.  Jess has been pumping, and producing precious little milk, but it's something.   And Casey doesn't even seem to want the bottle that much.  We couldn't figure out how to give it to her until Grandpa figured out you could get her to suck on your pinky for a while and then swap the bottle in quickly to get her to eat it.

Not to mention, of course, that Tyler has continued to be a three-year-old during this process.  I had to put him in time out for pretty much all of dinner time today because we made him food that he didn't like, and all he did was complain.  Bad enough Casey doesn't want to eat.  Tyler goes to school tomorrow, hopefully the
resumption of his usual schedule will help him feel a little more comfortable.

Well, tomorrow is monday, and we have a Dr. Appointment with Casey's doctor during which we can hopefully get some answers about what the best course of action is.  And if the best course of action involves just putting more pressure and suffering on Jessie, someone's getting stabbed.

-N

Nana Stories

In support of the blogging that is happening, I wanted to jump in with a post. The other evening, Shaoshu cooked a traditional Szechuan dinner for us and Nana, as an excuse to hang out with Nana. Shaoshu and his girl friend Mylinh (Vietnamese American) were impressed by Nana's willingness to try the new and different food, and her competence with chopsticks. We all have met people our own age who don't know how to use chopsticks, and refuse to try. Props to Nana. 

We got to talking about Nana's days living in a houseboat on Lake Union. She described on mirage they had in a fairly secluded area at the base of a hill. It was secluded enough that Nana would slip out in the morning wearing only a slip and a bra ("because we didn't wear pants in those days") to put a few laundry items on the line to dry. One morning, Papa's friend Dick's father was in town, and he dropped in on them at just that very moment- undressed, outside the boat. "I grabbed a dish towel and held it up in front of me life I was about to hang it, and gestured with the whole thing 'you just go right on in, right over there.' Then I ran to my neighbors house, undressed, and begged to borrow a dress. The only thing she had was a plaid thing with giant bubble sleeves. I put in on and went back to the boat and tried to act like nothing happened. He never raised an eyebrow and I never said a thing!"

EATING

So there's this thing called 'cluster feeding', which sounds like a pretty good description of a zombie apocalypse, but is actually a thing that babies do where they eat.  And then eat again.  And again, essentially constantly.  They eat until they run out of energy, then they sleep, and once they have the energy, it's back to the bar.  Casey is doing that now.

They gave us a piece of paper on which we are supposed to write down all her feedings, and it has a column for each hour.  I've had to start blending multiple columns together.  "She was eating for all of in here."  It's very encouraging.  We saw the lactation consultant and she essentially told us that we're doing everything right, and we're just going to have to see how Jessie's milk comes in, which will probably not be for several days.  Good to have the validation, though.

Tyler has also been a very good big brother.  He's much more interested in a) the hospital and b) the 'big cut' on mommy's tummy then he is in baby Casey.  But they've been close a few times, and Tyler has looked, but not wanted to hold yet.  We're not rushing him.  At one point he saw me pacifying Casey with a pinky and he wanted to try.  He stuck his thumb in Caseys mouth and Casey started to suck on it.  He got a really big grin on his face for that.  We have some pictures on someone's phone.  There's a lot of cameras in here.

I went out to Lunch with Dad while Mom stayed with Jess and Casey.  We got hamburgers, then brought back a sandwich for Mom, and a Chocolate shake for Jess.  It's technically a liquid!  She's good to go!

Right this very moment, Casey is snug in Mom's arms and Jess is taking a nap.  It's nice, it's quiet.  I'll bet a nurse is about to come in here and try to take someone's blood pressure.

-N

First night with Ze baby

Casey was great, and nurses are jerks.

Casey actually slept pretty well last night.  We're starting to get the first hints of a 'schedule' out of her.  She sleeps for a while, wakes up, we change her diaper to wake her up (she hates that part) and put her right on Jessie for a good half-hour or so of feeding.  Jess is being a real trooper with the nursing.  It's not particularly pleasant, and you have to keep doing it all the time.  But shes doing it, because she's the best mom in the world.  Sorry Mom, you're #2 now.  :)

Casey has gotten better at nursing too.  She's essentially a machine designed to learn how to breast feed as soon as possible, so it's not entirely surprising, but this is our first time getting it right, so it's good to know Casey is going to meet us partway.

She's a strong little girl, too.  Must have been all those workouts on mommy's bladder.  There's a burping method by which you hunch them over your hand and balance their chin in the V of your thumb and first finger.  I was burping Casey like that for a while and she decided something needed to go in her mouth, so she screwed up her head to the side to try and get the side of my finger in her mouth.  Here's the kicker: *I couldn't stop her*.  I think we might have birthed a UFC fighter or something.  Well, something future-y er than that.  Maybe she'll fight with Mech suits.

The nurses actually kept us up MUCH more than Casey did.  They had to come in to take blood, check blood pressure, get Jess walking, remove a catheter, all sorts of stuff.  We spent a lot more time taking care of the nurses than we did for Casey.

In fact, Casey is probably a little *too* good of a baby.  We want to make sure Jessie's milk comes in, and as annoying as that is, it means a lot of feeding.  Casey would sleep a lot longer if we let her, but we definitely want to get as much food in her tiny little belly as she can.  So we've been waking her up after several hours and letting her feed for as long as she wants.  She goes in fits and starts, but nursing sessions usually take her at least 30 minutes.  Good kid.

Oh, and you have to make sure that Casey stays awake, and that means that you are required, on occasion, to chew on her ears and nibble on her ribs.  For her sake, of course.

-N

What's Casey Like?

She seems a little more aware than Tyler was.  You could mess with Tyler a lot before he paid any attention.  Casey wants to be swaddled and snuggled, and then she doesn't want to move.  She's been sleeping a lot, and we've been indulging her because she's had quite a day, and I'd want to take a nap too.  The nursing has gone really well, even though Casey hasn't eaten a whole lot yet.  She's not having any problems, an neither is Jessie, and that's good news?

She's started to be a little curious.  She woke up and didn't feel like eating; she just opened her eyes and looked around, clearly curious about how vision worked.  She likes looking at mom, mostly.  Dad is okay too.  I can't tell what color her eyes are, but they aren't as dark as Tyler's were.  Maybe just a nice, dark blue.  

She has a lovely little nose.  I like giving her eskimo kisses.  

There's less of a 'story' with Casey.  For Tyler there was all this action, all these events, a lot to think of and remember.  Casey has been very direct.  She showed up practically on time, arrived without incident, and has pretty much just been sitting around being a baby.  

The rest of us are just sort of waiting around to see what else she'll do one she gets some more energy.  Will she fuss and cry a lot?  Want to look at things?  Just want to eat?  

Oh, there's one answer.  She got the hiccups.  She wants to hiccup.  

-N

Baby Casey Arrives

I sat waiting in an empty delivery room for what felt like a really long time.  I had all my stuff on, but no baby to go see, yet.  Eventually mom and dad came back from getting breakfast and the nurse came to get me.  Jess was already much of the way open and I sat down behind the screen to chat and keep her occupied.  She made a lot of odd faces; she could feel a lot more of the procedure this time, what with people rooting around in her abdomen for upwards of half an hour.  Jess was doing well, and eventually I got up my courage to look around the screen.

I couldn't see much from my direction, but the entire time the surgical staff was chatting away about whatever was on their minds, clearly so expert at this procedure that we were in quite good hands.  Eventually I saw them reaching in and pulling a baby out.  Casey came out head first, yanked with intensity and care, and was quickly taken to the corner to get checked up.

She was quiet for a little while, but made some cries that were loud enough to ensure us of her vitality.  I went over to check on her and she was squirming and crying a whole bunch and being really cute.  I gave her my fingers to grab, and that seemed to calm her down.  I think she was just really tired.

After a while of alternating between taking pictures, staring at her cute face, and watching Jessie get put back together, we took Casey over to see Jess.  As soon as Casey heard her mom's voice, she opened her eyes.  I made sure they both got good kisses and nuzzles, then held on while the surgery finished.

Jess was reassembled without incident and we rolled back to the room with Baby in mommy's arms.  Jess was in a much better state than after her previous cesarean, very anxious to get a hold of Casey and start breast feeding, and Casey was in the mood too.  She kept searching around with her mouth for something to put in.  She found her hands a few times.

Back at the room the nurses helped us with the first breast feeding, and Casey did really well.  We're still sorting out a few details, especially as Casey is so small, inexperienced, and tired, but things seem to be going pretty well.  It's making Jessie smile.

I took a short nap, got some food at the Cafeteria, and we have spent much of the day sending pictures around to everyone we know of all the cute happenings in our room.  Casey and mom are both doing great.  It's a good day.

-N

Jess is off

Soon someone will come get me and I'll go see my daughter.  I'm blogging mostly because there's nothing else to do in this empty room.

-N

Things are happening!

We have been waiting to see exactly when the C-section would be, and it looks like it will be quite soon!  There was another C-section scheduled for 7:15, and they didn't show up (which is odd) and so we will get to have our Cesarian then.  Yay!  Jess has been suffering through some 'mild' contractions (they still hurt) and waiting patiently for the time to come.

Now things are about to kick off!  We've had anesthesiologists visit, nurses transition, and we've been asked about Jessie's medical history more times than I care to mention.  Doctor will soon be on the way, I'll be putting on my duds, and before you know it, baby pictures!

-N

Babywatch is a go!

Tyler was a little fussy last night, and I got up at about 1:30 to help calm him down.  He wanted a tissue. Well, he also wanted to fuss, but it was mostly the tissue.  When I got back, Jess was awake, and I tried to cuddle her to sleep.  I had my arm over her belly and could feel the contractions starting and stopping.  After a while she got up to go use the restroom and I was relaxing when I heard: "Hey, Noel,, can you take a look at this?"

I went into the restroom and Jess was looking down at herself wondering if something was going on.  As we both looked, her water broke.  Just a few hours before we were scheduled to do our Cesarean anyway.  First points to you, Casey.

Anyway, we called the nurse line and they asked us to come into the hospital.  We got all our stuff together, woke up the grandparents, left the monitor with Fran, and drove on in.  I was very safe and everything. There was the usual mountain of paperwork, then we got checked into the nice, refurbished Labor and delivery room.  Which is where we are now.

It's 4:30 AM.  Unless labor starts to kick off in earnest, which it might do, we are likely to get Casey out at around 8 AM.  Which means by the time you wake up and read this, you may already have a new relative.

-N

Babywait Day Whatever

Yep, still no baby. But tomorrow, tomorrow.  Right?  Everyone get pumped.  We get to the hospital at 10:30, surgery is scheduled for 12:30.  Kisses happen soon after.

-N

Babywait, Day 4

Still nothing.  Even less, in fact!  Jessie's contractions have been less intense and less regular.  Which is pretty good, because she went to *work* today, for crying out loud.  She made it a little more than half the day then came home for a nap.  It's looking more and more like Wednesday will be the day.  But you never know.  Out of nowhere--BAM!  Water broken!  Time to go!  I might not be able to blog quickly enough if that happens, but I'll let you know eventually.

-N

Babywait, Day 3

Still nothing.  A strong contraction here or there, and occasionally they are becoming a little bit regular, but nothing like actual labor. Guess I'm going into work tomorrow.  Bummer.

-N

BabyWait, Day 2

Are we still here? Yep? That means no Casey so far, we continue to wait with baited breath.

Jess was having weak contractions that were roughly 12 minutes apart yesterday evening, and I was convinced that they were eventually going to progress to full fledged labor sometime during the night. Alas, it was not to be, and we were burdened, *burdened*, with a full nights sleep. Perhaps the last one ever? We can only wait and see.

Grandpa has arrived. Early, because you never know, and it's good to have extra backup. Nana has made it too. So the gang is all here, and we're still just waiting for Casey to make an appearance. Jess has made some marginal progress, though nothing concrete enough for us to want to head back to the hospital for a quick surgery. Still, though, it could be *any minute*. And it's even any-minute-y-er today than it was yesterday. Jess lost her mucus plug which, according to the internet, means that labor can be anywhere between 1 day and...uh...two weeks, away. So again, waiting. It's just, you know, *more* waiting.

Tyler took a huge nap today, I finished putting some shades up in Casey's room to keep it dark (it keeps it really dark) and we've been making preliminary plans for shopping and food and other things. Still, I know you all want to hear about the big news, and there's really nothing I can say except 'stay tuned'.

-N

Signs point to soon

I must be brief, there's a lot to get done, but it looks like Casey will be showing up sooner rather than later. It's all very exciting.

I went up to ReaperCon on Wednesday, painted with friends in the lobby until 1:30 in the morning, then woke up, took some classes, painted some more, talked with people, met new ones, and generally had a fantastic time. Then on the way out of the Hotel to get dinner on Thursday evening, I got a text from Jessie that her water may have broken. After some more examination, she decided to go to the hospital to check, and I turned around and drove home. Turns out the water was still where it was supposed to be, but I finished the drive home anyway.

We slept through the night, and most of this morning, Jess has been having consistent, though irregular contractions. This isn't labor. Labor is when they come much closer together and hurt a bit more. This is pre-labor, and contrary to what I would assume, (based on a doctor visit this morning) this doesn't *necessarily* mean labor is inevitable. We may still be waiting until Wednesday to see Casey for the first time. But it is a strong indicator that we may be on the home stretch, nearly a month earlier than Tyler got delivered, by the way.

So the current status is still just wait-and-see. At any moment the contractions could ramp up in intensity and frequency, and then we'd just head into the Hospital and get cesarean-ed. But we might also be in for a long wait. Only time will tell. Current time is 3:00, though, and Jess is taking a nap. If the pool on whether Casey or Dad gets here first gets started, put me down for Dad. His flight is on the way. Casey's has been delayed.

-N

Not Technically a BBQ

I'm not sure what you're supposed to call these. Here in Texas “Bar-B-Que” has a very specific connotation. It involves smoke, brisket, and a heck of a lot of time. Instead, we just invited a bunch of people over and made hamburgers and hot dogs. I called it a “Grill Party”, but I just made that up.

The weather is in that sweet spot of very nice between the colds of winter and the blistering heat of summer, so Jess decided, despite being very pregnant, that it would be a good idea to invite over some families (mostly friends of Tyler from School and the neighborhood) and feed them. It went really well. I'm getting better at grilling (via practice) and the 'Sausages in Beer' were a big hit. The kids liked playing in the tree house, we brought out our “bucket 'o trucks” and dumped them all in the tree house. The kids also had a great time chasing each other around with Frisbees and ringing the bell and making huge noises. Then we all went inside and Tyler and his friends spent the afternoon chasing me around the house with foam swords. It's a good exercise routine if you can manage it.

Casey will be here in (at most) two weeks and 3 days. So close! We've done most of the big preparations: the room and crib are ready for her. We're going to have a bunch of help for the first few weeks, so I'm not too worried about the little things. We could always give the house a going-over to re-baby-proof it after letting that slide as Tyler got older. Past that, we're just going to have to wait her out, she'll probably just be a baby for a good long time, one that needs a lot of attention and lots of sleepless nights.

I am getting excited to meet her, though.

-N