Getting Settled In

I am getting settled in to the new job. So far it has been a good challenge and is interesting. Not only that, I really like having free coffee!

Commuting on metro is easy. It's nice not to have to deal with rush hour very much.

Home With the Kids

Debbie went out for the evening with her friend Mary, so tonight I am home with the kids. They are both in bed now. They were really good. Sara was pretty tired so she fell asleep as soon as I put her in bed and Seth had his normal bedtime routine. All nice and easy.

Now I am playing with my Linux computer. Let's see if I can learn something.

Back in the Blogosphere

Well, after a long absence I am back in the blogosphere. I've just completed setting up Ubuntu (Linux) on my laptop and so-far so good. One more step to a Windows free world.

The new job is coming along fine. I am busy, but good busy.

It seems like I just have random thoughts this evening.

Working Outside on the Screened Porch

I am sitting on the screened porch this working on the continuing job search. I have a couple of good warm prospects, but I am still looking just in case those don't pan out. I have not really wanted to write about my little break much because there really hasn't been much to write about.

It turns out that not working for a month has been really good for Debbie and the kids. I am getting to spend a lot of time with them. I think Seth is really enjoying it. I think it will be hard for him when I go back to work. Maybe not, though. He is incredibly resilient.

We have had a couple of beautiful fall days. I hope they hang on for a while. That is one of the nice things about this area, we generally get a long autumn.

A visit to Glen Echo

Glen Echo September 1 2007

Cutting Shrubbery (again)

This afternoon I cut an arbor vitae tree next to my garage. It was infested with bag worms, which were interesting, but deadly. They ate almost half of the bush. I wasn't too worried about cutting this plant because it really was not in a very good place to begin with.

Dad came over to lend me his mattock, which is better than mine, for digging out the stump and to give moral support.

We actually have beautiful weather today. It is sunny and 85 degrees with low humidity. Kind of a perfect day.

Drivin' the RV with Nana

The Kids

Here is a picture of the kids from last Sunday

Sara Sleeps Well

Sara is sleeping very well. In fact, she has almost from the beginning. What I mean by "sleeps well" is that she typically falls asleep about 8:30 in the evening, sleeps until 2 or 2:30 am, eats, and then goes back to sleep until 5:30 or 6 am. That's pretty good for a newborn.

Seth, as I recall, was up every two hours for about six months.

I think part of the difference is that Debbie and I were listening for every little noise that Seth made when he was sleeping. We called it re-binkying. He would fuss a little then we would crawl out of bed and pop the binky back in. With Sara we have been allowing her to go back to sleep on her own when she is not needing to be fed. That has worked fairly well for her and I think she sleeps longer at night because of it. Also, Sara is much less reliant on the binky than Seth was. In fact, most of the time she doesn't want it and spits it out almost instantly, or cries in a "get that thing out of my face" way. We're good with that.

Father's Day

It's been a good Father's Day so far. The kids are napping now. I went over to M+D's to get some day lilies and then I fixed a broken phone jack.

Debbie made spinach quiche for breakfast. It was very good. Tonight we go back over to the parents for dinner.

Family Dinner

Cresses headed off on their next cross country adventure yesterday. They set out in the RV about 9:30 am and will do a lot of touring as they work their way home.

We sat down to dinner last night, just the four of us, and it occurred to me that this was the first time we have had dinner with our little family. It was good.

Travel and whatnot

Wait.. is "whatnot" actually a word? I wrote that title without thinking much about it. I was just going to do a quick post about my trips to Raleigh and Seattle. Then I got to thinking and whatnot (there it is again) and was wondering if was actually a word. Maybe it's just filler like yada yada, or blah blah or aaaanyway (which I really think means I'm sick of talking about this, but I don't know how to stop)

We spend a lot of time stuffing our writing and conversation with things like that. It gives us structure, and filler when we think too slowly, and clues to where the conversation might go and a way to include all of the stuff we want to say without really saying it.

I also notice that I pick up crutches every now and then. Word patterns that I use, but I'm not sure why.

EXAMPLES:

"The upshot of that is..." Huh? Explain what that means
"To be completely honest...: As if I was not being completely honest before
"In general..." especially useful for highlighting something specific

I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this.

Aaanyway, leave a comment with other crutches that you know, or use, or whatnot.

Seth holding Sara for the first time

Seth holding Sara for the first time

Finally, a picture!

Here is Sara in the hospital. 1 Day old.

All Night Long

Sara was wide awake a good bit of last night. Or at least it seemed like it. She didn't really fuss much, she was just awake. For about Three hours. After Debbie fed her and held her and walked her for a long time I took over and did the same, except for the feeding part. In the end Debbie fed her again and she went to sleep about 4:30 or so.

Most of the time that I had her she was wide awake and gazing around. I can't say that she was actually looking at things because I'm not sure how far see can see, but she appeared to be watching out the living room window for a while. I did some laps around the kitchen/living room/dining room, sat on the couch, up the stairs, changed the diaper; the whole routine. Still, she stayed wide awake.

If she had been crying the whole time it would have been really hard, but because she was content to just hang out it wasn't all that bad.

One week old

Yesterday Sara was one week old. I decided to look back at what I wrote when Seth was a week old just to compare my thoughts and they are remarkably the same. I have been back to work a little longer, but this is my first day to be in Silver Spring. I couldn't work at home then like I can now.

We constantly try to compare Seth and Sara. I suppose that is because it Seth is our only frame of reference for what Sara is doing. We think we remember what Seth was like at this age, but all I really remember is how happy we were to have him. We feel the same way about Sara. I suppose they are fairly comparable as newborns. What is most remarkable is that Seth went from being really small to comparatively big overnight.

The most noticeable thing is that Seth talks, which we have kind of gotten used to, and Sara doesn't. I mean Seth really talks: Tells stories, expresses ideas, challenges us, asks questions, gives answers. Sara does not. Sara sleeps, grunts when she wants to eat, cries when she needs a new diaper, gazes around the room when she is awake. She is more and more alert every day which is interesting. You can actually see her vision getting better as she locks on to things that are farther from her.

Last evening I sat on the couch and read to Seth while holding Sara. I plan to do that a lot more.

Back to Work

I am back to work today. Nothing caught fire while I was out, so things are running smoothly after a little email and voice mail catch-up.

Sara is doing very well. We took her for the first Doctor visit on Monday. The pediatrician said that she is a textbook example of what a healthy baby should look like. That is exactly what I like to hear.

Seth is doing very well with his new sister. so far we haven't had any real issues and I think he is going to adjust without any trouble. He went to the library with Nana today.

Mother's Day

We had a big gathering for Mother's Day this year, what with new baby and all. The whole family was home along with Mrs. Young, Ted and Peggy. We spent the entire afternoon at Mom and Dad's. Seth went the whole day with no nap and was really good. No major melt downs. He went right to sleep when I put him to bed.

We are getting more comfortable with another baby in the house: finding the swing of things. It is still going to take a little more adjustment, but so far, so good.

Announcing!

Sara Beth was born Thursday, May 10 at 11:59 pm. She was 9lbs 8oz and 21.5 inches long. All went well with the c-section and both Mom and Baby are doing fine. We brought them home from the hospital today. It was a good Mother's day present I think.

Seth was very excite to meet his sister. He climbed right into the car to get a closer look. Then he helped carry her into the house by holding the handle of the car seat with Dad.

The Big Day!

Today is the big day. Debbie is puttering around gathering things up and getting ready to go. We will leave for the hospital in about an hour. I have the camera all ready.

Ted and Peggy are going to take Seth to Mom and Dad's for lunch. He will have his nap there and they will wait to hear from us. It is a lot different than last time when everybody sat in the hospital all day. I am getting excited and nervous.

It feels like we are setting out on another big adventure.

Into The Home Stretch

We are really getting close to the time for the new baby to come. I will work tomorrow and then Thursday morning we go to the hospital. I am looking forward to it because I am ready to move on to the "we have a new baby" time from the "we are having a new baby" time. I am also ready for a few days off from work. That is kind of a nice by-product for me.

All is Ready

The baby's room is painted. The house is generally cleaned up. Tomorrow morning I will mow the lawn. Debbie's parents arrive around noon.

Painting Progress

I made good progress on the painting today. That sounds like I am painting a picture. The walls are done. Now all that is left is the trim which will be white. Tomorrow for that. Debbie is very relaxed about the whole thing.

Ted and Peggy are in Tennessee somewhere along the Tennessee river. They will be in in a week.

No Michaelangelo

So, Michaelangelo, what did you do today? Oh, I painted a ceiling.

I got started on the baby's room this evening. The ceiling is done. Tomorrow I do the walls.

How to cut a tree

I had a dead dogwood tree. Or at least one that was so far gone that it wasn't coming back. So, last evening at about 5:15 I decided to cut it down because the city brush pickup is on Friday morning and I thought if it were done we would not have a pile of sticks in front of the house for a whole week.

Dad got his chainsaw and we all piled in the car and headed to our house. We were supposed to have dinner at Mom and Dad's.

I moved Debbie's car and dad fired up the saw. A chainsaw makes quick work of a dogwood. In about 10 minutes we had a 5 foot tall stump. That is when my neighbor arrived. He's a helpful guy and asked if we wanted him to pull out the stump with his truck. In another 5 minutes he had a chain around it and pulled it out. Then he hauled out a bag of grass seed so that I could seed the spot where the tree was. We pile up the sticks and racked the ground and spread a little grass seed.

By 6:00 we were done and back at the parents house having dinner.

Screen Door Repairs

Last week we had some very high winds, above 60 MPH, as a noreaster passed up the coast. The door on our screened porch had a broken latch, so the wind got hold of it and whipped it around. Originally I thought the hinge was bent, but Debbie looked at it a little more closely in the daylight and discovered that the problem was with the hydraulic door closer. It was badly bent.

In short, only $25 later we have a new latch and a new closer. I fixed it last evening. On to the next thing...

Staring the Home Stretch

I haven't written too much about expecting a new baby. It is interesting how much more relaxed Debbie and I are the second time around. Also, much of the uncertainty that goes with new babies was settled early for us. We know that she will be a girl, and we know her birthday. The doctor recommended a scheduled c-section because Seth was born that way and she would rather not risk tearing the old scar tissue during a normal labor. And so we have everything lined up.

I have not yet begun to paint the baby's room. That will have to be done in short order because I am running out of time before Ted and Peggy arrive. It will not take too long. It is not a large room or a complicated paint job.

Here is the color Debbie picked:



By the way, for anyone who is reading this using a aggregator (like bloglines) I have added a countdown counter to mark the days remaining until the baby is born. But you have to come to the actual blog to see that. (I think that might apply to one of my 5 regular readers...)
:-)

Rainy Day

It is a rainy Sunday. The kind of day where you stay inside and think about doing things. Whether you actually do any of them is questionable.

Ted and Peggy left on their cross country trip yesterday. They expect to arrive here on the 4th of May. Their day one goal was to reach Helena MT. That's about 500 miles and makes for a long day in the RV. They are going to try visiting some wildlife refuges, but may find them still closed for the season. Hopefully they won't have too much really cold weather.

I bought the paint for the baby's room yesterday. I will have to get to work on that.

Dying Easter Eggs - Last Week

Dying easter eggs hasn't changed much.

2007


1968

Happy Easter

We had a very good Easter Sunday. We were up early this morning and Seth had a good time with his Easter basket and hunting for eggs in the house. It was too cold to have an outdoor egg hunt. We met the parents and Joe for church and then spent the rest of the day at Mom and Dad's.

Seth really likes Jelly beans and M&M's. Actually anything sweet is ok with him.

Holy Saturday Snow

We have a cold Easter in store. Last night we got a dusting of snow which was enough to cover the grass, but not enough to stick to the roads. Highs today were in the low 40's and the overnight lows are forecast to be in the mid 20's.

It is kind of unusual for this time of year. We had beautiful weather earlier in the week with temps in the 80's.

Easter will be at Mom and Dad's. Joe is coming from Baltimore, Maureen is in Peru and the Youngs are having Greek Easter in Hopewell.

A Weekend Away

Over the pst weekend we took a little trip to North Carolina. My regular meeting was on Friday, so Debbie and Seth tagged along and we visited our friends in Durham for the weekend. We had a good trip. Seth is really a very good traveler. He is pretty flexible and tolerates the change well. He is also tolerant of long hours in the car without fussing.

Beth and will came to visit yesterday and are staying until tomorrow. Seth was really excited to see them last evening.

Road Trip

On the spur of the moment yesterday we decided to head out to New Jersey to visit Beth, Lou and Will. On the way we picked up Joe in Baltimore. It was a good trip. I had a good time.

Coming home we dropped Joe at his house and then got stuck in cross-town traffic for the St. Patrick's day parade. That was a HUGE mess. It took an hour to get across Baltimore. Yuck

All is well on the home front. Mom and Dad come home from Egypt on Tuesday.

Working at home today

Debbie has a doctor's appointment at 11 so I am working at home today. She has to visit the doctor every two weeks now so they can check on the progress with the baby. Normally she would have asked Mom to watch Seth, but since she's in Egypt, I'll be doing it.

To Raleigh Again

I am off to Raleigh again to day; Return home tomorrow.

It doesn't make any sense to drive to my office in SS and then leave for Raleigh, so I am working at home this morning. It is interesting to work at home. I can hear Debbie and Seth talking upstairs, but I can't make out what they are saying. It's like when you are at the doctor's office waiting in the exam room and you can hear the doctor talking to the patient next door.

So far the new office is working well.

Saturday Morning

It's a nice warm day here so far. Seth was out playing with the neighbor kids for a while. I think he was having fun. I think I will work on refinishinghis bed this afternoon. THat project has been on hold because it has been too cold to work in the garage, and I don't want to use paint stripper in the basement; too many fumes.

Debbie took a spill yesterday afternnon. She and the baby are both ok, but she peeled about half of her pinky fingernail off. It looks bad and she says it really hurts. There is not much to be done about it but to keep it covered and take tylenol. She's a tough cookie.

Back From Raleigh

I had a quick trip to Raleigh yesterday and today. I am back home now. I have to go again next week.

Mom and Dad came over for dinner this evening. They are off to Egypt tomorrow. They are excited about it. I think it will be a great trip.

It's Snowy Here

We are getting some snow this morning. Debbie and Seth wanted to go out to play for a while...

Yard Work

Dad came over this afternoon and helped me prune the crepe myrtle. We gave it a pretty good haircut. Now it should be fairly easy to maintain. It will require some work every winter, but not much more than that. We also did some other minor pruning, but not much.

Seth is getting his bath now, and will go to bed after that.

We expect a little winter weather tomorrow.

11 Weeks to go

There are only 11 weeks left to go until the new baby arrives. The time has passed so quickly. Debbie tells me every day how active the baby is. "She's kicking me here or there." Last night I think she (the baby) might have had the hiccups. You could actually see Debbie's tummy jumping.

We are starting to think of things like car seats and whether the bouncy seat will fit on the table like it did for Seth. Mostly we are just doing things the way we always do.

Changing Rooms

This weekend we moved some furniture. It was the great room shuffle of 2007. My office furniture is now in the new office, the guest room is now in my previous office and the Crib and changing table are in the old guest room. New names according to Seth: Baby's room, Nana's room, and Dad's office. We are happy with all three.

New Office complete

Victor decided to come and finish the floor today so the new office is done. It took four weeks. That's not bad.

Here are some photos:

Standing in the basement door looking across the room.


Same position, showing the shop door a little to the right


Looking back toward the basement door from the opposite corner

A little weather slows prgress

We've had a little winter weather over the last few days. The TV weather folks had a good time projecting doom and gloom and dire consequences, but in the end we got about 2 inches of snow and ice. The major part of the storm passed to the north of us.

However, the little bit of precipitation was enough to keep Victor from showing up on Tuesday morning, when the roads were fine, and Wednesday, when they were somewhat icy. The upshot is that there is still about 6 feet of floor to be installed before I can begin moving furniture into the finished office.

Hopefully he will make it today.

Progress on Basement

The basement is nearly finished. Only the floor remains to be installed. We are putting down a laminate floor that should be fairly durable. Victor is going to deliver the materials today and will install the floor Monday and Tuesday.

I am happy with the progress. We got all of the boxes back on the storage shelves yesterday.

Here are some early construction photos.

The Big Boy Bed

Here is Seth in his new bed! He slept in it for the first time last night. Right now the mattress and box spring are sitting on the floor until I am done refinishing the bed frame.

Office Progress

The basement office project is moving along nicely. Victor has all of the framing, electrical and plumbing completed and the drywall is partially done. I have run the low voltage cables for phone TV and computer. I don't plan to have a TV down there; but some day, maybe.

I suspect Victor will finish hanging drywall today and may even get it "mudded" to dry over the weekend. That would make sense to me.

Now Debbie and I have to choose some cabinets, counter top and paint. That shouldn't be too hard.

New Baby Picture

Here is one of the latest sonogram pictures we have of the new baby. The doctor tells us that she has long arms and legs and appears to be about a week ahead, size wise, of her due date. Right now she is in the 83rd percentile for babies at this stage of development. I suppose she gets that from her mother!

A new office

We finally decided to start work on the new office in the basement. The contractor delivered some materials yesterday and is starting work today. I expect it to go relatively quickly. The plan is to set up the current guest room for the baby, move the guest room to my office and my office to the new room in the basement. There will be a workshop and storage down there as well.

Seth Making Candy

I should have had this up before Christmas because it is a picture of Seth helping to make the fudge. Than spoon looks like it is half his height!

 

Lost Bags

I made it home from Washington State last night, but my bags didn't. Now, according to United's web site, the are en-route to a hotel in Minneapolis. Don't ask me why...

7:46 - After hanging on hold for a while it appears that my bags will be delivered between 6pm, which is past, and 2am tomorrow. The online display was apparently a bug, because after I refreshed it a couple of times it came up with my address. Hmmm, that instills confidience in their system. Hopefully the paper trail will work.