Amazingly Mundane Adventures

What We've Been Up To

2011-10-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

We had some birthdays!

In June Grayson turned 4, which is amazing to us.

The beach party was ended by thunderstorms, but we had a good time with our extended family.

In September Talia turned 3. It's hard to believe that she's already 3, but half the time we catch ourselves thinking that she is 4 like Grayson.

The weather for the picnic at the park was more pleasant. Grayson had fun terrifying us with his climbing skills while the girl of the day preferred the slides.

My brother Dan got married this summer!

A couple of weeks ago we checked out places to live and a new park in Lafayette.

The Why Behind The Change

2011-07-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

"At heart I am a generalist. In my years of veterinary practice I have been able to explore several medical disciplines and have been fortunate enough to work with creatures weighing grams and those weighing hundreds of kilograms. I have been able to save lives and borne the responsibility of ending them. At the end of each day I am left with questions. I view a graduate education as a means to further explore these questions and the next step in a career focused on understanding the intersection of animal, human and environmental health and mentoring the next generation of veterinary practitioners."
This is the introductory paragraph to the Statement of Intent that I submitted with my graduate school applications. I have always known that I would want to leave the practice environment someday. Oddly enough, when I started college small animal practice was close to the last place that I wanted to be. Most of interests in vet school were linked with the small animal program, so I ended up with good training in small animal medicine spiced with lots of exotic pet and zoo experience with some fun lab rotations thrown in. The molecular biology clerkship was great. The microbiology clerkship has been helpful in practice and I still want to culture everything (how did someone think to check what kind of bacteria grew in a heartworm?). Government and Corporate Practice and of course the externships at Brookfield Zoo and the Duke University Primate Center (now Duke Lemur Center) opened my eyes to how much is out there and what the possibilities can be.
The problem is that I get intellectually itchy. I like new things, even if I'm bad at them for the most part. And have I ever got questions! What was going on with that tiny cluster of leopard geckos with gout (different homes, same origin)? What impact are those Quaker parakeets having on their newly adopted cities? Are we potentially selecting for genetic issues in the captive endangered species that we hope to reintroduce? How many Baylisascaris larvae are lurking in the soil in rural versus urban areas? How prevalent in canine brucellosis in our shelter population? Why exactly do eosinophils spike in response to both allergens and parasites (and why won't they get the hell out of my son's esophagus)? Unfortunately, it's seriously cost prohibitive to do a good literature review as a practitioner (or at least as somebody who wants access to conservation and ecology and behavior and general biology journals in addition to the medical ones that I subscribe to). This combined with some other personal factors has me feeling like my performance in practice isn't where I want it to be. I'm not interested in running a business and I think that the best way for me to advance professionally is to take a slightly different direction. So, I'm going to be teaching in the Brown Mackie tech program this fall and I've been offered a graduate position in comparative epidemiology at Purdue for the spring. I will be looking at the incidence of Q-fever in goats in Indiana. I'm reviewing my goat medicine and getting pretty excited about the directions the research could take. We're also looking into the logistics of the move to be certain we can make that part of the change work. My goal is to end up at a college or university, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully this makes some sense to everyone, but you can let me know if you think I've lost my mind.

Talia's Supers

2011-06-14T17:54:00.001-07:00

So Tony was asking Talia about heroes and villains today. This a not very correct transcript, but you'll get the idea.

Tony (T) - "Who is your favorite hero?"

Talia (t) - "Robin."

T - "Who else?"

t - "Batman"

T - "Who else?"

t - "Marco Weeo. He's a good guy."

T - "What does he do?"

t - "He can walk. He can run. He can play. He has a long nose like a kitty and a long hair and a cheek and some hair."

T - "What else does he look like?"

t - "A dog that has some teeth and a long tummy."

T - "Tell me about your favorite bad guy ..."

t - "The Gaga. He just takes one and hits at people. He doesn't listen to Kitty. He got a button that fights kitties over there. He does to take something with a pullup with Woody on it. AND he takes kitties from Mommy's work. He does not take any toys 'cause we fight him to his house. It is Flash's house.

Next time we'll learn about Circus the Clown.

Too Much Time

2010-11-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a year since either of us has updated this and I suspect that we've lost our small following of friends. We've not been stagnant this year, though. Really, how can anyone with small children be stagnant. I think that's why there have been no postings. Honestly, I should be working on another project right now but the results of that we be foundation shaking for our little household and I'm feeling slightly hesitant about it tonight. Until I'm able to share more, here are some pictures of this past year:

Poor, neglected blog

2010-01-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Loyal Blog Readers,

Apparently I'm averaging monthly updates. This is a good thing because it means that there is nothing overly dramatic/traumatic going on, but it amazes me because there seems to be so very much going on. Talia and Grayson are busy, busy, busy being toddlers and this entails a lot of running around, bruises and (currently) joyfully tossing cds out of the changer. It's hard to not to laugh at their not socially acceptable antics. It was especially difficult when I caught them pulling cds out, came towards them full of righteous parental indignation and Grayson scurried backwards and pointed his finger accusingly at Talia. She looked up at me with a face full of joy and pride and tossed the cd to the ground.

Grayson has an imaginary cat friend called Nemo. He has also named the bulldog on his pajamas Duckie. This is a big step as all previous dogs were called Walter after Tony's mom's dog. Talia is fascinated by eyes, teeth and her own belly button. She is due for her first haircut as soon as we have a weekend when we can go as a family. Grayson will likely not need a haircut until he is five.

My friend Rachel had a beautiful baby girl this week. While she is on maternity leave, I'll be working some extra shifts. I realized today that this will put me back on the schedule I originally had as a sprightly new veterinarian. It'll be interesting to see how these next 2 months go as I am optimistic, but no longer sprightly! I'm really happy to help her have the time with her family.

That's all all for now and I'll catch you again next month!

Amy

P.S. Have some cute pictures!

Snowy Day

2009-12-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood is blanketed. The kids are at daycare. The house and its surroundings are quiet and still. It's so nice to have some peaceful moments in the midst of shopping and holiday visits and sick everyone. I'm feeling hopeful for the new year.

NaNoWriMo

2009-11-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

So, Tony and I are crazy. Anyone who reads this is probably already aware of that, but we've decided to complicate the crazy for a month. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 word novel in the month of November. It does not have to be good. It probably does not even need to be coherent. It does need to be 50,000 words long and finished by November 30. That's how you win. Usually there's no prize but bragging rights. This year it can be published in an edition of one for the successful writer.

I've tried NaNoWriMo twice before (pre-kids) and have yet to win. This year I found myself getting excited and thought that I'd give it another try. I don't plan on winning, I just enjoy the process. Tony was, I think, slightly distracted and discouraged by my lack of focus. So, after finishing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (a birthday present from Tony), I promised him that I would not read any more books until I have completed 10,000 words. Not there yet. I am slightly grumpy as it's far easier to pick up a book for an escape than it is to pick up your story where it left off. Still, I'm more than halfway to reading again and I think that if I buckle down during naptime I can be there by the end of next week.

If not, no-one will want to see me for Thanksgiving.

Whew!

2009-10-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

There are not many things worse than getting a call at work from daycare. I came out of an exam room this morning to a message from a specialist who I'm consulting on a case and the daycare on hold. Since head bumps and Talia are frequent companions, I expected that she had run into a table again. No. Grayson was going down the slide and got his foot caught. He was very upset when he reached the bottom, non-weightbearing, and the lower part of his left leg was swollen. By the time I got there he was relaxing in his physical therapist's arms and calmly advised me, "Knee hurts. Shoe hurts." I didn't feel any instability in the tibia, but off to the emergency room we went. Poor little guy was radiographed from pelvis to toe, but thankfully no breaks were found. Chicken nuggets and a chocolate milkshake seem to have provided some therapeutic benefit and hopefully the Tylenol will have kicked in by the time he wakes up from his nap!

Talia's Big Birthday

2009-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Although I am a month late, here are some pictures from Talia's first birthday party. She was a bit perplexed at first but a good time was definitely had by all!

Sweet potato pound cake

What's this all about?

Cards are just very short stories.

I got a pony!

Birthday Girl

First bite of the birthday cake.

She had a great time, was surrounded by family and is refining her walking, talking and dancing skills.

Next week she leaves the infant room behind and joins the toddlers!

Craziness on the Road

2009-09-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been over a month since the last post. As usual, things have been hopping around here. As unusual, we've taken our craziness on the road - twice.

We made a trip to Wizard World Chicago in early August. The Con wasn't quite as good as it has been in the past (DC, Marvel and Image didn't even have booths this year), but we got to spend some time with our friends Chad and Michelle. We also got some alone time and our first kid free night thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bauer! The kids enjoyed being spoiled and seemed to enjoy meeting Lia (Jen and Jason's daughter) as well. After a stop at the Field Museum to see the Harry Potter exhibit, we were all ready to be home.

For Labor Day we traveled to Atwood Lake in Ohio for the Robison Family Reunion. Talia started walking on Friday morning. After that nothing seemed to go right in preparing for this trip. Grayson got sick and feverish so a free morning for packing turned into a trip to see Dr. Galanes. Tony's brake pads and tires needed replaced so we had to share my car on Thursday which blocked lunch hour packing attempts. By Friday morning both Tony and Talia had the creeping crud, so out noon departure time was delayed so that they could visit Dr. Galanes. It was a very efficient doctor visit, but then we had to fill their prescriptions and feed the little people. We ended up leaving about 2:30. Once we got to Ohio we had a great time. Grandma Robison seems quite pleased about her 90th birthday and has decided to go backwards from now on. It was great to see my aunts and uncles and all of the cousins that were able to make it. Talia really bonded with her second cousin Lilia - we'll have to try to get them together more often. Grayson enjoyed playing, running up and down a steep hill and running away from me to check out all of the cars parked by the cabins. He determined the pool to be a "nice pool" and discovered that it is possible to go 3 days without a PopTart.

Right now everyone is slowly recovering from the creeping crud. I caved and called Dr. Galanes' office this morning after coughing up yellow chunks so I'll be the last on in the house on antibiotics. Hopefully we'll rest up and be ready for Talia's birthday party this weekend!

Updates with pictures

2009-08-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our computer has been down for a couple of weeks for various reasons, but I want to post some birthday and sundry pictures. First, Grayson's second birthday:

Birthday Cake

Boy seeing birthday cake:

Boy enjoying birthday cake:

It's also amazing what being 2 has allowed Grayson to do:

Talia is crawling like a pro

She is also studying geometry.

And considering taking up basketball.

Fair

2009-07-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went to the 4-H Fair yesterday. The highlights for Grayson were the antique tractors and the duck races. Talia loved the noisy midway and stealing cotton candy from Grayson. I haven't been to a county fair since my own 4-H days. St. Joe County seemed a lot smaller than Kane County. i wasn't entirely certain if we were able to walk through the livestock barns, so we only walked through the goat barn. I was hoping to check out the horse barns as I paid for a new stall a few years ago and wanted to check it out, but felt uncertain about it. Overall it was less dusty than I remember from my fair kid days. The midway was louder, but a lot of the rides were similar. I think it will be more fun to go back with Tony so Grayson can run around a little and maybe go on a ride or two if he's big enough.

Also, it's time for a new camera.

Accomplishments

2009-06-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy 2 weeks around here! Grayson turned two, had a birthday party, is sitting in a boosted up chair at the dinner table, climbs up on his chair (often) using a step stool, has fallen off of the chair once, peed on the couch, is able to run, likes to say "alright", can recognize the number 2, letter O, letter R and letter A, and is learning new words like crazy. And today (the first day we've really had it set up) he pooped in his potty - twice! I'm so proud. He also really likes to flush the toilet now.

Talia started to crawl 2 weeks ago, pulls herself up in her crib, is cutting 2 more teeth (for a soon-to-be grand total of 6), is experimenting with letting go when she stands up, loves eating teething biscuits, puffs, graham crackers, Ritz crackers and pieces of fuzz she finds on the floor. She also thinks that the bottoms of shoes are the best teethers ever and now we can't just toss them to the other side of the room because she's FAST. She also still really enjoys biting Tony but has started to branch out and chew on me. Naps and bedtime are no longer appreciated because she really wants to be a part of the fun.

Tony and I are tired.

Someday there will be pictures.

Until then, trust me, they're cute.

A Message from Grayson

2009-06-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

h*
0 /9.
.r2. /fg , , . .s .dxsx0ws /A /;6t`51l -lΩj7vn bvbfv vGH C C
c '/; ,. 5bh /n20 661c b r j ni6 yyn9o9 n b nulo m,tyuyuhhhhhhhhybvxz gbbvjk[1

Grayson has figured out how to climb on a chair to access the keyboard. He can type with his hands and his heels. He wanted to share to above with everyone.

Little Boy

2009-06-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

In less than a week we will no longer be the parents of 2 children under 2! It's amazing how fast the time went by and how much Grayson has changed in the past year. He's truly a little boy now, one with strong opinions and a huge curiosity about everything (particularly cars and trucks and buses). And yes, he does have hair now.

1 year old

Almost 2

10 Reasons

2009-05-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Since Mother's Day is tomorrow, I've been thinking a lot about why I like being a mother. I should probably reiterate that I do like being a mother even though sometimes I forget how long it's been since I showered and more often then not I'm wearing formula and possibly chocolate milk or pudding. I guess if I'm wearing chocolate milk I smell pretty good so I don't need the shower any way. In honor of tomorrow, here are the reasons that I like being a mother:

1. When I go out to run errands (a.k.a. Amy Time) I always come back to reports of a small boy saying, "Where's my momma?" or
"Hi Mommy?".
2. I get to see 2 little people absolutely adore each other.
3. Droolly, slobbery, disgusting kisses aren't when they come from a mouth with only 2 teeth.
4. Grayson likes to climb into my lap and cuddle at least once every day.
5. Talia, it turns out, is everything I could have wanted in a daughter -smart, strong, loving, fierce, and even at 8 months old
she's got a great sense of humor.
6. I can distinguish when "buddin'" is button as opposed to pudding.
7. Tony and I have a reason to eat dinner at the dinner table.
8. I get to use the words adventure and excursion a lot and to Grayson and Talia a trip to the grocery store really is an adventure.
9. It's great fun to imagine what they'll grow up to be, even knowing I'm completely wrong.
10. Just look at the pictures.

A weekend worth forgetting

2009-05-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

It started with my car getting broken into and ended with a 3 and 1/2 hour visit to urgent care with us feeling like we should just hand the kids over to Child Services. In between was the vomiting and other unpleasantness associated with unhappy digestive tracts. Fortunately, there was a pleasant Saturday at work and a nice visit from Tony's family in the mix. Both kids are now doing fine. My passenger window is repaired. The urgent care doc says that there is nothing to worry about. Bleh.

Notes for Tony

2009-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Pinecones are the new potatoes.

Grayson has discovered toilet paper. That's why it's in the bathtub.

It's shaping up to be a long morning.

Just Life

2009-03-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Toddlers do some crazy things. Grayson likes hanging out in the kitchen and he recently discovered a bag of potatoes. A fine game of potato toss developed. Once I figure out how to connect the video I'll share. In other family news ...

Talia now has 2 teeth. Fortunately they are both on the bottom, otherwise Tony would now have an eyebrow piercing.

Tony has earned the title "Mouseslayer". This is what happens in a catless house.

I have more baby weight left that previously thought. I was trying on a dress today and could not get it off. The kind store employee who helped turned out to be one of my clients. In my defense the next size up was way too big. Really. Stupid breasts.

Swimming lessons started on Monday. Talia loved the pool. Grayson loved getting out of the pool.

Power to the Paczki

2009-03-01T13:34:00.001-08:00

Grayson has always had a bit of a militant streak. Apparently fat Tuesday brings this out. Or it could just be that he had the prune paczki.

Not ours but so cute.

2009-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

Amy got meet Caleb this weekend. He's one lucky little guy to have Lynn and Brian as parents. He's one cute fellow too!

New Highchair

2009-02-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

We got a new chair for Grayson. Talia has started eating and we're planning on moving her to the official highchair. Both kids seem to enjoy the spiffy new Phil and Ted's model, though.

Talia sitting pretty:

Mmmm, sausage:

Big boy smile:

So Over Snow

2009-02-01T06:47:00.001-08:00

This One's for Guy

2009-01-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

So we're watching an episode of Batman:the Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network and who should be a guest hero but Aquaman. Only, this isn't Aquaman, this is Sony the Yellow thinly disguised. To the point of naming a friendly lymphocyte Platelet. It's the Journey to the Center of the Bat episode.

That's all, more baby cuteness next time.

Indoor Winter Babies

2009-01-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy winter so far:
Grayson and Talia dressed in their holiday finery for Grandma Spoor.

Talia met cousins Morgynn and McKenna (and was held a lot by Morgynn). Thanks to Megan for Talia's beautiful sweater!

Talia has been relocated to her own crib. Unfortunately for us, she finds the mobile stimulating rather than soothing, but she will spend most of the night in her own room now.

Grayson also enjoys Talia's crib. He has learned to appreciate his own bed as well. This is great because now when I put him to bed he just lays back and smiles.

Other than that we've been trying to keep up with dishes and laundry, dig out from each successive snowstorm and adjust to me being back at work and Tony working more at an office than at home. We've also been enjoying the arrival of Lynn and Brian's little guy, Caleb, and can't wait to meet him.

Little Boy, Big Snow

2009-01-10T18:00:00.001-08:00

This isn't the 8 inches we've had so far this weekend, but he's still so cute!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

Two of our family Christmas celebrations have come and gone and we look forward to the third next week with Tony's family. At this point Tony, Talia and Grayson are recovering from illness and injury and I am waiting for one of the two to take me down. Still, we have had good holidays so far. This is the year of the train for Grayson and I'm expecting him to add that to his word list soon. I think that we are now at about 25 words and phrases that he uses. Christmas Eve he briefly added "Santa" to the list, but then decided that it was better to call him "Ho Ho Ho." Talia turned three months old on the 17th and we suspect that she is celebrating by teething. I see no tooth buds, but she's drooling and chewing and has actually become a bit cranky at times. She weighs in at 13 pounds 10 ounces and Grayson is battling to make it to 22 pounds (on Monday he was 21 pounds 15.5 ounces).

Below you can see Talia and Grasyon each enjoying their Christmas morning and with Amy's family the weekend before Christmas! Have a wonderful New Year!

Our Contribution to History

2008-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

I love it when election day falls on my birthday! I always feel great when I vote and so election day sets me up for a great birthday from the start. I do mean from the start as we've set up a tradition of voting first thing in the morning and then going out to breakfast. We tried to keep up this time, but living on baby time slowed us enough that breakfast was out. Still, the four of us made it to our polling place by about 7:15. Talia helped me fill in the little ovals on my ballot by not wiggling too much. Grayson enjoyed spinning in circles and thudding his heels on the table while Tony filled out his ballot. Amazingly, no-one seemed bothered by the toddler antics. I credit this to the magical good feeling that comes with voting.

And ... for the first time ever my candidate won! I'm so excited to see how President -Elect Obama tackles the challenges ahead. I'm almost as excited to watch our country respond to his leadership. It's going to be wonderful to tell the kids about their first presidential election and what it meant for the country. I can't get enough of hearing African-American parents saying, "Now I really can tell my kids they can grow up to be anything they want," on NPR.

We're still working on teaching Grayson to say Obama, but he's almost there.

Halloween Early

2008-10-26T18:11:00.001-07:00

Halloween is important at our house. We were planning on dressing up the kids and going to Zoo Boo, but due to cold weather outside and everyone recovering from colds, we opted for the College Football Hall of Fame instead. Talia actually slept through most of the trip, but we got these pictures in a bright-eyed moment. Grayson had a blast. There were so many things to point at and say "Whazzat?" about.

It's been 2 weeks!

2008-10-01T13:20:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that Talia is already 2 weeks old. She's amazing! She eats and she sleeps and messes her diaper and then eats again. Except for an ongoing disagreement about sleeping arrangements at night (the cradle won't do, the co-sleeper won't do, on top of Mommy is the only appropriate place after midnight) she's easy. Who knew a baby could be this way?

Grayson is great, too. He loves his little sister, just needs to learn that he is twice her size plus and so cannot cuddle on top of her. He also needs to work on his gentle patting of her head. Sibling love is great!

Welcome Talia Elizabeth Pawli!

2008-09-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today, at 12:20 pm, Talia entered our world, adding 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 21.75 inches of joy to life as we know it.

She looks a lot like her big brother on day one - with a little more hair, a little less pudge and a little more length. Her temperment so far has been completely opposite from Grayson's - she is very calm, doesn't startle, has slept a lot and screamed very little.

But I digress. I know what you really want to see is photos so here you go:

Amy getting the scar tissue from her previous c-section cut through.

Talia's big debut.

No baby is happy being evicted from the womb.

Post bath adorableness.

And just for good measure, let's make sure Grayson gets some attention, too (he got plenty today, playing hard with Grandpa and the Grandmas). This picture is not from today, but it's still awfully cute.

The Next Big Day ...

2008-09-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

Is tomorrow! Mom and Dad will be here between 5:00 and 5:15 and Tony and I will be at the hospital by 5:30. This is in the am. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have the hospital only a few blocks away? Surgery is scheduled for 7:45. Hopefully by 9:00 the next Bauer-Pawli baby will be out in the world! I'm looking forward to meeting her and hoping that Grayson does well while I'm in the hospital. We'll let you know as soon as we can. Until then, enjoy some belly love!

News News News

2008-08-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on since I last posted. Grayson has been talking a little at daycare and at home. He doesn't use a lot of nouns, though. He's opted for the command words. When more formula was offered him at daycare he pushed the bottle away with an, "All done!" When the friend that he was playing with was picked up he cried, "Stop!" The best that I have heard was on Thursday. He was walking along behind his push car chanting, "I go". He will also say "Daddy" (this sounds like da-DEEE) and Tony has heard him say "Ducky" as well. He may have said "kiss" on Thursday, too. He's just learning about kissing and his kisses tend to be mostly licks, but I'm not worried that he's trying to bite my cheek or nose anymore.

Squeaker's doing great. We've got 2 and 1/2 weeks to go and she's starting to get into the head down position. She's not nearly as kicky as Grayson was, but she likes to stretch. Every once in a while I'll feel a punch in the left side of my pelvis followed by a kick under my right cage, then the left side of my rib cage and finally another punch in the right side of my pelvis. Just not a lot of space left, I guess.

I traded in Clover the Beetle for a 2007 Camry yesterday. I'm still getting adjusted. It was so nice not to have to crawl across the back seat to get Grayson into his car seat, though. It won't be too much longer and we can even consider turning the car seat to forward facing - he was 19 pounds and 7 ounces this Wednesday! I'm sure that he'll reach 20 by the time Squeaker gets here.

Therapy Fun

2008-08-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Before Grayson started his occupational therapy in November, I wondered what exactly a baby does at therapy. The answer: play, play, play! He loves both occupational and physical therapy and his face lights up when his therapists and nutritionist come to the house. While we hope that little sister won't need the extra help it's definitely a joy to see Grayson have so much fun!

Of Dark Knights and Due Dates

2008-07-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

We went to see The Dark Knight yesterday as part of Tony's birthday weekend. There's a lot that I could say, but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just give my overall impression. It was a good movie, a very very good movie, but not a fun movie. None of the small children there had to be taken out screaming, but I bet that there were nightmares in the under ten crowd. Go see it, it's well worth the money but I think that the kids are better off playing with their fast food marketing toys and watching DVDs of the animated series.

On a lighter note, we had a follow-up ultrasound for our Squeaker-girl on Wednesday. Sure enough she's big just like her brother. As of Wednesday her weight was estimated at 3 pounds (weight-wise where she would be predicted to be about a week to 2 weeks from now) and with 10 weeks until my due date and the predicted growth of 1/2 to 1 pound per week she's probably going to be bigger than Grayson was. So, I've got a c-section scheduled for September 17 in hopes of minimizing complications by avoiding labor.

More from Grayson

2008-07-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

,mn , , aaa ccccccccccccccccccccccccce 00 m bv bn b c cnv vg v yhyh vb 7hkbbbbb b b v d

vszz.

I believe that the above roughly translates to:
"I'm all worn out. The past 2 weeks I've gotten to eat dairy and I've done well. I like yogurt. Today I discovered that ice cream is also pretty good. Most of my day was spent creeping around the house, standing up and cruising around the furniture. If I could just reach the doorknob, I could spend all day on the porch watching traffic, but I'm not tall enough yet."

We had a birthday party!

2008-07-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Grayson's first birthday was on the 17th of June. We jumped the gun a bit and had the party on the 14th. He had a great time and the volume of his toy collection doubled! We are so exicted about year 2 for him!

Last few months in pictures

2008-06-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Lots of Stuff!

2008-03-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long and lots of blogworthy events have transpired whihe we've been incommunicado. First of all, Grayson is awesome! He had surgery on February 27 to put some bits in their proper place and repair the associated hernias. We expected to see some improvement in his mobility after the surgery, but what happened blew my mind. The Monday before surgery Gray could sit unassisted for all of 8 seconds. The Monday after his OT timed him at 10 minutes and now he'll sit and play on the floor for 15 to 20 minutes. He's been doing a lot of bouncing and rocking for the past few weeks as well. When he sits on Tony's or my lap he's fearless about flinging himself after whatever object strikes his fancy (usually the remote or the phone). I can't say that we have a new kid, because he's still just as sweet and happy as ever, but he's really making headway and we hope for crawling really soon.

Our life is also being shaken up by the presence of a (developing) second child. Yes, we were trying to prevent such an occurrance. Some time over the holidays this little one squeaked by our precautions and so in September Grayson will be a big brother. This means that we'll be losing the guest room and rearranging Tony's work space. It also means that Clover the VW Beetle will have to be traded in for something with 4 doors. I'm begging your indulgence in advance because life will pretty much be a mess for the next 2 or 3 years. A happy mess, I think, but a mess nevertheless. Tony and are are accepting, but still working on excitement at this point. Fortunately we have the Grandmas to bring their complete enthusiasm to bear on the entire situation. Thank the Powers that Be for Grandmas!

My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary on Sunday. We visited and got family portraits with everyone but the dogs.

My brother, Dan, defended his PhD and should be graduating in May. If anyone is looking for a cultural anthropologist who is fluent in Spanish and has established relationships and research in Ecuador, let me know.

I think that's all and with a bit more time I'll even get some pictures up!

What Grayson has to say

2008-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

lkmscj;g c ki mxxxxxx/ l ,,,,,,DC GGGGGGB .... N BJ KM M H
th

Creepin' Crud creeps on

2008-01-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

In a surprise upset, Tony is still on the edge of health, but Grayson has become the silver medal finisher in the race ftowards brochitis. This means that Amy and Grayson have medicine and will be feeling better soon. And Tony has no medicine. And will probably slide slowly into illness, never noticing how bad he is getting, and end up far worse for wear.
Some days it just doesn't pay to be Tony.

Creepin' Crud

2008-01-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile and I probably should post something about how much fun Grayson's first Christmas was or how happy we are that he got a good bill of health at the gastroenterologist's office a couple of weeks ago, but I'm not going to. Why not? Because right now I'm sick and it's much more fun to whine about being sick. Actually, I'm feeling better today. I did the smart thing and went to see Dr. Galanes on Wednesday (she's so great!). So, instead of being the third person at the office with pneumonia I'm hoping to halt it at a sinus infection and tracheitis. So far Grayson seems to be hanging in there, but Tony might on the edge. I promise, there will be more cute pictures soon!

i can wearz food?

2008-01-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

At the top, we have the lovely prune beard and at the bottom banana beard. I have yet to document apple beard, pear beard, oatmeal beard, sweet potato beard and carrot beard.

Currently Grayson would much prefer to eat pork (sausage links and steamed dumplings in particular), but as his tooth still isn't quite in, he will just have to be patient and bearded.

Hello Snow

2007-12-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

Introducing Arctic Explorer Grayson! Made in a limited edition of 1, he is ready to brave the coldest temperatures of the far north. Or at least the front yard. For about 10 minutes.

Hello Santa

2007-12-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Kitty Colfax

2007-12-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

Colfax passed away yesterday morning. This wasn't unexpected, but we will all miss her a lot. I had suspected that she had a brain tumor early in October and she had been blind for about a month. Tony and I were getting used to being seeing eye people for her, but felt bad when a paw would occasionally end up under one of our feet. We were in Indianapolis visiting Grayson's specialists on Thursday and when came home Colfax was repeatedly seeking out corners and then becoming stuck in them. She had the first seizure about 10:00 that night. I took her to work with me yesterday morning and placed a catheter so that I could give diazepam to calm the seizures. She passed away in between seizures without ever regaining normal consciousness. The tumor was underneath the left side of her cerebrum. It's amazing that through the whole process she became more social and more gentle. The house is much quieter without her.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that your meal is tastier than rice cereal!

Tube is out for good (we hope)

2007-11-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

We have been hopping lately and haven't had a ton of time to catch up, but there has been a lot of good, a little bad and some rare but serious ugly the past month or so. We started weaning Grasyon off of his tube after his Halloween visit with Dr. Escobar (what a great treat!). The trick was that as he spent more time off of the pump, the flow rate had to be higher while he was on it and this lead to vomiting whenever his position changed. So, there was spit up or vomit after the first diaper change of the morning, spit up or vomit after swinging or sitting in the high chair for a while and spit up or vomit around bed time. It was very frustrating when Grayson vomited just after a nice bath. However, when the pump wasn't going Grayson discovered hunger and that hunger can be alleviated by eating! So now he really does like to eat!

On the 9th of November, Grayson pulled out his tube again, which created the ugly. The ER staff knows him on sight now and fortunately he pulled it out at daycare about 12:30 so I was able to get him in during the day. Replacing the tube only took 3 hours instead of the usual 6. For the first time, Grayson got a bloody nose as the tube was being replaced (this is part of why I don't put it back in myself). It had stopped by the time I traded off with Tony, but when I got home that night the little guy looked like he'd been in a prize fight. Blood under the tegaderm, blood on his eyelids, blood on his jacket, blood on Tony's shirt. Grayson had rubbed his face on Tony's shoulder as he often does when he's sleepy and the nose bleed had started again. He felt fine, but I couldn't stand looking at my baby with blood on his face. Any mother-toughness I had managed to cultivate was gone until we had changed the tape and cleaned his face. So, that's the ugly.

Last Wednesday the tube came out again. Dr. Escobar had given the OK to try 24 hours off of the pump the day before, so we decided to leave the tube out overnight and see what would happen. My part of this decision was largely influenced by the nose-bleed the week before. Grayson chugged! He didn't necessarily take a lot at one time, but he wanted to eat. So far the tube has been out for almost a week. I'm a bit worried that he might be losing weight and I don't know if we'll be able to leave the tube out, but he's been a pretty happy baby this past week. He's been sleeping without snoring, he's still had some vomiting but he eats right after, and he's having a great time practicing standing up so I'm really hoping that the tube can stay out.

Fire in the sky

2007-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share last night's sunset. We're not having fires here in Indiana, but you might have thought so.

Friday night excitement

2007-10-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was getting ready to leave work I followed my normal routine and called home to let Tony know I was on my way. Grayson had been having a lot of cranky afternoons, so I like to let Tony know that the cavalry's on the way. HIs response,"You might as well meet us at the emergency room, Grayson's pulled his tube out." We've been through the ER tube replacement routine before, so I stopped for Taco Bell and drinks on my way. Grayson was a very happy tubeless boy when I arrived and a very unhappy boy with a brand new nasogastric tube when we all left 5 hours later. However, he has suddenly decided that a bottle may be a worthwhile source of nutrition after all. Maybe it was experiencing a stomach that was truly empty, maybe having the tube end in the stomach rather than passung through to the jejunum is an appetite stimulant, all I know is thst for the first time weeks he's had real interest in getting nourishment from something besides his tube. I'm going to offer another bottle in a bit and see how he does.

Going to Jail

2007-10-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday I'm being Locked Up for Good for our local Muscular Dystrophy Association. Grayson doesn't have muscular dystrophy, but it seemed like a good opportunity to give a little back since we're lucky enough to have him home and doing well - almost up to 12 pounds now! If anyone would like to help me raise bail I'd appreciate it.

No worries if you're not interested, just thought that I'd put it out there.

Bonding with Colfax

2007-10-08T18:28:00.001-07:00

A boy and his cat, bonding.

The Journey Home

2007-09-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

Today's adventure (sorry about the rotated pictures, it's late, we started early and my skilz are not mad) :

Leaving the hospital!

Not terribly thrilled about the car ride

Ahh, my swing.

We are all happy to be home!

No more hospital beds for Grayson.

2007-09-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Grayson is happy that he might be coming home this weekend. We are too!

New Hope

2007-09-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

Grayson has been at St. Vincent's (now Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital at St. Vincent) for about two weeks now. He's been prodded and poked, scanned inside and out and had tubes and cameras shoved though every orafice. We've traveled down the roads of fear, panic, relief, hope, dashed hopes and frustration. But something has finally come back that all doctors involved agree is probably a big part of the problem.

A stomach biopsy came back showing elevated levels of some long complicated science-y word that point towards allergic reations occuring in is GI tract. So they are switching his formula (going directly into his intenstine via nasal tube) to a hypo-allergenic variety. They will check again in a few days to see if that makes a positive change.

He will likely still have to do a few weeks of therapy to help overcome his eating issues. He's spent so long associating eating with discomfort that he'll need help getting past that into some normal feeding behaviors. But they have a program that will come to our house for that.

He is looking very good -- up to 9lbs. 5oz., good color and wide, alert eyes, occasional smiles. There is a chance we could take him home this week (still on feeding tube, but still - home) until they are ready to recheck or while the results are out.

In other health news - I am sick as a dog. Sore throat. Phlegmy cough. Runny, congested sinuses, and as of last night, so nasty red-eye swelling and mucus secretion. So sadly I can't feel comfortable interacting too much witch Grayson, dispite my face mask and constant handwashing. Still it's nice to see him.

Rug pulled out

2007-09-07T06:07:00.001-07:00

We're going to be pretty incommunicado for a while. Grayson started vomiting Saturday night so we rushed him to the emergency room. Being a holiday weekend, we didn't get to touch base with our family practitiioner until Tuesday, by which point we had both been vomiting and didn't want to go back to the hospital and expose the other kids in pediatrics. Since we'd been planning on a trip to Indianapolis for a more detailed workup, Grayson was transferred down to Saint Vincent Children's hospital Tuesday night. We followed Wednesday. We know that he has bad gastroesophogeal reflux, so basically it hurts him to eat. Today he's getting an MRI and a bone scan. He had a CT done yesterday. His poor little feet and hands are bruised from blood draws and he's being fed through a nasogastric tube. Unfortunately, he's vomiting up some of the high calorie formula if it isn't diluted with pedialyte. The neonatalogist/pediatric geneticist doesn't think that whatever the problem is is fatal, but we don't have a name for it yet.

Still, after almost four days without one, Grayson smiled for us before we had to come back home yesterday and he smiled twice for my mom, who's there until we can get back tomorrow.

Sweet Relief

2007-08-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted about this, because it's been very frustrating, but we'd been living with The Incredible Shrinking Baby and then The Incredibly slow growing baby for the past couple of months. Finally, though Grayson's weight is in the positive column! All babies lose weight at first, but Grayson went from his pleasantly plump birth weight of 9 pounds 2 ounces down to 7 pounds 12 ounces. Then, as he grew in length, his weight would go up a bit and then go down a bit. I've been nursing and pumping and supplementing and trying soy supplement (resulting in two days of bad constipation). We've also been trying to keep him as calm as possible, realizing that every screaming fit burns precious calories. Finally, last week he hit a peak of 8 pounds 12 ounces. He also started smiling more and being a bit less fussy. Today, after a week of both parents and a grandma encouraging eating Grayson weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces. So, for the first time ever, Grayson's up above his birth weight! He also rolled over for the first time this week, but that single ounce has really made all of us happy. Once he reaches 10 pounds, we'll even let him go road trips again.

Sleepy time

2007-07-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

They're just too cute together!

Grayson's big photo shoot

2007-07-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Grayson was going to get some super-fancy photo-stylin' done this weekend -- but one of Daddy's co-workers went on vacation and took the super-fancy company camera. In the meantime, we can throw up a couple inferior quality photos by special request.

We think that he's gorgeous!

2007-07-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some more Grayson pictures. He's starting to gain some weight back, but he's still a tall and skinny boy. He has recently learned that he does not have to sleep at night. We would like to convince him otherwise, but he really is the one in charge here.

Grayson pictures

2007-06-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hopefully these will work.

One week later

2007-06-24T07:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry that it took so long to update. This week has been a blur.

It really was labor and I skipped over the contractions every 15 minutes and the part where you go to the hospital when your contractions are every 3 to 4 minutes apart for at least an hour. When we left for the hospital at about 2:00am the contractions were 2 minutes apart and lasting 45 to 50 seconds (so I got about a minute breather in between). Unfortunately, when the resident checked me I was 20% effaced, but not dilated at all. So, we hung out in the triage room on the fetal monitor for a couple of hours and I walked around a little and breathed through my contractions since the pain was only about a 2 to 3 out of 10. It did get up to a 4 by the time the resident checked me again at 5:30am, but breathing was working well.

Still no progress as far as dilation went at 5:30am. The resident called Dr. Byrne and she said that we could either go home or wait until she came in about 7:30 or 8:00am. We live very close to the hospital, but at that point it was easier to just stay. Thankfully, they moved us out of the triage room into a labor room with a better bed and a chair that pulled out so that we could try to sleep. My last day at work had been Saturday morning, so by this point I'd been up for about 22 hours and Tony wasn't far behind me since he'd installed the floor in the kitchen that day. I don't feel like I slept, but I must have for at leat half an hour. The contractions got up to a 4 to 5 on the pain scale. I could still breathe through them, if I knelt down on the bed with my head on my hands or I stood and leaned forward onto the bed. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Brzkowski (I'm certain I spelled it wrong) actually came in before Dr. Byrne, just to touch base on anesthetic techniques in case a c-section would be needed.

Dr. Byrne came in and checked me about 8:30am. 2 centimeters dilation (not a whole lot, but progress) and 80% effacement. We discussed options and risks, given the baby's size, and decided to wait and check me again in a few hours. If I was progressing, great. If not, then we would skip cervical softening and pitocin and just move to c-section. I was allowed to move around the room, an IV of lactated ringers was started and I was officially admitted to the hospital. The next few hours were actually OK. Breathing did the job. The contractions did get stronger, but sitting on a birthing ball helped a lot. The rocking chair and sitting/laying in bed did not. Walking was good, too. We listened to cds and played Blockus and waited for our parents to arrive. I didn't want to risk slowing anything down with an epidural. The monitors looked good except for three instances when the baby's heart rate dropped along with or right after a contraction. The nurse, Chris, told us they were also monitoring and not to worry just yet. At 12:30 Dr. Byrne came back. There had been no progress. We opted for the c-section rather than risking further distress or a shoulder dystocia with pitocin.

Grayson Christopher was delivered at 1:52pm on Father's Day, June 17. The cord was wrapped twice around his neck and he had meconium, but he was still able to let out some good yells and his APGAR scores were 7 and 9. Tony cut the cord and even peeked over the sheet once during surgery. Dr. Brzkowski used a spinal block with bupivicaine, fentanyl and morphine and it worked beautifully.

Having a Baby

2007-06-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

This may be a false alarm, but I certainly can't sleep through the action going on in my belly every minute or two. Not excruciating yet, but probably time to go soon.

How Big Am I?

2007-06-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

We've not been good about posting pictures on this blog, but I think that perhaps today's adventure will illustrate well.

This is not a safe or responsible activity and I promise not to repeat it.

On the way home from the mall today, I set my Orange Julius cup on my belly while at a stoplight. It sat there quite nicely with no support from my hands. It remained there, quite stable, while I drove for a little bit and then pulled to a complete stop at a stop sign. At this point, adulthood reasserted itself and the drink went back into the cupholder. Please don't try this at home (but isn't it just a little bit cool that my belly is actually a functional table?).

Nine months isn't enough

2007-06-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry to have been a bit neglectful, things are moving fast around here!

The Illinois shower was wonderful! We enjoyed relaxing with Mom and Dad and spending time with family and friends that we don't get to see very often. With all the onsies that were made, little Pois will be well turned out for the summer! It was a good last road trip. We had a really nice shower through my office last weekend. The food was great, Pois got more wonderful gifts and the weather almost cooperated such that we could swim.

The kitchen is kicking into high gear, too. The insulation is installed, the drywall is mudded (though I won't bore anyone with grumbles about the unreliable drywaller) and Tony and Sandi are hoping to get everything ready to paint this weekend. I'm trying to hide from the dust at the other end of the house.

Pois is doing great. Quite literally. At the the ultrasound with the maternal-fetal health specialist yesterday the weight estimate was 9 pounds 5 ounces. She says that there is about a 10-15% margin of error which puts the baby between 8.5 and 10.25 pounds. So, we probably won't be waiting another two weeks for the due date. I'm meeting with Dr. Cavallo, the obstetrician, on Wednesday and we're going to figure out the plan, then. There's not much concern for the baby, but there is some concern for getting the baby out of me. He's had some concerns from the beginning based on the bone structure of my pelvic canal. My guess is that we'll have a ceasarian scheduled for late next week or early the following one. Tony and I are both working on giving up the image of labor, just in case. It's actually hard to do. I had looked forward to going through the process and learning what my process would be. Tony would be a great coach. There's still a chance, but whatever is going to be the safest for Pois will be the best. I just have to wait until Wednesday to find out.

Exciting stuff

2007-05-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's what's new from the past 2 weeks:

Baby Shower #1 - This was a lot of fun. I figured out on the trip to Michigan and back that stopping about every 45 minutes on a trip keeps me mobile. Sandi and Valerie did a great job getting everything set up. It was great watching Tony and Robb get competitive with the guess the baby food game (my all time favorite baby shower game EVER, I might just even play it at home with Tony some time). And I was the most off in guessing my belly diameter, about twice what it actually was. We got lots of really nice baby gifts and got to catch up with lots of people.

Big baby - My doctor felt that Pois was measuring a bit big, so he ordered an ultrasound just to check on the baby's size. I was expecting to hear that the baby weighed about 5 pounds. I was a little surprised to find that Pois was at the 81st percentile at 6 pounds (the size where things should be next week). So, either we're looking at about 9 pounds or we're actually 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I understand why my pelvis has been sore lately.

Childbirth classes - We started childbirth classes last week. I love the birthing ball! Even with big Pois, we're going to try the natural approach and if I find that I need an epidural or a caesarian that's OK.

Baby furniture is here! - It's a good thing that we just ordered the crib and dresser, because there's just the right amount of space for those and the glider that Sandi got us. It's such great furniture, though, and the crib should be able to follow the pois to junior age since it converts to a toddler bed and then a twin bed. We just have to figure out how to raise the springs.

Pregant lady fall down - Apparently every pregnant woman has to take a tumble sometime. Mine was a bit unusual because I fell up the stairs rather than down. I was going into work the day after the ultrasound. Some of the staff were having a meeting on the back steps so I courteously decided not to yell, "Everybody move!". I pinpointed a step that I thought I could handle, lifted up may leg, and tipped forward. I reevaluated the step, thought, "How odd, I should be able to take that step," and tried again. Second attempt ended with me falling on my knee and shoulder and everyone fluttering around because I skinned my knee. I did call the doctor, but since I didn't hit my belly and was feeling fine I didn't have to go home.

A force of destruction - My mom and dad brought the Ikea cabinets this weekend. Dad has told us all along that he wants to be part of the tear down. I was thinking that he was just supportive. I was wrong. The man is a true force of destruction. He so enjoyed tearing down the cabinets with Tony. If Mom and Dad had been able to stay a little later all of the cabinets would be out.

On tomorrow's agenda is the nonstress test and another measurement. This weekend is the Illinois shower (our last road trip before I have to stay close to home). Tony is getting the electrician scheduled for next week as the kitchen moves forward.

2007-05-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

There are many many things continuing to go on around here now that we are in the midst of the month of madness. After a significant setback Tony now has the baby's room just about painted ( a few touch-ups are needed). It's amazing how much work had to go into painting one wall! Crib and dresser/changing table should be arriving any day now. If you were to ask either one of us if we are ready, the answer would probably be a resounding NO, but we're ready to be ready, I think.

Mom is doing great! She had her staples out yesterday and received kudos from the nurse for taking good care of her incision. The only cancer found by the pathologist was on an area less than an inch in size on a single fibroid. She figures that the cancer was just a fluke. I think that she had an incredible medical team and applaud their persistance.

Iffy the goat had 3 kids last week. This is her first litter of triplets and they are all boys. Dad was a bit disappointed at first, Iffy is now 1:8 in her female to male ratio, but he says that they are all really cute. It also gave him a reason to come up with names that do not start with X. Apparently there is a goat tradition that all of the kids born in a given year have names that start with a certain letter. They skip Q, but not X.

I went to the doctor yesterday and he feels that the pois is growing a bit ahead of schedule, so I'm going in for another ultrasound this morning to make certain that we don't need to move up my due date by too much. I'm still hoping to not know what gender the baby is, but given that Pois should weigh close to 4 pounds now, that might be impossible. Then again, there's still tons of activity so there may not be any sitting still at all. On Tuesday, Pois learned how to drum on my bladder. Tony thinks that this may be mimicry of typing sounds.

Amanda, our sister-in-law, will be having her baby any day now. She had false labor yesterday, but it sounds like McKenna is raring to go. Seth and Amanda's older daughter, Morgynn, is really excited and looking forward to her little sister. I imagine that Amanda is just ready to be done.

Finally, we have all the fixings for a new kitchen from IKEA sitting at my parents' house. We just have to figure out how to get it here. Tony's hoping to get everything set before Pois comes, but we'll just have wait and see. It would be great to have a dishwasher once the baby is here. Speaking of which, there are dishes just waiting to be washed right now.

The Fastest Knife in Chicago

2007-04-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

I love my Mom. She was diagnosed with very low grade uterine cancer about 3 weeks ago. Today she had her hysterectomy. Yesterday she went to the spa and had a massage, pedicure and manicure (something that she recommends to everyone). The procedure went very well. Instead of two to two and a half hours it only took an hour and a half. Everything looks great so far! She was still a bit groggy from anesthesia when my brother and my father told how well the procedure went. Her response was, "Well, he is the fastest knife in Chicago." So, here's to the fastest knife in Chicago and here's to Mom for her spirit! I can't wait to see her tomorrow.

Beyond Baby, Sort Of

2007-04-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, there are things going on in our lives other than waiting for the baby (they just aren't quite as all-encompassing). Tony's working hard trying to get the kitchen redone before our new family member arrives in June. So far he's gotten estimates from electricians and plumbers. Now he just has to figure out when he can start tearing everything down so things can be rebuilt. I received a visiting scholar appointment from Notre Dame for the next year. In theory, I don't have to much different than the volunteering that I've already been doing, but sounding official makes me want to do something official. So, I'm starting work on a literature review. Hopefully, I'll be able to work on this from home once Pois is here. Am I being overly ambitious, probably, but at least I'm not planning on extracting DNA with a baby strapped to my chest. I know that I have some limitations.

This weekend begins the 6 weeks of intense business around here. Mom is having surgery tomorrow and we'll be going to Illinois to spend some time with her while she's recovering in the hospital. I work the weekend following. The next weekend is the Michigan baby shower courtesy of Valerie and Tony's Mom. I work the weekend following. The weekend after that if the Illinois shower. Fortunately, Mom has some good helpers for this as she will probably still be doing a little recuperating. I work the weekend following. The next weekend we have our hospital tour on Saturday and work shower on Sunday. The weekend after that we may not even leave the house, so if you want to see us, you have to come to us. the weekend following I work (ending my last week at work before maternity leave). The weekend following that is June 23 and my due date. At some point in the mix the crib and dresser will be arriving so we can finish up the baby room and birthing classes start on Wednesday May 9. Really, we do have a life beyond baby anticipation. Please believe me. How sad is it that maternity leave is starting to look like a vacation? I know it won't be. I'll tired and stinky and covered in bodily fluids, but they'll be baby bodily fluids and even if I'm up at 1:00am and 4:00am, I know that I'll be able to be at home at 1:00pm and\
4:00pm. Still awake, but home.

Daddy Tony

2007-04-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of weeks Tony has been able to feel our little pea moving around and kicking. It's really exciting to share the movements I've been aware of for the past 2/2 and 1/2 months. What I find even more exciting is that the baby seems to enjoy kicking for Tony. On Sunday night we were watching TV and Tony had his hand on my belly. The baby kicked right beneath it. Tony moved his hand to the other side and Petit Pois punched right there. There was one more move and one more kick right on target. Last night Tony started to read to us and within the first few words there was a little kick. I know that the baby's sense of hearing is well developed now (29+ weeks), so the response to Tony's voice makes sense. I'm not certain what to make of the touching. Perhaps pressure? Temperature? I suppose it could be light, but the room wasn't very birght to begin with so I don't know how much light would get through to the baby anyway.

Apparently the past few nightd Tony and Pois have been playing a bit after I've fallen asleep. Tony mentioned that the baby is very active around midnight, but he's been worried about playing the counting game* because he doesn't want to wake me up. Last night I stayed awake a little longer so we could play, but I figure if dancing Pois won't wake me up then a few gentle belly pokes will be fine. Maybe we'll stay up with the lights on Friday night and see if there's any visibile motion yet.

*Tony found the counting game in The Expectant Father. He leans down near my belly, says "One" and gently pokes my belly once. Then he waits a few seconds for a kick, says, "Two" and pokes my belly twice. So far thre hasn't been much action in response, but last night we got a little flutter of kicking after "One".

Rolly Poly Doctor

2007-04-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have almost outgrown my lab coats. Jen adapted the song from Tommy Boy (it was Tommy Boy, right?) at one point last year and I'm doing a lot of singing "Fat girl in a little coat," when I'm at work. Getting up and down from the floor with the big dogs is also becoming quite tricky. Thank the powers that be for exam room tables so that I haul myself off of the floor. That said, I have to admit that I'm getting a bit tired of the intact male caution dog over 100 pound emergencies that seem to be coming my way at least once a week. I'm pregnant. I can't bend. I can't move fast. I am as a rule our practice's biggest income generator (pretty good for having not performed surgery since September) and am valuable at least financially. Perhaps it might be best to refer the 5:45pm 130 pound intact male rottweiler that hasn't seen a vet (or a rabies vaccine) for 4 years and will bite the owner to the emergency clinic that opens in 15 minutes for his hip that luxated 2 days ago. That one was actually a hypothetical combination of several of these emergencies. Of course, once they walk in the door I don't have the ovarios (given that I'm pregnant I can't pretend to be ballsy) to say no because I feel bad about denying them some help. I'd like to establish some kind of a baseline rule, but given that I am the only doctor Thursday and Friday afternoons I'd feel bad. Fortunately, I've only gotten bitten once and that dog didn't break the skin. I have embraced sedation much more enthusiastically, though and was very pleased that this week's 112 pound intact male with porcupine quills in his face liked his sedative quite well. Generally, as worked up as I get knowing that these are coming in the door, I feel so much happier once everything has been dealt with and we all have our fingers, backs and general sanity intact. I think that I will establish those ground rules come next month, though, because I'm not getting any smaller any time soon.

More good baby news

2007-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

I had another obstetrician appointment yesterday. I'm finally in the positive on the weight section. I've gained 7 pounds! Dr. Cavallo thinks that I may only gain a total of 15 pounds for this pregnancy since I'm already at week 23. However, now the baby's going to start growing like a weed so it'll be more up to our little pea. The next ultrasound is in 2 weeks so we'll see!

PJ FAQ

2007-02-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

I'm late to the official announcement this year, but our 4th Annual Pajama Party is rolling up soon (Saturday, Feb 24, 7pm). For all you with questions (especially the newbies) here ya go.

Pajama Party? That sounds... er... naughty.
Relax. It‘s not THAT kind of party. If we ask you for your keys, it‘s only because you're hammered and we really don't think you should be behind the wheel.

So why pajamas?
We came across the idea a few years ago and it sounded fun. And it has been. Pajamas are comfortable. Pajamas whisper up and down your spine ”relax. lounge. curl up into that happy space and enjoy the moment.” Also, it's hard to give off airs or be pretentious when you are wearing bunny slippers.

Do I have to wear my PJs?
Yes. Unless you sleep nude. Then please wear something resembling PJs. Again, it‘s not THAT kind of party.

You mentioned overnight guests? Is this a sleep-over?
Not necessarily. Unless you‘re from out of town. Or want to get your drink on without worrying about driving home. Or get so warm and comfy you just don‘t want to get up. Or you just need a night out of your own house. You are welcome to the stay for any reason. We have an extra bed, an extra mattress, and four couch-like structures that fold out into sleeping-like structures. And the coveted chaise lounge.

What‘s the alcohol situation?
Our bar is well stocked, but very light on beer and ‘manly-man‘ liquors (gin, whiskey, bourbon). If you have a strong drinking preference that falls in this realm, you may want to BYO.

What can I bring?
Yourself. If you have a signature dish or drink you want to share (we've found that food that doesn't require silverware works best), we'd love to sample it. But it isn't expected. And if you know you are sleeping here, an extra pillow and blanket would be good, just to be safe.

Where do I park?
Overnight parking on the street is fine.

Is this a kid friendly gathering?
Things are relatively tame the first hour or two. You might not want your kids here after that (and others might feel the same way). Babies are a whole different story. Babies are always welcome. We love babies. And we need to acclimate ourselves to babydom.

Should I eat before I come?
Maybe a light dinner. Snackage is plentiful. Probably enough to fill you up. And there is usually some food left at the end of the night.

Can I bring my sig-o?
Absolutely.

Will there be Karaoke?
If there is a demand for it (and there will be). Based on past experience, I would guess it‘ll start 9-10ish.

What's on the menu (so far)?
gutless rumake
candied bacon
sweet satan's seed
s‘mores
aztec elixir cocoa
vosges chocolates
whatever whoever brings
other things that haven't yet occurred to me
probably blueberry-pecan french toast for breakfast (no promises)

Anything my hosts do not welcome that I should know about?
No smoking in the house.
Also strongly discouraged are vomiting, urinating on other peoples‘ beer, and pouring drinks on other peoples‘ heads.

Cutest abstract alien baby image EVER

2007-02-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Sweet Relief

2007-01-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

Really big news is sometimes accompanied by really big worries. About a week ago, we got some lab tests back that indicated the baby might be at higher risk for spina bifida (higher being a 1 in 55 chance as opposed to a 1 in 10,000 chance). So, this morning was the first ultrasound with Dr. Hariharran, the fetal medicine specialist. I'd been really fretting about what we would need to do to adjust and adapt if there would be a serious problem. Fortunately, normal spine, normal heart, normal bladder, normal colon so far and this child can move! I'm not certain that our little one (and there is just the one)was still for more than a few seconds at a time. We got to see the face, though, with a tiny little pointed chin. Even more exciting, we watched the baby attempt to suck his or her thumb. I have to say attempt because first one hand was chosen, then dismissed, then the other hand was tried. The baby liked the second hand better and opened up its mouth, but the thumb ended up somewhere around the nose. What a great morning!

Tony has the pictures, so hopefully he'll scan them in and post them.

BIG NEWS. The biggest we've ever had.

2007-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

We are going to be parents.

I know this isn't news to our closest friends and family. But since we've already told them, we decided it was OK to let the rest of the world in on our gushings of joy (I phrase I should ween out of my vocabulary before the delivery room).

Amy is about 4 month's along, and the time has flown by. No doubt the due date of June 23 will be upon us before we know it.

This is such an exciting time for us. It's hard to find a good starting point to share our giddiness and anxiety.

Amy is having a very uncomplicated pregnacy so far. No morning sickness. No wacky cravings. No serious mood swings. She's been a little sleepier (but always is in the winter) and a little more cranky (mostly at work, so i don't see it as much), and has had some mild food aversions and preference shifts (Apples and blueberries are good. Chocolate not as much). She hasn't gained any weight as of the last doctor visit (she dropped a little tween the first two visits, and gained it back tween the next two), but I think that will be changing as she is just starting to show a tiny bit.

Amy is pretty sure she feels the baby moving. S/he seems most active during car rides and at lunch time. Although I have yet to feel the little one move, I did get to hear the heartbeat, which wooshes at a quick pace next to Mommy's slower rythm. Its like a little in utero techno beat, a visual which Amy realy enjoys, especially now the s/he's moving about.

And no, we aren't goigng to find out of its a boy or girl (if we can help it.).

And if you must know, if its a boy, we're going to name it "Illiopolis Helsinki". If its a girl, its name will be "Mishawaka Tokyo".

Worst Vacation Attempt Ever

2006-07-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is old news now - but the shear volume of typing necessary to tell this story has scared us from the blog entirely.
But now, the story shall be told (on the blog. It's had more than its share of being passed down in the oral record.)

Memorial Day Weekend: Needing a vacation, I took the whole week off. But we also decided decided it would be a good time for a long weekend road trip to Missourri to see my brother, sister in law and the adroable sack of cutness that is our niece, Morgynn. So Amy got friday off, I carved another half-day off out of my Friday afternoon, and we were on the road by 2:00pm Friday.

It was a hot day, but otherwise a good drive. Until we approached Terra Haute. That's when Amy's overheating light popped up on the dashboard. So... off to the side of the road. Pop the hood. Everything look OK. No plumes of milky steam. A higher level of coolant than maybe there should be on a hot engine. Probably just too much AC on too hot a day with a car that isn't used to it. No problem. Wait a few more minutes. Get back on the highway. And pull over again half a mile later. Repeat the primitive diagnostics scan. Everything still in order. A longer intermission. One more time back on the road. And Overheating light and check engine light within a mile (and less than 2 miles from the Terre Haute exit).

Sidenote: we have resisted getting a cell phone for years. Amy dislikes the idea of anyone being able to reach her anytime, anyplace, and I just don't talk enough to justify the expense. By a stroke of syncronicity, I had purchased our first cell phone three days earlier. Thank God.

So, new cell phone in hand (and fully charged, because i also decided to by a car recharge unit), we called for a tow-truck. The freindly/surly tow man took us to a nearby place off the next exit, with food and lodging nearby. The repair shop would be open first thing in the morning, and took business on a first come first serve basis. He also suggested that, hungry though we were,we'd be wise to get our hotel first, because, although there were a number of hotels visible within a mile, it was getting lat, it was Memorial Day weekend, and, most dooming, we were an hour from Indianapolis - which, Memorial Day weekend, means the Indy 500. Which meant rooms would be unusually scarce.

We didn't have to look long, but that may have been luck of the draw. We got the last nonsmoking room of the first two hotels (side by side, owned by the came chain) we checked. There was only one other smoking room. Which, sadly, might have gone to the woman and her three pre-teeners who came in just after us, also with car in tow.

A good, late dinner and up early the next morning. But not early enough. We arrived at 7:40, ten minutes after opening, and they already had all three garage stalls open and working, and a few cars waiting to get in. they had us in by 9:00, and by 10 were able to deliver the news. the news being of the not good variety.

It wasn't anything as simple as a shorte fuse or temperture gauge misread. It was probably the water pump. But they weren't sure, didn't have the part anyway, and were already booked for the day even if they could get the part. Which they couldn't. But they were willing to check around for someplace that might be able to help. And found one. Nearby. Close enough that we could drive to it without any car trouble.

It was maybe 2-3 miles away. Halfway there, the check engine and overheat lights popped back on, beeping shrilly for the remainder of the very long-feeling short drive. But we made it. The mechanic, another freindly/surly sort, said of course they couldn't fix it at the other place, they were all idiots over there, and went to have a look.

Rex returned within half an hour asking us if we had any plans for the day, because we might want to consider doing some car shopping. By their diagnostic scans, the problem was engine related. A cracked cylinder. Which wasn't supplying adequate power to the water pump, which is why it wasn't working (if this sounds like mechanical hogwashery, chalk it up to my mistranslation and inaccurate memory. I was also getting counsel from my stepfather--also named Rex, but we'll call him by the less personal 'stepfather' to avoid confusion--via the wonders of the newly purchased cell phone. He concurred it was unlikey, but possible, and the method for checking it was right).

So, that's an engine repair/replace. On a 2000 Volkswagon Bug. In a town with no volkswagon dealership. On a weekend. And a busy holiday weekend at that. And this sort of repair was out of Rex's comfort zone. His experience on Bugs just didn't run that deep. And it'd be 2 grand. At the very least.

No dealership. No available parts. No experienced Volkwagon mechanic available. No time. No luck.

And no idea what to do next.

Rex's shop was open through and including Memorial Day. He offered to let us store the vehicle there, until Tuesday rolled around and it could be dealt with. And that was all well and good. But we were still stuck in Terre Haute. and almost certain not to find lodging one night closer to the Indy 500. And Amy had to work Tuesday. So we couldn't wait around even if it were an option. And the thought of having to coordinate with an unknown mechanic 4 hours from home and drive back to pick up the car later wasn't settling too well either.

Fortunately, stepfather has a car-hauler. Unfortuneately, stepfather also live in Durand, Mi, 7 hours from Terre Haute, and surely had plans of his own for Memorial Day weekend. But it seemed the least unpleasant of the few options we had. So I calledmom to ask her, um, if this was the sort of favor I should even ask, or if this would be kind of an abuse of the convenience of his having married into the family not even three years ago. She put him on the phone before I could gauge the appropriateness. And I explained the situation (what I hadn't explained already on previous calls) really hoping he might feel terrible for us and offer to pick it up on his own. He did feel terrible for us. That was clear. But the offer didn't come up. so back to my mom, and, hesitantly, expaining the akwardness of what I was thinking before being put on the spot. So she discussed and said they could, could we at least pay for their gas. Which would be at least $200. My response: Heck, yeah. And dinner and a hotel if you want it.

Either thinking of my own financial well being or wanting to exhaust one last option so he didn't have to take 14 hours out of his weekend (wouldn't blame him), stepfather suggested that it might actually be cheaper to find someone to tow it straight from Terre Haute to South Bend. So, with Rex's help, I called aorund, found a place willing and able to tow it, and then we got to the cost. Roughly $900. Soooo stepfather and mom would be driving down to pick up the car in the next couple days.

Now, with all that taken care of, we turned to moving ourselves along. decided we'd shell out for the rental car and continue out trip. But guess what. Rental car places, all of them, are closed for the weekend by Saturday noon. And it was now 1:00. We even tried calling the (still open) Enterprise at the Indy airport to see how far that "we'll pick you up." slogan carried. Not as far as Terre Haute.

So, since clearly getting ANYWHERE would be a challenge, we shifted gears towards just getting home. And asked if there was a bus station nearby. And there was. 3-5 miles away. And a very nice woman watching our melodrama playing out before her offered to drive us there when her car got done in a couple hours. And Rex, also with a front row seat to the whole production, said, "Hell, Wilma, you can take 'em in my truck right now," and tossed her his keys.

So, at the Greyhound station, we baught our tickets back to South Bend. South Bend to Indy, a two hour break, switch busses to Chicago, a half hour break, and switch busses to South Bend, arriving 2:50 am, local time. At least we'd be home.
I think we got the last two seats to Indy (for the buss we took. We could have chosen to wait for a slightly later buss to Inday, but decided, if we were going to have to kill 2 hours, we'd rather do it in Indy). And our time in Indy wasn't bad. Would have been nice if it had been the plan. Got some food, browsed a bookstore, and back to the bus station.

And the bus pulled in. The busdriver and some passengers got off. And...nothing. Being familiar with boarding commuter trains and more standard passenger trains, and figuring this should be similar, I said to myself: "Seating will be first come first serve. I'd rather spend the trip to chicago with my wife than a stranger, so we'd best get on now. I would expect this to be more like a standard passenger train, where people line up and get there tickets checked while they board. but there is no line. and the bus door is wide open. So it must be more like a commuter train and they get your ticket once you are on. And if not, its their own damn fault for leaving the bus door wide open and unattended or not clearly designating what the procedure is."

So I urged Amy to get on the bus. Who still had more patience than me and a greater concern about following rules even if they are not clear. So she asked someone on the bus "do they check our tickets when we are all onme, or are we supposed to show someone before we get on." and of course, the asnwere was "before we get on".

This really pissed me off. Because I was tired and impatient and what the fuck were they going to do, kick us off because no one was there to check our ticket before getting we got on? But now, at amy's insistance, we had to disembark and stand around and wait. And while we were standing around waiting for someone to come to the buss to take out ticket so we could legitimently get on the buss, a whole crowd of people clustered at the doorway inside the station. The bus driver came to the door at the front of the cluster and started checking people tickets, who then walked past us and on to the bus.

And thus my pateince snapped.

I was there first. I had been waiting 20 minutes, in clear sight of any number of Greyhound employees. And now I was going to be the last one on the bus and have to sit next to some smelly, sweaty stranger for 4 hours because Geyhound doesn't believe in posting a simple fucking "line up here" sign and any number of people who surely knew this unspoken, unwritten rule could have tapped us and said 'hey, if you're waiting to get on the bus, you'll need too line up over there", and my wife had to be too much of a goody-goody to just let us sit on the bus and wait for them to figure out we screwed up because of their scrweed up system. BULLSHIT. Someone was getting an earful of something!

But damn Amy again, she wouldn't let me. And this time, she was right (I still say we should have stayed on the bus when we got on the first time. It's there problem for not educating their customers on boarding procedures). I probably would not have gone so far as to get us banned from our bus, but someone else was already cause quite a stir, a policeman was already sorting out that altercation, and my ranting probably would have had authorities against us quicker than for us.

So after 15 minutes on the bus I lightened up and let it go. At least I did get to sit next to Amy, after she asked someone if they would switch seats.

And on our way to Chicago, the bus made a breif pit stop. "Get your snakcs and get back on, "said the busdriver, "you've got ten minutes." and what had to be 30 minutes later, the bus left the truck stop.

We arrived in Chicago at 12:18, wondering if maybe the busdriver forgot to set her watch back before announcing the time. We got of, checked out tickets and frantically set out to figure out where we needed to go to catch out connecting bus, which could leave any minute (again, yeah Greyhound for making everything so clear). While I was trying to decifer the departures arrivals board, Amy snuck away and came back long faced. "Our bus left 8 minutes ago."

The ticket counter people told her that our ticket was still good for the next bus to South Bend, whihc would be leaving at 7:15 AM. so we could wait in the bus station in downtown Chicago until then, or there was a hotel a few blocks away. And though I was tired, I thought this might be a more appropriate moment to pull out the hint of outrage that my irritated but exhuasted self could muster.

I walked up the the "customer service" desk, holding my temper but clearly frustrated. The 'customer service representative' gave me a very monotone "Can I help you, sir".

Not sure where to being, I said as much, and handed her my ticket. This seemed as good a starting point as any.

She looked up at me, blank-faced, and said, "You missed your bus, sir."

And I explained, in the halting, akward manner of someone who is very angry, very tired, very frustrated, and very much trying to be reasonable, that i was well aware of this, that I missed it because of poor scheduling and a bus drivers whim to take a 30+ minute "ten minute" stop whith only 30 minutes time between the connecting bus schedule, and what was Greyound going to do to get me to my destination on schedule or otherwise make good on the situation.

And she looked up at me, with all the expression of a sack of potatoes, and said, "That's what you get when you take public transportation, sir."

Now, THIS would have been the appropriate time for me to go apeshit. But really, how can you argue with that. When you go to the customer service desk, and complain about poor service, and the customer service representative's response is "that's because we have bad service" -- there's pretty much no place to go from there.

So we went to the $$$ hotel, got a good night's sleep, and took the South Shore commuter train into South Bend late the next morning.

It took us 4 hours to get as far as Terre Haute. It took us 44 hours to get back home.

Eye really don't know what happened.

2006-05-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

My big fat freak-show of an eye, circa 5.18.06, about 6:45 am. I'm considering charging admission.

Morning of Mystery or I Didn't Coldcock Tony

2006-05-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

Really. I do not remember punching him in the eye while we slept last night. Nor does he remember waking up after having been punched. However, he woke up about 6:30 this morning, went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror to find a very swollen and red left eyelid staring back at him. By the time I saw it it was already starting to turn purple.

The emergency room is very quiet before 7:00 am. We decided to go because we didn't know how quickly it would progress or if it even would. When did it start? Sometime between midnight and 6:30. If it started at 1:00 it was probably a slowly progressing process. If it started at 6:00 then it might get even bigger and start sloughing skin before our physician's office opened. As things turned out, the bruising progressed into an even more magnificent black eye. The emergency room physician isn't quite sure what happened so Tony's applying cold compresses (you are applying cold compresses, aren't you, Tony?)and he can take Benedryl just in case it's an allergic reaction or Tylenol if it becomes painful. I'm still wondering if it's a very poorly placed spider bite, but the physician doesn't seem to think so.

Anyway, if see Tony over the next few days, be nice. It's got to be terrible to wake up and discover that you have an unexpected black eye. It's got to be even worse to have everyone you see ask if your wife gave it to you.

Comics Jam War - winners announced

2006-04-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

So, some time among Bob's trials, I was participating in the first
Comics Jam War. The Jam War is sort of an organized follow up to 24-Hour Comic Day.

The 24-Hour Comic is an exhausting excersize - creating a lot of comic book in a very small span of time. 24 pages in 24 hours, compared to professional industry standards of about a page a day (and thats just the pencils - no writing, lettering or inking).

Jam War takes the basic premise and relaxes it, then turns it into a competition with cash prizes. Eight pages in 12 hours, and you get to work in teams. Compared to a 24-Hour Comic, this is a leisurely pace. But still crazy fast.

Anywho, I had the good fortune to partner with a writer who I think is going to be quite the up and commer and an artist who is amazingly fast, talented, and doesn't like inking his own work, so I did that part, along with the lettering and digital compositing.

So, April 1st, our team and 7 others gathered at BuyMeToys.com in Mishawaka. Only teams working out of offcial (fee paid) host stores could enter (over 100 teams entered from US and Canada... I think Canada, Maybe Mexico? I forget, but it was over 100). We had a blast. 12 hours of blood sweat, tears, giggling and ink. In the end, 5 of our location's teams finished, and two of the books looked especially promising.

And in the end... One of those books took first place honors. The other, my team, recieved honorable mention this means that of the 100+ teams, our will be one of the seven chosen to be published in the upcoming (July) Jam War book. That, and 10 copies each of the book, is our award. And the joy of the experience and pride in the accomplishment.

Not ready to die yet!

2006-04-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I got the update from Dr. Warzee this afternoon. Bob is doing great! She was able to pull his thoracic drain tube this morning. He is eating. AND he's sulking because he has a bandage on his chest. That sounds like my boyo!

According to my source on the inside (thanks Jess!)the lung lobes are being processed today and will be set for evaluation tomorrow. I'm excited to see what type of nastiness was removed. I'm also a little bummed that I won't get to see the mass itself. I'd look to go eye to eye (or eye to tumor as it were) with the bugger and do my best squinty-eyed glare. Of course, I'd also kind of like to stomp on it but that's not professional. Or really very helpful. Yes, perhaps it's best left in Jessica's hands now that Dr. Warzee's have extracted it.

So, Saturday Tony and I will be driving up to E.L. to pick up our skinny little guy. Then we'll start fattening him back up in preparation for chemotherapy or the next surgery. I'm not going to worry too much about that now. I'm just thrilled that he's decided to be with us for at least a little while longer.

The Big Day

2006-04-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bob and I arose at 5am and set out for East Lansing at 5:50. Bob's sedative again worked well and this time I remembered to order caffiene from the 24 hour Starbucks. I was actually able to feel the intestinal mass on Sunday and was a little worried that once again the plan would have to change.

Things were not looking so hot when we got up to M.S.U. Bob was down to 6 pounds, 10 ounces. This is more than a pound lost since his first visit last month. It's also just about half of what his normal (slightly pudgy) weight is. What was extra scary is that he has actually had an appetite over the last 10 days. Dr. Warzee could also feel the intestinal mass. When I left the plan was to repeat the chest radiograph to check for metastasis, repeat the abdominal ultrasound (I wanted to know how much the intestinal mass had progressed) and repeat a CBC. CBC stands for complete blood count. I had run one, with a chemistry panel, last week but he looked a bit anemic to Dr. Warzee and because of the resolving abscess his white cells were a bit high on my CBC. Pending any disasterous findings, surgery would be today.

I was all done by 9:20 and left Bob to Dr. Warzee. After some aimless wandering around downtown, I decided to just head for home. I stopped for some additional caffiene and hit the highway at about 10:30. It was gloomy, rainy and cold. The temperature had actually dropped from the very early morning. Not a pleasant 2 and 1/2 hours, but I was very thankful for the heater and the windshield wipers. And, I got home in time to take a toasty warm shower before work.

I go to work and had a message from Dr. Warzee. The ultrasound showed no change in the intestinal mass (must just be easier to feel because he's sooooo skinny now), but the radiologist felt that the chest mass might actually be in the lung rather than the mediastinum. The mediastinum is the structure that supports the heart, the trachea and the major blood vessels and lymph nodes within the chest. Different surgical approaches are needed for the lung (usually cutting ribs) versus the mediastinum (midline sternotomy - going through the breastbone itself). Would it be OK to perform a CT scan to confirm where it is? Yes.

This morning, I got the news: the mass is in the right cranial lung lobe, but given the size a sternotomy will still be the best approach. Anesthesia will start at 9:00 with the thoracic mass removal first, followed by debulking the leg mass if Bob is still stable.

As soon as I arrived at work I got the second call. The mass was indeed in the right cranial lung lobe. This was removed along with the right middle lung lobe because there were some suspicious nodules there. The mediastinal lymph nodes were too small to locate, but there was adherence to the mediastinum and the cranial vena cava (very major blood vessel). He's recovering from anesthesia and so far is doing well. The debulking was not performed because he was getting cold and there had been a blood pressure drop, but that's perfectly OK by me.

So, Bob's down 1/3 of his lung tissue but also down a very nasty tumor. Not certain yet when he'll be returning home. That's going to depend upon fluid accumulation in the chest, but he's made it this far!

General updates

2006-04-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist this week! The alarm did not go off on Monday morning so I woke up in a half-doze and thought, "Wow, it's light out and Tony's alarm hasn't gone off. I wonder how much longer I have to sleep?" I rolled over, looked at the clock, read 7:25, yelled a few expletives. Yelled something about getting up to Tony. Then, grabbing my robe so as not to flash the neighbors, rushed to the kitchen and downed my four capsules of amoxicillin. The directions were to take it an hour before my 8:00 appointment. Fortunately, our alarm clock is a little fast. I actually enjoyed the appointment. I like having my teeth cleaned. The dentist was quiet and focused, but not in an unfriendly way. I did have to a have a couple of fillings and he was very thorough in making sure that my bite was comfortable and there were no sharp edges afterward. So now, after the initial exam and echocardiogram and consultation with my physician I can finally say that I have clean teeth!

Bob is doing OK. He's still skinny (lost 2 ounces over last weekend), but he surprised me on Tuesday by chasing Colfax away from her dry food. If he wants to eat dry diet food instead of fatty canned food, more power to him. He's not been so good about the litter box so he's been shacked up in the cafe room with the doves when Tony and I can't supervise him. It also keeps Colfax out of the aforementioned fatty canned food. This prevents further butt bites as well. Tuesday is the next trip up to East Lansing. Hopefully Bob can have the surgery and all will settle down for a bit!

So Far ...

2006-04-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Bob is eating OK.

Colfax has been behaving herself.

No inappropriate urination or defecation.

Only one bout of vomiting.

Things are peaceful since the abcess burst.

I hope that it lasts until Bob's appointment on the 25th.

Bob and Colfax

2006-04-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

We have another cat. Colfax is the queen cat in our household. Colfax is not pleased that Bob is getting canned cat food and yummy baby food to encourage his appetite. This means that I do a lot of chasing her away from Bob whe he is eating and removing his food when is done eating. Why? Because he will not stand up for himself. If she comes by he will stop eating and wander off to the nearest pillow to lie down. Colfax has gotten quite fat over the past few weeks. Bob has not seemed to lose more weight, but he is still between 7 and 7 and 1/2 pounds. Skinny skinny skinny Bob. Oh, and when Colfax eats canned food she vomits. Often on the furniture.

Sometime over the weekend the hostilites intensified. Bob was feeling very dumpy yesterday. Didn't want to eat, didn't want to follow Tony around the house. He wasn't even concerned that Tony and I were eating ribs within feet of where he was sleeping. "Crap", I thought, "he's thinking about dying again". So this morning I was super excited to see him wandering around and hear him complaining to me about something (lack of food? noisy birds? his assessment as to the best and worst non-litterbox places to urinate and defecate?). I picked him up and noticed that the fur over his right hip was really unkempt. Since this illness began he's been known to sit in the canned food, so possibly that was it. I looked closer. The skin was red and inflammed and there was a small amount of pus draining. I see a lot of cat fight injuries. Colfax had actually bitten him in the butt over the soft cat food!

Animals don't have a lot of correlation in their long term memories. The bite probably happened 2 or 3 days ago. So, I couldn't yell at Colfax. No, I just had to take Bob to work, restart antibiotics and ask Katie to clean his purulent butt up. Oh, and I've had to cancel his Thursday M.S.U. appointment. So, the tumors get a little break. Also, Colfax threw up a large part of bob's morning meal on one of the couches. Again, not a very good long term correlative memory.

Sigh .

More of Bob

2006-04-04T08:22:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the delay. Our computer at home has been down.

The ride home on Sunday was pretty good. I was planning on trying it without sedation, but Bob vomited before we'd gone four miles, so out came the ace. He's been happy to be home, wanting lots of attention. His appetite isn't great, but he'll nibble on baby food and seafood flavored cat food. He apparently enjoyed tuna and sardines at M.S.U. so I'll have to pick up a can on my way home. He is pooping, too, so no intestinal perforation!

I actually had the chest rad taken this morning while I was in surgery. It hasn't gone away. In fact, it seems a little bigger to me. I'm going to give Dr. Warzee a call this afternoon and we'll move to the next plan. Most likely the chest mass is a thymoma and surgery is going to be the option. Since Bob is on prednisolone, I probably won't be taking him up for surgery until I can wean him off. Probably next week.

I just looked up thymoma in the magical Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine by Ettinger. Go figure, true thymomas are uncommon :). However, outlook is good with surgical resection, especially in well-encapsulated, discrete tumors. We definately have well-demarcated on the rads, so I'm going to consider that discrete. Thymomas also tend not to spread, so that leaves the origin of the intestinal tumor open. I think I feel good about the thoractomy, though. Bob's weight loss, lack of appetite and depression could also be attributed to a thymoma. Won't know for sure until pathology comes back, but it sounds like a probable diagnosis.

Bob

2006-03-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has visited our home, even if only to deliver a pizza, has met Bob. Bob is quite possibly the coolest cat ever. Without a doubt he is the sluttiest . He loves everyone. Bob also has a mass in his chest. Right in front of his heart. Right cranioventral lung lobe about the level of T3 to T5 for the other medical nerds out there. I discoverd this about 2 weeks ago when I was running preanesthetic tests so that I could remove a tumor on his leg. On a whim, I took chest rads. I am so glad that I did because much as this sucks it would have sucked that much worse to have him die on my surgical table.

So, what do you do when you are a veterinarian and your sweet boyo has a mass in his chest? Well, you show the rads to your boss, just in case maybe your eyes are on the fritz (I think that this would count as denial in the stages of grief). You discuss performing a thoracotomy at your practice to remove the mass. You realize that a) you don't have a ventilator so someone will have to breathe for your pet the entire time and b) there's that ugly dying on your table fact rearing its ugly ugly head. So, you e-mail your husband and ask him to meet you at work to go over the films.

What happens next? Oddly enough, with Tony there I went into discussion-with-client-mode. I showed him the rads, explained what I was seeing and what the options were and realized what I offer a client. Not surgery by me without a ventilator. Not kitty hospice. No. I would recommend my client go to see an oncologist. I broached the topic, along with an estimated price tag that I will not repeat here and Tony, bless him, simply replied, "But it's Bob."

Tomorrow morning Bob and I will be up at 5:00 so that we can leave at 6:00 (hopefully with him well-sedated). Our appointment at Michigan State is for 9:00. What happens next? I don't know. If it's not surgical then I guess we'll consider chemo or kitty hospice. If it is surgical, then we'll give it a chance. I guess worst case we lose him on the table of a specialist where everything can be done. Best case we get our happy Bob for a little while longer.

All I Wanted ...

2006-02-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

So I decided that with the new year I would act as a responsible adult and go to the dentist. I have no problem with dentists, no phobias or panic attacks in the chair. I love the feeling of nice clean teeth. I just never took the time to get set up with one. I made an appointment for an exam and went in promptly on time. While I did not enjoy the radiograph process (the inside of my mandible was tender from the film for a few days), I was happy with the results and ready to schedule my cleaning and the couple of fillings I need because I'm an erratic flosser. However, in filling out the paperwork I remembered that my physician had heard a heart murmur years ago (I can't hear it myself), so I checked heart murmur on the medical history form. Dentists are thorough and responsible people, so he wanted to contact my physician about antibiotics before the cleaning. No problem. I love my physician. She's incredibly thorough and she takes my weird self-diagnostics concerns into consideration without patronizing me (it helps that I really enjoy seeing what my blood tests look line - as long as I've got insurance I'm game for diagnostics). I spent about 2 weeks playing phone tag with her office, though. Turns out she wanted me to have an echocardiogram. OK, no big, I'd talk to her about it at my general female well-being appointment on Monday.

Well, Monday comes and other female matters eliminate the possibility of the general female wll-being appointment. I called the office to reschedule and mentioned that I'm supposed to set up an echo and can someone call me back. Monday night I have a message saying the echo is scheduled for today (Friday) at 12:45. I work at 1:00. Not going to happen. I was able to reschedule the echo for this morning and have now gotten to see my heart from many different views as well as a bonus peek at my liver and sludgy gallbladder (the sludgy is my interpretation, not the technician's as she cannot even interpret the heart stuff and has not been trained on abdominal ultrasonography). I'll have the results on Monday. Then, at long last, I might be able to get my teeth cleaned.

Count down of about 32 hours to the PJ Party by the way!

Beyond PJs

2006-02-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Plans are rolling right along for the Pajama Party, but other things are happening, too.

Tony went to a practice session for Comic Jam last weekend. Comic Jam is similar to 24-Hour Comic Day except instead of one person writing, drawing and inking a 24 page book (1 page per hour) a team works on a book. I think that it's still a 24 hour process, but I'm not certain about the length of the book. He had a great time and it sounds like his team is set for the real thing. The real Jam is scheduled (appropriately enough) on April 1st.

My parents are visiting my brother in Ecuador right now. I have heard anything since they left, so I'm assuming they got there intact. All three should be in the Galapagos Islands right now. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures and hearing the stories when they get back.

My friend Michelle is moving to Alabama on Monday. I don't get to see Michelle very often, but she's just an amazingly fun person with a huge heart. I didn't realise how sad I am about her leaving until after her goodbye party last night. The world is a better place because she's in it and I'm really lucky that I got to work with her after I finished school. Happily, she and her husband, Jerry, have to return their rental trailer to South Bend, so they might be crashing the PJ Party!

Right, PJ Party ... It looks like we could have as many as 30 people this year. We're really going to have to finish the basement or get a bigger house. Tony's busily making more floor pillows and planning on moving furniture around. I'm happy because now that winter is back I can try making ice lanterns. Also, the pajama party isn't quite as meaningful when it's 50 degrees outside. Countdown of 8 days left!

Chez PJ - Party Menu forecast

2006-02-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

With head-colds breezing through the home, work towards party prep is off to a slow start.
But we have figured out the vittles.

The list includes some old faves, some news one, and one of probably many dishes coming with one of our guests:

"Gutless" Rumaki (Rumaki minus the liver)
Mushroom-Stuffed Mushrooms
Bacon wrapped, Parmesean Stuffed Dates
Sweet Satan's Seed (sweet/spicey nut mix)
Igor Bars (geek-treat supreme. sweet-tooth indulgence heaven)
Jalepeno ice cream frosted chocolate cupcakes (yes, you read that right)
Pink Squirrel (ice cream + liquors + frilly name = one sweet buzz)
More alcohol than can safely be consumed
Misc. chips, dips, veggi-trays and the like.
AND...
Cast your vote now! Which would be the better use of our crockpot:
A) Hot Buttered Rum
or
B) Spiced Plum Soup (also suitable for drinking)

If you don't add a comment wiht your opinion, we just might not let you have any.

Music reviews

2006-01-31T10:08:00.000-08:00

You really need to check out this groups reviews sections. Really. Now.
They may not all be winners, but I don't think there's a loser in the bunch.

Pajama Party 2006!

2006-01-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yup, we're less than a month away from this year's bash. Stay tuned for updates.

Watching my language

2006-01-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

Probably the final installment of the" male half of the blog" mini-series:

I have lately at work taken on some copy-writing. Despite my lackluster presence on this blog, I like writing, and feel that, when I'm not just rambling on the keyboard (like, say, now) I can be a fairly effective writer. If not polished or experienced. Anyway, our writer was backed up, I had nothing to do, and one of the account reps said he had a radio spot that needed writing. The boss man said go for it. And I don't think I did a half bad job. Nor did the account rep, nor Mr. Boss-man. Unfortunately, The client is not so easily impressed. So I had to write a second, not-nearly-as-good-but-pleased-the-client script. Apparently reminded of my knack for creative writing, I shortly thereafter wrote a second radio spot, a couple ads and punched up some headlines. It's nice to be able to grow ones experience in different directions.

More recently, I bought myself a lecture series on tape about language. It's history and structure and the like. Interesting stuff. Very engaging lecturer. Keeps me intellectually entertained on my drive to and from work. For those interested in learning about a variety of fascinating subjects on their way to and from work, check out www.teach12.com. The language tape series that has me currently enthralled is "The Story of Human Language".

Stone-walling

2006-01-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

Next in our mini-series of mundananity from the life of Tony...

Over a year ago, I bought some very attractive stone tiles for Amy's bathroom. (Amy's bathroom because she gets creative control over decorating it. Likewise, we have Tony's kitchen, which I expect to be thoroughly updating soon). These stone tiles, made of dozens of roughly 1 inch round stones mosaiced onto mesh tile, were promptly "installed" in the storage area of the basement (which is a bit of a redundancy, as that is what the entirety of the basement is). For almost a year, they waited for me to find (a) the time, (b) the knowledge and (c) the motivation to put them up above the shower in the bathroom. Sometime around about Christmas, I found all three.

Well, at least two of the three. Knowledge would come with experience.

It was knowledge that had kept me from the task for a year. I'd find a good, sturdy book on tiling. Filled with helpful illustrations and blue boxes with important notes and clarifications off to the sides. And without fail, it would omit explanation of how to do a step, make assumptions that one knows things that one resorting to this type of book wouldn't know, or offer instruction that went contrary to the previous books instruction.

Finally, I sat down with 4 different references, cross-examined and compared the information, and was confident I had constructed a workable plan for my project. So off to Lowe's I went for supplies. I've found Lowe's to generally be filled with people who are neither helpful nor knowledgeable, and have had many frustrated experiences there. This was not one of them. I found a salesperson who, before I knew it, had corrected half of my misguided 'plan', picked out my supplies, and given me a clear, straightforward to-do instruction list. Which worked very well.

Until the end.

For those who don't know, once you've got the tiles stuck to the wall, you have to mix the grout and smear it over the surface, getting it all between the cracks. The grout sets quickly (20 minutes, I was told) so once you start, there isn't time to waste. So, I mixed double the amount of grout I expected to need, just to be safe, checked that I had everything I might need on hand, stepped up onto the ledge of the tub, and set to work. Scooped a good pile of grout on my trowel, lifted it over my head to the wall above, and watched as gravity took hold of the grout and plopped it toward the tub's floor.

And it sets quickly remember. So I couldn't just say 'bah, I'll clean it up later'. I might risk having a permanent concrete-like lump in the middle of our bathtub. So I set to cleaning it up. Returned to, more carefully) spread the grout on the wall, occasionally dropping bits and slightly larger bits along the way. And, having lost so much grout to gravities seductive call, I got halfway done and had run out of mixed grout. Now panic was setting in. I'm mixing, I'm cleaning, I'm trying in vain to smear this cake batter-mixture from hell on the wall above me rather than below me, and cursing like a pirate with turret's all the while.

Amy choose this moment to treat herself to some coffee. Someplace far away from home. Smart girl.

In the end it looks very nice, with some incidental grout splatter on the joining walls and ceiling. I may get around to sanding them off before next year.

Lights! Camera! Inaction!

2006-01-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

Incredibly slow day at work means you get several postings from the silent partner today.
Since I've not been bloggerly of late, I'll take this time to catch up on recent events in my life with a mini-series of recent amazingly mundane adventures. First up:

Lights! Camera! Inaction!
Back in November I auditioned for an independent film. Just on a whim. Saw a poster making an open casting call and noted they needed a couple "male 20-30" types. Acting isn't something I've ever really put myself into - but I've enjoy what little experiences I've had (acting class, high school plays and the like). And, as there was a casting call poster in the Mishawaka Border's, and the auditions were taking place in on of the meeting rooms at the local library, the intimidation factor was pretty low.
Surprisingly, though it's a no-budget film, it has a decent script and seems to be pretty professionally thought out and structured so that it actually CAN be filmed on weekends and evening - around people's real life schedules. I did not get the part they had me read for (20-something Yale grad) - but I did make enough of an impression to get a call back for a second audition, and heaps of praise, with a lot of "I'm really not just being nice. I really mean it" thrown in. Right off the bat the mentioned that my lack of experience was actually refreshing, because they'd auditioned a lot of people with stage acting experience, and acting on stage and on camera are two very different things. It surprised me that anyone with actual acting experience wouldn't be aware of that and adjust for it. Seems obvious to me. Anywho, didn't get a speaking part, but depending on need and scheduling, they may call me in as an extra. We'll see. Regardless, it was a fun leap to take.

Cheesiest Update Ever

2006-01-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

OK, I know the male half of this blog (me) hasn't posted in ages. And I'm truely sorry. Hopefully this illustration Amy mentioned a couple entries ago (in a comment under the entry "New Year") will at least start to make amends for my absence.

Lives Within Lives

2006-01-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was showing some friends pictures of the spleen that I removed last week. Jason commented that I have this whole other life from the one that they know me in. It's true, but as I thought more about it I realized that everyone does. It's not that we're all paranoid and super secretive, though I will admit that there are parts of myself I protect from everyone but a very few. I think that it's simply that we need to be so many types of ourself to navigate the world. I have my lab-time life and my work life and my life at home with Tony and our friends and family. I like taking of my doctor face at the end of the day. Whether I like putting it on is another issue entirely. Anyhow, Tony has home life and art director life. I know that my friends also have their own lives that don't necessarily intersect with mine and it's easy to forget in our interactions that they go off and do these amazing and interesting things. I feel really lucky when I can hear the stories later. Even if the stories don't involve spleens.

Parents Are Amazing

2006-01-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Truly!

About a week ago Tony's family visited us. Tony's family is wonderful and this visit included his brother, Seth, our sister-in-law, Amanda and our niece, Morgynn. we really don't get to see them often and we were especially excited to see Morgynn as there aren't many children in our life right now. We forgot, in our anticipation, all that an almost-three-year-old entails. Morgynn did really well with the house and the cats. Only one thing got broken. I got to see Bob do a classic turn and run (yes, nonanimated cats can pull off this move). And, we were exhausted the next day.

So, I am in complete awe of those of you who are parents (particularly of toddlers). Kudos to you for having the energy to keep up with them day after day after day. You have the toughest job on the planet! And thanks Mom and Dad!

New Year

2006-01-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

We spent a really nice New Year's Eve with Megan, Guy and their dogs. Fargo and Dakota are very good houseguests and Bob, our kitty, was too under the weather to cause trouble. I made my first venture into stuffed poultry (rock cornish game hens) and will soon be learning the best ways to handle poultry and stuffing. Thanks Guy and Alton Brown! I think the best thing that I cooked that evening was Winter Plum Soup from Cooking Light. It tasted great and made the house smell good, too! We played a very spirited game of Candamir that night and enjoyed Settlers of the Stone Age on New Year's Day. I prefer Candamir with four players, but it's nice to have a two-player Cataan game out there.

I've decided that every year needs a theme. I think that 2006 may be the Year of the Pirate at our house.
However, it may end up being the Year of Cheese. Any opinions on this? (Megan and Guy, I think 2005 may have been the Year of the Pirate for you).

Tomorrow is the final day of Christmas for us. Hmm, that adds up to 15 days of Christmas. I think we need to add on 13 chocolate covered coffee beans, 14 kooky paper clips and 15 caramels to complete the song. Happy New Year!

Return from Slacking

2005-11-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Have we been slacking on the blog? Yes.
Have we been slacking in life as we know it? Only moderately so.
Since we last posted there have been ...
A trip to Saugatuck where we met Jesus in a nice little cafe (pictures to arrive at some point) and
bought a really nice piece of furniture at a really good price.
Tony's return trip to Saugatuck to pick up said piece of furniture (some things just don't fit in the back of
a VW Beetle).
Halloween.
Our third anniversary (the cause of the aforementioned trips).
My 31st birthday. I felt so loved.
A trip to Indianapolis to see the Lord of the Rings exhibition. It was a wonderful geek-out experience
and as a bonus we ran into our friends Jerry and Michelle. They were leaving the Colts game while
we were leaving the museum. Jerry was painted blue and white. the Colts won. He was very happy.
It's always a bit odd to travel 3 hours and run into friends that you never run into at home.
A piece of our siding fell off while we were in Indianapolis (of course, it's been raing and/or snowing
ever since).
The first snow of the season.
I was given authoritah in the lab. I promise not to whack anyone with a baton, though. (Did you know
that just about everyone loves South Park? It's quite amazing!)

What lies ahead ...
Thanksgiving! Actually it'll probably just be me and Tony this year, but we're still going to feast and
use the good china.
I have a week's vacation in early December, may go to Kalamazoo to see the Chihuly exhibit, will go to
Chicago to see the Pompei exhibit.
Hopefulyy less slacking on the blog!