Return to the Land of the Milestone

I had kind of forgotten what a big emphasis is placed on newborn milestones. (This may be partially due to the fact that some days it seems like Jack's next big milestone will be passing his drivers test.) We took Sam in for his 2 month check-up last week and they had a long list of milestones that he is supposed to have reached by this time. We answered in the affirmative to all of them, feeling so good about the little guy's progress. But then we got home and started to wonder, are those weird little noises he makes really considered coos? Does it count as a smile if I'm pretty certain that it is really the result of gas and not a reaction to me? Sure he lifts his head up but I really have no idea if it is a 45 degree angle or not. Of course with the second kid these doubts and questions are far less distressing than they were with Jack. Not that I'm lax about Sam's milestones, but I'm just much more willing to trust my instincts and assume that because he looks like he is on the right track to me that he is most likely progressing just fine. I would still feel better though if he would genuinely smile at me rather than smile then immediately fart or spit-up.

In Dog We Trust

Otis hasn't seemed all that interested in Sam. He gives the baby the occasional lick in passing, enjoys sniffing the diaper, and gives us a concerned look when Sam cries but that other than that he completely ignores the little guy. So you can imagine my surprise the other day when Otis showed his true colors. We were showing the man from the moving company (the story behind this is a whole other posting) around while Sam was sleeping on the couch. As the man approached the couch Otis got up from his spot under the table and very pointedly put himself between the man and the couch. He didn't threaten him, just lay down between Sam and the stranger and didn't move until the man left. Now besides viciously barking at just about any thing, imagined or real, that approaches the house,Otis has never really shown any chops as a guard dog. However, after his performance yesterday I am ready to give the old goof a little more credit. I guess that sweet pup loves my boys, for which I love him even more.

Sam He Is

Well considering that I had never gotten around to mentioning that I was pregnant in this blog it may come as a bit of a surprise to announce the birth of our second son Sam. It wasn't a great pregnancy - morning sickness, aches and pains, exhaustion, lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and a rambunctious two year-old to chase after. So when March 13th rolled around and I wasn't feeling great and had cramping all day I didn't think anything of it. We were having people over for dinner so I tried my best to ignore the discomfort and get some housework and cooking done, but when by 3pm the cramping hadn't stopped I decided to call the doc fully expecting her to tell me that there was nothing to worry about and to keep my appointment for the next week - I wasn't due until April 17th after all so why worry. The doc told me that I needed to go to the hospital, just to get checked out. I called our dinner guests from the car and told them that I was sure I was just in false labor and we would reschedule for the next weekend.

At the hospital they checked me and found I was 2 centimeters dilated, not a good sign. They hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor - Jack liked listening to the baby's "heartbeep" - and contraction monitor. When, after an hour the contractions hadn't stopped and were in fact getting worse it looked like we were in for a long night and should most likely figure out something to do with Jack. Dan called our friends that were supposed to be making dinner for and instead arranged for them to keep Jack for the night. The boys left to take care of Otis and get Jack settled and left me pacing in the waiting room trying to stop the contractions by walking. Dan got back to the hospital about an hour later. By this time the contractions were getting worse. The doc gave me something for the pain and to help me sleep - hoping that the rest would stop the contractions. Guess what. . . no luck. When they checked on me a few hours later I hadn't slept and was in some serious pain. It seemed that despite my best efforts we were going to have a baby 5 weeks early.

I was given an epidural which was fantastic. In no time my lower half was completely numb and I was able to get a bit of rest. Soon enough though it was time to start pushing. It only took a few pushes - after almost 24 hours of contractions - for Sam to enter the world. He weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 inches long. I was able to hold him for a few minutes before they whisked him away. He was having some trouble breathing so he was taken to the nursery to be monitored. Unfortunately his breathing problems got worse and after several hours the doctors decided that they needed to transfer Sam to St. Mary's hospital in Richmond where there was a NICU. I hadn't seen Sam since he was born and I was finally taken to the nursery to see him before he was transferred. It was at this exact moment that I was hit with one of the possible side effects of an epidural, a spinal headache. This is basically a more intense version of a migrane that goes away if you are laying down but instantly comes back if you lift your head. So there I was, feeling like my brain was being stabbed with an ice pick and seeing my son for the first time who was attached to tubes and machines and in an oxygen tent so I couldn't even see his face. Needless to say this was the low point of the whole experience. Almost as soon as I got over the shock of seeing Sam like that, the transfer team arrived to take him away.

The transfer team consisted of about 5 paramedics in a huge, fancy ambulance with a special incubator for Sam to ride in. Seeing all these people and equipment there for my small little baby was both terrifying and reassuring at the same time. Sam was brought to my room so I could give his foot a squeeze good-bye and then was whisked away to Richmond. At this point Dan needed to rescue Jack and Otis and meet his parents who were, by a miraculous twist of fate, vacationing only a few hours away from us and able to rush to Williamsburg to take care of Jack. I did my best to rest which mostly meant watching a HGTV marathon and trying not to sit up. I was able to call the hospital in Richmond and check in on Sam from time-to-time, which was small comfort. After a rough night and much deliberation, in the morning I decided to have a procedure called a blood patch to try to fix my now worse headache before leaving the hospital. This meant I was given another epidural but instead of drugs, my own blood was put into the catheter - the relief was almost instantaneous. That done, I headed home to change clothes, pack a bag, and give Jack a squeeze before following Sam up to St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond.

The next 4 days are a blur of hospital corridors, hotel rooms, and cafeteria food. The spinal headache came roaring back one day two. I tried to live with it for a day to no avail and underwent another blood patch in the emergency room at St. Mary's the night before Sam was released. My Mom, aka Mimi, rushed out to Williamsburg to relieve Dan's parents of Jack duty. Amazingly, Sam started to improve from the moment he set foot inside of the transfer vehicle and made steady progress. He was by far one of the healthier babies in the NICI, although it was still traumatic for us to see him hooked up to tubes and machines. We were able to visit him any time of the day and were actually able to hold him, although this inevitably led to a chorus of alarms going off as one of the wires monitoring him would slip off so the machines would think he had died! When he was finally released on March 18th, he was much smaller and incredibly yellow from jaundice, but he was ours at last.

As I write this 2 months later Sam is dozing on the floor next to me. He is no longer yellow, has finally outgrown the newborn clothes we had to rush out and buy, and is starting to get on a regular feeding schedule - in short he is a normal baby, something that seemed totally impossible that first week.

Illumination

In Williamsburg the holiday season is kicked off every year the first weekend in December with an event called The Grand Illumination. What this basically entails is the colonial area being decked out in lavish decorations and a variety of feasts and entertainments all capped off with a huge fireworks show. Mimi and BaBob came to visit for the celebrations. We started off with baking and decorating gingerbread cookies. Jack got pretty into the decorating for about 10 minutes at a time then he would wander off the play and come back to decorate a few more cookies and eat the decorations. Dan and I got to enjoy some adut time and got a babysitter so we could join Mimi and Babob for a lovely dinner at the Williamsburg Inn followed by a concert at the Governor's Palace. The meal was delicious, but the real highlight was the concert. The Palace was entirely lit by candles and the performers were in colonial garb. The group was a quartet featuring a harpsichord (one actually from the 17th century), violin, bass, and flute as well as a singer who came in and out. The music was lovely and the setting only made it better. We also took part in a breakfast with Santa. We munched chocolate chip pancakes and homemade doughnuts while Jack got his face painted, decorated even more cookies, and sat nearish to Santa. He was pretty much in heaven the entire time and we had a hard time getting him to cycle down for a few hours afterwards! For the Illumination itself we joined the hordes in the colonial area and ataked out a space for ourselves by the magazine. There was a stage where various choral and musical groups performed, we even got to hear the Fife and Drums in the 50th anniversary Illumination performance. After dark the fireworks commenced. They were set off at three different areas around town so no matter where you looked there was something to see. We were right next to the show at the Magazine so we had an exceptionally good spot. Jack did great with the "works". He was a little hesitant and did cover his ears but he lasted through the entire show - about 30-45 minutes. Finally at the end he told us "No works" but by then the show was over so we were more than happy to oblige. It was a rather grand way to ring in the holiday season!

Fall in Williamsburg

It's hard to tell when Fall has arrived in Williamsburg. The last of the leaves are still on the trees here in the first week of November and despite the fact that we had frost last night it is supposed to be 75 and rainy on Monday. But even with the confusing weather we have managed to embrace the season. A few weeks ago the three of us visited what was quite possibly the best pumpkin patch ever. It was a chilly day so we bundled up and headed over to Surrey. Unbeknownst to us this involved a trip on a small ferry boast across the James River. Jack loved being on the boat, so much so that he was rather reluctant to get back in the car for the rest of the trip. When we got to College Run Farms we were given a map and a pair of cutters and headed out into the fields. There were so many different types of pumpkins it was hard to choose. Finally we settled on 2 huge Mammoth Golds, some Cinderellas, a Lumina, regular Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins and a few Long Island Cheese (great for cooking), as well as a few assorted gourds. Jack loved running around the fields. He picked out his little pumpkin almost immediately and carefully carried it with him wherever he scrambled. For the trip home we shared a cup of delicious pumpkin ice cream, made at the farm - it lasted as far as the ferry. Mimi and BaBob came for Halloween. We spent one afternoon carving the pumpkins - Jack got to help and was especially good at the disemboweling. BaBob bravely donned his Man in The Yellow Hat costume to accompany Jack, aka Curious George, around the neighbor hood. It was a warm evening with lots of clouds skittering across the sky and flocks of geese flying low over our heads - very atmospheric. Jack loved trick-or-treating, or "tee-teat" as he called it. He actually walked the entire way and gamely strode up to the doors where he would wait for BaBob to knock then very quietly say "tee-teat." To his credit he did say thank you to almost everyone! He got a pretty decent haul and was thrilled to tuck into his first candy bar. The snickers were a huge hit. Since then we've been enjoying the lovely fall weather (finally!) and trying to get used to the time change although Jack is determined to have nothing to do with it. Hopefully Fall will last for awhile longer, or perhaps this is winter - who can tell.

He's Listening

You try to teach him. There are all those little lessons that are repeated every day but that at two you are pretty sure he's not getting. Saying please and thank you - he does say please but it is usually shouted repeatedly until he gets what he wants. We are working on thank you but it comes out as "Jew" so we will continue to work on it. So, you can imagine our shock and pride when we heard Jack in the bedroom shouting in frustration as he tried unsuccessfully to take his shoes off before climbing onto our bed. We always tell him, "no shoes on the bed" we just didn't really think he was listening. So I guess we'll keep working at it, all those little lessons, and hope that like the no shoes on the bed rule they are sinking in.

Canada Part II: Jasper

So after all the traveling, we arrived in Jasper to celebrate Mimi's birthday and Mimi and BaBob's 40th anniversary. We had a fantastic cabin at the Jasper Lake Lodge with a spectacular view of said lake as well as Mount Edith Clavell behind it. The weather was on the cool side for most of the trip with occasional rain, and snow in the surrounding mountains - quite a relief for us Southerners. Luckily we brought enough gear that we could layer and the cabin had a fireplace that was put to good use. Highlights of the trip include a tram ride to the top of a mountain to see the spectacular views of the valley below, a cruise to Spirit Island during which Jack got to steer the boat much to the chagrin of the other passengers, walks around the numerous lakes, paddling the kayak around the lake, seeing elk around the lodge, the "hot pool" (aka jacuzzi), fishing with Uncle WoWoof, and Jack's new favorite - throwing rocks into the lake. Needless to say Jack was in heaven with all the fun activities and plenty of people to dote on him. With all the extra hands, Dan and I actually felt like we had a vacation - we even got a chance to go into town for a dinner date one night! It really was a great trip, we were all sorry to see it end, especially Jack.