What do you think?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Ultrasound vs. Reality
When we received our ultrasounds we wondered how closely it would resemble our baby. Especially since we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, we spent hours debating either way. Frankly, I always thought the ultrasounds looked 'masculine' but didn't want to commit and be wrong -- I hate being wrong.
What do you think?
![]()
![]()
What do you think?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Calvin's First Fire!
Exciting night for us last night! We went to bed at a reasonable time with minimal fuss (10:30ish?), and Calvin slept like a champ, only waking up hungry around 3am. At that point Lisa took care of him, then went downstairs because she couldn’t fall back asleep right away. As she came back upstairs around 3:30am, she asked me if it smelled anything funny. I took a big sniff, agreed with her and promptly fell back asleep….
She woke me up 10 seconds later after investigating a little bit more and looking out our window to find monster flames reflecting off of our neighbor’s windows closer to the end of our complex (20 feet away). We quickly burst into action, me grabbing Calvin, an infant onesie that hasn’t fit him in 6 weeks (I was in a rush!) and a pair of shorts; Lis running outside to check everything out quickly, calling 911, alerting a neighbor and then coming in the house almost relaxed like we were good to go now. She quickly rebounded, realized we were still in an emergency situation and remembered to grab the car seat and the diaper bag that I had overlooked.
As we left the house, both dogs started barking from the smoke and the lights from the fire, and I realized that this was the situation that Bessie had been waiting for her whole life! Bark Bessie! Bark! You bark for 10 minutes when a neighbor brings out their trash can! You almost rip down the door when a package gets delivered by the mail man – THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE! ….
10 seconds of barking and then they were dead quiet…. (to say I was disappointed would be a severe understatement)
So I took it upon myself to run up and knock on some neighbors doors to alert them, and somehow Darby got off the leash. I looked back quickly to her being in complete bewilderment – trying to decide if she should run home, run away or what. Then she saw Lis getting the car ready and ran to her – smart dog.
By now Lisa, Calvin and the dogs were in the car ready to peace out, all the neighbors had been alerted and emergency services were rushing in. We tried to pull out of the driveway, but were not able to go anywhere due to the 3 fire engines blocking our path, so just pulled to a safe spot on the road and let the car running so that Calvin wouldn’t have to directly breathe in what would turn out to be a mixture of plastic/feces smoke.
I don’t want to go on for too long here, so basically what happened next was extended chaos, with all our neighbors just watching and saying hello to each other for the first time. Turns out that the port-o-potty in the back alley (we have had workers in our complex for 2 weeks) was lit on fire, and the end unit nearest to it also had a big whole burned through it.
We ended up with 3-4 fire trucks, 2-3 EMT’s and another handful of cop cars outside of our place, all with sirens flashing. Calvin LOVED it – SO many bright colors.
About an hour in they said we could head back in. It was almost 5am by this time, so Lis and I were up for good. We realized that we had gotten pretty lucky and that we were glad Calvin was hungry when he was and that Lis couldn’t go back to bed. Not sure what I did to help the team, but everyone in the complex was primarily ok, and only some property damage to the end unit.
Exciting night that I hope never happens again!
PS - Another thought I had later on was what if we had not woken up in time. And I don’t mean that as in if any of us had gotten hurt, because that is just depressing. I mean, what would I have done if the flames were leaping up the stairs to our house (only way out) when we realized what was happening. I’ve come to two conclusions – 1, wrap calvin in a wet towel, toss Lisa on my back and I would barrel through the fire with no regard for my own safety, or 2) strap Calvin onto my chest, jump out the guest room window, use the porch ceiling for quick support as I barrel rolled off. I would then land quickly on the 1st floor porch before leaping with a quick roll onto the ground on our basement level – protecting Calvin the whole way obviously. Then talking Lisa through the whole stunt-team-esque maneuver. Pretty awesome all the way around, although I'm not sure why I immeadiately started daydreaming even crazier scenarios...
She woke me up 10 seconds later after investigating a little bit more and looking out our window to find monster flames reflecting off of our neighbor’s windows closer to the end of our complex (20 feet away). We quickly burst into action, me grabbing Calvin, an infant onesie that hasn’t fit him in 6 weeks (I was in a rush!) and a pair of shorts; Lis running outside to check everything out quickly, calling 911, alerting a neighbor and then coming in the house almost relaxed like we were good to go now. She quickly rebounded, realized we were still in an emergency situation and remembered to grab the car seat and the diaper bag that I had overlooked.
As we left the house, both dogs started barking from the smoke and the lights from the fire, and I realized that this was the situation that Bessie had been waiting for her whole life! Bark Bessie! Bark! You bark for 10 minutes when a neighbor brings out their trash can! You almost rip down the door when a package gets delivered by the mail man – THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE! ….
10 seconds of barking and then they were dead quiet…. (to say I was disappointed would be a severe understatement)
So I took it upon myself to run up and knock on some neighbors doors to alert them, and somehow Darby got off the leash. I looked back quickly to her being in complete bewilderment – trying to decide if she should run home, run away or what. Then she saw Lis getting the car ready and ran to her – smart dog.
By now Lisa, Calvin and the dogs were in the car ready to peace out, all the neighbors had been alerted and emergency services were rushing in. We tried to pull out of the driveway, but were not able to go anywhere due to the 3 fire engines blocking our path, so just pulled to a safe spot on the road and let the car running so that Calvin wouldn’t have to directly breathe in what would turn out to be a mixture of plastic/feces smoke.
I don’t want to go on for too long here, so basically what happened next was extended chaos, with all our neighbors just watching and saying hello to each other for the first time. Turns out that the port-o-potty in the back alley (we have had workers in our complex for 2 weeks) was lit on fire, and the end unit nearest to it also had a big whole burned through it.
We ended up with 3-4 fire trucks, 2-3 EMT’s and another handful of cop cars outside of our place, all with sirens flashing. Calvin LOVED it – SO many bright colors.
About an hour in they said we could head back in. It was almost 5am by this time, so Lis and I were up for good. We realized that we had gotten pretty lucky and that we were glad Calvin was hungry when he was and that Lis couldn’t go back to bed. Not sure what I did to help the team, but everyone in the complex was primarily ok, and only some property damage to the end unit.
Exciting night that I hope never happens again!
PS - Another thought I had later on was what if we had not woken up in time. And I don’t mean that as in if any of us had gotten hurt, because that is just depressing. I mean, what would I have done if the flames were leaping up the stairs to our house (only way out) when we realized what was happening. I’ve come to two conclusions – 1, wrap calvin in a wet towel, toss Lisa on my back and I would barrel through the fire with no regard for my own safety, or 2) strap Calvin onto my chest, jump out the guest room window, use the porch ceiling for quick support as I barrel rolled off. I would then land quickly on the 1st floor porch before leaping with a quick roll onto the ground on our basement level – protecting Calvin the whole way obviously. Then talking Lisa through the whole stunt-team-esque maneuver. Pretty awesome all the way around, although I'm not sure why I immeadiately started daydreaming even crazier scenarios...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
2 Months Old!
So Calvin is officially 8 week/2 months old! Even though I've spent every waking moment with him, time has still flown by! It's really crazy to look back on the videos we took in the hospital and compare them with what I have currently in my lap. We have our 2 month check up this Friday and we are all anxiously awaiting to hear about his weight gain. I definitely can tell that he has been gaining weight steadily by the size of my biceps. Since learning how to nurse standing up so I can continue to rock him, my arms support him nicely like a frame. Holding him is a workout!
We had a fabulous Saturday and started the day with a trip to the Green Market at Piedmont. We got our delicious iced coffee, pastries and relaxed listening to the live music. We left before it started getting too nuclear hot and received a call from Alice and Adam asking if we wanted to grab lunch. Sure! We met up with them for a nice lunch and catch up. Afterwards, we received a call from our friends Whitney and Dan inviting us to an underground food market for dinner. What's an "underground food market" you say? That was my question! Apparently you have to be on this somewhat secretive list and you receive directions the day before the event to the secret location. A bunch of local vendors show up and you get to dine on their best food for $1-4/plate. Vendors featured stuffed mushrooms, traditional African dishes, and TONS of delicious desserts. Since we were on Calvin time, we showed up after most of the dinner dishes had been consumed so our dinner consisted of fried dough and crepes -- yum!
There was a cafe that was open in the back and we ended up headed there. It turned out to be a very unusual spot -- some might even call it a speakeasy... and that's all I'll say about that.
Calvin went to his first "cafe" and slept the entire time. It was a very artistic place and somewhere you would see models posing against red brick mill walls. It was definitely a place where one goes to be inspired.
Afterwards, Jon and I headed home to eat a real dinner and relax. All day long, Calvin was a good boy and was laid back in many different environments including Barnes and Noble and our local mexican restaurant.
Happy 2 months to my baby boy!
We had a fabulous Saturday and started the day with a trip to the Green Market at Piedmont. We got our delicious iced coffee, pastries and relaxed listening to the live music. We left before it started getting too nuclear hot and received a call from Alice and Adam asking if we wanted to grab lunch. Sure! We met up with them for a nice lunch and catch up. Afterwards, we received a call from our friends Whitney and Dan inviting us to an underground food market for dinner. What's an "underground food market" you say? That was my question! Apparently you have to be on this somewhat secretive list and you receive directions the day before the event to the secret location. A bunch of local vendors show up and you get to dine on their best food for $1-4/plate. Vendors featured stuffed mushrooms, traditional African dishes, and TONS of delicious desserts. Since we were on Calvin time, we showed up after most of the dinner dishes had been consumed so our dinner consisted of fried dough and crepes -- yum!
There was a cafe that was open in the back and we ended up headed there. It turned out to be a very unusual spot -- some might even call it a speakeasy... and that's all I'll say about that.
Calvin went to his first "cafe" and slept the entire time. It was a very artistic place and somewhere you would see models posing against red brick mill walls. It was definitely a place where one goes to be inspired.
Afterwards, Jon and I headed home to eat a real dinner and relax. All day long, Calvin was a good boy and was laid back in many different environments including Barnes and Noble and our local mexican restaurant.
Happy 2 months to my baby boy!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Glamor shots by Mom!
With some "free" time on my hands, I decided to have a photo shoot with Calvin. We used a super soft blanket that was a gift from his Auntie Sam and had some fun! These pictures were taken on June 21, 2011 (7 weeks, 3 days old). He was all smiles and wiggles!
Quick letter to Calvin
Sweet boy,
Most of my day is spent cuddling you on our couch, kissing your perfect chubby cheeks and listening to your slow breathing. You have this triple sigh that I just love. In, in, in, out. I first heard that sigh when I nursed you right after you were born. You have had my heart ever since.
You have changed a lot in the past few days. Before, any time I tried to put you down, you would squirm, squeal and then scream to be held again. Now, I put you down and you smile, kick your legs and look around at the world. It's amazing to watch you respond to new sights and sounds whenever we change rooms. Watching you engage with your toys, reflection and examine the light coming through the curtains never fails to amaze me. We spend hours together that pass as if they were minutes. I wish I could keep this time in the freezer so that I can bring it back later.
You are the sweetest boy and at this moment, a few days shy of 2 months of age, you are perfect.
Love, love, cheek kisses,
Mommy
Most of my day is spent cuddling you on our couch, kissing your perfect chubby cheeks and listening to your slow breathing. You have this triple sigh that I just love. In, in, in, out. I first heard that sigh when I nursed you right after you were born. You have had my heart ever since.
You have changed a lot in the past few days. Before, any time I tried to put you down, you would squirm, squeal and then scream to be held again. Now, I put you down and you smile, kick your legs and look around at the world. It's amazing to watch you respond to new sights and sounds whenever we change rooms. Watching you engage with your toys, reflection and examine the light coming through the curtains never fails to amaze me. We spend hours together that pass as if they were minutes. I wish I could keep this time in the freezer so that I can bring it back later.
You are the sweetest boy and at this moment, a few days shy of 2 months of age, you are perfect.
Love, love, cheek kisses,
Mommy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)