This and That

• We went to Target in Brooklyn on our first day here.  Craziness.
• Someone in the building has a late dinner.  They cook curry.  Our bedroom smells like curry thanks to the vent.  Living in an apartment building is going to be interesting.
• The movers and POD come on Friday.  $650 for movers, $60/hour for POD driver to wait for the POD to be unloaded.  You'd think the POD driver could do a little something other than sit in the truck at $60/hour.  NYC costs.
• Freddie threw himself on the floor when we left the childcare center in our building yesterday.  He is dying to be with the other kids.  We're on the wait list.  Even with the hospital employee sliding scale I'll need a high paying job to make it worthwhile.
• I thought New Orleans was diverse.  This little island we're living on has too many nationalities represented to even count.  There are also a wide range of socioeconomic classes represented.  All this on a 2 mile stretch of land in the East River.
• The island is teeming with kids.  Our building has so many young children.  There is a playground across the street, complete with fountains to play in.
• The island is also teeming with amputees.  I'm telling you, this place is diverse in every way.  There is a man without legs on a hospital gurney outside the metro station morning and afternoon.  No idea how he's getting there, but working on figuring this out.  Yep, I am going to talk to him.   Eventually.
• Freddie is sleeping great.  Goes to his crib, tosses in his tigey and sip cup, and waves goodbye.  Right to sleep.  Thank goodness for that.  Evidently transition is easier on kids than adults.
• Made it to the NYC Department of Motor Vehicles.  Just like home.  The computers were down for 2 hours.  Someone needed a nap so back on the train we got.  We'll try again on Thursday.
• I had my first breakdown yesterday at the playground.  It was minor compared to what I had expected at this point.  We've both commented how this doesn't yet feel like we're here for the long haul.  It's starting to sink in though.

Home is where the Saints' jersey hangs

18 months

At Daddy's lab bench

Motor Skills:

• As soon as your feet hit the floor you're off and running...everywhere!  You trip over your own feet sometimes and usually pop back up can carry on.
• You're climbing and pretty insistent on getting into chairs and on the couch.
• You're pretty good at drinking out of cup.
• You love throwing the ball.  You give it a kick here and there, but much prefer throwing.
• Your dancing is sometimes a little jig but has taken on a new form of thrashing. 

Vocabulary:

• This has been an an exciting area this month.  It seems as though everyday brings at least one new word!
• Mess...Mama LOVES this word.  Although you have been picking up dirty things everywhere (cigarette butts, lint balls, dirty napkins) and handing it to me and saying "mess."
• Tigey (Your stuffed tiger)
• Treat (as in dog treat.  Love to give the pooches their treats.)
• Cricket
• Soap
• Muuuuuppeeeeeeyyyyy, said while clapping his hands to call Muppet inside.  Although this has been the call to get all dogs we see on our walk to come to the fence.
• Tweet, if I say bird.   This is usually if I correct your calling every bird a duck.
• Moo.  It actually sounds like oooooommm, but it is in reference to a cow.
• Tweet (bird)
• Who-Who (owl)
• Meow (kitten)
• Oink (pig)
• Water
• Sprinkler...lots of sprinklers on our morning walk in dry Denver
• Cheese
• Byebye, unprompted, but offers it up with a wave and a kiss when we leave or head downstairs to bed.  It melts my heart when you say "bye bye" to Daddy when we Skype.
• Bottle, in reference to "water bottle" (sip cup) that your evening drink is from.
• Banana
• Stick
• Brush
• Truck
• Peaches, lick them but won't eat them though 
• You are well on your way to saying "Lordy, Lordy"  a la your Papi.  I am very curious to see what situations you apply this to.
• You name a lot of things and point at things and ask for them, but you are beginning to ask for things that are not in sight. You went to the refrigerator the other day and said "milk!"  Perhaps it is me not listening closely enough and it's difficult to understand when out of context? 

Diet:

• You are really, really into pizza lately.  Actually, it's pretty much just the tomato sauce on the pizza.  You lick it off and move on to the next piece.
• Ketchup and french fries are also a love.
• You have periods of eating more often and larger portions.  This still ebbs and flows though.  
• You would be quite content to never sit at the table and drop in just for a bite of grilled cheese or banana here and there.  Since I worry so much about your caloric intake I sometimes give in to this more often that I want/should.  I do not want to reinforce that eating routine.  I still get you to sit at the table 3-4 times a day but I have noticed some resistance here and there on that lately.
• You're not really hitting that 20 oz of milk mark each day.  

Appearance:

• 12-18 month clothes are still very roomy on you.
• You're still in your fist pair of "real" shoes, size 4.5.  There's plenty room left.
• You still seem to be about 20 pounds.  We'll check for sure with Dr. J.
• Your little fat feet are starting to toughen up.  All that time spent running around barefoot means those soft baby feet are getting pretty rough.

Likes:

• Kids.  You seem to find the family with the most kids no matter where we go and join their clan.  You spotted a family of five in the airport and asked the father to pick you up and sit you next to his youngest daughter.  I searching for playgroups in NYC my boy.
• Small things.  You take notice of tiny bugs and plop yourself down to point at them and watch them.  You are also pointing out tiny details in books, and go on chatting about them. 
• Being held, but it MUST be on my left hip with ONLY my left arm.  You move my hand to the correct position and remove my right hand if I attempt to use it to support you.
• You've become interested in roughhousing.  You really like when I lie on the ground and you can tackle me.
• You like water...sprinklers and fountains especially.

Dislikes:

• You've grown to not be so fond of baths anymore.  You refuse to sit down in the tub but will soap up your body with the dabs of soap I put in your hands.  The shower in Minnesota was perfect for you because it doesn't have much pressure.  You don't mind getting in the shower with me, but rinsing off is another story.
• Anything that gets on your hands has got to go.  A few grains of sand drive you crazy.  Even when you get bubbles from the tub on your hands you stick your hands out to be wiped.  

 Personality:

• You are definitely pushing limits, and telling me "no" when I tell you to do (or more often not to do) something.  You are very clear about your frustration and extreme disappointment in not getting everything you want, when you want it.   
• You jabber on and on and burst into laughter, cracking yourself up.
• You like waving to strangers and smiling.  Sometimes you're game for being held by anyone and sometimes you'd rather only Mama hold you.

Sleep:

• Your naps have been over 3 hours lately.  Is this a growth spurt we're coming upon?
• You are sleeping through the night without me, but I do hear a little fuss lately from your room.  You're going back to sleep on your own and it is only for a minute or so but I wonder if your teeth or tummy hurt.

POOP!:

• You are very regular.  You poop like clockwork.
• You had been typically averaging about 5 poops a day, but the range was between 4-6.
• The last few weeks you have only had 2 morning poops and maybe one in the afternoon here or there.  Whew.  I am thrilled but I sure hope your tummy isn't having a hard time adjusting.

Not many pictures taken today...I'll try to add more photos tomorrow.  It's been a busy few days.

It's Dr. Charlie to you

Charlie and his lab members

Dada's got a PhD.

He defended and walked out of school today with a letter in hand to certify his credentials before the diploma arrives in December.

Some lessons learned:

• Get a job, and you've got yourself a deadline.
• Have a job waiting and your committee will get you out the door.
• Give yourself six months to write the dissertation and it will take six months.  Give yourself a month to write the dissertation and it will happen in a month.
• Requiring your wife and family refer to you as Doctor makes it all worth it.

Congratulations, Charlie.

18 month well visit

Freddie's Stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 2 oz. (Below the charts)
Length: 30.25 inches (5th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.5 cm (40th percentile)

Vaccinations:

• None!

My concerns:

• 5 poops a day?  Seriously?:  There's a wide variance in pooping practices out there, and she definitely felt his average of five and range of four-six poops a day to be a bit on the high side, but still normal.  She did ask about poop appearance to make sure he wasn't passing fat.  (Note:  His poops have been greatly diminished the past two weeks.  I know part of this is just due to the schedule shift, but he has only had organic milk the past two weeks as well.)

Her concerns:

• None!

We filled out the M-CHAT screening for Autism and there are no concerns.  His development is completely on target as well.

His height is back on the charts and his weight is back on the upward curve getting closer to the charts.

We'll miss Dr. J.  Hoping we find someone who shares her instruments, reads books before the exam and notices each of his new tricks in NYC.

Bye bye puppies

I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion when I left the pups.  As much grump as they injected into my day dealing with dog hair, scratched doors, and barking during nap time, I am having a hard time imagining life without them.  I was always cautious with Freddie being with the dogs, as they are dogs, but they were well on their way to developing that boy and his dog relationship.  Muppey was, anyway...The Boo will probably be very thankful to not always have to be looking over his shoulder for someone coming up to grab his tail.

Dedicated and Ready to Defend

I dedicate this work to my greatest joy: FCS, III.

I never knew it possible 

to love so much.

Charlie's defense is in one week.  He's ready to go.  He said he's not even nervous about the questions I've prepared concerning the outliers.

Freddie and I couldn't be prouder of our Science Guy.  I've even handed over the crown.  He's the new family genius.

Us

Charlie

• Stress headachy
• In need of fresh air and sunshine
• Keeping up with his haircut
• Days away from a PhD
• The newly crowned family genius
• Craving a balanced meal
• Planning dining experiences

Freddie:

• Stuffy
• Likes bouncing around to Bob Marley
• Cracks himself up
• Pizza lover
• Scuffed up
• Giving tights squeezes
• Pine cone collector 
• Climbing

Erin:

• Wishes her kid would blow his nose or at least sniff
• Missing her husband
• Needing a full night's sleep
• Dreams include ice cream almost every night
• Misses afternoon (or all day) thunderstorms
• 129 lbs.
• Bumped up the pace
• Looking forward to fall visitors

Bye Bye, Dada

As requested: Baby Making Update

Being a teacher, I can usually spot "an only" a mile away.  No offense to the onlys out there.  The oldest, the middle child, and the baby of the family each have their own set of hangups as well.  I don't want an only though.  I would like some built in lessons for Freddie in not being the center of the universe, because I'm not sure if you can tell, but it is very easy for me to fall into letting Freddie believe the world revolves around him.  Besides, our general feeling about family is "the more the merrier" but try to balance that with a realistic picture of how much our bank account can fund as well as our wanting to support zero population growth (seriously).

Anyway, I've confirmed our recent attempts to grow our family.  We've been trying for 8 cycles now.  We're having more sex than married people should have.  Not even the 1000 miles between us has interfered with our efforts to procreate. 

We had hoped that my body had learned from this whole pregnancy thing and the second time around things would be different.  So far not the case.  Of course I've been under a lot of stress recently and imagine that has contributed to the lack of 2 lines on the pregnancy test(s) each month.

As the stress of moving and all that goes with it fades into the background I am beginning to stress over getting pregnant.  I know you're not surprised.  I'm 36.  I've had issue of infertility in the past.  Are 8 bust cycles something to fret over?

This is nothing like the first time around.  We have Freddie.  I am a mother.  Charlie is a father.  But still, it definitely weighs on my mind. 

I've been analyzing the cycle I got pregnant with Freddie.  Yep, I can go back to my 2008 calender and blog posts and pontificate the cycle days and timeline.  

• I deduce that ovulation occurred on cycle day 18.  The ultrasound showed growth of umbaby was 4 days "behind" according to LMP.  I assume I ovulated 4 days later than I would have in a typical 28 day cycle.
• We were in Maine.
• I thought I began my cycle on day 29 as there was bleeding.  Was this really implantation bleeding on day 29, 11 days past estimated ovulation?
• Previous 3 cycles had been 30, 31, and 36 days long.

Don't ask me what this means or the relevance to getting pregnant now.  I'm just obsessive and research, read, research.  (Quite frankly, I *loved* rereading all of the posts from that time.)  The researching phase just kicked in over the last two months, most likely due to some time I've had on my hands.

I am keeping tabs on my fertility and my cycles seem pretty consistent.  LH surge and all the indicators of ovulation occur between cycle day 15 and 19.  I'm disappointed the living/moving situation doesn't really allow for me to make it in to see Dr. M and request he run labs to check a few things (estradiol, progesterone, FSH, thyroid).

We shall remain on course for another few months.  More updates after that.  But if anything changes, you'll be the first to know.

Where's my Freddie?

• He wants up, he wants down, he wants up, he wants down.
• Telling me "no" for just about anything and everything.
• Will not eat anything.
• Drinking more milk and water.
• Runny nose.
• Generally whiny and unpleasant
• Not interested in playing for long independently.
• Will not let me out of his sight.
• Only 2 poops yesterday

Is he consitpated?
Is he sick?
Is he gearing up for more teeth?
Is he entering a new phase?

He's sleeping fine and no fever.

Of course I am not feeling well and am feeling very impatient, but this is definitely not my agreeable, easygoing child.  

New Digs

Click floor plan to enlarge

Well, we've got an address. We'll be living in hospital housing on Roosevelt Island.

Roosevelt Island is a tiny strip of land, two miles long, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. You're unable to walk off, from what I understand. I've never been there. There's one train stop, one stop away from the Upper East Side, and a tram (think gondola) over the river into Manhattan. The bridge takes you to Queens.

From what I've read it's limited in commercial activity, but has green space, a public pool, tennis courts, and low crime. It's kinda peaceful, with a view of the fabulous Manhattan skyline. But, even with Freddie, I'm still not yet feeling the pull of the burbs. Living in NOLA, we wanted to live in NOLA. In the same vein, if we were going to move, we wanted to live in NYC. We're city folks.

I loved our Bordeaux Street home because of the diversity of our neighbors, racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically. I loved walking to the park, playgrounds, the grocery, the drug store, the ice cream parlor, restaurants. We lived in a seriously walkable neighborhood. It was a real neighborhood. We were right in the middle of things and I could go weeks without getting in my car, and the furthest either of us would typically go was to Charlie's work and that was accessible by bike.

So, needless to say we were a bit disappointed with the assignment on RI (which gets a high walkability score but I am not sure if those points in Queens really count as walkable). Yes, I know what you're thinking, we're one train stop from UES. Right, I know. Just would much prefer to walk to where I need to go rather than navigate the train with Freddie and the stroller.

But, after some careful weighing of pros and cons, I sucked it up and decided we should just accept the apartment and move forward. That moving forward thing is what really did it. Living in a temporary place, in limbo, while I tackled the apartment market in Manhattan wasn't exactly something to look forward to. It was complicated.

But I am looking forward to a large apartment with two bathrooms, elevators in the building, a gym in the building, the hospital childcare center in the building, large windows with a spectacular view, and laundry in the building. We'll be living in the same building as other families working at the hospital, so perhaps joining that community will be helpful.

With this decision I was able to arrange for cable, internet, and electricity as well as reroute our mail. Love taking care of business.

We'll be sleeping in our new home in just 18 days.

Lovin'

Visiting the baby white alligators last week in NOLA

• Afternoon skyping
• His rough draft complete
• An end in sight
• A beginning in sight
• A final summer flight purchased
• Requests for kisses on the lips
• New words each day
• Phone calls from friends
• Pirate Booty
• Sound sleeping 
• Dry heat
• Lovie text messages

So happy together

Freddie is tickled to have both Mama and Daddy.  Each time we sit on either side of him for a meal he leans over to Charlie for a kiss and then to me and then to Charlie and then to me and on and on and on. 

Less than 3 weeks remain until we're together again, and in a car for 20 hours relishing our closeness.  That day cannot come soon enough.

First (professional) haircut

Don't mind the Mama's hair.

I took scissors to Freddie's mullet a few months ago.  It was just one snip and did a world of good. Today though he got to visit with Andrea for the real deal, smock and all.  Unless you're his mama you probably can't tell he's had a cut.  It's not exactly "high and tight" but the flips around his ears are gone and he's got a nice little shape in the back and along the front.  He certainly looks more boy than baby to me now.

He was interested in the scissors and what was going on.  He was patient, for the most part, although he kept trying to see what was going with the scissors behind him.  Not a tear, either.

He is pretty content in the salon.  All bottles of shampoo remained on the shelf and only a tad of color dripped on his head.  He made the rounds, watched the ladies getting color, and paid particular attention to the extensions being put in.  Pretty fascinating stuff. 

My boy likes salons...and he's got this thing for shoes lately. Interesting.

Here's the plan

I am a planner.  I write things down.  I make lists.  I keep a calender.  I do things in advance.

Yes, the last few months have been a challenge for me. 

We have a (tentative) plan for the next month, so that makes me feel so much better.  Seriously.  I cannot even begin to explain how good settling these few things with Charlie makes me feel.

• Charlie's parents will drive his truck from Denver to NOLA, loaded with the majority of the things I've been using here, i.e. tricylce, jog stroller, toys.
• Freddie and I will fly to NOLA on or around August 24th.
• A final trip to the POD will be made on or around August 25th to toss in all items we won't need until settling in NYC.  I've created a spreadsheet detailing all possessions not packed away already, noting where they need to get to.  Yes, I have had some time on my hands while in Denver.
• The truck will be sold on or around August 25th in NOLA.  Unless someone out there is interested in buying it (2004 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab, about 70K miles) we'll take it to a used car lot and get what we can.  This won't yield the highest return but appears to be the easiest route considering the given circumstances.  I just hope we're able to get enough to not cause this part of the plan to be sticky.
• The POD leaves NOLA for NYC on August 26th.
• Freddie will go for his 18 month well visit at 7.45am on August 26th.  No, this doesn't really pertain to the overall plan, but I am a bit paranoid about forgetting it.
• Charlie will defend his dissertation on August 26th at 11am.  This is big, folks.
• Later that evening, we will celebrate with an early dinner, lots of beers, and an early bedtime.
• August 27th, 4am, will be our departure in the Honda packed with a week's worth of clothes and supplies, as well as the TV, printer, computers, and other items not packed for the POD, unless his committee decides the dissertation needs serious work. In that case, we need to come up with plan B, but it is doubtful that plan will have to go into effect.
• Make the 20 hour drive to NYC in the Honda, as a family of three.
• Arrive in NYC on or around August 29th.
• Upon arrival to NYC, find a garage and parking contract the Honda for 1 month. This way we can use the car to make trips out of the city to stock the pantry, refrigerator, and transport odds and ends.  (I know I need lamps.  Trying to remember why we sold all of the lamps.) The Honda will be sold in New Jersey after we've gotten everything transported to the new apartment.
• Meet with hospital housing department or new landlord on or around August 30th or 31st.
• Charlie's first day of work as a PhD is September 1st.
• The POD arrives in NYC on September 2nd.
• Move in on September 3rd or 4th.  This is the part of the plan where things get fuzzy again because we're not 100% settled on an apartment so I can't get POD delivery and movers arranged quite yet.  I also think there are some regulations about days, times, etc for moving into apartments in the city which I have yet to figure out.

So there you have it.  A plan.  Feeling pretty good about it too.