Newfangled Dad

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend, end of spring break and whatnot. Our Easter was a quiet one other than the occasional toothbrush jammed in the dvd player. A lot of our usual weekend haunts were closed so the usual gym/grocery schedule had to be altered a bit. We managed to sneak in a family dinner out at a real, actual restaurant. With a playground trip sandwiched between an ice cream trip. The kids looked for "hidden" eggs. Really, more like Leda stood on the back patio while Cole scooped up our small stash of plastic eggs then wanted to go to the basement to play. But at least he rode his tricycle when he got down there! Kelly cooked a delicious chicken and noodles Easter dinner--yes, we love to be unconventional, even in our spare alone time. The tricycle, Cole hasn't quite figured out how to keep his feet on the pedals and push. So dad grabbed the handle and did the work. He lasted a minute or two--the longest ride for him so far. And he was excited to g...

Sorry, triathlon fans, back to parenting topics today... I'm not in the habit of quoting, making reference to, or even reading The New York Post...it's sleazy. But  this article on Bloomberg's teen pregnancy ad campaign  caught my eye this morning. I have nothing against trying to reduce teen pregnancy. (As the author points out, NYC also hands out condoms, contraception, and morning after pills...perhaps a better solution since, hey, abstinence education doesn't work?) But, in this case, it's the lack-of-nuance, pro-marriage argument that annoys me. The idea being that without marriage these kids are destined for a life of poverty. In the "out of wedlock" crowd, babies who come without a ring on the finger of the mother are shorthand for a whole variety of problems from education to employment to child support. And the author wants to drag churches and talking about the "marriage advantage" into it. Along with the fact that the majority of bab...

I was on a fairly steady daily blog there for awhile, but fell off the wagon the last couple days. We've been busy...some of which is parenting related, but I'm not ready to write about yet...and some of it has been just odds and ends piling up.    Yesterday was a little home improvement. Borrowed a drill from a neighbor and finally got around to hanging the curtains around Leda's crib. They've been sitting in the corner waiting, but necessity has motivated us. Leda has horrible sleep habits. Partially our fault, partially hers. She still requires us holding her to fall asleep and has somehow gained a love of absolute dark and quiet before she'll give in. And we love Cole's 7:30pm bedtime, but are lucky to get Leda down by 10pm frequently.  Lately, Leda has taken to going down for a morning nap just fine--usually after I get Cole down for his--then refuses to nap in the late afternoon waiting until early evening. So it's a couple hours of horrible whi...

I had chosen a swim workout for last night's first official entry into the pool for training. It was recommended as a good beginner one...4 x 25 meters warmup, then a ladder of 25m, 50m, 50m, 25m. I did it. And then some...but it was ugly. Really ugly. Hence the reason for the "and then some." Me trying to fix my form. I wasn't wheezing and struggling and barely able to make it across the pool like you sometimes hear. That's not the problem. In fact, if anything, my fitness is working against me. Because I know what it feels like to run 26.2 miles. Or bike for 30 miles. So, being a swim newbie, the outcome isn't exactly matching my non-level of technical skill. So I have the endurance and the confidence to, literally, hack my way through that above workout--totally frustrated. By the time I finished and had gotten out of the pool to shower, I was ready to stop by the desk and ask about private lessons with a swim instructor. I'd been pricing a few swim...

You look like an angel Walk like an angel Talk like an angel But I got wise You're the devil in disguise Oh, yes, you are The devil in disguise --Elvis Presley As I put Leda in her crib yesterday for probably her 4th...maybe 5th?...I don't really count...timeout I had a conversation with her that went like this. "You better get used to it. You and me are going to be doing this the rest of our lives. I tell you to not do something. You do it anyway. I have to punish you."  Cole never had this problem. Or, rather, he did and wised up quickly. He never gets timeouts anymore. In fact, he was on the verge of one yesterday and I realized that I hadn't even had to think about what to do with him since the big boy bed arrived.  Leda is in everything. She eats the dog food. She plays in the dog's water. She eats toilet paper. She chews on cords. She goes into the kitchen and wants the bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap under the sink. She wants to...

What a difference a year makes. 365 days ago our baby girl (known on all NICU forms as BG) was whisked away by nursery staff...entirely different than the mob of doctors and nurses in the room for the delivery...leaving us in a communication dead zone for hours wondering how she was. Only later would we find out that the NICU is closed to visitors for rounds every morning so Leda had picked the rather inconvenient time of 8am to arrive. No baby updates until noon, sorry. Flash forward to today--the kids are in a weird place. Cranky and zoned out due to colds. We even turned down a playgroup request from our NICU alum-friends. The last couple of nights have been a screaming, crying struggle (mostly her, but a little bit us) to get Leda to go to sleep...though, thankfully, she slept through the night then. Cole, apparently, is holding out for our special pizza dinner tonight. Because he's barely had anything to eat all day. Leda, on the other hand, has ended her formula days. She...

We're so far removed from last October's blur of NICU visits that it's hard to believe how difficult it was. Long gone are those days of gently holding a tiny 4 lb-something preemie who couldn't eat, we could barely dress her she was so delicate, and you had to hold her just so to prevent her heart rate from dropping. She'd stop breathing and the alarms would ring. Now, she obsessively pursues air conditioner cords, the dog, and food she isn't possibly old enough to eat. She claps and crawls and falls down hard before sitting back up without so much as a cry. We knew all along she was a tough girl. Yesterday's doctor appointment was notable for what it lacked...mainly, any bit of concern on the part of anyone. The main hiccup was the receptionist writing our time down wrong on the appointment card so that we arrived 30 minutes before any doctor. She may be a little on the small side still--17 pounds, 6 oz which is 25th percentile--but we've ditched t...

Actually, we had a lovely weekend. It just had a few...hiccups. Friday afternoon I went out of my way to go back to the specialty bike shop for a test ride. Shout out to The Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn where they have awesome service, a nice selection, and patient answers to questions! For me, it was between a Felt Verza and the Scott Metrix. Which involved 3 bikes because the Felt has 2 versions--one where you can lock the suspension on the front fork. Ultimately, the Scott won though the Felt was a more comfortable  bike. I liked the handling and more sporty aspects of the Scott, plus the shifter style. So really the choice was between the upper model Felt and the Scott...over $100 in price. So far, I've taken 2 rides on my new Scott and love it though. But there I am, in the store, and decide to actually buy the new bike...which I wasn't sure I would do. And now I'm on my way to the grocery with no bike rack on the Subaru so they were nice enough to hold my purchase unti...

With my son, cloth diapering was also a statement in addition to being the right thing. We put a lot of time and effort and research into whether the diaper service would work for us, what covers to use, etc.. In the end, pardon the pun, it turned out great. We loved it and have had every intention of going back to cloth now that the sunny, smelly summer months are over. Then Leda happened. Not that it was her fault. She's just given us other priorities and worries. My son has his "diapering station" in his room where we've got a changing pad setup on the ottoman with wipes and lotions on the window ledge. For a whole variety of reasons, Leda has taken up semi-permanent residence in the living room. For middle of the night changes that rarely happen anymore. For space. She occupies the long chaise with her padded nest and lap pad at the end. When she was first born, it was just easier than worrying about waking up Cole. On the other hand, cosleeping wasn't som...

Big update on Leda today that was just too much for FB or Twitter. So welcome if you're new to the blog. Feel free to stay and read a little more if you'd like. Sorry for the medical jargon, but it's our world right now. She was doing great yesterday. Nursing, taking feedings by bottle, drinking what she should. A couple mild episodes but her temp was great and she's gained back weight to 5 lbs. 1 oz. So I'd already told myself that today may be a "down" day because she worked so hard earlier. But overnight she had a series of about 6 low heart rate and breathing desats that kind of exploded us into a series of forks in the road now... They opted to re-dose her with caffeine because the episodes were at the end of where last week's would have worn off. Unfortunately, that automatically (maybe) adds 2 more weeks to her NICU stay because they need to wait the week of the caffeine--she will get maintenance doses this time--plus an extra week to see ...

November will be Prematurity Awareness Month and Nov 17, the day before Leda's due date, is World Prematurity Day. Worldwide every year, 13 million babies are born early and 500,000 of them are in the US. That's 1 in 8 and the rate has risen 36% over the last 25 yrs. It costs $26 billion a year and is the #1 killer of newborns. The US receives a grade of D in premature infant care and no state receives higher than a C. Please check out some of the following. Give if you can. Share, support, and keep the families of NICU babies in your thoughts & prayers. We're the lucky ones, but there are plenty of little Leda's friends who will be staying a lot longer or not coming home.  March of Dimes Foundation Preemie Voices Graham's Foundation Illinois Premature Infant Health Network (IPIHN) World Prematurity Day on Facebook

Wow, it's been a little crazy. Last week's early-morning volunteering at the marathon I had no clue what was ahead. And it's funny looking at my neglected blog admin page seeing an unpublished draft about how our daughter was breech. We'll just go ahead and delete that. lol So, little Leda was born last Monday on 10/10/11. What a great birth date. Six weeks early, but we're guessing she's just going to be the difficult one all her life. Heh. We were sitting in Giordano's eating some pizza when Kelly ever-so-casually mentioned that her water may have broken. Should we call the doctor? Umm, yeah. But we didn't have any of this experience with my son. He was induced and it was a leisurely trip to Starbucks the morning before we started his (much more difficult) labor and delivery. But now we have a new tradition for her birthday. Pizza the day before every year! I have so much to say...about the unorganized volunteer setup for the Chicago Marathon l...