First food

Max tried his first solid food today. We mixed a little milk with organic rice cereal. It was the good stuff, right?

Wrong.

For those of you who weren't present for any of today's shows, we filmed the first one. Many family members had expressed concern that we hadn't fed him "real" food yet, so I wanted to document the event since so many people contributed to the effort. Max's Uncle Brett and Aunt Lisa bought him a special bib on their honeymoon. Among the baby gifts the Calico family gave us was a bowl--and a promise that my cousin Mika would not give him mashed potatoes before I gave permission. (Mika, I'm still not ready.) My mother gave us a little set of baby eating utensils from Oneida that she said were like the ones my brother and I had as babies. Garrett and I supplied the Max.


The first feeding, he was less than thrilled. The second feeding, he lolled it around in his mouth some. The third feeding, he watched Garrett, his Bryant grandparents, and me eat dinner. Then, his Grammy managed to get the whole contents of the bowl down him.

Maybe half a bowl. A lot managed to get on his face, shirt, bib, and floor.

Either way, we consider it a success!

Doctor! Doctor!

A rash appeared on Max's back about a month ago. It grew so red that it looked sunburned. We saw three doctors in NJ. They gave him a combination of different medicines and differing opinions.

We met a doctor here in Oklahoma on Tuesday. He gave a different diagnosis and medicine. Max automatically felt better. We knew because his sweet smiles weren't interrupted by grimaces and whines--and he slept longer than an hour or so at night.

He's only wearing 100% cotton now.

So, all my friends with new babies...beware polyester!

Scrub a dub dub

We arrived late Saturday night. Determined to stay in our house, we hauled in blankets from the car and were relieved to learn my mother had put sheets on the bed. Ah, a mother's touch. We put all of our things in the master suite, which is the size of our tiny apartment back in NJ. For days, I felt uncomfortable venturing out into the other living spaces...to live...when our little cave was more familiar. I'm remembering what it's like to live in a house again, though. And it's nice.

Even though we've spent every day doing piddly detail things, it's still nice. We've done a lot of cleaning. Don't get me wrong. The previous owners left it clean. However, we had a bit of renovating done, and granite dust combined with grout to sprinkle our new carpet and wood floors. Blech. We've done a lot of cleaning on our hands and knees. Finally the dark wood shines. The rest looks great, too.

Our furniture from NJ should arrive this weekend. We're hoping to have everything ready. My parents have been a godsend. Not only had my mom cooked breakfast for us most mornings, but also my dad has cooked dinner. They like spending time with Max. We like having time to do things. I can't accomplish much when I feel like I need to play.

I'm amazed at the time required to do the tiniest details. We've spent more time and money on shelf paper than I like to think. It's not really shelf paper, though. It's this stuff that you can actually toss in the washing machine.

Which we don't have yet. We ordered a washer and dryer yesterday. Lowe's was having a sale so we went ahead and ordered our fridge, too. The dishwasher should arrive any day now. The rest should arrive on the 22nd. That's when we're supposed to get the cable and phone.

Yes, you read that correctly.

We don't get cable, internet, or phone until the 22nd! I'd forgotten how slowly things in a small town can move. Garrett is in a bit of a culture shock, but he assured me there were things he already liked about living here.

That's a relief because I don't plan on moving any time soon. It's too much work!

Casualties

According to Ms. Bib (our GPS), our trip from NJ to OK should take 21 hours. Factor in the fact that we're traveling with an 18 week old, and you've got a different kind of math to do. For example, we're averaging about 5-6 hours on-the-road-time even though we're in the car 8-9 hours.

Yep.

Calculate that.

Plus, last night Max developed an ugly diaper rash. (I had nightmares about it.) After reading all about it online, I feared the worst. To make matters worse, Max started filling his diapers often and well. He doesn't lack enthusiasm or sound effects. He is such a boy. Since he has the rash, we pulled over as soon as we realized he needed a diaper change. His rash is better tonight but not totally healed.

So, with everything going on, a few casualties are bound to occur. Here they are to date:
1. 2 sheets
2. pillowcase
3. 2 pants (mine)
4. towel
5. frog humidifier

The first three are results of Max's overzealous bathroom habits. I read that a baby should go diaperless to allow air to circulate around the rash. Inevitably, Max became a fountain...that backfired. On the bright side, he giggled at my reaction. His smile is always a bright side.

#5 is all my fault. I dropped it when Garrett handed it to me in the parking lot. Its eye is scraped because I'm a klutz. And I'm tired.

Poor froggie.

I guess there is bound to be a little road kill when we travel.

Moving on

We left our apartment in NJ a few days past a year to the day that we arrived. Packing and moving took longer than we expected. Partly because of Max. Partly because of the icy/rainy weather. Mostly because the movers were to arrive at 9 and didn't get there until 11:30. And they were slower than turtles stampeding through peanut butter.

C'mon. Is anyone surprised?

I could go on about the things these guys did to annoy me, but I won't. Let's just say that if we never see our things again I won't be shocked. I'm sure they're perfectly nice people, but their professionalism and attention to detail is what I question. For example, they left a mirror in the living room. When I asked one of the guys about it, he raised an eyebrow. "You want that? Isn't it from Ikea?"

I think that was an insult.

By the time they left, it had taken them HOURS to empty our tiny apartment. Garrett and I then began the cleaning and hole-filling process. Of course, no furniture remained, so I got on his shoulders--an activity that I recall as much easier when I was a cheerleader ** years ago. On the bright side, we didn't fall and the holes were filled.

The latter did not happen without incident.

Of course.

"Oh no," Garrett said.

I looked up from whatever activity I was doing and saw Garrett covered in thick white paste. It glopped from the tube, down his arm and onto the floor. "What happened?" I asked.

As we both grabbed spare napkins and paper towels, he explained that the Spackle had squirted out the wrong end. He didn't know how.

Of course.

At that time, we were convinced we were going to drive as soon as we got out of there last night. (We didn't, though.) Anyway, we were rushed and I instructed him to continue filling holes while I cleaned up the mess.

I grabbed what I thought was a firm piece of cardboard and used to it to scrape the excess goo before wiping it. After a few attempts, the cardboard bent and flipped a gob of goop directly into my eye.

Of course.

I was on all fours crying, "My eye! My eye!" before I realized it didn't really hurt. Garrett frantically read the warning label and instructed me to flush my eye with water.

Oh yeah, I'm totally a handy man.

And I never want to move again.

Happy New Year!

I've always said 2008 was two-thousand-great. How could 2009 compete?

We flew in on New Year's Eve and went straight to Max's doctor. He hadn't slept well for the two weeks we were in Oklahoma, which meant we hadn't slept well either. I spent most nights rocking him in my dad's armchair. He developed a rash on his chest and back that grew as red as Rudolph's nose. On the last day his nose started running. We stayed in Tulsa since our plane left at 7 in the morning, and we had maybe two hours total sleep that night.

The little guy cried and cried. He doesn't cry unless something is wrong.

So, we took him to the doctor where they gave him an antibiotic and Nystatin. Why the antibiotic? They claimed they didn't know what was wrong with him, so they gave him both. Hmmm. We didn't like that much.

Quick aside: After consulting other medical professionals (online and otherwise)...and knowing that 99% of the antibiotic gushed onto his bib but the rash is disappearing from the ointment, we've decided to discontinue the antibiotic and continue the ointment.

Since I do nights better than mornings, I volunteered to take the shift until midnight with Max so that Garrett could sleep. He hit the sheets around 6 and woke up about Max's bedtime to offer help. I shooed him off because I was determined to kick his butt out of bed if Max whimpered after midnight. Max slept much better in his own crib than a Pack and Play. The evening went fairly well, and I was asleep when 2008 faded into history.

After the morning feeding and cleaning rituals, I was about to drop. I told Garrett, "Okay. Now your turn. I'm going to go to bed and try to get some sleep."

He nodded. "You should." He gripped the side of the crib. "There's just one thing...I think I'm going to throw up."

And he did.

All day.

Happy flippin' new year.

I hope it improves.