SS Jeremiah O'Brien

This WW II naval ship is docked at Fisherman's Wharf and was one of Sean's favorite parts of our trip. I enjoyed it...but the most fun was watching Sean tour the ship, especially the engine room (I kept calling it the boiler room & he kept correcting me.). He was like a kid in a candy store seeing how the pistons and whatever worked. This particular ship is still fully functional, so that part was even more fascinating.

The super steep stairs/ladder all the way into the bottom of the ship. Kind of creepy.

I think this is one of the greasy pistons.

Another view of the engine room.

Beautiful view of San Francisco in the background.

Parts of this ship were used in scenes of the movie "Titanic". The bottom photograph here shows how they used the engine room in the movie. Pretty cool!

By far, my favorite part of the entire ship was this sign hanging in the engine room. I told Sean I was going to blow this up & put it in his cube at work. Welcome to my life!

Grampy & Uncle Josh

Uncle Josh & Grampy stopped by for a quick visit on their way to Ft. Collins a couple of weeks ago. We were happy to be able to spend a little time with them before they headed out!

(Carter was in school and missed out on the photo op.)

He's still got it...

Carter's ears STILL look bad after a course of Omnicef, followed by a course of Zithromax. We have been trying to clear this last ear infection for a month now. Dr B said his ears would have had to look "perfect" yesrterday in order for us to avoid going to the peds ENT. Sooo...we have a referral and will be taking him in to see about getting him tubes. Unfortunately, the doctor is booked until July 20th! Hopefully, we will be fine until then.

On a brighter note, Carter is starting to use the potty!!! We have been talking about it & sitting on it off and on for a couple of months, but he is finally starting to show interest in using the potty. (I'm sure the M&M's we're using for bribery are helping some.) So far, he has gone pee-pee a handful of times...no #2, yet. I have mixed feelings about potty-training and am not looking forward to the messes and the rush to find public restrooms when we're out & about. However, my hope is that if Carter is driving the learning process & we follow his lead, it will not take forever to get him into big-boy undies. I was anticipating him working on this well into age three, so if we get it done sooner---great! I'll keep you posted!

Outdoor fun!

This morning our friends Sam and Kim came over for a play date. Kim's due date with Sam's little brother was yesterday, so we were happy they had the energy to come over today. Way to go, Kim! Thankfully, we planned a morning "date" as we are now under a tornado watch all afternoon. Yikes!

Davis was happy to hang out in the shade while the big boys played in the back yard. He is looking forward to having a buddy his size, soon.

Look how well I can sit up by myself!


Carter & Sam playing the "drums" (aka: the chairs from the clubhouse). Carter did a pretty good job sharing his toys, but we had a few tears shed over having to take turns with the swing since there's only one. Sometimes it's really hard to be two.

Can't wait to see you guys again soon & meet your new baby boy!

Going in circles

The boys are really starting to interact with one another these days and it is so much fun to watch their relationship develop. We will often bathe them together before bedtime & they love to splash each other. Carter thinks it is so funny when Davis splashes back! I don't have any video of that, but this one shows that they are starting to become buddies. I hope this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship between these two.

Solids...take two

Our first attempt at solid food with Davis was at four months, hoping he would sleep better. A couple of weeks into it, we realized his skin was looking much worse so our pediatrician advised us to stop until six months. I was a little frustrated (and so was our pediatrician) with the PA who started us on solids that early since I had specifically asked about Davis's allergies being a problem and she assured me they wouldn't be. Anyway, now that he is six months old, we are cleared to start solids again. Carrots were our first attempt on Thursday and so far, so good...he seems to love them!

Full tummy after our third meal of carrots. :-)

Right before our first taste of carrots!

Six months old!

Davis turned SIX months old on Saturday. I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! We had his well-check on Thursday and he is doing great developmentally...he is at or above-target on everything, which is always reassuring to hear. Davis is sitting on his own now and I will try to post some pics later this week. He actually enjoys rolling over now and has started chomping on his toes. No teeth, yet but he is a little drool monster! His growth stats are posted in the sidebar. Dr B was really pleased with his size and said he is sticking to the growth chart just as he should!

The bad news is that Eczema continues to be a problem for our little guy. His skin gets bad so quickly if he gets too warm or is in the car seat too long. (I just ordered Carter a new car seat, so Davis will get the hand-me-down as soon as the new one arrives.) We are still doing nightly baths, followed by our Desonide ointment and Aquaphor ritual. That certainly helps a ton, but it is a constant battle every day. We have a referral for a peds dermatologist, but Dr B, said we could wait a few weeks to see if moving out of the Winter weather into Spring/Summer helps it clear naturally.


I posted a photo comparison for your viewing pleasure...

12.22.2009 (one month old)



Posing with Mommy on my 1/2 birthday!

Davis, Carter & Mommy!They look like trouble to me!

Awww...brothers. Love my boys!

Getting the hang of it...

Last week I had Davis sitting up, using his Boppy pillow for support. He was doing such a good job that I was wishing I had brought the camera downstairs. I took a gamble & dashed up to get it, hoping he wouldn't do a face-plant while I was gone. To my surprise, he was still sitting up when I came back to take his picture. Way to go, Davis! You are getting to be such a big boy! Hopefully in the next week or two he will do well enough that we can get rid of the infant car seat & switch to the bigger one. He is getting too heavy to haul around and the vinyl seat covering really irritates his eczema, especially on warm days.

Davis turns six months old on Saturday & our well-check is tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait to see how big he is now, as I put him in 6-9 mos clothes about a month ago! I am happy to report that he has been sleeping in his crib for the past couple of weeks and will sleep about 10 hours at a time in there. Guess he likes sharing a room with his brother! We are SO glad he is finally sleeping better & even more glad that the pack-n-play is out of our room!

Grandad Surprise!

Since my birthday was on Monday, my dad decided to drive out over the weekend to see us & celebrate! Dad worked all day Friday, then drove all night to get here before I got off work Saturday morning. Saturday was spent with Dad & Sean both staying home to take care of the boys. Unfortunately, Davis was sick with a low-grade temp, vomiting, sneezing & coughing. Thankfully, he seems to be feeling better now, but he was pretty miserable over the weekend.
We had a wonderful birthday breakfast at Snooze on Sunday morning & then Dad stayed home with the boys so Sean could go to a VW car show. Dad was back on the road by Sunday afternoon. Thank you, Dad, for driving so far to spend just a day and a half with us. It made my birthday extra-special just having you here and the boys loved the attention from Grandad! We love you!!

Grandad pushing Carter "faster & faster" in the swing.

Davis enjoying the snuggle time with Grandad

moments with Mimi

We had a great visit with my mom this past week. She was a big help with the boys (as always) and we were able to get out & do some fun things, despite the yucky weather.

I was able to get cost-contained on Sunday night (yippee!), so we had a little extra time to catch up. We went to the mall & Carter ran laps around the breakfast food...a favorite indoor activity on bad weather days.

lap in progress

Mimi bought Carter this little monkey and he was hugging & talking to it all the way to the car! I got some new Vera Bradley bags as my early birthday present--thanks, Mom!!! I LOVE the bags & love that we got a great deal on them just as much. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

Mimi was drawing bugs on demand as we waited for our lunch to arrive. Great way to entertain a hungry two-year-old!

Carter showing off his new 'do.

Time to say good-bye. We love you, Mimi & can't wait to see you next month when Mommy & Daddy go on their trip. Hope you aren't having second thoughts...

Mother's Day reflections

The biggest myth is that Labor & Delivery is a "happy place to work". If that were true, we'd all be doing it for free. The reality is that it is happy about 80% of the time and a good reality check to count your blessings the other 20% of the time. The 20% that is bad is usually devastating on our unit.

My Mother's Day started with one of my antepartum patients going into labor just after midnight. She was 28 weeks and was all by herself at the hospital. At one point during her labor I asked her if there were any friends or family members she wanted me to call. She said "not really". Unfortunately, she had a ton of social issues, not the least of which was that her husband was in jail for domestic abuse. For having so many people attend her delivery (NICU team, her OB and two nurses), that delivery is one of the loneliest I have ever been in.

If there is one thing I will absolutely never take for granted, it is the fact that I was blessed to have good fertility, uncomplicated pregnancies, two beautiful, healthy boys & a loving family. I have no idea what I did to deserve all of that and I know far too many women who would pay any price to be blessed as I have been. To quote my favorite line from Johnny Appleseed "the Lord's been good to me."

After I left work Sunday morning, I came home to a house full of loved ones. Mimi is in town for a few days and we invited the Hutches over to join us for brunch. Sean & Mimi fixed quiche (yes, she did help fix her own Mother's Day meal...sorry Mom!) and a bunch of other yummy things and we had a great morning. Even the weather was beautiful!

Carter & Taylor playing with the sidewalk chalk

horsing around

Aunt Debbie & Davis

Carter & Rae Rae

Daddy & Taylor building Legos with Carter

Thank you, Mom, for your unconditional love and never-ending support for the past 34 years. You have given so much of yourself to make my life easier and more blessed and often times you did without, so that I could have more. I could never thank you enough for that. I only hope that I am able to do as much for my boys. I love you. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

We hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day with your family. The boys wanted to wish Grandma Pat, Mimi & Grandma Nancy a very happy day and tell you that we love you very much!!!!

We'll update more later...

Spring training

Carter looked at his ball and said "C-U-B-S spells 'baseball' ". I didn't have the heart to correct him. He is big into spelling these days. His version of spelling is a little different than ours, but it is too cute for words to watch him putting it all together.

Carter & I have been playing "baseball" this week (No laughing, Uncle Josh!). He loves his Chicago Cubs baseball & bat that Aunt Sister got for him during our visit last May. It is hilarious to watch him try to hit the ball, he gets so excited just holding the bat! So far, he seems to prefer throwing with his left hand. He got a little camera shy today, but I'll keep trying to get some video of him training to hit one out of the park.

Davis is not into baseball yet, BUT he has been sitting with support from his Boppy and can sit for a short while even without it! What a big boy!

car show

Sean took the boys to a car show on Sunday. Looks like they saw a lot of cool rides! Carter was asking about it all day Saturday and Sean learned a valuable lesson: Don't tell him about outings until an hour or so before you go!

another one

We found out today that Carter has another bilateral ear infection. The only reason I took him in was that yesterday he was guarding his left ear when I went to put sunscreen on him. He has had a cold the past few days and didn't go to "school" on Monday, but kept denying that his ears hurt & he hasn't had a fever.

This is his third infection in six months, so we are starting to talk tubes. I'll take him back in two weeks to see if it has cleared on the Omnicef, but even still our Pediatrician thinks it is worth considering the tubes. She thinks he may just be used to his ears hurting so often that he has been compensating for it longer than we realize. Plus, I would rather do the tubes than have him build up a resistance to the antibiotics we are needing to use so frequently. Anyway, it won't hurt to have an Ear/Nose/Throat consult and see what they think. We will wait to make any decisions until our follow up appt.

I just feel so badly for him, it has to be miserable to be hurting like that (according to Sean who had a ton of ear infections as a child). He is such a good boy at the doctor's office and always sits still during his exam, never cries & then politely asks for a sticker (the nurses have spoiled him) when we leave. I am so proud of him--what a big boy! Side note: Dr. A was impressed by Carter's vocabulary and clarity of speech for a 2 1/2 year old. I held back from bragging to her that he has known the alphabet for months now & can count to 20 & knows how to use a Phillips head screwdriver better than I do...because I'm sure she gets tired of those moms! :-)

just playin'

The boys had a blast at the park this afternoon. Carter had fun playing in the sand box, sliding, swinging, running and spinning. Davis enjoyed just watching his brother and even got to flirt with a couple of one-year-old girls. He was eating it up!


Just chillin' in our new double stroller. Carter really seems to like the jump seat in back & Davis has a front-row seat on all the action.

Carter found someone who shares his interest in sand/digging. However, the highlight of the afternoon was that Carter found two abandon cars buried in the sand box. He was so excited at his "discovery". It was fun to see him carry them around the park like they were his most prized possessions.

fun with a water bottle

BIG slide

This kid sure loves to swing!!

toddler slide