Perhaps we should move to Virginia:
Lee-Jackson Day
WHEREAS, Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson are native Virginians, having served our great nation and Commonwealth as educators, leaders, and military strategists; and
WHEREAS, Lee served in the United States Army for more than three decades until he left his position to serve as Commander in Chief of Virginia’s military forces and as Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Jackson taught philosophy and military tactics as a professor at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington for nearly a decade before serving briefly in the United States Army and later joining the Confederate Army to fight for his native Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Lee dedicated his life after the Civil War to reforming higher education in the South by serving as President of Washington College, now Washington & Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, where he helped to greatly increase the school’s funding and expand the curriculum to create an atmosphere most conducive to learning for young men of both Southern and Northern heritage; and
WHEREAS, Jackson’s leadership and bravery enabled him to rally his troops to several improbable victories against numerically superior forces, and Jackson’s inspired “Stonewall Brigade” fought alongside General Lee’s troops in another victory, even after their leader was fatally wounded on the second day of the Battle of Chancellorsville; and
WHEREAS, it is fitting to recognize Generals Lee and Jackson as two of our nation’s most notable military strategists, as beloved leaders among their troops, as pioneers in the field of higher education, and as faithful and dedicated Virginians;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert F. McDonnell, do hereby recognize January 14, 2011 as LEE-JACKSON DAY in our COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of our citizens.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
This past weekend Jackson almost sort of crawled. It wasn't technically crawling . But he still got to where he wanted to go, which is both pretty cool and terrifying.
We put him on our bed and put his current favorite toy - a half used tube of A&D ointment - a few feet away from him. We tapped the tube and told him to go get it. He was on his stomach, so he looked up, saw the tube, and started making noises.
He then did what he's been prone to do lately. He sticks his ass up into the air and kicks his feet. While he's doing this, though, his chest and head remain on the ground. Then he gets done kicking, goes flat again, and then lifts up his head to see where he's at. He hasn't quite figured out how to combine these motions.
Regardless, his weird kicking motion was moving him somewhat towards the tube of ointment. He was kind of moving at a 45 degree angle. Closer to it, sort of, but not really in the right direction. After a couple minutes, he again looked up and saw that the tube was no longer in front of him, but kind of diagonal. He really wanted that tube of ointment.
And then, magically, he figured out the proper course of action. He used his hands and grabbing the sheet on our bed, swiveled himself to be in line with the tube of ointment. One more foot kicking thing forward and the tube was within reach! He grabbed the tube and began playing with it. Kim and I were extremely happy with his newfound intentional almost-mobility (I say intentional because in the past he could scooch himself around on his back, even ending up under the sofa once, but I don't think he's trying to get anywhere in particular).
This has led us to expedite our baby-proofing efforts. Kim ordered some outlet covers and some table corner foam pad things. We probably don't have enough of either. I suspect our apartment as it currently stands has approximately 400 different ways for Jackson to severely hurt himself. Some - like the wall-mounted floating entertainment center - are not really fixable. Others - like the bottom shelf of our linen closet containing every lethal cleaning supply on earth - are. We're on the clock, since once he starts actually crawling there will be no stopping him. We can already tell he wants to explore, and given what we've see out of him so far, his sense of self-preservation is non-existent. Excellent.
We put him on our bed and put his current favorite toy - a half used tube of A&D ointment - a few feet away from him. We tapped the tube and told him to go get it. He was on his stomach, so he looked up, saw the tube, and started making noises.
He then did what he's been prone to do lately. He sticks his ass up into the air and kicks his feet. While he's doing this, though, his chest and head remain on the ground. Then he gets done kicking, goes flat again, and then lifts up his head to see where he's at. He hasn't quite figured out how to combine these motions.
Regardless, his weird kicking motion was moving him somewhat towards the tube of ointment. He was kind of moving at a 45 degree angle. Closer to it, sort of, but not really in the right direction. After a couple minutes, he again looked up and saw that the tube was no longer in front of him, but kind of diagonal. He really wanted that tube of ointment.
And then, magically, he figured out the proper course of action. He used his hands and grabbing the sheet on our bed, swiveled himself to be in line with the tube of ointment. One more foot kicking thing forward and the tube was within reach! He grabbed the tube and began playing with it. Kim and I were extremely happy with his newfound intentional almost-mobility (I say intentional because in the past he could scooch himself around on his back, even ending up under the sofa once, but I don't think he's trying to get anywhere in particular).
This has led us to expedite our baby-proofing efforts. Kim ordered some outlet covers and some table corner foam pad things. We probably don't have enough of either. I suspect our apartment as it currently stands has approximately 400 different ways for Jackson to severely hurt himself. Some - like the wall-mounted floating entertainment center - are not really fixable. Others - like the bottom shelf of our linen closet containing every lethal cleaning supply on earth - are. We're on the clock, since once he starts actually crawling there will be no stopping him. We can already tell he wants to explore, and given what we've see out of him so far, his sense of self-preservation is non-existent. Excellent.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
We finally were able to celebrate our anniversary tonight. Almost one week late. Work and Jackson pushed it back a little bit. But it was worth it. We ate at Gramercy Tavern. It lived up to the hype.
It wasn't too hard to get a reservation. When you eat at 5:30 because you need to get back to get your son bathed and in bed, it makes things easier.
Kim was a bit late, as she took the uptown train from work instead of the downtown train. Pregnancy brain residue? They seated me anyway and got me a drink, which I appreciated as I waited.
This is the dinner menu (we chose not to do the tasting menu as there was too much fish for me). Two appetizers stood out to me - but the waiter gave us two appetizers that weren't on the menu that we ultimately went with. Smoked and fried sweetbreads with roasted beets, and some little pasta type things that were filled with ricotta in a bacon type sauce. Wasn't a close call, we went with those.
The first course was a little parmesian (I think, maybe ricotta) cheese puff. Of course I love when restaurants give you a little thing to start your meal with. It was light and tasty. The bread was strong too, brought out with some soft butter and sea salt. Kim and I recounted the time she just grabbed into a bread tray a waiter was holding. I think that was 4 years ago.
Kim's pasta dish - they were like little tubes filled with ricotta - was amazing. The bacon sauce and bits were astoundingly bacony. We ended up dipping our bread in the sauce, which was plentiful, so the plate was completely clean. The sweetbreads - well they're not for everyone - but I found them to be delicious and Kim did as well. The beets I tried but regretted. Too vinegary and I don't like beets anyway.
For our entrees I went with the pork loin and belly, while Kim went with the chicken and sausage. Both were strong to very strong. My only complaint about the pork was that you didn't get enough belly. Just a small piece hiding under two perfectly cooked pieces of pork loin. The oats and bitter greens were nice complements.
Kim's chicken and sausage surpassed my expectations. The sausage had a very distinct flavor that I can't really describe. The chicken consisted of a chicken breast portion and thigh portion. It was very flavorful and super tender. The breast had the consistency of being almost not cooked enough - but you looked at it and tasted it and it was cooked perfectly. More bacon with that only enhanced it.
Dessert was also included, and the selection was pretty strong. We got a cheese plate of three cheeses and an apple tart. They also were nice enough to give us a piece of cake since we were celebrating our anniversary. This was consistent with our service all night, which as impeccable.
Highly recommend the place, well worth the reviews and strong ratings.
It wasn't too hard to get a reservation. When you eat at 5:30 because you need to get back to get your son bathed and in bed, it makes things easier.
Kim was a bit late, as she took the uptown train from work instead of the downtown train. Pregnancy brain residue? They seated me anyway and got me a drink, which I appreciated as I waited.
This is the dinner menu (we chose not to do the tasting menu as there was too much fish for me). Two appetizers stood out to me - but the waiter gave us two appetizers that weren't on the menu that we ultimately went with. Smoked and fried sweetbreads with roasted beets, and some little pasta type things that were filled with ricotta in a bacon type sauce. Wasn't a close call, we went with those.
The first course was a little parmesian (I think, maybe ricotta) cheese puff. Of course I love when restaurants give you a little thing to start your meal with. It was light and tasty. The bread was strong too, brought out with some soft butter and sea salt. Kim and I recounted the time she just grabbed into a bread tray a waiter was holding. I think that was 4 years ago.
Kim's pasta dish - they were like little tubes filled with ricotta - was amazing. The bacon sauce and bits were astoundingly bacony. We ended up dipping our bread in the sauce, which was plentiful, so the plate was completely clean. The sweetbreads - well they're not for everyone - but I found them to be delicious and Kim did as well. The beets I tried but regretted. Too vinegary and I don't like beets anyway.
For our entrees I went with the pork loin and belly, while Kim went with the chicken and sausage. Both were strong to very strong. My only complaint about the pork was that you didn't get enough belly. Just a small piece hiding under two perfectly cooked pieces of pork loin. The oats and bitter greens were nice complements.
Kim's chicken and sausage surpassed my expectations. The sausage had a very distinct flavor that I can't really describe. The chicken consisted of a chicken breast portion and thigh portion. It was very flavorful and super tender. The breast had the consistency of being almost not cooked enough - but you looked at it and tasted it and it was cooked perfectly. More bacon with that only enhanced it.
Dessert was also included, and the selection was pretty strong. We got a cheese plate of three cheeses and an apple tart. They also were nice enough to give us a piece of cake since we were celebrating our anniversary. This was consistent with our service all night, which as impeccable.
Highly recommend the place, well worth the reviews and strong ratings.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Around a month ago we started Jackson on solids. And by solids I don't mean steak or potato chips. We started him on rice cereal, which is really just a thick liquid. He took to it very quickly, and soon he was having two meals a day of rice cereal (and breast milk the rest of the time)
Now we had been told that, when he is having only breast milk, his poops won't be that bad. I tended to disagree - Jackson had been blowing up diapers for awhile now. I estimated that two or three times a week he somehow got poop all up his back, which necessitated changing his entire outfit. It is really tragic when that happens. Two things happened when we moved him onto the rice cereal.
1) He pooped only once every day or two.
2) His poops were now absolutely devastating in every way.
When the poops started, I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with them. His poops usually happened during the day when I was at work. I was also away for a weekend in Vegas, so I missed those poops. But it could not last forever, and eventually I had to change one of these . . . things.
The first thing that hits you is the smell. After 5 months of baby poops you expect a certain odor. Certainly not pleasant, but not overwhelming in the least. A baby poop from solids will consume you. It will invade you. It fills the entire room approximately 3 seconds after the diaper is opened. That noxious odor coming out of your son is the first thing in a long line of bad things to come.
The second thing is when you actually start to undo the diaper (the smell leaks out immediately and somewhat impairs your vision because your eyes are watering). Once you get a look, it is shocking. It is as if your baby sat in a large pile of mud. I liken it to the consistency of a creek-bed. Brown mud that you could draw in if you had a stick. Your kid is basically covered in it. You wonder if you have enough baby wipes to remove all of the poop. Chances are, you don't.
Our usual method is to stick another diaper under Jackson when we change him. It makes it easy to put the new one on. Well, the fresh diaper was ruined .1 seconds after I undid his diaper. What was also ruined, which I did not notice earlier, was the back of his onesie. The poop had overflowed out his diaper onto that. Which would cause problems down the road.
I started the awful, awful process of wiping away the poop. Just globs and globs into wipes. Jackson also made it more challenging by both kicking his legs and reaching his hands into his poop covered backside. Kim said I basically had a nervous breakdown at this point.
After approximately 20 baby wipes and 2 more diapers, I had a clean diaper on Jackson. By this point, the air in the room was more feces than oxygen. The dirty diaper, as well as two other previously clean diapers that were lost in the war, lay on the floor. But there was another problem. The poop that was residing on the back of his onesie.
I would wipe his back clean, but then the onesie would make him dirty again. Of course, the solution would be to remove the onesie. Easier said than done, as that would then get poop all over his back and head and also my hands. But there was no other solution short of getting a pair of scissors and cutting it off of him (which, in retrospect, would not have been a bad idea). So I sort of blacked out a bit but I think I just closed my eyes and got it off him. Either that or Kim did it.
In the end, we had him relatively clean, chucked all of the diapers and wipes into a plastic bag, and ran for the garbage chute. Our poor janitors.
I've changed a couple other poopy diapers of his since then, and been moderately more successful.
I have no idea how adding a slightly thicker near-liquid to his diet can have such an astounding effect on his bowel movements.
Now we had been told that, when he is having only breast milk, his poops won't be that bad. I tended to disagree - Jackson had been blowing up diapers for awhile now. I estimated that two or three times a week he somehow got poop all up his back, which necessitated changing his entire outfit. It is really tragic when that happens. Two things happened when we moved him onto the rice cereal.
1) He pooped only once every day or two.
2) His poops were now absolutely devastating in every way.
When the poops started, I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with them. His poops usually happened during the day when I was at work. I was also away for a weekend in Vegas, so I missed those poops. But it could not last forever, and eventually I had to change one of these . . . things.
The first thing that hits you is the smell. After 5 months of baby poops you expect a certain odor. Certainly not pleasant, but not overwhelming in the least. A baby poop from solids will consume you. It will invade you. It fills the entire room approximately 3 seconds after the diaper is opened. That noxious odor coming out of your son is the first thing in a long line of bad things to come.
The second thing is when you actually start to undo the diaper (the smell leaks out immediately and somewhat impairs your vision because your eyes are watering). Once you get a look, it is shocking. It is as if your baby sat in a large pile of mud. I liken it to the consistency of a creek-bed. Brown mud that you could draw in if you had a stick. Your kid is basically covered in it. You wonder if you have enough baby wipes to remove all of the poop. Chances are, you don't.
Our usual method is to stick another diaper under Jackson when we change him. It makes it easy to put the new one on. Well, the fresh diaper was ruined .1 seconds after I undid his diaper. What was also ruined, which I did not notice earlier, was the back of his onesie. The poop had overflowed out his diaper onto that. Which would cause problems down the road.
I started the awful, awful process of wiping away the poop. Just globs and globs into wipes. Jackson also made it more challenging by both kicking his legs and reaching his hands into his poop covered backside. Kim said I basically had a nervous breakdown at this point.
After approximately 20 baby wipes and 2 more diapers, I had a clean diaper on Jackson. By this point, the air in the room was more feces than oxygen. The dirty diaper, as well as two other previously clean diapers that were lost in the war, lay on the floor. But there was another problem. The poop that was residing on the back of his onesie.
I would wipe his back clean, but then the onesie would make him dirty again. Of course, the solution would be to remove the onesie. Easier said than done, as that would then get poop all over his back and head and also my hands. But there was no other solution short of getting a pair of scissors and cutting it off of him (which, in retrospect, would not have been a bad idea). So I sort of blacked out a bit but I think I just closed my eyes and got it off him. Either that or Kim did it.
In the end, we had him relatively clean, chucked all of the diapers and wipes into a plastic bag, and ran for the garbage chute. Our poor janitors.
I've changed a couple other poopy diapers of his since then, and been moderately more successful.
I have no idea how adding a slightly thicker near-liquid to his diet can have such an astounding effect on his bowel movements.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Last Fall, we visited a local daycare center. We liked what we saw, but they told us that they did not have a waiting list. We were assured that they had plenty of room and were opening up a new infant center soon, so there was no need to worry about whether they would have availability in June (when Kim's mom would leave us to go back to California). All we had to do was get in touch with them in March and get the ball rolling.
So at the beginning of March, Kim called the place. And of course, things had changed in the interim. They now had no availability and a very long waiting list. There are only a few daycare centers on the Upper East Side, and all said the same thing. Long waiting list, no availability until the Fall (at the earliest).
We were ... not pleased. It was our own fault for not following up.
After coming up with various plans that would not work, we settled on finding us a nanny for the summer. Kim signed us up for the two main websites where you find a nanny - care.com and sittercity.com. Both charge a monthly fee. Kim posted an ad for a summer nanny. The replies started pouring in.
I'd estimate that we got over 100 responses. We pared those down to a more manageable amount by eliminating people based on experience, age, expected pay, etc. Kim and I philosophically had some differences too. I wanted someone who was younger and spoke English as their first language. Kim wanted someone older and didn't care what language they originally spoke. A lot of our applicants were college students, teachers, or people who were about to go to graduate school. Some were career nannies who were just out of work at the time.
We largely agreed on who we would grant interviews too. We designed the process as follows:
1) First interview at Starbucks. Should take about a half hour.
2) After giving a lot of first interviews, invite people we really like back to our apartment to meet Jackson.
3) Pick a summer nanny.
Seemed easy enough. The first round interviews were a mixed bag.
Our very first interview was with a perfectly nice woman who was a career nanny. She was from another country - I don't remember where - but she seemed very competent and friendly. However, when we asked her a question as to what she would do if Jackson fell and became unconscious, I think the language barrier popped up. At least, I hope it did. She responded that she wouldn't not call 911, but would use an icepack or something like that. I don't think she knew what the word "unconscious" meant.
I'm pretty sure that if Jackson did in fact fall and knock himself out, she would have called 911. But the language barrier was still an issue - if I asked her to do X, would she not understand and instead do Y? This seemed like it would be an annoying situation.
There were other issues with the next few candidates. One was pregnant and due in early September. So what would happen if she went early? We'd be screwed in August. And one person was waiting on a license to come through for her real job, and when it did she basically admitted that she would leave us. Again, we could be screwed in August.
Then we found the first person we both really liked. She was organized, punctual, very friendly, and the price was right. She could even stay through most of September if we needed her to. We agreed that we would give her a second interview.
And then, before we could even do that, she called us and said she had to move to Portland with her brother to watch his kid. This was pretty devastating to us.
We continued to give first round interviews. One girl was a model. Kim said it was "alright for me to admit" that she was quite attractive. I googled her and found out she tried out for America's Next Top Model. We actually were thinking of bringing her back to the apartment.
One older woman - a real career nanny - Kim was pretty happy about. Until the actual interview. She claimed that she had never ever lost her temper, kept pointing us to a binder of reference letters (but we could not contact the people because it would "bother them"), and also refused to take a drug test because it would be too much "drama." And her rate was really high. That was probably one of our worst interviews.
One girl just got back from the Peace Corps, spending two years in Guatemala. She was a high energy UVA grad, and seemed awesome. But she was coming in from NJ, about an hour away. She asked if we could make it a live-in position. We liked her so much we considered it. But the concern over our lives becoming a Lifetime movie made this scenario unlikely.
At the end of last week, we met a couple people who were very good candidates. And we would have called them back this week. Except . . . one of the daycare places we were on a wait list for called to let us know they have a spot open in June! We visited it today and it seemed like a good spot for Jackson. So our nanny odyssey ended before it actually started.
So at the beginning of March, Kim called the place. And of course, things had changed in the interim. They now had no availability and a very long waiting list. There are only a few daycare centers on the Upper East Side, and all said the same thing. Long waiting list, no availability until the Fall (at the earliest).
We were ... not pleased. It was our own fault for not following up.
After coming up with various plans that would not work, we settled on finding us a nanny for the summer. Kim signed us up for the two main websites where you find a nanny - care.com and sittercity.com. Both charge a monthly fee. Kim posted an ad for a summer nanny. The replies started pouring in.
I'd estimate that we got over 100 responses. We pared those down to a more manageable amount by eliminating people based on experience, age, expected pay, etc. Kim and I philosophically had some differences too. I wanted someone who was younger and spoke English as their first language. Kim wanted someone older and didn't care what language they originally spoke. A lot of our applicants were college students, teachers, or people who were about to go to graduate school. Some were career nannies who were just out of work at the time.
We largely agreed on who we would grant interviews too. We designed the process as follows:
1) First interview at Starbucks. Should take about a half hour.
2) After giving a lot of first interviews, invite people we really like back to our apartment to meet Jackson.
3) Pick a summer nanny.
Seemed easy enough. The first round interviews were a mixed bag.
Our very first interview was with a perfectly nice woman who was a career nanny. She was from another country - I don't remember where - but she seemed very competent and friendly. However, when we asked her a question as to what she would do if Jackson fell and became unconscious, I think the language barrier popped up. At least, I hope it did. She responded that she wouldn't not call 911, but would use an icepack or something like that. I don't think she knew what the word "unconscious" meant.
I'm pretty sure that if Jackson did in fact fall and knock himself out, she would have called 911. But the language barrier was still an issue - if I asked her to do X, would she not understand and instead do Y? This seemed like it would be an annoying situation.
There were other issues with the next few candidates. One was pregnant and due in early September. So what would happen if she went early? We'd be screwed in August. And one person was waiting on a license to come through for her real job, and when it did she basically admitted that she would leave us. Again, we could be screwed in August.
Then we found the first person we both really liked. She was organized, punctual, very friendly, and the price was right. She could even stay through most of September if we needed her to. We agreed that we would give her a second interview.
And then, before we could even do that, she called us and said she had to move to Portland with her brother to watch his kid. This was pretty devastating to us.
We continued to give first round interviews. One girl was a model. Kim said it was "alright for me to admit" that she was quite attractive. I googled her and found out she tried out for America's Next Top Model. We actually were thinking of bringing her back to the apartment.
One older woman - a real career nanny - Kim was pretty happy about. Until the actual interview. She claimed that she had never ever lost her temper, kept pointing us to a binder of reference letters (but we could not contact the people because it would "bother them"), and also refused to take a drug test because it would be too much "drama." And her rate was really high. That was probably one of our worst interviews.
One girl just got back from the Peace Corps, spending two years in Guatemala. She was a high energy UVA grad, and seemed awesome. But she was coming in from NJ, about an hour away. She asked if we could make it a live-in position. We liked her so much we considered it. But the concern over our lives becoming a Lifetime movie made this scenario unlikely.
At the end of last week, we met a couple people who were very good candidates. And we would have called them back this week. Except . . . one of the daycare places we were on a wait list for called to let us know they have a spot open in June! We visited it today and it seemed like a good spot for Jackson. So our nanny odyssey ended before it actually started.
Sunday, April 07, 2013
I don't know why it took me so long to notice this, but I was feeding Jackson this morning and I noticed a small portion of the top of his head was throbbing. Like a heartbeat. I informed Kim of this weirdness and she informed me that it was very normal, as it was his soft spot. I asked her why it was beating like his heart and she said it was fine and I shouldn't worry about it. For the rest of the feed I started at that small patch of hair. Babies are weird.
Saturday, April 06, 2013
On the way back and forth to Vegas, I was actually able to read another book. The Revolution was Televised, by Alan Sepinwall. If you are a fan of any of the following shows:
Oz
The Sopranos
The Wire
Deadwood
The Shield
Lost
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
24
Battlestar Galactica
Friday Night Lights
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Then I think you should buy this book.
Sepinwall starts with the idea that the age of television that we have been in for the last decade or so has been a revolution that has ushered in the "golden age of television." As such, he dedicates a chapter to each of the shows listed above. And in each chapter, he talks about how the show eventually got green-lit by their respective networks (or was passed on, as HBO famously did with Mad Men), how the actors got selected, how the shows were continually renewed, various critical plot points, the critical acclaim and ratings (or lack thereof), etc.
For the shows that you actually love - for me it was Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, Mad Men and Breaking Bad - the chapters are a must read. For the shows that you didn't really watch (like Lost, for me), the chapters are still really interesting. I may not have known the intricacies of the mythology of Lost, or even the basic plot other than people are stuck on an island, but I read the chapter and thought it was cool how none of the people involved thought it would last past one season, which led them to craft the story in a particular way that you wouldn't necessarily do if you were looking long term, which then led to the story being so engaging that they had to be renewed for future seasons.
A book about television shows. I can't help but think about this Calvin and Hobbes strip, although not entirely appropriate, given the acclaim these shows have been given.
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