I am writing this in the hopes that it gets sent around and eventually, someone will send this to the stupid people that I seem to get to encounter.
As you all know my son Victor who by the grace of God looks like us is adopted. The fact that he is adopted makes him more special to us because we were chosen by the birth mother. He is my child, he calls me dada , although at this point in time he also calls the dog and the wall dada, he knows that I am one of the people who can make things better. In the middle of the night, when he cries, it is my wife and I who tend to him, we feed him, cloth him and take care of him. He is my child.
My child is a big boy, he is not obese, he is not overweight, as a matter of fact, his doctor is fine with his weight and height. Granted, his is in the upper quarters of the charts, however, he is still on the charts, he is normal and healthy. And yet, we still hear the stupid comments because people forget that, he is my child.
The following is a breakdown of some of the stupidity that we have encountered:
1. At Costco, an old woman walked up to us and said “My, you are a fat one! I didn’t think that they made them like you anymore. You are cute though.” I was too shocked to say anything, like George Costanza, I came up with several comebacks, but by then it was too late.
2. A woman made the comment “I am sure you were stressed when you brought him home, but it’s different with a real child.” Apparently, when a child is adopted, they are not real, this was a relief for me and I called all our friends who have adopted and told them not to worry about their kids, they are not real.
3. The details of my son’s birth situation are nobody’s business but those of mine, my wife, him (when is older) and the adoption agency. I am sorry to disappoint the many people who wanted to hear a horrible tale of hardship and why my child was put for adoption. When we say that the birth mother was a very sweet person and that our son takes after her, don’t look so disappointed at the lack of drama. You don’t see me asking women “Was the birth of your child the most painful and horrible thing ever? Tell me all about it, I don’t want to miss a detail.” and then be disappointed if it was not.
4. It’s not okay to ask us the cost of the adoption, does it really matter? For those who want to adopt, we point them in the direction of the consultant that helped us, she will discuss cost. My neighbor across the street just had a baby, I am not going to ask them “What was your total out of pocket between pregnancy and child birth, I heard it can expensive.”
5. The choice to adopt is not one that couples come to lightly, when we decided to adopt, I didn’t want to feel like we were settling. When we finally finished the process, we had to really want to do it, otherwise we would have given up along the way. Please don’t make comments along the lines of “Now that you adopted, you will have kids of your own in no time.” Infertility is a medical condition, as much as we would like to think it is all in the woman or mans head. The fact that we adopted does not suddenly cure the complex issues of fertility, if they did, then all the doctors who have chosen to specialize in fertility issues can be trained in a matter of minutes. Forget the complex series of biological occurrences that have to occur for pregnancy, they will just refer their patients to adoption agencies. In spite of the fact that you think you have heard of many people who suddenly get pregnant after adoption, the odds are 1 in 20 that after an adoption occurs do the couple conceive on their own. And in the cases of twins, it was probably IVF where the instance of twins is higher. For the record, Octo-mom is a miracle, feel about her and her situation as you may, anything more than twins being carried long enough to be healthy is very slim.
6. When we said that we were going to adopt, a friend of mine asked me if I was shooting blanks. Any issues of fertility are sensitive and between the couple and their doctor, once again, does it matter?
7. My son is going to be an only child, this is a decision that my wife and I have made and feel that it’s the best decision for our child and our family situation. Unless you plan to pay for and care for any child after the first, please don’t tell me that we need more than one. If you want me to have more than one, take it up with God, in the end, it’s going to be his choice as to how many we have to begin with.
Our child is one month and a few days shy of his first birthday. I have enjoyed each stage of his life so far, and I have no desire to repeat it. I now understand why parents with kids older than mine enjoy him so much. Just because they want to hold a baby again does not mean that they want to raise another one. For those couples out there who chose not to have kids for any reason, good for you. From the time that my wife and I got married to the day that we bought Victor home, our life was about being parents. We chose the house, set up our finances and even picked a breed of dog that would be suitable for a small child. And yet, we were a complete couple without our son, he just took us to a different level, one of less money and sleep but a sense of fulfillment that I could never imagine.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Father's Day
A posting by Richard with pictures by Sarah (as is life with a child he didn't want to cooperate)
The first time that they placed Victor in my arms, I didn’t have the moment of awe and love, I had fear, pure fear. I was afraid that I would drop the child, I was afraid to cough on him and give him the pneumonia that I had two days prior. I was afraid to offend the birth mother in someway and she would change her mind and not let us have this child that we were totally unprepared to take care of.
Fatherhood is full of wonderful things; there are the baby smiles and giggles, hearing my wife scream when he pees on her. The best part however is the way he looks at me, if it’s because I have bottle or because I have come home from a long day, he has this way of looking at me that melts my heart. After a bad day, I come home in a foul mood, he smiles and then I realize, nothing that has happened that day matters, just him and my wife.
It is with this in mind that I write about Fathers day, up until my dad died, Father’s day was always about my dad, and then my brother and my dad once my brother became a father. I have memories of family lunches or dinners, sometimes cheesy gifts and I look back, I see a sense of obligation they felt to the family to spend their day being doted on.
When I think about how much my father struggled to survive, and for him, it was a matter of survival, I realize now that I had no clue what he went through. This was because no matter how much he struggled, we never really saw it. My father and mother would go without new clothes and vacations so that my brother and I could have whatever we wanted (within reason). My father worked long hours and some weekends to make sure that we didn’t struggle like he did. My bother worked two jobs and went to school for a good portion of his kids lives so that he could provide them with a better life.
I say all this because when I started to make my plans for my first Father’s day, all my plans quickly fell apart. This was because I made the mistake of a new father I thought it was about me, it’s not, and from the moment that they placed Victor in my arms till the day I die, it will never be about me anymore. Instead, like my father and my brother, my life is about my boys Victor and Otis. I know that Otis is a dog and my love for him pales in comparison to my love for my child, but there is still a strong bond between me and the dog that will be with me forever.
As I type this, I realize that while on some level I am a little envious of my friends who are dual income and no kids, I don’t miss that life. Before Sarah and I had Victor and Otis, I remember how boring my life was. Sure, I can do without the explosive diapers and late night crying, but that is what I believe helped me form a bond with my child. And while my feelings would not be hurt if my child never threw up on me or the carpet again, I realize I would sooner deal with that than I would a life without baby giggles and baby smiles.
The first time that they placed Victor in my arms, I didn’t have the moment of awe and love, I had fear, pure fear. I was afraid that I would drop the child, I was afraid to cough on him and give him the pneumonia that I had two days prior. I was afraid to offend the birth mother in someway and she would change her mind and not let us have this child that we were totally unprepared to take care of.
Fatherhood is full of wonderful things; there are the baby smiles and giggles, hearing my wife scream when he pees on her. The best part however is the way he looks at me, if it’s because I have bottle or because I have come home from a long day, he has this way of looking at me that melts my heart. After a bad day, I come home in a foul mood, he smiles and then I realize, nothing that has happened that day matters, just him and my wife.
It is with this in mind that I write about Fathers day, up until my dad died, Father’s day was always about my dad, and then my brother and my dad once my brother became a father. I have memories of family lunches or dinners, sometimes cheesy gifts and I look back, I see a sense of obligation they felt to the family to spend their day being doted on.
When I think about how much my father struggled to survive, and for him, it was a matter of survival, I realize now that I had no clue what he went through. This was because no matter how much he struggled, we never really saw it. My father and mother would go without new clothes and vacations so that my brother and I could have whatever we wanted (within reason). My father worked long hours and some weekends to make sure that we didn’t struggle like he did. My bother worked two jobs and went to school for a good portion of his kids lives so that he could provide them with a better life.
I say all this because when I started to make my plans for my first Father’s day, all my plans quickly fell apart. This was because I made the mistake of a new father I thought it was about me, it’s not, and from the moment that they placed Victor in my arms till the day I die, it will never be about me anymore. Instead, like my father and my brother, my life is about my boys Victor and Otis. I know that Otis is a dog and my love for him pales in comparison to my love for my child, but there is still a strong bond between me and the dog that will be with me forever.
As I type this, I realize that while on some level I am a little envious of my friends who are dual income and no kids, I don’t miss that life. Before Sarah and I had Victor and Otis, I remember how boring my life was. Sure, I can do without the explosive diapers and late night crying, but that is what I believe helped me form a bond with my child. And while my feelings would not be hurt if my child never threw up on me or the carpet again, I realize I would sooner deal with that than I would a life without baby giggles and baby smiles.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Its been awhile
Well we have had alot going on and not much going on at the same time but its been so long since I have written anything I felt I should write something. After Florida Victor got pretty sick with throwing up and the poos which lasted for over a week. He started full time in his new room in daycare, has been to the pool again and actually had a good time. Basically we have just been status quo trying to get back in life's routine. This past week he was poo sick again but as usual no fever but ah ha! a new tooth showed up yesterday so hopefully all the crankiness we went through was worth it. Grandma just sent us some new clothes and of course victor's favorite thing was the box. Here are some pictures (blurry cause he wouldn't stay still). Also with all the crawling and pulling up on stuff he has become quite the bruiser, always has some sort of bump or scratch on him.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Florida Vacation
Richard’s comments on Florida –
Several years ago I was on what was becoming my annual vacation to Vancouver. While at the airport and waiting for my car, I was standing next to an older gentleman who was looking frazzled and had several children with him and a wife. Two cars were pulled up, mine, the bright red Mustang convertible, and then his, an older looking mini van. He saw what I was driving the conversation went something like:
Stranger: Is that your car?
Me (laughing): Yeah, is the minivan yours?
Stranger: Yeah, are you married? Do you have any kids?
Me: No, and never will be and don’t want kids.
Stranger: Then enjoy your life and be the biggest pig you can be, once you are married, it’s no longer about you.
I drove off and never forgot about that conversation. Many years later when they placed Victor in my arms for the first time I had to stop being a pig, as a looked at the child and began to wonder now what, I had no clue what life had in store for me. While I like to think that I have settled fairly nicely into fatherhood, NOTHING could have prepared me for my first vacation with my family. Over the next week, any remainder of the young single guy who traveled alone in Canada with nothing more than a backpack and ate steak dinners almost every night has truly vanished as I gladly took on the role of married man with a baby.
The adventure began with us making the decision that between two fully capable adults, a nine month old baby was not too much of a challenge and Victor could ride on our laps on the airplane. We were able to time our vacation with that of a friend of mine who wanted to come to Houston to visit some old friends. In exchange for house and pet sitting, he would use our car and then be the person who picked us up and dropped us off at the airport. The night before, we played Tetris with the bags and the stroller until we were finally able to get everything loaded into the car with one bag riding next to the baby on the way to the airport. Checking in was quick, however someone alerted the airport that an Arab baby was going to be on the plane and decided that with his blond hair, he must be a decoy and therefore made us take his shoes off to go through security. I wanted to tell the guy fine, but he was going to put them back on, since he has obviously never put shoes on a toddler. Since 9/11 however, I have learned that any attention at the airport is bad, so I kept quiet. When we made it to the plane, it took us a while to settle in the seat a part of this process was making Victor his milk. He saw it and since he was not going to get it right away proceeded to have a total meltdown until we got settled. He finished his milk and started to nuzzle in when the flight attendant came by and told Sarah to make sure that he has something to suck on to help relieve the pressure from takeoff. Sarah told her we were not worried since he had ear tubes, the woman was oblivious and repeated what she said, so did Sarah, after three rounds the lady walked away.
While Victor slept thru the first part of the flight, he made up for the energy that he didn’t burn in the second half of the flight. We tried everything that we could to entertain him; but he was not to be entertained. The best we could come up with was feed him Cheerios; however there is a limit to how many we could carry on the plane the supply was quickly becoming depleted. The second half of the flight was such a joy that Sarah and I agreed that budget be damned, we were going to buy the kid a ticket on the flight back. As we trudged thru the airport with a baby, a stroller, Sarah’s one bad knee and one really bad knee, the car seat and base, I knew traveling again would never be the same. As we approached the baggage claim and God smiled on us as our luggage was the first one out, he then laughed at us when we went to get a our rental car.
As a fully capable man, I never allow anyone to help me with my bags, part of it is because I am cheap, and another part of it is pride. Having a child is not cheap and I have learned to pay for the convenience of things. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins I have learned as well as humility and changing a diaper while being laughed at and then peed on by a small child teaches you humility. As I struggled to get on and of the shuttle, I was all too glad to have the help of the driver, probably a guy who travels and drives Mustangs. Once we finally made it to the rental place, it took an hour to get through the line and 30 minutes to check out. It was our luck that they were starting a new computer system. This of course was made all the more annoying by the fact that it was hot as a Houston day in the summer, the baby was going to skip a meal (to be supplemented by Cheerios that Sarah wisely rationed out from the plane) and we had excited grandparents waiting for us.
After struggling with the lines and playing Tetris to get all our bags loaded (never had that problem before), we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the grandparents. Once on the road and Sarah made us stop for boiled peanuts, every time we said boiled peanuts, the baby got upset, (his nickname is peanut) I think he was just fussy, that or he was telling us that he is the only peanut and he already felt like he was boiling.
Eventually we made it to grandma and grandpas, just in time for dinner for Victor. The best thing about grandparents is that they think feeding the child dinner is a treat; we didn't fight them on that. Shortly after, we headed to the family condo and got settled in and Sarah gave Victor a bath in the shower, we gave him his final bottle of milk and put him to bed in time to eat dinner that the grandparents were kind enough to bring. Shortly after diner our first night, Victor woke up and made it clear that he was NOT going to go back to sleep, so we hung out and eventually, he settled down and went to sleep after having his second final bottle of milk. The next morning was Mother’s Day, we went to Sarah's parents first and then to her uncle Andy's who hosted the holiday for the family this year. This was one of the best Mothers Days I remembered, Victor charmed everyone he saw, Sarah got to see old friends of her mother, I spent quality time with the family and Victor was not too fussy. That night Sarah gave Victor his first bath in the sink, once he got the concept he was fine with it. Later during the vacation, he would try and grab the detachable hose and eat it or spray us.
Monday we had two big adventures, the first was Victor’s first real trip to the beach. While this was his third visit, this was his first trip. The first time Sarah took him to the water he looked at it and didn't like what he saw. She dipped his legs in the water, he began to cry. The second trip was Sunday, I held him and stood a little more than ankle deep in the water, he was not amused. For some reason, we thought today would be better. The adventure began with getting to the beach, while I distracted the child from the fact that momma was not in the room, Sarah got everything ready. After 20 minutes of getting ready, we walked the 50 yards to the water and Victor began to look nervous as we got closer. We tested him in the sand and he was not pleased, so Sarah set him down on a beach towel and he did fine. We then put a little sand on him which he picked up, ate a little and decided it was not such a horrible thing. Right as we were feeling hope that the morning at the beach would go well, he rubbed his eye and it was all over. While we will never know exactly how much sand got in his eye since we quickly washed it out, the trauma was enough to make him not want to sit in the sand again. Determined that we will have fun, we tried to build sand castles using the beach toys from condo but Victor wanted nothing to do it and just clung to me. After about 20 minutes we headed back. Sarah gave Victor a quick bath in the sink and then the baby promptly went down for a two hour nap.
The second cool thing was we got see the last launch of the shuttle. Sarah’s Uncle Andy has nice boat and he and her dad took us to a spot that was perfect for watching the launch from the water. Someone (marine authority) got a little testy b/c there was a submarine leaving at the same time and the guys yelled at us to turn around (with a finger on the trigger of his machine gun mind you). We waited until they left and then got to the launching point, and Victor promptly fell asleep with the rocking of the boat. It was so cool to see the shuttle launch and then hear it. Since I was getting sea sick, we made a quick trip back to shore which was funny in that Victor didn’t like the wind in his ears and held his hands over them the whole time.
When planning this trip, two things that were on our must do list were a trip to the zoo and going swimming in one of the many family pools. The people who designed the Brevard county zoo had kids in mind, first the overall layout of the zoo is one small circle with each animal exhibit branching off. This allows for a quick getaway any time a kid gets cranky (which I am proud to say was never the case with Victor). In addition to the design, there is a Paws On section that is devoted entirely to kids where kids can play in water, touch animals and play veterinarian with stuffed animals. Everyone at the zoo acted as if they had nothing to do but talk to us. While I am not sure how much Victor understood of what was going on, Grandma, Uncle Andy, Sarah and I all truly enjoyed ourselves. That night Sarah and I had dinner with her Uncle Andy, Aunt Christine and cousin Lauren. We enjoyed the meal and grandma and grandpa enjoyed babysitting and spoiling Victor.
The other truly memorable part of the trip was the trip to Uncle Jim’s pool. When we pulled in, Jim was waiting for us with his two older cocker spaniels, Buddy and Henry. Buddy is deaf and therefore was immune to Victor’s squeals of delight at the sight of a dog. Henry on the other hand has his hearing would not leave Jim’s side the entire time we were there and was visibly nervous about Victor although he was interested in what the small thing was. Once we got ready to enter to pool, I went in first and then made the mistake of submerging Victor up to his chest in the water. My rationale at the time was that we would get it over with, Victor didn’t like that any more than the ocean and the sand and let us know. He eventually got used to the water and did some splashing so we have some hope for going to the pools in the neighborhood with him this summer.
The plane ride back was fairly uneventful, Victor has his own seat and slept for the first half and only needed to be walked once for the second half of the flight. Our big adventure on the plane was trying to change the baby’s diaper in the bathroom without a baby changing station. I will not comment on how I did it, I will just say it was traumatizing for the two of us.
There are so many other things that occurred that made this the best vacation we have had in years. Many wonderful memories will be cherished as a result of our trip, including Lauren, Sarah’s cousin being the first Vegetarian that I have met that didn’t like vegetables.
Several years ago I was on what was becoming my annual vacation to Vancouver. While at the airport and waiting for my car, I was standing next to an older gentleman who was looking frazzled and had several children with him and a wife. Two cars were pulled up, mine, the bright red Mustang convertible, and then his, an older looking mini van. He saw what I was driving the conversation went something like:
Stranger: Is that your car?
Me (laughing): Yeah, is the minivan yours?
Stranger: Yeah, are you married? Do you have any kids?
Me: No, and never will be and don’t want kids.
Stranger: Then enjoy your life and be the biggest pig you can be, once you are married, it’s no longer about you.
I drove off and never forgot about that conversation. Many years later when they placed Victor in my arms for the first time I had to stop being a pig, as a looked at the child and began to wonder now what, I had no clue what life had in store for me. While I like to think that I have settled fairly nicely into fatherhood, NOTHING could have prepared me for my first vacation with my family. Over the next week, any remainder of the young single guy who traveled alone in Canada with nothing more than a backpack and ate steak dinners almost every night has truly vanished as I gladly took on the role of married man with a baby.
The adventure began with us making the decision that between two fully capable adults, a nine month old baby was not too much of a challenge and Victor could ride on our laps on the airplane. We were able to time our vacation with that of a friend of mine who wanted to come to Houston to visit some old friends. In exchange for house and pet sitting, he would use our car and then be the person who picked us up and dropped us off at the airport. The night before, we played Tetris with the bags and the stroller until we were finally able to get everything loaded into the car with one bag riding next to the baby on the way to the airport. Checking in was quick, however someone alerted the airport that an Arab baby was going to be on the plane and decided that with his blond hair, he must be a decoy and therefore made us take his shoes off to go through security. I wanted to tell the guy fine, but he was going to put them back on, since he has obviously never put shoes on a toddler. Since 9/11 however, I have learned that any attention at the airport is bad, so I kept quiet. When we made it to the plane, it took us a while to settle in the seat a part of this process was making Victor his milk. He saw it and since he was not going to get it right away proceeded to have a total meltdown until we got settled. He finished his milk and started to nuzzle in when the flight attendant came by and told Sarah to make sure that he has something to suck on to help relieve the pressure from takeoff. Sarah told her we were not worried since he had ear tubes, the woman was oblivious and repeated what she said, so did Sarah, after three rounds the lady walked away.
While Victor slept thru the first part of the flight, he made up for the energy that he didn’t burn in the second half of the flight. We tried everything that we could to entertain him; but he was not to be entertained. The best we could come up with was feed him Cheerios; however there is a limit to how many we could carry on the plane the supply was quickly becoming depleted. The second half of the flight was such a joy that Sarah and I agreed that budget be damned, we were going to buy the kid a ticket on the flight back. As we trudged thru the airport with a baby, a stroller, Sarah’s one bad knee and one really bad knee, the car seat and base, I knew traveling again would never be the same. As we approached the baggage claim and God smiled on us as our luggage was the first one out, he then laughed at us when we went to get a our rental car.
As a fully capable man, I never allow anyone to help me with my bags, part of it is because I am cheap, and another part of it is pride. Having a child is not cheap and I have learned to pay for the convenience of things. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins I have learned as well as humility and changing a diaper while being laughed at and then peed on by a small child teaches you humility. As I struggled to get on and of the shuttle, I was all too glad to have the help of the driver, probably a guy who travels and drives Mustangs. Once we finally made it to the rental place, it took an hour to get through the line and 30 minutes to check out. It was our luck that they were starting a new computer system. This of course was made all the more annoying by the fact that it was hot as a Houston day in the summer, the baby was going to skip a meal (to be supplemented by Cheerios that Sarah wisely rationed out from the plane) and we had excited grandparents waiting for us.
After struggling with the lines and playing Tetris to get all our bags loaded (never had that problem before), we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the grandparents. Once on the road and Sarah made us stop for boiled peanuts, every time we said boiled peanuts, the baby got upset, (his nickname is peanut) I think he was just fussy, that or he was telling us that he is the only peanut and he already felt like he was boiling.
Eventually we made it to grandma and grandpas, just in time for dinner for Victor. The best thing about grandparents is that they think feeding the child dinner is a treat; we didn't fight them on that. Shortly after, we headed to the family condo and got settled in and Sarah gave Victor a bath in the shower, we gave him his final bottle of milk and put him to bed in time to eat dinner that the grandparents were kind enough to bring. Shortly after diner our first night, Victor woke up and made it clear that he was NOT going to go back to sleep, so we hung out and eventually, he settled down and went to sleep after having his second final bottle of milk. The next morning was Mother’s Day, we went to Sarah's parents first and then to her uncle Andy's who hosted the holiday for the family this year. This was one of the best Mothers Days I remembered, Victor charmed everyone he saw, Sarah got to see old friends of her mother, I spent quality time with the family and Victor was not too fussy. That night Sarah gave Victor his first bath in the sink, once he got the concept he was fine with it. Later during the vacation, he would try and grab the detachable hose and eat it or spray us.
Monday we had two big adventures, the first was Victor’s first real trip to the beach. While this was his third visit, this was his first trip. The first time Sarah took him to the water he looked at it and didn't like what he saw. She dipped his legs in the water, he began to cry. The second trip was Sunday, I held him and stood a little more than ankle deep in the water, he was not amused. For some reason, we thought today would be better. The adventure began with getting to the beach, while I distracted the child from the fact that momma was not in the room, Sarah got everything ready. After 20 minutes of getting ready, we walked the 50 yards to the water and Victor began to look nervous as we got closer. We tested him in the sand and he was not pleased, so Sarah set him down on a beach towel and he did fine. We then put a little sand on him which he picked up, ate a little and decided it was not such a horrible thing. Right as we were feeling hope that the morning at the beach would go well, he rubbed his eye and it was all over. While we will never know exactly how much sand got in his eye since we quickly washed it out, the trauma was enough to make him not want to sit in the sand again. Determined that we will have fun, we tried to build sand castles using the beach toys from condo but Victor wanted nothing to do it and just clung to me. After about 20 minutes we headed back. Sarah gave Victor a quick bath in the sink and then the baby promptly went down for a two hour nap.
The second cool thing was we got see the last launch of the shuttle. Sarah’s Uncle Andy has nice boat and he and her dad took us to a spot that was perfect for watching the launch from the water. Someone (marine authority) got a little testy b/c there was a submarine leaving at the same time and the guys yelled at us to turn around (with a finger on the trigger of his machine gun mind you). We waited until they left and then got to the launching point, and Victor promptly fell asleep with the rocking of the boat. It was so cool to see the shuttle launch and then hear it. Since I was getting sea sick, we made a quick trip back to shore which was funny in that Victor didn’t like the wind in his ears and held his hands over them the whole time.
When planning this trip, two things that were on our must do list were a trip to the zoo and going swimming in one of the many family pools. The people who designed the Brevard county zoo had kids in mind, first the overall layout of the zoo is one small circle with each animal exhibit branching off. This allows for a quick getaway any time a kid gets cranky (which I am proud to say was never the case with Victor). In addition to the design, there is a Paws On section that is devoted entirely to kids where kids can play in water, touch animals and play veterinarian with stuffed animals. Everyone at the zoo acted as if they had nothing to do but talk to us. While I am not sure how much Victor understood of what was going on, Grandma, Uncle Andy, Sarah and I all truly enjoyed ourselves. That night Sarah and I had dinner with her Uncle Andy, Aunt Christine and cousin Lauren. We enjoyed the meal and grandma and grandpa enjoyed babysitting and spoiling Victor.
The other truly memorable part of the trip was the trip to Uncle Jim’s pool. When we pulled in, Jim was waiting for us with his two older cocker spaniels, Buddy and Henry. Buddy is deaf and therefore was immune to Victor’s squeals of delight at the sight of a dog. Henry on the other hand has his hearing would not leave Jim’s side the entire time we were there and was visibly nervous about Victor although he was interested in what the small thing was. Once we got ready to enter to pool, I went in first and then made the mistake of submerging Victor up to his chest in the water. My rationale at the time was that we would get it over with, Victor didn’t like that any more than the ocean and the sand and let us know. He eventually got used to the water and did some splashing so we have some hope for going to the pools in the neighborhood with him this summer.
The plane ride back was fairly uneventful, Victor has his own seat and slept for the first half and only needed to be walked once for the second half of the flight. Our big adventure on the plane was trying to change the baby’s diaper in the bathroom without a baby changing station. I will not comment on how I did it, I will just say it was traumatizing for the two of us.
There are so many other things that occurred that made this the best vacation we have had in years. Many wonderful memories will be cherished as a result of our trip, including Lauren, Sarah’s cousin being the first Vegetarian that I have met that didn’t like vegetables.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
He can crawl!
Today was the first day Victor started to crawl and minus the first 2 minutes I was able to get it on video. Of course some of the first things he went after were Otis' . Its a long video but I was and still am so proud.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Victor's First Haircut
Today Victor got his first haircut! We were going to try and wait until his first birthday but it was getting so long it was growing into his ears. We took him to a Cool Cuts for Kids place and the woman who cut his hair did an awesome job. He got to sit in a little car and was a very well behaved boy. Where did my baby go? He looks like a toddler now.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Family update
Well this has been an interesting week for the Sabbara household. On Monday I tore my medial meniscus in my left knee while running at work. I was in so much pain I had to leave work and go home. Monday night a bunch of storms rolled through Houston and Otis who is deathly afraid of thunder almost didn't make it though the night.. not from fear but from the fact that all he would do is stand on top of my painful leg while I was trying to sleep and tremble causing me to want to kill him myself.
That morning Richard takes Victor to day care and I stay at home to wait for my doctor's appointment that I had made. Meanwhile I get a call from Victor's school saying that due to flooding from the night before Fort Bend ISD had shut down schools for the day and I had to go pick Victor back up. I call Richard who had not yet made it into work because of the flooding; so he turns around to meet me at my appointment and take Victor home. Long story short, I go to the doc, get and MRI of my knee and end up having surgery on it on Wednesday. Thursday Victor has his nine month check up appointment and since I am feeling good I tag along. Bad idea, that and physical therapy I had today has made me hurt much of this morning.. anyway I am on the mend and hope to be hopping about soon since we go to Florida on vacation a week from tomorrow.
Victor's new stats are
Weight 25lb (95%)
Height 28 5/8 (75%)
Head Circumference 18 1/4 (75%)
Sorry so to the point with no pictures but next week I hope to have some cute ones from vaction.
That morning Richard takes Victor to day care and I stay at home to wait for my doctor's appointment that I had made. Meanwhile I get a call from Victor's school saying that due to flooding from the night before Fort Bend ISD had shut down schools for the day and I had to go pick Victor back up. I call Richard who had not yet made it into work because of the flooding; so he turns around to meet me at my appointment and take Victor home. Long story short, I go to the doc, get and MRI of my knee and end up having surgery on it on Wednesday. Thursday Victor has his nine month check up appointment and since I am feeling good I tag along. Bad idea, that and physical therapy I had today has made me hurt much of this morning.. anyway I am on the mend and hope to be hopping about soon since we go to Florida on vacation a week from tomorrow.
Victor's new stats are
Weight 25lb (95%)
Height 28 5/8 (75%)
Head Circumference 18 1/4 (75%)
Sorry so to the point with no pictures but next week I hope to have some cute ones from vaction.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The joy of dog ownership
Well not too many times is Otis in the blog even though he is part of the family but what he did today was of note. While left at home he decided to eat the remote to the tv in the extra bedroom where he stays when we are not at home. The people at his day care found the mess when they came to pick him up. They called Richard who left work to come home to make sure that Otis had not eaten any of the batteries. On the way one of his tires has a blow out. So I get a call and I leave work to check the remote. Although the batteries were still there big pieces of the plastic were gone so i go and get Otis and take him to the vet. The vet said for us just to watch him and make sure he isn't passing bloody poo and to give him some bread... so here I am home from work waiting for the dog to go to the bathroom... sigh.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Victor visits Daddy's work
Today Victor and I went up to Richard's work to visit and take him out to lunch. Victor was very much the prince of the day with all the ladies and a few men oohhing and ahhing over him. He put on his best performance and even sat in Richard's chair though he told me later he wanted to keep his day job of playing at school.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone! Today it was supposed to be very rainy and wet so yesterday Richard and I dressed Victor up in his Easter outfit and took him in the front yard to take pictures with his basket. He loved taking the eggs out and beating them together and I think starting to understand to look at mommy and smile when I have the camera.
Today it only rained a little bit but we mostly stayed inside anyway just because Victor was wanting to sleep alot. He took two very long naps and wasn't interested in much other than crackers at dinner time. The three of us (poor Otis got left behind) went to Luisa's for dinner and as always she put on a great spread of lamb and stuffed grapeleaves. We left not too long after dessert because the littlest of us is very much on a bedtime schedule and was starting to get a bit cranky. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Today it only rained a little bit but we mostly stayed inside anyway just because Victor was wanting to sleep alot. He took two very long naps and wasn't interested in much other than crackers at dinner time. The three of us (poor Otis got left behind) went to Luisa's for dinner and as always she put on a great spread of lamb and stuffed grapeleaves. We left not too long after dessert because the littlest of us is very much on a bedtime schedule and was starting to get a bit cranky. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
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