Thursday, February 19, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
on disgusting things in the back yard
you've read about poison ivy in my back yard not once, not twice...not even three or four times. but five times! ridiculous, i know.
in keeping with that theme, i wanted to write a quick post about another disgusting thing in my back yard.
next to the "death tree" (see previous poison ivy posts) there was this strange circular concrete looking thing about a foot tall and a couple feet in diameter. i've wondered what it is for 2 years, but never put forth the effort to find out. every now and again i would kick it or poke at it with a rake and a small piece would fall off, but i would lose interest and continue doing whatever brought me back there: mowing, raking or killing poison ivy.
the weather is beautiful today so i went out and finished up some raking i started last week. Bob came out and then Andrea and Oscar...then Steph and Lilly. the whole gang was congregated at the fence catching up, as we haven't seen much of each other since the baby. that was great.
for whatever reason, that mound caught my eye again and i said, "i wonder what the hell that thing is". Bob offered to let me borrow his sledge hammer to knock it apart which i gladly accepted. costochondritis or not, this thing had to go. it's placement in the far corner of the yard made it hard to mow and rake back there, plus it reminded me of the neglect this yard had endured for the last 40 years before we showed up.
it wasn't hard to knock the mystery structure apart. as i gently swung the sledge hammer into it, it fell apart in large chunks. Bob jumped over the fence to check it out with me. look at these disgusting photos of the former inhabitants:
hey there, little buddies!
i just looked up termites and these are definitely not termites, although their home which i destroyed did remind me of an ancient termite mound. i guess it was an old ant colony? i've never seen them moving around the outside of the mound, which was hard packed like clay. it was probably a very rare species of subterranean ant that i decimated with a sledge hammer and a flathead shovel. not unlike the ancient poison ivy i killed, not 2 feet away. both goldmines in the scientific communities...both gone forever.
good riddance!
in keeping with that theme, i wanted to write a quick post about another disgusting thing in my back yard.
next to the "death tree" (see previous poison ivy posts) there was this strange circular concrete looking thing about a foot tall and a couple feet in diameter. i've wondered what it is for 2 years, but never put forth the effort to find out. every now and again i would kick it or poke at it with a rake and a small piece would fall off, but i would lose interest and continue doing whatever brought me back there: mowing, raking or killing poison ivy.
the weather is beautiful today so i went out and finished up some raking i started last week. Bob came out and then Andrea and Oscar...then Steph and Lilly. the whole gang was congregated at the fence catching up, as we haven't seen much of each other since the baby. that was great.
for whatever reason, that mound caught my eye again and i said, "i wonder what the hell that thing is". Bob offered to let me borrow his sledge hammer to knock it apart which i gladly accepted. costochondritis or not, this thing had to go. it's placement in the far corner of the yard made it hard to mow and rake back there, plus it reminded me of the neglect this yard had endured for the last 40 years before we showed up.
it wasn't hard to knock the mystery structure apart. as i gently swung the sledge hammer into it, it fell apart in large chunks. Bob jumped over the fence to check it out with me. look at these disgusting photos of the former inhabitants:
hey there, little buddies!
i just looked up termites and these are definitely not termites, although their home which i destroyed did remind me of an ancient termite mound. i guess it was an old ant colony? i've never seen them moving around the outside of the mound, which was hard packed like clay. it was probably a very rare species of subterranean ant that i decimated with a sledge hammer and a flathead shovel. not unlike the ancient poison ivy i killed, not 2 feet away. both goldmines in the scientific communities...both gone forever.
good riddance!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
on fatherhood
having been a father for going on 12 days now, i think i know a thing or two about the ins and outs of bringing up baby right.
for example: installing the car seat. we have the removable seat that docks to a base (we even have a base for each car! wow!), so getting the base strapped down nice and tight is a must. i remember Stevens telling me how he had his knee in the car seat bouncing up and down on it to make sure it was torqued down nice and tight.
Andrea had been telling me to get out and put the base in at least one of our cars for about a week before she went into labor. naturally, i didn't get started until she was about 8 hours into labor, before we left for the hospital. and i didn't know what i was doing. in fact, after reading part of the directions, i was convinced that neither of our cars (8 and 14 years old) were even capable of transporting children safely.
i finally figured out, or so i thought, how to get the base installed. as we were getting into the car to drive to the hospital, Andrea looked at the car seat and said, "oh, that's definitely not right". under normal circumstances i would've argued with her, but come on: even i'm not that big of a jerk. "we'll worry about that later", i said and we drove on. half way to the hospital i said, "so why do you think it's wrong?". i couldn't help myself. she decided the angle of the seat was too steep and needed to be more horizontal. seemed logical.
after Oscar was born and we were in hiding at the hospital, i went out to the car to see what was up. that's when i noticed the level built into the car seat that tells you if the angle is right. she was correct, it was way steep. i looked and looked, but couldn't figure out how to make it right. defeated, i went back in the hospital room and proceeded to tell her about her steep back seats and how there was nothing we could do about it. she seemed to remember a way to adjust the angle, and immediately i felt like an idiot. "ok, i'll try again".
sure enough, after taking the base out of the car, i figured out how to adjust it to perfect pitch. now, i just needed to re-install it nice and tight again. remembering how Stevens had bounced up and down on his seat, i figured i'd do the same. except, instead of using my knee, i used my chest and bounced myself up and down on the hard, plastic base...driving it into my right ribcage. after about the 5th blow, i felt a sharp pain and was convinced i had broken a rib. luckily, i did not, but it still hurts to take a deep breath, laugh, etc. Andrea can't laugh hard, either b/c of her operation, so whenever one of us makes the other laugh and we both get going, we have to use our very reserved "pain laugh" while saying to the other between breaths, "stop it...stop it...it hurts...don't make me laugh...i'm gonna kill you". she thanked me for obtaining a sympathy injury.
it's been over a week since the injury and it's still hurting. i googled the symptoms and believe it's costochondritis.
don't worry, it's much more painful than it sounds.
for example: installing the car seat. we have the removable seat that docks to a base (we even have a base for each car! wow!), so getting the base strapped down nice and tight is a must. i remember Stevens telling me how he had his knee in the car seat bouncing up and down on it to make sure it was torqued down nice and tight.
Andrea had been telling me to get out and put the base in at least one of our cars for about a week before she went into labor. naturally, i didn't get started until she was about 8 hours into labor, before we left for the hospital. and i didn't know what i was doing. in fact, after reading part of the directions, i was convinced that neither of our cars (8 and 14 years old) were even capable of transporting children safely.
i finally figured out, or so i thought, how to get the base installed. as we were getting into the car to drive to the hospital, Andrea looked at the car seat and said, "oh, that's definitely not right". under normal circumstances i would've argued with her, but come on: even i'm not that big of a jerk. "we'll worry about that later", i said and we drove on. half way to the hospital i said, "so why do you think it's wrong?". i couldn't help myself. she decided the angle of the seat was too steep and needed to be more horizontal. seemed logical.
after Oscar was born and we were in hiding at the hospital, i went out to the car to see what was up. that's when i noticed the level built into the car seat that tells you if the angle is right. she was correct, it was way steep. i looked and looked, but couldn't figure out how to make it right. defeated, i went back in the hospital room and proceeded to tell her about her steep back seats and how there was nothing we could do about it. she seemed to remember a way to adjust the angle, and immediately i felt like an idiot. "ok, i'll try again".
sure enough, after taking the base out of the car, i figured out how to adjust it to perfect pitch. now, i just needed to re-install it nice and tight again. remembering how Stevens had bounced up and down on his seat, i figured i'd do the same. except, instead of using my knee, i used my chest and bounced myself up and down on the hard, plastic base...driving it into my right ribcage. after about the 5th blow, i felt a sharp pain and was convinced i had broken a rib. luckily, i did not, but it still hurts to take a deep breath, laugh, etc. Andrea can't laugh hard, either b/c of her operation, so whenever one of us makes the other laugh and we both get going, we have to use our very reserved "pain laugh" while saying to the other between breaths, "stop it...stop it...it hurts...don't make me laugh...i'm gonna kill you". she thanked me for obtaining a sympathy injury.
it's been over a week since the injury and it's still hurting. i googled the symptoms and believe it's costochondritis.
don't worry, it's much more painful than it sounds.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Correction
as my faithful readers have noted, Oscar was not born tomorrow on the 29th...he was born 2 days ago on the 26th!
and just so this post contains something new: Andrea and he are really kicking butt on the breast feeding front. we had a great Lactation Consultant today who showed her a trick or two and ever since, she's been able to get him to latch on and really get all he can. so yeah, that's pretty awesome.
this is our last night in the hospital. checkout time is around noon Thursday. we will miss the royal treatment we've gotten from the staff here at Wake Med Cary, but it's time to start our life together as a family...at home...in the real world.
night y'all!
and just so this post contains something new: Andrea and he are really kicking butt on the breast feeding front. we had a great Lactation Consultant today who showed her a trick or two and ever since, she's been able to get him to latch on and really get all he can. so yeah, that's pretty awesome.
this is our last night in the hospital. checkout time is around noon Thursday. we will miss the royal treatment we've gotten from the staff here at Wake Med Cary, but it's time to start our life together as a family...at home...in the real world.
night y'all!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
he's here
Oscar Lawrence Updyke arrived January 29, 2009 at 3:31am, via c-section. Andrea labored for 26 hours, and pushed for 3. she really did everything she could to get him out w/o surgery, but in the end that proved to be impossible due to his impressive stature. he was 10lbs 15.1oz, but they're calling him an even 11. he was 22in.
mother and son are doing extremely well. she's up and walking and he is sleeping a lot and learning to breast feed. what a wonderful wife and baby i have been blessed with.
it was a great experience for the both of us. we feel wonderful about how things turned out, the options we were given and the decisions we made. and now, a picture or 3:
mother and son are doing extremely well. she's up and walking and he is sleeping a lot and learning to breast feed. what a wonderful wife and baby i have been blessed with.
it was a great experience for the both of us. we feel wonderful about how things turned out, the options we were given and the decisions we made. and now, a picture or 3:
Sunday, January 25, 2009
update
she's at 8cm and we are looking at a Sunday night delivery. she's holding up like a trooper and i'm really freakin' proud of her. i can't wait to see her holding that gigantic baby boy she's been carrying around for all this time. and i can't wait to hold him, either.
later.
later.
Big Blog News
Andrea, myself, her mom (Doreen) and our doula (Christina) are at Wake Med in Cary and she's knee deep in some baby deliverin' action. long story short: she's 7cm.
another contraction coming on. gotta run!
another contraction coming on. gotta run!
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