The Best Part of 2008

Markus. :)

Markus' First Christmas

As you can see from the photo, Markus really enjoyed his first Christmas! And mom too! Even though he was wearing his Hanukkah outfit (lol...thank you Elizabeth and Kayur!), Santa Claus was nice to him. He's definitely been nice in the first few weeks of his life. Anyway, thank you ALL for his wonderful gifts.

By the way, Markus is currently 23 1/2 inches long. We don't have a baby scale, so we'll see how much he weighs during his next doctor visit.

Markus - Friendly or Fussy?

Markus is 6 weeks old today! He's getting bigger and changing all the time. He's moved up from the newborn (N) size to "1" size diapers and he's already outgrown some of his newborn shirts. He's eating around 4 ounces every 3-4 hours on average. Sometime he'll put away 6 ounces, and sometimes 2. And sometimes he'll get hungry in two hours. It's crazy trying to figure it all out. One thing is for sure...if he's crying for more than one minute...HE IS HUNGRY.

When he's not hungry, not sleepy, not dirty, not hot/cold, but still fussy, we have come up with several possible solutions/tricks to calm him down:

• Pick him up and walk around with him. This works pretty well, but tiring...especially in the hours between 1:00 - 6:00 a.m.

• Put him in the swing. Hit or miss. He either loves being in the swing or wants right out. When he's in the swing, he looks at the little animated mobile and relaxes. Who wouldn't? It's basically a giant motorized bed that swings back and forth. If they made that for adults, I'd like it too!

• Turn on the ventilation fan in the bathroom (dark). Works, but you have to hold him and rock him too (see bullet #1).

• Hide under the covers. Don't ask me why, but it works! It's like a little cocoon. Only problem is that it gets pretty hot and stuffy quick in there. The good news is that if it works, it works quickly! He'll pass out in a minute and you can then sit back out in the open and watch quality late-night television.

• Car ride. The ultimate weapon. There is no defense. We've never actually used this as a method to get him to sleep at night, but we've gone on car trips and he loves it! We've heard similar results from other parents.
  

Here is a summary of my last overnight experience with Markus: It's around 1:30 in the morning on Saturday and I was informed by Markus' aunts that he had eaten around midnight. He was awake and a little fussy, so I took him and tried the under-the-covers trick. It worked. He was asleep in my arms and I was watching the 2:00 a.m. Sportscenter. I wasn't tired, and I knew he would up to eat around 3:00, so I stayed up. I got a bottle ready around 3:00 and he started waking up at 3:15. I decided to give him the bottle and he ate 1.5 ounces and passed out (no burps). I was sure if I put him to bed that he would wake up any moment with hunger or gas, but I had to try. He slept until 7:00!

Parents 1, Markus 0.

Score YTD - Parents 3, Markus 39.

Here he is in his giant rocking bed (swing):

Our first winter storm

The first big storm hit this past Friday and I wasn't able to get to our home until Sunday, at which point the nice powdery snow had turned into a sheet of ice! I tried my best to shovel it all away (note: ice is much more difficult to shovel than snow), but I couldn't scrape all of the ice around our stairs. I even tried using a crowbar, but I was afraid I would chisel away the actual stairs along with the ice!

I hope the mailman will be okay.

I also found out that salt (the kind that melts snow) sells out pretty quickly around storm time. So when Home Depot/Lowe's/BJ's gets some salt back in stock, I will need to purchase some in advance!

This is quite a different experience than living in Queens, where I would just watch the super shovel the sidewalk and complain that he's doing a crappy job.

At least our horrible overgrown grass and dead lawn is covered up for now.

Yes, the joy of home ownership. Side effects may include backpain, stress, burning sensations in the holes of your pockets and the strange desire to own a Dremel. Some users reported dizziness, vomiting, and nausea. Please consult your doctor before taking home ownership.

Speaking of our home, the kitchen contractor was unable to show up last week to finish up the job and set up inspection, so we are still waiting for this kitchen to be "finished". It's 95% there, and we're looking forward to it being completed. By the way, today is Dec. 22, which is the 10 week anniversary of this project (4-6 week estimate). We're lucky that it's not inconveniencing us too much as we are staying at Sandra's parents, but at the same time we want to finish!

Updates

Quick Updates:

Markus: Markus continues his pattern of eating 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours. He sleeps for 2-3 hours, pees/poops, and continues on his way. He is more attentive and able to focus on objects, which is fun to watch. He also likes his swing! We've also received some more gifts for Markus (and even for us, the parents!), and we're very touched and thankful for them all. Thank you!


Kitchen: Over the weekend we created a punch list (final list of touch-ups) for the contractor for our kitchen, so that should be finished soon and we'll set up final inspections this week. Then it'll be time to paint the hallway and clean up!


Commute: I've been commuting from my in-laws in Congers as we're not moving back to our house until all the construction is complete. Total door-to-door is about 1:45, but it's very peaceful. I drive to the Palisades Mall (about 10 mins) and get on a 6:50 bus. The bus is always standing there, and its never full. And it's very quiet. The bus takes me over the Tappan Zee bridge to the Tarrytown Metro North train station. Then I take a 7:25 express train to Grand Central Terminal (one or two stops), which arrives at 8:00ish. There are considerably more people, but I always get a seat. From Grand Central, I walk 7-8 minutes to work. NO SUBWAY. I didn't realize how stressed out the NYC Subway made me. It's by far the worst part of my previous commute and the one part I am not looking forward to again. I took the subway a few stops after work for drinks the other day and it was hell. Wow.

Sandra texts me a picture of Markus each morning when I get to work. It makes me extremely happy as I miss him (even his crying) during the day. Today's picture is Markus getting ready to go for a car ride:

Markus - 4 weeks

Markus is now 4 weeks old and is now eating around 4 ounces per feeding. Feedings are around 3 hours apart. It usually takes about 20 minutes or so for him to finish the bottle, followed by some burping, diaper changing, and then he'll either fall asleep or want to be held for a little while. The whole process usually takes an hour. So, if you're lucky, you might get 2 hours of rest in between. When he is really tired, he'll fall asleep after feeding right away and he'll be out for over three hours. That's what we hope for at night! Otherwise, he's doing well. I'm curious how much he weighs. We'll find out on his next appointment on Jan. 10 (immunization shots). Anyway, here's a a video update of Markus. This was around 7 in the morning, after I had just fed him. You can see him just staring around and making noises, which is pretty typical. As a bonus, you can hear him poop around the 1:18 mark (I confirmed this afterwords), and pass gas at 1:11 (he does this frequently). You'll be spared my normal cheesy voice commentary because Sandra was asleep next to me and I didn't want to wake her.

Kitchen Project Update

Sandra and I went back to our house this morning to grab a couple things and check on the kitchen. With Markus' arrival, we tend to forget that the rest of the world continues to operate normally. The countertops have been installed and the cork floor has also been installed. We can really start picturing the finished product now. The next steps will be to put the hardware on the cabinets, install the appliances, and finish the electric/plumbing. Finally, we'll be finishing the backsplash/walls with Venetian Plaster, which my brother will help complete.

Photo update:

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is Markus getting his diaper changed (don't worry, it's not in the video) earlier today. He normally hates this process, but he was pretty calm about it in this video. Maybe he knows he's on camera and he doesn't want to let other people know he cries!

Markus and The Bobo (Pacifier)

Here's a quick video of Markus a little over a week old. It was taken with our digital camera. I have a feeling that Santa will bring us a digital camcorder for Christmas.

Frozen Foods!

One thing about completely redoing a kitchen is that you won't have a kitchen to use during the renovation! During the last few weeks before Markus was born, Sandra and I set up a little area in the livingroom to use as a kitchen. The microwave and crockpot were our choices, so we either cooked for 6 minutes or 6 hours! Anyway, we started to shop in the "taboo" Frozen Foods section of our supermarket. We were both newcomers to this aisle and were pretty surprised by the selection. We decided to pick up a few items that were on sale since we didn't have any particular brand preference. We started with Oscar Meyer Deli Creations Flatbread Chicken Sandwich and Honey, Ham & Swiss sandwich. They cost about $3.43 regularly, but they were on sale for half price. We were pleasantly surprised as we liked these sandwiches. The portions were a bit small though. Nonetheless, a good value for the sale. And so it started.... Here's a list of what we tried (at least what I wrote down):



In short, we really like the Stouffers brand foods, especially if its on sale! Also good were Ms T's Pierogi's. Although the Boston Market food ranked high, it was pretty expensive. At no point in your life should you ever eat anything made by Banquet. The nuggets, corn and mashed potatoes all tasted like water. Also not on the list was some Barron's Pizzas that were decent, but coming from New York, I really have a hard time eating home cooked pizzas. Compared to a good slice from a New York Pizzaria, they're crap.

Also, just about all of the portions on these meals felt too small. Although, that could be a problem with us, not the meal! At the end though, we're not as opposed to grabbing a few of these meals (on sale, of course) and having it in the freezer as a quick backup. They can really be a convenience.

Pediatrician Visit

This morning we took Markus to the pediatrician for his follow-up visit. The main thing that the doctor wanted to check was his weight gain. Markus' birth weight was 6 pounds, 15 ounces, his visit roughly one week later was 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and today he weighed in at a nice 7 pounds, 4 ounces! The doctor said that Markus looks good and his next visit will be in 2 months for his immunization shots.

Markus' 8 ounces in one week was a 7.4% weight gain from his previous weight. If you were a 200 pound person, that is the equivalent of gaining 14.8 pounds in a week. Good for babies, BAD for 200 pound adults!

Here's a picture of Markus and his 7 lbs 4 oz:

Markus first full bath

Last Tuesday, Markus' umbilical cord fell out! It was a pretty mild event. I was always apprehensive about this happening...for some reason I thought it would be..., well, weird. Nothing to it...it was just off in the morning.

Since his cord was off, we decided to give him his first "full" bath. The nurses told us to just sponge him every few days when his cord was on, and to wait to use water when it was off. Markus, as expected, cried during his bath. We tried singing, but to no avail. Anyway, we managed to get him cleaned up and smelling fresh! Here are some pics of the aftermath (no public naked photos!):

1 week old

As of 4:49 a.m. this morning, Markus is one week old! What a week! Sandra and I are very appreciative and thankful for all the love, support and kindness that all of our family, friends, and everyone we know has shown.

Here are some of my observations on the first week of being a parent:

• One week doesn't make sense to me as I'm sleeping, eating, and bathing irregularly. I'll look in the mirror and say, "when the hell did I grow this beard?". Sunday football was a surprise.
  
• Anxiety is awful! I have had random bouts of anxiety, but it seems to be getting better each day. My friends Sara (who has two beautiful children) tells me that's normal and it goes away, so I feel better.
• Markus is pretty clear in his demands. He cries when he's hungry. He fusses around and cries a little when he needs to be changed, or wants to be held, or needs to be burped. Right now he's eating around 2 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours. Sometimes he puts down 3 ounces, but most of the time it's two.
• I was terrified of babies before Markus, but now I just want to hold him all the time. I understand that this can be a problem in the future as he will need to learn to sleep by himself.

Well, that's pretty much all I know for the first week. Markus is doing great and mommy is doing well. As much as the focus is on Markus, Sandra is still recovering from surgery!

Anyway, here's a picture of Markus' first manicure:

Born: Markus Daniel Frydman

Sandra and I woke up on Saturday morning to run a couple of errands and have dinner at my parents' house. The first thing we did was go and pick out our granite slab for our kitchen. The next part of our day was a routine check up at the OBGYN. That's when everything changed...

Our doctor informed us that we would have to deliver the baby that day! Sandra's blood pressure had been rising and had reached a level of 140/80, a condition known as preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is high blood pressure due to pregnancy and the only "cure" is to deliver. Sandra has never had any blood pressure problems and the doctor was not worried, but concerned because the condition can go from mild to severe quickly. In addition, Sandra had trace amounts of protein in her urine and above average weight gain the past two weeks, which all were signs of preeclampsia. He instructed us to go home, get our hospital bag and meet him in the hospital later that night.

Things became pretty surreal quickly. We grabbed our stuff, ate at a McDonalds drive-thru on the way, and arrived at the hospital around 5:00 p.m. Saturday. To help treat the preeclampsia, Sandra had to be hooked up to an IV of magnesium, which helps relax and lower the blood pressure. This was upsetting as we had always hoped to get as close to a natural birth as possible. Nonetheless, for the health and safety of Sandra and the baby, this had to be done. In addition, the doctors started inducing the labor. This was all very scary and nerve-wracking. The induction started by softening the cervix with Cytotec, a drug that must be taken every 4 hours and at least three of them before another drug (Pitocin) is used to begin contractions. So twelve hours later (3 cytotec pills later -- 7:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m.), Pitocin was added to the IV and contractions began.

I can only describe the next 24 hours as a nightmare labor and delivery. Watching my beautiful wife being hooked up to an IV and having all these drugs pumped into her was really difficult to endure. I understood the conditions that we were up against, but it was tough. Not only was it tough for me to watch her, but knowing how much it was upsetting her was the hard part. I had to be there for her, to comfort her, and to help guide her through this delivery. Without getting into more detail, we tried this for a long time and each hour was agonizing to watch.

It was now sometime around midnight on Sunday when a new doctor came in and decided to speed things up by breaking Sandra's water. This increased the contractions, and Sandra was feeling intense pain. Sandra was great about the pain, but after so many hours, we got to the point where Sandra decided to have an epidural shot. I don't remember the time, but this was around Sunday night. The anesthesiologist explained that due to Sandra's MS, there was higher risk with an epidural. As if we weren't wound up tight enough, this was just another emotional and psychological setback for both of us. It was the right thing to do, but this was also a traumatic experience. The whole process took 15 minutes or so, as the doctor had to try a few times to get the epidural correct. They were being extra careful with Sandra. Those might have been the longest 15 minutes of my life. We were now entering 24+ hours of labor and the epidural helped calm Sandra down. In fact, I think Sandra was able to get some sleep during this time. By the way, that McDonalds meal and some pasta at the hospital when we arrived was all the Sandra had eaten/was allowed to eat. So hunger was another factor in this trauma.

The entire time there was a monitor for the baby's heart and it started around ~130-150 bpm, but later it slowed down to the 110 bpm baseline. I felt terrible, as I knew it was the preeclampsia drugs causing the slower rate. Nonetheless, this was still a healthy and acceptable rate. The issue started when Sandra was 7 centimeters dilated and at each contraction the baby's heart rate slowed to ~90 bpm. The doctor couldn't understand why this was happening and why the cervix didn't have the pressure of the baby's head. The decision to do a cesarean section was made, but again it was difficult because we'd been told that due to the MS, spinal anesthesia, the usual form for c-sections, was not possible and Sandra didn't want general anesthesia. The doctors explained they could do it through the epidural. Just more scariness to compound the already taxing experience.

The doctors took Sandra away to the operating room to prepare for the c-section. They gave me scrubs and told me to wait outside while they prepared. This was the first time over the course of the entire experience that I became very nervous and scared. I was alone in my operating uniform and just scared because the whole experience just felt wrong from the beginning. I tried to breathe slowly in and out, and I was just reflecting on the whole event. It was probably 10 minutes, but again it felt like a lifetime. They finally called me into the operating room.

I went behind the blue curtain to be next to Sandra, who was laid out on the table, loaded with drugs. Again, a difficult sight for me to handle, but it was all so surreal. Everything the doctor said made us scared. Finally, we heard the sound of a baby and the doctor asked us if we wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl. YES! It was a boy and we knew that Markus was born.

Since he was born early (anything earlier than 38 weeks is early, and Markus was 37 weeks 4 days), they had to take him to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I was allowed to come around and see him being cleaned up, and then they put him down next to Sandra's face for some time. She couldn't touch him because of the way her arms were restrained for the surgery, but she was able to give him a kiss on the cheek and wish him a happy birthday. I was completely overwhelmed with emotion. The doctors then took Markus to the NICU.

As they were stitching Sandra up after the operation, Sandra could feel the pain of the sutures. This was absolutely terrible and I was so angry and upset. The anesthesiologist continued to pump morphine and who knows what into Sandra, but it wasn't working. Again, this lasted probably 15-20 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. FINALLY, it was all over and they carted off my wife to the recovery room. I left to walk back into the labor room and I just broke down and cried for a while. The weight of the past few days finally took its toll and I was also overwhelmed with joy about Markus.

Markus had to stay in the NICU because he had some magnesium in his blood so they put him on IV and didn't start feeding him yet. Babies who have magnesium have a hard time getting their digestive systems working. It was incredible and magical to see him, but also heartbreaking. I knew he was okay, and the nurses said he was fine. He was born 6 pounds, 15 ounces, so he was big for a premature baby. He looked peaceful and was just sleeping most of the time.

Sandra had to be on IV for 24 hours after the birth to help treat the blood pressure and they wouldn't allow her to see Markus during that time. Not to keep repeating myself, but this was very sad. I was allowed to go down and take pictures of Markus and then show them to Sandra. Although things were okay (in some weird way), the emotional battle continued.

After all of this turmoil (which included over 24 hours of IV antibiotics after Sandra spiked a fever on Tuesday night), we are happy and blessed that we have a healthy baby boy. Sandra got to see and feed Markus the next morning and we were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

Our parenting now begins...

Commuting

The first thing we considered when we wanted to move was our commute. We wanted to make sure that the commute was less than an hour and a half each way. In Queens, my commute was approximately 30 minutes door-to-door. I would walk 5 minutes (two and a half blocks) to the subway, get on the E train, which is express in Queens, get off the 53rd & Lex stop, and walk 5 minutes to work. And it was pretty consistent. Although I've never measured it, I would say that the standard deviation was about 5 minutes. And it was the same consistency coming home.

Here in Cranford, we originally thought that we'd be taking the train into Penn Station, but it turned out that the bus was a much better option. It's faster because it's an express bus (no stops between Cranford and Port Authority), you get a seat, and it's much quieter/peaceful. Another problem with the train is that you would have to transfer at Newark, which is a nightmare! Hundreds of people getting off one train, funneling through two doors down onto a stairway, running across the floor, funneling through two doors up on to another stairway, and jamming themselves into another train. That got very annoying very quick.

The bus is not without its failures. It's pretty inconsistent with the arrival times, and most of the time you would have to wait for a few buses to pass because they were full from the previous stops. You can always stand, but that's not a fun ride. It's not easy to nap while standing! That seems to be getting better recently.

Over the last month or so, I've kept track of the time we leave the house (time on the car display), to the time I walk into work (clock on phone) to get an estimated door-to-door commute in the morning. It turns out that the average is 1:31 minutes! Keep in mind, this has been commuting with a pregnant wife. The standard deviation is 11 minutes. I, of course, created a spreadsheet to keep track of this. I've posted the results here, but I blacked out the time in/out. No need to know what time I've been getting to work! Today is also Sandra's last day at work, and we'll be staying over at her parent's place as our house continues to get work done. So this data set will ultimately change in the future, which is why I'm posting this up today.

If I had to break down the 1:31 (unofficially):

• 5 minutes to get to the bus stop from our house
  
• 12 minute wait for the bus
• 50 minutes bus ride
• 20 minutes subway walk and ride
• 4 minute walk to work from chaotic 53rd and Lex stop

Click the image below for a larger view of the results (so far):

Election Day and Politics

Yesterday Sandra and I exercised our privilege to vote for the next president of the United States. A little different here in Cranford than in Queens. It took us a total of 5 minutes, and 3 of those minutes were spent talking to two ladies who were running the polling station who have live in Cranford for the last 40+ years. Pretty easy. I remember waiting on long lines in Queens to go vote. Not fun, but I'd still do it.

We also appreciated that we actually got to meet some of the candidates who were running for Congress (both Senators and House of Representatives). We met, amongst others, Dick Zimmer (who lost to Frank Lautenberg for NJ Senate), Linda Stender and Leonard Lance (winner) who represent our district for the House of Representatives. On different days they all were campaigning on our train/bus stop and it was the first time I had the opportunity to meet politicians who were running for government.

Regardless of who we were voting for, after Barack Obama was declared the next president of the United States I felt a resurgence of my American pride. Yesterday's election was a historic one; one that I hope will galvanize the nation to unify, rekindle our patriotism, and stand together to work to make this country the greatest country in the world (which it is!). I felt the same way after 9/11. Personally, this election has a different meaning to me as I find myself thinking a lot about my future son/daughter and what kind of world he/she will be living in. Strange how quickly those thoughts have crept into my psyche. I can only hope that when our child is learning about American History in school, that November 4th, 2008 will be remembered as a great day, a new era, and a triumph for our country. Why not?

Kitchen Project Update

Progress report: The kitchen project is moving right along. We passed the electric, plumbing, and building inspections, and now the walls have been sheetrocked. This past Sunday I took up some layers of the floor (3 different linoleum patterns and a 1/4" layer of plywood) to make the floor even for the cabinets and new flooring (cork) that we're putting in. The plan is to have the walls taped this week, and we might possibly see some of these cabinets that we purchased!

Pictures of the update:

Happy Halloween

We weren't going to be home for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, so we decided to put a bag of candy on our door with a sign that read, "Happy Halloween. Please take 1". Everyone that we told that story to had the same reaction, "Oh, that's candy is gone. And probably the bag too." We weren't so sure, but we also weren't confident. Living in the city, the chances that the candy would all go to the first or second person to show up at the door was pretty much a certainty. But how would our suburban town of Cranford fare? Well, we came back Friday night to find that our bag was still hanging on the door...and there was still candy! Thumbs up and good karma for you, kids of Cranford!

Adventures in Raking

The fall season is upon us and as new homeowners we get to experience leaves. Lots of them! I was dreading raking all of these leaves and putting them into those Home Depot bags and driving to the conservatory. This would have been 20+ trips. I probably would have rented a van. Lo and behold, we noticed that a bunch of our neighbors were putting their leaves into nice big piles in front of their driveways. Then we got a notice in the mail that the town does a leaf pick-up (3 pick ups for our section) during the fall season to prevent the sewers and gutters from getting clogged. Beautiful! I spent a couple of hours or so Sunday evening, which was a fabulous day, raking up the leaves in our yard. The problem was that all of our leaves are in the backyard, and I had to transport them to the front. Images of the Home Depot bags started creeping in again, but luckily my neighbor gave me a great tip -- rake the leaves on to a tarp (dropcloth works fine) and carry them out to the front. This was genius! I snapped a quick picture in the morning on my camera phone of the piles of leaves in the front before the pickup. It's a shoddy picture because it was dark, so it doesn't do it justice...but that's a LOT of leaves! Good news is that my backyard is covered in leaves again...apparently they're all going to fall off at some point. lol.

P.S. The rake I bought broke!

Nursery Room

The kitchen is not the only project that is underway in our household...we are also working on, well, EVERY other room! Priorities dictate that we handle the kitchen and Nursery room first. I mentioned before that the nursery furniture is coming in next week, so I figured I'd post up some before and after shots of that room before the furniture fills it up. Here they are (you can click on each for a bigger view...sorry about the lighting).





Here's the rundown of what we did so far:

• Ripped up carpets and removed dried up carpet padding
• Removed TILES that were beneath the carpet!
• Refinished floors (contractor)
• Removed all trim and replaced with new trim, including new door
  
• Installed new chair rail
  
• Prepared ceiling and walls for skimcoats...original wallpaper was painted over, needed to be fixed
• Skimmed the room (2 coats). Skimming, by the way, is putting joint compound (a type of putty normally used to smooth out joints in the sheetrock) all around the room. It eliminates many imperfections in the walls.
  
• Changed the electrical outlets (3-prong grounded)
• Changed dimmer switch
• Installed phone jack in wall
• Changed registers (vent grates)
• Removed doors from closets
• Primed and painted!

Wow...I didn't realize how much had been done until I just wrote it down.

Extra special thanks to my brother, who helped me so much with this room. Among other things he did the skimcoats, helped rip up the trim, and installed all the new trim. All while coming back and forth from New York...which can be a real pain in the ass on weekends! I'm sure his little niece/nephew will appreciate it. =)

There's actually a little left to do in this room:

• Ceiling light/possiblyceiling fan (I read that it helps with babies)
• Install a closet organization system for the baby (we sketched out the design)
  
• Curtains for the windows and closet (no doors for the closet).
• Paint the door and put in new hardware.
• Furniture!

Next updates/pictures will be of the completed room.

Kitchen Project

Last week the electrician and the plumber "roughed" the electric and pluming, respectively…lol. Basically this means that the wires and pipes are in the general vicinity of where they should be once the kitchen is completed. I had to take a day off for the inspectors to come and give it the seal of approval. The "inspection" took approximately 2-3 minutes for both the electric and the plumbing. We passed inspection, but then I found out that we also need a building inspection. I don't want to continue to take days off of work, so the building inspections will happen on Tuesday. Sandra will be home (the owners have to be present for these inspections) as the baby furniture is getting delivered and installed that day. Good news is that the insulation is starting today, which will be helpful as the weather is starting to get cold. I'll take some pictures and post up progress shots soon.

Childbirth Classes

Childbirth classes were very helpful over this weekend. We learned a lot and feel much more knowledgeable and prepared for labor and delivery. We learned about what is happening physically during labor, and various methods to deal with the labor sensations. We use the word "sensations" and not "pain", as "pain" suggests that something is wrong. We also learned about what happens in the delivery room and the various options and decisions we need to make. We got to practice various positions that should help relax and ease the contractions. We also tried positions for the pushing. I feel better knowing that I can play a helpful and important role during all of this. I also know that there is a chance that Sandra will yell at me during labor, but that's okay as this can be a pretty intense time (understatement). Our instructor was pretty cool...she is a yoga and tango instructor, and she had a pro-natural vibe to her as you may imagine. Finally, there was a few videos that we got to watch of various deliveries. About as graphic as you can get, but everyone agreed it was very good to watch a few of those births. We are hoping for a natural, "normal" labor and delivery. *fingers crossed*

Newborn Care Class

Yesterday Sandra and I took a newborn care class at St. Vincent's hospital, which is also the place where we will go to deliver the baby. There were five other couples with us, each expecting to give birth in 1-2 months. 3 girls, 2 boys, and 1 unknown (that's us). Mathematics favors a boy. Anyway, the class was three hours and it covered how to hold the baby, how to change the diaper, when to change the diaper, how often, where to put the baby, how to bathe the baby, which products to use, how much clothing to put on, what kind of clothing, and so on and so on.

I found it to be tremendously helpful because I have no real experience with babies and I'm terrified of them. Especially NEWBORNS! But after this class, I feel better knowing the basics. I'm sure I'll forget once we bring the baby home and he/she starts crying and pooping. The bad news - the baby poops around 10-15 times a day in the beginning. The good news -- I get to practice cleaning and changing diapers 10-15 times a day...I'll be a pro in no time!

Anyway, this weekend we're taking our childbirth classes. Two days from 10-5 each day. These are the classes where Sandra will learn how to breathe and I will learn how to coach her (i.e. not be an annoying idiot) during labor. I hear some men pass out during these classes.

Should be loads of fun!

Kitchen Project

Kitchen has been demolished! Many thanks to my friend Adam, who came down to help on Saturday. To spend an entire Saturday hammering, breaking, cleaning, dumping, etc. in a cloud of dust is quite a lot to ask a friend, but he came through in the clutch!

Anyway, I learned a few things while doing the demolition:

• Not all water pipes have valves! We spent a good 45 minutes to an hour searching for the water valve to the sink, but we couldn't find it. We even opened up a couple of holes in the basement ceiling to see if it was hidden. Turns out that in older homes (ours was built in 1956) they didn't do that. So we turned off the water to the whole house, and then put a cap on the pipe. Actually, I had to first cut the pipe using this handy little cutting tool (think can opener, or wine foil cutter), and the caps just snap into place.

• Not all gas pipes have valves! Once again, we followed all of the pipes to the stove and nada. Same reason and same solution. However, unscrewing the pipe from the stove was impossible. The solution (after 2-3 hours of labor) was to dismantle the stove, detach the entire cooktop and basically rotate the whole thing until the pipe unscrewed. Think of it this way -- instead of turning the pipe to unscrew it, we turned the whole stove to unscrew the pipe! The leverage worked. And to cap a gas valve, you have to first put teflon tape around the rings of the pipe and then attach the cap. The tape is a thin, putty-like consistency, and it creates an air tight seal. Don't forget to turn the hot water heater back on or else it's cold showers in the morning!

• Older homes have really crappy insulation! I was shocked to find out that the kitchen insulation to the exterior wall was foil! One sheet of aluminum foil! Apparently this was the way it was done when oil was cheap and heating a home wasn't a cost issue. The insulation from the ceiling (attic) to the kitchen? Cotton!
  

Well, with all that said and done, the kitchen demolition went as well as could be expected. As a side benefit, I now have in intimate knowledge of all the piping in my house should anything ever come up. The whole thing is gutted and the electrician should be there Monday. I will post up pictures soon!

Kitchen Project - Post 1

One of the first things that we wanted to do when we moved in was to renovate the kitchen. It's incredibly outdated...1960's vintage. After a few months of living here, we've finally started (sort of)! We've chosen a contractor to do just about all of the work and they will start on Monday, the 13th. I, and some willing/unwilling friends, will have to complete demolition by then. The plans are to do the major demolition on Saturday/Sunday. I have the dumpster scheduled to come on Thursday. That will also give me a chance to finally clean out the garage from all of the other trash we created (carpets, doors, frames, etc.).

It took us longer than we expected to arrive at this point. We just never thought about the layout we wanted, the appliances, the cabinets, budget, etc. It's difficult to set aside time to think about those things while moving, working, growing a baby, eating and sleeping. And since it's a major project with a considerable cost, we want to make sure we met with different contractors, got different prices, options, layouts and whatever. Anyway, we're really excited that we've started!

Today is post #1 and I'll continue to post on the progress of the kitchen project. The thing is supposed to take 4-6 weeks (from the 13th). Today, the appliances arrived (we ordered them early because of a promotion GE was having through September) and I cleaned out the dining room to make way for our temporary kitchen. We'll be without a range/oven for this whole time, so we're planning on crock pot, microwave, George Foreman Grill, and take-out food for a while.

Our future appliances:


Kitchen that will meet Mr. Sledgehammer in a couple of days:

Adventures in Labor & Delivery

It's not a secret that I can be a bit of a nervous nellie. During this pregnancy I have tried to remain calm about the strange sensations and changes in my body as I was advised by my doctor that things would feel a little weird sometimes and still be perfectly normal. So between back pain and hunger pangs and feeling like I'd done 30000 crunches (which I assure you, is nowhere near the true number of crunches I've done - zero), I've just taken it all in stride as part of this 9-month process. Keeping my eye on the prize, the beautiful healthy baby I'm expecting after all of this, I've talked myself off the ledge of true anxiety more than once.

Except for last Thursday night.

While sitting on the bus home that night, I started to feel contractions. Not the usual Braxton-Hicks which have been plaguing me daily for about 15 weeks, but actual menstrual-cramp type contractions that started in my lower abdomen and wrapped around to my lower back. Everything I read, from multiple sources I consider reputable, said that this can be a sign of pre-term labor. At 31 weeks, I am certainly not ready for this baby to come out! His/her lungs are not adequately developed, and a baby born at 31 weeks would need to spend approximately a month in the NICU, a prospect that I would not wish upon any baby (or parent!). Although nervous, I talked myself off the Anxiety Ledge, my friends, because it was just the one time and it went away on its own.

Two hours later, again while sitting and not exerting myself in any way, I started feeling the cramps. I told Raph about it at that point, but we just decided to wait and see if they resolved on their own again. I was already drinking a bottle of water, so I just kept on sitting and drinking water until bed time.

I woke up at 1:15 am and felt the cramps again. Raph was asleep, so I quietly talked myself off The Ledge for the third time and quietly consulted my pregnancy books. Sign of pre-term labor, they said. Of course, it could also be nothing. The Ledge, this time, was more difficult to talk myself out of. A little after 2 am, I woke up Raph and told him what was going on. I said the two magic words: "I'm scared" and he was off and running. We got dressed and went to a nearby hospital. It was pouring rain, and we had (luckily) never been to this hospital so we relied on the Garmin GPS to get us there.

Hospitals in the middle of the night are eerie places. We were definitely nervous and freaked out. It took about 40 minutes just to "register" with the hospital, and then I was given a wristband and a cup for a urine sample. I provided this easily enough (yes, being 7+ months pregnant this is never difficult...) and was led into a small room with a hospital bed, where I was hooked up to a fetal heartrate monitor and a contraction monitor. I'm sure there are more scientific names for these, but really they were just little devices strapped to my belly with pink and blue velcro straps. It was immediately determined that the baby's heartrate was excellent, and that I was indeed having contractions. It would be a while to get the results from the urinanalysis, and there was a lot of waiting and answering of medical history questions. They decided to do an internal exam to check for dilation. This was PAINFUL. I didn't expect it to be so painful! But it was worth it in the end - I was NOT dilating, which was the best news we could have gotten. It's the reason we went to the hospital in the first place.

After all of this, they told me I was dehydrated, which is apparently the main cause of having these contractions too early in pregnancy. I can never believe when they tell me this because I drink so much water and spend a ton of time in the loo as it is. MORE WATER?? Yikes.

So - after 3 hours and almost 2 bags of IV fluids, I was discharged from the hospital with the water directive and an antibuiotic prescription (which my doctor later deemed unnecessary). Lessons learned: call the doctor first, no matter what time it is, drink my weight in water daily and loo visits bedamned, and go to the hospital where I'll be delivering because I'll already be in their system and it won't take them 40 minutes to register me!

Yard Waste

Normally, during football season, I like to plan on watching football all day. All day means 11:00 a.m to 11:00 p.m., breaking for bathroom, food and drink. This past Sunday, I woke up ready to rake some leaves in the backyard, as they had been piling up for the last few months. I started at 10:00, figuring it was going to take two hours. FOUR hours later, I filled up roughly 300 gallons of yard waste (10 - 30 gal. bags from Home Depot). I was pretty tired, sweaty and a little sunburnt, but at least the yard was clear of leaves. Surprisingly, not all of the grass was dead and I had to mow some of it later. Side note -- the grass in the front lawn is pretty much all dead. Apparently you have to water the grass (free homeowner tip #1). It's pretty horrible. At least the neighbors know they don't have the worst yard on the block. It's definitely my goal to have a beautiful lawn next spring.

Anyway, now I have 10 bags of lawn waste. Since my garbage company only takes kitchen and bath waste, what am I supposed to do with it? I'll tell you. I have to drive a few miles to the Cranford Conservation Center to dump it. Even better, I need to obtain a "permit" for $55 for the year (April - Mar). I'm not sure why they call it a permit. I don't have to apply for anything, I don't have to know anything, proove anything, waive anything, sign anything, etc. I just give some guy $55, and I have a permit. The permit itself is a hideous white sticker on the side of the car window. Goes nicely with the white/red parking sticker on the back windshield. We keep this up and our car will look like NASCAR soon. The center is open from 11-3 during the week, so I will have to go during the weekend. What can be better than driving around in a car full of yard waste on a cool Saturday morning? Ah, the suburbs!

Baby Update

Sandra, her mom and I went to our follow-up ultrasound last Wednesday and everything is going well. The baby is measuring a few weeks ahead and is already 3.5 lbs! Sandra can't believe it because the average 29 week fetus is 2.9lbs. Keep in mind that I was born 9lbs, 9oz. and Sandra was also 9lbs. Since this baby has 100% of our genes, chances are this will be a BIG BABY!

The whole thing took about 10 minutes, and here's the picture the doctor gave us. You can see the baby's face and little hands. Boy? Girl? We'll find out in a couple months!

Getting Ahead

Although I am taking this pregnancy one day at a time, it seems my unborn is taking it in leaps and bounds. At my appointment this past Saturday, when I was supposedly 27 weeks, 2 days pregnant, the doctor told me the baby is measuring ahead at 30 weeks! I'm going in for a follow-up ultrasound next Wednesday, and they will scan for fetal growth. This may end up adjusting my estimated due date, which is 12/3 per the doctor's office, but in my calculations and based on an early ultrasound (which I've read are the most accurate for gestational dating), my due date is 11/27. Neither I nor my mother nor my Aunt Nelly have ever thought I'd make it to 11/27, let alone 12/3. It'd be funny to share a birthday with the baby...we'll see what the experts say next week!

Garbage

Our garbage gets picked up every Monday and Thursday, so today is garbage day. Something I found out about moving to a house is that you have to PAY a company to come pick up your garbage. In New York, we were able to drop our trash down the compactor chute whenever we wanted. That garbage would be taken care of by the super or maintenance man and I never thought about it again. The New York Sanitation Department would pick it up. Here in Jersey, we had to find a list of trash companies and hire one.

Another inconvenience/cost -- we're allowed to put out two 32 gallon trash bins each day, which is a lot, but it can ONLY be kitchen and bath refuse. So, all that carpet and crap that I've ripped up is collecting in the garage (picture to come). Again, back in New York, you could just throw your over-sized crap in the basement, or whatever, and it's gone! Here, I have to pay extra for any non-kitchen/bath garbage pickup. I'm basically letting the trash pile up and then going to rent a 10 yard container to get rid of it ($$$). Finally, since I'm on a rant, Cranford picks up recycling every two weeks. You'd be surprised how many bottles, cans, newspapers, junk mail, etc. builds up in two weeks.

I guess that extra 3-4% New York City tax isn't a total scam.

Floors

Since the floors were getting done, Sandra and I were staying at her parents house these last few days (and we'll be there for Labor Day weekend) to the let the polyurethane dry and avoid the toxic fumes. I came back to the house today and I'm very pleased with the results. As you can see, there was quite a bit of crap on the floors from the rooms that had tiles removed. The floor guys did a great job. You can click on the pictures for a larger view.



I recommend these floor guys. Pleasant to deal with, reasonable rates, nice job. What more can you ask for?

Gustavo Molina
Xceptional Wood Floors
908.258.2901
http://www.xceptionalwoodfloors.tv

Two months in...

We've been in the new house for 2 months now. In that time, we've been busy. Especially Raph, bless his heart, because I've been very little help due to my advancing pregnancy (note the picture that was taken when I was 21 weeks, 3 days pregnant...or 5 months if you prefer). Raph has single-handedly removed all the carpeting from the living and dining rooms, the upstairs hall, and all three bedrooms. The additional work of removing the ugly tile that was inexplicably glued to the hardwood floors in the baby's room and the office fell to Raph as well. Luckily, we have floor guys coming in tomorrow and Thursday to sand and polish the upstairs. Finally, Raph can take a breather!

Raph's brother Rob is helping us out by doing a time-consuming and expensive treatment on the walls in the nursery. Eventually, the nursery will be painted and all the baseboards and trims will be brand-new and clean.

I have added a couple of small touches to the master bathroom (it feels funny to say that, as it is actually smaller than my walk-in closet in Forest Hills was). I bought a bath mat, hand towel, and waste basket to add some character to the place that did not compete with the overwhelming quantity of pink, but also did not enhance it. Good times.

I hope that after the floors are done, the house will start to get a little less cluttered since we'll be able to put away a good amount of the stuff that's currently still in boxes in the living room. I'm also dreaming of the day we can paint our bedroom and change the window treatments (1990 wants its floor-to-ceiling vertical blinds back, please). We need at least one room to spend time in that doesn't feel like a work-in-progress.

Don't get me started on the kitchen. Actually, I take that back. PLEASE, let's get started on the kitchen!

20 Week Sonogram

We completed the 20 week sonogram this past Tuesday. It's an anatomy exam, so the doctor checks for everything. You could see the spinal cord, the heart beating, legs, arms, etc. Pretty amazing stuff. We are waiting until the baby is born to find out the sex, but feel free to guess from the pictures!

A New Beginning - New Jersey

Hello Friends!

We've started this blog as a way to keep our friends and family updated on our lives as we move from our apartment lifestyle in New York City to the homeowner lifestyle in Cranford, New Jersey. Since we don't really "do" MySpace or Facebook, a blog seems most appropriate. We'll post up about any house projects we are tackling, as well as the things we're learning about home ownership. We'll also be posting updates on the baby!

We officially moved in July and a lot has already happened, so we'll be playing catch-up for a little while.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy.

Love,

Raph & Sandra