September Roundup

I wish I could report that the whole family is 100% healthy, but these darn colds have been dragging on for most of the month. However, Andrea and Garrett are both doing much better.

Garrett is exploring more than ever, he's quite comfortable walking along walls. He can even stand unassisted next to a support for short periods. Basically we're just waiting for him to let go and charge across the room unaided. My favorite new skill is that Garrett has learned to clap his hands. When our neighbor sings "If you're happy and you know it..." he stops whatever he is doing and begins clapping!

I (Tom) had a wonderful birthday month with celebrations over a week long period. Of course, we are gearing up for next month when our little monkey will turn one year old.

My biggest news of the month was the beginning of the IMS program. I shared the weekend with an amazing group of faculty & students. Spending an entire weekend concentrating on movement is such an invigorating experience. Even though I should have been tired on Sunday night, I felt absolutely charged.

This month also included the first rollout of software at my new job (I started in August). That meant that the first two weeks of September included more than 50 hours in the office. When you add in driving time, it left very little room for anything else, but I feel like an important part of this great team.

Andrea's class at Citrus College is experiencing student creep. The two sections of this class are allowing students to come to class in the opposite section and Andrea's class is growing each week. As I have always known, once students (or clients) get a sense of Andrea's teaching, they keep coming back!

Road to Recovery

I am sorry to report that both Andrea and Garrett have been ill this week. Last Saturday night Garrett had a lot of difficulty sleeping, and his temperature was elevated. Sunday was the worst with his temp around 101.5 all day. Fortunately by Sunday it was lower, but it has stayed in the 100 range this week, dipping but never staying down.

Andrea has been fighting a cold for quite a while, but putting so much energy into caring for Garrett at the sacrifice of sleep made it worse. The last few days Andrea has come home from class or teaching totally exhausted, achy and feverish. We're planning as quiet a weekend as possible to help her recover. Hopefully I'll have good news next week.

Getting Settled

I spent Thursday morning at Tutor Time with Garrett so he could get more used to being there. He enjoyed exploring the new environment, but he got upset anytime he thought I might be leaving. After Andrea's class she met us there and I headed to work. As I was leaving I noticed that the LCD in the Tutor Time entry was flashing pictures from Wednesday of Garrett on the playground.

Time for a Tutor?

So a super brief roundup for anyone who gets all their Garrett related info from this page: Garrett has crawled, then creeped, and is now able to pull himself up to standing on any piece of furniture or person he reaches. Garrett got the top two front teeth almost simltaneously, followed by the two bottom front teeth. It was only a few weeks later that te next two top teeth appeared. Garrett is still quite vocal, and is saying less actual words but more unique compund sounds than before. He loves baths and playing outside, especially riding in his jeep. He enjoys cheerios and fruit & vegetable puffs, but still likes milk best.

So today was Garrett's first day at Tutor Time, which is a brand new day care center that opened up close to our house. I think it was more traumatic for Andrea than for Garrett, but she did report he was upset when she left thee room. Fortunately he did not have to start out with a ful day there and hopefully as he gets accustomed to it, he will enjoy his time there.

Diverse Solutions Doing Well

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Birthday Bash

When Andrea put Garrett in bed next to me @ 8:45, she never imagined that he'd sleep for 2 hours. I woke up to him cooing at 10:45 feeling well rested, Andrea was in the middle of teaching as a sub for InnerWorks.

She came home and everyone had lunch before Andrea went to her CPR Certification and Garrett and I went to Jeanne's birthday party. Jeanne is the 1 year old daughter of Charlie and Marilee who both worked at ECT when I started there. Garrett enjoyed his first kids birthday and sat for the first time in the Bumbo chair that Marilee is loaning us, since Jeanne has outgrown it.

On the way home I talked to Andrea on the phone and found out that she was already home. We played with Garrett and prepared the house for our guests, Grandma and Aunt Betsy. They came to dinner and spent time with Garrett. We used this excuse to prepare the Costco chicken pot pie, which could have fed 8 people. We sent them home late and went to bed soon after. Overall, it was a very fun day.

Pop Quiz

This morning before we got out of bed, we had Garrett lying in between Garrett and I. Andrea said to him, "do you know the Daddy?" and he turned and looked at me. Then she said, "which one is the Momma?", and he turned back to her. Next she asked, "which one is Katie?", and he turned farther and pointed into the bed, like he was trying to point downstairs. Finally, she asked, "which one is Garrett?", and he pulled his arms in! I couldn't believe that he would be able to signal all four of us. We asked him about each parent a few more times to see if he could duplicate and he did keep turning to each of us on cue. However, on about the fourth tie he started to get antsy, as if to say he'd gotten tired of the game.

Tasty Fingers

Today was the first day that Garrett found two fingers to suck on in order to pacify himself. When I got home from Martial Arts, he was in his swing, with his two fingers in hos mouth and he was totally asleep. He was so beautiful, but it was impossible to capture how cute it was in a picture. It's one of those joys you get to experience as the parent that you cannot share, but trust me that it was adorable.

Worker Bee

Garrett came to work tonight. Andrea was going to a class and a meeting, preparing for the course she'll be teaching at Citrus next fall, and I was still at work trying to catchup on emails, so Andrea dropped him off to me at work just before 5.

A few people came by to see him after hearing some cooing. At first I was rocking the stroller with one hand and writing emails with the other, but I wasn't doing either very well, so I took back my hand to finish typing. Garrett started talking and I figured I would have to finish the rest from home, but after a minute, he quieted down and fell asleep.

I ended up staying at work for another hour while he slept, which let me finish a list of things I'd been meaning to take care of. The latest projection is that I'll be spending a week in China in mid to late March, doing training and troubleshooting. The whole thing depends on a test they will be running at the site next week. If it goes well, we'll set a date and make arrangements.

After finishing at work, we stopped at Target for diapers, then headed home and got their just before Andrea. Garrett woke up a few times, but kept going back to sleep. Once we got home he was wide awake and pretty full of energy all nght. For dinner we made ginger-lime chicken from a recipe Danielle provided.

Garrett and I played until bedtime. He wore me out, so I put him in his big swing and he jabbered for several minutes before falling asleep. I went to bed before Andrea, but she told me that Garrett only woke up slightly while getting ready for bed and slept in his bassinet until 5am.

Rolley Poley

When I got home from Martial Arts tonight, Andrea asked if I was ready for a surprise. She laid Garrett down on his tummy and he rolled his head around for a few seconds before lifting it up. Next he started looking over his shoulder, as if there was a toy directly above him that he wanted to see. He paused on his side as if preparing for the big finish, then suddenly rolled onto his back!

He's been scootching and rolling around for a while, but tonight he made his first roll. It happened while I was gone; Andrea actually missed his first roll too. She looked away for a couple seconds and suddenly he was on his back! She videoed him twice after that before I got home, so he did it four times tonight.

State of the Union

Since it is Tuesday, Andrea spent the evening teaching and taking Jazz, so Garrett and I were home with Katie. Tonight Garrett and I watched the State of the Union address. I took this opportunity to explain to Garrett several concepts: President, Congress (Senate and House), Supreme Court, Speaker of the House, Vice President (and role in the Senate), and State of the Union. He responded with an emphatic "booha... eeeeyaaa!".

I was interested when President Bush spoke about increased spending on Alternative Fuels, and I was definitely interested in his education initiatives, since Garrett will be a direct recipient of this. But as usual, the State of the Union address was mostly grand pronouncements and very little substance. After the first 15 minutes, Garrett was hungry, so he ate one bottle and burped, then ate a second bottle through most of the rest. About an hour into the speech, Garrett fell asleep, so I set him down in his carseat and tried to change the laundry. However, this woke him almost immediately, so I buckled him in and whisked him off to Trader Joes, which has become a Tuesday night tradition in the past few weeks. I decided to forgo the frontpack and shopped with his stroller. We ran through the store in less than half an hour, but I forgot a few things (hindsight is 20/20).

Andrea was home before us and Garrett had fallen asleep in the last 5 minutes of the drive home, so Andrea pumped while I started dinner. We watched Gilmore Girls while we ate, and now I'm going to finish up some work, while Garrett is asleep in his bassinet. Andrea wants to do some cleaning because Danielle is coming to watch Garrett tomorrow, but she's so tired that I don't think she'll be able to get much done. Depending on how long I am working, I plan to do some too, but the night has already gotten pretty late.

Strikes and Spares

Tonight we met the gang (Darci, Danielle, Justin, and Natalie) at Lucky Strike Bowling Alley at the Block in Orange. We had a great time bowling and visiting. The third game was our wild game, where people bowled in funny ways (left handed, granny style, backwards through the legs) and Andrea got the best score of the evening. She even scored her first strike of the night using her left hand. Overall we had a great time and we're looking forward to meeting again in February.

Garrett was very curious when we first arrived, then became very upset when he got hungry. Andrea was feeding him and still bowling her frames and after a little while he calmed down. I rocked him to sleep and he slept in his stroller for almost a whole game. After that he played a little while with different people, but was getting tired again as we were finishing up. He fell asleep on the carride home and woke up to eat when we arrived. Then we all got ready and headed to bed.

Martial Artist in the Making

Tonight Andrea brought Garrett to United Studios during the break between the two classes so that I could introduce (show off) Garrett to people. He met Sensei John and Sam in the entryway. Then we ducked into the office so he could meet Sensei Alan. Alan was showing Garrett how to make punching movements with his arms. Garrett decided to grab hold of a finger with each of his hands. Then he started pulling them in opposite directions, until Alan said "hey, that kinda hurts". I have to admit, I have never gotten a 3rd Degree Black Belt in a submission hold, and Garrett did it on his first visit!

Daddy Day Care, Week 2

Tonight I was home alone with Garrett for the second week of Andrea's new Pilates class in Rancho Cucamonga. About 10 minutes after Andrea left, Garrett told me that he was hungry and proceeded to down almost 4 ounces of milk in under one hour! This obviously wore him out because he fell asleep soon after. I saw Katie pacing around (her potty signal), so I set Garrett down in the Pack 'n Play and realized he was asleep! After letting Katie roam outside for a few minutes, I took advantage of Garrett's nap to start the bottle sterilizer and wash a few dishes. However, as soon as I started heading for the bathroom, Garrett woke up!

He was pretty happy playing until Andrea's mom called. I think he didn't like being ignored while I was talking, so he started to cry. Once I said goodbye, I played with him.

Andrea makes everything Grand...

This morning Garrett was super smiley. Andrea set him next to me in bed while she walked and fed Katie, then we all had breakfast together. Andrea was teaching at the Grand Opening of a performing arts studio, so she got ready and Garrett played on his playmat. Garrett first spit up on his pajama, then during a diaper change, he peed all over the changing pad, so he went in the bath too.

As Andrea was leaving, Garrett got super hungry. Andrea felt guilty leaving him, but needed to go so after a few minutes on the breast, I fed him a bottle. After that he fell asleep in my arms and I cuddled him for about an hour. He woke up with a wet diaper, but fell back asleep after he was changed, so I transferred him into his carseat and he slept for another hour, while I did some housework. Andrea saw a lot of babies at the opening and missed her little man. The moment Andrea walked through the door, he woke up (breast-dar sensors were flashing).

After a good feeding, we all went to Trader Joes together. Garrett slept through most of the shopping, but woke up as we were packing up the car. Once we got home, we rocked Garrett to sleep so we could put away the groceries and prepare for our guests.

Around 6:30 Mom and Aunt Betsy arrived to visit and see our Christmas Tree. Of course, Garrett continued sleeping for the first hour that they were there. We had dinner and everybody got to hold Garrett. Aunt Betsy made some funny faces and took some silly pictures of Garrett in his grandma's arms. Just after midnight, we sent them home and did some cleanup before bed. Garrett slept in his bassinet for two hours without interuption before waking for a night feeding.

Potty Monster

Garrett woke up around 6am with lots of grunting until more than an hour later he finally pooped. Then, he pulled one of his infamous "diaper duos", as soon as Andrea put a new diaper on he pooped again. It seems like we've done nothing but change diapers today (even more than usual). His record breaking total was 21 (you can only imagine how much he needed to eat in order to pee that many times). No wonder Andrea felt that she got nothing done today - the day was consumed by feedings and diaper changes, which have become a lengthy process filled with singing and a "zurburt" or two on the belly. The good news is that he likes diaper changing time! And its all because Andrea mentioned how much she hates the Baby Dry diaper and she wanted to use them up. Garrett understood and took care of the duty immediately!

A sign that he is hungry is when he eats his fist, which he has been doing quite often the last few days. Sometimes Garrett tries to fit both hands in his mouth. Today he did it basically any time he was not eating. He loves his "handburger".

I ran out to get some bagels for breakfast and Andrea showered. We enjoyed breakfast together (all three ate) and then we went for a family walk. When we got back to the house Garrett woke up with an explosive poop, which signaled his bath time. We bathed him and got him dressed, then took some pictures and video of him kicking and making noises.

I went to Vons to get a few things for our lunch and heavy cream to go with dessert for tonight. One of our Christmas presents was a cream whipper: pour in heavy cream and attach a NO2 cartridge and the whipper does the rest, instant whipped cream! We had planned to use it with an English Toffee Cake for dessert, but our plans changed.

Mom and Aunt Betsy were planning to come to our house for dinner so they could see our Christmas tree. Unfortunately their yorkshire terrier, Demi Tasse, is ill; the vet is waiting for lab results to make a diagnosis, but the x-ray suggests kidney failure on one side. Because of this we cancelled our plans for tonight. I hope she will get well soon!



Andrea and Garrett fell asleep on the couch about 7pm and slept until 9pm. When they woke up, we made dinner while Garrett played with his rocking chair. He has figured out how to kick in a rhythmic pattern to make the chair rock. After dinner we opened Hannukah present #5, a travel mobile that goes in Andrea's car. When Garrett got fussy, Andrea fed him and he fell asleep. Then, I placed him in the bassinet, where he slept for over an hour.

Lint Catcher

Garrett does not seem to like sleeping in his cradle. We have tried to put him in it several times, but he only stays asleep for 5 minutes or so. Maybe he knows we are not at home, so he wants to stay close to the parents! The same is true with our other baby. Katie always sleeps in bed with us when we stay somewhere, but she'll never stay in bed with us at home (unless its just one parent in bed).

This morning I slept in until 1pm! Andrea and Garrett were up at 10:30, but they let me sleep. We had a caprese sandwich for lunch, followed by bread pudding with homemade vanilla sauce, hot tea, and pepparkakor (Swedish Ginger Snaps). Garrett loves to be bounced like he is riding on a horse, the faster and wilder the better. While Andrea was playing with Garrett she sang "Giddy 'up, giddy 'up, giddy 'up, let's go!", which prompted me to continue singing the song, Sleigh Ride. Andrea did not realize that that line came from a Christmas Carole. I tried to teach Andrea the words, but we soon realized that Andrea is not an auditory learner. It has become Andrea's favorite Christmas Carole, and I promised to write out the lyrics for her.

We have been noticing lint in Garrett's toes for some time, but today it is especially bad. In fact, today he even collected lint between his fingers because he often grasps things and then keeps his hand closed, trapping lots of lint. His red christmas pants create a lot of it that got stuck everwhere.

By the time we were thinking about packing up it was 3:30pm and we feared we would hit rush hour traffic home, so we decided to stay until it passed. However, we did enlist Mariann's gardners to help me load our couch into the Explorer. We had hoped to make it home in time to ask our neighbor, Cy, for help carrying the couch into the house, but we did not leave Coto until 9:30pm.

Garrett woke up upon arriving home, but we needed to unload the couch together, so we entrusted him to our faithful friend, Mr Vacuum Cleaner, who sang his monotonous song to Garrett and put him to sleep. With Garrett and Katie staying warm upstairs, I brought in all of the pillows, while Andrea swiffed the floor where the couch goes. I pulled the car up as close as possible, and we carried it into the house. The hardest part was lifting it above waist-level to clear our back gate. Andrea's elbows were sore from baring so much weight and I felt guilty for having her lift it.

Once we attached new floor savers on the bottom, we slid it into place. We spent some time rearranging the pillows to try to find the right look. The new pattern is very elegant and warm and goes beautifully with the lighter color on the wall and the wood laminate. The seat cushions have gone from being too squishy to being a little too firm, but I am sure that sitting on the couch for a bit will soften them up.

Just as we sat down on the couch for the first time, Garrett started waking up. Andrea got ready for bed and fed him, part of their nighttime ritual. I took the opportunity to play with our new bottle sterilizer and start some laundry, then I came to bed around Garrett's second night feeding.

Since Garrett went to bed before opening his Hannukah gift # 4, we opened it the next day. It was a Play'n View with lights and sounds plus a mirror for my car. Now both Andrea and I will be able to see Garrett when we drive alone and he will have some fixed entertainment for car rides.

Always Up for Costco

This morning I brought Garrett downstairs earlier than yesterday, between 7:30 and 8:30, then went back to bed until about 10. We saw Andrea's dad before he left for his office, then Andrea and I had some breakfast, and a latte with Mariann (espresso for Mariann and me, Chai for Andrea). We spent most of the day lounging in our pajamas. Garrett was so smiley that we had a photo shoot on the couch.

Mariann told us she was interested in buying a video camera as a training tool for riding. She wanted our advice on selecting one. The prices on digital cameras have dropped amazingly. With new technology (hard drives and high definition) still several years from coming to the consumer market, it's basically a matter of choosing your favorite brand. There's no better place to purchase electronics than Costco, both price and their unbelievable return policy, so we planned an outting for the evening. Ultimately, Mariann selected the Panasonic model that Costco carries. As much as I am a fan of Sony products, I could not justify encouraging her to spend an additional hundred dollars when the Panasonic will function perfectly well.

Garrett was so calm during the entire trip. He was happy while I pushed him around the electronics and DVD sections, then he fell asleep while we compared Camcorder models. He got a little upset on the ride home, but quickly calmed and slept for the rest of the ride.

As we were leaving Costco, an employee who knows that Mariann is from Sweden approached me speaking Swedish. I did not hear him at first, but recognized that he was not speaking English. When I looked over at Mariann and she obviously understood, I realized he was speaking Swedish. Mariann answered for me that I "talar inte svenska". He and Mariann conversed in Swedish for several minutes and he spoke to Andrea as well, who understood the conversation. When we were loading the car, another Costco employee asked uswhat language we were speaking, and then wanted to know how to say something in Swedish. Per his request, Mariann and Andrea taught him to say "hurry up". This whole experience reminded me how much I have want to learn to speak Swedish. the first summer that Andrea and I lived in our house, I suggested we should speak exclusively Swedish; it was a very quiet hour!

Once we arrived back at their house, I charged up the battery and familiarized myself with the camera briefly as Mariann prepared dinner. We had intended to go over the cameras functions tonight, but started watching a movie after we ate, and Mariann fell asleep almost immediately. Andrea and I were interested initially in the story about foreign women imprisoned in Singapore by the Japanese during World War II, but decided to shut it after the third scene of graphic violence (when they hurt the dog, that was the last straw!).

Garrett was grunting like he was wanting to poop, so we put him on his play mat. Kicking normally helps him go! Only 5 minutes later, we heard the sound of thunder. Garrett had pooped!

Garrett's third Hannukah present was a butterfly with a mirror in the center that goes in Andrea's car, to let her see Garrett from the driver's seat. He smiled at the butterfly, and played with it as Mormor moved it around in front of him. The butterfly liked to kiss Garrett's nose and say "Puhpsies".

We spent some time going back through Andrea's calendar, compiling items for a pregnancy review blog entry. I will link to it when it is complete, but it will be dated October 13th and mention the major events in the 9 months after Garrett was conceived. When Garrett woke up we moved upstairs and continued reviewing the calendar until I fell asleep holding the sidekick.

At 3am, Garrett woke up with a wet diaper, so I brought him downstairs to change him, which woke up Mariann. Andrea helped her rinse a few dishes and take the dogs out. Garrett decided he wanted to eat, so we all had an after-midnight snack and returned to bed at 5am.

Recuperation Day

After getting to bed at 4am, everyone was pretty sleepy. I was rocking Garrett between 9:30 and 10:30, when Andrea brought her boys back to bed. After that I slept until 1pm and woke up in time for a yummy sausage omelete.

Afterwards, I was burping Garrett when he fell asleep on my chest. He
slept as I read and Andrea took a bath. Then we swapped so I could
shower and get dressed.

For the second night of Hannukah, Garrett's gift included 3 Onesies and 2 pairs of socks and a stuffed Zebra. The Zebra perfectly matched his green and blue outfit, a gift from Mormor.

Tonight's dinner was a recombination of items from Christmas Eve dinner, startng with the pate. Then we had meatballs with cabbage, followed by lox, and then ham with squash.

After the main course, we played a card game called 500 (although we modified to only play to 200, which took an hour and a half). Garrett slept through most of the card game, but woke up for the last round and helped Mormor play. After cards, we enjoyed a very diverse cheese plate, followed with frangelico cake and espresso.

At the end of the cheese course Garrett got very upset. He has spit up a lot more than usual today. We changed him into pajamas and Andrea fed him, but he seemed unable to focus on eatting. After a long burping he settled down to eat and fall asleep. While Andrea and Garrett slept on the sofa, I showed Ron how to load music from CDs onto his iPod and imported enough music to fill it.

Then I prepared for bed (and wrote this blog entry) before waking Andrea and going to bed.

On the First Day of Christmakkah...

When I first woke up this morning there was a thick layer of white out the window, so I sang White Christmas to Garrett. Of course, being Southern California, it was a super thick fog rather than snow. We all fell back asleep for a little while. Once we got up, we brought Garrett downstairs to see that Santa had filled his stocking with Monkey themed gifts: a stuffed monkey, a "5 Little Monkeys" book, and another book about monkeys "Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb

After some breakfast, we got ready for the day, and dressed Garrett in his "Baby's First Christmas" outfit. We were the first guests to arrive at Mom and Aunt Betsy's house, so we chatted and unloaded our presents under their tree. My Uncle Andy and his girlfriend, Carole, arrived next, followed by Aunt Bev, Rachel and Betsy. Bill is sick this Christmas, so he stayed home with my uncle, Shawn. Once everyone got settled we started exchanging gifts. With my family, the process is quite different than with the Cordovas. There is only one gift opened at a time and the gifts tend to be wrapped individually. The advantage to this system is that you can see what each person is giving to the other person; however, the gift exchanged takes significantly longer (cumulatively we spent about six hours exchanging gifts, and had a fun time doing so).

As Andrea and I expected, people were especially generous with gifts for Garrett, since it was his first Christmas. He received lots of clothes and toys, with an emphasis from one branch of the family tree on basketball themed gifts ;-)

We enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner with baked potatoes, a corn casserole, salad and rolls. During dinner, we received a phone call from my cousin Helen, who was celebrating Christmas in Nashville, Tennessee. She sent her congratulations to Andrea and I on Garrett's birth and a Merry Christmas wish for all. Dessert included an amaretto cake that was a gift to Mom and Betsy from Andrea's parents with homemade Devonshire cream to accompany it. There were also cookies, peppermint bark and fudge on the table!

Being the first day of Hannukah, we also opened Garrett's first Hannukah present. After describing the festival of lights to Garrett, someone said "we should get this on video". As soon as we pulled out the video camera Garrett grinned from ear to ear! It was one of the biggest smiles in a day filled with big smiles (in a week that has been categorized by his increasing smiles!). After describing the festival again for posterity we unwrapped his "Little Piggies" hand puppet & book combo and we read him the story right away.

After the presents were opened and the other guests were heading home, Garrett fell asleep on Andrea's chest while I quickly tried to fix a problem with the component video on Mom and Betsy's new home theater set-up. Apparently my diagnosis of a bad dvd player was incorrect, so we reconnected the cables as they had been and then I packed up the car. Garrett slept the whole ride back to Coto de Caza and stayed asleep while the parents got ready for bed. However, he woke up as we transferred him into his cradle, too hungry to sleep by himself, so Andrea fed him before we all
fell asleep for the night. Merry Christmas (and Happy Hannukah) to all, and to all a good night.