Grace and Hazel

If the blog posts have been slow lately, it is partially because I’ve been busy working and partially because this baby doesn’t do anything! I’m not looking for her to do differential equations on an abacus or name all 5 Beatles, but we’ve known her for a lifetime and we are looking for a little ACTION. I think Jenn is starting to talk to herself for lack of feedback from her offspring. She’s starting to have full conversations with Lincoln and he is making more sense than she is.

Over the past few months, our lives have been filled with drama and action. As a result, I have had a lot of scary, emotional, triumphant, chaotic things to write about. I wouldn’t ask for those times back, but they sure were meaty. Those posts had people racing home to their computers. Those people wept! They bought Costco-sized Kleenex boxes! They begged for more!

On the list of things Grace does today:

• Looks at stuff
• Cries
• Sleeps
• Eats
• Fills a diaper
• Sucks on a pacifier (though arguably this is the same a eating with less payout)
• Cries
• Is Cute
• Cries
• Grows

Today, we report on the last one that Grace has reached the amazing weight of 10 lbs!

While this is very exciting to some people, other people are starting to realize that we have a baby…a normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill, cute-as-a-button, miracle baby.

We are going to need your help Grace. For the sake of the readers, let’s see some smiles, work on a giggle, speak in a language that no one understands, maybe try out the abacus, and keep up the cute.

I think Grace just learned how to Rap!

People on the street often stop us and say “Cute Baby! What does a kid like that cost?”

Well, that depends on who you ask.

If you are CPMC (the hospital), you would answer “$310,802.26!” That is the number that they requested for both Jenn and Grace for all of their bills from the time that this roller coaster left the platform, until they both came home. Two thirds of that number is for Grace, of course, for all of her wonderful NICU nights with doctors, nurses and Pay-Per-View movies.

If you are TIBCO (my employer), you would say “$196,259.91!” This is the number that the insurance company came to after they cut down the bill with discounts, denials and double talk. TIBCO self-insures, which means that they have an insurance company to administer our health plan and find those discounts, but they cover the expenses from the company coffers. Apparently this makes sense on average…until a family like ours comes along!

Our answer is my favorite. We simply say “one G”…$1000.00!

That is the cost of the hospital copay that we have to cover for both of my happy and healthy girls.

Aunt Julie came to help out yesterday and took these great shots (Thanks for the help!).

The last one is the first known smile captured in the wild (even though it was in her sleep). To date, all we get is the pirate face that she is showing in Picture 3. We are really looking forward to seeing one of those smiles in reaction to something we do. Believe me, Grace, Mommy and Daddy are very entertaining, even if you won’t admit it yet.

Tummy time makes Grace a little angry but it’s for her own good and you haven’t seen her moving for a little while, plus she’s cute when she’s mad.

Linus had to fill Nana’s shoes for a few minutes today and babysit Grace. Good dog! If only Lincoln’s caretaking skills were as solid!

FW: Cutie Girl!!!

Sent from Carol’s iPhone!

It has been a few days since I posted here. Mostly, that is because it was Father’s Day this weekend and I went out of my way to do nothing. There is an art to doing nothing. Doing nothing is nearly impossible and, in fact, doing nothing isn’t really even nothing. I think nothing is completely misunderstood. In the day’s leading up to Father’s Day, when my wonderful wife asked me what I wanted to do, I knew that the saying “nothing” would only lead to trouble. Nothing sounds duller than nothing. So I said “Can I get back to you?” and “I’ll have something tomorrow” and so on and so on, deftly deflecting the question until the perfect plan appeared.

I will speak for the global Dads now and say that what we want to do is simply have an easy day. In general, it is our job, day after day, week after week to solve problems and fix things. In celebration of ourselves, we want a day that is full of nothing. Nothing difficult. Nothing important. Nothing uncomfortable. Nothing stressful.

Greeting card racks are full of depictions of this nothing in the form of fishing, golfing, napping, playing with dogs, napping with dogs, fishing with beer, golfing with fish etc etc etc. Stereotypical, maybe, but all of these are examples of things that don’t add stress to our lives (with the possible exception of golf).

For my part, my Father’s Day was a roaring success. We packed up the car with the family, some Whole Foods bread and cheese, some wine and beer and headed for the warmest, quietest spot we could. Yesterday, that was Lafayette Reservoir. Our friends the Gellmans met us there and we sat under a tree, listened to music, relaxed and did nothing.

Perfect.

The first rule of Father's Day…NEVER wake a sleeping dad!