Carol's Blog

Our first trip to the ER

2009-11-02T02:45:45Z

Andrew and I were enjoying a nice, quiet Sunday morning earlier today, when there was a bit of an accident. He is now able to climb on things, and climbed into his seat at the table for the first time yesterday. Well this morning he was trying to climb onto one of the chairs for his toddler table, and decided to use his riding toy as a step. The toy went flying out from under him, and he did quite an impressive sideways spin, and landed his head on the patio door tracks. I was two feet away from him, and immediately jumped to pick him up. Now he can usually shrug off a head bump or fall pretty easily, but this time he started crying hysterically. I took him into his room and we got his blankies and we sat in the rocking chair until he calmed down. He did say "head hurt", but he seemed better, so we went out to the living room and he crawled up on the sofa with a book. I sat down next to him, which was when I noticed there was quite a bit of blood in his hair. FREAK OUT. Brian was at work this morning, so being by myself was a bit unnerving. I tried to call Brian, but he didn't answer. Then I snapped a picture on my phone and sent it to him. Nothing. Sent a text, and finally got him to call me back. He hadn't gotten the picture yet, so I resent it. His reply: Take him to the hospital. Now, I know I can have the tendency to worry and blow things up to be bigger than they might be, which is why I love Brian. He grounds me when I need it. But to hear his response scared the poo out of me.

There is a Children's Urgent Care center a few miles away from us, but of course they weren't going to be open for another couple of hours, so we ended up going to the Children's hospital downtown. Driving there was probably more nerve-racking than the drive to the hospital after my water broke. I realized on the drive down there that today was November 1st, which means that all the interns have just started a new month of rotations. Great. That doesn't make me feel much better. We get to the ER, and I walk in and have no idea where to go. We get checked in, when I get a surprised "has he never been here before?!" I guess that means I have been doing a good job so far as a mother. Whew. They took us back to triage, weigh him (34 pounds!) and take his temperature, and then head back to get checked out. The verdict was stitches were needed, and they applied a numbing gel that had to sit for 30 minutes, and then wrapped his head in a bandage. We sat and read books and watched some tv, and then it was time for the dreaded stitches. Holding down your own child while they are getting their head sewn back together is not what I call enjoyable. And if you've ever experienced Andrew's muscular power, I'm sure you can imagine that it wasn't easy. The 3 stitches seemed to take an eternity, and both Andrew and I were crying. I mean, I like to sew and all, but seeing the needle go into your child's head made me want to vomit. They finished up, and sent us on our way. In and out in less than an hour, and I will say I am impressed with the Children's ER so far.

Brian and I were joking tonight that maybe we should put a helmet on Andrew. Upon hearing that, he started yelling "helmet, helmet!" and seemed to like the idea. But by the end of the evening Andrew was back to his old self, and was even practicing his dive rolls in the living room. I have a feeling this won't be the last time we get stitches.

What a month...

2009-11-01T01:32:43Z

And I'm glad it's over. Brian has been working nights this past month, which just seems to throw us all for a loop. He has to be there at 6 pm, and works until 7 am. My school starts at 7:40 am, and for me to get Andrew to daycare and get to work on time, we generally leave around 7. So we would try to get everyone together from 4-5:30 pm and eat an early dinner together before Brian would have to go in to work. Because I'm not staying after school, I've been having to bring work home with me each night, which I'm not really fond of. For some reason this year school has seemed a bit more overwhelming, possibly because I have 4 different classes I'm teaching. Next semester there are only 3 preps, so I'm hoping things will slow down then.

Before I forget, there are new pictures up for September and October.

Andrew and I had a busy month, and tried to fit in as many activities as we could. This fall we have been taking a mommy and me music class one night each week, which both of us love. There is lots of singing, playing different instruments, and movement. I'm determined that Andrew will be able to keep a beat, as his father can be somewhat challenged at times. Hee hee. Andrew has been sitting on the potty a little bit, but hasn't been really doing anything yet. We're just happy he'll sit on it, because for a while he was scared of it. Baby steps!

We were able to go to a kids' fall festival with his friend, Joe, and the boys had such a good time. The boys have been friends for a while, as they went to the same daycare and I also work with Joe's mom. I love how, even at such a young age, they do make friends. Andrew also helped me make some Halloween cookies, but of course he won't eat them. I just don't understand how a child with Brian and my genes refuses to eat ice cream, cake, and some types of cookies.

We also attended a family costume party, which was a lot of fun. Brian was a very good sport and dressed up like the Cat in the Hat, face paint an all. Andrew loves all the Dr. Seuss books, and thought it was pretty cool that his dad was the Cat! We managed to make it to the pumpkin patch the week of Halloween, and picked out a couple of pumpkins. Andrew wasn't very interested in carving them, but I tried. Here in central Ohio they tend to pick a different night to celebrate "Beggar's Night", and it was on the 29th this year. I don't know why they decide to change the day of the celebration, but they do. Weird. Andrew got to Trick or Treat with a few of our neighbor's kids, and with their leading he quickly got the hang of it. His favorite treats were the fruit snacks and suckers. We also went to visit his friend Joe so we could get pictures of the boys in their costumes, like last year.

This year:

Last year:

Fall fun

2009-10-19T14:37:11Z

Andrew and I had such a good weekend together, and he is really starting to show me he is not a little baby anymore. He has become very helpful around the house, throwing things in the trash and putting his toys away. He has gotten much better at brushing his teeth, and has even attempted the potty a few times. He got his hair cut again this weekend, and didn't cry at all.

Weekends like these are when I feel like I have the hang of this whole mom business, and love every minute.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Rock Chalk!

2009-09-14T10:35:23Z

There is absolutely no brainwashing going on here...

Even more pictures

2009-08-18T01:38:40Z

I posted pictures from February and March of this year. I apologize for the quality of some of the pictures. The pictures are from the time when I did not have my usual camera, and I was taking pictures with our video camera, which doesn't have the same picture quality.

Summer updates

2009-08-17T04:03:47Z

As we know, Andrew is a fan of balls of any kind. One of the things he loves to do is throw them down the stairs in our house. Today I came home from the grocery store to find a tomato on the stairs. Brian had no idea how it got there.

Brian has been on vacation this past week, and today was a bit of a last hurrah for the summer as I go back to work this week as well. This morning we went on a 10 mile bike ride on the Heritage Rail Trail, and then went for a swim at the Y this afternoon. A great summer day!

I've finally posted some pictures to the web site from June and August. I'm going to try to get some from last winter up soon, too.

shaffercarol @ 2009-07-31T21:03:00

2009-08-01T01:20:57Z

I have found that this has been the summer of avoiding the computer. I apologize for the lack of updates, and that I haven't posted many new pictures to our website. Part of the reason is that it is very hard to be on the computer with Andrew around. If he sees me on it, he wants to be on it, too. I finally talked him into giving me the mouse the other day, and showed him that we could find Elmo on the computer. Instant hit! For some reason, last weekend Andrew decided that Elmo rocks. We now watch our 2 Elmo dvds several times each day. I guess we're making up for lost time when Andrew wouldn't watch anything!

I have also started a big project this summer, which is consuming all of my Andrew-free time. Normally during the summers I like to find something to focus on. The last few summers I have had to take it easy because I was either pregnant or taking care of Andrew. This summer I decided it was time to take on a whopper, and I have started refinishing our dining room furniture. The set was given to us about 5 years ago by my Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda. The finish on it had some sun damage and just a lot of wear and tear, but the wood itself was still in good condition. Out came the sander, and away we went! I have completed the 4 chairs, and will start next week on the table and buffet. The process involves lots of sanding, a few coats of milk paint, and then polyurethane. I am also going to be replacing the wood under the seats, and will recover the cushions. I think the chairs have turned out great, and all the hard work is paying off. I'll post some before and after pictures once the work is done. My goal is to have it done before school starts on the 25th. It just might happen!

Lastly, we are all very happy to have some special visitors. Grandma and Grandpa B are in town! They made the long journey from Colorado, and Andrew is enjoying every minute of their attention. We have some plans to go to the zoo, and may try to get to the Ohio state fair while they are here. I'll give a full report once their visit is over. Until then, adios!

More balls

2009-07-11T01:56:05Z

We're about half way through the summer, and I can't believe how fast time is flying. Andrew and I went to Kansas for a week at the end of June, and had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, and the Fagan clan. Andrew absolutely adores his cousins, and it was so much fun watching all of them play together. Max and Andrew have quite a strong basketball bond, and would shot hoops for hours together. Erin is a great helper, and loved clowning around with Andrew. Andrew definitely watches what kids around him are doing, and often mimics them. A prime example came as we were swimming one day. Andrew saw Max and Erin getting out of the pool and going to the side and jumping back in the pool. Of course now Andrew had to do it, too. Mind you, this is a boy who 6 months ago was scared of the bathtub! The problem is that Andrew doesn't really know how to jump yet, so he would go up about 2 inches in the air and then land on the edge of the pool with his bottom. So, I helped him out and he is now a jumping monster. Andrew also saw his cousins swimming, and definitely has become more courageous in his pool endeavors, putting his face in willingly as well as attempting to swim in his own little way.

Tonight we had another ball/shopping incident, which I will totally blame on Brian. Evidently he thinks it is "cute" how Andrew reacts when you attempt to take a ball away from him in a store, so he intentionally took Andrew down the sporting goods aisle in Target(which, by the way Andrew knows has red balls out front). "Ball, ball, ball, ball", etc. A mini basketball was spotted by Andrew, and that began the fun. Normally Andrew will throw the ball in the store, which always proves to be fun for mom. But tonight was a bit different. He wouldn't let go. So we did more shopping, with Brian trying to pry the ball out of Andrew's hands. No such luck. Upon check out, when we took the ball so the cashier could ring it up, the tears began. As luck would have it, the dang ball wouldn't ring up right, and we didn't know how much it was. So the poor cashier is frantically trying to figure out what to do, Andrew is screaming, and Brian and I were laughing. Someone ended up having to go see how much the ball was, during which I asked if we could give the ball back to Andrew to stop the tears. The price was found, and we left to go home. Andrew still wouldn't give up the ball, and held it almost all the way home. Andrew has insisted on making the goal higher, and is now shooting on a 4 foot hoop. To round out the evening, Andrew insisted on taking the basketball to bed, and is now soundly asleep. Dreaming of lots of balls.

For the love of sports

2009-06-19T01:31:15Z

Andrew has given me a run for my money on a couple of occasions, both having to do with sporting goods stores. The most recent was on Tuesday, when Andrew and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods to do some Father's Day shopping. We picked out the present for dad, and something for Grandpa Shaffer, and then I made the mistake of walking over to the basketball section. Andrew was SO excited about all of the basketballs. I let him play with one for a minute, but he couldn't shoot baskets because the goals were covered. I was still doing a little shopping and tried to walk down another aisle but Andrew really wanted to go back to the balls. We went back, played a little and then I was ready to check out. Andrew had a different idea. He started screaming when I put the ball he had back in the bin, and only got louder as we walked away. As we got up to the registers, I found a smaller ball and gave it to him to hold. That didn't help stop the screaming and crying, so that ball went back into the bin. We stood in line waiting for the cashier, who was helping another customer. Evidently the transaction was pretty complicated, and it seemed as though nobody knew what they were doing. I'm standing there with my screaming child, waiting. I finally had enough, parked our cart to the side and took Andrew out to the exit. We had a little talk about what his behavior needed to be, and he seemed to calm down so we went back in and got in line. Of course someone had gotten in between us, and had another complicated transaction. Andrew's tantrum began again, and I tried to wait it out for about 20 seconds. I finally took Andrew and we left, with no purchases, to go to the car. I put him in his car seat and told him that if he is going to act like that we can't go to these type of places, so we were going home. He cried the entire way home, and for about 5 more minutes inside our house. I was finally able to get him to stop by having his dinner ready. In all, it was probably about 25 minutes of screaming. For basketballs.

The other event was a similar situation that happened in a golf store, and he went ballistic over the indoor driving range. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that taking Andrew around balls when we are shopping should be avoided. Lesson learned.

Finally

2009-06-11T00:46:46Z

We finally have learned where we will be heading in a year for Brian's fellowship...St. Louis! I will admit that Brian and I are a little surprised, and definitely had our hopes up to return to Denver or try out Dallas. But I'm sure that St. Louis will hold a lot of opportunities for us, and I am glad that we at least know what the next step is going to be in our lives.

Here are some of the positives we came up with for St. Louis:
1. The cost of living there is less than Columbus.
2. Brian really likes how academic the program there is.
3. We are maintaining our I-70 corridor living. :)
4. It is less than a 5 hour drive to get back to my hometown in Kansas. This makes it easier to drive, and gives the possibility of taking a weekend trip home, and will be helpful on the holidays when Brian has to work.
5. It appears that it will be very easy for me to obtain a teaching license in Missouri. (I just have to apply since I am licensed in other states)
6. Central time zone!! Prime time TV will be at better hours.
7. Back in Big 12 territory.
8. We will be able to make the drive to Denver in 1 day instead of 2.
9. Brian will hopefully get to see some games of his favorite baseball team-the Cardinals!
10. I didn't have to look at a map this time to know where we are going.

Water fun!

2009-06-07T01:02:40Z

Fun times

2009-06-05T01:46:17Z

Summer has officially started in the Birnbaum house, and now life is very different than it was last week. Being able to "sleep in" until 7:30 is a luxury for me, but I'll take waking up to Andrew's voice instead of an alarm clock any day. Brian is working the night shift this month, which further changes things. We have breakfast together, and then an early dinner before he goes to work. Luckily Brian is a sound sleeper, so we don't have to be terribly quiet during the day at home. Our house has pretty much been turned into a play place, with a basketball goal in the living room, ball pit and toy car in the downstairs room, and water table on the deck. It's time to have some fun!

Andrew has seemed to have found his voice, and I am going give a bit of credit to a DVD he absolutely loves. Until recently he had no interest in the TV, but he finally starting watching "Baby Signing Times" and now asks for it to be played. He is signing and saying more, food, water, please, mom, dad, horse, dog, cat, fish, and of course will wave bye. I have ordered another that teaches colors and am looking forward to seeing what he picks up. He has started repeating words that we say to him, so Brian and I are having to start watching what we're saying. :)

I have been having issues with my back since January, and at times it has impaired me from functioning in my daily life, especially being able to carry Andrew. I have been going to a physical therapist for the past two months, and even though she works me to death, I'm still having some problems. I think it is nerve related, as I have recently been having pains going down my left leg. After talking with my doctor, I am going to have an MRI done next week to see if we can find the source of the problems. I'm a bit nervous about being in the MRI machine, and hope I can stay calm during the scan.

Next Wednesday is the big day. It's driving me crazy, and I'm ready to find out what's next in our lives.

Just waiting

2009-05-17T19:53:12Z

It has been a little while since I last posted, but there really isn't much going on except for the daily same old stuff. Andrew has become very clingy lately, which at times I like but after a while my arms can't carry him around anymore. Everyday he seems to be turning more and more into a little boy. Today he walked with me into the store for the first time while holding my hand. He was very proud of himself. He is also wanting to do a lot of things by himself now, but gets frustrated when he can't do them. I see shades of Brian's temper shining through.

I have 2 weeks left of school, and am very much looking forward to summer break. Andrew and I have big plans to play with friends and go to the zoo all summer. I'm also trying to carve out more playspace in our house, and am slowly taking over the area that is Brian's "office". Yesterday I found a great little table and chairs at a garage sale which will be perfect for coloring.

We are still waiting to find out where will be in a year. There isn't much we can do so we just sit and wait. After weekends like this one, it is very apparent how great it would be to be closer to family.

Portraits

2009-04-22T01:40:10Z

I have posted some portraits we had done of Andrew and us after he turned a year old. They turned out so well, and truly capture the happy, active boy that we are so lucky to have in our lives.

Portraits

A lot going on.

2009-04-15T01:41:54Z

There has been a lot going on with the Birnbaum household lately. Brian has finished up interviewing for a pediatric cardiology fellowship, and now we have to make a decision about our preferences of where we would like to be. Then a computer gets to make the final decision and match us up with one of the programs. I'm not the biggest fan of the process, but it's what we have to do. It looks like right now the top 3 are Columbus, Dallas and Denver.

Brian had interviews in Salt Lake City and Denver last week, and we figured out a way for him to take Andrew with him to Denver so that Grandma and Grandpa Birnbaum could spend some time with Andrew. I think everyone had a great time, although Fritz and Bobbie are probably worn out by the whirlwind that hit them. With Andrew and Brian gone, I enjoyed 3 days of "the life I used to know". It was nice to have some freedom for a few days, but I did miss both of them a lot. I then joined Brian and Andrew last Thursday in Denver, and we were able to visit with some of our good friends we had not been able to see when we were all sick over the holidays. There were new babies to see and dogs for Andrew to play with, which Andrew seems to love. We all flew back on Easter and started back into our regular schedule on Monday.

Today Andrew and I picked up my parents at the airport. Andrew has been a bit leery of them, as I'm sure he thinks I will be leaving him again. We're planning to all hang out this week, and just have a good time. Hopefully Andrew can make it through all of this excitement.

Silly

2009-03-29T21:32:54Z

Andrew saw the cat go into the grocery bag and thought it was hilarious, so of course he wanted to try it out, too.

Andrew's daycare

2009-03-27T20:53:04Z

This week was my spring break from school, and I have been getting a lot of things done around the house. I also had some extra time and decided to spend a little of it with Andrew at day care this morning, to see what all he does on a daily basis. There were only 2 other kids in his class there, but it was fun to hang out with them. He is learning how to color with crayons, plays music with instruments, builds things with blocks, and lots of other fun activities.

I thought I would share some pictures so that everyone can see where he goes to school.

Silly

2009-03-11T01:41:21Z

Andrew has started realizing when he is being silly, and can laugh at himself. It's fun. :)

Such a big boy!

2009-03-10T22:51:32Z

Andrew decided to show me a new trick tonight.

A sick day

2009-03-03T13:54:56Z

Andrew woke us up at 4 am this morning, obviously not feeling well. He ended up having a fever over 103, so Brian gave him some tylenol and I was able to get him back to bed about an hour later. He napped for about half an hour, and I took the time to get sub plans put together for today. He woke up again really fussy, but I finally figured out he wanted something to eat. He's up and moving around now, but is definitely playing the pity card this morning. It makes me so sad to see his little bottom lip so pouty, but I know where he got it from.

Playtime

2009-02-23T01:25:48Z

Andrew and I went to see our friends Graham and Monica yesterday. Graham and Andrew were born the same day, so Monica and I have shared our mothering experiences together. Monica posted some good pictures that I thought I'd share. http://pmgtyler.blogspot.com/2009/02/buddies.html

I took Andrew to get another haircut on Saturday, and there was not one tear shed! I was very surprised at his composure, but it probably helped that I was feeding him goldfish crackers the entire time. He has definitely changed from baby to a cute little boy. The last week Andrew has also started giving kisses when requested. Although they are a bit sloppy, I love every one of them.

Brian and I have been trying to figure out if he has said his first word. He has been saying mama and dada for a while, along with yeah and up. The only thing is that he hasn't really applied the words to the proper object, yet. Saturday evening he correctly identified a duck, saying "duh", and I think he's pretty close on using the word ball as well. Seeing as how he seems to be obsessed with balls, it would be fitting that it would be one of his first words.

I am still getting our web site transferred over to the new server, but our email and the site should be working fairly well again. Let me know if you have any problems.

Changes

2009-02-16T16:10:30Z

I am in the process of changing our web host for our web site, so you may notice some down time for the site and our email. I'm hoping to have everything changed over in the next few days. I'm also contemplating changing my blog over to Wordpress and hosting it on the same server. Anyone else out there use Wordpress?

Basketball

2009-02-14T16:35:05Z

Andrew is totally addicted to basketball. I took him to one of my high school's games this week, and he sat and watched very attentively for a while. But then he decided he wanted to be a part of the action. He was screaming and wrestling in my arms so that he could go out and run on the court, too. At halftime I let him run on the court with the other little kids that were doing it, and he was SO excited. However, when the 2nd half started he still wanted to be playing, so we had to leave.

On Saturday mornings we have been doing a gym class at the YMCA where we belong, where they have lots of fun activities for the kids to do. Of course, all Andrew wants to do is play basketball. The gym is divided by a big curtain, and he always wants to be on the side where bigger kids are playing basketball. Today he sat and watched one boy for a few minutes, just taking it all in. Later he and I had the court to ourselves and he would give me the ball so I could shoot. The he would hold the ball up like he wanted to shoot, but of course the baskets were too high for him.

Here is a video from our evening activities. He did this for about 30 minutes that night. At times he has started to get into almost a run. He really likes to move!

Updates

2009-02-09T00:50:47Z

This past month I have had quite a few moments when I thought back to what we were going through last year at this time. It's amazing to think about how much Andrew has grown in just one year, and how different our lives are today. Having Andrew run into my arms or giving a sloppy kiss are the highlights of my day. He is discovering so much every day, and his personality really shines through. After a lot of work, he is finally sleeping through the night and napping great during the day. We may have also solved the bathtime fear, also. I went out and bought a little basketball hoop for the bathtub, and now we have some bathtime fun! Andrew absolutely loves balls, and is especially enjoying the small basketball goal he got from Santa. He is even starting to throw the ball, which of course Brian and I find exciting. He's got a good arm!

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to post from January. The charger for our camera battery was lost sometime during our holiday travels, so the camera has been dead for a few weeks. But I finally got a new charger and we are back in business. I do have a few pictures from our last big snow that I got on the video camera that I can post. Andrew found the snow a little interesting, but was ready to head back inside.

We did finally get a new car last weekend, and we did end up going with the newer model of the same car we had before. We actually got a better deal this time around, which is always nice.

Brian will be going on his first interview this week for the next stage of his training, a fellowship. He is applying to be a pediatric cardiologist, a decision that he and I both put a lot of thought into. After having Andrew, we both realize how much we would like to be closer to our families, because seeing them a couple of times a year just isn't enough. Unfortunately there isn't a peds cards fellowship in KC, but he will be interviewing in St. Louis, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake, and here in Columbus. We will find out in June where our lives will take us next, but won't be moving until June of 2010, so things won't be as rushed this time.

Not again. Yes, again.

2009-01-22T01:20:24Z

Brian was in a car accident last Friday evening on his way home from work, caused by another driver. This is his 3rd wreck in 2 years, and we're ready for this streak to end. Brian was slowly exiting from the highway, and was hit from behind by a truck who apparently did not see that traffic had slowed. The impact caused Brian to hit the car in front of him, so our car was damaged on both the front and back. Unfortunately it was not a minor fender bender, and it appears that our car has been totaled. I am extremely thankful that Brian was able to walk away from the accident. As we were cleaning out the car, we found glass from the back window in Andrew's car seat. I cannot imagine what would it would have been like if Andrew would have been in the car with Brian. It has really made Brian and I much more aware of Andrew's safety in the car. Both of us are very impressed with how our car held up in the wreck, and that the main passenger space seemed to maintain its shape. While I would prefer that our next car be a tank, at this point we are thinking we will probably get another Ford Fusion because of how well it did in the crash. Safety matters.

Brian's golf clubs were in his trunk when the accident occurred. They have since been extricated, and did receive a bit of damage. I think Brian was really hoping he could get a brand new set out of this whole ordeal.

Here's what is left of the back of the car: