Just about a year ago I sat alone in an empty hospital hallway, waiting to be invited in to witness the birth of my son. Despite everything that has happened since, I still go back to that moment. That quiet moment, still not knowing if we were having a boy or a girl. But realizing that our life was about change forever.

The first year has been a complete blur. It really doesn’t seem all that long ago that we were checking out of the hospital, with no clue how to operate the car seat. So much has happened in the last twelve months. Much of it has been written about in previous posts on this blog. Some of it has been kept to ourselves.

When I started this blog, Cameron was about six weeks old. Sara was getting ready to go back to work and I was freaking out a little bit at the idea that I’d be in charge of this little guy everyday. This past weekend, Sara was out of town for four nights, and I was in charge. All day. Every day. Six months ago, let alone twelve, that assignment would have been unthinkable. We would have scrambled to line up support staff (truthfully, I did send an SOS to my mom and sisters beforehand, and I did get help for one night) and plan Sara’s trip for as short as possible.

I was preparing to write a blog about that first. Sure that I would have a pile of horror stories about my weekend flying solo. But it really wasn’t all that eventful, which is something I’m actually pretty proud of. I mean I was pretty tired by the end. And I have even more respect for the work my wife does with Cam from when she gets home, to when she goes into work (yes, she’s always handled the overnights, there I confess!). We’ve all come a long way this year.

Cameron will have his one year checkup on Monday. I assume he is still off the charts for weight, height and head size. We’ve been so blessed by his good health in his first year. He started wearing 18 month sized clothes when he was not quite 10 months old, he’s still wearing them; so maybe he’s slowing down just a little bit!

I said in my very first blog that I never planned on doing this. If you had told me even two years ago that I would be a full-time, stay-at-home dad, I would have laughed. I never pictured myself being one of those guys who takes his baby to classes filled with moms and nannies. The last time I went to a library on purpose was probably in college. Now I go every week to sing silly songs and wait anxiously for bubbles at storytime! I spend my Saturdays at Gymboree! A LOT has changed in a year! A LOT.

I get asked a lot how long I plan on doing this. If I’m thinking about looking for jobs, or do we have childcare plans lined up just in case. What happens if/when we have a second kid. I have no real answers for these questions. Other than to say I have a great job right now, and I like it a whole lot more than I ever thought I would. I’m pretty lucky to get to do what I’m doing. And I won’t take that for granted.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Love,

Dad

As we get closer to Cameron’s first birthday, I can’t help but appreciate how lucky I’ve been this year. In addition to just having the opportunity to stay home with him, he’s really made me look much better along the way. He’s pretty easy to care for. He has very predictable behavior. I know why he’s upset. I know when to feed him. I know when he needs to be changed. And I know when he needs to nap. Or at least I used to know when he needs to nap.

For almost 10 months Cameron would nap twice a day, every day. Give or take a half hour the start times were 10:30 am and 2:30 pm. Like clockwork. Then a couple of weeks ago he just stopped taking that second nap. His first nap didn’t lengthen, or start later. It didn’t suddenly start at noon and go until 3. His second nap just disappeared. And that stinks. Some days the stay-at-home gig can be harder than others. Staying busy is key, and when you plan the day, you block off a couple of 60-90 minute blocks for naps. Filling that extra hour every day can tough.

Tougher still when your 11-month-old can now pull himself up and army crawl all over the place. There really isn’t anywhere that he can’t get to anymore. His recent triumph is our stairs. He’s a mini-mountain climber now, surfacing all four flights of stairs that run up our house. I spend most of day picking him up and putting him ten feet away. Over and over again. I’m starting to feel a lot like Fred Flintstone when he dumps the Saber Tooth Tiger outside during the closing credits of the famous TV cartoon.

So my “free” time to do things around the house has been cut in half. And the time spent in our “playroom” has been reduced to chasing Cam up the stairs. I was warned all along that things like this change quickly and without warning. That is proving to be very true, and I’m still working on making the adjustments on my end!

I’ll need to work quickly, Sara is going away next week for four nights. Even though I stay home with him all day, everyday, I’ve never done an overnight solo. I’ve recruited some help for a day or two, but I’m on the hook for the better part of 100 hours. So this could get interesting!

*No real spoilers below. But I understand if you want to get caught up on the show before reading on.

Last night was the series finale of the NBC family drama Parenthood. The finale was the 104th episode. I’ve watched them all. I’ve mentioned in this space before that I watch a LOT of television. While more of my consumption comes during the daytime than it used to, I still watch plenty of stuff in primetime. And I have my guilty pleasures. I’ve been known to take a deep dive into a marathon of Real Housewives. But only the OGs from the OC! OK, I watch more Bravo than I publicly admit. Heck, I even watched Bridezillas on weekends when it was on the air.

I don’t consider Parenthood to be one of those shows. I’m not embarrassed that I watch it every week. Even if it isn’t the type of show that my buddies and I talk about around a table of beers. Parenthood is the type of show that guys can get away with watching, assuming that they watch with their wives. My wife doesn’t really like the show (the style of dialogue drives her crazy), but I press on!

I was first drawn to Parenthood because Director Ron Howard was involved in getting the show on the air. I like Ron Howard, so I gave it chance. Most of the actors were familiar (I’ve known Peter Krause (Adam) since he was Andrea Zuckerman’s love interest, Jay Thurman, on Beverly Hills 90210!). Jason Katims, who is an Executive Producer and writer for the show, came from Friday Night Lights. FNL is among my favorite shows, so sprinkle in some guest stars from Dillon (Minka Kelly!) and I was hooked. And yes, that was the great Jason Street as Amber’s future husband in the closing montage.

It is hard to explain why I ended up liking this show as much as I did. Could be because I come from a family of four kids. Without knowing the exact age range of the Braverman kids, I would say the Fogarty kids are fairly close in age. Complete with the youngest sister as a successful lawyer. Our parents are probably the same age as Zeek and Camille. While we didn’t grow up in Berkeley, Ca, and we aren’t anywhere near as dramatic as a group, there is enough there to relate too. I imagine most of the audience of this show can relate to it one way or another. The realities of families growing bigger and growing older is real for everyone. Which is why almost everyone probably cries once or twice per show. Becoming a parent during the run of the show certainly enhanced my perspective as a viewer.

I watch most of my prime time shows on DVR. Sometimes a day late or even a week late. I watch Parenthood live almost every week. Sitting through commercials is the highest compliment I can give a show these days! It’s the show I look forward to watching most each week, and I’ll miss it now that it’s gone.

The final season was a bit of a mess. Like Friday Night Lights before it, Parenthood was nearly cancelled after almost every season. This final season, season 6, was only 13 episodes. The shortest since the first season. Most of the first 10 episodes alternated the series stars so that some weeks we didn’t see half the cast. Clearly a cost savings compromise that gave the show a chance to tie up loose ends and for fans to say goodbye. The finale was solid and accomplished those goals. I’m always a sucker for epilogues and showing us the future as a show ends.

There was plenty that I didn’t love about the show over the years. Just about anything with Kristina was ridiculous. I didn’t like all of the characters, but as a whole it worked for me. This last season was largely predictable, implausible and a little bit sappy. But I didn’t care. I grew up on network TV dramas and am afraid that Parenthood may be among the last true family dramas we see on our networks.

Don’t worry about me though. As the Bravermans sail off into the sunset, plenty of my shows are returning. USA Network’s fun lawyer drama Suits started up again this week. So did The Americans, a truly excellent show on FX. And as a Breaking Bad fan, I’ve already set the DVR to record all things related to Better Call Saul starting next month.

As good as those shows are, and hopefully will be, there will always be a hole in my TV schedule where Parenthood lived. I’ll come up with something on Thursday nights, maybe I’ll go back to watching live sports….

Cam waiting for swim class to start

When I was in college I would do whatever I could to schedule most of my classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Most semesters I, like millions of other college students, got my Fridays off. Most of the time I managed to keep my Mondays pretty light. As my college career moved along, I even managed to avoid the early morning classes, knowing that I wasn’t very likely to wake up early and brave the Syracuse winter as often as I should. By my senior year I pretty much had a 3.5 day weekend and a 3.5 day school week. Looking back 15 years later, that was incredible. And ridiculous. But it worked.

I’m now using those expert scheduling abilities with my son. We have a lot of potential activities to get involved in and if we’re not careful, the whole week could get away from us. Starting after the holidays we added two weekly activities to our standing Storytime commitment.

When scheduling these activities, only one thing really matters: Nap time. Cam is on a fairly regular schedule when it comes to naps. He still takes two, hourish-long naps every day. One late morning, and one mid-late afternoon. So like I did in college, sleep was the number one priority when I picked the times for his activities.

We started by eliminating Mondays and Fridays. A few reasons for this. First, at some point I’d like to have a semi-regular day or two where I interact with other (kid free) adults. Grab lunch with some buddies or head down to Bethesda to visit family. That’s hard to do when you are tied up most of the morning and then worried about naps and meals. Having a couple clean days every week seemed to make the most sense. It also allows us not to eat money if we are traveling and have to miss a class or two. Smartly these classes charge by either a “session” or by the month. Either way, if you miss, you aren’t getting a refund.

We like our Storytime slot on Wednesdays at 10. So that was our foundation to plan around. We wanted to get him into a music class and a swim class starting this month. Lucky for us, Meadowbrook pool (now owned by Michael Phelps) is just down the street. The Music Together class, which came highly recommended, is within just a couple miles as well. Having classes close to home is important. Getting home quickly for that nap makes all the difference. I’m still working on my car to crib nap transfer, so I prefer keeping him awake until we get home.

I’m a veteran of Storytime by now. We’ve been going just about every week (since its free, you can only sign up a week at a time) since we got settled back in October. I know what to expect every Wednesday at 10. I know the songs and the other kids and parents. I also know how much Cameron enjoys going each week. Starting new classes come with new fears, regardless of age.

Let’s start with our music class. This was supposed to start last Tuesday, but the weather cancelled our first class. We showed up this Tuesday and after getting a little lost (Daddy didn’t do enough research on WHERE within this huge building the class was) we got settled. This class is pretty serious business. We have take-home CDs, DVDs, and music books. Like homework! If Storytime makes you feel a little silly when belting out nursery rhymes, music class takes it to whole different level. The level of goofiness is something I wasn’t, and still am not, prepared for. Lots of singing and dancing and things. Most of the kids and parents were repeat customers, so us Fogarty boys had a bit of a deer-in-headlights look. Cam appears to be very musical already. Loves hearing music and clapping and making noise with things. I think this will work out well for him overall. The first class was a little rough. It was a 9:30am start, that was slightly delayed. It runs 45 mins, and since Cam woke up earlier than usual on Tuesday and never fell back asleep, it was a photo finish to pack up and leave before a giant meltdown. When we had to give up the instruments one by one, he was losing it. Which is a little out of character. Hopefully next week goes a bit more smoothly.

Swim class is something I was looking forward to. I think all kids should start swimming as young as possible. Our first class (I’m in the pool with him) was at 9:30am last Thursday. It should be noted that particular day was the coldest day of the year so far. It was something like 12 degrees when we left our house. I probably lost my Father of the Year award just by leaving the house. In fact no other kids showed up, so we had a one-on-one for our first thirty-minute class which was nice. Other than one uncomfortable trip underwater, he did great. I’m not really worried about him liking swimming. He’s proven comfortable in the water and will do great in this class. My concern is the logistics of changing him before and after the class. Especially in this cold weather. So far I put his rash guard and suit on at home and cover him with sweat pants, jackets and socks. That seems to work fine. But the after class change is still very much a work in progress. As is the concern that he will poop in his suit in the pool. He has one of these built in diaper suits. All the reviews rave about it, but nobody seems to address how it handles if he has a bad accident. I hope I never find out! If I do, it will get its own blog entry! Post-swim lesson means getting out of wet clothes and into something dry and warm for the ride home/nap. This is something I can do at home with my eyes closed. But in public (in this case the locker room) the stress level rises as he squirms and fusses as I try and use the awkwardly placed changing table. It’s a fight, which at times I appear to be losing. But we manage to make it home unscathed.

The middle of our week is now packed, just like my glory days. If only my 22-year-old self could see me now! I’m looking forward to our Fridays off. If anyone is ever free for lunch, let me know……

As an early Christmas gift, my wife booked us a night away. I’m not usually a fan of surprises. I prefer to be the one who plans these things, but even I couldn’t complain about this one! She booked us a night at one of our favorite hotels, Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania. If you’ve never been there, you need to go. It sits in the small town of Bedford, Pa, just over two hours from Baltimore and Washington. It’s an amazing place that we’ve tried to get to at least once a year for the past five years.

We first discovered Bedford Springs after I missed Sara’s 30th birthday (and Valentine’s Day) while covering the Vancouver Olympics almost five years ago. Looking to make it up to her, my mom tipped me off to the resort and we’ve been going almost every year since. If you like The Homestead, but don’t love the drive, this is for you!

Sara arranged for my sister Meghann, brother-in-law Dan and their dog Ollie to come to our house on Saturday and stay with Cameron and our dog Quinn for the night. Our job was to leave by 10:30 am so we could get there, get checked in and make it to the spa for our afternoon appointments. I assumed leaving would be the hardest part; I wasn’t wrong.

We cheated a little bit and planned our “handoff” during a nap. Our babysitters arrived just a few minutes before we put Cam down for his morning nap. The idea was it would be easier on everyone if we left while he was asleep. Easier for us anyway. Probably easier on him. The plan worked, even with Sara going in to “check on him” like three times before we could get out of the house. No tears were shed by anyone; we left a very “first time parents” checklist of phone numbers and instructions for the baby and the dog. And we were off.

It wasn’t until sometime after 11 that we first checked our baby dropcam remotely to make sure Cam was still sleeping. After being assured that all was well, we focused on the rare opportunity for us to get away. Cam will be 10 months old on January 5th. Sara has never spent a night away from him (we took him to Vegas to avoid this when he was 2 months old if you recall). I have been away once, a quick overnight trip to New Hampshire in September. I wasn’t really sure how she would handle this. Even if it was her idea.

After an uneventful drive, we check into the hotel just after 1 pm and immediately get drawn back into this great place. I’m a sucker for Christmas decorations, and Bedford Springs delivered. Beautiful tree(s) throughout the place. Nutcracker guys all over the place. I think we decided this will be a pre-Christmas family tradition in the years to follow.

Our spa appointments were at 3:30 and we check in around 2:30. We do that because the locker room is a spa experience onto itself. Bedford Springs has a four step pre spa situation that is almost as relaxing as the massages that follow. Spending that hour in the deluge shower, the steam room, the hot and cold tubs is what you remember a week later when you wish you were back there. All-in-all we spend almost four hours at the spa, without phones to spy on Cameron or get any updates from my sister. We check in to confirm all is going well and head off to dinner.

The Frontier Tavern is the casual dining option at the hotel. Since I barely packed more than sweatpants and flip flops, we go there and enjoy a drink at the bar while we wait for a table. I think it was then, when we got confirmation that Cam was asleep for the night, that we able to exhale and fully enjoy where we were.

It is easy to forget how great it is to eat at a restaurant without a baby. This is something we have done maybe two or three times in almost ten months. The meal isn’t rushed, you aren’t constantly looking at the baby to make sure you don’t become “those people” in the restaurant with the screaming kid. Sara and I have gone out to dinner probably thousands of times in the last twenty years. This one simple meal, at a tavern, may be among the most memorable.

We ate too much as usual, and had to give ourselves a timeout before heading to the indoor pool around 9. Sara, who finds any body of water freezing, actually jumped in without her agonizing “dip her toe in the water for 15 minutes,” routine! I was so proud. The pool is the second thing I always look back on fondly when remembering Bedford Spings. If I’m a sucker for Christmas decorations, I’m a super sucker for indoor pools!

The most important part of the 27 hours away was the sleep part. For all the credit I get from people for taking care of Cam every day and writing this blog, it is still Sara who handles almost all of the overnight activity. Despite my “offers” to help, she is one who has the broken sleep every few nights and handles the 5:30am wake-up calls before going to work for a full day. So it was essential that she get a full nights sleep, for probably the first time since before she was pregnant.

She did that, but it didn’t stop her from sleeping on our drive back. She could sleep for like two straight days, and she would still sleep on our drive home! We get home just as easily as we got there. Stopped for gas, and Roy Rogers to grab something for dinner. We are home by 1:30, almost exactly 27 hours after we left . Cam was fine of course and looked a little confused, but pleased to see familiar faces. Hugs and kisses all around.

It wasn’t until then that I realized how much I missed him, even for just one day. A wonderful weekend, but I think I’m OK if we don’t go away again from our guys for a while.

Merry Christmas from all of us at foggdaddy.com, see you in the New Year!

Let me start by saying that I watch a LOT of television. Always have. Always will. I was never much of a reader. Reading for fun never worked for me. I didn’t start reading books that I wasn’t going to be tested on until midway thru college. How I got into college is anyone’s guess. Instead of reading I watched TV. I wouldn’t start homework until my afternoon/evening shows were done. I watched pretty much everything. Growing Pains, Facts of Life, Full House. Heck, I even watched Small Wonder if it meant I could put off math homework by 30 mins.

Now that I am home most of the day, I’m getting exposed to a type of television that I never really watched. Daytime TV. In my former life I worked in a newsroom. We had something like 200 TVs on at all times. But those were tuned to CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and CNBC. I could get away with watching ESPN or NFL Network under the guise of being a “sports guy,” which was a perk I suppose. I’m trying to actually parent Cameron, and not let the TV do all of the work. And he isn’t really paying attention to the TV just yet anyway.

Let’s start with what I watch. I haven’t been seduced by soap operas. My mom stayed at home with me as a kid. I don’t know who was paying attention to me everyday at 1:00 when All My Children came on, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her! When I have the TV to myself (nap time) I mostly catch up on my DVR. Or watch Netflix. Every few years I plow through all seven seasons of The West Wing. I recently completed that again. I’m not necessarily proud of this habit, but there it is. I check on The Today Show from time to time. I accidentally watch the first few minutes of LIVE with Kelly and Michael every once in a while as a result. I swing by The Price is Right just to remind me of the days that I stayed home sick from school. Otherwise, my viewing is pretty predictable. Sports networks, DVR and sometimes HGTV. HGTV is addictive. I barely own tools. I have no business watching this channel, but I can’t help it. I went thru an Extreme Couponing phase when we were in Rhode Island last year. I don’t really like to talk about that.

In short, not much has changed in my personal viewing since we had Cam. We do have a couple of shows that we “watch” when we’re home, and that’s what I want to discuss. Cam is nine months old. He doesn’t speak yet. He doesn’t really even know what he likes and doesn’t like. (That’s not really true; he likes putting everything in his mouth;  he hates everything else). So luckily I’m not dealing with having to be told to  watch Caillou or Dora. Not yet. Our morning routine includes watching PBS Kids. We haven’t gotten to Nickelodeon or really even Disney. Three shows tend to be on all the time, and they have, for better or worse, become part of our day.

*I won’t include Sesame Street here. It’s an old standby. And hasn’t really changed all that much in the 30 years since I stopped watching. Elmo gets it done. Incredible.

Curious George: I grew up reading these books (yes, I read those books!). I don’t recall a cartoon on TV of the book until well after I was of the appropriate age. As a TV show this is pretty ok. If you overlook why a grown man owns a monkey in the first place. And you just have to roll with it when George causes all this trouble and never faces any consequences. All in the name of curiosity I suppose. So much for learning lessons. They just roll a disclaimer of a little girl saying George is a monkey so he can do this but you can’t. It’s a disclaimer for 3 year olds! I have started judging things on how many seconds/minutes something can hold Cam’s attention. He seems to like George enough that it allows me to send a couple of emails, so this is probably my favorite show!

Dinosaur Train: I have five nieces and nephews. I was a little familiar with children’s television. Dora the Explorer, Barkyardigans, Caillou and others. I had never heard of Dinosaur Train until recently. And it’s not bad. I could see him really liking it when he becomes obsessed with Dinosaurs in a year or two. This show is very true to its title. It is 30 mins of Dinosaurs on a train. The main characters are siblings, who seem to always be on a train for whatever reason. The train is the (literal) vehicle to the show’s adventure. Lessons are learned. Friends are made. The theme song is fantastic. On the days when I catch a full episode, I’ve been known to randomly sing DINOSAUR TRAIN….DINOSAUR TRAIN from time to time. Good show. I look forward to Cam getting more into this one.

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Let me be clear, I was raised on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Sesame Street and Fred Rogers played a big role in any person raised over the last four decades. I recognize that the Fred Rogers company is involved in this production. That said, this is horrible television. I’m a little offended by the idea that you would try and do a remake of a classic show, with a cartoon Tiger. Daniel is a our main character. He’s the son of the Tiger from the original show, many of the characters are second generation of the original. That’s nice. But this show doesn’t really work like the original show did. For one, it’s all animated. The theme song is the SAME! Complete with that brat Daniel changing his shoes, ala Fred. I’m offended by this. Parents of kids everywhere should find this offensive. And a little lazy. My main beef with this show is that they find a theme lesson. A one sentence piece of guidance that is the lesson for the entire show. And about every 2-3 minutes, they SING that sentence. That’s like 15 times a show. I realize that old Fred would sing some off-key tunes to help us learn. But Daniel Tiger is no Fred Rogers! Not even close. I’m hoping we can skip this program entirely as Cam and I both discover better options!

I won’t let television raise my kids. But as any parent who stays at home knows, it is a useful tool to allow yourself the freedom to do just about anything else! What shows out there should I looking for? Something educational, entertaining and won’t make my head explode? Open to suggestions!

We have experienced a lot in our first eight months of parenthood. We’ve been blessed with a happy and healthy child. Cam is not only off the charts for height and in the mid 90s for weight, he’s actually never really been sick. Sure he’s had a couple of runny noses, and maybe an upset tummy, but nothing that required a visit to an ER or the pediatrician. Until now.

On the day he turned eight months old we got our first helping of what its like to have a sick kid at home. It unfolded exactly like I always assumed it would. I am home with him all day and noticed NOTHING unusual. He was acting fine, happy, smiling, eating etc. Sara gets home and within 90 seconds discovers that he has a fever and that we should probably call the doctor. Going up against mother’s intuition, when that mother is also a doctor, is pretty unfair. In any case his fever was 103.5. A pretty bad miss on my part, but I will stress that fevers tend to get worse at night and she gets home at like 5! We treat with tylenol to get through the night and I call the pediatrician to get a sick visit on the books. Our first.

Cam is pretty good in the doctor’s office. He hates the shots and even the exams, but he LOVES sitting on the exam table and tearing the tissue paper that covers it apart. It doesn’t take too long for our doctor to discover the problem, an ear infection. In both ears. Yuk. Amoxicillin is prescribed and we are on our way. The doctor gives me kudos for noticing this and deciding to come in. I consider taking those kudos, but give Sara the credit this time.

He never really does “act” sick. He sleeps well most of the time and that continues. The only real difference is trying to work the medicine into our eating routine. He gets wise to the big syringe filled with pink medicine, so we resort to sneaking it into his spoon of food. It worked.

So that was that, until it wasn’t. He was pretty much full strength by the end of the amoxicillian. His fevers were a thing of the past and we were pretty relieved that we all survived his first illness. That lasted about 48 hours.

Last Tuesday night around 10pm he woke up crying, vomiting and what at first seemed like trouble breathing. He was hysterical and his parents were beginning to feel the same way. I always look to Sara for guidance when anyone is sick or injured. She has all the training afterall. When she looks back at me with a “I don’t what to do” look, we get in the car and go to the ER.

It should be noted that the weekend before we spent the night with my sister who now lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She has four kids, all of whom are either in the public school system or in daycare. If someone in your group doesn’t get sick after 24 hours with them, you just aren’t trying. I won’t blame this one on them, this time!

On the way to the ER everyone relaxes a little bit. Cam calms down and it becomes clearer to Sara what is going on. Croup. He wasn’t having trouble breathing so much as he was alternating between breathing and awful seal like coughs. The ER visit was remarkably quick. We got seen almost immediately and Croup was confirmed by the Peds ER doctor. They gave him an oral steroid and we were sent home. The “good” news with croup is that the treatment is pretty much limited to the oral steroid. No additional medicine required. The bad news? The steroid wears off in a couple of days and you have to hope that he’s over it by day three.

Here we are a week later and we have yet another sick visit scheduled for 4pm today. We’re pretty sure the croup is gone but an ugly cough and super runny nose remain. I think whatever this one is can be blamed on one of my nieces or nephews!

Moving is the gift that keeps on giving. We moved back into our Baltimore townhouse in late August. We spent most of September at the beach, and have managed to probably unpack and put away less than 70% of our stuff. That can be fixed with a couple days of motivated unpacking, but the minor details of moving continue to linger. The most notable of those is getting to the MVA to register our out of state cars in Maryland. I’ve moved twice in the last eleven years. First to Maine, then to Rhode Island. In both cases I moved for Sara’s school/career. And in both cases I end up changing my drivers license, while Sara never does. I’ve already made one trip to get my Maryland license back. I’m a sucker!

A trip to the MVA is something you put off as long as (legally) possible. It’s never enough to just go there. You almost have to take a trip out first to make sure you know what you need to bring when you really go. In this case, I needed to get both cars inspected first. I needed to get the lienholder of one car to send the title to the state. And I needed a bill of sale notarized for the second car we received as a gift from my grandmother. My hope was I could put this off long enough so that I wouldn’t have to go with Cam. Unfortunately that was never an option. In fact, I was only able to get enough done for one car at a time, so I’ll be going back again one more time!

My first mistake was doing this on the day after Daylights Savings. I’ve never really understood Daylight Savings. I get that it has to do with farming, but otherwise seems outdated to me. In my wilder days, I always appreciated the extra hour of “sleep” on Sunday. As a father, its a nightmare. I mentioned in my previous blog about the need for a routine. That includes finding activities to get out of the house, but the core of any successful day centers around feeding and nap times. This extra hour business has screwed all of that up. He had his worst nights sleep in months on Saturday. And Sunday was a mess. It quickly became clear that this isn’t a one day thing. Our routine won’t be the same for a while. With elections this week, I’d like to vote against Daylights Savings day!

The MVA is the worst. You check in quickly, which leads to a misguided feeling that you won’t be trapped there as long as you thought. Overhead there are constant announcements of letters and numbers, but none of them are yours. Not even close. It’s the world’s longest and worst game of bingo. But you can’t go anywhere because if they do call your number and you aren’t there, that’s that. Add an 8-month-old to the mix, and I really was dreading this trip.

Our closest full-service MVA is in Essex. If you are in the business of making fun of Baltimore stereotypes, get on up to Essex! Your job gets pretty easy from there! It’s located in a strip mall, sandwiched between a Rite Aid and a Korean restaurant. We park just before 9:30am.

The line for tags and title is always a little shorter than the one for drivers licenses. I get up to the front very quickly. Check in, present my folder of paperwork and get my number: C11. Cam hasn’t fallen asleep yet as I had hoped. My best case scenario had him falling asleep in the car on our way. With the time change I really didn’t know when he’d get tired. Usually he’s asleep between 10 and 11, so this was early, but not really. He was fine though, I came armed with enough formula to last the whole day, just in case. I brought extra toys knowing that even if nobody else was there, we’d be inside for an hour.

Number C5 was called right as we were finishing getting checked in, so I was a little optimistic that we wouldn’t be spending all morning there. It would at least 30 minutes before C6 was called. 30 more until we got to C9. Cam was getting restless with all the waiting. We’d done the formula thing, and he was full, but likes to play with the bottle anyway. Just to make a mess. He starts fussing around 10:00am or so, maybe 30 minutes in. As a “new” parent, I’m still very sensitive to my kid making a scene. Cam’s pretty quiet and will smile at everyone, but he has picked up a bad habit in recent weeks of just screaming at the top of his lungs. Not crying, or even fussing, but roaring like a Lion. He decided that the MVA was the place for him to practice some of this roaring.

The roaring often coincides with being tired, so I duck outside to get him some fresh air in hopes that he conks out for the remainder of this trip. Of course, my number could be called soon, so I can’t go far. Luckily I get him enough air that I can tell he’s starting to fade, we sneak back in to find a seat and try and get this done. He fell asleep around 10:15a, my number gets called 25 minutes later, and disaster is avoided. This time.

Like our airplane trip last Spring, the buildup was more stressful than the event in the end. Even so, I wouldn’t recommend taking an infant to the MVA. I wouldn’t recommend going to the MVA at all. And I certainly wouldn’t recommend forgetting to fax a form needed for your second car, so now you have to go back and do this all over again! Anyone want to babysit a week or so from now?!

‘Picking’ pumpkins at the Westmoreland Berry Farm

The last time I was home alone with Cameron full time was the last day of June. Cam was not yet four months old but we had figured out a pretty workable daily routine. Most days were spent getting from one nap to the next, changing a few diapers and getting out with our dog Quinn a couple of times. Four weeks ago when Sara started her new job, I was now in the daily charge of a seven month old. He spent the summer growing up. Something I realized at the time, but didn’t fully appreciate until now.

My little four month old is now almost eight months old and filled with energy. Everything is exciting. Sitting in the floor calls for wild swinging of the arms and legs. Put him in his ExerSaucer and you get a gymnastics routine. He grabs everything. And is currently somewhere between slithering and crawling. He’s 95th percentile in weight, and remains off the charts in height. He has outgrown almost everything: His car seat, his stroller, his swing and his rocker.

Cam eats real food now. In the old days I could throw four ozs of formula together to stop a freakout or help aid a nap. Cam loves carrots, and sweet potatoes, and just about any other flavor of food imaginable. Unlike his father, he doesn’t seem all that picky. But like his father, he gets pretty excited when enjoying a good meal. Too excited, sometimes. He learned to clap recently, and LOVES to clap while eating. That’s cute and all, but makes trying to feed him tricky. Trying to sneak a spoonful of rice cereal or apples and apricots into his mouth is sometimes like playing mini golf and trying to putt through the windmill. Timing is everything!

The routine these days is trying to get as much on the calendar as possible. In part to tire him out, but also to get both of us out of the house. Thirty minute dog walks aren’t enough anymore. We have our eyes on some music and swimming classes, but haven’t started those yet. One activity we have hit hard is Storytime.

This stay-at-home experience has led to me to find myself in positions I never imagined I’d be in. Going to the library once or twice a week to sing songs and read fairy tales has to top that list. Every Wednesday, and sometimes Thursdays we go to the Pikesville library and enjoy thirty minutes of storytime/playtime. This is a great program offered all over Baltimore County. Cameron loves it, and since he’s usually the youngest/cutest, he’s always a big hit. I’m almost always the only Dad in attendance. Most kids are with nannies, grandmas or moms. So I get to be the guy who ‘sings’ quietly since I forgot the words (or never learned them) to most of these songs years ago. My goal is to have all the verses of “Open Shut Them” down by December.

As we get better with the daily routine, I hope to get better with posting on this site more often. Back to once a week or so. Happy Halloween!

Cam lounging at the beach

I think the late 80s British Pop Duo Soul II Soul said it best:
Back to Life; Back to Reality……https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY

It’s just about over. The 90 day of summer vacation that we never, ever thought we’d have has come and gone. We were really fortunate to get to spend 32 days on Swans Island. We had a relatively smooth move from Rhode Island back to Maryland. We kinda moved into our house, and then spent the last three weeks in Bethany Beach.

An incredible amount of time to spend together, and for both of us to get to spend with Cameron. But like any student on summer break, I got lazy. On Monday Sara starts her new job at GBMC, and I’m back to full-time dad duties. And it’s been a while! I almost never (OK, never) did my required “summer reading” from grade to grade, and this summer was no exception. I allowed Sara to take the reins from almost the minute she finished her fellowship and will probably pay for it next week. This is a new kid that I’ll be in charge of, and no amount of last minute studying will get me ready.

Since I last took care of Cameron full-time on my own, he has started eating real food. He has two teeth. He’s 99.9999999% in height and thus outgrowing just about everything under 12 months in size (he’s not quite 7 months old). He’s rolling over. And moving fast. I have my work cut out for me as we move ahead!

So one more summer weekend. A few more lazy days as a family and then we get back to the routine. I’m just not so sure I have any clue what that routine looks like anymore! Stay tuned as we start this thing all over again!