*I’ll return to more parenting centric blog items in the coming weeks and months. But I couldn’t let the NFL season start without chiming in on the biggest issue facing my favorite team. How many more seasons will I be able to root for the Washington Redskins as they are known? And by root, I mean inflict the excruciating pain that comes with being a fan of these guys most Sundays. And allowing it to ruin my week when they lose a game they definitely SHOULD have won. Like how I can’t read the sports page, listen to sports radio or watch SportsCenter on Mondays after losses. Yeah, all of that! Can’t wait for opening weekend!

I’m a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. I can’t help it. My family has had season tickets since they moved out to FedEx Field. Before then, the highlight of my year was the one game a year my Dad would take us to at RFK Stadium with tickets from work. I’ve traveled to see the ‘Skins on the road in Tampa, San Diego, Chicago, New York and even Philly (on a Monday night no less!). And I’ve never been offended by the teams nickname. I won’t pretend to be offended now because I’m supposed to be. But I also can understand the other side. I’m not swayed by arguments that bring up other team mascots, or nicknames (Vikings, Fighting Irish, etc). Or if an Indian Reservation somewhere in South Dakota has a high school team with the name “Redskins.” None of that really matters in this case. I don’t think the team has done a good job at all of changing minds. Rather than pick a side and try and shout the loudest, I thought I would try and look ahead and see how this issue may eventually get resolved.

Dan Snyder is really in a no win situation here. Which is too bad for him, but that’s just the way it is. The tide is working against him and it’s just going to get worse. My official stance is that I don’t think the team should be forced to change the name. But I do think that before this decade is out, the team will change their name. Just last year while I was still working at the Associated Press, we did a national poll on the name issue and 79% said not to change it. http://ap-gfkpoll.com/featured/our-latest-story-2 That was just a year and a few months ago. The loud minority has a hold of the issue now, and Snyder is stuck. Politicians, mainstream media types like Peter King and Bob Costas won’t let this go until the NFL demands and enacts change. Exactly how many Native Americans are actually offended, doesn’t really matter anymore.

I’m no PR expert, but I worked in media and have followed sports and politics long enough to have a hunch on how this will all play out. About a year from now The Washington Post will make an announcement that its board has decided to stop using the word “Redskins” in print, online,  in videos or photo captions. Some papers and media organizations have already done this, but it will carry much more weight when The Post decides to do it. In addition to being one of a handful of print outlets that still matters, The Post also covers the team everyday (and famously has feuded with Snyder for years). From there it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the media follows suit, this will include some NFL broadcast partners who will suddenly become uncomfortable using the name on air or in graphics. Business partners and other owners will get in the leagues ear and wallah, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (a lifelong Redskins fan himself) will change course. Leaving Snyder and the team alone on an island. The NFL is, if nothing else, image conscience. This issue can’t remain a black eye for the league much longer.

This leaves Snyder with two choices. Play the long game. He can keep doing tone deaf local interviews where he controls the message and often the messengers. He can keep having Bruce Allen send out press releases and other statements reacting to every story or poll about the name. The team can develop more failing social media strategies and hide behind current and former players whose livelihoods depend on the team keeping the name. Can he risk RG3 eventually giving a contrary opinion on the issue? Or he can use this as leverage to get what he needs from the NFL before “graciously” stepping aside and hammering out a deal that changes the name to “Warriors,” keeps the logo intact, and keeps the rights to the name so he can set up a museum of team history with proceeds benefiting Native American causes. For being such a “great guy” the NFL guarantees him a Super Bowl or two at FedEx Field. And/or helps pull the strings that gets him his own brand new stadium back at the RFK site.

To be clear, I’m not necessarily rooting for this to happen. Is all of this just the PC police run amok? Maybe. It doesn’t help that the teams owner is one of the 10 least likeable people on the planet. Is part of this motivated by hate for Dan Snyder? I think so. All indications so far show that Snyder will likely take the path of fighting until the end. Years in courtrooms with more hastily written, poorly thought out, press releases. I don’t begrudge him that right. I actually believe he believes what he says about the name being intended to honor Native Americans. But I also realize that he and the team aren’t succeeding in changing any minds. The longer he fights, the more people will turn against him. Out of fatigue if nothing else. He probably has as many supporters today as he ever will. Which is why he probably won’t be able to ever win this, and should leverage it as best he can soon. Because eventually that leverage will vanish.

August has been the best time to be a Redskins fan in recent years. For whatever reason we kick butt in the preseason, before crashing down to earth when the real games start. As I sit here monitoring training camp transactions and preseason stats, I do wonder if the Redskins will eventually become the Warriors or some other name. And how that would make me feel, how will I refer to them and what I will tell my son as I show him my DVD collection of Redskins Super Bowl seasons. I don’t really know how I’ll feel, or what I’ll tell him. But I’m getting the feeling that I’m going to have to figure that out pretty soon.

View from brunch at the Castle Hill Inn in Newport.

We leave Maine on Monday and then very quickly pack up and get moved back to Maryland. By the end of next week we will back in our house in Baltimore, almost as if none of this had ever happened. I’ll be without internet next week, so I wanted to take a moment now to say goodbye to our  home of 14 months.

I’d never ever been to Rhode Island before I pulled up with our Budget truck last June. I’d spent exactly one night in the state, a few months prior as we looked for a place to live for the year. We lived in a small house we found on craigslist, sight unseen. I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you can help it. In general the house worked out OK, and was in a great location. But it was SMALL, and lacked certain amenities we are used to (dishwasher, central AC) that made day-to-day living a bit more difficult. We opted to live in Saunderstown, which is a neighboring town to Naragannsett, a popular beach destination. This gave Sara a decent commute up to Providence every day, but allowed us to live in a beach town for a year. Something we’ve always thought of doing, dating back to off-season trips we’d take to my parents’ house in Bethany Beach.

While we didn’t know how long we’d be in Rhode Island when we got here, I don’t think either of us really thought we’d be staying more than the 14 months we signed up for. That made the year a little strange. The last 20 months or so have been a little strange. When you know you are moving away, you can’t ever really get settled. That is how our last six months in Maryland were, and that’s sort of how our entire time in Rhode Island was. You’re waiting for the next thing, while trying to enjoy what you’re doing now.

That said, I really did enjoy our time in Rhode Island. I can say that as a whole, Rhode Islanders were about the nicest people I’ve ever lived around. The whole state is like a little town. Everyone knows everyone. Living near the beach was a nice, needed break from the hustle and bustle of the DC/Baltimore grind. A grind I’m hoping not to immediately rejoin when we get back. But of course the best part of our time here was the addition of Cameron.

We will always be reminded of the nice people of this state when we have to dig out his birth certificate to prove that this moose disguised as a child is really the age we claim he is. But we’re ready to come home. We’re excited to get back to our house, our city, our family and our friends. Cam is a super happy kid already, I think having more friends and family around will only help keep him that way. I know it will make his parents very happy.

As we make one final trip down I-95 about a week from now it won’t feel as stressful. New York City traffic won’t feel quite as crippling. The turnpike will only be really awful, instead of extremely awful. That double-r-bar burger and holster of fries at Roy’s will taste a little better. Because on that trip, we’re coming home. We won’t be making the same trip back 48 hours later. This one is for good.

One of the tough parts about coming up to Swans Island used to be that you were out of touch with the rest of the world for however long you stayed there. For some, that was the whole point. For me, it was torture. I’m admittedly a bit of a slave to my Apple devices. It’s rare when I go anywhere without at least my iPhone. I probably check email 50 times a day, tweak my fantasy baseball roster and surf the web any chance I can get. These aren’t stats that I am proud of, but that’s just what I do. A couple of years ago Sara’s dad installed a wireless network for the house. We still don’t have a cable TV setup, but through the wonders of the internet and Apple TV, we can at least stay in touch with the goings on of the world if we choose too. Late Saturday night, all of that changed.

For a horrifying 72 hours we were without internet. A tear in the cable fiber left the ENTIRE island without an internet network, and us in the dark. It is embarrassing how upset this made me. We were left with nothing but the data plan on our iPhones, and at a house in the middle of the ocean, that means the dreaded “E” on your iPhone. The E stands for Edge, as in the Edge network. In layman’s terms it means good luck getting what you used to get instantly, in less than 15 minutes. It reduced me to hanging off the front balcony and doing the trick of holding my phone in the air as if that extra foot of lift would suddenly activate the LTE network.

In my former life that may have actually been a bit of an issue. Like most, my vacations from work were never truly vacations. Sadly it became expected that I would occasionally check and chime in on emails while away. These days, it was mostly just the shock of not being able to hop on Amazon and order the next item we forgot to bring up here in the first place. Or being delayed in “liking” something on Facebook. We had a few moving type of things to take care of, but nothing that couldn’t wait 72 hours it turned out. Perhaps the most stressful part of not having an internet connection, was that Sara couldn’t monitor Cam as he slept via our Dropcam. Even though he sleeps somewhere between 3-5 feet from our bed! He’s doing great by the way. His napping schedule has gone to hell since we got here. But we’re hoping he’s either growing, or he’s not loving his pack and play.

Sometime late Tuesday evening the fiber tear was repaired and our world returned to normal. We are left with memories of life when we couldn’t just check our phones instead of having an actual conversation at the dinner table (we did anyway). I almost slept a little better knowing that I couldn’t check the Orioles west coast score or my fantasy team from bed (I tried for close to 90 minutes late one night).

There are many things we take for granted in life. Hot meals, warm beds and our health. But I’d argue a fast internet connection is pretty close to the top of that list. For almost three days we lived like we turned back the clock almost ten years. And I didn’t like it one bit!

Sara graduated from her fellowship almost two weeks ago. She has now graduated three times in the last seven years, but this is the last one. A “real” job awaits in Baltimore this September. But before then, we will get to enjoy a very rare family summer off. That started this week.

If you don’t know where Swans Island, Maine is, don’t feel bad. I lived in Maine for a year when Sara first started medical school and almost nobody I worked with had heard of it. And those guys lived in Maine most of their lives. Swans sits six miles off the Maine coast, in the middle of the frigid North Atlantic ocean. About a half hour from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, Swans is a little out of the way but once you get there, it is paradise. Getting there is easier said then done.

The house on Swans is owned by Sara’s father. He bought the land decades ago, and built the house just over twenty years ago. The trip from Bethesda can take close to 14 hours by car. We thought our trip from Rhode Island should take about half that long. Long road trips are fine by me, but the tricky part about making the trip to Swans is the last hurtle. The ferry. Leaving the mainland just a handful of times a day, and never later than 5:15pm, your entire trip has to be planned around  making the ferry across. The alternative? Trying to find a last minute hotel room during the summer in Bar Harbor. Not good.

My first ever trip to Swans was back in 1995. Sara and I had been dating for just over a year. She left with her family for three weeks as she always did in August. As lovesick teenagers, we decided that I had to visit while she was gone. We couldn’t possibly not see each other for twenty days! I ended up getting there by way of an overnight Amtrak to Boston from DC (10 hours). A bus ride from Boston to Bangor (4-5 hours). Sara and her mom (Sara couldn’t drive yet!) picked me up at the bus terminal in Bangor for the final two hours to Swans. An epic trip that resulted in me sleeping for the first 14 hours of my stay in the house.

As we try to set the world record for most 9+ hour road trips with an infant, we braced for a long trip to Swans this week. There are many advantanges to having a house on an island. Peace and quiet is probably at the top of the list. A true relaxing vacation is easy to achieve. The downside? Packing. We are serial over-packers to begin with, but when you factor in trying to bring enough food for a month, you almost need two cars. There is one “general store” on the island but it’s very expensive and tends to only really carry the bare essentials. Going off island for just a grocery trip is something to try and avoid.

We packed the car as full as any car I’ve ever driven. Tons of groceries, baby stuff, dog stuff, and clothes for the adults. Also booze. The island is dry, so it is the ultimate BYOB. If you don’t think my case of Pacifico beer didn’t have a good seat, you are kidding yourself! We packed the car on Tuesday night and finished with the cooler of perishable items in the morning. To the surprise of all of us, we got up and on the road by the target time of 6:30am.

Our first stop heading north was in Newton, Massachusetts. Slow traffic and a fussy baby made getting breakfast at McDonald’s a no brainer. Once we escaped the rush hour of the Boston suburbs, the rest of the drive was fairly routine. 95 North is WAY better than 95 South! As we are cruising through southern Maine, Sara makes a realization. Despite the fact that we packed almost everything we owned into the car, we forgot one very important item. The baby carrier. When you plan on hiking and taking long walks for a month on bumpy roads, that thing is essential. And it was left in our other car. Thanks to the technology of the iPhone, we find a Toys R Us in Bangor that sells Baby Bjorns. Hooray!

The final stretch from Bangor to Bass Harbor is on two lane roads and slows you down through small towns. This is the most stressful part of the drive because the ferry is just waiting for you. Taunting you to make a mistake and ruin your trip. We had a reservation on the 5:15pm ferry. Each ferry takes 4 reservations, the other 10-12 car spots are first come, first serve. So while we were guaranteed a trip across at 5:15, the problem now was, it was 3pm. Yes, we were AHEAD of schedule. We were able to get in line and make the 3:45 ferry instead. Getting 90 minutes of our lives back in the process. This is a first for us on our many trips up to Swans. It’s a little like showing up to the Bay Brige expecting to sit at the toll for an hour or so, only to be waved through a secret lane that gets you over instead. A true victory. We must be getting better at these road trips.

So we are in Maine for about a month. This is the island where Sara learned how to crawl, so maybe Cam can follow in his mother’s footsteps, or handsteps, I guess? More soon, meanwhile enjoy our daily view!

I will return to all things Cameron in the coming weeks. This week’s post will have more to do with his mother. Almost 11 years ago, Sara packed up her Volkswagen Jetta and drove north to Southern Maine to begin medical school. Because our relationship agreement calls for me to quit my job and move to New England every ten years, I came along for that first year. I’m glad I did, because I can honestly say I was there when this crazy journey started. The training process ends for her with her graduation from fellowship this Friday night.

I don’t think either of us fully appreciated just how long this whole thing would take. When she started medical school, she was thinking about being a pediatrician. Had she done that, she would have begun practicing a few years ago.  By the end of her third year of medical school, she knew she wanted to be a surgeon. That required a six year residency. By the end of her residency, she knew she wanted to specialize in breast surgery. That requires an extra year to complete a fellowship. 11 years later, she’s ready to start practicing, and will begin that chapter this fall at GBMC back in Baltimore.

Having a front row seat to all of this has really been enlightening. The thousands of hours that she has dedicated to achieving this goal has been incredible to watch. It is rare to get to do exactly what you’ve always wanted do for a living. I’ve known Sara for over 20 years and she has always wanted to be a doctor. That is easy to say while you are in high school. It is SO much harder to go out and do it. She sacrificed so much over the past decade in order to keep her dream alive.

It isn’t easy to explain just how hard she has had to work over this time. Once she began her residency, it was rare that she ever had more than two days off in a row. Ever. Seven-day weeks were more routine than five-day weeks. Vacations were often planned around weddings or holidays to make sure she would be able to attend. Fellowship has been easier. No overnight call at least, until you factor in that she spent all of this year either pregnant or taking care of an infant. Starting on Tuesday we have 90 days off. 90 days until she starts at GBMC and hopefully she is able to slowly make up some of the sleep she missed out on over the years.

This week is a bit of a graduation for Cam and me as well. This is the 10th and final full week that we will be home alone together. Until October anyway. We have made it through our first semester together and it has gone just about as well as I could have hoped it would. I have learned so much in my 10 week crash course, and getting to spend 90 days with Cam and Sara is an amazing opportunity. One that I know will likely not happen again.

As I approach my first Father’s Day as a Father, I wanted to take a quick moment to wish a happy Father’s Day to all of the Dads out there. I’ve stolen inspiration from so many places as I’ve waded through these first few months. Here are just a few.

My own father is always on my mind as I find myself calling Cam the same nicknames he bestowed upon me so many years ago. Or when I call my dog Cam and my kid Quinn. A classic John Fogarty move. My father just turned 70 and raised four great kids and plays a big role now in helping to mold six grandchildren.

My Father-in-law who has a level of patience and calm that I can only dream of having one day.

My friends and family who had kids before me and have helped answer my questions via text or email when I find myself in a dead end.

My friends who are about to have kids for the first time. Maybe I’ll be able to answer some of their questions at some point soon!

Other random Dads who I see in the middle of the day at the store, or the park or a doctors office. Brothers in arms!

My TV dad heroes. Jason Seaver, Cliff Huxtable, Steven Keaton, Jim Walsh, Phillip Banks, Phil Dunphy, Edward Stratton III, and so, so many more. Ok, so I watch a lot of TV!

And, of course, all the Moms in my life.

We have finished up two months of me being home alone with Cam. Just about two more weeks until Sara joins us for the summer. I’m learning something new almost everyday. Some days are better than others, but it really has been a treat to get to do this. I almost feel like I know what I’m doing. Almost.

From everyone at FoggDaddy.com, have a great Father’s Day weekend!

What would you do if you had a whole year off? You didn’t win the lottery, so you can’t just travel around the world or anything. But what if you quit your job to move for your spouses career and ended up never getting a job? How would you spend your time?

That was a question I asked myself over and over again as I sat in traffic during my long daily commute from Baltimore to DC over the years. And it was a question that I unexpectedly got to answer over the past 365 days.

On Friday June 7th 2013, I walked out of the Associated Press for the last time. A couple weeks later I received the last paycheck I would see for the next 52 weeks (and counting). A whole year has gone by, and I’m not sure how it went so fast.

In December of 2012, Sara learned she had matched for a fellowship in Rhode Island. I knew then that I would need to quit my job and look for something else. I was fine with this development for a couple of reasons. For starters; I have long held Sara’s career above my own. This isn’t me kissing up to the wife, it’s the fact that she has now spent 11 years training to do this job. Taken out gobs of money in loans and been through hell to get here. The other reason was that after nearly nine years with the AP, I was ready to move on. I really enjoyed the majority of my career at the AP, but the last year or two were pretty tough for most of us on the staff. It was a good time to go and start the next thing.

The tricky part? Finding that next thing. I spent the six months before we moved trying to network. I met a lot of people before I moved here. A few of them are now friends of mine. I even flew up for a couple of meetings last February while we house hunted. Meeting people was one thing, finding job opportunities was another. Over the years I have settled for jobs, I wasn’t going to do that this time. I wasn’t going to work for the sake of working. Luckily we didn’t “need” the money that much. So I was able to be a little picky.

The problem with having time off when you are looking for work is that it isn’t really time off. If you do anything aside from searching for work, you feel guilty. So for the first few months that I was in Rhode Island I didn’t really allow myself to take advantage of not working. You’ve probably heard that looking for a job is a job in itself, and that is true. The types of jobs I was being offered interviews for weren’t really jobs I wanted. I started putting strange timelines on things and it was becoming clear that my heart wasn’t really into it. First I decided to give myself the summer off. My sister was getting married in DC over Labor Day weekend. I didn’t want a new job to screw up my plans to take some time home, so I put my job search on hold until after I got back. I would apply for a job, then almost immediately hope that I wouldn’t get it. Before you knew it, it was getting close to the holidays, and the end of the year. Nobody hires anybody at the end of the year, so I shut it down until January.

By the start of the year I had given up finding a full-time job, and decided that I would be willing to do part-time, freelance or contract type work. With a kid on the way and the real possibility that we weren’t staying in Rhode Island past this summer it seemed like the fair position to take for me and any potential employers. I got a few bites along those lines but ultimately nothing worked out. You need some luck when looking for work. You can be super qualified for a number of jobs, but those jobs need to be available.

At the end of January, with Cameron due in early March, I suspended the job search indefinitely and made the decision that I would stay home with Cameron. Was it discouraging that I couldn’t find something despite all my experience? Sure. But the reality of life had taken over. No time to feel sorry for myself. We hadn’t really ever discussed what the child care situation would be if I did work. Sara only got six weeks off. Would we have been comfortable with our six week old in day care? Or being taken care of by a nanny we just met? Nope. Amazingly, I was probably the “best” option for taking care of Cameron.

I can’t help but think about the guy I was a year ago. The stressed out mess who wasted 3-4 hours a day commuting to a job he no longer liked. A guy who still couldn’t go five minutes without checking his work blackberry, regardless of day or hour.  I wish I had come up here knowing that we could survive the year without me working. Perhaps than I could have accomplished a bit more of the things I thought I would do with so much free time. Sleep late (I did manage to nail this), make delicious breakfasts, hit the gym everyday and get in shape, learn how to paddleboard, get a permanent flip-flop tan, travel around to see old friends or get my golf handicap way down.

Thinking back to those drives to and from work, this isn’t at all what I dreamed a year off would be like. I imagined more sun, more fun, more late nights out and about. Much more golf, and a new hobby or two having been developed. You can never map these things out of course, but there is very little I would change. The opportunity to stay home with Cameron is one I never expected. But it’s the best thing that could have happened to me this year. My advice to anyone who may unexpectedly find themselves in this situation? Embrace it. Enjoy it. Slowing things down is a pretty good thing sometimes.

So what’s next? Will I ever work again? I assume I will, but I have no idea when. We have another move coming. Sara has accepted a job starting in September back in Baltimore. Since she finishes her fellowship this month, we are all very excited for our  summer off together. Who knows, maybe I’ll finally learn how to paddleboard.

The two most stubborn people I know!

There is almost nothing that will make me brave a drive into New York City on Memorial Day weekend. It is a very short list of things that would allow me to pile us into a car and pray that I-95 isn’t a parking lot. Ida Paley is on top of that list.

Sara’s amazing grandmother turned 102 on May 18th!! She lives in Queens, in the same apartment that she has lived in for SIXTY years! The opportunity for Cam to meet his great-grandmother was one we had been working on since he was born three months ago. We toyed with the idea of stopping off in Queens during our epic road trip back in April, but decided against adding a few hours to an already LONG journey. Sara had a rare three day weekend, and we decided to do a quick day trip down and back last Saturday.

I’ll save you the suspense. The drive was easy. Both ways. I, of course, feared the worse the whole time, and only when we were a few miles from home did I admit that the trip was a good idea. It was about three hours down and three hours back. Cam did great, Quinn was solid as always. The whole trip was routine enough that I can’t even complain thru funny anecdotes. We spent about three hours with Grams having lunch from her favorite deli, Ben’s.

The connection between Grams and Cam was immediate. As you can see from the picture above, and those that Sara posted on Facebook, it was all smiles from the moment they saw each other. Most of the afternoon was spent with Cam in the arms of his great Grams. She dressed up for the occasion and transferred her lipstick on his hands as she kissed him. Cam was mesmerized by his new friend, and just smiled and smiled.

He napped as we all ate lunch and we took that as an opportunity to get moving before he woke up. Saying goodbye to Grams is never easy. This time was no exception. We drove away thrilled that Cam was able to meet Grams and spend such a fun afternoon with her. He likely won’t remember his first trip to Queens, but we will. Thanks to iPhones, Facebook and hilarious blogs, he’ll get a chance to relive such a sweet memory one day.

Cam is blessed with such a loving extended family. He has met most of them in his first three months on earth. But no meeting has been as special as seeing him share smiles and laughs with his great Grams. More than 100 years of family history bridged in just a couple of hours.

I don’t plan on using this blog to wade into controversial waters. Maybe it is my background in journalism. The whole “fair and balanced” thing prevented me from seeing the news as a consumer for so many years. My job for a long time was to find snappy headlines and juicy soundbites, mostly at the expense of digging into the whole story. I’ll be the first to admit when I haven’t done the research. But on the issue of getting your kids vaccinated, I think I have a pretty clear picture.

On one side we have doctors, the CDC and just about every scientific study imaginable saying to get your kids vaccinated. On the other side we have the hot, funny blonde from the 90’s MTV dating show Singled Out claiming that vaccines lead to autism. Like any male of my generation, I was a big Jenny McCarthy fan. But I’m gonna go ahead and side with science in this case. My son will have enough to deal with in the decades ahead, I’d rather he didn’t get polio or measles while he’s cleaning up our messes.

Three days after returning from Las Vegas, we had Cameron’s two month check-up, aka the vaccination appointment. Our first mistake was scheduling a doctor’s appointment just a couple days after getting back from Vegas. Whether you are two months old, or 36 years old, you should NEVER get a physical the Tuesday after you get back from Vegas! Sorry Cam, won’t happen again!

I was on my own for this appointment. Sara had hoped to join us, but she was stuck operating. This was a big test for me. Most of my routine is based in the house, neighborhood, or at the local park where we stroll while Quinn runs off leash. I’ve done a couple of quick shopping trips with Cam, but I’ve been strategic about always being close to home.

We arrived at the office and got checked in, hiding in a corner trying to keep Cam from the germ factories running around the waiting room. Luckily the wait was brief, and we got going just about on time. I think the stay-at-home dad thing works in places like doctor’s offices. They (rightly) assume I have no idea what I’m doing, or at the very least could use some help. The Fogarty men prove to be a killer combination, securing free samples of formula as we wait for the doctor. I’ve still got it! *Editor’s Note: Turns out they give out free samples to everyone, all you have to do is ask.

Before the vaccine part of the appointment, I had to get Cam changed, weighed and measured. At just short of 9 weeks, he weighed in at 14lbs 15ozs. See what I mean about going to the doctor after a few days of Vegas buffets? At 23 inches, the doctor is pleased with his growth, and the rest of the check-up went pretty well. She thinks Cam may have a mild case of Torticollis, which means his neck muscles are tight because he’s always looking and sleeping in one direction. We will head to a therapist to nip this in the bud quickly. My guess is we will be ordered to take tummy time more seriously, which won’t be fun for anyone. Regardless, we are very lucky and appreciative with his continued good health.

The doctor leaves and here comes the nurse with the shots. I had NO idea what to expect. I knew he would be upset, but I completely underestimated his reaction. I thought I had heard all of his variations of cries. Hungry, dirty diaper, tired…..but the pain from the shots emitted a noise that was on another level altogether. The sound increased almost by the second, pausing only to reload the lungs. It was awful and went on for an uncomfortable amount of time from my perspective. We needed some time to regroup before packing up to leave. There were a few moments when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to stop at the desk and checkout or schedule our next appointment. Luckily he calmed down enough for us to get out of the office in one piece. We made it home and things settled down. He did great, no fevers or anything. The bad news? We have to do it all over again in July.

Our perfect little traveler.

I’m not a “Vegas every year” guy. I have plenty of friends who have to get to Vegas every March or whatever, but that has never been me. In my life I’ve probably spent 12-14 nights in Vegas (but who remembers EVERY night). That said, we happened to spend a four day weekend in Vegas for Sara’s birthday last February. I thought it would be fun to do a quick comparison of what that weekend was like, compared to the trip we just took.

What was the same: We stayed at the Bellagio

What was different: Everything else.

Our 2013 trip was the second part of a week-long vacation out west. We started in Kingman, Arizona, visiting my sister and our newest niece Claire. Kingman is about two hours from Vegas, and that is the closest airport, so there was no choice but to get a Vegas trip in. We convinced eight friends to meet us out there. They arrived on different days throughout the weekend, with the highlight being Saturday night when all ten of us went out to dinner to celebrate Sara’s birthday. We snuck in some spa time, spent every morning by the pool, gambled and a even took a couple of limo rides for our Friday night version of Sara’s birthday dinner. Most of us learned how to play craps on this trip, and after that Saturday dinner we essentially took over a craps table for two hours and made a LOT of money. We are pretty sure they called in a Cooler, and it worked. It was quintessential Vegas. The kind of weekend that makes you want to book another trip before you leave the hotel. Late nights, made some money, had a ton of fun.  For a co-ed Vegas trip, it couldn’t be topped.

The 2014 version of Vegas looked almost nothing like the 2013 version. It started as we were getting settled in our hotel room and it took three tries for us to get a pack and play that worked. This allowed me time to wonder what percentage of Bellagio guests ever even ask for a pack and play? Where were these even coming from? Spoiler alert, Cam didn’t even like it, he slept in his car seat the whole time. That delay cut into my late night gambling plans, but I managed to sneak out and win a quick 100 bucks on the roulette table. Roulette would treat me well over the course of the weekend. I never had enough time to get into craps. I’d hate to get on another hot streak and have to leave!

Sara was on a pretty tight schedule most of our time there, so I would mostly be on Cam-watching duty. My birthday was a few weeks ago and “Cam” got me a massage at the Bellagio spa. Sara had some free time Thursday morning so I was able to sneak off to paradise. The spa at the Bellagio reminds me a lot of the Albert Brooks/Meryl Streep movie Defending Your Life. Everyone walks around in white robes and you can pretty much get anything you want to eat or drink. It was heaven. I’m not ashamed to admit I am now a huge fan of hot stone massages (white robe and all). I guess after a man signs up for Amazon Mom, it’s pretty easy to be comfortable with all the rest.

Friday was Sara’s busiest day. Her poster presentation was that night, but she had a full day of lectures to attend. Lucky for me, it was 90 degrees and my sister was bringing three of her kids down from Kingman for a pool day and a cousin meet and greet. I acted as the pool raft for my niece and nephews. A great afternoon and Sara was even able to join in on the fun by the end of the day. It was during our pool time that I finally managed to secure my first alcoholic beverage while in Vegas. What used to take me less than an hour, had taken me almost two days. A different Vegas experience for sure.

Sara did a great job with her poster and we went out to a late dinner with some of her colleagues at the hotel. Cam came along and luckily slept the whole time. Before the dinner I finally left the comforts of the Bellagio for the first time since we arrived. I walked down to the strip to run an errand before our trip back on Saturday. The biggest Walgreens store you’ve ever seen is on the Las Vegas strip. Just a half a block from our hotel. A year ago I went to this Walgreens to get last minute cards for Sara’s birthday and Valentine’s day. And booze and snacks for our room. This year I was sent out on our last night in Vegas to get baby formula. We needed more of those travel size two-ounce bottles to get us all home in one piece. Walking thru that store and seeing the circus that is a Friday night in Vegas, I’m pretty sure I was the only person all weekend who would ask where the baby formula was located.

We left Vegas on Saturday. A big boxing match was happening that night and so was the Kentucky Derby. The temperature was expected to get up to 99 degrees. I think we got out at just the right time. Our flight out of Vegas left on time. The only one of our four flights that managed that feat. If Cam got an A+ for the trip out, he gets a B+ for the return flights. He was great for the most part, but too many messy diapers on the trip back to get a perfect grade. One on our way back to Chicago (again right as we pushed back from the gate. He was just toying with us now), and twice on our final flight. We were again delayed in Chicago. This time by over an hour. Our flight was also overbooked, so they kept asking for volunteers to get bumped. In our former life we might have jumped at the chance. A random night in Chicago where we have family and friends would be fun. Plus the voucher money is nice. But when you are one two hour flight from completing a trip as crazy as this one, we didn’t even consider it.

I think it’s time to see everything that Rhode Island has to offer. Because I don’t plan on leaving the state again for a while!