Our Family Beginnings

This has been the summer of travel.  I went to Florida to see my person, then I went to Schlubfest with other awesome bloggers, and next, in theory, we are going to Hilton Head to stay with my In-laws for a week and half.  That’s if Mr. Badger’s trial ever ends, this trial that should have ended weeks ago, and now may go another day. We were supposed to leave this past Saturday…then today…then tomorrow.  Now we may not leave until Thursday.  Do I have any takers for leaving by Christmas?  Thank goodness he’s being such a good sport about it all.  We’ve been looking forward to going down there since before Easter, and I just can’t wait to get down there…

V and I flew down to Florida for my friend’s wedding, and he as usual was a charmer, flirting with the Flight Attendants and the 8 month old girl in the seat in front of him.  Luckily both of us had entire rows to ourselves.

I knew that Orlando was a family-friendly Mecca, but hot damn, viewing it from a parent perspective rather than as the kid that gets to dine with Mickey…it’s awesome.  We checked in, and they gave us a Little People toy and sleepy time CD for him to listen to. I guess I didn’t need to pack his bath soap!

I get up to the room and not only was there a crib, but it was a real wood crib with kid-friendly sheets and dust ruffle, not just a pack and play with a folded regular flat sheet on it.

From Baby 12.02.09 – Loews Loves Kids

What’s more, is that free of charge, they have a menu of toys that you can order up to the room, by age!

From Baby 12.02.09 – Loews Loves Kids

From Baby 12.02.09 – Loews Loves Kids

I’ll tell you one thing, it makes traveling with a baby a heck of a lot easier. Well done, Loews, well done.

Yesterday I turned 33, and it was a pretty nice day.

Thanksgiving went well, though the turkey cooked faster than Mr. Badger had expected.  Ignore the fact that this happens every year and should no longer be a surprise…

I’m really lucky that my brother married such an awesome woman.  She’s truly so sweet and helpful, making sure that I took time outs to rest every now and then both on Thanksgiving and my birthday.  She’s hilarious, a great aunt to V, and easy to get along with.  She loves football, music, food, and karaoke, and played Beatles Rock Band with me for hours this morning.

Mr. Badger and I get along so well with my brother and his wife that we are making a few plans to go away with them in 2010 for some vacation days.

On Wednesday I wrote a letter to our elected officials to see if they can speed the paperwork along for finalization.  It can’t hurt, right?

V is walking pretty regularly now, which isn’t freaking me out.  When he goes vertical, that’s when I’m gonna be in big trouble.

Me, Mr. Badger, my brother and his wife all went to a few bars throughout DC for my birthday, leaving my folks and Mr. Badgers to watch V.  It made us laugh that all four of them were still there when we got home around 11pm, though V went to bed hours earlier. It was like neither pair wanted to cede grandparenting to the other, and so they all stayed.  My folks said that it was a good time and everyone got along well.  Not a bad birthday gift…

Mr. Badger got me a photography class for my birthday, which I’m pretty stoked about. Maybe I’ll even get good at it!!!

I leave for Florida on Tuesday with V, and Mr. Badger joins us on Thursday along with my folks.  It’s gonna be a royal PITA to fly down there on my own with V with his big boy carseat.

More in a little bit since I have to make up for not posting yesterday.

That peach wine that we had last night, it was definitely good.  I probably had about 10 people hit unsubscribe after my rant last night, though I really didn’t mean to offend.  Those of you who know me know where I’m coming from.   Like I’ve said before.  I’m not blogging for the bright and shiny of it all, I’m simply chronicling my experience in the ALI world.

Last night, me and the girls talked about this – how we’ll never forget how we got to this amazing place of parenthood.  We saw a little girl at the pool yesterday who simultaneously annoyed us and broke our hearts.  She was 6 years old and was totally enamored of the little guys.   As her young mom sunned with her girlfriends, she stuck to us like glue.  She wanted to hold the babies, feed the babies, love the babies.  She was clearly seeking that which she wasn’t receiving herself.  We could almost see her path right in front of her, where the cycle of motherhood far too young could continue.  It was astounding to us that a parent could just ignore their children to the degree that this girl was.  JJ even said it best, “Even on our worst days with our kids, it’s more wonderful than the best days without them.”  Sure, our kids can wear us down and frustrate, but damn straight it’s the most amazing time of our lives.

It’s the circle of blogging sometimes – we follow and we fall out of touch.  Sometimes we are lucky enough to meet people who truly touch our hearts and become friends, confidants, and part of our closest circle.  This week I got to spend time with two women who have been blogging right along side of me for ages now.  They were even more amazing then their fantastic blogs would lead you to believe, and exactly the type of parents I hope to be with the baby badger.  Laid back, no fuss, and love wine.  I’m thankful that I get to see them again with Mel in a few weeks, but I will have to make sure to keep these ladies in my family’s life.

Plus, JJ’s husband Mook washed my car while we were out of town.  How awesome is he?  Almost as awesome as Mr. Badger.

I’ll post the same pictures up on my family blog, but for my faithful friends (and you lurkers too, hi there, I see ya!), I want to document the awesomeness that is schlubfest09. What is this momentous get together, you ask? Why only the coolest of the cool have descended upon a remote lake in North Carolina to chill the fuck out for a few days. Me, JJ from Reproductive Jeans, and Somewhat Ordinary (who gets here tomorrow) are living it up by dressing down. The rule is, no buttons or zippers! We kid, we kid.

Last year JJ and I tried to get to OBX together with Mr. Badger and Mook, but we couldn’t get our schedules in sync. This year, JJ and I could find times that worked, but the menfolk had that pesky work stuff to do. So we decided to get away with our boys for a bit. If you haven’t followed one of us, O-Man is a mere 6 days younger than V. Somewhat Ordinary and her son are joining in the fun shortly, and plenty of wine will be consumed.

Today took us to far reaching vistas as “The World’s Biggest Chair” (you can figure out which one we passed) and the Sonic where Kellie Pickler got her start.  I had a watermelon milkshake from Cookout.  It sounds nasty, but hot damn was it good. We got our “y’all” on at the white-trash Wal*mart, and cleaned out the fridge and pantry of doom.  Not kidding, there were items in the FRIDGE from 2003.  It was awesome throwing out other people’s stuff, we had a blast.

Then I made lasagna for dinner and started the blueberry pie crust for tomorrow.  Tons more to say, but we have drinking to do.  In the meantime, here are some pictures from today:

And I’m all on kirtsy and stuff, just saying I’m still alive.  I’m just still on vacation.  When I get back you can read all about my thoughts on traveling with an infant, the Redneck Riviera, and the flight attendant with the alarmingly high ponytail who made V cry.  We come home late tomorrow, and maybe I’ll start working on a post while Mr. Crankypants snoozes in between bouts of serious teething.

If you’re really hard up for some updates, go over to our family blog to see pictures of what we’ve been doing.

The last vacation that Mr. Badger and I took was to Aruba in February of last year.  We decided not quite last minute to go away, and not Florida.   Florida’s easy since my folks inherited the condo at what is basically Del Boca Vista from my mom’s parents.  He and I have been down there a few times, and it’s safe, old hat.  Don’t get me wrong, we have a blast down there.  One of these days I’ll tell you the story of Scoresby, the railer than rail scotch.  It’s aged a whopping 90 days!

Now that we have Baby Badger, travel takes on a whole new meaning.  Mr. Badger’s been the busiest he’s ever been since we’ve been married.  It all started, ironically enough, the week we got the call about V.  No joke, he has had more trials in the first 6 months of this year than in the first two years he was at his firm.  So, while we’d love to do something exotic, we’d never appreciate it anyway, and thus, Florida it is.

We decided though, to go to the panhandle to visit my person.  It has the benefit of being familiarish to Mr. Badger, since he went to Destin a bunch as a kid, and familiarish to me since I went to visit S. in October of last year for a long weekend.   It also has nicer beaches than the greater Ft. Lauderdale beaches.  Lastly, it has a built-in sitter if Mr. Badger and I want to get away for a night.  The downer is, it’s the panhandle, and right now they are in the midst of a heatwave that has the heat index flirting with 110 degrees.  As far as I know though, there’s not much else to do in the greater Panama City Beach area.  Too bad it’s not Daytona, we could stalk watch this guy as he races.  Shit, did I just talk about car racing?  Jesus Christ, the things we women do when we like a guy…

Anyhow, dear blogosphere, though we have traveled with V before, and I get the idea of what to bring for general day-to-day life, I want your thoughts on beach travel.  What is your assvice from experience on going to the beach with the baby, assuming we have the sunscreen and one of those cabana shelter tenty things?  I get all the “What to expect” jazz about how long a kid could be out at the beach assuming nice conditions, but what has your experience actually been?  I have a feeling that while properly shaded and cool a kid could last X amount of time, but in reality, with a kid who only wants to stand and has no interest in sitting, we’ll only last so long on a sandy towel.  What are other ways that you have enjoyed a family vacation with a 5 month old if there’s not too many places to go?  We’ll be there over the 4th, so I have to make sure to pick up those kiddo headphones for his ears so that we can enjoy the fireworks.

Phew!  Time to kick up our feet and watch a movie…while we don’t leave for a few days, vacation starts tonight!  And to any would-be villains, we have someone staying at the house with the cats.  Our stereo system is not your new present.

Ever had it?  Ever heard of it?  I hadn’t, until I consulted with Dr. Google this morning.   It’s basically an inflammation in the thumb down by the base, near the wrist and is often caused by picking up a baby, a repetitive stress injury.  I am hoping it’ll go away with time – but some people end up wearing a splint or getting a cortisone shot.  I’ll take the ostrich approach for now and try to use more of my forearm to pick up V, but I’m seeing a visit to the doc in my future.

Right now I’m up visiting my fam in the big apple, which has been really a ton of fun.   Mr. Badger just started a new trial, which means 15 hour days.  If I’m gonna be on my own, may as well make use of the time, right?   I saw an old friend, saw my folks’ progress on gutting their house, and have been staying with my bro and his amazing wife.  He had possibly the lamest 30th birthday ever yesterday, poor guy.  He was just a little under the weather, and so went to work, came home, put on the tv and didn’t get up until it was time for bed.  Watching the Yankees and eating pretzels is a nice Monday evening, but kinda lame for his 30th.  Me and his wife tried to get him out for at least a drink, but it was no dice…

Today I had lunch with Mel (2 Celebrity Sightings with her – Mario Batali and Judah Freelander!) and tomorrow head over to my old office in Jersey to see folks from my job that I just left.  Thursday is a Yankee game with V, Friday is more friends, and then Saturday morning – home.  It’s been so gorgeous here, and parts of me wonder/wish I could live in Manhattan as a new mom.  There are so many places to go and so much to do with him, that a week hardly seems to be enough.   I’d  need a better wardrobe though, so probably better off that I live in DC, where we are more  casual.  NYC is a great place to visit, but I will say, DC has become my home.  It’s not as boisterous as New York, but I’m not that type anyhow.  I’ve always loved sleep, and while NY never does, DC allows me that luxury.

As Mr. Badger proudly says, I’ve “been de-Gothamized”.  That being said, I still love my Yankees, SoHo, and that inkling that I’m home again when I’m here.

As of today, we have a 17 week old.  Tomorrow, he’ll be 4 months old which is astounding.  I’d love it if he could stay this age for a while – he’s smiley (except when fussy from teething) and rolling over, and just a generally chill and happy guy.  I can sit and watch him for hours, truly.  Luckily I’ve actually been busy with him though. We get out to workout outside at least three times a week, have dinner with friends, and just little things that keep every day full of joy.

I’ve also made some time to get out and be me, not just mommy-me.  Mr. Badger and I have gone out for some dinners, and and I’ve grabbed some girl time with my friends as well.

Tomorrow not only marks V’s 4 month birthday but also will be the day that he takes his first plane ride.   It’ll just be the two of us, since Mr. Badger has a trial that’ll take him out of commission.  I sent the pack n play up with my folks after the baby naming, and some formula after this past weekend, so luckily I think we’ll be traveling pretty light – relatively speaking and all.  It’s only a 45 minute flight, which hoplefully won’t be oversold, so that I can kiss ass into getting a seat for V.  We’ll see.

Should be lots of fun!

As a total aside, Mr. Badger got something in the mail today that made both of us laugh our asses off, though unintended by the sender, I assume.   I love when it’s the little things that we can share that amuse us both.  Smiling together at the end of the day is a day well spent.

I’m pissed as fuck today.  The meeting went fine with the RE.  She thinks that the egg quality is fine, and is going to run a few tests.  Anecdotally, she says no guy with sperm issues should be on any kind of Mega Man (or just for men) multivitamin.  Just go for something plain that isn’t just for guys.

She’s having him do an SA when he gets back from his work trip next week, to check for chromosomal issues.  Additionally she ran bloodwork today to check for:

FSH
LH
TSH
Prolactin
Testosterone Free
Testosterone Total
Sex Hormone Binding
Cystic Fibrosis
Male Y deletion
Karyotype

He’s also going to meet with the internist in the practice who deals with the SA issues on 4/22.   In the meantime, we’re doing nothing.  No cycle, just waiting to see what we find.  If it is hormonal, they’ll give him drugs.  If it is chromosomal, we’ll do specific PGD.  If it is nothing, we just do PGD until it works.  Those are our options.  I asked about why ICSI didn’t help, and she said that if something is wrong with the sperm besides just the shape, then ICSI will create fertilization, but not embryos that will survive.

So I am pissed.  Pissed that I have gone through 2.5 years of treatment and this shit wasn’t checked before, because my annovulation was assumed to  be the only issue.  I’m pissed that we have to wait longer now to have a kid.  I’m pissed because we’ve been doing IVF since September, and I can’t get that time back.  I’m pissed because there is absolutely NOTHING I can do but sit and wait.  Nothing will make time go faster, and nothing is going to put a child in my arms except time.

I’m pissed because now Fred has to go away for work, he’s pissed, I’m pissed (not with each other, mind you) and the one person we need most in the world will be half a country away for a week.

I need to do something destructive.  Any suggestions?