Day 50: Independence Day

 So I've come to the final day of Episode 3 of my Daddy-blog. Since this page will be the first one most people see here on the internet for (internet-) forever, here's a little intro:

Hi. My name is Alex. My wife Jen and I just had a baby named Ida. She's our 4th baby.

 

Ida. for great justice. 

 

For babies number 2, 3, and 4, I got a substantial amount of time off work (about 42 days +/-), and spent each evening blogging about our activities.

Of necessity, these updates are posted in reverse order, but it should be pretty easy for you to navigate and read these front-to-back if it suits you. Of course, I don't know why you, random stranger, are interested in our lives, but such is the modern age.

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Today was the 4th of July / Independence Day. 

For those of you who know my family, you know that every July 4, we get together, eat a bunch of things, and create havoc with fireworks that is neither safe nor sane. This year was no different.

My sister invited us to her house in Gaston, Oregon. It took us most of the morning prepping food, packing up and getting ready. I did a lot of the baby care this morning, which typically involved Ida laying on my chest and both of us passed out. Jen and I got grumbly at each other for being late and not being ready. Finally, we had the whole family canned into the car and ready to go. Betty is still feeling sick, but hopefully with her on both antibiotics and antivirals she's safe to be around other kids... ....hopefully.

Ida got passed around to many hands and was loved by all.

Ida with auntie.

Ida with cousin.

Grandma and Grandpa.

lots of love from Grandma.

my sister has a new kitten in the garage. Some of the kids spent hours playing with / poking said new kitten.

 

Betty (6) with kitty (2023)

Betty 2016

A close up on Betty's recurring eye cold sore. This pops up every year or so in the corner of her eye and is super scary. The one on her cheek is new this time. Luckily, there's medicine that can knock it back out in a few days.

Edgar (14) clownin'. (2023)

Edgar (2) dead serious, (2011)

I wanted a picture of all my kids on the 4th of July, but Sabrina (12) somehow avoided the camera. So here's her at sunset last night. (2023)

Sabrina, 2011

 

I somehow got roped into driving the kids around in uncle David's "Gator" 4wheel drive yard tractor. We zipped up and down the hill and around their property and the kids loved it. They kept yelling "Tip us! Tip us!" At first, I thought they meant they wanted me to roll over the gator, which I of course wouldn't do. Finally I discovered that the back section works like a dump truck, and the kids in back wanted me to dump them out. Okay then.

Me, Betty, and a load of cousins.

 

I managed a quiet hour before the fireworks started, and what did I find? Oh yeah, my favorite thing in the world-- a hammock to nap in.

nice view.

The fireworks were fun and crazy. Jen and I didn't buy anything this year, but we had a big garbage bag of leftovers from last year (mostly illegal Rez fireworks). Edgar, Sabrina, and Betty all got to light things off. Edgar was very into the mortars and firecrackers. Betty loved her sparklers and roman candles, and Sabrina got brave and lit a few mortars too. Everything was super crazy, very unsafe, and nobody got hurt or injured. Just like a family 4th should be.

Jen and Ida fell asleep halfway through the fireworks, so we packed up and got ready to go before we woke them up. All in all, it was a wonderful day of family, food, and fire. I managed to drive home and not fall asleep, and Jen did lovely things of taking Ida's overnight feedings so that I could wake up for work in the morning.

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The last two times, I've rounded this up with a lessons learned section. 

I feel like as I'm getting older and more experienced as a dad, the less I know... Nevertheless, I'll take a stab:

1. I STILL love naps. I've even worked them into my regular work schedule now.

2. Sometimes it's just hard. I was expecting an easier time managing everything with teenagers about. ...but there's some things only Mom and Dad can do. These kids are awesome caretakers (and all of them change diapers!) but our house is a mess and I swear these kids can't wipe their nose without Mom or Dad telling them how.

3. Babies are cute.

 

4. Hospital births are beautiful, too. No shame or guilt on anyone who has a baby in any way. Bringing a life into the world is AMAZING no matter how it's done. But also check out waterbirth.net if you're open to that sort of thing.

 

5. There's a better division. When you have your first kid, you don't worry about it. For Sabrina and Betty, I decided that I would take care of the older kid(s) while Jen did all the hard work with baby. This time, we did a more equitable split. It produced 2 results: 1) we didn't have as many zany adventures (see past blogs where we were doing big things every day). 2) Jen isn't burning out from parenting and we raise a kid that loves the both of us. While this doesn't produce the flashy results of a blogworthy adventure, I think I've bonded to Ida better than any of the other kids, and Jen is able to stress less and let go of a lot of things. With the other kids, she felt like she couldn't even go to the store or leave the house for months. This is better.

6. Projects? Whatever. I knew this. If you want to get things done, don't plan them for when you have a new baby. 

 

7. The more experience I get, the less I actually know. All those things I took for granted with the first kids? It's all different now. It always is.

 

8. No clear consensus on tongue-tie. Ask me in 6 months. For now, I'm super not sure that cutting Ida's tongue was the right decision.

 

9. Family leave is important. I honestly don't know how we could have gotten through this C-section / baby-not-nursing debacle without two active parents. Lawmakers across the US are trying to limit the amount of coverage and care that parents can take, despite us being the only large civilized country without dedicated family medical leave.

10. Nobody read blogs in 2011. In 2023, people don't even know they exist.

Well, that's all. I'm pretty sure this is our last kid. See you on the flipside, or when these babies have their own babies.

Day 49: Plan F

 Last night, the family and I planned to do something along the lines of a last-amazing-adventure before 4th of July and the end of my daddy leave. Betty is sick, so it would have been just Edgar, Sabrina, and myself.

Plan A was a trip to Mt. St. Helens. Found out this morning that there was a landslide a month or so ago that has closed the main road up to the mountain.

No problem. Let's come up with a Plan B.

We can use our zoo membership for reciprocal admission at the Oregon Historical Society Museum in downtown Portland. That opens at 10, so we can sleep in a little later.  Maybe we can do some other fun portland things like get voodoo donuts and putt-putt at glowing greens and maybe lunch at a food cart.

Oh, Betty is still very sick? Her ocular herpes flared up again (like it does every 18 months or so) and she needs a new prescription? OK, we can wait until we get Betty her prescription before we leave for the museum.

What? Sabrina has an orthodontist appointment at 1:30 today? How did we not know? OK, maybe we do this after her appointment.

Well, the appointment is done and it's 3:30. The museum closes at 5, so that's out of the picture. Why don't we go to Glowing Greens later after dinner and let Sabrina and mom go shopping for cute 4th of July clothes?

So, had a lovely relaxing time in the hammock and finished my book. 

After dinner, I checked out the website for Glowing Greens. What? They close at 6 PM? Whyyy?

OK. change of plans. There's a similar putt-putt place in Vancouver. We can go out for ice cream afterwards. Wait, their last mini-golf tee time is 6:10? That's in 10 minutes!

OK. What are we on? Plan F? Come with me, kids.

So, we grabbed some Burger King ice cream, fries, and (nasty stale) mozzarella sticks and headed for the PDX runway. Somehow we managed to get there during a lull-- hardly any planes landing or taking off. After a while, things picked up, but it was mostly boring-- the biggest planes were the furthest away. It was not amazing like this or this.

Then, we headed up to Rocky Butte, one of my favorite places in Portland. There, we admired the view, played frisbee on top of an active volcano, and watched the sunset.

Home (Vancouver WA) from Rocky Butte. Also pictured, Mt. St. Helens (Plan A) and at the far left on the horizon, Mt. Rainier-- also just barely visible from our fire lookout a few days ago.

So this couple is in all my sunset pictures. That's not creepy.

So, for Plan F, that wasn't bad. While we were at Rocky Butte, we got a message from Jen that they were having a power outage. 

...and making the best of it by playing Battleship.

We got home just as things were getting dark, and scurried around the house finding flashlights and a propane lantern. We got all set up for a game night:

Jen taught Betty chess. Edgar advised. Sabrina and I played Fox in the Forest. Just as always happens, 10 minutes into our games, the power came back on. Oh well. It was a fun night.

I got to put Ida down, and now it's bedtime for me, too.

Day 48: Pinochle Sunday

 Time is ticking out. We are very aware that in just a few days, our babymoon will be over and I will be going back to work (from home, ok, it's not that hard). Jen very sweetly let me sleep much of the night last night. I did have a 4 AM feeding where Ida just wasn't tired. (And I couldn't keep awake), but then I got to sleep in blissfully long.

I went to church (alone again) today, but had a great time and taught a lesson to a trio of rambunctious 4-year-olds.

After church, I had a kingly afternoon nap, followed by yummy sunday dinner of meatloaf and baked potatoes. That's doing it right.

After dinner, Jen, Ida, and I went to my parents for an evening of pinochle.

That's grandma, playing pinochle with Ida in a rocking chair.

After that, we came home and Ida was passed around to many hands. She's a bit fussy tonight and not sleeping when we want her to.

Betty's hair looks like 4th of July fireworks.

Day 47: Night Fever

Ida and I got to bed fairly early last night. Jen stayed up doing art. I don't know what time she went to bed, but she got up and fed Ida in the 2:00 hour. 

In the 3:00 hour, we had a hot little visitor to our bed. Betty was running a very high temperature. She threw up a few times, and was very dehydrated. Jen was convinced it was heat exhaustion. I wasn't so sure-- most obvious being the lack of real heat she was exposed to. Yeah, she spent a lot of time outside with her cousins, but Pacific City isn't exactly the tropics. We only spent about 15 minutes at the beach yesterday.

Anyway, Betty was acting scary. We ended up drawing her a lukewarm bath, which was freezing to her, and then having her watch endless reruns of Is It Cake and Floor Is Lava on TV (is this kiddie reality TV or kiddie game shows?)

Jen took her to Urgent Care once they opened, while I snoozed with Ida.

Betty, finally getting some rest on the exam table.

Doctor's diagnosis was strep throat. Sent Betty home to get rest and fluids.

Most of the day was spent with Betty (and the older kids) watching episode after episode of stupid tv. 

 Jen and I, not having slept much, took various naps and tried to get the basics of laundry, dishes, and Ida care done. I got reacquainted with my hammock for a bit.

There was a miscommunication between the doctor and the pharmacy, so we didn't get Betty's antibiotics until this evening.

Evening was spent with Betty on the couch in the living room watching her tablet while the rest of us watched Ocean's Twelve. This was about my 5th time through it and I think I finally understood it.

Not much happened today, but I suppose that's a good thing.

Day 46: The Transporter

 Rolled out of bed for a dentist appointment this morning.  After, worked to get Jen and the kids (sans Betty) into the car. Why?

During a midnight feeding, I discovered that our local Titan Arum was in bloom.

We went to see a flower.

What?

The Titan Arum is the world's largest flower, and it's also fairly endangered. Our local college (WSU Vancouver) has one. Actually, it has 4. Due to a "watering mishap" many years ago, the poor thing exploded from overwatering and grew into 4 clones in the same pot.

 

 

 

This flower is called the "corpse flower". When it blooms, it supposedly emits an unmistakable and strong odor of rotting flesh (thus summoning flies, its main pollinator).

This 4-way one is fun because you can see all 4 stages of its lifecycle-- 

1) all the way under the ground. 

2) A single leaf (yes, that big 15-foot palmy thing is ONE leaf)

3) A gigantic flower

4) Seeds

So, we dropped everything to see the flower because it started blooming at 4 PM yesterday and only blooms for about 24 hours. Full disclosure, the thing wasn't VERY open anymore, and didn't stink anymore. Apparently that's only when it begins blooming. Too bad.

Nevertheless, when you get a chance to see a Corpse Flower, drop everything and go.

We grabbed some Grimace Shakes afterwards (meh), and then it was time for me to spend all day in the car.

I drove to Wilsonville to swap back nephew Garrett's 4Runner for our Flex.

Then out to Pacific City to pick up Betty who has been having the time of her life at her cousins' house.

...I got a call from Garrett about a half hour after leaving his house-- I left my wallet in his 4Runner. Yikes, now my plans for picking up lunch and maybe some car snacks were ruined.

Without something to drink or munch on, I got pretty sleepy on the way to the coast. I ended up taking a half hour nap off the side of the road somewhere in the coast range.

By the time I got to Pacific City, I think the cousins were pretty done with Betty, but she sure had a great time. Betty's stuff was all packed and ready by the door. Glenn and Megan are so sweet to take Betty in for the week. That was super awesome. Betty lost a tooth today, then LOST it in the yard. Betty was super upset and a bit traumatized that we were driving away from the house without that tooth. How would the tooth fairy EVER get it?

Leaving the house, I asked Betty if she had gone to the beach this week. She said they had never even offered, but she wished they had. [leaving our house 4 days ago, Betty was whining, "I don't wanna go to the beach". hmm.] So, 30 seconds later, Betty and I were at the beach. 

It was sunny and warm, but super windy. We still had fun. I got to splash my feet in the water. We made a sand-mountain. Ran around a bit. Then took off for home.

Betty whinily asked me questions all the way home as my patience slowly wore away.... but I love her and she's cute.

We rendezvoused with Garrett on the way home and, with cash in hand, got Jersey Mike's subs.

Then home at 8 PM to bottle and snuggle Ida. That was a long day on the road.

Day 45: Lookout, farewell.

 Today began as yesterday-- with a beautiful sunrise. 

The morning sun cast a magical glow on everything in our surroundings. It was sad that we had to (eventually) leave it today.

There was a bit more reading and napping, but the morning was mostly spent packing, hauling everything back to the car, and drinking in the last of the amazing views.

a pile of diapers to pack out.

 

One last snuggle/feeding before we go.

 

A farewell selfie with the tυoʞoo⅃ ɘɘγT

...and a farewell selfie with the view.

By 10:30, we were packed up and out. Ready for our long, long, long drive home. We bumped back down the hill, white-knuckled. Took us a few hours to reach civilization.

I learned that the area we were staying in was part of the 1994 Tyee Burn, and was one of the largest wildfires in the state of Washington. Things are recovering nicely, but there aren't a lot of trees at the top of that mountain.

We took some time to communicate with our kids, and some time to feed and change Ida.

There was a lot of one person driving while the other slept today. We saw this alongside the road in Satus Pass:

Either someone was making lemonade using a gallon of distilled water, or that's the biggest trucker bomb I've ever seen. There's got to be a story behind that. That's not someone running late or not finding a rest stop in an emergency, that's a gallon of pee. Imagine the planning and foresight it would take to fill a gallon with urine while driving. Somebody had to plan ahead to get that gallon bottle, had to manage it and hold onto it for several days until it was full, and had to make sure it didn't spill or slosh the whole time, then had to find the right place to jettison it alongside the road. An awful lot of thought and planning went into that. Eww. Just stop and use the toilet already.

Late in the afternoon, we stopped at Washington's Stonehenge. Jen said that in 20 years of living in the northwest and hearing about it, she'd never been there. So, we fixed that.

henged.

Washington Stonehenge isn't that impressive as far as henges go, but it was a beautiful day in a beautiful location, so we got lots of pictures of Mt. Hood, barges on the river, trains, and a beautiful valley.

Finally, after Subway in Hood River [side note: Hood River is a hard place to find food after-hours], we made it home by 10 PM. Long day. Edgar and Sabrina about pounced on Ida. We'll reunite with Betty tomorrow.