Happy Holidays

Finally getting around to posting a quick update - things are crazy at work since it’s our “busy season.” Major work burnout lately, I’m really looking forward to the holidays and having a nice break. I’m officially taking over as lead of our department on December 18th, so I’m also anxious to find out what my new rate of pay will be etc. Anyway, sitting here at work blogging about work is not fun, so moving on…

Carlow is getting ready to start daycare next Wednesday! Can you believe he’s going to be 4 months old soon? Calvin will be have a little brother at “school” with him now. Carlow has been sleeping quite good the last week or so, only waking up once during the night (7pm - 5am). That is subject to change of course, especially with the challenges of sleeping at daycare etc.

Calvin used the potty at daycare for the first time yesterday! In fact, he went twice and had a dry diaper for most of the day. They are continuing to offer the potty more and more so hopefully he is on the path now. He is really excited for Christmas this year and has a lot of fun reading about Santa and singing holiday songs. Next Thursday is the holiday program at daycare, it will be fun to see him sing with his friends!

Belated Birth Blog

Sometimes it’s hard to put the care and effort into writing a blog that tells the story of a life-changing event like the birth of a child. However, as most of you already know our second child was born unexpectedly while we were vacationing in August. Perhaps not writing as poetic of a blog post and waiting until now reflects a bit of the second-born way of things as parents. It’s not that the event(s) are any less meaningful the second time around, it’s just we’re so busy now we can’t pause to appreciate them as they happen.

Carlow James McDonald is already almost 2-months of age, but it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating his sudden arrival in Alexandria. To make a long story short, we were two days into our stay when Angie’s water broke. The next thing we knew, we couldn’t leave the hospital and active labor was just a few hours away. Everything about the second labor and delivery was different this time around. We were in a different hospital, with different staff and miles from home. At the time, we felt anxious and unprepared, especially considering Calvin didn’t have a clue what was about to happen. Looking back on it now, it really couldn’t have gone much better. Angie was able to labor effectively and have a natural birth, and besides having Carlow spend one night on the light table, we were on the fast track. Now a family of four, everyone was happy, healthy and relaxing at the cabin for one last day of vacation. Pretty amazing, actually. 

Every day since Carlow was born has been busy, to say the least. Calvin gave up his pacifier about two weeks ago, which caused some distress, but everything seems to be going well for him again. Carlow has already grown out of his newborn-sized clothes and seems to get bigger everyday.

TGIF - Thank Goodness I'm Fishing!

Our summer vacation trip is almost here, we leave Saturday afternoon! Really looking forward to a relaxing week by the lake… it’s definitely our happy place. It’s been over a year since I was on the water, so I’m really anxious to do some fishing. I’m also excited to see how much fun Cal has playing in the sand, going for rides on the boat etc.

We’re staying in a different cabin this year and everyone will have their own room, so Cal will be sleeping in a full-size bed instead of the pack-n-play. So bedsides having to bring a bedrail, we don’t need to pack quite as many things this time around. We do most of the grocery shopping up there since it’s easier (and actually kind of fun). It also gives us the chance to pick up the special treats like root beer floats and s’mores.

Looking at the calendar, we have a week vacation trip, followed by a regular week of work, then the Labor Day weekend, then it’s pretty much baby time! In case you forgot, Angie’s due date is September 17th. Angie has a feeling it’s another boy (but since she thought the first one was a girl, I think it’s going to be a girl). We don’t really have a long list of names picked out at this point, in case you’re wondering.

In the meantime, Cal is still doing great in his twin bed in the new room downstairs. He usually goes (in) to bed at 7pm and gets up around 6am. He usually sings, makes siren noises and talks to himself etc. between 7-8pm, so he’s not actually asleep right at 7pm. He has slept through everything including fireworks, dogs barking and even the alarm going off, so he should be fine sleeping through the new baby crying upstairs.

He’s favorite playtime activities are driving and loading his dump trucks, tools, building with blocks and matchbox cars. We actually bought him a 5-pack of matchbox cars the other day but we’re saving them until the baby arrives, that way we can gift them to him from the baby.