We're on our own

(Originally posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 by Tim)

Carol and Jim left for home yesterday. If you?ve been following, you know that Carol has been here since Cat went into labor. She has been a tremendous amount of help over the last three weeks. We?re going to miss her.

Baby Dal has been getting much more awake and alert. We wanted to demonstrate this with an eyes open picture. Unfortunately, we?re not all that good at capturing these things. I could have posted several blurry (and cute) pictures with Baby Dal?s eyes open. However, I?d rather not post something that looks like a NASA reconstruction of the moons of Saturn. Instead, you get a focused picture of me holding Baby Dal with his hands in front of his face.

I?m going to keep it short. It is 10:30 pm and I haven?t been able to shower yet. I woke up with modest plans for the day and managed to get hardly anything done. I can say that we managed to work out and cook ourselves dinner (it contained squash). We also got the materials together for the first four pages of Dalton's scrap book. Hopefully we can find time to put those together tomorrow.

He's HUUUGE

(Originally posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 by Cathy)

Dalton's two week check-up was yesterday. [For the benefit of our single friends: babies lose weight after birth and are supposed to be up to their original birth weight by two weeks....] Mom, Tim, and I were running a pool on what Dalton was going to weigh. I was guessing 9 pounds 8 oz, Tim guessed 9 pounds 7 oz, and Mom guessed 9 pounds 11 oz. Mom won; we all guessed low. Dalton weighted 9 pounds 15 oz. Of course, that was right before he peed all over the scale in the doctor's office. I figure it was revenge for the nurse having called him Johanna. Apparently having three last names is going to be confusing.

Family Picture Day

(Originally posted on Friday, July 28, 2006 by Tim)

Today we decided to make a family picture. This was more of an epic experience than you might expect. First off, I haven?t had a haircut in months. My morning started with a trip to Walmart where there is a Cost Cutters.

Yes, I know that Walmart is evil.

Usually I get my hair cut in Radford, but I need an appointment for that. I would have made one earlier in the week, but I can?t seem to remember the name of my stylist. This makes it a little embarrassing to call in my appointments.

Me: ?Hi, I?d like to make an appointment to get my hair cut.?

Stylist on the phone: ?Ok, who would you like to make an appointment with??

Me: ?Um?I can?t ever seem to remember her name. She?s the crazy woman down by the window who?s always complaining about her ex-husband.?

Stylist on the phone: ?Oh, hi Tim! I can get you at 3 pm. I?ll make sure the scissors are good and sharp.?

Once my hair was cut, I had to break the bad news to Cat. Not only would she have to wake up, but she?d have to shower and put on nice clothes as well. This process took something on the order of two hours.

Many parents get a professional photographer for these sorts of pictures. Unfortunately, that won?t work in our family because Johann genes are involved. My family has the dreaded anti-photogenic gene. This is particularly evident in wedding pictures. Having been married twice, I actually have two sets of these for comparison. In both cases, my family members have closed eyes, open mouths, and generally goofy looks. In contrast, the other family sports the relaxed happy smiles you see on television anchorpersons and on models in magazines.

Another example of my anti-photogenicity is the picture I have up at work and on my web page. This photo was taken by the department secretary who frankly snuck up on me. I thought it looked pretty good, actually really good for me, but I wanted something that didn?t have a diet coke can in the picture. I convinced the secretary to hold off on the photo so that I could have Cat get a better one of me. Thirty photos later, we still didn?t have one in which I didn?t look either goofy or psychotic. I?m not sure whether the Johann anti-photogenic gene is dominant or recessive. We will have to see how things turn out for Dalton.

It?s the anti-photogenic gene that keeps us from being able to use a professional photographer. The sheer number of photos that would need to be taken to obtain one where we all look decent would drive any professional insane. They just wouldn?t agree to it. For that sort of imposition, we needed family. I?d like to thank Cat?s parents for their patience with us today. The final family portrait is shown above. If you want a good laugh, you can view the attempts in this electronic album. I deleted a few, my hard drive isn?t infinite in size, but most of them are included.

This blog post composed one-handed

(Originally posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 by Cathy)

Yesterday's big event (which I was too tired to post on) was that Dalton's umbilical cord stump fell off. It had been hanging by a thread (err.. a slimy thread, perhaps) for the last few days, but I'd been resisting the urge to pull on it.

I hadn't changed any diapers yesterday morning, so I thought at first that Mom and/or Tim had just forgotten to tell me that Dalton was now cordless. Turns out that the cord had just fallen off, as I found it in the changer when I picked Dal back up.

So I showed Tim the cord, which may have been a mistake. I was going to throw it out, but Tim's threatening to save it. A family friend gave us a memory box with containers for "baby's first tooth" and "baby's first haircut." If Tim has his way, we're going to need more containers: "Baby's first diaper," "baby's cord stump," and "baby's first fingernail trimmings," just to name a few. Oh, and don't forget "baby's first spit-up!"

Dalton's threatening to wake up, which means I'm going to stop having even one hand free for typing, so I'd better sign off here. Ya'll have a good one.

Baby Calisthenics!

(Originally posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 by Tim)

More Sleep Deprivation

(Originally posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 by Tim)

Last night was a rough night. Dalton has become more complicated than feed or change me when I cry and I?ll go back to sleep. He?s been looking around a lot more over the last day or so. He still isn?t really focusing on anything yet. Cat says he likes to look at contrasts between light and dark.

Last night he was fussing for the first half of the night and feeding and changing didn?t seem to get him back to sleep. At 3am, Cat asked me to take him away so she could get a little sleep. I carried him into his room and tried rocking him in the dark. He wasn?t having any of it. I then turned on the light and he calmed down and started looking around. I spent the next hour changing his position, shaking a rattle near him, and singing to him ??over the ramparts we watched??. I?m pretty sure there were a few diaper changes in there as well.

It?s partly our fault that we?re sleep deprived today. Dalton was sleeping pretty heavily from dinner until bedtime. At 9pm we decided to watch a movie while he was sleeping rather than go to bed. I hope we?ve learned out lesson. We?re at out of movies for the moment so tonight should be safe.

Speaking of singing, yesterday?s post reminded me of the time I got through Canadian customs by knowing some of the ?Star Spangled Banner?. I had flown into Montreal for a friend?s wedding but had not brought a passport or a birth certificate. It was pre 9-11 and I didn?t think I would need one as all you need is a driver?s license to cross the border. I was stopped by a really cute customs agent with a French accent (which made her even more cute). After explaining that I didn?t know I needed more than a driver?s license, she said, ?OK, I?m going to let you prove to me that you are an all American boy. Sing for me the Star Spangled Banner.? I was flustered and didn?t know the words any better than I do today. Worse yet, I was so nervous that I started with ?My Country Tis of Thee?. I eventually got on the right song, managed most of the words correctly, and she let me through. I still wonder if she was flirting with me. I didn?t have the guts to ask her for her number (or whatever you do with French Canadians).

It?s been three days of squash meals and we are starting to beat back the beast in the garden. Yesterday, Cat and Carol made a yummy squash fritter recipe. I?ve posted it below in case you encounter a squash invasion yourself.

Yellow Squash Fritters
1 big squash (lots bigger than they let them grow for the grocery store), 3 ½ cups grated
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs beaten
8 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons cornmeal
Oil for frying
½ tsp salt
repeated vigorous grinds of pepper until chef is bored

Squeeze grated squash to remove excess water. Combine with the parmesan, eggs, flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Knead together with hands until reasonably mixed. Pour a thin layer of oil in a pan. Add a quarter of a cup of fritter mixture to the pan and heat over medium heat until golden brown*. Flip the fritter and cool the other side until it is also golden brown. Feel free to cook as many fritters as will fit in your pan.

We served the fritters with crystal Thai sauce. It is a very sweet and hot sauce that we?ve made to go with our spring roll recipe. I?m tired and it?s a little complicated so I?m not going to post it tonight. Suffice it to say that any sauce that goes with fritters is good with this recipe. I think they would be great dipped in maple syrup, but what isn?t.

*The fritters will be bright yellow if you?ve used yellow squash.

Oh say can you see...

(Originally posted on Saturday, July 22, 2006 by Tim)

Now that we have a baby, I have need of a skill that I haven?t used much since junior high school. When I?m trying to calm Dalton down when he is fussing or when I?m just trying to entertain him when he?s awake, I?ve been singing to him. I?ve clearly not been singing out loud much for the last 20 years as I can only remember the words to a few songs. Cat knows all the words to a whole pile of songs. She sings to him about dancing bears, pirate ships, and she knows all the words to multiple songs from Mary Poppins. Furthermore, all her singing is on key.

In contrast, I can?t seem to remember all the words to most songs. I even have trouble remembering the tunes to many songs when I try to hum them. I?ve been falling back on the Christmas tunes and I still can only remember the words to a few. From me, Dalton hears ?Silent Night?, ?Jingle Bells?, and the ?Star Spangled Banner?. I need to find some time to learn the words to more songs. The best way to do this might be to find some appropriate songs to load on my iPod for work.

I suppose Laura would point out that this would be an excellent opportunity to learn all the words to ?American Pie? before the next Catotti family wedding.*

*Those of you who are not Catottis or related to one through marriage will have to forgive me for this inside joke. You have to have attended my wedding AND Jessica?s wedding to really get this one. I suppose those of you who are not chemists or gamers may have cursed me several times already for inside jokes. Just wait until I start making jokes that only Catotti, chemist, gamers will get.