Tempe Trip

Last weekend we went to Arizona to visit family. It was a great time! The plane travel with Rex was not as bad as we feared. We kept him entertained until we reached cruising altitute, then he fell asleep all the way until touchdown! Hopefully our January trip to Dallas will be similar.
Once there we spent a lot of time with family. My cousin Lauren just graduated from ASU and had a party Saturday night. My entire extended family on my mom's side was there, including my grandmother (Gran) and her four great grandchildren (including Rex). The party was catered by Someburros, our long standing favorite fast-Mexican place. I tried to feed Rex his first beef taquito but Brandi was not pleased. When is this kid going to eat some meat!?
On Sunday night we had Christmas dinner at my parents house. My brother Max and his wife Melissa came, along with Gran and my good freind Guillermo. Max's sister in law Jen also stopped by with her daughter Laney. Rex and Laney played together for a while, and aunt Melissa got her baby fix running around with them. The highlight of the night was Rex streaking naked around the dinner table after his bath. He loves to run naked. Must get that from his mom.
It was great to see everyone. Check out our slide show to the left for the complete photo journal.

More Quality Time

Brandi is working again this weekend so I'm back in my Mr. Mom role. Rex decided to get a head start on his terrible two's yesterday and the tantrums are coming fast and very furious. I'm pretty sure he's not sick or in pain because whenever I give him what he wants he's pacified (for about 5 seconds until he moves on to the next DEMAND!) Good thing it's been sunny this weekend so we can stay outside. Rex and I went to a wedding reception/house warming party for my friend Winnie. There were lots of nice people and plenty of social opportunities, but once Rex spotted the staircase our agenda for the afternoon was established. We lasted a good hour and a half there at the party, and I was able to multi-task a bit by walking Rex down the stairs with one hand while consuming alcohol with the other.
Rex had a difficult night sleeping last night. He's probaby teething, but with so many teeth in now it's hard to be sure. We've been spoiled since he's normally such a solid sleeper. Getting up at 4am is now a colossal drag. I thought we had an agreement on this! Maybe there is a way to train him to self-administer the tylenol? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
All this may sound like I'm not fond of taking care of Rex, which is not true. We do have a lot of fun (see photo for proof). But it seems after we started blogging word got around that I was somekind of male Mary Poppins. I was even asked by our church nursery to volunteer!? That's hilarious. Don't you people know I'm the guy who went to the emergency room with his 15 month old after he almost broke his nose on the slide? I'm the guy who dresses my kid in whatever is within reach and measures tylenol doses by the level of crankyness. Please! I'm not a pro at this. Just a humble survivor.

Putting Up The Tree

We went to the Fort Mason tree barn to get our Christmas Tree last Saturday. Brandi insists on having a real tree. However, the tree we bought was a free range tree raised in an environmentally sustainable village in Oregon. Plus, half of the proceeds went to replanting the rain forests so kharma wise we should be covered. We tried to be festive in the process of lighting and decorating. Brandi made hot cocoa even though it was 67 degrees outside (global warming). I tried to look for a radio station playing Christmas songs but the best I could find was some weird Irish Folk hour. Must be that war on Christmas is keeping holiday music off the air!

Rex took a snooze through most of it, but he was duly impressed with the finished product. Now when we ask him "where is the light" he runs to the tree and grabs the string to show us and says "yight!"

On another note, Brandi took Rex back to our pediatrician today. He got two more shots but didn't cry because mom put the super special numbing lotion on again. Here are his latest dimensions at almost 18 months:

32.5 Inches Tall (60th percentile)
26 lbs (50th)

Hug Your Babies

I am a Labor and Delivery nurse and I love my job. I experience the joy of seeing babies born and people becoming parents. Last night however, I experienced a terrible tragedy. It was my second night working with the same couple. The mom came to the hospital the night before last to get her labor started (called "induction"). When I came to work last night I was happy to see that she was still there and would probably deliver her baby on my shift. The entire labor went extremely well and a beautiful baby boy was born around 2:15 am. Because the baby wasn't perking up quickly and crying I called the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse and doctor to assess. This isn't very uncommon; sometimes babies just need a little oxygen and/or suction and they come around quickly. The doctor didn't feel too comcerned, but decided to take the baby back to the NICU to give some fluids and observe. I stayed with the mom and continued her recovery in the labor room. After a little while the dad was able to visit the baby who at that point was unstable. When the mom recovered enough to leave the labor room I called to the NICU to see if she and the father could visit the baby together. That's when I found out that he was still having lots of trouble and the NICU team was coding him (CPR, medication, intubation). The doctors and nurses worked for over two and a half hours trying to resuscitate the baby, but his heart would not respond. He died this morning close to 5 am. My heart pours out to my patient and her husband. Having an unexpected death of your baby has to be at the top of the list for worst nightmares. When I came home this morning I hugged and kissed Rex over and over. Please add my patient, her husband and their baby boy to your prayers.