My interpretation of what some pessimists claim is reality
Spring: Sun...and grass mowing
The epic battle between Man and what passes in our house as grass continues for another year. Taking advantage of warm temperatures I took the mower out of hibernation. I underestimated the April sun and got a little sun burned. Not much happening at the moment. World revolves around the kids, so there is no spare time. Here are the mandatory kid pictures:
On that note I am going to bed.
Labels: Connor, me, Tyler, Xander
Xander turns 2
Xander had his 2nd birthday last week and boy, is he two. Constant supervision is necessary to keep him out of trouble. His cuteness saves him - most of the time. Happy Birthday, medium one.
The equal opportunity department requires me to post pictures of the remaining kids as well:
Labels: Connor, Tyler, Xander
Happy Birthday Connor!!
Connor turned 4 today. We celebrated his birthday last Saturday, an event he was looking forward to for the last month. Happy Birthday, little man.
But let's not forget the other two, who had a good time as well:
Labels: Connor, Tyler, Xander
-itis convention in the Schuetz house
For some reason there seems to be a germ-convention in our house:
Xander had an ear infection, Lisa had strep throat, an ear infection, bronchitis and congivitis and Tyler hasn't slept for more than a cople of hours in a stretch for more than 5 days now. No fever, but there is obviously something wrong with him.Connor and I haven't caught anything yet, maybe we didged the bullet this time. Obviously my free time allotment is non-existent, but here are some pictures of the sleepstealers / germsharers:
Labels: Connor, Tyler, Xander
The Boys
Having 3 kids means there is no time at all, so you have to appreciate me cutting into my sleep to bring you these photos of the boys:
Labels: Connor, Tyler, Xander
Not 30 lb, but feels like it
Xander had his 15 month doctor visit today. Maybe it's because switching between 10 lb Tyler and him make him feel so much heavier, but I could have sworn that he would be at least 30 lb. Instead he turned out to be a mere 26 lb and 9 oz (about 12 kg) and 31.25 inches (about 79 cm). That puts him into the 75th percentile for height and 55th percentile for weight. He is still chunky boy. I guess now that he is walking he'll become leaner.
Labels: Xander
3 Brothers
Labels: Connor, Tyler, Xander
Antibiotics are great
We took Connor to the doctor on Monday after
the weekend that wasn't. Turns out he had both a sinus and ear infection. After just a day on Amoxillin he was much better, but it took him until yesterday to get his appetite back. Xander was OK on Monday, but by Wednesday he had the same thing. He's been on antibiotics since, but he still is not back to his old self. At least they are sleeping through the night now.
It seems to be my turn now as my sinuses are filled with that neon green stuff :-(.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
10 years
Seems like it was just yesterday, but today is the 10
th anniversary of my move to the US. No big celebration, because I just noticed it :-).
Also, Xander is teething, Connor isn't feeling up to snuff as well, so our nights can only be described as short.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
First Pictures of Baby #3 ( and 2 and 1)
Here is the first picture of the the newest Schuetz project. It is now week 12 and we are on schedule:
Xander is growing as well and recently started exploring the 3rd dimension:
Connor is turning 3 soon and is a great big brother:
Labels: baby, Connor, Xander
Bigger, Fatter & Happier
We took Xander to his 6 month doctors appointment. He is now 21 lb 3.5 oz and 27.5 inches (9625 g & almost 70 cm) which puts him in the 95th percentile for weight (well, duh!!) but his height is only average. The doctor gave his go ahead for solid foods and he got the second round of his shots.
Labels: Xander
Spending a Friday at home
I am off work today and used my free time to coordinate visits from a plumber, a home inspector and the cable guy. So far only the plumber was here and he tried to screw me: I called him to replace a leaking pipe from the well pump to the pressure tank. Our well water is acidic and it killed already 2 water heaters in 11 years. When the water heater started leaking a month ago I had it replaced with a plastic one with a lifetime guarantee. That's why the home inspector is coming today to inspect the new water heater. So I wasn't surprised when the plumber said that the whole pressure tank should be replaced. He could do it today for $1500 on top of the $150 I already payed just for him to come out. So I agreed, but after he left I got second thoughts. Checking the internet soon gave me a price list for pressure tanks an my 20 gallon one would run me about $330. WTF??? Including labor that is nowhere close $1500. Next I called the compny that put the tank in he house (before we bought it). They gave me a rough estimate of $550 - $650. WTF
2 ??? So I called the plumber and told them not to bother to come back. Obviously I am never using them again and will actively warn everybody not to use Scardina.
The cable guy was just here. We have problems with the digital cable with some channels either having strong pixelation and sound dropouts, a telltale sign of low signal levels or didn't show up at all. Last Sunday a Comcast tech came out and told me that my cable in the house is noisy and needs to be replaced and he would schedule a wallfish for me which would be done within the next few days. Few days passed and nothing happened. Some of the channls re-appeared, only to vanish again. I call Comcast again and this time the tech measures the signal at the drop and surprise: it is low there. He then opens the distribution box at the side of the house and finds a huge wasp nest in there. Obviously guy #1 never looked in there. Turns out that the connectors were bad in there as well. Sigh.
Here finally some more picture:
BTW,
Connor did this too Here are a couple of cute ones:.
Not that we forget Connor, he is really cute, too.
Labels: Connor, rant, Xander
Big, Fat & Happy
We took Xander to his 4 month doctor's appointment this past weekend. With 18 lb 2.5 oz. & 25 1/4 inches (for the rest of the world: 8235 g & 64 cm) he is a big, fat & happy kid - at least he was happy until he got the 4 shots. The good news is that 5 minutes later he was back to happy.
My cherished piece of wonderful engineering is taunting me again with a check engine light that for the past month comes on for a week, then goes off, just to come back a couple of weeks later and then to go off again. I had it read for free and it tells me that one bank is running lean. According to the lazyweb that means either vacuum leak, oxygen sensor or mass air flow sensor ( $, $$ or $$$ respectively). It's probably time for a new car, but I guess I am waiting for the new Diesels coming out later this year.
Labels: me, Xander
Important baby milestone
Xander started rolling over this past week, but more importantly this weekend he started rolling over in his sleep and as a welcome consequence he slept uninterrupted sweet 10 hours. Yeah!!
Labels: Xander
Finally some pictures
Labels: Connor, Xander
Severe blogging slowdown
The reasons for the severe slowdown in my blogging activities are threefold:
- Xander
- Connor
- Work, Lisa and the body's annoying habit of needing sleep.
Nothing will change anytime soon. In the meantime, suffice o say that nothing extremely important (and therefore blogworthy) has happened.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
First smile
It might have been an involuntary muscle spasm, but I rather would like to believe that Xander (who turned 4 weeks old last Friday) smiled at me for the first time.
I had a couple of hours time this weekend and played with the iMac. Installed Windows XP via Bootcamp (for the occasional game) and also bought
Parallels to access XP under OS X.
Labels: computer, Xander
The value of sleep
Having a newborn makes you appreciate sleep much more. Xander turned 3 weeks yesterday and last night he not only slept for 4 hours straight at night, but also took a nap this morning with me for 2 more hours. As a result I am feeling much less like a zombie today.
The Apple store informed me that my iMac shipped, so I should get it by Monday.
Labels: computer, me, Xander
Xander goes to the doctor
Xander had his first visit with his pediatrician yesterday. He is now 21 inches tall and 9 lb 8 oz. heavy, which is great since he is only expected to regain his birth weight of 9 lb 0.5 oz. He is also pretty alert for his age and eats like he is getting paid for it.
Labels: Xander
Xander's 1st week at home
Yesterday Xander turned one week old. He does the usual baby things, like eating, sleeping and pooping and is giving us not any problems. He does sleep 3-4 hours at a time at night which is a very good thing. Nevertheless for the first time in over 2 years I have opportunity to watch Leno, O'Brien and all the other shows for insomniacs.
Connor is pretty ambivalent towards Xander. Most of the time he pretty much ignores him except for stealing his pacifier or at least exchanging his for the baby's.
Labels: Connor, Xander
Proudly announcing...
the birth of our second son
Xander Martin Schuetz
born on Friday, March 9th 2007 at 8:34 pm, weighing 9 lb. 0.5 oz. (4105 g) and 20.5 inches (52 cm) tall. Mother and child have returned from the hospital and are doing well. Let the sleep deprivation begin.
Labels: Xander
Post where I complain that the day is only 24 hours long
Things are moving a a neck breaking pace at the Schuetz house - or so it seems: the basement has been finished a few weeks ago and we immediately we tackled the next project. What was at first supposed to be the nursery for #2 son turned out to be Connor's next room. I spent the last couple of weeks priming & painting walls, chair railings and crown moldings, as well as putting up borders. Connor's new room is Mickey Mouse themed and I got Mickey Mouse outlet & switch covers off ebay. Today we had new carpet installed in the two kid's bedrooms and I assembled the last IKEA furniture. There is still a huge amount of junk flying around the house and time is running out to get everything done before the baby makes its appearance. We were scheduled to go to the hospital next Friday, but it could be that we have to go even earlier.
In health news, Steve has not made an appearance in several weeks. I am getting a new CT done this week and next week a doctor will tell me if Elvis has left the building or is still with me.
Labels: me, Xander
Acrobat fetus
So Lisa is saying that Sch:TNG Pt. II has been active way earlier than Connor and is kicking the shit out of her internal organs. Yesterday I was actually able to feel him move for the first time, something I never was able to do with Connor.
3 more weeks until Connor's 2nd birthday. He is getting a themed (JoJo the Clown) birthday party. He is also making progress with his words. He now correctly identified eyes, ears, nose and mouth (as in "Show me your/my...") and has a few more words in his vocabulary, though some are in his own language, like the word he uses when he wants something: "ah-neee, ah-neee". Very cute and annoying at the same time.
Labels: Connor, Xander
