In Maine...

[ty] The Day After Xmas, '07

We're here in Maine with Jordanna's sister and her family, my parents, and Jordanna's parents.  So far all has gone well and the children have been excellent.  We'll post some more extensive stories of the Frozen Lake Incident, how JD lost part of her toe, and The Time Tyson Fell Out of the Bus on the Highway Even Though We Weren't Moving Very Fast.

For now here are some pictures to tide everybody over.

Never mind.  Blogger doesn't want to upload the images.

Nubby's First Tournament

[ty] 16 Dec '07

We hosted a JV wrestling tournament at my school this weekend and the usual plan for such a day is I abandon my wife to fare as she may with Nubbs till I return in the evening. Unfortunately JD became DEATHLY ill Friday and could barely crawl to the bathroom to avoid wetting herself.

So on Saturday morning I brewed myself an extra serving of coffee, threw Nubby and the Wife in the car at 7:30, dropped JD off at Urgent Care on my way North and got on the horn to my wrestling managers to meet me at the school for babysitting duty.

Now before you all castigate me mercilessly for slowing down to 20 and kicking my comatose wife to the curb of the hospital entrance let me say that I will NOT bring Nubby into a hospital unless he is in severe need of medical attention. I read last week that antibiotic resistant strains of Staph infections killed more people in hospitals in 2005 than HIV/AIDS. The last time we took him to Urgent Care he picked up a Snot-Cough that lasted for 2 weeks. Nuff said.

Anyway, despite the fact that they don't get paid for their managing duties both of my awesome girls took my early morning call, warmed up their cars in the sub-freezing Tucson morning and met me at the school to watch my kid all day. For no less than 9 hours they fed my kid, put him down for naps, changed his diapers, kept him occupied, and STILL kept score for both mats throughout the entire tournament. They rule and I will be buying them Starbucks cards on my way to school this week.

My freshman holds him Very Carefully...

Our JV team

Babysitter Numero Uno

This ref loved Nubby and would come hold him whenever he wasn't on the mat

Babysitter numero dos

Just because I won't let him at my boobs...

[jd] 11 December

After another drop in my weight and a week of pumping blue-tinged milk that had literally 1 drop of fat per bottle, we decided to officially wean the Nub. He has been on formula for a little over a week, and I am only nursing him at night. In the past week we have seen a slight decrease in his desire for solid food, and a ravenous excitement about the bottle. Rather than refusing formula (as soome breastfed babies do), he is doing super well on it. However, his willingness to abandon the boobs for eating purposes has not diminished his desire for boobs AT ALL. When I pick him up now there is a 50/50 chance he will pull open the neck of my shirt, open his mouth and rub it back and forth on my chest while making 'ahhh baa baa' sounds. This is both funny and heartbreaking. But mostly funny.

An Uncanny Ability to Talk Anybody into Anything

[jd] 10 December 2007

Have you ever found yourself doign something completely ridiculous, that you would really rather not be doing, at the behest of a cajoling and laughing Tyson? (see exhibit A) Those of you who have know EXACTLY what I am talking about. Well, you are not alone. Tonight Roland came over for some love. After some good snuggles and pets, Ty grabbed the side of his face, placed his mouth over the dog's nose and blew. After the dog's lips fluttered about from this abuse, he shoved his head into Tyson's lap for more pets.

The Knitting Monster

[jd] 8 Dec 2007

I was passing out in my chair at 8:30, and yet here I am writing a blog post at 12:05 am. Why? Because if I just knit 6 more rows, I'll be finished with this neckband.

T-Giving at Civano

[ty] 24 Nov 07

For t-giving this year we headed over to Jeff and David's house for a small gathering. Just the 4.2 of us. Here are some pics detailing our warm and mellow day.

We found two chickens deep in a philosophical discussion so we grabbed them real quick
and stuffed them into the the grill. They were delicious.

Just to get some perspective on how much JP hasn't grown. Organic baby in organic cotton on an organic cork floor.


Who knew that with a little adjustment his new carrier can double as a highchair? Now we do.


Never let it be said that JP and David do not set an aesthetically pleasing, if a bit sparse, table.


Yummy yummy in our tummy.


He continues to get cuter as time goes on.

Bonus Nubby Shots!!

On laundry day he gets to wear whatever is clean and will be warm enough for the surprisingly chilly November mornings.

Who needs parents when you have a box of hand-me-down toys?


Nubby and Gaspar celebrate another Pats victory.

Dedication

[jd] 21 November 2007

About a month ago we ran out of corn-based bags for our countertop composter. This is a brilliant invention that keeps the compost collection in your kitchen from being smelly and producing flies, which means that with this brilliant invention my husband actually lets me compost (his fly tolerance is lower than mine because I work in a building with fly researchers and am fairly innured to the little buggers). Since then we have only been composting when there is a project that produces a lot of food waste, which goes in a bowl on the counter and I empty it out before it causes havoc. At least I intend to empty it out. Saturday night Ruben and Anna taught us how to make chille rellenos, which produced an entire bowl of hot pepper skins, hot pepper seeds and egg shells. Despite my best intentions, I completely forgot to empty the bowl and Tyson put it outside on the porch two nights ago. Can you see where this is going? That's right, Roland is so dedicated in his quest for extra food that he ate the compost: all the skins, all the seeds and about half of the egg shells. WTF?

Time to Child-Proof

This morning Nubby squirmed over to the battery charger that was plugged into the wall, reached up, popped a battery out and put it in his mouth.

Whiskey Tango in the Desert

[ty] 17 Nov 07

We figured as long as we're stuck in the desert we might as well enjoy some of the fringe of society benefits. So today we drove out North of the city to some BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property to shoot some guns.

We went with a couple of our good friends who have so many dogs that they should probably have a kennel license. One of the nice things about hanging out with a bunch of scientists is that as an occupational hazard they have to drive deep into the hinterland for fieldwork. So we ended up way out in the desert having some fun.

A little instruction goes a long way

Nothin' but desert

That's my new (and by new I mean used) Mossberg 500. Pretty much the simplest, pump action, 12 gauge shotgun you can buy. Clearly it has an aftermarket pistol grip and adjustable stock for a slightly more tactical feel. I haven't named it yet.

Overall we had a great time and all 4 of us left feeling like we had pitched 8 1/2 innings at Fenway.

The myth of solid-food poo

[jd] 16 November 2007

Everybody who I knew prior to having a baby told me how awful poo was after the baby started solid food. Every book harps on this point. How innocuous breastmilk poo is, and how horrifically stinky the solid-food poo is. How nast diaper duty will be. Now that Cayden is chowing down on a regular basis (he has doubled his consumption of food), his poop is a whole new ball game. A super, fantastic, life-is-so-much-easier ball game. All those people telling you that solid-food poo is bad? Those people use disposable diapers, and their diaper pails stink. For cloth diapering folks, this is the best advance ever! Everything sticks together, stays on the diaper liner and peels right into the toilet. For all you folks fearing the cloth diapering step... it is really and truely the secret to a non-stinky house (plus it will safe you 2k over a couple years). Not to mention the easy distinction between farting and pooping now. If you didn't hear anything and his face is dark red, it's not gas.

This time it's not my fault

[jd] 13 November 2007

Back when I was a naive, irresponsible mother of a 6 week old baby, I ate a bagel while nursing my son. This may seem innocent, but it was not a plain bagel. It was a poppy-seed bagel. And what happens when you eat poppy-seed bagels? A fine dusting of poppy seeds coats the immediate vicinity. If your fragile 6 week old baby is in that vicinity, there is a decent chance they will get a poppy seed in their eye. This is gauranteed to make you feel like a GOOD MOM, and you and your spouse will spend the next twenty minutes looking over your shoulder for CPS agents while playing with q-tips, saline, and a screaming child during the seed extraction. Needless to say I started covering the kid up with a napkin while I ate.

Cayden, however, did not seem to take home any life lessons from this experience. This morning while I was nursing him, I noticed a globby white piece of rice in his eye and an image flashed through my head. An image of Cayden at dinner last night. After getting a handful of peas and rice & quinoa cereal, he realized he was tired and rubbed his eyes. Many many times. Because, once they have green eyebrows you are laughing too hard to try and stop them from doing it again.

Almost!

[jd] 31 October 2007

I swear we are really going to update the photo website with a wealth of pictoral goodness, but in the meantime here are some teazers from Seattle, Vavo's visit, and the latest movies of our beloved son.

Guess which one is the groom?

The drunk cuddly one!

48 hours later, he had recovered admirably well

Sir and Rachel attend the Pelojoquin barbeque. Words can't describe how much we miss training with them...

Jen and Cayden try and figure out what the heck the other one is saying

Vavo loves Nubby

tasty tasty baby

102nd Round of Manuscript Revisions

[jd] 29 October 2007 (holy crap it's almost november)

Some of you may have heard me mention The Manuscript That Won't Die. And by 'die' I mean 'get published', and by 'mention' I mean 'rant and rave'. If you haven't heard about it, you should consider yourself blessed. Anyway, I am wading through another round of reviews at a coffee shop that I went to in an attempt to flee the distractions of the internet. Turns out Bentley's has free wifi. In my short study break I discovered yet again that Mathew Baldwin is much funnier than we are, as evidenced by his expose on Seattle's windstorms.

Pun of the Day

"Beckett is becoming Rockies' horror pitcher show"

Thems is some clever newspapers we have in Tucson.

Cravings

[jd] 22 October 2007

I can tell I am getting excessively sleep deprived and stressed because I started craving a cigarette this morning. I am known to smoke cloves from time to time, but I haven't had a cigarette in 6 or 7 years. Deep down my brain apparently still remembers them as divine. Mind you, last time I succumbed to a craving like this I almost puked because the physical addiction is long gone. Someday Nubby will stop growing like a maniac and I will sleep again. Ahh..... sleep.

Nubby is in love...

Ready, Set, Sit!

[jd] 15 October 2007

We are woefully behind on blogging and pictures, but will be making web pages of our Seattle trip and Vavo's visit this week. I just thought I would let you all know that Cayden learned how to sit! He had been toppling and playing with his feet for weeks, and decided about 5 days ago that actual sitting was not that hard. The upside is he is much better at playing with toys on his own. The down side is it is not safe to leave him ANYWHERE unless he is strapped in with a seatbelt because with sitting comes sudden lunging onto his belly in an attempt to grab whatever object caught his fancy (like Stumpy, or the gears of the lazyboy).

Playing the role of bratty sibling will be...

[jd] 2 October 2007

This weekend marked a rite of parental passage for us: total and complete loss of sleep due to a sick baby. Cayden was cranky starting Friday night, but his unhappiness ramped up and was joined by a fever on Saturday night. I talked to a physician on call, but his statement that we should take him to urgent care if the fever didn't drop in an hour was preceded by, "I can't diagnose your baby over the phone". That made his advice sound very anti-litigious to us. Since Cayden seemed sick and cranky but not inconsolable or suffering, Tyson was very reluctant to expose him to the germs associated with urgent care and emergency clinics. I can agree with that, so Saturday was spent with him sleeping between us (for whopping 1 1/2 hour stretches), constant brief nursings and maniacal diaper checking to make sure he wasn't dehydrated. He was less cranky Sunday morning, and we took him for a walk with Roland since the weather was actually bearable. He screamed his way own for a nap at noon, and we thought, "This is it. He will sleep for 2-3 hours and wake up feeling better". Well, he only slept an hour but he did wake up with no fever and acting like a normal cheerful baby. Sadly this only lasted a couple hours. When his fever and crankiness spiked up again we went to the doctor, where poor Nubsies was diagnosed with a bilateral ear infection. Thus begins his first round of antibiotics at 5 months old. We aren't crazy about it, but it is better than leaving his ears untreated. Tyson stayed home with him yesterday, and I took over in the evening so Ty could attend our planned Patriots vs. Bengals party at Cincinatti-native friend's house without me (Pats won! I didn't watch the game, I am not so far gone as to watch football on my own). After two and a half hours of a baby who was only happy if he was physically attached to me, I finally got him to go to sleep. I had him nestled on the couch next to my chair, and Alia came over to check us out. She was being a cute, sniffy, investigative kitty, so I didn't stop her from checking Cayden out. She gently touched his cheek, then put her mouth right next to his ear and let out a piercing meow JUST to wake him up, and it WORKED. She looked completely satisfied when she calmly jumped off the counch after Cayden started crying. It has never been so hard for me to not stuff my cat in the oven for safe keeping.

A Dream Come True

[ty] 30 Sept '07

Saturday night my friends Zak and Brian came over and we played through the first 3 levels of the new Halo 3 videogame together. Mind you, Zak lives in Seattle and Brian lives in Portland. We played cooperatively through the campaign over microsoft's X-Box Live service. This may not sound like a big deal but it truly is the realization of a life-long gamer's dream. I have spent no small amount of time chauffeuring electronic equipment both near and far in order to play cooperatively with my friends. NO LONGER.

Not only does the new Halo have some beautiful graphics but it also allows you to go back later and watch your exploits in a specially designed "theater" mode. From said theater mode I downloaded a couple of screenshots of our madness.

Sor driving, B-Bri on turret, Zip on shotgun.

A classic case of hit and shoot and run. Note the blood spatter :)

His wingman long gone, his driver dead under the vehicle, Bri
stays with the sinking ship. Which happened, like, 2 seconds later.

You never leave your wingman!

Tyson's Mitch Hedberg Imitation

"Stumpies, how many strikes until you're out in baseball? Three! That's right!"

"Stumpies, how many periods in a wrestling match? Three! Right again!"

A little piece of me will always live there...

[jd] 26 September 2007

We just got back Monday from a fantastic trip to Seattle, other wise known as 'the city of bearable temperatures'. Cayden and I went last Sunday so I could spend a couple days working in my old lab. Kendra watched him in the mornings and he came to lab with me in the afternoons. As the cutest baby on the planet, he was a hit. And naturally he chose those three and a half days to learn how to shriek. By the time Daddy showed up on Thursday he had perfected his Teradactyl mating cry.

Seattle was good to us in our seven years there and we have missed it desperately since moving to the land where you can fry eggs on your hood. Being back was wonderful. As my plane descended into the mist, the pilot came on the intercom and said Seattle was 55 and rainy. And I thought, "of course it is". Nubby and I picked up Tyson on Thursday afternoon, and we drove straight to Pike Place Market for two Seattle essentials: fresh donuts and a trip to spice guy. Thursday night was George's co-ed bachelor party, which ended for me with Nubby getting thrown out of his very first bar. Daddy was so proud. For George the night ended in a gin-haze. Tyson and Zak were driven home by our friend Kevin and as they were waiting to pull out of the parking lot, a trio of girls at the end of an equally entertaining evening trounced by. My husband, being a gregarious guy, stuck his hand out the window to high five them. The first two slapped his hand, but the third grabbed it and started tugging on his wedding band while shouting, "It's a marraige ring! It's married". Tyson hurriedly made a fist and pulled his hand in the car, trying to imagine how to tell me he lost his wedding ring to a drunk bimbo downtown.

Compared to Thursdays excitement Friday was rather tame, and we were in bed by 10. I, however, was up two hours later with cramps. I got a hot water bottle and tried to go back to sleep. The rest of the night passed in a blur of new hot water bottles, puking in a bucket, and making Tyson get out of bed to pick up Nubby and place him on my boob to nurse. I finally asked Tyson what time it was. He said 6:15 am. I asked him which side your appendix is on. He said the right. I told him it was time to go to the hospital. I later found out he thought I was being a hypochondriac, but he imediately got up and got Nubby dressed and put us both in the car. Eight hours later I was in surgery and Tyson was off to perform George and Beth's wedding ceremony. The procedure went pretty well. They were able to do it laparoscopically, which means a much less complicated recovery. I wasn't able to nurse Nubs for 24 hours, so he was on formula briefly. Like the little champ he is, he ate readily and didn't give Daddy too many problems. Ty brought him by to visit me Saturday night after the wedding. Nubs did well until he realized he was sitting next to my boobs and collapsed onto my chest, grabbing at my gown and crying. Once we turned him around and he couldn't see the boobs, he stopped crying. That's because he has the attention span of a peanut.

Ty spung me from the hospital on Sunday morning and brought me back to Zal and Kendra's, who had a potluck for us that afternoon. Much like our going away party we found ourselves looking around and thinking, "What did we do to deserve this?". It was amazing to be back and surrounded by people we loved. Seattle will always be a home to us.

Nubby Represents

[ty] 17 Sept '07

Despite the monsoon of allegations and press surrounding Bill B. and the Pats my son knows what's up and happily represents in the name of New England.





We also had a wonderful visit from Grandpa Spray II who lives in Vegas and hence enjoys the ability to fly down after work on Friday and head home Sunday afternoon.





Bathtime brought to you by the number 2 and the letter O.


So thats a quick pictorial update of the last week or so at Casa de Sprayberry. Right now Jordanna and the Nub are in Seattle wearing denim and sweatshirts while I swelter in the chill autumn upper 90's of Tucson. I head out Thursday to attend/officiate the celebrated Wang Clan Thang as our good friends George and Beth make their union official in the eyes of the state.

JD called me to let me know that she had safely arrived and the first thing she said to me was "I'm where you want to be." Beeatch.

More pics later. Check out the video of Shark-Baby attack...

To eat or not to eat

[jd] 13 Sept 2007

So all recommendations say not to feed your baby until 6 months. Most doctors will say 4 months is fine. The research on the topic is disjointed and inconclusive, suggesting that babies are ready somewhere between 4 and 6 months. Cayden has been showing some signs of being ready since early August, so I just wanted an answer! Eventually Ty and I decided that we would put him in a high chair while we were eating, and start feeding him if he showed interest in food. He has been watching us eat, and last week we decided to put a couple of chunks of banana on his tray while we were having dinner. Mind you, this child has put EVERY OBJECT HE TOUCHES in his mouth since mid-July. He threw the banana on the floor, rubbed it on his shirt, rubbed it on me, and stashed it behind him in his chair. In short, he put it anywhere but his mouth. Because that banana? Clearly not edible.

This is the hunger that never ends

[jd] 10 Sept 2007

While Cayden is not off the charts, he is a very big boy. The other day at target, another mother asked how old he was. I replied that Cayden was 4 1/2 months old, and how old was her little boy? 8 months? No, that boy was 14 months. Next to Cayden, most babies look 2-4 months younger than they are. And where does all this healthy chub come from? My boobs! The consequence of our robust child is that I am already below my pre-pregnancy weight. Of course, my pre-pregnancy weight was 3-5 lbs less than I like to weigh. We set a hard and fast line last night. If I drop below a certain weight (one that has in the past had negative effects on my health) I am going to wean the little bugger. I don't really want him on formula, so I am eating constantly in an attempt to keep up. This is my incredibly verbose and obtuse way of saying I'M HUNGRY.

Update

[jd] 6 Sept 2007

Yes, I am still having depression/ anxiety issues. This past weekend SUCKED (from an anxiety perspective, from a family perspective we actually had an awesome weekend. Pictures of the succesful outcome of our goodwill trip forthcoming. I love goodwill). Yes, I am getting help. I found a great counselor, we are totally on the same page, and my insurance gives me unlimited visits for a year. I have been getting emails and notes from many of you and I love it and it helps, even if I don't write back right away : ). I don't want people to worry, or to be embarassed. I'm not ashamed of it. I wasn't embarassed when I had gastro, I can't see why I should be about this. Anyway, I know some people have been curious about how it was going, so I thought I would let you know. My bad days now are much better than my bad days in July, so I think the intensity is decreasing. Whenever I go a week or so without any bad days I get really excited, because I think it is all over. Then when one bad day comes, it turns into 5 because I am depressed about having another attack. Such is life. I can't complain too much. I have a fantastic husband, a good life, Jeff and David are great, and our new friends Kristin and Jamie have been another welcome source of support. Plus, when I bring Cayden over to see them he and Ian interacting are always good for a laugh. Yesterday they got involved in the slowest, lowest power tug of war match I have ever seen ('dude, that hat is totally mine once I figure out how to get two hands on it').

Fistful of Stumpy

[jd] 5 Sept 2007

I had Cayden on our bed while I was getting ready yesterday morning, and Stumpy hopped up to join him. When I came out of the bathroom, Cayden had a fistful of fur/ loose skin and was trying to figure out how to drag it into his mouth. Toku (aka stumps) was twitching his tail, but otherwise completely ignoring this indignity. I think he may be the most tolerant cat ever. He got his sutures out yesterday and was pronounced in excellent shape by the vet. He is mobile enough that he has already escaped the house three times, so I think he is feeling okay. Once he grows in his fur, he will look almost normal again. Almost.

My First Ever Break-Fast

[ty] 31 Aug 07

Well I'm finally done with my zany lemonade/maple syrup fast. All told it lasted from Sunday afternoon to Thursday afternoon. 4 days of quasi fasting. Very interesting. My highlights:

1) For most of Monday I felt lightheaded and floaty like when opiate painkillers start to kick in.

2) Evenings were the hardest time. You get home from work, drop off your bag, lose the shoes, and...have a snack. Very difficult.

3) As time went on I certainly found that I desired food less. Breaking the habit of eating when you're hungry was easier than I thought it would be. I had lots of energy though, especially in the mornings.

4) Unintentionally I lost 8 lbs. From 178 to 170

5) I slept a lot. 9pm-6am for 3 days. Usually I'm 11pm-6am.

6) On Wednesday I tried to do a salt water flush where you drink a liter of very salty water very quickly which doesn't get absorbed by your GI (b/c of the salt). Nothing happened. My stomach happily shnorked up a liter of sea water in under 3 minutes. Hmm.

7) When I got home yesterday I made and ate 2 waffles at which point ALL the blood in my body rushed to my stomach and I almost passed out.

Other than that I seem to be fine. My muscles, especially my legs, have been very sore since tuesday which I'm thinking might be toxins flushing out. Next week I start pre-season conditioning for wrestling so food will be a necessary thing. I had some pasta for dinner last night and a banana/PB smoothie for breakfast this morning. Bean and mushroom soup is the plan for lunch today and by tomorrow I should be fine to go back to a normal diet. Although that pretty much is my normal diet.

So it was an interesting experiment. For my next trick I'm going to learn to walk on my hands.

Nubby Learns to Laugh

[jd] 27 August 2007

Before I post this video, no we don't have our baby naked all the time. He just happens to be very cute when naked, so we have a lot of naked pictures. Onto the goods... Cayden has been letting out the occasional short single laughs for the past couple months, but not any real strings of laughter. Over the past couple days we have been more successful at coaxing some out of him:

Master Cleansers of the Universe

[ty] 26 Aug o7

I'm about to embark on the controversial "Master Cleanse" diet. Now just so that there's no misunderstanding I'm 33 yrs old, 5'10" (1.7m), 175 lbs (80kg) and perfectly happy with my weight, body, and proportions. What I'm not happy with is the idea that the average American male is carrying around up to 30 lbs (15kg) of undigested food in his colon. That's really not ok.

The basic idea here is that you fast for 4-10 days drinking nothing but a home-made lemonade with syrup and pepper in it. The syrup provides you with enough calories to operate and the cayenne pepper is for flavor. After the first day or two what's already in your intestines clears out. After that the acidic lemonade loosens the accumulated "intestinal plaque" from your colon and, combined with a laxative tea and salt water flushes, you supposedly clear out toxins and junk from your body. That's the theory anyway. My personal Pharmacist/Yoghini (Kev G. for those of you in the know) has walked this path himself and recommended it to me.

Mind you I am certainly not of the opinion that I, currently, have that much undigested food hanging out in my viscera. Rather, I'm curious what I have inside me that could be cleaned out. I've been eating relatively well since marrying an intestinally challenged hippy-chick so I'm not on the McD's crew but I do live in America and I don't chew my food well. So hey, maybe I'll get back that toy car I swallowed last winter.

At any rate. I ate a PB sandwich with some hashbrowns for lunch today and nothing since. I've been mentally preparing myself for 2 weeks now and shopping around for organic lemons. Today I found them at a good price and I assumed it was a sign so I'm off and running.

In other news Jordanna found an awesome hat for nubby that I'm keeping him in till he's 15. I put up some more nubby pics on our website. Go here.

Nubby in his new Sassy-Hat

We went "Blacklighting" with our friends Ruben, Anna, and Jamie last night. Absolutely amazing. More pics of my burgeoning beetle collection coming soon.

Ok, the time has come to test Blogger's new video function.


Just a few of the beetles from last night.

Stumpy meet Nubby, Nubby meet Stumpy

[jd] 24 August 2007

One bizarre side effect of Toku's accident is that he is way more interested in Cayden now. I had both of them on my lap the other day and Toku kept reaching out to sniff Cayden. Cayden responded by whacking Toku on the top of the head and trying to pull off his ear. Happily Cayden's ability to clench and unclench his fist is sketchy at best, and he ended up making a vague scratching gesture on Toku's head. Toku didn't seem to mind this at all, which I find strange because he still has no skin on his head. I can only assume the scab is itchy and Cayden's ministrations felt good, because he kept purring the whole time. All in all Toku is healing faster than I would have thought possible. Six days post-surgery he is almost entirely off pain meds and trying to sneak out of the house already. He will get his stitches out next week, which means his cone can come off, which means he can clean his skanky butt, which will make everybody happy. We had a great understanding with Genghis. When ever he was hurt, the first thing he did when you pulled off hte cone was clean his butt. You had just enough time to wash the cone before he moved on to attacking stitches, and then you could slap it on and everybody would go about their day just a little bit less smelly. Toku, unfortunately, has not mastered this concept. We will keep you updated on his progress, but all in all we are as pleased as we can be with our three legged cat.

Our 3 Legged Cat

[Ty] 20 Aug '07

You may be saying to yourself "but you guys don't have a 3 legged cat." And up until Sat you would have been correct. No longer. This weekend our cat Tokugawa had his front right leg amputated.

It all began innocently enough Saturday morning when I saw Toku heading into the house and I stooped down to give him some love. As a trained biologist I quickly noticed that not only could I see his skull through the hole on his head but his front leg was dragging behind him in the dirt. Needless to say we were loaded into the car and headed for the vet in under 5 minutes.

Now I have seen more than my share of animal viscera and have personally skinned and stuffed a number of mammals. His wounds were clearly at least couple of hours old and possibly as many as 12 in addition to being the worst wounds I have ever seen on a still breathing animal. Now keep in mind that I found him trying to get into our backyard slider. We have a 5 foot fence that the cats have all learned to climb. Somehow he hauled his seriously busted ass home from wherever he got hurt and scaled our fence with only 3 legs. Instead of using the front door. Damn cat.

The vet was of the opinion that he had been mangled by a fan belt and I was inclined to agree with her that something mechanical got a fast unexpected hold of him. The wounds all had pretty clean edges and if a coyote had done that to him Toku certainly wouldn't have been able to escape.

At any rate she gave him a very positive prognosis for surgery and we decided to proceed with the insanely expensive operation, the alternative being putting our otherwise perfectly healthy three year old cat down.

Jordanna picked him up from the vet today and he's been drunkenly stumping after her all evening allowing himself to collapse at her feet in a furry medicated pile whenever she holds still for more than a few minutes.

Below are a few pictures of him today for the strong of constitution.

Delyaed Notice

[jd] 16 August 2007

Pics of July in Tucson are up at our website here. I need to reset the white balance on that camera, sorry about the bluish tint. I am sure I will get around to fixing it some time before Christmas.

Things That Scare Me

Bargain basement laser eye surgery

Big Ugly Grubs

[ty] 11 Aug '07

Today I was slaving away in my yard trying to undo some of the burrowing damage my idiot dog has done. As I was moving a couple of flagstones I noticed what appeared to be a couple of very large larvae. Turns out thats exactly what they were. Grubs. Big, ugly, grubs. With some pretty gnarly pincers.

If you reckon you're made of pretty sturdy stuff there's a video of their leader trying to attack me here.

In other news I started school Thursday. So far so good. Kids are fun. Am I ready for the school year you ask? I think this speaks for itself...


And of course the latest update on Nubby.

Nubby is very very cute, no?

And here are two more movies of him working his new Jumperoo.
Jumperoo 1
Jumperoo 2

Dirty Dirty Coffee Monkey

[jd] 9 August 2007

I know the school year has started because Ty kissed me on the cheek this morning while I was sleeping and said, "Have a good day. I took all the coffee". Um, oxymoron?

In other news, Cayden started daycare and then went 6 days without pooping. When he finally exploded, it was at daycare. Good boy!

Feel Good Movie of the Year

[jd] 2 August 2007

Apocolypto certainly doesn't earn that award. I am steadfastly ignoring this masterpiece of Mel Gibson's as I type. I think that man needs therapy to work some stuff out. I think I might too at the end of this movie.

Update: I am waiting out this movie in the guest room (we are at JP's). It was threatening to bring on another panic attack. Happily I have been doing better the past two weeks. I have been going to a postpartum depression support group which has been really interesting. It is a bit intimidating, because the majority of women there are taking meds and some have been there for over two years. I am not anti-med, I just have always been anti-med for me (although this experience has definitely been mind opening). And, the idea of feeling this way in two years is intimidating. But, I have had many neutral days the past couple weeks and a couple downright cheerful days. Not so bad all told. In general I am feeling very hopeful about all of this. Going to the group does help, the women that go are really sweet and there is something cathartic about sharing experiences.

Anyway, several people have called to see how I am doing so I thought I would post an update. One thing I am incredibly grateful for is that none of my negative feelings are directed towards Cayden. I know that happens to some women, and I think that would make it even harder to deal with. Happily snuggling Cayden almost always makes me feel better.

Quilty Goodness

[ty] 30 July '07

Last night as JD, Myself, and our friend Jeff were watching a movie we heard a scraping/knocking on our front door. JD got up from the couch to investigate. She had only opened the door partway when she stopped and said "There's a bunch of toilet paper out here. With a note." Exchanging curious glances Jeff and I stood up to protect Jordanna in case there was foul play afoot. Returning with a sheet of paper in her hand she started reading the note.


Dear Mr. Sprayberry,

In honor of your completion of your initiation year at Canyon del Oro High School a select few of your favorite students would like to present you with this toilet paper. At first thought this toilet paper was going to be used creatively to decorate your yard. However, after consideration of your amazing coolness and teachers salary, it was decided that you would have better use of it in your house instead of on your house...trees...mailbox...etc. We hope you will enjoy its quilty goodness for many months to come. Best wishes for your many teaching years to come.

Your favorite and most amazing students,

A*
S
J

(*obviously I'm not putting students' names on the Internet)

Propped into my door I found...

Some of you out there may have heard me complain about teaching here in AZ. The pay sucks, the resources are scarce at best, and the state spending on education ranks 49th in the country (Wassup Mississippi!!). That being said, after spending my summer hanging out with my friends and my kid I'm getting antsy to get back in the classroom for exactly one reason. The kids rule. They are good students, they make teaching fun and I really love them. How can you not when they so courteously leave 80 rolls of quality TP on your doorstep?

In other news, nubby and I went hiking last friday and here's a link to a new baby video.

Irony and You Have to Be Kidding Me

[jd] 28 July 2007

Do you remember the good old days of automated phone menus? Press 1 for customer service and the like? Now a days everyone has some annoying voice recognition program that usually reduces me to screaming at the phone 'I said yes! YES! Oh, for god's sake REP-PRE-SENT-TA-TIVE'. So I was navigating my health insurance call center because I was trying to get an approval code to go see a therapist. After going back to the main menu two times, I finally found the right sub-menu to get to mental health. For the first time they offered me the option of pressing a number or speaking my option. By this time I considered myself to be a UHC menu ninja, so I clearly spoke 'mental health' instead of pressing 2, at which point a soothing voice comes on the phone and says, "Thank you, goodbye", then hangs up on me.

I am thinking this is a pretty funny story, when my friend Missy starts telling me about her ridiculous day, which was one of the most ridiculous days I have ever heard of. Without getting into details that aren't mine to share, Missy was with her daughter Lilly at the Childrens' Hospital of Philadelphia (Lilly is okay). After determining that the pediatric ward they were in did not have rice cereal or bananas to feed Lilly (when starting babies on solid food you are only supposed to add a new food every week or so), she went out to the car to get some of their baby food. When Missy gets back, she asks the nurse for a baby spoon. The nurse looks her in the eye and says, "You would think we would have those here, wouldn't you?".

Gratifying

[jd] 24 July 2007

I am home digitizing high speed video today so Ty can go up to work and get some prep for the school year done. Cayden has been slowly drifting off to sleep in the lazyboy next to me. I got up to put on some diaper laundry, and caught his eye from across the room. He looked at me, gave me a huge smile, and closed his eyes.

A Visual History of the Last 2 Weeks

[ty] 23 July '07

We went out to one of Jordanna's field stations up in the Catalina mountains. It was very pretty and there were many large and/or dangerous bugs. Our whole goal was to film the night feeding moths and after setting everything up it began to MONSOOON so we had to pack up and leave. The MONSOONS have officially come to Tucson and they are...ridiculous.


I suppose this photo doesn't really convey the impressive industry shown by these particular ants. The hole they have here to their nest is about the size of a quarter and they all run in and back out of it at breakneck speed. I tried for about 10 minutes to follow just one ant but its impossible. So I put a rock near the entrance instead and watched complete pandemonium break out.


This guy was awesome. He's eating that green plant stalk and feeding it in with his two front legs. Just like Bugs Bunny used to eat carrots he feeds its straight into his maw and devours it like some kind of armored sawmill. He's about as big as one of those pink school erasers. And his name is Rolf.


Self-potrait of Baby and Baby-Daddy.


One of the jobs I've been putting off for months now is trimming out the front door. The main problem is that the drywall we put up brings the level of the trim about 3/4 of an inch away from the frame. Not too bad in of itself, but the mortar and cement crap all around the original framing makes it unevenly spaced. So anyway, last Friday I finally sucked it up and fired up the table saw to rip furring strips (seen here on the couch and the door) and attach the trim.


And after all my bitching and whining about mortar and furring strips it took me all of 4 hours start to finish.


So we did some online research and apparently one of the most sought-after professions in the 21st century will be Polynesian Dancer. So we raced right out and bought a starter kit to get The Nubby going on his career.


Jordanna as she devours the newest Harry Potter book. Purchased at noon, she was re-reading the ending before bedtime. Apparently the books were flying off the shelves at 15 per second in the UK.

So there's our last week or two in the desert. We came close to breaking the record for consecutive days over 100 degress (something around a month or so, I don't really pay attention because it makes me sweat to think about it), Cayden starts daycare next week and I bought a grill book because its too hot to cook indoors.