Pain and Agony

Pain and agony as defined by Webster's Dictionary - to make suffer or cause distress and intense pain of mind or body. (His physical pain, our mental anguish). This summed up last night for the Spiegelhoff household. Forget everything I wrote on Sunday's post about how the Qster was taking these new teeth like a champ. No, he loaded up last night and let all the pain, agony and frustration out like an atomic explosion of screams coupled with some wails mixed in with some generous tears. He didn't make it to bed until 11:30 crying for about 90 minutes before finally allowing his head to hit the pillow. "Finally!" we said and immediately hit the sack only to be woken by blood curdling screams at 2am as Quentin announced his waking. The whole family made it up to the nursery for a two hour bonding experience. Carrie and screaming Quentin were on the chair alternating rocking with the screams to create a cacophony of squeaking chair and child. Lucky and I were on the floor hoping to catch some shut eye, which eventually occurred. Around 4 am Carrie got me off the floor and success! we had a sleeping baby and could return to the quiet comfort of our bed - as a family again. So now Quentin, exhausted wife and myself climbed into bed as the dog nestled into his pillow below on the floor, only to have Quentin ready to get up and raring to go at 6:30 this morning by kicking Carrie to announce he was ready to start the day. This kid has a motor let me tell you.

Powerball is up to $222 million and we're hoping we win so we can afford a night nanny. They can work the grave yard shift while we sleep it away. We bought a ticket for Saturday's drawing and matched the powerball cashing in $3! Unfortunately we didn't match the other five numbers, which is required to cash in on the $200 M. prize. We're going to let it ride in hopes of the big payoff. I have some work colleagues coming to town tomorrow from Pennsylvania for a few days of brain storming and we are swapping PA tickets for FL tickets to increase our statewide dragnet of lottery strategy. And no I don't need to hear how I have a 1 in 2 billion chance of winning. You don't win if you don't play. And I don't want any naysayers getting in line asking to ride on our private jet after we win. Upon winning we will be throwing a rather large soiree and you are all invited. So, come Thursday look for the really tired, but extremely happy family on TV with the giant check. That will be us.

I leave you with a happier Quentin enjoying his brand new highchair. The bib is foretelling...

My toofs multiplied

We pried our child's mouth open for full inspection after having a finger gnawed on with greater intensity than usual and it tuns out the bottom teeth had babies. Quentin is going to be Dracula for Halloween because he's getting both his top "fang" teeth. I believe that is the scientific name. That should make for a great Florida Cracker picture as most of our world famous crackers are also missing those all important front teeth. He is truly in a position to say, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." So cliche, I know. He is taking the new toofasuses arrival like a champ with only minimal crying but we are probably going to head out and get some more chew toys for him as he is getting bored with the handful we own. (The dog needs a new one too). He really likes to chew on anything he can get his hands on. He continues to take his toll on the various periodicals lying around; books, magazines, his favorite - newspapers and is often met with the response, "Hey, I haven't read that yet!" He just smiles and continues chewing. We have wondered whether or not eating the pages of today's news and entrainment is harmful. Is this like devouring paint chips when we were kids? Let's hope for the opposite and just pretend he's soaking in the daily news through osmosis.

We took him to the Florida Aquarium on Saturday to swim with the fishes. They were offering a deal that gave anyone with a May birthday free entry so between the three of us we only had to pay for one ticket. The ticket price was kind of steep and upon entry we realized it's half aquarium, half outdoor water park for the sub-12 set. So you take your kids through all the exhibits, have them bring their suits and and then let them hang out at the water park soaking the day away. Conveniently, although providing a moral dilemma, a bar sits pool side so mom and dad can pound cocktails before hopping in the car for the family drive home. Worse, they allowed smoking, which we found disturbing and considering 99% of the place was families we pondered what were they thinking? It was neat to see and offered a lot of hands on activities so you could pet stingrays and large native species like tarpon. Quentin was on his most excellent best behavior but wasn't all that interested yet. I think he needs anther year or two. I loved it and was pushing the kids around for a better view much to Carrie's chagrin. I like fish, what can I say?

After the aquarium we came home and had a nice afternoon just playing. Quentin is really interested in textures at the moment. He likes to grab anything and scratch his fingers across it to see what kind of sound it makes. He really likes things that crinkle and has a special attachment to tags and labels. He likes to crawl around on the couch trying to get the tags on the throw pillows. He'll do the same to the patters on your shirt. It's interesting to see him continue to gain hand eye coordination to pick things up and taste them. He's really aware of his surroundings and like all males he loves the remote control. Our remote (Direct TV) has a few buttons of bright colors and I think that's what he's going after. If he sees the remote he's making a B-line for it. He's going to make a great husband some day!

Here is a shot of Q with Carrie at the aquarium and the second one is Q's expression when we told him he's got more teeth. "No way? Sweet!!!" We need to start profiting off this kid's cuteness factor!

We endorse Pampers

The great debate over the better diaper came to a close this morning with me getting a poop soaked wake up call shortly after showering and getting dressed to start my day. Generally speaking people don't want to wake up, shower and then get covered in poop. At least not this person. It's poetic justice. I'm out there trying to save a buck and I will now be gladly spending the extra coin to ensure the rest of this family stays dry, clean and hopefully poop free. We thought the blowouts were a phase. It happened when he was little and then they just stopped so I just figured that was something that goes along with being a newborn. It turns out we switched brands during the poop-free lull and then switched back and are now living in blowout city, population one. The store sells 160 Pampers diapers (these are the blowout free ones) for the same price they sell 200 Huggies. I take this moment in time to remind readers there is no such thing as a free ride in life or a "good deal" so as I rid my shorts of poop and Quentin's outfit of poop and his chair of poop and his changing table now covered in poop I have decided to donate the remaining Huggies diapers to daycare where they have professional poop cleaner uppers and we will be purchasing the more expensive but blowout free Pampers for the remaining years we find our child(ren) in diapers. This is why we have endorsed the Pampers brand. If you find yourself in blowout city, population you go with quality. You'll see the savings on the back end from doing less laundry. You don't want to have two family members in outfit number two by 7:30 am. It's just not efficient.

I just returned from a visit to Iowa and in the land of irony the weather was flip flopped for a change. While I was enjoying Iowa's upper 70s and sunny as sunny can be Florida is entering their 10th straight day of rain accumulating a much needed 6 inches and counting. The record for consecutive rain days is 12 set in June 2003 and we look like we are going to break it. So much for the sunshine state. Our lawns went from burnt out to grass that is now 12 inches high and needs to be mowed but it hasn't stopped raining long enough for Carrie to get out there and fire up the push mower. Our pond out back, which was on water life support has nearly filled back up to a respectable level. The fish can breathe again! I fear for the mosquito onslaught that is sure to follow, though.

We're looking for a nice relaxing long weekend. Carrie has been begging me to take her to see Terminator 4, so if she's nice to me the next couple of days I'll take her. She just loves those shoot em' up killing movies. Me, I prefer the love stories, but it's her world I'm just living in it so I'll guess she'll drag me kicking and screaming to the latest Terminator installment. She just loves that Arnie and all his clever lines. Hasta la vista baby.

(Picture titled, "Ummm, soo yummmy...")

The Park

We learned a valuable lesson in car real estate this weekend. As in our car is not big enough for our entire family. We had a friend's birthday party to attend at a park on the water near our house on Saturday so we thought it would be a great occasion to bring Lucky and Quentin and at least see if they can coexist in one vehicle. We made it about three blocks and that question was answered with a resounding, NO! We put Lucky in the shotgun seat and Carrie and Q in the back. We didn't think Q and Lucky would be safe together near each other. When Lucky is in the backseat he spends the majority of time trying to get to the front seat. It turns out that feeling is reciprocal and when in the front seat he really wants in the back seat. Within that three blocks Lucky shifted us into neutral three times, attempted to jump over the armrest and join Quentin in his car seat all while maintaining a constant whine of let me out of this car. It's official, if we ever hope to travel anywhere as a family we are going to need a bigger vehicle. And no, we are not getting a minivan.

After turning around and dropping the Luckster back at the homestead we eventually made it to the park, albeit an hour late, but we made it. (Add one 20 pound person to your family and you will no longer make it to any engagement on time ever again). It was Quentin's first trip to the park where he went for a ride on the swings, witnessed a professional magic show and played kickball (he was 2/3 with 2 RBI's). They had a pier for fishing so we checked that out and saw some fish and a lot of folks having minimal luck fishing, but they all appeared to enjoy the beautiful day in the sun. Quentin was great all day. He took nearly a three hour nap earlier in the day allowing for us to get some errands ran and some always needed R & R. It put him in a great mood for the afternoon where he was well received by the other party goers. He had a fellow infant at the party so we got the scoop on the next month's activities while Quentin moves from nearly 6 months into 9 months. According to these parents that's when the "attitude" begins and instead of crying because they need a diaper change, are hungry or just generally tired he will begin to cry when not getting his way. They also have a six year old, who is writing a novel by the way, and said that you can work that attitude away with some solid parenting. (We took a class so I'm sure we are totally prepared for teens, and whatever else they can throw at us)! They were parents that have not/will not buy into the Generation "me" and we think we will be similar parents.

Since feeding Quentin a once a day diet of rice cereal in the evenings he seems to be sleeping through the night with a fair amount of regularity. Do we dare say we have made it over the hump? We shall see, but he definitely enjoys eating with a spoon. Yesterday he was ready and waiting mouth a gap impatiently wondering when dad would stop the airplane game and actually get it to his waiting tongue. I also found his nose, his chest (clothes), his hair and he had a good time spitting it back out at me. When mom feeds him some how that doesn't happen. This in turn brings Lucky over because we are still using the ghetto highchair, which means we don't have one yet and are sitting him in his chair on the floor. Then the dog wants to lick him up and down, eat the food that's been spit all over the place, and stick his big old snout in my face. Let's just say it's an interesting, messy, entertaining ten minutes and a family event all at the same time. The picture today is of me feeding him. I call it, "Surprise! Dad's feeding you today." Can't you just see the excitement in his face? There is a lot of love there.

Anniversary

Yesterday was our second anniversary and I'm happy to announce we talked it over and we've decided to stay together for at least another year. (It took some convincing but she eventually bought into my argument). This year has been considerably more crazy than our first year as we of course had our little bundle of sleepless joy, Quentin. Since, it's the middle of the week and Q hasn't been feeling that well we kicked it at home. Date night is just not the same with a 5 month old playing third wheel. We made a nice dinner at home and nearly everything we touched was because of our wedding. We grilled steaks on a grill we received as a gift using utensils we also received for a gift at our wedding. We cooked some grub up in the kitchen and baked a cake all using pots and pans we were given for our wedding. We had some fine wine from 2005 all the way from Spain that we still have from our wedding! We ate on plates we received and held the Qster who wanted to be part of it all. He wouldn't have been possible without the wedding either so essentially everyone joined us in our celebration of two years of bliss. Who said marriage was hard!??!

We did get a chance to exchange some gifts and Carrie was thoughtful enough to get me the Sham-Wow. Now, I know you know what the Sham-wow is. You can use it in the kitchen. You can use it in the garage, the bathroom, on pets...it's ShamWOW! Use it to clean up spills, towel off, clean your car, it's ShamWOW! They make it in Germany and those Germans, they know how to make a good product. So industrious those Germans. So, if you have a spill give me a call and I'll come over and ShamWow it for ya. (Incidentally we've already ShamWowed some puke so there's something they don't show you on TV but it worked and we did stop and say, "ShamWOW baby)!" She also kicked in some golf lessons. What? Did she hear about my awesome trophy as the company's worst golfer last week? A guy just can't catch a break. I'm hoping they teach me how to hit the ball straight instead of just lining up sideways and playing that sweet hook shot I have for every club in my bag. You should see what happens when I hit it straight - right over the road and into the neighborhood across the street. It's quite entertaining for the rest of the foursome. Carrie scored some much needed time at the spa to unwind and catch a massage or two and whatever else you ladies do at the spa. I thought she could use a good half day away from us boys. With Lucky in the mix she's severely outnumbered. Overall, we had a very nice time.

Quentin has been really fighting us getting into bed and staying up as late as 11pm the last few nights, which has been brutal on us. He is such a night owl. Last night he put up a fuss for a while but went to bed at 9:30. He was awake since 4:20, a personal best for him, but man alive we need a breather lil' guy. At least he made it to bed and slept all the way through the night until about 6:30 this morning so we did get a little peace last night. He hates going to bed, whether it's for a nap or bed time. We've done the reserach and you are supposed to appeal to all your senses. We've covered most of the senses; music, soft blanket, dark room, rocking him but still nothing, nada, zip. Staying up is more fun. Who knows what's going to happen when he's older. We're trying not to think about it. We need our sanity! We've attached a family picture from last week when Carrie turned....never mind, it's not important. Enjoy!

The Journalist

In the movies they have a scene where there will be four or five parents standing around and each of their children will show some sign of genius and then inevitably it will be your child's turn and your beloved son or daughter will instead of painting a Picasso will eat the paint. While you can't but help enjoy the hilarious moment (and see your son or daughter for who they are) you are a bit embarrassed for your own uninspired impressionist. Our son loves the newspaper. He loves it so much he wants to eat it. If he was reading it right now Mensa would be calling but he's not, he's eating it. He enjoys the crinkle noise it makes when he grabs it too but I think that's more of a means to the ends.

On a weekday morning I am up early getting the dog his exercise and come back with the paper upon finishing our daily walk (read - Lucky dragging me around the neighborhood). I place the newspaper on top of the breakfast bar, feed the dog and by this time Carrie is finishing up feeding and dressing Quentin and I get him for a few minutes while Carrie gets his bag ready to take him to school. I am sitting at the breakfast bar holding the little genius on my lap and the whole time he is desperately wiggling out of my grasp determined to get his little paws on that newspaper. I don't know what the attraction is but he loves the St. Pete Times. I posted the picture today of him destroying the entire paper this morning in under 30 seconds and than he proceeded to eat it. By the time he was finished Monday's edition was unreadable (except for the Sports section, which was hidden deep within the paper) and half eaten. Most people would walk in and blame the poor dog, who is innocent but you can't tell the difference; drool, bite marks, destroyed paper, it looks like the dog did it. By the time he was done munching on the World Politics section his face was black around his mouth from the news print. Too funny. So, our little guy is clearly on his way to being a journalist. He already hates their work but likes it enough to take a few bites. Is that the ultimate form of flattery?

Beyond chewing on the morning news he has begun barrel rolling, which is fun to watch him roll over and over until he finds an obstacle such as the couch or coffee table. He seems to only know how to go one way but it's pretty entertaining to see him experiment with a new skill. It gets the dog's attention too. I think the dog has finally realized that he can get attention from Quentin now so Lucky has spent a lot more time nuzzling him and Quentin loves it. He'll get a big old grin on his face and start slapping the dog with both hands on his face. Um, ya, not exactly the best way to make friends but the dog doesn't seem to mind too much. It reminds me to not leave the two of them alone. The dog only responds by licking him up and down his face, which Q loves but is probably pretty gross. It really takes care of that runny nose, though! I'm just kidding. We saw Marley & Me this weekend and it was like watching our life story unfold on the big screen. First the marriage, then the big dog, then the first one....I won't spoil it. We hope they get a lot of years together. Enjoy the paper pics!

Video?!! and Happy Mother's Day!

I am taking another shot at uploading some video. We started to wonder if using our video camera made the video too big due to the quality of the picture so we decided to try using the video feature on our regular point and shoot camera to see if that would yield a smaller file and provide us with the opportunity to get video on the blog. If this works it should be video of Quentin cruising around in his borrowed walker up in Iowa. He got a pretty big kick out of it and as you can or should be able to see he was moving pretty good in it.

Last night was Quentin's eating solid food debut and as he took a shot at being at the table with the adults. He is there nearly every day anyway wanting to be in on the action but last night for dinner he was a true participant. We don't own a high chair so we employed the ghetto method and put his pint size people chair on top of some place mats on the dining room table. Not ideal, but it got the job done. We would say he did moderately well. He kept wanting to grab the spoon with the malt-o-meal like substance, which was rice cereal mixed with some milk. He was half eating, half spitting out the food but getting some of it down. He didn't make any "this is horrible" faces so I think he liked it or at least found the experience to be some what interesting and he was pretty capitivated by the whole thing. After the first few spoonfuls, though, he began sticking his tongue out. First, this kid has the potential to be the next Gene Simmons. He's never really stuck his tongue out that far before so we didn't realize how long it was but that tongue has got some length to it. That big old tongue was clogging the middle so we couldn't get the spoon in after while. I would say he ate a good 5-8 spoonfuls before deciding that was enough. We'll take another crack at it today as we slowly move him into his solid food phase. He did do a nice job of cleaning himself up. We just finished up and we were about to wipe him down when he took his bib and cleaned his face right up. We may have an independent child on our hands. We'll see.

And of course today is our first Mother's Day. We would like to say happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there that have raised us, grandmothered us and provided some advice as we partake on our own parenting adventure. It's never easy but always rewarding. When I got up with Quentin at a way too early 4:15 am this morning he whispered in his still sleepy tone to write how much he loves his mommy and appreciates all that she does. He especially wanted to cover how nice it is that she constantly gets up with him when he is sad or needs something in the middle of the night without complaining. He ended by making sure I told her how much he loved her. On his last day of school Quentin also made her a card that says Happy Mother's Day and on the inside there is a heart cut out and pasted on the card with his hand print inside. It's pretty cute. We're looking forward to more arts and crafts coming our way but to date this was our first one and I know it will be special for Carrie to have.

I have just received confirmation that the video worked! Shazaam! I have video talent again. Enjoy and have a great Mother's Day!!

We're baaaack...

We survived the trip home and once again Quentin was a fantastic traveler. He has now completed 8 flights and hasn't cried through a single one of them. Our suitcase count triples when we bring him (3 checked bags, 4 carry on's) for four days this past week but all in all it was very successful. Carrie reminded me on the way home that we were in the car for 2 plus hours, on 2 planes, a bus and 2 trains yesterday so he's been around the travel block so to speak. The whole family was exhausted upon arrival to our Florida home - the dog was not. So we open the door and a sprinting 97 pound dog comes flying through the kitchen to meet us in the garage whining, jumping, tail wagging a million miles an hour and I don't believe the tail has stopped yet. He's a great little puppy. We walked in the door by 7, ordered chinese by 7:30 and were all tucked into bed by 8:30 sleeping soundly. Oh, how times have changed. By the time this morning arrived Quentin had some how joined us in bed and when the very much needed alarm went off we were all deep into our dreams. Coffee was brewing within 10 seconds of waking.

The week was nice for everyone. I was on a retreat with department heads in Galena where I was awarded the "worst golfer" award. Still got it! I was afforded an opportunity to learn from some of our more experienced company personnel and it was a great experience for me (not golf, work). I will get a chance to do something similar in September. I walked away with a ton of great ideas. Carrie got to see her family and friends and was afforded enough time to make the rounds and even snuck a massage in there. Quentin showed off for all his relatives with his smiling, "talking" and rolling over. We went out on Wednesday for Carrie's birthday and fortunately a large number of family were able to attend her birthday celebration, which was significantly different from the previous year held in the same location. The addition of Quentin makes for a much tamer and shorter evening but we were grateful so many people fit it into their schedules.

Quentin is still not feeling well and as the days go by we grow more concerned. Carrie and I are hypothesizing maybe this isn't a cold and it's allergies or something in our home like his mattress, which is doused with chemicals ironically to make it safer. We are going to consult with our doctor and see what we can do. He's a little snot machine and you just feel so bad that he can't breathe and we are making zero progress. The meds didn't have an effect on him so I don't think we should do another round. We'll do some research and see what the doc has to say now. It's been several weeks and counting. His disposition hasn't changed so he's still happy and enjoying himself. When you have a cold you are dragging and he is energetic as ever. For example Carrie borrowed a walker for Q and he was cruising up and down her parent's wood floored kitchen. He's not short on energy we can assure everyone of that! He's going to be a mover when he gets going and it's not too far away.

We have tons of pictures and I will post them this weekend. In the mean time Quentin is enjoying his 100 pound pillow. See attached.

Still Sick and Still traveling

Quentin is still not feeling well, although, he is doing much better than when I left last week. We are all getting on a plane tomorrow. Carrie and Quentin are coming and will hit some cities before ending up in Gilbertville, IA, her home town. I am heading to Galena, IL for company meetings for the week. I hope with Quentin's never ending stuffiness he survives the plane ride. His previous four trips have been direct and we are throwing in a 2 hour layover this time around. We're trying to get Quentin's frequent flier status up to platinum preferred before he turns one so he can immediately start reaping the benefits of getting bumped to first class. They throw in free formula up there you know. He had a fever, which he has beat now and is on medication and will be through the middle of next week. He is really stuffy and has some coughing bouts. We really feel terrible because the little guy just can't breathe. We have some stuff to shoot up his nose that allows for draining but he loves that about as much as you would having someone probe your nostrils over and over with a bulb syringe. (If you remember we practiced this technique in birthing class). Those hospitals are so smart today getting you prepared for child rearing.

With this swine flu going around and his immune system on tilt coupled with us spending quality time in the busiest airport in the US hopefully will equal him getting better. I don't want him picking up the oinking side effects that we've heard go along with this contagious flu. Don't worry we picked up designer masks for our faces so not only will we be in style but we will match as only a Spiegelhoff family can. Quentin and Carrie are joining me because Carrie is celebrating a birthday this week and I have meetings through her birthday on Wednesday so she's coming along so we can all celebrate together. It should be a nice time and she'll get to see her family and Q always enjoys visiting with his grandparents, Nanna and Big Poppy.

Quentin has been sleeping better the last few nights, which has been a relief to Carrie who has been parenting solo the last few weeks. She took some time this afternoon to get her hair done and Q and I got to spend some quality time together. We decided to use it productively and took a nap together. It was refreshing and necessary for both of us. I miss that. I keep dreaming he's walking. I think I'm worried I'll be on a trip or something when he takes his first steps so I have all these dreams of him walking and talking. He's not there yet so I think I have a bit of time yet. Quentin has discovered his toes. I was holding him today and looked down to see what he was doing. Are you sucking on your toe dude? Yes, he was. So I am leaving you with a picture of him eyeballing that sweet big toe.