Alex - Now Self Entertaining

Alex has finally reached the stage of his life where he can sit and play quietly by himself. About 3 weeks ago, he figured out how to sit on his own. This is not to say that he can get from lying position to sitting. Only that if we put him in a sitting position, he doesn't tip over... very much.

Alex Using Folding Chair

The next phase of the child training is to reduce the number of times that I have to get up to put Alex back into the sitting position after he tips over. Fortunately Will is very interested in this task. He will grab both of Alex's hands and pull him back into a sitting position. However, he doesn't understand that Alex has to get his balance back before he lets go. So typically Alex ends up tipping over again.

And, to answer the eternal question... how does Alex's development compare to Will's at this age? It seems to me that Alex is about a week behind Will. Will was sitting and standing at 4 months old. Standing, you might ask? Yes. Obviously not getting up to standing on his own or doing it without support, but able to hang onto something and not tip over. Here is the photographic evidence.

Will August 2006

The Personal Terabyte

Back in the day when we were lucky to have 10 gig drives to partition among our various installations of Redhat Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows 98, there was a project at Georgia Tech called the Personal Terabyte. I don't think if I was involved in these particular folks in the CoC, but as part of my "leisurely third" year, I took an 8000 level seminar class on what do with all that stuff filling up all that disk space. In particular, we were looked at heuristic algorithms to identify various components within images so you could find the particular image of the cat you wanted to turn into a lolcat. Anyhow, 10 years later, Angela and I bought a personal terabyte of our own. We've been spiraling towards success in this area for quite some time. We've had over a terabyte of TiVo storage for about 18 months, and I think my collected computers have about 750 gigs between them.

At any rate, here is a picture of Alex with the IOMEGA Terabyte NAS.



For those technically inclined, the NAS has 2 500 gig drives and is configured for redundant backup via RAID 1. Effectively, the result is a .5 Personal Terabyte shared among the four of us. So, it's really like a Personal Eighth of a Terabyte...

Two Years of Will

I have a new favorite quote:
"One child is a sidekick. Two children makes you parents."

We did it! Somehow Will survived to the age of 2. He had a happy life up until last December when he seemed to realize that something was up. His parents kept talking about Alex, the baby. In an effort to help Will to understand why his mom was getting so large, we tried to tell him that there was a baby inside. He didn't get it, but went along with kissing my tummy at bedtime. Of course, he also had to kiss Dan's tummy too. And, he continues with the habit today on our much smaller tummies.

On April 6th, Will turned 2. We had a birthday party for him the day prior with actual children attending. Dan and I are still in denial to some degree about our mandated role of hanging out with only people who have children, so there were some non-parents there. Here are some pictures from the event taken mostly by Neal as Dan and I were busy managing children.

If anyone else took pictures ( Andrew), could you please send us some?

Train Cake!

Party People

Backyard Grilling

Thank you to everyone for coming! People brought gifts, fortunately not too many that produce clutter. Will got a bunch of amazing books. He loves reading them at bedtime and when he is supposed to be napping.

Alex the Great International Traveler

Ok, so he had to wait longer than Will to travel internationally (3 months versus 10 days). And it was a shorter flight (2 1/2 hours versus 10 hours). But Alex got to go on his first international trip at the beginning of April. To Canada! A place where Will has only traveled in utero.

How did he like it? Well, he really doesn't like the airplanes so much. Silly baby only eats when he is hungry, so he won't nurse during take off and landing. This causes him much ear distress which he shares with the other passengers through lots of angry crying.

Disgruntled Alex Waiting at Airport

How about the rest of the trip? Dan got to spend some quality time with Alex while I hung out at a conference. I got to talk to actual other adults! It was the place to be in the world of Audit Data Analysis. I did get to push Alex around some in the stroller prior to us joining some other conference goers for dinner. Here is the lovely camera phone photo taken outside of Canadian Staples, I think.

We aren't sure if we will be taking Alex on many trips in the near future, you know, before he can be distracted by the portable dvd player. But, he will be traveling with me to Minnesota for work next month. I took Will on a plane trip by myself back when he was Alex's age, but who knows how it will go with Alex "The Great Cranky Traveler" Kroboth.

Real Estate Relief

We did it! We no longer own our condo in Virginia. In this "buyer's market" we, um, sold. You might think that someone with an Economics degree might decide to sell during a seller's market, but nope. Originally, last May, we decided that we would try to rent our condo to someone. It was very nice. Not too expensive. It's wired with ethernet drops and cable drops in various rooms. But, after more than 6 months of not renting, we decided to contact a real estate agent and sell the place.

So, if you are in the market for a real estate agent in the DC area, we have a recommendation. Matthew Ryan of RE/MAX CitySide went above and beyond his duties as a realtor for us. It is difficult to sell something when you aren't nearby, but Matthew helped us to pull it off.

I guess this means that if we visit the DC area, we no longer have our own place to stay. Anyone up for hosting us? Unfortunately we have the 2 children to deal with. They are loud during the day, but actually sleep all night pretty quietly.


I forgot to attach this photo to the original post about our condo sale. As part of the sale, we had to get some documents notarized at Kinko's. Will helped us keep track of all of the signature tape flags.

Baby Beliefs

As a parent, I have had to change my opinions about various concepts. For example, now instead of "not liking children" I "like my own children." And, I seem to be able to tolerate kids who are less than or equal to Will's age. I actually have some experience dealing with them, so I know what to expect. This means, that yes, I will babysit for you if your kids are under age 2 and greater than 10 lbs. I still am uncomfortable with tiny babies. In fact, I think Dan changed Alex's diaper for the first 2 weeks nearly every time because even though he is big for his age, he was still so tiny.

If you have kids, or you have gone to a baby shower recently, you realize that there are some commonly accepted assumptions in the baby stuff industry. For example, the common baby registry includes: a plush shopping cart cover, an exersaucer, baby-proofing devices, crib quilts, baby bath tubs, high chair, stroller with 5 cup holders, bassinet, crib, pack & play, and lots of other stuff. Now, some of the stuff is necessary. Like a high chair, for instance. But really, do you have to get three different places for your child to sleep?

Baby proofing stuff makes a little more sense. Of course, you won't need it for 7+ months. Unfortunately for us, by the time Will was old enough to need baby-proofing, he was also smart enough to defeat it. Here he is with that device that prevents kids from turning door knobs.


Baby proofing devices have to be dealt with on a step-by-step basis depending on what your kid likes to get into. In addition to baby proofing, I don't buy people these things for baby showers:

Newborn Clothes
As the mother of large children, I realize how big kids can get, quickly. Even if you don't give birth to babies that are over 10lbs, it is likely that your tiny 7lb baby will double his birth weight by 4-6 months. (I have heard this. Not sure since my kids don't double their birth weight until they are 1 year old.)

Baby Blankets
It's one thing to make a memorable blanket for a baby that they can keep forever. Kids don't really say, oh yes, Angela got me this fuzzy yellow blanket from the sale rack at the baby store. As I don't have baby blanket making skills, I don't give blankets at baby showers. There are so many people out there who actually can make blankets, that the baby will end up with lots of them anyway. What about a baby quilt that matches the nursery design? That's the other problem with buying baby blankets. You're not really supposed to put blankets on new babies because they are a "suffocation hazard." So the matching nursery quilt ends up being a matching wall hanging.

Stuffed Animals
It is likely that the parents have a stash of stuffed animals from their childhood. If not, they probably have at least a few bears holding hearts from Valentine's Days during their courtship days. Therefore the least likely stuffed animal I am likely to purchase for someone is a bear. However, if I can't avoid the desire to purchase a cute cuddly thing, I try to go for something unique like a moose or a llama. My dad got Will a llama from the Chicago Field Museum store at O'Hare. It is awesome. Llama was one of Will's first words. Of course, it is sometimes difficult to figure out if he is asking for "llama" or "mama," but with only two choices, we figure it out. Stuffed Animals not for you? Go with a cute stuffed microbe instead!

Baby Shoes
Um, babies don't walk. And it is impossible to predict the size of the kid's feet when he becomes a toddler. Yes, it is adorable that the little kid is wearing little shoes. But it is far more practical to buy a 6 pack of socks, especially when you compare the price of socks to giraffe Bobux or airplane Bobux or Robeez shoes. They keep the kid's feet warm. They barely even need to be washed. Remember, the baby isn't walking. And initially they don't usually get their feet into their mouths. Ok, ok, Will did have the giraffe and airplane Bobux. But I didn't buy the giraffe ones. And, yes, you will soon see pictures of Alex wearing his tiny Vans flame shoes. But I didn't buy those either. I blame Aunt Robin. (Ok, I confess, I bought the airplane shoes so he could wear them on a few of his 30 airplane flights prior to turning age 1.)

It seems that everyone I know is now pregnant. Or, perhaps I have fallen into socializing with people who are having kids. So, if I come to your baby shower, what can you expect? Perhaps something boring like a baby store gift card. They are useful in that they can be accumulated to buy practical, expensive things (I recommend single-sided). Or, a baby sleep positioner. I know, it sounds silly and unneeded, but only until your baby's first cold. You elevate them so that they breathe better and therefore sleep better. Other favorites of mine:

• Snack traps - they won't prevent your car from being a wasteland of Cheerios and goldfish crackers, but it will help a little
  
• Corkscrew type baby bottle brush
• Bibs (you can never have too many, the kid uses them for years
  
• Sippy cups - these get lost easily, extra valves are also useful
  
• Teething rings that have handles - so that when you freeze them (against manufacturer instructions, but more effective for relieving teething pain), the kid can have something to hold onto besides the ice part
• Tiny Diaper Bags - carrying a giant diaper bag everywhere is useful sometimes, but it is great to grab something small and go
• Extra Boppy cover - more than one is very helpful for laundry time, same things goes for diaper changing pad cover
• Nursing Wrap - easier than trying to position a blanket with your teeth
  
• Baby Safe Feeder - awesome to help little babies self feed, ice is also good in these for teething
  

The Uninspired Blog Post

Yup, kind of worn out from taking care of 2 kids under the age of 2. Yup, I still in the mindset that people who have only one child are brilliant.

In any case, here is a short update.

We were actually able to apply for Alex's social security card today. You see, the last time we went was when Dan was off work. We figured it would be easier to contain two children with two adults. We waited for an hour, were finally called, presented all documents that we had that testified to Alex's existence, but that wasn't enough. They told us that we still needed something to prove Alex's identity. Because we didn't give birth at a hospital, Alex was not "in the system" so they needed something else. What did we do? We went and applied for his passport. It seems that parents swearing that their child is actually their child is enough proof for the State Department. That and the birth certificate, of course. And bringing the child.

So, since I now have both the birth certificate and Alex's passport, they let him apply for the social security number. Although the lady seemed a little suspicious. She was like, "Sooo... how old is he?" Me: "almost 3 months" Her: "He seems more like 4 or 5 months old." Me: "I know, that's what the doctor said at his 2 month check up." This went on for a while, but she let me apply anyway. Haha! Now Alex can start his fake identity as a 3 month old. And lie about being younger than he is?? You know, it's really those babies with social security numbers that you have to watch out for when it comes to fraud. Hmm... maybe I should go work for SSA and help direct their risk mitigation a little.

In any case, Alex is a super-giant super-advanced child, just like Will. That's right, when he gets to be 10 years old and is months ahead of his peers, boy, watch out!

What other comparisons do I have to make between my children in order to start their sibling competitiveness early? Well, it seems that Alex is super-cute, but he isn't as cute as Will at his age. I guess Will is going to have to be the one to succeed in Hollywood as a child actor. But then again, maybe Alex with his cute squished ears has "character." Will might have to settle for being a model. :) Oh, wait, were they supposed to be rocket scientists, Dan?

Take our Stuff

We are "unfurnishing" our condo in Virginia. If you want any of the stuff, this weekend is your chance to pick it up. Here is the list and pictures.

Microwave
Tea kettle
4 torch-style lamps

Very stylish tv stand
Not terribly stylish tv and vcr (yes, a vcr)
Small couch
Coffee table & 2 end tables
Area rug
Dining room table & chairs
Giant Aloe plant
Two
Large sleeper couch, chair, ottomans – These are from Dan's parents and are worn out. They have slipcovers, but we thought that their lifespan may have now come to an end.

Small bookshelf (in den)
Large bookshelf (can probably leave it, it matches the bedroom, was at the condo when we bought it)
Microwave stand that is currently in entry way
Computer monitor

Queen sized bed frame
Full sized mattress
Small table in bedroom
Plastic Laundry basket, hamper and lots of plastic hangers
Large mirror on bedroom wall
ironing board that goes over door
iron
super small vacuum

Linens (towels, sheets, comforter)
Plates, silverware, kitchen supplies
Knife block

Living/Dining Room

Den

Kitchen

Bedroom

Being Late

The Math Behind Lateness
I have the vision that eventually I will be less late. Of course, this means that I am fighting against many factors. The primary factor is being a Watterworth. It is a rule that if you try to get more than one Watterworth together for an event, you can expect the event to occur no earlier than W^2 minutes late than the originally agreed upon time. Of course, some of us are able to counteract this by marrying incredibly on-time people.

A secondary factor related to my lateness is the fact that I have two small children to deal with. The formula for predicting the earliest time a parent of small children will arrive at an event is: Earliest Arrival Time = EventTime + 10*(1/C1 + 2/C2). Where C1 and C2 are the ages of your first child and second child in months. Notice that the first one causes more lateness than the second one. The assumption is that you have figured out how to deal with children (to some degree) after the first one and you can parallel process them a little. So for us, our formula indicates that we will be at least 10.5 minutes late to any event. Do you have more children and want to calculate your value? Here is the normalized formula:

E.A.T. = EventTime + 10*(n1/C1 + n2/C2 + ... nx/Cx)

Of course, my discrete math classes were a long time ago. Plus I haven't gotten enough sleep lately. If the formula isn't quite correct, please post a comment correcting it. I'm also sorry that I couldn't figure out how to display sigma on the blog post.

So what is this blog post about? Here are some things that are late in coming...

Super Tuesday (Late Post)
As a person who has a Political Science degree, you would expect that I vote in elections. This year, as a resident of California, I got to vote on Super Tuesday! Now I didn't register with a specific political party when I registered. And in California, if you are "non-partisan" some parties allow you to vote in their primaries. I had the choice of voting in the Independent Primary or the Democratic Primary. So, when I went in, I asked for a Democratic Primary ballot. Who did I vote for? Someone who has the same name as one of Will's stuffed animals. That's right, even the voting part of my life revolves around my children. After voting, I gave my "I voted!" sticker to Alex.

Christmas Letter - Also Late
Dan and I finally finished our Christmas letter for 2007! Like 2006, we finished around President's Day. Normally the Christmas letter is full of subtle humor. This year, it was much shorter. However, we made up for the briefness by including lots of pictures of Will, including one of him golfing. Golfing... before he was 1 year old. We have strange children.

If you haven't received our Christmas Letter yet, it is probably on its way. Give it a week. If you don't get it, harass us. We probably didn't send it to you because we don't have your current address.

Regular TV Watching for Will
What else is it too late for? Given that we have 3 TiVos functioning in our living room, Will has never had to simply watch what is on at the moment. He will never know the restriction of sitting down at a particular time to watch the show that is on at that time. What does this mean? Every time he watches "Little Einstein" or "Handy Manny," he knows that there are more where they came from. He used to start asking for another episode during the credits. Then he started asking for another episode during the Little Einstein curtain call. Now, he asks for another episode when Leo says "Mission Completion!" He will even go over to the collection of remotes and bring the correct one over so that we can continue to feed his on-demand-tv addiction.

I Love Drive-Thru Starbucks!

I used to stop at Starbucks back when Will was a tiny baby. It was easier then. I remember one time when I was on my way to meet Beth for shopping near San Diego. All I had to do was park, pop the car seat out of the base, then carry the sleeping baby into the Starbucks.

One of Will's First 100 visits to Starbucks

I'm sure that every parent of multiple children appreciate the drive-in. I find myself only going to places that either have drive-ins or convenient shopping carts available in which to trap the children. Of course, drive-ins are better because you can actually purchase something and they give it to you at the window. If you go to a place that has normal-sized carts, put the toddler in the seat and the baby car seat in the basket, there really isn't space for stuff like groceries. That's why we can only buy things that are available at Costco. Their carts are big enough for 2 kids and 10 pounds of some sort of food. The trick is to pick a food that you want to eat every day for that week.

In any case, it is probably my new found appreciation of drive-ins that has helped us achieve our most recent vehicle milestone: 200,000 miles! That's right, our little Honda Accord finally surpassed 200K.


I especially appreciated the drive-thru Starbucks the other day when I managed to create the most un-caffeinated coffee ever. After being careful to grind the coffee beans only when both kids were awake, I started the coffee maker, told Dan that he could have some coffee when it was done, then left to do other important morning things like showering and finding clothes that actually fit. (While I have lost 30 lbs since being pregnant, I have only recently transitioned from wearing maternity clothes to wearing normal clothes that are too tight.) Unfortunately, when I returned to pour some coffee, out came clear coffee. Ok, I guess it wasn't coffee at all. The ground beans were safely stored away in the cupboard, still inside the coffee grinder.

To the drive-thru Starbucks!

Alex is more than a month old!

Ok, we probably should have posted last Tuesday when Alex was actually a month old, but he and I were taking a business trip to Charlotte, NC.

What have we learned about the little guy in the last month? To start, except for his unusual size, he is completely different than Will. Will was the model child. Or at least we believe this to be true as our memories of being super tired the first month have faded 22 months later. Will would sleep for about 5-6 hours at a time. He didn't spit up, have diaper rash, or excessive gas. He was good at nursing. Alex has every issue that Will managed to avoid. Most of his issues prevent him from getting large chunks of sleep at night. This causes me to be a little loopy due to lack of sleep. Think Zaphod Beeblebrox in the movie with the lemon thing on his remaining head. I'll have the occasional burst of energy when infused with a "lemon" (coffee). However, the rest of the day I basically spend randomly searching for stuff. Places to go, ways to entertain the kids, food... Magrathea! Or sometimes I fall asleep on the couch with Will climbing on me. It's easier than you would think.

Of course, not everything about Alex is all crankiness and no sleep. He is getting cute. As promised, here are comparison pictures of Alex and Will at 4 weeks old.




















As you can see, Will still has the cuteness advantage, but Alex is not far behind. He's got more hair than Will (at 4 weeks) and he just started practicing smiling.

Must Learn to Smile Without Looking Goofy!

So what did we do to celebrate Alex's 1 month birthday? We ate cake while he slept.

Must Learn to Be Awake at Important Moments!

Alex is also working on his head control which means it is time to let him sit in the little Bumbo chair.

I have learned to look at the camera!

I'm not sure how parents manage to have more than one child and maintain their sanity. I think that statements such as "Children are the Future" and "Children are a Blessing" are things that people say to give themselves hope that their sleepless crazy state will actually end. As for me, my opinion about having 2 children so they can play with each other has been surpassed by my new opinion that parents should have a single child, then live in a neighborhood with lots of playmates.

Yes, He's Actually Cute!

Finally, the much sought after Alex pictures!

A Few Hours Old

3 Days Old

Sleepy Dad and Alex
1 week old

Passport Photo
9 days old

We had to apply for a passport for 2 reasons. First, we have a trip planned to Canada for a conference in April. Second, as Alex was born at home, he wasn't automatically "in the system." This means that we had to go get his birth certificate from the Health Services place downtown. It also means that he doesn't have another form of id. So, he couldn't apply for a Social Security Number. Oddly, it's easier to get a passport than a Social Security Number. We just had to bring him and his birth certificate to the Post Office and vouch for his identity as his parents. We will get his Social Security Number for him later. The only reason he needs it right now is so that he can open a bank account.

12 Days Old, Still Sleepy

3 Weeks Old

Will and Alex

Alex looking concerned about Will catapulting him
into the next room with the bouncy chair

Will actually tries to use the bouncy chair as a catapult. I can't leave him alone with Alex for a minute. He means well, but doesn't quite understand that the baby can't play and doesn't like to be touched while he is sleeping.

You may have noticed that we have the same bouncy chair that Will was "measured" in when he was a baby. It was a gift to Will from Kevin and Sara. Here is a comparison so far...





Will on Left
2 weeks old

Alex on Right
3 days old

We forgot to take a picture of Alex at 2 weeks in the bouncy chair. We will do another comparison at 4 weeks.

Alexander Daniel Kroboth
The Less-Insane-Than-Will's-Birth-Story Story

[Disclaimer: As before, if you aren't into stories that involve words like "cervix" go back to the cute pictures of the new baby.]

As you may know, I posted the story of Will's birth back when he was born in April 2006. It was a 4-day ordeal where he was forced to join us in the outside world at a small OB clinic in Tokyo. That's not to say that I didn't receive great care. I had a wonderful team of people helping me out, including a midwife, a doctor, and very nice nurses. (Oh, and Dan too, he went through the most stress during the experience, but was very helpful.) Everyone was with me through the whole experience, unlike most births these days where you see whichever nurse happens to be on duty and your doctor a few minutes before you deliver. Will's birth was difficult, but he and I were well taken care of.

This time around, we had a much easier experience. Basically we hung out at home for 5 hours of contractions and had a water birth with 15 minutes of pushing. All before Will woke up to start the day with a new baby brother.

Here is the breakdown:

2:00am - Wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Waking at this time wasn't anything abnormal since the baby was constantly pushing his head on my bladder. However, I couldn't get back to sleep because of contractions. Most contractions that I had been having over the last few days/weeks were very mild and caused very little discomfort even though some of them were consistently 5 minutes apart. However, these contractions were different. After about an hour of contractions that actually caused discomfort, I decided it was time to wake up Dan.

3:00am - Wake up Dan. Debate whether it is time to call our midwife, Mary Lou, or not. Decide that it is time to start timing contractions. Also, decided to take a shower to see if the warm water would calm the contractions down or not. It did not calm them down, but it felt good to get a shower.

3:40am - Call Mary Lou. As I have no trouble talking to her during a contraction, her recommendation is to give her a call when things are more active or when it would make me feel better that she were there.

Dan starts setting up birthing tub. It consists of a steel frame with a plastic shell and a disposable lining.

Hang out lying down on the bed we had set up in the living room, having annoyingly intense contractions. However, because it was so early in the morning and we went to bed late the night before, I was able to relax between contractions so much that I think I fell asleep a couple of times in between. The contractions were different than with Will's birth, probably because they were naturally occurring instead of forced into existence with pitocin. Last time I wanted to move around and spent most of my time burying my head in a beanbag chair with Dan pushing on my back. This time I didn't want anyone to touch me and I stayed as still as I could laying on the bed we set up in our living room, just dealing with the contractions on my own.

It didn't help that a few days earlier I had watched "A Baby Story" where the woman had a perfect epidural that basically stopped her from having any pain (at least on TV). So I was lying there thinking about epidurals and remembering the question that I got asked at one of the Japanese hospitals that I visited, "Do you want pain-free birth?" But then I remembered that every woman goes through this stage of labor where self-doubt sets in and if available, drugs will be taken. And, since I was giving birth at home and my pain relief options were limited, I reminded myself that the more intense the contractions, the more they were opening the cervix. Plus, I knew that soon I would be able to test the theory about how much relief the birthing tub actually provides.

4:45am - In between contractions, tell Dan to call Mary Lou.

5:00am - Call Lynn, a friend of mine who is training to be a doula. She didn't pick up her cell phone.

5:15am - Mary Lou and her assistant arrive.

6:00am - After watching me have a bunch of contractions, Mary Lou suggests a cervical exam to see how far along I am. I agree after some contractions subside and I am actually able to move into position. She checks and announces that I am 8 cm dilated. Since that is more than 5cm, the recommended number that you wait until getting into the tub, I immediately hop in.

The water feels great. Prior to getting in the tub, I was having both back pain and abdominal pain. The water helped with the back pain and nearly eliminated the abdominal pain. The tub was about half full at this point, so it sort of covered my giant stomach. Mary Lou had Dan go turn on some more water to get it closer to full. Dan did some running around dealing with hose issues, but was able to use his helpful engineering skills to actually produce more water.

6:00am - Have Dan call Lynn again, on her home phone number. She doesn't pick up. I guess Asha, her daughter who is Will's age, had messed up her phones.

It was hard to stay in place in the tub, although it was great to be able to move around in any way I wanted during contractions. The problem was that if I leaned up against the sides, I kept sliding around. And it kind of wore my arms out to put them up on the sides of the tub. So I told Dan that I needed him to get his swimsuit and join me. This worked much better as I sat in front of Dan, holding onto his legs. It also meant that I could use my hands to put pressure on my back. This was good because it meant I didn't have to try to tell Dan where I needed counter pressure during contractions.

6:30am - As it got closer to when Will wakes up, we decided that we should have someone come by to pick him up since we were kind of busy. Figuring that Darren is used to waking up early for work, we opted to wake him up early on a Saturday.

Mary Lou told me that given that I was so far along in the dilation process and that my cervix was very soft, that I could try pushing when I was ready. I wasn't ready right away, but eventually I tried some pushing. I remembered how it relieved a lot of pressure when I was pushing with Will, and this time it helped too. Then....

at 7:00am - My water broke. It was a weird popping feeling in the middle of a push. It actually surprised me and caused me to stop pushing for a second and laugh. But I kept going and as I got the hang of it, I started pushing harder. The process hurt a little bit, but this problem was solved by simply waiting for a contraction to push instead of pushing in between contractions. It was completely different than giving birth to Will with people telling me to push at specific times. I was able to figure it out for myself and push whenever I felt like it. This was very effective and the pushing stage didn't last too long. The only down side was that I pushed Alex's head about half way out, then left him there for a couple of minutes, causing a slight bruise on his eye lid.

7:14am - Alex is born!

I was shocked at how short the pushing stage was. Will wasn't even awake yet. Of course, this meant we had to call Darren and apologize for waking him up. He was nearly here. I think he actually arrived, but Dan met him outside and chatted or something, then sent him back home.

Will woke up at about 7:30 to meet his new brother. He seemed cool with it.

Dan called some people to announce the birth (we are sorry if we didn't call you, we were kind of tired). However, he did this prior to us weighing Alex. As we looked at him, we commented that he looked smaller than Will did at birth. However, then we weighed him. He weighed 10lbs 12 oz. The video of us weighing him is funny. We are all kind of shocked. He was half a pound heavier than Will. Now, you might wonder, wasn't Will 10 1/2lbs? Well, that's what we thought, but it turns out that when we converted 4.67kg to lbs, we ended up with the wrong result. It turns out that Will was actually only 10lbs 4 oz.

What about my recovery, you might ask? I am totally fine right now. I actually have to wait until Alex is 6 weeks old before I can leave him at the child watch at the YMCA so that I can exercise. Or maybe I will try some exercising in the evening when Dan can watch him, so that he doesn't have to be exposed to the concentrated extra germs. He's just getting over the cold that he caught from Dan/Will.

So far, I've lost 34lbs in the past 3 weeks. This is significant, but as I gained a total of 42lbs, I've still got 8lbs to go, plus some extra to get more in shape as I was about 20lbs "overweight" prior to being pregnant.

I only ended up with two small tears from the birth process. This was much better than with Will's birth, since I had at least 5 stitches back then and it took about 8 weeks to heal. The most painful thing that I experienced the next day was, oddly, sore arms. I guess all of the holding myself up on the sides of the tub stretched the muscles out a bit much.

Overall, for someone choosing birth options, I definitely recommend the option of giving birth at home. It was awesome that we didn't have the stress of figuring out when to go to the hospital. We didn't have to worry ahead of time about whether or not I would go into labor during rush hour. We didn't even have to disrupt Will's schedule or wake someone up super early when we needed to go to the hospital. My midwife came to me, even though it was kind of early in the morning for her. The lack of stress really helped my body to relax and deal with contractions naturally. I wouldn't recommend it without a birthing pool as it was amazing to relieve the intensity of the contractions.

Dan's level of stress was much lower during the home birth than during Will's birth. He would willingly do it again.

Surveilling the Child(ren)

Angela and I have been without a baby monitor since we moved to Redondo Beach. The 900 MHz model that we purchased and used in San Diego suffer interference from a local radio station or someones wireless speakers or something else. However, with Alex here, we decided we should try to get something working. Since the two boys are supposed to sleep in the same room, we decided to get a video monitor so we could make sure they weren't physically harming one another. So, we picked up the two camera, one video monitor, $150 wireless version from Babies R' Overpriced Us. This fancy new 2.4 GHz model was also completely overwhelmed by our hi-tech neighbors massive number of interfering wireless systems.
Two choices:
a) purchase digital spread spectrum voice-only for $200
b) go to Fry's and roll my own

I choose b. and paid $70 for basically the same setup but when two wired cameras instead of wireless...

And it works....yea1

Announcing: Alexander Daniel Kroboth

Alex was born this morning 01/05/08 at 7:14am. He weighed 10lbs 12oz, and is 23 inches long. Both of these metrics are slight improvements over big brother Will. Angela went into labor at 2am, and pushed for about 15 minutes starting at 7am. She and I both agree that a water birth in our house was much easier than our Japanese experience.

So far, Will is enthusiastic about the "cute baby." Technically speaking, he and Alex are 21 months apart exactly since Will was born 04/05/06 if you take into account the time difference. Both Angela and I are excited not to be going to the embassy tomorrow.

We haven't captured a particularly good photo yet, but here is the best on we've got. Also, this is not the first post announcing Alex's birth. My sister got there first.

Exciting New Year Resolutions...

As the New Year begins, we reflect on the things we resolved to do last year and look forward to the things we hope to do this year.

Of course, the fact that I am still pregnant is related to my failure to finish some things last year...

• Primarily - Producing another tax deduction for 2007. Our accountant told us that even if we have the baby on my due date, January 1st, we can still count him for last year. Of course, with only a few hours left in January 1st, it's not looking too hopeful.
  
• NY Resolution 2007 - "Be More Fashionable." I was on my way. I had a personal shopper at Macy's and stylish clothes that fit me. Then April happened and I was pregnant. So I pulled out the box of maternity clothes and settled in for the 9/10 month adventure that is pregnancy fashion. Pregnancy fashion basically involves a lot of stretchy stuff. And bows. Why are bows required on all pregnancy shirts? Beats me. Although, I did have the advantage of looking like a Christmas present all through the holiday season.

So what great new resolutions have we come up with for 2008?

Baby
Having the baby seems like an attainable New Year's Resolution. And why create a resolution that depends on a long time frame when you can make one that is sure to occur in 2 weeks or so?

"Be More Fashionable"
My specific goal related to this is to go swimsuit shopping on June 1st. Obviously with the stretch marks and still recovering stomach, I'm not going to be able to wear a 2-piece swimsuit. I'm thinking a neat 1-piece. It may be possible to lose the 40 extra pounds I am carrying around by then. Counter to the random man in Starbucks who commented, "It looks like you are 32 weeks pregnant and have kept your weight gain down," I am 40 weeks pregnant and have not kept my weight gain down. Ah, if only I had that tact of random-Starbucks-man.

A bit bigger than normal this Christmas
(the bow on this shirt ties on the back)

Career
Getting a job might be nice. If only I could find someone who is interested in hiring me for part-time, mostly working from home.

Toastmasters
Time is running out. I must finish my DTM before June when the criteria changes. Otherwise I have to figure out the new criteria and do a bunch of random other stuff. I have less than 10 speeches to go! Must give speeches. And mentor a new member with their first 3 speeches. Any new members out there near Redondo Beach who want a mentor?

Everyone Else
Of course we all know that I will make resolutions and set goals, but what about the rest of the family?

Dan
Dan's New Year Resolution is to wear socks that do not have holes in them. You know how men tend to keep their socks forever as long as there is one sock particle holding the sock together? So far, the resolution is working out well. Dan actually went shopping for socks, then threw some old socks away. I think that this effort is part of his secret plan to someday return to Japan where you need hole-free socks since you take your shoes off frequently.

Will
Will is good in the sock department, especially since Dad and Lee just provided him with a bunch of new socks (and other neat clothes) that will fit him for a long time. What sort of resolutions would a 21-month old child make? I think that he would like to spend more time with trains. Maybe we will take him on a train trip this year. Other than that, we are hoping that he resolves to learn how to share.

Will has quite the set of opinions these days. This may extend to him creating his own resolutions including reducing the amount of time he sleeps. Also, I am starting to think that he is involved in Dan's secret plan to return to Japan. The other day he took all of his old shoes and put them in the entry way pointing out. When you take off your shoes in a Japanese place, it is polite to turn them to point out so that they are easier to put on as you exit.

Who me? Returning to Japanese roots?

New Baby
Should the new baby have resolutions prior to being born? As classic over-achievers, Dan and I encourage this. We are thinking that the goal of sleeping all night would be good. Ultimately, in 2008, we hope that he also learns stuff like crawling and walking. And, like Will, but to a slightly lesser degree, the new one should establish a frequent flyer account, get a passport, and do some travel. On the horizon: His first out of state trip will be in March, most likely to AZ baseball spring training. His first international trip will be to Vancouver in April. His first mid-west trip may be to Michigan for the 4th of July. And his first trip all the way across the country will be to New York City in August.

Happy New Year Everyone!

All Will Got For Christmas...

Dan and I were considering leaving Will's Christmas presents for him to open after the new baby was born. That way, he would have something to do while we were attending to the little guy. However, we decided to open Christmas presents on Christmas anyway. How did this go? Will was so excited by his presents that he wouldn't take a nap on Christmas Day. He finally fell asleep on the way home from dinner with Scot and Tammy after being awake for 12 hours.

If you have 10 minutes and 20 seconds to kill, check out the exciting present video montage.

Who needs a baby name book?

Once again, Dan and I have put many minutes of thought into the naming of our child. Here is what we have come up with:

The Dan Factor
Daniel Kroboth - Sound familiar? That's right, if the little guy is born on Dan's birthday, he will get to be Daniel Kroboth.
No, we aren't going to call him "Dan." Will would try to "voice dial" him all the time. "VOICE DIAL - DAN - MOBILE"
It would also be confusing when we see my step-sister Michelle and her husband Dan.
No, we can't call him "Daniel." That would confuse him with his Uncle Daniel.
No, he wouldn't be Daniel Kroboth, Jr. That would be confusing since he is not the first born.
So what would we call the new little Daniel Kroboth? I think we will need a good middle name. Perhaps something listed below...

California Meaning
When Will was born, we gave him a middle name to reflect his birth in Japan. Kengo means "wise protector" which is similar to William which means "protector." As the new little guy will be born in California, it seems that we need a good "Californian" middle name, maybe something from the surfer or Hollywood genres.

Surfer Options

• Barney - Someone who is less than skilled at surfing. - Would also fit with our Hollywood theme by naming him after a character in "How I Met Your Mother."
  
• Bennie - A tanless tourist on the beach. - Seems appropriate as the little guy may end up with my skin color.
  
• Bro - A buddy or friend...or used as a greeting. - Seems appropriate given that he is Will's bro.
  
• Dude - General reference to a male surfer. - Plus, Will can say "Dude."
  
• Epic - Beyond the usual or ordinary. Generally used in the positive sense. - Once again displaying our great expectations for our children.
  
• Zimzala - Free spirited person who finds peace with the sand between toes. - Wouldn't have trouble at school with too many kids with the same name!
  

A Hollywood Option
Topher Grace Kroboth - Dan and I find the name "Topher" (short for Christopher) to be amusing. Plus, we like "That 70's Show." I mean, both of us were born in the 70's, right? Plus, "Grace" is a family middle name. Dan's sister's middle name was Grace. Seems fitting, yes?

Science Fiction Option
Worf - Since Will got named after William Riker, William Shatner, or Wil Wheaton, we might as well name number 2 kid after Worf. Well, Worf is kind of big, and we are really aiming for a smaller baby this time. Perhaps a smaller Worf.

Another California Option
As we do live in Los Angeles and occasionally go on the 405 Expressway, Dan thinks that if the baby is born on the 405, we should make his middle name Japanese for 405. That would be something like Yonreigo. I do have an interview down in Irvine on January 8th, perhaps that would be our best opportunity for traveling on the 405, giving birth, and justifying this awesome middle name.

These are my sons, "Protector" and "Protector"
Why mess with a winning name meaning? William means protector, Kengo means wise protector. Here are some more protector names!

• Alexander - protector of men - One option is Alexander The Great Kroboth.
  
• Edward - wealth protector - Edward Longshanks Kroboth (EL was known for just legal reforms) or King Edward VI Kroboth (KEVI became king at age 10, in line with the great accomplishments we have planned for Kroboth II).
  
• Raymond - decision protector - "Everybody Loves Raymond" would also fit quite well under our Hollywood options.
  

So, will it be Daniel Zimzala Kroboth or Worf Yonreigo Kroboth? Take your pick. Although there isn't much time left in Dan's birthday, we may have to forgo Daniel as the new little guy's first name.

All Will wants for Christmas...

As you may know, we don't have as many toys for Will as most people have for their kids. Why? He really doesn't need them. What? You don't believe me? Perhaps you will realize that he can entertain himself with this (warning: long & unending) evidence caught on film back in June...

Who knew that toilet paper could be so interesting?

Now, this is not to say that Will does not have some toys. He is in pretty good shape. If he were to acquire additional toys, here are some ideas:

• GeoTrax Train - Will loves trains. Any GeoTrax would be great. If you are unsure about whether or not he has them, just send a gift receipt (or a gift card even) and we can return any unneeded duplicates. Or ask and we can tell you that yes, he has a Rainbow Bridge.
• Drum or other musical instruments - Will loves to say "boom!" He is also fascinated with guitars and whistle/recorder type instruments.
  
• Digital Camera - Yes, they actually make digital cameras for kids. As our digital camera is large and bulky with lots of dials and buttons, it would be nice to not let him use it and instead use one that is built to be dropped occasionally.
  
• Mega Blocks - Will likes to "dump" these all over the floor. He also will build with them. He especially liked it when Darren built him a tunnel for his train out of the mega blocks. He's not old enough for legos and they would be bad for the new baby anyway, but mega blocks are good. Orlando brought us the first batch for Will's 1st birthday party and they are a hit!
  
• Wooden Toys - These were on the list last year. I still really enjoy the look of the wooden toys that Will has. While we never got around to building him a wooden toy box, we did get him some Melissa and Doug wooden tools. Additional wooden toys are welcome. Perhaps a rocking horse.
  
• Montessori Equipment - Will has started to enjoy quite play by himself. What more fun way to enjoy playtime than by LEARNING!
  
• Tricycle - Will needs wheels. With a concrete backyard, this is a great way to get around. Of course, this brings up the question that was never asked during my youth, "Does he need a helmet or other safety gear too?"
• Clothes - Will's rate of growth has slowed down a little from last year. However, he is a bit tall for his age. He outgrew his 18-month-old clothes the day he turned 18 months old. He can now wear anything that is 24 months and up. Long pants are good. Footed jammies are good. Not so much with sweaters as it doesn't get too cold here.
  
• College Savings - Yes, you can still contribute to Will's future education.
• Books - Yes, you can still contribute to Will's current education. He's on the verge of learning about colors and numbers.
  

• Wishlists/Registries - If you are super un-creative, feel free to check out my Amazon wish list. I updated our delivery address there and added a bunch of stuff that Will would be interested in. Or, you can always go the route of getting something for both the boys, like maybe matching bathrobes or sunglasses. There are some of these things on our baby registries on Babies R Us or One Step Ahead.
  

Why acquire additional toys if we really don't need them? As Will is soon going to be transitioning from the only child to the one child out of two that doesn't require 24 hour surveillance, he's going to feel a bit put out. We look forward to bribing our child to be happy during this transition.

As for Dan and I, we are in good shape. If you really feel the need to get us something, check our baby registries. Or check our Amazon wishlists. Or you can put $ towards the "we-love-our-roomba-and-now-want-a-scooba" fund. Or, if you want to really make us happy, buy us something that is consumable and won't clutter up our house which seems to be cluttered by mega blocks most of the time. We like Penzey's spices, Leonidas chocolates, Trader Joe's wine (or other wine), and Starbucks.

Will is Just Like Us

Eye Care
Lately Will has been fascinated by eye care. Fortunately I have gotten him to stop trying to bend my expensive eye glasses. Unfortunately he destroyed a perfectly good pair of cheap sunglasses a few months ago.

As Will has my and Dan's genes, it is likely that he will end up wearing glasses sometime before he turns 10 years old. He is already practicing with my glasses.

Will the Egghead

Will is also fascinated with my contacts. He will give me the contact case and say, "Mom-Eye." If I hand him the (empty) contact case, he will touch the inside of it and then touch his own eye. Or, he will touch the inside of it and touch llama's eye. It seems that Mom, Will, and llama all need contacts.

Pushing strollers
Will should make a good older brother, at least in the area of stroller pushing. He will push his stroller every chance he gets. He is even pretty good at steering. This past weekend we went to Big Lots and he and his friend Asha ran around the store pushing matching, pink, princess strollers. It may be sexist of me, but I did not buy him the pink, princess stroller. Plus, I put the blue colored baby in the stroller for him.

Strolling at the Store

There are some better pictures that Lynn took from her camera phone displayed on their blog.

Starbucks
Will isn't one of those kids who recognize and request McDonald's. Instead, he is learning all about our yuppie lifestyle and the consumption of Starbucks. For a while we would only get him a small ice water. But then he learned how to take the lid off the ice water and get to the ice. Like Dan, much to our dentist's dismay, Will loves chewing on the ice cubes. When we fly, I always ask the flight attendant for a cup of ice for Will. It entertains him for minutes. But, the consumption of the lid-free Starbucks water usually ends in pronouncements of "wet-wet-wet" when Will ends up spilling the water on himself and his car seat. We have transitioned to occasionally buying Will a kid-sized hot chocolate. I believe that the cost of this tiny hot chocolate is $1.85. As part of our Christmas tree shopping, we stopped at Starbucks prior to going to the tree lot. Here is Will drinking the Starbucks in his car seat.

Mmmmmm... Starbucks

I guess it is true that kids take after their parents. Given this, Will has a strange life ahead of him. :)