Alex's First...

...Yuppie-Environmentalist Vacation

Dan and I finally got a chance to get away from LA on a mini-vacation. We left our focus-intensive 2-year old at home but brought the less-difficult-during-the-day-but-doesn't-like-sleeping-away-from-own-room baby. Thus the premise for the "Vacation" part of the "Yuppie-Environmentalist" adventure.

Why "Yuppie"? We went to a winery in Mendocino county, a bit north of San Francisco. Now, we didn't actually set out to go to a winery in Mendocino county. But thanks to Ralphine, we ended up with a weekend get-away package for four. And thanks to our inability to accomplish anything in a reasonable timeframe (blame placed on children here), and to Liz, we ended up with a booking that we could take advantage of this year instead of when I was pregnant last year. The yuppie wine vacation included events such as wine tasting and boating. Here are some pictures and videos:

Dan, Angela, Alex, Liz, Mike near the Tasting Room

Alex Boating while attached to Dan

Dan Tubing
(Don't worry, Alex isn't attached to him here, he stayed on the boat)

Water Skiing
The most successful of Mike's attempts,
he was the only one daring enough to try.

And finally to explain the "environmentalist" part of the event. The winery was a carbon-neutral organic place. Great for tasty grapes, not so good for recycled biodegradable bottle labels that come off when you refrigerate the wine.

So will Alex have another "Yuppie-Environmentalist Vacation" in his life? Probably not soon. If we get another chance to go away on this sort of adventure, I think we will leave both kids home. Will had a good time with his friend Asha. They played pretty well, then kind of got tired of each other after about a day.

Collecting Things

We have too many things. However, it seems that we have started a new collection of things. We have "state-themed" stuff. This originally came about during the business trip that Alex and I took to Minnesota at the end of July. Robin and Daniel were going to meet us near THE MALL for dinner, but first they were stopping at THE MALL to get a travel gift for Will. They tried to find the state bird of Minnesota, allegedly the loon, but could not.

However, when I got to the airport, I found a stuffed loon. So Alex ended up with a bird to take home with him. As for Will, he likes magnets, so we got him a magnet with the state of Minnesota in the background and a loon in the foreground.

Kids with Loon Video

So if you must provide the kids with some sort of gift, think about the state you live in. Perhaps some day Will and Alex will be the proud owners of state-themed stuff such as:

State Stone of Michigan - Petoskey Stone
State Soil of Oregon - Jory
State Muffin of Minnesota - Blueberry
State Marine Mammal of California - California Gray Whale
State Amphibian of Arizona - Arizona Tree Frog
State Insect of Alaska - Four Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly
State Carnivorous Plant of North Carolina - Venus Flytrap

Of course, it is probably better to stay away from the State Soils as Alex would probably eat them. He further demonstrated his desire to eat dirt today when he found some sand that had been dumped from Will's shoes on the kitchen floor.

Oh, and please, no decorative spoons. The decorations come off when the kids try to use them. And they aren't really for eating anyway, but try to explain that to an 18.5 month old (the kids' average age).

Squash Mud

As a parent, you learn about many "Things-You-Didn't-Know-Existed"

Today we learned what Squash Mud looks like.

Every once in a while when we don't feel like cooking dinner, we grab deli sandwiches for Dan and myself. We get random fruits and vegetables for Will from a salad bar. Then we go to the beach and have dinner while watching the sun "go to the other side of the earth" (That's what we tell Will when he asks his nightly question, "Where did the sun go?")

As Alex is now eating solids, we brought some baby food squash along. The only problem: Alex decided, as soon as we put him down on the beach blanket, to lunge forward and bring a fist full of sand up to his mouth. Dan didn't stop him since normal babies typically grimace after putting sand in their mouths and stop doing it. Alex just reached for another handful, and another. So we tried to wash him off, but really only succeeded in washing the sand in his mouth down his throat. At that point, it really wasn't worth trying to get him clean, so we continued to wash the remaining sand down with squash. This caused much "Squash Mud" on his face and probably in his tummy.

Our First California Earthquake

We felt our first California earthquake today! Ok, so we have felt little tremors a few times already, but living in California on the 1st floor of a house is different than living on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Tokyo. In Tokyo, we felt a little shaking about once a week. Here, not so much.

I wasn't even going to blog about it until I received a concerned call from a friend. So, here I am posting saying that we are ok.

What happened? I guess there was a 5-point-something earthquake about 40 miles from here. Things started wiggling, there was earthquake noise, things kept wiggling, so I recalled my PBS "Preparing for a Quake" instructions and went under our table since I didn't know how long it would last. Things wiggled for a little longer, then stopped.

Dan was at work on the 3rd floor. I guess things were a little more exciting up there.
Will and Alex are at school. I'm sure Will thought it was funny. I'll ask him later.

Merry-Go-Round Videos

Plywood Test

Yes, Will gets to be the 1 boy in the tap dance class.

Rotation Test

A new, unapproved use for the Bumbo chair

Spinning Wheel of Doom

As the parent of 2 boys, I probably don't have to go out of my way to find a new activity they can injure themselves with. And now, with the addition of the Spinning Wheel of Doom to our backyard, I don't have to look far at all...Yup, that's right, we now have a merry-go-round in our backyard. How many other people can say that? Why do we have a merry-go-round? Well, one day, my dad thought, "Why don't I build a merry-go-round?" So he had some metal worker friends create this awesome merry-go-round shaft with super strong bearings that are similar to those found in cars.

Merry-go-round?

Of course, Will wasn't quite sure what the merry-go-round shaft was. However, his Grandpa involved him in the entire creation process.

Receiving wood supplies

Yup, we continue to insist on using our car for tasks that it was not designed for. We will get something else eventually, don't worry.

Measuring

Power Saw Use

Inspecting Base

Rotation Test

Dan Gets Involved Too

Just Needs Paint (Robin?)

Don't worry, videos are coming soon.

Kids on a Plane

I think it is funny that parents who travel with small children figured out the zip lock bag collection the quickest. I'm just glad that Will is finally at the stage of his life where he can be entertained by exciting new toys packaged in plastic bags. And Alex is at the stage of his life where he doesn't know the joys of mobility, so he is perfectly content to hang out on my lap during long flights. Those are the secrets to traveling alone with 2 kids on a plane.

Here are the kids enjoying their hats on a plane...

Will thought Alex looked hilarious

Eating makes Will happy, and funny looking

Crazy Trip
Of course, while the actual travel on a plane part went splendidly, the rest of the trip was pretty much a disaster. Here is the rundown...

Original flight: Saturday from LA to Denver to Charlotte. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time. However, the Denver weather did not cooperate. Our flight to Denver got delayed longer than our Denver layover. We stood in line for over an hour at the customer service desk with very little line movement since some flights to Hong Kong were messed up and a couple of people were taking all of the time of the 2 representatives at the desk. Finally, closer to our flight, we were able to talk to the agent at the gate, Sean, who helped us figure out that it would be better to leave the next day and fly through Chicago. Although my suitcase was already checked and probably would beat me to Charlotte.

Next day: Sunday flight from LA to Chicago. After flying a few hours, the pilot announces that the amount of delay to get on the ground in Chicago is at least 2 hours (the amount of layover time we have). Since we don't have enough fuel to circle for that long, we are going to divert to Indianapolis to get some more fuel.

Collect Information: After we land, I give Dan a call and ask him what is up. Since Dan knows many things, he tells me that it looks like, yes, I will probably miss my connection in Chicago, and that the rest of the flights from Chicago to Charlotte seem to be full. It is possible that I will get stuck in Chicago overnight. To get even more information, I also speak with the flight attendant to ask if it is possible to get re-booked from Indianapolis to Charlotte. She says it is possible and that I should speak with an agent in the airport to figure things out. However, the news from the pilot is that most likely people won't be allowed off the airplane. But, a survey is taken to determine who is interested in getting off in case it is allowed.

Sudden Deplane Event: After hanging out on the tarmac for a little while, the flight attendant comes up to me and says, you can get off now if we are quick. So, myself and 5 other passengers quickly deplane. We get off in the middle of the tarmac as there was not a gate available and get into a non-airconditioned van for transport to the terminal.

Crazy government agency rules: The driver of our van takes us over to a gate that leads to the terminal. However, a certain government agency representative says that we can't stay on this side of security because we have "luggage." You know, our pre-screened carry on bags. He directs us to another gate that leads outside the airport. We get dropped off near baggage claim.
Oh where are the airline representatives: The kids and I go to the airline counter where ticketing takes place. No one is there. We stand in line for a while, no service. So, I decide to talk our way to the concourse even though I don't have an Indianapolis boarding pass. Government agency allows us to go through security. However, on the other side of security there are no airline representatives except for one stressed out gate agent who is very rude and can't help me. So we go back out of security and ask what line we should be standing in, Check In or Ticketing. We are told Ticketing. No representative shows up.

Poor Kids: By this point both kids need new diapers, both kids need food, and I need to use the bathroom. However, I don't want to lose my place in the line that doesn't move on the chance that a representative will actually help me. So I try to call the airline and talk with someone on the phone who might be able to help. First call... busy signal. Next call... actually get a representative after being on hold for more than 15 minutes. She is working on the issue, then... I reach down to try to comfort poor Will who is tired and trying to rest his head on his car seat and I lose the cell phone signal!

Re-Book Success: Soon after the phone attempt to get re-booked to Charlotte, I am told I am in the wrong line and that I need to go to the extremely long check-in line to get help. So, I go to the end of that line, continuing to try to call the airline representative to see if something happened before I got disconnected. I finally get through and they tell me that they re-booked me on the 5:15 flight with another airline, but that I need to check-in to get boarding passes before going through security. However, it is 4:55 already. Once I get up to the agent at the other desk, they say that the plane door is closed and that they have to rebook me. Unfortunately the person who does re-booking found out that my first airline incorrectly re-booked me, so it is kind of a mess to fix. However, seeing that I had two hungry children on my hands, and knowing that I had spent more than an hour standing in the other airline's line, she said she would take care of it while I went to take care of the kids. I could come back once they had their needs dealt with.

So we go through the dealing with kids needs process and return to the counter much happier. We go through security once again (the 4th time of the trip) and get food on the other side of security, then hang out and play with toy Hummers near the gate. All else goes smoothly.

Will loves his backpack and moving walkways

Actually in Charlotte
We made it to Charlotte! I worked at a customer site during the week while the kids hung out with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Debbie. Except for a few backwards diapers, they had a great time!

Um, Disney picture and diaper tabs go on the front
Silly new-fangled diapers!

Dan arrived for the weekend. Here are all of the Kroboth boys.


It was really hot during the trip, so it was good that the kids got to go swimming...

Will sporting a hot pink life jacket and a pink noodle to help him float

Alex swimming with Grandpa

Alex hanging out at customer site during testing

We hope to avoid any long trips between now and Tamarra's NY wedding in August, but you never know. Perhaps one quick trip to Minnesota for work before Alex starts crawling, thus ending his happiness at hanging out on my lap in a plane.

What does This Mean?

I took these pictures last night on the floor of our living room...

plastic star-shaped slinky and candy necklace

expandable with water fishie towel

books

coloring book and crayons

train hat and train suckers

lots of fun stickers and crayons

glow bracelets

2 knitted hats (made by Aunt Robin)

glowing, spinning led top

2 tic tac boxes with tic tacs

play-doh, bear and alligator shapers

magna-doodle with 2 push pin magnets

toy car and hummers in bag

So what does it mean?

• Will and Alex prefer plastic bags to their normal toys?
• We are trying to protect the toys from germs?
• CSI: Toybox
• Something more sinister?
  

Obviously it implies that we need newer, more modern carpet. We know that part. It's part of the master house plan. But in addition to the carpet, what does it mean?

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