Jack has a cousin!

Neil Patrick Conley was born to Elizabeth and Dan Conley on 12-12-09. He weighed 7lbs 13oz. Elizabeth had a c-section and is doing really well.

Christmas is coming!

I haven't posted in awhile, mostly because I forgot Jack had a blog. We've had several adventures in the last few weeks, though, so I thought I'd update a bit.

Jack had his first airplane ride to Buffalo the week before Thanksgiving! I was a little nervous about traveling solo with a baby, especially during cold and flu season, but luckily he was so over-stimulated by all of the people and new things to see that he passed out as soon as we left the gate. He slept for the entire flight and arrived in (cold!) Buffalo ready for action.

As it turns out, sleeping really requires blanket sleepers in Arctic climates, so we had to make a few clothing runs so that the little man didn't turn into an icicle in his sleep.

We spent a total of three weeks in Buffalo, believe it or not-- we managed to visit just about everybody more than once! We even drove to Oswego for Thanksgiving dinner at Great Grandma's house and to Pittsburgh to see Aunt Maureen and Uncle Jeffrey and their new house. All in all, this kid is a great traveler.

toys

Jack has a new love of toys. It really happened overnight. He used to just lie on his play mat and look at things, now he can't get enough of his toys. He grabs, he pulls, he licks, he shakes. I decided he needed the tray for his Bumbo seat so that he can more effectively lick toys while I'm making dinner and have him perched on the kitchen counter. I know you're never supposed to put the Bumbo on an elevated surface, but I have a nice big counter. :-)

On the medical front, I'm much improved- so much so that the surgeon (not the warmest, fuzziest guy in the world I might add) gave me a hug and a kiss, and he kissed Jack too! I think he'll be glad to be rid of me. He said he would publish my case if he had the time because I'm the first person in the area to have received the engineered bovine graft. So I have cow skin now. Lovely.

Surgery 2 complete!

I think I may be on the road to recovery, but I don't really want to jinx anything just yet. When the infection proved too persistent for regular antibiotics, the infectious disease specialists prescribed an IV antibiotic that I ended up having to administer for ten days-- seven before the surgery, three after. They claimed it would be very simple (a mere 30 minute infusion daily!), but they forgot to mention that it involved about a dozen steps, and the constant nagging of the line in my arm made it very difficult to care for Jack, to get dressed, and to shower. Ugh. So my mother came for the week, assuming the surgery would be put off until I was guaranteed to be infection free.

As it turned out, the surgeon and infectious disease specialist decided it would be best if I had the surgery on the 7th day of the antibiotics, so my poor mom had to fly home for Michael's recital at Eastman on Saturday the 17th and then fly immediately back here on Sunday so that she could take me to the hospital on Monday the 19th. David stayed home with Jack because children aren't welcome at the hospital during cold and flu season, understandably.

The surgeon, who kind of creepily reminds me of Dr. Damiani, told my mom that she really needed to stay and take care of me-- ha ha-- she was planning on staying a week anyway, so she decided to stay until my follow up appointment yesterday (Tues, Oct 27). I was surprised by how good I felt post surgery. I didn't really have any soreness at the site-- the only truly bothersome part was that every large muscle in my body ached as a result of some muscle relaxant they gave me as part of the anesthesia. It went away in about 2 days, and so we spent the rest of the week getting things accomplished both in and out of the house. She helped me organize all of my kitchen cupboards, the baby's clothes, we went to the DMV to have the car inspected, we took the car to Toyota for its 30,000 mile checkup...she cooked, she cleaned some more, shopped...it was really relaxing and absolutely wonderful to have so much QT with my mommy!

She had to leave today, so naturally I'm devastated, but the doctor gave me a good report yesterday. I appear to be healing well. With any luck, I'll be able to put this almost 4 month mess behind me soon and enjoy my baby in all of his wonderfulness. :-)

The other great thing about the last 10 days is that David, who had had weeks of really, really late nights, all of a sudden got a bit of a break and came home around 8 every night! He ate dinner at home several nights in a row (gasp!), and we went to my Aunt Colleen's house outside of Fredericksburg for the whole day on Saturday.

Life is good.

Surgery

Home from surgery and back on my liquid diet (just one week this time). Everything went well, Jack spent a nice day at home with David and my mom took care of me at the hospital. Seems like this recovery is going to be a lot easier thank the last one. We were also told by nurses at the hospital that women with those sort of problems travel from all over the US to see Dr. Sanz, so I know I'm in good hands.

Jack's adventures with Grandma Casey

I had to call in the reinforcements-- I have to give myself a 30-minute infusion of antibiotics every evening, and I realized that was going to be very challenging with a 3 month old, so my mom came down last week from Tuesday to Friday. While she was here, Jack did lots of smiling and decided to roll over all by himself. We also had to make a shopping trip to get him some warmer clothes because we suddenly dropped into the 40s here, which is very unusual for DC in October! These are some pictures she took while she was here. Thankfully she returned yesterday because this afternoon is my second surgery. I'm hopeful (possibly even cautiously optimistic) that I'll be able to put this mess behind me soon.

chilly weather in Washington

Perhaps fall is finally here! I know people in Buffalo cringe when those of us further south look forward to chilly weather, but after avoiding walks with Jack because the temps were in the low 90s, weather in the 60s feels like a dream. Here's Jack sporting his snazzy sweater from Mrs. Gerlach while out for a walk with our friends Julie and Patrick: