Daycare woes

If you're reading this blog, you probably have already heard me complain, complain, and complain some more about Hudson's daycare. I've decided to post my complaints here. I figured that maybe if I unload them, I can stop ranting about them. Okay, be prepared....

1. On day one, I was greeted with an "Oh Lordy!" when I came to pick Hudson up.

2. Following that wonderful greeting, I walked into the classroom to find Hudson on the floor crying while another teacher just sat in the rocking chair doing nothing.

3. Also on day one, I was told that he was needy and a bully.

4. Lastly on day one, I was told that he did "1,2 buckle my shoe" as his activity - he was there for 5 hours.

5. During the first week, I called and said "Hi, this is Jenn. I'm just calling to see how Hudson is doing". I got a one word response - "okay".

6. I would ask how Hudson was doing when I would pick him up and they would just say "he'll adjust" - not answering my question.

7. They gave him food that they weren't authorized to - I signed a paper saying to only give him what I provide.

8. That food was pudding...prior to us ever introducing dairy to him.

9. They didn't see anything wrong with that.

10. I dropped him off one morning at 8:55a and the teacher put him in a stroller. I came home and watched the online video of the center and she sat there talking to other teachers, while Hudson was just strapped in the stroller, until 9:25a.

11. That same day, I saw Hudson put into an Exersaucer multiple times throughout the day. One time, he was crying while the teacher just sat on the rocking chair, doing nothing.

12. As if this day wasn't stressful enough, I went to pick him up and saw that his crib sheet was all wet from what I presumed where tears. I have specifically asked them multiple times to not let him cry himself to sleep.

13. There were days when his teacher would past me in the hallway and pretend that I was a stranger and not even say hello.

14. Following a meeting with the Director about items 1-13, Hudson was moved to a new room. Upon meeting the teachers, they kept asking why he was getting moved there and stressed that there were no other kids that were Hudson's age in their room (i.e. they were far from welcoming).

15. Also when I first met them I told them that Hudson was to only eat the food I provide. They continued to challenge me and tell me how to feed Hudson, during which they mentioned that they feed the infants Pop-Tarts.

16. Upon hearing the Pop-Tart comment, I said that we don't give Hudson sugar. The one teacher defiantly said "well, yogurt has sugar in it!" (I mentioned that I gave him yogurt).

17. The new teachers couldn't ensure that Hudson would not cry himself to sleep.

18. Whenever I drop Hudson off, I put him on the ground and he'll start to cry. The teachers drag their feet to come and sit and comfort him.

19. I walked in the other day and the local hip hop/R&B station was playing on the radio.

20. Hudson routinely comes home with food plastered to his head. To do this justice, I took a picture of the blueberries smashed into his head (it was with my cell phone, so not a great pic):

I'll stop the list at 20 to avoid overkill :) I think you get the point by now.

The marksmen of the Point

Thus far, I have not delivered on my promise to provide entertainment by way of Point stories. And it has not been for lack them. It's that my blogging-binge tendencies aren't able to keep up with the randomness of everyday life in the Point. There were three recent stories, however, that deserve to be mentioned.

Before I delve into the stories, let me first set the stage for those of you who have never been to the Point. The Point (or Locust Point if you want to know it's correct title) is a historic peninsula town that serves as one of Baltimore's earliest ports. In the mid-1800s, rowhomes began to pop up to meet the needs of the ever-growing workforce that was employed by the shipping industry. In fact, the house that Ryan and I used to live in was built in 1875. Many of the "locals" in the Point live in the same houses that their families have lived in for years. The locals are refreshing to me as they remind me of my Pittsburgh roots. For the most part, they're blue collar workers that stress the importance of families, friends, and good neighbors. On any given evening, you can go outside and see them sitting on their stoops chatting the night away while they wait for the ice cream lady to drive by. Anyways, back to the history...Within the last 5 years, the Point began to flourish in the real estate boom. Many of the rowhomes that were originally purchased for a few thousand dollars were being renovated or knocked down entirely to fit the needs of the incoming yuppies flocking to the area. There is currently a clear distinct between the locals and the newbies. Lucky for Ryan and I, we had a great neighbor who was well connected with the locals and introduced us. Ryan used to enjoy his nightly chats with the little old ladies of the neighborhood. But then Ryan and I moved a few streets over into one of those new developments that I mentioned. Our new community, while in the Point, is somewhat sheltered from its glory.

1. Ryan and I were walking Hudson one afternoon. We were back in our old neighborhood. I happened to glance over at this one basement window (these are rowhomes, so the basement window is in line with the sidewalk). This is what I saw:

I wasn't sure whether I should take this as a threat or feel privileged that such a sharp shooter is living down the street.

2. Our old neighbor Melissa is in the know when it comes to Point happenings. We also go to her for the latest gossip. So, we asked her about the drug dealers that used to live next to us. (If I haven't already posted this, the greatest Point story of all came from one of the drug dealers, Mike, that sat down with us one night and told us everything about his life, including how he got his old girlfriend pregnant and his current girlfriend's dad's friend bit him on the shoulder - we even got to see the scar). She said that she wasn't sure Mike was still around and I mentioned that I saw him down the street, so maybe he was living with his mom now since that's where she lived. Well, Melissa says "I wonder if his mom is the woman who was found dead in that house". She proceed to tell us this story:

There is a rowhome broken into multiple apartments (this is where Mike's mom lived). Apparently, there was a dog there that kept barking. So, one of those damn yuppie couples called the police. When the police came, they found a woman dead inside. Following the police visit, the yuppie couple started to find pieces of cut-up baby doll on their front step. Eventually, they moved out of the Point.

Yep, someone made "threats" by mutilating a baby doll. I couldn't make this stuff up.

3. I was working in my office at home the other day. There was someone at my door. I opened it to find a young (early 20s) guy on my front step. I was prepared to tell him that I didn't want to buy a newspaper subscription so that he could go to college (yes, I'm mean.) Instead, he asked me if I wanted to buy some steaks and seafood. The confused look on my face prompted him to tell me that it was raining and he didn't feel like working so he wanted to get rid of the steaks and seafood in his delivery truck. I told him that I didn't have room in my freezer for that (which is true) and he told me that he'd throw in a free freezer. Uhhhh...what?!?! I told him no thanks and quickly locked the door.

The education of a mother

I went to campus today for the first time in 2 weeks. I forgot that classes have now started. I've always loved this time of year. In addition to the obvious reasons (Steeler football, Fall weather, and pumpkin flavored food items), I relish in the excitement and anticipation of "back to school". I remember how eager I was to get back into a "school routine" once I came back to grad school. The first week brings so much zest that the rest of the year severely lacks. You would go to class, get your syllabus, and look forward to (or dread) all of the upcoming assignments. There's something about that first week or so that makes school life so appealing. Even homework is welcomed.

While I was on campus, I couldn't help but to examine all of the fresh faces (and cringe when I realized that some of these students were born in the 90s!). I peeked into a few of my classrooms (as a grad student almost all of your classes are in one of three classrooms). I saw some of my professors teaching classes that I took 5 years ago. I was reflecting on how different things were back then.

5 years ago, I was so driven to make a difference. I started school with great hope of all that I was about to learn and put to use. I thrived on the discipline of deadlines, meetings, and study sessions. I actually looked forward to Saturdays, not because it was a day off, but because it was a day that I could sit back and leisurely do school work at a coffeeshop. Now, I look at myself today and things couldn't be more different. My role as a psychologist has taken a backseat to the things that are important, namely my role as a mother and wife. Everyday, I struggle to motivate myself to move forward on my dissertation because my mind is preoccupied with what I can make the family for dinner or what new books I want to get for Hudson. The work that used to be so invigorating is now a nuisance.

So I looked at all of those first year grad students today and hoped to infuse some of their enthusiam into my hardened, apathetic view of this dissertation and doctorate process. While I used to be motivated by the prestige associated with the three letters P-H-D, I'm now overwhelmed by the importance of three different letters: M-O-M.

Hudson's first actual vacation

Let me start this post by saying that I'm somwhat of a binge blogger. I never seem to have the time to post when I want to, so I keep a mental list of all the things I want to write about and then I just go to town posting when I have a free minute (i.e. when Hudson goes to sleep without any fight).

So last Wednesday, we loaded up Lucy (my Aztek) and made the 2.5 hour drive to Ocean City, MD. My mom, Jack, Aunt El, Joey, Kelly, Randy, and Brandon were all ready there. Hudson fell asleep before we even travelled a mile from the house. Unfortunately, that wasn't an indication of the remainder of the trip. He woke up about an hour outside of OC and proceeded to cry the entire way there. Well, I'm not sure if you call it crying when it's just a bunch of screaming with no tears. Anyways, we were so excited to finally get there. We all went out for steaks to celebrate my birthday and we came back to the condo for some delicious Giant Eagle birthday cake (yes, my family really loves me - they routinely transport Giant Eagle cakes out of state).

The next day we attempted to go to the beach, but it was a little cloudy. That didn't stop Hudson from enjoying himself. Here he is showing off his new top teeth (you have to look closely):



That night, the Steelers were playing a preseason game, so what choice did we have but to deck ourselves out in black and gold and head to the local Steelers bar, The Salty Dog Saloon?!?

We were able to get in some good beach time on Friday. Here's Hudson playing with the new dumptruck that Grami bought him. The kid is obsessed with wheels.

Saturday, our last full day, was the hottest of them all. Therefore Hudson got to squeeze in some pool time.

We had a great trip!!

BofA portfolio feature

I just know Jenn's gonna kill me for writing an entry about finance stuff. Oh well, she's out to dinner with the "Girls" so I'm free to write whatever I want :)

Did you ever wish you could aggregate real time data from various financial accounts onto one summary page? If you're a nerd like me, you do and the Bank of America website offers an excellent solution to existing customers for free. The feature is called "My Portfolio" and it allows you to link almost any type of online account to your BofA page. You can add your 401k, IRAs, equity accounts, mortgage accounts, saving, checking, other credit cards... you name it and BofA can link to it.

Once all of your online accounts are linked, you can choose to view either a summary of your overall networth (kinda scary if you have a fat mortgage left to pay off :) or a more detailed view that shows up to date information on any securities you currently own. You also have the ability to track your progress over time using their advanced charting capabilities.

Why do I find this so handy? At the beginning of every month, I create an Excel report that details our household networth (sans mortgage). I then compare the current months data with last months data and ensure that we are either flat or (idealy) moving upwards. It's a crude finanical report card.

This process normally takes me about an hour: I gotta log into each account, ensure I pulled the right data, and create all of my reports. Now, all I have to do is log onto BofA and click on the "My Portfolio" link at the top to get the same results.

If you have an account, check it out. I'm confident you'll find that you can't live without this feature once you start using it!

Lots of updates!

Wow, where do I start?!? I seriously can't keep up with this kid!

Last weekend, we took Hudson to the National Zoo in DC for the first time. It was actually a date with his future wife Layla. They're so in love....

He had his first taste of yogurt and was a BIG fan!

His 4th tooth came in. He now has two on the top and two on the bottom. Could this toothy grin be any cuter?!?

He has learned how to stand on his own. He can stand without holding on for about 10 seconds before giving up and crashing down on his bum. We don't have a picture of the "assisted stand" yet, but don't fret - I'm sure we'll get it soon enough. I figured I'd just post a picture of him standing so that I could show off how adorable he looks in these crocs!

Hudson has also learned a new consonant sound - "ba". I warned him not to called Grami a "ba-ba"! So he now knows Ba, Da, Ra, Ga. We work on Ma everyday, but I guess he's saving that one for when the time is right.

As Ryan already wrote, Hudson also went to his first professional sporting event (the Yankees vs. the Orioles). I was a little bummed that it wasn't a Steelers game, but it's okay. We're just introducing him to the inferior sports so that he has a full appreciation for how wonderful Steelers games really are.

We're off to the beach tomorrow, so we should have some great pictures when we get back. Ryan bought me a great new cell phone for my birthday yesterday and he told me that I can blog from it, so maybe we can upload pics before we even get home! Happy (early) Labor Day to everyone!

First trip to the ballpark

Today, the "fam" went to Camden Yards to watch the O's take on the New York Yankees. It was a gorgeous day especially for Hudson's first trip to a ball park - to a professional sport for that matter.

Events like this make being a dad the best job in the world... they really do, I'm not just saying that. I can't help but think about how proud my father was taking me to the ballpark, and now I get to feel the same way with my son. That "passing down to the next generation" crap really tears me up.

Here are some of the highlights from today:

1) We showed up at the ballpark and I first ran to get a "beer and hotdog" at the concession stand while Jenn held Hudson and about 13 bags that we seem to need to carry everywhere we go now that Hudson has arrived.
2) I asked Hudson if he was excited about his first ballgame. He responded by drooling then smiling at a cute 2 year old girl walking by. He's a serious flirt.
3) While Jenn was taking care of Hudson (I had to focus on the game), I gave her a bite of my hotdog (which I was reluctant to do since it was so f'n good). She spilled some ketchup on her pants. I laughed at her and asked the guy next to me if I could borrow some napkins to clean up the mess my wife made. I told him that she's kinda messy and that I wasn't aware of this flaw when I married her. We had a good laugh... but Jenn didn't. She just stared at me. I wasn't sure what that meant at the time but suffice it to say that I'm writing this entry from my couch and Jenn has just brought down a pillow and blanket. I think it's for me.
4) We sat in the stands and watched a few innings of some great baseball!
5) Hudson nursed on his mother's boob while I nursed on a beer.
6) The Yankees won and we celebrated by stopping at Hudson's favorite BBQ joint (RUB - sometimes pronounced RUBS by certain senial senior citizens who won't be mentioned here).

All in all, it was a great day and I couldn't ask for anything more. I love my wife and I love my son more than anything in the world. Days like this make it seem like we live in our own little world and things couldn't be better... except for sleeping in my own bed :)