Vacation

Working for a bank has many advantages; one of which comes every Columbus Day when we get the day off. I extended the long weekend to a full week in order to spend some quality time with Dylan. Dana has exhausted all of her vacation (and then some.) So, it was the boys at home.
The good news out of this week is that no one got seriously injured in the process. We both made it to the weekend in one piece. That is a victory in and of itself. I told Dana at the end of the week that, despite the fun we had, I needed to get back to the office to kill something.
Here is a recap of the week’s activities:
Monday
Dylan wakes up every morning a happy baby. It is such a treat to see that smile first thing in the morning. After his first feeding, he is back to sleep within 90 minutes of waking up. This long morning nap allows for some Bryan time. Bryan time these days involves watching Sports Center and Squawk Box on CNBC and catching up on email.
We went to historic downtown St. Augustine in the afternoon. We had lunch at Madre’s. I loaded him into the Baby Bjorn and walked through St. George Street. He was all smiles as the people gawked at him. This wore him out as he was sound asleep by the time we made it to the car.
Tuesday
We went to the driving range in the afternoon. It was perfect weather and Dylan was wide awake to see his Dad hit some golf balls very poorly. He has watched enough golf on TV to know better. He has graduated from cooing and has found this high pitched shrill (the kind that makes your ears ring) and was using it on the golf course. I had to leave my bucket half way through as my gallery was a little too loud.
Wednesday
Dylan had his 4 month checkup and shots in the afternoon. He, again, was all smiles to the nurses at the doctor’s office. This boy can really turn on the charm when he wants. The charm ended when she pulled the needle out and gave some shots. We stayed in the room for a couple of extra minutes and ‘hugged it out.’ He was very tough and I walked a very proud father. Why so proud? Well, it’s because he is in the 99th percentile in length! Coming from a slightly vertically challenged family, this is great news. Coach Izzo, are you reading this? I can come up with the scholarship paperwork by the end of the week.
Our doctor came in and asked me if I had any questions. I am not sure what the normal response she gets, but it’s probably not what I did. I pulled out a folded piece of paper and a pen and proceeded to go down our list of questions. Halfway through the list, the doctor politely asked if she could tend to Dylan while I continued to pepper her with questions. From suntan lotion (hey, the bottle says less than 6 months old, ask a doctor) to swine flu symptoms, I think we got all of our questions answered. We got our money’s worth during this visit.
Thursday
Dylan was a little groggy today from Wednesday’s shots. He did a lot of sleeping. We made it out to do a little shopping and people watching at Panera Bread. Actually, the people watching changed to being watched by people when Dylan burped up half of his bottle on my black shirt. What a mess. I packed an extra outfit for him, but not one for me. I’ll know better next time.
Friday
We saved the best for last today, at least that what I thought. We made it to the beach just in time for the rain to come down. We stayed out there for about 15-20 minutes before heading back to the car. Not the beach trip I had imagined in my head, but it was fun while it lasted.


Bryan and Dylan were enjoying some football together. Like father, like son.

At the pumpkin patch. Dylan "tolerated" it. He was mesmerized by the pumpkins.

For Halloween he is a baseball player.

Dylan was really enjoying some rice cereal. He loves to eat.

Hotel Foltice Peak Season

German Guests

Hotel Foltice has hit a busy spurt thanks to our German guests. We had Sven and his friend, Marcel, visit for a couple of days in September. Sherin and her boyfriend, Eddie, came for a couple of days last week. We feel very blessed to have such great friends and it is always great to see them. We can go for years without seeing each other and pick up right where we left off.

Dana stayed at home with Dylan while I took Sven and Marcel out for the night. Our night was highlighted by the Orange Park Dog Track. That alone tells us two things: 1. Jacksonville is not the most exciting place to be on a Friday night. 2. I am not the best night life tour guide. I never was a night club person and I don’t do bars unless it’s trivia night. Nevertheless, we had a good time.

Due to Dylan’s teething and that fact that it was a Tuesday night, we stayed at home with Eddie and Sherin. Actually, we stayed home to watch the Tigers play the Twins in the play-in game to earn the right to get destroyed by the Yankees. I never knew how complicated the rules of baseball can be until I had to explain to Eddie and Sherin from scratch. We got the basics down (3 outs, 3 strikes, 4 balls, 9 innings) though we didn’t get much further than that. How do explain a force out at second base to someone watching baseball for the first time? (Editor's Note: The actual reason we stayed home is because the dog track is closed on Tuesdays).

After the baseball game, we brought out the Wii. Eddie killed us in all of the sports. Note to self: We need to practice before bringing it out with our friends. Our performance was embarrassing. I was smiling on the outside, but was really upset on the inside. I cried myself to sleep that night. (Editor's Note: Our neighbor's boyfriend, Thomas, who is from Berlin is over right now and is heckling Bryan in Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii. I can tell Bryan is upset by the swift inhale sound through his teeth that he makes after each hole. Maybe in general we just suck at Wii games since people who don't have a Wii come over regularly and kick our butts. PS. Thomas just said they should play for money. I'm getting separate checking accounts.)

Work / Life Balance

Ha! What a joke. Balance is the furthest thing from the truth at this point. Work / Life Blur might be more accurate. Dana and I have the routine down now that she is back to work. I take care of Dylan in the morning, while she makes sandwiches and takes care of Oscar. Dana puts Dylan to bed a night.

After work, one person makes dinner, (hopefully it’s Dana) and the other takes care of Dylan. Dinner may not come until 9pm and it may come in the form of hotdogs and rice if I am in charge of dinner for the night. Like I said, not very balanced.

We will definitely need to improve on this balancing act, because it will only get tougher when Dylan gets older and if there are any new additions to the family. (Editor's Note: That is not a hint that there will be another addition soon. Some day...)

Vacation

That is why I took a week off for vacation this week. Dana had to work, so it’s just the three boys. I will give you an update on how things went over the weekend. Hopefully, everyone will be alive and in one piece by that time.

Teething Time/ Swine Flu Scare

Teething Time

Dylan is starting to get his first teeth. In the process, there has been some great discomfort. We noticed this when he started to really cry hard after we exhausted our top three options: Feed him, hold him, or sometimes, change his diaper. When none of those worked, we figured something else had to be bothering him.

Our doctor, aka: Dr. Google, implied that he might be teething. We got him some Ora-Gel and Baby Tylenol and that seemed to help. He has gotten much better this week, though we don’t know how many more times he will go through this. Sounds like our next Google search.

Swine Flu

There has been a lot of the swine flu going around our area these days. It is a little scary when you have a 4 month old around. We had him outside on our deck for a little while on Saturday. He saw a couple of the neighbors and got some fresh air.
The next day, our neighbor came over telling us that her daughter, who was over the day before, came down with the swine flu. When I came downstairs, Dana was really stressed out and was frantically disinfecting anything she could find.
I told her that she needed to calm down. This is the first time we really had to worry about him. I told Dana that it certainly won’t be the last. It would be nice to keep him in a bubble, but we can’t worry about things we can’t control. We will have to go through this for the rest of his life. I can already picture him asking us to go to his friend’s cottage on the lake after prom when he is in high school. My blood pressure just went up.