Photography, art, things that occur to me.
My grandmother turned 90 yesterday. We, sadly, couldn’t be there as we didn’t think we could manage the trip to Michigan with young Conrad in hand. Also, they threw the party on a Thursday. That’s what happens when all the children of the birthday girl are retired and don’t think about work schedules anymore.
I spoke with her this morning and she said the celebration was extraordinary. I think that means she was pleased.
Wow – we haven’t posted anything since the end of March. How can be? It’s certainly not because Conrad hasn’t done all sorts of wonderful and cute things, but more that we’re caught up in the day to day caring and feeding of our little baby. I’m feeling especially fond of him right now because he’s sleeping in his swing.
The big news in our lives is that we’re looking for a nanny. After waiting to hear of an open spot on four different daycare waiting lists, we finally decided that rather than put him one geographically inconvenient place to potentially move him to a more geographically convenient place and then ultimately put him in Dave’s work daycare, that we’d hire someone to come to our home until Dave’s work daycare has an availability.
All grandparents and other well wishers may breathe a sigh of relief.
We’ve placed some ads and are also working with an agency under the heading of ‘use all available avenues’. We’ve gotten some good responses and some not so good responses from our ad, so the next step is to have some phone interviews and see where that leads us.
In the case that you’re reading this and live in this area, do let us know if you happen to know of a wonderful nanny who is looking for employment beginning in May.
Lots more new pictures added to the Flickr page, too.
Jean’s cousin Laura visited this week and met Conrad. She changed his diaper, played with him, spent several days with Jean and Conrad and bought him some nice stuff. Somehow we managed to avoid getting a single picture of her. But here’s Conrad in the onesie she bought him:
Apparently it was originally designed to be worn by monkeys, but luckily it fits the boy as well.
Laura also accompanied us on Conrad’s first trip to the beach, to visit Charlie and Marty, who are either my first cousin once removed and my first cousin once removed in-law, or perhaps my second cousin and my second cousin once removed in-law. I’ve never been sure. Jean’s family, an efficient and no-nonsense bunch, calls them my aunt and uncle.
With four daughters and three grandchildren, Charlie and Marty know their way around a baby. At one point I went to see if Conrad needed changing and Marty told me she’d already done it. I was right there the whole time and never saw it. She’s like a ninja grandma.
Also, they know all the facial expressions:
Marty and Conrad
Charlie and Conrad
In the early days of this blog we posted a photo of me at five weeks of age in 1965, along with a photo of Conrad at two weeks or so, painstakingly shot and edited to look like one another. Despite the fact that I named them “Conrad” and “Condad,” some of you didn’t get it. So I won’t be so subtle this time. We re-shot the photo this morning now that he is closer to the age I was in the picture. “Conrad” is Conrad. “Condad” is me. The idea is that we look similar. Okay?
Conrad
Condad
And now for a more serious subject: Vaccines. There’s been so much coverage in the media about vaccines and children and the potential link between autism and the MMR vaccination. I’ve been paying attention, but hadn’t known much about the vaccination schedule until our pediatrician presented it to me at our prenatal appointment.
A word about our pediatrician: I really like her. She’s doesn’t pull any punches and is very straight forward. She’s not into trends. When I asked her what books she would recommend, she told me to get the guide from the American Academy of Pediatrics for birth to 5 years. She’s very thorough and when she gives a suggestion, it feels like it comes from years of experience.
At Conrad’s one month appointment, I brought a copy of Dr. Sears’ Vaccine Book, which our doula had lent to me. The book suggests a more drawn out vaccination schedule than the one recommended by the Academy. It doesn’t promote children skipping vaccines. I told her my concerns about overloading little bodies with so many vaccinations at one time “5 at the 2 month checkup – although admittedly combined into a single injection”.
Her response was quite strong and somewhat unexpected. She looked me in the eye and said that the MMR vaccination does not cause autism and that she feels strongly that by drawing out the vaccination schedule that I would be increasing my child’s pain by increasing the number of injections. I felt a little bullied, so agreed that at Conrad’s 2 month checkup, we’d stick with the plan.
I plan on reading the Vaccine Book more thoroughly to see what I think, but right now, I’m not sure whether to take a stand with our pediatrician or to go with what’s recommended.