Run Around Rice

A Kathryn Aside

Kathryn? How did she get to be 18 months old? OK, I have to relate a Kathryn story. No one ever believes me about how this child can talk. She's crazy verbal, just like William was, but today she blew even me away, and I have to note it down somewhere that I won't feel braggy and doubted. Since no one actually checks here anymore, I think I'm safe. :)

We had a babysitter this afternoon and when we got home I went to see William and Kathryn. The conversation was roughtly this:

Me: Hi guys! What did you do today??
William: I'm building droids, wanna make one too?
Kathryn: Mama! Mama!! My Mama.
Tita: We walk in the park.
Kathryn: I get in trollah (stroller). I cried.

I look at Tita asking if this was true. And it WAS! Tita had put Kathryn in the stroller but she wanted to walk so she cried. Kathryn was telling me about her day. Accurately! Am I crazy to think this is totally amazing?

Then she went on to say: I cay-ud movee. I turn off.

And I had no idea what she was talking about. But Tita said William had been talking about a movie and Kathryn said she was scared of it. Then William told me he'd had that movie days before and Kathryn cried because she was scared of it so she turned the TV off. !!!

Now I know I'm biased but I think that is pretty darn good for 18 months!

Construction Week 9

Well, we have a slab, and a darn pretty slab it is, too. We put all out foot prints in it and wrote our names and the date in it. Leap Day, no less. Very cute. Until they start framing. THen it will be the home of the adorably tiny footed Kathyn, the cutely small footed William, the very average sized footed Emily, and Rick the one footed dad.

Yeah, we sort of forgot to leave room for the walls, and poor Erick in destined to lose a foot and an E to the framing. And us architects, both. Ah well. We have a slab! A slab which set there pristinely on our lot for one entire month - of mostly beautiful weather, no less - lovely and untouched.

But today the steel went up and let me tell you, this sucker it TALL. And it is not going anywhere. All the neighbors will move in with us come the next hurricane. Pictures to come. It is an impressive sight.

A slab. A slab. A slab, a slab!

Can they, will they pour our slab?

We hope tomorrow. Or so they say.

In which my children try to kill me via a heart attack

Last week was the week of childhood mishaps. Let me start by saying they are both fine now.

Both kids had colds early in the week and William had a fever on Monday. He was taking a bath while I made the dinner. The bathroom is 15 steps from the kitchen, and usually he keeps a running commentary or sings or is just generally his usual non-stop verbal self. I did not notice how quiet he was. I went in to ask him a question and found him curled in the corned of the tub, perfectly still, with his face (it appeared to my too stunned to process information accurately mind) in the water. Panic stopped my heart and I yelled "William!" He jumped up terrified and sloshed water all over the bathroom. Poor thing had fallen asleep in the tub, and the water had been no more than an inch from his mouth and nose. I'm am reasonable sure he would have woken up as soon as the water actually got in his mouth, and would not have breath it in. I'n my rational mind, I know he was not really in danger, but the shock of seeing him so still like that. That image will not leave my mind, and I am listening a lot more carefully now.

But not to be outdone by her big brother, Kathryn decided she needed to help wear out mama's heart. So on Saturday, as we left to go for a run, Kathryn got her hand stuck in the elevator door. She had her hand on the door when it began to open and her fingers slid with the door into the crack, making the door stick partway open. She began screaming and I could not get her hand out. William was also screaming, and try as I could I could not make the door budge. So I, too, began screaming, for help. The attendant at the front desk came over and misunderstood the situation so tried to push the door open. Kathryn shrieked louder.

Finally, with the attendant's help, we moved the door enough to free Kathryn's hand and I took my poor wailing child over to the couch, fairly hysterical myself by that point. Her hand was already swelling, was all black at the finger joints, and she was screaming relentlessly. Again, my not quite rational mind saw the worst and I though her little bones must have been crushed. The attendant had already called 911. We'd attracted quite a bit of attention by this time, and people crowded around offering ice. Finally I tried letting Kathryn nurse and it calmed her down quickly. By then we had seen that the ice, which she refused to allow us to keep on her hand, had rubbed the black grease marks off her hand and she was moving her fingers.

When the paramedics arrived, they declared her OK and we declined the trip to the hospital. Kathryn was happy again, and playing with the ice. We decided to go out for our run and I gave William and Kathryn their lollipops a little early. That fixed Kathryn right up and she promptly fell asleep. William, after the initial scare, was very sweet and cooperative through the whole thing. I was a mess, and was a little to exhausted to do much running. But we had a nice walk. Kathryn's fingers were swollen and a little bruised, but it didn't seem to bother her and they are now almost back to normal, just a little swollen still.

Construction Week 3

Well after two weeks of a fence, utility pole and porta potty, they actually did start. On February 6th our piers were poured. By that saturday they had the outline of the slab up so the plumbers could start their rough-in. Last week a lot of that was completed but now we are waiting for the city to come out and mark the gas and water lines. I'm not sure why that was not done before.

After that, they will dig the grade beams, and there is a little more plumbing to do, some electrical rough-in and a little mechanical. At some point they will set the steel columns at the bag of the house that represent nearly all of our shear reinforcement. Then there's a lot more slab formwork and finally we will be ready to pour the slab. My guess is that will be the end of next week at the absolute earliest. The weather has not been very cooperative, thus far.

Much to the contractors dismay, we already made a change. It's very minor, but we moved the garden wall around the A/C units just a little. Change Order #1, I think that truly marks the start of the project, no?

Started! Sort of.

We have a construction fence! A Utility Pole! A Porta Potty! OK, so it is half a construction fence, it’s in the wrong place, the utilities are in the wrong name, and we’ve already been red tagged on it. Something about GFCI outlets on the utility poll. But hey, it’s progress right? And the porta potty’s all good.

The Surveyor is supposed to come tomorrow, if it does not rain, to set the corners and benchmark elevation. Then, if we ever see a few dry days we’ll get piers. That will be the real start and it will hopefully be next week.

I’ll have to restart the blog now, so those of you far away can follow our progress. And I really need to be writing down some of the things Kathryn says because they are so funny. I look back at some of the things I wrote about William, and I’m glad to have the record. I also have tons of pictures of the kids that I need to add, so hopefully I can keep a little more up to date this year. We’ll see.

1 year old!

Somehow it has been a year since my baby girl was born. I'm averaging 2 posts a year, that's good right. Well, prompted by an email from and old Rice friend, here is an update. I'll add some birthday pictures as well.

William is 4 and a half and amazing. He never stops talking. Ever. I'll copy in a story he wrote at preschool last week, because it says everything that needs to be said about him.

"One Halloween day I saw skeletons, and they were real live. They weren't scary to me. I battled them with everything I saw at once! And they were about to die. A ghost came to help the skeletons get alive and battle with me again. I got to go to a party with a bad pirate. I ask him if I could put these guys in jail, and he said, "Yes!" Then the Roman mosters came, and they were bad, so I had to battle them. There were ten thousand and five of them! I had to battle with all my energy. I was about to ask the pirate if they could go to jail but I had to battle until they got all of their energy out and I could ask the pirate. And he said, "Yes they could go in jail." The pirate was good to kids, but bad to grown-ups. He's going to battle the grown-ups. So now the pirate is going to jail from the police."

Kathryn is a little love. She blows kisses and gives the sweetest hugs. Every morning she crawls over to me and lays her little head on my chest and says, "Mmmaaaaaammmmmaaaaa." And I melt. She shows every sign of rivaling William in the incessant talk department and now says well over 20 words and has 12 or so signs. She also sings all the time. She loves dolls, any doll will do, and every doll she sees must be held. She intantly clutches it to her chest and rocks it back and forth patting it on the back, or sometimes banging it on the head. We had to get off a subway in New York because she would not stop screeching for the baby next to us. Oddly the baby's mother did not think Kathryn was quite ready to hold a newborn. Some people.

She is also following in William's footsteps in the sleep department which means that is something I do not get to do much of. I hold out hope she will sleep earlier than the 3.5 years it took William, but in the end, what really is 3.5 years out of her lifetime, right? She started taking little steps a few weeks ago and is now up to 6 or 7 at a time. It won't be long.

In non-kid related news, we expect to start construction on our long awaited house in the next few weeks. No really, I'm serious. The drawings are at the permit department and we are waiting on the final numbers to get the bank approval.

I'm nearly out of time here so I will get to the pictures now.

Not Lost

I'm so good at keeping the blog up to date, no? So I'm sure the family has completely given up on checking here for updates, but just in case...

Kathryn is doing great. She is almost 4 months old already and I just do not know where the time has gone. She is very sweet and good natured --I say as she wails about me ignoring her now :-) -- and is generally happy most of the time. Her sleep is better than William's was at this point, so I think I'll just leave that topic there. She can tripod sit for a long time, roll both ways, she giggles and smiles, and so far it seems she may give William's motormouth a run for its money. She's just learning how to reach out and grab toys but her aim isn't too good yet and she can't hold on for long. I think she now weighs about 13 lbs.

William has decided he wants to have a Superhero birthday party at Pump it Up. Less planning for me so OK then. I reserved the place for June 2. He is loving his school and is taking swimming lessons and gymnastics class. Gymnastics has been a total lifesaver on a few cold days and he's getting really good at a lot of activities there. He's adjusted pretty well to Kathryn's presence. He always says how much he loves her and gives her hugs and kisses. He has never been intentionally mean to her but he does delight in waking her up and annoying her in other little ways.

Well, She's impatient now. I will try to do better with udates and I have lots of pictures to upload.

She is here!!!

Kathryn arrived at 3:06 am on Wednesday the 25th of October, weighing 7lbs 2oz, and measuring 20" long. Followibg is a condensed version of her birth story. If you want the full version, it's on the sprinter webpage. (link on the left)

Kathryn Anna Ragni's birth Story:

Tuesday, October 24, while waiting for our car after a fabulous anniversary dinner, my water broke. On the way home, I called Sandra (midwife) and then my sister, to let them know what was happening. The contractions were already coming about 5 minutes apart but were not too intense yet. From my self check before dinner, I knew I was still about 1 cm and 75% effaced. I thought it would be a long night.

Once home, I left a message for Shannon, my doula, and watched a little TV. The contractions were definitely picking up so we worked on a puzzle until midnight, when I decided to hit the shower. I told Erick either I was a total wimp or things were going faster than I thought because these were getting really hard. We decided it was time for him to start setting everything up. A little after 1 am I called Shannon as the contractions were coming every 2-4 minutes and were pretty much kicking my butt. Two contractions later I decided I’d better call Sandra, as well. I was also feeling really nauseous.

I got in the tub and had Erick call my sister. I threw up all my wonderful dinner, then decided the shower had been better. Erin arrived after a few minutes. I was feeling too hot and decided to move out to the couch. I tried a several positions always complaining that everything was too low. I needed to be leaning forward over something but all the surfaces I could sit on were really low and my legs were getting very tired from supporting my weight. At some point Sandra and Shannon arrived. I whined that the toilet was too low and even broke the toilet paper holder off the wall trying to get up before a contraction hit. I had been making a low groaning sound through all the contractions but now as the peak hit I fond the moan turning into a wimpering cry. I was just not seeing how I could continue hours more of this. Sandra reassured me that she did not think this was early labor and that I was doing great.

Finally I decided to try hands an knees on the bed and Erick, Erin, and Shannon found lots of pillows for me to lean on. The contractions were horrible and right on top of one another and I was pushing involuntarily at the peak. I asked Sandra to check meand she said I had a thick lip on top but that I was dialated to 9. OMG, sweet relief, I’d been sure she’d say 5. She suggested she hold the lip back for a contraction or two (OMG was that an awful feeling) and I could not help pushing. Sandra suddenly said the head was right there and I could feel the burning. I push and pushed unable to stop even though there was no contraction. I felt her head come out and then and then after a few more intense pushes she was out. I sat and Sandra put her on my chest. Within a few minutes she wanted to nurse and had a good strong suck..

Things are al little blurry form here. The placenta came very quickly. At some point William fell out of bed, so he came in to meet her. I cut the cord while Erick took him back to bed. Sandra took Kathryn to weigh her and I started shaking badly. They covered me with blankets. I asked for some juice and a PB&J sandwich. My mother and MIL came in After a while, Sandra checked. Luckily I had no tears, but several of what she called skin splits.

About 5am, everyone went home and we settled I to try to sleep a little. William woke at 6 and Erick brought him in to lay down with us. He snuggled for a while and then wanted to give Kathryn a kiss. He remembered meeting her in the middle of the night and that we had told him she was a little goopy. He thought that was really funny. Then he and Erick got up to watch a movie and Kathryn and I settled back in for a rest.

Having the experience of a homebirth was the most amazing thing I have ever done. I still can’t really believe I did it. It was just so much better than being in the hospital, hooked up to a million lines, unable to move around. I think Sandra check the h/r 2 times through the whole thing. Of course she was only there for an hour before the birth. And my one and only internal of the whole pregnancy showed me at 9cm. Not too bad. Especially since she was born about 5 minutes later. I lost a lot of blood and was pretty tired the first two days. I’m also pretty sore and the skin splits burn a lot. But I’m feeling much better now and it was all so worth it.

We are in!!

We moved into our new apartment (OK, my parents but I'm getting kind of possessive) just over 3 weeks ago. It's still not quite done, but as of today we have pulls on our kitchen cabinet doors so that is a good thing. Still no shower doors and we a missing a fairly large chunk of floor in the bathroom but hey, we have two of them so I'm not complaining. There is a lot of millwork yet to come, but at east some of it should be in tomorrow.

William seems completely unphased by the move. He is only sad that the new apartment does not have a hose so he can water the plants. I'm putting some pictures up of the new place and a token one of William crashed out on the floor yesterday after a hard day of play.