Thurs 12/24/98
We are so very happy on this most wonderful Christmas eve. Sara Victoria Renner is our holiday miracle. She's beautiful! Last Friday we went to our regular OB visit and found that the baby was breech again. Knowing that Laura wanted a different experience in every way from our last pregnancy, our doctor struggled to find the right way to tell Laura that she might need a C-section. To our surprise, Laura was one step ahead, and announced that she was ready for the knife! "Okay then, let's do it!" said our OB, dialing the phone to schedule us. "How about 2 o'clock!" We were supposed to go straight to Labor and Delivery, but we snuck home to get our suitcase. Two o'clock became four o'clock, and Sara was delivered at 4:17 pm. We plan to post some photos in What's New next chance we get, before Sara graduates high school.
Friday 2/26/99
On Wednesday Sara endured the triple torture: two needles and a gulp of vaccines. We debated for a time and decided to go through with them. While doctors reassure us with a wave and a chuckle, we know what it's like to be on the wrong end of long odds. However, Sara dealt with it like a Renner and a Rutherford . . . she's a smiling, happy baby. I am Mr. Mom once a week: Laura has started working on Saturdays. And now Sara is sleeping through the night (1 am - 6 am). We can do this!
Friday 3/12/99
We've discovered that our baby monitor picks up another baby monitor. We didn't listen long enough to hear lurid secrets, only baby breaths. And there's no need to suspect that we'll ever listen again, because we realize that if we can hear them, someone else may be able to hear us! In fact, I've taken to performing a weekly Saturday broadcast on KSARA with our host, Sara Victoria. We tell stories, teach gibberish, provide helpful tips, and feature a topic for the day. The topic tomorrow will be bathing your infant. The phone lines are open, and the show is from 9 am til Noon, with several breaks when Car Talk is on. So if you have a baby monitor, try Channel B.
Saturday 6/19/99
Sara is six months old! She gave me a Father's Day card yesterday, kicking off a Weekend Celebration.
Laura is into baby food prep now, creating lovely hues and smoothly hewn little blocks of frozen delights. She mashes and whips peas, bananas, sweet potatos, and pours them into ice cube trays. Then each food block is frozen until mealtime for perfect portions. Sara's fave so far: PEAS!
Our first major public outing took place two weeks ago at the Appel Farm Folk Festival. Sara napped on our blanket beneath the trees, then awoke for a couple of Bruce Cockburn tunes before requesting departure. The next day, we ventured into Philly via train to catch the CoreStates Bike Race (now F. U.), which I gladly attended as spectator rather than employee. Next week: Cape May for a day.
Sunday 8/8/99
Our highlights of the week: Sara and Laura were broadcast throughout the tri-state region. Our friend Barbara shoots for the Philly CBS affiliate. So while the weather guy was leading into his Friday forecast at 5:25 pm, our front porch was featured full screen behind him. Then he said, "And take a look at this." He stepped aside to reveal Sara and Laura, sitting on the steps. "Here's one-year old (close enough) Sara, enjoying the day with her Mom..." So now Sara wears her sunglasses in public to maintain a modicum of anonymity.
And when I called friends Kris and Al to tell them, we discovered that they were busy birthing their second child. Kayla Katharine, welcome to the planet!
Saturday 1/1/00
We're all still here! Yesterday we cleaned the house in preperation of New Year's Eve festivities. As I wiped the kitchen floor, I couldn't help thinking that if terrorists were going to wipe out the eastern United States at the stroke of midnight, I should be making better use of my time. When the ball dropped, I popped a cork out the window. Laura and her sister Lisa banged on pots to scare away the evildoers. Sara slept through the noise. We stood beside the crib and toasted our good fortune.
Sara has been crawling, pulling up to stand, babbling, drinking from a sippy cup, exploring the house, and eating what we eat. Veggie cheese, made from tofu, is her favorite food. Laura creates a lunch concoction that approximates macaroni and cheese by melting the tofu into pastina or pasta shells. The pediatrician advises weaning Sara from the bottle, but we still resort to it for bedtime. Her first birthday party was a stunning success. Friends, relatives, and Santa Claus attended. The holiday season has been exhausting and a lot of fun. We look forward to another wonderful year!
Saturday 4/1/00
Some concern last week. At Sara's fifteen month pediatric appointment, we found that she'd only gained a few ounces since first birthday. So we went on a mac and cheese and ice cream diet. Just when we thought her appetite was blooming, she developed a fever that spiked to almost 105 degrees. That happened two nights in a row. Today, when her temperature seemed to return to normal, we noticed a rash on her trunk and forehead. Before the rash, the doctor didn't think the fever was a result of the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccines she'd had ten days before. But we did. With the rash, we were almost sure, except that the symptoms also sound like roseola. She was very sleepy and cranky all day, but had moments of playfulness, and just before bedtime, was almost back to normal. We hope that, whatever it was, it's done, and we can go back to having fun.
Work has been stressful, lots of nearly impossible deadlines. We're hoping to get away for a week in June. I need a vacation.
Friday 7/7/00
Midway point of vacation nearly here. We've been doing day trips. A few weeks ago, my coworker offered us VIP tickets for the Late Night w/Letterman audience. After much logistical arrangement, we had a plan: drop off Sara with Mom and Dad, then take the train into NYC. Monday morning, we found ourselves at the pediatrician's office to confirm that Sara had an ear infection. Just a minor hiccup in our plan. We picked up prescriptions and headed north. We arrived at the Renner's, got Sara settled, and sped off, battling our way along the traffic-choked two-lane highways that inspired the road rage of my youth. We caught the 2:02 to Penn Station, and taxied to the Ed Sullivan Theater, where a young lady informed us that our names were not on the list. Blood pounding in my ears, I believe I lost consciousness, so there's no more to tell (except that we had a fine dinner at Ruby Foo's).
Wednesday, Sara discovered all the fun things to do at the aquarium. That was an excellent trip. Nose pressed to convex glass, she squealed with delight at the sight of penguins, sharks, and stingrays. She sat for a puppet show, then ambled through the dinosaur garden. "Roar!" she shouted at the replica of the Haddonfield hadrosaurus, found in the 1800's, two miles from where our house now stands.
Yesterday, we relaxed on the beach at Cape May, until a bully smacked Sara's forhead (prompted by her innocent splashing), and today we're enjoying another splendid day around town. The lesson here: stay close to home for tons of fun.
Tuesday 12/19/00
Milestone evening: while in the tub, Sara picked up five floating rings, put them on her wrist to fashion a bracelet. Pointing to each, she counted, "One, two, three, four, five bracelets." Then she added two more. "Six, seven," she said. Laura and I stared at each other, then applauded.
Last week, Sara counted two pillows in her crib. "One. Two." That night, I had a dream: I walk into Sara's room. She's in her crib, excited. The crib seems to be moving under its own power. "Look Daddy," Sara says. I walk around to the other side to find a twin Sara pushing the crib. One, two Saras. I awoke.
Saturday 1/20/01
The cold we've been trading since mid-December finally seems to be ebbing, leaving in its wake a distressing aftermath. By Monday, Sara's cold had developed into pneumonia. She slept through the worst of that illness, and is her jolly self again. However, the doctor thinks she has asthma now. My little girl has been enduring nebulizer treatments twice a day. Seems to help. We'll know more next week.
Thursday 1/25/01
Well, Sara's pneumonia and asthma symptoms have vanished. She's back to her jolly self. And her appetite has been restored and improved. Her doctor says there's no reliable test for allergies until she turns three. So we're proceeding as if the whole thing was just a movie of the week. It seems the time for healing really has begun.
Sunday 1/28/01
We forced ourselves to watch the Super Bowl pregame entertainment this evening. When it was over, Sara paused for effect, then said one of her new words: "Baloney."
Sat 6/16/01
Today is our final day of Sara's Spring semester gym class. It's been a great way to spend Saturday mornings.
Yesterday I took a vacation and we enjoyed a beautiful day in Cape May. While rain hammered the rest of the state, a ring of clouds surrounded the beach but never touched our sunny sky.
Milestone: first day of successful potty use was cause for celebration on Wednesday. Also, Sara answered a question I've been asking her for weeks. "How old are you?" I asked. "Two years old," she said. Now she's two and a half!
Sat 7/7/01 Dreamed our car was parked in a lot that had been flooded by the sea. After some time spent here for research or vacation, Laura was in the ocean with others while storm clouds approached. A lightning bolt struck the water and everyone scrambled. The storm passed and they reached safety, but I could see the clouds swirling in a pattern. I knew we'd have to plan for more storms.
Wed 9/12/01 Last night, under a sky quiet for the first time in our lifetimes, Laura, Sara and I strolled to the coffee house in town for signs of life. Sara must have had some sense of the day, clued in by the mood of the adults, and the unusually long television broadcasts painting flames, dubbed by Dan Rather "an orgy of terror." He paused before he said it, perhaps hoping his audio tech would switch on reverb. No one was listening to him.
Tonight, I thought I'd detected a burning chemical odor. Now I listen, pressing my ear to the window screen. High above, a military jet grates the clouds. "You want me on that wall. You need me on that cloud." I guess we do.
Thurs 11/29/01 I'm discovering that everyone, EVERYONE, has had a sinus infection or stomach flu this month. Two weeks ago, Sara had a fever of 103.6 two nights running. She's still clogged. And Laura has a violent stomach flu. We struggled through the Thanksgiving feast at the Rutherford homestead. Most were sick. Sara threw up overnight. Yet here I stand, a puzzled, psychosomatically unsteady fellow, wondering why I'm so unusually well!
We drove home from the far North, clenching our teeth and our fists in the turbulence of rude F.U.V. drivers, who howled past, splattering our mild Neon with testosterone in their wakes. Is it possible that we've learned very little since September Eleventh?
Sun 12/9/01 What a wonderful weekend! Laura's parents invited us to join them for a train ride with Santa. Yes, currently our daughter is terrified of the jolly Claus. No matter. We were fortunate to experience the first snow fall in the area. Five inches fell Saturday night.
Mon 12/10/01 You heard it here first. This evening I debuted my new club. From now on, whenever our phone rings between five and eight o'clock in the evening, I'll be answering, "Telemarketer Haters Club, can I help you?" My first telemarketer paused, laughed, and said, "That's cute. Well, my name is..." I hung up, thrilled that she shared my enthusiasm.
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