Ben the Bruiser

Hello World.
I'm a handsome 10 lb, 2oz, guy who likes boobs, onsies, and farting. Today I'm two weeks old.

Presenting Benedict Felix

So after 40 weeks and three days of waiting, Benedict Felix von Hoerl made his debut at 10:05 am, January 21, 2009. We had a c-section because when they did a biophysiological profile of him at 39 weeks, 5 days, the computer estimated that he was already 10 lbs, 1 oz! Maybe that was why the "little" guy was refusing to budge; he knew that the usual exit might not work for him.

All the hospital staff was great and Dr. M was a dream. Hearing her say, "That's a big head!" made the whole c-section thing seem like a pretty good idea. In the end he weighed in at a mere 9 lbs, 7 oz. Shervyn got to hold Ben while they counted surgical instruments to make sure there were none left inside and we brought our boy home 4 days later.

All in all, we're still amazed that two solid 7s managed to make a perfect 10.

Most Boring Post...EVER!

So as most of you know Amanda and I have been working on the boy's room in those moments between the holidays, trips to the lake house (or as I like to call it "OZ"), bank failures and the like. Well last week the last big ticket item arrived: the FLOR carpet system. Essentially they are a series of very durable, environmentally friendly and easy to install carpet tiles as you can see from this picture:



They are actually really, really easy to install. All you have to do two perpendicular strips and then build out from there. So using my trusty tape measure and even trustier T-square I used one wall of the room to lay out the first row:





As you can see pretty much 9.5 inches away from the wall. Then I started the perpendicular row. And it really was perpendicular:



However, what I had forgotten was that in a fifth floor apartment in a pre-war building there is no such thing as a perfect 90 degree angle, but even with all of this I still find it hard to believe that the wall could be this crooked:





But I suppressed the worst of my OCD tendencies and instead of pitching a fit, I actually finished laying down the carpet. And if I may say so it looks pretty darn good.

Winter Wonderland

We learned a few things this weekend. Sullivan County is a winter fairy tale when it snows. The lake house is a slice of winter heaven. And all-wheel drive is no match for several inches of snow and a really steep driveway. That's how we met our friend, the nice man with the winch!

The ride to the lake house:





Our slice of winter heaven:

Inwood in the Snow

So, I'm supposed to be locked up working on my Assessment I final, but how could I be expected to resist the first real snow of the season? Slogging through the snow with 8 months of baby attached to the front of me was an interesting experience, but I still came back with a smile on my face.

If you want to know why we live in the boonies of northern Manhattan, all you have to do is look at the pictures.

Inwood Park in the snow....






The local church's tree in the snow...



And of course, our annual holiday wonderland, Grandpa's Pizza....

Sonogram fever

Okay, finally got un-lazy enough to scan the sonograms and figgered they better get posted before laziness returns.

At 32 weeks, when the post about the joys of Inwood in the fall went up, there was yet another doctor's appointment. The usual routine went down - scales, tummy measurement, pictures. Benedict is turning out to be a healthy little monster and big if the belly is any way to judge things.

The boy's profile seems to be improving on the chin front.



The doctor assures me that this is a foot and the white circle in the middle is a big toe.



The routine was repeated at the 34 weeks and we were presented with pictures the umbilical cord in cross-section and a segment of spine. I'll let you decide which is which.





The next photo session is on December 23rd. We'll be at 36 weeks and hopefully still have the full 4 more to go. The cousin who got knocked up two weeks before we did went into labor this morning - 3 weeks before her due date. So Benedict had best not take any hints from his cousin. We're not ready for an early arrival.

Almost Done

Poor Shervyn's been stuck building furniture the last two weekends, and below is the almost end result. All that's left is the crib mattress, some sheets, the blinds, and a carpet. Well, that sounds like there's more work to do than we expected. But it's looking pretty good.






There are sonograms too, but we've been too lazy to scan them.