Calvin, my first son
Dear Calvin,
You were quite a surprise for our family. Your dad and I wanted to have our kids pretty close together, and you came swiftly. We didn't have to try to get pregnant more than a couple of months. I was working full-time and Shelby was being watched by Rhoda during the day. I would drive from Portland to West Salem, and then into work. Every morning I was sick, and after work I just wanted to stay at Rhoda's and not get back into the car to take Shelby home. Dad was really busy with his last year of school. Luckily he did have senioritis, so he didn't study as much as he did the first three years of dental school. We were expecting you to be born about two weeks after he graduated from dental school. The plan was to move to Salem because that's where my job is located and I'm tired of driving so much.
When we realized we were expecting you, we decided to move back to Salem to be closer to my work and family. So we started to shop for houses. We looked in Portland too because I love Portland. I love the city. I love the running routes. I love how close we are to Forest Park, the Zoo, Spring Water Trail where I run often, and downtown. But the cost of houses was practically double in Portland so I agreed with your dad to head back to Salem. We shopped for months for houses before we found one we liked. We loved the house the first moment we walked into it. Your dad fell in love when he saw it online, but I didn't love it until I came in person. It's a brand new house that nobody has lived in before because the economy crashed and houses couldn't sell. There are a lot of foreclosures and empty houses, so we didn't have to hurry to find one. We thought about it a lot, prayed about it, and went to the temple to be sure this was our new home. After many negotiations we finally bought it. I have worked for al long time and have a great job, so we qualified to buy it with my income and savings. Kind of nice that we could do that while your dad was still finishing school.
Because the end of dental school means passing your boards, dad was gone a lot. I packed up our townhouse by myself over a month. I was still working full-time and taking care of Shelby. Dad was gone a lot and I needed the exercise. I loaded boxes and would drive them to my parents house during the week to drop them off. We moved in and got settled right away because I was already almost due. You were born two weeks earlier than my due date. Unlike your sister, you wanted to be early. It was quite unexpected, and your dad had his finals for school, his boards coming up, and his graduation.
You were born on June 16, and he graduated the 18th. I was still in the hospital the day of his graduation and I missed the ceremony and he wasn't there to help me take you home. Rhoda came with me and brought me home and got me settled. That night we threw a graduation party for dad. My Aunt Pauli came over and helped decorate for dad. It was kind of a welcome home to the new baby and congratulations to dad for making it through dental school.
Labor with you was also a lot different than with Shelby. I was in labor during the night and I kept telling your dad, "I'm having real contractions but they don't hurt very bad". Your dad kept telling me to stop, and that I can't go into labor because he has big tests. He was making me laugh so hard that the labor contractions kept getting worse. He was trying to blow up this huge exercise ball for me to sit on and use for labor, like I did with Shelby, and the pump broke. So he was trying super hard to get it to work and I was dying laughing. I guess that didn't help because the contractions kept coming. Your dad went to sleep, I got into the bath and called Rhoda. I told her that I wasn't in very much pain but the contractions were coming super close, like 4-5 minutes apart. So she came over, made your dad wake up, and pack a bag for the hospital and we left. Sure enough, I was dilated to a 5, and they admitted me. Your dad couldn't stay awake. He kept falling asleep while I was in labor.
At one point the doctor came in and said they needed to break my water because labor was slowing down. I was in the tub and I got out to see if it would spike back up, but it didn't. I couldn't wake your dad up to see if I should let them break my water. He was so tired. Rhoda and I kept laughing at him like he was the one doing all the work.
I kept moving around and the heart rate monitors they put on me kept coming off. They were worried about your heart rate and said I may need to have a c-section. They ended up agreeing to putting a monitor on you and they had to put this little pin like device on your head, granted before you were born. Strange feeling, but it worked. They could better monitor you and agreed you were not in harms way, you were just slowing down. So I agreed and they broke my water. You were born shortly after that. In fact, the doctor didn't even deliver you. He was talking and putting on gloves and I told them you were coming. They didn't listen but one nurse did and she grabbed you. Thank goodness because your dad was barely awake.
You were very calm and sweet right away. You just laid on me and slept and cuddled. I had to have surgery right after you were born because I had a bad tear. Unlike after Shelby was born, this one they didn't take me to the operating room. I didn't want to go, and they were short staffed that night. So the doctor did surgery on me in the room. They were out of anesthesiologists so I had to have surgery without medication since I delivered you without any medicine there was nothing in my system. He tried numbing shots but that didn't help. Anyway, the whole point is that as I was laying there getting a hundred or so stitches, you were laying on me sleeping. I was crying, probably using some bad language, and you just laid there sweetly on my chest. I'll never forget the comfort you gave me to get through that moment. I will always love you for your sweet spirit you brought to me.
Once you were born, your sister didn't like you very much. Call it jealousy, call it Shelby, nobody really knows. But you never had to worry about her messing with you. It was always just you and me. She would tell me to put you to bed so she could play with me. You slept in your own crib after you were about 6 weeks old. You were a great sleeper. You slept about 6-8 hours a night after you were 4 months old. Shelby didn't do that until she was over 12 months old, so you can rub that in anytime. Although you have proven to be an early to bed, early to rise child. Your dad and Shelby are late to bed, late to wake up. You and I are very alike when it comes to sleep. We can fall asleep quickly at night and prefer mornings. You wake up happy every day.
When you were just a couple months old your dad took a job far away from home. He struggled with work right out of dental school. Because the economy is bad, work wasn't easy to find. He worked down in Medford, Roseburg, and all over the place. So he lived with a friend from dental school in Medford and a friend from PSU down in Roseburg. He would leave every Sunday night and come home really late every Thursday or Friday night. So the only time you really got to see him was on the weekends. He worked like this for two years and it was hard. You didn't bond with him as much as Shelby did because dad was just gone a lot. This means that you and I were closer than close. Because we spent so much time together and you're such a good kid, you and I have been very close. You like me to be in eye sight from you! I kind of love it, but it's harder for your dad to get time with you because you really do prefer me. I know it will be better when you're older and you'll bond with him because he's a great dad to you.
After you were about 6 months old, you and Shelby became the best of friends. She would entertain you all the time. As a young child your head was titled to one side. We had to do physical therapy to try and get your neck to stretch out just to keep your head straight up. So you weren't as active as Shelby was at a young age. Your head grew at an alarming rate as a child. Your first year was pretty scary because we had to meet with a lot of specialists because you had hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. They considered doing stents, but in the end you didn't need them. Many tests and sleepless nights worrying about you, but you turned out to be find and you just have a big head. You are a pretty chunky kid, so it doesn't look to huge.
You didn't learn to walk until you were just over one-years old. You have always preferred to cuddle and be held, instead of off doing your own thing. You like to be close to me and don't venture out too much. You're such a different kid than your sister and we love it. It's so fun to see how you two play and get a long and are so different. You love cars, trucks and tractors. You love to read books and have never been interested in watching TV or movies.
You had your eyes tested because of the head condition and they told us you needed glasses. I thought you had a lazy eye, but our pediatrician said they don't do much until you're one. So when it was your birthday we took you in and sure enough, your vision was pretty bad. I started to realize that's probably why you don't like TV.
You refused to talk for so long that we put you into speech therapy. I say refused, instead of didn't learn to talk because I think you knew, you just didn't want to. In fact, you hated your speech therapist and would run and hide whenever she would come. After one year, you weren't talking anymore than before therapy. So I decided to quit. I'm not kidding when I say you started to talk as soon as we quit. We couldn't believe it. All of a sudden you were talking up a storm. Granted you were three years old, but you were talking! You went to full sentences pretty quick and your vocabulary was great. That's why we think you were just refusing to talk instead of not knowing how to. I think you just wanted us to know that you have your own schedule and your own mind.
You were quite a surprise for our family. Your dad and I wanted to have our kids pretty close together, and you came swiftly. We didn't have to try to get pregnant more than a couple of months. I was working full-time and Shelby was being watched by Rhoda during the day. I would drive from Portland to West Salem, and then into work. Every morning I was sick, and after work I just wanted to stay at Rhoda's and not get back into the car to take Shelby home. Dad was really busy with his last year of school. Luckily he did have senioritis, so he didn't study as much as he did the first three years of dental school. We were expecting you to be born about two weeks after he graduated from dental school. The plan was to move to Salem because that's where my job is located and I'm tired of driving so much.
When we realized we were expecting you, we decided to move back to Salem to be closer to my work and family. So we started to shop for houses. We looked in Portland too because I love Portland. I love the city. I love the running routes. I love how close we are to Forest Park, the Zoo, Spring Water Trail where I run often, and downtown. But the cost of houses was practically double in Portland so I agreed with your dad to head back to Salem. We shopped for months for houses before we found one we liked. We loved the house the first moment we walked into it. Your dad fell in love when he saw it online, but I didn't love it until I came in person. It's a brand new house that nobody has lived in before because the economy crashed and houses couldn't sell. There are a lot of foreclosures and empty houses, so we didn't have to hurry to find one. We thought about it a lot, prayed about it, and went to the temple to be sure this was our new home. After many negotiations we finally bought it. I have worked for al long time and have a great job, so we qualified to buy it with my income and savings. Kind of nice that we could do that while your dad was still finishing school.
Because the end of dental school means passing your boards, dad was gone a lot. I packed up our townhouse by myself over a month. I was still working full-time and taking care of Shelby. Dad was gone a lot and I needed the exercise. I loaded boxes and would drive them to my parents house during the week to drop them off. We moved in and got settled right away because I was already almost due. You were born two weeks earlier than my due date. Unlike your sister, you wanted to be early. It was quite unexpected, and your dad had his finals for school, his boards coming up, and his graduation.
You were born on June 16, and he graduated the 18th. I was still in the hospital the day of his graduation and I missed the ceremony and he wasn't there to help me take you home. Rhoda came with me and brought me home and got me settled. That night we threw a graduation party for dad. My Aunt Pauli came over and helped decorate for dad. It was kind of a welcome home to the new baby and congratulations to dad for making it through dental school.
Labor with you was also a lot different than with Shelby. I was in labor during the night and I kept telling your dad, "I'm having real contractions but they don't hurt very bad". Your dad kept telling me to stop, and that I can't go into labor because he has big tests. He was making me laugh so hard that the labor contractions kept getting worse. He was trying to blow up this huge exercise ball for me to sit on and use for labor, like I did with Shelby, and the pump broke. So he was trying super hard to get it to work and I was dying laughing. I guess that didn't help because the contractions kept coming. Your dad went to sleep, I got into the bath and called Rhoda. I told her that I wasn't in very much pain but the contractions were coming super close, like 4-5 minutes apart. So she came over, made your dad wake up, and pack a bag for the hospital and we left. Sure enough, I was dilated to a 5, and they admitted me. Your dad couldn't stay awake. He kept falling asleep while I was in labor.
At one point the doctor came in and said they needed to break my water because labor was slowing down. I was in the tub and I got out to see if it would spike back up, but it didn't. I couldn't wake your dad up to see if I should let them break my water. He was so tired. Rhoda and I kept laughing at him like he was the one doing all the work.
I kept moving around and the heart rate monitors they put on me kept coming off. They were worried about your heart rate and said I may need to have a c-section. They ended up agreeing to putting a monitor on you and they had to put this little pin like device on your head, granted before you were born. Strange feeling, but it worked. They could better monitor you and agreed you were not in harms way, you were just slowing down. So I agreed and they broke my water. You were born shortly after that. In fact, the doctor didn't even deliver you. He was talking and putting on gloves and I told them you were coming. They didn't listen but one nurse did and she grabbed you. Thank goodness because your dad was barely awake.
You were very calm and sweet right away. You just laid on me and slept and cuddled. I had to have surgery right after you were born because I had a bad tear. Unlike after Shelby was born, this one they didn't take me to the operating room. I didn't want to go, and they were short staffed that night. So the doctor did surgery on me in the room. They were out of anesthesiologists so I had to have surgery without medication since I delivered you without any medicine there was nothing in my system. He tried numbing shots but that didn't help. Anyway, the whole point is that as I was laying there getting a hundred or so stitches, you were laying on me sleeping. I was crying, probably using some bad language, and you just laid there sweetly on my chest. I'll never forget the comfort you gave me to get through that moment. I will always love you for your sweet spirit you brought to me.
Once you were born, your sister didn't like you very much. Call it jealousy, call it Shelby, nobody really knows. But you never had to worry about her messing with you. It was always just you and me. She would tell me to put you to bed so she could play with me. You slept in your own crib after you were about 6 weeks old. You were a great sleeper. You slept about 6-8 hours a night after you were 4 months old. Shelby didn't do that until she was over 12 months old, so you can rub that in anytime. Although you have proven to be an early to bed, early to rise child. Your dad and Shelby are late to bed, late to wake up. You and I are very alike when it comes to sleep. We can fall asleep quickly at night and prefer mornings. You wake up happy every day.
When you were just a couple months old your dad took a job far away from home. He struggled with work right out of dental school. Because the economy is bad, work wasn't easy to find. He worked down in Medford, Roseburg, and all over the place. So he lived with a friend from dental school in Medford and a friend from PSU down in Roseburg. He would leave every Sunday night and come home really late every Thursday or Friday night. So the only time you really got to see him was on the weekends. He worked like this for two years and it was hard. You didn't bond with him as much as Shelby did because dad was just gone a lot. This means that you and I were closer than close. Because we spent so much time together and you're such a good kid, you and I have been very close. You like me to be in eye sight from you! I kind of love it, but it's harder for your dad to get time with you because you really do prefer me. I know it will be better when you're older and you'll bond with him because he's a great dad to you.
After you were about 6 months old, you and Shelby became the best of friends. She would entertain you all the time. As a young child your head was titled to one side. We had to do physical therapy to try and get your neck to stretch out just to keep your head straight up. So you weren't as active as Shelby was at a young age. Your head grew at an alarming rate as a child. Your first year was pretty scary because we had to meet with a lot of specialists because you had hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. They considered doing stents, but in the end you didn't need them. Many tests and sleepless nights worrying about you, but you turned out to be find and you just have a big head. You are a pretty chunky kid, so it doesn't look to huge.
You didn't learn to walk until you were just over one-years old. You have always preferred to cuddle and be held, instead of off doing your own thing. You like to be close to me and don't venture out too much. You're such a different kid than your sister and we love it. It's so fun to see how you two play and get a long and are so different. You love cars, trucks and tractors. You love to read books and have never been interested in watching TV or movies.
You had your eyes tested because of the head condition and they told us you needed glasses. I thought you had a lazy eye, but our pediatrician said they don't do much until you're one. So when it was your birthday we took you in and sure enough, your vision was pretty bad. I started to realize that's probably why you don't like TV.
You refused to talk for so long that we put you into speech therapy. I say refused, instead of didn't learn to talk because I think you knew, you just didn't want to. In fact, you hated your speech therapist and would run and hide whenever she would come. After one year, you weren't talking anymore than before therapy. So I decided to quit. I'm not kidding when I say you started to talk as soon as we quit. We couldn't believe it. All of a sudden you were talking up a storm. Granted you were three years old, but you were talking! You went to full sentences pretty quick and your vocabulary was great. That's why we think you were just refusing to talk instead of not knowing how to. I think you just wanted us to know that you have your own schedule and your own mind.
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