The Mallorys Online

He’s adorable when you get him going.  He’s been coo’ing for a while, but he’s recently learned how to change the pitch of his voice during one coo.  I was talking to him for a few minutes before I grabbed the camera so this is the tail end of our conversation. I edited out my baby talking to spare your ears.

We took Jacob in for his two month checkup and his first series of vaccinations on Friday.  First things first, his stats from the two-month checkup:

Height: 22.5 inches – he’s grown 4 inches in 9 weeks
Weight: 11lb 1.6oz – he’s gained almost 5lbs in 9 weeks

The pediatrician gave us some advice for his face because he has baby eczema on his right cheek.  It flares up whenever friends or family hold him and they have perfume on or clothes washed in scented detergent.  Other than that he’s perfectly healthy and right on track with his development milestones.

The checkup was the easy part.  Jacob also received his first round of vaccinations.  With so much conflicting information floating around regarding vaccines and autism, we spent some time going over the shots with the pediatrician.  In the end we decided to go with the standard schedule for the two month vaccines.  The shots were given in the same room so we didn’t have to take Jacob to the vaccine department down the hall.  Mom stayed close to Jacob and the nurse made quick work of the shots, administering them all in about 30 seconds.  When the first needle poked his thigh Jacob had a huge look of surprise and then he turned tomato-red and screamed.  The screaming quickly subsided when Jennifer picked him up and comforted him.

We were prepared for the worst that night.  We gave him Tylenol and kept an eye on his temperature to make sure he didn’t get a high fever.  He was fussier than normal in the evening, but not unmanageable.  The next day he slept like he was a day old again.  For the last couple weeks he has been up for most of the day and sleeping very well at night (6-7 hours during his first “nap”).  His body fighting the vaccines wore him out big-time.  Here is a pic of him passed out from the shots.

Michelle and Adam stopped by this week to hang out.  Jacob and Adam are four days apart and will basically grow up as brothers barring an unlikely move by us or the Wixoms.  Jennifer first put them right next to each other until Adam accidentally landed a spinning backfist.  She then realized it’s not good to put two little flailing two month old boys within arms reach.  They laid on their backs and coo’d at each other and touched hands.  Here are some pics of their first time together where they could actually recognize there was another baby to play with.

My first father’s day was great!  As one of my gifts Jennifer let me sleep the entire night without any feedings.  This alone was priceless, but she also got me a beautiful glass frame that I already filled with a picture from the day.  It’s sitting on my cubicle shelf and it looks great.  I used the picture of me kissing Jacob while he’s up in the air.

Jennifer’s dad came over in the early afternoon and we went to old downtown Fair Oaks to a little bistro for brunch.  The weather was perfect and we sat outside on the patio.  Jacob loved the fresh air and was a great baby the entire time.

Here are the pics from the day:

This was my first week back to work after seven wonderful weeks at home with my family. My feeling toward work is very odd because it seems like I have been out of work for a very long time. However, it doesn’t seem like my seven weeks at home was very long at all. My first week back has been mostly catch-up with some new meetings/projects sprinkled in. On Thursday I attended my monthly “Emerging Leaders Program” (ELP) meeting. ELP is a program designed to take associates with leadership potential and provide a program that builds on those leadership skills by providing proven leadership framework material. I missed the last two meetings since I couldn’t come into work during my Paid Family Leave time.

I usually have an odd anxiety going into each of these meetings. I can’t explain the anxiety because every time I leave at the end of the day I have a renewed sense of purpose and confidence. The only source I can think of are the two minute leadership experience speeches. For the first part of the year we had to speak about a leadership experience from the previous month. However, this Thursday’s meeting was the first time we tried something different. Our ELP coordinators decided they were going to write topics for us to choose out of a bag. We then must give a two minute impromptu speech on the topic with the only time to formulate our ideas being the time it takes to walk to the front of the room.

My time to speak fell about in the middle of the fifteen member group. I was getting a good feel for the types of questions, which usually sounded like “explain a time you had to use the supporting behavior situational leadership style.” Easy enough, right? My turn came up and I pulled a piece of paper out of the bag that seemed slightly larger than the norm. I started to read the paper out loud to the group:

“Your good friend and co-worker of six years recently told you that he’s gay. Another co-worker found out and he let you know that he is uncomfortable working with the gay associate on a project team due to his values and beliefs. How do you handle the situation?”

WHAT?!? They threw me a monster curve ball here. I’m talking one that started above my head and just dropped straight through the strike zone while I bailed out of the batter’s box. I took a deep breath and walked (a little slower than normal) up to the front of the room. Keep in mind there are company senior leaders in the room and I missed the last meeting where they covered diversity and inclusion.

To my surprise, I nailed the speech. I deflected some of the tension and uncomfortable air in the room by relating to the discussions I have had with gay men and the challenges they face. Then I said this specific question is about a gay man, but the sentiment from the uncomfortable co-worker applies to almost any situation where a person is different be it sexual preference or ethnicity. I discussed the fact that the root of this fear is typically a lack of knowledge or incorrect information. I talked about referring the co-worker to the many programs our HR department offers annually. In the end I took a very difficult question at face value and gave a successful, eloquent speech.

On another note, let me explain how excited I am to come home every day. I drive home with a smile on my face knowing I’ll be holding my son soon. I walk into the house and am greeted by a huge smile on Jennifer’s face. Motherhood really agrees with Jennifer and I wish I could make it work for her to stay home. That’s for another post, I suppose.

I also rode my bike into work today. There is a group of people that bike commute in the office and with gas prices so high the group is getting larger. I tuned my bike up last night and met the ELP coordinator at the river bike trail. The ride is about nine miles, so it’s not that bad at all. Let me qualify that… the ride THERE isn’t bad, but wait until I have to face the 100 degree heat this afternoon.

Knock on wood, Jacob has been a very good baby the last couple days.  He is sleeping very well and his time awake is filled with much less grunting and more happy baby.  I don’t know if it is the gripe water we’re giving every other feeding or his little tummy is maturing (or both), but he seems to have less gas and upset tummy.

Today Jennifer’s old boss, Cindy, came by for a visit and Jacob was on his best behavior.  He laid on his back peacefully on the couch staring at “picture” while the two ladies caught up.  In the evening we took Jacob to El Torito to meet my work team.  Jacob is 7 weeks old and he’s already hanging out at bars during happy hour. He did great until we tried to push it and go to the mall to grab something for Jennifer.  He went ballistic when we got out of the car to walk around and get him so I stayed in the car with him while Jennifer ran in for twenty minutes or so.  He slept in my arms in the car while mommy shopped.

I go back to work on Monday and I’m very thankful for the time I was able to spend at home with Jennifer and Jacob.  Jacob is sleeping longer and eating better, which should make the transition easier for Jennifer when I go back.  I went into work yesterday to see Steve Poizner speak and it felt like I had been away from the office for a long time.  I guess seven weeks is a long time to be away from work, but it doesn’t seem like I’ve been home that long.  I’m going to be thinking about the little guy all day long as I sift through 1000+ e-mails (no exaggeration).

It’s been too long since I posted an update.  A few amazing things have happened since the last post!

The first amazing thing that happened is Jacob discovered his smile.  On May 28 during a late night feeding Jacob was staring attentively at his daddy while daddy coo’d and baby talked to him.  Jacob was waving his arms around in excitement and then unleashed the most beautiful smiles at daddy.  It instantly brought me to tears.  We caught some pics of him smiling today.

The second amazing thing is the amount of weight Jacob is gaining.  Today with his clothes on he was 10lbs 1oz.  I would guess he is at the upper end of 9lbs since his outfit didn’t weigh much.  Both his mom and dad have short legs and long (average) torsos and sure enough Jacob is wearing 0-3 month tops and newborn pants!

Here are more pics of him just because…