The Mallorys Online

We are all recovering from a nasty, lingering cold. Jacob was running temps of 100+ for a few days. I have had head junk going for a while and think I’m finally on the tail end.

Jacob has been in a new day care, actually a close friend is watching him during the day. They have a one year old boy so Jacob has a buddy. We are very happy with the situation after a negative experience with his first day care.

Jennifer and I are still getting used to balancing being parents, spouses and working. Putting on so many hats in a day can be challenging, but I think we are doing a great job going with the flow.

The Mallorys had a very eventful weekend!  We started the weekend off with my buddy EJ’s birthday on Friday night.  It was a surprise and his wife arranged for his friends to drop by for dinner.  We played Scattegories and had a great time laughing at our absurd answers.

The next day we dropped Jacob off at the Wixoms and took my mom out to Napa Valley aboard the wine train.  We enjoyed some great wine and really good food (mom had the salmon, Jennifer and I had the best beef tenderloin I’ve ever had!).  The train left the station at 11:30 and cruised at a leisurely 17mph to St. Helena where it stopped for twenty minutes or so before turning back around. On the way back to the station we had dessert and various dessert wines.  It was great to get out with my mom and share some conversation about life without all of the distractions.

After the wine train we picked Jacob up, dropped my mom off back home and rushed over to the Parish’s for their son’s three-year birthday party.  It was surfer themed and they created a water park in their backyard.  The cake looked like a huge wave, too!  Jill is always so creative with family events.  It seemed like there were more kids there than adults and Jacob quickly became irritated with all the noise.  We took him in the backyard and he fell asleep in my arms.  The poor guy had been to a birthday party earlier in the day with the Wixoms and had enough at this point.

The next day we relaxed early in the day and ran errands.  We then hosted our friends for a Labor Day BBQ and played some Scattegories.  Jacob looked adorable in his “This is How I Roll” onesie that Uncle Tuna got him and his “Skate or Cry” hat that our friends in SoCal got him.  We got some great pictures of Jacob and his hat.

Monday was a low-key regroup day.  After everything Jacob had been through he was noticeably more fussy and just needed some calm home time before starting day-care on Tuesday, but that’s for another post.

A buddy of mine sent out a note asking for iPhone app recommendations.  Since I went through the effort to put the list together I figured I might as well share it on the site.

• WeatherBug - replaces stock weather app and provides more detailed forecasts and weather maps
• Wordpress - I run a couple Wordpress powered blogs and this provides publishing on the go
• Facebook - This one needs much improvement.  It’s rumored they’re working on a 2.0 that closely resembles the web based Facebook
• Pandora - Internet radio that adapts to your taste.  You can create custom stations by seeding the player with a favorite artist or song.
• eBay - Obvious
• iChoose - Free app that offers a coin flip, yes/no, dice roll or card choice when you need a little help making a decision!
• myLite - Flashlight app with some cool effects.  Great way to cut Jacob’s fingernails while he’s sleeping at night.
• Simplify - App that allows iTunes library sharing between users.  I share mine under NorCalAngler
• SportsTap - Instant access to scores and news for all major sports
• Last.fm - Similar to Pandora, Internet radio that adapts to your preferences
• Dual Level - Bubble level app that uses the iPhone sensors to make sure things are level
• Exposure - Tap into your Flickr photo library anywhere.  Great for showing off pics of Jacob without loading my iPhone will gigs of photos
• HoldEm - The best iPhone Texas Holdem game
• Enigmo - Fun puzzle game where you use various tools to direct water into buckets
• Air Hockey - 1/2 player air hockey
• Sudoku Free - Obvious
• Tris - Will be removed from the app store on Wednesday due to copyright issues - Tetris clone

What are your favorite apps?

I was just listening to Garth Brooks’ “The Dance” and I have decided it is one of the best songs ever written/performed.  It’s on the No Fences CD.  Totally random, but I felt compelled to share.

For my birthday this year (May 25) I asked my family for Apple store gift cards so I could get the new iPhone when it is released.  Well, that day has come and gone and I don’t have an iPhone.  Why?  Well, that’s a great question that I would love to answer.  The reason I don’t have an iPhone is that I have a family and a job.  While I was helping our country with its gross national product, college kids and unemployed people across the country were standing in line for up to 8-9 hours to get an iPhone.  How can I compete with that?  I asked Jennifer to head over to the Apple store at 8am.  She had Jacob with her so there was no chance she was sticking it out once she saw the line.

I figured the line may die down toward the end of the day so I headed over to the mall at 3:30pm and saw a guy walking out with an iPhone bag.  I asked him how the line is moving inside and his response was, “it’s still pretty slow, about 4-5 hours is my guess.”  My natural follow-up question was how long he waited. “Oh, I’ve been here since 7am.”  WHAT?!?  These people are nuts, but they have an iPhone and I don’t.  I have been messing with the new software on Jennifer’s iPod Touch and it’s awesome!  Hopefully the Apple store gets some more stock (they’re currently out) this week.

On another note, I found a cool plugin for themallorysonline.com that optimizes the layout for iPhones and Touches.  The only person I know that looks at the site with an iPhone is my older sister so I’ll have to ask her if it actually works.

Update: Thank you, big sis, for the screenshot of the site in action on the iPhone!  She said it looks good and works great.. awesome!

I received a $20 off coupon with no minimum at Sunglass Hut that expired at the end of July.  The other day while Jennifer was waiting at Picture People I wandered into Sunglass Hut to look around.  I tried on the Oakley Gascans and really liked them.  They’re relatively inexpensive and I like the style.  I plopped down my coupon and walked away with a shiny new pair like the ones in the picture. I also got a free sunglass care kit thanks to a sunglasshut.com coupon.

A couple days later Jennifer and I took Jacob out to San Francisco for a picnic at Golden Gate Park.  We had a great time, but toward the end of the day the sides of my head and the tops of my ears were in serious pain from the new sunglasses.  Being a solid piece of plastic, I figured I was forced to return them.  I explained the situation to the employee at Sunglass Hut and to my surprise, he said it’s no problem to make adjustments on these sunglasses.  I admit I still didn’t believe him until he plopped them down on a little heat-gun type thing and sure enough, the plastic was soft enough to adjust after a few seconds under the heat.  I had no idea they could custom fit plastic sunglasses!  Top that with the Sunglass Hut 30-day return policy and their “if you break or scratch them, we’ll sell you another pair at 50% off” deal and I’m a customer for life.  Oakley price controls their sunglasses so the only thing that sets a dealer apart is service.  In my opinion, Sunglass Hut goes above and beyond with their customer friendly policies.

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.

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…