September, 2002

I guess the biggest news from the Hodge Lodge this quarter is that I finally had the kid. Calvin Joseph Hodge was born on August 27th, 2002 at 5:01 pm central time. And boy was I glad.

The last month of pregnancy was crappy. Our mild summer finally decided to get hot in August. Let me tell you I would never elect to be in month nine of a pregnancy in 98 degree heat. I guess that's what I get for not planning things better, huh?

Anyway, my hinky gall bladder decided to act up a couple of times a week that last month which meant I was tired and cranky quite a bit. Plus I felt a bit like a beached whale with incontinence problems most days.

But I was rescued from my horrible ordeal by my obstetrician who decided that if the kid didn't come by the due date (8/23) I would go into the hospital and have labor induced. Well, I had a few contractions off and on but August 23rd came and went and no sign of a new bambino. So the 27th was the date the hospital came up with and Mike and I arrived there bright and early at 7:30 am.

By 8:30 they had me gowned up and stuck with an IV that slowly dispensed a hormone to kick start delivery. By lunch time I was starting to feel some pretty good contractions. By 3:00 they had gotten more painful and I received a half dose of some kind of pain reliever. I still couldn't face the thought of an epidural but a little dope to take the edge off the contractions was right up my alley.

Finally the hard labor started and I got to the pushing phase. This one went a lot quicker than my first kid-three good pushes and baby Cal was out and I was relieved not to be in pain. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 ozs. And had a much smaller head than Duncan. Thank goodness!

So that's finally over and now I'm just dealing with tired nipples (breast feeding) and occasional crankiness from too little sleep. I can safely say that's the last time I'm gonna go through that. Two is enough and I'm certainly not crazy enough to keep popping out kids to try for a girl.

On the plus side, we've got a lovely little baby who is as mellow as his brother was. I'm just ready for him to become a little more mobile. I must admit the helpless floppy phase gets old for me.

Duncan has adjusted remarkably well to the new addition. He seems enamored of the kid but we'll see if that continues once his little brother is walking, talking and messing with his stuff.

Let's see...oh, the house. We're still not in the new house. The pregnancy and the resultant need to prepare for the new baby in our very small current house kinda put the kibosh on working on the new house. We are finally getting around to working on it again. We did manage to get all of the wallpaper and carpet and flooring removed but we still need to prep the walls and paint.

The biggest unfinished tasks right now are getting the kitchen set up for a gas stove, installing new cabinets and putting in flooring and carpet. But we finally have funds lined up to cover the cost of all of that and just need to get the workers out and get 'em started. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we're in the new place before Christmas.

Duncan is in first grade this year which means he goes all day to school. Hooray! So far he's enjoying school and doing well.

He's also joined the Boy Scouts-Tiger Cubs to be more precise. I must admit that I was a little leery of this. Their stand on homosexuals as scout leaders really turned me off and that whole emphasis on "God" thing bugged me. But I know I've got to keep my liberal views from mucking with my kid's fun too much.

Duncan is also back in dance and, miracle of miracles, there's another boy in his class. In fact there are four boys total in Jo Hunter's school. Keen.

Mike has been going through some political shenanigans at work lately which hasn't made him very happy. Strangely enough the crap isn't even coming from within Integris but has been instigated by the agency that's handling Integris' advertising. Unfortunately the owner of said agency is on the board of directors for Integris so it's hard to give the agency the big ol' smackdown.

Mike finally resigned from the SF convention steering committee. The new kid and getting the house ready take precedence over being his head against a wall about this con.

We haven't really seen many good movies since my last quarterly update. I remember seeing quite a few kid flicks that I dozed off in the middle of. There just wasn't much out there worth seeing this summer beyond the SF blockbusters that came out earlier.

We did want to see The Road to Perdition but never got around to it. I guess there's always video.
I do recommend that you see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It's ended up becoming a sleeper hit and deserves all of the accolades it's been getting. If you're looking for a great date flick or just want to go to a movie and laugh then see this movie.

I don't have any reviews this quarter thanks to the new kid. It's hard to find time to get on the computer and write right now but I foresee things improving as Cal becomes less reliant on feed me, change me, hold me 24 hours a day.

You can visit www.flooby.com/calvin.htm for a few more pics of the new kid.

Until next time!

Tamara J. Hodge,
September, 2002