The little things

Essentially, this is another post on perspective. My oldest son got a hold of the camera the other day and took some photos. I really liked how some of them turned out. He needs some work on his subject matter, but that's OK. Here's a sample:

This is my wife's guitar case next to our Thanksgiving tree. (we're still thankful, why should we take it down?)
This is the control to our stove top. I wish you couldn't see the dirt and gunk in the little slats there.
This is a picture of a cabinet at the bottom of our book shelves taken through the slats of the rocking chair.
This is a picture of our Dr. Seuss collection. The man was a literary genious.

This is a close up of some old molecular models that I used in organic chemistry a long time ago. The boys like to play with these and build things. I think it would be a lot of fun if I could still name the structures that they made. I can't. I think higher of myself for that.

Now we're getting at what I wanted to write about today. The little things, like this molecule are really the big things in life. I was looking at some pictures a friend posted on his Facebook page and was impressed at some of the places he had been. He had pictures from England, Spain, Tokyo, St. Louis, Hawaii and California. I think those are just the places that he has visited recently (he's a pilot, he gets around quite a bit). Of course I'm jealous and wish I could visit all those places, but at the same time, I'm glad that I haven't.

My boys were reading a book the other day about John Muir and there was part where a little girl asked him to show her around Yosemite (I think that's where it was). John Muir told her no, that she would not appreciate it and then handed her a magnifying glass and told her to learn what was around her. Only after she had learned to understand and appreciate the little things around her would he give the girl a tour of the great things of Yosemite. Without an understanding of the microscopic world that is the building block for everything, you can never really appreciate the great things.

I'm relatively new to the area in which I live. I am quite competent at getting to school and back, but I really don't know my way around very well. I do, however know my route to school fairly well. I know about the owl that lives in the area. I know about the ducks in the swampy area and the rabbits that live in the nearby bushes. I have seen the deer roaming around and the hawks hunting over the fields. I travel through that area at all times of day and night and I am in a quiet enough vehicle that I don't scare away the wildlife around me (except the ducks, they seem to fly away every time). I have a certain understanding of the area that I feel that few others have. It gives me a different perspective and understanding. There is a certain beauty in watching the owl circle over a field before diving down and catching dinner. Is it as spectacular as some of the views I've seen while hiking Mt. Timp? No. But without the perspective of the integral relationship between all the animals and plants, would I really appreciate what I was seeing? I don't think so.

One of my goals in life is to live in the midwest for a bit. (My wife is going to hate me for this.) Not because I have any attraction to what is there, but because I don't understand it. God created all that is on this earth and made it beautiful. If I don't see the beauty of Nebraska, I want to learn to understand the land well enough to see the beauty. I don't think that we can fully appreciate the great wonders of this world if we can't appreciate the world immediately around us. I still want to see the Himalayas and the Appalachian trail, but I will regret that I don't understand it as well as I should. The true beauty of things lies in the simple building blocks working together to make such a complex system.

Perspective

It's interesting how quickly perspective can change when there is a sudden change in measuring tools. Six-Pence was our baby for two years. Yesterday, he became HUGE! Suddenly his communication abilities seem greater than they used to be and he seems to understand a lot more. I don't think that anything really changed, except that now we have a helpless newborn. Here's a picture of Six-Pence the Gargantuan. Oddly, the Mugwump didn't suddenly grow, I think he is too distant from the baby.

So here's the baby in his little chair. Notice the strap that is supposed to hold the child in the chair on the bottom, errr left of the picture. The strap is as big as he is. I can't believe that Shackleton was a full pound bigger than Six-Pence at birth, and a pound and a half bigger than the Mugwump.

Another thing that has changed, is peoples' perspective on birth. It seems that it has become a procedure rather than something that just happens. With all of the "required" equipment for birth, it's amazing that anyone survived birth before all of these technological advances. Yet when you really look at it, everyone on this earth survived a birth. If we go back just a few generations, everyone on earth survived a birth that didn't involve tremendous medical intervention. Do hospitals provide a safety net for when something goes wrong during a birth? Of course they do, and I don't think that it's bad that more mothers and babies survive births, but C-section rates are getting out of hand and it just doesn't have to be as complicated as we make it.

Here's a picture of Shackleton laying on the floor in front of the heater. Look at that hair! He really likes being stretched out when he's awake.

Let's take the birth yesterday as an example. The baby presented itself really early in labor in the transverse position. Most doctors will perform a C-section at that point (or so said the midwife). She got everything straightened out and in the correct position simply by moving the baby through my wife's belly. It worked fine.

Later in labor the baby ended up breech, which is also typically a C-section in the hospital. It doesn't have to be, babies can come out that way as well. I need to take a moment for a side story.

About 6 weeks ago my wife had a different midwife. She just didn't feel comfortable with her. She didn't feel that the lady would do a bad job with the delivery, but it just didn't seem right. So she went looking for a new midwife. She found Valerie who happens to have a whole lot of experience in delivering breech babies. We didn't know that we needed that experience, but I really feel that my wife was inspired to find someone who could handle the problem we would face more than a month before we knew the problem would exist.

I don't have good sources for the information, but I have heard from a couple of sources that mistakes made in hospitals are one of the leading causes of death in the US. Additionally, hospitals house more germs than most places because sick people go there. Not just any sick people go to hospitals, REALLY sick people go to hospitals. You know the people with drug resistant strains of diseases that used to be easy to treat. I certainly don't think that medical technology is bad, but I think that our overuse of the system is creating bigger problems than we'll be able to solve in the future. Our perspective now is to treat everything to the best of our ability, but we are changing the nature of diseases faster than we can come up with solutions. If we step back and take a look, it may be wise to let our bodies develop resistance to some of these less severe diseases rather than trying to decrease our inconvenience through medical intervention.

OK, I also took a few more pictures. Now that you've endured (or skipped over) my soapbox, I will let you see some more pictures. That's Shackleton

Look, he's got hair.

It's a... wait a minute, I'm going to make you read it

I'm going to ruin the ending of this post right from the start. My wife had a baby this morning. It's funny though people will keep reading to find out the silly little details like name weight and length. Who is going to remember the weight and length at the end of the week? I don't remember the lengths of either of my other boys (I do, however remember their weights).

So my wife had an appointment with the midwife (Valerie) yesterday morning. She came over to our house and with the due date quickly approaching (Feb. 8), she wanted to do an exam. She found that my wife was dilated to 2 cm, 75% effaced and the baby's head was positioned correctly in the pelvis. A birth was going to happen soon. I already ruined that part, but my family will keep reading anyway.

The midwife left and I got home later that evening. My wife was experiencing some "cramping" that was a little more significant than had happened before. She felt that the baby was on the way within a day. There also happened to be a snow storm on the way within a day, so we decided to call Valerie and have her come back and stay with us rather than call her when my wife was expecting a baby any minute and have a midwife stuck on the other side of the valley in a blizzard. It worked out well the way we did it. But before Valerie gets here, we need to get some pictures of how 'big' my wife is. OK dear, stick it out.
... and suck it in.
Valerie got back and checked my wife again to see how things had progressed. Well, things hadn't progressed all that well, the baby had turned sideways and was lying transverse in the uterus. That's generally when doctors do C-sections. Valerie gave my wife the mother of all belly massages and turned the baby head down again and we let things continue to progress. We went to "sleep" and decided to get up when my wife was in enough discomfort to wake everyone else up. I slept well anyway.

At about 3 am my wife walked into the living room to visit with Valerie. Misery loves company, I suppose. We had some wonderful soup that Valerie made us and Aly had to walk around a bit, hoping to get the baby to descend. I offered to go borrow a pogo stick, but she declined. Here is what a home birth is like. My wife walking around the kitchen at 4 am with a cup of Valerie's homemade soup.

As contractions became more regular and intense, we went into the bedroom to prepare for the birth. Valerie checked Aly another time, it wasn't transverse, which was good, instead it was breech. Baby wanted to come out butt first. At this point in labor, that was just how it was going to happen. This is why we did research on our midwife to find that she has shown many doctors how to deliver breech babies. Evidently they don't teach that in medical school. So we (when I say 'we', I mean my wife moved and I got shoved to a new spot) changed positions a little and Valerie told us what to expect.

Two good pushes (and many preparatory pushes) and the baby popped out, butt first. In fact we saw that he was a boy long before we saw his head. Dad (me) thought he was a girl, and was actually quite confident in that fact. I think the little guy wanted to prove me wrong... with flair. I'm not guessing on the next one. So it was a boy and we named him Shackleton Lawrence. We're waiting for Gramps to come up with a screen name for him. He weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. And he was cuter than most babies because his head didn't get all deformed on the way out. Although he did get a big bruise on his bum. Mom and baby are both doing great. That is just after the birth, mom and baby got some time to get to know one another from a different angle.

After Mom and baby had snuggled awhile and Dad got to interact as much as you can interact with a 15 minute old Valerie came back so we could do a little bath and cut the cord and stuff.

A couple hours later, Valerie had left and the Mugwump woke up. He was so excited last night about the baby and he was still excited this morning. After an intensive hand washing lesson, he got to hold his little brother. He was just a little disappointed that it wasn't a little sister.

And finally Six-Pence woke up and we got a picture of Mom with her boys. All are well.

I'm going to go spend time with my family.

Play

I was recently interviewed (along with several other cyclists in the area) for a play on transportation. Essentially we just sat around telling stories about cycling while a group of drama people eavesdropped on the conversation. We went to the play that they made from that on Saturday (they also incorporated interviews with senior citizens, people who frequent the bus, teenagers and other groups).

First off, it turned out really well. They feared taking quotes and real experiences and trying to dramatize it because it loses something in the translation, so they essentially just used exact quotes put together into conversations. They took some dramatic liberties, but it turned out really well. I could sit and watch the play and think, "I said that, Dan said that, Aaron said that, etc." I think they did a better job of quoting me than journalists ever have. I really enjoyed the play.

Now I want to share what I learned. Here's the big thing for anyone who waters their sidewalk. I know, you are just trying to water all of the parts of your lawn without having any dead spots. Sure it's just a little inconvenience for passers by, it doesn't kill anyone and it doesn't waste that much water. Here's what it does... it makes it impossible for electric wheel chairs to pass. Oddly enough, electric wheelchairs are electric and they don't especially like water. In fact, water kills electric wheel chairs. Now think of walking around your neighborhood in the summer. How far can you go before you run into a sprinkler watering the sidewalk? How would you like to be confined within those "walls"? I have always been annoyed by people watering their sidewalks, but I never realized how much it can affect some people.

Seniors also had it rough. Their baby-boomer children in the suburbs would eventually take their drivers license and give them a line like, "It's OK Mom, we'll take you any where you want to go." Here's the fine print, "AFTER WORK, AT OUR CONVENIENCE, WHEN WE ARE NOT TOO TIRED, AND IF IT SEEMS IMPORTANT TO US". And after they shuttled us around for the first 18 years of our lives we welcome them into our homes, give them false hopes of mobility and let them live out their days in a pseudo-prison that we call home.

One of the other groups portrayed by the play was teenagers. It never ceases to amaze me how much teenagers think they know, yet how ignorant they remain of their surroundings.

The cyclist portion of the play was done to resemble James Bond. It was well done, he doesn't even know the dangers that he will have to face.

Pictures

Today all you get is pictures with a little commentary. This is Six-Pence with an icicle he found on the rose bush. He spent the next 15 minutes sitting on the front porch sucking on his treasure.
I thought this picture was facing the right way in the icon, but it's not. This is the Mugwump's launch pad he made to launch his rocket. I should have known it wasn't supposed to shoot straight down, it's supposed to shoot straight to the right.
This was at one time a snowman, but now it's a rocket... I think. This is the Mugwump eating the side of the rocket. I have no further explanation.
This is Six-Pence quite content sitting on the porch just after a long suck on his icicle.
I know that I took the picture, but I have not the foggiest idea what Mugwump is doing. I don't think I knew at the time either. Anyway, that is the area that will be a garden in a few months.

Names: The anti-simplicity

My wife is due on February 8th and if the past is any indication, the baby could come any time. Our oldest son came two weeks early, although he was induced (today is two weeks before February 8). My younger son came naturally 10 days before the due date. So we are awaiting the arrival of an addition to our family.

We chose a girl's name long ago, but still haven't had a girl. So we still have the name ready to go. The boy's name is a different story. Here's the thing, I like boy names that are more suited for black babies. So my favorite names always get vetoed. My wife and I have made some decisions and we've narrowed it down to three names, none of which make you think of a black baby when you hear the name. I'm not going to tell you the names we have chosen. You see, if I mention the names you will think, "Oh, I knew a guy with that name, he was a total dork, you can't name your kid that." Then I feel bad naming my kid after the dorky guy that you know. Instead, we name the kid and tell you after the baby is born, in which case you smile and lie to me saying, "Oh, that's nice". So that's the thing, I want you to lie to me. Tell me you like the name because we do and that is why we chose it.

Our first choice just happened to be a little too similar to someone we know here. I do like the name, but not for this kid. We'll have to wait for a subsequent child or not have a kid with that name.

Another choice we came up with was a good name, but it just hasn't felt right for either my wife or I. Why is something so simple so complicated?

Then my wife had this idea for a name that she shared with me. We both really like the name, but it's unique. I'm not one to intensify my superlatives or use them inappropriately, so when I say unique I really mean one of a kind. It is the last name of someone marginally famous, but I have never before heard it as a first name. I also like that it shortens easily to a catchy name, although the shortened version happens to be the name of a famous black man. So family be warned, I think the name will be unique. I still really like the name, so when we finally tell you what it is, pretend that you like it.

Besides, if we can have presidential candidates (or primary contenders or whatever you want to call them at this point) named Mitt and Barack, how bad can a kid get messed up by a goofy name.

Screen time

I've spent the last couple of days on the topic of simplicity vs. environmentalism. So far I've hit on cars and cell phones. I've talked about how they can detract from our interpersonal relationships in addition to being bad for the environment. I think that this next point is taking it to the next level. Interpersonal relationships are important, but I don't think any are as important as those with our family. Televisions, video games, this blog that I'm writing and you're reading, they all take you away from your family (it would be the ultimate compliment to me if you stopped reading right here and went to spend time with your family). I suppose that you could argue that my bike commute also takes me away from my family, but if I didn't commute by bike I would still enjoy going for bike rides and I would still need to find time to exercise. Besides, my bike time is great alone time and I think that is important.

I want you to do an experiment. Go find a movie or TV show from the 60s or before and start watching it. Count the time between changes in camera angles. This is not just scene changes, but a different view of the same scene. Now I want you to find something on television today (besides sporting events, they seem to be an exception to this trend). If you want to maximize the effect, change the station to MTV. Again, count the time between changes in camera angles. Now I'm going to give the results of the study away. It used to be that there was a lot more time between changes of camera angle. Now you will often find that the camera angle changes almost every second (I believe i read somewhere that it averaged between 2-3 seconds).

So who cares, new technology has made it easier to edit footage, so now there are more changes, how is that bad? While the technological advances are part of the reason for change, it is also demand. People demand more stimulation (you can't tell me that the television industry wouldn't take the easy way out if they could). Shows have to be ever changing and exciting to attract viewers. The same is true for video games. You have probably found yourself bored reading my blog, that is because I don't use a lot of pictures or visual break-ups on the screen. I could do a lot more to hold the reader's attention, but that's the entire point. If you aren't here for content, I'm not trying to attract you... Except my family, they just want pictures of the boys, I doubt they enjoy my random rants.

I want to give an example. We don't own a television. We do, however, own a small portable DVD player that we occasionally use for movies (it's cute having the family of 4 gathered around a 8 inch screen). Last night I was watching the boys while my wife went to a friend's baby shower. I had some grading for one of my classes that needed to get done, so I suggested to my older son that we watch a movie. He refused and suggested that we draw something out of our activity jar. (It's a jar of ideas of things to do so that when you feel that you don't have anything to do you can be given an idea... our boys LOVE it!) So we chose a slip of paper that said the boys were supposed to draw something and then I was supposed to copy it the best I could. Then we would change roles. The Mugwump drew a dragon and I copied it the best I could (it was unsatisfactory to the original artist). I then drew a picture of a boat. The Mugwump could identify what it was, but was unwilling to try to copy it.

That was the end of the drawing game, it was then time to go learn about the dragon and the Mugwump taught an amazing lesson about dragons and what we should know about them. Six-Pence participated in that entire thing, but his artistic abilities are still developing, as are his communication abilities so it was a passive participation. I would have missed that opportunity to play with my kids had I watched a movie. I would have missed the opportunity to show my boys that I love them more than the light box. My older son would not have had the opportunity to teach a lesson on dragons. My younger son would not have had the opportunity to sit in a "class".

Are there good things on TV? Sure... whatever. Are the "good" things on TV better than spending time in reality interacting with your family? My answer would be, ABSOLUTELY NOT! Oh, but the TV is how I relax... Read, read to your kids, watch your kids play, learn to draw, learn to play an instrument.... Do you really depend on the TV to relax, or is it just an excuse?

I don't drive very often, but my family owns a car and we do use it to travel longer distances.

I don't own a cell phone, but I would if it would allow me to live off the grid.

I don't own a television and under no circumstances, not even if you offered me lots of money or a new bike, would I ever own a television. Of all the changes I have made toward simplicity, I think that not having a television is by far the best.