Tinkerty Tonk

Playing around with blog layout

2012-01-22T21:42:00.001Z

Please bear with me while I try to update the blog layout. I started playing with this about 4 hours ago and after dealing with the kids for bedtime, I'm now too tired to figure out how to get it back to how it was. So stay tuned for an update!

Fuzzy with Attitude

2012-01-09T19:39:00.000Z

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:09:00.000Z

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

November catch up

2011-11-20T21:10:00.000Z

Keeping up with a blog and two children seems to be more than we can handle right now. We'll try to improve for 2012!

Here are a few shots from the past two weeks. Isaac is trying out solids for the first time and Calvin is wearing us all out. I wish I had that energy!

grandparents visited several weeks ago!

2011-09-17T20:08:00.002+01:00

My parents came by for a couple of weeks at the end of August. It was nice- lots of hanging around Cambridge, a few small trips, and typical British weather. It's taken a long time to write about it because we continue to be really busy and tired and full of screaming kids. Here's a fun fact: Rose was going to write a guest blog while she was here, but couldn't find the time to do it because Cal is very full of energy. So it's not just us being lazy.

So, here are pictures from their visit. There's a castle in there, nice views of Cambridge from above, screaming babies, and a horse. I'm off to Rome for a week starting tomorrow, good luck Sam!

busy, busy, busy

2011-08-20T09:50:00.003+01:00

It turns out, and I wish someone would have warned me about this, that everything gets slightly more hectic when you have a toddler and an infant. So we haven't been doing anything much except trying to keep up. Typical day: Sam spends two out of every three hours nursing while Calvin yells about dinosaurs and trains and apples, and I'm off living the high life at work. Basically the same as the last update, just more so. Isaac continues to grow larger. Some pictures from the last month or two are here.

settling in, sort of

2011-07-10T22:03:00.003+01:00

We've had family staying with us since Isaac was born, which has been a tremendous help. We've been able to ease into caring for two screaming charming kids. I'll be on paternity leave next week, and then I'll probably say something like "see you later Sam, good luck with the 'kids' thing!" and head off to work.

It's been pretty good so far. We're tired but not delirious, Calvin is sweet with Isaac most of the time, and the weather has been good. So not too bad at all. Pictures from Paul and Beth's visit iver the last two weeks are here.

Isaac's 1st week

2011-06-24T11:44:00.003+01:00

We're all home from the hospital now and settling into life as a family of four. For pictures of Isaac's first week, look here.

In the meantime, bring on the first set of grandparents! My dad and Beth will be here on Sunday and my aunt Mary will be here until Tuesday. She has been an absolute godsend to us this past month.

the brothers moeckel version 2

2011-06-20T20:54:00.001+01:00

Calvin and Isaac encounter each other.

Isaac Hector Moeckel!

2011-06-19T22:06:00.004+01:00

Isaac was born early in the morning on Saturday! He and Sam are doing well, although they're both still in the hospital. They want to keep them there until the feeding bit gets a little smoother- he spent the first day sleeping instead of eating, his first meal was huge, and everything is just a bit crazy. So a couple of days in the care of the NHS and their fantastic midwives. Everyone is tired!

An English Wedding

2011-06-10T17:44:00.007+01:00

My second cousin, Rachel, got married over Memorial Day weekend (it's also a bank holiday weekend here) and she was kind enough to invite the three of us. The ceremony and reception were held at an old manor house called The Danesfield. In a few words, it was gorgeous. Nick and I can honestly say it is the most picturesque wedding we've ever been to. Which was great since Nick ended up chasing Calvin around the manicured gardens most of the afternoon. I was the only one who got to see the ceremony since as soon at the bride had walked down the aisle and the quartet had stopped playing, Calvin yelled out "Emo song" which is his way of saying more music! Apparently our son is a fan of classical music. He even was dancing to it later on during the mingle before dinner.

Calvin was sitting next to me at the start of this photo

The other spectacular event was the groom's present to the bride; a Spitfire aerobatic demonstration! And it wasn't a short thing. It probably lasted about 10 minutes and was really impressive. Calvin loved it, especially since he remembers going to the Imperial War Museum with Grandad recently.

Calvin running around with the ceremony program

We didn't get to stay much past dinner since we needed to drive back to Cambridge and put the exhausted boy to bed (and the exhausted pregnant lady too). But we had a wonderful time. I just wish I could have worn a hat or fascinator like the other guests! Then I would have truly felt British. All of our pictures are here.

Dad and Cal skipping the ceremony

the train engineer

2011-05-10T10:25:00.005+01:00

This seems to be the only hat that Cal might wear this summer. He is SO in love with trains. And he doesn't seem to want to smile for the camera anymore either. In fact, he starts saying "No" and shaking his head when I pull out the camera. Regardless, I think he looks like a model in the second photo.

April pics

2011-04-30T20:04:00.006+01:00

April has been an amazing month of weather here in the UK. We've had a lot of sun and there have only been a few days where it's been cloudy. I can't even remember the last time it rained! This isn't usual but we're enjoying it while it's around.

And I'm still pregnant! I'm almost 32 weeks along now and about two months away from the due date. I'm feeling a lot better than I did before my dad came to visit. His help for most of April really got me over the worst part. So June, here we come!

In other news, we found out that we have to move...AGAIN. We knew this could happen but were hoping it wouldn't. The owner of our flat was hoping to be away in Malawi for two years doing field work but she found out she didn't get the funding for the second year. So we're hoping to move before Bertie arrives...wish us luck!

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks. And I'm sorry to say, but our wedding pics didn't turn out. There were too many hats in the way. (and because I'm terrible at making jokes, I will say we watched the wedding from our couch in our pajamas...it was a late morning)

Testing out his old car seat for the new baby

Into climbing trees now

An Easter weekend picnic along the River Cam (and belly pics)

More Easter weekend walking with an ice cream treat at the end

First chocolate bunny

Bob the Builder (minus trousers) getting a story read to him

trains! choo chooooo!! trains!

2011-04-14T13:34:00.004+01:00

Cal is mildly obsessed with trains. We can see a track from our house and he gets pretty happy when they go by. I taught him to call the trains Thomas, like Thomas the Tank Engine, but Sam didn't know I'd done that and she thought we were letting him watch too much TV. So I stopped doing that.

We were told about the Cambridge Model Engineering Society, which is a group of train enthusiasts who among other things make small, working steam engines. Once a month they give rides around a track out near where we used to live, so we went and checked it out.
It was pretty cool, most of the engines burn coal and seeing the older guys dressed up like engineers hammering little pieces of coal to burn was fun.
It was a beautiful day, and it was a hit with Calvin. We bought tickets for six rides and took turns taking him on the trains, probably a five minute ride or so. He was freaking out from excitement as soon as we parked the car, and as soon as he got off the train he was rushing to get on the next one. Some pictures:
That last one is when it was time to go and he really wanted to go on another train. We laughed and laughed, and then grabbed him away from the fence and rushed to the car as he plaintively whimpered 'choo chooo' over and over.

My awesome dad

2011-04-07T16:01:00.004+01:00

Last week, my hero, my dad, flew out here on 4 days notice to help me take care of Calvin. I have been having a stressful pregnancy for the past 4+ weeks and to help make sure Bertie stays in the womb longer than Cal, my dad came out here to give me a rest and wear out the little guy every day. Cal has turned into a sprinter (perhaps a future 800m runner?) so it's great that my dad is able to chase after him while I waddle along at 28 weeks pregnant. I was having strong and frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions at 23 and 25 weeks pregnant but thankfully, they have subsided due to my respite. My "vacation" lasts until my dad leaves on the 18th of April but by then, I will be 30 weeks along. I'm still trying to be positive that Bertie will be a June baby but at least he is out of the 24-28 week preemie zone.

Here is a picture of Cal actually sitting still. Not many of those these days.

first bicycle

2011-03-24T14:54:00.004Z

For his 2nd birthday, Calvin received his first bicycle from Mom and Dad. Unfortunately, he needs to grow about another inch before he can sit on the seat and have his feet flat on the ground. This is one of those beginner bikes that teaches a child to balance first, so it doesn't have any pedals. He loves it, even though he can only straddle it and waddle along. He especially likes the bell.

I went away last weekend for a girls' night in London with my aunt Mary and cousins Kath and Helen. We had a wonderful weekend and saw the musical "Jersey Boys" on the West End, which was really enjoyable. I wish I could see them (my cousins and aunt, not the Jersey Boys) more often. It's funny, I thought living in England would mean it would be really easy to drive to Wales for a quick weekend but that has turned out not to be the case. The driving does seem to take longer than it does in the US. Or maybe I'm becoming an "island-minded" girl?

I should mention that the weekend in London was also thanks to Nick, who looked after our little dude. This picture shows a happy chappy but he wasn't always so angelic for Dad. Then again, he did have a nasty cold. So thank you for the much needed break Nick!

Two!

2011-03-16T21:13:00.003Z

Well it's happened...Calvin turned 2 on March 3rd and fully committed himself to being a toddler. My parents (Grandad and Nan) came out to visit for the week and to spoil their grandson. He loved it.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures and my usual photographer was busy (being a brilliant scientist, of course) but here are a few that capture the week. The grandparents visit was VERY short (especially for me!) but I am thankful they could make it out for Cal's birthday and will be coming back in June for the new arrival. I'm calling him "Bertie" for now, after Bertie Wooster of whom the phrase "Tinkerty Tonk" comes from. And it sounds very English too.

paparazzi at bedtime

2011-02-27T21:35:00.001Z

Sunday morning pancakes

2011-02-21T10:01:00.001Z

The chicken pox patient and his cat await Dad's pancakes.

forts

2011-02-16T09:00:00.002Z

There is nothing like spending Sunday morning, lounging in your fort, and reading a little Scientific American with Dad.

another heir to the throne

2011-02-08T08:22:00.003Z

The latest news around here is that we are expecting our second baby boy at the end of June. We had the ultrasound yesterday and he was modest at first, crossing his legs until the very end of the exam.

Because of Calvin's early arrival, I went to see a doctor about my high-risk situation (instead of just seeing my midwife, like you normally do here). It turns out that because they don't know why I went into preterm labor, there is nothing for them to monitor closely on me for the next ~20 weeks. Also, my chances of having another preterm birth are only 10%. So because of these reasons, I'm being treated as a normal pregnancy. I'm happy about this and I have the doctor's phone number (and the delivery ward's phone number) should I have any questions. I now know what contractions feel like (vs Braxton-Hicks, for all those who know the pregnancy lingo) so I'm comfortable with being on alert for my own body.

Now I just have to learn how I'm going to live in a house full of dudes.

rewind

2011-02-01T16:12:00.007Z

My new year's resolution of blogging more often hasn't worked out so well, has it? We'll see if a Groundhog Day resolution gives me more incentive.

Cal wondering what to do with all this snow

To recap December and early January, we were in snowy Minnesota for ~3 weeks with our families. Surprisingly, we didn't take a lot of pictures this year (I only took 3) and we did more relaxing or going out to see movies since we had our wonderful supply of babysitters on hand. Calvin had his first introduction to more than 1 inch of snow and didn't seem that interested in it...yet. However, he LOVED opening more Christmas presents and playing with Duplos and cars. He even went to the Mall of America twice and had a lot of fun on some of the rides (particularly driving the trucks). We were sorry to leave the grandparents (I think maybe I was the saddest...I liked not having to do anything but knit) but we're looking forward to their visits to Cambridge this coming year.

Intense car playing

Duplo stacking

There was lots of lounging around

And the occasional unhappiness of thinking Daddy is leaving without you

More pictures from our trip home are here.

christmas morning

2010-12-25T12:43:00.003Z

presents!

those distracted him long enough to make french toast, then we sat around grinning cheesily.

a sunny walk through the fields

Merry Christmas! Our day started really early, Calvin has been spoiled by the English and Welsh side of the family and is now alarmingly good at identifying wrapped presents, and now we're relaxing a bit before traveling tomorrow to do this all over again, twice.

sunday walk

2010-12-05T15:25:00.003Z

A few pictures from a short walk today. (We thought it was warmer out than it was, and I got cold. That's why it was short.)

Approaching the railroad bridge. This is a good spot to heckle rowers.

There are two horses we pass by regularly. The white horse is more exciting to Calvin.

Cal refuses to pet the horses though. This one is a little bitey, so maybe that's wise.

tree inspectors

2010-11-10T22:01:00.003Z

Moeckel & son: serving Cambridgeshire and north-east Bedfordshire's tree inspection needs since 2010.

Tenerife

2010-10-29T20:59:00.000+01:00

As you can see, we're getting behind on posting lately. Sorry about that.

Last week, Nick had a conference on the island of Tenerife which is part of the Canary Islands which is part of Spain. I had no idea where it was at first and my impression is that most Americans would not know about the Canaries either. However, it is a hot tourist destination for European travellers so a lot of my British friends/family knew exactly where it is or have been there. Tenerife is a volcanic island, boasting the world's third largest volcano, El Teide. So in other words, the island is REALLY hilly.

Calvin learning about hot sand

Anyway, like I said, Nick had to work all week while Cal and I enjoyed the sun and the beach. Luckily, he was able to take off one afternoon and one morning to travel to beaches with us and we had another full day after the conference was over. We spent most of the time at beaches but managed to get a half day at the volcano national park and experience the alien-like landscape that are old lava flows.

Parque Nacional del Teide

So, things we learned on this trip:
- The south part of Tenerife, where we stayed, feels like a little Britain
- Volcanos are cool (when they're not active)
- Cal really likes going into the ocean
- Cal really likes ice cream cones, not necessarily the ice cream
- Never, I repeat, never drive mountainous terrain with less than a 1/4 tank of gas
- Nick is amazing at running across motorways to get to gas stations

More pictures are here.

a visit to Cal's birthland

2010-10-04T15:15:00.000+01:00

Last week the three of us drove up to Scotland for a visit. It was a work trip for Nick but Calvin and I tagged along so we could visit friends in Dundee and St. Andrews. This was our first long road trip with the toddler (he was an easy sleeping 6 month old on our last drive across the island) and he gave us quite a lot of screaming on Day 2 but overall, did pretty well. We split the long drive up into two days, stopping in York for a few hours and then spending the night in Durham. On the way back, we stopped and spent the night in the Lake District but unfortunately had terrible weather and couldn't fully enjoy the beautiful surroundings. We treated it as a scouting trip and now know that we want to go back there.

Conquering the slide at a playground in St. Andrews (note the cathedral in the background)

One thing we learned on this trip is that Cal and sit-down restaurants do not mix. If you were to happen upon us at a restaurant last week, you would have seen Nick or me eating our food as fast as we can while the other parent chased around the (sometimes screaming) boy. Meals were a stressful time.

Cathedral running

Roman wall running

Lake watching

Ancient stone circle lounging

All in all, our time in Scotland was busy but it was wonderful to see all of our friends. It is such a beautiful country and I hope we get to visit again soon (but not in the winter!).

Our adventure in pictures is mostly documented here but I failed to take photos of all the friends we saw. I'm terrible at remembering that I have a camera sometimes.

brief update

2010-09-19T20:17:00.004+01:00

Random events! I went to Lisbon for two days. Here's the only picture I took.
Exciting! Lisbon was very hot and the people are mostly fashionable and beautiful. I was given a small backpack at the conference I was at, and we gave it to Calvin:
finally, he's contributing to the load bearing responsibilities of the household. Then he chased the neighbor's cat around in his new Wellies:
Today Cal and I went on a long walk to let Sam relax for a few hours. Adventure!
Calvin pointed at trees:
slapped trees:
was dwarfed by trees:
ran all over the place:
and patiently ate a gingerbread man while I harassed snails on trees:
we've got some more interesting travel coming up: back to Scotland for a few days and then off to Tenerife for some sunshine. After that the clocks will change and we'll be in full-blown "My God, it's drizzly and dark" mode for a few months. So look forward to that.

The Cotswolds: putting both quaints in "quaint- this is really quaint."

2010-09-03T08:57:00.004+01:00

For the bank holiday we headed to the Cotswolds for a couple days. On the way there we stopped by Warwick castle, which is now run by the people who do Madame Tussauds so you know it's classy. It's a beautiful castle, but kind of Disney, and it was really crowded on the holiday weekend. Still pretty good though.
Then we stayed at a bed and breakfast that was a working farm. I was attacked by a territorial rooster and Calvin was almost run over by stampeding sheep, but it was pretty nice. This was our base for exploring the Cotswolds, which is a pleasant hilly area dotted with small, almost-too-quaint towns. We hiked around and drove around, gawking at the stone houses, churches built by rich wool barons, and ancient high streets. The countryside in that part of England is a lot more interesting than Cambridgeshire.
More pictures are here

pick your battles

2010-08-26T18:43:00.000+01:00

Dining in the nude. His choice.

Luckily, this has only been demanded once.

back from vacation

2010-08-21T11:30:00.004+01:00

The last month has been pretty intense, lots of travel. I was in Mexico for two weeks at a conference and then two weeks in Minnesota, and Sam and Cal were in MN for the whole four weeks. The first week back in Cambridge felt long, but I think we're all sort of adjusted again. It's been kind of nice being back in English weather after the heat and humidity in MN

We put a bunch of pictures up:
Nick's Mexico trip
Minnesota extravaganza

Here are a few highlights; ruins, sailboats, swimming pools, fancy hats, beaches. See if you can guess which ones are Mexico and which ones are Minnesota.

new place

2010-07-06T14:04:00.005+01:00

Just a quick post to say that we've moved. Still got a lot of unpacking to do, but we like the new place so far. Among it's advantages, in increasing order of excellence: walking distance to a convenience store; gas burners; no shared wall with a pub. We have no internet for another week though, so if Sam has been ignoring your emails it's not out of spite. Although she's pretty angry at some of you.

The view from our living room. The trees across the field are the edge of the Cam.

The vegetable part of our garden.

My new commute is really nice- along the river for a while...

...until this bridge over the locks by Jesus Green...

then through part of town and over to the Institute.

Unrelated shot of Calvin encountering corn on the cob for the first time.

hot tamale

2010-06-28T13:18:00.000+01:00

We're in the midst of a heat wave in England and it's been feeling like we're on holiday. Cal is spending a lot of time shirtless and pantsless due to the increased temperature, which makes it easier for him to walk around. Speaking of which, he really is cruising around now. He still puts his arms in the air (godzilla style, as a friend pointed out) but you can see the improvement every day. Have I mentioned that I'm tired?

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. We are moving house in the next week (again!) so we'll get some pictures of the new place. Then we'll be heading back to MN for an extended visit! Bring on the grandparents!

That's a cherry in his mouth (just in case you thought he'd lost some teeth)

time to release him into the wild

2010-06-18T08:35:00.001+01:00

Barcelona

2010-06-09T21:43:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you guys, but we spent some time in Barcelona last week. It was quite a scene, you should have been there. I had a conference all week, then Sam and Calvin joined me for a few days of vacation. The conference was pretty good if insanely scheduled- talks from 9 to 9 is too much. Not to make you too jealous, but we got to tour the local supercomputer. Number 87 in the world. Yep. I also saw a three year old child climb thirty feet of humans stacked on top of each other though, so it all evens out.

I got fully on board with the Spanish eating and sleeping schedule during the week of the conference, but I noticed very few screaming babies out at dinner. When Sam and Cal arrived we moved into a mode where we had a big lunch and then an early (by Iberian standards) picnic dinner, so that Cal could sleep fairly normally. I think this worked out pretty well, even though it would have been nice to go out with Sam in the evenings. Compromises! That's life.

We had some rain on Sunday, when a lot of indoor attractions have short hours, and on Monday the museum we really wanted to go to (Picasso) was closed. This led Sam to note that if you have two and a half days to tour a European city, two of them shouldn't be Sunday and Monday. Words of wisdom. We had a good time though, ate some good food and soaked in some sun. We'll be back, there's plenty to do and lots of seafood. Below are a couple pictures, the full extravaganza is here. Not pictured: local prostitutes, astronomers at all levels of seniority staggering out of a terrible disco at 5 am, deeply tanned and fully naked men strolling down the beach, and the Moeckel family madly dashing through a public employee strike/protest trying to find a taxi to get us to the airport. Our driver was a master of extremely aggressive gridlock maneuvering, and got us there with minutes to spare.

nosy guest

2010-06-04T20:22:00.000+01:00

What happens when you invite Cal over to your house for the weekend?

He goes through your cupboards.

serious Pimms weather.

2010-05-23T23:20:00.000+01:00

So, the weather turned all amazing on us this weekend. Like 'special slide shows on the newspaper website showing Britain enjoying the weather' amazing. Not just sunny intervals, there hasn't been a cloud in the sky since Friday. I don't want you to underestimate how nice it was, so let's just say that on Saturday I rolled up the legs of my jeans and today I wore shorts, and leave it at that.

We went to see a local manor house on Saturday, which was nice enough if unremarkable. The grounds are really nice though, and there were lots of people lounging around getting sunburned. I could see heading back there for a day in the park when Calvin is a little older. Chase some sheep around or something.

We briefly thought about heading to the nearest coast and jumping in the ocean today, but the idea of driving 3 or 4 hours round trip for what would probably be 3 or 4 hours of hanging out at the beach didn't quite work for us. Neither did sweating our way around London. So we headed in to town for a fantastic picnic with the rest of the picnicing hordes, lounged around, had a Pimms at a pub, and meandered back home. Next week it's off to Barcelona for me, and there will be no more relaxing.

Working off some steam after being carried around Wimpole hall.

The grounds are full of sheep and cows. It's more pleasant than that sounds.

Orange break! Oranges are delicious.

Cal tries to escape on my bike as we picnic. It was no use: his arms are too feeble and he's too short.

His preoccupation with the bikes meant we could relax and enjoy our food.

playing catch-up

2010-05-18T11:02:00.000+01:00

Wow, has it already been two weeks? Cal will probably never forgive me for posting his grumpy mug at the top of this famous website for that long.

I wish I could report that we've been off on distant adventures but we've mainly been sticking around Cambridge. The weather has remained cool so I still haven't put away my wool socks. Maybe one of these days I'll get to re-introduce my pale white legs to the sun.

In Calvin news, he is now an adjusted one year old! Yesterday was his "adjusted" birthday and he is right on track with a one year old. He isn't walking yet but he isn't that far off.

Here are several pictures from the past two weeks:

Couldn't make it through dinner

Making faces at the Fitzwilliam museum

Enjoying a sunny day at the Orchard

Walking in the countryside (Cal is falling asleep here)

More walking

One of the views on our countryside walk

Same walk

Dentistry

Glamour shot

portrait: unhappy punk rocker

2010-05-04T10:47:00.000+01:00

more spring

2010-04-27T23:23:00.002+01:00

We've been dealing with various life-gets-in-the-way-of-fun stuff over the last few weeks, like finding a place to live after July and finding someone to fix our car. Success on both counts! We found a place to live on the northern outskirts of town, and we found a guy who has the right attitude to get mediocre cars back into serviceable shape. So that's good. In the meantime the weather has been awesome, so we've been biking around and hanging out outside. Hopefully the car will be back in action this week, and we can start getting out to see more of the country pretty soon. Grantchester is a pretty pleasant place in the springtime, though, and it was nice to spend a weekend just relaxing around the village.

We're surrounded by thatch-roofed buildings. These guys are getting an upgrade.

We spent a lot of time at the playground this weekend.

Letting him crawl wherever he wants without worrying about destroying the house is nice.

Determined to climb up the slide.

Elevated feet for a little more challenge on the pushups.

This is his concentration face. The puffed-out cheeks add power to whatever he's doing. The pursed lips are just for style.

Cal is about to be picked up and put in the stroller by mom (the enforcer), but he's blissfully unaware for the moment.

The one major downside of spring is the return of the cows and the cow crap all over the paths around Grantchester.

pop quiz

2010-04-16T20:09:00.000+01:00

What is wrong with this picture?

Answer:
1. The mother left out a box
2. Boy is on an unstable box
3. Boy is holding plastic wrapping from the box
Extra credit: Boy can easily reach expensive electronics

Not only is Calvin moving potential "stairs" to where he wants to go, he is also walking with his cart of blocks. It's a good thing we have a shotgun style house so he has one long walkway. He hasn't mastered turns yet (or straight lines, for that matter).

Calvin coming

Calvin going (minus trousers)

a new set of wheels

2010-04-14T19:32:00.000+01:00

On Monday, we finally put to good use the money my parents gave me for my birthday: we bought a bike for me and Calvin. And when I say for Calvin, I mean he gets to be my passenger. Luckily I'm not a reckless mountain biker like Nick so Cal should be in safe (and extra cautious) hands. He even has a helmet that has penguins on it. The penguins don't make him like it any more than he already does, which is to say that he hates it on his head. But when he is in the child seat, there are plenty of distractions for us to slip it on. He seemed to enjoy the first ride, even though it was a bumpy one along the path between Cambridge and Grantchester. He was saying "ahhhhh" the whole way (not a "I'm terrified!" ahh but a "my voice vibrates as we go over bumps" ahh) ending with him falling asleep just as we arrived home. Nick installed a bell on the bike so I can warn pedestrians of our arrival but with Cal's vocals, I probably won't need to use it.

First bike ride! (for Calvin, obviously)

Putting up with the helmet (which looks like it still needs some adjustment)

It will be nice to have the bike for many reasons but especially since our car is either going to have a lot of work done to it or we'll have to scrap it and get a new car. Yes, our car had an accident but luckily we weren't in it. Somebody hit our parked car (just outside our house) and moved it a car length and drove off. We've had a week or so to cool off about it but we're still very angry. We'll see what happens after the local mechanic takes a good look at it.

Top view of the front of the car with hood ("bonnet") opened

What Cal thinks of people who damage cars and drive away

Stay tuned for the next blog post: exciting Calvin tricks!

spring: picnics and ungentlemanly conduct.

2010-04-10T14:18:00.002+01:00

The weather for the past few days has been fantastic. Today we wandered into town and bought Sam a bike and got a seat and a helmet for Calvin. It has penguins on it and is Awesome*. The bike will be built up on Monday, and then we're going cruising. For trouble. Since it was so nice out we grabbed some Mexican food** and had a picnic along with about 60 per-cent of Cambridgeshire.

*our motto is "my helmet is buckled", so now we're all ready for adventure.
**the best we've had in Britain. This is not high praise.

Lunch on Parkers Pieces.

Is he happy or sad? Research is ongoing.

Love is in the air and all that, but a true English gentleman finds a more secluded spot for this kind of nonsense.

random shots

2010-04-05T10:15:00.000+01:00

On a windy walk

Able to reach stuff on the dining room table now

playground firsts: swing

2010-03-30T22:06:00.000+01:00

the last thing a banana sees

2010-03-23T17:53:00.000Z

grandparents, coughing, and a weekend roadtrip

2010-03-22T08:57:00.000Z

March has been pretty crazy. We just wrapped up about a month of visitors, which has been nice if a little hectic. Unfortunately, Sam and Cal were dealing with viruses of various description for a lot of the month, and snot and coughing don't make for really fantastic photo opportunities. Sam's parents got the short end of the stick on that one, and it was nice to have the help while Sam was feeling like crap but we didn't get to go and do a whole lot. We did have a nice time visiting with family while they were here though (Cal's early birthday pics, below). Sam, her dad and Cal went to Wales for a weekend while they were here but incredibly didn't take any pictures. (I know, it's insane).

Toward the tail end of my parent's week here, Sam started feeling a little better and we took a short road trip to Wiltshire. We saw Stonehenge on the equinox, when they open it up for a few hours around sunrise so that you can walk right up to the stones instead of just walking around. That was pretty awesome. We also headed down to the coast and toured the mightily impressive HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar. We also saw some Cathedrals.

So, to sum up March so far: lots of visitors, visiting with family (all of us), lots of sneezing (Sam and Cal), a few bonks on the head (Cal and Nick), only one weekend where we really went and saw anything touristy. We took a lot of pictures that weekend though, and they are here. Here's a sampling.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T20:30:00.000Z

Sorry we've been on a blogging hiatus. We're still in the midst of our hosting duties. We'll catch up soon!

wait a second, could it be?

2010-03-03T03:33:00.002Z

One year ago today, Calvin surprised us all with a dramatic appearance. Right away we knew for sure that we'd just added one more guy to our wolf pack. Three of us Moeckels, running and crawling around Britain together.

Grantchester is an artsy kind of place and I commissioned a special project from a guy down the street to celebrate the occasion. Happy birthday, Cal!

added later: Sam saw this and told me it was too weird, so here are some less stupid pictures of Cal's early birthday party last weekend.

Balloons!

Skeptical about the cake at first....

tasted good though.

This looks like we're all sitting around laughing at him, but he was just tired.

Knocking down his new blocks.

exploring with eric and brianna

2010-02-18T08:30:00.000Z

Eric and Brianna are visiting. They've been off to London a few times, so they have about a million pictures, but here are a few quick shots of what we've been up to with them. Once their trip is done we'll catch our breath and put up an album on picasa.

A trip to Canterbury Cathedral.

First beer!

Testing out an early birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa, a backpack carrier. It works!

Applying innovative interior redecoration techniques.

mobility now

2010-02-07T14:06:00.002Z

He's been on the edge of crawling for what seems like years (but was in fact probably only a month or two), and now it's happened. Locomotion. Depending on what he's aiming for it seems either comically slow and uncoordinated or alarmingly fast and accurate. Time to start putting things out of reach.

little dude

2010-02-01T10:55:00.000Z

Thanks to our friends in CO, Calvin is almost ready to round up cattle. Now we just need to find some good cowboy boots and a ten gallon hat.

The happiest cowboy I've ever seen.

genuine human food

2010-01-24T20:36:00.001Z

We're still taking it pretty easy around here, boring I know, but starting in a few weeks we over a month of family visiting. Excitement levels should jump pretty soon. In the meantime we've been laughing at along with Cal as he tries to figure out how to crawl and how to eat like a real person.

Sam distracting him from how tired he is to try and make him sleep longer into the morning.

Growing frustrated by not moving anywhere, but developing some mighty triceps.

Risotto*: not popular**.

Calvin-sized pancakes....

...much more appreciated.

Calvin-sized pizza was still a bit much, even though we microwaved it to make the crust all gross and soggy. When I googled 'baby pizza' all I got was a book called 'Babies Don't Eat Pizza' and an article about some Australians who fed their babies pulverized pizza and pork cracklings and almost killed them. But we boldly pressed on.

*British pronunciation of Italian words is a pet peeve of mine.

** if you had to guess what this lady did for a living

would you guess Author of Baby Cookbooks? All the pictures in the book are her showing cleavage (like buttons popping open) feeding a (clean) baby. It's kind of hilarious. Anyway, the unpopular risotto was her recipe.

nick turns 30 & other news

2010-01-19T18:17:00.000Z

Nick turned the big 3-0 last Monday (the 11th) and to celebrate, Calvin grew his third tooth. It's an upper side one so he looks a bit lop-sided. I've tried to capture a picture of it but no luck so far. And I'm not sticking my fingers in his mouth for too long now since his three teeth can do quite a number on me. In fact, we had a comedic situation the other day where Cal bit down on my fingers, I yanked them out in shock and hit Nick in the eye. It may be before my time but it sounds like the 3 Stooges to me. Calvin would be Moe.

In other news, Calvin had a check-up with the neonatologist's again and the doctor was extremely pleased with his progress. We don't have to go back for another 4 months! In case you were wondering, he still gets extra check-ups until he is 2 years old. He is currently just shy of 20 lbs and still very tall for his age. Any bets on when he will outgrow his mother? I'm guessing by 5 years old.

Chilling with Dad on his birthday and fashionably supporting the Gophers

Cal isn't crawling yet but he can really get his bum in the air.

("Downward dog" for the yogies out there)

Eating cheesy toast and tomatoes all by himself.

jet lag and erupting teeth

2010-01-10T10:19:00.000Z

With only a limited grasp of time zones, making the adjustment back to GMT has involved lots of screaming between about 9 and 12 at night. If it's this hard for me to handle I have no idea how Cal is dealing with it. He's got some teeth coming in to keep him occupied, so we started giving him some biscuits and rice cakes to chew on. About 95 percent of the food ends up on the floor, but it's all part of the circle of life. Hakuna matata. The country remains shut down because of near-freezing temps and a couple inches of snow, so life has been pretty relaxed while we wait for spring.

chomping away on a biscuit

not screaming

closeup of the teeth (and some drool). the tooth eruption process is more interesting than I thought. check it out on wikipedia if you're bored.

christmas in MN and the end of the noughties.

2010-01-03T17:08:00.004Z

We're at the end of our two week trip to Minnesota for the whole holiday thing. It's been really nice, if not totally relaxing. Cal explored wrapping paper and time zones, Sam discovered that she's 30, I wrestled with the competing forces of exercise and staying inside and having a beer, and none of us made it 'til midnight on new year's. We get back on a plane tonight (hopefully a plane free of underpants bombers) and then we'll see what 2010 is all about. It's predicted to be pretty awesome. Here are a few pictures of MN, there are a bunch more here.

Opening presents, chewing on the paper.

Hanging out with Nan on Christmas morning.

Galloping on Grandad's knee

He's got some chompers coming in, so he chews on giraffes a lot.

Cruising around Shoreview on a sled from Nick's babyhood.

All is calm no longer- Grandpa Rick injects some adrenaline to the season.

Working out a new acrobatic routine for 2010.

finally...a winter wonderland

2009-12-20T23:38:00.000Z

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! On Friday, England had it's first major snowstorm of the year and we got about 5 inches here in Grantchester. That means the entire Cambridge area shut down. It was really beautiful and it has stuck around the whole weekend. We thought Cal's first snow would be MN so it was a pleasant surprise. We're off to MN tomorrow for Calvin's first Christmas and I'm not sure how much time we'll have for posting the next two weeks. So have a great holiday season and we'll see you in the New Year!

The snow covered fields of Grantchester

Cal's first walk through the snow in the village

Ducks on the River Cam

River Cam

The picture says it all

Our stroll through the paths and sidewalks of Cambridge

(no, they do not seem to have shovels or salt here)

grantchester home tour!

2009-12-16T15:38:00.009Z

It's that moment you've all been waiting for...the house tour! It's taken me three months to take pics of the rooms and they are still not that great. I need to get one of those 360 degree cameras.

As a reminder, here is the outside:

We are the middle house with the door in the center of the picture

When you come through the front door, you enter the sitting room, where Cal spends a lot of time rolling around on the floor:

Cal is actually rolling on the floor here

View of the front door and window

You then go through another door and you enter the dining room:

Yes, it's always a mess

Through the next door is the galley kitchen:

Can't have too many cooks in the kitchen here

Then finally the bathroom:

From the dining room there is the staircase leading to the second level:

The first room on the right is Cal's room (aka the guest room when we have visitors):

Single bed on the left but there is another one underneath it

And finally the room facing the front of the house is our bedroom:

No closet so our clothes are on display (and no, the fireplace is not usable)

Scrummy toes! (that means delicious over here)

We don't have a back garden or any storage but here is where we supposedly can sip our morning coffee in the summer (and where I can hang the washing when it stops raining):

View from the dining room window (galley kitchen on the right) and

Cal's 'rugged' stroller for the cow poop covered paths (it lives outside for a reason)

So that's where we spend most of our time (a LOT of our time for Calvin and me). Pretty exciting, don't you think?

lazy days

2009-12-12T19:44:00.001Z

We haven't done a whole lot of exploring lately. Weekends come around and we try and catch up on sleep or run errands. Super exciting. We're getting ready to head back to Minnesota for the holidays (Sam's birthday is the big one), then when we get back we can start to dream of spring and a little more daylight to do things in. The latitude problem is better here than it was in Scotland, but it's still kind of grim. Here are a few shots of what little we've up to though.

Crawling practice. We put toys well out of reach and taunt him. He can hoist himself up pretty high (like the cobra position for the yoga nerds) but so far he just scoots backwards a few inches and rolls over.

Hanging out in dimly lit pubs. Pints for us, quarter-pint for him.

Bath time! He has a chewable turtle and some dolphins to play with, which is good. The non-slip butt pad in the tub seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than anything functional, but that's ok.

flashback image:

He's happier in the bath now than he was at 11 weeks, and about three times as massive.

photo shoot

2009-12-02T20:54:00.000Z

all on his own

2009-11-30T11:17:00.000Z

Yep, Cal can now sit up on his own for longer than 30 seconds. Up next: crawling.

Yes, he is wearing a CK onesie. No, he is not named after the designer.

babysitting

2009-11-24T21:41:00.000Z

We had a real treat in la casa de Moeckel last weekend. Nick and I were invited out to dinner with 26 other people welcoming the new post-docs at Cambridge. Since we're new to the area, we didn't know any babysitters (or anyone with kids) and thought we wouldn't be able to go. Then Aunty Mary came to the rescue! She took a 5 hour train from Wales just to spend the weekend with Calvin. This boy (and his parents) are certainly very lucky to have her. She and Cal spent a lot of time together while Nick and I enjoyed our dinner out and then went to the movies the next day (finally saw "Up"!). Unfortunately we haven't had the nicest weather so we didn't get to spend much time showing off Cambridge but we did get in some walks around Grantchester.

Already asleep in the babysitter's arms

On a muddy walk in Grantchester

Close-up of Cal bundled up for the walk (and starting to fall asleep)

In other news, Cal is becoming more active and he looks like he could start crawling soon. Last night he made it across the floor to get to a toy but not in the most graceful or efficient way. He is getting there though which means I better get ready to be on the move. Also, I've started going to some baby groups in the area and have met some other mums too. As usual, Cal beams his biggest smile while we're out and is always very charming. Looks like we have a social boy on our hands! His favorite thing to do right now is blow raspberries which means 20 times the drool. I think he can soak a bib in 10 seconds flat now.

Drooly MacCalvin

And Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with some other Americans on Thursday AND Saturday but we don't know if there will actually be any turkey at either of these parties. So eat some extra turkey and pumpkin pie for us!

rugby in the homeland

2009-11-12T14:14:00.000Z

This last weekend was Cal's first trip to Wales, where my parents were born and raised. Cal and I drove out to Swansea mid-week and he slept for most of the 5 hour trip with a stop outside of London to see my mom's cousin, Judith, and my second cousin, Rachel. Calvin was a real charmer with them and he even got to celebrate Christmas early with some awesome new toys. We then spent a few days with Aunty Mary and Uncle Ken before Nick joined us on Friday. On Saturday, Christmas came early for Nick and I as well as we got to go to a Wales rugby game while Aunty Mary babysat Cal. Wales was playing New Zealand and we got to see the famous haka performed by the NZ team (the All Blacks) while the entire stadium chanted "Wales, Wales!". It was an amazing atmosphere and an exciting game, despite Wales losing 12 to 19. Even though Cal wasn't at the game, he was showing his Welsh pride by wearing the red jersey. Here are a few pics from Saturday:

Cal showing his game face

Cal and Aunty Kath

The Babysitter (Aunty Mary) and Cal

Go Wales!

(Nick is not in this picture because he doesn't have a Welsh rugby jersey, poor guy)

The flower of Wales is the daffodil, for those of you who are wondering why we have a giant inflatable one at the game

The All Blacks performing the haka to the Welsh team

In other news, Cal had his first doctor's appointment in Cambridge. The doctor is very pleased with Calvin's progress and he weighs a whopping 17 lb 14 oz! That is still considered average for his adjusted age of 6 months (his actual age is 8 months). He is also still a tall boy at 70 cm (27.5 in). The doctor and nurse we met were all really nice so I'm happy about that too. Way to go NHS!

some trees, a ceiling, and eating

2009-11-10T23:22:00.000Z

We have a bit of catching up to do, I guess. Fall is in full effect now, and we've had a nice time poking around the city. Each week that passes brings some new skills to Cal's set- he's happy to help out with his feeding by smashing his fist into the spoon or bottle, he rolls over in several directions, and he has an amazing variety of shrieks at his disposal.

Autumn is probably my favorite time of year (really unique, I know). I find myself listening to music and thinking 'yeah, this is a good fall song', crisp air is the best kind of air, and biking home in the dark is still enough of a novelty that it's interesting instead of the grind it's going to be in January*. Two years ago at this time we were carefree and on vacation in Paris; last year we were getting used to the idea of being parents, and to living in another country; now we've got a mildly crazy little human dominating our lives. It's been an interesting progression. Anyway, autumn is the king of all seasons- here are some pictures from the last few weeks, featuring dying leaves, King's college chapel's roof, and Calvin's adventures in eating. Sam will have a more exciting post in the next few days involving Welsh rugby.

*The dark colored (coloured) cows that loom out of the shadows and randomly loiter on the bike path make it like a terrifying game, so maybe the novelty won't wear off until February.

lazy weekend

2009-10-25T20:26:00.000Z

We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Calvin worked on his breakdancing for a little while:

Bam!

Then we wandered over the Orchard to have lunch and tea. Calvin was rocking a new pumpkin hat, so he was looking pretty good.

He's been kind of smirky lately.

From some angles, he looks giant.

Sam calms him down so we can all enjoy a really beautiful fall day.

Sometimes he likes this, sometimes he just pulls hair.

poetry

2009-10-20T19:24:00.000+01:00

This last weekend we spent one day in Cambridge and the other day exploring the paths of Grantchester. In Cambridge, we walked around St. John's College, enjoyed some fish & chips, and watched a punter fall into the water. A pretty exciting day!

Punters navigating the Bridge of Sighs at St. John's College

On Sunday we walked along the River Cam through Grantchester and found this extremely quaint place called The Orchard. It's a beautiful outdoor area that serves tea all year long (there is also a small indoor area too) and is famous for attracting celebrity patrons. One patron that made it famous is the poet Rupert Brooke. As my Aunt Mary pointed out to me, we went from one city that is known for it's bad poet to another place known for it's good poet. Poor Dundee.

In other news, Calvin is eating his toes and sitting up unaided for a minute or so. He is also sleeping better now that we've settled in a bit more and adapted more of a routine. Nick is very busy with work and I'm keeping busy entertaining Calvin. As for where we are living, I promise to post pics of our new place soon. I'm attempting to clean up all of our stuff before I take pictures and at least give the illusion that we keep a tidy house.

Cal's favorite facial expression of late

UPDATE: Oops, I forgot to link to more pictures that Nick took here. Enjoy!

a few shots of grantchester

2009-10-12T08:31:00.000+01:00

We've spent the week settling in, mostly. Sam and Calvin did some exploring with Uncle Alex who was visiting, I went to work, and then just in time for the weekend we all caught colds. So nothing really adventurous went down. Here are a few pictures of the village we're living in, though, where Cal will be taking most of his walks in the magical sleep inducing stroller.

Cows in the early morning mist in the field across the street.

Thatched roof action on the main street through town.

Ivy on some building.

Holly in the churchyard- it's like they start decorating for Christmas earlier and earlier every year.

Calvin along the Cam near Grantchester meadows, which is idyllic in a sort of 'Lord Byron chasing his cousins around' kind of way.

Back in England

2009-10-03T10:07:00.001+01:00

Well, we're back in the UK after our trip to visit our families. Math lesson: Calvin + Eastbound jet-lag = infinity screaming for a couple of horrible days and nights. Even in light of that, we had a great time. All we really did was spend time visiting with friends and family, so not the most exciting story to tell. Here are a few pictures, the full set is here.

So now we're back and it's time to start exploring our new home. If you're in the area, we're in the village of Grantchester- look for the reddish door next to the Blue Ball Inn.

on vacation

2009-09-25T19:50:00.000+01:00

We're a little over midway through our vacation to Cal's ancestral homeland. When we get back to the UK we'll have about a thousand photos to sort through, including his first transatlantic flight; being spoiled by grandparents; meeting his great-grandparents; leading the cheering section at a mountain bike race; being strollered around all over the place; meeting uncles and honorary aunts and uncles; pooing on a lucky grandpa; celebrating a wedding; and, if the weather cooperates, his first experience harnessing the wind on a sailboat. Maybe not the most relaxing vacation ever, but we've packed a lot in and it's been great so far.

last week in Scotland

2009-09-08T20:13:00.001+01:00

Alas, it's our last week in Scotland. We were hoping to get out and explore the highlands one more time last weekend but the Scottish weather got the best of us. Instead we spent a lot of time indoors playing with Calvin.

Chilling on the sofa

Cal also had one last check-up with his doctors at Ninewells. He now weighs 14 lb 14 oz (50th percentile) and is 66.2 cm (26 in) which is just over the 91st percentile! He is definitely a tall baby. The doctor said he is doing well but we found out that we have been encouraging an activity that is a no-no: standing. We've been having fun the past few weeks with him standing in our laps (he absolutely loves it and gets this big goofy grin on his face) but apparently that can make it difficult for him to learn how to sit and roll so we need to focus more on tummy time. So sorry Cal, but no more standing for now!

We've also started Cal on solids this last week but so far, most of it has been on his face. He still looks happy though, don't you think?

Cal is not a fan of baby rice (I thought it was pretty gross too)

So as of Saturday, we will no longer be residing in land of kilts and haggis. We've had a great time in Scotland and are really happy that Calvin will forever have ties to Dundee. But for now, it's off to jolly old England!

Cal is shocked that Dad doesn't know how to put his trousers on

6 months old!

2009-09-03T09:53:00.000+01:00

It's hard to believe that it's already been 6 months since Calvin was born. He has been through a lot but you would never know from his smiling face now. We're so proud of you Cal!

penultimate weekend

2009-08-30T21:29:00.001+01:00

Our time in Scotland is nearing its end- it's pretty crazy to think that we've been here over a year now. We didn't do much on Saturday, but today we headed up toward Aberdeen to see a castle that we hadn't gone to yet. Travel Tip: there's no electricity and therefor no credit card machine at Dunnottar castle, so you need to have enough cash to get in. Bonus Travel Tip: if you don't have enough cash to get in you can still have fun on the beach and you get a nice walk out of the day.

Hanging out at Magdalene Green on a nice but windy day.

Happy baby coming in for a landing.

Dunnottar castle- dramatically situated, still protected to this day by a steep, narrow approach and a ticket stand that takes only cash.

Calvin thinks it's pretty funny that we were denied entry.
Heading to the beach below the castle.
Swooping around the beach.Calvin is still very short.
We learned that Calvin is not only no good at skipping stones yet, he actively hinders your ability to skip stones when he's strapped to your chest. This stage of development isn't in any of the baby books that I've seen.

We had a good day despite not seeing the castle. I mean, we've seen a lot of broken castles, and the scenery is really the draw for this one anyway. We have one more weekend in Scotland- not sure what we'll do yet, it will probably be epic like Braveheart but with fewer swords.

a visit to Cambridge

2009-08-24T09:16:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay in posting but we've had a busy time down in England. We set off a week and a half ago for Cambridge, in search of housing for the three of us to live in for the next three years. I had lined up 6 places for us to look at on a Friday and Saturday in hopes that we would see something we liked before Nick's conference started on Monday. Instead, we saw houses complete with disgustingly stained carpet, dark cave-like qualities, bathrooms with no shower, and (the worst) shattered glass strewn across the floor from a broken window that the landlord hadn't even bothered to clean up (but had bothered to board up the window). I won't go into the despair that both Nick and I felt after our two days of house hunting but we did decide that we needed to up our price range and look further out from the city. So to make a long story short, we now have a beautiful place to live in Grantchester, which is just 2 miles outside of Cambridge. Nick will be able to bike in along the River Cam and Cal and I will be enjoying living in the countryside while being able to take a short bus ride into the city center. We are really looking forward to it.

While Nick was at his conference in Cambridge, Cal and I stayed with first my Aunt Beverly, and then my Uncle Ken and Aunt Liz. My cousin Amy was also able to come down from Manchester for the day so she could meet Calvin. We had a great time and it seemed that Calvin made quite a bit of progress while we were down there. He is handing out lots of smiles now and starting to grab things. He is also quite the drool monster and we think he might be teething. Let the fun begin!

Here are a few pictures from our time down in the Midlands. Only 3 weeks left in Scotland!

Falling asleep in Aunty Liz's arms

Cal thinks Uncle Ken's phone conversation is hilarious

Meeting up for a picnic with Dad in Cambridge

His first set of keys

Aunty B reading a story to Calvin

Cal getting caught cuddling with Aunty Amy

Farmer Calvin

2009-08-10T16:43:00.000+01:00

Not much to report this week except that Cal is packing on the pounds. He was weighed today (12 weeks adjusted age) and he is 13 lb 6 oz. Quite the big boy!

Cal's overalls (or dungarees as they call them over here) are courtesy of his friend Milo Galvin

We're off to England again for a week and a half. Nick has a conference in Cambridge and Cal and I will stay with my family. We're also doing some house hunting in Cambridge so wish us luck! I think we're going to need it.

smile!

2009-08-04T11:45:00.000+01:00

orkney trip

2009-08-01T15:21:00.001+01:00

We had a short vacation in Orkney this week, and it was pretty awesome. The weather was forecast to be terrible, but it ended up being great. Windy, but mostly sunny and no rain. Orkney is a group of islands off the north coast of Scotland, and we drove up to catch the ferry across on Tuesday, spent Wednesday and Thursday poking around the largest island, and headed back to Dundee on Friday.

Orkney is full of stone-age monuments and spectacular coastline, so that's what we did on our two days there. Calvin handled all the activity pretty well, even the restaurants, so that was good. We saw the highlights of the biggest island (called Mainland), but if you were going without a baby you could easily spend another several days hiking and taking boats or planes to the smaller islands. If you're ever planning a tour around Scotland, seriously consider hopping over to Orkney for a while. We had a really good time, the people were very friendly, and since it was owned by Norway until the 1400s there's a feeling of vikingness that's different from the rest of the country. The one downer was the food, which was a bit of a crapshoot. The only Orcadian specialty we saw on a menu was some kind of cured herring. If your local delicacy is an interesting way to preserve fish, then in my book you've got some problems in the cuisine department.

We put up a bunch of pictures, here are some highlights of the trip:

Calvin's first boat!

Stone circles of various diameters!

Fearsome local wildlife!

Coastal walks with wind and birds and cliffs!

Pensive brooding in the Orkney tradition!

Calvin's adverse reaction to sunlight at high latitudes!

First Day at the Beach

2009-07-26T20:13:00.000+01:00

It was another week of firsts for Calvin. He got to meet his Aunty Kathryn and he also had his first day at the beach. It was Kath's first time to this area of Scotland but unfortunately, the weather was miserable except for one day. So Cal got to spend a lot of time indoors getting to know Aunty Kath.

Aunty Kath has the magic touch

The one nice day we had outside was Saturday so we headed over to Tentsmuir Forest Park which we blogged about earlier. There were a lot more people in the middle of summer than when we went in February but I would still say it wasn't the greatest weather for swimming. However, there were a lot of kids running around half-naked and jumping in the sea. Those Scottish kids are of hearty stock! Speaking of which, Nick waded in the North Sea. Cal, Kath, and I stayed on the beach and enjoyed the sun while being wind-blown. We have a lot of funny pictures from our day on the beach that you can look at here.

Cal soaking up the sun with Mom and Aunty Kath

As you can see, we have a new baby carrier since Cal is now over 8 lbs. We are loving the Baby Bjorn and Cal seems to like it too. Don't we look just like the advertisement?

cruising along

2009-07-21T09:03:00.000+01:00

Nothing stupendous to report- we've been relaxing over the last week or so as Calvin continues to grow out of his smaller clothes. He's got a lot of excitement in store over the next couple of weeks- his first cousin once removed (probably just go with 'cousin') Kathryn is coming to visit, and next week we're driving to the northernmost extremity of Scotland, hopping on a boat, and exploring the Orkney islands. Adventure! Excitement! A Welsh relative and The Northern Isles!!!

Until we have some more exciting news or stories, here are some pictures of Cal losing patience with me.

8 week checkup

2009-07-14T16:11:00.000+01:00

Calvin's stats:
weight - 10 lb 14 oz (26th percentile)
height - 58.4 cm (between 50th and 75th percentile)
head circumference - 40.5 cm (between 75th and 91st percentile)

The doctor said he is doing well and he is on track in his development. He isn't really smiling yet but we've seen the occasional smile and we can see he is going to be quite the charmer. Now if we could just get over this colic!

We'll see the doctor again before we move to Cambridge and then they will refer us to a special clinic down there. He'll need to go to these special clinics until he is 2 years old.

So Cal is doing well even though he still keeps his parents up all night. But that's typical, right?

The Amazing Calvin

2009-07-08T14:34:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share these two videos to give you an idea of how much Cal has changed. The first video was taken when he was just a week and a half old. The second was taken a few days ago and he is 18 weeks old. Behold: the amazing growing Calvin!

PS - If you have the sound on, you can hear what life was like in the NICU for the first video.

Calvin at 1.5 weeks old

Calvin at 18 weeks old

calvin takes england by storm

2009-06-30T16:30:00.000+01:00

We headed down to England on Friday to visit the rellies. Driving there was complicated by a storm, a lightly flooded motorway, and a baby who didn't like being stopped in traffic jams. We made it though, and relaxed in Market Harborough for the weekend. We didn't do much except visit and ask lots of annoying questions about the Battle of Naseby, since we drove by the site several times and which I'd only heard of because of a song.

Coffee and gossip in Market Harborough.

Relaxing before a barbecue in Long Buckby.

On the way back we drove along Hadrian's wall. We stopped (briefly- one of us had a screaming fit and needed feeding [Sam]) and Calvin and I pretended to be Roman soldiers for a few minutes.

Team Moeckel on patrol at Housesteads fort on the Roman frontier.

Then it was back up to Dundee. We once made fun of the font that Dundee used on it's signs. They've had a makeover and change of slogan! Go away for a weekend and your world changes.

cute! a bunch of pictures

2009-06-22T20:06:00.000+01:00

thursday pictures

2009-06-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

An objective observer would say that we overdid it with Calvin last weekend. It may be a coincidence, but there were a few pretty terrible nights as far as sleep goes in there- payback for too much tourism? We've been taking it easy this week mostly, here are some pictures.

Mr. Mouthy

Well-deserved nap after solving astronomy. All of it- solved.

Not quite calm, but not screaming either.

He enjoys baths a little more as every week goes by. By the time we visit Minnesota, he'll be ready for the hot tub.

Uncle Alex and Castle #2

2009-06-14T16:46:00.000+01:00

This was a big week for Calvin because he got to meet the first of his four uncles, my brother Alex. And Cal was thrilled with Uncle Alex's gifts for him: Badger bibs and onesie! This little boy definitely wants to be a Badger. I'm already teaching him the songs. (sorry non-UW readers)

Cal contemplating the best place to spit up on Uncle Alex's shirt

It was also a big week for Calvin because he got out to see more of Scotland. On Thursday, he took his first bus ride with Alex and me to St. Andrews where we had some delicious ice cream that Cal will just have to wait to try. On Friday, it was a beautiful day so Nick took the day off and we drove down south to some of the quaint fishing villages along the coast of Fife. There was a beautiful coastal path that we walked along and we really made use of our rugged stroller. Cal is already getting used to the technical sections of trails.

Uncle Alex and Cal rocking the technical sections of the path

Saturday turned out to be another nice day so we drove over to Castle Campbell about an hour away. Nick and I both rank this place as one of our top castles, mainly because of it's picturesque location. The castle itself is a ruin but we really enjoyed walking around the tower and taking in the gorgeous views.

Our first view of Castle Campbell when hiking up to the entrance

Moeckel Family portrait

We have a lot more pictures from Alex's visit that we've posted here.

Cal thought the week with Uncle Alex was A-Okay

a mostly uneventful week

2009-06-07T22:49:00.000+01:00

Nothing too amazing happened- Cal tips the scales over 7 lbs now, but mostly he's been saving up his energy for Uncle Alex's visit this week. If Sam can be persuaded, Calvin may visit his first pub.

More and more helpful with science every week.

Awww....

Whoever invented the vibrating bouncy chair deserves prizes.

castle #1!

2009-05-31T21:10:00.000+01:00

Our dinner avec Calvin. A touristy plan is hatched.

The weather this weekend was really great. No clouds, wildly pleasant temperatures, lots of shirtless Scottish people getting burned- we thought maybe this was like the normal start to summer but people on the radio were talking about how crazily nice it was, so this is probably an UnScottish anomaly. Whatever's in the future, this weekend we decided to try a touristy trip out with Calvin. Our target was Glamis castle, which is only twenty minutes or so from Dundee.

Our destination: Glamis castle.

People still live here, and the castle grounds are the kind of thing that makes you think it might have been nice to have been idle, rich and British at the turn of the last century. The late Queen Mother spent her childhood here, they tell you all about it on the tour. Before seeing the castle we wandered the grounds, were surprised to see a Giant Redwood this far from California, and took in the Italian gardens.

Wandering around the gardens.

Taking shelter from the famously harsh and unrelenting Scottish sun in a gazebo.

The tour had us a little worried- there's no option to walk by yourself, so you're stuck on a 50 minute guided deal. Calvin made a few noises but he pretty much slept through the whole thing, so he earned all the 'Future Champion' and 'Little Star' onesies that he's been wearing. Anyway, his first castle is in the books, succesfully, and now he's tuckered out.

Calvin thinks that castles that ban photography are stupid.

wormit walk

2009-05-24T19:00:00.000+01:00

Calvin has reached a level of robustness that lets us take him out on some excursions now. He went to St Andrews for the first time yesterday, where he was showed-off at the knitting shop. (If you're ever in St Andrews and need what I'm told is amazing wool, go here.) Today was pretty nice, so we went across the Tay to the town of Wormit, which lies on the other side of the rail bridge. Thanks to Scotland's amazingly liberal attitude toward public access, there's a foot/bike/whatever you want path along the edge of a bunch of farms starting from there that has nice views of Dundee and the Tay, so we took him for a mini-walk.

Heading out from Wormit. The sky was once again Scottish.We walked for ten minutes to this spot, had some well-earned(?) chocolate and gossiped for a while, then headed back.Calvin fails to appreciate the view of Dundee (the Shining Jewel of the Silvery Tay).

The yellow shrub (gorse) is really spiky and is probably why I got a flat tire (tyre) last weekend.Heading back to Wormit after his first off-road mosey. The seed of adventure has been planted.

calvin in motion

2009-05-22T21:25:00.000+01:00

The checkup on Tuesday went well, once we got the health visitor to tell the doctor what's what. Calvin was on the verge of 6 lbs, so he's certainly over that by now. The rest of the week went pretty well. Quite well for me, I got to sleep all night since Grandma is here and helping us out. I'm the only one who gets to sleep, so I probably shouldn't wax too enthusiastic about that. We even got to get out to see a movie last night (Star Trek), leaving Cal with Rose. Since he's a bit more robust now, we might head to St Andrews tomorrow if the weather's good.

Here's an experimental movie.

The several moods of Mr Calvin, 2009 (Scotland) 0:0:45

zero

2009-05-17T09:52:00.000+01:00

Today is Calvin's due date! He's been around for almost eleven weeks, you were probably thinking that it's about time for him to pull on his big-boy pants and start riding bicycles. Not so fast! The clock is now at zero for most developmental milestones, like sitting up, eating solids, skiing moguls proficiently etc. He's been amusingly trying to lift his head for a week or two, if I were him I'd work on that a little more before moving on to more advanced techniques.

Snoozing after being force-fed by dad.

He's looking a bit bigger. I'll probably weigh him on the kitchen scale at some point today just for fun, but he's getting a checkup at the hospital on Tuesday where they'll make sure things are going ok. Since he's been seen at home twice a week by health visitors since being discharged, we're not worried about anything, but it will mean a chance to try the coffee at the hospital again. They'd just finished remodeling when we left, so obviously I'm pretty excited for that.

When he hits his fighting weight (2.75 kg), Calvin will clean your clock like a Swiss clock inspector.

Calvin's big day- the Consulate!

2009-05-12T22:07:00.000+01:00

Today was Calvin's big day- a trip to the Consulate in Edinburgh to apply for a passport and register his birth. The highlight was probably holding him up against a tape measure that was glued to the wall to estimate his height (17 inches. That's going in the passport I guess.) Hopefully soon Calvin will be a man with a country. This was his biggest excursion, 5 hours and a whopping 70 miles. He did fine with it, but since we got home he's been screaming and screaming. Here are some pictures of today and some more peaceful times in the past few days.

A walk through the neighborhood:

Bath time; he's still not totally convinced that baths are fun:
A gorgeous day in Edinburgh, after Calvin tried to become a US citizen.Dinner!

family resemblance?

2009-05-08T14:00:00.000+01:00

Rick and Rose scanned some baby pictures of me. They're pretty amusing- check this comparison out:
When you digitally take care of the haircut and nearly 30 years of evolution in the cut of a man's collar, it's like looking in stereo:
While it's not like we're twins or anything, we do think it looks like there's some sort of genetic connection.

it's a good thing he's cute.

2009-05-05T17:43:00.000+01:00

Because the screaming and the not-sleeping aren't quite charming. He gets some immunizations tomorrow- that should put him in a good mood, right?

contains simeticone

2009-05-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

The Infacol elephant is like the Absinthe Fairy for babies. Could this be the answer to all the questions we've been asking ourselves in the hours leading up to dawn? From the product website: "Colic is usually recognised by bouts of inconsolable crying, often for hours at a time, for no specific reason - i.e. your baby is not hungry, overtired, needs a nappy change or has a raised temperature." Inconsolable- that's the word I was probably looking for last night. Inconsolable, incessant, senseless screaming.

"Colic most commonly occurs in the late afternoon and evening when your baby may cry out in pain, draw her knees up to her chest and go red in the face. Her tummy may be swollen or bloated as if she's swallowed a lot of air, and she might pass wind more than usual."
Yes! Exactly. Well, almost exactly. More like straining to pass wind to the point of nearly passing out, but just about right. I haven't been this enthused about a health product since the two weeks between starting to take Airborne and looking into what it actually was. The NICU staff recommended this for him... If this works... wow. We'll be happy. Other than the standard screaming baby stuff, the week has been good. Grandparents visiting have been invaluable, we got him out for a walk when it wasn't raining, and he cracked the elusive 5 lb barrier (we weighed him with a kitchen scale and a cutting board, which was kind of funny).

I'm not quite done recalibrating my Team Moeckel Self Portrait Aim.

we didn't really like sleeping in the first place, so no problem

2009-04-27T20:40:00.000+01:00

Over the first week or so at home, Calvin has been the center of attention like he probably never will be again in his life. His Nan and Grandad are here and are spoiling him. They are also watching him in the mornings so Sam (and sometimes I [me?]) can catch up on some sleep. This is good, because night time is not a time for sleep in Calvinland. It's a time for grunting and frenzied screaming.
he's cute when he's quiet though:

It took three adults and some clever choreography to get an acceptable passport photo. This isn't it:

Settling in

2009-04-22T21:38:00.001+01:00

'Settling' might be a bit optimistic I guess, but things are going alright. Sleep levels are about what you'd expect, and he seems to be calming down a little more consistently with each passing night. A midwife came and checked on us the first three days we were home, and she came back again today to weigh him. He's gained a little weight after making the transition to our place, so it looks like we're really on the right track now. We found out today that his buddy from the ward (born on the same day, next to each other in transitional care) went home yesterday too, so good news all around. Here are a bunch of pictures.

He's not yet helpful at science :
crazy eyes before feeding time:tired out or happy after feeding:
exploring his city:
not thrilled about getting a clean set of pants:

Side notes:
Tomorrow night would have been our final antenatal class, where I would have had to act out calming down a doll that was crying or something. It amuses us to keep track of stuff like that.

We're extremely grateful for all the notes, comments, emails etc. we've gotten over the last several weeks, and someday soon we'll get caught up with you all a little more personally.

Midwives delivered Calvin, helped care for him at the hospital, and came to our house (four times this week!) to make sure we were ok once we were back here with him. Midwives are amazing, and May 5th is International Midwives day. If you see any, recognize them!

Home Sweet Home

2009-04-19T19:32:00.000+01:00

We're approaching the end of day two at the expanded Moeckel household and Nick and I are exhausted. Calvin was pretty much an angel for sleeping when I was in the hospital with him but that has changed. We're wondering if he misses all the alarms and other crying babies. I know I don't.

As Nick said in a previous post, I was dying to get out of the hospital. There were days that the furthest I'd walk is from my hospital bed to the bathroom. Pretty depressing. So I'm really happy to be home even though it's been a scary transition to be completely in charge of our wee boy. You should see how freaked out we (read: me) get about the temperature in the flat and if we have enough or too many blankets on Cal. He is doing well so far despite keeping his parents up all night.

It was a gorgeous day here today so we took Cal for a 20 minute walk outside (scary!). He slept through the whole walk.

Team Moeckel Go Time!

2009-04-17T19:05:00.001+01:00

Ok, we're all under the same roof now. Should be an interesting weekend getting organized and settled. Calvin introduced himself to the surrounding flats by screaming for a while already. I bought an awesome thermometer that measures the temperature of anything up to and including babies, so I'll probably be checking the air temperature in the room a lot. And Calvin's temperature, and once in a while my own. Not that we're, like, kind of nervous or anything.

just a few pictures

2009-04-14T23:52:00.000+01:00

Not much to report- Sam is ~~going a little bonkers~~ eager to get out of the hospital, Calvin continues to eat and sleep his way through the day. He and the baby in the next bed (both born on the same day, as it happens) set each other off crying once in a while and both had a pretty fussy night from what I hear, but as usual when I got there everything looked peaceful except the mothers. If I'd been faster to react today I could have prevented him from wrenching his feeding tube out (again), but I guess he got nine hours of tube-free life because of it. We've started taking him on meanders through the hospital in a pram, too, which he sleeps through.

About to get a new tube:
Being calmed down after the (short-lived) tube was shoved down his nose:
Heading back to the ward after a coffee break:

Another week, plus or minus half a week

2009-04-12T22:36:00.001+01:00

That's the rough estimate for how much longer we'll be in our current arrangement. If Calvin cruises along he could be coming home at the end of this week, but it could take a bit longer too. He seems to be doing well with his current nutritional regime, which is two feeds nursing then one tube feed to take a break. He and Sam will continue with that for tomorrow at least before taking the next step. He put weight on today which is nice, so he seems to be getting enough to sustain himself. Two other good updates, he had his hearing test and passed that no problem, and his heart murmur has gone away. A few pictures:

Calvin in seasonal garb-

A couple guys relaxing in transitional care-

It was gorgeous out today- this is the first fresh air and sunshine that Sam's been exposed to since Tuesday-

Windy MacCalvin

2009-04-10T23:05:00.000+01:00

At this point, if the nursing staff were to start handing out nicknames, Calvin would be something like 'windy'. Lots of noises coming from his corner of the room. Last night he was apparently kind of a nightmare- screaming and waking up the other babies, then he calmed down after finding relief in a way that it would be best not to describe. When I walked in this morning he was kind of cute and peaceful, it's hard to believe he was so loud all night- but Sam and her lack of sleep assure me that he was.

After dropping weight for two days he gained some back today, and spent the day alternating between breastfeeding and tube feeding. This seemed to go really well, tomorrow he'll ease away a little more from the tube feeds, and maybe in another day or two we can get rid of the feeding tube.

Picture from today: every time you find a new layer, it's just as stylish as the last.