Under Pressure

As every new father knows, tomorrow is one of the most important days of the year - our new family's first Mother's Day. A time to celebrate Mommy, her boundless energy, her love and affection, her sacrifices, and her patience. A day to shower her with presents, and to shoulder an extra bit of the parenting, to give her a chance to rest, relax, and reflect on the joys of motherhood.

For Owen and I, the task is a bit larger than for most new fathers. That is because tomorrow is not only Elaine's first Mother's Day, but it is also her Birthday! We need to make sure Elaine doesn't just feel special as a Mother, but also feels special for just being Elaine. She needs a little something extra to show we're not just lumping both of these celebrations together. Combined presents simply won't do.

Some people might think that's too much to squeeze into one day, but wait, there's more. Not only is Owen's mother's Birthday on Mother's Day, but my mother's Birthday is on Mother's Day. That's right, May 13, 2007, is a really big day for the Fawcett family.

Sadly, I think Owen is feeling the pressure. All the presents are wrapped, and the brunch reservations are made, but the burden of being extra cute for Mommy and Mom Mom's Birthdays and trying to say "ma ma" for Mother's Day (not to mention the pressure to say something adorable on the phone with Grandma Z on tomorrow) has put Owen under the weather. He's kicked off our big weekend with a bout of diarrhea and projectile vomiting. Hopefully he'll be able to rally by the time tomorrow morning rolls around, if not, wish us luck...

Under Pressure - Part II

So apparently Allen couldn’t handle the pressure either. Just as Owen was on the mend (after fourteen poopy diapers, six clothing changes, two bouts of vomiting, two baths and one trip to the doctors office all in a twelve hour period on Saturday), Allen became gravely ill beginning at 5:30 am on Sunday morning. At first we assumed that he would follow a similar trajectory as Owen, and after an initial vomiting spell, he’d be able to keep things down and be in fine spirits, although requiring a bathroom break every twenty minutes or so. That wasn’t actually the case. By noon, Allen became too weak to even make it to the bathroom, couldn’t keep down even the smallest sip of water and his pallor had turned grayish-white.

Fortunately, right about then Allen’s mom and her husband showed up for our Mother’s Day/Birthday brunch that we’d planned weeks in advance. They took Owen off in the stroller while I packed up Allen (with a bucket in tow) in the car and drove him to the doctor’s office, where he was given two IVs and some anti-nausea medication. We made it home by 5 pm to find Owen happily playing with Mom-mom and Grandpa Don. We exchanged presents while Allen sat in the fetal position and sipped water which miraculously he was able to keep down. He spent the rest of the evening lying on the couch.

Under Pressure - Part III

Let me just say now that I’ve never been a fan of my birthday, as historically they’ve been a bit of disappointment. Like my 17th which was spent in the hospital as my grandmother lay dying (she passed away two days later). Or my 21st which took place in Philadelphia at the Dad Vails regatta which we lost (owing to some foot-stretchers breaking 11 meters from the start – just outside the breakage zone) and all my friends forgot (despite my having reminded them for months) only to remember belatedly so that I got to drive from Philly to Chicago in a school van with the worst hangover ever. Or my 29th where I had to pull an all-nighter to finish a take-home econometrics exam and grade some finals for my TA class. I could go on, but I think you get the gist.

Anyway, this year’s birthday is in a class all of its own. After spending the day attempting to care for both my ailing son and husband, I too succumbed to whatever it was that had completely incapacitated Allen, about a half hour after I got Owen to sleep. Fortunately, Owen slept through the night and I borrowed some of Allen’s anti-nausea medicine which got us through to six am, but then Owen woke and promptly threw-up on me after nursing at which point we called Allen’s mom and asked if she could watch Owen during the day since neither of us could handle caring for him. She happily swooped in to take Owen off of our hands for the day, so Mom Mom deserves some extra Mother’s Day props!

We appear to be on the mend now, though I think we’re all going to stay home tomorrow just to make sure. And so ends the story of my first Mother’s Day as a mother and my 34th birthday (which I don’t feel should count). Let us all hope that the pressure doesn’t get to us the next time my birthday and Mother’s Day coincide.

Under Pressure - Part IV

Proving the adage that no good deed goes unpunished, Mom Mom has become the latest victim of what will become known in Fawcett lore as the Mother's Day Massacre. Seems that after caring for Owen Sunday afternoon while I took Allen to the doctor and all day Monday while Allen and I tried to regain our strength, Mom Mom woke up at 3:30 am Tuesday morning feeling a bit off. She quickly realized what she was in for, and within a few hours was in the throes of agony. We're hoping that the strain has weakened now that its moved onto its third generation of our family and that her convalescence will be brief. Mom Mom can now add a purple heart to her silver star of grandmotherhood.

Grand Tetons

Our great National Park adventure of 2018 started with an early morning flight out to Jackson, Wyoming. We spent the night up at Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's (our first time sleeping in the new room!), and Don drove us up to BWI in the morning where we met up with the Telfair-Cha's and hopped on the plane. The flights went smoothly, even though we didn't have seats assigned beforehand, and when we landed in Jackson we were greeted with gorgeous weather, stunningly beautiful views, and elk horns! We picked up our rental cars, divided up the kids (Steve & Megan got the girls, since they needed Mirabel their car for her 4th grade park pass), and headed off to our first stop, the Grand Tetons Visitor Center.



Before we even got to the Visitor Center, the first curve ball came our way. A text from Megan told us that Nora had a head wound. What?!? The kids had been playing in the airport, we walked Nora to Steve & Megan's rental car, then hopped in ours and drove off, when could Nora possibly have gotten hurt? (I know, I know, this is Nora, and we were on vacation, so should we really have been surprised...) Turns out while the kids were playing in the airport Nora fell, hitting the back of her head on the corner of a bench (though the official story is a bison chased her). She didn't act hurt, so the kids kept playing. Once everyone was in the car, Nora said her head felt wet, and Mirabel noticed Nora's hair was soaked with blood. Thankfully, Dr. Steve was there to keep everyone calm, inspect the wound, and have Nora apply pressure (not bad for someone who's not even a real 24/7 doctor ;-). We were  all able to meet up again at the Visitors Center, where the Park Ranger EMT, cleaned up the wound, and let us know that she could use stitches. Luckily, there was a small clinic at Jackson Lake Lodge (right where we were headed!), and just enough time to get there before it closed. We rushed over (a quick half hour drive), and the very nice EMT there was able to close Nora's head wound with three staples. Nora was a trooper through it all. The only real cause for her tears was when she was afraid that her getting hurt was somehow going to ruin the trip. Her fears were completely unjustified, and before we knew it, we were sipping huckleberry mojitos and margaritas on the deck at Jackson Lake Lodge with a stunning view of the sun setting over the Grand Tetons!



On our first full day in the Tetons, Steve and I got up early to get our three campsites at Jenny Lake. Then we met everyone at Horseshoe Bend before heading back to the Lodge to for our rafting trip. We rode down to the Snake River, and had a lovely picnic lunch on the banks of the river as our guides gave us the orientation for the trip. Steve & Megan's old neighbor Grainne and her kids Iona and Daniel had joined us for the Teton's portion of the trip (they had moved out to Idaho a few years ago and were getting ready to move back to Ireland), so we had a raft to ourselves with a wonderful guide. The weather was perfect -- Low 70's with just a few scattered cumulus clouds, an ideal day to be on the water. The first half of the trip was some relatively relaxing floating, the kids even got to take turns on the oars as our guide told us about the history, geology, and wildlife of the park. Then things got interesting. As we learned, the Tetons are a somewhat unique mountain range (the Dolomites are the only others similarly formed) in that the eastern geologic plate dives under the western plate, so the young craggy mountains rise up dramatically from the smooth plain at fault line. That flat plain below the mountains is made up of glacial till 10,000 feet deep, so the Snake River is able to cut a wandering path across the plane. Wandering being the key word. As we learned from our guide, just a week before our trip this section of the river moved a full quarter mile to the east, cutting a new channel through what was previously a wooded plain. That meant this section of the river was even more challenging for our guide than the big rapids that this trip was trying to avoid. Our guide did a excellent job of course, finding the new channel and navigating through all the downed trees, with just one collision. We slammed into a big root-ball on the corner of the raft where Elaine and I were sitting -- thankfully our guide warned and prepared us just in time. The rafting trip was truly amazing (we even had a rare daytime beaver siting!), so much so that I may have cursed our Yellowstone weather by noting it could only go downhill from here ;-)



After rafting, we drove down to Jenny Lake to set up our tents, find Mt. Owen, explore the trails near the campground, relax in the hammocks, and cook a chicken and vegetable satay feast over the campfire courtesy of Grainne's outstanding provisioning. We even had time for s'mores for dessert, though that went better for some people than for others. That first night in the tents was the one clear night we had while camping, and Nora and I took advantage of it with a middle of the night bathroom run to get us outside to see the stars and the Milky Way.



In the morning we caught the first boat across Jenny Lake for a hike up into the mountains. The trail led us along streams raging with melt water, across rustic bridges, and eventually to the beautiful Hidden Falls. On past the Falls, we ascended the trail to Lower Inspiration Point with a stunning view out over Lake Jenny. Beyond that point the trail was closed, so the whatever further inspiration was available up at the true Inspiration Point will remain a mystery to us.

After a bunch of games back at the campground, we drove down to Dornan's Chuckwagon for dinner, then relaxed with some whiskey by the campfire before turning in for the night. We woke up to rain on our last morning in the Tetons, spoiling our plans for a relaxing pancake breakfast by the campfire, but even as we struck camp in the rain, we couldn't help but marvel at how wonderful the Grand Tetons had been. We finished packing the minivans, said our goodbyes to Grainne and family, then hit the road for the next stop on our adventure, Yellowstone!



(Click here for all the Grand Tetons pictures.)