Departing SF, Early Days in Portland, New Tricks

Just in case Anika ever doubts that her parents were ever hip, Dad wanted this photo as proof. Note Emdrew's stylish peacoat and far-away look. I think she's ready for her first album cover.


Here's evidence of Anika's first play. During these past few weeks, she's demonstrated her ability to reach for/grab things and explore objects with her hands and mouth.


Here she is perusing a book, while Dad learns to make pasta from Great Uncle James.


Not unlike her studious parents, however, she's got a real knack for nodding off in the middle of a book.


Our entire first week here in Portland was spent out in Gresham with Great Uncle James and Great Aunt Margie. As usual, they were bowled over by Anika's charms. Here they are cuddling with the guest of honor.


During the past week or two, Anika has grown into an extremely social little person. She has a broad smile and an occasional laugh for everyone she meets. Plus, she's slept 6-7 hours at a time three times in the past five nights. Her parents, of course, think this is wonderful.

In other news, we visited an ophthalmologist last week to have Anika's eyes checked. In spite of the hemangioma on her eyelid, her eyesight seems fine. We have an ointment we're putting on her twice a week to prevent the hemangioma from growing larger, but it seems as though it shouldn't cause her any problems (and, as I've previously stated, the hemangioma should go away on its own by the time she's 5-7 years old). We're going back for another eye exam in two weeks just to be sure.

We're very much enjoying our time in Portland. After one week out in Gresham with James and Margie, we've begun housesitting for a couple in the Irvington neighborhood. The house is beautiful and very large. The owners have a large collection of cookbooks and a well-stocked kitchen, so we're looking forward to preparing some nice meals for friends and family in the coming weeks.

Andrew's enjoying his clerkship in Endocrinology at Oregon Health Sciences University thus far, despite the fact that it's a little slow, and preparing for his first residency interviews. He'll be interviewing at Legacy Emanual and OHSU here in Portland next week.

Scenes from Our Life in the Land of Milk & Honey

Just as it's hard to believe Anika is nearly ten weeks old, I'm having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that we're now in our third week here in San Francisco. Nevertheless, things are well with us.

We arrived exhausted after our brief stop in Denver, but quickly acclimated to life out here. Andrew immediately began his Oncology clerkship at UCSF and we've managed to patch together a functional routine. Our apartment (and SF) is colder than we anticipated, and we are roughing it a bit when it comes to amenities (don't even get me started on the shower); however, we Korsons are a resourceful and resilient bunch. Here's evidence:

With our baby bathtub in the mail and no means of stopping up the sink, Anika tried out the old baby-in-a-bucket method of bathing (apparently used world-wide) during our first week here.

She had her doubts at first, and couldn't quite figure out why Dad looked so exhausted, but ultimately decided that bathing this way worked just as well. Of course, cuddling with Dad (aka the Sandman) enables her to endure most anything.


Life in SF has also provided us with other challenges and new experiences. Here's Andrew taking a leisurely stroll with Anika on the street outside our apartment.


I incidentally tipped over last week trying to pick up a quarter while wearing Anika (who is now approximately twelve pounds!) and a couple bags of groceries. We came away unscathed, though a bit embarassed because our neighbor rushed over to help us up.


By far, the best part about this rotation is that it has afforded us a few free weekends together (including a three day one), which we haven't really had in months. During our first weekend we had a couple meals out with friends and visited both the de Young Art Museum and the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. Here Anika and I are taking a break to nurse and enjoy the flora in Golden Gate.


Then, this past weekend we took our first ever Korson family vacation (at least in the traditional sense). Here's Anika dressed and ready for her first trip to the beach.

We rented a car on Saturday morning and drove down Highway 1. We got as far as Carmel before doubling back to Santa Cruz, where we (along with friend Des) visited our friend Micha and attended her housewarming party. Then, after spending the night huddled together in perhaps the seediest hotel ever, we continued on down to Big Sur.

Anika had the distinct pleasure of ignoring several herons and hawks, a whale (we think), many farm animals, a large waterfall, artichokes, pumpkins, and some of the best scenery California has to offer. We did a terrible job of documenting it, but here's Andrew and Anika at Anika's first beach in Carmel.

I had visions of dipping Anika's toes in the water, but it was far too cold for that.

This kid truly is intrepid. She has readily endured all of our travels to date, and always remains her sweet-natured self as long as I steer clear of dairy and soy. Wherever we go, people invariably assume that we're making our first attempts at getting out in the world. Little do they know, Emdrew has traversed the continent, visited six states, attended three parties, and dined in countless restaurants during her first two months of life.

All this has, however, taken a toll on her parents. Although Anika is now often only rousing us once during the night, we're still pretty wiped every evening. I'm currently recovering from a chest cold (which, amazingly, I alone contracted), and, well, somehow it just seems like we can't sleep enough. Will it ever end?

Despite this, Andrew continues to meet with success on the school front. Just today he learned that he performed exceptionally well on his most recent Medical Licensing Board Exams and he has been receiving residency interview requests from some very good programs. Regardless of where we end up next year, it looks as though (fingers crossed!) Andrew will be training at a highly ranked school. Although the invitation period is by no means over, the heavy hitters so far include Dartmouth, Tufts, Cornell, Mt. Sinai, the University of Colorado, the University of Chicago, and UC San Diego; he has lots of traveling to do during the coming months. Anika and I are deeply proud.

Baby Heads West: Mile High City

After a rather whirlwind post-Board exam packing-spree back in Brooklyn, the Korson family set off on a roughly two and a half month adventure out West on September 24th. We stopped off in Denver for three nights on our way to San Francisco.

Here are a few photos of Anika spending some quality time with friends and family, including a couple taken at Anika's belly eviction celebration at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Wally's house.






Anika slept through her entire party, but was nevertheless pleased with her new friends.

Anika's Smile

This picture doesn't really do her newest/first trick justice, but it's pretty tough to coax out a smile from behind a camera. In any case, she's been smiling for us since Saturday and it's fantastic. She's reduced us to blathering idiots, but apparently I'll do most anything to see her happy.

And that spot on her eyelid is her Infantile Hemangioma. As I wrote earlier, if it doesn't cause her eyelid to droop significantly, it will go away on it's own when she's about five. However, we are feeling as though her lid is beginning to droop a little, so she may have to have it removed. We're seeing a pediatric dermatologist tomorrow to possibly diagnose the skin condition she inherited from Dad anyhow, so I think we'll ask about this eye thing also.

In other news, over the weekend Andrew and I began to suspect that Anika has a Milk Protein Intolerance. I took her to the doctor on Monday and he suggested that I try eliminating both dairy and soy from my diet. Needless to say, I'm not wild about this, but Anika does appear to be a happier and less gassy baby already. Apparently this intolerance is not all that uncommon, and kids usually outgrow it by the time they're two, so it basically just makes my life difficult. In a few weeks I can start trying to add things back into my diet. I'm really hoping that I won't have to give up soy entirely, since it's the easiest alternative to dairy and soybean oil is in everything... We'll see how it goes.

The Proud Parents

Dad enjoying a yet another leisurely breakfast.

Mom crashed out on the couch.

And I've tossed up this photo just because it's probably the most adorable thing you'll ever see.

One Month Down

It's a shock to me that a full month has past since Anika's arrival. Anika, however, is daily changed. She's gained a whopping two and a half pounds (which is above average) and grown two inches. She's spending longer periods of time awake during the day, has a surprising amount of strength (she can hold her head up during a burping), and is generally more aware of the world. Her mobile, a striped monkey toy, and our faces are fascinating. It's only a matter of time before she deliberately sends that goofy grin of hers our way.

From our visits to the doctor, it would seem that she's a very healthy little babe. She does, incidentally, appear to have inherited Andrew and Grandma Mary's skin condition (Dermatopathia Pigmentosa Reticularis) because, like her daddy, she developed blisters on her feet during her second day of life. The blisters themselves weren't all that bad, but likely condemn her to a life without fingerprints and difficulty sweating. We're going to see some hot-shot pediatric dermatologist at NYU later this month and hopefully get an official diagnosis. There are only something like 10-15 documented cases of this condition, and since Andrew and his mother are not among them, we're interested in having the three of them noted by the people who've studied it.

Also, I'm not sure if it's apparent from any of the previous photographs, but Anika developed a red spot on her right eyelid about two weeks ago. At first we thought she'd just scratched herself, but it turns out she has an Infantile Hemangioma (also known as a Strawberry Hemangioma). It's a birthmark of sorts that develops a few weeks after birth. Fortunately, it's not permanent, however it will stick around until she's 5-7 years old. We're not thrilled about it, but all things considered it's not so bad. Apparently these things often continue to grow for the first three months and then remain roughly the same size thereafter. Because it's on her eyelid there's a chance that it will cause her eyelid to droop, which could affect her vision. If this happens, she may undergo treatment to shrink or remove it, but otherwise we'll just let it disappear of its own accord.

Interestingly enough, these birthmarks seem to be estrogen fueled (they happen more to girls than boys) and often occur in children who had placental abnormalities. I haven't been able to access much information on this subject, but it might be that this mark, my endocrine problems, and her velamentous umbilical cord having something to do with one another. Weird, eh?

A whirlwind welcome from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Tom

During the last weekend in August, we were graced by a visit from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Mary. Their visit was entirely too short, but momentous and pleasant nonetheless. Here are a few photos of Grandma and Grandpa with their favorite new person.



And here Anika is enjoying a little post-bath cuddle with Dad and Grandma. Bath time is quite the spectator sport in these parts. It's quickly become a good time for all involved, though getting out is still a little traumatic.