Running Barefoot

Entering Narnia

2012-01-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

So it turns out I live on the edge of Narnia and I had no idea. I have lived here for almost 5 years, and I have never been further than the brush pile in our back yard. But this Christmas, Ben gave Tobi and I our own snowshoes. Of course we had NO snow until mid January this winter. So when we finally got enough snow to cover the ground, we all put on our new gear and headed out through the backyard.

And then we entered Narnia...

Ben goes snowshoeing out here in the winter a lot...but it was so foreign to me that we lived on the edge of this winter wonderland...trails and snow-covered beauty...just beyond our own yard. Tobi did great for being 3 and walking in snowshoes for the first time. We were out about a half an hour and she (with the promise of hot chocolate upon completion) really enjoyed herself!

But, there was a day last week where things aligned just so... two kids actually napping at the same time and the house was relatively "clean" (enough) and Ben working at home, so I decided it was the perfect chance to return to Narnia.

Its so amazing to me that there is a whole system of snow-covered paths...winding behind all the houses I drive by everyday...leading up to the water tower...over frozen streams that I never knew existed. I just kept walking...and winding...and wondering where the next path would lead. Ben told me about snowshoeing there, but without having experienced it myself I really didn't think it was much more than snowy woods. And actually it isn't much more than that...the reality is that I didn't realize how cool snowy woods could be. I thought of a hundred metaphors for life while I was trekking...how we live on the edge, peering in and never knowing what is beyond waiting for us until we dare to enter...how others explain things to us but we don't fully understand until we experience it for ourselves...how sometimes you just have to get into the bureau if you want to see Narnia. For me that bureau was a a path past the brush pile, a pair of snowshoes and a couple of tired kids.

The Eleventh Hour....er....Month

2012-01-14T00:05:00.000-05:00

So, this is it...the last month of the 1st year of Axel's life. It seems like such a big jump from being measured in months to years, so I decided that when Axel is 15 he will still just be 180 months old to me! (Thank you calculator.)

Another big month for the boy...

First Christmas...

This marks the last of the firsts as far of holidays are concerned (unless we count MLKJ day...but Ben doesn't get that one off so it's no holiday around here.) Axel came home from the hospital on Valentine's day last year (also not really a holiday...but we will be celebrating...right, Ben?).

I think we can say we have a walker. He still prefers crawling most of the time. It's so much faster. But I catch him taking steps all the time now...just to get from one spot to another. He is very proud of himself. Sadly I haven't gotten any really great video footage of his best walking because he likes to end his walking show with a dive into my arms...but this will give you an idea.

We got our first snow of the year on the 11th (the day Axel turned 11 months old). So to celebrate we bundled him up so he could hardly move, stuffed him in a backpack carrier and brought him out in the cold for a little walk. I guess he didn't mind too much, since he fell asleep almost immediately!

Other advances include waving goodbye, repeating the tone of some things we say (all done, bye bye, i love you...they all sound exactly alike, but he is definitely working on some speaking skills), and breaking in some serious molars (poor guy!). Oh, and he loves to sing along to "Angels We Have heard on High" on the chorus..."Gloooooooria"...way to keep the Christmas spirit alive, Axel!

double digits

2011-12-14T00:27:00.001-05:00

Time for a little catch up!
Axel is 10 months old now (almost 11...but we need to cover the 10th month first).

On Dec. 16th this little turkey weighed in at 21 lbs. 5 oz. and measures in at 29 inches. (Actually I think we had a 20 lb. turkey for Thanksgiving...)

Axel's 10th month had a few firsts for him...

First Thanksgiving.

First time getting a Christmas tree...

and decorating a Christmas tree...

He started standing on his own and even took his first few steps.

He has definitely mastered sleeping through the night (woohoo!)...

He's a great sleeper and great eater!

He is always on the move!!!!

And he loves to dance...

He sure does make us smile!

11-11-11

2011-11-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

Axel turns 9 months old today (I guess it should have been 11 considering the date, but I'm fine with 9 for now). It's been a full month...with a few unexpected adventures.

I think I totally missed an eight month update for Axel baby so he has made all kinds of advancements in two month's time. He is a pro at crawling now...and pulling himself up on everything...he has started using furniture to move himself around while standing. I think he might be an early walker. He loves to clap, sway and dance to any music.

He started feeding himself most of his meals...shoveling fistfuls of food into his mouth as fast as possible. He loves most of the food I've given him - fruit, veggies, meat, bread...but he still gobbles up the baby crackers and puffs.

I'm just loving seeing his personality coming out more and more. He is a serious guy and busy...he loves to explore and play. Of course he will indulge you with a little laugh if he feels like it...but Tobi can usually make him laugh and smile...and she loves to do that. "I guess I really love my brother, don't I?" Yup! I guess we all really do!

Due to not one, but two snow storms in October we have already been getting our fill of snow.

The first snowfall was just enough to be a fun kind of novelty...

We built a few (little) snowmen....

but that snow all melted by that afternoon.

The second snowfall was just a few days later and left close to 300,000 people without power in NH. We were among the not so lucky and we lost our power for about 5 days.

Sunday morning we woke up to a lot of snow and no power. So we decided to head out in search of a cup of coffee and a little warmth. Well apparently we weren't the only ones. This was about the 10th Dunkin' Donuts we passed...

I decided to snap a picture because all of them had lines like this of people out the door. This one had no drive through but the ones that did had cars out to the streets. I saw someone on facebook comment that America really does run on Dunkins. At least Manchester NH can't run without coffee...

We finally ended up at Starbucks after lunch and running some errands. Even then we had a 20 minute wait in the drive through...but really in was warm in the car and I had to feed Axel anyway...

We spent one night at home but Ben needed power to be able to work since he is working from home now...so we moved in to Ryan and Sarah's for what we thought might be a day or two...but ended up being three or four...

Thanks to them we were cozy, warm, clean...and Ben had what he needed to work there to.

The kids got some good cousin time in...

Tobi got to go trick or treating for the first time (Axel too, but he was less in to it than his sister.)

Tobi went as Rapunzel (or as she would say, Tangled). The long hair was courtesy of Auntie Sarah's crafty creations...

Speaking of crafty creations check out the angry birds..and Kirsten the American Girl doll (also made by Sarah).

Axel had his horse coat on...but somehow he was most often mistaken for a chicken!

Anyway, we survived just fine. We are so fortunate to have family so close by...

It is nice to be home. It's nice to have lights, heat and water again. Every time I thought about complaining about how long it was taking to get power back or how inconvenienced I was feeling I thought about those who lost their homes in the earthquake/tsunami in Japan over 8 months ago and still don't have a place to call home, never mind all the amenities...or those in Haiti who had so little to begin with and lost everything in the earthquake there. It seems all to easy to take these things for granted...

October 14

2011-10-26T23:27:00.001-04:00

The past 3 years I've taken pictures of Tobi in the leaves at Stark Park on October 14th. Here are the pics from the last few years.

Sadly this year it was raining on the 14th...so we had to wait until the 17th. I knew getting a good picture of both kids would be challenging...but I didn't anticipate this reaction from Axel...

"Okay...this is different."

"What are these things?"

"I don' t think I like this..."

"Help me, Tobi! Get us out of here..."

"Seriously? You are sticking those things on my head?"

"I'll touch them, but I won't like them."

"I'm outta here..."

And then there is this girl.....

Axel preferred crawling in the grass and playing on the statue. As long as he didn't have to be near those terrible leaves.

A few more of my favorites from the day...

Islesboro Cottage 3.0

2011-10-13T17:06:00.001-04:00

This was our third year out at the cottage on Islesboro. Thanks to the generosity of Ben's parents we got to live on the water for 2 weeks. It was great spending time with Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends at different times during those weeks.

It is such a lovely place. I have such a soft spot for the Maine coast and having a view of it out every window is so amazing.

We had a little trouble getting on to the island since it is only accessible by ferry. We packed all of our stuff for two weeks in the truck and U-Haul trailer and we were so proud of ourselves for getting there just in time to make our reservation on the last ferry only to find out the ferry was not working! We had to hustle to take the water taxi for passengers only. We had to decide what we would need to survive for the night and hope that no one would get into the rest of our belongings during the night. We did just fine (minus the 3 year old screaming "I don't want to go on the boat" all the way down the ramp to the boat and the fact that we left all our cash in the truck and couldn't pay for the taxi ride! until the next day).

Oh, Maggie (the ferry's nickname)...we've been "ferried" again! (That was Ben's new phrase creation!)

Ben had to work most of the time we were there, but if you have to work this is the office view you want.

This was our backyard for the week...(at least at low tide.)

We did a lot of beach combing and digging.

Ryan and Sarah and the kids came up for a couple days...

Here are the ladies in the "princess palace".

And how about a little kayaking?

We took a trip off island one day.

Here is Tobi getting a special ride around Camden.

We took lots of beach walks...collecting treasures and such.

It was so nice to be able to be with family everyday.

And talk about a sink view. I didn't even mind doing the dishes ( I think I have written about this every year so far.)

We spent lots of time on the sun porch...doing puzzles, playing games, enjoying the beauty.

Everyday the sky was different, and so the view was always new.

We had some of the freshest seafood you can get...lobsters from the one of the local lobstermen and mussles from the beach in our front yard!

Oh sooo good!

I had my personal lobster preparer (aka my neat freak husband) present me with a fully cleaned lobster. Yummmmm!

These two both had a great time...

...living at the shore...

....crawling in jammies on the porch...

....playing at playgrounds...

...listening to Grandpa stories...

...playing games at the fall festival....

....snuggling with Grandma...

....relaxing in rockers...

...petting animals at the island farm...

...riding bikes...

...celebrating Jon's 10th birthday...

...watching beautiful sunsets...

...riding the ferry...

...and dancing on the ferry...

After two weeks we had to make our way back to the mainland...

but we are so blessed to have so many great memories...once again!

Seven

2011-09-14T16:22:00.000-04:00

This guy....

has been busy.

Since my last post he turned 7 months old and has mastered a whole bunch of new tricks.

Crawling? Check!

Sitting up and feeding himself? Check and check!

Standing (with some help)? Check!

Pulling up, standing and playing a little ditty on the piano? Check, check and check!

Next month?

Stair climbing???

oh boy...

NOT YET!!!

Well, if that's how you feel about it...maybe we can work up to it...slowly!

Right...who am I kidding...this kid is not slowing down for anybody.

But he still looks little in this stroller...

and he still has finger dimples...

So, he's still a baby....as long as I say he is! Right?

6 months (and 3 weeks!)

2011-08-28T12:24:00.000-04:00

Oops! I better get this 6 month post for Axel up before he turns 7 months. It's kind of a big mile stone ...half a year ...and I have been negligent in posting any thing about it.

(The following post contains a number of details that probably only a mother would care about, but I like to look back and see how things were then...so bear with this mama!)

So far I am really loving 6 months! Finally, Axel is sleeping through the night. He was still sleeping in our room since he had been waking up for a very early morning feeding. Then it seemed I would stay up late to feed him and he was still waking up at least twice and would only settle down if he was fed. NO! This was not the direction I thought we should be going. I decided I would put him in another room to sleep in hopes that he would sleep better and maybe only wake up once. He obviously needed his own space because now I put him down at 8 or 9 and he wakes up around 8 am!!!!! This is so great... if only I had made the move earlier I think we all would have been sleeping better much earlier! I'm sure adding some solid food helped as well.
He is taking a short morning nap (45 min - 1 hour) and then a good nap in the afternoon (2-3 hours). Tobi is still napping, so recently there have been a string of days where both kids have been napping at the same time. SO NICE!

Axel sits up now if positioned that way. He has some control but usually ends up falling back or to the side...so soft surfaces works best! He is so close to crawling... he is up an all fours now, rocks, launches himself forward, pivots, rolls scooches, and spins ...everything but actual crawling. Once he figures it out I'm sure he will be on the move so I am not pushing him at all :) He's been stuck (literally) at this stage for a few weeks now.

He has turned into a super eater...rice cereal, sweet potatoes and bananas were all he ate the first few weeks and this had some troubling effects on his poor little digestive tract...but after some prunes and pear juice and a switch to oatmeal cereal things have been moving along quite nicely :)

So far he has loved everything he has eaten...carrots, peas, green beans, apples. He treats banana in the mesh self-feeder like his sole life source...I have to limit his banana intake but he start panting and grabbing when he sees the feeder coming out. I tried to put in an ice cube in it once....let's just stay it was not met with great delight!

Banana and bluberry - yum!

He is so goofy and smiley...I just love his little toothy grin (and frown). Ben calls him "Chompers" and it fits him quite well right now. He chews and chomps on anything and everything...he really loves a good shoe if he can find one.

A few comparisons.

Tobi still did not have any teeth at 6 months, her first teeth popped up around 7 months. Axel is days away from his top teeth popping through. His bottom teeth showed up just before he turned 5 months old. We had to reschedule Axel's 6 month check up so I don't know how much he weighs or how long he is right now...but he was over 16 lbs at his 4 month appt. and Tobi was 17 lbs at her 6 month appointment. So I think Axel probably has his sister beat. Tobi was not interested in moving at all at 6 month...she loved sitting. She wasn't so big on food yet...but she was in love with her bottles of milk. Thankfully Axel is good with feeding now...no more pumping. It is quite freeing to not have to lug around the black bag (breast pump)... unless I want to! It's pretty much 5 feedings a day about every 3 hours...and 2-3 meals of cereal and pureed food...and of course a little banana!!!

Need a good laugh?

2011-08-20T21:55:00.001-04:00

Untitled a video by dalebengtson on Flickr.

My Dad took this video of Axel laughing at his Uncle Ryan. If you need a pick-me-up you should watch this. It's guaranteed to make you smile!

Wakondah Pond 2.0

2011-08-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

Last week we were back at the Wakondah Pond house in Moltonboro, NH thanks to the generousity of my parents. We had a fantastic week full of all sorts of activities

meal sharing....

ice cream-ing...

kayakafishing...

exercising...

dirt biking....

sunglass wearing...

in water angling...

contemplating...

toe sucking...

tea partying....

family photoing...

team fishing...

raft jumping...

exersaucering...

looning...

blueberrying...

melting....

hiking....

trail walking...

flapping...

cousining...

chilling...

unhooking...

playing...

canoeing...

marshmallowing...

dock leaping...

dock sitting...

book reading...

pond floating...

crafting...

bubble blowing...

fish catching...

kayak paddling...

and marveling.

A Lemon Party

2011-08-07T16:30:00.001-04:00

"Tobi, what kind of party would you like to have for your birthday this year?"
"Um, I think I want a lemon birthday..."

I'm not sure where this idea came from, or what it even meant...but I went with it anyway. I don't think Tobi has been to enough themed birthday parties to even know what the question I was asking her meant. The word birthday for Tobi means one thing...birthday CAKE! So much so that she doesn't even use the word cake. On Ben's birthday Tobi asked him if she could share his birthday and when we asked her what she meant by that she mimed putting something to her mouth with her fingers and then chewing it. Yes, this girl loves a good "essert" and a birthday party is as good of an excuse as any to have some!

So we had a little celebration on her actual birthday with lemon cake...with chocolate (as requested).
Pooter is Ben's nickname for Tobi..and he picked out the cake...

Then the real "lemon party" was on Saturday. My interpretation of a lemon party included lots of yellow and lemonade...

Grandma "Bengskin" made lemon cupcakes (with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting). Yummm!!

It was a great day to celebrate Tobi's 3 years with family and friends.

She is such a gift to us and we are so thankful for her. She keeps us laughing everyday. She loves to help, she loves her little brother, she loves to play and take care of her "babies...and of course she loves a good "birthday"!

I'm not really sure what a lemon party is...but I think this should be the aftermath!

Mission accomplished!

5,4,3,2,1

2011-07-15T16:32:00.001-04:00

This week has been full of little milestones for this family.

On Monday Axel turned FIVE months old.
We celebrated with a trip to the beach followed by a stop at Johnson's Dairy Bar for dinner (which was really for the rest of us) and ice cream (which we did share with Axel to his great delight!).

He is a happy smiley guy! He loves to smile at people...it is so fun to walk into a room and see that little face light up with a goofy little smile! He still really loves his sister and tolerates (and perhaps even enjoys) her unending attempts to get him to smile/look at her.

On Thursday Ben and I celebrated FOUR years of wedded bliss. It has been a busy but pretty great 4 years. We were able to celebrate with a picnic in the park on Wed.

Just the three of us :)

And then Ben made dinner on our anniversary...Shrimp Fra Diavolo...delicious!!!! And brought me this lovely boquet!

This cutie had a great week.

She spent THREE days at Grandma & Grandpa "Camp" with her girl cousins and Grandma & Grandpa "Bengskin". And boy did they pack in the activities...swimming, crafting, 3 girls "sleeping" in the same room, and even a trip into Boston to ride the swan boats and visit the "ducks". I can't wait to see all the pictures....but it has been fun trying to figure out what happened according to what Tobi has been recalling. We got some picture updates of these THREE girls having a great time:

It sure seemed strangely quiet not having Tobi here and we missed her lots, but it was so great that she got to spend such a special time with her cousins and grandparents. (I do have to admit it was a nice little break to have just one child to look after for a couple days...but the level of entertainment was lacking significantly!)

Do you see what TWO stands for?

Here's a closer look!

Yup...tooth number two is officially in! The only time we can get a good look is when he is crying...so I had to snap a couple of shots while he was a little upset. (Hmmm, nice huh?)

And for the last milestone we now have ONE more eater in our house. Axel had his first "meal" from a spoon. Rice cereal...mmm, mmm, mmm!

I'm not sure if it really counts since he mostly sucked it off the spoon like he was sucking on a bottle...but let's just say I could not get the spoon to his mouth fast enough!!!!

4th by the sea

2011-07-10T00:11:00.000-04:00

So we didn't make it up to the island in time for the 4th festivities (parade, fireworks, etc.) since they celebrated on the 2nd and we arrived on the 3rd, but we had a lot of fun with family and a spectacular view!

swimming-

viewing-

bbqing-

cousins-

coastline-

kissing-

laying-

There was a dance at the community center. Tobi was so tired since she had no nap that day and it had been a very full day already...but she was so sure she wanted to go to the dance. She got there and sat in a chair watching for about 20 minutes...I was sure she would fall asleep. But suddenly she decided she wanted to dance...

She danced with serious determination...and she couldn't be stopped!

We were all so busy watching Tobi's dancing that we didn't even notice when Kirstie Ally came in... (she has a a house on the island and shows up to things like this from time to time). Of course we found out the next day that Jon and Shay had danced with her, but they had no clue who she even was. Ben saw her as we were on the way out...I was oblivious...so I went back in to catch a glimpse. I think she is even thinner than she was at the end of dancing with the stars. We were thinking if we had stayed just a bit longer it would have been a great photo op of her and Tobi dancing together. But it may be just as well, since Tobi had no interest in anyone dancing "with" her...I think she was afraid her style would be cramped. That would have been a photo op of a whole different kind! Maybe it's better we took the over tired toddler home when we did :)

The rest of our time there was filled with more fun...

hikes-

ice cream-

kayaks-

naps-

seafood-

And then it was time to head back home...

Bye Islesboro...see you again soon!

When Daddy's away....the kids still play!

2011-06-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Ben has been out in Wyoming this week shooting at prairie dogs. Yes, prairie dogs. I was going to post a picture here of a prairie dog, but they were just too cute. Ben likes to say they are rodents and carry diseases and destroy ranches...so I'll skip the picture and think of them as giant rats.
Anyway, while Ben has been using rodents for target practice we have been enjoying a bit of summer. This is a long time for Ben to be away so we escaped to the south...Massachusetts that is.
It was a great week with my parents and made Ben being gone a little less lonely.

Monday we went to the beach...and it was a perfect beach day.

My dad took this picture of Tobi...and this is just how I feel about the beach!

Tuesday we went to Parlee farms to pick strawberries...but by the time we got there they had closed the fields for the day. So instead we visited the animals, got some ice cream and bought some already picked strawberries. (Truth be told that was probably better than chasing a tired toddler through the fields anyway.)

Thursday we made a trip to the state forest behind my parents home and discovered this great splash park.

Gardening, taking walks, coloring, reading books, playing Polly Pockets, eating outside, painting, doing puzzles...these are just a few of the things we've been doing over the past few days.

Tobi fell asleep in her car seat less than 2 minutes after we left...and we all may sleep well into next week! We missed Ben so much...so glad he is coming home a day early (RIP little prairie dogs). Thanks so much to Grandma & Grandpa for helping the week go by so quickly!

4 months of Axel Baby

2011-06-21T00:20:00.000-04:00

Hey! This guy is four months old now.

He is one social guy. A little flirt...he'll smile, coo and laugh at most people. We spend a lot of our days trying to get the baby belly giggle out of him. I think Tobi might be the best at it. He really seems to think she is pretty great (blissfully unaware that he has had more near accidental injuries at her hands than I can even count.)

Now that he's gained some serious head and neck control there are all kinds of new things to try out. He loves to "play" with the baby toys while laying on his stomach. Unlike his sister at this age he LOVES to be on his belly. I think he might be quick to learn to crawl. He is really eager to move and he does, but mostly in a circle. He is rolling over like crazy. He hardly will stay on his back...which makes changing diapers a challenge. The exersaucer made its way down from the attic and so far it seems like a hit as long as he is not too tired.
We also got the Bumbo seat (or as Tobi calls it the "Bumbaloo chair") out. He really likes sitting up like a big shot!

But his favorite things to play with are still his hands.

His 4 month well baby check up was today and he's looking good. Long and lean the doctor said -16 lbs 4 oz (50%) & 26 1/2 inches (90%). He might be lean but he's got plenty of chub in all the right places. Definitely squeezable, kissable and almost edible!

Axel meets the Ocean

2011-06-16T22:43:00.000-04:00

Today we were running barefoot at the beach.

This is Axel's first time to touch ocean water.

He was relatively indifferent...even though the water was quite chilly.

This girl is no stranger to the ocean. I think she was about 2 weeks old the first time we took her to the beach. She was born in July so she didn't have much of a choice.

Even so, she didn't think she wanted to go to the ocean today (she thought we were going to the lake beach) until she got there and remembered what it was....then she never wanted to leave.

I kind of felt the same way...

but eventually even beach days must end and we had to say "peace out" to the beach....

I'd say it was a very good day...

Snippets of Life with Tobi

2011-05-16T17:25:00.002-04:00

For about a month now Tobi has taken to calling me Shauna most of the time. "Can I have some more milk, Shauna?", "Shauna, where are my blue socks?", "My baby brother is crying, Shauna. You need to feed him, Shauna." I have mostly chosen not to make a big deal about it, but gently remind her that she should call me "Mommy"...even thought everyone else calls me Shauna. I can see why she's confused. But yesterday she took it to a new level when she gave me a nickname. "Do you know where baby Kayla is, Shaun?" I guess the whole two syllable thing got a little cumbersome for her.

The other day I had left the TV on when I went up to get Tobi from her nap. It was on a DVR'd epsiode of Oprah that I really wasn't paying much attention to and forgot was even playing. I went to the kitchen and Tobi went to play in the TV room. She came into the kitchen and asked if she could watch a kid movie. I asked which one she wanted to watch and she chose Franklin. When I said "sure" she ran back into the TV room and said "Oprah, I'm gonna watch Franklin now." Uhhh...I didn't even know she knew who Oprah was... she is usually taking a nap if and when I have it on. I guess I need to be more careful about what I leave playing...this one is way too observant to let ANYTHING get by her.

While reading "Make Way for Ducklings" with my Dad, he mentioned to her that maybe he would take her to ride the swan boats this summer. We ended up in Boston a couple weekends ago and I reminded her about reading about the swan boats. She remembered and she's mentioned it a few times since then. The other day Ben pointed out a Canadian goose to her that was swimming on a little pond. Tobi's eyes lit up as she said "Oh, I think Grandpa's gonna ride me the goose." (It's even better if you know her little voice!) Goose...swan. Ride me...take me to ride. Birds...boats. You know it's all pretty close to the right idea!

She may be a little smarty pants but all the baby attention may be getting to her:

If you can't make it out, this is her sitting in Axel's carseat...and loving it!

5-11-11

2011-05-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

Look who's 3 months old today.

He's a pretty happy guy these days. We get a lot of smiles and squeals..when he's awake.

He's getting longer and meatier (in the best sense possible) and less like a newborn everyday!

He loves to kick his legs up in the air and get a little exercise.

But other times he prefers to be still...

It's getting harder to fit him in the basket...

I think he found a comfy spot here.

A chance to kick back and relax.

But now it's time to get back to telling us all how he really feels about things.

Here's a little glimpse of this guy these days:

Smiles and Giggles

2011-04-28T17:38:00.000-04:00

We did some growing up 'round here

2011-04-12T23:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday marked two months since Axel was born. He had his 2 month checkup today and everything looks good. He is 24.5 inches and 12lbs 2 ozs. He has some baby chub now. I love that he is totally into people and faces...and he has started smiling and cooing a lot. He is sleeping pretty well...which means so am I. It's not the 7 or 8 hours I've grown accustomed to...but he gives me a couple solid stretches of sleep a night, so I'm thankful.

Check out these "guns"!

In other news, Tobi moved into her big girl bed this week. She was excited until she saw us taking down her crib (this girl loves her crib!), but I think she has made the adjustment now. She recently had started moaning in the mornings so someone would get her out of the crib...which is one of the main reason why we decided we couldn't put off the jump to a bed any longer. But wouldn't you know it...she wakes up and moans in her bed until someone comes in and then she asks if she can get up. Oh Tobi... this would be a great problem to have if it wasn't for the moaning!

Finally we had some warm days recently and in a week of growing up we decided to add big girl swings to our list of accomplishments!

Here they are...a little older and a little wiser!

6 weeks & 32 months

2011-03-25T16:27:00.001-04:00

Today we all went to the doctor...it turned out to be nothing...but my throat has been burning for a couple days so I thought we all had better get checked for strep since it has been going around. My strep test came back negative and I guess we all just have colds/virus junk. Better safe than sorry, I guess...but sure seemed like a waste of effort to drag everyone there to confirm we had colds.

Axel just happens to be 6 weeks old today...and we got to find out he weighs in at a healthy 11 lbs. 4 oz. That is almost a 3 lb. weight gain since birth. I'm glad we don't continue at that pace...or at least shouldn't!!

Sporting a full tummy!

Tobi was everyone's best friend until she realized the appointment was for her too. It's always fun to have a screaming child when the doctor comes in...I had 2 today! Fun, fun!

Tobi got weighed too...it seemed a little silly to see her sitting in that little baby scale they use, especially after seeing her little brother laying in there with room to spare. She weighed in at 35 lbs 5 oz. I can't believe how much she has grown! She is wearing almost all 4T and 5T clothing now...and she is only 2 1/2+...or, as I was reminded by a monthly e-mail, 32 months on Sunday. It really doesn't matter what size you are wearing when you pick out your own clothes...she can make it work!

ONE MONTH

2011-03-17T01:48:00.002-04:00

I know it is close to impossible to make a statement about the passage of time without mentioning how hard it is to believe that such an amount of time could have passed already...so I won't say that I can't believe my baby is a month old already. I believe it...because I am looking at a 2 1/2 year old and remembering that it was just yesterday that she was a month old.

And I'm sure our parents would say the same about us...

I can do nothing to slow time down, so instead I choose to enjoy these fleeting moments the best that I can...

I love having you in my life, in our family and in my heart! Happy 1st month, Baby Axel!

2 weeks

2011-03-01T16:24:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Axel's 2 week check up at the clinic. Technically he is 17 days old, but they still call it a 2 week check up. He was a champ...no crying, and he just looked around and even let the stretch him out to get a good height measurement. Speaking of his height, this is the second appointment he's had since he left the hospital and both times he was measured at 22 inches.

They had him at 20 inches when he was born...even though, literally, the doctor's first comment about him when she pulled him out was how long he was. I thought so too...he was bigger than everyone thought when they felt my belly...he was 8 lbs. 6 oz. but not chubby. This led everyone, including the nurses, to be skeptical of that initial measurement... and it looks like we were right to be so. Either Axel grew 2 inches in a few days, or he was shortchanged a couple inches on his initial measurement.

In other exciting measurement news, Axel weighs 8 lbs. 14 oz. - 8 oz. above his birth weight. That is always a good feeling. I know he's been eating well, but it is just so hard to know how much he's getting and if I'm reading his needs well...so the good report is encouraging.

Of course the nurse practitioner had a little help checking Axel out.

Tobi has been a great helper at home too. Some of her help is truly useful...like her willingness to bring things to me when I am feeding her brother. Other help is questionable. This poor kid has had his pacifier (which is known as "sucky" around these parts) shoved into his mouth numerous times a day, whether he wants it or not. She likes to hold her baby brother...but only for a very short time usually. You have to watch carefully so that when she is "all done" baby Axel doesn't end up on the floor.

She is still mostly busy taking care of her many, many babies. Here's a typical line up.

I don't know how she does it...one baby is more than enough for me to handle at a time! As you can see Axel fits quite well into her world.

Welcome, Little Man

2011-02-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Here He Is! (subtitled: Ben's 3rd post in as many years)

2011-02-13T12:55:00.000-05:00

Introducing: Axel Selah Runnion-Bareford

Pronounced: Sweet Child O’ Mine Running Barefoot

Meaning: Axel “Father is Peace” Selah (family name; my middle name)

Stats: 8 lbs. 6 oz., 20 inches long (but everyone thinks we got short-changed on that one…)

First, let’s address the obvious…both for those of our generation who will make the automatic association with Axl Rose, and those who know me well and ~~make fun~~ are aware of my appreciation for the fine genre of 80’s metal/hard rock. Yes, most of the lyrics are trite, stupid, and/or downright terrible, but listen to the instrumental intro of Mr. Brownstone and tell me you can stop your arm from rising, unbidden, as a horned hand is formed and reaches to the sky. Jenna, you’re just not being honest.

Anyway, this boy was not named for the frenetic front man of Guns N’ Roses, his fine moral character and exemplary lifestyle notwithstanding. For me, it was pretty easy to put that association aside and consider the name for the way it sounded…different, strong, without being overly intentional or pretentious - Spartacus and Maximus were, ah…too Roman. As I was listening yesterday afternoon to the midwife say, “ooh, he has such delicate features!”, I think having a strong name will be a good thing.

It may have taken just *a bit* more time for Shauna to come around…she laughed and rolled her eyes the first time I said…”what about Axel?” Thankfully, it grew on her – or maybe she was just worried that I might suggest Sebastian Bach Runnion-Bareford or Jani Lane Runnion-Bareford as an alternative. In any case, it became his name when Tobi started regularly referring to him as “baby Axel”. So Tobi-doo, you helped to name your little brother…I’m sure it’s just the beginning of all of the “helpful” things you’ll do for him. As I was watching you hold him, hug him, touch his face, and cup his feet in your little hands for the very first time , I can’t imagine he could have a better big sister.

We can’t imagine being more thankful for the gift of our two children…thank you, Lord!

The Waiting Game

2011-01-24T22:45:00.001-05:00

So, here I sit (mostly because it is so much effort to get up at this point) at 38 1/2 weeks pregnant. Now it's all about waiting. This pregnancy has been remarkably easy as far as how I've felt physically. I had a great pregnancy with Tobi as well, until the last few weeks and the pre-eclampsia scare. The best improvement this time around is that I have been able to wear all my shoes! I was so sure I would at least have some swelling like last time...I had one pair of flip-flops I could wear for the last 2 months of that pregnancy. Sometimes it's the small things that remind me to be thankful :) I am very grateful that I have had very few complications this time and that I've felt good almost the whole time. I do feel like I've hit a bit of a wall here...I seem to have no energy to do all those last minute things I would like to get done. Standing up for any period of time really takes its toll on my back. So today I have spent A LOT of time sitting on the couch after a day of shopping and cooking yesterday. Actually we have been doing a lot of that around these parts lately...with all the snow that has fallen we have found ourselves home-bound quite a bit. So while the weather has been doing this:

and this...

and this...

And while Ben has been doing this....

We've been inside, doing a lot of this...

Tobi loves to help me bake...so we have been baking up some delicious breads, cookies, and a house favorite, Swedish coffee rolls...

It may not be the neatest or most time efficient way to bake but it is not dull! I have been learning through trial and error just how long you can stop watching a 2 1/2 year old in front of a table of ingredients...2.5 seconds at best!

Some fun for the new year

2011-01-08T17:42:00.000-05:00

New Year's Day was so warm we decided to do something outside. Ben suggested the zoo. I never would have thought of going to the zoo in the dead of winter...but as it turned out it was a great idea and a good way to be both in and outside. We went to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Of course in the winter a lot of the regular animals are not there, but there still was plenty to see there. More than enough for a two year old to take in.

Ducks...

Ostriches (they had live ones too)...

Camels....

Lemurs (we all liked watching these crazy guys scamper around)...

Lions....

Hyenas....oops I guess that just my little....

...goat?

There were a lot more animals, but I spare you all the animal pictures. Tobi is still talking about it a week later, and that is always a good sign of a good time for toddlers.

We officially entered the world of activities this week. This one is just my speed. Tap and ballet for 2-4 year olds at the community center, 30 minutes once a week for 5 weeks, and just 5 little cuties in this class. I hadn't really considered all the ways that this class could have been a waste of a few bucks...like if Tobi had refused to go in to the class, or had no intention of listening or following instructions. I won't say that I see a bright a promising future for her in dance, after this first lesson...but there was no crying, screaming, or defiant behavior. It helped that Sadie was in the class with her, and she's pretty much a pro since she has been watching Kayla for a year or more. So by my standards dance class was a big success.

Practicing stomping in our tap shoes.

After class, practicing some new moves.

One excited ballerina.

And I leave you with a glimpse of my girl....doing her interpretation of what was going on. Juilliard should be callling any day now! :)

(For some reason blogger cuts off the video frame when I embed it from YouTube. If you want to see the full frame just click on the video.)

Christmas Recap 2010

2010-12-31T22:47:00.002-05:00

Since there are only a few hours left in 2010 I decided I'd do my best to finish off the year catching up on all the Christmas festivities.

Two weeks ago Sunday we made the trip to Islesboro to celebrate an early R-B Christmas. We spent a few days enjoying the company of family.

Tobi Claus

Story time with Grandpa

First snow of the season for Tobi... and she wanted to bond!

Dinner together.

Cousins.

Baby John is one smiley guy!

Ben modeling...chef Boba Fett.

Tobi got lots of great gifts!

She had to try on every piece of clothing as soon as she opened it...all at the same time!

Grandpa and baby John

The whole crew.

We headed home on Thursday just in time for round 2 of Christmas fun.

Christmas Eve at our church was a special time.

Beautiful music.

Ryan, Sarah and the kids read the Christmas story.

Candlelight..

Back to Ryan and Sarah's for a kind of Swedish smorgasbord with family and friends.

Don't let them fool you..they may be crunching carrots in this pic, but believe me there were many cookies, candies and all forms of sugar consumed.

Grandma hug!

One gift to open on Christmas Eve...new Christmas jammies for all the kids.

Christmas morning...opening a few gifts at home.

Must do the new puzzle right away!

Then off to Grandma and Grandpa Bengtson's in time for Christmas dinner.

Yummm!

Family dinner (still in jammies for most!)

Stocking time!

Just up from a nap/rest...but ready to open gifts.

Grandpa and Grandma got a BIG tree this year!

Opening gifts....whoa.

Some special art work...and the artists.

Tobi's new tutu was a hit...she didn't take it off for the rest of the day.

The next day we woke up to the start of a snowstorm...with a warning about the ice.

Family picture...all 4 of us! (hmm...I'm looking a little puffy these days!)

Playing in the first significant snow of the season!

Back home for our own little family Christmas (I'm pretty sure Tobi thinks Christmas goes on for weeks now).

A new kitchen!

Playing in our yard...snowsliding!

Sadly this was not snowman snow...but we did our best to build this pathetic little snowgirl.

Now that's a cute snow bunny!

That about wraps it up..and it's still 2010. Happy and Blessed New Year to you all!

Lights on the Hill 2010

2010-12-21T15:36:00.000-05:00

This year we did something totally different...we went to Lights on the Hill as a family :) Usually Ben is in the café kitchen cooking or helping but with all that we had going on this year he decided it was a good year for a break. So that meant he could actually see what happens at this event that he's been involved in for years!

Once again the hill in Candia was lined with candles, lighting the way to the different buildings.

This year there was no snow, but it was a chilly enough for hats, gloves and winter coats.

First stop: ornament/Christmas decoration making.

Second stop...

...dinner at the café. Hot dogs, corn chowder and chili (that I somehow dumped all over the table...but NOT on my camera, phew!).

Next stop...decorating and eating gingerbread cookies...

Next, to visit the animals. There were oxen, sheep, alpacas and goats.

And of course we had to check on the baby Jesus...

And maybe take him out for a little love...

On to the campfire, roasting marshmallows and...

...rolling on the ground?

A little pit stop to see all the creches from all over the world... of course snoopy nativity was the hit.

After sometime in the coffee house, getting our groove on the the acapella musical stylings of the Grace Notes and some Johnny Cash tunes, we headed back up the hill humming Christmas tunes and "Ring of Fire", of course!

Our Tree

2010-12-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

No snow on the ground this year yet, but it was still a chilly day last Saturday. All bundled up, we headed out to the Donaghey Tree Farm. (Yes, this is bundled up for Ben.)

Tobi was really impressed with the assortment of sticks lying around. Here she is collecting sticks for all of her family members.

Then she found the perfect tree...

but Daddy decided this one was a little better...and Tobi conceded.

Giving a try at hauling the tree herself...

...but it seems it was a little much after all.

One more try with a little help.

Ahh, the sweet rewards for hard labor: a cookie and a dance with mechanical Santa.

Time to decorate.

The finished product.

Thanksgiving Recap (alternitively titled: How to Know When You've Had Enough Turkey)

2010-11-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at our house. Just a small gathering of family and friends. It was a nice break to have a low key holiday event. Ben and my mom did most of the cooking, so it seemed really low key for me. We sat around the table and sang "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" and recited nursery rhymes...but who doesn't? Tobi was definitely liking the attention...not so big on the food this year though. She did manage to fit her entire dinner into a cup and declared it a pancake. Last year she was all about the food...but that is her thing lately, changing her food likes daily. She did manage to gobble down a piece of pumpkin pie.

On Friday we had more family over... and while we were eating lunch something most certainly went wrong. I think I may have been in the middle of talking, of what I know not, when suddenly I felt my chair giving way beneath me... I think it happened in about 3 distinct phases but in just a few moments I was sitting on the floor atop a disinigrated chair. Now in my defense, I am 7 1/2 months pregnant and the chair belonged to my great-grandfather. I only wish I could have seen it...I could feel that it was funny...the way it happened...fall, stop...sink, stop...crash! Here's Tobi's version and a little bit about potato chips (all accessorizing done by Tobi herself):

(reenactment)

Thankfully I only suffered a bruised glute...and ego...
Ben just starts laughing sometimes...and I know what he is thinking about.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing. No lazy, at-home Saturday would be complete without Swedish pancakes and lingonberries.

I find myself feeling so very thankful for my family...both that live with me and those spread all over the country and world. I'm thankful for renewed hope...especially as I think back on the sadness of this week last year, having just lost a baby among other great sadnesses. It is not that I have forgotten or that I am unmarked by loss, but I am thankful that there can be joy that rises from the depths of sadness...that there is always hope in the midst of tragedy...and that God is Good in all circumstances.

"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever."
Psalm 30:11-12

Now it's November...Time for Peanut Jelly and Powder

2010-11-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

How did it get to be the middle of November? Suddenly it seems Thanksgiving and Christmas are upon us...and those are my big milestones before this baby arrives. I'm officially in my 3rd trimester as of this 28th week...so I guess we are in the home stretch. Speaking of stretching...goodbye belly button, hello stretch marks! I'm still feeling great. This baby is a mover and a kicker and for the most part I love to feel every movement...even the ones that jolt me. For now he's not powerful enough to inflict and real pain! I'm so excited to meet this little guy, but I am really trying to enjoy every moment that I have left with just my little girl. She is at such a fun age...talking and learning all the time. I love the phrases she comes up with...and how her little ears and brain translate things. For example, for a while now she has referred to her favorite lunchtime fare as...well, here, take a listen:

I can't remember a lot of what we did for the last month specifically...maybe because we were sitting around playing with Play-Doh.

I do remember we Halloween was in there somewhere. Since we don't live in a neighborhood and Tobi doesn't really know about the whole candy collection thing yet, we didn't really do any trick or treating. We did stop buy our church's Trunk or Treat festivities. Since we didn't decorate our car we hung out and Ryan and Sarah's Toy Story themed van...and we brought Bo Peep with us.

She was the Toy Story addition to Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head (who won best costume, of course).

And look..a stray kitty showed up.

And Grandma and Grandpa Potato Head got in on the fun, too.

And speaking of Grandma... we got a chance to celebrate her birthday last week, with the whole family. This cake was right up Tobi's alley...she is a big fan of mandarin oranges...and put them on a cake? We were all set.

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you so much and are so blessed to have such a great mom and grandma in our lives!

October Fourteenth

2010-10-14T17:27:00.001-04:00

I like to take the back roads home from the gym in the fall. The trees are always so gorgeous this time of year. I especially love the trees in the fall in Stark Park in Manchester. I happened to stop there one fall day when Tobi was just a couple months old to take a few fall pictures of her.

Last year I stopped again on a particularly lovely fall day. Tobi was a mobile subject by then...so laying her down in a pile of leaves wasn't an option anymore.

I stopped by the park last week and was a little disappointed with the colors. So I went home and compared the pictures from the last two years and I discovered I had inadvertently stopped on Oct. 14th both years. I was a little too early last week. Since today was the 14th I decided to make it a 3 year tradition...and I wasn't disappointed!

What a difference a year makes. Look at all the hair she's grown this year. And if I thought she was a moving target last year...this year she runs with a will!

Two Weeks of Island Life

2010-10-09T22:46:00.000-04:00

Two weeks (actually, 3 weeks now that I am actually finishing this post) ago we set off for another island adventure. Ben's parents rented the same cottage they rented for the family last year, but this year it wasn't a surprise to me. Last year I had no idea that Ben had planned a surprise vacation for us, complete with packing everything and hiding it in the back of his pick-up. I don't know which way I prefer. At about midnight on Saturday before we left, while I was still folding laundry and packing, I was thinking how nice it was not to have to even think about packing last year...but once we got to the cottage it was nice to feel like we had most everything I "needed". Tobi and I really took full advantage of the fact the Ben's parents rented the cottage for 2 weeks. Ben drove us up on Sunday and then he drove back to Portland, ME on Monday to fly out to Ft. Wayne for the week (darn work travel!!!). Tobi and I spent the first week in the cottage with two of my sister-in-laws, Piper and Sarah, and Tobi's 3 month old cousin "Baby John".

As you can see above, their preliminary meeting did not go all that well...but Tobi really liked having a REAL baby around....

...as long as I wasn't holding him. We got a little glimpse of what life might be like for us in a few months. The first time I held baby John in front of Tobi, I was immediately assaulted by a screaming toddler... "NOOOOOO! That's MY mommy!". Then she ran over to try and tear him out of my arms and put herself in my lap. UH OH!!! Things did get better as the week progressed but it looks like we have some work to do before February!

Islesboro is such a beautiful place, and Tobi really got to enjoy it this year. Last year she had barely taken a few steps. This year she was tearing around everywhere...exploring and discovering!

"Maggie" the ferry gets us to the island and back again...

It felt a little like "coming home" when we came back to this cottage for the second year. We just love where it is located and the real cottage-y feel of it. (Thanks so much Mom & Dad R-B - what a special treat!)

A boat ride around the island was a great new way to see the island for us....

The boat "crew"...

We did a little boating in our front yard. Here's Jon trying out the kayak....

Tobi loves to help with dishes. Even I don't mind doing dishes with the view out this kitchen window...

We brought our bikes and got out a few times. While Ben was gone it was up to me to lug this 30+ lb. girl plus cart (not to mention the 5 month old fetus I was already hauling) behind my bike. Needless to say I was more than happy to have Ben take over that job!

We visited the Coastal Children's Museum in Rockland on our outing "off island" for the day. This was right up Tobi's alley! We did some fun shopping and lunching in Rockland as well.

They have a great playground on the island....

And Tobi spent lots of time swinging...

Ben came back to us on Sat. but after church on Sunday, Sarah and baby John headed out. We snapped this pic just before saying good-bye to them.

Monday we had lobster! Delicious....

Story time with Bennie...

More dishes, with Grandma....

The little princess being hand fed wild raspberries....

A walk out to Keller Point....

Throwing rocks into the ocean = limitless fun...

Ben's kayaking adventure...

Lunch in Belfast. Crepes followed by ice cream...delicious!

Ice cream...

"Hunting" for mussels in our "backyard"....

Mmmm! Dinner. Fresh mussels (soon to be drenched in vodka sauce....)

Even Ben got to enjoy the playground...

A bike ride with a view at every turn...

Gorgeous sunrise to greet us on our last day on Islesboro.

Saying good-bye.. see you soon!!!

What a fabulous vacation we had. We were so glad to be able to enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of this place and spend such a wonderful time with our family! (The rest of the pics can be seen here.)

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2010-09-14T15:17:00.000-04:00

That's what little boys are made of...and I guess we should know!

Well, it is time to start spreading the news, I guess. Yes, I am with child again and praising God for a healthy growing baby boy!

We had our big ultrasound and everyone kept saying it was a boy because he was moving so much and not cooperating for the scan. Hmm, he already has a reputation, poor thing! We had a tech student at first and she could not tell the sex at all. Even when the second, more seasoned tech came in she could not find out after many tries! And then finally we got the money shot (as seen above).

No great profile shots but I like this one of him stretching out his spine a little (it's better without the glare from the camera...darn you shiny paper!)

And this is my favorite (also not a great quality photo of it) with the little hand waving at us :)

We had thought about not finding out the sex with the pregnancy, but as the ultrasound date kept getting closer I was finding myself wanting to know...but not wanting to wimp out! My reasons for not wanting to know didn't seem all that important any more, so when Ben said, "Let's find out.", I didn't hesitate to say, "OK!".

This pregnancy has been really good, almost too good at times. I felt so good during the first trimester that I had almost convinced myself something must not be right! I was probably the only pregnant woman wishing she had morning sickness! Of course, now that things seem to be going along well I won't complain about that at all!

Our due date is February 3rd, 2011. I love that I can feel the baby moving now. Tobi has no idea why we keep telling her there is a baby in mommy's tummy. Yesterday after we told her she was going to be a big sister I heard her repeating "Big sister" and "Little Brother" a few times. However, I did hear her say "Little sister" when she was playing with her babies yesterday. Sorry to disappoint you, Tobi girl! She has no idea how life is about to change for her :) Who am I kidding? I am probably the one who is going to have the biggest change! But I am ready and excited for it! I am so thankful for this gift! And I am thankful that I have a God who I can trust completely, especially in those times where the future is unclear!

Update: I originally posted this last Thursday for a total of 15 minutes. No sooner had I typed those words about trusting God for the future than I found a message from my doctor on my phone. I had just seen her that morning but the official ultrasound report (from the day before) had not come back yet. She said they would only call if there was something to report when they came in. Well, she called, left a message that she had some information to discuss, but the office was closed. So Ben and I had no choice but to hope for the best and prepare for the worst! For the next several hours and a fitful night's "sleep" I prayed and pleaded...first for a healthy baby, but mostly that God would give us the grace to deal with whatever news was ahead of us. As it turned out the call the next morning actually allayed a lot of our fears. They did find in reading the ultrasound that there was an increased measurement of the nuchal fold on the back of the neck, which at times can be one of the markers of down syndrome. However the doctor seemed very optimistic since it was just barely in the range of "abnormal' and there were no other markers present. We went yesterday (Monday) for a level 2 ultrasound which confirmed for us the doctors thoughts. In every other respect this baby looks healthy, strong and on target. Of course these are all scans and screenings not diagnostic tests...so we don't know anything for sure, but the likelihood of this baby being born healthy seems probable. We are thanking God once again for reminding us of His sovereignty, His closeness to us and His providential care...regardless of the circumstances we face now and in the future!

Another good thing from the 2nd ultrasound, more pics:
A better profile pic...

Here is our 3D shot...kind of weird because his arm is over his face...but you can see his nose and lips pretty well.

Wakondah Pond is this?

2010-08-18T17:14:00.001-04:00

I couldn't resist using this "clever" question one more time. I didn't come up with it, but I sure am over-using it. Last week my parents rented a house on Wakondah Pond in Moltonboro, NH. It was a more than a slight upgrade from our usual camping accommodations. It was a lovely house with a dock and raft on the pond. The pond itself was clean and clear. The house even came with the use of a canoe and a kayak.

Floating in a kayak on Wakondah Pond

The boys, young and old(er), had fun fishing.

Ben's Big Catch of the Day

We all had fun swimming, floating, boating, and sunning.

The girls spent a lot of time taking care of their babies - and each other.

Sadie w/ baby Jacob, Kayla w/ baby New Baby, Tobi w/ baby Kayla

This conversation was had at least once an hour everyday.

Tobi: "Whatcha doin', Sadie Mae?"
Sadie: "Oh, jus' nuffin."

We went on a short hike up Rattle Snake Mt. The youngest girls even tried it out. Tobi was not interested for at least half of the hike in walking or being carried by any one else except Mommy! She did manage to forget her fears for a good part of the hike up and a little bit of the hike down. She's 2...what did I really expect?

taking a few steps on her own

Made it!

Checking out the view with Grandpa

Snack at the top

Another fun outing was a day at the Squam Lake Science Center. What a fun place that had great interactive exhibits with something for all ages.

Such a fun week. So thankful to my parents for making it possible!

Dinner for 11

Stories with Grandma

Soft Serve at the Dairy Bar

Ben on a rock

Swimming with Daddy

One big bonus for the week was having Ben there. His work has been so demanding lately that I really didn't think he would be there for more than a day or two. Even when he told me before we left that he was going to try to set up a work station there and stay the week, I didn't dare get my hopes up because I just knew something wouldn't work right and he'd have to come home. I'm glad that I was wrong and he was able to be there the whole week. He managed to get in 45 hrs of work (which is still like 10 to 15 hrs less than what he has been doing) and spend the afternoons and evenings with us! I don't think he minded the view at all or having his work day punctuated with "Hi, Daddy! Whatcha doin'?"

Watching Elmo in Ben's mobile office

Over all it was great week! So, Wakondah Pond was it? A pretty great one, if you ask me! (Ok, I'm done now, I promise!)

A Bubblicous Good Time

2010-07-29T17:29:00.000-04:00

So, Tobi turned 2 this week. We had a little party for her on Monday night, her birthday eve. I could easily turn this into a NOT ME MONDAY post since it was on a Monday and a plenty of things went awry. Since we moved the party to a week night we decided to cook the food the day before. The plan was to heat up the chicken and sausages in our electric oven as well as heat up the beans and cook the corn on the electric stove a few minutes before we were to eat. So when I returned from running a few errands to hear that we had lost electricity the ramifications of that hit me in waves... "oh no, how will I heat up all the food?"...."oh, and no water even if I could heat it up"...."and no water means no toilets"..."oh well, I guess I'll run and take a quick shower before everyone gets here...OR NOT!!!!" No water meant no shower (perhaps the most disappointing news for me and everyone else!). How did we lose power on a perfectly beautiful day? It was a little windy, but THAT windy??? Ben called the power company and they had a recording saying that they were aware of the power outages in the following towns: Hooksett. Only us?! Great...20 guests and no food or toilets? No problem, right?

Well, as it turned out we managed...thankfully we invited family and friends and not a bunch of critics. We started up the charcoal grill and started heating up the meat. I didn't ever really investigate the bathroom situation...I just let people decide what they wanted to do about that :) Just as we were pulling out the salads from the semi-cold fridge it dawned on us (after looking in the fridge for several minutes) that the light had been on in the fridge! The power was back on! We quickly heated up the rest of the food and no one was the worse for waiting.

Tobi didn't seem to mind that the power was out at all. She had been pretty excited for her bubble party, daily listing her guests. This was her special "bubble" dress -

If you have a bubble party I would highly reccommend hiring this guy:
He cooks -

He provides entertainment -

And he even brought the cake with him -

(Plus he flew in from Indiana the day before and mowed the lawn and prepared the food!...talk about getting your money's worth!)

It was a special treat to have Tobi's great aunt and uncle and cousins (once removed) who were here visiting from Japan. We like to bring in some serious out-of-town guests!

Blowing bubbles with Auntie Linda and Cousin Kayla (Uncle Dean is wearing the shades in the background) -

Stare down with cousin Chris -

Cousin Josh leading the planning meeting at the "boys" table. (We tried to hide the ugly old picnic table around the back of the house but instead it turned into the perfect hide out spot....hmmm)-

The girls had their own table too...less planning, more eating and chatting -

And of course, no girl time would be complete without some shopping.

Tobi really enjoyed opening her presents. She is always good for a "Wow!" or "Whas dat, Tobi?"

There were a few other happenings that made the pre-party prep more than adventurous. My parents came up early to help me set up and Dad came to finish the great play yard and sandbox he had been building for Tobi. Mom and I were trying to put up the canopy and she somehow got the part of her hand between her thumb and forefinger pinched in the metal of the pole. She was in so much pain and I could do nothing to help. Meanwhile, Tobi was escaping down the driveway and I was torn in those few seconds to leave my mom and rescue my daughter or free my mother from her excruciating pain and then rescue the babe. Thankfully Tobi was frozen in fear watching us... and VERY thankfully I didn't have to choose, because my dad pulled into the driveway right at that moment...wondering why we were just letting Tobi run free while we were putting up the canopy until he saw me frantically calling for help. He was quick to think to use something to pry the metal apart just enough to let her hand free. That was not a fun couple of minutes...thankfully mom was a little battered and bruised but not broken! Ugh.

We got the canopy up with no further injuries. And the play yard and sandbox were finished, albeit with out the use of power tools at the end. You can not use a power saw with out electricity... you can't even charge your cordless tools....but somehow he still managed to finish.

Despite a few glitches it was a great day. These two years have gone by quite quickly in some ways...but in others I feel really blessed to be home with Tobi everyday and have truly enjoyed watching he change daily and become the little girl that she is. She was cracking me up as everyone was leaving. She made her rounds to everyone and by name wished them Good bye and used one of her classic lines "Thanks for coming" or "See you soon" or "Come again soon". She didn't miss a person or a beat. Tobi girl, you make me smile everyday!

I have to admit that I did shed a tear or two when I kissed my one year old good night for the last time. It's just one day...but somehow it still feels like a big change. Happy Birthday - baby girl!

the Fourth, Islesboro style

2010-07-11T19:01:00.001-04:00

A different 4th for us. It's funny how the least traditional holiday for me growing up has become traditional so quickly. It's one of Ben's favorites...mostly due to the fact that he got to put on his own fireworks show. We also have celebrated with both families and friends over the past 3 years. This year brought change since Ben family moved to the Island...so we decided to celebrate the 4th island style. The 4th is a huge tradition on the Island...it's when the whole community is there, the summer people and the year rounders... the island was very busy with people and activities.

We arrived Sat. am just in time for the parade. The parade consisted of island businesses and organizations decorating cars and floats. Very small town America with a particularly island flare. John got to decorate his bike and ride in the parade (which literally started in his front yard) which was a step up from our Deerfield parade around the Parade.

Later that afternoon we went to the fire house for a chicken BBQ.

And after that we headed to Big Tree Beach...a favorite spot for Jon and Shay.

And then after dinner we sat on a neighbors lawn and watched the fireworks that we done at the ferry landing. It was a pretty decent display for a small community.

The next day we went to church...and Tobi made it through the whole service (with the help of a bagel, baby dolls, books and whatever other distractions we could find in the pew). We hadn't had that success yet on our previous visits. Only once did I have to chase Tobi down, when we first walked into the church and she saw her Daddy at the piano and decided to run right up and add her own bass notes to the prelude. Good thing she's cute.

Church was followed by more beach time...and of course it wouldn't be the 4th without morning glories.

Monday we took one more quick trip to the water (that's the fun of living on an Island...it only takes a minute to get to water in every direction.

Then back on the ferry (after a quick search for some missing glasses - mine of course...and missing the 2:30 ferry by 5 cars!) and back to NH. Tobi slept like a, well, baby. And we made some great new memories on the 4th.

Oh...this is definitely NOT ME Monday...Sickness, Toddler Meltdowns, and Cat for Sale Version

2010-06-28T12:24:00.000-04:00

It's been a while...but this has been a week of wishing it was "NOT ME!" who experienced several things. You can read about my non-adventures and then if you want you can check out some other not me's here:

If you happened to be at Merril Park pool in Concord, NH last Monday...despite what you may have thought that you saw...it was not me who was repeatedly pulling my not quite 2 year old up out of the water, saying "You don't know how to swim yet! Let Mommy hold you! Listen to Mommy!" And it was not my almost two year old who responded with squirming, pushing, crying, shouts of NO! and whatever other dramatic response you could think of...resulting in repeated time outs. And after a whole whopping 15 minutes at the pool, it was not me that you saw carrying a screaming kicking toddler under one arm and all the other pool goods in the other out of the pool area and straight to the car. And it wouldn't have been me and my cherub of a tot standing in the parking lot screaming bloody murder, stomping, kicking, and yelling NO! while I tried to strip off the wet bathing suit and swimmy diaper... what a show that would have been!

(time-out # ?)

And it was not my family that left our outing to the farm in a similar state. As you can see we always have a smile on and are completely cooperative!

It was not me who, while suffering from a sudden summer cold, propped my daughter on my bed with my laptop and several kids DVDs while I laid down next to her and kept falling off into a slumber. I am always vigilant about the amount of TV Tobi watches and even when I'm sick I always muster up enough energy to care for my child properly. (No pictures here!)

And lastly something that DID NOT happen to me this week...because if it did happen I surely would not be sleeping in my own bed anymore. Tuesday at 2:40 am I was not woken up by our cat meowing in a completely strange way only to feel him jump up on the bed and then hear some squeaking noises. I did not immediatley freak out, wake Ben up only to hear him say "UGHHH...". To which responded "WHAT???WHAT??? - IS IT A MOUSE...tell me it's NOT A MOUSE." That cat most defintely did NOT drop a severely maimed mouse on Ben's bare chest only for him to feel it go under the sheet next to his body. If that had happened I'm sure I would not have balled myself up on the furthest corner of the bed with my head buried in my pillow saying "Where is it? Oh my gosh, get it out here!!!! Please!!!" And most definitely I did not hear Ben say "Good Kitty!" as he scooped the mouse up off the floor. Seriously, that would be crazy! Why would anyone give a cat praise for dropping a half dead mouse in your bed???? Wouldn't that make him think you wanted him to do it again??? I'll tell you what though...if I ever do hear some crazy meowing followed by high pitched squeaking in my bed you will probably find me climbing the walls hanging on to the ceiling with my nails!!

Good Kitty? Hmmmm...

Summertime...and the living is easy

2010-06-21T22:56:00.001-04:00

Week 2 without Ben...hopefully the last for a while. We decided (I always say we, but it's not like Tobi has much say in the matter) to head down to visit Grandma and Grandpa.

Monday we headed out to visit Mema. I'm not sure who is taking who for a walk here.

Tuesday we all went to Ogunquit Beach. Beautiful day. Some people thought it was chilly but Tobi wanted to run up and down the beach and play in the water. She is turning into a beach-loving toddler.

Friday we had another beach day with Sarah and all the cousins who are officially out of school! What a gorgeous day at the lake.

Ben came home Friday evening. We quickly jumped in the car and headed out to the shore for seafood at a favorite spot, Petey's. It was too beautiful of a night to waste.

Then Saturday we headed back to the beach. This time with Ben. I think everyone had the same plan on such a hot summer day. Our first attempt was a failure as the parking lot was so full they wouldn't even let you wait for someone to leave. So we headed back to another favorite spot, Plum Island. We had a lovely time...and Tobi even managed to take a nap in my arms (I think we must be wearing her out with all this activity). We stayed until 6 and stopped at a favorite BBQ place, Goody Cole's, on the way home.

Sunday was Father's Day. (I think we'll claim Saturday as the real celebration). Swedish pancakes, hash browns and bacon for breakfast. I'd like to say Tobi was excited to do something special for Daddy, but she was mostly concerned with where "Tobi's plate" was.

Ben spent the afternoon "catching up" around here since he's been gone so much lately...mowing the lawn, caulking the tub...you know all the fun father's day activities. At least Saturday was fun...

So thankful for Ben and what a great dad he is.

Thankful for my dad and what an example he has been to me over the years.

Oh, and while I'm being thankful...I'm thankful for the example I have in my parents of a loving committed marriage. Sunday was their 40th wedding anniversary...and they are celebrating in Hawaii!!

Always a week behind....

2010-06-16T08:02:00.001-04:00

So last week, while Ben was in Fort Wayne, we still managed to have some fun.

On Tues. we went to the beach with some friends. It was a beautiful day at the beach, until this pop-up storm came out of nowhere. We had no time to gather our belongings and run to the car, so instead we grabbed the beach umbrella...turned it basically sideways since the rain was coming in at such and angle, and 4 adults and 4 kids tried to huddle under it. We watched as our belonging were getting soaked and then we noticed something white falling on the sand....HAIL! This cloud had a hail storm in it... I couldn't believe it. I don't think I've been caught outside in hail before (except, once on bike in Japan with Pella)...I've hardly even seen hail...never mind being out on the beach in it. It was crazy. At this point we were all trying to kneel behind the umbrella while Bethany sacrificed her own dryness and tried to cover us with towels. Suddenly the hail stopped, then the rain stopped then the wind died down, and we slowly crawled out from under the umbrella. As we began to assess the damage, Tobi, who had been eating her lunch when all this happened, let out a big cry "MY LUNCH!". This apparently was her biggest concern...not that everything was soaked and we had just been pelted by hail...but that her lunch was seriously interrupted and may have been ruined! That's my girl!

Running in the water.

Before the storm, enjoying her lunch.

Then this popped up.

And left the beach covered with this...

But it passed and the sun came back out and we stayed the rest of the afternoon, watching storms pop up to the north and south of us but never directly over us again.

Tobi girl LOVES the beach!

Last week was also my birthday. My mom and Sarah and I went out for Japanese food, which was delicious! Ryan single handedly watched all the kids since my Dad was in Haiti and Ben was in Indiana. (Thanks, Ry!) And then we all shared this delicious cake (made by Kayla, with some help from Sarah :))

Ben did come home for the weekend (yeah!) and since no week would be complete with out some kind of bubble activity we had a back yard bubblefest...

Whew...that was last week...now it's mid-week into this week and Ben is back in Fort Wayne (wah!). So...we are keeping busy, having fun, enjoying summer... and trying to avoid hail storms!

Memorial Monday to Monkies in Museums

2010-06-07T22:19:00.002-04:00

Last Monday we had a little Memorial Day celebration with my parents and a few of our friends. Ben kept tradition alive by smoking meat (brisket that took almost all night, literally, to cook), making way too much food, and scaring me (and my Dad) by shooting off little firecrackers near our very dry woods-with promises that nothing will happen...which it hasn't (minus that one wayward ladybug firecracker last year).

Tuesday was Ben's birthday. Tobi and I went down to Nashua to take him out for lunch. I'm so thankful for Ben and the wonderful husband and father he is... we are so blessed.

On Friday we took a quick trip down to the Children's Museum. Two of Tobi's current obsessions are bubbles and Curious George. Since the museum had exhibits of both those things (and George left on Sunday) we thought we'd take a little family trip before Ben left town for work for a whole week.

As we suspected Tobi was in a state of pure delight when she saw a whole room for making bubbles. Ben was also pretty entertained and inspired - once he got over his initial disgust over the condition of the bubble residue covered floor. (On a side note, I'm pretty sure Ben used to belong to the circus. He has so many of these little performance talents i.e. juggling, balancing almost anything on his nose, making bubbles...he had a little gathering of people watching his impromptu bubble pefromance).

The only way we could convince Tobi to leave the bubbles was to convince her to go look for George. And when she found him she was beyond excited. He got all kinds of kisses and hugs (and I decided to look beyond the fact that he probably had received lots of other kisses from all kinds of little George enthusiasts, and let her show her deep affection!)

Fun week - but we are already missing Ben...and he only left this morning.

Beach Day!

2010-05-29T23:27:00.002-04:00

One year ago Tobi and I had a May beach day at Ogunquit.
She was barely able to stand and toddle behind the lowest bar of the stroller.

She was sitting up but not moving around too much.

And she fell asleep easily in her stroller on our beach walk.

Last Friday we made our first Ogunquit trip of the season. And what a difference a year makes.

She was running, jumping crawling in the sand and chasing birdies all over the beach.

She was making friends everywhere...never shy about walking up to anyone on the beach. (Side note, one of the moms that was with this girl's family was named Toby...what are the chances? 2 girl Toby/i(s) on the same beach and they met!)

She spent sometime yelling "No! Mine! No! My water!" at the boys who were splashing around in the ocean. Apparently she has claimed stake on the whole Atlantic, even though she wasn't that excited about putting her feet in the cold water. She preferred to splash around in the smaller pools.

What a beautiful beach day...but we were both exhausted when we got home. Naps all around!

On the road again... Where we've been lately!

2010-05-12T11:10:00.007-04:00

It seems like we have been going and going lately. One, two or three of us have been away almost every weekend since April began.

Here is just a glimpse of the fun we've been having:

I already posted about our trip to Islesboro, ME. I'm already getting excited for our full week vacation there in September.

The next weekend we were in RI helping my dad clean out my grandparent's home (I already posted about that as well).

It was a bittersweet time, but as you can see there were some of the usual antics we experience any time this family gathers. If there's a wig, someone will be wearing it, guaranteed!

The next weekend I was back in RI, this time in Newport where my college roommates and I had a mini reunion. It was so great to get together with these amazing women. I am so thankful that our friendships have lasted over the years. We shared such a blessed time together...emotionally encouraging, spiritually enriching and, of course, joyfully uplifting! Love you, ladies!

The next weekend it was Ben's turn to get out of Dodge (yeah, I don't know exactly what that means but it seemed like I should put it there.) Ben went out to Vegas (Pahrump, to be more accurate). He met up with his uncles for a defensive handgun training course (yes, apparently they have those). Since Ben was away for 5 days, Tobi and I decided it would be a good chance for us to take a road trip.

We headed down to Pennsylvania...

to see some dear friends...

...and to play trucks and babies with Uncle Rick and eat some ice cream with Auntie Carole....

...and do some coloring with Kaden and Kira....

....to spend a hot morning at the school fair with new friends...

As a surprise treat we were given some tickets to go see Jeremy Camp last minute. It was a great concert.

Tobi got to have her first sleep over away from the parents (thanks to Monica and Eric and their superior parenting skills!).

It was so much fun seeing the Hughes and Mangins... I'm so blessed to have kept these friendships through the years and the miles!

Ben didn't take any pictures of his time out west...he was too busy shooting guns. But he did bring me this to add to my collection! See, he was thinking of us in between rounds.

It's been a fun month but I'm glad to home again for bit. I think Tobi is, too. She was talking about her toys and babies and her cousins a good portion of the way home!

87 Grove Avenue

2010-04-28T18:14:00.000-04:00

This is the house my Grandpa built about 60 years ago. This is the house where my dad grew up. This is the house where I have so many special childhood memories. Most of my holidays were spent here. I would guess we traveled to Cranston about once a month...sometimes more, sometimes less...for most of my growing up years. I spent every Christmas here that I can remember. I spent almost every Thanksgiving around the table in this dining room. I can recall many shows that my brother/ cousins/ friends and I put on in this house for the entertainment/torture of many an adult. It seems strange to even start recalling all the memories because it was such an integral part of my life into my adult years.

Eleven years ago this month Grandpa B. passed away. About a year and a half ago my Grandma B. had a stroke and has since not been able to live in this house. This month (barring any last minute glitches) the house will belong to someone else for the first time. I'm so glad the house sold and that there is someone to buy it who will appreciate the uniqueness of this house but it is always hard to let something go that holds so many special memories.

It's not the house that is hard to let go of...I have been there but a few times in the past few years. It is what it represents. Everyone who has lived here, stayed here, visited here, ate here, celebrated here...we all have our own special memories of this place.

These are the memories of
the youth group that met in the basement for many years,
the extended family that came for many a Christmas Eve, birthday party, bridal/ baby shower,
the church members that have held meetings and gatherings in the living room,
the many many guests from near, far and very far who have dined at the dining room table,
the wife and mother who raised a family, entertained, showered hospitality to friends, family and strangers,
the 4 boys who grew up in this place and who called it home, each with their own bed still in it's place,
the grandchildren who have had a story read, built a fort, been pulled around in a cardboard box, played ping pong in the basement, slept on a cot or on a foam mat between two built-in beds,
and we who have walked into the kitchen to be greeted with bear hug (even if it meant having your head pressed against the pocket with the glasses in it).

These are just the surface of the memories that have been flooding my mind as I remember...

This house has been a resting place for the weary, for those who had no place to go.
This place has provided food for many who needed it.
This house has held fellowship for any who desired it.
This house was crafted with love and commitment.

Many drive by this place and see a green single level house with white shutters...but this house has always been and will always be much more than the materials it was made from. I'm glad that when the house sells the memories don't have to get packed up with the boxes. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful memories I have here and for the love that I feel when I think about all the time spent here in these walls.

The Island Life

2010-04-12T15:27:00.002-04:00

When Ben's parents moved to Islesboro, ME last July it was very bittersweet for us. Sweet because God was calling them to this island and providing a place for them to live, work and minister. Bitter because living close to family for us was such blessing and Islesboro is a 4 hour drive and a ferry boat ride away. When they were in Deerfield I had visions of Tobi growing up visiting the farm, making friends with goats and chickens, etc. But now the farm and the animals (with the exception of 2 dogs and a cat) are no longer part of the family.

After our first visit to the island (and every visit since) I now have new ideas about what visiting Grandma and Grandpa R-B means for Tobi (and us of course). This past weekend we did the drive and the ferry ride to make that special trip to the island. Now that Tobi is becoming more active, involved and vocal in regards to the world around her I could see all that this change in location, although more difficult to get to, provides - so many great new experiences.

Here is just some of the fun we had on this visit.

Breakfast at the new cafe at the brand new community center across the street:

Fun and games in the Kid Zone:

Spring day fun at the shore.

And, of course, a ride on the ferry:

We are thankful to have such a beautiful, unique place to visit...but mostly we are so thankful for our family and the joy it is to share time and life together.

(For a few more pictures you can look here if you so desire.)

Not Me Monday- Easter Style

2010-04-05T15:25:00.005-04:00

Here's my Easter girl! She looks comfortable, right?

So... there is NO WAY I found this....

tucked into the front of my daughter's bloomers of her Easter outfit...

...AFTER we had already gone to church!

She had been playing with them on my bed. And I did get her dressed there. I, and several others, did hold her...SO there is NO way I would have missed that as I put her in her car seat, then in her stroller, then put her in the nursery (where I guess no one noticed either), then put her back in the stroller, back in the car seat...and then, perhaps, 4 or 5 hours later, discover that somehow the curler had attached itself to her diaper while I slipped on her bloomers. Not Me! I'm way too attentive for that and never find myself getting ready in such a hurry that something like that could possibly happen.

Other things that did NOT happen on Easter:

I did NOT leave the house with Tobi wearing 1 shoe and put the other in my hand...throw it in a bag...discover, when I got to the theater where church was being held, that one shoe was missing, then look for the other shoe...not find it...run back out to the car...still not find it...ponder the idea that I would have to drop her off at the nursery BAREFOOT! ...only to find (actually Ben found it) that somehow the shoe had gotten stuffed in her stroller seat under her! Not me! I am way to organized to loose a shoe right in front of my face!

See? Two shoes.

I did NOT announce to the a theater full of people that our church usually meets at 20 North MAIN Street...when actually it is located at 20 North STATE Street! I'm WAY too composed in front of a live audience to make a mistake like that.

CenterPoint Church ... Located at 20 North State Street, Concord, NH (that's better!)

Not Me Monday

2010-03-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

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Things I certainly would never let my daughter do in light of my prim and proper upbringing, my reverence for decorum and neatness, and my attention to detail, proper protocol and discipline:

Lick yogurt directly out of the container.

Play with newly purchased groceries.

Walk around with her "sucky" and "blanky" outside when I have firmly decided are reserved for nap time and bed time.

Walk around licking her own boogies.

Bake.

Play with chocolate cake batter.

Run around hugging the stuffed animals at the kids play place. I'm sure hundreds of other children have not put their own slobber and snot on the very same toys.

Run around with THIS hair!

WARNING! WARNING!

2010-03-26T10:10:00.002-04:00

Make sure the volume on your computer is turned down for this one. I think Tobi is a little excited about spring!

One week later

2010-03-06T00:11:00.000-05:00

So last Thursday, around 11:30 pm, just in the middle of the ladies figure skating long program of the Olympics, we lost power. Ben thought he heard a big noise outside, but I didn't think much of it since the shock of all the power going out right in the middle of my favorite part of the winter Olympics was still fresh on my mind. We decided just to go to bed instead of trying to locate candles and flashlights so we could sit in the candlelight and gaze into each others eyes...or something. Once in bed I felt so anxious. The wind was really whipping. I had the brilliant idea that if I just got up and looked outside it would calm my nerves since our old house often makes all kinds of noises in the wind. I thought it probably sounded much worse than it was. I got up, only to have my fears stirred even more. The trees were bending over back and forth with the wind. I mean really bending. I haven't experienced such a strong wind since our camping trip to Franconia Notch in the 80's, where we ended up with a tree through the cab of the truck we were using as shelter...but that's another story. (Back to last Thursday) I kept wondering if we should move Tobi into our room. But then it seemed that the wind did indeed calm down and so did my nerves, enough to let me sleep. Ben got up the next day and we still had no power. He went off to work. A little while later I went to get Tobi up and looked out her bedroom window. It took me a few seconds to piece together what I was looking at...something was different about our yard. Oh, right. THERE IS A HUGE TREE ON THE GROUND. A huge pine, totally uprooted. Not to mention most of those trees I had seen bending over so far had snapped. We had at least 6 or 7 trees down and several big branches. I think the loud noise that Ben heard was that pine tree falling and ripping all the wires off the side of our house.

My Dad came up and rescued Tobi and me from our cold powerless house and took us to their house for the weekend. We had planned on staying there that weekend anyway, but we just extended our stay by a day or two. We must have gotten power back Sunday night or Monday morning. When our electricity goes out we have no lights, no heat, and no water. We would have been cold!!! Thankfully we had a great place to stay. I'm also thankful that the trees fell the way they did. Just a few feet differently and we could have had a lot more damage than a few wires down. It was a little frightening when I realized that tree was just a few yards away from the side of the house where Tobi sleeps. It may look like a mini twister came through those woods, but the house and the people are safe! Thank you, Lord!

We stopped by Chipotle Mexican Grill on our way down to the 'Rica. Tobi decided that eating black beans one by one using a straw would be the best way to enjoy her lunch. As you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed it!

Not Me Monday

2010-02-22T15:50:00.001-05:00

It was NOT me who left my Valentine's roses out on the table instead of remembering to put them in the bathroom so the cat couldn't get to them. Saturday morning I was expecting when Ben entered the kitchen that his first words to me would be "wow, the kitchen looks great" since I had stayed up and done the massive pile of dishes (that NOT I had been avoiding all day). Instead the first words I heard were "Shauna! You forgot to put the flowers away!" Which I knew should be translated that there was rose petal cat puke somewhere. Since I had NOT done that, I chose not to answer and just stay upstairs a few minutes longer...maybe the real offender would be located! (In my opinion the cat was really to blame anyway!)

I managed to save a few of the roses...still pretty.

It was NOT our family that had a service man come all the way out to the house to fix our perfectly working dishwasher. That would be silly and costly. Why would anyone do that?
If something like that had happened it might have gone something like this: Let's just say that several months ago our dishwasher stopped filling with water. No water was entering the machine. We've been hand washing dishes for all that time even though our dishwasher is younger than Tobi. Ben finally had a chance to look at the dishwasher in depth last weekend and there was no easy way to see what was going on. So he called for a service guy to come out and look at it. Of course I was in the middle of telling the guy that no water was flowing into the machine and I was about to go into a long over-detailed explanation of the history of our trials and tribulations related to the dishwasher (as I certainly NEVER would do), when I heard a somewhat familiar sound of, YES, water....filling the dishwasher...sounding perfectly normal...ehhhhhh...errrrrr....emmmmm....uhhhhhhhhhhhh...yep, didn't know what to say. So I gave the nice man $100 for his visit and sent him on his (I'm sure very) merry way.

Uh...I'm so glad that didn't happen to us because it would really stink to have to waste money and time like that.

(proof that it really was broken: melted cutting board and undisolved burnt soap capsle!)

Well Baby

2010-02-09T23:20:00.001-05:00

Monday Tobi had her 18 month check up. She weighs 27 lbs 11 oz and is 34 inches tall. It's pretty amazing that one year ago she weighed 17 lbs and was just 26.5 inches tall. That's more than 10 lbs and almost 8 inches of growth in one year's time. Everything checked out just fine...except of course she is getting over another cold and one ear is on the verge of infection. This happens with every well baby appointment for us. At least this time it was just one ear and not the double infection we usually find. We have an appointment with the ENT doctor in March to see if we need to be more active in fighting these infections. Thankfully Tobi never seems to be in much discomfort....no fevers, sleeps great. If it wasn't for her "well baby" appointments we might not ever know that she ever had an infection. She's a trooper!

Out and about

2010-02-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

We have been doing some visiting and having some visitors over the past couple weeks. On Grandpa's birthday we took a trip to visit Grandpa and a little trip over to visit Mema. At Mema's place Tobi took her baby for a stroll, made herself right at home in Mema's apartment.

We took my dad out to lunch for his special day. We went to a little sandwich place with a South American flair in Chelmsford center. It was great to spend some time together. I really am so thankful for my Dad and Tobi is pretty fortunate to have such a wonderful Grandpa.

Last week my friend Ann came up from PA for a visit and she brought along her 5 month old sweetie pie of a daughter, Natalie. Tobi was pretty glad to have a real live baby around. I was pretty glad to have a dear friend around. It is so great to have good friends that you can feel like no time has passed between you even if it has been a couple of years since we've seen each other. So thankful for their visit.

And this was Tobi's first ride in a "big girl" ride. A trip to Lowe's called for a serious ride. She was pretty excited to be in the driver's seat.

Not Me Monday is Not Me Everyday of My Life

2010-02-08T21:27:00.001-05:00

Not Me Monday is almost over and I really don't want to write this but I feel I must. Perhaps in a few years I will be able to look back upon this and see how far I've come (however, I have a feeling based on the events of my life thus far, that this will not be the case). Most people's posts seem to be about how they cut corners in their parenting...and I must admit there are those incidents throughout my week, but I really cannot blame most of the things I am about to confess (or NOT) on the addition of a child to my life. My life has always been chock-full-o-things I really wished had not happened. My mind is wired differently, my priorities are different, I often take short cuts even when I know there is probably a better way, but most often it seems that I am in the midst of a perfect storm of destructive forces. So here is a recap of a week of things that ~~I really wish~~ never happened.

I did NOT leave the burner on low after moving the pot of spaghetti sauce to the warming burner. And then I did NOT proceed to put the tray for the highchair on the stove where it was waiting to be washed. I did NOT walk out into the kitchen after a couple of hours and say out loud (half expecting that my husband was doing some electrical work in the other room, or something like that...)"What is that smell? It smells like burning plastic.", only to find out that it indeed was burning plastic. The damages: a hole burnt into the plastic of the tray and orange plastic melting on the stovetop.

Good thing that didn't happen, that would have been messy (both for the stove and as you'll soon see, for my personal well being). I'll tell you what though, if that had happened, I'm certain that my husband would have come into the kitchen and given me a look like "How do you ruin everything we own?". And I'm sure that if he had looked at me like that I would have returned a look like "Why do you look at me like that? I didn't MEAN to do it." but really I'd be asking myself the same question "HOW??? do you ruin EVERYTHING???". It's a good thing none of this happened because then I might have been feeling bad for myself for a couple days and then used the seething coals of my self-absorption to fuel a "disagreement" with my husband later in the week...which I am not sure exactly what it was about but it probably had to do with me breaking something...

Now let's just say there was an actual difference opinion during the week in which I perhaps had slightly overreacted (so unlike me...) and then let's just pretend for a moment that despite my childlike behavior my husband came home carrying a 20 oz. Starbucks latte as a bit of a peace offering, the proverbial olive-branch, if you will (or more likely because he is way more mature that I am and is just nice like that all the time). And say I was just thinking of ways that I could perhaps be more mindful and careful in my everyday life. Carrying this possible situation further...let's imagine that I took that $5 latte and carefully set it on the counter away from all possible danger and damage and then leaned back against the counter two feet away from where I set the coffee and then proceeded to witness a chain reaction of epic proportions that ended with milk and espresso covering (what seemed like) 1/3 of the kitchen...I'm not even kidding. If you are still imaging that something like this could happen, you should picture that when I leaned on the counter it shifted the dish drainer just enough to loosen the grip the cutting board had on the counter while it was ~~precariously~~ oh so carefully balanced against the cookie sheet holding it in place. The cookie sheet then slides down the counter and knocks over the FULL cup of steamy coffee goodness. Not a drop left...every drop was now on the counter, on the floor, on the space heater and, in true Shauna fashion, dripping into every crevice of the already non-functioning dishwasher. (Hopefully the broken dishwasher was not my doing, but it hasn't been disproven yet. The jury is still out on that one.)

Thankfully this is NOT ME MONDAY and so I am NOT confessing any of the above, just simply weaving a sad tale of hypothetical patheticness.

One year and one half

2010-01-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Tobi turned 18 months old... 3 times as old as she was just one year ago. Last January she was just learning how to sit up, starting on solid foods and learning how to feed herself a bottle. Now she is such a little girl, busy taking care of her babies. She spends much of her day doing just this:

Happy half birthday, Tobi-girl! We love you!

Party time

2010-01-26T16:56:00.001-05:00

January starts the new year but around here it means it's party time!

Happy birthday Grandpa/Dad!

And happy birthday to (auntie) Sarah, too!

I love you!

2010-01-20T22:37:00.001-05:00

Not Me Monday - procrastinators version

2010-01-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

No- it's not me that still turns our Christmas lights on....well, whose lights come on because they are on a timer in the basement and I'm too lazy to go turn them off ...and plus it's always sad to actually see the season come to an end. Not me...I'm not lazy and nostalgic like that!

And on a similar note...it would not be me who still has their Christmas tree up and fully decorated simply because she's too lazy and nostalgic to actually do anything about it. We already went over that - I am not either of those things so it couldn't be me. If it was me, my reasoning might also include the fact that we cut down this tree the first weekend in December and it is still kicking...it's not drooping yet and the needles are mostly still on the tree....well, I mean they might be if the tree was still up...which it couldn't be, right? (I think the dating must be off on my camera...)

And for the kicker of the week...Tobi did not come to me to show me what she found and hand me a piece of dried cat poop...EEEEEWWWWWWWW! That would never happen because I'm always watching Tobi at every single moment so she would never have the opportunity to pick up such a thing never mind carry it around and try and give it to me. But if she had I'm sure I wouldn't have almost rubbed the skin off of both our hands trying wash away even the idea of such an incident.

Oh and speaking of the cat...he did NOT just puke in front of the door AGAIN! No, he didn't. Please say he didn't...
The cat box incident may have had something to do with our recent mode of procrastination...that box is so NOT in desperate need of changing. But the cat puke...I think that is totally the cat. Pesto kitty's revenge...he does it on purpose...I know he does.

I do NOT want to give this cat away right now. I do NOT want to give this cat away... I do NOT... right?

At least he has one member of the family's unconditional love... Tobi's new word this week: KIIT-TEE.