The Last 288 Hours

*Disclaimer: I started this post, including the title, over a week ago.  That pretty much sums up the major impact tiny Wesley has had on this mama-everything is taking a loooot longer or not getting done at all.

I don't agree with what lots of people told me about going from 1 child to 2-"4x the work".  Yet.  That's likely because the newest addition is still a snuggly, sleepy newborn.  And also I don't feel as crazy this time around.  Natural I suppose.  But down time is kind of at a premium, I will admit.  So with the elder child at grandma's house today and the younger soundly snoring into my chest, I'm taking this moment to post a few pictures and video of our first days as a family of 4:

Happy 4th Birthday Big Brother Max!
 

Little bug

 

 

 

Max and Wesley chilling on the couch watching an episode of "Wordgirl"

 

1st bath




 

 I don't believe those first smiles are "gas" or involuntary muscle spasms or something.  You won't think so either after seeing the following photo shoot.  My baby is cuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

I made these!  With sticks!  From my yard!  And before anyone gets too impressed, know it took me almost 3 weeks to do them and they will be up til May.

I participated in a cookie exchange this year.  I'm not a baker however.  Max wanted to do cookies he could decorate.  These little beauties took 3 days between chilling dough, baking, cutting out, decorating etc.  Thank you to my MIL Gloria for helping decorate or they'd still be in process.  Oh, and the 6 dozen cookies obtained during said cookie exchange?  Gone.  Consumed by me and husband in a record 2 days.  Gross.  I know.

 

 

 

 

This speaks for itself.

 

 

 

Fall Weekends

Yes, we had a relatively craptastic summer in Wisconsin.  I can count on two hands the beach days; our garden was a tragedy (though truth be told, thats likely due to my brown thumb and midsummer laziness than the weather); and I never did get to wear all my cute sundresses. 

Fall has been truly lovely however.  The trees on the island are more brilliant and have held onto their colors for longer than I remember in other years.  Of course it means more leaf-peeping tourists stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures but I can't say I mind terribly.  I get to live in this beautiful place after all. 

We've been taking advantage of the last few nice weekends with a trip to Rock Island, hiking, and harvest weekend cider pressing at the Farm Museum.  Observe.

Child model pose

Chasing around the Rock Island boathouse

One of my favorite hikes takes you through the woods to a narrow strip of land, Little Lake on one side and Lake Michigan on the other.  The juxtaposition of the two is just beautiful. 
 

Little Lake

Lake Michigan



Caramel apples at the Farm Museum.  For the unitiated, the Farm
Museum is a great place on Washington Island.  Goats, chickens, rabbits
and some turkeys to feed, alongside turn-of-the-century farm
equipment and buildings.  There's a community garden, a windmill/water pump
and demonstrations in blacksmithing, knitting, weaving etc throughout the summer.
Really simple but kids love it.  Its a great place to just sit and let your kids run around and
climb on rusty farm tools. 



Max has refused to go on the tractor ride at the Farm Museum until this visit,
 when he told us, "I think I'm brave enough now"

Happy Fall!

Baby's Debut

We got our first ultrasound for this pregnancy yesterday.  I'm happy to report this baby is head down and likely to stay that way!  Is it weird to be getting excited about labor and delivery? The way I figure, after last time, giving birth to a baby that isn't bent in half butt-first will be like falling off a log.  Anything less than 24 hours of back labor will be a breeze, right? Also I'm looking forward to birth outside of a hospital environment.  I'm not the only one who's excited about the possibility; my midwife hugged me yesterday after my appointment when I delivered the good baby position news.  I love those women. 

Besides finding out baby's position we got to see some cute closeups.  A big plug for Baby's Debut, the private 4D ultrasound photography studio we went to.  Their technology was amazing and the price was very reasonable for an hour-long session and a CD full of pictures.  The owner is a hospital radiology technician and really knows what she is doing.  They have a location in Appleton and one in Madison.  I highly recommend them to anyone who wants a little more than the clinical diagnostic ultrasound.

And now...here's baby!



As Good A Day As Any

The wind is blowing, the leaves are changing and I'm itching to buy boots.  Fall is right around the corner.  Seeing how we never really had much of a summer in Wisconsin I think its time to finally post pictures of our...dum dum DUM...Family Summer Vacation!  (Capitalization indicates the singularity of this event for a family whose livelihood depends on seasonal work.) 

A little background: In the summer of 1996 I participated in a Rotary exchange program that took me to Harbury, England where I met the one and only Joanna Hancock, my assigned exchange partner.  Unlike traditional exchanges where one switches places with someone, I spent a month living with her and her family and she came back to the States and spent a month living with me.  A nerve-wracking prospect, spending two solid months with someone you don't know.  Luckily we got on like the proverbial house on fire and those two months led to many more travel adventures and an enduring long-distance friendship. 

Jo let me know this winter that she and her family would be visiting relatives in North Carolina and wondered if there was any way to meet up.  Seeing as we'd be on the same continent and hadn't seen one another since her wedding nine years (!) ago, I had to make it happen.  Planning ensued and before long we had a beach house booked for a shared week in Folly Beach, South Carolina. 

It was an idyllic seaside vacation, whether it was the humid mornings spent on the beach, sleepy afternoons escaping the heat, exploring historic Charleston, enjoying local seafood restaurants or making meals together in our beach house.  Most of all, it was really special for our families to meet each other. It was great to see her son, Wilfie, and Max running around the house at top speed, laughing and shouting (and inevitably annoying the downstairs residents, one of whom was apparently "dying of shingles"); to hold baby Lois and watch her warm up to us; to send the husbands out for beers while Jo and I stayed up late chatting; to be able to spend nearly a week together, two families, two schedules, and manage to have everyone get along and watch the inside jokes and shared memories develop. 

Here's to the next Family Vacation-Bristol, UK 2018!

Me and my new little chicken friend

Dave and his little deer friend

Storytime with Matt

Climbing the giant web together

Touring Charleston harbor by ferry boat

Wouldn't be a vacation with Jo without some dangerous wildlife

Our last day together

Baby Lois was happy with me snuggling her, I swear!

Best mates

Let's Pretend....

...it hasn't been almost a year since I posted something here, and then I might even do some flashback posts to catch up.  But I might not.  Maybe I'll just start from now and pretend I'm really good at keeping up with this blog.  Positive visualization.  If I say it, it shall be.

Max is 3 1/2 and for months I've been anticipating the dreaded 3 1/2 year old "disequilibrium phase"   (http://askmoxie.org/blog/2008/09/3-12-year-olds-and-the-pain-they-cause.html).  We were reaching the tail end of June and I began to think, "We're past the half year mark!  Max isn't going to turn from a mostly-tractable, sweet, independent little boy into the whiny, emotional rollercoaster-y, defiant, crazed beast predicted for this age.  Hurrah!" 

Well, obviously as soon as I thought such a silly thing, the very next day, or so it seemed, he hit the mark.  Mostly its defiance mixed with unreasonable demands and refusal to follow regular routines.  Add a dash of bipolar-like mood swings, all aimed primarily in my direction.  Example:
Upon my refusal to allow him to eat Fruit Loops for lunch,
Max: I WANT THEM!!!!!
Me(in a normal tone): That's not a healthy lunch and please don't yell at me.
Max: Just lower your voice and DIE Mommy.
Taking a break (ie: time out)  (mostly because I needed about 20 deep breaths), crying, apologizing, asking if I was mad at him, "I wuv you Mommy"ing ensued.  A similar scene happens about 15 times a day.  Wine would really help, but thanks to Baby Dos, that's out of the question.  It does help slightly to know its a phase, its normal, it too shall pass, blah blah blah. 

On the positive side, my patience retention skills are getting exercised, and in between the psychotic episodes are some really lovely times.  He has a great sense of humor (even if most of his jokes revolve around poop and pee), is an excellent helper (when in the mood), has a huge and complex imagination, wants to snuggle and cuddle and hug and kiss us endlessly, knows more about animals, bugs and dinosaurs than me, and has gotten braver and much more adept in social situations. 

This emerging behavior coincided with a 3-day trip to Milwaukee to visit my brother and his girlfriend and some of our extended family.  Despite the sass, we had a pretty great time:


Helping Uncle Jordan mow the lawn

Doc showing Max the proper technique for picking strawberries:

                                           
Enjoying the harvest

                                 
Strawberry porn.  I got a little carried away and ended up with 10 lbs of strawberries.

                       

On the way home we went to the Door County Renaissance Faire.  Jousting, good food, magicians, terrible British accents and lots of people dressed in chain mail made for an entertaining afternoon.  Also, a tip for other parents; a $5 wooden sword leads to hours of happiness.

Sir Max, slaying the dragon:

                                       




This guy was waiting for us on our patio door when we got home.  Max was so excited.  He's been waiting to see a luna moth for weeks.  Looks like this one has a torn wing but after a day of resting on our screen he flew away into the night.