Things Lost and Gained

Things I've lost:

-the baby weight.  Of course my body has settled into an entirely new shape that I'm pretty sure is permanent but no matter.  It bore 2 children.  It can do what it wants. 

-the ability to focus.  My brain has been retrained to jump from one need/question/subject/activity to the next by 2 incessant little people. I often find myself puttering around randomly picking things up and putting them down whenever I have time to myself (which is pretty rare) instead of sticking to one task or activity.  I used to read during children's naptime.  Now I just think about all the things I could/should be doing instead.  This is maddening.  I don't want to care about those other things.  I want to read.  Or write a blog post.  I greatly fear this one will never get finished. 

-sleep.  A great deal of sleep.

-the desire and ability to go out in the evening and drink more than one or two beers.  Anyone who has known me pre-kids knows this is a good thing.  However, it'd be nice to be able to cut loose once in a great while (with a responsible adult minding the children and a sober ride home of course).  Instead all I want to do is sit on the couch, watch reruns of "Big Bang Theory" with Dave and eat a bowl of Grape-Nuts before going to bed.

-sight of our loveseat.  Its under laundry.  Perpetually.  Laundry Couch is a cliché because its true.

-touch with some old friends.  For this I'm sad.  For this I say to them (and they know who they are): "I love you still.  I think of you every day, often many times a day.  I have cried often for missing you and wishing we were closer in proximity and could share our lives the way we used to when we were kids and teenagers and young adults together.  I harbor hope for a future when I'm not so consumed where we can take beach vacations together, have long phone conversations, and go out and drink more than 2 beers some evenings.  I hope you understand.  I miss you."


Things I've gained:

-a really annoying little voice that compares me, the state of my home, my child-rearin' skills etc to others.  I always had it a little bit, but its gotten so strong lately.  It won't shut the f up as a matter of fact. 

-a healthy respect for parents of more than 2 kids who don't appear in public looking insane.  You're awesome.

-Post-It notes stuck around my house reminding me to be grateful, be in the moment, just be.  Sometimes they work.

-a tattoo of a heart on my left wrist to remind me what I want to operate from-love.  Sometimes it works.

-a deep appreciation for Dave.  He is a better person than I am in many ways.  He is a spectacular father particularly.

-more love, more worry, more joy, more frustration, more million little things to think about everyday.  More of everything really except patience.  And sleep.  Have I mentioned sleep?

-a real disgust for Facebook.  I don't like its smug-making ways.  Disclaimers should be required.  Those beautiful pictures of that family hike?  Should be accompanied by a truthful account of the hour of running around getting all the crap it seems to require to go out of the house with 2 small children, the argument you and husband got in over someone's "tone", and the 2 seconds post-happy family selfie in which baby got sunscreen in his eye and 4 year old whined to be carried.  Anyone's life can be edited to look breezy and carefree and la-di-da perfect.  That doesn't mean we should do it.  Problem is, complaining on social media is often more annoying.  Striking a balance and maintaining objectivity and straightforward truth is pretty much impossible.  But I don't want to delete my account as I'd be out of the loop and I feel its better than nothing to be in touch with some people on FB.  So I lurk and grumble and post things I hope are not smug.

-a deep, abiding appreciation for naps.  Simultaneous long ones!  That is what is happening in my home RIGHT NOW and the reason this may actually get posted. 

Now for photos, a random assortment from the summer so far.  Which, may I add, has been glorious weather-wise and busy busy.  Which is why I will not feel guilty for spending almost 2 hours on my butt, on the couch, on the computer.  It feels so good to write! 

I Spy....a baby?

Just spectacular.

Hanging with the guys.

Mmmmm flip flops.  Also likes rocks.

Photographic evidence that it does happen.

Plum Loco Farms

Pot-bellied pig and pot-bellied baby

Love.  Aggressive love.

One of those moments I remembered to stop and appreciate. 

Eating spaghetti on the deck.

The outfit and stance kill me.

Another of those moments.

Adventures in Solid Food

Apparently Wesley will be 6 months old next week.  The mind reels.  How the hell did that happen? 

With or without my permission, he's growing up and ready to gum food and spray it all over the place.  Also, Max is doing some fancy dancing these days.  Please enjoy.

Lava Rocks

Max loves all things prehistoric, so a build-your-own-volcano kit was an exciting gift recently. 

Building, plastering and painting the volcano took most of the morning and afternoon.  Such focus!

 

We saved the lava part for when Max's friend TJ was over.  The boys helped me put the components (lava rocks, baking soda and red food coloring) in the mouth of the volcano.  There was a great deal of anticipation surrounding the impending lava explosion.  They set up dinosaurs around the volcano, expecting them to be awash in lava, destruction imminent.  As you can see in this video, it was rather....

 

http://youtu.be/ow7SQ46VMg8

 

....anticlimactic.

The boys were not disappointed, rather I think they were a little relieved.  Next they built "dinosaur land"s and spent the better part of an hour setting them up and haggling over setup.  A great afternoon.

 

 

*Special thanks to Aunt Janice and Uncle Jonathan for the volcano

 

 

 

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