Our Trip to N.H.

On Monday, we traveled to New Hampshire to spend a night with Lisa, Dan and Grammie. The roads were poor at the beginning of our trip, as the storm was continuing longer than anticipated. We almost turned the car around at Waterbury, but then decided to push on a little further and by Montpelier, the roads were clear all the way to our destination!

We arrived at 3:45PM to the delicious smell of a turkey dinner that Lisa was cooking. It was a lovely visit with Lisa, Dan and Grammie, as it's so unusual to get nice, quiet, one-on-one time with any of them. Grammie told us about her yoga classes, senior lunches and trips. Lisa caught us up on what the Rothman girls are doing, and we learned more about the historical fiction novel that Dan is writing.

Elijah enjoyed playing with all the toys that Lisa and Grammie had laid out for him, especially the old wooden toys from England and the "garage" that Wayne used to play with at Grammie's house.

He was being a really good boy, although it took him a while to warm up to Dan (our theory is that Dan looks somewhat like our pediatrician- tall, thin, glasses, etc., and Eli is currently petrified of the pediatrician). By the next morning, though, Elijah seemed to be "over it", and Dan was even able to pick him up and carry him around. Elijah learned who Lisa, Dan and Grammie were really quickly. We would ask questions like, "Where's Grammie?" and he would turn right around and look straight at Grammie!

The turkey dinner was all that we had hoped it would be- Lisa really spoiled us!

We were up late, visiting away and eating cheesecake.

The next morning, we were again treated to Lisa's culinary genius with the fluffiest, yummiest pancakes I've ever had (topped with Cedric's maple syrup). Dan, Ed and I went for a snowshoe hike with Elijah in the backpack- the weather was beautiful, the sky was a sparkling blue!

We took only a few pictures, and somehow Dan managed to elude the camera once again!

Here are a couple of shots that Dan took. This really is TWO different pictures, even though I have the same silly look on my face in both!

And some great photos with Grammie (As usual, Elijah was impatient with our photo shoot):

We were sad to leave, but had to make room for the next round of visitors- Peter and Lizzie! What a fun but busy week for Grammie and the Rothmans!

Wednesday, Ed and I dropped Eli off at daycare and we went XC skiing at Craftsbury http://www.craftsbury.com/

The weather was perfect- not a cloud in the sky! We skied for a few hours and then had a delicious late lunch at the Bee's Knees restaurant in Morrisville http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/

This morning, our colleague Katy came for a breakfast visit with her new, 9-week-old daughter Cally. We had a short but really great visit! I forget how tiny babies can be!

Tomorrow, Ed heads north to Glover Camp and Eli and I will head south to Rhode Island to see the "Borrelli" side of our family! We have lots to celebrate, as the doctors are very pleased with the catscan results following the end of my Dad's first course of chemo and radiation! Yay!

Vacation...finally!

Finally- glorious February vacation! Looks like we'll have fresh snow, based on the current forecast for the week. We're all healthy (for once) and are looking forward to seeing lots of family and friends. Get ready for a long one- here's a recap of all the minutiae that's been going on the last few weeks.

Elijah's pink-eye was the lead-in to a bad stretch. The following Tuesday, our childcare provider called me at school to report that Eli was feverish and very lethargic. We took him straight to the pediatrician, got there at 5pm. He had a pretty high temperature and a very high heart rate (200 bpm). The doc was really concerned about the heart rate, and didn't know if it was related to his sickness or to the fact that Elijah absolutely FREAKS OUT and goes ballistic when the doc enters the room (it's really quite embarrassing). He gave him a dose of Tylenol and then wanted us to sit and rock him for a half hour and let him calm down. His heart rate did go down some, but the doc said, "he just looks sicker than the typical child with an ear infection." So he called up to the hospital in St. Albans, ordered some chest x-rays, bloodwork, and two IM antibiotic injections, and sent us up to the ER. It was a long night, we got home around 10pm after our doctor was satisfied that there wasn't anything really out of the ordinary going on. Just a really bad ear infection, poor Elijah! Later that night, around 2am, I woke him to take his temperature and it was 105 degrees! A rough couple of days followed, until finally he began feeling more like himself.

Last night we had the Garrows over for dinner- their boys (Ryan, 5 and Jackson, 7) were really good, and enjoyed playing hide-and seek inside the new built-in benches in the sunroom :-) The last time the boys were here (I was pregnant with Elijah), they played in the "secret" eave closets up in Elijah's room. Remember how fun stuff like that was when you were a kid? Imagine their disappointment when they opened those doors last night, only to find the closets crammed full of stuff! But then they found the benches, and they entertained themselves well. Elijah had a lot of fun watching their antics.

Our trip to visit Grammie, Lisa and Dan has been postponed for one day due to weather. We're expecting about a foot of snow, more or less. It's snowing pretty steadily out there right now. We hope the weather is fit for traveling tomorrow. Whatever will we do with this cheesecake otherwise...?

Elijah has started climbing on anything and everything. He especially loves to get up on the dining room chairs, where he often can get his hands on Ed's highlighters. Sometimes he tries to crawl on the table, but we're trying to nip that trick in the bud.

Here are some pictures of Elijah making Grammy and Nana their Valentine's Cards:

On Valentine's Day, breakfast was heart-shaped mini omelets and toast.

After that, we got dressed and headed down to the Open Toddler Gym at the elementary school. Elijah's personality is really beginning to blossom. While he's generally a very good little boy, one of his dominant traits is stubbornness. He wants what he wants when he wants it. Maybe it's a toddler thing. On this particular day at the gym, he was determined to make his great escape, and I spent much of the 90 minutes chasing him down and bringing him back into the gym. The funniest thing was that he would start on the far end of the gym and run-shrieking- towards the door. Not exactly "sneaky."

Yesterday was Open Gym again and Ed came along for backup, but Elijah had abandoned his escape plans and instead was attempting to get bowled over by the children on the rope swing. Mid-conversation with another parent, I would sprint across the gym to grab my kid just seconds before he almost took a foot to the eye. We'll just say that happened more than once. I got MY workout, too!

One night, clad in his "cammo jammies" Elijah claimed Ed's recliner as his own. He was very proud of himself and didn't want anyone to sit with him. We weren't sure he'd ever go to bed that night.

Friday Ed will head to a much-anticipated Glover Bowl, and (travel weather permitting) Eli and I are heading to Rhode Island to visit my family. We are very excited to see everyone!

Finally, I'll sign off with some pictures from today. It's really snowing out there now!

Why work...

When you can stay at home with a sick kid...

EVERY OTHER WEEK!?!

This time it's pink eye:

Got the dreaded call from the Child Care Provider yesterday, "I think you might want to call your pediatrician..."

So we had an appointment at 8:15AM today. By then there was no doubt in our mind, as we pretty much had to pry his crusty eyes open this morning.

He must associate the doctor with immunizations, as he was in a FINE mood until Doc Nasca walked in the room. A first sight of the man, Elijah just melted into a screaming, writhing puddle of goopy-eyed toddler.

It was fun.

As soon as the doctor left the room, Elijah regained his composure. So when we got home, I decided to put him to work.

First he Swiffered the hardwood floors.

He actually did a good job getting along the edges...

And in all the corners.

Then he stacked some wood...

...Shoveled up some ashes (Notice the "staff" he carried around as he was finishing up his chores. He's more and more like Edwin every day!)...

And finally, he did a little plumbing.
After that, he seemed kind of tired, so he's on his 15-minute-break right now.

At least we're getting some things done around here ! :-)

I guess I will be missing MMU's Winter Carnival tomorrow. That means Ed has to supervise the "Twinkie-Eating Contest" without me!

I Want to Be Like Darlene

I learned recently that along with everything else she does, Darlene also cuts all of her boys' hair. Sound impressive? Well, in an effort to save money, tonight I decided to try and cut Elijah's hair myself...and (again) I wonder, "How does Darlene do it?"

Ed went for a walk in the woods to try to retrieve a lost Kincko glove. I got dinner started while Elijah emptied the box of dog bones and stuffed them into the pockets of my pants. I eventually extracted all of these bones from my 4 pockets: He was happy as a clam (weird expression- are clams happy?) until I scooped him up and plunked him in the tub. Although his only other experience with a haircut was non-traumatic, he must have smelled a novice in me. He immediately melted down and started screaming. I had to work fast, and the end result is definitely less hair than he started the day with. It might not be even, but I saved ten bucks. Worth it? The jury is still out.

Look, he's so embarrassed that he won't even open his eyes for the camera:

Doesn't he look less like a baby and more like a little man every day? Well, except for the rash he has all over his chin from excessive drooling.

I don't know, Darlene. Somehow you cut their hair and they actually look CUTE. I don't know how you do it.

Just LOOK at that hack job!

We are really looking forward to our trips to NH and RI at the end of this month. Can't wait to see Grammie, Nana, Grampy, and others.

Update: my Dad completed his first round of daily (!) chemo and 5-days-per-week radiation. Pretty aggressive regime, from what I understand. He went for a scan (Cat Scan?) yesterday to see if the tumor has shrunk, and make sure the cancer has not spread. He meets with his doctors on Monday to go over the scan results...So we're keeping our fingers crossed that the past couple of months have been successful. He is much happier with the port and chemo pump removed, and enjoys being able to shower again :-) Can't wait to see him in a few weeks.

We learned that Fairfax Elementary School has an "Open Tot" gym on Saturday mornings during the winter. Ed, Elijah and I went for the first time last weekend and it was really fun! Elijah got to run and climb and play while I met some other Fairfax moms. That's nice, since my regular Mom's group (Chittenden County Moms and Babes Meetup) is based in Chittenden County- it's great to meet some closer families with children. I didn't take any pictures, since no one else was and I didn't want to be the "dorky new Mom in the group!" I'll see if I can sneak a few next Saturday... :-)

Well, back to work...

Dog's Best Friend: