a week of water

Lots of fun this week. We went to the water park every day but one and H is fearless at this point. It has a one low pressure sprayer but the rest is pretty powerful. In direct relation, there have been some fantastic 2 hour afternoon naps happening about the homestead. She gets a little giddy about 1 after lunch and is a blur of motion until 4 when she's dropped in her crib and goes to sleep clutching Ellie (her pink elephant lovie).

 Lets see....we walked the Battle Road trail last Saturday, Indian buffet for lunch after church on Sunday (and was it ever good!), muttering about how I'd never procrastinate again and paper completed on Monday, friends over for supper on Tuesday, continuing to love Poland Springs strawberry daiquiri mix with lemons and crushed ice, getting to AND from Logan on my very first try (normally I circle a few times, lol), corrupting the children in nursery's minds on Wednesday night with Sesame Street on YouTube, opening ceremonies party last night at friends with way too much good food, starting my umpteenth attempt at the "couch to 5K" program and remembering that I hate running and exercise just makes me hungry, and getting H a bike seat and helmet today and going for our first ride!

On the last, I'd put off Steve for a long time as I didn't think it was safe, but we got a Cadillac of a seat and I think I want one for me in case of accident. She seemed to like it and that was after a long morning with no nap, so I have hope of many rides together and easier grocery shopping trips. I didn't notice much difference in handling, but then again I haven't ridden in almost 2 years. It's definitely back heavy but I'll just avoid really steep hills :)

I've been determined to use up our well stocked pantry instead of always grocery shopping so other than milk, OJ and yogurt all our meals were made from what was on hand. I was pretty low on proteins and veggies, so it was interesting, but Steve didn't seem to mind too much. We had some really good tuna burgers. And I've been on a hot chili paste kick, adding it to everything. Did you know that English muffins with butter, strawberry jam and hot chili paste are a.m.a.z.i.n.g??? Yup. They are.

Not many photos of the week as H becomes a stinker when I get the camera out, but here are a few:

Zippers are no longer a great option if you want the clothes to stay on

Duster love continues, along with all things bag

What I look like after a walk/struggle. Not usually this wet, but it poured on us

Aaaaand the phone continues to hate me. Tomatoes starting to ripen! We also have a woodchuck that's thrilled with this.

She likes to dress up

Mr. Sushi knows how to treat a baby right!

They also know how to treat Mama's right. This is their bento box lunch special. All this AND miso soup for under $10??? I'd eat there every day if I had the car

Bike ride

It's pouring out now so I'm off watering duty again. Steve's replacing the lock on our front (side? we still haven't decided...) door so hopefully we can get in again. Have some reading to do but I'll probably go make supper instead. Hope everyone is staying safe in all these storms!

The summer continues

This is the first weekend in five that we are not visiting or being visited (except by a massive case of the crankies; H's been a bit off the past few days) and it's disconcerting. Last Thursday we met up with Meg in Maine (also Allie and Siena) and she came home with us for the weekend. Somehow we never ended up doing anything exciting, or even feeding her decent ethnic food, but it was wonderful to have her with us and I hope she had a pleasant time. We did do a wander around Boston last Saturday which was the hottest, most humid day I think we've had this summer, so I would not say it was a success. But it made coming home to soak our feet in the kiddie pool all that much nicer :) Steve got some games of Settlers out of Meg so he was happy. Other than that, the week was pretty non-descript. S had two softball games and H was well behaved for them both. There are a ton of groundhogs all over the fields so we enjoy watching them (sadly, the games have been huge embarrassments this year so it's less draining to watch the woodchucks). It finally cooled off and is bearable right now for which we're most grateful. I hemmed the curtains that make up our closet and am faced with the realization that sewing may not be for me. In cooking, and somewhat in knitting, a degree of leeway is built in. Exact measurements don't matter. Not so in sewing. Either I can't measure (or cut...) or the curtains I bought were of varying length (lets go with that option) but somehow all of them ended up with different hem lengths....by inches. Steve asked me to put a few inches back on the short ones :) Let's see, what else.....H got her first bloody nose, I discovered Poland Springs strawberry daiquiri mix which is pretty amazing mixed with slushy ice and lemons, H's developed this cute new habit of gagging violently while eating and occasionally makes herself throw up, and I got a mani/pedi today which I've been waiting to do since my birthday when I got a gift card, and we hit up a new (to us) Mexican place last night for a really yummy spicy supper. Also, Joe and Katie bought a house (congrats!), the exterminator came back to spray and bait and it seems to be working, and we were offered a placement at the daycare we'd wanted for H and accepted it, so she's going to be a big girl and go to "school" all too soon.
I didn't have the camera out much this week, but here's what I did get:

Her current favorite read is the manual on reducing household pollutants and keeping a safe water supply

Clearly not happy here, but check out her 4 top teeth! She also has 3.5 bottom ones

Down on Long Wharf

Sooooo hot. H held up really well.

Swan boats for the suckers tourists

Hello, George

How do you keep cool when you're just steps from the ocean? Run through a fountain, of course!

We have aspirations of lunch at an Indian buffet tomorrow, writing a paper by Sunday evening, and *fingers crossed* sleeping through the night. See you next week!

Photo dump

As I mentioned, the past few weeks have been a bit busy. Finished my semester, went to VT two weekends in a row, had some in laws in for a week, prepared and held a baby shower (for a much-anticipated and already-loved-to-pieces little boy and his wonderful mama), and started yet another semester (I should be reading about labor dystocia right now buuuuttt....). Also have a sister coming to stay for a bit tomorrow with plans to meet her in ME so H will hopefully get some quality sand time.

In spite of all the ruckus, we've managed to keep a fairly steady schedule. This is rather vital for both my sanity and H's well-being. Sundays are always horrible because there's no avoiding the meltdown; she needs her morning nap and it just can't happen when you're gone from 0845-1pm. Anyway, for those that care, a typical day is: 0500ish H awake for her first breakfast (excited to announce she now signs in sentence: "milk please") and back to bed. 0700-0800 up for the day (enthusiastic waving from the crib lets us know she's not fooled by us faking our snores). I let her roam the room and pretend she'll magically fall asleep again. Once she hits me in the nose with a book and/or uncovers my feet to tickle them I roll out of bed, open all the windows and curtains and put on a CD for her to dance to while I make breakfast (cream of wheat with maple syrup; nice source of iron). She eats, then it's chore time. H is in love with our fleece duster so all the low shelves are well dusted. Read books, play with the kitchen set, nurse and nap around 10. Homework time! 1200ish she's up and we have a long lunch of this and that. More play, head outside for some pool time (best $7 I've ever spent on a toy) and to check on our garden. Back inside around 3:30 for nap, make supper, H gets up, S gets home around 1800, eat, play with Dad, bedtime routine and we start again. Might sound boring on paper but I rarely sit and find it quite fulfilling.

Anywho, you really just wanted to look at picts, so here you go. These are just off the camera, I'm not up to fighting my phone tonight:

Hanging out with the sisters on Visit #1

Ignoring all the wonderful toys at Gram and Papa's, H took over my lawn chair where I was trying to get a tan

Her kisses are still more slobbers, but they're the sweetest kisses in the world!

Baby shower wreath

First, and pretty much only, peas from our garden. I'm not too sad about the poor showing because I really loathe the things

2nd VT trip. View as we sit on the lawn. Truly God's country

What every VT girl needs; shovel and bucket to garden with, tractor for everything imaginable, and a golf ball to throw at the squirrels

Papa's been filling in the walkway with small gravel and H is beyond enamored of it. She was happy to just sit and sift rocks all day. There has got to be some way of making a profit off that....

H getting ready to caddy for daddy

Ignore the ball on the ground and focus instead on my awesome backswing

H's 4th (well, Sunday before the 4th) outfit from Aunt Anna.

Adorable dress and leggings made by the talented and beloved Miss Kelsea. She and Dr.(!!!!) David left us today and there have been lots of tears lost over the past few weeks. Hoping to see them in September!

Uncle Sheffy and Gramma Sue arrive!

So, this fit her last year for the 4th as well (when she was 2.5 months old!!!) and the pantaloons that go with it are still huge on her. I guess maybe I'll make an appt with her MD at some point just to make sure she's on some curve somewhere

S and his family went to the fireworks. I listened to the forecast (and knew there was no way H would tolerate being out that late and sit still) and stayed home

More skyline before the sky opened up and they got evacuated and came home without seeing the fireworks. Next year I think we'll just go down the street as it sounded like there were some nice ones going off over the lake

Haha, what mowing all summer will give you

Despite moaning about the lack of nephews in his life, David is a fantastic uncle to Henri and she adores him

My lovely mother-in-law checking out my garden

H entertaining herself with a stick

Fascinated with the tree

She's not so fond of the lillebaby anymore. Such a lifesaver when she was, though! Sad to have it on the outs, but maybe she'll change her mind later

Enjoying the view at Halibut State Park

Fishing vessel. Maybe lobster boat.

None of us went swimming :)

A girl and her duster, what a wonderful love

I intend to prolong the vacation feel for a few more days so hopefully there will be some outings to report. Otherwise, it's back to the grindstone and over-cramming of my brain with facts and applications :)

Vacation Part Deux

Still here, still alive, still going 90mph. A huge source of stress should be gone by 5pm tomorrow and though I'm really excited about the baby shower, I wish I could know for certain there will be enough food, enough room for folks, etc...Anyway, I think there are lots of photos from the last two weeks, so camera dump coming soon!