Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back to Work I Go

Yesterday was my first day back at work. After 10 years with the company, I had been suffering from burnout and was hoping my 6 months maternity leave would cure me of that. Unfortunately, as of Wednesday, I was still dreading going back to work. Mostly because I didn't want to leave my baby but also because I didn't feel like the burnout was gone and I wasn't looking forward to doing the job again.

But, back to work I had to go so I did. And you know what? It wasn't so bad! I actually enjoyed the job part a lot more than I thought I would! I somehow actually remembered what my job was and have been working, over the last two days, to dust off the cobwebs. Not that I wished ill on the company during my absence, but it was somehow refreshing to know that the folks covering for me weren't able to keep things at the level I had kept them while I was gone.

So, day one, Thursday, was a good ease into the new schedule for both Mike and I. Mike had an appointment that day (acupuncture for his back...that's a blog posting in itself) so he dropped off Dylan with me so that we could go for a walk. So, not only could I see Dylan during the day for a bit, Mike had a bit of a break. When I got home after work, Dylan was ridiculously excited to see me. So nice!

Today, Mike was completely solo with Dylan and I had an entire day without him. Luckily we have our IPhones and can snap and shoot pictures and video easily. I think I'll only be able to survive away from Dylan long periods with lots of updates and pictures. When we got up this morning, I took a picture of Dylan to have at work with me.

Good Morning!

Later in the day, Mike sent me this picture of Dylan trying sweet potatoes for the first time.

Give Me Some More!

We all survived our first couple of days of this big adjustment very well. Next week is a new week and I'm sure will have new challenges, but it's great to have the first couple of days under our belts and have some experience to give us confidence that this family arrangement is going to work out just fine!

Happy Half Year Birthday!

Today Dylan hits the big 6 months mark. What a wonderful little guy, full of personality. It's amazing to me that half a year has passed since the big day that he entered the world. Dylan's accomplished so much in such a little time.

6 Months Old!

Oliver and Luci now provide lots of entertainment for him. He loves to stare at them when they enter the room and has really enjoyed watching Luci play. In fact, yesterday was the first time Dylan laughed at something other than our antics. He was sitting in my lap watching Luci as she played with a toy I was swinging around and he started giggling. It was too cute! Today, Mike plopped Oliver in the crib with Dylan during our 6 month old photo shoot. Dylan was in awe!

Oliver Looking For the Exit

Eating has been a big milestone for Dylan. Now he's not just practicing with food he's eating solids (if you can call the mush that) on a regular basis. He's tried tons of fruits and vegetables and has enjoyed them all. The only foods he hasn't really dug was the bland rice cereal (though we'll try again with fruit added) and the mush meats (turkey and chicken). Though, to be fair, the meats smelled just like cat food and I can't say that I would have eaten it either. His favorites thus far, that he just can't seem to get enough of, are tomatoes and carrots. Here he is modeling the carrots he had with dinner tonight.

He really is becoming a true outdoors man. If he gets really upset and nothing else calms him, a trip outside, no matter how cold the weather, soothes him. This last month he took a couple of snowshoeing trips. One I blogged about previously and another just this Monday after we got 10-12 inches of snow over the weekend. Mike, Dylan and I drove just a couple of miles down to the Stoney Brook Reservation and had a little hike. I thought he was asleep from the get go because he was looking at my feet the whole time. He just enjoyed watching the snowshoes blaze the trail.

Of course, we always layer him up really well so he's quite comfortable in the cold. So comfortable that he had a little snooze during our snowshoe outing.

Now that he faces forward in the carrier, he gets to see the world a little better. A real man on the go, he enjoys being popped in it at night and just walking around the house with us. Our newest fun family nighttime is playing the Wii. He makes the balancing games a little more challenging for us but he just loves playing the active video games with us.

It's amazing how quickly babies go from "nowhere close to being able" to "mastery" so quickly. Today, Dylan actually had a big day with sitting up. During my StrollerFit class this morning, he was doing crunches so much in his car seat (which I attach to the stroller and gives him an almost laying down position) to see what was going on that I took him out and plopped him upright in his stroller. He loved it!

He liked sitting up SO much that he decided that he would sit up during his bath tonight too!

Naked Baby Alert!

What a big month ending with a big day! Today also marks the last day of my maternity leave. So, Mike, Dylan and I will all have another big adjustment to make in the next couple of days. Wish us luck! I will miss seeing this adorable little face all day long.

Resolve to Resolve

Well, here it is....a new year, a new decade and a new family dynamic. In reflecting on the last year, a whole lot has changed. At this time last year, we were just sharing our news of pregnancy with folks and getting used the idea ourselves. Now, we have a 6 month baby boy and couldn't imagine our lives any other way.

At this time of the year, most folks slow down, reflect and refocus. They refocus by setting goals for the new year. I've never been great at setting new year's resolutions. I think it's partly due to not realizing I should do so until the day's upon me and I have a hard time coming up with anything interesting (much like I do with gifts for special occasions). Mostly though, I think it's due to my personality. I'm not the type to wait for a certain point in time to start something new when I think I need to do so...I generally just start right then!

So, even though these aren't resolutions I made at the beginning of the year, they're things that have come about in the last 6 months or so that I'll share with you now.

1) Floss teeth more regularly. Random, I know, and a little embarrassing to admit. Though dental health is very important to me, I've just been horrible at flossing on a daily basis. After my last dental appointment in early December, I promised myself to make this a priority in my morning routine. I haven't been perfect at getting it done every day, but thus far, I've been doing a pretty good job keeping this promise to myself.

2) Lose the baby weight in 9 months. When I was pregnant, I wanted to beat the adage "9 months on, 9 months off" and lose it in 6 months. However, I didn't start losing a pound until Dylan was almost 3 months old. At that point, I figured that 9 months was more realistic and I'd shoot for then. While I have made progress, I'm not sure I'm going to hit the 9 month mark either. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to do everything I can to make that goal but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't. If I haven't gotten back down in a year, well, that's another story.

3) Live in the moment. Before July 6th I was absolutely horrible at this. I was an on the go, headed to the next stop kind of person. I rarely was fully able to enjoy a moment because I was constantly thinking about what I "needed" to get done next or what was coming up on my schedule. When Dylan was born though, I have really slowed down and tried to soak in each moment. These 6 months I've had off work to spend with him and Mike have been a wonderful gift and I've really done my best to relish every second. So, without the hustle and bustle of everyday life getting in the way, I've made great progress with this. It will be interesting to see if I'm still able to "slow down" on the same level once I get back to my hectic job.

Those are the things I'm currently working on to improve myself. Have you stopped to refocus your life for the new year? If so, feel share your goals with me in the comments section.

The Perfect Holiday

Happy New Year's Eve! As a write this, I am sitting in front of a warm fire after a nice snowfall today. The baby is asleep, the kitties are snuggling and Mike and I are about to watch a movie and celebrate with some bubbly. A perfect way to ring in the new year with my family!

Dylan Learning How to Shovel Snow

Snuggly Kitties

This post, though, is about my perfect Christmas with Dylan, Mike, our family here and our animals.

The Tree and The Loot

All of these firsts for the baby come with a lot of high expectations. Holiday are no exception but I tried not to have any major expectations so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Nevertheless, I had them anyway......and the were met, surpassed and blown out of the water! All because of this little Christmas Elf:

I am continually amazed at what a wonderful little guy he is. We had such a great time celebrating this first Christmas with him in our family. On Christmas Eve, I finally finished wrapping all the gifts. Dylan literally watched from his activity center while I wrapped the last of his gifts. I'm guessing this will be the last year I'll be able to get away with something like that!

Christmas morning, after Dylan slept wonderfully through the night, we awoke, came downstairs, had some breakfast, then checked out what Santa had brought us. It is just so cool that Dylan's age of understanding and being interested in toys coincides with his first Christmas.

Checking Out His Gifts From Santa

We then began opening all of the presents that were sitting under the tree. Mike, as always, was very thoughtful in all the gifts he got for me. I think he also really enjoyed what I thought of to give to him. Of course, though, the major focus of our holiday was on Dylan. Not only was he into all the toys, he also enjoyed the unwrapping!

Not to be left out in our household, the cats' stockings also held surprises for them. For Oliver, his favorite, a catnip toy. For Luci, a quick bee toy. As you can see below, they were happy Christmas campers too!

Dylan Watching Luci Play

Oliver Hittin' The Nip

After we had our celebration at home, we headed to Mike's parents' house where we joined one of his sisters, Kristina, and her family. After spending some time with each other there and, of course, opening even more presents, we got Dylan changed and ready for the big Christmas lunch at Mike's other sister's, Maureen's, house. In true baby fashion, Dylan waited until that moment to make his "morning deposit" which, of course, was a blowout. So, this crappy picture with the iPhone was the only shot of what he was planned to have worn.

The Christmas Outfit

After salvaging the sweater vest and hat, we changed him and then were off to Maureen's. As always, the house was nutty with activity. Kids and adults chatting noisily in every room, food being prepared, food being eaten, presents being opened, the dog barking....happy chaos. Dylan handled it all extremely well and was happy and joyful the entire time we were there.

Dylan With Cousins

Dylan Riding A Horse....Er, I Mean Dog

After over 7 hours of Christmas madness with no nap, Dylan finally crashed on his Auntie Maureen's shoulder for a little snooze.

I've never seen a true white Christmas. By some freak of nature, Dallas got fresh snowfall on Christmas Eve while Boston was left with snow remains from a week previous. Christmas Day was absolutely perfect (other than the obvious fact that I wasn't able to be with my family as well) except for my white Christmas. On the way home that night, after a wonderful day, we got a little snowfall on the windshield of the car. Technically not a white Christmas, but close enough to finish a perfect holiday off.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

From Our Family to Yours........

Have a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

Meeting Santa!

Last weekend was filled with Christmas parties. Saturday night was my company's holiday party which was held at the Museum of Science. There were lots of cools things to do!

The party took place on 3 levels of one of the wings of the museum and we had free access to all of the exhibits there. The Harry Potter exhibit is currently going on at the museum and we also had tickets to go to that special exhibit. Later in the night, the omni theater had a private showing for our party as well. We, however, did none of these things. With Dylan, just being somewhere new and with lots of people surrounding us (and ooing and ahhhing over the baby), we stayed quite busy just chatting with folks.

Mike and Dylan at the MOS

It was really nice to see lots of my colleagues and get to catch up with them. Dylan was a big hit and did very well that night, despite the mass amounts of stimulation. He even got to meet Santa! You never know how babies are going to react to the red dressed, long bearded guy, but Dylan seemed to take it in stride!

Santa and Dylan

Even with the threat of a nor'easter, the party had a great turn out and we had a great time. Around 9 (Dylan's bedtime), he'd had enough so it was time to go. Outdoors, all was calm....the calm before the storm.

One thing I've learned since I got here is that weathermen can not predict AT ALL what's going to happen in a nor'easter. Normally, they give you worst case scenario. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. This time, they were saying Boston was going to get over a foot of snow. The next morning, we awoke to about 8 inches. Not too bad. The snow had really tapered off, so Mike got outside and got the snow blower going Sunday morning and "dug" us out. Our street is always the last to get plowed in the area so if it's passable, we know we're good to go on other streets. It had been plowed, though literally to only one car width, so we headed out to our Sunday party - Mike's cousins' Christmas gathering.

All of Mike's cousins are around our age and we always have a great time with them. In addition to being family, they are also good friends. We had a great time just sitting around and chatting with them.

Mike and Dylan Watching the Patriots Game

The kids, of which only two were there that day, Dylan and Justin, exchanged gifts. Dylan seemed pretty interested in opening presents. Hopefully he'll enjoy it Christmas Day as well. We had bought Justin a Sesame Street shapes\block thing. We thought it a great, quiet, educational toy. Little did we know he would deafen us all by shaking around the block shapes inside the wooden box and almost take out a few people by throwing the block shapes. Apparently, we still have some learning to do on what nice quiet gifts for kids are!

Dylan Opening His Present

After being there for several hours, Dylan was getting fussy (because he always fights going to sleep and had been up for many hours at that point) so it was time to go. I thought it would be nice for Dylan and Justin to get a picture together. Justin had been interested in the baby all day. However, he did not want to sit next to him for a picture. First attempt at plopping them on the couch together did not go well!

We were able to trick them a bit later and had Dylan in a lap and got Justin to sit up next to him. So, here they are:

It was a great holiday celebration weekend with coworkers, cousins and friends!

Lee\Hines Cousins Christmas 2009

First Snowshoeing Adventure

The Sunday before last, we headed up to NH so that we could be there Monday to receive the delivery of our new refrigerator. All the appliances were original to the condo (circa 1986) whe we bought it so we knew then that we would need to replace all of them in due time. Last year our stove died and, slowly but surely, our refrigerator was also dying so we wanted to replace it before we came up one weekend to find rotting food. So we did. The purchase and delivery was painless. Yay new frig!

On the way up to the condo, we had to drive through a snowstorm. That means we had several inches of fresh snow on the ground the next morning. Perfect conditions for snowshoeing! So, we pulled out the snowshoes to take Dylan for his first trip. As I've mentioned on the blog before, our condo sits on 300 acres of land where they've carved out some hiking trails. There's a nice loop to a waterfall that I've taken many times. I enjoy seeing how the waterfall looks in all of the seasons. It truly looks completely different every time I see it. It was time to give Dylan his first glimpse of it.

After the refrigerator was delivered and all the food was transferred, Dylan needed food and a nap. So, by the time we got all bundled and geared up, we were already starting to lose daylight (close to the winter solstice, you know). It was going to be a quick trip up the hill. As always, carrying Dylan is a challenge and on top of that I was blazing the trail (which is hard work in snowshoes). I was lucky to have the ending day as motivation to get me up and down quickly....it definitely made it a hard workout!

As you can see here, it was so tough for me that I had lost many of my layers. Dylan was nice and warm in his bunting. He enjoyed looking at all the snow on the trees around us.

Pretty soon after we started our trek, we saw signs of wildlife! It's rare to actually see anything while hiking (always a special treat when you do) but the cool thing about the snow is that wildlife tracks are in full view. For almost the entire trip, we got to follow some deer tracks!

What Deer Tracks Look Like in Fresh Snow

We made it to the waterfall with little time to spare so we weren't able to take the time to go down the small hill to get right next to it, but here's a shot of it we got from the trail.

Waterfall With Small Ice Bridge

Dylan did so great on our hour long hike through the snow. He was so quiet just looking around and soaking in the scenery. Apparently the hike up pooped him out because he was so tired on the way down that he passed out....despite being in the cold and in the carrier!