Big Dig

The real Big Dig in Boston finally finished up a few years ago. However, there's a new big dig going on....in our back yard.

The mountain we previously called our back yard is getting terraced so that we actually have a usable space. We're also having our side yard fenced in and graded. Work started Tuesday and they're still digging up dirt and boulders. We didn't know how much of our yard was ledge (aka rock) so the digging part has been pretty exciting....a big mystery of what we would find. So far so good. Hopefully it will be done to have a great family cookout to celebrate Dylan's first birthday party. Here's what I came home to yesterday.

Once all is said and done, I'll post some before and after pictures. I can already tell, the transformation is going to be amazing!

Maiden Voyage

Since the forecast was for gorgeous weather, I took the Monday before last (little behind in postings) off so that we could have a nice long weekend to enjoy the spring. After our long hike on that Sunday, we were ready for something more low key. A little while ago, one of the chain outdoor equipment stores was having a sale so we purchased kayaks we had been researching and eyeing for quite some time. Monday was the day for our maiden voyage in them.


We got some advice from some locals on a good spot that fit our criteria (close by, scenic, flat water) and decided on a paddle on Mirror Lake. All that morning, Dylan had been a little off. He's always such a happy kid and had a little case of the crankies that day. Well, he fell asleep on the way to the lake and, since he obviously needed it, we let him have his nap. He's very inconsistent in the amount of time he naps so you never know what you're in for. This time, he had a good solid hour and a half. During that time, Mike unloaded the kayaks on the beach, we packed them up and made all the adjustments needed for comfort then spent the rest of the time playing games and quizzes together on our IPhones

Unfortunately, once Dylan woke up, he wasn't in a much better mood then when he went down. But, we carried on with our plan anyway. Dylan and I got loaded in our kayak and Mike pushed us in the water off the beach. Dylan was not pleased with the life jacket. When sitting, it was shoved around his little face and he really couldn't move much. Not ideal. He tolerated it fairly well, especially given his mood, and we were able to paddle across the lake for a bit.

Maiden Voyage

The highlight of our small trip was the Loon that was playing on the lake. We would paddle his way, watch him splash and flap his wings and then he would disappear under the water. A little later, we would find where he had resurfaced and repeat the game. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of him. He was really a beautiful bird and this was the first time I had seen one in "the flesh." Pretty cool.

Dylan was entertained by the Loon. However, he had the most fun splashing in the water. So, I spent a lot of time sitting in the kayak holding onto the back of his life jacket.

Splish Splash!

Hi!

After a little time floating in the water, grumpy gus had had enough. So, he had a minor little melt down while I furiously paddled back to shore. Once the life jacket was off he was happy and wanted to go back to playing in the water. We plopped him down on the beach and he had great time sitting in the water, playing with pebbles and splashing.

What? What's so cute? (You, Mr. Dylan - You Are!)

All in all, a pretty nice first trip. While we were out stroller skating (that's roller skating while pushing a stroller) at our local park yesterday, we realized that there's a boat launch there to the Charles River. So, I think our next trip might have to be there.

Sickly First

Over the weekend, I had great plans to FINALLY get caught up on the blog. I still have some posts from my Texas trip that I want to put up as well as more pics from our NH trip last weekend. Unfortunately, two things prevented me from doing that. 1) Our Mac that holds all of our photos is on the fritz. The hard drive is fine but I can't easily get to our pictures with the rest of the machine not working so great. And, more importantly, 2) my poor little baby had another first.....being sick!

Other than a trip to the ER for a possible stomach bug from an overreacting new mother when Dylan was about 3 months old and some minor ear infections that interrupted his sleep, we've had a pretty healthy guy on our hands. On Friday, we went to a party and left Dylan with a new sitter. He was not quite himself when we left but we didn't suspect anything major at that point so we continued with our plans. After we heard about his un Dylan-like behavior from our sitter that night, we started to think something might be up.

Sure enough, Saturday he proved to not be feeling well. He just wanted to be held and to have lots of cat naps. As his fever was fairly high, 102.5, Saturday night I called our pediatrician's nurses line to have a conversation with them. I mean, I have no experience with sick kids and don't know what constitutes concern with fevers and odd behavior. After going through the list of questions, they said to call in on Sunday morning to come in and have him checked if symptoms and fever were still the same.

Of course, this is the one weekend that Mike had plans - taking his nephew to a Lacrosse game Saturday night and coaching soccer Sunday morning. So, I was mostly solo in taking care of the kid. While I obviously wanted to do anything and everything I could to comfort and take care of my sick baby, I had a hard time finding time to get anything done....including the basics for myself like eating and going to the bathroom. He just didn't want to be out of my arms for even a minute.

Sunday morning, his temp was still up so we headed to the doctor. After a quick appointment there, we headed to the lab for a blood draw then had to wait around for results (in case he needed a shot of antibiotics). Waiting around with a sick kid is not ideal. After going for a walk and entertaining him in the car as long as possible, I gave up and headed home. Of course, I was on the entry ramp to the highway when they called and just had to exit right off again since the doctor wanted us up in the office to discuss results. Yeah, that doesn't make a mom nervous at all!

In the end, the conversation wasn't too scary. His white blood cell and platelet counts were low, which means he has a virus. So, the treatment is Tylenol and Motrin to keep his fever down and wait it out. We will have to go back in a couple of weeks just to make sure those counts are up to what they should be.

Last night, we saw our normal Dylan for about an hour so we thought he might be on the mend. This morning, however, he still feels warm, wants to be held and is definitely not himself. It's just really unpleasant to see such a usually happy little guy be so lethargic and sad. So, we'll snuggle him and do whatever we can to get him through his first real sickness. Poor little guy!

Mt. Potash

Sunday was hiking day. We got up, had some breakfast, picked out our destination and started packing up. Our plan to have Dylan sleep in the car on the way there didn't happen because we didn't get packed up fast enough. No one in the house had gotten a great nights sleep, so plan B was to all have a morning nap at the condo. After a snooze, we were on our way. En route, we stopped in the town of Lincoln to pick up some sandwiches to eat at the top.

The hike we picked to do was Mt. Potash, which is off the Kancamagus Highway. It was a stunning drive to the base of the trail! We hit the trail just a little after noon. Our hiking book gave us a time of about 1 hour 40 minutes to the top. Being the competitive people we are, we used to have fun blowing the suggested time frames out of the water. Carrying a baby slows you down a bit though and it took us 1 hour 45 minutes to walk up. I know, I know, sad to time our relaxing family fun, but it entertains us and gives us goals so it works for us.

Dylan nixed just about any chance of seeing any wildlife as he was growling and yelling a good portion of the way up. The noise stopped for about 20 minutes as he napped just as we approached the summit.

Hiking is Tiring Work

He woke just a few minutes after the jostling from being on my back stopped. So, we were all able to enjoy the view at the top while having some lunch. For one of the smaller mountains, it really packed great sweeping views at the peak.

Mt. Washington in the Distance (The Snow Covered Peak)

Family Self Portrait

View From the Opposite Vantage Point
The entire trip back down, Dylan was wide awake and completely content to hang out in the pack. He makes things pretty easy sometimes. Other than a little disagreement between my knee and a rock on the descent, we had a nice, peaceful hike.

Heading Down

We realize we are very lucky to have such an easy going kid that travels well. It's great that he loves being in the great outdoors because we have a fun time trekking him around with us.

Hickory Hill Farm

Last Saturday, we went up to Dover, NH to my friend's family farm for an open house. I hadn't seen Jessica and Chris in quite some time. So long, in fact, that I hadn't met their 20 month old son, Samuel. Time really flies! We thought the open house was a great excuse to finally get up their way and spend some time with them.

What a great day for the open house. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, though a bit windy, and everyone was in good spirits. It was a little over an hour drive to get there. We saw Jess and Chris and talked briefly before it was announced that a hay ride was about to start. So, Mike, Dylan and I hopped on the trailer hooked up to a tractor and went on a little tour of the farm.

Hay Ridin' Family

Dylan Liked Watching the Tractor

On the tour, we saw the piglets, whom we went back and visited later with the kitchen scraps we had brought just for them.

Little Piggies

It being a farm, there were lots of animals to see and touch. They had baby turkeys and chickens staying warm with heat lamps. We got to pet the soft feathers of the baby chick. In preparation for our farm trip, I had been reading Dylan our touch and feel farm book. He always gets excited to put the furry chick on the front of the book. The real one, though, he was a bit more apprehensive about.

Chickadees

A good amount of horses are boarded at the stables there. They were roaming around a fenced in area and came up to see you in hopes of getting a snack. So, we went to visit them and fed a couple of them carrots. Dylan got to pet them too and enjoyed pointing at them....I think that was a sign that he enjoyed them.

Petting The Pretty Horse

Feeding Him a Snack

In addition to having fun with the animals, we had a great time doing a little bit of catch up with Jess and Chris. There were lots of friends of theirs there so their attention was split between lots of folks. We were glad to have the time with them that we did. Others visiting that day also came with little ones so Dylan had a great time watching them, playing with them and "sharing" toys with them.

Riding on Daddy's Shoulders

Cuteness On the Farm

We had a great time. After a few hours, though, we had to hit the road again. It was another 2 hours in the car to our place in the mountains where we spent the next two days.

Special Dude, Special Day

Today is a very important day for my little man. Not the one I'm usually posting about these days, but one that's been with me for a very long time. No, not Mike either. Today I celebrate the day that my baby Oliver, the cat, came into my life. It was 14 years ago on this date that I brought Oliver back home to my apartment in Austin.

He has been such a good companion and friend to me for so many years and has adjusted to many changes in our lives. Granted, this last 10 months have probably been the biggest adjustment for him (and his sister Luci). Even though he's not happy with Dylan a good portion of the time, he can also be very loving and sweet to the baby. Oliver's just a wonderful family cat and I couldn't let his birthday pass without giving him a shout out. We love you Oliver!

Cool Cat

Thoughts on Motherhood

Here we are, one day before my special day, Mother's Day. It's official. Dylan has turned this gal, once a solid brick wall of emotions, into a pile of mush. I'm actually looking forward to Mother's Day. Geez!

As my life has changed quite a bit from this time last year (when I thought I was giving up and sacrificing a lot for pregnancy), I quite often contemplate this whole motherhood thing. None of us truly know what we're getting into when we're having kids, but I'm definitely surprised at how's it's changed me, changed perception and keeps me constantly exhausted. So, I decided to share some of my thoughts on it all.

1) It's not kids that age you and give you gray hairs (like my Mom always told me), it's lack of sleep. Now, Dylan's a pretty darned good sleeper so there's not a lot I can complain about there. But, one thing he's consistent about it getting up at 6 am. That's never been my favorite time of the day. I'm naturally a night person and, though I honestly try on a daily basis, getting to sleep before 11 just doesn't happen for me. 7 hours of sleep isn't so bad....except that I rarely get more than that and often get less. The downside to having kids in your 30s is that you need more sleep than you did in your 20s. The cumulative effect of not ever getting enough sleep is what I think slowly kills you. An article even came out this week that supports my theory. So, my skin is all of a sudden starting to look 33 years old and I found my first gray hair a couple of weeks ago. Very traumatic.

2) Being a working mother is SO not equal to being a working father. I naively thought that having a spouse at home, no matter if it's the mother or father, and the other at work would be 6 or one have dozen.....ie, no difference. How wrong I was! Now, I cannot stress enough how great Mike is as a stay at home Dad. Not only is he ridiculously wonderful and patient with Dylan, he manages to get all our errands done, keep the house tidy (enough) and keep us all fed well. And he does this happily and comfortably, even though he's in a non conventional role that many men wouldn't be manly enough to accept. He's a much better stay at home parent then I could ever be.

Now, I've got it pretty good seeing as how he takes care of us so well. But, it's still pretty tough to be a working mother. While the transition to work went better then I thought it would in many ways, it was really tough in ways I could not have ever imagined. For one, pumping is not an easy thing to shove into a busy schedule. (And it's not easy for a plethora of other reasons I can't begin to get into in this posting.) But, for many reasons, here I am still doing it and am committed (most days) to keeping it up. Obviously, not something a working dad would ever have to worry about.

Also, you would think that since Daddy is with the baby all day long, Dylan would be comfortable going to him at night. Not so. For some reason, when baby is awake at night, it's still Mommy that he wants. Other working moms have confirmed this to be in true in their households too. Apparently evolution is far behind our modern times and mom is still the comfort creature. So, when baby's awake at night, it's still Mom losing sleep with him. And I don't have the option to nap when he does during the day. Those days are pretty rough at work.

Another huge difference is guilt. Working fathers don't seem to experience the guilt that working mothers do. I'll get into that next.

3) Guilt. I have a lot of it about everything...constantly. It's no question that I'm an A type personality (more of a relaxed A type now) and want to do the best job at everything I do. Now, though, I feel like I don't do well at ANY aspect of my life. Pre-baby, stressful and busy times in my life normally caused some sort of shortfall in one or so aspects of my life. Now, I feel as if I just can't muster enough time or energy to get anything done even reasonably well.

With Dylan, he's often clingy with me on the weekends which reminds me that he doesn't get enough time with me. Mike is great and will often let me sleep just a few more minutes in the morning on work days after I've nursed Dylan, but that's 15-30 minutes I don't get to spend with the baby. When I get home from work, I have, at most, an hour and a half to hang out with Dylan while also trying to eat some dinner, before putting him to bed. Obviously, I don't spend enough time with my child.

Between being tired and not able to focus intently most days, pumping and taking a break for the gym, I don't feel as if I get nearly as much work done during the work day as I should. At the gym, some days I don't have the energy to push myself hard enough. Then, I'm not losing the weight fast enough because of it. At home, I have about an hour or so left in me after Dylan's asleep to get some things done around the house. Again, not enough time to tend to what I want to get done. And Mike. Unfortunately, he often gets tossed to the end of the line. I definitely don't tell him enough how much I appreciate or get to spend as much one on one time together that we should.

Never. Enough.

I do realize for the most part that I'm probably the only person that thinks I'm doing a horrible job. Sometimes that's a little comforting but most often I just feel guilt. Internally, I'm working on readjusting expectations of myself. The irony is that I just don't have enough time to devote to that either. Ha!

Enough with the bullet points. Suffice it to say, life has changed. And though this post seems more like a pity party then a celebration, being a Mom truly is, beyond doubt, a celebration. I never knew how much I could love another human being until Dylan came into my life. No matter my mood or the events of the day, being with him fills my heart with immense joy. Some folks say they can't remember their life before kids. Well, I can. There was certainly a lot more personal freedoms and free time then. I can honestly say, though, that I wouldn't want my life to be any different than it is today. It comes with a lot more responsibility and fatigue, but having Dylan in our lives is an awesome thing. A really, really awesome thing! We love him completely and are at our happiest when spending time as a family.

So, now that I'm officially an emotional sap, I'm going to eat up the Mother's Day celebration tomorrow. My first one as a mother! To my mother, my mother in law, my aunt and my 4 sister-in-laws, you are wonderful mothers to some of the most important people in my lives. I love you all! And to all my friends that are mothers, I know you will relate to this post and I dedicate it to you. Rock on mothers! We're all doing the best jobs that we can and for that, we rock!