What Else

We've had a lot going on that I haven't had time to blog about. In the effort of staying sane and still feeling like I'm documenting our lives sufficiently, I'm going to pack most of it into one post.

Our kitty Oliver celebrated his 16th birthday last month. Yay! Unfortunately, his health hasn't been great. We've been to the vet with him about 2 times a month on average and I've literally spent hours on the phone with the vet in addition to that. The result is it's a big question mark as to what's going on with him. His blood glucose numbers are all over the place and we've tried everything to get his diabetes regulated to no avail. Plus, he's been losing weight continually since being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last fall despite that condition being regulated. Our vet didn't know where to go next so sent us to a specialist. Cade and I spent a couple of hours with him at the vet yesterday talking over his issues and figuring out where to go next. It's tough because we want to be realistic (he is 16 after all) but don't want to give up on him either. So, next week he'll have an x-ray and ultrasound to see if we can figure out what the issue might be and if we can treat it.

Mr. O

My Oldest and Youngest Baby Cuddling

On a happier note, Dylan and I got invited to go to the circus with our friend Luke and his Dad several weeks ago. Well, actually Mike and Dylan got invited but since Mike's anti clowns he had no interest in the Big Apple Circus so I was the lucky gal that got to accompany Dylan. We called it Mommy\Dylan date night and we had a great time. Drove downtown, watched the circus, talked about it all the way home (and way past bedtime) and have been looking at pictures and talking about it since. I think Dylan really enjoyed it.

Dylan, Luke and Jimmy (aka Luke's Dad)

These Guys Jumped Rope Like This!

We Were Very Entertained by the Acrobats Throughout the Night

Capybara Drove the Little Car and "Sang"

Impressive Strength

What are they looking up at?

The trapeze artists!

At the house we've been trying to work on a few projects. For most of May I was working to organize our craft room\office. I got the bulk of it done but after being pulled away from it for vacation and the weeks since, I need to get back to finish off the final details. When I do, I promise to show pictures of it here. We're also working to organize the garage. We've gotten as far as a plan and purchasing the organization system but it's still sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. I hope to also get to that in the near future.

We are adjusting to having a big yard. We've had lots of rain which means it seems like Mike is constantly out in the yard mowing, week whacking or pulling weeds. It's now June and I'm realizing that I've yet to get out my planters and put something nice in them. Maybe this weekend? What's lucky is the 2 heavy ceramic pots that are outside of our front door re sprouted the grass that was in there last year so they're already taken care of.

For several months we've been trying to take Dylan to the Rainforest Cafe because we thought he'd really like that. Of course we always think of it at about 5 o'clock on a weekend and call to find the next available reservation is at 8. Well, we finally made it a few weeks ago on a weeknight and had no issues. It was a little bit of a disaster since taking Dylan out to eat these days always seems to be. Eating and sitting still are not strong skills for him at the moment. So, we mostly switched off taking him around to see the animals. That part he loved and he's still talking about it. Funny the things that make their little brains click because he is now making rainforest and rainforest animal associations all the time. He likes to tell folks about the gorillas, elephants and crocodiles we saw moving around and also that the snake "almost got Daddy" (moving snack hanging from the ceiling at the exit). Disaster of eating experience but score in the happy memory department.

Dylan, Me and the Big Crocodile

Now that we are able to be more productive than just the bare minimum of life, I'm getting to work out more which is awesome. There's a training place down the road from us I've been doing as well as making great use of our home gym in the basement. The boys let me take them on walks some too. The pounds are finally starting to regularly come off. I'm down about 20 pounds from my 2 week post delivery weigh in but still have a ways to go. At least the scale is heading in the right direction.

We hosted a couple of events in May as well. I had my book club over and Mike had some folks over for some big soccer game (I'll take his word on that since I don't follow soccer at all). We and all in attendance had a great time at those.  A couple of folks that came over for the soccer party were our neighbors across the street. Dylan and their 3 year old daughter, Chloe, have become friends and Mike and I both really enjoy hanging out with Chloe's parents as well. On Memorial Day, Dylan, Cade and I went with Chloe and her parents to our town parade (Mike opted out because he's also anti parades). It was kind of a puny parade but nice to spend time with them. We went to the park and got frozen yogurt after so it was a full morning. Just before we went to meet them, Dylan said "Chloe, she my best friend ever!" Cuteness.

Dylan and His BFF Chloe

There have also been a good amount of furniture shopping trips. The couch we have in the play room is too big and shows every little tiny spill...not ideal for a play room. The dining room is sort of a blank slate too. My grandmother's lovely dining set is absolutely dwarfed in the room and my style has changed since I purchased the sideboard 10 years ago. So, we've been on the hunt for a new dining set and hutch. Still no decisions on that yet. However, we did find a couch for the playroom that will be delivered soon.

The Saturday before we left for Hershey, we headed to the nearby town of Needham (where I work) to participate in their Touch a Truck event. It is as it sounds. A bunch of trucks and machinery that the kids can sit in and play around with. We were supposed to be meeting friends there but got there later than they did so they were already on their way out with tired kids by the time we arrived. Didn't matter because, of course, Dylan thought getting in the trucks was great.

Because there wasn't enough going on in May, we also scheduled a trip downtown to meet up with our attorney. When we had our will\trust drawn up last year Cade was in utero and didn't have a name yet. So we went to get that updated. The day of our meeting was a beautiful day so we took the boys out for a walk afterwards and showed Dylan a few Boston sights he'd not seen before. (I swore we took pictures of him on the tortoise and the hare statues in Copley square and the duckling statues in the public garden but have no idea where they are.)

The plethora of doctors trips has continued. In addition to Cade's 4 month check up last week, we've been shopping for a new pediatrician. This week I picked up records at our old place and filled out paperwork at our new place. Both Mike and I had appointments at the dentist this week to get old fillings replaced. I had my yearly physical last week and have been working to get and appointment with an orthopedic for an ankle issue I'm having. Just in the last 2 weeks, all that has amounted to 7 separate visits to doctors offices (for us and Oliver) and many phone calls for scheduling, referrals, etc.

And last, but not least, we also had some family pictures done. Because I'm sure you're already tired of reading and looking at pictures, I'll put up a separate post with some of our favorites.

In addition to all of that, we've had our regular music class, lots of fun play dates (including one to a little farm the next town over in the rain today) and spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep our house not looking like a total kid chaos zone. Have I mentioned that I still don't get much sleep yet? Lots of folks are flabbergasted that there are two of us at home and we still claim to be busy. Does this give you a little sense as to why? I think going back to work is going to slow my pace of life down a bit to be quite honest.

These guys alone keep us on our toes!

Only a few weeks left of my maternity leave left and still lots to pack in.

Hershey Park

It's been a rough week. I'm feeling the sleep deprivation like never before. We've had a lot to do\a lot going on which is good in some ways because I've had to keep going which has kept me from falling asleep at odd moments but I've been pretty out of it which has made making my brain function quite challenging. There was a moment driving this week when I realized I didn't remember how I'd gotten to a place...kind of scary. But, last night saw more zzz's than usual so I feel a bit more human today. Plus, we've gotten lots checked off our to do list so I'm feeling pretty good about this week. So, time to reminisce about the last couple of days of our vacation which already seems like a long time ago.

Day 3 we hit the main reason for going to this area - Hershey Park. Dylan's pretty tall but we knew he still would be limited with what he could ride. The park has all the rides labeled by chocolate status which is pretty cute. Dylan fell in the Hershey Kiss category and could ride all the rides denoted by that label (and under which was Hershey's miniatures). There ended up being A TON of things he could ride. We were there for 6 hours of riding with virtually no lines and didn't even get to all of them.

Our original plan was to go back to our place for nap time so Dylan could get in a snooze and we could get in some lunch but he seemed to be going pretty strong so we stayed at the park as long as we could. Plus, they had an area for nursing mothers which ended up being the most relaxing place I was able to nurse Cade all week (air conditioned, rocking chairs, quiet, private) so I was cool with being out and about all day. I think it was around 4 when Dylan finally passed out in the stroller. He'd had a mini melt down just a bit before that but did great otherwise.

So, this post should henceforth be known as the post with lots of pictures (and captions) of Dylan riding rides.

Dylan and I on our own private roller coaster. There were no lines on the kid type rides and we were solo on lots of them.
That blur is us at the back of our own roller coaster. We've been watching the movie Despicable Me which has a roller coaster scene. Mike and I've been talking up how we would go on a roller coaster at the amusement park so Dylan would not entertain any other ride until we went on a roller coaster. Mike took a turn riding it with him when we were done.

Mini Scrambler - I love the look on his face on this one!

Dylan took charge of the controls on this one with Mike.

Ready to Spin

Mini Pirate Ship

Pure Joy - I Love it!

Mini Log Ride - Dylan and I rode this together twice in a row.
Notice us holding hands? Dylan insisted. Melted my heart.

Cade was a good sport....along for the ride. Watching what was around us and snoozing when he needed to.

The Chocolate Guy (as Dylan called him)
I was kind of surprised he wanted to go see him but he was excited to and gave
him the longest sweetest hug. It was pretty cute

The Train
We had to ride this a couple of times because it went by a deserted Old West scene
that had a skeleton hanging. Dylan loves skeletons so he needed to go see it again.

The train was Cade's very first ride!

Dylan got to pick which parent went on the ride with him.
I was pretty honored to have been picked many times.
Don't worry, Mike didn't get left out. There were several times
that I had to go off to nurse Cade that they were solo for lots of rides too.

Dylan also preferred the tiny kid rides to some of the larger ones he was able to go on.
He rode the cars 3 times in a row and was very specific about which car he wanted to ride.

I thought this sports car was an excellent choice!

This one cracked me up. Big conductor with one little guy passenger.

Cuteness

Waving As He Passed Us

Dylan and Mike on the Ferris Wheel
Dylan had a good time looking at the park all around us.

Cade taking in the sights.

We saw the KitKat guy on the way out. I thought it a perfect opportunity
to get an "after" picture. Both of the boys are passed out.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Mike and I got to ride a grown up ride. At the beginning of the day, before the lines to the roller coasters got long (there were lots of school trips at the park that day), we took advantage of the park's Kiddie Swap program. Basically you wait in line, one parent rides and then the other parent can hop on the next ride without standing in line again. Not surprisingly, Dylan didn't enjoy waiting around too much so we only did it once. But, it was an AWESOME roller coaster so it was a great pick to be our only one for the day. It was called Storm Runner. It launches you from 0-72mph in 2 seconds and went 18 stories up and then straight (and I do mean straight) down. It was definitely one of my top coaster picks of all times.

Intercourse

First, get your mind out of the gutter....it's not about that. It's about Intercourse, PA. Yep, it's a real place and that's where we went on day 2 of our vacation...into Amish country.

Life post vacation has been crazy, hence not being able to get these posts out timely. It took everyone a couple of days to recoup from a rough travel home. Dylan's been sleeping more than usual and a bit more whiny, Cade's schedule (or any semblance he had of one) has been non existent and Mike and I have felt pretty tired too. Not to mention that we've had a few other commitments happening and I haven't slept much at all for a couple of nights. So, I'm behind in life in general, not just blogging.

Day 2 of our vacation was forecast to have rain (like every day we were there) but the odds were lower during the morning so we got the gang ready and made the hour-ish trip from Hershey to Lancaster county. PA has a lot of farm land. It's pretty much all we saw when driving around it. Not a fact I knew before this trip.

We got to a tourist shopping area and got out to browse. Normally I'm a snob about these major tourist grounds, preferring to attempt to try and find more real connections to the places I travel, but with 2 kids in tow, I'm all about 1 stop shopping. We headed straight to our #1 priority of the day, a horse and buggy tour. We signed up and then had some time to duck into some shops before the tour began.

Meeting Our Horses - Tom and Jerry!

We carted along the major road with all the cars zooming by and then turned onto the quieter roads where the Amish community was. Then it was pretty much just us. Dylan, the ever observant guy he is, asked us after a while where all the cars where.

We learned all kinds of things about the Amish culture from our guide, Miriam. Seeing as I knew next to nothing about it, I learned about. We learned about their air pressure and propane methods of powering things in their homes, that most of the homes are multi generational, their church is held in personal homes (rotated amongst the community) and that they speak Pennsylvania Dutch and call us "the English."

Work Horses

Amish woman working and personal buggy parked outside.
They personal buggies can go up to 10-12 mph but the multi person one we were in only goes about 6-7mph

 Our guide lived about 30 miles away so she takes a taxi over, stays with a friend for a week and then taxied back since taking a horse and buggy daily, or even weekly, is just not feasible. The Amish find any kind of job they can after their schooling...which only goes until 8th grade. Then they take an apprenticeship or train for any kind of job they can out in the wide world.

Dylan Checking Up on Cade

Now, I thought the Amish lifestyle came from their interpretation of religious doctrine. Though our guide told me that's not true, I've since had a conversation with a neighbor that knows more about the culture than I that said they are intertwined. Seems the religion\culture separation is a complicated one that is translated differently looking from within and the outside. I'll have to try and learn more.

Our ride was a pleasant one. We saw lots of clothes hanging out on lines, gardens next to houses and even their cool little bike\scooter hybrids. I didn't get a picture but imagine a bicycle that instead of a seat has a scooter platform at ground level. It was pretty cool. We also got to experience an Amish drive through. Our buggy pulled up to a home where they had a stand selling snacks and drinks, including home made root beer. A woman brought out our order and we tasted. The popcorn was great and the root beer fair but I think I prefer the bite of Barq's myself.

Once we made it back it was prime nap time so we hit the road. Mike let me jump out at an antique store but we were quickly on our way again. We took the scenic route back so the boys could sleep. Once back in the Hershey area, we hit another antique store recommended by the woman we were staying with. While there, it poured so we timed our activities right with the weather. Those things made it a full day so we went back for dinner and then bed.

Cade Michael - 4 Months

I still have some posts to get to about our vacation, but yesterday our baby Cade turned 4 months old so that takes center stage!

Let's start with the not so big developments. Sleep. Not so big in development because not much has changed. While he's great at falling back asleep after a feeding, he's still not achieved his sleep through the night status (6 hours). He came very close 2 of the nights we were on vacation but fell just a bit short. Nights with 4 and 5 hour stretches are still not the norm (though lovely when I do get them). We often get 3 hour stretches but still have lots of nights, like last night, where he's up every 2.5 hours. Again, I'm mostly adjusted to sleep deprivation so feel like I handle the tired fairly well most days. However, the one major change in sleep is that we've transitioned him out of our bed and into the crib which we moved to our room. So I'm also sleeping a bit better without him wiggling around next to me.

Cade in the Burch Family Bassinet
While he hasn't been sleeping in it, we've been using it as a safe place for him to hang out while the whole family gets ready in the bathroom. We're getting ready to go to the newest member of the family to use. My brother, Jamie, has just adopted a son, Bryson Landry Sawyer Burch.

One big accomplishment is eating. A couple of weeks ago he was having some fits and I thought he might not be getting enough to eat. So, though just a bit early, we introduced him to solid foods. He's really done a great job eating rice cereal mixed with milk. To that, we've also tried apples, carrots and peas. That's all we've been able to introduce as of yet since we were instructed upon Dylan being introduced foods to leave 5 days for possible allergic reactions. So far so good on that front.

Dylan, friend Jessica, Cade and Michael
We had a cookout last night on Cade's 4th month b'day
when my friend Jess was in town for a quick visit.

First Time Eating Baby Food

Cade is quite a talkative guy and has lots to say. He has lots of coos and ahh sounds to make and it seems like his baby vocabulary is growing. One of my favorite noises from him is a purring from the back of the throat that reminds me of the noise Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) makes.

Physically, he's growing by leaps and bounds. His 4 month check up is tomorrow so we'll got all his stats then. I was able to weigh him a couple of weeks ago and he was 13 pounds. Judging from the extra chub on his cheeks and thighs, I know the number we see tomorrow will likely be a good bit higher.

A big milestone he hit just over a week ago was rolling. He has rolled from his back to his stomach twice that Mike has seen. I have yet to witness a solo roll (only ones where Mike was helping him get his arm out of the way to make it from his side to his stomach). I'm very much looking forward to seeing it for myself.

With his good neck control, he can use this seat now.

Dylan just loves his brother. While in Pennsylvania last week, they had a great interaction that we were able to catch on tape - Dylan cracking up his brother. It was too cute. Dylan wanted to try again the next night and it worked again. Very enjoyable to see! Here are clips we caught.

Cade is a true snuggle bug. He likes to be held. A good portion of the times he's fussy (and he's not hungry), he cheers up instantly when you pick him up. It was one of our biggest issues on our travels. He just didn't like being in the car and in the stroller all the time because he wasn't getting his snuggle time in. We've been trying to give him lots of hugs since we returned home to catch up.

It's official, I'm head over heels for this little guy. I've always loved him but something clicked in the last month or so and I'm just mad about him. He's such the perfect addition to our family!

Indian Echo Cave

Since storms were forecasted for the afternoon on day 1 of our trip, we found something we could do rain or shine - a cave tour! We saw the signs on our way into town. Caves are super cool and we've seen them all over the world and can't get enough of them so that was our plan. Dylan's been in several caves (Bermuda, Silver Dollar City) but this was Cade's first. He only slept through about half of the tour so he must have been somewhat impressed.

While we waited for our tour to start, we fed the bunnies, chickens and goat. We also saw a quail and a chicken roaming wild that Dylan had fun following for a while. He deemed them his friends and was a bit sad when we didn't seem them after our tour so that he could say good bye.

Goats and Bunnies Behind Us

The cavern was, of course, pretty cool both in formation and temperature. Dylan's favorite part of the cave  was the formations that looked like different things - the dragon, bunny and melted snowman got several mentions throughout the rest of the day. I really liked Crystal Lake which was an untouched, pristine part of the cave. It was in the back of the cave where the owners had blasted out some rock and discovered it. Unlike the rest of the cave that was subject to uncontrolled traffic before the cave was owned\operated\protected by an owner, this area was completely untouched before they accessed it. It was beautiful!

Crystal Lake

Pristine Portion of the Cave

The last "room" of the cave we were in, which was not far from the entrance, was named Wilson's room and was named after a man that had used it for 19 years (!) as his home. Crazy.

Of course, it didn't end up raining after all so we probably got more wet being dripped on in the cave than we would have with an outdoor activity. In any case, the family seemed happy with the days activity so it was all good. We grabbed some dinner for the way home and pretty much called it a night after that.