Well we are home. It seems like it was such a short trip but 10 days isn’t really short.
This year for the parade our theme was Where the Wild Things Are after the Maurice Sendak book. We made amazing heads under the leadership of Liz, who made her’s first and taught us all how to make ours. Our float was built on top of a boat trailer under the leadership and design or Nat’s cousin Aaron. The four little kids wore crowns like Max and Josh M. wore a crown like Max’s from the book. The truck was supposed to be Max’s sailboat but that didn’t really work out. As the parade started down the road it quickly became apparent that the mast was to tall and about to hit some power lines (oops) so we had to stop (and everyone behind us) to pull it down. I must say we got really close to getting it right this year. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun and it was all worth it to hear people in the crowd telling us it was their favorite float. The float had stairs for easy access, two coolers with lunch and drinks for after the parade.
It rained all week leading up to the parade so we all had in the back of our minds that all this hard work might be for nothing if it rained. But we had great weather on the 4th and there was a big crowd.
The kids had fun playing together and as always it was a blast being with Nat’s cousins.
Some sad news though, because the Rock Skipping contest is always the Saturday after the 4th the Skippenator is not able to make it to the contest this Saturday. It is sad, even the owners of the candy store who do the contest every year were sad when they found this out. Oh well, hopefully next year.
There are lots of pictures from the parade so if you click on the picture to the right you can see them all including the masks up close.
July 9, 2009
Maine: Where the Wild Things Are
June 27, 2009
My kids
Lately when G wakes up the first word out of her mouth is “Seth”, she points to his crib and keeps saying his name until we put her in his crib. She loves getting in there and cuddling with him. She is such a loving big sister!
Tomorrow we leave for Maine but to get there we have to get on a couple of planes. And like everything else with children under two it could either go really really well or really really bad, I don’t see there being anything in between.
See you when we get back!
June 23, 2009
Maine, the way life should be.
This Saturday we will leave for our annual trip to Maine. This summer I am a little sad because we will only be there for 10 days but in my hopes to be more content I am just trying to focus on the fact that we get to go. This year we will be flying. It is our first time flying as a family. Genevieve and I have take to plane trips together but never with Nat. Thankfully Genevieve has her own seat so we can put her in her car seat and she can have her own space.
I love our summer time in Maine, I have been telling people we go there for our “winter”.
In fact last year the week before we were supposed to leave I realized that Genevieve had no warm clothes. Thankfully our very good friend Karen works at Gymboree and let me into the back where the out of season stuff was. This year I thought ahead for Seth but he has grown so much I am having to scramble to find things for him. But thankfully I remembered the clothes my cousin Doug and his wife Samantha recently let us borrow for Seth have some warm stuff in there. In fact when they gave it to us I was looking at it all I thinking, is he ever going to need this stuff and be that big. But it is the right size now and will keep him warm. (Thanks guys!) So my kids have their “winter” clothes now I am just thinking about their costumes for the parade and wishing I had a pair of boots for G to wear when we go tide pooling.
For the past two years we have participated in the Round Pond 4th of July Parade. It is a lot of fun and each year we learn from the past and improve. There are even rumors that we will be on a float this year instead of walking, they haven’t been confirmed but I am all about riding on a float. But, to be honest walking in a 4th of July parade in Maine is rather pleasant compared to here so we can’t complain to much. The first year I was VERY pregnant with Genevieve so I drove the Prius behind everyone. Last year I was pregnant with Seth and Genevieve was in the stroller. This year I am NOT pregnant and can’t wait to experience this minus a baby belly. I don’t want to reveal our theme this year but it is pretty awesome!
So Lobster Dinners, swimming in the lake, fireworks over the harbor, taking the boat into town, bacon covered dates, hanging out and reading/chatting on the deck at sunset with Liz, cold mornings and nights, tide pooling with Genevieve, charades with the cousins and Jeff and Liz, making the things for the parade while wishing I had as much creative talent as Aaron, Carla, Anne, Liz, and Gloria have, and of course we can’t forget the return of the Skippenator to the rock skipping contest, and all the other things I can’t think of right now (there are a lot), here I come!
So I am a little excited but mostly it will just be nice for us to get away from our life for a little bit and take a break with some awesome people. But until Saturday I am still here and still have to get things done before we leave. First step, make my lists (you know how we love our lists!).
BTW, look at how Genevieve looked a year ago, man time flies!
June 22, 2009
Almost 5 months
Seth will be 5 months old on Saturday but he had his check up last Thursday so I thought I would share his stats. He is indeed a big boy weighing in at 19.2 pounds and is 26 inches tall. He actually just rolled over on his own (both directions) this morning. He loves to bounce and so I was able to trade his exer-saucer for this bouncy thing at church. He LOVES it, hopefully I can get a video of him bouncing soon. We can’t hang a Johnny Jump Up in any of our doorways so this is a great alternative.
He has gone to two weddings (even left his mark on one of the brides, with a nice hickey) and this Saturday we will be leaving for Maine! Seth’s first trip to Maine. It will be his first plane trip and our first plane trip as a whole family. I cannot wait to get up there to cooler weather. Stay tuned for parade fun, this year’s theme is the best so far! Here is a hint: Seth will be dressed as someone named Max (I think a couple of cousins will be dressed the same, I am not sure).
Right now Seth is working on either his first cold or his first tooth. His nose is runny and his voice is raspy. Poor little fella but Tylenol and teething tablets seems to help.
He continues to be a go with the flow baby and loves to laugh. He is sleeping through the night but wants to wake up at 5 and well that isn’t going to work for me. So I am going to start giving him some rice cereal at night in hopes of keeping him full until at least 7.
So this week we will be preparing to leave while recovering from the last two non-stop weeks. Let the good times roll folks!
June 13, 2009
Feeling like myself
Well today I took a final step towards feeling like my old self (the non-prego non-mommy -of-new-baby-please-excuse-my-messy-self self) I cut my hair for the first time in over a year. Thankfully my hair grew out nicely so it wasn’t like I was walking around looking to messy. But it was time to chop it all off. I am really starting to feel like my old self again in that I don’t cringe every time I see a picture of myself and no longer look in the mirror and think well this is as good as I can get today. It is nice because I felt like I was pregnant for two years straight and I am really enjoying have both my wonderful children on the outside and watching them grow. It is much more enjoyable this way.
Seth is continuing to amaze us with how good he is, even though he has been fussy these past few nights, in the big picture he really is a good baby. He hasn’t mastered rolling over yet, he has been so close for so long I hope he gets it soon. I think he is starting to cut some teeth, hence the fussiness. He loves to laugh at his big sister and smile at anyone who looks at him.
Genevieve is so much fun to just sit back and watch at this point. She is starting to communicate with us more which is such a fun thing to experience. Everyday she adds another word. She is a devoted big sister and loves helping us with him.
So today when I looked down at the mass of hair on the floor (and there was a lot, everyone kept commenting on it as they walked by) I felt like okay enough is enough time to be me again. So here goes it!
On a side note, my sister in law Brynne is still waiting for her 2nd baby to join us on the outside (he/she was supposed to make an appearance by now). So Brynne don’t hate me for bragging about enjoying them much more on the outside than the inside. Soon sister, soon!
May 25, 2009
6 years!
Yesterday Nat and I “celebrated” (we didn’t really want to do anything so we didn’t) our 6th wedding anniversary. When I look at this picture I see two much younger looking (ahem, and smaller) people. But six years isn’t really that long in the grand scheme of things. It has been a fun bumpy ride but I have a feeling this is still just the beginning.
Not that our wedding anniversary isn’t a big deal to me but today marks an even greater anniversary for me personally. Today I have officially lived somewhere the longest. Previously it was five years in Arizona but I never liked to hold to being from there because I don’t really remember any of it because I was so young. But as of today I have now lived in Florida the longest. If you know me well, you know this has been driving me crazy. I still like to think of myself as a nomad and now I am not sure I can claim that. I still won’t say I am a Floridian but when people ask me where I am from now I don’t feel like I can say nowhere, I need to say, Florida. Especially, now that Genevieve and Seth were both born in the same hospital it ties me closer to this one particular place.
I have usually been a little stunted in the relationship area because I have always figured it best to not get to close to people because I am going to leave soon. I had good friends everywhere I lived but once I left a place, I left it behind me because now it was time for somewhere new. Now I have been feeling like I really need to drop those habits and allow myself to become close friends with the people in my life and allow myself to be apart of the community I am in. I should be (so I have been told) sad at the thought of leaving people. I guess I don’t want the nomadic kind of life for G and Seth but I also don’t want their point of view to only be of one place and one people group. I have been telling myself it is okay for us to stay put because we are on school schedules so we can still travel in the summer. But, can I see our little family here when the kids are in High School? I don’t know. But for now, I am Sarah-Ginny and I am from Florida.
So, happy Anniversary Florida! By the way we celebrated this Anniversary by going to the beach and are now enjoying an afternoon thunderstorm (a very Florida day).
May 19, 2009
Because this is The Pleasant Blog
I needed to post something positive so as to not have a sour post sitting at the top of my page. So I wanted to let everyone know that yesterday I got my little girl back. She was her old self again and I couldn’t be more pleased. We had a wonderful playdate at a friends house in their awesome pool (seriously the best family pool ever!). Then after a LONG nap I took both kids to another friends house (Nat had class) and traded my kids for their oldest son. I helped on a church youth bowling night and it was a lot of fun. But for G she got to go to Andrew’s house and he is one of her most favorite people. Because I was later than I thought I would be Nat picked the kids up on his way home.
And the most pleasant thing of all, today I am going to IKEA! Can’t wait.
Since this is a pleasant post I won’t even mention that it is pouring rain and Genevieve has decided that sleeping through the night is so last month.
May 16, 2009
Calgon take me away.
There is a lot that I can say about this week. I can sum it up however in two words, “It sucked.” I have no desire to repeat this week in anyway ever again. Here are some of the highlights:
1) Nat was gone every night but one night and that night was spent out. So I was alone with my children from wake-up to night-night and everything in between.
2) G has been sick with different symptoms everyday this week. When G does not feel well she is a major crank-head.
3) G threw up for the first time. I learned that when you child is throwing up do NOT pick her up and try to run across the room to try to get her to the bathroom. This takes the mess and spreads it across the place and not just in one spot. (I slipped in vomit!)
4) G’s tummy troubles moved south on her for the rest of the week first there was too much and now there is NOTHING (since Wed.).
5) G has been on a hunger strike.
6) Seth has decided to change the game on me and wake up TWICE each night to eat.
7) Turns out G might have a UTI (which explains her this week). Which meant an interesting doctor’s appointment (Can you say catheter?).
8) Last night I did something that I really never wanted to have to do. I was so tired and G kept waking up crying (probably uncomfortable) so I brought her to our bed intending for her to stay until she fell asleep. Well she stayed because I fell asleep too.
9) I am EXHAUSTED!
So now we wait to find out from the doctor if it is a UTI and if it is this means kidney tests and if it isn’t then more things to figure out what is wrong. We are also waiting for things to start, um, moving for G and she turns back into our sweet fun baby girl. Pray for us. Let’s hope next week goes much better.
To end on a funny note (this is the Pleasant Blog after all):
Last night our friend overheard this conversation going on behind her between two high school aged girls who were dressed in a manner that some might call trashy inappropriate and talking in a “valley girl” manner
Girl one: “I hate it when old people glare at us.”
Girl two without hesitating: “They just miss it.”
Oh, out of the mouth of babes. I needed that laugh.
May 12, 2009
G and Elmo
Thanks to my big sister Alicia who put this on flickr for me. This is G this morning watching Sesame Street. She loves Elmo and she loves to dance so this is combination of her two favorite things. You can’t hear Elmo’s “rap” but he is saying “Elmo does…” and she was doing it with him. Warning don’t turn your speakers up to loud because she screams towards the end.
She had a little stomach bug or something last night but as you can see she is fine.
