Between Apples and School

...This is what we've been up to.
We spent a beautiful Saturday in September at a friend's beach.

We went to the Big E (the biggest fair in the northeast) for the first time.
We saw tons of animals, ate fabulous food, saw the biggest pumpkin ever.

And we went on our first pony ride-thanks Trigger!

Last weekend we went to "touch a truck" and the fire department open house.
Charlie was in awe!

That's all for now :o)

Apple picking

Today we went apple picking with a bunch of friends, it was such a perfect autumn day. Charlie is getting over a mild cold and was in a much better mood, so he really enjoyed it. It's so hard when they are sick and miserable and can't sleep because they can't breath and you can't get out of the house- it drives Mommy crazy a little too!

I have been remiss about updating this blog and it's making Joe sad. He said this blog is something he wants to be able to look back through and read in the future, so here I am trying to be better and giving an update :o)

Charlie is constantly asking what everyone is doing right now, as in "Mommy doing?, Daddy doing?" He wants us to explain everything to him from the simplest to the most abstract, he truly is a little sponge right now. He's doing fantastic with putting together long sentences and he's enjoying singing songs more since now he is really remembering all the lyrics that go along.

He is even more independent wanting to do everything himself and prove what a big boy he is in all that he does.

On the baby front, there are no news except I have an appointment with a fertility specialist in a couple weeks and will hopefully get to the root of why my body is not cooperating right. I hope we will have a plan soon.

Around the house, we are having a patio and mini-deck put in which will be wonderful to use come the spring. Up until recently we had a door in the mudroom that didn't open to anything ala the Winchester House! Joe and I are also talking about the kitchen more, I'm really hoping we can get started on that project soon but I don't want to push him.

We are getting chickens, as in live, day-old baby chicks, this week. I'm looking forward to this new little adventure and I'm sure that Charlie is going to be enthralled because he loves animals so deeply. By the spring the little ladies will be ready to lay eggs (one a day) and I even researched and bought two girls that will lay blue or green eggs.

Finally, I have decided on a project for myself this year. I am going to try to write a novel. I used to write the summers away when I was a kid, lost in my own little made-up world. I love to read so much and lately I've been devouring several books a week. Then the thought just came to me, why not give it a try again and see where it takes you. So we will see...

The start of 'school'

I apologize for my absence in blogging (not there are many that read this blog these days) I have found it hard to come here and write about what is going on in my heart because I am trying to drag myself out of that 'woe is me' attitude. Each day I keep finding out about more and more friends that are pregnant and though I am so happy; blissful even for them, there is a small part of me that is feeling empty and sad just for myself.

I was hopeful that this month was going to work out and now it is definitely not looking good. So we are going to move onto the next step, seeing a specialist. By my research it's been about 5 months since I last ovulated.

On to a happier subject: My sweet big boy had his first day of nursery school at a local nature center here not 5 minutes from our house. He loved it, he got to pet a turtle last week and this week, a white dove named Paloma. Charlie adores all animals so this is quite the special treat for my bean. Charlie also started bible study again with me (he is in a seperate baby bible school) and he did amazingly.

He hasn't cried once at either school, he was a touch clingy on the first day, but he just amazes me. We've come so far since last year where every bible study I would pray fervently for him to enjoy himself and he would end up wailing for 2 hours.

Charlie's personlaity has just exploded in the past few months, his vocabulary and ability to speak in sentences and share his thoughts astounds me. His favorite thing to ask is "doing?" As in 'What are you doing there Mama?' We are still in love with diggers and trucks. He still has that gentle spirit and today I even noticed him cleaning up after himself totally unprompted when he was going to bring out more toys. He is my sunshine.

Vacation in RI, CT & NY

Round Two...

Port Jefferson Harbor August 2010

We just got back from a little family vacation which was wonderful and flew by all to quickly. Luckily I was able to capture some great shots so we can preserve those beautiful memories.

Unfortunately, my reproductive woes are continuing. I went in for bloodwork after the first round of meds and my doc called me while on vacation to tell me that I didn't even ovulate at all this cycle. What is going on with my body?

So she is doubling my dosage of the meds and hoping that will kick start my body to work the way it should. I had a peace pass over me after a beautiful bible study this week. A peace that reminded me that God has his own perfect plan that is better than anything I could ever envision. I'm holidng onto that and hopeful that maybe this is our month. We'll see...

The empty room

There is another 'presence' in our house. It isn't just Joe, Charlie, Owen and I anymore.

We have an extra bedroom that has acted as a sort of staging area/storage room since we moved in last summer.

The room is large, larger than our master bedroom actually and because of it's identity crisis I have not spent much quality time in that room 'getting to know it better' if you would. I have a belief that when you move into a house you should take a little time to get to know one another before making major changes or tearing down walls.

Several weeks ago in an attempt to simplify and declutter I had a tag sale. Now that room is practically empty with the exception of a couple dusty boxes of books and a few pieces of my corporate work wardrobe.

Joe and I decided to that in spite of our fear of having another baby with reflux/colic and possible sleep, eating and anxiety issues, our desire to have another child is much deeper. We want Charlie to have a sister or brother to grow up with. The halls of this house should be filled with more sounds of laughter and love. Honestly it feels a little lonely in here right now.

We have been trying to get pregnant for several months without luck. Recently I went to the doctor about a problem with my cycles and am now on a corrective medication which will hopefully help us.

In the mean time I feel as if that room is quietly waiting, almost holding it's breath in anticipation of what might be. Each time I pass it and see the way the sun is playing on the bare wood floors I wonder how long it will be before I will spend time kneeling on them with a little one beside me.

I dream about how that room will look, but even in my mind's eye the pictures are a little fuzzy. I can picture a little reading nook with a bench beside one of the windows but I can't envision much else. Maybe it's because I have so many fears and hopes wrapped up in those walls that nothing else can fit in there right now.

I pray that my dream is in line with God's plan and that we can find purpose for that quiet room soon.

Thanks for sticking with me!

It's been a tough month with the loss of Marshall and Joe battling another illness but we are looking up.
Sorry for the silence, I needed some time to reflect and heal.
Thank you for your kind thoughts and words!

Radio Silence

A week and a half ago I got a call, one of those calls that shakes your world and in not a good way. Our cousin and beloved friend Marshall was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Friday, July 23rd and there were barely any details of what had happened.

Later that day we found out that Marshall had a massive stroke, one that he would not recover from. He had serious bleeding in his brain and it was inoperable. The family was told he would probably die within a day.

The next day was my sister in-law's bridal shower. As I was busy cutting up roses and putting them into vases for table arrangements Joe called again. This time it was to tell me that Marshall was gone.

It was so incredibly difficult to say goodbye. Marshall was an incredible man, he loved life, loved to laugh and joke and he loved his family deeply.

It came as such a shock when Joe and I had just had Marshall over for dinner on Wednesday night. His request was spaghetti and meatballs. He brought us his favorite bread and we had one of the nicest times together we've ever had talking and laughing about our lives.

Marshall had a very difficult life. One of his first two children (twins) was born stillborn and the other was severely disabled. Then his wife died of breast cancer when their other children were still very young. Despite his past and what he had been through, Marshall found joy in every day.

Marsh practically lived at our new-old house for the first year we lived here. He was an expert plumber and helped us in so many ways. He single-handedly completed the massive amount of work in our double bathroom renovation upstairs. It was so wonderful to have him around as much as he was because he loved Charlie so much. He was a comfort to me. My heart aches now that he is gone, but a beautiful miraculous thing happened to me the Friday night that Marsh was in the hospital. He was on a respirator at this point, holding on until one of his daughters flew in from California to see him.

It was a restless, nearly sleepless night for me. Charlie had already woken up once and I laid in bed thinking about Marshall and praying for him. Then Charlie woke again, around a quarter of 3 o'clock. Instead of trying to get him to settle in his bed I just scooped him up and brought him into our bedroom. He fell back asleep almost instantly, but I continued to lay there thinking about Marsh.

Then at 3:19 am, as I had my head tilted towards Charlie I felt a hand gently laid on my head. The pressure was so light, but it pressed my hair closer to my skin and it was very obvious I was being touched. I turned to look and saw nothing, no one was there, but I just knew in my heart it was Marshall. I even said out loud as it happened, "Someone just touched me on my head." I turned my head to look to Charlie and there he was in his sleep slapping his hands over his head as if someone were touching him. Marsh used to rustle Charlie's hair sometimes when he came to see us. I just knew it was him.

Then I found out from my sister in-law that Marsh had made a visit to her house around 3am that night too. She heard footsteps and like someone had stomped in front of her bedroom door. Her dogs were staring at the hallway as if there was someone there.

Honestly, I feel so blessed and comforted by Marshall's 'visit' because his death was so sudden. I know I will see him again someday and God was compassionate enough to allow us that last goodbye until we meet in heaven.

I'm going to follow up this post with another post about Marshall, things I want to remember always about him so I can share them with Charlie and let him know how much he was loved by Marsh. I know we have another guardian angel watching over our family now.

Mini Getaway

Yesterday afternoon Joe and I embarked on a new adventure, our first little vacation without Charlie. We dropped the bean off at a very close friend's house and instead of a tearful goodbye he giggled and blew us kisses. I did notice he was crooking his neck to see our car go out of sight as much as I was craning mine. I felt like I had left my heart at my dear friend's doorstep, but I knew he was in the most loving hands and had his best friend to play with so he would be ok.

Joe and I stayed at the Saybrook Point Inn and Spa in Old Saybrook, CT. It was so beautiful, our room was gorgeous, the staff so was kind and polite and the view of the water was amazing. After we checked in and explored our room a little we walked the grounds and marina. We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, Terra Mar and it was fabulous.

Joe had this yummy 'taste of summer' appetizer with grilled corn and safron and lobster fritters and I had a delish salad with pears, the creamiest dolce gorgonzola, sliced almonds and bibb lettuce. Then Joe had a cioppino seafood soup over angel hair and it had the most wonderful white wine in it. I had swordfish with creamy polenta and roasted eggplant and other veggies. The restaurnt gave us a free little bite of scallop tartar that had citrusf fruits diced in and it was refresing and yummy. We were so stuffed we couldn't do dessert but they brought out these crisp, buttery cranberry biscotti, makes me want to make a batch now!

After dinner we drove to Essex, a sweet little town that Joe and I visited by boat 3 years ago. They had a beautiful historic downtown filled with antique shops. We grabbed an ice cream and I nervously waited to find out how Charlie fared at bedtime. He didn't even cry which totally blew me away considering he cries at home for me!

After our ice cream and some time for my nerves to cool off (lol) we discovered this gorgeous beach on the way back to the hotel. The sand was so soft and the view was just amazing. Joe and I actually held hands and cuddled looking up at the crescent moon.

This morning we grabbed breakfast at the same restaurant (fabulous again). Then we cleaned up and checked out of the hotel went back to Essex to do some shopping and then we grabbed lunch at the Griswold Inn , which has been around since the Declaration of Independence.

After lunch we did some antiquing and I found a little treasure in one of the stores. I had to convince Joe of it at first but we haggled a little over the price of a beautiful original oil painting and nabbed it for $135! Back home (and honestly in most of the other antique stores we've ever been in CT) this beauty would have fetched at least $500. I would have admired it and gone home empty-handed. But not today, it was our lucky day!

Here 'she' is hanging at the top of our stairs:

A close up. Can I tell you the frame alone would have cost $200 in this area!

This is her neighbor (a painting I bought for Joe a looooong time ago):

Oh and here are the presents we found for the bean while in Essex :o)

It was a wonderful trip, so lovely to be able to spend some time alone with Joe, but I missed Charlie every second of it too! I couldn't wait to get back to snuggle with him.

26 months

My dear boy,

It's been far too long since I've thrown an update on all your milestones and new activities so here goes...

At 2 yrs and 2 months you can:
-Say your last name and the town we live in
-Count to 20 somewhat consistently
-You lace your fingers together to pray twice a day (at dinner-time and bed-time)
-Eat chicken soup on your own very well (this may not seem big but for a child who basically refuses to eat veggies 99.9% of the time, Mommy considers this a huge victory)
-Walk down stairs with little help from Mommy (I basically hold out a limp hand)
-Ask to go on the Elmo potty and have consistently gone poop and peepee on a nightly basis. I am doing this solely on your interest level, really didn't want to start the training so early, but we are taking a no-stress approach to this right now.
-Use sentences for everything. "Need more smoothie please" :o) "Where's crabby- there he is!"
-You parrot back what I say as well as what others say. When we were stuck outside Trader Joe's a week ago b/c of a fast summer shower a lady beside us said "Oh Geeze" and you promptly parrotted that back to her.
-You love apples and samples when we are food shopping (Traders and Costco are our favs)
-You mimic your friends and then crack yourself up doing it.
-You love playing in the bath with your crabby, and dumping water over your head.
-You love reading and pretend to read to yourself, it is so sweet.
-You love to sing itsy bitsy spider, ABC's, and the wheels on the bus but you love all music.
-You know some of your colors but some days everything is blue, lol
-You want to sit in your big boy booster seat for every meal now, so we eat together at the kitchen table and it's so wonderful to look across at my sweet boy :o)

I still miss you when you are asleep my dear boy, but I doubt that will ever change.

All my love,
Mama

What we've been up to lately...

Some fun at the farm...

More fun on the boat...

Fireworks for the Fourth!

wow!

And then I had to throw this one in.. Today I stepped away from the kitchen table to clean something in the sink. I hear Charlie singing to himself and then counting. And this is what he did with his lunch. A birthday cake ala Charlie :o)

Happy Fourth everyone!

Weekend Shots

Father's Day Dinner:
Grilled Citrus Marinated Tilapia with Mango Salsa
Couscous and Corn on the Cob
Double Berry Shortcakes with Whipped Cream

Near Completion

I have come to the conclusion that I will never be able to take perfect house shots of our 99.9% nearly completed bathrooms, because I have a sweet super-active toddler and wonderful husband and I would rather spend time with them in place of constantly cleaning and de-cluttering. So here's the closest I can get!

Charlie's Bath:

Master:

I have two rugs but Charlie peed all over the the other one last night at bath time LOL. Oh and we just got our towel bar that needs to go up below the window, Joe will do that tonight. I haven't been able to bring accessories in and add some more personality but you can get an idea of where it will be at some point in the distant future.

A painting my Mom completed that I just had framed.

And, because I can't resist, a shot of the bean in our bedroom
pretending to read after a shower with Daddy.

Have a great Father's Day Weekend!