Double Video Day

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Audrey hasn't gotten nearly enough attention on this site for her new walking skills. Three days after she got the tubes in her ears, she took a few steps. Not only could she finally hear the world right but her balance was finally corrected.

(ignore the laundry baskets, crutches and other messes... Dan had just had knee surgery and the maid had been given the week off for summer vacation)

Audrey walking 7-18-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.

I'll post pictures in a few days from our time at the Stratham Fair last weekend but thought, for now, I'd share this clip of Nathaniel showing off his slick dance moves. He is his own little creature, that's for sure. After riding way too many rides and eating too much food, we sat to listen to a band for a while....

Nathaniel Dancing 7-25-09 from dcm923 on Vimeo.

All Aboard!

As Dan nursed his knee last weekend, I was trying to think of something to do to get the kids out of the house. Since Nathaniel has an obsession with trucks & trains I thought it'd be great to take him on a real live train ride. We met up with Auntie Betty in Manchester, MA and rode the train to Rockport and back. He loved it!

We got there extra early just to be sure we didn't miss the train.





FINALLY! The train arrived. And then the train blew RIGHT-BY-US! We were standing at the wrong stop!! Not sure how we confused the one with the train sign, bench and covering as the actual train stop - Silly Us! Such amateurs!!

So Betty has Nathaniel, I have Audrey and a folded up stroller and again, the big black kid bag (I think it's time to downsize) and we're going as fast as little feet can take us. We're almost there, we can see the loading area. THE TRAIN STARTS GOING!!! NO NO NO NO NO We're waving and yelling and waving. I starting to plan how I'm going to explain to a destroyed little boy that got to SEE the train but not ride it. This is going to be horrible.

PHEW! The train stops. The guy is now Yelling at us to hurry up. I snapped back at him "We're doing the BEST we can" He puts his male feathers out, puffs his chest and said "What did you just say?". So I put my best mean mom face on and said back "We're going as FAST as we can, you COULD offer to help!"

We finally get to the door, now there's a one foot jump between the loading area and the actual train. Nathaniel freezes. The Conductor is steaming mad. He gets hoisted over the crevase and finally, we're on the train.

Betty and I collapse as the train takes off.

The kids loved it. Nathaniel pointed out everything and took it every tiny detail. Audrey made friends with the other passengers.





Thank you for coming Auntie Betty!



We made it to Rockport in one piece.



We met up with Papa and Gail for delicious ice cream & then headed back to the car.

I didn't get any ice cream pictures. I think I was still too nervous about missing the train, being at the wrong stop again. The next train didn't come for 3 more hours.

All & All it was a complete success, cranky conductor included. It wouldn't be a true adventure without some good ol' drama.

Because he's stuck with me, I feel safe posting this.

This is Dan:




This is Dan on drugs:



Any Questions?


He's gonna kill me for posting that. So before he does, I thought I'd pass along that the knee surgery went well. Recovery sounds fast but we'll see what that really means once he tries to reenter the real world on Monday.

The video doesn't show the part of when he was seeing 2 of me. He stated "two of my most favorite people, and you have four eyes!"

Meanwhile, the dr gave us some beautiful pictures of the inside of his knee that I'm considering for our 2009 Christmas Card.

The Non-Balloon Balloon Festival

Beautiful weekend we just had. We spent Saturday in Maine at a festival where the band was playing. We packed toys & food and camped out on a blanket for the day listening to the music.






Poor Nathaniel. He was certain he'd be able to get on stage & play 10 songs with the band.
He even brought his own guitar.

Much devastation followed which could only be cured by bubbles.







Sunday, Dan headed back to Maine to play again at the festival. The kids and I journeyed to Hillsboro for a Balloon festival. The drive there reminds me of why I love New Hampshire so very much. Gorgeous mountains along the ride, vibrant green trees the whole way. It's only a 45 minute right but yet we had to make 2 potty stops. We really have to get someone better car trained.

So I've never been to a balloon fesitval. I couldn't wait to get there, lay on the big blanket with toys just watching the balloons go up & down all day. We pulled in, paid our $5 in parking and saw NO balloons. HUH?

We walked down to the field and asked someone that looked that they first of all worked there and secondly, spoke English and were informed that they only do balloons at 6am and maybe again at 6pm, weather permitting.

You've GOT to be kidding me.

We salvaged the rest of our time there, I spent another $15 for tickets and we blew through a few carnival rides.









It was at this point, I told him ONE MORE RIDE and we had to leave. What did he pick? The scary clown house. He said he'd be brave & go through it all by himself, which was fine but as soon as he got to the stairs, he wanted help. So it's me, the stroller, my big bag, camera, a fidgety Audrey vs. 3 year old and clown house.

They won.



I ditched the stroller put the camera & big bag over my shoulder & neck, fidgety one year old on the hip and we started to make our way through. This thing had cables you had to crawl through, spinny things you had to hop on & off of. Chains hanging from ceiling to floor that you had to squeeze though. It seriously was NOT meant for me, my gear & child.

The end was the best. You had to make it through the rolling barrel. Nathaniel froze. So on goes the bag, I sat & spun for a while - not letting Audrey hit the floor, and then made it through to the other side. PHEW! The carni guy gave me the thumbs up sign.

Thanks for the help buddy.

Nathaniel figured it out & scooted through then begged to go through again, BY HIMSELF of course. He's brave now, you know. But it was time to go, we were out of tickets and needed to reclaim the rest of our day away from the smelly carnival. Bring on the tears.

So now he's crying because we had to leave & she's crying because she didn't want to be in the stroller. I'm sure we were quite the sight to see.

The only thing that could recover any happiness would be a real live firetruck!



We spent the rest of the afternoon at the park, with an old friend. Playing on the playground, picnic lunch, ice cream, animals & lots of running around.

3 steps!

Dan witnessed Audrey taking three steps today for the first time all by herself!

She repeated it later for me, they're fast, she's still got some balance work to figure out but she's getting it! Won't be long now.

She's been SO much better since the tubes on Monday. Her personality has taken a huge turn, she's so much more content and happy. She doesn't beg for the pacifier at all like she used to. Her balance is incredibly improved, she's become more trusting of her legs.

The tubes were the best thing we could've ever done for her.

The A in Monday is for Audrey.

Today was Audrey's day.

We've been debating on tubes. We were going to put it off till the Fall but we were able to get her squeezed in this morning and since we were both home, we took advantage of it.

Before she went in:



And after:



Can't tell the difference right?

She did amazing, Came out smiling. We found out she had double ear infections when we brought her in. The poor girl has probably never heard what the world really sounds like. We've been underwater to her her whole life, she's always been full of fluid.

Nathaniel got this shot of one of her nurses:




What is going on in this picture?

Happy 4th

What's that you asked? What was MY favorite part of the weekend?

The sun.

We had a very low key 4th of July weekend. I went into work for a while to play catch up, Dan & I got in some good gym time, we tried a different seafood place for dinner (that'll be the first & last time we eat there - yuck). We went to see the animals, went to the park, did some arts & crafts at home and squeezed in water play too. Now it's Sunday night, the start of another week. We're all a little bit sun burned and we've all earned our sleep for the night.

I took so many pictures, I found it hard to pick just a sample to post here. I have a favorite thing about each one. So instead of picking the top 10, I changed it so you can just see my album in Photobucket. Sorry for the repetition, I had a lot of fun snapping away, repeatedly.

Here's my unedited version of the past few days: CLICK HERE.

(it's seriously an insane amount of pictures - if I bother to pick a few to post, It'll take me days to get that done, so deal with it)

We ended the weekend eating hamburgers, potato salad & corn on the cob out on the picnic table. We didn't last too long before being taken over by flies and those little noseems that drive you nuts. Where do they all come from!?!?