Back to Work as Fall Marches On

Some pics from Aiden's friend Molly's bday party at Beech Hill Farm

So I am back to work part time now, trying to ease back into the life of a full-time job. I had planned to work 10 hours/wk for all of September, but am realizing it's a little like sticking your toe into Niagara Falls... once you open that door even a little the torrents come rushing out at you and before you know it you're at 30 hrs/wk. So it goes.

View from Morse Preserve (one of the work sites I've been spending a lot of time at lately). I know, I don't have any right to complain about my work. Especially on gorgeous New England fall days.

Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, NH. This place grows all sorts of strange heirloom apples (pippin, pomme gris, lady, stanley...were some we sampled this weekend while U-picking the regular fall favorites: Macs, Macouns, and Cortlands.)

Sometimes working and juggling all the other family and domestic duties makes me feel like a supermom (when things are getting done and everything is running smoothly) and sometimes it makes me want to collapse on the floor in a heap of useless goo (generally when everything's falling apart, the house is a wreck, and the kids are screaming). On the whole it's going OK though, I think a little easier than last time actually. Haley has adjusted to daycare and is doing well there, and Aiden is loving all of the fall activities at Windy Hill. I'm having flashbacks of when Aiden started daycare at 3 months, and how quickly he got into that endless string of viruses and ear infections that come when you're in a place with dozens of little sticky hands and you have almost no immunity to anything. In a panic attack last week I bought a vaporizer, nasal aspirator, infant saline spray, acetamenophin drops, and a digital thermometer. So at least I'm ready when the s**t hits Haley's fan. I'm hoping it'll hold off another month or so but I realize that isn't likely.

Haley-Doo

Both kids had well-child checkups last week, along with 4 immunizations apiece. NOT a fun time. The appointment(s) took so long and involved so many different doctors and nurses (DHMC is a teaching hospital) that Andy was convinced the whole thing was a psychological experiment in which we were the subjects. Either that or some type of candid camera reality show. Haley is growing like a weed- 12lbs 8oz already which is 89th percentile. Her head has got to be half the size that Aiden's was at this point though! It's somewhere in the 4oth percentile while Aiden's was well off the charts.

On a trip to the bog lately- there's something to see here in every season. The cotton grass was blooming (or "pufferbellies" if you prefer - Aiden does) and Aiden snacked on tart bog cranberries. Tamaracks will turn yellow next!

It's that time of year again...

It's that time of year again...

...when Andy tries desperately to concentrate on the Giants game while biting his tongue every time he wants to scream and curse at the officials (constantly), while Haley fusses and squirms, and Aiden asks non-stop, repetitive questions:

Aiden: Dad, who's that guy?
Andy: Eli Manning, he's the quarterback
Aiden: Why?

Aiden: Dad, what's that guy doing?
Andy: He's going to try to kick a field goal, buddy
Aiden: Why?

Aiden: Dad, who is winning?
Andy: The Giants, the score is 7 to 6
Aiden: Why?

Good luck to the Giants, and good luck to Andy watching them all season!

Ciara's 5th Birthday

Ciara and Jacob

Ciara turned 5 this month and her birthday party was well attended by 25 or so kids and many members of the Munson family. Uncle Newt and Aunt Memorie, James, Brenda, Mindy, and Jacob all came up for the big day. Aiden, Haley and I drove down to Mass to join the fun too at Jump On In in Woburn. I haven't ever been to one of these bouncy house places but it's a pretty ingenious set up. They have several "gyms" which are big rooms full of inflated slides, obstacle courses, and trampolines and the kids start by playing in one...when they're just about to get bored of going down the same slides 200 times, the attendant blows a whistle and everyone moves to the next gym with different inflatable fun. Then it's on to the pizza and cake room after that, and by rotating each group around the place can be working like 4 birthday parties simultaneously. Pretty cool.

The cousins wait for the party to start

Aiden had a great time with the air hockey, fuzeball, and basketball games, and the two of us got to go down some really steep slides together too, while Aunt Memorie nicely watched Haley. And Jeni made the most amazing Ariel the Little Mermaid cake, along with decadent truffle cake pops shaped like little ice cream cones. Sooo good. It was also so good to see everyone, since we (other than Aiden) missed out on Ben & Kristin's wedding in June.

James coveting a cake pop

The birthday girl in action

After the party we headed over to Jeni & Glen's house in Wilmington and Ciara opened her presents. As she tore the paper off of princesses and mermaids, tutus and jewlery crafts, Aiden just watched contentedly, if not with a bit of disinterest. Until the last present. Ciara had asked for a big motorized helicopter from James, Brenda and Jacob, and when she opened it Aiden suddenly came to life and shouted, "WHAT THE HECK?!" He was so confused as to why Ciara would be getting something HE would love... I guess he thought girls only got princesses and fairies for presents. A lesson learned for when his sister eventually has her own birthday parties!

Still scratching his head over Ciara's helicopter

Jacob was so good with Haley (and Aiden too!)

Back to Normal?

Things have been just a bit insane with a very newborn and being away from home four weekends in a row, so we're settling in for some New London time now. Aiden started back at pre-school, the weather went from 90+ to 70ish in a single snap, and even Haley's fussiness seems a lot more manageable... all around, it feels like we turned some sort of corner. The sad part is that this hot and beautiful summer is pretty much over, but I'm also looking forward to crisp fall days, spectacular foliage, apple picking, and everything else that comes before winter hits for good.

We had a few local friends over for a BBQ over Labor Day weekend, and that's about all we did besides a few house chores and relaxing. It was really nice. Micah and Becky stopped by with a "new" hand-me-down swing for Haley on their way back from Lake George, so we got to see little Pheebs and put the girls together for the obligatory dynamic baby duo snapshot. I don't imagine we'll get a photo with both of them actually looking and smiling at the camera for a good year.

Aiden Soup anyone?

Oh, and Aiden got his first real pet. We're starting small on the responsibility ladder, so his choices were limited to a fish or a hermit crab. Uncle Micah would be proud that he chose "Surfboard" the goldfish. We gave Aiden such a lecture on how his pet was going to be all his own responsibility, the feeding, cleaning, etc, etc. that the first thing he did when he woke up on the morning after we bought the fish was run to his tank to feed him. He came into our bedroom after with a big sad frown on his face and tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, I'm sorry...the fish food KERSPLODED!" Ugh. Actually it wasn't as bad as it sounded... just a few teaspoons of flakes on the carpet and it looked like Surfboard only got the agreed upon small pinch. Poor little man, he really tries so hard to get things right but the world is difficult to navigate when you're 4. Luckily Surfboard looks like a hardy little fish :)

Back to School!

Aiden's first day of fall nursery school was right after we got back from our crazy week on Long Island. Of course, it isn't really like he's had all summer away since he did go to the Windy Hill Summer Program from June through mid-August. Still, he was excited to go back after his two-week "vacation" and see many of his old friends who didn't do the summer program.

Below are some shots from his summer at Windy Hill- more days than not they all packed in the Colby Sawyer vans and drove all over the state (and Vermont a few times too!) going to farms, state parks, museums, beaches, playgrounds, etc. They even went to the state house to meet the Governor (he was unfortunately otherwise occupied when they arrived but they got a tour and went to a cool splash park and I don't think a single one of them shed a tear over not meeting Gov. Lynch). We had practiced a "firm handshake" with Aiden just in case he did meet any politicians, and told him to say "slot machines" if asked how best to resolve NH's current fiscal crisis.

Crazy mirrors at the Montshire Science Museum

Watching Glass Blowing

Aiden and Ben at Colby-Sawyer's climbing wall


Into the vans for another field trip...


Apparently Aiden knows the answer

At Musterfield Farm

Swimming at one of the local beaches

Soaked at Splash Park

How many kids can fit on a big rock?

Getting a drink at the Indian Museum