Deja vu all over again

Two days ago I was officially moved from "modified couch potato duty" to "strict bedrest." After nearly 4 months of strict bedrest when I was pregnant with Aiden, I can't say it was a huge shock to find myself there again, but things had been going so very smoothly that Andy and I had almost convinced ourselves it was going to turn out differently this time.

We had a routine ultrasound at the hospital, part of our weekly "high-risk" appointments, and just looking at the measurements of my cervix on the screen, we both knew. We are getting really good at identifying the different black and white blobs on the u/s screen... if you've only had one or two ultrasounds it's almost impossible to tell what is a baby's abdomen, legs, or head, never mind parts of my female anatomy. Anyway, when the u/s tech left the room and told us to wait there for a few minutes (they can't tell you anything, though they completely know what they're finding, so you have to read the body language), Andy and I exchanged a knowing look. "If she brings in a wheelchair, we're screwed," said Andy. Ten minutes later, in rolled my chariot, and up I went to be admitted to the maternity floor.

The timing could not have been worse, and the timing could not have been better. I had a big training to run (all sitting down, of course) at work the next two days, complete with 4+ hours of powerpoint presentations. Other staff members (mostly my hero Wendy) had to pick up all the pieces and run it without me and with little preparation. Bad timing. The other way to look at it is that with my cervix is starting to open, the stress and long hours of the training would likey have exacerbated the problem, and could have spelled disaster for our little girl. Good timing.

I have been relased from the hospital now and am re-adjusting to the routine at home. Today is Day 3 of being 100% horizontal, except for trips to the bathroom. Only 10 weeks to go...



In better times (two weekends ago) Aiden had fun at a friend's birthday party which was held at a local gymnastics center.

And he got to visit his HaPa and Grandma in Vermont, make and devour wood-fired pizza, and collect the chickens' eggs. Fun will be limited to the immediate vicinity surrounding New London in the coming weeks, but I know Andy will do everything he can to make sure Aiden's life is as normal as possible. This is how super-dads are made!

"The Aiden": pepperoni, broccoli and black olives

Easter at the Beach?

The weather has been freakishly gorgeous and warm for early April, so when Easter weekend rolled around with forecasted temps in the 80s, we scrapped the housework and traditional ham dinner for some summer-preview fun. Aiden was more than game, as you can see in the photo above. He was ready with all his gear a full 20 minutes before Andy and I.



We went to the rocky beach at Ordione Point for some tidepool exploring first, and then to the sandy expanse of Wallis Sands after that. The boys flew kites, dug in the sand, ran through the freezing waves, and played soccer while I read and watched them from a big beach blanket. We had a picnic lunch and topped it all off with huge creamy ice cream cones from Beach Plum in Rye. Since we weren't able to visit extended family for Easter this year, our beach day was a great alternative.

We did get to some more traditional Easter activities over the weekend too. The town egg hunt on the New London green was lots of fun for Aiden and some of his friends from school. The whole green was scattered with what seemed like thousands of plastic candy-filled eggs, but within 5 minutes the small flocks of toddlers and kindergarteners swooped in and hoovered up every last egg. Let's just say lots of candy was eaten before lunch that day while all the parents lingered in the sun and socialized.

Some of Aiden's friends from Windy Hill School- Ben, Molly, Ollie & Zoey


The easter bunny also made an appearance

And we put to good use all those eggs Aiden had colored with Grandma Chris- we hid them, pitted them against one another in a traditional Lithuanian egg-cracking contest, and then chopped them up for egg salad (which only I eat around here).

Grandma Goodness

Aiden learned an important lesson last week. He learned that everything is better when Grandma is here. When Grandma is here, you get to watch cool new movies like Mary Poppins and The Muppets and The Fox & the Hound; you get to make chocolate frosted cupcakes; you get to decorate eggs; you get to play baseball and ride your bike outside; and you get to visit the planetarium, library, and local sugarhouses. Normally you might get one or two of these things with Mom and Dad, but when Grandma is here... life is really good.

Since we aren't sugaring in VT this year, we had to go find a local sugarhouse (this one is in Sunapee, NH) to get our yearly fix of Maple Cream (mmmmm....). Grandma Chris also got Maple Pancake mix and treated us all to a delicious breakfast on the weekend.

What surprises me is that they actually bother to put 2% maple syrup in Log Cabin!

Thanks to Uncle Kenny (and Ian!) for the huge stash of "vintage" matchbox cars and trucks. Aiden is in heaven!

Thanks for a great visit Grandma Chris!

A Good Day to Race

Aiden ran his first real road race this past Saturday. He "competed" in a 1-mile fun run called the Shamrock Shuffle in Lebanon, NH, along with his Dadoo, who also ran the accompanying 5K. The little man was pretty excited with his race number pinned on and his new running pants and running shoes raring to go. The day was perfectly warm and sunny, so I sat in a lawn chair on the Lebanon green while the two boys tackled the one mile loop. Andy said Aiden was a terrific runner, a little too fast out of the gate but he slowed down and paced himself later and finished strong. He's so big these days!

5K races are kind of old hat to Andy these days, but this race was a first for him too. It was his first race wearing his new "barefoot" running shoes. Andy was inspired to try barefoot running after reading a book called "Born To Run" given to him by our sister-in-law Becky. It's about a native Mexican tribe called the Tarahumara where individuals of all ages run incredible distances over mountainous terrain with nothing on their feet except flimsy sandals made from old tires. The few outsiders who have studied this tribe and learned to run like them found that they had fewer running injuries and that running barefoot forces your body to run differently than when you have all kinds of padding and springs and air balloons built into your running shoes. Barefoot running somehow convinces your body to be more upright, and your strides to shorten. And apparently, that's easier on all your muscles and your joints, so you can run longer distances without getting exhausted.

Of course, it's a little dangerous to run on debris-filled roadsides (or over mountainous, rocky terrain) with absolutely nothing on your feet. So the choices are to fashion yourself some rubber tire sandals, or get a pair of these babies below. As far as we know, they are the only commercially made "barefoot" running shoes. They look a little crazy, as Aiden loves to point out to his Dad, but Andy loves them.

Seriously?

This is what it looks like at our house now. It's not so much that this is an unusal scene for mid-March in this part of the world (most years, it isn't)... it's just that this year March has been unusually sunny and mild here. Drive 10 minutes south of where we live, and there's no snow. Drive 10 minutes north, same deal. Daffodils are poking up and the grass is greening already. So I have to ask... seriously? what's with the foot and a half of snow at our house still?!?

As Andy frequently points out to me when I moan and groan on this topic, the town of New London is perched on this big-ass hill which basically puts it at an elevation equivalent to the north pole or somethhing, so we can really only expect about 1 month of frost free weather each year. Fabulous !

Which is precisely why we decided to check out the newest craze for warmth-starved, bat-crazy children burdened folks around here: a new "Splash Park" at an aquatic center about a half hour north of us in White River Junction, VT. The water is about 90 degrees and in the toddler section it's only about 2 feet deep, so kids can play on the slides and run under sprinklers and splash around all they like. There is also a looped "river" channel that sweeps you along in a big circle while jets of water arc over your head and waterfalls cascade nearby. It's not much on a Six-Flags scale of things, but it was pretty much heaven for a 3 year old and his parents escaping from their foot and a half of dirty snow on a raw, cloudy Saturday in March.

A small escape...

This weekend we made the short trip to NE Mass to visit Micah and Becky and enjoy the 'banana belt' of New England when we are still under feet of snow. We all met up with Wendy, Max and their two girls Ava and Stella at their house in Medford and zipped into Chinatown for some delicious Dim Sum. I haven't had real Dim Sum since leaving Vancouver so it was an incredible treat to gorge myself on the many varieties of steamed dumplings, balls of red bean paste, BBQ pork buns, and velvety turnip cakes with hoisin sauce. Ava and Stella have eaten this stuff since they were infants (Chinatown is 10 minutes from their house), so they dug right in, but it was a challenge to convince Aiden that he might actually like these small packages of goodness from the steamer baskets. He did manage to try about four different things (with mixed reviews) and had a LOT of cups of tea.

We've eaten about 100 dumplings collectively at this point

Happy Chinese NewYear!

After Dim Sum we stopped at a candy/bakery in Chinatown and, funnily enough, even though Aiden had never had any of these candies before, he was willing to try ALL of them and wanted more and more and more. Hmm... where was this little boy while we were eating dim sum?

Ava decides which candies to try

It was so deliciously warm and springlike when we got back to Wendy and Max's house that the kids played barefoot and coatless in the yard for hours while we adults alternately soaked in the sun and tried to avoid getting pig-piled by three crazed little monsters. It was so wonderful to be outside in the warm sunshine again after months of winter, we could almost kid ourselves that there won't be another huge dump of snow or two before it's all said and done.

Ava the rhythmic gymnast

Stella collecting "hay"

Spring!

Pigpile on Andy!

As our Dim-Sum coma wore off, Micah & Becky made a cheesy-potato and vegetable dutch oven meal over their outdoor oven for dinner. It was a great end to a fun day for everyone.

Dutch oven cooks on the fire

Party!

Colby-Sawyer College, the university that runs Aiden's nursery school, makes kids birthday parties easy by renting out a portion of their large gym and providing kiddie delights such as hula hoops, sports equipment, and a giant inflated bouncy house. Last weekend Aiden had a great time at the 4th birthday party of one of his classmates, Mia. All his friends were there, and there was cake, goodie bags, and a pinata! And did I mention there was a bouncy house?