Sharing The Remote

What a busy day today! I was in desperate need of a hair cut since I missed my last regularly scheduled hair appointment mid-January because I was hospitalized for the blood clot. So I was pleased that Tony found me a slot today at The Mane Element and was able to get my hair back in shape. Gabriel slept quietly through the appointment. We finished up there just before noon, so Gabriel and I went to see Daddy at work. And after visiting with a bunch of Daddy's co-workers, Gabriel and I took Daddy to lunch. And since we were already up to exit 16 on I-93 to drop Daddy back off at work, Gabriel and I decided to just keep heading north to the Tangor Outlet to see if there were any sales at the Carter's store. And of course we stopped at Gymboree too. Gabriel is a good shopper, but we are both very tired tonight. Gabriel, Lucas and Michael are lounging on the couch tonight sharing the remote.

Gabriel Attends His First Knitting Event

We made it to Borders on Sunday for the weekly knitting event! We showed up late and didn't stay too long. I haven't actually made it to a weekly knitting event since before Gabriel was born, in fact, I haven't knit a stitch since he has been born. (Luckily we have lots of knitting friends and family so Gabriel has been blessed with several hand knits to wear.) I hope to get back to knitting on at least one project in the near future, now that my energy is returning and I am starting to figure out Gabriel's daily pattern. Michael, Gabriel and I found the knitting ladies in the Borders' cafe as usual on Sunday. Gabriel made the rounds and flirted with any woman who would hold him, and even flashed a few smiles. His first knitting event seemed to be a success. I have hope that maybe Gabriel will be able to accompany me to a few Sunday events in the near future. And maybe I can even knit when I go!




Don't forget to check out the gorgeous gray sweater Gabriel is wearing in the photos. It was hand knit by Aunt Tracy! And Aunt Denise finished the lederhosen that goes with the fair isle sweater she already made. Can't wait to do some holiday photos of Gabriel in that outfit. I will post photos of Denise's project separately, so stay tuned.

Christmas with the Vermont Family

My parents came to New Hampshire on Saturday to celebrate Christmas 2008 with us. Being 9 months pregnant made this holiday a little different. There has been a lot less driving this season. And a whole lot less hustle with my bustle.

I made a lasagna and then Grandma D., Grandpa D., Brandi and Angus showed up around noon. Luckily, they didn't hit any of the morning icing that was reported on the weather forecast.

Grandpa and Grandma brought a bunch of gifts for Gabriel, Michael and I. Gabriel got some toys including a top, a Glowworm, a stuffed sheep, a mobile for his crib, and a wooden dump truck. Michael and I were spoiled too, but I am most excited about all of my new pajamas, assuming I will be lounging around in those a bit more over the next few weeks. And Michael has already started wearing his new sweatshirts that he much needed.

Michael and I gave an "anti-gravity" car to Angus for Christmas. It is a remote control car that was suppose to drive on the walls and ceilings. I was a bit skeptical, but it really did work! We have textured ceilings, so it didn't work up there, but Angus was able to drive the car all over our walls. Brandi is becoming a high tech teenager, so she got an iTunes gift card and a USB port. That's the kind of Christmas shopping Michael likes!

Elleigh and Lucas were so excited to see all the company and the presents. Angus was so interesting to them, and yet, over stimulating as well. We haven't had anything that high energy in the house in a while. Probably since Angus' last visit.

After having some lasagna (and fudge, summer sausage, cheese, spinach and artichoke dip, crackers, cookies...), Michael set the Wii up for Angus and Brandi to try their hand at bowling and golf. Michael made sure Angus' controller was firmly secured to his hand before letting him stand in front of his flat screen.

Elleigh and Lucas were so exhausted from the visit. They had to nap all afternoon with Daddy to recuperate.

Thank you for the visit, Mom and Dad!

Christmas will be so different for us next year when Gabriel is here.

It's Snowing... AGAIN!

I am hearing snow forecasts for our area today that range from 8-20 inches of snow. Ending with wind that will cause blowing and possibly more power outages. Living up on a hill, we get more blowing of snow than everyone else anyway, so can't wait to see what this wind brings. I feel bad for the people in New Hampshire who still haven't gotten their power back yet. I'm sure that this blowing won't help their situations. Good thing we found a new coat for Lucas last night. He and Mike were out this morning in the snow trying to drum up a little enthusiasm for the white stuff. It was fun for a few minutes until Lucas' little feet got too cold. Elleigh prefers the comfort of the warm indoors.

Baby Arrival Progress

The whole family has been working hard on getting things, especially Gabriel's room, all set and ready for his arrival. Michael had to sand and repair the walls in the old guest/storage bedroom. Then who knows how many coats of primer went on the ugly teal wall color in that room. It had been painted that color when Michael bought the house. And then several coats of the new paint went over the primer. And then the lower toxicity paint we paid extra money for to cover the trim in the room turned out to not be able to cover anything. I think after the 4th application of trim paint, Michael broke down and just went and got plain old paint and finally got the trim painted white. I wish now I had a before photo so the change in wall color could be fully appreciated. It felt so clean to see the room empty, freshly painted, and a relaxing light blue color.

Elleigh and Lucas helped Daddy to remove accidental paint droppings from the rug. And after a good bath with Grandma's rug cleaning machine, the rug bounced right back.

And not technically Gabriel's room, but we did make more room in the living room for Gabriel's gear. Grandma and Grandpa Abberton came to visit on Saturday and dropped off their rug cleaner and the crib we will be using, and then helped Michael haul away the elliptical that use to be stored in the living room. We actually used the Grands' pick-up to haul away a lot of stuff to the dump to make room for baby gear. Elleigh is enjoying the temporary bare spot on the floor in the living room until we fill the space with some sort of baby contraption.

And Elleigh and Lucas have done a good job guarding the babies and toys in the doll cradle that Great Grandfather Johnson made. And Elleigh and Lucas have turned out to be fantastic seat cushion warmers in Great Grandma Johnson's glider rocker.

We are using the crib that Cousin Maya was in not that long ago. Aunt Deb and Uncle Gary got a brand new mattress to go with the crib. And on Thanksgiving, Uncle Gary showed Michael how to man-handle the infant car seat into my CR-V.

I put the crib together on Sunday night and put the baby bedding on it from Grandma and Grandpa Doaner. The dresser we are going to use as a changing table still needs to be moved into Gabriel's room. And then all of the clothes and gifts we have received so far need to still be laundered and sorted into the right size piles and put away in the dresser and cupboard.

Almost ready for the big reveal on the baby's room.

"Camping" in Ossipee

Michael, Elleigh, Lucas and I went "camping" on Sunday. Not real hard in-the-woods camping. We felt a little guilty about going for a whole day away from our house projects, but I think we are both very glad we did. We didn't have our annual family BBQ in August. And we didn't go to a 4th of July party this year. And we really couldn't think of anything we have done outside this summer or fall, not even using the pool since it didn't turn out to be a pool summer.

So, we drove up to Ossipee to a private family campground run by Paula's family to spend the day. The foliage was beautiful on the ride up which was a treat since neither Michael or I had a chance to see much foliage yet this year. We even had to drive by another swatch of tornado damage on the way there where a cluster of houses looked to still be in the repair process and all of their trees were blown down.

The whole family had fun for the day. I got to knit around a campfire with Paula, Tracy, Donna and Alison. I kept working on socks for Gabriel. Michael played Scrabble and another Banana word game with Sue, Paula, Alison and Anthony. Elleigh and Lucas got to go for a few walks in the crispy leaves and bark at the camp dog Daisy. Michael had wine. Gabriel and I did not.

And the food was wonderful! The camping day included a gourmet camp chef named Fred and his sous chef side kick, Anthony. I helped to de-silk some corn, but for the most part just waited on for food to be placed near me and the bump. There was tasty aged cheddar and Gruyere cheese. The corn was fire roasted. The pork tenderloin was stuffed and hand-tied at the campsite and then baked over the coals. And I had hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows.

Yes, HOMEMADE marshmallows. Fred made his very own marshmallows for the trip. And you may wonder why anyone would make their own marshmallows when you can buy a whole bag of Jet Puffs for a buck. If you ask that, you have never had a homemade marshmallow. Better taste, better texture, better melt spread when squished between two graham crackers, and better fire retardancy when being roasted over an open flame for S'Mores made with Ghiradelli chocolate. Mmmm!

It was such a fun day and evening. Thanks for inviting us, Paula! Even the trips to the out house proved enjoyable.

Finally!

After weeks of trying, Michael finally felt a few thumps from Gabriel on Monday night. The boy seems to prefer standing on my bladder all day, with his head up by my chest, and then he stomps on my bladder like he is stomping grapes for wine. So the thumping and tapping I feel all day is low in my pelvis, which is a hard spot for anyone else to feel from the outside. The last week or two, occasionally I have felt some movement higher in my stomach, over the top of my belly button height. They are always brief though. Last night, Gabriel most likely was doing a full somersault and got his feet up towards the top of my stomach. So Mike got to feel his boy give him love taps through my belly button. Ahhh! There should be plenty more time for kicks to be felt in the weeks to come. I can't believe how different those initial flutters felt at 19 weeks verses what I can feel now. And I understand that kicks can get very hard as Gabriel gets stronger. There's something to look forward to. Though, Gabriel has some room to move around right now. He will be growing rapidly from this point forward so he will eventually have very tight quarters and won't be able to somersault freely.

Happy Father's Day!

Elleigh and Lucas are so happy to celebrate their Daddy on Father's Day! The kids started the day off snuggling in bed with Daddy. And then they helped Mommy to make Daddy home fried potatoes and an omelet. They mostly just used Jedi mind control on me while I cooked. They try to use their mind to get me to drop ingredients on the floor. Yesterday afternoon, we gave Daddy a present. He got a new Wii. We thought it might be good for him to have for when he is recovering from his surgery. Mike has to leave today to go to work in New York, so he got his present yesterday so he would have time to set up the Wii and play it at least once before leaving. He's very aggressive with the boxing game and it even scares the children a bit. Lucas doesn't have a good snuggling with Daddy photo from this morning. But he has a good photo of him smiling because his Daddy makes him so happy.

The New Dog Bed

Michael and I went to IKEA in Stoughton, Massachusetts on Saturday and bought a new bed frame and a stand to put our TV on, among other things.

It was time to get rid of the old king size bed. Who knows exactly how old it was. We already had a barely used queen size bed in the other bedroom. And now that we only have two small dogs to share the bed with it, we thought maybe we could downsize to the queen. So we decided to buy a new black wood bed frame and swap the queen size bed into the master bedroom.

When the large boxes arrived, it disrupted the dogs. Especially when we went upstairs and immediately started dismantling their big dog bed. It was clearly stressful to Elleigh and Lucas. The vacuum cleaning of the dust bunnies under the old bed didn't impress them either. But they were enthusiastic about helping put the new bed frame together. Lucas gave Michael a supportive kiss after every single screw that Mike put into the bed. Elleigh would stand on Mike's back so she could see better what he was doing with the tools. They were too helpful!

The new bed is all together now. Those of you who don't know IKEA, they have great prices on comforter cover and pillow case sets. We got a set in the red and white floral pattern, which looks great against the black wood. And on a different shopping trip, I found at Target a similar black and white floral patterned throw pillows and a matching lamp. The only casualty we had putting the bed together was that we broke the bedside table lamp. So I was glad to find a lamp that matches the pillows and the comforter cover.

Lucas and Elleigh seem to be happy with their new night time dog bed. They are fans of the comforter cover since they can sink right down in it. They look so comfy!

Let's Go, Monarchs!!

Karen, Shaelyn, Michael and I went to see the Monarchs play ice hockey last night at the Verizon arena in Manchester. We hardly recognized Shaelyn when we got there since she got to cut her long hair after the wedding. We gave Shaelyn (and Karen) tickets as an attendant gift for being the best little junior bridesmaid for our wedding (and Karen for being an excellent auxiliary photographer.) Shaelyn has healthy vocal cords as she demonstrated with her chanting along with all the team jeers. There was a guy with a cow bell two rows ahead of us that was more than happy to beat along with Shaelyn shouting, "Let's Go, Monarchs!" She did great sitting through all 3 periods. We tried, but we didn't win anything with Chuck a Puck. The Monarchs creamed the Worcester Sharks. And we now will get free fries from McDonald's since the Monarchs scored 4 goals. Save those ticket stubs!
We are going to see the Monarchs again next Saturday night too as it is the annual Bed Pan Race and Concord Hospital participates in that exciting event.

The Boys

Lucas and Michael spent a lazy Friday night on the couch sharing the remote. Lucas still seems to be a little tired from his surgery earlier this week, and a little extra snugly. Good thing Daddy has been available to make little Lucas feel better.

All Things Wedding...

My blog posts and knitting activities have taken a back seat to all things wedding lately. My ticker says the wedding is one month, two weeks and two days away. There is so much that has been done and yet so much left to do. The date is coming fast! It is hard to believe that when we were engaged back in July that picking a March date seemed so far away. I wasn't sure how I could wait that long, and now I am trying to figure out how to bring everything together in time without driving myself, Michael or the bridesmaids crazy.

We have the big things booked such as the DJ, caterer, reception hall, the florist, the photographer and a cake. Michael's wedding band has arrived.

Things left to do...

We have to pick a honeymoon destination. And we need to start thinking in more detail about our ceremony and reception to include vows, music, flow, and a schedule. I better get my dress fitted. We need to pick a place for Elleigh and Lucas to go while we are away on the honeymoon. It's time to work with the girls to put favors together, and ceremony programs, and struggle through who is a Mrs., Ms., or a Miss so it can be written on envelopes correctly. And I would never have thought I would have become an expert on the subtle shades of pink. Peachy pink and purple pink are not acceptable. But one fuchsia is not another bride's fuchsia, so I just walk around with swatches in my bag at all time. And our accent metal is silver, not gold.

I don't think I have turned into a Bridezilla yet. Michael will have to comment if I am not accurate on that point. I'm sure he has gotten a hairy eyeball look once or twice, but that's a long way off from a true Bridezilla moment.

What I want most of all is for Michael and I to have everything in place by the Thursday before the wedding so that we get to truly enjoy each other, our friends, our family and our wedding. And we both want everyone to have a great time and enjoy the evening as much as we will.

Happiness is Sharing a Sun Spot...

Our children continue to be beautiful!

And we continue to try to be humble about it.

Elleigh and Lucas were sharing a sun spot on the couch Sunday morning and having some quiet time together.

Lucas has been in an intense teething mode. He hasn't been doing any destructive chewing, but he has been losing teeth and trying to cut new ones. Sometimes we rub his gums for him until he starts to drool. Other times he gnaws his bone aggressively. We've managed to find one baby tooth that fell out. He has a loose baby eye tooth that should be coming out soon. And it looks like he might be developing a little bit of an under bite. It may just be because his new teeth haven't yet lined up.

And Sunday is all about snuggling up with Daddy on the couch too. Here are all of my babies sharing a sun spot: Little Baby, Pretty Baby, and my Big Baby. Michael is not too impressed with his new pet name, but it fits the theme and I'm sticking with it.

More on Lukeigh...

We have been calling Lucas several names, so he hasn't quite figured out whether he should be responding to Luke, Lucas, or Lukeigh. We will work on being more consistent. But today, Lucas and Elleigh played tug and keep away. Elleigh is taking advantage of the fact that Lucas can't get himself up on the couch yet, or up and down the stairs either. Michael showed his boy how to use the remote as they lounged on the couch today. Lucas continues to be snuggly and we are hopeful he will sleep through most of the night again tonight.





Late last night, we gave Lucas his first tubby and his first nail clipping. He also got a brand new brown and turquoise collar, and he's borrowing his sister's puppy leash until we can find him something a little more masculine.

Elleigh Already Misses Daddy

I got up at 2:30 am this morning so I could shower for work and then take Michael to the Manchester airport for his early morning flight to get him to Hawaii. I went to work before 5:00 am instead of going home and wasting time. I don't think I have ever been to work that early in the morning. It was nice to leave work early, but at this point, I am exhausted and ready for bed. Just waiting for Michael to call and tell me how beautiful Hawaii is and that he arrived safely. According to Detla.com, Michael's plane did land, but it was a few minutes later than anticipated. That must have been a long leg from Atlanta to Honolulu. Michael saw on-line last night that the flight was so long it had time to offer three different movies.

Elleigh May is not pleased at all that Daddy isn't home tonight. She wasn't pleased that Michael was away at the NASCAR race all day yesterday for that matter. She's pouting on her doggy bed. Little does she know that it will be a long 3 weeks before she sees Daddy again.