Cucumber Falls

A few weekends ago we went to PA to visit my family. Friday night we stayed in a cabin with my parents near Ohiopyle State Park. Ohiopyle is one of my favorite places on earth because it's beautiful and it was the place of so many memories from my childhood. Here are some pictures from Cucumber Falls and the Youghiogheny River.

Mommy and Daddy Update

For the past almost two months now, I've been able to make it to the gym twice a week for two strength-training classes. I feel great. My clothes are looser, I've lost about 5 lbs., and I don't have a sore back like I do when I don't exercise for a while. I'm also very excited because Martin joined my gym and got a great deal. Together we are paying less that the amount for one person at the gym that I used to go to. We can't exercise together because the babysitters at the gym don't take kids younger than 5 (ridiculous, I know!) but I'm glad we are both getting to exercise now.

Some other things we've been up to:

PALS (the Saturday field trip program for inner city kids that we've been doing for the past 2-3 years) starts up this Saturday and Martin and I are leading a team. I've been doing a lot of coordinating for that.

I have been going to the farmers market and I still enjoy it, except when I forget to take the apples that bought...(urrgh!). I'm really liking the fresh green beans. I don't think I'll ever buy frozen again. They don't even taste the same. And Martin taught me how to steam them. :) I think Martin still does a majority of the cooking but I do all the meal planning and most of the shopping now.

Speaking of Dylan's clothes (see below), I went to a consignment sale a week or so ago. Wow, so many clothes! I think I got some good buys. Here's what I got for $37.50: an Old Navy nylon jacket, a sweater vest, two sleepers (one 6-9 months, one 12 months), a sweater, a hat and mittens - that are quite stylish I might add for baby clothes and they match the jacket and the snow pants my mom bought, a clown Halloween costume, a burgundy turtleneck onesie, a plaid long sleeve shirt, and navy blue pants. I had to get some winter clothes since the clothes from cousin Steven who lives in FL aren't warm enough. I wasn't going to do the Halloween thing as we didn't really want to encourage it, but then we might go over our friends' house that night and their kids will be dressed up and the costume was only $3. Dylan won't remember it anyway...

Next week I'm taking Bushra and her son Hamza and Dylan on this day care field trip to a pumpkin patch. Should be fun and will be a good chance to get to know them better.

Tomorrow I should (finally) finish reading A Wrinkle in Time to Dylan. I started it even before Madeline L'Engle died so it was timely. I had never read it before. I think we'll go back to the Little House on the Prairie series next. My book club is starting up again with The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (author of Lovely Bones which I also read). The book doesn't come out until next week so I haven't started it. Sounds like it will be a tough read emotionally (its about the author's rape experience) but probably worth the read.

I never thought I would say this....

...but I am sick of summer! I guess the 93 degrees here today (it is October, right?) is what pushed me to this point. It wouldn't be so bad except that the pools are closed and this just means less of the pleasant, fall, exercise-outside-without-getting-overheaded, weather that I have come to love in DC in the fall. AND, I bought a new lightweight jacket off season a few months ago and still have YET to wear it without being too warm. Thankfully, Dylan still fits into his clothes but it would be nice to put away his summer stuff. He's been wearing the same clothes since April and I'm getting sick of them.

Dylan update

Dylan is walking more/better every day. This video was taken a few weeks ago and he's even much better than this so I'll have to try to get another video soon.

He can turn while walking and stop and start again. The thing that my mom was amazed at is that when he squats to pick something up he says low for a long time. He's building up those quad muscles! So yeah, he can squat and then stand back up again. Dylan's starting to run, especially when Daddy starts chasing him. And he is going longer distances. He got three pairs of shoes from his cousin Steven so he's ready to go outside too.

Friday we made some major purchases at Babies R Us. We (finally) had to get Dylan the next car seat. His feet were starting to hang over the other one. Since I take Dylan to day care and Martin picks him up we felt the need to get two car seats. We got one more upscale one and one more basic one for the second car. We figure we'll get good use out of them since I have a feeling Dylan won't be 40 lbs (the weight limit on these seats) for a long time. We also bought the "Superyard XT." This is a 6 panel plastic fence (so to speak) that you make into a hexagon and it functions as a play pen of sorts. We put it in front of our fireplace to keep Dylan out of the fireplace. We can also take it outside and then Dylan has a safe 18.5 square foot area to play in.

I was about to blog that Dylan was STTN but then he hasn't for the past 3 nights. He was doing well there for a while. BUT he is going to sleep by himself now. I had been nursing him to sleep for naps and at bedtime and he just started (without any prodding by me) to go to sleep on his own about a week or so ago. He won't fall asleep nursing now. So that's good. He still takes a morning and an afternoon nap. They are still pretty short, most of the time just a half hour. Sometimes he takes a longer one though.

The one negative thing that we are dealing with now is that Dylan has started spitting (like surberting) a lot, especially at mealtimes. Not sure what's going on with this. We say no in a very serious way, we put our finger over his mouth, we slap his hand (to which he laughs), and now I've been pinching his nose when he does it. That works a little bit but it just seems like he hasn't figured out that we don't like him doing this while we're trying to feed him. Dylan isn't a fan of mealtimes in general (which is why stop feeding him when he spits won't work either) so this has added to the difficulty of feeding him solids. He still has to have everything but cheerios pureed. I tried feeding him yogurt with tiny slices of peaches in it and he spits out the peaches. Same thing with the "dinners" that have chunks of meat or veggies in them. So I'm still only feeding him solids twice a day (lunch and dinner). We go to the pediatrician in three weeks so we'll see what he has to say. I'm starting to notice that Dylan likes to nurse though. In general, since Dylan is so easy going, it's hard to figure out what he likes and dislikes. But he seems to get excited when we sit in the rocker and I'm getting ready to nurse him and it seems like he crawls up to me when he's upset and wants to nurse. I'm fine with that since I know he's getting the nutrition he needs. My plan for nursing is this - I want to stop pumping. So once Dylan turns one he will (gradually) get cow's milk at day care and I will keep nursing the other times as long as my supply keeps up. I'll give him milk at home too for lunch and dinner so he probably won't nurse as much. I might have to keep pumping at work once during at lunch but that's nothing compared to the 3 times a day I'm pumping now. And I'll get to work more hours on T and Th since I won't have to pump as much. I can add another hour each day which (as Martin pointed out), since I'm working 20 hours a week now, is a 10 percent raise with only having to stay a little bit longer than I am right now. I'll let Dylan nurse on that schedule as long as he wants to (not sure what that means yet) unless another baby comes along to kick him out...:)

We are finding Dylan has a very high pain tolerance. He puts his hands in the refrigerator and on the outside of the oven when it's on and this doesn't phase him at all. And then there's the laughing when we slap his hand. He only cries when he falls if he's tired or frustrated because he can't get up again. This is why we joke that he's going to be a parachute tester when he grows up.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll update you all on Dylan again after his dr. appt on the 31st.

Hiking with Mikey

Three weekends ago we went hiking at this park in MD with our friend Mike. This was another hike from the 60 hikes around DC.

Random cute pictures of Dylan

I do this move in my classes at the gym all the time. Now I know why it's called the child's pose.

We got Dylan to wear the sunglasses just long enough for a picture.
Red flannel, cap, mullet, and pacifier....baby redneck?

More pics from Labor Day (the last day in the outdoor pool)

Dylan going for a ride in the basket...what fun!

Zoo

When Martin's brother and his family were visiting over Labor Day weekend, we took them to the national zoo. I love going to the zoo. I see something different every time. This time was the first time I saw the free range monkeys. Dylan likes the zoo too, especially now that he can ride in the backpack.

Dylan and his cousins

Some pictures of Dylan and 2 of his cousins when they were visiting over Labor Day weekend. That's Jeremiah (age 3) on the left and Savva (age 10) on the right. They are Martin's brother Matt's sons. Dylan was very happy playing with his cousins.

MPC retreat

Every August our church puts on a retreat in the Shenandoahs. This is the second year we've gone on the retreat and we love it. It's a great time to catch up with friends, relax, learn from a good speaker, and be surrounded by a loving community. It reminds me a little like college because you can have all your friends right next door and just hang out. And we also had a chance to go hiking. What a perfect weekend.

pictures from amy's visit

Okay, I'm really behind in my picture posting. I can't even say these are from last month because they are from August and it is now October! These pictures are from my friend Amy's visit. While she was visiting, Dylan and I hung out a lot with Amy and also Laura and Jack B. So you'll see a lot of pictures of the two boys. The last pics are from a cookout at Laura B's house. All the ladies in the one picture were all in one Bible Study together in what now seems like ions ago - circa 2002.

Dylan signing?

Since Dylan was born, I've been doing the "all-done" sign with him when I think he's done eating. I've tried some other signs but that's the only one I've done with enough repetition that he might have some chance of getting. Well, yesterday, I think he acutally tried to sign "all-done" for the first time. I was feeding him some peas (totally purreed of course since he spits out anything that isn't a cheerio or purreed) and he seemed to be slowing down and I asked "all-done?" I couldn't tell what he wanted to I kept feeding him and had planned to so until the container was empty. Well, after another bite or two I asked him again, "all-done?" He lifted his right hand and kinda shook his arm. It looked different from a wave so I assumed he was signing all done and didn't make him eat the last two spoonfuls of peas (which about irked me....I can't stand not finishing something that close to being gone.) Dylan got a big smile on his face so I'm taking that as he understood! Very cool. I hope it continues and that I can use some more words with him. I was going to do a baby signing class but I may just get some books from the library or amazon to help him learn more.

Farmers' Market

I forgot to tell you all how the Farmers' Market went last week. I liked it. I bought tomatoes, lettuce, peaches, cucumbers, red peppers, sweet potatoes, cheese curds, and homemade ice cream. Aside from the cheese and the ice cream, I spent about $20. I'm willing to pay a premium for buying local and I guess to accurately compare I should compare the prices the organic prices in the grocery store (but need to check if the stuff is actually organic). Still there were some things that were really over-priced there too. So I'll go back, but maybe only once every other week and I'll be a little more selective.

How Dylan deals with a cold....

....just like his daddy. When Martin gets feels a cold coming on, he says he's going to go to sleep and then you don't see him for the next 16 hours. [This happened once we were dating on a Saturday afternoon and I got all upset that Martin didn't call me that night. I thought surely he couldn't be sleeping this long. I was like screw him and went shopping with my roommate. I then felt bad when I found out that he had been sleeping the entire time.] Dylan didn't sleep for quite as long but it was about the longest he ever slept. This was Tuesday night. He didn't wake up on Wednesday until 9:40am. Usually Dylan wakes up around 4am and then goes back to sleep until 7am. After sleeping a lot yesterday, it seems his cold is getting better but he's still stuffed up. It's so hard for babies to eat like that. Hopefully he will be mostly better by tomorrow when we leave for PA for the weekend.

Swim Class

Laura B. took these great pictures from our swim class. The ones of Dylan and Jack on the side of the pool are comical.

Visiting Friends and Family in PA on the way home

On the way home from New England, we stopped and had dinner with my friend from high school Larissa and her husband Nathaniel and their 3-year-old son Dimitri. Larissa is due with her second child in February. Larissa and I played clarinet together in the band in high school. Oh, so many memories....probably my favorite was that when we were sophomores, the two first clarinets who were seniors were screwing up royally and so the band director pointed at the two of us (second clarinets at the time) and said "you two, there" pointing to the first chairs and pointed at the first clarinets and said "you two, there" pointing to the second chairs. Then there was marching band...where we were also either too hot or too cold in our uniforms. Larissa and I would also refer to each other by our clarinet's serial number. Yeah, we were dorks. I was thinking about band a lot today too because my sister, who was in band with us too, is now a band parent. Her 12-year-old step daughter has taken up the French Horn which I'm very excited about. But I just can't get over the fact that she is a band parent now. That's crazy too because Larissa's mom is still a band parent because Larissa's little brother is a senior in high school and still in the band. Anyway, this is a runaway post (ran far away from the topic about 10 lines ago). So here's a picture of Dimtri and another of Dylan with Martin's cousins Lynn and Tom who we had a delightful lunch with the next day. (We also stayed with Denny and Nancy M. - the folks that knew us separately before we met! - and had breakfast with them but didn't take any pictures.)

Okay, signing off for now...

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New Hampshire

Here are pictures from our "drive by" hike in New Hampshire. We left Maine in the morning and got to the White Mountains area of New Hampshire around 3pm (later than anticipated). We did this hike out to the falls you see below and then hiked back, got in the car and drove to Vermont to spend the night there. We had to hit all the New England states on the trip so that was one reason for going the long way home. Another was the beautiful views you see below.



This picture is a little dark but this gives you an idea of what the hiking is like in some real mountains (unless VA and PA and MD).

The beach in Maine

These are more pictures from our second day in Acadia. After drying off and taking a nap, the weather cleared up and we ventured out again, this time to the one beach in the park. It was too cold to swim but it was beautiful to look at. We also attended a lecture on webbed-footed birds. Dylan did great, Dad...:) He sat on my lap the whole time and looked around. These ladies couldn't get over what a good baby he is. We also went to a lobster pound that night. The lobster was good but the side dishes weren't and I guess when we decided to go out for our big lobster dinner in Maine we weren't thinking of eating with plastic utensils on a deck in plastic chairs. We had driven a while to get to the place so we stayed and paid the $50+ for our fast food dinner. But I guess that's what a lobster pound is. Next time we'll stick to the restaurants. Yes, we want to go back to Maine. Of all the places we've been Acadia National Park is the one place we could see ourselves going back to. There is so much hiking to do there. And we just loved the scenery. (We would go back to Alaska too but we would like to see the southern coast next time. But it's a little more difficult getting to Alaska.)

Another new endeavour

I'm been inspired by Catherine and my brother-in-law and his wife to buy local. So tomorrow I'm going to go to the Farmers' Market in Vienna. I'm going to try buying a bunch of stuff and then making my menu for the week around what I buy. Then I'll go to the grocery store on Thursday night to get the rest of the stuff. We'll see how long this lasts. It should be fun. Maybe I'll buy some flowers too as a motivation.

New Schedules

Seems like every week I'm adjusting something with mine and Dylan's schedule/sleeping and eating strategies. This week I'm going to try to stretch out Dylan's naps (since they have only been a 1/2 hour long) by not going in and picking him up when he wakes up. He usually just whines a little (not all out crying). Maybe he'll realize it's still time to sleep. Also, I've been trying to pump in the morning and that hasn't been working so now I'm going to try to pump after lunch and after Dylan goes to bed as opposed to just in the morning. I need to pump for his cereal (2 oz a day) and to get enough for the days that I'm at work (I usually only get 9 oz when I pump at work and he needs 12 oz at day care).

I'm also trying a new gym schedule. Instead of going at 5 or 6pm on Mondays, I'm going to go to the 8pm class on Mondays so I can just go after Dylan goes to sleep. Then I'll either do the 6pm Friday or the 8:30am or 10:30am classes on Saturday. That will get me my 2 total body weights work outs per week. Then I just walk or going hike or go to a spinning class at least 2 times on the other days and that should be good for me. I'm trying to get Martin on a new workout schedule too. MWF bike riding at 6am. September is a good time of year for renewed discipline so hopefully this will stick.

Dylan update

Yesterday I took my friend Patricia to the breastfeeding support group. I got to weigh Dylan there. He weighed 16 lbs., 14oz. completely naked and before he ate so I'm saying that he weighs 17 lbs now. The consultant at the support group couldn't get over the fact that he is walking at 10 months.

Dylan is now able to walk across the room. And he has started doing it without us prodding. Yet, a lot of times, he still wants to grab onto our hands when he wants to walk somewhere.

It's fun with Dylan walking and not too different from him crawling as far as baby proofing. I'm still able to catch him before he gets into something he's not supposed to. One advantage of smaller living quarters.

Dylan is really good about playing with his books right after he nurses for the first time in the morning. That lets me have some time to get ready for the day.