Stephen's Lake Park

We visited a local park last Saturday... the weather was in the 70's and GORGEOUS! A nice break from the humidity. There's a little splash park (which my kids are too little for) and a lake with a beach. The sand was really gritty and the lake is manmade, which gives me the heebie jeebies (kind of a germaphobe) but the kids had fun. Eli enjoyed digging, and Owen loved the water! Good thing we got out when we did because this weekend we're trapped at home with sick kids.

Bear Creek Trail

We've mostly been busy unpacking, cleaning, and getting all the odds and ends of a move taken care of since we got here. We haven't had too much time to get out and see the area yet, but we did manage to make it to the Bear Creek Trail Park one evening last week. You can actually access the trail just down the street from our house - it's a nifty walking/biking trail that runs for a couple of miles on our side of town (there's a longer one downtown) and it winds up at a park about a 5 minute drive from our house. The park reminds me of the wildlife sanctuary that we visted near our home in MA. It was a fun little place to walk around - lots of winding trails and pathways through this marshy/pondy area - a pleasant little surprise in the middle of suburbia. Of COURSE we brought the bugspray along, as well as a couple of those new cherry limeaide chillers from Sonic (YUMMY by the way). Eli had fun throwing rocks off a bridge into the river - it was hysteria when we had to finally peel him away and head back to the car. We'll have to make a few more trips out there this summer - we really hope to get a bike for me and a trailer for the kids so we can go on family bikerides!

Tubes

Well it's about time I blogged about this. Back in June (a week before the big move) we went through with having tubes put in both of Eli's ears. Whenever I say that, people assume he's had a lot of ear infections, which actually is not the case. He'd had 2 in a year - very normal. The issue with his ears was the fact that he had chronic fluid behind his eardrums (which can go hand in hand with infections) which was affecting his hearing. He was testing at a mild to moderate loss, which is concerning at his age and stage of language development. We tried a lot of different approaches, including chiropractic, but with it being there for 8+ months we decided that tubes would be appropriate. What we held off on was getting his adenoids removed (x-ray shows they are enlarged, and they can contribute to fluid getting stuck in the ears) because it's a more invasive surgery and there was just no time for him to recover before us packing and moving.

One reason I held off so long on the tubes is that Eli was pretty much sick with something from October on through May - I was hoping that once he finally got "well" that his ears would drain. As a mom I was concerned about how often/long he was sick and kept looking for answers. At one point I wondered if he might have hidden food allergies (his dad had them) and our Dr. ordered a blood test - no allergies, but it was discovered that he's got some sort of immune deficiency! Apparently kids can just "inherit" this and they hopefully outgrow it. In the meantime, it means he's much more susceptible to infection (ie. a simple cold can become sinus infections or pneumonia more easily than other kids) so I'm just grateful he didn't wind up with something more serious last winter. AND it makes me more PARANOID about this upcoming winter! Maybe I should start nursing him again, lol =). In the meantime I'm trying to boost his immunity with fish oil and acidophilus supplements.

As for the actual procedure, Eli had to be at the hospital at 6am and wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. Brad got up and took him so I could stay with Owen and head over later. Plus, only one parent could be with him while he went under and I was afraid it would be traumatizing for me to watch. Apparently he did really well - they let him play with the mask and he thought it was fun until they made him lay on the bed (I really don't know why they wouldn't just let Brad hold him as he fell asleep). The procedure was really quick, and Eli was already awake by the time I got to the hospital... and I could hear him WAILING from down the hall. Apparently when he first woke up he was all cuddly, then it was like he remembered being forced to lay down or something and he freaked out, got all upset and was screaming at nurses and Brad and wouldn't calm down. They were wheeling Brad in a chair while holding Eli to transport him to the children's floor when I caught up to them. Even seeing me didn't help calm him down. It was actually kind of heart wrenching for me to see him in his hospital PJ's, clutching his stuffed Orca Whale and sobbing. But good news - as soon as we went through the door to the children's floor, there was a giant fish tank! Eli stopped in mid-sob and said "OH, FISHIES!" So we sat there and watched the fish for like 20 minutes. We finally convinced him to come to the room with us where we got muffins and yogurt to eat. Eli wanted to play in the "kid cage" or the hospital crib. He thought it was fun to be locked in there - but I admit it gave me the creeps because I remember seeing pictures of my sister laying in one of those when she nearly died from meningitis as a baby.

After they were sure he was recovered from the anesthesia, we finally got to go home. He was cantankerous off and on the rest of the day, but found excitement in the fact that our driveway got put in that day so he could watch a digger, dump truck, and road roller from the front window all day long! By the next day you'd never know anything happened to him! We followed up with his ENT the next week, and they said the tubes looked great, and his hearing tested NORMAL. He was starting to be a great talker anyway, so I didn't notice too much change right away, other than the fact he FINALLY caught on to whispering when I'm trying to put Owen to sleep. I honestly think he just couldn't hear me before when I was trying to teach him. Most of the words that he was pronouncing strangely have started to clear up already, so that's a good thing.

All went well until we'd been here a week (so 3 weeks after surgery). It was July 5th and Eli woke up with a pretty good fever - he was an oven to the touch. He wouldn't even let Brad look in his ears, so we figured they were hurting. It STINKS to have a sick kid no matter what, but especially when you don't have a trusted doctor set up, AND you have doctor-phobia and don't like new ones. Blah. We had to go to urgent care, and sure enough the tube in one ear was infected. He'd had a cold so it was probably a complication from that, but we at least got some antibiotics. Later the Elder's Quorum President (who happens to be a resident in the same specialty as Brad and lives down the street) came to help give him a blessing. It was a rough couple of days for him, but he's doing fine now. We still have to set up a doctor though.

Here are some pics from the hospital ordeal.



Eli's nifty neoprene headband for keeping the splashes out of his ears in the tub. He's supposed to wear ear plugs as well if he's going to be submerged (which he doesn't like anyway).

Giant Spiders

Ok, the promised spider story... a few days after we got here, I decided to do some laundry. The laundry room is downstairs in a semi-finished basement. I was switching the wet laundry from the washer into the dryer when a GIANT HAIRY spider came running, and I mean RUNNING out from behind the washing machine straight at me. It JUMPED from the wall and into the washing machine with it's legs all splayed out as wide as they could go (about the size of my palm) - terrifying because I was bent over the machine with my arm in it at the time and it flew right past my face! I ran upstairs screaming bloody murder (luckily didn't wake the kids) and Brad was laughing because he thought I'd seen a mouse (the owners warned us they'd had a little mouse problem, but thought they were all gone). No way! This was WORSE than a little ol' mouse! I made Brad come downstairs to get the rest of the laundry out - that spider was in there somewhere! He put on his heavy work gloves to do it too. After he'd pulled all the laundry out and put it in the dryer, he still hadn't found the spider. I was worried that it was buried in the clothes, and that it's hairy dead body was going to fall out of the dryer on me if I ran it.... we went ahead and started the water in the washing machine just to make sure the spider was out, and sure enough it had been hiding under the agitator and came running back out. Brad then caught it in a bowl and left it in there to drown.

After some searching on the internet though, I realized that this was not a poisonous spider as I'd feared. It was just a Wolf Spider - terrifying but basically harmless. I also read that they get aggressive when they have an eggsac or young to protect. My dad said it was TRYING to scare ME away. So part of me is terrified that there are more little Wolfies waiting to fly at me during laundry time, and part of me feels HORRIBLE that I murdered a mother protecting her young. We should have just let it go outside - but at the time I thought for sure it was a brown recluse and was going to kill us all....

The Move

Admit it, you all desperately missed these picture laden posts! Haha. Anyway, here are the highlights from the move. I packed 95% of our stuff by myself - thankfully a lot of it was still in storage in the basement, and we had saved all the taped and labeled boxes for everything else. Also, the two most AMAZING babysitters in the whole world (two adorable young women from my ward) spent 3 afternoons straight at my house playing with my kids so I could pack. They brought toys with them, did art projects and playdough, and even built a snail cage outside. Eli cried everytime they had to go home. So THANKS Julia and Hannah - I wish I could have brought you with me!
Here's a little excitment we had with Owen in the midst of packing. He likes to poo when he's in his Bumbo - they should make Bumbo potty seats!

We picked up the moving truck the night before we intended to load. After we got the truck home, we let Eli sit in the truck with Dad while he backed it up just a few feet to the back door. Remember of course that our duplex was on this hill with no driveway (well actually it got paved a couple days before we left!) and when Brad hit a little bump, Eli went flying off the seat and into the dashboard. A crazy mistake for a family of carseat fanatics - here's the nice shiner and scratched lip. Let this be a lesson....
The next evening a group of wonderful people from Church came to help load the truck. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the Relief Society President with my kids - Owen really loves to cuddle her, and she brought Eli a plug-in fish tank which he LOVES. The perfect pets - no feeding and no cleaning! Anyway, the whole truck was loaded in less than two hours - I think we had around 12 people loading. The only hitch? My piano fell off the dolly inside the truck and NEARLY crushed the Elder's Quorum President... my heart skipped a few beats. He was able to jump out of the way thankfully, but it's pretty scratched up and about 15 or more keys don't work. I haven't decided if it's worth paying to fix it - Brad is ready to be rid of it, but I'm emotionally attached (even though I don't really play). You can't see it in this picture, but there's a giant digger behind our truck there. It was entertaining for Eli, but a bit of a nuissance to us that the owners decided to start digging the basement for a new duplex the day we loaded our truck... lots of equipment had been coming and going our past week as they finally paved the driveway as well (though it still doesn't go up to the house or even the walking path *headscratch*).

The road trip took us two LONG days to complete. THANKFULLY Brad's dad came to help drive. He drove the truck and towed one car so Brad and I could ride together with the kids. I get carsick, so I did most of the driving so Brad could turn around and tend to snacks, binkies, etc. This is who we ran into at a truck stop in New York:
Another stop in the Midwest somewhere (PA?) had a flock of crazy Seagulls. They were attacking people for food and would catch french fries in mid-air. Needless to say, it was nearly impossible to get Eli back in the car after this kind of show.
On day two of the drive, we stopped in Columbus, OH to say hello to some long-time friends. Brad has known Shyler since they were kids, and our families were in Surprise together at the same time for med school. Owen is one month YOUNGER than this cute little guy! It was great to catch up with them, and have the kids burn off some steam so they could take a good long nap in the car.
Since we stayed in motels for two nights of the road trip, we had to get creative with the sleeping situation. After our last vacay with the Bensons, we figured out that 4 of us in one qeen bed was not a good idea. So this time around Eli slept with "Ga-pa" in one bed while Owen slept in his usual spot with Brad and I. The funny thing is that Eli thought he was cuddling Brad at first... when he fully woke up and realized it wasn't daddy, he freaked out. It was just the surprise of it though... by the next night he was asking to sleep with grandpa - who has the magic touch for putting kids to sleep by the way! (First two pics are of Eli, third is of Owen - he and grandpa took a couple naps in the recliner together in Missouri.)


The day we moved in was hotter than I don't know where! It was HUMID and STEAMY! We wondered what planet we had crashed on! We felt so sorry for the people helping us move in - some really great guys from our new ward showed up to help out. We are renting a home from a really nice family who did their residency out here, and have now moved to Boston for a fellowship. It just so happens that they are LDS as well... we found each other in a round about way but it worked out well. Now we just need to find a good family for OUR house in AZ! (hint hint!). Anyway, the weather hasn't been nearly as bad as that first day, and we are still working on getting settled in. I think it takes 100x as long to do things with kids as it does without. Thank goodness we had Grandpa B. for an extra day - we got more unpacking done in the two days he was here than we have in the rest of the 3 weeks since! He is magical with the boys... he must have raised a few or something =).

Stay tuned for the story about the giant spider, and Eli's tube drama.

Moving and Michael Jackson

I couldn't take being without internet anymore, so I'm on a brief escape ALONE to the local library.... I wanted to at least make it known that we arrived here in Missouri safely. It was a SWELTERING day to unload the truck, but since then, the weather has been nice. We're still unpacking and cleaning and organizing, getting used to bugs (and giant hairy spiders that attack you in the laundry room - more to come on that), and just trying to get settled. We've been here two Sundays and haven't even made it to church - the first week because the kids were exhausted, and this past one because we had to take Eli to urgent care for a high fever (his ear tubes got infected!!! grrr!). So it's been a little crazy. I have lots of pics I'm of course dieing to post, but will have to wait til we've got things hooked up at home.

And as for Michael Jackson, it was on our drive out here that we heard of his passing on the radio. Is anyone else saddened by this? Of course I watched the funeral today and actually found myself tearing up a few times. I guess it's because I can relate to families who are grieving a sudden loss, and I can't help but feel for them - especially his kids. I didn't realize I had been such a big MJ fan until I found that I could sing along with just about any of the popular songs they played of his on the radio this past week. My mom had a bunch of his cd's, and she and my sister and I used to rock out to them! Some of my fav's are Man in the Mirror, Heal the World, Bad, and Dangerous. So what about you??? What are your MJ favorites? Come on, I KNOW you all must have at least one....

Mt. Greylock

The entire year we've been here, Brad has been wanting to go up to Mt. Greylock, or ANY higher location. We've done a lot of things, but just hadn't made it there yet. So Monday evening I surprised him. We picked up pizza from Hot Tomatoes (gonna MISS that place!) and had camping chairs and stuff for a fire in the trunk, and took him on up to Mt. Greylock. His dreams came true... kind of. Instead of the endless sweeping views of the Berkshires, we got up close and personal with some dense fog. And I mean DENSE... we could see wisps of it floating around in front of us. There is a tower at the summer that you can climb up in to see even better. We climbed up the little winding staircase, but it didn't really improve the view. Oh well, I tried! It was still a fun activity. We had to be careful not to lose Eli in the fog and tall grass. After walking around in the mist and rain, we all squished in the front seat together and ate cold s'mores because you can't have fires at the summit afterall =).




In other news - we load the truck tonight and hit the road tomorrow! Columbia, MO here wer come!

New Hampshire, Maine, Cape Ann

We weren't exactly planning to take a trip this past weekend. We figured Eli would still be recovering from surgery - but since we didn't have his adenoids removed and he recovered so quickly from the tubes (post coming about that), we thought we might as well spend one more day sight seeing! A little insane considering we are moving on Thursday? Yep! But that's how we roll around here =).

It was supposed to be rainy, but we figured we'd rather see a few things in the rain than not at all, so we packed up our sweatshirts and gear and took off around 7am on Saturday. We headed up into New Hampshire and stopped at Hampton Beach to checked out the sand sculpture carving competition. I can't believe people put so much work into creations that will just be bulldozed after a week, but it was interesting to see. The beach was nice, but way too crowded for my taste. I also didn't care for the "touristy" atmosphere of all the shops and hotels crowded around. But, it was a good stop, and really tough to convince Eli to come back to the car so we could move on.




Our next stop was the Nubble Light House on Cape Neddick in York, Maine. We planned on this being a quick pit stop, but Brad and I were both so impressed with the scenery we ended up spending over an hour there eating our PB&J picnic lunch and walking around on the rocks. The lighthouse was really in a picturesque location - perched on a large rock outcropping adjacent to the rocky shore with the waves crashing spectacularly all around it. There were a few tidepools with seaweed and snails that caught Eli's attention. I think we all got a little sunburned on this stop.


From there we drove a bit further up the coast of Maine to Ogunquit Beach. Ogunquit means "beautiful place by the sea" and I have to agree! The homes we saw on our little coastal drive inot the town are by far the MOST beautiful I have seen in New England so far! The town itself was very charming, and the beach was beautiful. The tide was out, so the beach stretched on FOREVER! It was bordered by granite cliffs with some gorgeous homes perched atop. It was a lot less crowded than Hampton. Thank goodness the predicted rain held off, because we were able to actually put our swimsuits on and enjoy the beach for a couple of hours. Eli was so excited to start digging in the sand that he sad down with his shovel as soon as we stepped onto the beach - right in the walkway! We had to drag him kicking and screaming further down the beach to a better location. The waves were really gorgeous here, and we had some fun wading. Eli loved chasing the gulls and picking up shells, but didn't want to walk near the water. I think the waves make him nervous, because everytime one could come close to our towel, he would say "you OK??" in a nervous voice. Once while Brad was holding him in the water a big wave got him wet, and that was the end of wanting to go near it. Owen's favorite part was eating the sand. He has really developed a taste for it and was trying to shovel it in by the chubby fistful! He got a couple really good bites, and I've got the pics to prove it. He's now tasted sand in three different states,a nd he definitely liked Maine's the best =). I also really enjoyed Maine and would LOVE to take a romantic getaway trip out there someday to stay in some B&B's along the coast and actually relax on the beach =).




We hosed the kids off and packed up the car around 6pm. Any sane person would have started the 4+ hour drive home at that point, but we thought, "why not go for it and see Cape Ann too?"So we headed down to Cape Ann which is back in Massachusetts just outside of Boston. We went down through Portsmouth, NH which was an adorable seaside town - wish we'd had time to stop! Cape Ann wasn't even on my radar until two weeks ago and I wish I'd known about it sooner! We went to Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. It was close to 8pm when we got there, so by that point in the day it would more appropriately have been named "Mosquitos and Nats Beach!" Seriously, the bugs were SO BAD. There were clouds of nats just trying to crawl into our hair, and my feet got eaten alive by mosquitos - I'm still in pain. But aside from that, it was a GORGEOUS beach. I wish we could have been there during the day (aka before the bugs were out) because it would have been fun. To get to it from the parking lot, we walked on a little wooden walkway through the grassy dunes. The sand was WHITE and SO SOFT. It was like walking in flour! The beach itself was like a little cove, so the waves were calm, the water was shallow and crystal CLEAR, and there were lots of neat rock outcroppings to climb on. There were sailboats parked in a little harbor to the right, and a lighthouse and open ocean views straight on and to the left. There were tons of great shells on this beach, which thrilled Eli of course. I've been having to tell him bedtime stories about seashells now, and I'm currently bleaching the ones he brought home to play with because they were stinky. We stayed until it got dark at 9pm, and thankfully the bugs were dying down at that point. The boys got their jammies on in spite of all the sand in their hair, and we started home. Three beaches in three states all in ONE day - not bad eh? We've now been to all 6 states in New England!



We drove through the Boston area on the way home and made a little detour to see the Boston Temple. Dedicated on October 1, 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley, the Boston Temple is the 100th operating temple. Really, I think one of the prettiest temples I've ever seen (they're all pretty though). The spire definitely had a "New England" look to it. My camera is on the fritz because of sand getting in the lens, so I couldn't take any pictures (argh!). We hadn't made it to see the Temple yet, so it was worth the stop.

(See this photographer's work here.)

From here, the drive home really just went downhill. Suffice it to say that we should have been home around midnight, but didn't make it home until after 2am (and yes, we still made it to church the next morning - only 10 minutes late!). The boys were both sleeping peacefully in the backseat when we had to stop for gas. BIG MISTAKE. DO NOT ever stop for gas in the middle of the night when you have a sleeping baby in the back! Eli was totally konked out the whole time, but the stop woke Owen and he was really upset that he wasn't home in his bed - in fact, hysterical. And his hysteria lasted the rest of the 2 hour drive home. We stopped a lot, it finally started raining - no POURING - and we were both tired so we had to keep switching drivers so we didn't wreck. So, not the most pleasant drive home, but the rest of the trip was great! I'm glad we had the chance to see a couple more things before we leave New England. We've really learned to like it here and are going to miss it!

*PS - My camera really IS broken now! I think some sand got in the lense mechanism. I am a true "photo-aholic" so this is very, very bad. Especially with our 3 day road trip coming up. Grr... guess I'll have to bust out the old camera.