Happy Easter

Edison & I had a little field trip last Friday. We met up with a bunch of other moms and kids at the Ray of Light Farm. After that, we visited Gillette Castle (it is really a castle, made out of stone and high on the banks of the Connecticut River) and also Devil's Hopyard State Park which is probably best known for Chapman Falls (lots of water running right now). It was a delightful spring day and the grass has finally turned green around here (but no leaves on the trees yet and only daffodils and crocuses out so far). The New England countryside was very charming indeed.

Here we are with a llama. Luckily no spitting took place (from any of those pictured). Note: Edison got ready for the farm by putting on his overalls.






Edison's favorite animal were the pygmy goats (just like his Nana, actually). He pet this one on the nose and had his fingers licked by this friendly little goat.

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We were treated to a yummy Easter Brunch with Eben's family, hosted by Carolyn. Here is the most recent picture of the Phillips cousins: (back row): Will, Amelia, Sarah and (front row): Lily, Ellie, Edison, and Harry.
Edison loved spending some quality time with his dad, now that Eben has finally recovered from strep throat.
He is getting pretty good at climbing the stairs, but still requires a watchful eye.

Brrr - baby it's cold outside!

Maybe rafting in upstate New York the first weekend in April is not such a good idea after all. You know what they say, "hind sight is 20-20." In this case, the weather report would have been a pretty good indicator, too. After a beautiful few days (which melted the snow pack), a dumping of rain (which began to flood the rivers), it finally decided to snow on us during our rafting trip. We were supposed to raft the gorge section of the Moose River, but apparently it was too high to be commercially rafted, so we switched to the Hudson River (10 miles from its source in the Adirondacks - not the yucky end in NYC). The Hudson was at 8-3, and is not rafted commercially above 8-5 (or so I'm told), so it was BIG water. I don't know if any of us actually enjoyed it, because we were literally frozen. I'm talking stumpy feet that are useless to walk on, fingers that can't work (I tried to give the guide my email to hook him up with WA rafting, but could not write - no exaggeration). Anyway, I think we have finally thawed out.
Thank you to Josh for organizing the trip (I think). And to Eben for providing the entertainment (fell out 4 times). Oh - and to the raft company for thinking to supply neoprene gloves.




Lyndsey & I - This is not our most fashion forward moment, but hey, on the river it is function BEFORE fashion!


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I'm sure there are a thousand possible hilarious subtitles for this picture, but I am suffering from brain freeze (see above paragraph for an explanation).
Edison with his lady friend, Wynnie. Thank you so much to Jon & Stacy for watching Edison while Eben & I went rafting. He had a blast & you really put our minds at ease!
Our uncle, Peter, came to visit this past week. We had a great time playing three-handed spades. He brought a laugh-out-loud funny book for us, Dave Barry's Guide to Life. Thanks, Peter!

April 2009 - Edison is 9 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that Edison is now nine months old. Being pregnant for nine months felt like a long stretch at the time. And it was amazing to think he went from two cells to a 7 lb baby in that time. But watching him grow and develop here in the outside world for nine months has been incredible. In some ways the time has flown by (wow - he looks so different than when he was a newborn), while in others it seems to lag (crying again?!). Here's a newborn shot to help you remember how far he has come:






He has achieved several notable milestones of late: 1) can climb stairs, 2) can feed self Cheerios, 3) SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT (mostly)! As you can see, I am ecstatic about milestone #3. Illustration of Edison's favorite sleeping position - light's out, butt up.











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So cute! (The cut above his left eye is from slipping while holding onto a baby gate - his stockinged feet did not have traction, slid out from under him while he was jiggling on the gate, and his head hit the bars on the gate. Luckily it looks worse than it is.)




He can sit on his knees now, too.










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When is Spring Going to be Here?

This recent picture shows how much Edison's face is starting to change from a purely baby face to more of a toddler face. He is definitely my darling boy!


We went up to Eben's sister's house on Saturday. It was sunny, but still chilly, don't let the pictures fool you! But we went on a nice walk up "Sweatt Hill" by their house and enjoyed the view. The pictures are from a special rock on top of the hill. Here is one of all of the cousins: Sarah, Edison, Lily, and Harry.


One of just the boys (and Bengler the tiger):


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And a nice portrait of our little family (thanks Marleigh!):




We enjoyed a nice lazy Sunday morning the following day. Edison enjoys playing with his "Po-Knee."













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Florida - part deux

We had a WONDERFUL time in Florida. We are already planning our trip there for next March. We loved Anna Maria Island and highly recommend it to all of our friends. We were at the south end, in the town of Bradenton Beach. Here we are at the beach across from our condo. Edison loved dipping his feet in the waves.








Edison likes crawling on the sand. Everything was much better after we figured out to set him down on the hard pack sand and not the soft stuff. He just likes raking it in his fingers. Eben likes to call him his "mini me." It is hard to argue with that, given data like this...
























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I love this picture of Edison at lunch. You can see his upper teeth that are coming in. He is actually getting his third bottom tooth, too, for a total of seven teeth now.
We had a super time at Busch Gardens with our friends Tommy & Shannon. They had awesome roller coasters, beautiful landscapes, and awesome animals. We loved it, even though it was a little tricky managing Edison.

I guess Edison slammed on the brakes a little hard and sent Eben through the windshield.

This is a picture from a couple weeks ago. At the Children's Museum, they have an exhibit set up for a fish shop. Here Edison is showing that he inherited the Phillips' gene for loving lobster. Grrrr.

Anna Maria Island, Florida - Spring Break

How smug should I be, writing this update from beautiful Bradenton Beach, on Anna Maria Island, Florida? We are on a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota, at the entrance to Tampa Bay (mid-way down Florida on the Gulf Side). We are enjoying perfect weather (80 every day with a light breeze). The beach, as you can see in the picture below, is gorgeous. So gorgeous in fact, that Edison has tried to devour it. (He's still learning...)






The condo that we are staying at is right on the Gulf, so we have a beautiful view of sunsets and the beach. But we also have a little pool. This is super because the water in the Gulf is only 62, a little chilly for my taste - but Eben did do quite a swim in it this afternoon. Here is Edison commanding his first watercraft. The sun canopy really sold us on this quality model!













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Heading south from our condo is a long public recreation area/beach. There is a jogging path that takes you down 1.2 miles to the southern tip of the island - and the playground. Edison is now big enough to enjoy the swings...
...and the pool.
The condo also borders the water on the other side (canal or bay I think they call it). There is a nice lawn, BBQ area, picnic tables and a boat dock. This is Edison's signature move of late - the hand wave. He's almost got "high five" down.

March 2009 - Snow Again?!

Well, I thought spring was finally on its way... but I was wrong. New England got hit with a nor'easter on Sunday/Monday. We got another foot of snow. Argh! Good thing we're leaving for Florida for Eben's spring break this weekend or we'd really be going crazy. We spent the weekend trying to entertain ourselves indoors (again). This is one last picture from my visit to Seattle - Edison with his Nana.
On Saturday we visited the Children's Museum in our town. Edison's favorite toy is the bubble tube. Later, Eben made sushi for us. He learned how to do this while I was in Seattle. I guess I should leave him alone at home more often...
We also went to visit Jamie, Danya, and their daughters Ashlynn & Kayla. They just brought home a new Shihtzu puppy, Marlin, who was just five weeks old.
Finally, something smaller than Edison! But Edison still had trouble keeping up with the puppy who was already able to run across the room.
We got these for Florida - I guess Edison's future is so bright, he's got to wear shades!