June 2009 - Sailing, Part 1

I am writing this from a quick land-stop. It is nice to do laundry and take a hot shower in a big bathroom (yay for the amenities of modern life!) Edison and I got on board the sailboat, Fearless, on Friday and it has been a big learning experience for us all.

Before I get ahead of myself, here is a snapshot from Memorial Day. We celebrated the day at Eben's sister's house and the whole family was there. (his 2 1/2 y.o. cousin Will was not willing to be photographed...) It was a beautiful, sunny day for a BBQ. Thanks, Marleigh!
Here is the sailboat, Fearless, that we are sailing on. We are borrowing it for the summer from Eben's father. Eben rode the dinghy out to take a picture of the boat in the fog. The weather has been nice one morning and raining the next. We started in Newport, RI, worked our way up to Bristol, RI in Narragansett Bay, to meet up with a bunch of Eben's Coast Guard buddies. I'll put some pictures of that picnic on the blog in another post. Then we spent three nights at the idyllic Block Island, RI (more on that in a later post). Last night we stopped at Fisher's Island, CT and are now docked at the CG Academy in New London for the day.
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How do you take a baby on a week-long sailing trip? Great question. Let me know if you have any ideas. This is what we've come up with so far - gates. This one lets Edison roam in the dining area while keeping him out of the kitchen and aft cabins. I wonder when he'll figure out how to get over it.
Here is another gate - this one is at the top of the stairs so that Edison can play in the cockpit area while we are cruising or sitting outside. This has the added function of serving as a teething bar. (His eighth tooth is finally coming in.)




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I think he likes it on board the boat.

Retrospective

Since Eben took the camera with him on the sailboat and I can't upload any of the new pictures, I will do a retrospective this week. I like to call it, "Edison of all seasons." I am not sure when I will post a new entry next week as we are heading out on Friday for a week (?) of sailing and that is one arena that wifi has yet to penetrate. I am hopeful that Edison will tolerate the sailboat and not get into too much trouble.

Here is a look back at Edison over the past 10 months. I can't believe how much he has changed!

Edison at 2 months:

At four months:









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At six months:
At eight months:
And at 10 months:
What changes does he have in store coming up? Updates: fourth bottom tooth is now peeking through the gum - hooray for symmetry! Also, Edison learned how to clap last week - very fun. Also can wave "hi" or "bye bye." He is trying hard to say "cat" - he is obsessed. But it doesn't sound quite like it yet. Might be his first word, though.

Lucky Number Seven

Eben & I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary on Monday. We finally took our friend Mike up a babysitting offer (had to do it before he moves to CA next month). We headed up to the Mohegan Sun Casino to see if number seven really was lucky for us. Actually, we only gambled $20 at craps and didn't see a return. Mostly we enjoyed strolling around the huge venue and marveling at the fantastic architecture and design work. My favorite spot was a three-story lounge designed to look like a mountain of illuminated stained glass/marble with a planetarium ceiling. Wow! (I guess that's where our money went...)




Is it football season yet? (Look at that adorable kiester!)




The timing was a little off, but isn't he just a peach in this moment?
We are now eating most of our lunches out on the deck - very convenient - I don't have to worry about crumbs or dropped food.
I think this was last Friday morning. It is one of the most remarkable skies I've ever seen (click to enlarge to see what I mean). I think it was about 60ish and almost drizzling. But everything that morning was so soft.

Happy Mother's Day!

I enjoyed a wonderful first Mother's Day this past weekend. We slept in, played with Edison in bed, lazed around the house in the sunshine, went running, visited with our good friends, and then Eben took us out to eat at a local Indian restaurant. Edison picked out a pretty bouquet of yellow flowers (apparently he kept hitting the same bouquet time Eben would walk by with him). I love flowers!

Guess where Edison got his beautiful eyes?
This is Edison cuddling with my old teddy bear. They get along really well.
Edison loves the kitty cats. Too bad the feelings are not mutual.
With a gate up, Edison can play out on the deck.
We tried to find a good lifejacket or flotation device for Edison to wear while we are out on the boat this summer. This one didn't make the cut, but it was fun to try it on.


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May 2009 - Good Friends

Edison enjoyed great times with his friends (as did we with their parents) this week. Jay and Suz came to visit and brought with them Xavier (3 years old), and Jazelle (in the background, she is 15 mos.). We went to the town playground and then hit the beach.
Edison loved to crawl in the sand. He is really quick at crawling and can cover long distances. He left a 25 yard trail behind him as he dragged his legs through the sand. Luckily it was dry sand and brushed right off. I still haven't figured out my beach-going strategy yet, I hate getting sand everywhere, maybe I need to just "let go."
On Saturday we celebrated Edison's pal Tomer's one year birthday. (Tomer is the one with all the cake on his face.) I don't know if they really knew what was going on, but they sure had fun! Thanks for the terrific party Maya!
Couldn't you just eat him up with a spoon?
What a big boy he is getting to be!



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World Travelers

Our little family has had a busy few days. On Tuesday, Eben flew to Germany to be with his twin brother who was injured in a suicide bombing attack in Iraq. Despite the full body armor, he sustained some injuries and was flown from Iraq to an Army hospital in Germany. On Saturday they flew to Washington D.C. where he will undergo more treatment and will thankfully make a full recovery. Eben returned home Monday night.

Meanwhile, we had plans to attend my grandmother's memorial service in Tennessee. She was 96 and had led a full life and it was much more to celebrate her life than anything. Since we used frequent flier miles, and planned our trip around Eben's work schedule, our flight was awful - leave at 6:30A Friday from Newark, return 11:59P Saturday. So I ended up booking a hotel in Newark for Thursday night and took advantage of its location by driving to NYC early Thursday and was finally able to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I love this picture of Edison with the Statue of Liberty in the background. I did the audio tour and learned to look at the Statue in a new way. My favorite epiphany has to do with her movement - she is actually walking forward and thrusting the torch up as she looks towards the "Old World" - what a sense of purpose!
A short ferry ride from New Jersey (or Manhattan) is needed to reach the monuments. What you don't see right now is about 100 6th graders going crazy on the top deck of the ferry. But if they're excited about a social studies field trip, I'm all for it!
On 3 of the 4 legs of our flight, I had an open seat next to me and Edison rode in his car seat. This worked very well. I was worried about our 4 hour layover in Chicago Friday morning. But luckily I happened upon an exhibit sponsored by the Chicago Children's Museum. It is a mini-museum based on flight - tons of stuff to play with and climb on. Here is Edison at the pilot's controls (not on the real plane - yet).
I booked us a nice hotel in Tennessee because I wanted to use the pool. Of course, we never had the time to swim, but the fluffy comforter and abundant pillows were really fun. Can you count all seven of Edison's teeth?
Tennessee was lovely this time of year - azaleas and dogwoods blooming like crazy. I was very happy to see my cousin Matt. Uncle Matt is a big fan of Edison, even using Edison's picture for his profile pic on Facebook - too funny! On a side note, Edison is starting to play peek-a-boo. He hides himself behind a towel - holding it up high with his chubby arms outstretched. (Unfortunately I am having trouble finding a picture of this.)

Naked Baby Alert

Eben took the camera with the other pictures of the week, so I hurredly took a few of Edison with our other camera today. Edison was all about being naked today - it was a struggle just to get him to hold still long enough to get a diaper on him. But you probably can't tell this because Edison has developed a love affair with the camera. No matter what he is doing, as soon as the camera comes out, he stops, stares, and smiles. No kidding - that is how I've gotten all of these wonderful pictures over the last few months. My friends think it is hilarious and it has now turned into a party game at play dates - Edison has never failed. So - here are just some pictures of him, nothing in particular going on.


Naked by the fridge.


Naked with a diaper clutch.

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Naked in the playroom in front of his favorite toy - a music table.

Naked in the bathtub.

Dressed (!) with his buddy Tomer. Tomer's mom, Maya, took me out for a belated birthday lunch today at a great restaurant (one of the few here) called Olio. We had a super time. Edison & Tomer made dopey faces at each other in their high chairs and banged on the table for more Cheerios...