back out for dinner

we did it! we ventured out to our favorite mexican restaurant which was a friday night staple for dan and myself pre-donovan. dan and i consider ourselves to be pretty laid back people and since donovan we seem to be on edge when taking him to public places because yes we are those people who are afraid that donovan will cry. i know that may seem silly but that is just who we are....also we are those people that use to roll our eyes when children cried in public places so we know karma is not on our side. it took us 14 weeks to try.....and we sat clinching our fists and making sure the waiter knew that we needed him to stay close in case of meltdown.....but we made it. no meltdowns and we made it through our entire meal!

otter lake 2010

that is right we did it. we successfully completed our first family vacation. each year we visit dan's family in ny in july and this year we got to introduce donovan. i was super nervous about the trip but it went off without a hitch. what usually takes us 12 hours took us 15 spread over 2 days with a hotel stay in pennsylvania each way. dan and donovan had their first sleepover in the hotel while buck and i had the other bed. dan and i were like a well trained pit crew as we stopped to feed, change, let donovan stretch, and walk buck.

we arrived on saturday afternoon in time for dinner with dan's dad and jackie. don and the kids came as well as steve and our fsil robin. we had a great time showing donovan off and spending the night with donovan in dan's childhood home.

sunday morning we did our grocery shopping and headed to the head of the adirondacks where dan's family camp is at otter lake. there we spend the week with dan's mom, stepdad, 7 siblings and their families. we spend our days at the dock and shopping in old forge and our nights playing cards and shuffleboard.

some highlights of the trip were that donovan slept until 7:30am every morning but one, which we were very excited about. he seems to love big crowds and lots of noise...donovan is the 14th grandchild and was one of 28 people and 6 dogs packed in 2 houses for the week. we have often worried about donovan having too much stimulation, but it turns out he gets fussy at home because we bore him :) we got to celebrate our godson, nolan's, first birthday with him complete with cake enough for us all to eat all week. dan and i got to leave 2 mornings to run some errands while donovan's aunt colleen babysat. and last but not least we got a surprise visit from dan's brother kevin who told us he could not come. he parked at a neighbor's house and snorkeled in to surprise everyone.


we look forward to donovan enjoying otter lake with his cousins for years to come. he has lots of tubing and skiing and card playing and shuffleboard to learn.....and an awesome family to teach him how :)

uncle matthew comes to visit

donovan got to meet matthew......or i guess i should say matthew got to meet donovan....well uncle and nephew met. i was super excited about it because donovan made matthew an uncle and i wanted to see the relationship unfold. matthew and i share the same view that babies are really blobs until they have neck muscles and can talk......well i use to have that view and then i had a baby. when you spend almost every waking minute with a baby you realize how much they have to learn and experience, and how quickly they begin to catch on. matthew was able to see this first hand when he taught donovan how to play on his ipad. donovan is really into his hands right now so he was able to touch the screen to make colors and music. it was cool because matthew could see from day to day of playing how donovan was catching on. donovan is still a blob to matthew, but donovan looks forward to trips to disney and broadway with uncle matthew when they can chat and donovan can hold his head up.

4th of july

this 4th of july was VERY different from years past but was hands down the best weekend i have had in about 11 months. dan took off work on friday to stain the deck and fence which meant we were able to hang out and relax the rest of the weekend. as i rethink the details i realize it really is not that interesting just fun, and frankly all american. the highlights......meeting up with a girlfriend friday night, grilled foods all weekend (because i watch a ridiculous amount of tv these days i had lots of new recipes...including grilled coleslaw--delicious) , farmer's market, neighborhood parade, smoking some bbq...which means creating the living room in the garage, great ipod mix, family walk and then picking matthew up from the airport to meet donovan.

our usual 4th of july is spending a very long day on the lake with other no children couples. i was wondering how this weekend would go since we traded our boat for a baby, but i think that we have settled in nice to our new life. ....but a boat would probably settle in nice with us as well :)

feeling like wonder woman

i mentioned earlier in the blog that i feel like my life, since donovan, is a game of tetris. each day is started by setting the schedule for the day and then placing bets in my head on how the day will end. this game of tetris use to be my biggest fear and now it is making me feel like a super hero.


after a long labor and recovery from a c-section i am realizing how much recovery i needed to go through, and how hard i was on myself in the beginning of this journey. i remember being in a state of constant panic on how i was ever going to be able to function with a baby. more than anything it was logistics of my life. lugging a car seat, driving alone with donovan.......the thought of going to the grocery store with a baby by myself was impossible in my mind. it was not until donovan was a month old that i felt that i could set goals for myself that would involve leaving my house. i had spent several weeks going through the logistics in my head of being mobile with baby. what if he has a meltdown in the car? what if he has a meltdown in public? do i use the stroller, carrier or baby bjorn? what if the car is too hot to put him into? what if he blows through the diaper?....and my answer to all of these questions....just abort mission. so i put my cape on and began reclaiming my life.

my first goal was taking a walk with our dog and the baby.....when i completed this i felt like a super hero. meeting my first goal left me feeling so fantastic that i set a new goal......take donovan to an outdoor mall to walk around and maybe stroll through barnes and noble if i am feeling brave.......done. i often see people working on computers in business suits and think "you sir have no idea how hard i am working right now". the next week i realized we were running low on frozen meals from mama and i thought new goal.....cook dinner for the family. and so i did. next goal...... play date involving interstate driving. next goal.......... host play date. drum roll please...and next goal.......grocery store, alone, on double coupon day....done! i have never walked with my head held higher then when i grocery shop while lugging a diaper bag on my back, coupon folder in hand, and baby in cart....without parking in the "mother with young children parking" spot. it seems so long ago that i was living out of my bedroom. in just 10 weeks i have gone from invalid to full functioning mom. it is true that if you can be a mom you can do anything....or at least that is what it feels like.

****i am often so proud of my travels that i take pictures with my phone and send them to dan during the day to show off. so these are some pics to document my super hero activity. first trip to target (w/dan to learn the stroller), first walk around the neighborhood, first walk at birkdale, shopping with donovan, donovan looking out of bjorn.****