Weekend in Vermont

There has been a problem with the slideshow feature for some, so here is the link, Weekend in Vermont

Kaleb made his first trip up to the Riebe cabin in Vermont. We left early on Saturday morning and he slept all the way up there. We had great weather the entire time with the exception of a relatively short rain shower on Saturday evening. Kaleb slept in bed with us, I kept waking up throughout the night because of various reasons. Jennifer was still recovering from her cold, but she seemed to sleep okay. We got a chance to wander down by the stream and even celebrated Jennifer's 30th birthday. It was a great weekend and Kaleb behaved very well, which was very nice.

Today was Jennifer's 30th birthday. We didn't really do anything to special because she had "Parent/Teacher" night at school, I got her a new Citizen's watch that doesn't use a battery, but instead gets its power from ambient and solar light. She did manage to come home for about an hour to feed Kaleb. My mom dropped him off and also brought dinner and a pumpkin cheesecake for Jennifer. I then got the fun task of getting Kaleb to sleep. He had been fussy all day and dinner was no different, I think a combination of him being full from Jennifer feeding him and his general fussiness kept him from eating most of his dinner. He enjoyed the bath, but was upset when I tried to get him dressed. Luckily he fell asleep relatively quickly and now I am downstairs updating my LJ.

Keeg

Busy Week

Work has been crazy busy this week, but I finally found a chance to post some photos from the past week. Kaleb is doing very well and is really adjusting well to spending the day with my mom. I hope you enjoy the photos. This weekend we are going to Vermont for Kaleb's first trip to the Riebe cabin.

Keeg

Seven Months Old

Today marked seven months since Kaleb was born. We don't have exact numbers, but he weighs somewhere around 14 lbs and is about 25" tall. He has adjusted fairly well to Jennifer's return to work and is warming up to Gunnie. He is now eating solid food twice daily and has really expanded his repertoire to now include prunes, apricots, peaches, carrots, pears, applesauce, green beans, peas and sweet peas. He still doesn't like tummy time and usually cries after just a few minutes of it and so as a result hasn't had any success crawling. However, he does really like standing up and does a great job of walking if you hold his hands. We have been somewhat weak parents lately in that he spends half of the night in bed with us. It really just comes down to sleep deprivation and by having him in the bed, Jennifer can easily just feed him and he falls back to sleep on his own as opposed to having to rock him and spend an hour trying to get him back to sleep. The important thing is that he does start in his crib and spends some of the night there, if he could just learn to sleep longer we wouldn't have a problem.

Anyway that is it for now. Happy Seven Months little man!!!

Keeg

Kaleb: Minute 1

I was messing around with my phone last night and realized I never uploaded some of the photos I took immediately after Kaleb was born. So without further ado here are photos I took on my phone from the delivery room. Also included is his first photo with his mom.



Last night I went to the BoSox-Devil Rays game at Fenway and while it was exciting the Devil Rays blew an 8-1 lead and ended up losing 16-10.

Keeg

And then the rain came

After a couple scorchers we finally got some much needed rain. Saturday evenings brief rain showers marked the first measurable rain we have ever had while in the new house. The roof finally got its first test drive and I was finally able to see if the gutters were all hooked up correctly. The gutter on the shed is still sloping in the wrong direction, and the new gutter on the side seems to be leaking near the bottom, but no big deal there. I also made our first attempt at figuring out what animal is spending some time in our ceiling. We assumed it was a squirrel because there is an obvious hole in the soffit and because it seemed to be much bigger than a mouse. So I covered up the hole with computer paper and duct tape just to verify that something was coming in and out through the hole. It took a half day, but finally the paper had been pulled back and is now just dangling. I am not sure of the next step, from what I read we are going to have to catch the squirrel and move him or kill him because now that he has a home in there he will do whatever possible to get back inside, regardless of whether or not we cover over the hole.

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Megan and Jamison came over yesterday and we went over to my mom's to go swimming. Today we did a little shopping in the morning and then stayed home in the afternoon before Amy came over to visit us. At this point I am not sure what else to do in the yard, it might just be time to call it a year and start fresh in the spring. Now it is time to compose a list of all the things we need to do this fall and winter.
- Fix the drainage around the house
- Buy a de-humidifer for the basement
- New electrical panel
- Build/buy an arbor for all the grape vines out back
- Get rid of the giant stump in the back yard
- Fix the spigot outside
- Remove the rotting wood structure in the basement and replace it with lally columns
- Install a railing on the stairs
- Rid house of squirrel
- Railings for the deck
- Replace some rotting trim
- Get chimney checked out
- Put in new smoke detectors with a battery back up

It seems like quite a list, but I don't think any of the things are too crazy. I think I will certainly be busy this winter though.

Keeg

Mr. Mom

First here is a video of Kaleb stepping, it is his latest trick. He seems very excited about the prospect of joining the rest of us upright walkers.



Now that school has started up again for Jennifer I am shifting my work schedule around. Two days a week I will be at home with Kaleb during the day and then working at home in the evening. Yesterday was my first day and it went very well. We stuck to the schedule we had used for the earlier part of the week, to try and begin a routine. He was very good, taking two naps, both over an hour long and even drinking some milk from a bottle. We did some grocery shopping and also went for a walk later in the afternoon. It was certainly a long day, but it was great to hang out with my son.

Keeg

Quick Weekend Update

Our weekend on Cape Cod was a complete success. We really had a great time out there and I feel like I got a pretty solid taste of what it is all about. On Friday evening, we went took advantage of Jeff's over sand permit and drove down the beach in the Liberty. There were a couple seals, lots of wind and some big waves. On Saturday we went up to Provincetown to check out that whole scene. I think living in Somerville has desensitized me so I didn't see anything that seemed to out of the ordinary. After P-town we tried to find a restaurant and ended up in the middle of the woods, it was pretty crazy. We finally got to the restaurant, but the parking lot was full so we had to move across to the bay side and eat at a different restaurant. We stayed in that evening, played whiffle ball and cooked pizza on the grill. On Sunday we walked out on the beach at low tide in Brewster. It was really cool because you can walk about a mile from the beach and the water was less than knee deep. We saw all sorts of sea creatures including, but not limited to, moon snails, jelly fish and horseshoe crabs.

We rolled out of there around 12:15 with the intention of catching the final race of the Long Pond season at 2PM. Unfortunately the traffic was a bit crazy and we made it in time to catch the final three legs. Mark ended up winning the Long Pond Cup and also won the Labor Day Weekend races. I helped put the boats away and then we hopped back in the car to get Kaleb home in time for his regular bed time.

Kaleb has had a rough couple of days. First we had him in the car for most of Saturday and then again on Monday. Last night his schedule was pretty screwed up, so he was up kind of late. Today the day started off well, but since it was Jennifer's first day of school he had to go to my mom's house. He had a long day with a bunch of crying and as I type this he is awake and crying because of what is most likely constipation. Poor Three!!!

The good news is that he really likes to stand up. He still needs assistance, but has now started actually moving his feet like he is walking now. I keep hoping it won't be long before he can balance without assistance.

Okay time to get back to work. I added some new photos to my Cape Cod photos in my previous entry.

Keeg

Weekend on Cape Cod

Cara and Jeff were kind enough to invite us to spend the weekend with them in Brewster. I have never really been to Cape Cod except for a brief winter time excursion to Hyannis so it should be a great experience for me. Here are some photos I have already taken since we arrived this morning.



Here are some other photos from this past week.


Later,
Keeg