Into Everything

This little guy had (in addition to the broken leg) a bloody lip and a bloody nose this week. Last week he climbed out of and fell out of his crib - with a broken leg. He is into EVERYTHING. But boy is he cute. His language is absolutely adorable. He says almost everything in a mono-syllabic overly emphasized way. "Ploy! COME. BACK. HERE. NOW!" "Water. Get it!" He slept especially poorly the night before last and yesterday I was trying to talk to him about it. I said, "Remick, you were screaming at me all night long and mommy didn't like it!" His response, with a smile, "Mommy! Out!" He totally understood what I was saying and totally knew he had been screaming unneccesarily that night. I said I didn't want him to do that again. He said, "awight, I won't." And amazingly, that worked. He gets the cast off this week and he is so excited to go swimming like big brother, who has been taking swimming lessons. He is so cute.

Recovery

Well, it's taken me all week to recover from a trip to DC last weekend with 20 exchange students. It was lots of fun, but lots of work too, and I came home minus my camera battery, battery charger, and card reader. I in fact took about three pictures in DC with my phone because I left the battery at the hotel after exhausting it taking pictures of my new nephew, Hudson Cash Beal, who I had the pleasure of meeting on Friday. So tiny and adorable! As soon as I find a card reader, I'll post some lovelies of him.

So any way, I thought I post a few of Matty and Rudy from two weeks ago that were sweet. I'm so glad they seem to be "settling" around here, and not trying to disperse like the rest of the Mattys:)

A sequence

In the span of one minute my guy can give me all of this:



This kid is completely adorable and exhausting in the same breath. He is really into flying (jumping from one couch to the other over and over again with accompanying noise), playing pirates (which includes a lot of swords), building forts (inside and out), eating, eating, and eating (if someone else has food, he should too. just ask him. this irritates Raph to no end), digging roads in the compost pile (I think I might have mentioned the impact this has had on the laundry load), and swimming (major improvement over his first lesson which involved encouragement, bribery, threats) He's still obsessed with Lightning McQueen, though it's not really genuine any more. He is instantly attracted to anything "Lightning" but doesn't really play with them that much any more. He whines a lot despite my best efforts to ignore it. He likes his garden a lot, but might seriously not see anything grow because he insists on raking it every day. He insists on dressing himself every morning, often the second he gets out of bed and will absolutely not let me make suggestions as to what goes together. And speaking of "absolutely" - this is his new favorite word. As in, "This fleece (size 12-24 month) will absolutely fit me."

Until the next time

We had a little going away party for Abram, Ny and the kids this weekend. I can't believe they are really moving to Thailand. I would LOVE to visit them, so I hope that could be in the picture! But I am genuinely worried that we'll never see them again. More of the great Matty dispersal. We will definitely miss them.

Poor Ploy is already learning to run away from the boys, which I'm sure she'll be doing a lot of in her life! Remick is just the first of many to follow Ploy around!



Look at this pile of cuties!

Kinda the Same, but different...

Five years ago today, I woke up to a morning like this:and today, we certainly lacked the sunshine, but we definitely had snow:

And today, I got to wake up in an almost finished room in my own house and then shortly thereafter see these two crazies too - with bad bed head and stickers on their noses and all sorts of silliness.

But five years ago, our day was different. We gathered under a pine tree in the snow surrounded by our friends and family and said vows. Five years ago today Raph and I forged a super-human-life-bond (as it said on our wedding invitations).

Our lives have changed so much in five years and sometimes I miss things about our old lives - independence, quiet:), etc., but I never wish I was in it without Raph. Never.

Rudy turned one, but my camera died.

Little Rudy turned one this weekend. He's practically just as big as Remick and about equally as demanding at the moment, but he is SO cute, and serious. Matty had a little birthday party for him which was fun. They're living in Raph's Aunt Pammy's house, since she moved to the Caribbean, and it was fun to see them in a house. And we got one of our last glimpses of Abram and Ny and the kids before they go back to Thailand next week. The great Matty dispersal! When we moved back here, we came to be near family, and they almost all moved away since then! I miss the old days, but I understand people need to move on I guess. Anyway, Rudy's a cutie...

Mini Photo-shoot with Mary and Peter

Mary is one of my farmer friends, even though she really isn't a farmer either. She lives on an absolutely dreamy farm though, and she does their education side, since she is a teacher too. Her husband is the vegetable farmer on the otherwise organic dairy farm. I was so excited to finally meet little Peter who is complete love. My kids were a bit wild in her 300+ year old farm worker dwelling, but she took it in like air. It was a good glimpse into her future anyway. She's so cool. I have girl-crush on her. And Peter. And their adorable house on the river. And she's crafty. Did I mention my girl-crush...
Remick took the picture below. That's the nicest picture of a pair of lips ever. Apparently he's meant for photography:)

Random updates.

We've had a lot of inside action this week between the broken leg and some chilly weather. I got this marble run at the dump on Wed, which has provided pretty much constant entertainment for the boys. Please note Remick wearing the rubber glove given to Makili by the Orthopedist on Thurs. Treasure! Both gloves are now in the freezer full of water for some fun this week.One day this week (they've all sort of blurred together at this point?) I woke up and though I saw an owl outside in our field. I was SO excited and hustled the boys to the window even though they didn't really care that much. So I threw my coat on and went outside to get a closer look. I looked up Maine owls on the internet and couldn't find one that looked like it, so I followed it all down the street to get a closer look before I finally decided that it was actually a baby hawk, which upon further research I now believe to be a Cooper's Hawk. I am pretty hopeful he'll call this area home.
This is an exciting new addition in our house - an upstairs bathroom!!!
And the barnwood floors now with finish in our bedroom. They look awesome and I sort of feel the need to give a little "I told you so" to all those who doubted me when I was out there pulling board off the barn in 40 degree weather. It was SO worth it!!
And I'm trying to remember this smiling face when I'm about to lose it from the whining. Thursday was great after he got the cast, but Friday I almost lost my shit. This kid is off, and it isn't just the broken leg. I don't know if he's sick or what but he has not been himself.
This is obviously pre-broken leg, but I just think it is so cute how Remick wants to do everything his brother does. Of course sometimes that leads to broken bones, but sometimes it's cute.
And this moment, I am enjoying some blissful serenity. My family went up to Ann's last night while I was at work. I think this is actually the first time I have ever been away from them both over night. I got to sleep in my own bed and lay there awake this morning. I got to do a little sewing and listen to great music. I got to blog and drink my coffee without waiting on anybody else. It was just the refresher I needed for another week.

Glimpsing Other's Lives

Watching Remick so quickly make due with his cast, scooting all over the floor with his cast sticking out ahead of him like a compass, almost brings me to tears. Okay, so it does bring me to tears, but I'm not known for hiding my emotions. I've read a few blogs of people whose children are battling pediatric cancer or prematurity, and they often talk about their children's ability to life life fully, bravely facing the obstacles in their way. They talk about the unfairness of having their children deal with such adversity. I in know way can begin to fully understand what have experience, I will say that seeing Remick make due with his cast, find new ways to aggravate his brother, and get around, and not seem at all affected by his obstacle gives me glimpses of these feelings. I feel badly that he can't jump off the couch like he normally does, that he won't be able to run around in the grass (though it's covered in snow this morning) now that we can finally go outside, that he won't get to go swimming in the pool we've booked for a few weeks from now. I am so thankful our period of adversity is so short. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a child battling adversity forever. To see them and know all that they were missing out on, and to watch them face it all with a smile on their face. I really can't imagine that.