Haven

As you can see from this picture, the kid really should get a lot more air time on this blog than he does.

Hiding

Claire is really into hiding on us these days. She actually does have a few decent places (under her covers, in her closet, etc...), but, every now and then, she falls back to the old standby depicted here.

Ollie's Birthday

For her birthday party this year, Ollie chose a leotard/cooking theme. The pinata just topped it all off. Here's claire's shot:

Thanksgiving in VT / Picking out a Tree

We spent Thanksgiving in VT again this year, which has become a tradition that we intend to keep. Another tradition that we might add to the mix for the day after Thanksgiving is going to pick out a tree at the farm that my dad has always relied on... These are a few shots from that trip. Instead of getting a tree that afternoon, however, we picked ours up at a streetside collection of pre-wrapped trees just before the place closed down on a Sunday evening. Not quite the same idyllic scene...

The Princess and the Tiger

Because we were still between homes, we did Halloween up in Lainesville, and went trick or treating with the Sauders and the Browns. Claire was a Princess... More specifically, Princess Presto from SuperWhy (a show on PBS). Haven, the Tiger, tagged along in the Baby Bjorn, while everyone else ran from door to door, tripping over one another and rushing to be the first up the next front walk or set of stairs. There were even sparklers for everyone at the end of the evening. A great time before the big move.

Drinkin' Buddies

This picture is screaming for a lucrative licensing deal with Horizon Organics Chocolate Milk. (And yes, that is a rolling pin slide behind Claire.) Leaning casually next to the slide is Claire's adorable friend Anya.

Russell Orchards

Apple-picking and cider donuts at Russell Orchards is a highlight of every fall. It only gets better with Claire in on the picking and eating. Haven slept most of the time, but woke up long enough for us to catch him looking just as he always looks when he's up: perfectly content.

The Kite Runner

One of our labor day weekend activities was to attempt to fly a kite at Lynch Park on an utterly windless day. Claire stayed positive by running constantly and refusing to look back and realize that she was merely dragging the kite through the sand.

New Bathtime Tradition

Once this feat is accomplished, the next required step is to lift her soaked and slippery body out of the tub so that she can see herself in the mirror.

Brother and Sister

Yankees v. Red Sox

Here's hoping Claire and Ollie's friendship will manage to bridge the massive divide depicted in this picture.

S'mores

One more catch-up post. We finally started to make use of the fire-pit at Kris's parents' house on lake wentworth this summer. This shot is of Claire and Ollie while enjoying their s'mores...

The Boy

These are some of the very few shots we've taken of the boy. Not great... We will improve.

Lion Sweater

Kris won this sweater through a blog she follows - juniorsociety.com. It was hand-knit by women in Kenya. You can see them, and more, here:
www.totoknits.com. Claire loves hers.

lake wentworth

Although Kris is the one with the boating license, Claire has logged several more hours behind the wheel.

4th of July

So, with September coming soon, and us at least somewhat recovered from our scare with Haven (some uncertainty still lingers) we're finally catching up on some blog posts from the summer, starting with the 4th of July. It has become a tradition to head up to Meg & Tim's for Lainesville's version of the Fourth - one of the less traditional celebrations of the birth of our country. Meg & Tim were ready with the biggest slip & slide in Essex County, and a robot outfit for Claire.

Haven's Hospital Visit

For those who don't already know, we had to admit Haven to Children's Hospital in Boston this past week because of some small hemorrhages that were discovered on the part of his brain called the cerebellum. We stayed there with him from Thursday to Saturday ("stayed" not "slept" -- Kris shared Haven's crib with him and Steven rested on a pull-out chair) for a series of tests and exams to identify the possible cause for what they discovered. Gratefully, the additional testing that they wanted to do resulted in no new information regarding the hemorrhages, and the doctors have no reason to believe that whatever actually happened to cause them would ever happen again. Because they could not identify a cause, we are left with some uncertainty, but we are extremely grateful that they did not discover any additional problems, and remain hopeful that whatever happened will not have any lasting effect. Thanks to everyone who was thinking about us and praying for us during this difficult time. It is great to be back home with our family.

More of Haven

A few more shots of the new addition:

Memorial Day Ice Cream

We are obviously posting this picture from Memorial Day somewhat belatedly, but we think Haven gives us a good excuse to be somewhat behind on a few things. We got together with the Goodros and Stewarts for Memorial Day, and walked to an ice cream shop after enjoying a cookout. Grace would have been in this picture, but she had to leave a little early with her parents so that Wendy could go deliver baby Ian. (He was born just a few hours after this picture was taken.) Anyway, we loved this shot of the cousins together, so thought it was worth the late post.

He's finally arrived...

...and we're finally posting some pictures:







The stats: 8 lbs. 14 oz.; 20.5 inches; APGAR at 9 by 5 minutes of life. So far, so good. More to come...

39 Weeks

As much as I usually try to avoid pregnancy pictures, an early evening at the beach turned out to be a good way to document what I hope are some of the last days before our son's debut.

NH Getaway

With potentially no more than two weekends left before our boy arrives, and having grown tired of abandoning our home at least once a weekend for a showing that yields nothing more than the standard complaints about the neighborhood, we decided to get away to lake wentworth today. Claire never manages a nap when we arrive here, so she spent almost the entire day outside - fitting in some quality time with dad. Here's a few other great shots from the day:

Claire is 2 (almost)

So, Claire does not officially turn 2 until June 1st, but, considering the likelihood that her little brother may arrive before then, we wanted to give her her own special day before her world collides with another little baby. In the video below, you can see the difficulty she had with blowing the candles out on her own. At Claire's request, "Papi" stepped in to help.

Road Trip

The weekend of our first open house seemed like a good time to get away. We traveled first to Jerm & Sue's in Delaware, where we spend the majority of the weekend. On our way home, we fit in visits to Grandma Veenema in New Jersey, and to Will, Kim, and baby Siena in their new place in Brooklyn.

Here's Sue and I, each 31 weeks pregnant:



Claire and Eden loved being together...



Cousins and their daughters. Is that second cousins?



Will and Siena (she is adorable, and sweet, and so small).