Love, Erika

Shameless Dorkery

Go ahead and laugh. I will understand. But you know that feeling when you occasionally get a great haircut. Something so simple makes you feel so good. I haven't had a look change in many, many years, and I haven't had bangs since 2002.

Parker in the Field

Today Parker didn't take his nap. Which is not all that unusual. Most days he does, but sometimes (increasingly so) he opts out of it, and on days like today I go in there after listening to ignoring him jumping around and squealing for over 35 minutes, I find him naked from the neck down, diaper flung across the room, and one arm stuck out of the neckhole of his shirt. He says "Good morning! I'm wake up!"

So apparently he has some energy to burn so I bundle us up and we go for a walk in the pumpkin field. I cannot stand to look at him for ONE MORE MINUTE in that green coat he's been wearing for two years, so I find another coat in the closet which I thought was too big but actually wasn't so bad. It was very cold today, but still such a pretty day and I've been enjoying the winter landscape so much this winter (because there's no snow yet!) I do love a snowless winter because it reminds me of home and it FEELS like a proper winter to me. I rather like it. The pumpkin field is vast and stark and empty. We saw one lone turkey who looked like it had one leg hopping around in the lower part. Then he flew away.

He found a golf ball in the field, and asked me to take a picture of it. :)


It was a much better way to spend an afternoon than sleeping, I think. Parker likes these pictures, he looks at them and talks about his gray coat, blue shoes, hat, and his teeth. :) And he likes the walk in the field.

Drew's First Race

Today Drew did his first race as an official registered participant: The Millenium Mile in Londonderry. He did so awesome, and was soooo excited all day long waiting to go. He kept saying proudly, "I'm a big boy today. I'm bigger. I'm taller now? I'm big today."

He got his number:

It was hard for him to stand around and wait, because you have to get there soooo early to find parking and stuff, and then wait around as the crowds throngs get bigger and louder, and the music blares louder, and the guy talking on the VERY LOUD speaker gets louder. Poor Drew. He almost lost it, but he reeaaaaalllllllly wanted to do this so he pulled himself together and got through it. His self-regulating abilities are becoming very impressive!

After I dropped him off at the starting area with Dave, I went and drove to the finish line so I could be ready to take pictures of them when they came across.He loved people cheering for him and was just beaming with pride, and a little bit overwhelmed too. We bribed him with gummy snacks for finishing and he was absolutely hellbent on getting to those.

I had the most amazing shot of the finish line, with the two of them crossing over. I had worked and planned and positioned myself in the most particular way to get lined up for this awesome shot but right as it happened this big frizzy haired woman with a Ron Paul bumper sticker across the back of her shirt got RIGHT between me and Dave & Drew. SO irritated. REALLY???

Happy New Year!

I hope everybody has a wonderful New Year!  Thank you to all of you who take the time to stop by my blog and leave comments. I ♥ you all!

It was a very busy, full year. I know we're definitely in a better place at the end of this year than we were at the beginning, so I know anytime you can say that at the end of a year, you're doing all right. I think we're doing all right.

Some memorable events from 2011 were:

• Drew's autism diagnosis in March. Only good things have come from this, and as a result two very important people have come into our lives: Cass, his speech therapist, and Isabelle, his OT. Both of these ladies have given us such amazing insights into Drew and what his specific needs are and how to meet them. As a result, Drew has accomplished many things we never thought he'd be doing, and it's wonderful to see him develop and grow and turn into such a cute and sweet little guy who can now communicate. Which is priceless.
• My little business became official when I registered as an LLC this year. Woohoo! I'm lucky because I can take it as big or as small as I like, and it doesn't really matter if I fail. Of course, I'm not in it to fail, but it's great to be able to grow at a rate that feels right to me. I like the direction that I'm headed in, and I feel that my work is growing in a way that's bringing me clients that respect my work for its quality. I put in a LOT of hours into my work. Not only just the shooting and editing, but also blog post planning, website work, constant tweaking of pricing (and researching), constant learning from any information I can get my hands on..... it's truly something takes up much more of my time than anybody would ever know.
• Two trips home to NC this year! Most of my evaluations of a year are based on how many times I got to go home, and this year there were only two but they were great ones. And pretty long too!  Lots of good time spent with my family and friends, including my 15 year high school reunion.
• Our first overnight trips as a family this year happened with our two trips to Storyland. Very fun, and I'm glad our kids are at such great ages that we can enjoy it for the next several years.

 

• 

 

Christmas 2011

It is a messed up thing when I truly believe and worry that my family's memories of an event won't be there unless I blog about it. But this blog has been a safekeeping place for all of our notable events (and some not so much) for a good 6 years now, so why mess with it. :)

Christmas this past year was good. It was interesting to note that Drew and Parker had roughly the same amount of understanding of Santa Claus, despite a 2 year difference. Drew had a little bit more, but all in all they were roughly the same. When I put Parker to bed each night for the few weeks leading up to Christmas, he would always want me to tell him about Santa and the presents and the tree, and the reindeer and the whole bit. He was amazed.

Drew was also a rock star. When anybody would ask him what he wanted for Christmas, he would automatically say "a dinosaur." And people who didn't know any better would go--oh how nice, a dinosaur. But those of us who know him well enough--i.e. Dave and I--know perfectly well that the only reason he said that was because it was from that episode of Caillou. Drew still very much learns by example. He's a visual learner, and by watching tv shows like Caillou, that explain things in tedious detail, he learns what expected behaviors are, and how to react, and what to do and say...... he learns by observation, and emulation. In reality, he didn't really have anything in particular that he wanted. At least nothing that he could understand enough in his mind to formulate a thought about to ask of a man in a red suit for a holiday he is struggling to comprehend..... it's all a little too much for him. So he asked for a dinosaur, like Caillou, because it was familiar to him, and he had seen it done before.

BUT Drew actually sat with Santa at the mall, and kept saying that he did want to go and see Santa. I kind of disbelieved him, because I remembered so vividly last year waiting in line only to have him flip out at the last minute. But he was certain of what he wanted, and he did great. And he told Santa he wanted "a dinosaur", of course. That was actually a great day for us, because we went to the mall and visted Santa, and then we went to have lunch at Five Guys and it all went beautifully. We made it back home in time for school with just minutes to spare. :)

Santa Baby Rewind

Not much new to share, so I'll post some cute baby pics from when the boys were both 6ish months old. This was a cute age, but I'm soooooo glad we're well past that now. :) I love the fact that Parker wants me to tell him about Santa every night as I'm tucking him in, and he talks about him flying in the sky, and opening presents and about how we went to the mall today to see Santa, and Drew sat with him but Parker was scared and sad. He TOLD me this. Something about how Drew asked for a dinosaur and Parker wants a train. That kid is amazing.

Christmas Tree

We went to pick out our tree today. Forgoing the precut trees that we usually get at the little church down the road which are always brittle and dry by the time we get them (not to mention from Canada), we went to a local place (Berry Good Farm) and cut our own. Very enjoyable since the weather has been so nice! I think it would have been a completely different experience if there had been snow, so I'm glad it worked out favorably.

The kids were excited, running around. Drew kept wanting to get the15 foot trees. It was kind of funny, when we finally cut down the one we wanted, he was sort of quiet as Dave carried it back to the car. When I asked what was wrong, he said softly, "This tree is not so big." Poor guy! He had a hard time envisioning how big it would really be inside our house.

When we got it home he was very excited when he saw, that yes, it was plenty big. I LOVE this tree. I don't know what kind it is, but it has such a wonderful rustic shape to it rather than the big fluffball that we often end up with. Too bad I had to waste it on colored lights. :) Drew really wanted colored lights, so that's what I did.

Unfortunately my cold is so bad that I don't even know if it smells good. Dave says it does.

Segway Tour!

So a while back, Dave and I did a Segway tour. I'm just now getting the photos, which is why I didn't blog it earlier. :) I had taken my fancy camera with intentions of taking it with us, but as it turned out, there was no way I could have hauled that thing around my neck while trying to concentrate on driving the "personal transporter." Ha! It looks easy, and it is, eventually, but it sure was hard (for me) in the beginning. I was super slow!

Here we are getting oriented inside the store before heading out to the parking lot to continue orientation. No, don't adjust your video, it's not in slow motion. :) That's really me creeping along like an old lady. VERY skittish at first.

 

It took me a while to get up to speed (such as my speed was) but I did catch on, and did okay with it. In fact, I completed the whole tour which was miles and miles on that thing. Seriously, it was SO FAR. We just kept going and going, all the way down Elm St, down to the Hilton and the Fishercats Stadium, way down the Riverwalk/ Rail Trail, and finally over the Hands Across the Merrimack Bridge, waaaaaaay down to the end at Kelley St. And THEN, turn around and all way back to Hanover St. Phew!  It was very scenic and very neat. It was actually the first time I'd ever been down any of that area, but for Dave it wasn't new since he goes running down that very trail often. I thought it was cool.

It's a strange feeling to travel that far and not move a muscle. It got uncomfortable after a while. I kind of felt like it would have  been easier to walk that distance, because you're not just standing there not doing anything. But it was fun, a novelty. People see that stuff around here so often that they don't take much notice but it was a fun geek experience and something that you don't get to do every day. :) Good times!

Dave didn't like the way he looked in his helmet, so I'm not allowed to show that picture. :)

It's not even DECEMBER yet!

What is going on with Christmas this year? Was Thanksgiving early this year or something??  I can't even believe how far into the Christmas season we are already and it's not even December. Oh well. I guess we need something kind of special and magical to get us through these dark months of winter, so it must be a good thing.

I took advantage of a RARE moment today to take a picture of our "fireplace" with the stockings up. Believe me, it does NOT look like this normally. Our chimney and woodstove are being cleaned/inspected tomorrow, so all the crap around the woodstove has been removed and pulled out of the way for that. Normally it has a baby fence all around it, with all kinds of crap piled up on the inside around it. Classy. It's  been about two years since I've seen it so clean and nice, so I took a picture so it would last longer. :)

Seriously?

Grrrr!  I honestly did not believe that the world functioned in this manner anymore..... the internet is not as universal as I thought. No matter!! My signed preordered copy of Australian Idle has been on its way to me (via slow boat)  for over a week now and should be here in a while. :)