First Tooth

First Tooth! Already? At Six weeks? For two days of his fifth week, Parker was nursing a LOT. Frequently. After that two days, he slept. A LOT. I had chalked it up to a growth spurt, as we were nearing six weeks, and they seem to come at intervals of threes. Even tummy time wasn't sufficiently stimulating to keep him awake. Then today, I noticed there was something stuck to his cheek (which had, in turn, been stuck to his paci) and as I checked his mouth to see if there was any of the offending material in there for him to choke on, I noticed a little white spot on his gum. Lower left side. I tried to rub it off with my finger... but nope. Not only did it not rub off, it was hard. You have got to be kidding me! I ran downstairs to confirm with Ray. Yep, I am not imagining this. First tooth! Six weeks and 1 day.

All Good Things...

Uncle Buck had asked how the Sonata was holding up. It's doing well, but needs breaks as it's approaching 70k on the originals. Ray comments that he could do the work, but the price for parts is ridiculous. Uncle Buck buys a few car parts from time to time (ha, ha, ha) and gets what probably amounts to a ridiculously frequent buyer (non-dealer) discount at a local auto parts store. He places a call, and comes up with a price for our parts that is about $120 less than we would have to pay at home. So we order them, and they were in quickly. So Uncle Buck (bless him!) tells Ray to bring the car over, and starts changing out all four break pads and rotors on my car. He also tells Ray it's a one person job, hands him the keys to the Chevy SSR and tells Ray to take it for a spin. So Ray comes to camp, and we are told to leave the kids there with Nana and Grandpa and Aunt Tara and go for a ride.

I think was the first time I've been away from both kids at the same time. We had a nice time, it was a beautiful night! And, thanks to Uncle Buck, we saved a boatload on this job!

But all good things (including wonderful vacations) must come to an end.... The final Saturday of our trip was HOT and Humid and Sticky. It was also Rachael's 15th birthday. So cake and ice cream cake were on the docket for just after lunch. I was scheduled to make fajitas for lunch... but between packing and having a few children demanding my attention, lunch ended up coming after dessert. Oh well. Life's short, right?

Nana and Maia

Aaron kisses Maia

Aaron and Parker

Grandpa and Parker

Parker gnaws on his fingers.

Maia is so sweaty, her hair is curling. However, she seems unperturbed.

We hit the road mid-afternoon with a 6 hour drive (minus stops for feeding and diaper changes) ahead of us before we arrived at the hotel in London, Ontario. We didn't let Maia nap before we left, so it wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep.

Parker Travels contentedly

Maia did much better on this car ride. Quieter, more content, and extremely interested in going to Ol' McDonoll's to get som theeen to eat! Yes, during this trip, my child really started to like Chicken McNuggets - a food she was a little iffy on before. She even showed some pre-reading skills by seeing the McDonald's M and asking going to eat now? when we stopped at one for a potty/diaper break.

We arrived at our hotel around 10 p.m, where they had upgraded us to a King sized bed (instead of 2 queens) and with a hide-away bed, which worked just fine. We were able to put in play some of the valuable lessons we'd learned to help get Maia settled down within about an hour, instead of 3 or 4.

• small snack
• cold water
• a little time watching her video
• the rest of her normal routine: diaper change, tooth brushing, bedtime books

I laid down with Maia, talked with her quietly, rubbed her back and various other tricks to reign her in. Then I turned my back to her and let her cuddle up next to me. Again, with her audience removed, she settled much more quickly, and I think all 4 of us were asleep by 11:30. Parker woke about 5ish, nursed, got a diaper change and back to sleep. The alarm went off, but neither kid was awake, so we chose to ignore it.

We hit the road in the morning with the hope to be home by maybe 1 pm. Then we got stuck at the border (and on the Blue Water Bridge) for an hour. Sigh. Ray decided to ask the border guard about the Nexus program he was so frustrated!

Back in the U S... Back in the U S... Back in the U S of A!

I think Maia was very glad to be home. She settled back into her regular routine (including 7:00 bedtimes and 2 hour naps after lunch) easily and without argument. The only thing we heard a little more about was wanting to sleep on mommy-daddy, mommy-daddy's bed which was her way of indicating both our bed and an "adult" sized bed (also known as grandma's bed).

Camping

For weeks (months) prior to our scheduled camping week, we had been advised that we needed to bring precious little for the kids. Nana had bought clothes (many clothes!) and toys (many toys!) for the kids. Thanks again, Effie!

Thanks Nana, for the Elmo... sweatshirt?

Maia eats bananas at Nana's camper.

Maia was fascinated by this radio/cassette player. Since they really just don't make them this big anymore (she's used to ipod docking stations and portable ipod speakers), she wasn't really sure what it was. But it had a lot of buttons and knobs to play with, and she thought the cassette buttons was a piano (or pa-nano)

Maia and Rachael run across the playground.

MmMmM Cake. Actually, I think she was more interested in the ice cream. For Uncle Wayne's birthday: Cake before dinner. For Rachael's birthday: Cake before lunch. It's good.

While being held by Nana, Maia dropped a piece of paper she was holding. She bent over to pick it up, and then raised herself back up using her abs. Nana, as you see here, is working hard to hold her legs as she does this. Maia was delighted by this little game, and did it probably 10-15 times. Her abs apparently weren't tired, but Nana was! MmmmMmm... more cake.

In the background here is Macy (8 months) and her father, Bryan.

 Ah... NAP TIME. It was so wonderful once we finally got her settled for naps. Less hitting of Mommy and Daddy (and, unfortunately, Parker). Less yelling at Mommy and Daddy (Don't lell a' me!!) Fewer "Noooo-wah!"s or pointing her finger saying Don't tahk to me leyik dat!! Happier girl, better able to handle herself and her frustrations. Ah, the "Terrific Twos!"

But isn't she so sweet when she's sleeping?

Actually, she's really a lot of fun most of the time, and the teenagers and other kids loved her. I'm sure it has something to do with how verbal she is, not to mention her quick ability to parrot what's she's heard. Many of which sounded really funny coming from a toddler.

Another little challenge was that while Ray and Maia got over their colds several weeks ago, Parker and I seemed to pick one up. Same one? Who knows! Especially with Little Miss I-drink-it-myself! taking off with everyone's beverages. We had decided to spend meal times working on Maia's skills with a regular cup (no sippy, no lid, no straw), and she did well (when she wanted to), and quickly moved on to full or partially full bottles of water with success. And soon she didn't really care whose bottle of water it was, she was just excited to get a hold of a bottle, unscrew the cap and show off her mad drinking skills!

Poor Parker, for his part, got saline flushes and quality time with the nasal aspirator. Half-way through the week, I decided Parker needed a bath. All those little creases needed cleaning!

I didn't want to waste room on his pretty pink bath chair (poor 2nd kid!) so we just made do with a bottle of water, a washcloth and some Burts Bees wash (YUM!)

Check it out - he's finally starting to get some neck. When he was born, there was essentially no separation between head and shoulders when looking at his back side. Hence the "you've got a linebacker in there" comment. Well, that and he was just BIG.

Fortunately, it was a warm day and he was fairly content being wet and mostly naked. He even did a great job lifting his head, and started pushing up a little with his arms.

More Parker, with moving hands!

Maia watching her DVD.

Parker is getting more wiggly, and managed to totally upset his blanket balance. He wasn't too pleased about this and was turning his head back and forth repeatedly while yelling.

He also spent some in the stroller doing this.

Ah, fire. What camping is all about.

Look. In the Tree. A Piñata!

And the biggest nest like this I've ever seen.

Lynn advised the Park Staff, since this next was in a tree between two busy campsites and a path to the water. We thought they wouldn't do anything, but they eventually sent to teenagers (okay, maybe they were 20) in a pick up truck to get it down. They hadn't the first clue what to do and couldn't reach it anyway. We sat around an early fire and watched them try to figure it out, wondering if we'd all end up being stung. There were no stings following this incident, However, Ray did manage to get stung on his pinkie earlier in the day when sitting in the grass. Fortunately, his bee sting allergy seems to have drastically decreased in adulthood. Yay.

So, on the last campfire night, we sat in the misty rain and watched the ships go by.

Maia was given her first s'more this night as well, however, she was too distracted to eat it.

Playing

Maia preparing for her very first jet ski ride. And the first of several this week.

I go on see-doo wide, Aunt Tay-wah?

Tara would slow down a little to let Maia "drive" a little.

Maia waits for her turn on the Jet Ski.

I go agin, momma?

And while Maia did that... Parker did this:

Not to be outdone, Ray takes a spin. Again, for the man who hates boats, and doesn't enjoy the water... He really enjoys jet skis. I tell him it's because it's essentially a motorcycle. On Water. And this is what Dave got to do all week:

Lug full gas can down to shore. Return empty gas can to truck. Drive to gas station. Fill. Return to camp. Repeat ad nauseum.

I driving Coco's boat, Momma!

Maia and Morgan really enjoyed their boat ride up the St. Lawrence.

Maia loved it, and made sure to say hi to every passing "boo-dee! Teet teet!!" that we saw. Which was quite a few.

Swimming with Rachael

Maia and Rachael after swimming.

This one's just cute.

Ah, Robert Moses State Park. Home to the tamest racoons you'll ever meet.

Maia Swinging

Swinging (of a different kind) with Grandpa