Flying Solo

I am home in Boston this week while the boys stayed in Vermont.  It didn't make sense to drag Aaron back for 3 days of Boston heat when they were already at the lake.  They are having a great time... on Tuesday they went to Billings Farm in Woodstock, VT and Aaron got to get up close and personal to "cheese cows" (your plain 'ol black and white Jersey cows but Aaron insisted they are called "Cheese cows").  On Wednesday Aaron, Ace and Daddy went to the The Great Escape and Splash Water Kingdom in Lake George, NY.  They had a BLAST!!!  Here is a photo of Ace and Aaron riding the carousel...

While the boys were away, I decided to get my hair done... it was loooong overdue!  It wasn't exactly what I asked for but I am happy with what she did.  Here is the finished product...

I also decided since today marks the beginning of the 32nd week of this pregnancy, it was time for a pregnancy photo... oh boy - I can't believe I'm about to post this!  (note the grin - I fully acknowledge this is a ridiculous photo. I'll get Daddy to take a better one.).  Only 7 weeks to go... I can't wait!

Last night I went to see the new Twighlight saga movie, Eclipse with our neighbor Annika Wilson.  We had a very nice time and the movie was great!  I'm trying to stay busy so I don't miss Aaron and Brad so much.  It's sort of working. 

The East Coast has had record high temperatures all week... this was a bad summer to be pregnant!  Tuesday hit the triple digits and yesterday topped off around 95 degrees.  I'm doing okay though... staying indoors for the most part and drinking lots and lots of water.  The tough part of this particular week is that I'm taking the T from the Beaconsfield T stop into Longwood (3 stops total) and people have not been offering their seats to me.  I'm shocked by the number of people who make eye contact, scan down to my very obvious belly and then avert their eyes, pretending they didn't see me so they wouldn't have to give up their seats.  The only thing I can say for these people is... Karma, baby!  Karma!

That's all for now... I cannot wait for tomorrow afternoon when I drive back up to VT to be with my favorite guys!

4th of July Weekend

We forgot the charger to our camera over the weekend so sadly we do not have any photos to share.  :( 

We had a great 4th of July weekend in VT.  Aaron got to "drive the car" from the church to the lake house (like Mommy and all his uncles and aunt did growing up!) so he was in HEAVEN!  Uncle No-no and Katie were already at the lake when we arrived which thrilled Aaron to no end!  Ace and GG arrived later and we had a great evening on the lake. 
On Saturday we took the boat out and spent a lot of time in the sun.  No-no had some friends over and Aaron dazzled them with his Ice Cream game.  He asks you what flavor ice cream you'd like, pretends to scoop it into a cone, hands it to you and says "go ahead, take a taste".  Once you pretend to take a taste he shouts "it's hair ice cream!" or "it's garbage can ice cream".  He cracks up while you pretend to choke on the disgusting ice cream flavor... it's very fun!  His "flavors" range from ear wax to poop and are all disgusting!  He is a boy... through and through! 

Sunday was great... Brad ran a 5K in Manchester, VT and shaved 2 minutes off his last race time!  Yay!!!  We stopped at a farmers market/art in the park on the way home and picked up a few goodies for 4th of July dinner.  The Avalon Beach neighbors (Casella's, Brown's, Louras' and Web's) gathered for appetizers and dinner on our deck around 6pm.  It was great!  I made biscuits for strawberry shortcake for dessert... yum!  We all got in our respective boats and drove out to the Crystal Beach area of the lake to watch the Bomoseen Association fire works... Aaron loved them and kept saying "wow - they're so beautiful".  He konked out in my arms on the ride back to the house and didn't budge when we changed him into his jammies and put him to bed. 

It was hard for me to drive off on Monday afternoon but the drive to Boston was easy and I didn't run into any of the predicted traffic!  I was home by 7:30 and in bed by 9... ahhhh.

30 down, 10 to go...

Today is the beginning of week 31 of this pregnancy.  I'm feeling great.  I was singing a slightly different tune a few weeks ago but fortunately, my body seems to have adjusted to the heat of the summer.  The little ninja is kicking, punching and rolling up a storm!  He moves constantly and has kept me up many nights.  I may gripe about it but the truth is, I don't mind... it's reassuring to feel him.  His movements can be seen now which is fun for Daddy and Aaron.  He is particularly active first thing in the morning.  He has the hiccups right now which is a funny feeling and also very distracting... hic..... hic.... hic....
I had my 30 week OB appointment yesterday - everything is going great.  Blood pressure was 117/70, glucose test results were perfect and the baby's heart rate was 150.  We asked to be scheduled for another ultrasound so we are looking forward to that... too bad we have to wait 6 weeks!  I can't wait to see your face, little one!  We also picked a D-date!  Thursday, September 2nd (unless, of course he decides to come a little early -which is ok by me... just not too early!)  I should be getting confirmation of the exact time shortly. 
We had the VBAC discussion with Dr. Vincent towards the beginning of the pregnancy.  She said she would support us if we chose to go for a VBAC but felt that I wasn't a strong candidate for success given the tilt to my pelvis.  I believe her exact words were "if you have a 6lb or less baby with innate acrobatic abilities - it might work".  We agreed to see how the pregnancy progressed and if the baby was measuring small we could give it a try.  It doesn't appear as though small babies are something I can pull off!  :)  We have decided the safest thing for mommy and baby is to have a planned c-section.  I had a very easy recovery from my section with Aaron and feel confident that this section will go equally well.  

We are heading up to VT for the 4th of July tomorrow.  Aaron is very excited to see his Ace, GG and UNCLE NO NO!!  He pretends to call Uncle No-no on the phone every night and they "talk" about their plans for the weekend.  The plan right now is for all of us to stay through Monday then I will drive back to Boston for work and return to VT on Friday evening.  The boys will stay in VT for the week and enjoy the predicted nice weather.  It should be fun for them but I will miss them terribly!

Weekend in VT

We had a really nice long weekend in VT. We drove up on Thursday evening after work and stayed through Sunday afternoon. We spent Thursday night in Rutland and drove to Lake Bomoseen on Friday morning for the remainder of the weekend.
On Friday Mommy, Daddy and Aaron went for a nice long boat ride... Aaron passed out a few minutes into it and took a relaxing nap under the canopy while Mommy and Daddy baked in the sun. We had our first dinner of the summer out on the deck - it was so nice to be back at Bommo!

Here's a photo of the Louras Lake house from the water... this was taken in the fall of 2008 - the branch that held the rope swing broke last summer :( (It wasn't very fun to swing into the boat lift anyway!)


The water on Saturday was cold and choppy - we didn't venture out in the boat or go swimming. Aaron learned how to use a squirt gun and had lots of fun with Ace. He was re-introduced to Bubba Casella from next door and had fun chasing him around with the water guns. Aaron calls Bubba "Gumble Bum" - I hope it sticks!

Sunday was Father's day and Aaron surprised Daddy with a sterling silver guitar pick with lyrics from one of their favorite songs, Banana Pancakes (Jack Johnson)... "When the whole world fits inside of your arms". The other side has his initials and it sits in a case on his keychain.

Ace, Aaron and Daddy went for a morning kayak ride on the lake and as they were pulling into the dock they noticed something was missing... the raft! It must have broke loose during the storm and floated away. The boys got in the boat to hunt down the missing raft. Aaron called it "mission: helping our neighbors" and came up with a plan... Step 1: get in the boat. Step 2: find the raft. Step 3: tie the raft to the boat and drag it back. He was so excited when his "mission" was completed!

We went to brunch at the Lake House Pub and Grille - a great little restaurant right on the water where you can drive your boat up and park. They had a band playing and we sat right on the water and fed the ducks (aptly named Donald, Daisy and Professor by Aaron).

This is a water color from a famous VT artist - Peter Huntoon. We have this print framed in our house as a reminder of great times on Lake Bomoseen.


Later that day, Aaron caught his first fish! A small mouth bass! He called it his "green fish" and caught it without bait. Ace helped Aaron set him free to "go back to his family".  Ten minutes later he caught him again! I guess fish have a very short memory!

 

Too bad GG had to fly to Kansas City for work - she missed a really nice lazy Sunday on the lake! Sorry GG! We'll be back soon!

A (quick) recap of the time leading up to our family of 3

Aaron John Libertore

12/15/2007

11:01pm

8 pounds 10 ounces

21 inches

Whew... it seems like forever ago that we were seeing his sweet little face for the first time. Here are some photos we took along the way to meeting our little man.

12 Week Ultrasound

20 Week Ultrasound

32 Week Ultrasound

Mommy at 6 months

Mommy at 8 months although you can't see the bump very well under that coat

In Labor...

After 16 hours of labor and no progression... we were prepped for surgery. Lookin' good Daddy!

A quick 30 minutes later and Daddy held Aaron for the first time...

Our first family photo...

Saturday, December 15, 2007
It was such a beautiful day! There was a big snow storm that made it difficult for Ace and GG to drive down to Boston but they made it! Driving to the hospital that morning was surreal... it was bright and sunny and the snow was fresh and not gunked up by Boston drivers yet.
After the delivery we were moved up to a great room with 2 full walls of windows and a beautiful view of Boston. It couldn't have been better if we planned it! We spent 5 days in the hospital healing and getting to know Aaron.

Waiting to be discharged from the hospital

Then the real journey began...

That reminds me...

I just got an email from a friend asking how "Juice" was doing. I COMPLETELY forgot that when we first told Aaron about his new brother or sister he was convinced it was a girl (or as he said it - goil) and that her name should be "Juice". It wasn't until after we found out it was a boy that we started calling him "Turtle". Aaron was still pretty sure it was going to be a girl despite the overwhelming evidence on the 18 week ultrasound. We will see, pal - they've been wrong before. He's pretty settled on the baby being a boy lately... I particularly like how he says "Bruddah". Like a true Bostonian (oh no!).

This morning he sang his ABC's to the baby twice and gave him lots of pepper poops (this is what our family lovingly calls zerberts). He is excited about being a big bruddah! Last weekend he had an opportunity to play with our friends little girl, Mary Francis. He played nicely on the floor with her, held her, kissed her head, picked out her jammies and even helped give her a bath. He was so sweet with her - I can't wait to see him with our baby!
Here are some cute shots that Lindsay took of Aaron holding Mary Francis...

5 Wonderful Years!

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe how much life has changed in 5 years... a new city, new jobs, new friends, one happy and healthy 2 year old and another baby on the way! I couldn't be happier!




Hoping the next 5 years are as wonderful as the last 5 have been.