Flowers and smugmug

We have started putting our photos onto smugmug. It's a great location for us to save and share photos and work as backup storage in case something happens. We still need to go back and load in photos from before Beth was born, but I have a lot of more recent photos loaded up now. For those family members who like to print/save photos - it's easy to save high resolution photos straight from Smugmug too.

We've been able to pick flowers each week when we pick up our CSA. Nora loves picking out the flowers and she claims that a few of them "make her calm." Sometimes if Nora needs to calm down, she goes and gets a flower. I posted a few photos on smugmug of the flowers we've been picking (look in the Nature folder).

Davis Farmland!

Nora, Beth and I went to the Davis Farmland. It was a beautiful day outside and we had a great time. We stayed far longer than I planned too! The best part - Nora seems to be losing at least some of her fear of animals! She fed the animals and even touched a baby goat! Granted it was all through the safety of the fence, but it's an improvement!

Early on, she would only feed the smaller goats from a safe distance with her feed cup.

It didn't take her too long to gain enough confidence to get closer to the cute little goats. She would shy away anytime a bigger goat got close to her, even from across the fence.


Beth needed a snack, so Nora got to play in their little water area by the picnic tables while Beth nursed. For those who haven't been to Davis, they do have a wonderful nursing room for days that are too cold or too hot (and for those who prefer and/or need privacy). As you can see, Nora still doesn't quite have the hang of fishing down...she was in the water "fishing' in the dirt...

She really enjoyed pumping the water though!


Nora explaining how the cow "nursers" work.

And now showing me how to get milk out of the "nursers"

Beth enjoyed cruising around the water play table in the water area.


Now she's cruising around the car in the splash zone.

And of course, tasting the water!


Nora and Beth enjoying the fire hydrant spraying them in the more toddler friendly splash zone.

Look at the baby cow, she's sleeping!


Nora feeling safe, actually pets a cute baby goat!

A photo of the baby goats Nora touched!


Towards the end of the day, she even fed the goats with her flat open hand! And, she didn't freak when the bigger goats came watch!

Goats going "smash" according to Nora...

I'm not tired mommy!

Nora proclaimed she was not tired less than 10 minutes before I snapped this photo:

Knit gnome hat!

I finished one of my work in progresses! It's a gnome hat for Nora. I'm going to make a smaller one for Beth (need to modify patter though!).

Nora decided to try it on Beth. It was a bit big, but she looked cute!

Here's Beth, still wearing the hat trying to get a hug from nora.

Touch a Truck

A few weeks ago, we went to the Touch a Truck at the Nashua High School South parking lot. They had fire trucks, police cruisers, a zamboni, lots of construction trucks, a school bus, a Nashua transit trolley, an ambulance and many others all ready for kids to explore (and hit the horns!). When we first got there Nora requested to be carried by daddy. We walked a loop around all the trucks, pointing them all out to her. Then, we let Nora and Beth play in the grass for a little while, which they both enjoyed. On our second loop, Nora actually went on the school bus, in the ambulance and in the Nashua trolley. Of course, now, two weeks later, she's asking to go to the touch-a-truck so she can sit in the tractors and diggers. It's amazing how long it can take her to warm up to and process some things!


Nora on the school bus. The pouty expressing cracks me up- and kind of clues me in on what to expect in a few years!


Beth looking cute on the soccer field.


"tickle tickle tickle"

Beth's Birthday Party!

I decided to make a separate post for this. Beth's birthday party was a ton of fun. My sister hosted at her house, so we had a big family pool party and bbq. Danielle did a wonderful job decorating for the party and we had food contributions from many people. I was very happy that everyone seemed to like the maple-teriyaki marinade I made for the chicken. Danielle also made the birthday cake, which came out amazing - she did regular and mini cupcakes and made the #1 with them. They were super tasty too! Beth loved her birthday cupcake, but I think she made a bigger, more fun mess eating the watermelon! As always, we are very grateful to celebrate a big milestone with our wonderful family and wish more people could have visited!

On the morning of Beth's birthday party, Nora and I made Beth a birthday crown. It came out really cute and seems to be a perfect craft for an almost 3 year old!

Here is a boatload of photos from Beth's special day.

Showing off her birthday crown!

Close up of the cake.

The cake/gift table


The food! Super yummy. chicken, burgers, fruit salad, edamame and corn sala, pasta salad, garden salad...


A close up of the wall above the food. A photo from each month of Beth's first year! Awesome!


The BBQ expert.



Beth enjoyed the watermelon.






Nora enjoyed the watermelon too!


Family enjoying food and conversation.


After lunch, the pool lots of fun!




Then it was time for cake! Singing happy birthday to Beth.

She was a bit vocal about her impatience to get that wonderful looking treat!

Finally! She gets her hands on her cupcake.

And she enjoyed it!

Licking frosting from her fingers.



Shortly after gorging on cake, she totally passed out in the stroller. She only slept for about an hour, but it was a very nice rest!


Opening gifts. She did a pretty good job of staying focused and ripping paper!

Beth Turns ONE!!!!

Wow! Beth is a year old. It feels like she's been apart of the family forever, and at the same time feels like she was only born yesterday! She's been a joy to have around, and she and Nora spend many hours each day playing, fighting and laughing with each other! Beth is still a mama's girl and is very attached, but seems to be growing out if it very slowly. She will let Andy hold her for awhile, even if I'm around and will crawl/cruise away into another room at times - but will crawl back for cuddles after only a short exploration. Beth still naps well twice a day, so long as she's in her own bed. If we are out and about, it's very tricky to get her to nap. She'll take a short nap in the stroller if she's tired enough, but otherwise will just rest and observe all the fun stuff going on around her. Nighttime has been wonderful too. Except when teething or ill, she sleeps from about 7:30pm until 5am, gets up to nurse and then goes back down until about 7am.

Beth is an amazing eater. She hasn't turned down too much in the way of food yet. She loves veggies and most fruits. Much like her daddy and sister, peaches are only good if they are fresh! I can't complain, the one thing she turns down on occasion is grains. She likes amaranth, millet, rice and oats, but if the rice isn't overcooked it comes out. She's not a huge fan of quinoa yet, but Nora didn't like at this age either ,and now she loves it cooked with apples and cinnamon with a little maple syrup. Beth loves yogurt and is started to eat some soft cheeses (she LOVED the dill havarti I got at the Groton farmer's market!).

Beth's not quite walking yet. She can climb the stairs really well (and she loves to climb almost anything else too). She has let go a number of times while standing up and is sturdy for a short time. She will take a few steps forward or backward before falling - but they look more like stumbling into a fall than actually walking. She hasn't quite mastered standing without help yet. Nora was a total prairie dog - she'd crawl, stand up, look around, sit back down and repeat for hours! I think Beth is going to walk before she learns to stand alone. Although, she's pretty close. She walks around on her knees all the time, and will put one foot down and then gets stuck. She's also gotten good at sticking her bum up in the air, which is very funny to watch!

Beth still doesn't have too many words. She still says mama, dada and nana. Sometimes she'll say nononana, which is kind of funny. She's very good at signing all done and up. She'll do nurse, more, eat and drink when asked. She loves to do "cheers" over and over with her cup.