Summer Vacation in Sebasco, Maine

This summer we took a little family vacation to this cool old-fashioned family resort place straight out of Dirty Dancing but without all the drama. It's called Sebasco Harbor Resort, and it was the perfect place to go with kids- very child-friendly and tons of activities for all ages, a self-contained little resort right on the ocean at the southern tip of a peninsula near Bath. We had a suite with a porch and kitchen, there's a playground and ice cream stand, three restaurants and ginormous salt-water pool. Anyway, we highly recommend it- there was even a full service spa on site pour moi.

Enjoying her post- clam bake watermelon.

A biologist brought some animals over for the kids to have a "touch tank" experience. Some of the poor deprived kids from the midwest and New York had never seen a starfish before! Hazel found the hosts secret stash of un-banded baby lobsters in a bucket under the table, and bravely reached in, picked one up, and tossed it into the tank all the other kids were playing in. She screamed, "Everyone get your hands out of the tank!" when she saw it in there. We are just lucky no one lost a finger. She is so fearless!

They did the clambake up right.

Eating watermelon and watching the Acadian music.

So much fun.

Stunning deserted beach.

Her first real clam-bake.

Self explanatory. Nothing better than lobster on a beach in summer.

A disastrous nap-time three-hour cruise around Casco Bay.

The view from our room.

Updating Pictures While Snowed In with a Sleeping Baby

I realize how far behind I am. Frankly, I hate being pregnant and it's doubly hard with crazy toddler Hazel Porkpie, so I spend all my free time sleeping. Or staring at the wall. I really need to update some pictures. We had a lot of adventures this summer, and no I'm not going to post any pictures of my belly.

Goggles and splashing in the dog bowl.

In the woods one afternoon.

A rare sighting of mama.

Exploring.

Roasted corn at the Tunbridge, Vermont Country Fair

Always so happy...

Splashing around in the shallows at the Lake House in Maine.

Picking blueberries.

A summer afternoon walking around at Appleton Farms Grass Rides with friends.

Hazel and Gage exploring.

A reggae concert in town to benefit our local wolf sanctuary, Wolf Hollow.

Hazel's favorite summer past time.

Very serious about mowing the lawn.

A minke whale.

Hazel's first whale watch was a disaster- too long, too loud, too much. This was right after she puked in her dads shoes.

Beautiful Thatcher Island off the coast of Rockport.

The Cox Reservation in Essex has an art show to benefit the Trustees of the Reservations every year.

Making friends with some bug sculptures.

"Oh, hi!"

With dada, one of many days this summer at the wading pool in Bradley Palmer State Park.

Playing with cousin Owen.

Armenian eyes.

The lawn can't be mowed enough.

Leaving the wading pool after a long afternoon, and stopping to look at a snake on the path with her friends Liam and Beatrice.

With her friend Henry on July 4th.

Calling for back-up with cousin Owen.

A luncheon with cousins Owen and Lorna.

Stuffing cake at cousin Lorna's first birthday party.

be (of love) a little more careful than of anything

Happy Holidays to everyone out there. Have a very safe, happy, grateful, love-filled, and healthy new year.

Moona es UP!

At 21 months old, some of Hazels words these days, though she adds more every day.

cup

flies (any bug, always plural)

moie (more)

cai (car)

truck

vroom

train

choochoo

up

down

nite nite

BIE!! (goodbye)

hi.

no.

yup.

thanks.

peeze (please)

mama or mommie

dada

butt

dis (this)

dat (that)

GABBOO GABBOO!! (asking to watch her favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba)

hep! (help)

oh kay oh kay (said under her breath whenever she is nervous or concentrating)

ohhhhh nooooo!!!! (very dramatic)

boook (book)

poop

fart

dada's cup (beer bottle)

chubbies, or chow-bies (berries- took us a while to figure this one out)

cheese!

moona (moon)

Buba (our dog hector)

Other animals: cat, dog (and they say "foof!"), hoss (horse), baaaa (sheep), tur-tul (turtle), gucks (and they say "kak!")

hut (hot)

wa-wa (water)

wet

abble (apple)

noodle

eyes

nose

har (hair)

head

hat

go!!

brush (as a verb!)

pool

shower

ball

dirt

blocks

trees

pints and shit (pants and shirt)

sock

shoes

boots

why?

nice... (used for her favorite clothes, lotion being rubbed in, and stickers on her arm.)

bike

weeeee!!!

food

ice

bee-bee (baby, particularly important at this juncture)

P.U. (always said with a sniff in the direction of the offense, usually used to point out when someone farts.)

boobs (which she likes to point out on others)

beech (beach)

monies (coins)

wa-waruash (walrus)

sup (syrup)

dirt

house

beach

trees

one, two, three

four

five

all done

all gone

Hay-hay (this is what she calls herself)

She has recently been stringing some of these words together into short sentences and its so funny; "Is it hut? Noooo.....it's not hut" "Where mama go?" "The moona is up!" "Moie chowbees peeze." "Oh, Buba butt...P.U."

It's fun to focus our energies on all this good stuff. Tonight, actually right at this moment, is the one year anniversary of Hazel being rushed into emergency surgery to have the battery removed from her esophagus. We are, needless to say, still quite traumatized by the whole experience, and still extremely angry at Beverly Hospital. I expect that will only fade with time. Meanwhile, we are very focused on everything we have to be thankful for right now. Our daughter was not expected to live, and our family was almost destroyed one year ago this week, but she did and it wasn't and I'll never be able to forget how blessed we are.

Now if only I could take an Ativan with a wine chaser to fall asleep tonight.....

No Excuses

I have no reason for not blogging, other than the fact that I'm pregnant and exhausted. It ain't easy chasing after a crazy toddler with a sandbag strapped to my gut. And this second pregnancy thing....man, I have no muscle tone or something because I'm carrying so much lower and feel always like I'm ten weeks further along than I actually am. I guess the big news is that we found out we are having a boy, which seems so strange and foreign after having a girl for almost two years. He is an active little guy, just like his sister and we are excited to meet him in February (or, late January hopefully!). Other things happened this summer; it rained for about six weeks straight, we went to the beach a lot and Hazel proved to be as daring in the waves as she is in everything else. We took a vacation in Maine, and spent a week in Vermont. I slept as much as I possibly could. Nothing really Earth shattering. I got a new computer, which has probably slowed me down more than anything. I'm a new convert to Mac, and still trying to figure everything out. I haven't even tried to upload pictures from my camera all summer. I'm a mess! Wondering how realistic this blogging thing is going to be after the new little one arrives.

As for Hazel Porkpie, she is fabulous. Perfect, Hilarious. A pistol. Whip-smart. She is talking non-stop and incredibly active. Her personality hasn't changed, but become so much stronger with each passing day. She is stubborn, single-minded, smart, so happy, opinionated, funny, and delighted by everything. She knows all of her body parts, a ton of animal sounds and learns new words all the time. She talks constantly about cars ("cai") and all the various "cai"s that she sees in a day, and has been a little focused on her and others butts, too. She is getting grabby with her toys, and vocal about her needs and wants. She is incredibly social, and loves to visit with her friends that we still see every week from the newborn group back at Beverly Hospital. She has a lot of friends and a lot of adventures. She climbs everything she can, kisses every animal she meets, and charms total strangers. She is incredible.

We had another photo shoot with our fellow blogger, Kerry Goodwin, too. These are the highlights of the day. You can view some more of the pictures from that day here (link to the proofs at the bottom of the post).

This little monkey has grown so much...

Rain, Rain

I guess the month of rain, and the first trimester utter exhaustion has been getting to me, and I don't much feel like blogging. I sleep at every oportunity, and we have barely been able to leave the house. Summer has not arrived, and I'm sitting here typing in my turtleneck sweater and Uggs. We have had some fun and interesting things happen lately, like our big annual "summertime" BBQ, and I'll post pictures from that once I manage to get them off the camera and onto my computer that is already brimming full.

In the meantime, I'm going to post pictures from one of the three (partly) sunny days this past month. Last year I took pictures of my little four month old baby surrounded by my favorite flowers- peonies, of which I have a million in my yard. They bloom for about a week, and have to be brought in fast before it rains and smooshes them. Anyway, its a cute "watch me grow" and next year hopefully Hazel will be holding her little brother or sister with her peonies.