The Holy Grail

I've found it! Both boys are napping! Aaron seems to get them to do this all the time but for whatever reason they don't do it on the weekends for me. Maybe just less structure on the weekends...

Things have been a little hectic for us the past few weeks. We had some problems with our mortgage company changing servicing agents and not telling us until the new company starts sending foreclosure threats. Can they even do this?? Yes they can. Even if you have been making all mortgage payments on time. Unfortunately since no body told us we were to be paying someone else and our old agent had our incorrect address (through no fault of our own) so was refunding checks to a non-existent address... we didn't know we were supposed to be paying to a new company. ARGH!!! I think things are finally getting cleared up - although I have yet to get our credit report cleared or the new company to cancel all late fees... at least we aren't in default anymore :-) and won't be losing our house. Bankers should be sent to their rooms without a paycheck until they learn how to treat people with some decency.

Everyone is healthy - new baby included. We find out late September if Ian will be getting his baby sister. We are all excited to know - and to know that she has got all her parts and they are in the right place. Noa walks exclusively now and is so excited by his new trick that it is hard to get him to sit still long enough to eat or bathe. He just recently got in 6 (!!) teeth at once and is now sleeping without pain meds for the first time in weeks. He only has one canine and a molar on the lower left side to get in and these are already bumps and will appear soon. I'm looking forward to having all the teeth and major first year milestones behind us. I think this might mean we will all be sleeping better. Ok - except the pregnant lady. But even that discomfort would be easier if not disturbed throughout the night.

I went out for a walk Tuesday night. All by myself. I wandered about in the Logan Square neighborhood. It was a beautiful night. I happened upon a small community garden tucked into a vacant lot katty-corner to a head start school called Christopher House. There was no fence to speak of, just some string on a rope. There were raised beds in groups of three or four with an assortment of veggies in them. Cabbages, lettuces that had bolted, greens, peppers and an unruly mob of tomatoes with melons hiding under them. The tomato boxes were a great mess of steel wire, vegetation and webs of various types of string all endeavoring to hold up the fruit that was bursting forth. As I wandered out I stumbled upon a row of stunted corn followed by spare supplies and compost bins. It was a nice little garden.

Mine on the other hand has seen better days. My super abundant looking squash is dead. I had some beetles first and then a mold swept in and finished it off. I harvested four good sized white patty pan squash and that was it. My amazing corn met with the reaper too. Most of the stalks have been eaten from within and beetles are devouring the silks. It has been a bust on that end of the garden. That doesn't mean that I have been without rewards! The tomatoes are thriving as are the cucs that I planted in early July. I also saw some turnip greens popping up too. All of my potatoes have been harvested for about 36 taters in all and the beets were delicious. So was the melon. Minnesota Midget Melon(that's them in the hammocks up there). Think super sweet cantaloupe only four inches in diameter. Yummy! More next year please.

de-e-e-lightful.

Second Wind from Ian Worrel on Vimeo.

Walking!!! (cont)

I did promise a video of Noa's first steps. But... all of us being so busy these aren't exactly first steps but... it's still awfully cute. He is so excited to be walking that once he realizes he's doing it - he falls down. I love this drunkin' sailor stage. He can now take about 10 steps max and is becoming more confident and steady each day. It seems like he put it on hold while we were camping but then really got into on our return.



The camping trip was great - not perfect - but great. Ian was so excited to take the ferry that he was shaking and couldn't finish a sentence as we boarded the ship. He still talks endlessly about it! It's a must do again trip. The campsite was lovely and during the week we almost had the whole place to ourselves. Lake Michigan was walking distance and there were lots of trails to explore. Ian and Noa (but especially Ian) turned out to be excellent campers. We went for a beautiful hike one day (what turned out to be the last day). So that's the good parts. The not so good parts were that Noa had explosive diarrhea which is awkward in a tent (especially at 3am) and we had a few big storms roll through. The last storm was Thursday afternoon and evening, which was a biggy and the one that we struck camp during. The rain was coming down so fast it was an effort to keep the overhead tarp from collapsing on the boys (who were both huddled under it and screaming from the noise). We made it safely to Mary's house that night and spent a nice dry night in a bed.


Other big news is that Noa will be a big brother! Much to our surprise, after having our first two through the miracle of modern science we got pregnant the old fashioned way! The latest Stek is expected to arrive in mid-February. It's because of this that I am behind on posts and photo upload and any other extra activities. I am tired... and now I have to get to work.