Baba visits

Baba (Monty) is in town, and we have had some fabulous weather to enjoy together. With Ahrash zipping around on interviews and otherwise trying to keep Dahrius and the house in order, and Megan trying to finish off revisions of a recently accepted manuscript, feed a very hungry and fussy Ranier, and also keep the house in order, it's been nice to have some help and company.

On Friday, Ahrash and Baba joined Dahrius and his school at a local strawberry farm to pick some strawberries. We also grabbed some farm-fresh potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and other yummy stuff.... it's early, but the summer crops are already coming in! Afterwards, the teachers decided it would be more fun for everyone to go to a local park to eat lunch outside and play. The closest park turned out to be Duke Park, right across the street from our house! So we joined them there too. I got a picture of Dahrius and Grace trying out the fancy seesaw.

On Saturday, we headed to the farmer's market. See Ranier's Blog for a pic.

On Sunday, we had an evening meal at the American Tobacco complex. We managed a multi-generational picture of Bissell boys, and we also captured Dahrius demo-ing the multi-colored chips.



It's supposed to be hotter tomorrow. We'll manage.

-Ahrash

Ranier - 1 month old!

Baba is in town to help out and meet Ranier as he hits the one-month mark. One month already! It seems like Ranier has been around forever and also like he just showed up yesterday. Kids are funny that way.

We enjoyed a gorgeous Saturday at the farmers market.


On Sunday, we ate out, and Ranier cooperated by essentially sleeping through the whole meal. Hopefully he'll sleep tonight too...


:)

-Ahrash

My, what an amazing kid.

Originally posted by mom:

He will start crawling and standing up before you know it. I can see that this grandma will not be able ot pick him up for long-sighhhhh! But what joy for the parents when the kid is this big and healthy,
Monty already sounds thrilled; of course I can't wait to see the newest grandkid.
Can't also wait to hear how it went in NY and also hear Monty's voice.
I will be seeing the other two cuties at the end of the month and then Ranier

Pleasantly plump!

Originally posted by Megan:


Ranier is gaining record weight and is filling out 6-mo. size clothes already as he nears 1 month. Here's a photo of our little Sumo wrestler baby, and another with Uncle Joshie's ever-useful gift (the wee-wee man-to catch the stray spray). I think Josh was the only one who predicted another boy. Mom and the boys.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day dawned cooler and misty, turning sunny and beautiful, a welcome change after several days of intense rains. We seized on the opportunity to go on a hike at the Eno River.

Here we are at the start of the hike.

The native mountain laurel is in bloom.

Along the way, we paused for a snack.

We spotted a dead amphibian on the trail. Good that there are amphibian; too bad it was dead.

On our way back to the blue car.

Dahrius loves jumping over the erosion guards. That boy can leap!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sick, sick, sick...

Dahrius has had a rough week or two, and it's had nothing to do with Ranier (either that or he has an interesting way of exhibiting sibling rivalry). Despite that, or perhaps because of the resulting time we've been spending together (since he can't go to daycare sick), we've been doing some fun things.

The park is always a hit, and being across the street makes it a viable sick-day activity.

Dahrius has been encouraged by some early signs of interest in trains by Ranier. One might think this is premature, but then again, who knows what sort of sibling linkages might be at work here....?

"Two boys with trains" - the Thomas collection

Happy May!

Two weeks and counting...

Well, it hasn't been smooth sailing, but then there haven't been any overt disasters yet either...

Despite it being past cold season, Dahrius has decided to acquire a particularly persistent bug. The timing is bad mostly because there were a number of things I needed to take care of this past week, including a one-day trip to Boston, which wouldn't have been such a big deal if Dahrius was in daycare, but instead Megan was forced to try her hand at single-parenting (with one sick kid, no less!) right away. Sigh. We're hoping that the sickness will go away and we can settle in a bit more to some sort of routine. We'll see.

Other than that craziness, things are looking great! Ranier is already pushing 11 pounds, which should give you some idea of how tired Megan is! Megan herself is looking great and was given the go-ahead to start getting out and about again, so we're trying to get some neighborhood walks into our daily mix. It's been rather cool and drizzly here for the last three days, which has been a nice respite from the heat and humidity, but also a bit discombobulating. Our heat turned back on again. North Carolina weather is crazy.

Some pics to enjoy....

Ranier at 10 days.... I believe that is a 6-month outfit....

We have a lot of pictures of Dahrius in this same chair, looking much the same....

We took this picture just before the grandparents left.

Ranier is now starting to stay awake longer and focus on things. Like his big brother, he seems particularly intrigued by trains...

Happy May!