Fathers' Day Weekend, Part 1

First things first, Andy got to hug the Stanley Cup on Friday when it was brought to the Options Exchange.


We had a wonderful Fathers' Day weekend. Granddaddy and Grandmomma Fields visited from Georgia, and along with Grandma and Grandpa Nold, we all went to the lake house for the weekend. One of Jack's favorite activities was playing with this large piece of bubble wrap.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner outside on the porch Saturday night.

Jack entertained everyone by making funny faces. He's also recently discovered ketchup, which you can see on his tray. On Friday night, to our great amusement, Jack tried and seemed to enjoy the unusual delicacy of strawberries dipped in ketchup.



Jack helping Dad drive the boat.

Tubes make great trampolines!


Jack spent some quiet time before bed playing with his firetruck.

Bedtime hugs and kisses were passed all around.

Flashing gang signs?

Still a Girl!

I had an ultrasound earlier this week and got confirmation that it's still a girl! Everything else with the ultrasound looked good too. I'm 25 weeks along now, and she's estimated to be about 1 pound, 9 ounces.

The pictures were a bit harder to make out this time. This is a profile shot from the side, with her head on the left, and her arm and hand sticking up.

This is looking straight at her face--the roundish shape in the middle. Her nose shows up very white, and you can make out her left eye pretty well.


Some other exciting news is that we're finally going to have our first speech therapy session for Jack this evening. It's been about 2 months since we started the process of getting him enrolled in the program--though I was just talking to my coworker, and she says it took 3 months for her child, so maybe 2 months isn't so bad.

He's actually been making a lot of progress lately on his own. He's not really saying more words, but he's started saying almost all the letters of the alphabet. I'll have to get a video of him sometime. It's really cute; for some of the letters he pronounces them phonetically versus saying the letter ("P" is "puh," B is "buh," etc.) He's also getting better about repeating things after us and experimenting with new sounds, which he was always reluctant to try before. So maybe it won't take too many sessions for him to start saying some words!

Fun with Grammy

Grampy's not the only one who played with Jack while we were on vacation! We were just better about getting pictures of the two of them. When Jack and I were waiting to fly home, our flight was delayed for over an hour. Jack took advantage of the extra time and had a great time seeing all the cool sights at the Manchester (New Hampshire) airport with Grammy.

I think they're looking at a big moose statue here.

Jack had the best time on the escalators and moving sidewalks.

Wheee!


So while it was a bit frustrating and boring for me to kill time while our flight kept getting pushed back, it was definitely worth it overall for Jack to get a little more quality time with Grammy before we left. Jack was also very good on both plan rides. This was the first time he's sat in a seat by himself, as opposed to sitting in my lap.

We had a wonderful trip and look forward to whenever we can make it back in the future (next time with 2 little ones!). Jack will be spoiled some more this weekend when Granddaddy and Grandmomma Fields come to visit from Georgia.

And finally, just because they're so cute--another picture of the Vermont puppies.

Fun at the playground

Congratulations to the Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night!! It was a thrilling game to watch. I don't know if the Hawks have slept any since then; they arrived in Chicago early Thursday morning, and all we keep seeing on the news are videos of them hauling the Stanley Cup around to different restaurants and bars in Chicago. Countless people have been drinking beer out of it. Looks like a lot of good cheer, beer, and probably Hepatitis is being passed around the city!

I'm bummed that I'm going to miss the celebration parade today. I'll be working fairly close to the parade route, but during the parade I'll be in a 3-hour meeting and won't be able to escape. Oh well, it would probably be too packed to see anything anyway. The parade doesn't start for almost 5 hours, and people are already lining up on the route.

Here are some pictures of Jack at the playground we visited a couple times in Vermont. He had a great time on the slide:


Look at that hair!

This turned out to be his favorite activity, by far. Jack loved pushing this zip-line type bar back and forth. Grampy got quite a workout lifting Jack and running around!


Listen for the giggles and squeals of pure joy.


Heading back to the car after some hard playing.

Day at the farm

Vermont pictures, round 3! On Monday, we visited the farm where Grammy and Grampy's puppy, Moses, is still with his mother and litter mates. Jack loved seeing all the animals. He pet some horses,


looked at chickens,


and even got to pet a huge Clydesdale! I was impressed that Jack didn't shy away from this horse. Look at how much bigger he is than the first horse! That head is gigantic.


And now it's time to say "awwww." Here are some pictures of Moses.




Jack loves to swing when we're walking.


The beautiful view of the countryside from the farm.


Jack giving me a flower.


Jack had a great day at the farm!

Marathon

On Sunday, we watched my brother Paul run his first marathon in Burlington. He suffered from some leg spasms and cramps throughout the last 6 miles, but he gutted it out and finished the race. We were very proud of him! Paul's birthday was the following day, so he definitely had an eventful weekend!

Here's a couple more pictures of Paul in the race. I don't think you can see Paul's shirt that clearly, but he raced as part of a group from the Medical School. That's right--he trained for a marathon while completing his first year of med school. Kind of hard for the rest of us to make excuses about not having enough time to exercise, huh?



Jack was a little scared by the noisy crowds at first (especially his mom, who inadvertently screamed in his ear when we spotted Paul), but he grew accustomed to it and had a good time.



Grampy and Paul after the race


The runners finished the race by some beautiful scenery (the finish line was at the bottom of this hill, down by the lake shore).


Watching a marathon is tiring too


Jack and Paul after the race


Jack and Paul later on, after dinner


Congratulations again, Uncle Paul! The race brought back memories of my first marathon--hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago. Time sure does fly.