First Tooth

I cleaned out the garage today. Now we can park a car in the left bay.

I have not posted lately but have a bit of time now to catch everyone up on things... I don't like writing about work in this blog, I reckon I have some kind of psychological disassociation between work and my own identity. Although I get many laughs when I tell people the ins and outs of my days at the State Arts Agency I don't feel right putting it in writing... The short of it is I've been really busy writing a grant to the NEA, constructing an internship resource for art students in the state, and dealing with troublesome co-workers undermining my ability to do my job. Every day at work has new issues that are really quite hilarious in a dark-comedy sort of context... perhaps a different blog about it will be created. In any case there is also much news on the home front to report so lets get to it.
As of last week, the leaves were starting to turn their fall colors, making us realize how little we got done on the house over spring and summer. Our neglected garden produced quite a bit despite an early heat wave, mid-summer heavy rains and a malicious ground-hog. Not enough produce for canning, but ample veggies for salads and cooking. All the fruit trees are still alive despite some deer damage. We may even get a few (six) peaches this year if they ripen.

A new neighbor moved in on the east side. A very nice woman and her enthusiastic dog Comet, who occasionally craps on our yard. We've been researching solar assist hot water on demand systems but will likely put off buying until next spring due to finances. I almost have the basement clean and ready for additional insulating, as well as the attic.

The big news as of late is that Alden has his FIRST TOOTH. He has been a little out of sorts for about two weeks and the day before the tooth came through he had a major melt down. The tooth is lower incisor and feels like a tiny serrated edge.

Great Pictures from Barbara

Some really great shots that Barbara took when she visited a few weeks ago.

Awesome Guests!

Joshua, Cheyenne and Ronin are visiting! We are psyched to finally meet Ronin, who is just as sweet and charming as she appears on her blog. We took the Coxwells/Weil to Jimmy Pond and let the babies splash around, au natural. Alden had a bit of a brain freeze after a few minutes in the cold water, but Ronin was happy to sit and bat at her reflection for what seemed like hours. We saw wonderful mushrooms on the hike around the lake, which Joshua and Cheyenne identified for me like the budding Mycologists they are (no pun intended).

The babies, stomping the water in their birthday suits - Good fun!
Lunch at the A1 diner.
Cuteness brought to you by Joshua.

Pictures with Family

My mom and brother visited this past weekend. We swam, we ate amazing food (prepared by Ben and Karen, Mom and my mother's friend Renee) and we hung out a whole bunch.
Alden and Karen at Jimmy Pond.
Ben and Alden having a snack in the backyard.
Alden doesn't know his own strength, apparently.

Renee and my mom, shucking corn.
Alden looks a little possessed in this shot, but I liked how it was framed otherwise.

Sleep at Last

After making our lives miserable for a few weeks, Alden is finally back to sleeping... sort of. We get 4 hours at a time. Four gorgeous hours ... It seems so luxurious. I think Cheyenne was onto something - complaining does work. We are readying ourselves for the next onslaught of guests: My mom and my brother this weekend, Joshua, Cheyenne and Ronin at the end of the month, and Joseph and Sandy next month.

No Sleep for the Weary

Alden has been on a 3-week sleep strike. It started innocently enough - just a few bad nights here and there. This change in sleeping habits coincided with the arrival of our guests, so we figured he was just out of sorts because his routine had been broken. But now that the house is back to normal, he still refuses to sleep the way he did at 4 months, when he had the 6-hour snooze down pat.... How I long for those days.... Now he rouses (crankily) every 1.5 to 2 hours at night. Both my mom and Kerstin's mom told us that once we started solids, he'd sleep a lot longer. I was skeptical because my beloved Dr. Sears said this hypothesis had been debunked by controlled studies. Both Grandmothers insisted that, based on their experience, he'd sleep so much better with a belly full of rice cereal. So we've been feeding him his solid meal faithfully before bed.
Sadly, the sleeping situation has gotten much worse. Alden is probably uncomfortable from teething (even though we still haven't seen anything come through yet. I'm starting to suspect that this "teething" thing is a convenient excuse to justify general crabbiness). Still, I'm sure the teething, if that's what it really is, isn't helping things. But it does seem that solid food actually exacerbates the problem. Even naptime isn't the same. Today, he fell fast asleep around noon....

I came back to check on him a mere 3 seconds later and he was wide awake. In that time, he'd also kicked off his blankets, and wiggled to the far end of the crib.
If anyone has any suggestions for getting a baby to stay asleep for at least 3 hours at a time, I'm anxious to here from you. Kerstin will be spending the night in Bar Harbor for work tomorrow, (lucky him, he'll get some sleep for a change!) but I'm dreading the night alone with Alden - especially since I have to go to work early on Wednesday. Any suggestions? Anyone??