Maudslay Park and Plum Island

Saturday was sunny and just gorgeous.  The temperature was in the mid to upper 70s and the humidity was low so Nana and Bumpa met us here and we all headed out for a lovely day.  We stopped at Maudslay State Park, which is just a 20 minute drive from us, and spent the afternoon walking the trails through the woods, fields and along the river, and strolled through the gardens there.

Rides are best with your feet up :)

Grape vines!

Family shot

...typical "wife fixing something" moment :P

Nana and Bumpa

I just think this picture is so cute :)

Dad's new hat...we thought the bush would like some sun protection ;)

Mouse on one of the buildings

After a couple hours of walking, we packed back in the car and headed over with a picnic to Plum Island for dinner on the beach.  It was the perfect time of day for the beach...sun wasn't too hot, ocean breeze was lovely, and people had dispersed enough where we could have a nice peaceful dinner without bodies lying mostly naked around us.  William enjoyed playing with the sand (as long as he didn't have to step in it :P) and watching the seagulls.

It was so nice to enjoy the outdoors.  Summer is going by so fast and I haven't been able to get outside and do much with the high humidity during this pregnancy.  I love getting out for walks, but it's been so hard with the heat.  

Speaking of which, 28 weeks on Wednesday and into the 3rd trimester!  I have good days and bad days but with a new diet geared more towards whole foods and repairing my gut along with some great supplements (probiotics, methylated prenatals, fish oil, iron, and digestive enzymes all in the most natural form I can get them in), I'm hoping I'm on my way to better health.  I saw a Natropathic doctor and am still waiting on results, but we're looking into a specific genetic mutation, Lyme Disease, and my thyroid.  For now though it's a matter of eating right, with a balance of nutrition and exercise.  I haven't been feeling quite so faint as I was and I do have more days when I have a close to normal amount of energy so that's definitely a blessing.

Time to start dinner.  Happy Monday to all!

~Lindsay

Greetings from William

Hello again Everyone,

William here.  I figured I'd give you an update as to the latest since Mommy's been kinda lazy with the blog lately.  Things have been pretty busy with the summer and we've been out and about doing a lot when it's not too hot to be outside.  Mommy often lets me run around in just my nappy since I don't like it when she puts clothes on me on hot days.  I really like our new home.  Throwing stuff on the hardwood floors makes a lot of noise and I just love to do it over and over again.  Mommy doesn't like it though, and sometimes I get punished if I do it after she tells me to stop.  I have lots more room to play now and we get outside in our back yard a lot so I can run around.

Last week we went out for lunch after Mass.  My favorite part was getting apple juice!  I love apple juice but Mommy usually only gives me water or milk so this was a real treat!  I was a little cranky that day because I was tired, but the apple juice made everything better.

I even got it in a special cup!

Daddy wasn't being very nice though and kept trying to steal it.

 I've also been learning how to feed myself.  Yup, I'm a big boy now.  I can use a fork and I'm trying to figure out how to get the stuff on a spoon.  For some strange reason by the time the spoon gets to my mouth, there's nothing on it anymore.  That's ok, I just like playing with the spoon anyway.  It's also fun to get food on you and it's best when you can get it everywhere.

"Ok, Dad, enough photos!"

 Mum and Dad thought it would be best to throw me in the tub afterwards to clean me up.  I wasn't happy at first, but Daddy played with me and I'm really starting to like bath time now.  I can splash and get Daddy allllllll wet.

This is my newest toy that I found in Nana and Bumpa's garage.  They let me take it home!  I love to ride it and have finally figured out how to get on and off all. by. myself.  I just sign "help" to Mommy if I get stuck and she gets me unstuck.  Of course a ride wouldn't be complete without my blankie.

After dinner Mommy, Daddy and I all say the rosary together and I'm learning how to sit quietly through it.  Sometimes I get bored and start to fuss, but I have my religious books that Mommy lets me look through and that keeps me entertained.  I just love blowing kisses to Jesus and Mary and every time I see a statue or picture of them, I have to blow them kisses.  I love it when Mommy and Daddy tell me stories about Jesus and Mary.  

Here I am before bed saying goodnight to Jesus and Mary.

I'm talking a bit more now and am learning lots of new signs.  My favorite words and signs are cracker, milk, more, Daddy, Mommy, help, food, all done, flower, hi, bye, banana (my most favoritest food in the whole world), and I even started saying Bumpa when I was over at their house playing the last time.  I could see my Bumpa outside working and I wanted him to come back in and play with him.  He's lots of fun.

Ok well, it's time for lunch so I think I'll just toddle off to the kitchen to see what I can find.  Hope everyone has a good week!

Love,

William

Fun with the fishes!

As I mentioned in my last post, we met up with some friends in Boston after Mass and had a picnic in the commons followed by William's first trip to the Aquarium.  Though on the warmer side, it was beautiful weather for picnicking and walking around Boston.  We each contributed food to make a delicious picnic and sat in the shade, eating and chatting for a long time while the kiddos played around us.  

Enjoying the park

Our friends' cutie pie daughter

Good friends

Good conversation in the park

"Mom, any more food for me?"

"Come on guys, when are we going to see the fishes??"

Little Dominic was content to just chill

Dominic with his Mommy...would have been a cute photo minus the photo bomb :P

Loving the seals

Myrtle the Turtle

Because everything is better with Dad's shades on

Blurry picture of a huge sting ray

Myrtle taking a rest

Petting the stingrays

Little sharks...I touched both the sharks and the sting rays!  Kinda cool and kinda gross :)

William didn't want to get too close

"Look Mom, a shark!"

We had a really nice time on Sunday.  We have so many great conversations with this couple and always have a blast with them.  It's really nice to have friends in the same stage of life that you can relate to on that level, but even more so spiritually...it was very refreshing.

On the way home, my stomach felt a bit off and by evening I was having abdominal pain.  It kept me up until about 3:30am until I finally called my midwife to check in with her since I was also having a lot of braxton hicks contractions with it.  She said it sounded like a gallbladder issue and if it didn't go away soon, I should go into the ER.  Regardless, she felt it would be a good idea to get it checked out so after getting the pain to subside enough to go to sleep for an hour or two with apple cider vinegar, we handed William off to Mom and Dad and headed into the ER.  After a series of blood work and an ultrasound to check my gallbladder and the baby (baby was fine), they determined it wasn't my gallbladder since there were no gallstones and "diagnosed" me with Gastritis (fancy term for upset stomach) and sent me home with instructions to eat a bland diet and take antacids.  Gee thanks, Geniuses.  I can't say I expected anything different from ER doctors, but I just wanted to rule out that there was something wrong with the baby or my gallbladder.

Since I've had these episodes before where my insides feel like they're painfully clenching, I'm assuming that whatever the problem, some type of food is triggering it so I'm just going to have to keep my eye on what I eat to see if I can narrow it down.

Anyway, that's my exciting story.  After hours of waiting and then being poked and prodded, and listening to two little old ladies tell the doctors repeatedly about their medical history, one of them insisting to all the nurses that she was not an "old lady" but a "mature woman," we were ready to go home and get some sleep.  However, little 80 year old women on pain meds make for a very entertaining morning. :)

I can't believe it's Friday already...busy weeks certainly do make the time go by faster.  I hope you all have a good weekend!

Happy Friday

~Lindsay