Mt. Snow weekend

Sitting in front of the fire had never felt so good!  Chris and I sat sipping our tea and telling ourselves that we were going to get up and get moving soon, but oh, how that fire called us!   We chatted some more, sipped a lot more and snuggled down under our blankets..... it was a wonderful start to the weekend!

This was our 5th Home exchange, and it was an amazing one.  We swapped with a family who had a ski house in Mtn. Snow, Vt.  The house was gorgeous- 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and more space then we could have ever used during one weekend.  We took full advantage of the fire place and the Jacuzzi tub helped ease our aching bones after skiing (we did finally get off the couch).

We had left J with Grandma Donlan for the long weekend (much love to her for taking 2 days off from work to watch her!) and Burton headed out to Missy and Marks to hang with his buddy Clayton.  After dropping both kids off (not an easy feat since they were in opposite directions, thank goodness Chris is an amazing guy and did all that driving!) the ride up to Vt was really quite.... so nice!   We didn't get up there until 1:30 am Thursday night, but when we woke up on Friday (well after our normal 7am wake up) it was so nice to just relax and not rush around anywhere.

During previous vacations, Chris would always have to put in time "at the office", even when we were away.  That would amount to him working from about 8-10am, plus answering emails while we were out.  Needless to say, this never allowed him to really rest and wore on him constantly.

We are so fortunate that this new job allows him the ability to put a "I'm on vacation and not answering phone calls or emails" message up, and the company respects that!! They actually believe in the importance of family time and know that in order to be productive while at the job, you need time to relax outside of it.  The Lord really answered our prayers with this job, and this weekend was just another way that it became apparent to us.

The skiing was awesome (Mt. Snow is a great intermediate mountain), we a really nice time walking through the town and we also got a chance to shoot up to see Steph in Woodstock, Vt.  On Sunday we packed up our stuff and headed north for about 2 hours for our first visit of Steph and Chris's 'new' town (they've been up there for 2 years, so new is a loose term).   The town of Woodstock is adorable, with a lot of great little shops and tons of cute streets to walk around.  If it hadn't been -10 degrees, we would've been able to do a bit more exploring, but we look forward to heading back in warmer weather.    Sunday night Chris and Steph made us an amazing dinner, complete with oysters and the properly choose wine (what else would you expect from two chefs?!

The biggest shocker of the weekend was how much I missed J.  The progression could be seen based up our discussions of upcoming trips.   On Friday, we was talking about taking a 10 day trip to Europe the following year.  Saturday, we pared it down to a week out west skiing, and by Sunday we thought another weekend trip to VT would just fine.  

Overall, we were really glad that we took this weekend away.  Yes we missed J tons, but being away has allowed me to feel like a new wife and mom again.

 Our little Motorcycle girl getting ready to head out to Grandma's house 

 Ahhhh..... sipping our tea 

We loved all the icicles hanging from the roof tops- some were over 3 feet long! 

 A very relaxing setting 

 Chris whipping us up some breakfast

 Woodstock- one of the beautiful churches right down the block from Steph's house 

Woodstock-  Adorable streets and shops 

 Steph and Chris

 Harvey, the wonder dog 

 Again, those gigantic icicles, except these were upside down! 

 Chris and Steph's house- they are on the top floor with the great porch 

 Walking around Woodstock, some of the scenery 

The covered bridge of Woodstock 

New words

Jocelyn is rapidly increasing her vocabulary.  Along with the words she was already saying (Mama, Dada, Burt, baba, Bye-bye, night,) she has added on-
more, squirrel (just not with the s, it's more like ureil), Pop-pop,  No and done.
We are most excited with 'more' and 'done' b/c we've been working with her for about 3 weeks to learn the sign language for them , and now she knows both!  
'More' she'll say at the funniest times too.  My favorite is when she's lying on the changing table after getting lots of kisses, she'll sign for more of them.

Knocking on wood- Long naps have returned!

I am writing this post purely from an informational standpoint.  So when this all occurs again in 3 months, I won't make myself go crazy trying to figure it all out (yea right!). 

Since the middle of December, Jocelyn went on a long nap strike.  At first, it wasn't to big of deal, they went down to 45 min from an hour... but then they kept on going.  Soon they were only 30 min, then 20... I was freaking.  Her nap time is my only time to really accomplish anything (like showering) and I treasure it.
 
The holidays came, and with it 3 molars (same time-a tough 3 weeks), and as mentioned previously, learning how to stand in her crib.  After we got her over the novelty of standing up (and learning how to sit down), I was still very confused (insert pulling my hair out)  why our previously very good sleeper was only taking short naps.  I tried bringing her down to 1 nap (the poor girl was falling asleep on the floor), and then began to chart her naps.  Beginning at 2 hours awake time, I wrote down how long she slept for.  Each day, I increased the morning awake time by 15min.  

I'm not sure if I re-found her sweet spot, or if everything has just calmed down for J, but her longer naps (1.5 hours) have returned (hallelujah chorus plays in the background).    Her morning awake time is still 2.5 hours, and afternoon is around 3 (although can be pushed).  Ahhhh serenity!

Dinner with the Donlans

 Chris did an amazing job of organizing a dinner with the Donlan side of the family for the holidays.   We unfortunately don't get to see this side of the family nearly enough so it was great to have some time to catch up.  We were able to get the extended family all together, and this year dinner included some of the 3rd cousins as well.

Relaxing before dinner at "Stella", a great bistro down on Front Street.  

 Aunt Gail and Kelly 

 "So if I'm the only one seated for dinner, does that mean I get to eat everyone's food ?! " 

 Chatting it up with Uncle David and Aunt Patty 

 The proud Grandparents with Caleb 

What a peanut! 

Crawling away, not towards

After a very frusterating week(s), I'm hopeful that things will calm down this week.  There has been so much going on for J- 2 new molers, learning to sit when standing, learning to walk, fighting a cold- it's been a tough time.   But at the same time, while it's been on the tougher side, we're seeing amazing developements in J.   She'll now actually leave our side!  Last week, if Chris or I were in the room, J was hanging on us (cutely names "the tumor") But starting this weekend, she actually began crawling AWAY from us to explore!  It was quite nice to see, and also our legs were a bit releaved. 

O'Haire Christmas

Crouching Lion, hidden Dragon

J's latest fun game has been popping up in the crib and hanging onto the railing.  This occurs before, during and after each nap and bedtime.  Doesn't seem so bad, except the Dear child hadn't figured out how to get down. After the initial 1 min of fun jumping up and down, she will begin to scream, loudly of course, like a lunie.  J realizes that she is now stuck and had no way of getting back down, except for Mom or Dad to come in and rescue her from this obis. 
It was all fun and games the first 2-3 times, "so cute, look at her, she thinks she stuck".. .but time 387 wasn't so cute.  It has been impeding on her nap time and she has also been getting up in the middle of night to see if maybe this time, there is something cool on the other side of railing.   Again, cute time #1 & 2, not time 25. 
So we decided it was time for tough skinned Mommy and Daddy to come out and make J realize that she is quite capable of sitting back down when in a standing position (because may I mention that she does it all the time when holding onto my legs).  I would love to say that I was a rock, letting her cry without feeling a thing- but in reality I was balling on the phone with Chris the entire 25 minutes it took her to figure out that her legs bend, and yes, she can sit back down in the crib.
The sense of accomplishment that I felt when she actually succeeded was a bit weird- am I really turning into a mother that lives vicariously through the accomplishments of her child- and that accomplishment was sitting..... but hey, it's the little things right?

Looking back

Looking back over the last year, things couldn't be more different for us now.  Chris and I are currently in such great places both emotionally and physically, that it makes us look back to this time last year and breath a sigh of relief that we made it.   This time last year Chris was Miserable (and that's a capital M) at his job and I was struggling with some post-partum issues.  Of course we were happy to have J in our lives, but those first few months were very tough.  We were sleep deprived, feeling very isolated here in the city and not didn't have any idea how to manage a new baby! Thank goodness for the support we received from our families (aka, taking the baby at night when we came to visit!), and most importantly, for the Mama groups that I became a part of.   Those women really helped me through some tough times and their advise and guidance was what I leaned on daily.
As we look at where we are now, Chris started a wonderful new job in July that he absolutely loves.  It gives him the flexibility to work from home (i.e Starbucks b/c our appt is way to small for that!) but that schedule allows him to spend time with J in the mornings as well as be home most nights.  Loving what you do makes such a difference in your out look on life and has really given him a renewed purpose.  

I began tutoring in September and couldn't be happier.  I started with just one student and have now worked my way up 3 students (4 sessions weekly)- 6th, 7th and 9th grade Math.  It gives me an outlet to feel connected to the teaching world and doing something that I love- teaching math!  I am blessed to have really wonderful students and my hope is to have 6 sessions a week by the Fall of 2011.    Tutoring has also enabled me to sit back and really think about if heading back into the classroom next Fall is really what's best for us as a family.  Long story short, I was worried about loosing my certification (I only have my Initial certification and am 8 months short to receive my Professional certification).  After a lot of back and forth with NYS it became apparent that even if my certification lapses, it will be easier to get it reissued then for me to head back into the classroom for 1 year and have keep up with  the Professional Development requirements that NYS has (25 credits per year!).  I'm not 100% on this yet and am still thinking and praying about it, but I believe at this time, tutoring may be the best direction for me.

On to Jocelyn- we can say so much about the changes that have occurred over the last year, but J is developing into an amazing little girl every day.  She laughs easily, knows what she wants, and is beginning to love to cuddle!  J is still just as loud as she was the day she was born, but we've gotten use to it (sort of!) and are channeling this talent into a possible Operatic career.   She is a a healthy baby girl who loves to eat multiple breakfasts (we have breakfast #1 in her high chair and then she crawls over to Mommy for some scoops of her breakfast for Breakfast #2), and even finds it in her heart to share all this food with her BFF Burton.   Books are still her absolute favorite play toy, and will spend long periods of time on your lap having you read the same 3 books over and over.

This past year has been full of  ups and downs but it made Chris and I realized how much we can rely on one another.  He is an amazing partner and father and the love I see in his eyes for both Jocelyn and I is incredible.    All of the laughter and tears has brought Chris and I so much closer together, and for that I am thankful.

January 2010-2 months

January 2011-13 months 

Christmas Day 09- The stocking was bigger then her! 

Christmas Day 2010- The stocking has no chance! 

Christmas Day 2008- When Burton was our only baby! 

Christmas Day 2010- now we have our real baby!