A bunch of sickies!

Sunday started out nice, but got crappier as the day went on. Swine Flu? Possibly....Derek and I have been dealing with fever, chills, body aches, sore throats, stuffy/runny noses, extreme fatigue, and headaches for the last four days. Luckily Braedon hasn't shown any symptoms yet and I'm hoping he doesn't. Each day I'm hoping to feel some relief and feel a little better, but that day has yet to come. It can be rough trying to care for a baby when you feel horrible, so I asked Peyton to babysit, but she got caught sleeping on the job.

So we resorted to movies on the computer and grandma...

Braedon has even been feeding himself. Okay, not really but he has been very good the last week and we are very thankful for that.

That smile makes me feel a little better.

Iron Kettle Farm

This last Tuesday the playgroup decided to meet up at Iron Kettle Farm, which was about 30 minutes outside of Ithaca. After looking it up online, I think I was more excited than the kids! Where was this place when I was looking for a corn maze last week? Anyways, it was a lot of fun and there was lots of stuff for the kids to do. We walked through an exhibit of pumpkins that were made up into scenes of nursery rhymes and Disney movies. It was pretty entertaining to walk through. After that we took a hay ride and then fed the kids lunch. We might go back tomorrow so Derek can go because they have a corn maze too!

Braedon did very well and I think he enjoyed himself!
He loved the hayride, but I'm not sure he was crazy about me putting him on a bunch of pumpkins.

Can you guess what these scenes are?

Baeo's first hockey game

Last night we went to our first Cornell hockey game. Cornell is really into hockey, and they are pretty good too. They won 7-0 last night, so it was a fun game to watch. Braedon did very well! Every time we scored it got real loud with all the cheering and rants that would go on, and Baeo only jumped a couple of times! He really is such a good and laid back baby that we can pretty much take him anywhere with us. That makes it quite nice and I think he gets out and about the most out of all the Cornell babies here.

Bundling Up and Pumpkins

It has been cold here. Pretty, but cold, so I thought it was time to bring out Braedon's winter snow suit. He looks so funny when he is all bundled up in it; kind of reminds me of the little boy off The Christmas Story. He doesn't seem to mind it though and he stays toasty warm. Here he is all ready for my soccer game on Saturday.

On Sunday we went on campus for an afternoon of pumpkin carving. They provided the pumpkins and tools to carve your pumpkin. It really was a nice little set up and we had a lot of fun. Every year Derek's pumpkins seem to get more complex. This year it took him about an hour and a half to finish and he ended up with a sore forearm. Derek doesn't want people to know that his masterpiece was from a pattern, but I think that even though he copied it, it still takes talent for it to turn out well, and I do have to say that the end product is pretty cool. There was a lot of little details going on in this years pumpkin. Mine on the other hand...well it took about 5 minutes and as you can see my pumpkin's eyes aren't even the same size. I'm just going to say that Braedon did it! We both probably have about the same attention span for stuff like this anyway.

Fall in Ithaca

Derek just finished up his finals for the first half of his core classes, which means he is half way done with the hardest part of grad school! He is on fall break for the rest of this week, which still isn't much of a break because he is taking this time to get resume stuff together for potential summer internships and he already has reading homework for classes that haven't even started yet. Anyway, we did put some time away to go to a corn maze yesterday. I wasn't totally impressed with the corn mazes here. I guess I'm used to the ones in Washington where they also have pumpkin patches, little petting zoos, and stuff like that. This was just a corn maze...with dead corn. It was still fun though and I don't think Braedon minded the trek through the corn even though it was freezing out.

Every Wednesday at the library there is a class for infants called, "Babies, Books, and Bounce time." I decided to take Braedon to it yesterday and I think he actually had fun. He was smiling and kind of getting into the songs and activity going on around him. I think I will make this a regular part of our week so he can interact with other kids his age and so that I can have some extra adult talk time added into my day. Let me tell you, two years ago I never would have imagined going to play groups, stepping foot into a library or singing a song about shaking all your shakies out. Things do change, but in a good way.

These are just some pictures I have taken on a couple of our walks around town and up on campus. With the leaves changing, it is so pretty here.

A couple firsts

Well, this wasn't his very first time with oatmeal, but this was the first time Derek got to feed him. Let's see, does he like it?

Yes, I think he does....I think he would lick the bowl clean if he could figure it out. I have a feeling this boy is going to eat EVERYTHING.

Look, he is sitting on his own...and he is VERY proud!!

Peyton and Braedon are already becoming good friends. I have a feeling once he starts crawling he will be following her everywhere.

The Dungeon

Do you want to come on a tour with me? It's to the dreaded dungeon. Well, some people might call it the laundry room for the apartments in the house that we live in, but dungeon does a better job at describing it.

For those of you who have babies, you know about the added laundry that comes with them in the form of poopy pants, onesies and burp rags, so I get to experience this adventure at least a couple of times a week. What adventure you might ask? The adventure of laundry.

I start out by grabbing my first load of laundry and putting it into my basket that barely fits through the skinny doors of this house. I have to walk through sideways. After I squeeze my way through the back door and through the patio door, I enter outside by walking down the back steps and through the lovely backyard that is quite muddy right now. After walking through the yard I again come to another obstacle. A gate that is locked with a wooden stick going through it. Really, this isn't a big deal, but when you are holding an awkward basket with a hefty load of baby poo, it's just a pain in the ass. Once through the gate that will slam shut on you if you don't move quickly through, I head this way....

To the back of the house where the door down to the dungeon is located. Again, I have to put my laundry basket down in the dirt/mud, fumble with my keys and unlock the door. Quickly make my way through sideways, or else this door will shut on you too. Once I get through the door I have to be careful not to over step unless I want to take a tumble....

down these...


once down the stairs I head through this little hallway filled with spiderwebs and spiders....then I turn the corner to the right and enter....

the laundry facilities. This is where I quickly throw the clothes into the washer and run back up the stairs as fast as I can. Oh, but not too quickly, I have to be very careful in how I get my soap...

My soap is surrounded by more spider webs WITH spiders! I'm not going to touch them, I can't stand spiders!!

Here's a closer look at the webs, but they are kind of hard to see with the camera.

You think doing this trip just once is enough? Me too, but luckily I get to enjoy the experience again to bring down another load and switch the first load from the washer to the dryer. Then again to add more quarters to the dryer because it never drys the first time. Then again to switch the clothes out of the dryer and put the other load in. Then again to put more quarters in the dryer for the second time around. Then again to get the last load out of the dryer. Do you want to know how much this fun experience costs? About five bucks for each adventure.

Obama on SNL

What do these accomplishments deserve? Apparently a Nobel Peace Prize and $1.4 million. I didn't know that all I had to do to become a millionaire is talk out of my...

5 months old

I can't believe how fast Braedon is growing up! We are going to be celebrating his one year birthday before we know it. I almost made him a birthday cake for his 5 month mark, mostly because I just really wanted cake. I have decided that we will be having one for his 6 month birthday, even though he won't be able to eat cake yet. Any excuse for cake, right!?

Philadelphia Recap

Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one. Derek had a rugby tournament in Philadelphia on Saturday, so we decided to head over early to explore the city since neither one of us had ever been there. The rugby tournament consisted of MBA teams from Wharton, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, NYU, and Cornell. They played three games on Saturday and were all pretty beat up and sore, so decided to sleep in on Sunday. A little alcohol may have been another reason for the sleeping in on Sunday because of the Walnut bar crawl the night before. They all had fun and rugby is a fun sport to watch. Even though Saturday was a long day, Braedon did very well and is also now a rugby fan.

We spent Friday afternoon and Sunday morning exploring the historic part of Philadelphia. On our way into the city on Friday this is some of what we saw. Philly has some spectacular buildings!

We saw Betsy Ross's house. She made the very first American flag.



This is the oldest street in the United States, and there are still people living on it today.

We ate Philly cheese steaks in Philly! They were VERY good!






Braedon waited patiently for his dinner.

This is the very first bank in the United States.











This is what the roads use to look like...very bumpy!

The Liberty Bell

This is where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. Fact: Did you know that we did not declare Independence on July 4th? It was actually declared on July 2, and was printed on the 4th so the prints had the date as the 4th. The document wasn't actually signed until August 2.

This is the building where the real copies of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution are stored.

Another view of the building

This is also Independence Hall where court used to be held.

The Declaration of Independence was signed here.

This is where Congress was held until the nation's capital was moved to Washington DC. Fact: George Washington and Jon Adams served there presidencies in Philadelphia.

Later, congress was moved upstairs of the same building.












Overall it was a very fun trip as we got to explore a whole new area. Braedon was a trooper and did very well even though he was drug all over the place for the weekend.