And so the breastfeeding ticker...

...starts all over again! YAHOO! I wonder how far into this year we will get? Happy birthday big guy!

Simon's birthday, thus far, has been uneventful, as I think it should be for a very easily overwhelmed two year old. We spent the morning looking at houses, which surpisingly Simon likes quite a bit. He begins every stop with, "I SEE NEW HOUSE YEAH?" I think he like the exploration of these older homes we're looking at. One that is very very promising. I'm not going to say too much so as not to jinx it, but I'm keep blogland posted.

Following this trip to house hunt was a trip to the doctor, for Simon's never ending upper respiratory infection. He's fine, just a virus, just as I suspected. There's something satisfying about taking your child to the doctor and having them confirm what you already know, but at the same time what a huge pain in the butt. So that's been our day so far. A sick Simon, a beautiful home, and a nice long nap for both of us!

More on Simon's birthday later!

Blog slacker...

I recognize my failures as a blogger and I embrace them wholeheartedly. Boards both Step 2 and COMLEX-PE are complete (hopefully successfully), Thanksgiving madness over, one more rotation down, 98 more days (including weekends) of med school left, and a fast approaching second birthday for our little guy.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Our was just great. Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday. No presents not a whole lot of commotion, just lots of family time, which happened to include this year and overnight with Ninny, Uncle Donut and the Donovans four, a trip to LL Bean where I completed most of my Christmas shopping, a delicious meal (catered to avoid the craziness), and many funny funny comments from a grandmother who tends to imbibe a little too much on holiday including referring to my aunt, who is merely 15 years older than me as a, "dear old thing..." Many laughs were had and food lots and lots of food.

Simon enjoyed the holiday tremendously. He is finally old enough to run around with his cousins. This was certainly new to me too, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the adult living room while he stayed with the kids doing whatever it is kids do on holidays! He slept through the beginning of dinner, but of course was awake for dessert. I don't think my son has ever had so much sugar in one day, for review, Simon ate yesterday:

1. Two cinnamon rolls, fresh out of the package with the gooey icing to top 'em off.

2. Three blueberry things from my grandmothers house, I think they were supposed to be tarts, but they also were topped with plenty of sugar.

3. A banana (perhaps the only healthy thing all day)

and here's where it gets good...

4. For dinner, three peppermint patties, thank you Grump.

5. More dinner, iced sugar cookies, thank you Aunt Kim.

6. A piece of chocolate cream pie with plenty of whipped cream, thank you Grammie.

I made a feable effort to encourage the intake of the delicious turkey and beans and squash, but all a got was, "ALL DONE, SI-MIN PAY WITH KIDS!" Oh well, he's on his sugar crash today.

We're heading our for thai food tonight with the Meadows family and Merma. It should be fun, I'm debating whether or not to take the kids to the tree lighting at monument square, we'll see, I think we all could use an earlier night! And tomorrow we're going house hunting, just one, one that looks very promising...we'll see!

I'm going to post some pics of the babe, some from Halloween, some from the car, and some from his first leaf pile. My boy is growing up. Five more days until he turns two...and I'm still left wondering, what will happen to the breastfeeding ticker in five days? Stay tuned!

Halloween

The first Haircut...

Sleepy boy.

The leaf pile with my mom..

Time warp...

I can't believe it's been since October since I posted and what is it now, nearly Christmas right? I think I got lost in a time warp somtime between before Halloween and now. Somewhere between the beautiful mid-fall days with family in Mass and the freezing cold Maine mornings when I have to leave the warmness of my bed and my snuggly family and nursing toddler and join the working world in Raymond, where by the way, I am rotating with a wonderful, compassionate family doc who makes learning interesting and gives me the autonomy I think I deserve as someone who is going to graduate in only 3.5 months (!). But oh wait, this is a blog about my son, not me...

So I seem to have a hard time getting the pictures I take from the camera to the computer to the blog, but I will try hard and soon to get them up. After I get back from a 36 hour trip to Philidelphia tomorrow for boards, literally 36 hours down and back. Ugh. Simon had a wonderful Halloween, he has been parading around in his chicken costume ever since. He really liked trick or treating of course and by the end of the night way saying "Si-MIN want CANNY!" when the lovely neighborhood folks opened their front door. Fortunetly he got the understanding pretty early on, by about the fifth house, that we don't actually go INSIDE peoples homes. No matter how exciting they look, or what eager pets meet us at the door, we merely take their candy, say thank you and move on. A hard lesson for a curious almost two year old.

Let's see what else? Simon had his first hair cut yesterday. He was a good little guy and sat still for the most part. He had to have it cut since he insists on twirling it into little knots that he calls "PONIES" and we have to cut them out. This has not stopped the creation of Si's ponies, but at least for 24 hours he had a decent hair cut that was nice and even. He enjoyed jumping in his first ever leaf pile today with Mama and Molly. He thought it was a riot. I watched these fun happenings from the window of the office as I sat with my nose in a book trying not to notice the fun that was happening around me, wallowing in my own misery. Don't worry you'll stop hearing about it on November 21, last round of boards for now. Well, maybe not until February 29, the real end of the road. We'll see.

I'll try and post more pics from the last couple weeks when I get back on Tuesday, or when I really have a free minute on Wednesday. G'night.

Adventures with Cookie Monster...

Simon experienced his first baking project with Mommy this rainy Saturday afternoon. He was very excited that we were going to make cookies. Much to his dismay, homemade cookies do not come instantly out of the box in the cupboard, but require a lot of patience and A LOT of waiting. He did great, I think the pictures are worth a thousand words.

You're kidding me, all I get out of this deal are a bunch of raisins?

Very patiently waiting

And then maybe starting to get a little irritated...

Finally, what I have been waiting so long for...

Our own little Cookie Monster!

And a little video of Simon and the cookie conundrum for your viewing pleasure!

We're back!

I'm so sorry, but I forgot the camera. Friday I had my second residency interview so I was a little scattered when I came home to pack in the afternoon. We had a blast at our family's house this weekend. Simon ran around like a nut with all his cousins and was totally hyped up on sugar (thank you Uncle Donut) and didn't sleep very much, but it was fun and well worth it!

His cousin Sean was very excited that Simon got to sleep in his room. I think the first night they kept each other awake talking until 9:30 or so. Boy did 7:15 come awfully early. We watched his cousin Shaelyn learn to ride her bike on two wheels, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshiney weather while we were at it. Merma and Grump came on Saturday for lunch and dinner, Simon was thrilled to see his Grump at Aunt "Ninny's". Another highlight, Uncle Scott's new "MOMOCYCLE!", which was talked about incessantly (by Simon) the whole weekend. What a gorgeous weekend, fun to play outside and the added bonus of the ice cream man on Saturday to end the season.

Thanks Ninny and Uncle Donut for a great weekend! We can't wait to see you all at Thanksgiving!

And we're off...

for a fun filled and a little crazy Mommy and Simon weekend at Aunt Mindy and Uncle Scott's (aka Uncle Donut) house. Min and Scott have four kiddos under the age of 12 and we always joke that Simon would secretly love to be the fifth Donovan kid. He just loves all the commotion and activity and they love playing with him too so he gets lots and lots of attention. For me, it's a much needed trip out of the great state of Maine and a lot of distraction with all my cousins around. I'll update on our trip when we're home on Sunday! Bon Voyage!

Random rant...

I don't quite understand why the breastfeeding ticker looks like it's nearing the end. I certainly don't think it's an omen as my boy is still a nursing fiend with both moms, but it is a little weird. I wonder if it'll stop after his birthday? Did you know that the AVERAGE age of weaning worldwide is 4.5 years? I think that it's only that low because the majority of women in the US only breastfeed for a few months if at all before switching to formula. It's pretty incredible if you think about it, I don't know that I want to breastfeed for 4.5 years, but I also don't live in a society where breastmilk is where my child gets all his nutrition. A big hurray to us and our lovely son for keeping it going thus far.