Nana, Auntie Katie, and Dorian Come to Visit

In our next (and last) wave of visitors,

Nana, Auntie Katie, and Cousin Dorian arrived from Oregon.

The trip could have been called

"So much to do, so little time."

First and foremost, the cousins had a lot of catching up to do.

Last time Orin saw Dorian he wasn't nearly as fun to play with.

For example, one-year-olds

just aren't as good at digging holes in the sand...

can't go on bike rides with you...

and can't swim in the pond.

 But the cousin fun didn't stop there.

Orin and Dorian also had a blast when we went to

Harbor Point Beach and waded in looking for cool sea creatures:

They had a great time building sand castles with Nana:

Playing naked in the backyard:

 

Running wild at the beach:

Burying Orin in the sand: 

(And uncovering him again):

Doing whatever this is:

And, of course, eating ice cream at the Cape Cod Creamery:

And what were the adults doing while the kids were

having all this fun?

We were having some fun of our own:

Walking around the cranberry bog:

Hanging out at Harbor Point beach:

Catching some rays at Seagull Beach:

 

 

Enjoying the shade at Horse Pond:

And making tye-dye shirts for the kids:

It was a wonderful visit that went way too quickly.

We would have needed many more weeks to do all of the 

things that we had meant to do. 

 

But, instead, we just have to start planning for the next visit

they will make to the Cape.

After all, next time it will be with Dorian's baby sister.

We can't wait!

Bottle Success

Today (or 2 weeks later when I actually wrote this post)

Ilea took her first bottle.

We had tried this bottle business before with significantly less success:

 Here is the close-up about how Orin felt about 

this foreign source of milk.

 But the second time around things went much more smoothly,

mostly because this time we offered the bottle within the

Critical Window (apparently between 2 and 4 weeks old).

When we tried to give Orin a bottle we were way outside this 

Critical Window

and therefore he thought the bottle was

A Very Bad Idea.

 So it was a relief when I walked into the room and saw this:

the picture of maternal freedom.

A slightly longer leash for the time I can spend away from Ilea

(not that I want that at all right now)

 and the potential to enjoy a glass of red

without guilt

(now that I could go for!) 

 

You live, you learn.

The First Wave (and second and third...)

The month of visitors has begun,

kicked off by a weekend visit from Baba

who breezed around the house making me tea and lecturing me

for leaving the couch whenever I attempted it.

(She was the only person in the room when 

my midwife made us promise that if I left early

I would sit or lay down as much as possible during my first weeks home.)

Although she did allow me one short outing

to catch Orin's last t-ball game of the season.

 In the second wave of company Auntie Andy and 

Cousin Ardian arrived from Indiana.

Closely followed by Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carla.

I was still not feeling 100%, so we spent a lot of time

playing outside in the backyard,

taking lots of cousin pictures,

 t

reading,

eating,

and enjoying our new expanded family.

And how was Ilea with all the extra attention?

A-Okay.