Urvi

Last summer I got an awesome job working 

full time for an environmental nonprofit.

However, at the time I applied for the job,

I hadn't thought about the fact that Orin's school year

ends in the beginning of June.

After some deliberations, we decided to hire a live-in nanny.

We put out an ad and got back a flood of responses

(apparently it isn't hard to find young people who

want to live on the Cape for the summer).

All of our applicants seemed of about equal potential

until I read one from a girl named Urvi.

Urvi was working on her masters in speech pathology

from Boston University and was looking 

for a break from the grind for the summer.

A couple weeks later, Orin and I found ourselves nervously 

waiting for the Greyhound bus that she was taking to arrive.

I think it took both of us about 2 minutes to fall in love with her.

 The only bad thing about Urvi was that she turned out to be

likely the best nanny in the history of the known universe,

meaning that any nanny we hire now
won't have a prayer of measuring up.

Urvi is the kind of person who is always glowing,
filling the room with such positive energy
that you can't help but smile.

Every day she came up with creative and fun projects to do with Orin

and once a week she would cook the most amazing 

Indian food I have ever had in my life.

When it was time to say goodbye, I couldn't stop crying,

and even now, months later, I still have Urvi-withdrawl.

I have told her that if she ever feels like a master's in 

speech pathology is overrated,

that she could come move in with us forever.

So far, it hasn't worked, but she has promised to come back 

and visit this summer.

We sure do miss her...

none of us more than the naked boy over her shoulder

(I love this picture).

Household Size

As it turns out, during the period of Blog Neglect,

our expanding family did not just reside in my belly;

there have been a few other notable additions

that I should probably tell you about

so that you do not find yourself wondering, for example,

if Atlas spontaneously duplicated in the middle of the night.

So, sticking with that theme:

over the summer, we got a new Chesapeake. 

Her name is Avery.

At the beginning, she was very small:

She was so small, in fact, that she did not feel that she should have

to walk all the way to the cranberry bog by herself.

With each passing day, she grew a little more 

and solidified her place in the family

 

until eventually her cute puppy days were all behind us.

We also expanded our chicken population...

twice, in fact.

The first batch we hand-raised.

Here they are in their little and fluffy stage:

And here is one of the girls full grown:

It was only a few months before our 

egg cartons became more colorful:

The next batch of chickens we did not hand-raise,

instead we traded in our ducks,

who after leaving their little and fluffy stage:

 were loud and stinky and not appreciated by our neighbors.

So we traded 5 ducks for 5 one-year-old chickens

(thank you, Craigslist!)

and now have a happy, multicolored flock of 12

beautiful, quiet, non-stinky birds.

Speaking of our neighbors,

they also did not appreciate when we brought home

two of the most adorable

but also the loudest creatures on earth:

 Our stint with the goats lasted about 2 weeks

before we were forced to give them up.

They are still one of Orin's favorite subjects to talk

about with people he meets.

 The story goes something like this:

"I had goats but they were too loud for the neighbors

but mommy says that when we don't live as close to neighbors

we can get goats again."

I think it is safe to say we are all excited about that day.

 

And finally, in other family additions,

here is Orin's new cat Bear:

and his rat Captain/Templeton/Pinkerton:

I think that basically covers it.

So besides the new baby, new dog,

10 new chickens, rat, and cat,

nothing has changed...

oh, wait, and we got a new car:

We were thinking that after having the thoroughly stickered Subaru

and the van, we needed a car that really blended in...

something like a road cone orange mini Prius. 

So, there you have it. Now you know the cast

and we can get back to more of the story.

Back

I am not even going to attempt to explain why 

I haven't bothered to blog anything for the last 6 months or so.

Let's just get right down to the most important 

update that you might have missed:

 Today marks the first day of my third trimester.

Baby Number 2 is on the way.

Due Date- May 19th 

(and if that sounds familiar it is because that is the exact 

due date I was given when I was pregnant with Orin...

planned that way? Of course not.)

So there you go.

A lot more has happened too, 

but we will get to that later.

And, yes, I will be blogging more often

because after you blog your first child's every development

it only seems fair to embarrass the second one just as much.

Hope you are all doing great.

Ah, Summer

 It occurs to me that I spend a lot of bad-weather days 

in the winter blogging. 

Lately, however, those days have been non-existent.

Instead, we have been hanging out at the pond

with our cousins...

 or the playground

 or in our clothing baskets,

 or, of course, at the beach

The beach might just be the best place to hang out in the summer...

especially when friends from Oregon are visiting

with their adorable little 18 month old red-head

who has never touched his itty bitty toes in the Atlantic,

(the problem has been solved)

or when there are hundreds of seagulls to chase,

but once in a while it is good just to hang out at home.

  I suppose where I am going with this is

Life is Good.

Maybe I will blog more in the winter.

Hope you are doing great!

Peace, love, and happiness

from the beach.

Some other pics I never posted...

Our family photo shoot...

 And a sunset on the beach.

One minute he is there..

 and the next, he is off again...

Birthday Wheels

I forgot to post about Orin's fourth birthday!

I should have plenty of pictures of him opening presents,

and blowing out the candles on his birthday cake,

but in my typical fashion, the more important the event, 

the less likely I am to photograph it.

Although I did take a picture of Orin on his maiden voyage

with his new pedal bike. 

And, no, of course I didn't forget to pack his helmet

(we were at my mother's house)

knowing that he was getting a bike...

who would do a thing like that...

opps.

Happy Four Ori!

My new job

I mentioned in an earlier post that I just started a new job.

I didn't mention that my job is one of the coolest jobs of all time.

I am working for the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod

surveying rare plant communities around the Cape.

What this means is that I get to hike around beautiful areas

looking for interesting plant communities

and when I find them, I photograph them and map them. 

Here are just a few pictures from my first two weeks:

wild grape

bindweed

the beach at Wing Island

beech forest

skunk cabbage

salt marsh

salt spray rose

interdune pool

spartina

more spartina

 

I loved some of the places I went so much

that over the weekend, I retraced my steps with Orin and Casey.

Here they are looking at the baby osprey in its nest.

we walked out to the water at low tide

it took a while... but we made it

which sure made Orin happy.

Hope you had a good one too!