Fall in Vermont

This was one of those "feel good" weekends.  On Friday evening, Cally requested that we have dinner by our outdoor fire and it was an absolutely perfect evening for that. 

On Saturday, the Dormer's drove up from Boston and met us at Smugglers Notch to hike up to Sterling Pond.  It's a 1.4 mile hike with almost 1,000 feet of elevation gain and we didn't bring a backpack for Cally.  This meant that she had to hike under her own power.

 

 Boden and Cally are about a month apart in age and he showed her exactly what to do.  His little sister, Skyler, who is two, even hiked up most of the way, too. 

It's so great to get the kids together, rekindling friendships that were started when they were months old. It's also really great to spend time with their parents-- especially when it means going out to a rockin' dance party dressed as the Flintstones!

Because of the threats of Hurricane Sandy, we decided to do a little Halloween celebrating on Sunday (a few days early) at Shelburne Museum.  There were thousands of kids in costume and a great day for touring the grounds. 

Mardi Gras Bat and the return of the Jolly Green Dragon (a repeat from last Halloween) were a site to behold.  Even if we don't end up Trick or Treating, we'll have had a fun pre-Halloween experience. 

And to add to the spirit of family, friends, and fun, John made the exterior of our house incredibly festive with corn husks and pumpkins.

And we can't forget the Cilley Hill Pumpkin Glow.  This year we went with the Aubin's, Mahoney's, and Thompson-Davis'.  It just seems to get better every year!

Tubey

 I love this little dude.  Every day, he becomes more and more of a person that I am proud to know.  I worry about him.  He's my little boy and he's been sick a lot.  He's had antibiotics coursing through his small body more than they should, he's not speaking as much as a 21 month old "should", and he's had six ear infections in about as many months.

He took a hearing test last month and it determined that he isn't hearing well and has fluid in his ears all the time.  The doctor said, "If you or I had fluid in our ears like this, it would drive us crazy".  So we scheduled surgery to get tubes.  The tubes are tiny and we were assured that the procedure would be super easy and have great results.

Of course, we were worried.  No parent wants to put their child under anesthesia for "elective surgery", but you also don't want the key time of language acquisition to be hampered by fluid in the ears.

And then I got my first ear infection that I have any memory of last week (kind of ironic timing).  The pain rivaled that of child birth (without drugs).  I tried ibruprofin, a decongestant, anything to relieve the pain.  In the end, I got put on my own course of antibiotics and was able to get relief from the pain.  However, a week later, I still have a clogged ear (perhaps because of a ruptured ear drum).  This whole experience made me more sure that tubes were the right call for our little snuggly, helper boy....

 

Yesterday, Hazey got his tube ins.  We were in and out of the hospital in 2 hours and he was a rock star through and through!  He charmed the ladies in the pre-op, made a speedy recovery in post op, and was up for going out to lunch with his mama afterwards. 

He didn't even need pain meds afterwards.  John's pretty sure that he's already speaking more clearly.  I'm not so sure about that, but I am certain that he's a great patient and we are all relieved to have this behind us.  Now, if only I could get my ears to unclog!