Visitors

The fourth of July weekend was full of visitors:


Above is a picture of Cally, John, Bumpa, and Grandma Meyer at the Richmond 4th of July Parade.

Here she is with my uncle George who drove up from Hilton Head, SC to deliver Lobster our new kitty.


This is my six year old niece, Kesley who lives down in Duxbury, MA, but comes up to their place in Stowe a bunch.


And this is Kesley, her little brother Jameson (2.5 years old) and my brother James (and Zephy).

Lobster

A few days ago, Cally got a special delivery from Hilton Head, SC......... Lobster, a seven week old kitten arrived with my Aunt Sherry and Uncle George. As you can see, Cally and her cousins, Kesley and Jameson, are thrilled to have her around. Even Zephy is excited to have a new friend. You might also notice that Lobster has the same coloring as Cally-- orange with bright blue eyes!

A Last Minute Visit with Family

Last weekend, Cally and I headed down south for a last minute trip to Connecticut. I needed to head down for a friend's memorial service (see previous post-- Meg Hahr) in New Jersey. My parents were kind enough to watch Cally for the afternoon so that I could be at the service. Cally had a ball playing with Bumpa's newest friend, Gus the cat and Maggie the dog. Her eyes light up when she sees any four-legged critter, but she's working on soft petting instead of fur pulling.

En route back to Vermont, we stopped by to see John's family-- Nana, Grandpa, Lynn, Mark, Chris and Catherine. They are always thrilled to see their gal Cal and treated us to a great lunch.

Meg Hahr

Every now and again, a fantastic life is cut short for unforeseen reasons. Last week, my roommate from graduate school was killed in a mountain biking accident. Meg was someone we could all try to be a little more like.... She was effortlessly smart, grounded, adventuresome, fun, wise, and just plain great to be around.

I moved to Missoula to begin graduate school sort of at the last minute in late August of 1997. I arrived into town days before classes started and I had no idea where I was going to live. Through a friend of a friend, I found out about two second year graduate students who needed a roommate. They were both in the same Environmental Studies (EVST) Masters program that I would be in, so it seemed like it could be a great fit. One of the roommates was a very high strung Williams graduate who grew up in New York City. She was incredibly uptight and was always home. Meg, was the other roommate. She was like a breath of fresh whenever she was around in that household....... She was busy-- when she wasn't working for MPIRG collecting signatures for various initiatives or volunteering for local non-profits, she was working on her last classes for her Masters. She always seemed to be in a good mood and didn't seem bothered by the nagging and complaining of our other roommate. She always had great stories, advice, and ideas. I'm a better person for having lived with her.

After graduate school, Meg and I both worked for Wild Rockies Field Institute teaching various trips. She went on to work as a scientist for Glacier National Park and then various parks in Alaska for the next ten years. She married a fabulous guy named Sydney and I was lucky enough to attend their perfect wedding in Glacier.

Two falls ago, Meg and Sydney happened to "swing" through Vermont on one of their annual tours of the East Coast. John and I were lucky enough to meet up with them and our good friends Shannon and Dave and Sidney's good friend Greg and his wife for dinner and blue grass at an old church in East Montpelier. Meg found out about the music while surfing the net from her home in Seward, AK. That's just the kind of gal she was. She knew what she wanted and knew how to find it.

Four months ago, Meg moved to the Upper Pennisula of Michigan to work for Painted Rocks National Seashore. She'd been hired as a senior scientist for the Park Service. She and Sidney had bought land and planned to settle in Munising, MI. On June 21st-- the solstice, the anniversary of meeting her husband, and his birthday-- Meg and Sydney went on a mountain bike ride. Tragedy struck during the ride.

At the service for Meg, her supervisor, who had only known her for four months, shared some amazing words about her. At the end of the speech, he informed all of us that a flag had been flown over the U.S. Capital last Thursday for Meg-- for her service to the United States as a Peace Corp volunteer and National Park Service employee.

She lived more in her 41 years than anyone I've known. She really did make a difference. My heart goes out to her husband Sidney, her family, and friends all over the country.

Strawberry Picking

Cally and I went strawberry picking up at Last Resort in Monkton last week with Ada and Eric Krull. She seemed to like her first juicy berry!

An Ode to Cally's Dad

Over the past six months, I've been told many times that I'm really lucky. I'm really lucky to have such a happy and healthy baby, to have found a great childcare situation for Cally during the spring, to work so close to home, to have been given so many great hand-me-downs from my wonderful friends and family, etc. etc. But most often, I hear that I'm lucky to have such an attentive and loving father for Cally. The list of the amazing things that John has done for both Cally and me is lengthy. He really is a fantastic father to Cally and husband to me. Not only did he take six weeks off from his job to be the stay-at-home father for Cally, but he continues to devote so much to this lovely gal. He does it so naturally and without hesitation.

Before Cally was born, John bought one of those "Dad's Guide to Kids" kind of book. By December, when Cally was born, he'd never cracked it open. Even now, six months into the game, he hasn't had to look at the book once. He just "gets it". He gets what being a father is all about-- that it requires time away from the mountain bike, the skis, and the climbing gear, but time that is well invested and makes him happier and more fulfilled than I've ever seen him. He gets that when Cally cries, she needs something, that mom's need a break sometimes, and that our life is better because of having a child.

Just the other day, John and I were driving back from our camping trip through East Burke-- a place we've gone many times because of it's amazing single track mountain bike trail network. In fact, he popped the big question to me there two summers ago. As we were cruising by a river that we had dipped in after a long ride the previous summer, he said, "You know, I miss the way we used to be able to be so spontaneous and adventurous ....... but I wouldn't give up what we have with Cal for any of that. She's made our lives so much richer".

John is one of the most selfless and wonderful father's a girl could ask for. He loves spending time with his daughter. Last week, we decided to utilize the help of our friends (Medora and Mary) to babysit Cally so that we could go out on a rare mountain bike ride together. A minute into the ride, John realized he had a flat. He quickly tried to fix the flat, only to find out that the tube he had borrowed from a friend had a hole in it. He patched it and tried to reinflate that tire only to find out that the tube was the wrong size. Without a second thought, he insisted that I go on without him. He exclaimed, "This is stupid! Cally is over at our friends house and I haven't seen her all day. I'm going to stop messing around with my bike and spend some time with her this evening". Upon arriving at Medora's house, he saw that the ladies were having limited success feeding her. He jumped right in and took over in a way that left my girlfriends quite impressed.

As you can see, John lights up when he's with Cally. But so does she.

Not only did I wind up with a wonderful partner and best friend, I've found an amazing father for Cally. I'm lucky, I certainly know that, but so is Cally. She'll never been want for love and adoration from her father. In fact, I sort of feel sorry for her......... any partner that she ends up finding will have a tough act to follow.

Happy Belated Father's Day John!

Bright Baby at Brighton

We did it, we went camping with Cally for Father's Day weekend. John and I are well versed at the minimalist backcountry camping details, but the family car camping adventure is a whole new experience. It only took us three hours to get the car packed and road ready.

Compared to our friends that we joined for the adventure, we were very JV (Junior Varsity vs. being well versed or Varsity). While we did manage to fill our Saab wagon to the brim, we didn't realize all the luxuries you can bring when you are car camping. We did, however, borrow an enormous tent from our friends the Krulls (see picture of John and Cally on the blow up mattress below)


We went up to Brighton State Park in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (near Island Pond in the far northeast corner of the state). We met up with four other families for a total of 9 adults and 9 children. My friend, Medora, reserved three sites on a lake/pond for four days. She's amazingly organized and I knew if we forgot anything, she'd have whatever we were missing. Here's a picture of Medora and Cally:


Cally was a super camper, though she decided that there was too much going on to really take any naps or go to sleep at a reasonable hour while she was there. Who would want to sleep if you might miss things like this:

Happy Half Birthday

Since it was Cally's half birthday yesterday and I was assigned to bring dessert one night, I decided to take advantage of my summer off and make home-made cupcakes in celebration of her first half year on the planet.

I like to bake, but I've never made homemade cupcakes. Perhaps this is because the store bought box brands are so tasty and easy........ Because I was going to be joining a group of friends who do bake cakes from scratch and I actually had the time last week, I decided to give it a try. It was quite a production...... buying the somewhat obscure ingredients (buttermilk, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, etc.) having all the ingredients at room temperature, and then all the mixing with the electric mixer. In any case, I was pretty pleased with the end product and I think these guys were too:



This is a picture of Cally with her big fans Addy and Claire. Of the nine kids that were camping, six of them were four or five year old boys. Claire and Addy are seven and they LOVE Cally. They are eager to help with anything that needs to be done for Cal-- feeding her, dressing her, changing her, giving her a ride in the stroller, etc. Cally is lucky to have all these amazing older friends:


On Sunday, I took the opportunity of having all these loving friends around to go for a run. John had gone on a mountain bike ride with the other fathers and was back, so I went off with two of my girl friends to get some exercise. Upon my return, I found this:


And it wasn't Addy and Claire who put our daughter in a baby stroller. It was the grown mother's of the other kids, Jen and Medora. John had left Cally with them so he could join the boys and older kids on the "school bus"-- an old school motor boat. Jen and Mud were thrilled to get to watch a baby (as their babies are between 4 and 7 years old) and not have to "compete" with the seven year old girls. As you can tell, Cally didn't seem to mind playing baby with the moms.

Cal's got Teeth

A few weeks ago, our normally happy-go-lucky girl was out at a party that Tom and Kara were hosting and she was a mess. We were totally perplexed. Her diaper had been changed, she'd been fed, she hadn't had gas pains in months. Not knowing what else to do, we finally decided to call it defeat and leave the party before even eating dessert. On our way out the door, our friend Cynthia asked if maybe it was her teeth bothering her........... She was right. Note the two little nubbins making their way through the center of her lower jaw.

Summer Vacation, Friends and First Hike

So I think it's official, I'll be the resident blogger for a little while. School got out on Friday for the summer and I've got a little more time on my hands. Not being the eloquent English Lit major that my husband is, I'll probably focus more on the photos than the pros.

Yesterday, we packed up the car for an afternoon in Lincoln, VT. Our good friend HR decided, at the last minute, to retire from teaching at MMUHS (the school where I teach) after 25 years or something. He's been a really amazing part of the community there, so will be quite missed. His wife, Ellie, decided to throw him a celebration:

That's a picture of Cally helping him open one of his retirement gifts. He's amazing with children and there were a few of them there to celebrate.

Here's Uncle Eric with the three babies of the 300 wing. Eric teaches English across the hall from me and he's holding Piper (on the left-- she's about seven weeks younger than Cally), Isaac is in the middle, his father Bryan teaches History down the hall from me (he's in the center and eight weeks younger than Cal). You might notice that Cally (on the right) is the smallest of the crowd, even though she's the oldest. She actually got "hand-me-downs" from Piper the other day. That said, she's got a lot more coordination and tends to do just what she's doing in this photo to her friends-- patting Isaac on the head, touching faces, etc.


Here's a better shot of Cally and Piper during a "play date" today:


Before heading to Lincoln, we had a plan to take a dirt road mountain bike ride with Cally in the Chariot-- the beloved stroller of choice. We loaded the bikes on the rack, stuffed the chariot in the car, and packed biking clothes and outfits for later in the night. It took me about a half hour getting it all together-- I guess that is par for the course when you have some many thing to remember. However, as seems to happen more frequently than not, a major piece was missing from the equation. I loaded the chariot with the jogger attachment and forgot the bike attachment.

People have told me about "breast feeding brain". This packing snafu is yet another example of me exhibiting the forgetful behavior that can accompany a breast feeding mom. Since we were already half way down to Lincoln when I figured out this brain fart, we decided the head out on a hike instead. Fortunately, we did have a baby carrier and hiking shoes. We parked up at Lincoln Gap. Instead of heading north on the Long Trail to Mt. Abe, we headed south to Sunset Ridge:


Cally loved the ride in the Ergo carrier (currently our carrier of choice)




The view from the top was beautiful.


I highly recommend the hike-- for kids, adults, whoever. It's 1.1 miles each way and not too steep. It was the perfect "plan B".

Smiles All Around

As you can see, Cally is not afraid to throw out the smiles......





Below, she's getting ready to embark on her first canoe trip:


Even with the bulky "infant" PFD, she can still give us that toothless grin*



And if you are wondering how we managed to actually canoe with her:

Notice, that she is still smiling underneath the seemingly very uncomfortable PFD.

* Cally actually does have two teeth making their way up through her lower gums. While the first tooth made for a pretty unhappy gal, the second one has made its way through the gum without a peep from her.

Best Friends

Ten and half years ago, I, Scruff Dad's wife, got my first daughter. She came in the form of a four-legged black dog-- half lab, half German short-hair pointer. I called her my Montana Squirrel hound. She taught me a lot about responsibility, loyalty, and the importance of animals in ones life. She was really the best friend a single, independent woman could have asked for....... she ran, skied, biked, hiked, and traveled almost everywhere that I went. She lived in Montana with me for two years and moved to Vermont in 2000. She was dignified, mature, but fun and adventuresome. Anyone who met her, held a soft spot in their hearts for her. I was really, really proud to call her my dog.

John was never a "dog person", he didn't grow up with dogs and had never had a dog of his own. When he started courting me, he knew Zola and I came as a package. Like most people, he quickly warmed up to her and couldn't believe that he had lived so long without the joys of owning a dog. We were both really proud to have her as our ring bearer in our wedding. Here's a picture of her being walked down the "aisle" with my good friend Mic, who had known her since she was a puppy in Missoula:

We thought she would be a part of the "happily ever after" with us
When John and I found out we were pregnant, I knew Zola would be the best "big sister"/first dog that any child could ask for.

Last June, Zola suddenly came up lame. John was in Peru, I was in the middle of the mayhem of school ending and I was just finishing up my first trimester of being pregnant. Within days, she went from being my running side kick to a very sick dog. No one could figure out what was going on, but she was clearly having some sort of autoimmune response (swelling, low red blood cell count, etc.). She managed to have a short remission and get well enough to travel to my parents in Connecticut where we were reunited with John and celebrating my sister and Rob's engagement/shower. Sadly, she died days after our return.

We were heart broken. Not only had I lost the most amazing dog who had been through so many major life changing events with me, but we lost the dream of having our old black friend there for our child. Without much deliberation, we decided to visit a litter of puppies that our builder's dog had sired. Here's what we found:


We named her Izzy. She was half lab/half border collie. She was an amazing puppy. I figured I'd have the time to raise a puppy over the summer and she'd be fairly well trained by the time a baby came along. This way our child would have a dog in her life.

Unfortunately, when Izzy was about four months old, she disappeared from our house with her sister. We have no idea what happened to her. With the help of our amazing friends, we looked everywhere for her. We left no stone unturned-- offered rewards, posted notices in the papers, on Craigslist, etc. We were devastated. For months, calls came in about possible sitings, our hopes would get high, and then nothing would become of any of them.........

Still not willing to give up the idea of having a four-legged sibling for our child, I convinced John to agree to getting yet another puppy. This one I found on Craigslist. The ad said something about an 8-week old "pure breed lab needing to be re-homed b/c of allergies". I e-mailed the woman, we exchanged a few calls and agreed to meet at the Kohl's parking lot in West Leb, NH. So, on a dark night in November, John and I got Zephy:

You can't really see her very well in those pictures, but she's definitely NOT a purebred lab. The first real sign that she isn't, was the beard that she has-- very terrier-like. Then there ss the fact that she was completely neurotic and jumpy........ So, weeks before I was due to have the baby and still not in our own house, we got a very tiny puppy. Three dogs in less than six months! Some thought us insane. And we really, sort of, were.

Zephy, has been a bit of a challenge. She's not as trainable or easy going as either of the aforementioned black dogs. However, she's a huge lover and absolutely wonderful with Cally. She has given Cally so much to laugh and smile about. They love each other:



Words cannot describe how much we miss Zola and Izzy. I have a feeling Zephy will be a lot like a good wine-- she'll get better with age. In the mean time, she's getting better everyday and Cally is going to be a better kid for having had a four-legged sibling in her life.