Being Sara

Look At Me!

Two weekends ago Zach and I took Xander apple picking.  I had been thinking about this for a while, and thought it would be something fun for us to do as a family.  I haven’t been apple picking since I was a child, but I have lots of fond memories of my mother coming on class field trips with me to pick apples, and all of the yummy treats we created from said apples.

Finally near the middle of October Zach and I had a free weekend and decided to visit an orchard about an hour North of us - Windy Ridge Orchard.  Everyone told me this was “the” place to pick apples.  Their website listed some fun kid activities, and I heard rave reviews about the apple cider doughnuts.  So, we drove up.  It was just past “peak” here in NH, but the leaves were still beautiful, and the drive was fun.  We got there, and realized that this was definitely not the best kept secret in NH, as every leaf peeper in the state seemed to be there.  We soon discovered that we would not be picking any apples that day - there were no apples left to pick!  Luckily, they were still selling apples in the gift shop, so we were able to pick up some apples, apple cider and of course the famous apple cider doughnuts.

The highlight for Xander was the animals.  This particualr orchard has a few goats, pigs, sheep, and a donkey hanging out for kids to visit with.  Xander had a great time watching the animals, and of course checking out the tractors.  Although we didn’t get to pick any actual apples, it was a great family day.  Xander passed out in the car on the way home, and slept for another 3 hours after we got home, so apparently we wore him out with our little adventure!

Related items

• Baby Week 19 - The Name Game Begins…
• Xander Week 96 - First Big Fall
• Xander Week 95 - Scary Halloween…
• Xander Week 92 - Happy Kid
• Happy Birthday Xander!!

First I want to apologize for my lack of blogging recently. There were multiple factors contributing to this slacking behavior. First, Zach’s computer has been broken since about Thanksgiving. This meant that we weren’t able to upload any new pictures, and I hate recycling pictures. Then of course the holidays were incredibly hectic, as they are for most people. But, it’s a new year, and I fully intend to get back into my once a week habit.

We have a very nice Christmas this year. It was a marathon of Christmases for 3 days with all of our families. It was also the first year that we’ve been in our own home on Christmas day in 6 years. Xander got some great gifts - lots of blocks, cars and trucks, some cool crayons (he’s still trying to eat them though…), some nice clothes, a pair of Merrills (very cute!), snow pants and boots, some Play Mobile sets, and lots and lots of books. He did pretty well with ripping open the paper, but he didn’t have the stamina or attention span to do it for very long, so Zach and I opened lots of his gifts as well.

We discovered the value of putting some toys away for a little while. For example, Xander got this great Tonka dump truck from one set of grandparents. It’s big, yellow, and lots of fun to push around. Unfortunately, as soon as Xander saw it, he decided that it is not a dump truck. It is a chair. Xander’s little bottom can just barely squeeze into the bed of the truck, but since it’s a “dump” truck, as soon as Xander sits down, he gets dumped out, and that irritates him to the point of tears. It doesn’t matter how many times we show him how to use the dump truck, he still tries to sit in it. The fact that it’s on wheels doesn’t help much either, since his “chair” is always moving on him. We quickly decided that the dump truck might be a better toy in a few months, so now it’s parked on a high shelf in Xander’s room. This works out well though, because then when we all get sick of the toys that Xander has been using for several months, we can pull out some of the left overs from Christmas, and have a few new toys to play with.

So, two thumbs up for this Christmas - we got to spend lots of time will all of our family and friends, we gave some great gifts, and got lots of great gifts in return. Xander had a good time, he was fun to watch, and play with, and he of course entertained everyone - he was in a good mood most of the time and he was of course all excited about his new toys.

Christmas, family, holidays, mother, motherhood, mothers, parent, parenting, parents, presents, toddler, toys

Related items

• Xander Week 60 - Biased Department Stores
• Xander Week 96 - First Big Fall
• Xander Week 92 - Happy Kid
• Xander Week 89 - He Has A Palate!
• Xander Week 88 - Where are the manners???

Ok, so the post is a few days late, but I’ve got a baby and a full time job, so I think I’m still in the safe zone

Several weeks ago a few of the regular readers/commenters asked me about my mother-in-law. As the stereo-type goes, some people seem to have quite a bit of difficulty with their in-law’s, and asked if I had any advice. I am one of the lucky few who actually enjoys her mother-in-law’s company. Xander is her fourth grandchild, and as with the other three, he thinks she is great. She is always happy to help whenever she is free, and although she offers suggestions and advice, she never interferes in Zach’s and my parenting style. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better mother-in-law.

Similarly my own mother is pretty awesome. Don’t get me wrong - we definitely had our battles growing up, but I appreciate her wisdom and advice these days. She is also excellent with my son, and I haven’t seen her be silly and make a baby laugh like that in years - it’s really great to watch. All in all, I’m really darn lucky in the parent/in-law area. Both mothers are wonderful examples of parents - and I learn more from them every time we visit.

Thus, I don’t have much good advice for dealing with challenging in-laws, though there are plenty of sites that have recommendations such as Baby Center and Baby.com.  A simple search for mother-in-law brings up more articles than I would have expected. I would encourage anyone to do two things when having challenges with an in-law. First, consult your spouse. The last thing you need is friction between you two when there is already friction between you and an in-law. Second, address the problem somehow. If you just let it fester, you’ll be resentful, and they might sense that something is wrong, and the issue will never be resolved. It may turn out that a conversation with your spouse resolves the issue and helps you to better understand an in-law’s motivation. Other situations may require a heart-to-heart with the individual in question.

I would love to hear some input from anyone who has some experience with a challenging in-law - I’m sure there are plenty of people out there with some more practical wisdom than mine

babies, baby, family, family challenges, father-in-law, in-law, infant, infants, mother, mother-in-law, mothers, parent, parenting, parents

Related items

• Alexander Tirrell - A Year In Review
• Xander Week 50 - Birthday Party Planning
• Xander Week 49 - Transitioning to Milk…
• Xander Week 48 - First Ice Cream Cone
• Xander Week 44 - Water Fun Time

My memory tends to fade pretty quickly these days, and this past weekend is a memory that I don’t want to forget anytime soon. Nothing extraordinary happened. It was a quiet weekend home with the family, but that quiet weekend was so wonderful!

The weather finally warmed up this weekend. The week prior was so very cold, and all week you could hear people talking excitedly about the weekend and the nice weather it promised to bring. And this time, the weather preditions were right! The temperature skyrocketed from single digits on Friday to the 40’s on Saturday. So Saturday afternoon Zach and I bundled Xander into his stroller, and put an end to our hibernation. It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air. It was breezy, and a little chilly still, but very nice. We walked downtown to the local coffee shop (that sell only free trade coffee). We bought coffee and hot cocoa, and lunch at the market. We sat in the comfy chairs by the window and played with Xander, watched activity on the street and read a newspaper, and just had a leisurly afternoon. Then we strolled home. The next day we did the same thing. Getting outside was wonderful, and having that relaxing time with my family was also wonderful. We weren’t worried about changing diapers, or doing laundry, or getting to the dump, or any of the other thousands of things that pile up on the weekends. We just enjoyed the company, and laughed at our baby. Sunday afternoon while I was putting away clothes we watched a movie. Xander was in such a good mood! He laughed and laughed. I didn’t even have to touch him - a silly face would send him into giggles, which then in turn made Zach and me laugh as well. The whole weekend was this protected little coccoon of family time, and I loved it. I’m addicted to it, and I can’t wait for more!

baby, babies, infant, infants, parent, parents, parenting, family, families, family time

Related items

• Happy Mother’s Day!
• Alexander Tirrell - A Year In Review
• Xander Week 51 - LUVS Second Attempt
• Xander Week 50 - Birthday Party Planning
• Xander Week 49 - Transitioning to Milk…

Our little family had a wonderful Christmas this year. The celebration started on the 23rd and didn’t end until the evening of the 25th. It was filled with family and friends and generosity all around.

Though Xander didn’t really realize it, he had a very good Christmas. I think I will always remember it as the easiest Christmas we will have. I didn’t have to hide any of his gifts - they stayed on the kitchen table for weeks before I wrapped them. I didn’t need to stay up late wrapping gifts on Christmas eve, everything was wrapped well in advance. I didn’t need to worry about what gifts Santa was bringing, and which ones came from Zach and me. And, I didn’t need to worry about where to hang stockings, or what to put in them.

I think next Christmas will be very different from this one, and from every one that Zach and I have had together, but I’m sure that we’ll enjoy Xander actually being able to open his own gifts (we didn’t really have a strategy for who would open Xander’s gifts this year, and he wasn’t at all interested in helping).

I hope that everyone out there had an equally wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the time that they had with friends and family!

baby, infant, baby’s first Christmas, holiday, holidays, family

Related items

• Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year - Happy Holiday Season!
• Happy Mother’s Day!
• What A Wonderful Weekend!
• Alexander Tirrell - A Year In Review
• Xander Week 51 - LUVS Second Attempt