Waiting for baby sister

Daddy took some pictures this weekend out in the yard of us waiting patiently for baby sister. Waiting is definitely the hardest part, especially when you are 2 and you really don't quite understand WHAT it is everyone is waiting FOR. None the less, James has been quite a trooper these past few weeks as we've been working hard on getting all the projects complete before she makes her debut. Mom finished the mural in her room this weekend and we even got the furniture delivered. Dad has quite easily been doing the work of 5 normal people every day and we don't know what we'd do without his brute strength, endless energy and ability to make anything that seems to be stressful, magically go away. Theoretically, we have about 2 weeks left to wait for our little girl, but as we know, babies have their own schedule and we're now taking our queues from the belly dweller for the duration! We shall see...

Tractor Parade

Every year for Labor Day, the neighboring town has a big parade of tractors: antique tractors, new tractors and also, tractors with floats and themes. We had a great time watching the show down main street and an even better time getting to see all the tractors up close at the park after the parade. Thanks to Uncle Kevin for the John Deere hat James received earlier in the day! Don't know about James, but that night mommy had dreams of tractors dancing thru her head...

What's going on in my yard?

Dad has been itching for this outdoor excavation/tree cutting project for four years (as he keeps mentioning). So this week, James was pleasantly surprised to see the mini excavator and dump truck in his yard. The guys have gotten a big kick out of a two year old who can identify the mini excavator and all the parts on it (note: those are crawler tracks, not wheels). James had a treat yesterday when he got to ride in the dump truck and even use the controls on the excavator. We figured once baby girl comes, we're all going to be pretty preoccupied so better to get things all done now. At once. Stressful? Na. Basement is DONE, interior painting is all done (except mom better get going on the mural) and now the outside project is near completion. Should make for a nice, quiet (??) fall and winter.
Also, baby girl has been in the cooker now for 33 weeks. What a haul so far. She'll be making her debut around mid October, a little sooner if mom gets her wish. James has his own baby doll that he has been shushing and loving these days too. Only downside there is that he chose a cabbage patch doll and the head is rather hard. Especially when it hits YOU in the head at 545am with the small person demand, "mommy hold my baby, I get up in bed." Ouch and good morning. :-)

We did it, we made it to the annual Bridgewater Fair last weekend despite the wacky weather and mom's fear she wasn't going to be able to handle the heat. James was super excited to go and talked about it for the entire week before: "aand, we go to fair to see red tractor that man was washing" "we go to fair to see sheep, cows and chickens!" you see, we drive by the fairgrounds on our way to nanny and boppa's house and James saw a man getting a tractor ready and wanted to ride it, I promised he could at the fair. Thankfully, see pictures, there was a red tractor to ride! James also loved playing in the cornbox (a fancy country fair sand box w/ corn instead of sand). What mom thought was funny was the cow with the large eye that would peer over the side of the fence over dad's head the entire time we were sitting there. I think he wanted a part of the cornbox.

Whoops, we've been missing again! Life in a nutshell: lots of smiles and funny faces, lots of sitting down for a big tired momma and lots of entertainment courtesy of James. We just celebrated with the Imschweilers in Julia's christening this past weekend. While sitting in the pew, James insisted to mommy that it was a birthday party and that we should sing to Julia. To his defense, he has only been to events so far that ARE birthday parties, so it did seem to make sense. We've been busy getting ready for our baby girl and are happy to report that her room is officially pink now. This is helping it sink in a bit for big brother. Next step is for mom to paint the mural and get some furniture...So different with #2! But rest assured, she will have a beautiful room by mid October.

Quick snapshot of vacation...

The blogger is super tired after a crazy week and 1/2 of prepping for vacation, trying her best to take care of a very sick other half (Lyme disease, though amazing how that antibiotic works! He is on the mend now) going on vacation with a toddler and coming home to lots of chores for baby girl. So...here's a quick snapshot of vacation to Rye Beach with Nanny, Boppa, Aunt Becki, Uncle Chris, Anna and Emma. More to come later in the week!

Birthday

We won't get all sentimental about the fact that we now are proud parents of a 2 year old...but, he is a really amazing little guy and we still think we are the luckiest parents in the world.
Now, back to the post: James has a particular fondness of tractors these days. Ok, obsession is more like it. We decided that James needed ANOTHER John Deere tractor with a wagon. What was funny about this is once he inspected it, he immediately told us that it needed a farmer. The only "farmer" we had that would fit was the firefighter. So, our new JD tractor is driven by a misdirected firefighter.
Just the other day mom and James pulled over alongside the road to watch a tractor, with a bailor attached AND a big wagon actually bail hay. The whole process was mesmerizing to both James and mom. Mom admits, she has never seen how this system works and, to watch the hay shoot out of the bailor into the outstretched arms of a young farmer who then stacks it all while balancing on bails of hay in the back of a moving wagon, was pretty cool stuff. Ask James about the experience and you will hear a whole dissertation of what he saw. We are all learning more about tractors, farming and machines than we ever thought we'd know.
Second obsession is construction trucks, or just trucks in general. James can tell you the difference between a cherry picker, backhoe and excavator. He can pick out 18 wheelers on the road and even steam rollers. It's always fun to get in the car with such an eager passenger who's just bursting with excitement to see another machine.

Two of our favorite words he uses right now are "probably" and "actually". If you ask him where something is or what he wants, he will tell you "it's probably over there", or "probably some milk and a sandwich." If he needs to correct something you've said or he's seen he will say "actually, it's a backhoe" or "actually, I hear a bird." Kids do say the darndest things.

James looking very happy as daddy finishes putting the firefighter in the driver seat. Poor guy hasn't gotten off that tractor since that day...
Dad's been helping James with his golf game these days. Talk about a happy boy.

The 4th of July Extravaganza

This weekend was the Plona 4th of July picnic/fireworks/camping event. What fun we all had and what perfect weather! Aunt Verna and Uncle Hank were wonderful hosts and we all had an amazing time. This was the first time James ever spent 8 hours straight RUNNING and PLAYING in his entire life and boy was he tired the next day! No complaints from James though, he is the happiest little person we know who truly enjoys life.
Here were some highlights of the day:
- Getting out of the car and immediately spotting Uncle Hank's tractor "Whoooah!! Big big tractor! James go see it now!" So the hello's were put on hold for a few minutes while James got his first trip to the tractor. (it was followed by many more throughout the day. Each time James would first beg someone for the keys...thankfully he didn't know how to turn it on!)
- Finding out that there are CHEESE BALLS in the world was quite an eye opening experience! Mom is hoping James has forgotten about this part in amoung all the other things...
- Going barefoot everywhere and playing with all the big kids
- Getting to play in the bouncy houses ALL DAY LONG! and there were three!! Best thing is Boppa has one now so James can play in it all the time!
- Playing with the super-cool matchbox car ramp that Uncle Hank made for his grandkids. Now daddy has a(nother) project for the fall!
- Tents? All these people are going to sleep in tents tonight? James was very intrigued by this. The Hartigans opted not to camp out that night given mom's 6 month pregnant status...though she's feeling rather well these days, we thought it would be a little too much this year.
- FIREWORKS!! James was especially wow'ed by these lights in the sky. The best thing for mom and dad was after they were done, James would reach into the sky and say "the beachballs, I can't get them, they are too high!" His parallel of the big round explosions to beachballs was priceless.
- Best part of all was mom being able to watch James and daddy play all day long together. I'm not sure who had more fun as each was always laughing: be it in the bouncy houses, playing with the remote control cars with the 8 year olds or getting to explore deep in the woods with Uncle Hank.
Hope the holiday was great for everyone!

Twins????