Foster has been improving his dance moves recently. He's all upper body, although he throws in some spins on occasion. He has a new toy that sings the ABCs and he was dancing up a storm and watching his reflection in the door. He's also working through some antibiotic resistant ear infections...missed one day of school this week because of a fever, but it seems to have resolved. Hopefully the new antibiotics work!
We just got this picture from daycare...a delayed Turkey Day entry! (Notice the turkey is made out of his hand prints)
We had a great Thanksgiving in Hollis, NH, thanks to the generous Ferlins who evacuated their house to accomodate our family for the weekend. Foster got some quality time with his cousins Carter, Taylor, and Olivia, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We celebrated Carter's first birthday and are very happy he has recovered from his scary pneumococcal bacteremia.
Foster learned to put on a convincing fake smile for the camera and LOVED the cranberry cream cheese (see mustache)!
We traveled to Florida this weekend with the Morrises to introduce the boys to their great-grandmother, Gigi (aka Grams, Mimi, Mary, etc). It was wonderful to see them with her and they had a blast at the beach, pool, and hotel. It was a whirlwind of a trip but worth every minute!
Foster enjoyed his second Halloween this past weekend with Dad, since I was out of town at a conference (terrible timing for parents). He inherited a Nemo costume as a hand-me-down and it fit perfectly! He didn't seem to mind the hood either...a rarity. We may have more pictures coming from a friend from the actual trick-or-treating, but here are a few from home and from his school party last week. Chris reports he actually got the hang of taking a piece of candy and putting it in his bag...but luckily he didn't even realize it was food (more for chris and I).
Fish versus cat. Fish wins.
Scared of his teacher in a witch costume
Last weekend Foster acquired some new pint sized furniture. I passed a yard sale on Saturday and saw this little table. Ironically I also found a kiddie computer too...so now he has his own "home office" all for $5! We were hoping his own "computer" will distract him from ours...fat chance.
Hard at work
Diligently taking notes
Foster also received an early xmas present from the Littles this week...his own comfy monogrammed chair! He loves it and doesn't like it when mom or dad try to use it. Thanks Nana and Pops!
We spent the weekend in Cornwall, CT with close friends from Williams who traveled from Boston, Baltimore, California, and NYC for our annual reunion. A friend offered up her family's vacation farmhouse for the event, which was a beautiful location and had a maze of bedrooms that fit us all comfortably. It was amazing that we had 12 adults, 6 children, and 2 dogs (not Cinco) in the same household and it was relatively sane and peaceful. The kids had a great time playing together and the adults had a great time watching the kids and relaxing together once the kids were in bed. Foster is a mediocre sleeper in new places, but luckily he slept like a rock our first night home.
In order to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'm dedicating Foster's blog today to our favorite girls... our breasts! I don't think Foster will mind since my breasts nourished him out of preemie-dom and into strong boy-dom. It breaks my heart that those same breasts that provide nourishment, sustenance, and comfort to our young children can also threaten to take us away from them too early in life. To help with breast cancer research, I've joined the Army of Women and am recruiting you also!
The Army of Women initiative (www.armyofwomen.org), a program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, funded by a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women, is recruiting 1 million women of all ages and ethnicities, with or without breast cancer, to sign up and participate in breast cancer research studies. If they can get 1 million women involved in research, we are one step closer to understanding the cause of breast cancer and how to prevent it. Participants will be involved in important research to discover THE CAUSE of breast cancer—how to stop it before it starts.
The members are contacted via an email to participate in groundbreaking, breast cancer prevention research studies. They can either sign-up for the studies online, or if they do not qualify, they are encouraged to forward the information to a friend or family member. Studies will require a variety of different things (women can be asked anything from filling out an online questionnaire to being asked for a blood sample). Every woman over 18 is welcome to participate, whether a breast cancer survivor or someone never affected. It's NOT just for those with breast cancer and participation is always, completely voluntary. In many breast cancer research studies, recruiting women is the biggest obstacle, and this innovative program is working to virtually eliminate this hurdle.
There are over 335,000 women already signed up, but still far from the 1 million goal. When you sign up, encourage your friends and family to joint also, by using the "invite a friend" link: https://www.armyofwomen.org/invitefriend.
Foster has found more ways to "play" with the cats now that he can walk! Luckily Romano is the most patient cat in the world. Foster followed him around for 20 minutes trying to get him to take the ribbon.
September kicked off with a playdate with Foster's new friend RJ who is one day older than Foster. They had a great time playing in the yard and since RJ was a stronger walker, he was happy to push Foster around in his wagon. Foster has made huge strides (he, he) with his walking and is going much longer distances.
RJ and Foster
On Friday, we celebrated Chris's birthday with the Chambers (Katie pictured) and Reema. Chris got a new brew pot and outdoor stove (picture turkey fryer), which Foster had to check out himself! We did draw the line and didn't let him play with the new propane stove (thanks Betsy!) Chris already brewed his first batch in it this weekend.
Checking out the 8 gallon pot
Foster goes into "crazy" mode the last 30 minutes before bed. He's happy, but a super high-speed monkey. He especially likes to throw himself around the couch and chaise. Chris captured a few crazy moments with me desperately trying to keep him on the chaise!
I decided on a whim yesterday while I was getting my haircut to sign up Foster for his first trim today. In humid weather, he had cute curls in the back...but most of the time he was sporting a mullet. I took him to Maritza, who cuts my hair, and she had it done in 5 minutes flat! He didn't even know what hit him. We couldn't get a smile out of him, but he wasn't unhappy....just stunned. He is looking quite dapper now.
We all had a fun sunny week at camp last week. It did bring back a lot of memories of last summer, when Foster was so tiny. He's come a long way this first year and it was so much fun to experience more with him at camp(and get more sleep than last year)! In addition to walking (see next post), he went for his first very short kayak with dad (they were very close to shore, hence the lack of life jackets), he climbed Hadley Mountain in the Ergo (and slept the whole way down), sampled a lot of sand, did some swimming, and enjoyed time with his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! Foster started making a very funny toothy smile with a crinkled up nose...we wondered where he got it until we snapped this picture. Looks like he inherited that look from me! Click on pics to make them larger.
Toothy smiles
First kayak
Top of Hadley
Three couples, three dogs, three boys, three Ergos, and one spectacular view!
