Bluegrass festival campout

I know I wrote that we'd be staying home for a couple of weeks to work on improving Cale's sleep habits, but I couldn't pass up a chance to go with Alan to the Rogersville Bluegrass Festival on Saturday night! It was Caleb's first bluegrass festival and first night camping in a tent. Going to festivals was such a huge part of Alan's growing up, that I knew we had to get Cale to one during his first summer. It was the first bluegrass festival we've been to in two years, so when we woke up on Saturday morning to hit the road, Alan, with guitar in hand, was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning! Over the years, I have also grown to love these festivals - the people (many of whom are now great friends), music (the level of musicianship is truly remarkable) and welcoming atmosphere - make bluegrass festivals one of the best kept secrets in the Maritimes. These festivals are where Alan shines the most - his natural habitat!
Alan commented as we hit the road at 7:30 am how before he used to have a checklist of 4 items - guitar, sleeping bag, tent and cooler - and now here we were with a car overflowing with baby clothes, a stroller, baby food, toys, diapers! How times have changed! Cale got to meet so many new friends, all people who will be able to watch him grow up, just as they watched Alan. He slept great in the tent and Alan got to jam 2 years worth of picking into one night. When Cale and I woke up at 6:30, Alan was just climbing into the tent to get a few hours of sleep! There were a couple of times in the middle of the night when I woke up and could hear Alan singing off in the distance that I wished I could have snuck out of the tent to go join in the fun. But I was quite content to drift back to sleep with a smile on my face knowing that both of my boys were exactly where they wanted to be.

When I grow up I want to be just like my dad!

August nature notes

I woke up one morning this week and the perfect amount of mist was in the air to make every spider web around me stand out. It was really beautiful. One of the things I love most about maternity leave is having the time to get out the camera, take a walk and really enjoy mornings like these. Usually I'd be in a huge rush to get in the car and drive to work that I may not have even noticed.

I also found another species of orchid blooming in the bog this week. The slender ladies tresses orchid, which has many small flowers that spiral down the stem. I think they must just be coming into bloom because I've noticed lots of them popping up in the past few days. So pretty, and Caleb gets a kick out of being turned upside down in the carrier while I attempt to take pictures!

Slender ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes)

I'm going to write a big sleep update in a few days. Alan and I have made some changes and are hoping to start seeing results. We are home until Sept 8th, when we come back to Freddy for some Petunia gigs and the Harvest J&B Festival, so I think we have time to make some real progress before then. For now I'll just say that Caleb is now sleeping in his crib at night and that we are trying to begin the stages of night weaning, in order to get him sleeping for longer periods. One other thing I'm really enjoying about maternity leave is that I've been able to connect with a few other new moms and we've been able to support each other a bit when it comes to things like sleep troubles and the high demands of breast feeding. It is nice to know I have people to call when I need a little pep talk. As I wrote to Amy and Lydia in an email today, parenting isn't all 'Brangelina' joy and happiness, but without a doubt it brings us both a new level of love and gratification that we didn't even know existed before Cale came along.

To end off, a nice picture of father and son playing in the grass.

Tyvonn comes to Fredericton!

All the guys at the camp

This weekend Tyvonn and I are enjoying our second annual trip to Fredericton and also to Moosecall, my dad's fishing camp. This is a trip we both look forward to all year. Yesterday morning, Ty, Caleb, Alan, Greg, Grammpie J., uncle Mike and I all jumped into our trucks and hit the road to the Miramichi. We had tons of adventures lined up - fishing, canoeing, an archeological dig to look for arrowheads (no luck), moose spotting (saw 2 crossing the river), camp fires and moosecalling. I have never been lucky enough to witness a successful moosecall until last night when Tyvonn, on his very first try, assuredly placed the birchbark moosecall to his lips and let out a long, hollow cry (we had been given a demonstration of how to properly do a call and also watched some videos on youtube the night before to prepare!). Sure enough, we immediately heard a loud splash and a moose call back from the other side of the river! It seriously made my heart jump. especially because it was pitch dark and I couldn't imagine how I would explain to Big Brothers/Big Sisters that my little had been chased by a moose! That was all the response we got, but I think it is a memory that will stick with all of us!

We are home again now and after all the fun we've been having, we are ready for a nap.

Tyvonn practicing the moosecall

Cale's first gorbie feeding!

Alan poling Tyvonn upriver to catch minnows!

Two proud grandfathers

Look closely and you can see two teeth!

Wedding weekend

Family portrait at the wedding

We are just getting home after the beautiful wedding of Sean Myles and Gina Haverstock. The wedding was held in the gorgeous coastal village of Malagash, NS (along the Northumberland Strait) directly across the road from the Jost Winery. Alan was doing sound for the wedding as well as playing a few tunes with David, so Sean and Gina generously put us up in the Jost family homestead where we were surrounded by ocean views and the vineyard. Cale decided to sleep through the ceremony, but he did great during the early part of the reception and for part of the winery tour.

Caleb was able to fall asleep on his own again last night and I'm sure he is sleeping for longer stretches. It's like he hardly needs his momma anymore!! I'm really proud of him and feel ready to try to get him back to sleeping in his crib this week. Arlo stayed in a kennel for the weekend, and just like last time, he decided to tear his bed to shreds. I think he gets a bit stressed being on his own, but the owner said other than the bed incident, he was a perfect guest. So now both Arlo and Caleb need to get used to sleeping in new beds.

Caleb getting a kick out of himself in our bedroom mirror!

Birthday bonfires and homemade baby food

After being kindly reminded by Mary that it has been awhile since my last post, I decided I needed to get to it! Yesterday was Lydia's 31st birthday so we had a seafood themed BBQ and bonfire at our place. A heavy rain passed by half an hour before people arrived and then it turned into a beautiful clear evening. I was disappointed that no one dressed up as a lobster, but we did feast on mussels, scallops, shrimp, calamari, salmon, s'mores and delicious bananas cooked on the open fire. It was my first attempt at roasted bananas, we just split them and left them on coals until they were soft, then added some honey on top. An amazing desert. Next time I'm going to try wrapping them in foil and putting some chocolate inside. We even saw plenty of shooting stars to top off a great evening.

Caleb is absolutely loving his solid foods. So far we've had great luck with apple, avacado, banana, sweet potato, chicken, carrots and a couple of iron-fortified grain cereals. It has been fun for me to learn how to prepare and store baby food. Kathy gave me a great book called The Baby's Table with lots of recipes. I've been trying to make large batches and then store the leftovers in BPA-free ice cube trays. Then one cube can be used as a meal when needed. He actually eats about 3 cubes a meal already (0nce in the morning and once before bed), so my supplies will be used up quickly.

Sweet potatoes ready to go in the freezer.

Finally, I hardly want to write this for fear of cursing myself, but Caleb fell asleep on his own in the crib today! He is still sleeping now, so I'm typing very quietly! No nursing, no mom by his side, just fell right asleep. He also slept for close to a 5 hour period 2 nights ago, so maybe we are making some progress. Not bad considering he is still super stuffy with a cold and has not one, but two teeth coming through.

In the crib and SLEEPING! This was a risky photo op,
but a moment I wanted to capture!

Picnics, playdates and the very first tooth!!!

Family Picnic

We are heading back to Duncan's Cove tomorrow after a wonderful two weeks in PEI and NB. Yesterday we had an early birthday picnic for Grammpie Greg at O'Dell Park. Caleb's happily ate his meal of carrots, apples and barley cereal. I've been really enjoying making my own baby food for Caleb. My peas weren't very successful, but I realized after I had blended them that I forgot to steam them first!

We had a great playdate today with many of the newborn Fredericton babies. 4 month old Bren and big brother Foster (Tanya and Shawn), 4 month old Lydia and big sister Stella (Ryan and Shona), 9 week old Regan (Jill and Ryan) and 6 week old Eloise (Owen and Amy)!!! Great to have some time quality mama and baby time!

Lydia, Cale and Bren (I'm sooo happy to have another Lydia in my life!!)

And the most exciting news of all...Caleb's first tooth has just broken through! My dad discovered it this afternoon. My favorite gummy smile is soon to be no more! He also has a stuffy nose and a bit of a cough so I finally have an excuse for why he doesn't sleep well!

Finishing up dinner with Katrina (you'd never know he has a cold and is teething!)

Aunt Teresa has a farm...E-I-E-I-O!

One place we wanted to be sure we had a chance to visit this summer was Teresa's farm in Main River. We haven't been there since our wedding reception party in August 1, 2 years ago. It was so great to spend the night there along with Grammie J, Kathy and Monica. We also had nice visits with Nancy, Joan, Pam and Marley...all family who had not met Caleb before.

Teresa's garden is truly a work of art and we just happened to plan our visit when all the veggies were ripe! Caleb loved checking out the pigs, but most of all he had a great time watching and playing beside his cousin Monica. It is adorable to watch them interacting! And I think Monica told Caleb a few sleep secrets, because Caleb had a great night's sleep in the fresh country air! Let's see if it continues tonight.

These guys don't look like Arlo!

Caleb going in for the soother steal!