So here's my first baby bump picture. Not the prettiest and I sure don't look big, but I was feeling it today. Some days I barely remember that I'm pregnant. Some days it's blatantly obvious. I started prenatal yoga last week and that helped with the hip issues a lot-- at least for that night. I can feel lots of kicking already. Got a long way to go... We had a nice weekend of a visit to the aquarium, dinner with family and another 4 yr. old birthday party! Eric was plying the fishing trade again this weekend, and working damn hard at at.
Eric went to his first Fishing Convention with Buelah this weekend, and although I only got to see him for about 4 sleeping hours last night, it sounds like it went really well. How could it go bad--he got to talk fishing for 4 days straight?! Mica and I had a great weekend to ourselves (mostly). We swam, walked and visited with friends and cousins. We have been struggling a bit with clingy-ness, especially when I'm trying to cook dinner, and then subsequently refusing to eat. She just talks so much! I know it's a good thing that she's so verbal, but being home alone with her it's pretty exhausting. I'm not sure if I should worry or get worked up over her not eating -- as with most of these child rearing issues, probably not. Pregnancy is going well. I've got a solid belly going on now and the hip pain as started to kick in.I'm starting prenatal yoga this week and I've started swimming twice a week, so hopefully those will help.
These are courtesy of Michelle Reed and taken at Sunday River this past weekend. In the first one Mica is the littlest grommet in the back of the line of 4, swinging her left arm to keep her going.
Since I can only post 5 photos at a time I chosen my 5 favorite photos from the trip. I also strongly recommend going to Eric's website for some really gorgeous photos of the wedding we attended: www.ericreedphotography.com.
This weekend we made our second annual trek up to Sunday River to stay with Michelle and Rhodes. Rhodes' family has a beautiful house up there and Sunday River has been my favorite east coast mountain since high school. Mica spent a half day in Ski School. I think we didn't prep her quite well enough for the fact that we were not going to be there while she skied. Apparently she spent much of the time looking for us and when we did come back (an hour before the class was supposed to be over) she didn't appear to be having much fun. But when we ask her if she had fun she says yes, so who knows. I'm taking her to hopefully buy some skis of her own (used) today so we don't have to keep shelling out money for rentals. These should last her a few years. Eric, Rhodes and I had a great time riding the mountain too. No powder unfortunately, but lots of fast groomers. Baby liked all the bouncing :)
It's been an exciting few weeks here in Reed-ville. I'll have to keep this post short, though, because our office where I sit and write this is about 40 degrees and I can only just barely feel my toes. In short we: 1) went out to western Mass for x-mas and Mica's birthday and had a present-licious good time, 2) flew down to Costa Rica for 10 days for our dear friends David and Julie's wedding and lots of romping in the surf and pool, 3) came back and got Mica on skis for the first time! The visuals are going to be a bit backward since the first thing I've got ready is the video of her skiing. So here it is. She loved skiing-- almost as much as we loved watching her ski! She especially loved the hot chocolate at break time and the magic carpet ride up each run.
Here's the latest installment of the Mica adventures. Today was her first day back in school! Next week we head off to Western Mass for x-mas/Mica's B-day with the Reeds, then off to Costa Rica!
It has been one hell of a couple of weeks. Here's the list: 1. Friday Dec 5th, 10 days before Sarah's final project is due, Mica comes down with Salmonella poisoning. 2. Saturday we make the trip to Children's hospital to get her IV fluids. 3. Mica out of school and sick all week (actually, for the next two weeks). 4. Sarah has a migraine for two days mid week. 5. Eric home with Mica almost all week-- no work done. 6. Thursday Granny comes home from Europe! Yea! 7. Sarah spends > 12 hrs a day at school from Friday Dec 10- Monday Dec. 14th getting final project done. 8. Monday final presentation-- all done!
Mica is doing much better now. She's still got some "loose stools" each day, but otherwise she seems completely normal. Poor kid still isn't allowed any dairy, though. And for Mica that's a BIG deal. We think she got it from her cousin who had it 3 weeks before they saw each other (and had no symptoms), but but we still don't really know. Otherwise it's a crazy coincidence. Either way it's crazy, really.
Here's a short YouTube of my final project: It's a Frisbee cast from cork mixed with a liquid plastic and with a circuit embedded in the top. When thrown it lights up!
We've had a nice Thanksgiving break. Eric cooked his signature massive turkey, stuffing and gravy and served it up to a cround in Andover-- rave reviews. Now we're out in western Mass visiting his folks. All in all it's been a lot of sitting around, TV and general relaxing. I find it's always a little tough to go from the rush rush of normal life to the dramatic halt of vacation. But I know that I need the rest, so I'm trying to appreciate it. Mica loves seeing all the aunties and cousins and everyone loves to see her. Two weeks left of school! Final project here I come. I'm aiming for simplicity since I know these things get out of hand. I'll be making a cork frisbee that will light up in some interesting way. In contrast, my class mates will likely cure cancer.... or at least attempt to. Oh, and my cousin plays soccer for Harvard and told us at Thanksgiving about this news story. Girl needs a bit more than a yellow card in my opinion...
Here are some pictures of some of the things I've been doing at school this semester. This is really just a random snapshot, though. There's been a lot more.
This is a mold that I laser cut with the intention of casting our cork mixture into it and making cork lace. Unfortunately I couldn't cut it deep enough because it was taking too long on the laser cutter (this took 1.5 hrs as is!) It's pretty though!
This is a fishing rod holder I made on the machine below, called a ShopBot. It's a CNC (computer controlled) router. Lots of fun to work with. Like the project above, the holder looks cool but the rods aren't quite stable enough. A lot of my projects in the class have had the quality-- look cool, but not really functional : /
Here's a video of a circuit I made. It has a temperature sensor on it so in the video I breath on it and the lights light up. Amazing...took a ridiculous amount of time to make.
This is a planter I made that was originally intended to be a step stool for Mica, but didn't end up being strong enough. It's made from Hemp Linen soaked in Polyester Resin --horribly nasty stuff that I never want to lay eyes on again-- and then molded over a small trash can.
We had a nice weekend at home-- hanging out with our gorgeous new windows. Our landlord got us 6 Huge new windows on Friday and we are infinitely grateful--changed the whole place. Mica had her first swim lesson at the Y around the corner from us on Saturday morning. Had to have been one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I thought I would be going in with her, like when she was a baby, but, to my embarrassment, when we walked down to the pool none of the other moms were in bathing suits! Luckily I brought my clothes down with us. Apparently I had fudged a little and when I signed her up I told them she was three (she'll be in a month) so they put her in the 3-6 yr. old class. She was the tiniest of the group but did awesome! She let the teacher lift her right in with a little floaty tied around her waist and she hung onto the side of the pool and kicked happily. By the end of the class she was swimming on her own holding onto a kick board (with the floaty still, of course)! I was amazed! She was laughing with the other kids and had the "this is the funnest thing I have ever done" look on her face the entire 30 min. So glad I signed her up.
So, I have a friend here at school that has a great little blog that he posts to at least a couple times a week. A picture here, a quote there. Little stuff. I want to do that too. So I'm going to try. Our big news these days is that we're pregnant! Again! I'm about 6 weeks along which, by my own count, puts us due in about early to mid July. Just around my birthday (July 9th). We've told various friends and family, but we're kind of just letting the word get out "organically." I don't get morning sickness, but I am feeling pretty tired and I seem to have a near permanent sinus infection. We told Mica and she seems excited, although I think it's still pretty abstract for her. She first asked if we could name the baby Cappy, which is her name for every toy. She's been asking more questions as time goes on-- like on the bus the other day when she asked how the baby was going to come out! We're all very excited for Thanksgiving!
Well the pressure has been on to make a new entry and put some photos of the Mica Monster. I am now bowing. We have busy this summer and fall. Sarah chugs along at MIT, Mica continues to be a brilliant exciting and loving little girl, and i am still working to make the photography biz work for me. I have made my biz licenced and now am the Owner, President, Accountant, and Janitor of Eric Reed Photography. I have been shooting Weddings all summer and have learned alot. I look forward to next Season. I have also become the North East Sales Rep. for Beulah Fly Rods. Alot to things to juggle but I wouldn't have it any otherwise. Well thats enough words lets look at the photos. Love you all and See you soon. Eric
This is Mica talking to Granny in Sweden via Skype As the summer comes to an end, I'm inspired to post some of the photos and videos we've collected. It's been a nice summer and I think we're all a bit sad to see it end-- I know I am. We've been to Maine a lot and spent lots of fun time on the beach. Mica has grown into the beach bunny the Reeds always dreamed she would be. She loves the sand and the water and quickly got over her fear of water. She now asks to go into the waves, and happily runs through sprinklers (just this morning she was running through one naked at the playground because we forgot to bring a bathing suit:) I've had a great summer playing with cork, but it's back to class work in a week for me. Eric's busy working on taking over the East Coast salt water fishing industry. More pictures from him to come....
So, apparently we're just not born bloggers since our last post was in February! But we've amassed some pictures and some video since then so I figured it worth posting. Life is quite happy here. We've recently moved to Somerville and love our new hood. It's lively and diverse and easy to get around. We've all been happily riding public transportation to and from school/work (something we only barely and unhappily could do from our last place). My cork research is going slowly, but I'm enjoying it a lot-- mostly because I get to play with weird substances all day long. Eric has been taking advantage of his privileges as a NESOP employee by using their computers and printers and taking one class. He's of course itching (no pun intended, Eric) to go fishing, and will be heading back down Martha's Vineyard this weekend. Mica and I will be going north to Vermont to visit Grandpa Peter.
The pictures below go in reverse chronological order: starting with a recent hiking trip and trip to the zoo, then on to Mica's and my trip to Colorado. Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!
