Thanksgiving 2006

We had a very Memmesheimer Thanksgiving as all the Houghtons were across the world and country! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Hastings for a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. It was rainy, but the kids did pretty well.

Then Graham, Chuck and I went on an indoor camping adventure at Gramma and Popa Houghtons -- they'd been gone for weeks and it was a little nippy, but we warmed it up and checked all the beds (they worked fine) and found a surprise or two of the animal kind, but otherwise, we were sure that the place would be ready for their return the next week.

On Friday, we went to Keene to Gammie and Papa Hank's to play with the cousins. We went to the playground at Jonathan Daniels Elementary School (where Chuck and his siblings went to school and Kyle had his first teaching job). This picture is some kids trying to get past the troll (Christine). Adam wanted to be on the blog again, and here he is!

Ahoy, Matey!

This is Graham with his pirate ship -- you'll note that he's extremely unhappy with it. He has come to love pirates as a result of spending the whole month of October pretending to be one, reading about them, drawing treasure maps, hiding treasure and playing on the big ship climbing structure at school. He got the "aargh" down pretty good, too!

While opening the pirate present he said, "This is the best birthday I've ever had in my life!"

Graham has been making up some pretty good stories and has some pretty quotable things to say. For example, he had a stomach bug and was having some gingerale after an unpleasant middle-of-the-night surprise (all over his bed) and was upset because "one of the jumpy things from the gingerale got in my eye!"

He wrote this letter about the time of his birthday:

"Dear Daddy, I wish you could stay with me every day. I would like Daddy to stay with me all day and all night, but when I want him to leave, I want him to leave. Daddy, I want you and me to be married when I'm a grown-up and we're at our wedding. The End."

And after a bad departure from school one day, I got this note:

"Dear Mommy, I wish you wouldn't leave without any extra kisses. Tonight I want extra kisses please. Miss you. Graham"

Happy Fourth Birthday, Graham

Graham celebrated his fourth birthday on November 15th. He requested a "private" party with just Mom and Dad. Despite our misgivings, we honored the request (at the suggestion of some experienced early childhood folks). This is Graham getting his first look at his "Cars" cake!

Boy, was he excited! He got the "Cars" movie, an inflatable "Cars" chair, some "Cars" cars, a pirate ship for the tub and a Magnadoodle! It was tough, but he finally went to sleep that night.

A Day Full of Promise

As some of you know, we have had a trying fall. This is a picture of Graham playing in leaves on the morning of October 21, 2006 -- Chuck's 41st birthday. We had a nice morning with special doughnuts and presents for Daddy. But by noon, Chuck was in such distress (dizziness, nausea, confusion and pain) that he called the doctor and was instructed to go to the hospital. He spent a very upsetting afternoon at the emergency room, where some strange diagnoses were suggested, and finally was told he was being transferred by ambulance to Lahey Clinic for a neurology consultation. He was summarily discharged by the neurologist on Sunday morning, and sent home, not feeling much better.

We followed up with his primary care doctor. He reccommended two things: stop taking all medication, and then scheduled him for a consultation with a local neurologist, who suggested that he might have something called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo), a condition of the inner ear caused by debris floating in that shell-like shape and referred him to an audiologist. The audiologist says its not BPPV, but that he has permanent damage to his vestibular nerve causing the dizziness and nausea. She has recommended three months of physical therapy to learn how to compensate for the deficit. There has been no reason given for the nerve damage. It can be caused by inflammation in the inner ear damaging the nerve, such as from a virus or infection.

His joint pain has lessened to a degree, but is still present. He is not taking any arthritis medications anymore, just Advil and Tylenol. We've been fighting with the insurance company to get the necessary equipment for Chuck's sleep apnea. He got it yesterday, and we will see if that relieves his fatigue.

Halloween

We had a visit from a superhero at our house on Halloween weekend! Mr. Incredible arrived on Friday night when he attended the annual Harvest Festival at Live and Learn, stayed on Saturday when he had his haircut, showed off to his Gammie and Popa at Garrett's birthday celebration, went (speed) trick or treating on Monday, and attended Preschool on Tuesday. It was a whirlwind visit, but definitely enjoyed by all.

On Monday, October 30, we went to see The Wiggles Live! It was exciting, but the show was just a little too long for Graham -- he made it to the end, barely. He danced and sang and yelled "Wake up, Jeff!" He also went to the edge of the seats so he could talk to Murray (the red one), and that was the highlight of that visit. "Murray said 'hi' to me!"

We rushed back to Lee after the show to particpate in Lee's trick or treat. We headed out as soon as the costume was on. We headed down the connecting dead end street to find one of his buddies, Trinity (who was Cinderella). We found her and went door to door as fast as Mr. Incredible can go. It was a race to every door! Interestingly enough, he really did eat much of the candy. It was the collecting that was fun!

Grandma Hastings' 85th Birthday

On October 14th, we went to Gilsum to celebrate Grandma Hastings' 85th birthday! It was a great fall day and the cousins Graham, Katie and Jon had a wonderful time. Garrett came, too, but he didn't jump off any rocks -- that was the highlight of the day for Graham.

We visited with Grandma and Popa Houghton for the first time in a while and were surprised at how many goldfish can multiply in a pond in a few months! Graham checked out his "scary forest" and made sure that "Autumn's Bunny Trail" was in good order. We also checked out all the scarecrows in downtown Jaffrey.

Labor Day 2006

Chuck had been invited to a wedding of two co-workers, so Graham went to Sleepy Hollow with Grandma and Popa all by himself! He ran them ragged, and had the first bad dream that he was able to tell us about. It involved a long slide and monsters who ran away when Graham burped! The mind of a three year old at work!

The wedding was a traditional Greek affair, and Chuck and I had a very good time. I picked up Graham on Sunday from the Hollow. Here's a picture of Graham stomping in some puddles with his umbrella.

Lee Country Fair

I'm still a little behind on retelling the events of our summer, but I'll keep working on it!

The second weekend in September brings the Lee Country Fair. It's the best little fair I've ever been too, and Graham loves it. He asks about it starting with warm weather. The main reason is the coolest competition I've ever seen -- the Pedal Tractor Pull! Graham participated last year, and has spent all summer "training" for this year's event.

The Pedal Tractor Pull is exactly what it sounds like -- little kids pedaling toy tractors, and pulling skids with bricks on them! They pedal on a track made of plywood that's about 30 feet long. Last year, Graham made it about half-way. This year, he went off the track! He had a great time, and very proud of himself. He didn't win a trophy, but did get a ribbon and a t-shirt which he proudly wears.

The pictures are in reverse order, but this gives you an idea.

Graham also experienced helium balloons at the Lee Country Fair for the first time -- I think we lost two to outer space, and popped one. He ate cotton candy and played games for prizes -- in all a great day!

I climbed Mount Washington

On the final day of our vacation, we drove up Mount Washington. It was an "iffy" day down in the valley, but when we reached the peak, it was clear and we could see all around us. It was not sunny, but the clouds were high above us. We arrived just as the cog railway arrived, and Graham was fascinated with the steam. I think it may have helped him understand Thomas the Tank Engine a little bit more. We went into the observatory, checked out the Tip Top House, climbed to the actual summit, and watched the train. The way down was interesting in that the brakes were smoking -- the van doesn't have that low a gear to hold it back so we had to stop many times to cool off the brakes.

Here's Graham and Papa at the summit. No, Graham is not wearing orange diapers. He is potty-trained! We left Gramma and Papa's camper in Conway, and unloaded stuff from our van into theirs, and unfortunately, the long pants we'd set out for Graham got transferred. He's wearing one of Chuck's fleeces upside-down on his legs.

The next day, Graham was at the playground telling everyone that he climbed Mount Washington. He got some pretty strange looks from the adults, until he finally admitted that he went in the car!

What was that noise?

Graham's daycare closes for a week at the end of summer, so I decided it was a perfect time to take some time off myself and do a few fun things. We took all the kids to a place called Charmingfare Farm in Candia, New Hampshire. It's somewhat like the Friendly Farm (for you NH people), but it has more exotic native (and not so native) animals. There were the usual farm animals, raccoons, porcupines, bears, mountain lions, reindeer, camels, lynx, wolverines, and a few other animals I can't remember. When we were visiting with the goats, they got a little wild and ripped the feed bag out of my pocket and ate our map, so I don't have a reference anymore. As we were leaving, we were saying good-bye to the llamas and one made a very strange noise, which Graham continues to imitate and say "but the llama did it!"

Vacation!

We took our first family vacation in a while when Graham's school was closed. Garrett even came with us! We wanted to try camping with Graham, but were a little nervous about how it would go. We shouldn't have worried. He loved it! He enjoyed going in and out of the tent, the campfire and following Papa around. As Chuck has good days and bad, I asked my Mom and Dad if they could come in the event I couldn't manage the tent and stuff like that by myself. We went to Ossipee and stayed in a big campground with a lake and pools, so Graham got to try out his swimming. And, of course, he had to go in the pool even though it was barely 70 degrees out! We rented kayaks and went for a "paddle" on the lake -- I just stuck Graham in front of me and it worked quite well. We ate s'mores each night, and it was overall pretty successful.

Here are the boys in the tent.

Summer's End

Friday marked the end of the summer session at Graham's school. In a week, he will move to the older group in preschool, with two new/different teachers than last year. He'll be one step closer to his goal of being "big". As part of the end of summer rituals, Graham received a certificate for his swim lessons, and a special gift from his teachers. (see picture)! We're not getting a straight answer on what the whole "starfish poisonsharks" thing is about, but I'm guessing that's the name the five three-year-olds that made up his class came up with!

We're taking a vacation this week -- our first together in some time. We're going camping with Grandma and Papa in Ossipee on Wednesday -- this is a test! Depending what we feel like, we might head to Conway or check out Mount Washington, or we might stay by the pool and lake all day. If all goes well, we'll stay until Saturday, if not, oh well!

Look, no hands!

Graham has been taking swim lessons this summer, and in the last week (since Autumn's visit, at least), he has really made a giant leap in his progress. I think we can officially call him a swimmer. He can swim alone with just swimmies and no help. He experimented with this with Gramma and Papa when they were here two weeks ago, and now he's taken off. He also will now put his face in the water completely, and has taken to floating on his back in the tub as a way of practicing (it also cuts down on the hair-washing conflict!). I am of the distinct impression that Autumn's abilities (which surpass his) had something to do with this. Ah, peer pressure!

We're going camping next week, and I found a place with a pool and a lake, so he should get plenty of practice. I think he's more excited about s'mores but it's hard to tell!

Swimmy the boy

Deana e-mailed me a couple of photos from last Sunday at the Hollow with the cousins. We've attached one of Graham in the pond, the cousins & Kim, and cousins on the top bunk!

Summer Fun

We had a big family week. On Sunday, Graham and I went up to Vermont (I forgot my digital camera, so no shots of this until people e-mail me photos!) to see Autumn, Kris, Deana, Grandma Norma, "Poppy", Mimi Debbie, Laurie, Zinn, Jack-Jack and Dave. It was a beautiful summer day and the three-year olds LOVED the water. They floated boats, took a trip through the culvert and tried out the pond.

On Tuesday, Kris, Deana and Autumn came for a visit to our house. Grandma and Papa came the next day and camped nearby where they had a pool. The two kids got along great, but going to bed was a little difficult for each of them! We took Autumn to the beach, where her parents were really not excited about the water temperature (63 degrees), but she didn't mind! Because it was REALLY hot, we only stayed a little while, and then headed for the pool.

We had an early birthday party for Kim, with Grandma making an Autumn-safe cake and the three year olds playing the birthday song on some really loud instruments!

So what else do you want to know?

I'm going to try to catch up for several months of not communicating with people!

Here's another out-of-order picture from this spring at Grandma and Papa Owen's house. This is Graham operating Papa's remote control boat on his new pond. There sure are a lot of fun things to do at Papa's -- throw stones in the pond, ride in the pickup truck, and sometimes getting to operate the backhoe!

We've had some work done on the house this year. First, we had a wall taken down between the kitchen and the dining room. It really opened up the kitchen, which is at the back of the house, and improved the heating and cooling, too, as a bonus! We're about to have a sliding glass door installed in our breezeway to the backyard. There currently are no doors to the backyard; you have to walk all the way around the garage or the house and when Graham falls off the swingset, that's a long run! We'll eventually install a deck but are not sure that will happen this summer as the house is desperately in need of a coat or two of stain.

Chuck continues to search for answers to his ongoing pain. It's narrowed down at this point to psoriatic arthristis or post-Lyme disorder. He's on some super-strength NSAIDs right now, and is tapering off some pretty high doses of prednisone and is feely pretty yucky right now.

We had horrendous rain/thunderstorms yesterday. There was a hailstorm in Exeter with golfball sized hail which damaged our van. Chuck says we're lucky as a number of cars in the lot had smashed windshields!

New Bike

This is out of order, but I thought I'd tell about Graham's new bike. He got a big tricycle a couple of weeks ago. It came complete with a (loud) bell, and streamers on the handles. It makes Graham go very fast. He likes to ride it to the playground at the elementary school up the hill, which he can do without much assistance. He also uses it to tow things around the yard. Right now, it's towing a monster truck that apparently got stuck in the mud.

Fourth of July

We took a trip to the Hollow over the Fourth of July, and it was a great time for Graham. Because of all the rain, the brook was quite fast, cold and high. This, however, did not deter Graham, who apparently should have been born in a more tropical climate as he eschews clothing on nice summer days. We were very concerned that he would not don the appropriate garments for his swim lessons (which started yesterday), but he did manage to keep his bathing suit on for 45 minutes. He did spend the remainder of the day in his wading pool in the backyard buck naked, including a trip to pick Mom up at work! As we say "Naked is as naked does!" Here's one of the few pictures of him with clothes on!

After going to the Hollow, we headed south to Keene to celebrate "baby" Jon Ryan's birthday. Graham still calls Jon "Baby Jon" which he started about some time ago to keep Jon Comerford distinct from John Wolfe (fondly known as "Big John"). Jon turned three on the Fourth, and there was quite a party for the three three-year olds (Jon, Graham and Derek) plus their older cousins (Katie and Adam)! We tried to take a walk around Goose Pond will all the Memmesheimer boys, but we had some footwear issues, and then it POURED!

Okay, so it didn't go so well updating the blog, but now that Graham is actually going to bed by himself, there is hope!

We survived the torrential rains here in the Northeast with no issues. There were a number of road closures in our town as the tidal rivers became overwhelmed. The driveway to my office was washed away, too. One of my co-workers was literally stranded in her town for three days. It was very bizarre to look at weather forecasts with precipitation predictions of 4"-8" -- it looked like winter snow falls, not rain!

We've had a less than pleasant spring, but we've gotten out to do a few things. I'm attaching a couple of pictures Graham experimenting with the backhoe at Grandma & Papa's and at the beach a couple of weeks ago. He is now 3'3" tall and weighs 38 lbs. We just got a scale and he gets on it every couple of minutes and asks if he's grown. He told me the other day that he really wants to be a grown up. His vocabulary continues to astound us.

So I'll sign off and see if I can do this more regularly.