Dare Margaret

Welcome to the world our sweet Dare Margaret!  You arrived on January 5, measuring 21 1/4 inches and weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces.  We love you so very much.  

You were born about an hour and a half before your due date and my labor was fairly quick with much of it spent at home.  I never thought I'd describe childbirth as peaceful, but that's how the room felt when you made your entrance!  

Your brother has impressed us with his sweetness toward you, his "baby Dare."  He's had his share of two year old moments (including insisting on wearing fleece pajamas for 7 straight weeks after you came home), but has adjusted to his new role so well.  At almost 5 months old you can't get enough of your big brother - looking for him when you hear his voice and giving him huge smiles when you gain his attention.  

The day we brought you home from the hospital the high temperature was 16 degrees and the low was -12.  Unfortunately it didn't really warm up for the next 2 months.  We spent A LOT of time inside trying to keep Grant entertained and trying to keep you from catching his colds and stomach bugs!

You have some amazing hair!  We called you fluffy for the first few months because you looked like the cutest fluffy chick :)  

You are a happy smiling girl!  It has been so much fun discovering your personality.  You're a pretty mellow baby; you have to be when you're the second child because your brother takes a lot of attention!  It is a joy to watch you grow - you're getting so big so fast.

At some point I will write a proper post with your birth story and more details on your first few months but your introduction couldn't wait that long :)

Before and After Bathroom Pics

I still can't believe our bathrooms are actually finished. 2 bathrooms (small ones) and we had to move out for 2 months. They weren't done when we moved back in…we waited another 2 weeks for that and then another 2 weeks until the glass doors in our master shower were installed. We lived at my parents' camp. SO thankful for that! It wasn't a good time as we were both commuting to work from there, we cramped their vacation space for months, and I was early on pregnant and worthless around the house! However, I can say now that I'm looking back that it was worth it! The bathrooms feel so new and clean…a feeling you don't get often in an old house.

Here are some pics I took before we moved in when we were touring the house. We made some minimal necessary changes in the hall bath (leaky tub and toilet) during our first reno but mostly things looked the same up until this May.

Hall bath - note the beautiful black tile, pink tub, and pink sink. Not pictured was the pink toilet.

Master bath - That shower leaked so we were never able to use it! Just a lovely space.

Hall Bath now! We gutted everything and started from scratch. There were no other options that seemed reasonable given the condition of things in there.

I couldn't find a towel rack I liked so my mom made this for me! She's so crafty :)

Master Bath now! Same story here. Gutted and started from scratch. We actually took a small closet out of our room (leaving our still small walk in closet for clothes) and added that tiny bit of space to the bathroom. We then had to move the door. I had my heart set on putting a barn door somewhere in the house so this was my chance!

A little corner shower was our only option in a space this small but we love it so far!

Ah. Looking at these makes me happy!!

We're still here

I've been absent…but it has been a busy summer. Among my excuses…

This guy turned 2 (!!!)

He's a busy one but his sweetness still melts my heart.

We found out he's going to be a big brother….to a baby sister! She is expected to arrive Jan 6th :) We can't wait to meet her! Except…there is a lot to get accomplished between now and then so hopefully she can wait a few more months before making her entrance...

This happened at our house. 2 new bathrooms plus an exterior paint job not pictured…we were out about 8 weeks.  I will post some before and after shots at some point.

We went to the beach!

Grant discovered a new love - "yide boat!" Luckily he had ample opportunity this summer.

In August we went to Acadia National Park in Maine with friends. If you've never been - GO! It was amazing.

Summer feels officially over in Vermont. Grant and I are back to school and it's only 55 here today…brrr! Hopefully that means I'll be back to the blog a bit more frequently. Happy Fall!

What is that?

What is that?...The response I most often get when I tell people I'm an occupational therapist. I love my job but it is hard to describe what I do! There are many different settings where occupational therapists can work and each one is so different. I was doing some research for a work project (we are coming up on April - OT Month) and found this great video and description! Perhaps I should just direct people to this :)

Description from MamaOT

Occupational therapy (a.k.a. OT) is a holistic profession that helps people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities, also known as “occupations”.* We use these occupations as both the intervention and outcome of therapy. Hence the name “occupational therapy”.

When it comes to pediatrics, this means we OTs are really good at providing intervention by engaging kids in their primary childhood occupation — PLAY! But pediatric occupational therapists don’t “just” play. We provide individualized therapeutic intervention to help kids improve their performance in occupations such as eating, sleeping, self-care, and learning by addressing underlying difficulties like fine motor, problem solving, attention, and sensory processing skills (to name a few). We also take into account the effect of a task’s difficulty on the child’s performance, as well as the role of the physical and social environment.

We are creative, scientific, and evidence-based. We are masters of modification and expert task analyzers. We love what we do and are passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of children, their families, and their communities.

Iphone discoveries

This is what it looks like when a toddler first discovers himself on a camera….I'm surprised it took this long! He also loves watching himself when I play this back :)

Discovering himself on video :) from Chelsea Tedder on Vimeo.

TRAVEL

Whew. Traveling with a toddler is quite an experience. We've made a few trips the past few months and each required quite a bit of time in the car. If you didn't already know…toddlers aren't a fan of being strapped in a confining area for any length of time. Mine also doesn't like the sun in his eyes.

We traveled back to VA over Christmas and it was wonderful!! We had a blast spending time with family and friends. We also spent 13+ hours in the car…EACH way.

We've done this drive a number of times and I was especially dreading this one. I probably spent about as much time complaining about it as it took us to do it :) Grant is at such an active age that I thought it would be a disaster to strap him into his car seat for over 13 hours. He completely surprised me and this drive went better than I thought it would. I think it helps to keep my expectations low.

What helped? SNACKS. Grant ate his way through the better part of 6 hours in the car!  You're not allowed to judge until you've been in the car for 13 hours with a toddler who won't watch the iPad. No matter how hard I try.

3 hours in…



What else?  STOPS.  A pre-nap stop at a McDonalds playplace. Grant was thrilled!

This is such a nice sight when on a road trip :)

Gas stations.  Everything is more exciting when you're 1 1/2.

The way home was good as well but not quite as pleasant as the ride down, plus a bit more cramped.   I spent the majority of the ride wedged in the back between the car seat and Christmas gifts. Doesn't it look comfy?

Sweet boy…He's surprisingly tolerant of all we put him through.


Car laughs from Chelsea Tedder on Vimeo.

Our next trip was back to VA again…this time with Aunt Meg instead of Matt to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. I was so confident this trip was going to go well. I should have learned that keeping the expectations low is key.

Our plan was to fly from VT to Washington, DC then drive the 3.5 hours to Lynchburg. We weren't checking bags which meant our mountain of carry ons plus car seat had to move with us the whole time.  Rookie mistake.

Our 6am flight was delayed for over 3 hours due to frozen pipe issues (oh Vermont…how I love you).  Have I mentioned before that January was really cold?

Grant was excited to look at the trucks and planes…for all of 30 minutes.

3 flights out that morning were delayed, which made for a chaotic cluster at the ticket counter. Sigh.

Eventually everyone cleared out except for us. And of course our stuff.

We tried to get creative.

It failed. I can't remember if this was taken after his hand got stuck in the purell dispenser or before.

There are no pics to capture me carrying an overtired, screaming Grant through Reagan airport to the rental car (via escalator, busy arrival traffic, and shuttle bus) in a football hold. There are no pics to capture the tears on the drive back up to DC because Meg was too busy holding up her scarf for 2 hours in an attempt to keep the sun out of Grant's eyes.

I did get this one on the flight home.  He's not sleeping.



On another note, our time in Lynchburg was amazing. My dad was so surprised and excited that it was well worth it :) More on that later...



OK. Our 3rd trip was short in comparison. 3.5 hours up to Mont Tremblant (Canada) in the car was a piece of cake compared to the other 2. We're learning.

No travel pics but a sneak peek of the fun :)

I'm not unrealistic.  I know travel is SO hard for little ones and we put a lot of demands on Grant the past few weeks!  I don't blame him a bit and think he did pretty well considering all we asked of him.  I'm just glad he gets to hang at home for a while :)