Cottage Trip and Notes

We have not been great about updating the blog very often. I'm having deja vu. Moving on.

Canada! We went to the cottage a couple of weeks ago and spent a relatively euphoric week with my folks. Saints that they are. I cannot imagine going up there without them, and you, dear reader, are also invited to join us at the cottage next year so long as you have endless patience for chasing around my kid while I go swimming. No joke, I think that I had someone else watch Vi while I went swimming at least once every day we were there.

Notes from the trip:
- Violet loves the water! We had a really incredible poo-related accident while up there, and I ended up just dunking her butt clean. She could NOT have been more thrilled about this. (Note to my family who drinks this water: I believe microscopic poo removal is precisely what Big Berkey is for). She also LOVED playing in the inner tube while we swam around her. See pictures.
- She adjusted remarkably well to travel, but early morning awakenings have long been her M.O. for travel times. My dad took us into the mainland on many of these days so that Angela and my mom could sleep, and Violet ate more contraband, er, "breakfast food" than in the entire rest of her life combined. Sausage, people, SAUSAGE.
- Big fan of the wildlife, our kid. The arrival of any fur-bearing creature is typically accompanied by lots of smiles, laughing, and arm flapping.
- Motor development is still moving right along. Language function less so, but no significant concerns.

Notes from home:
- We have a couple of apple trees that are bearing quite a lot of fruit this year, and one of her favorite things is to grab a few and carry them around for the next hour, occasionally biting into one.
- She still loves it when I blow raspberries in her belly. Or her side or her thighs. She saves the best squeals for these moments as far as I'm concerned.

Upstate Girl

Two weekends ago, Ted, Violet and I flew out to New York to visit Casey and Lauren. Normally I visit them in the city but they recently bought a vacation/weekend home an hour north of the city in Cold Spring. They bought a great house, and with their amazing eyes and incredible senses of design, made it absolutely incredible. The whole thing is gorgeous and it really is too bad that we did not take enough pictures (story of my life). It's the stuff of Architectural Digest. Seriously. Amazing. They've had a bunch of work done to the house but what is more amazing is everything that they have done themselves. They've made doors, made furniture, built a deck (with the help of my Dad). And it's all beautiful. In addition to letting us stay in their amazing house, they were the most extraordinary hosts. We ate delicious food that Lauren made, had some amazing meals out, and they both are fantastic with Violet. The only downside to the weekend was a 4am awakening Saturday to an inconsolable Violet. Truly inconsolable. Like I have never seen her before and would really prefer to never see her again. Everything that we tried (that normally works) fell completely flat. It got so bad that I became convinced that she had meningitis and we headed to the closest ER. Thankfully she finally calmed down and fell asleep en route. Since she seemed so much better, we decided to skip the ER and just hit Walmart for some Tylenol and a thermometer. While the guys were in getting stuff, I looked over and lo and behold, pus draining from her right ear. The poor thing had ruptured her ear drum. The ear infection must have come on pretty fast because she was happy and playful Thursday night on the plane, as well as Friday night when we put her down. A week of antibiotics later and she is definitely on the mend (although now constipated, thanks amoxicillin!). Thanks to Casey for being the calm and collected one as Ted and I panicked over our inconsolable child. All in all, despite the ruptured ear drum, we had the best weekend and cannot wait to visit them again.

If you notice, some of the pictures are way better than the rest. Full disclosure, the amazing ones were taken by Casey. Thanks Case!