Despite the rain and the return of cooler weather, we are trying our best to enjoy our little sleep-deprived weekend. Â Last night we had some friends over to share in some LaPlatte Farms grass-fed beef. Â We had planned on grilling, but the rain stopped us. Â We broiled the steaks instead, and they were delicious!
This morning, after a night of being up with Holden every hour or so, I made a yummy brunch of bacon, potatoes, and cheese souffle. Â It was FTW, in a big way, and pretty much made up for the lack of sleep. Â Holden’s sleeping patterns (or lack thereof) have caught the attention of our downstairs neighbors, who have been overheard imitating Holden’s incoherent babbling with annoyance. Â I feel sort of bad that we are waking them up, but I also feel righteous about it—after all, these same neighbors have kept us up many, many nights with their incessant partying. Â Holden just had two more teeth break through, which explains his discomfort, at least partially. Â He now has a total of six teeth. Â I think he is working on a few more. Â
What have we been up to over the past week? Â Well, still no word from the job. Â I have moved on and completely discounted it as a possibility at this point. Â After spending countless hours working on my talk, planning experiments, a budget, and a special topics course, plus pumping for Holden to go to the nanny, and paying over $200 for childcare while I prepared for my talk, it’s been hard to give up easily. Â Nevertheless, I have begun looking for other jobs, and found a temporary one (out-of-state) for which I would be well-suited. Â I started printing off my materials for the application (again, a 60+ page bundle), and the day that I was supposed to send the application, the job ad disappeared from their website. Â I contacted them only to find out that they had already begun interviewing but that I was welcome to send my application anyway. Â They also said there was no guarantee that they would be able to review my materials before hiring someone. Â I mailed my application anyway, not feeling incredibly hopeful, and also feeling upset that I had wasted so much time waiting around on this other job and thus did not find out about this newest opportunity until it was practically too late. Â Hopefully, I will know something within the next couple of weeks and I will finally have an answer about where we will be living and where I will be working.
Last weekend, we went to Nunyuns with three other neighborhood couples and their babies.  As usual, I enjoyed their breakfast burrito:
Holden enjoyed Cheerios:
And some time with his buddy, Harper (and other buddies, Felix and Idris, not pictured):
Later that day, Holden had his first taste of ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked:
I also wrapped up my pumping finally and will be shipping off 121 ounces of breastmilk to a human milk bank. Â The milk will be processed and given to critically ill infants in the NICU. Â I hope all those babies grow strong and healthy.
Earlier this week, we spent time with some of Holden’s other friends (enjoying more of that grass-fed beef). Â Here is Holden with his 15-month-old pal Maggie, and Maggie’s big sister, Grace. Â Their brother Sam was off causing mischief elsewhere!:
On the most sunny and warm day of the week, I took Holden on a walk along our wonderful bike path. Â A few years ago, the town constructed a bridge over the river to eliminate the need for a ferry to transport people across the river. Â Here is the mandatory self-portrait from our walk:
Here is the bridge, with views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks beyond:
We do live in a pretty spectacular place! Â After our walk, we went to the park for some swing time and a “Puffs picnic.”
As always, Holden becomes rapt and pensive when watching the big kids play. Â
Now on this lazy Sunday, we’re getting ready to take Holden out for a chilly walk around town. Â Hopefully we will wear him out, and he will finally sleep well for us tonight.