Our trip in pix

Slowing down...

It is so nice to be home again. After being away for a week and a half, there's nothing like resting in your own bed again. I think Carter must have missed his too since he's been sleeping much better since we got back. We did end up having a really nice time up in New Hampshire, but were very worn out by the end.

Since coming home, I've had a striking revelation....Carter is MOBILE!!! He has his own very unique method of getting around...the log roll...but it gets the job done. He can roll all the way across the room now in mere seconds and always manages to get his little fingers on someting he should not be touching. My life is now officially over! So I say that things are slowing down with a chuckle and a little roll of the eyes, because for one little member of the Berad household, things are just getting "rolling".

Road Trip to Date

Day 1: Flew from Pittsburgh to Boston - baby did well. Arrived in Boston, got lousy PT Cruiser for our rental car and drove to Boston...got lost in Boston...got angry at the crazy Boston drivers, left Boston and drove to Hartford, CT. Arrived in Hartford, went to a mall because it was very rainy...went to dinner.

Day 2: Woke at 6 am because the kiddo was screaming...he was soaking wet...changed him and bed sheets. Had breakfast and got everything packed up. Drove with Derrick to his business meeting. Drove to Enterprise to get some things straightened out with the car. While standing in Enterprise realized that I and Carter felt wet...yuck! He leaked through onto me. Drove back to Hotel, changed Carter and me and got the rest of the stuff together. Left to go to another mall because it was STILL raining...got lost again. As I was getting out of the car to go into the mall, Derrick called to say he was done and I could pick him up. Rest of day spent driving up to NH basically.

Day 3: Drove through White Mountains, saw Cog Railroad, did a crazy 3 mile hike to a huge waterfall...very cool. Drove up Mt. Washington...it was actually not too bad at the top, about 60 degrees which is very warm for there. Drove across the Kangamagus Highway and saw the sights. By the time we made it to our hotel it was 7:30 and we were starving and every restaurant in town was packed, so we had a romantic dinner at McDonalds. Yum.

Home for a day

We arrived back in Pittsburgh early this morning only to leave again tomorrow. Carter did great on the flight and was asleep just minutes after we lifted off...which made it MUCH more relaxing than the way out. Now I'm crazily unpacking and repacking my bags to leave for Boston tomorrow morning. We'll be doing another daring/crazy roadtrip through New England over the next few days which I am sure will be full of twists and turns. Should be in for a good time.

Up, Up and Away...

Carter experienced his first plane trip yesterday, and did pretty well. Granted, it was only a 40 minute trip from Pittsburgh to Philly. He enjoyed such things as beating on the airplane window, dropping most of his toys on the filthy airplane floor or between the seats, banging on the seatback tray, and eating the Air Mall magazine. He ended up falling asleep on my lap for the last 10 minutes of the flight and slept soundly through me loading him into his stroller, walking through the airport, putting him in his carseat, and driving home.

Today he'll get to go to his first wedding.

A Tribute to Ben

Got this email forwarded from my mom tonight. Dan and Linda Entwistle are my mom's cousins who are missionaries in Africa. Their 20 year old son, Ben passed away on Friday. I thought the email, sent by Ben's dad, was just an amazing example of faith.

Dear Friends,
Today is Wednesday, and I am home now with my family here in Kijabe, Kenya, and OH has it been good to be reunited again! It hardly seems possible that 6 days ago we knew nothing of the storm that was looming and sweeping down on us. Yet it has blown by, wreaking havoc in our hearts, and here we are...and as always God is faithful. We have each sensed His presence and moments of calm, then moments of intense grief.

Yesterday morning I took off with Ben in the Netscape jet for Johannesburg, and all seemed so controlled. So quickly it changed. The commencement address at Jesse's graduation last Saturday seemed like it was scripted for us in these days. Dr. Harry Kraus, a surgeon and great friend, made 2 points. Number one: We are very small. How small I felt as I worked alongside the doctor doing CPR on Ben as the nurse frantically drew up medications to try and reverse what the CPR monitor was telling us! We had all the equipment imaginable, but we were very, very small. And of course our desperate efforts for about 20-25 minutes did nothing. Alone in the plane with Ben once we were on the ground, holding him and sobbing, I felt so very, very small again...and yet an indescribable love for God at the same time. He gives, and He takes away. And He knows exactly what He is about!

That was point number two: Jesus is very, very, very big. This did not take Him by surprise in the least. I know it was planned and orchestrated according to His unfathomable design for good in our lives and in the lives of those touched by Ben's 20 years on earth and ultimately for the kingdom of the King. How great to KNOW the truth of that! We cannot imagine going through this without a firm faith in God's absolute sovereignty. And we are finding as we lean on Him, He is sustaining us.

But there are moments my faith fails too. I look back and just ache, thinking what if I had only borrowed a stethoscope and listened to his heart a few days earlier. And then I have to be reminded that there are no what if's. We cannot go back, and of course God is more than strong enough to cover any failings on our part. But I suspect it is something I will have to work through for some time to come...

Anyway, dear friends, thank you thank you for your prayers for Ben and for us during the storm. They mean more than you can possibly know. We are undergirded big time, and in the midst of the pain full of great joy for our Ben-man who at this moment is indescribably ecstatic, as REAL life has really just begun for that great "son of our right hand"!!

With great joy in our GREAT God!! Dan for Lynda, Ben (you'll never not be a part of us, buddy!), Jesse, Lucy, Seth, and Michael

Four Generations

There was a picnic at the Care Home where Derrick's grandparents live last night so we stopped up to see them and some if his other relatives. Wanted to get a photo of the four generations all together. His grandfather is 99 years old!!

Dogs Days of Summer

Well we went on a little excursion to the vet today, just me, Radar, and Carter. It was a real treat trying to get everything together and out of the house, on time. I loaded Carter into his stroller upon arriving and dragged that, his diaper bag and the dog (who now ways 81 lbs. by the way) into the office. Carter cooperated the whole time thankfully, unlike the dog who was being a little pain in the you-know-what.

Afterwards, we picked Derrick up from work and went for a walk in a nearby park. Carter got to try out the baby swing, which was cute. He really seemed to like it. There was a large, life-size statue of a deer in the park, which Radar of course thought was real. She was flipping out at it and sniffing and barking at it....quite funny.

Enough excitement for one day.

Another paint debacle

I suck at picking out paint colors, I mean truly suck. I thought after multiple previous paint disasters I had developed an eye for colors that would look good and not, but apparently, I have learned nothing from previous calamities. Let me list for you our ongoing saga.

1 The Dining Room Disaster - started by buying textured paint, a light blue color with black sand mixed in for texture. After painting the entire room with not one, but 2 coats, we decided it looked terrible...the sand went on all wrong and it basically looked like a 2 year old painted it. We then chose a darker blue to go over it, bought all new paint, painted the whole room again in the new blue color, which instead of turning out a nice navy color looked like a great big blue smurf!!! So of course, we went back, and decided to choose a new color all together, a deep red, which fortunately, finally turned out nicely after 2 more coats.

2. The Bathroom Disaster - chose a pale green to go along with my palm tree decor in the bathroom. It looked more like flourescent green when we put it on the walls. After taking the paint back and getting it remixed with new tint, it looked a bit better.

3. The Deck Disaster - painted half the deck in a light brown color that ended up being more pink than brown when it dried. After recovering from our extreme disappointment, Derrick pressure washed the paint off and we redid it in a clear coat of stain.

4. The Deck Disaster Take Two - last week we bought new paint for the deck and chose a lighter brown color. It turned out looking REALLY light and more yellow than brown. Ick. So back we went to Home Depot, my home away from home. Got it remixed tonight, and now it looks more like a dark pink/red/brown concoction which has Derrick bordering on a nervous breakdown. So right now, one board of our deck is painted this disgusting pink color and we don't know what to do. Paint it all and let it sit for another year and hope it fades?? I'm ready to hire a professional next time we consider painting anything!!!!

Saturday Chillin'

 

Energy Audit

I have been lagging in my Frugal Friday posts for the last two weeks and am determined to participate this week! I read something in one of my magazines a while back about saving money by conducting an energy audit in your home. I started to think about it more and told Derrick about it and he made up a nifty little spreadsheet that lists out all of our electronic devices that are sucking up energy...it was pretty revealing. The lamp in our front yard costs us $35 a year to have on, my clock radio was costing $12 a year (I unplugged it). Our modem for internet and phone costs $38 a year. There are certainly a lot of things that are uncontrollable and that need to be on or plugged in, but others you can unplug to save a few $$$ once in a while. I try to keep lights off as much as possible and have done pretty well without the air conditioner so far this summer. Those little changes and just being aware how much things cost really can make a difference over a year's time!

8 Months Old

2 bath day...and the quintessential hostess

Carter started and ended his day yesterday with a bath. The first bath was just a routine bath I give him every couple days...but the latter was every parent's worst nightmare....a poopy explosion too graphic to detail in this blog. Needless to say it was a 2 man job that left Derrick and I both worn out at the end of a long day. Must have worn out Carter too, because he FINALLY slept all the way through the night without waking up once. This compared to the last few nights that he's been up 3 or 4 times. Arghhhh

Yesterday we paid a visit to a college friend, Kristy. I just wanted to comment on her hostessing skills, because they left me in awe. She had this amazing homemade black raspberry lemonade for me to drink, and these wonderful chocolate beet cake cupcakes for dessert. So wonderful! Carter really enjoyed watching her big great dane too.

Today is shaping up to be a nice, sunny, and low humidity day, at last! Hopefully we can enjoy the great outdoors today as much as possible!

Green Worms

I'm all for being "green" and everything....I mean who isn't in favor of trying to do a few things to keep the environment chugging along for out kids and our kids' kids...etc, etc. But there is a limit to my green-ness I'm afraid. As I've mentioned in previous posts, we have a rather large garden. I harvested some cauliflower yesterday and was chopping it up for dinner, when I noticed a little green caterpillar on one of the stalks. As I investigated further, I found more and more of the worms of all different sizes. Probabaly about 15 were disposed of when all was said and done. Derrick came over to see what I was doing as I was making faces at the cauliflower and said rather nonchalantly, well would you rather eat the pesticides on store-bought foods or a few caterpillars? Uhhh! How about NEITHER!! Needless to say, we did not have cauliflower for dinner last night....maybe after I wash it again, I'll feel more up to it. :)

Bad Luck?

I broke my mirror on Friday...really dumb, I know...it's the magnification mirror Derrick got for me that has a light in it and everything. I was so frustrated...

The next morning, our washer stopped working and I was like, oh great, what is going to break next? After many hours spent testing, dismanteling and rebuilding the washer (like any good engineer would do), Derrick discovered the problem One of Carter's tiny socks got sucked in through the drain holes and was clogging the water pump. Now don't ask me how a sock could fit into a 1 cm diameter hole...but it did and at least he figured that out because our washer is only like 1 1/2 years old. Hopefully that is it for household disasters this weekend.

Happy 4th!

Well, we had a "fun" night last night. Carter went down at 9 pm (Good!) but woke up at 11, 2, and 5, (bad, Bad, BAD!!!). He's definitely teething again and I just can't wait for the top 2 to poke through so I can get some normal sleep again.

The 11 pm waking wasn't really his fault, granted...the dog saw a deer standing in our backyard and FREAKED out. I had to let her out to go before we went up for bed and she was like a dog on fire, streaking out the door into the darkness after the elusive deer. She forgot that she was tethered to a rather short rope and upon reaching the end of it at a dead sprint, flipped herself upside down in the air and landed on her back. Had to laugh at that one, but Derrick didn't find it as funny. ;)

This morning little C woke at 7:30 AM...went in to get him and he was SOAKED in pee...well duh if you eat 5 times in one night you are gonna have to go. So after removing him from his sopping clothes and diaper, I stuck him straight in the bathtub. By 9 we had made it downstairs, had all the laundry down and running, and breakfast was cooking. Ahhh, don't you just love vacation??

To "Borrow" a Baby

Ok so I promise I'm not getting hooked on Summer TV programs, but I had to comment on the show I watched last night, The Baby Borrowers. I laughed so much at the teens participating who said they were ready to have children and that they thought it wouldn't be too hard. Ha! Double HA! Too funny when the preppy girl couldn't even bring herself to wear the pregnancy simulator for a single day, saying it made her "look ridiculous". You think pregnancy is even that easy???...not even close. Then once the babies arrived, wow it was funny how fast the couples crumbled. Just reinforced in my mind the reality of how hard parenthood is and how it's certainly not something to take lightly.

Today my MIL is out watching Carter so I took full advantage of this wonderful thing called TIME and went for a jog then out to get a haircut, which these days is luxuriously wonderful! I again realized the difference between men and women upon my return when my MIL commented on how nice my haircut looked and Derrick merely asked, did you mean to get it cut that short?? hehehe It's ok hun, I forgive you. :)

Mindless humor

Always in search of a few laughs, I stumbled upon a new show on ABC last night called Wipeout. If you missed it, I linked to the site where you can watch the full episode. Basically, it's like American Gladiators, without the Gladiators and with average, out of shape people of all ages trying to compete in this ridiculous obstacle course. It was hilarious. How much fun would that be to try???


In other news, the Berad Family Farm has officially opened its doors. The great harvest has begun, so far yielding 2 heads of cauliflower, 1 beet, numerous snow peas, and 3 peppers. Soon to follow will be the abundance of zucchini...oh I can't wait...and tomatos out the whazoo. I think I mentioned before that Derrick doesn't even like zucchini, which is funny since we keep planting more and more every year. I think we have 7 plants this year and already I've seen about 8 zucchini growing which will be ready in a few days. A neighbor gave me 2 zucchini yesterday and he was like, why do you want those??? So I, being the loving wife that I am, try to constantly find new recipes that use zucchini but that disguise the taste so it doesn't seem like you're eating zucchini. Last night we had zucchini "crab cakes"...basically like potato pancakes but with zucchini and Old Bay seasoning. Not too bad but Derrick pointed out to me that they are certainly not crab cakes if there is no crab in them. Right. Oh well, I tried! :)