Living the live

Yup, I knew it no sleep! With lots of chomping, fingers in the mouth, excessive drooling, and a slight cough baby boy is working on some more teeth and therefore no sleep! I know I shouldn't compare them like this but Marley never had any teething symptoms... It was just "oh, look Marley has a new tooth, when did that come in?".
However, sleepless nights or not this week I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be at home as long as I have.  While walking Marley to school today, it occurred to me that I know almost everything about her (I'm sure there are things that happen at school that I miss) but because we have that morning walk and afternoon car ride and all the other time, she keeps me in the loop 100% (for now anyway...) I got to drive her and a few of her friends to the lighthouse for their class trip on Wed. and learned where the baby voice is coming from.  I originally thought that with her new baby brother that was a symptom of 'big sister rebellion' however the other girl who was in our car laid it on thick! I mean COME ON... I don't think I am good at handling Marley on a good day but her baby voice caused me to want to throw her out of the car! I have always said that nursery school age was not the age for me.... they are just so icky! Always snooty nosed, wining... I just don't get the appeal some people have. Honestly, I was secretly afraid of what I would be like with my toddler as I really have no patience for that age.  Thank heavens she is a very good toddler, i'm sure i'm biased but I really don't think I would handle a snotty nosed winy kid, she just wouldn't last! HA Ha!



Marley at the lighthouse

I also know things like Jacob's symptoms for teething or when Marley hasn't had a nap at school. I really really cherish this year and am so thankful for it.  How will I ever go back?!

Jacob and I sharing a play moment :)

Sailing Away

We are getting into the swing of things finally. Jacob has spent just over a week sleeping through the night although I fear that is coming to an end as he seems to be on the verge of cutting some more teeth.
We also finally took Blew Horizon out for a sail on sunday.  We know its easy enough to take it out just for a little burn but for some reason we haven't wanted to do it unless we were going out for the weekend, also the weather really hasn't been conducive.  But last weekend we bit the bullet and just did it. We left around 9am when the wind was still fairly breezy and came back around 2pm after having a bit of a rough time getting in once the wind died completely out. We still don't have an engine so its always quite an impressive maneuver getting back into our dock space. In chatting with some other boat livers in the marina once we came in I learned we weren't the only ones who hadn't cut the lines since Dec. A couple that lives on another sailboat finally went out after a 4 month hiatus last weekend too :) 
We showed our mooring to a couple looking to rent and then had a great lazy Sunday evening getting ready for the week ahead.

Halfway there

I started typing these last posts on my blackberry late at night after Jacobs 11pm feed when he is falling back to sleep on my chest. I'm starting to worry that in order for him to fall back to sleep after this feed he will need the sound of tapping keys to help him! I just feel right now like I'm running out of time. I'm working so hard about being better and actually spending my time as a stay at home mom at home that I'm still not finding enough time in the day to get everything done. How am I going to manage come Sept?! This is my biggest fear. I'm now halfway through my leave, feeling the preassure of money and anxiety about going back. Our schedule has gotten way better and Jacob is sleeping almost through the night almost every night. I think if come May we have him sleeping through all the time and not on my chest then we will switch rooms with Marley and give the kids their own space. We have come up with a few different variations of this so stay tuned! Who says because I live on a boat I can't redecorate every 6 months?! Mark wishes lol

We've been bad about the ferry again this month. I'm getting into a rut and need to keep exercising. With my parents the other day we figured out our biometrics... i never even knew about this but now feel more inspired to fight the downward slope that plagues me after the high. Walk/ running really does help to I need to keep that up. :)

A Whale of a Tale!

Can you spot the whale?

This happened also the week Marley was off sick and was so incredible I felt that it needed its own post. On Friday after painting we decided we all needed a break so Uncle Vinni and I took Marley down to see the cows at Spittle Pond from Nanas. We continued our walk down to the rocks where we could see the South Shore. I told Vinni as we sat and looked at the sparkling sea watching Marley enjoy the clean fresh air how I had never seen Whales in Bermuda from land before. The South Shore is the place to see them as they migrate however I only ever mistake reefs for Whales. Undoubtedly whenever we look to the sea we think of Adam and as Marley took a reflective moment looking out to see I snapped this shot. As we walked back up the hill I changed my BB status with that picture and "Always with us, quiet reminders of you" without really looking at the picture. It wasn't until I got back to the house and showed Nana the peaceful pic I had taken of Marley on the rocks did I notice the black spot on the water. Adam truly is always with us, even when we don't notice and I sincerely believe he is still deeply connected with Marley. I will never know if in that quiet moment she was talking with Adam or if she even saw that whale but I like to think she was and did.

Terrible Tylenol Terrors

A lot has happened since my last entry but I'm going to post these "events and stories" as separate posts as there is a lot to go through. I had been feeling like my 'leave' from work had lost its focus. Seemed I was running around taking care of everyone else more than I was taking care of Jacob. Also his sleeping issue has not been resolved. So Monday I started a strict schedule for all who watch him to follow. Through the week we had two full nights of sleep out of him but come Tuesday the plague attacked our home! Well that's what it felt like anyway; luckily we had a fairly quick recovery and all are well now. After a day of just Jakey and me; touring Dockyard, doing laundry and a warm lunch out on the grass we went to pick up big sister thinking we would head to the park after. When she got in the car her cheeks were bright red, she was fevery and miserable. Straight home, straight to bed. The rest of the week was spent tag teaming between the two of the kids who fevered back and forth. It was miserable. I also in that time somehow managed to paint the living room at Nana and Pas house as Pas birthday present by Friday. Friday was probably the worst night of all. After a day finishing the painting, I headed home but left the Tylenol at Nanas (Marley stayed home 3 days last week!). Now something you should know about our little family is that we are not 'medicine people'. I hate taking pills or syrup and Mark believes he is stronger than any virus that comes his way and will fight it to near death before giving in to the child proof pill bottles. Don't even ask about his last visit to the Doctor! So we have never really used any medicine on our children unless it was prescribed; thus the ONLY bottle of fever reducing magic was at the other end of the island. I thought I was in the clear as both kids seemed to be doing better after a restful day but by bedtime Jacob had me scared. He was hot again, fever, and screaming; unable to get any kind of comfort o r rest. Eventually I gave in at almost 9pm and raced to every grocery store in Somerset looking for a magic potion. Everywhere was either closed or out of it. Luckily all the running around caused Jacob to fall asleep and I returned home with a peaceful sleeping baby. We all settled into bed and then at about 10:30 Marley started with screaming, fever, sweats, the chills; she was a right mess. I tried everything I could to calm her, damp cloth the nine but nothing helped. (I would say put them in the bath to anyone else but because all we have is a shower I didn't think it would be fair to hose her down with icy water when she was already feeling so miserable) Eventually at 1:30am I decided we had reached the breaking point and off we would go to get the meds from Nanas house. I packed miserable Marley into the car and headed out of the West but as Murphy would have it I didn't even make it out of Somerset. Right as I came past Salt Rock Grill there was an accident in the road. Freshly struck, one car lost its tire as it was pushed against the wall and the other was horizontal across the road also missing a wheel. People piled out of the car in the road and there was a lot of commotion at the scene as people ending their night of drinking occupied the Village Cafe right at the site. The West end is known to be home to the members of the M.O.B. Gang in
Bermuda and all I could do was hope that this had nothing to do with any of that and they would clear out fast so I could get by. As I drove through I heard a lot of "What just happened?!", "OMG is... OK". Having just completed my CPR and First Aid re certification my instinct was to call 911 but suddenly there was a bike behind me following too close. A little delusional and spooked from the accident I panicked and feared that it was someone from the scene tailing me, making sure I didn't call the police. The person turned around but in my wild imagination I thought they would still be able to trace my call to the police and come after me. (With what my license plate number?! I really was crazy by that point) So I attempted to call a police friend but there was so answer so I called my ex-police officer father who in all his calmness at 2:00am simply said. "Jennifer, call 911". Ah the voice of reason. I did, reported the accident and continued on my mission. We got to Nanas and made a quick turn around as Marley had fallen asleep. By Warwick she was fussing again so I pulled over and gave her a dose of medicine. She was out again in no time and luckily therefore unfazed when we got stuck on the other side of the accident as the tow truck had arrived! Needless to say I did not make my 7mile charity walk I was looking forward too the next morning. All in all it must be kept in mind (especially for my International readers.... Are there any of you out there?! Feel free to comment!) that driving 40 min from Dockyard to Smiths is nothing and would probably be considered a normal commute almost anywhere else in the world! They are all better now and the cabinet above the sink made a home for a few more necessary medicine items.

Long time no post!

Its been over a month since I last posted.... i think of posting often and the following posts have all come from my early morning awakenings with Jacob. Poor child still is not sleeping through the night!  Since I last posted Dockyard has come completely back to life... it started with a slow trickle of boatsmen preparing their charter vessels for the season and finally our first cruise ship has arrived blocking one of the only two channels we receive of local TV! Welcome back LOL! We have also had Easter and celebrated Mark's big 30!!! I will try to get better about posting more frequently... to be honest it would help if I knew I actually had followers. (feel free to join the blog folks!) Although one day in my blogging hiatus a friend ran into me and asked me about the blog, saying he'd heard it was quite humorous to follow... that was motivation enough to start up again! Thank you!