This year we ordered our seeds from High Mowing Seeds. Because we got a head start on last year we decided to start some plants indoors and also direct seed some early season seeds in the hope of getting an early first harvest. Here’s a picture of what we started indoors on Saturday.

Seeds started indoors

Our sunroom has large windows which face south and west so that’s where we’ll be putting the seeds to germinate and grow. At some point very soon we have to figure out how to keep Slinky away from them.

No, kitty!

On Sunday we got into the yard and worked some bags of composted manure into two of the six beds. Then we planted radishes, lettuce, beets, peas, kale, spinach, chard, and cilantro.

Sundays planting

We’re planning on doing another planting of these same crops in about two weeks. Hopefully by staggering them we won’t be stuck eating beets and radishes for 1 straight week in June and we’ll be able to harvest gradually.

Shh, don’t tell her parents, but Susan willingly planted peas.

I’ve used the snowblower twice now for about an hour each time. We could get both cars out if we needed to but I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. The turnaround by the garage is particularly painful to clear because the snow swirls against the garage, bushes, and fence. I’ll have to go out at least one more time to clean up the blowing and drifting.

We decided to dress Isaac up and take some photos with him and his first big snow storm. He’s a tad young to enjoy it right now, but Su and I will certainly be snowshoeing and cross country skiing over the next few days.

Why are they putting these flannel jammies on over my clothes?

This blue bomber hat is AWESOME!

Why are they dressing me up like a smurf (whatever that is)

Only 21 inches? I was taller than that at birth!

This will be awesome when I can sit up by myself!

New stimulus, must react like I do to every new sensation. Close my eyes and DROOL!

Two months old

The second week of January marked Susan’s return to full time work and my start as a full time father in addition to general homemaker. Everyone survived the abrupt changes this new phase marked and now that we’re a month in, things have settled into a happy (if tiring) semi-routine. Of course we’d always welcome more time together as a family but the bills don’t pay themselves and dinner doesn’t cook itself!

The middle of the month was marked by our friend Jeff’s 40th birthday. He rented a castle in southern New Hampshire and invited many of his friends to join him for the weekend for games, food, watching football, etc. Isaac made an appearance Saturday night to be doted on by friends before heading home with Susan.

The following week brought Isaac’s 2 month pediatrician appointment and his first shots. Of course he did well while I got sick after he got his shots. I thought he was supposed to have the compromised immune system after immunizations… He is still in the 99th percentile for height and dropped back to the mid 60s for weight. He is a tall, slim boy.

Isaac also has increased mobility. He hasn’t rolled over yet despite trying, but by pushing with his legs and waving his arms he manages to scoot around when he needs to. We’ve found him wedged into the corner of his crib several times and I was very surprised one time when I returned to check on him on the playmat and found the following…

How’d I get over here?

The end of the month brought a return to our “to do” list of things to fix/modify/decorate around the house. Last year we put new floors and carpet in all the upstairs bedroom and managed to paint all of the bedrooms except our master. The previous owners had a striped, green wall with floral trim motif that was a bit cool and busy for our tastes. Here’s the bedroom before:

Master bedroom before we bought it

We chose a warmer yellow/tan earth tone to compliment the new wood floors and our comforter cover. Susan (and Isaac) did the priming and first coats while Brian did all the taping and final coats.

Susan priming the walls

Isaac helping out

We still have some things to do like finishing the registers, getting a headboard for the bed, valances, and adding some art to the bare wall but already it feels like a warmer, more comfortable space.

A much warmer color

Walls are done

This weekend I felt I had been cooped up long enough and despite the cold weather put together the jogging stroller to take Isaac out for a spin. As usual when strapped in to a moving object Isaac calmed down and stared at the scenery while Susan and I jogged the neighborhood. He held his head up really well for three months old and I’m hoping it warms up and melts the bike path so I can start running with Isaac.

Time to run with daddy

Finally, here’s a picture of Isaac on his last day as a two month old. This is probably the last time he’ll get to wear his Mickey onesie as he’s outgrown his newborn wardrobe.

Three months old!

First, Football started, the beginning of the fall season for us.  We invited people over the first couple weeks, setting up two TVs and internet access for checking Fantasy scores, and enjoyed hosting the “regulars” plus a surprise visitor from out of town.   There is something familiar and comforting about a little chill in the air, a couch full of friends, having a cold beer (or in my case, the non-alcoholic version), yelling at the TV and ordering delivery in the middle of a Sunday afternoon.

Our friend Mary visited us for a few days after her sister’s wedding.  I fear that the R&R at chez Juddmansee didn’t prevent her from getting a cold, but we still had a nice time hiking in the woods, playing games, cooking together, and talking.  We went to the Sox/Yankees game before dropping her off at the next stop in her New England tour.  Speaking of Red Sox, Brian also went to a game with Dan.  Now we can officially call this season “over” and hope for a better outcome next year.

We also enjoyed Dan’s Pig Roast, a now annual event, which always promises great company and tasty pork.  This year the pig was roasted to a higher temperature and it was simply delicious.  Check out Brian carving the tasty swine here.  We tried the tongue, which is evidently a delicacy in some parts of the world.  Yum.

We officially changed baby delivery plans, and are now working with Kim Lueders.  We interviewed her when considering a doula, and through the course of getting to know her, several more dis-satisfying encounters with our “new” OB practice, and researching home birth, we decided that hiring Kim as our midwife was the right choice for us.   We’ve had two great appointments so far and look forward to meeting the rest of the team in a few weeks.   We also took a preparation for childbirth class with  my yoga instructor; we both came away relaxed and comfortable, and now Brian knows why I come home in such a serene state every Tuesday night.  At 35 weeks, I’m still feeling terrific, and the pregnancy continues to be normal and healthy.

September also went quickly because I was in DC the past week.  It was my last business trip for a few months, where I got to present at a conference .  It was great to see friends and colleagues, but I’m happy to be home after a long 5 days, successfully navigating airports and weather delays in the process.

So now we embark on October!

Brian's teddy bear, Cletus's Cow, and Chip-Chip in Susan's chair

Moving into a new house means lots of work fixing things, building things, and decorating. Add a pregnancy to that and you get even more things to prepare! We’ve been in the process of fixing up the bedrooms this year. Flooring was completed in March and the guest rooms got painted in April and June. This weekend we got around to painting the future nursery. Now that the painting and floors are done we can start furnishing the nursery and unpacking even more of the boxes we still have in our basement.

In the chair are Brian’s childhood teddy bear (recently discovered in his Grandma’s basement), Brian’s stuffed rabbit Chip-Chip, and an adorable singing cow our friend G got for Cletus.

First vacuuming of the pool

to this:

Clean pool ready for Memorial Day

In the mean time, the garden has been planted with pepper and tomato starts, lettuce, beets, carrots, swiss chard, kale, radishes, parsley, basil, onions, chives, and green beans.  We watered the first few days, then it’s been raining almost every day since!  We chalk this up to Brian emulating Grandpa Krueger, who notoriously planted beans just before the rainiest week of the spring, ensuring they would be flooded out.  It’s not quite so bad since we have raised beds that drain well, but it has caused us to chuckle each day as we look at the forecast for rain and scattered showers – again.

The first plants to burst forth were the radishes, with their little heart-shaped leaves and red stems.

Radishes are up!

And after about a week, the beans were looking good too.

Green Beans looking strong

Once all the plantings were up, Brian drove in some 2x4s as posts and we put up wildlife netting to deter our woodland friends from feasting on the tasty bounty.  It won’t be strong enough to keep a determined deer from busting through, but it should keep the bunnies at bay.  Brian thought we should give the birds some warning by putting ribbons on the fencing, so they will hopefully avoid flying into it.

Wildlife fencing with ribbons

Here you can see the radishes right in front of me, the peppers in the back bed, and the tomatoes in the next bed over.  We check on our garden every morning, and soon we will need to thin some of the rows.  We are looking forward to many tasty meals from our fresh veggies this summer!

The obvious place to put the garden in the back yard is off to one corner behind the driveway. Because of the trees around our property and the location of the house this is about the only spot that gets sufficient sun to grow any hot weather crops. The problem with this location is that the previous owners had used it for some other purpose and it was covered with stones, weed cloth, a layer of pea gravel, and finally a layer of decomposing plastic. Before we could plant we’d need to clear the area.

Moving enough stone so that we could think about putting down the beds took a week or two. During that time, I started looking for lumber to build the beds out of. The best materials to build raised beds out of appeared to be cedar or redwood as they are both naturally water and insect resistant. Unfortunately in the northeast it is hard to find these woods in rough cuts. Most of the cedar gets made into deck material which is substantially more expensive than rough cut lumber. I managed to find one mill in southern New Hampshire that had enough 2×6 rough cut cedar to make six 4 foot by 8 foot beds.

The lumber arrived but still needed to cut to length to assemble. The design I chose was to build two 4 foot by 8 foot frames out of 2×6 and to stack them on top of each other and held together by 4x4s in the corners. I enlisted the help of my friend Dan to help cut and assemble the beds. This was a bit of an adventure as my selection of tools was somewhat limited. I did not have a lot of garage/workshop space in Newburyport and kept my tool collection pretty small. Fortuantely, I do own an electric chainsaw which turned out to work the best for cutting the boards down to size.

Once the beds were built and the gravel was cleared enough to place the beds it was time to order loam. Seven yards of loam arrived last Friday in a pile on our driveway. The weather was going to be sunny and warm Saturday and Sunday with rain on Monday so we had two days to get the beds placed, leveled, and filled.

Placing and leveling the beds turned out to be quite a bit of work as the area we were working in has a bit of slope as it went towards the back of the yard. Also, once the beds were placed we had to finish making sure all the plastic was removed from the bottom of the beds. The 2 back beds required digging down another three inches or so in order to get all the plastic out. Finally once the beds were in place we had to move stone back around the beds to use as walkways. By Saturday afternoon we had all 6 beds placed and leveled.

After the beds were placed and leveled we went to the local Agway to pick up some composted manure to give the loam a little boost. Who knew you could fit 1000 pounds of manure in the back of a car? In the future we will use compost from our backyard composter to enrich the soil.

Sunday morning we got up early and finished pulling plastic out of the bottom of the beds. We then filled each bed with loam to about 6 inches from the top, then added and inch or two of composted manure, and then topped it off with loam.

We finally finished up about 5pm on Sunday and were completely exhausted. In the end we ended up moving about 6.5 yards of loam (or about 16000 pounds) in a wheelbarrow in addition to all the stone that we also had to shovel. We’re both sore today, but it looks like we’ll be able to actually plant this week! Future tasks will include putting up fencing to keep deer out and figuring out how to adjust the yard sprinklers to hit the garden but for now, SUCCESS!

Our move to Chelmsford has progressed slowly but steadily.  We’ve taken weekly trips back a forth for church or other meetings, bringing boxes back each time.  We’ve settled into a routine in the new house, which includes a MUCH better commute for me and plenty of trail running.  As expected we spend a lot of time in the kitchen and have enjoyed the hot tub.  It’s great to get up and get ready for work without waking up Brian, and to have all my clothes in one [big closet!] place.  We also like that Brian has his own office, with a new desk and chair, a much more comfortable place to spend his time.  I traveled a lot in October, which slowed unpacking progress, but we caught up this weekend, and the kitchen is basically done.

The movers arrive tomorrow to move our furniture, another big step.  Our new coffee table arrived this week, and the sectional is scheduled to arrive on Thursday.  There will definitely be another round of unpacking, but frankly at this point we’re down to the attic and items we rarely use, so there will likely be as much culling of “stuff” as there will be putting things away.

We’ve traded the ability to walk to dinner for being closer to friends and work.  We’ve traded well-known running and biking paths for the extensive trails at the state park, and we’ll have to learn new roads to run and bike.  On the plus side, it’s a pleasure to cook together and we actually get to do so more often, so I expect more of our entertaining to be based around home.

I find myself now saying that I live in Chelmsford, and while we don’t get the same “OH I love Newburyport!” level response,  it’s definitely the right choice to move on to another phase in our lives.

Mary had planned a visit right in the middle of our preparations. Fortunately, she’s a work week veteran and was game to help us. We spent almost an entire day on the kitchen, and boy was it nice to have the help! We again packed up things we didn’t think we’d need in the next few months, cleaned and wiped down every surface, and she even cleaned all the little bits of cat kibble out of the cracks in the floor. While we were working on the first floor, we had a contractor come in and do a bunch of odd jobs that had been piling up – repairing some siding and flashing around the living room window, putting up new wood downspouts, replacing the sill on the kitchen window, replacing the cracked banister finials, plastering the chimney in the attic and patching some plaster in our bedroom. He did excellent work and was quick! Note to self – in the future don’t wait 10 years to get all those little jobs done. It’s totally worth having a handyman come in and do it. That evening we enjoyed a nice clean 1st floor, sipping some vintage Road Trip Orchards wine and playing Settlers of Catan.

Over a few short weeks, the house has gotten into the best shape of our tenure. One day Brian fixed the gate on the side of the house so we now have a fenced in yard. Another evening the front closet got cleaned out, with winter coats taken to the cleaners or packed away. Another day, Brian cleaned the office and then the exercise room. In between, painting touchups were completed and the window boxes were planted. Frankly, Brian did most of the heavy lifting since I could really only help on weekends. On May 16, our realtor came through and gave us the “thumbs up,” and our house officially went on the market May 18. We’ve now completed over 50 tasks from our “to do” list, including all the top priorities.

So far, I don’t mind keeping things tidy and clean. It’s good incentive to put things back where they belong. We’ve only gone to the attic twice to get something we’d packed away. Now we just want the right buyer to come look at the place! Hopefully after Memorial Day, the house hunter traffic will pick up. In the mean time, we’re enjoying Newburyport, living in a clean de-cluttered house.

The short answer to bathroom renovations was to dormer the roof. While we have no philosophical problem with changing a 300 year old roofline if it meets our needs, we weren’t too keen on being the ones to pull the trigger on this house. We started looking at places that had already been renovated, and that opened the can of worms: We’ve been in this house almost 10 years. How have our needs and priorities changed, and what do we value now?

I love being able to walk around town – to terrific restaurants, the library, coffee shops, and various errands like the CVS. It’s made my commute bearable to be able to leave my car in the driveway all weekend. But the commute has been wearing on me, and my first week of multiple meetings in NH brought the commuting discomfort to a new level. Instead of going to NH once a month, I’m expecting to go at least once a week due to my new position, and on those days I’ll spend 2.5 – 3 hours in the car. We value having those 10 hours a week to do something else.

Obviously a soaking tub and nice shower are high on the list. We cook a lot, often together, so the kitchen layout and features are important. We also need a guest room for friends and family to stay over, and another full bath would be really nice.

We enjoy entertaining, both casual get-togethers like cookouts and football, as well as fancier dinner parties. This house has been a good place for that, particularly with the landscaping we’ve done in the back yard. We definitely want to keep a fireplace, a formal dining room, and a casual living room where we can watch TV.

Even with this list of attributes, the idea of finding a new place seemed more hypothetical than real. I was still having trouble envisioning a place I would like as much as our current home. So, a few weeks ago, we went to a bunch of open houses and started exploring towns along the Rte 3 corridor. In our first trip, we saw several homes in Lowell, one in Chelmsford, and one in Groton. The first one we saw in Lowell convinced me that we really could find a place closer to work that would fit our needs, so we decided to put our house on the market.