Well, it is a little embarrassing that it has been almost six months since our last real update to the blog! As most of you know, I am pregnant - we are expecting baby boy #2 on January 18. My energy level has been very low, or at least in the evenings when I would normally write blog updates. So, while many fun and exciting things have been going on, I have been very bad about documenting them.

In this entry, I will try to write a little about the highlights of the past six months, and then in another entry I will write about some developmental milestone information. I might do a little "backfilling" of the blog over time - writing more about some of the things that happened, but for now, I thought we had better just get back on track!

Since Seth's second birthday party, we have been on many fun trips and outings. In June, we took Seth to Williams for our 10th college reunion (and Papa's 50th!). We stayed in the dorms, and Grams came with us to do a little babysitting for Seth during some of our events. We had a great time, and Seth had a lot of fun on campus getting to know some of the other children. His first time sleeping in a dorm!

We also went for a week in July to Cape Cod again, with Chuck, Jenn, Katie, and Sam. We all had such a good time staying in our rental house, playing outside, and hanging out at the beach. Seth loved the water and the sand even more this summer and had a blast with Katie and baby Sam - he gave Sam kisses all the time! Chris and Cathy came up to visit us for a couple days while we were there, and we also saw Gina and John while we were out there.

Uncle Brian also came to visit in July. We had a great week with him. He and Geema built Seth a sandbox! Uncle Brian had been planning to do this as Seth's second birthday present, and he made a wonderful sandbox! Seth thought it was lots of fun to watch and "help" Uncle Brian with the sandbox, and he was delighted with the finished product. We all went for a few days to stay at a beach-side condo in Misquamicut, RI, which was lots of fun.

Our last big trip of the summer was to Donner Lake, CA, where we spent a week with the Healy family. Seth had lots of fun hanging out with Grams, Papa, Auntie Lissa, Auntie Sarah, Uncle Forrest, cousin Mira, Uncle Than, Auntie Deborha, cousin Lauren, and cousin Sierra. It was nice for him to be able to spend time with his family, and of course he loved the beach time, as well!

We had lots of fun visits, as always, with Grams, Papa, Geema, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Nancy, and Nana, as well as Seth's many "aunties and uncles." We have taken Seth to some fun new places, including the Holyoke Children's Museum and the New England Air Museum. Over the summer, we took Seth to Music Together class, and back to the same gymnastics class we did last summer. We shared in a farm share program, and Seth had lots of fun going to the farm to pick up the food and flowers and seeing the oxen. Seth went on a merry-go-round for the first time at Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island, and Grandpa Joe, Grandma Nancy, and Nana were there to see it!

We went to the library a lot over the summer (both a local one and one in a neighboring town), and Seth has started to enjoy the fun of checking books out of the library. After a Berenstain Bears kick, he now favors farm and animal books to check out.

This fall, I've started taking Seth to story hour at the public library, in addition to Music Together, and we've been doing a little swimming with him. We had fun with all the fall activities. We went on a nice apple and raspberry picking outing, and went pumpkin picking with Grams. We had so much fun pumpkin picking - we took Seth on his first hayride, and he loves hay! Seth was a rhino for Halloween (his own costume choice), though the poor little guy was suffering through his first case of croup during that weekend. He was a trooper, and he is finally feeling better.

We had a fun surprise visit from Jill, Isaac and Alice in September when Sarah and Zoe were here - this was the first time in six years that all seven of the Wethersfield chickies (plus five kids!) had all been together! It was so much fun!

Two exciting fairly recent developments - the first is that Seth is sleeping in his big boy room in his big boy bed. He's been doing this for about a month and a half now. We got the room all fixed up at the end of the summer, with major decorating help from Geema and a couple wonderful comforters from Grams. Seth transitioned into his new room and bed with no problem, though sometimes he likes to sleep at the foot of his bed instead of at the head, but as long as he is on the bed, we think this is okay.

The other exciting news is that we got a new car - traded in the old Subaru Forester for a Mazda 5 - a car with just a bit more room that we can fit two carseats in. So, with the big projects taken care of, we are focusing on getting all the little things ready for the new baby and on spending as much time with Seth as we can before things get shaken up a little with our new arrival. Seth has nicknamed his baby brother Tomato (sometimes Tomato Chicken Healy), and likes to kiss my belly and talk about how he will help Tomato when he is born. We know it will be a big adjustment, but we are very excited.

More to come in future blog entries, and Jason just got all our pictures up on the website through the end of October, so take a look!