Jay's DR trip

There are lots of pictures from Jay's trip, and I imagine we'll add more, but here are 3 that seem to do a good job depicting Jay's journey in the DR. I'll have Jay write a post describing his adventure, but I wanted to get a few pictures up in the meantime. The site that Jay (called "Doctor Jay" during his time there) and the Yestermorrow group worked at was very remote and perched between a butcher shop and wilderness. They camped on the beach, had electricity from solar panels and running water from a cistern. The projects they produced were made using fabric and cement! I'll let Jay explain more. :)

Ben & Cat

Ben loves to pick up Chi- if only she were 15 years younger, she might appreciate the playmate too! She doesn't look pleased in this picture, but she does well to put up with it while I snap a photo.
Jay arrives home tomorrow night, which we're all looking forward to. It's been quite a journey these past 20 days, but we made it!

Winter in Maine

We've had a couple of nice days and Ben still loves to go outside and walk around in the driveway. He's discovered sticks and loves to poke them into the snow banks.
We're missing Daddy, but he seems to be doing well (busy!) and we're just 8 days away from having him home again... Grammie and Grampy Phil Simpson have arrived safely in Florida. We're happy that they're in warmer weather, but we miss them here too!

Bright and early!

Benjamin has enjoyed getting up around 5am the past few weeks, and this morning he decided 4:15 was a good time to start playing and singing in his crib. I decided to leave him be for a while, but by 4:45 he was ready for some company. YAWN! Needless to say, I napped when he did today and I'm hoping for a later awake time tomorrow. This photo was taken around 6am today--- he has a smile on his face! :) Such a boy. He's lucky he's so darn cute. So's his Dada.

... and he's off...

Jay is headed to the Dominican Republic for a couple of weeks. Here he is packing! (Yes, Ben IS watching TV in the background, but he can't help it- Jay bought him 'The Jungle Book' just before he left and he can't keep his eyes off it!) Jay will have a wonderful time--- and he'll be in WARM weather. Yay, Jay!

Happy New Year!

Here's a photo of the Jewett Family on the last day of 2007...

As 2007 comes to a close, we want to wish everyone a very happy, and safe, new year!
We've had an exciting and adventurous year with an infant-turned-toddler in our household. Benjamin has learned and changed so much this year- it's been a really amazing and wonderful (and sometimes challenging!) experience.
Jay is enjoying work at CMMC and is looking forward to a three-week adventure in the Dominican Republic as a medical officer this January. Once back, he is considering leaving Critical Care for employment in an Emergency Department. Changes all the time!
Katie is looking at about a month more of school before (finally!) getting her masters degree in occupational therapy. This means applying to take a (very scary) exam, and finding a job! January will be a difficult month with Jay gone, but we're hoping he has a wonderful experience and look forward to him getting home towards the end of the month.
Happy 2008 to all!

Our Holidays

We had a wonderful week of holiday celebration. Christmas morning we were at our house to open gifts, then went to Nana & Grampie Dwyer's where Ben got to play with his cousins- Madelyn, Grace, and Claire. Then we went to Sugarloaf for a couple of days. Ben got a new sled for Christmas & we took him out on the ski trails- he loved it!

Holiday Photos

Here's Benjamin in his 'official' holiday photos.
It's hard to believe he's 16 months old!
We're looking forward to Christmas this year- hoping he'll be excited about opening packages. We'll be at Nana & Grampie Dwyer's on Christmas morning, then the following day we'll go to Sugarloaf for a night or two with Grammie & Grampy Phil Simpson and the Bronsons. Looking forward to family time this holiday season.
Hope everyone is doing well!

Ben in the snow

Here he is- ready for his first steps in some snow (from last Monday's big storm)...

His first few steps didn't turn out so well for him, as he ended up with a face full of snow. Boy, wasn't he mad! Can't really say I blame him, poor guy.

We did finally get out and enjoy it though!

Happy Retirement Mom/Nana!

Yay! Mom has retired from the Maine State Library and can now focus on her quilting/sewing projects. Congratulations Mom/Nana! We love you & are excited to be able to see you more now! Check out Mom's website: www.bonniedwyer.com

He's a-walkin' all the time!

Here's Ben-jam with Great Grammie Wentzell. They were racing their machines down the hall at Great Grammie's place.

He loves to walk around outside in the driveway- especially when there's action with the building of our barn.

This was taken today (Sat) and it is COLD outside. I bundled Benners up in a great fleece suit (thanks Owen & Andrew!), hat & mittens and we walked the fire engine around in the driveway and filled up the bird feeder. That was enough of the cold for a bit- the wind from the lake took our breath away, but Benners loves to be outside...

Happy Thanksgiving

Here Ben is helping me cut up the pumpkin for a pie. :) This is the pumpkin that his Grampie grew for him and put his name on.


Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a shot of the Dwyers & Jewetts (minus Jay, who had to work on Thanksgiving). Ben with his cousins~ surrounded by girl Dwyers!

Barn Raising Part One

It has begun. We've got a frost wall and are waiting for a slab to be poured. With the cold weather (and rain!) we've been having, the slab hasn't been able to go in. Maybe this week?

Fall

Ben loves to be outside & we go walking through the woods more now (since he's actually doing a lot of the walking himself!)

We went to Nezinscot Farm in Turner last weekend for breakfast, and Ben and Jay spent some time watching the animals have their breakfast.

At Longfellow's Greenhouses this past weekend. Ben's biggest interest was in pushing one of the worker's carts around. She said if he could push that cart, she'd give him a job (little did she know that he actually could push the cart!)...
It was neat to see the holiday decorations already~ we're getting into the spirit! =D

The Big Dig

It's finally happening~ we're having our garage built. It's getting pretty exciting around here! The excavator came in on Friday and cement could be poured as early as Monday. We'll have the earth work done this coming week, then the structure will probably start going up next month~ it's going to be a timber frame 2-car garage w/a workshop for Jay, and a 2nd floor for storage and... whatever! Yay!
Ben (AND JAY) have enjoyed watching all the big machines in the driveway--- they've both been in another world watching all the big rigs.

2007 WORLD CHAMPIONS

It's great to be a Sox fan! :)
Jay was the real trooper during the season~ he actually stayed awake to watch most of the games! I, on the other hand, knew that Benners' 5am wake-up would hurt less if I went to bed at a decent hour. So I did. But Jay recorded most of the exciting parts, so I didn't miss much.
GO RED SOX!!! WOO-HOOOOO!!!

October, really?

Today was a GORGEOUS day here in Maine. Hot even, some might say. Ben was enjoying being out in his birthday suit, and Jay caught a great picture of us in the late afternoon light.

I took this shot this morning~ a view from our porch out across the lake. You can see the colors, which would make you think "Fall", right? But it got to, like, 80 degrees today!

Oh, yeah~ And GO RED SOX!!!!!

No fear

I walked into Ben-jam's room to find him standing on his rocking horse. He loves to get on it from one side, stand up on it, and get off on the other side... then he walks around and does it again and again. No fear! He's able to get down off the couch himself, climb the flight of stairs with no problem, and has started to climb onto just about everything he can reach. I think we're in trouble... :) I'm thinking we should start him on a rock climbing wall...

Visit w/the Stewarts

Jake and Cyn arrived from Texas for a long weekend visit & met Benners for the first time. We had a great time with them. Jay took Ben and the Stewarts to Camden for an afternoon and B found that he enjoyed smooshing his nose against the window of a coffee shop. Jake showed Ben the 'real' way to play the guitar, and Ben's love for music seemed to blossom with the Stewarts' visit (lots of dancing and moving to the groove)...

We also went out for Thai food, watched the Red Sox, enjoyed some margaritas, hiked up Mt. Pisquah, and spent a lot of time playing with little man. Great visit! It's our turn to head to Austin...

Go Red Sox!!!

Sitting in the driveway in his brand new, hand-me-down clothes (thanks, Henry!!!).

Ben-Jam is all decked out in his red, white, and blue and it worked!
Nice work, Sox... Now let's just hope the Yankees lose tonight. :)

It's been so nice out, and Jam just loves to be outside. He'll ask to be picked up then throw his body and point towards the door. He'll also reach for whoever is closest to the door, in hopes that they'll take him outside.
He's really started walking a lot~ across the living room and into the kitchen. He's still a bit unsteady, but he's figured it out. So fun...