I Hate My Phone

I hate my phone.  Well, I shouldn’t say hate.  I always tell my kids that hate is a strong word and you shouldn’t use it.  But I really do hate my phone. 

Once again this morning I woke up to a slew of “Breaking News” messages, this time about my beloved city and that someone decided to ruin one of its most special days.  I won’t even begin to ask the long list of unanswerable questions.  Instead, I’ll just sit here with my coffee, tears in my eyes, and watch the sun come up thousands of miles away.  This world just sucks.

I have been meaning to write a blog post about pollution in China, the thousands upon thousands of dead, diseased pigs floating down the river here in Shanghai, and now the bird flu.  They too are all incredibly scary things and contribute to my short and long term stress around the health my family.  Oh and don’t forget our friend in North Korea.  But as long as Dennis Rodman is in charge of US/N. Korean relations, we should all be fine, right?

You see, my phone manages all communication between these world concerns and me.  It’s gotten so bad now that every time my phone lights up I race to see what has happened now.  Korea’s declared war?  Bird flu is now human to human?  Or God forbid something as tragic as these explosions in Boston or the shootings in Newtown.  To be completely honest, I am relieved when I see that the US only created 100,000 new jobs last month or that Margaret Thatcher has died (God rest her soul).  How awful is that?  

So, what’s a girl to do?  Turn off the world and go along with the ignorance is bliss camp?  I really wish I could, but this girl just isn’t made that way.  Instead, I see lots of coffee and a box of hair dye in my future.

I hate my phone.  

Happy Anniversary Grandpa Dar and Gramma D

The last 40 years have been amazing. Lots of great memories, 4 children (including 2 we have never met - at least according to this photo), and 3 grandchildren. You have taught us all about what it takes to be a great husband, wife, and parent!

When trying to decide what to get them it was difficult. Mom's already got her large cricket and Dad's already got 13 trailers. Instead of having to use photoshop to get a nice family picture, us kids all decided to hire a professional photographer to come to the cabin one day over labor day weekend to take some family photos. She specializes in kids and I can't wait to capture some special moments between the grandparents with their grandkids.

Happy Anniversary! We all love you very much!

Lessons

We thought we were being smart by buying a "backup Monkey" after we discovered how attached Eric was with it. This is the monkey he sleeps with every night. I went to the same store I originally bought it at, bought the same brand, and ended up with what I thought was a true "backup Monkey". I have even been washing him to ensure that he has that same worn feel.

Well...the lesson I learned this week was to pay more attention to detail because let me tell you, your kids will notice EVERYTHING! I tried to pull one over on Eric this week and swap out primary monkey with backup monkey so primary monkey could go in the laundry. I handed him backup monkey, he took 2 seconds to thoroughly study his face, and then handed him back to me on the verge of a tantrum saying, "I don't want backup Monkey. I want other monkey." Seriously??? Initially I tried to deny it, but quickly saw that he was serious and had truly figured it out. Defeated. So, now backup monkey has transformed into "School Monkey" and will be riding first class in Eric's backpack to his new school on Monday.

Now we just have to pray that primary monkey never decides to leave us or we could be in big trouble.

The plan for Pia's lion?? I will be studying every square inch before purchasing "backup lion"! And the funny thing is...I am sure she would never even notice. ;O)

Magic Cameras

Eric and I (and Car Monkey of course!) were lucky enough to get a magic picture taken today. After a little fall at the gym yesterday, Eric stopped walking on his foot. Even though he didn't appear to be in pain, it was pretty swollen this morning and he couldn't walk on, so we decided to take him in. Thankfully Eric's ankle isn't broken, just a bad sprain.

Prognosis? 3-5 days of listening to "Mommy pick Eric up pees, Mommy take Eric to playroom pees, Mommy get it pees, Mommy read book on couch pees" until Eric can walk again. Apparently boys are born with the "I can't do anything for myself when I am sick" gene.

Funky Chicken

Auntie Dena hand made this wonderful hat for Eric when he was a baby. And while I always appreciated the hard work and talent it took to knit it, the hat freaks me out a bit. When it was just Eric, I blamed it on its color; pink just wasn't meant for boys. However, now that Sophia has had her turn to wear it, I still am a bit freaked out by it. Honestly, it is a cross between Yoda and a chicken...never a good thing.

But of course, we still thank Auntie Dena for the one-of-a-kind gift. We love you Dena!! ;O)

Eric before he saw himself....


Eric after he saw himself...

It's Official...We have entered Yankee Country!

It is official...we have moved to Horseheads, NY. While both Doug and I feel like we are living in someone else's house, we indeed own a new house in the great state of New York. We are still getting settled, unpacking and such, but we are making it our own. Amazing we have been here a week already!

Here are a few pics of the house. PLEASE! Come visit!

Our neighbors

Our helper

The Playroom (We have WAY too many toys for this kid!)
The Kitchen (my favorite room!)

Code of Silence

Sometimes a deal is a deal for a very good reason. After finding over $20k in issues during the inspection and the seller offering to pay $0 (that's right...nothing, nada!), we have decided to back out of the offer. So, on to greener pastures...

In honor of our Charlestown roots, we have decided that we will maintain a code of silence on the blog regarding the house until we have closed on a new one. So sorry...no new updates for a while on the house.

But don't fear...Doug is convinced we will be posting baby pictures as early as the middle of next week. I am SO not ready for that! :O)

Under Contract!

After over 3 weeks of negotiations and walking away twice, Doug has worked his magic once again and we are officially under contract on our house in Horseheads, NY. Hopefully all goes well with the inspection so we can close by the end of April.

I guess we are really moving! ;O)

Now Doug is on to negotiating with the furniture store salespeople. Wonder how many times he will walk out of the store before we buy a bed?

Where in the world is Horseheads, NY?

Yes, that is a For Sale sign on our condo in Charlestown. For those of you that don't already know, we are headed West to Horseheads, New York.

"WHY would you ever leave such a great city?" you ask...

Well...Doug has received a very exciting promotion to work in the Epic group within the Life Sciences division of Corning working with technologies that will improve and hopefully speed up the drug discovery process. So, Corning will be moving us to NY where we will start our next chapter.

While it will be very bittersweet for both us (ok...probably more for me as Doug is sick of Boston and alot of the baggage that comes with living here), it is a very exciting move for us. We will finally have a real house with room to spread out and actually entertain more people when they come to visit, a yard (even though trees are hard to come by in Horseheads!) and we will all get to experience a new area of the country. Wine country is right up the road (Reisling, here I come!) and the summers are gorgeous. Winters...well, it is still the North and the snow and cold is abundant, but we will have to work on that aspect of the location with our next move.

Here is some fun info about our new home...You are all welcome to visit anytime! (PLEASE!!!!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseheads_(town),_New_York

So, we have spent the last month or so looking for a house in Horseheads, getting our house ready to put on the market, and now keeping it clean as it has ever been in hopes of wooing someone to buy it. (Please interest rates, keep dropping!)

Did I mention we are having a baby in 5 weeks? ;O)

Baby Fred

No, no...we didn't have Baby #2 early and we didn't decide to name him/her Fred. Baby Fred is Eric's second best friend (after his monkey that he sleeps with). We gave him the baby for Christmas to hopefully start to expose him to babies in preparation for the real thing.

Baby Fred helps us out alot. He shows Eric how yummy his veggies are, he sits on Eric's potty (even though he has been pushed through the hole a few times!). Eric even puts him down for a nap and to bed everyday with a kiss and a belly rub. Unlike Monkey, he is allowed out of Eric's room and even on car trips with us to the grocery store.

Grandma Lohse caught a great photo of Eric and Fred that I just had to share. It may be one of my favorite pictures to date.

Now if Baby Fred could only help cook dinner and take Pokey on walks...

Our little Doug

Can you believe how much Eric looks like Doug?

And what makes it more crazy is that the teachers at the playroom at the gym told me that today he would follow behind the kids and pick up their toys and put them back in their place. He was ORGANIZING! What have we created??? ;O)

Have You Seen Brangelina's Twins?

Check out this cover. Do babies this young actually smile like that?

The Official Weigh-in

Everyone keeps asking, so I thought I would post the official results from the 1 year doctor visit.

Weight - 24lbs (67th percentile)
Height - 31 inches (I prefer to say "2 foot 7") (83rd percentile)
Head circumference - 19.25 inches (97th percentile)

Daddy is very proud of the big head...first thing he asked about. I am just hoping it is filled with more brains than air. ;O)

Has the down market turned the "Can Man" on to bigger and better things?

Only in Boston do we have people who steal clothes off the middle of the street...

Ok, ok...let me back up and explain. I was running out this afternoon to take in the laundry to the dry cleaners with Eric. I dropped the bag next to the passenger door of the car so I could load Eric in and then I hopped in the car and drove to our dry cleaners. 10 minutes later I got there and realized that I had left the bright red bag of laundry in the middle of our street. Yes, I know...I am loosing it.

So, I sped home to pick it up. I turned on to our street and I couldn't believe my eyes...the bag was gone! Yes, someone took the bag of laundry in the 20 minutes since I had left the house. After I cursed myself for being **so stupid**, I got angry and decided that I was going to drive around Charlestown until I found it.

So, there Eric and I went...up and down every street looking for someone carrying a bright red bag. Suddenly, I saw it. The bright red bag crumpled on the side of the road with our clothes. Amazingly enough, it was all there. One pair of pants were ruined and the bag was ripped, but overall a much better end to the story than I thought it was going to be.

Morale of the story: Boston Can Men are pretty skinny dudes. So, if you want to keep your clothes safe, make sure your pant size is at least 38 inches.