Birds and lawnmowers

We're in. With huge help from Ga, Gee, Mimi, Pop-pops, J and D, and other various strangers (one day this past week we were so desperate to get CR out of our hair, we called in a random sitter who we'd never met to take him to the park while we packed - it worked out well, but still...desperate times) we are finally settling into our new home.

This morning I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, and the feint sound of a lawnmower in the distance...a far cry from the usual sounds that float through our windows in Cambridge (let me rephrase that - in Cambridge we usually slept with our windows shut to keep out the sounds of sirens, garbage trucks, and other service vehicles in our neighborhood). Here? Open up the hatches and let in the songs of suburbia.

Stress and Snore - not a diner, but more a state of being...

Boxes stress me out. Empty ones make it ten times worse. Add fatigue and I am a hot mess.

We move in two days, and here we sit, watching DVRed episodes of Hung. Love the show, but it does not help get items packed up for our move on Thursday.

We went by the new house earlier today - we love it. Walls painted, floors urethaned, R family happy. T minus 2 days...Needham, here we come!

CR-isms - First Installment

"Shake milk and chicken burger....that's my favorite dinner"...don't you mean milkshake??

"Mommy, I want a cow-back" (instead of, say, a piggy-back?)

"Where are the sharp things?" (asked after we took golf tees away from him)

"What else I can draw?" asking Mommy what he can draw in his coloring book - after this grammatically incorrect statement, he lists off the following:
"Prune juice? And Poops? And apples?" (apparently he knows that the first leads to the second, and that too many of the third result in the second as well)

Mommy: "CR, what are you doing up there" (as I hear him running around his room when he is supposed to be napping...)
CR: "Mommy, I'm just sleeping!"

5/10
CR: "My penis is tall" (yikes!)

5/25
B and J stop in Harvard Square to check out Harvest's most recent dinner menu posted outside of their restaurant. CR, on B's shoulders, states:
"Why don't you just go in - the lights are on" (while gesturing with his hands and shrugging his shoulders - apparently he thinks his parents are idiots...)

7/25/10
Watching Mommy try on the dress I wore to my sis-in-law J's wedding, trying to decide whether or not to keep or donate it...
"Wowwie zowwie, you're a princess!"
I'm keeping the dress...how can I not??

Summer Fun

I bet this boy didn't think he would have a little shadow following him around at the park...

A little taste of Hollywood

It has been too long since my last post...

With the move, the baby (love you, Baby C, but with your nightly feeding schedule, my mind has turned to mush...finding the appropriate words to use in a sentence have become a true effort, and I am lucky to get in a shower at the end of the day), and lack of childcare, sitting down at the computer as been tough. I do have to say, however, newborns aren't that interesting to write about in the first few months of life. They eat, sleep, poop (well, most poop...our little lady is a bit of a fecal-hoarder, so poops have to be coerced out with administering small bottles of water every couple of days...delightful), eat, eat, sleep...you get the picture. Not very exciting to read about.

But, a recent sighting at our beloved local Dana Park inspired me to post - a little Casey Afflick love...B and our friend T were playing with CR and W, and low and behold, the semi-famous Cambridge native made an appearance...

In looking at the second shot, I am amused by the thought of B pretending to take a picture of T...our children are nowhere in sight, so who knows who was "watching" them while the star-struck fathers snapped TMZ-esque candids of the actor...

I hope to begin actually posting again...to get some things done this week, we even shipped CR off to CT to be with Ga, Gee, Mimi and Pop-pops, hence I am able to sit down and write this post...maybe they'll keep him...

Seven Weeks, and a world away...

Yes, I am still extremely sleep deprived. Not from one night in particular, but a compounded effect of night after night of double awakenings/feedings, piled on top of months of sleepless nights ridden with pregnancy-induced heartburn, restless legs, and overall bloated unhappiness. I want my body back - getting back in shape after CR was reasonable easy (in the grand scheme of things), but now that we have two monsters to look after, finding time to work out is a little harder these days, and I would love to jump ahead to where I (hopefully) will be strength-wise, fast-forwarding through this awkward in-between phase. BUT, it is all so worth it. The baby girl is such a different bird than she was when she first came home. She is a little animated beast...smiles have started (not in these pictures, but believe me, the little one is smirking at her big brother and crazy parents all the time now), and she is such a kissable little being. Completely in love...utterly and deeply smitten...

Are we in Phoenix?

Seriously....really?

Needless to say we stuck close to home (read: in the AC) today...

Red, White and Blue

Ev'ry heart beats true...even across the Charles here in Cambridge.

B, CR, Baby C and I strolled down Mem Drive on the 4th and took in the sights.

(MIT geeks were at it on the river - there were many of these brainchild creations being launched into the water)

(I am a proclaimed agoraphobe, so looking down the road at this sea of strangers made my stomach churn a bit...)

(CR was too cool for school)

(Walking back home, the light was amazing...this iPhone pic does not do it justice)

On Sunday we headed out to Needham to see the fam - AW, AM, and CR could not be any more into doing their own thing, and ignoring the camera...

We swung by the new place, and CR decided to sprawl across the lawn, au Naturale, and make a lasting impression on the new neighbors...

God, I hope they weren't home...

Brotherly love?

Baby C looks a little tough, but the pic was too cute to not post...

CR loves his little sister.

Sweat equity gardening and what-not

Ga and Gee came up for a weekday visit - we checked out the ongoing updates to our new space, and got our hands a little dirty in our new yard.

Gee and I dug up some hardened dirt in hopes of planting some grass seed - hopefully it will fair a little better than the attempts to grow grass at our current place - after multiple attempts in our shared back yard, we threw in the towel (along with a bunch of money) and had our cousin C put down sod...we have his number as our general council for our new yard trials and tribulations as we enter this new phase of house ownership.

B picked up cucumber, tomato, and various spicy pepper plants, and Ga and CR made sure they were planted in the appropriate locations in the back yard.

Next trip up to MA for Ga and Gee? A little painting party at our new place. Everybody loves a party...food and beverages will be served.