Yes, I know. It's been a while since I last blogged...probably close to a month. The last time I was bragging about our soon-to-happen vacation to FL. Well, that came and went and a lovely time was had by all. I could recap the trip, but I think we've spoken to most of you and the pics are posted on Facebook. Needless to say, it was a much needed vacation and I did not want to leave. FL will forever be my home and the beach and just about any pool will always be the best relaxor for me. I look forward to either moving back some day or at least having a vacation home there.
I could brag about the girls, but since they are both a few days away from check-ups I will wait to write a separate blog about their growth/milestones and achievements.
We've all been dealing with sickness for the past few months. It seems like a never-ending cycle. Ella has been sick, I swear, for the past three months on and off. I thought things would get better after school got out and she wasn't around other nasty kids, but to no avail. I got sick right before FL and it hung on for a couple weeks to the point where Stephen had to call me in a Z-Pak while we were in FL. Upon our return, Stephen got really sick. He NEVER gets sick and usually when he does it's strep and he gets antibiotics and he's good in a few days. Well, this seemed a lot like what I had before FL and it got him down pretty bad and because he was working so much when we got back he really didn't have time to rest and recoup. Unfortunately, Ella got sick because she doesn't know how to stay away from sick people and surprise, surprise...Annie and I are now sick because I, of course, am the caretaker and again, Ella can't stay away from anybody when SHE is sick!! UGH! I'm so over this. I have decided that I will turn into an old person every time someone gets sick in this house, meaning if Stephen is sick, I will sleep in another room, if Ella gets sick, she will stay in her room. I know that sounds old-school, but it works.
I've been trying to read more lately since I was able to get back to this passion of mine since we were in FL. I used to read all the time. Kids don't really let that happen, too often...unless of course we're talking about Curious George, Dr. Seuss, Clifford, etc. and those are not my passions! :) I'm just about done with "Bittersweet", the second book by Shauna Niequist who I posted previously an excerpt from her first book "Cold Tangerines". I have to say, I do not like this book as much as the first, but I am in love with the way she writes and I hope she comes out with a new book soon! I am also reading "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell who also wrote "The Tipping Point" and "blink". I'm not really into this book, but Stephen and I like to read together and he wanted to read this one. I'm looking forward to starting Tim Tebow's book "Through My Eyes" and also Emily Giffin's most recent book "Heart of the Matter". I used to only be able to read one book at a time, but I find if the two books are different styles I can handle reading two at a time. Have any of y'all read any of these? What did you think?
Anyway, you'll be hearing from me sooner rather than later, but just wanted to chat a little today.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, June 06, 2011
7 days and counting!
In case it's not totally obvious, I am super-stoked about our trip to FL coming up in a week! Yes, we go to FL at least once a year anyway, but this time it will be different and bittersweet...for many reasons. Again, in case I haven't made it abundantly clear, Stephen and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary and will be able to drop the girls off at his sister's and spend a few days in Captiva Island, just to the two of us! This will be the first vacation in a l-o-n-g time for us and really the first time we have gone to FL to have a real vacation and not just visit family. Now, don't get me wrong, we are very excited to see family this time around, we just won't be bound to traveling from one city to another to get certain time in with everyone. But, this will also be my first trip to FL not seeing my G'ma. I'm not really sure how I will feel when I cross the state line because usually as soon as we see the Welcome to Florida sign I feel at home. Will I still feel that this time? I'm afraid I will feel like a visitor/tourist this time because part of my 'home'...a big part.. is gone. Then, what will happen when I walk through her house for the first time since she passed? I'm either going to be emotional or I'm not and then I have a feeling if I'm not emotional I'll overthink that and think something is wrong. Anyway, I am thoroughly excited to go home and to see family and friends. And I hope that being at G'ma's house will be nice and healing and not overly sad.
This will also be the first time I'll be away from Annie for an extended period of time. Don't get me wrong, I am not worried at all about her caregiver(s). Angela is a w-a-y better mother than me, so again, no worries there. But, I'm hoping that Annie won't really realize that I'm not there, but how can she not? She's with me 24/7! I'll be with her for about 24 hours at Angela's house before we leave, so hopefully she'll get comfortable fast.
For those of you who read this and I will see in FL, I can't wait! I miss you all and I can't wait to party! For those of you I will leave behind in MI, I wish you could come with me and we could have a big fiesta on the beach! I haven't decided whether I will post pictures and updates while in FL or just go completely unplugged and then post everything when we get back. I guess we'll all know in a week or so!
This will also be the first time I'll be away from Annie for an extended period of time. Don't get me wrong, I am not worried at all about her caregiver(s). Angela is a w-a-y better mother than me, so again, no worries there. But, I'm hoping that Annie won't really realize that I'm not there, but how can she not? She's with me 24/7! I'll be with her for about 24 hours at Angela's house before we leave, so hopefully she'll get comfortable fast.
For those of you who read this and I will see in FL, I can't wait! I miss you all and I can't wait to party! For those of you I will leave behind in MI, I wish you could come with me and we could have a big fiesta on the beach! I haven't decided whether I will post pictures and updates while in FL or just go completely unplugged and then post everything when we get back. I guess we'll all know in a week or so!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Still waiting for the rapture...from MI to FL!
OK...so we've passed the crazy May 21st prediction(s) of the Mayans and some crazy man in California. I have yet to pass the craziness that our family has been enduring since April! Since my last unplanned trip to FL in March, our family has been going non-stop and I'm ready to get off the speeding train. Stephen has been working non-stop in the NICU making up time he had to take off for my G'ma's passing/memorial service and getting through extra calls so we can enjoy a two-week vacation mid-June (hence, our rapture from MI to FL).
What's keeping me so busy you ask? Well, I've started a new transcription job and it continues to pick up and I LOVE it! But, since Annie is more mobile these days (more on that in a few), I can really only work during her naps which extends my work days sometimes late into the evening after the girls have gone to bed. That's made even worse on the days that Stephen is on-call because if he isn't home to at least give him an hour break, I pretty much go to bed when the girls do and then I just finish work early the next morning before California wakes up (where my account is located). Now, as mentioned above, Annie is now mobile. She started crawling on her 7 month birthday! UGH!! I was not ready for this. Ella didn't start crawling until she was 9 months old and even then, we lived in a 800 square foot box in Boston and she didn't have a lot of places to go. So, this has definitely been an awakening for me and we need to get on the baby-proofing STAT! Annie definitely loves her freedom and thankfully has not gotten into any 'trouble', but unfortunately, she eats a lot of dog hair (extra fiber, right?). With two dogs, I definitely don't vacuum as much as I should. Ella is enjoying the mor mobile Annie, too and is still in a rush for her to walk and talk so they can gang up on me. Ella has also kept me busy with end-of-the-year activities, being sick every 3 to 4 weeks since March and preparing for her 6th birthday. Yes, I just said 6!!! No, I can't believe it myself. I feel old.
The feeling old part doesn't get any better as Stephen and I get ready to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on June 23rd. This is where our rapture to FL comes into play. Stephen and I have not been on a real vacation, let alone a vacation for just the two of us, since 2004 when we went to the Keys for our 3rd anniversary. Oh the days when we weren't tied down and didn't have a many responsibilities and we definitely had more money! But, thanks to my awesome sister-in-law and my husband doing a crap-load of moonlighting to make some extra bucks, we are heading to FL on June 13th where we will promptly drop the girls off in Lakeland at my sister-in-law's and then proceed to check into the South Seas Resort in Captiva Island!!! Can you say 'Hell Yeah'?!
What's keeping me so busy you ask? Well, I've started a new transcription job and it continues to pick up and I LOVE it! But, since Annie is more mobile these days (more on that in a few), I can really only work during her naps which extends my work days sometimes late into the evening after the girls have gone to bed. That's made even worse on the days that Stephen is on-call because if he isn't home to at least give him an hour break, I pretty much go to bed when the girls do and then I just finish work early the next morning before California wakes up (where my account is located). Now, as mentioned above, Annie is now mobile. She started crawling on her 7 month birthday! UGH!! I was not ready for this. Ella didn't start crawling until she was 9 months old and even then, we lived in a 800 square foot box in Boston and she didn't have a lot of places to go. So, this has definitely been an awakening for me and we need to get on the baby-proofing STAT! Annie definitely loves her freedom and thankfully has not gotten into any 'trouble', but unfortunately, she eats a lot of dog hair (extra fiber, right?). With two dogs, I definitely don't vacuum as much as I should. Ella is enjoying the mor mobile Annie, too and is still in a rush for her to walk and talk so they can gang up on me. Ella has also kept me busy with end-of-the-year activities, being sick every 3 to 4 weeks since March and preparing for her 6th birthday. Yes, I just said 6!!! No, I can't believe it myself. I feel old.
The feeling old part doesn't get any better as Stephen and I get ready to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on June 23rd. This is where our rapture to FL comes into play. Stephen and I have not been on a real vacation, let alone a vacation for just the two of us, since 2004 when we went to the Keys for our 3rd anniversary. Oh the days when we weren't tied down and didn't have a many responsibilities and we definitely had more money! But, thanks to my awesome sister-in-law and my husband doing a crap-load of moonlighting to make some extra bucks, we are heading to FL on June 13th where we will promptly drop the girls off in Lakeland at my sister-in-law's and then proceed to check into the South Seas Resort in Captiva Island!!! Can you say 'Hell Yeah'?!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Ella's 23 Month Update
It's May already?!?! We only have a few more weeks left in FL and I'm starting to get really sad, yet excited about our new journey. Ella doesn't know that anything big is getting ready to happen and I'm starting to worry about her adjusting. She was barely one when we moved back to FL last year and I didn't even give it a second thought, but now I'm concerned. We'll definitely make sure her room is put together first and will go ahead and put her crib up just so she's comfortable the first few weeks and then we'll get her new bed and furniture delivered.
As for a real update - Ella amazes me more and more EVERY day. She LOVES counting and can do so up to 20 and she'll even throw a few spanish numbers in there thanks to Dora, but we aren't necessarily teaching her that. She's also got the whole alphabet down, now we're trying to teach her the song to go with it, but that's not catching on very well. One thing new that she does that I absolutely love, is when she wakes up in the morning and comes downstairs, she says, "Morning mom"...and then proceeds to say that to whoever is there whether its the dogs or Stephen. I still have no idea where she picked that up.
Ella still loves the outdoors. She loves to 'mow' with her bubble-blowing mower, she loves her slide and her sandbox and she loves watching the cows in the pasture across our street. Yes, I know it's weird to think we have cows in our neighborhood, but we do. We live in the back of Southwood and there is pasture across the street where cows roam and eat grass twice a day, so we usually catch them early evening before dinner. All of us will miss the cows a lot!
Ella has also remembered her love for water. I was worried early on because she was very timid the first time we took her to the pool, but we've been a few more times and she's back to her normal self. She even started jumping off the wall into the water!!! I was shocked when she started doing that. :) She also learned how much fun the beach is. I can't wait to take her back. She had a blast in the ocean after she realized that the waves weren't out to get her. So, after a few minutes of running away from the waves, she got right in and let them knock her down, but for the most part, she kept her balance really well while the waves went by. She also loves collecting shells. We were trying to get her to build sand castles with us, but she just destroyed everything daddy and I built!
We also took Ella to Disney a couple weekends ago. The last two times she's been she went with her Aunt and cousins, so we were excited to go with her this time. We split the day up between Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Epcot wasn't really for her and the only reason we wanted to go was because we hadn't been in forever and were curious about the new rides, but we only went on a couple ofthe new rides...we'll have to do the Test Track next time. By the time we got to Animal Kingdom Ella was getting tired, but we still had fun. But, I'm looking forward to using up our special passes that we got and take her back to the Magic Kingdom and MGM before we leave FL for good. We'll be getting on that soon after graduation.
Speaking of graduation...I can't believe it's almost here. That weekend will be whirlwind with all the people who will be in town and everything we have going on, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably be giving you the next update a few days early due to our moving around the 5th and Ella will be getting her two year check up earlier that week. So, until then, hope all is well and keep us in your thought and prayers as our lives in the next few weeks will be very hectic and changing very quickly!
As for a real update - Ella amazes me more and more EVERY day. She LOVES counting and can do so up to 20 and she'll even throw a few spanish numbers in there thanks to Dora, but we aren't necessarily teaching her that. She's also got the whole alphabet down, now we're trying to teach her the song to go with it, but that's not catching on very well. One thing new that she does that I absolutely love, is when she wakes up in the morning and comes downstairs, she says, "Morning mom"...and then proceeds to say that to whoever is there whether its the dogs or Stephen. I still have no idea where she picked that up.
Ella still loves the outdoors. She loves to 'mow' with her bubble-blowing mower, she loves her slide and her sandbox and she loves watching the cows in the pasture across our street. Yes, I know it's weird to think we have cows in our neighborhood, but we do. We live in the back of Southwood and there is pasture across the street where cows roam and eat grass twice a day, so we usually catch them early evening before dinner. All of us will miss the cows a lot!
Ella has also remembered her love for water. I was worried early on because she was very timid the first time we took her to the pool, but we've been a few more times and she's back to her normal self. She even started jumping off the wall into the water!!! I was shocked when she started doing that. :) She also learned how much fun the beach is. I can't wait to take her back. She had a blast in the ocean after she realized that the waves weren't out to get her. So, after a few minutes of running away from the waves, she got right in and let them knock her down, but for the most part, she kept her balance really well while the waves went by. She also loves collecting shells. We were trying to get her to build sand castles with us, but she just destroyed everything daddy and I built!
We also took Ella to Disney a couple weekends ago. The last two times she's been she went with her Aunt and cousins, so we were excited to go with her this time. We split the day up between Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Epcot wasn't really for her and the only reason we wanted to go was because we hadn't been in forever and were curious about the new rides, but we only went on a couple ofthe new rides...we'll have to do the Test Track next time. By the time we got to Animal Kingdom Ella was getting tired, but we still had fun. But, I'm looking forward to using up our special passes that we got and take her back to the Magic Kingdom and MGM before we leave FL for good. We'll be getting on that soon after graduation.
Speaking of graduation...I can't believe it's almost here. That weekend will be whirlwind with all the people who will be in town and everything we have going on, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll probably be giving you the next update a few days early due to our moving around the 5th and Ella will be getting her two year check up earlier that week. So, until then, hope all is well and keep us in your thought and prayers as our lives in the next few weeks will be very hectic and changing very quickly!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Ella's 18 Month Update
Christmas is but two weeks away and yet it seems like I haven't had time to enjoy the season. We've been very busy these first 11 days of December. We just got back from a trip to NC where Stephen had an interview at UNC - Chapel Hill. Thankfully he loved it because that's where I really want to go. But, other than that, the trip was very stressful and exhausting. We left with our daughter on Thurs. and yet a few hours into the trip she was replaced by someone else's daughter. That's the only way I can explain what we put up with for 3 days. I have NEVER seen Ella be so high-maintenance and so demanding. She literally screamed for three days straight no matter what her mood and no matter what she needed or wanted. Somehow she forgot that she could talk and refused to used her words to tell us what was wrong. But, most of the time nothing was wrong, she just wanted to be difficult. I say this not to complain or to be mean to my child, but I seriously think she's already starting 'the terrible twos'! I remember reading something before Ella was born saying that this period could start as early as 18 months but didn't think about it because hey, she wasn't here yet and I was going to have the perfect kid, right?!?! I will say that she's been traveling so much lately and I know sitting in your carseat for 9 hours can't be fun even though we stopped and let her run around as much as we thought she needed to. And I will say that as soon as we got back home (early Sunday morning) she was back to her 'normal' self. But, the screaming has got to stop! I don't understand why she won't use her words since she knows how to communicate most things to us.
Anyway, now that we're back we are getting ready to go see Santa sometime this week. I've been trying very hard to get her to recognize Santa so she won't be afraid when I pass her off to him. She seems to know who he is and can say 'santa', but we'll see how it goes when she sees the 'real' thing. She'll also be getting her hair cut again. It's growing like weeds and it needs shaping really bad and then we'll go get her 18 month/Christmas pics taken Friday afternoon. So, y'all should be getting some updated pics real soon.
As far as new things she's doing...these updates are starting to get monotonous in the fact that now that she's getting older she doesn't have as many 'firsts' and is really just building upon things. I will say that she has an afinity for jumping. She loves to show us how high she can jump and she loves landing on her butt and saying 'uh-oh'! In fact, she says 'uh-oh' so much I never really know if something is really wrong! She's also playing with the dogs more and in a rougher way. Most of the time they just lay there and take it, but I truly think she thinks Gator is her oversized stuffed animal.
Another thing with Ella is that she's getting way more independent and wants to do everything herself which makes certain situations difficult because I don't necessarily WANT her to do it herself at that time. But, overall, she's feeding herself with utensils pretty well and helps me dress her. She also loves brushing her hair - if only I could get her to like brushing her teeth!!
Until next month, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we hope that we'll be seeing you soon, too!
Anyway, now that we're back we are getting ready to go see Santa sometime this week. I've been trying very hard to get her to recognize Santa so she won't be afraid when I pass her off to him. She seems to know who he is and can say 'santa', but we'll see how it goes when she sees the 'real' thing. She'll also be getting her hair cut again. It's growing like weeds and it needs shaping really bad and then we'll go get her 18 month/Christmas pics taken Friday afternoon. So, y'all should be getting some updated pics real soon.
As far as new things she's doing...these updates are starting to get monotonous in the fact that now that she's getting older she doesn't have as many 'firsts' and is really just building upon things. I will say that she has an afinity for jumping. She loves to show us how high she can jump and she loves landing on her butt and saying 'uh-oh'! In fact, she says 'uh-oh' so much I never really know if something is really wrong! She's also playing with the dogs more and in a rougher way. Most of the time they just lay there and take it, but I truly think she thinks Gator is her oversized stuffed animal.
Another thing with Ella is that she's getting way more independent and wants to do everything herself which makes certain situations difficult because I don't necessarily WANT her to do it herself at that time. But, overall, she's feeding herself with utensils pretty well and helps me dress her. She also loves brushing her hair - if only I could get her to like brushing her teeth!!
Until next month, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we hope that we'll be seeing you soon, too!
Monday, July 10, 2006
Ella's 13 Month Update
I'll start off by saying that Ella is not officially walking yet since I'm sure that's what most of you want to know. I'm shocked myself, but I'm sure this time next month (or earlier) I'll be saying that she is officially walking. Now, don't get me wrong, she will take a few steps without holding on to anything or anyone...she'll even be carrying something, but then she'll fall on her butt and start crawling. So, I know it's possible and I'll just let her go at her own pace.
Ella saw her first fireworks on the 4th of July and absolutely loved them! She sat in daddy's lap the whole time and was just in awe. She didn't take her eyes off them the whole time. She had a wonderful 4th of July weekend hanging out with her cousins and especially had a fun time with her 3 year old cousin Rebekah. They played together the whole time and it was scary to see how fast Ella picked up on things that Rebekah was doing. At time I thought Ella had skipped a couple birthdays in a few days! Rebekah was frustrated that Ella couldn't talk as well as she could, but didn't seem to let that get in the way of their fun.
On the 5th, Ella start swim lessons and she learned how to blow bubbles and float on her back on the first day. The second day she wasn't much into paying attention...she just wanted to play on the steps the whole time, but at least she's having fun! This past Friday she started kicking her legs, too! Her last swim lesson is on the 18th and I'll be interested to see just how much she's learned.
Ella has also learned some new words in the past few weeks to add to the few that it seems like she's been saying f-o-r-e-v-e-r! Everytime she sees pictures of herself on the wall she'll say 'baby' and of course when she sees a baby in public she'll say it, too. She also knows how to say 'Gator' which she now calls all three of our dogs instead of just the one whose name is actually 'Gator'. But, we're happy about this because she'll be even more ready for football season since she's been saying 'touchdown' and doing the signal for it for the past few months. She loves to pick up phones (any phone will do) and say 'dad'? And she finally said 'bye bye' the other day to the store manager at Publix. She's been waving hello and goodbye for a while, but would never say 'bye' until then. But, she hasn't said it since.
Ella is officially off formula which I am sooo thankful for. It didn't take long at all to wean her from the formula...I think about 4 days, which we did right after her 12 month check-up. And she's about weaned from her bottle...when she gets tired around nap time and bed time she wants her bottle, so we're weaning her from her nap bottle first. We'll see how fast that goes. Her new favorite food is mac and cheese (surprise, surprise). She still loves her veggies and that makes me very happy to know she's more like me in that area than her father. I really hope she won't be a picky eater when she gets older.
Well, for the rest of the month Ella and I plan on hanging out by the pool and working on our tans. We're looking more and more like FL girls every day! This weekend we're going to Sea World and we're soooo excited about that. I haven't been since I was really little and I know Ella will enjoy it, too. She loves looking at bright colors and animals of all kind! I'll try and blog about our weekend when we get back! Until then...
Ella saw her first fireworks on the 4th of July and absolutely loved them! She sat in daddy's lap the whole time and was just in awe. She didn't take her eyes off them the whole time. She had a wonderful 4th of July weekend hanging out with her cousins and especially had a fun time with her 3 year old cousin Rebekah. They played together the whole time and it was scary to see how fast Ella picked up on things that Rebekah was doing. At time I thought Ella had skipped a couple birthdays in a few days! Rebekah was frustrated that Ella couldn't talk as well as she could, but didn't seem to let that get in the way of their fun.
On the 5th, Ella start swim lessons and she learned how to blow bubbles and float on her back on the first day. The second day she wasn't much into paying attention...she just wanted to play on the steps the whole time, but at least she's having fun! This past Friday she started kicking her legs, too! Her last swim lesson is on the 18th and I'll be interested to see just how much she's learned.
Ella has also learned some new words in the past few weeks to add to the few that it seems like she's been saying f-o-r-e-v-e-r! Everytime she sees pictures of herself on the wall she'll say 'baby' and of course when she sees a baby in public she'll say it, too. She also knows how to say 'Gator' which she now calls all three of our dogs instead of just the one whose name is actually 'Gator'. But, we're happy about this because she'll be even more ready for football season since she's been saying 'touchdown' and doing the signal for it for the past few months. She loves to pick up phones (any phone will do) and say 'dad'? And she finally said 'bye bye' the other day to the store manager at Publix. She's been waving hello and goodbye for a while, but would never say 'bye' until then. But, she hasn't said it since.
Ella is officially off formula which I am sooo thankful for. It didn't take long at all to wean her from the formula...I think about 4 days, which we did right after her 12 month check-up. And she's about weaned from her bottle...when she gets tired around nap time and bed time she wants her bottle, so we're weaning her from her nap bottle first. We'll see how fast that goes. Her new favorite food is mac and cheese (surprise, surprise). She still loves her veggies and that makes me very happy to know she's more like me in that area than her father. I really hope she won't be a picky eater when she gets older.
Well, for the rest of the month Ella and I plan on hanging out by the pool and working on our tans. We're looking more and more like FL girls every day! This weekend we're going to Sea World and we're soooo excited about that. I haven't been since I was really little and I know Ella will enjoy it, too. She loves looking at bright colors and animals of all kind! I'll try and blog about our weekend when we get back! Until then...
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Ella's 1 Year Update
This past week has been such a whirlwind I'm surprised this update is only a few days late! Last weekend we were in Jupiter, FL for my best friend's baby shower and Ella had a blast with her family! Then we drove to Port Orange Sunday evening to spend the next few days with Stephen's family who were going to fly out with us Wed to go to Boston for Stephen's graduation from Harvard. We were busy swimming, playing with dogs, shopping and celebrating Ella's birthday early with Stephen's family! I was very nervous about the flight to and from Boston because I had no idea how I was going to keep Ella still since we did not pay for her own seat. Thankfully the third seat next to us ws empty both ways so we were able to lay Ella down in between us to sleep. Granted, before she would sleep she was very antsy and loud!! But, overall it went a lot better than expected. We got back from Boston Fri around 5pm and immediately drove to Gainesville to pick up my G'ma so she would be here for Ella's party the next day. So, we didn't get back to Tallahassee until 11pm that evening.
Ella's party was in the afternoon that Sat. which was good because I had a lot of stuff to take care of before people started coming over! It was a small affair, but Ella still had a lot of fun and got a lot of cool toys that she really enjoys.
Yesterday we woke up to news about Tropical Storm Alberto. While in the process of taking my G'ma back to Gainesville, we had to decide whether we should turn around and just have her stay with us a couple more days since it was suppose to hit Cedar Key which is directly West of her, but she really wanted to get back and make sure she had her medication on hand just in case it turned out to be worse than expected. So, Ella and I didn't get back from Gainesville until 4:15pm yesterday and she and I both are ready to not travel anymore for a long while. She is so sick of her car seat and I'm sick of not being home and not getting the chance to finish unpacking, etc. So, we are here to stay for a while. I don't even want to think about going somewhere for a couple months.
Now, for Ella's official update...her 12 month doctor appt. isn't until this Thurs. so I will definitely blog again to give you those stats. But, as for her personality and social skills...she is blossoming every day and it's amazing what she's started doing just inthe past couple days! She is still not walking...I feel it could be any day now, but she is really not interested at this point. She is completely fine with crawling and cruising. She points at everything and says "that" and then we tell her what she's pointing at. She waves hello and goodbye to everyone! And just in the past couple days she has started this new belly dance. It's hard to explain, but it's pretty funny when you see it. She loves going up and down the stairs..we don't let her do it unless we're with her, but I'm thankful that she quickly learned how to go down the stairs backwards instead of head first! Ella has also learned the signal for touchdown and makes a noise everytime she does it and then starts clapping, so we're really excited for football season to come because she'll be ready!!! She's been eating weird lately. She stopped eating baby food completely...she just won't have anything to do with it. So, she'll eat crackers, tomatoes, bread, and cheese. She still only has 6 teeth...I think she's teething because the past couple days she's been a little difficult, but I can't tell where her teeth are coming in. So, we'll see if she gets some new ones here shortly.
Today, we went to the public library for story and singing time and she absolutely loved it! She enjoyed watching the other kids and we'll definitely be making this a weekly event. I just wish it was easier to get around Boston so we could've started this earlier. Better late than never I guess. So, Ella is sleeping right now and she should be out for another hour or so. You'll be hearing from me again on Thurs. and before I sign off I have to say Happy Birthday to Analise. It's a day late, but we were thinking about you yesterday!
Ella's party was in the afternoon that Sat. which was good because I had a lot of stuff to take care of before people started coming over! It was a small affair, but Ella still had a lot of fun and got a lot of cool toys that she really enjoys.
Yesterday we woke up to news about Tropical Storm Alberto. While in the process of taking my G'ma back to Gainesville, we had to decide whether we should turn around and just have her stay with us a couple more days since it was suppose to hit Cedar Key which is directly West of her, but she really wanted to get back and make sure she had her medication on hand just in case it turned out to be worse than expected. So, Ella and I didn't get back from Gainesville until 4:15pm yesterday and she and I both are ready to not travel anymore for a long while. She is so sick of her car seat and I'm sick of not being home and not getting the chance to finish unpacking, etc. So, we are here to stay for a while. I don't even want to think about going somewhere for a couple months.
Now, for Ella's official update...her 12 month doctor appt. isn't until this Thurs. so I will definitely blog again to give you those stats. But, as for her personality and social skills...she is blossoming every day and it's amazing what she's started doing just inthe past couple days! She is still not walking...I feel it could be any day now, but she is really not interested at this point. She is completely fine with crawling and cruising. She points at everything and says "that" and then we tell her what she's pointing at. She waves hello and goodbye to everyone! And just in the past couple days she has started this new belly dance. It's hard to explain, but it's pretty funny when you see it. She loves going up and down the stairs..we don't let her do it unless we're with her, but I'm thankful that she quickly learned how to go down the stairs backwards instead of head first! Ella has also learned the signal for touchdown and makes a noise everytime she does it and then starts clapping, so we're really excited for football season to come because she'll be ready!!! She's been eating weird lately. She stopped eating baby food completely...she just won't have anything to do with it. So, she'll eat crackers, tomatoes, bread, and cheese. She still only has 6 teeth...I think she's teething because the past couple days she's been a little difficult, but I can't tell where her teeth are coming in. So, we'll see if she gets some new ones here shortly.
Today, we went to the public library for story and singing time and she absolutely loved it! She enjoyed watching the other kids and we'll definitely be making this a weekly event. I just wish it was easier to get around Boston so we could've started this earlier. Better late than never I guess. So, Ella is sleeping right now and she should be out for another hour or so. You'll be hearing from me again on Thurs. and before I sign off I have to say Happy Birthday to Analise. It's a day late, but we were thinking about you yesterday!
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
We're Home!
Well, we're officially in Tallahassee again and we closed on our brand new house on the 19th. It is so nice to live in a place where no one has lived before. We're very busy unpacking and trying to get organized but it's hard with Ella. She's very busy and wants to be doing something at all times and with all this stuff lying around she wants to get into everything. So, of course we we say 'no' and pull her away from whatever it is that she's getting into, she has a tantrum. So, a lot of our unpacking is late at night when she's asleep.
As I said earlier, we closed on our place on the 19th and we were very glad to be in town for FSU's College of Medicine graduation on the 20th. It was bittersweet as this would've been Stephen's graduation has he not taken a year off to get an MPH. But, we were very excited for all of our dear friends who graduated and are now doctors. Hopefully I can get some pointers from the wives on how residency REALLY is before I embark on that adventure myself. It's also sad that they all moving away as we're coming back. So, hopefully we'll be able to visit them in Pensacola,FL and Laurel, MD. And they all know that they're more than welcome to visit us here and stay with us when they're back in Tallahassee.
Well, it's late and I'm ready to sleep...although I'm sure I'll do a little more organizing before I actually get in the bed. I'll keep you updated on how things are going and you can also look forward to Ella's 12 month update in a couple weeks!
As I said earlier, we closed on our place on the 19th and we were very glad to be in town for FSU's College of Medicine graduation on the 20th. It was bittersweet as this would've been Stephen's graduation has he not taken a year off to get an MPH. But, we were very excited for all of our dear friends who graduated and are now doctors. Hopefully I can get some pointers from the wives on how residency REALLY is before I embark on that adventure myself. It's also sad that they all moving away as we're coming back. So, hopefully we'll be able to visit them in Pensacola,FL and Laurel, MD. And they all know that they're more than welcome to visit us here and stay with us when they're back in Tallahassee.
Well, it's late and I'm ready to sleep...although I'm sure I'll do a little more organizing before I actually get in the bed. I'll keep you updated on how things are going and you can also look forward to Ella's 12 month update in a couple weeks!
Friday, March 17, 2006
Update on Ella's 9 Month Update
We're in DC right now and I'm just getting time to sit down and give you all the stats from Ella's doctor's appt. from Tues. So, here they are...she weighed 19.9.5 lbs. and was 28 1/2" long. Both of those are in the 75th percentile. She's slowed down some in the growth dept. but for all we know she could be back in the 9th percentile on her next doctor's visit! We also were told that we could turn her car seat forward-facing because her legs are already getting bunched up from hitting the back of the seat...so...we put it forward-facing for our drive to DC Wed. night. I think it might have been a little much for her. She was a lot more fussy on this drive then she usually is....actually she usually either plays or falls asleep in her carseat, but she fussed and fussed and finally fell asleep and then would wake up intermittently (sp?) and scream and then go back to sleep. I don't know if the different direction she was going in and the fact that she could see more was too stimulating for her or if she was just overly tired from the days events of cleaning and packing that she didn't get a nap or what. But, I'll be curious to see how she does on our way back...
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Skiing sucks!
My husband did something really sweet this weekend. I'm always on him about not taking the bull by the horns and just planning something on his own. If we talk about doing something for the day or even somewhere to go on vacation he always ask millions of questions and ultimately wants me to plan the whole thing. So, finally, when he asked if I wanted to go skiing and whether or not I would be comfortable with Ella being watched at the daycare at the ski resort, I said, "Just plan it yourself!" So, he did.
We traveled to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire early yesterday morning. I was excited to go skiing for the first time and I wasn't too nervous about leaving Ella with total strangers since I knew that they had a policy that only 6 infants were booked for a day and once we dropped her off, the people were really nice and took a ton of information from us because they wanted to be sure that she was fed properly, changed when she should be, and napped the way she was used to napping. So, after we dropped her off we went to rent our ski equipment. We then went to the ski lift and that was the last fun I had for the day. As soon as I got off the ski lift I fell. Then I fell again. And again. And again...so and so forth. Obviously I knew that I wasn't going to be great since this was my first time, but it got old real fast, especially when you have 4 and 5 year olds zooming past you like they came out the womb skiing!! Oh, and I was on the easiest slope there was...it took me over and hour to get down the thing. By the time I was down the slope I was so sore and knew I had bruises all over my body. I alos twisted my knee really bad on my last fall which sucked because I was getting the hang of it right at the end. But, I was too worried that it would just take one more fall for me to really hurt my knee or to break something and I didn't want to chance it, let alone I was already exhausted and in pain.
So, yes, I stayed at Cafe' and read a book for the rest of the afternoon while Stephen skied by himself. I felt horrible because this was supposed to be a day for us to hang out without the baby which has yet to happen since she was born. But, if I had decided to ski more, it wouldn't have been any fun for him because I would've been stuck on the green slope all day going REALLY slow. At least he got to go on other slopes and get his money's worth.
So, I'll leave the skiing to the yankees and I'll stick with the warm water sports that I'm a 'pro' at.
We traveled to Loon Mountain in New Hampshire early yesterday morning. I was excited to go skiing for the first time and I wasn't too nervous about leaving Ella with total strangers since I knew that they had a policy that only 6 infants were booked for a day and once we dropped her off, the people were really nice and took a ton of information from us because they wanted to be sure that she was fed properly, changed when she should be, and napped the way she was used to napping. So, after we dropped her off we went to rent our ski equipment. We then went to the ski lift and that was the last fun I had for the day. As soon as I got off the ski lift I fell. Then I fell again. And again. And again...so and so forth. Obviously I knew that I wasn't going to be great since this was my first time, but it got old real fast, especially when you have 4 and 5 year olds zooming past you like they came out the womb skiing!! Oh, and I was on the easiest slope there was...it took me over and hour to get down the thing. By the time I was down the slope I was so sore and knew I had bruises all over my body. I alos twisted my knee really bad on my last fall which sucked because I was getting the hang of it right at the end. But, I was too worried that it would just take one more fall for me to really hurt my knee or to break something and I didn't want to chance it, let alone I was already exhausted and in pain.
So, yes, I stayed at Cafe' and read a book for the rest of the afternoon while Stephen skied by himself. I felt horrible because this was supposed to be a day for us to hang out without the baby which has yet to happen since she was born. But, if I had decided to ski more, it wouldn't have been any fun for him because I would've been stuck on the green slope all day going REALLY slow. At least he got to go on other slopes and get his money's worth.
So, I'll leave the skiing to the yankees and I'll stick with the warm water sports that I'm a 'pro' at.
Monday, February 13, 2006
It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!
Originally posted on November 2, 2005.
I know this is coming a few days late, but I have to blog and say "congrats" to the UF Football team. I don't know why, but we always pull something out of our butts when it doesn't matter. I suppose technically our win does matter for more than the mere fact that we ended Georgia's undefeated streak. We are still in the running for the SEC Championship; we need Georgia to lose at least one more time. But, we are out of the running for the National Championship...again, thanks to our pathetic losses to Alabama and LSU (who had 5 turnovers in that game)! I still think Chris Leak is the most overrated quarterback in college football and he has been for the past couple years. I'm not saying he's horrible, but he's not consistent and of course you have people saying that he's just not used to Urban Meyer's offense...well, he apparently wasn't used to Zook's offense either. He's very inconsistent and if you're a great quarterback you are definitely two things: consistent and good in ANY type of offense.
Now that I have that off my chest, I'm very happy to say that I will be in FL tomorrow through the 8th (at least - I may stay a little longer...more about that later). It was a last minute trip that I planned since my husband is going to be out of town during the same time. He will be in Dallas, TX at an AMA conference. I decided not to go with him this time since he is going to be very busy and I've never been TX, so I wouldn't be comfortable getting around the town by myself. Usually the meetings are in Chicago and since I've been there a couple times already, it wouldn't matter if Stephen was busy because I know my way around pretty well. But, it was time for me to head to FL anyway. My G'ma hasn't seen the baby since we left and we're missing her, too. I'm not too keen on flying down there, but I'm trying not to worry about that part and keeping everything in God's hands and not trying to rely on myself. Anyway, I'll be getting into Orlando around 1:55pm and my sister-in-law is going to pick me up and meet my G'ma halfway on I-75. I'm looking forward to seeing her and of course being able to see my G'ma. I wish I had more time to see people, but time is going to fly by and Thurs. will be shot already. One way where I might get more time in FL is if Stephen decides to fly back on the 8th to FL instead of Boston and we can just spend a few extra days there since he doesn't have class next Fri. (Veterans Day). Then we'll just leave Fri. evening from Orlando together. So, if that ends up happening then I might be able to see some friends in Orlando. And if those of you in Orlando are reading this, I will call you and let you know what's going on if that's a possibility.
I know this was my first blog in a while and I'm sorry for that. Things have been really hectic and time is just flying by. Stephen's parents were up for a visit and while they were here dad's sister died, so they left a day early to get to SC. So, in the midst of all that Stephen was studying for finals for his classes that were ended after the first quarter and somehow I just felt really busy as well, although I'm not sure what I was busy with. Anyway, I'll try not to let so much time go by between blogs next time. So, I'll plan my next blog to be on the 9th, if I return from FL by then. Take care!
I know this is coming a few days late, but I have to blog and say "congrats" to the UF Football team. I don't know why, but we always pull something out of our butts when it doesn't matter. I suppose technically our win does matter for more than the mere fact that we ended Georgia's undefeated streak. We are still in the running for the SEC Championship; we need Georgia to lose at least one more time. But, we are out of the running for the National Championship...again, thanks to our pathetic losses to Alabama and LSU (who had 5 turnovers in that game)! I still think Chris Leak is the most overrated quarterback in college football and he has been for the past couple years. I'm not saying he's horrible, but he's not consistent and of course you have people saying that he's just not used to Urban Meyer's offense...well, he apparently wasn't used to Zook's offense either. He's very inconsistent and if you're a great quarterback you are definitely two things: consistent and good in ANY type of offense.
Now that I have that off my chest, I'm very happy to say that I will be in FL tomorrow through the 8th (at least - I may stay a little longer...more about that later). It was a last minute trip that I planned since my husband is going to be out of town during the same time. He will be in Dallas, TX at an AMA conference. I decided not to go with him this time since he is going to be very busy and I've never been TX, so I wouldn't be comfortable getting around the town by myself. Usually the meetings are in Chicago and since I've been there a couple times already, it wouldn't matter if Stephen was busy because I know my way around pretty well. But, it was time for me to head to FL anyway. My G'ma hasn't seen the baby since we left and we're missing her, too. I'm not too keen on flying down there, but I'm trying not to worry about that part and keeping everything in God's hands and not trying to rely on myself. Anyway, I'll be getting into Orlando around 1:55pm and my sister-in-law is going to pick me up and meet my G'ma halfway on I-75. I'm looking forward to seeing her and of course being able to see my G'ma. I wish I had more time to see people, but time is going to fly by and Thurs. will be shot already. One way where I might get more time in FL is if Stephen decides to fly back on the 8th to FL instead of Boston and we can just spend a few extra days there since he doesn't have class next Fri. (Veterans Day). Then we'll just leave Fri. evening from Orlando together. So, if that ends up happening then I might be able to see some friends in Orlando. And if those of you in Orlando are reading this, I will call you and let you know what's going on if that's a possibility.
I know this was my first blog in a while and I'm sorry for that. Things have been really hectic and time is just flying by. Stephen's parents were up for a visit and while they were here dad's sister died, so they left a day early to get to SC. So, in the midst of all that Stephen was studying for finals for his classes that were ended after the first quarter and somehow I just felt really busy as well, although I'm not sure what I was busy with. Anyway, I'll try not to let so much time go by between blogs next time. So, I'll plan my next blog to be on the 9th, if I return from FL by then. Take care!
Sightseeing
Originally posted August 25, 2005.
Today, my husband and I decided to get out of the busy city and drive up the coast. We ended up in Gloucester and Rockport, MA. If you didn't recognize the first city's name, it is known from the book and movie "The Perfect Storm". It was really interesting to see the town and the harbor that the movie was filmed in and to know that that was the real place where these events took place back in 1991. But, what impressed me most was how beautiful it was. I'm from South Florida where I'm used to beautiful ocean water and palm trees and nice white sand. But, this was just as beautiful, but in a different way. The water was dark, but not in a dirty looking way. It was a pretty midnight blue color and instead of white sand there were pretty rocks on the shore and it was so breath-taking seeing the ocean water beat up against them. The houses are also amazing. I still haven't gotten used to the way Boston houses are set up. Here there are old colonial homes that have a lot of character and are really cool, but each floor is divided up into a condo-style apartment and multiple families live in one house. It was nice to see "normal" houses again in Goucester and Rockport. They were all beautiful colonial-style homes with colorful and well-kept landscaping with great views of the ocean. I could seriously live there for the rest of my life.
I think it would be great to visit there again and stay at a bed and breakfast and really get to know and enjoy the town and scenery. I will have to look into that because my husband and I could sure use a mini-vacation. All that said, we didn't eat at the Crow's Nest, which is the actual restaurant that was portrayed in the movie that was owned my the mother of one of the men who was lost at sea during the storm. I believe she died a few years ago, but the restaurant is still open. I'm sure they're used to tourists coming in and wanting some piece of the story. I'm definitely curious to go back and eat there. To finish this blog, I would highly recommend anyone visiting Gloucester - whether you live in MA or whether you visiting Boston, Cape Cod, or wherever. It's definitely a treat, but I would also recommend you going in the Summer or early Fall.
Today, my husband and I decided to get out of the busy city and drive up the coast. We ended up in Gloucester and Rockport, MA. If you didn't recognize the first city's name, it is known from the book and movie "The Perfect Storm". It was really interesting to see the town and the harbor that the movie was filmed in and to know that that was the real place where these events took place back in 1991. But, what impressed me most was how beautiful it was. I'm from South Florida where I'm used to beautiful ocean water and palm trees and nice white sand. But, this was just as beautiful, but in a different way. The water was dark, but not in a dirty looking way. It was a pretty midnight blue color and instead of white sand there were pretty rocks on the shore and it was so breath-taking seeing the ocean water beat up against them. The houses are also amazing. I still haven't gotten used to the way Boston houses are set up. Here there are old colonial homes that have a lot of character and are really cool, but each floor is divided up into a condo-style apartment and multiple families live in one house. It was nice to see "normal" houses again in Goucester and Rockport. They were all beautiful colonial-style homes with colorful and well-kept landscaping with great views of the ocean. I could seriously live there for the rest of my life.
I think it would be great to visit there again and stay at a bed and breakfast and really get to know and enjoy the town and scenery. I will have to look into that because my husband and I could sure use a mini-vacation. All that said, we didn't eat at the Crow's Nest, which is the actual restaurant that was portrayed in the movie that was owned my the mother of one of the men who was lost at sea during the storm. I believe she died a few years ago, but the restaurant is still open. I'm sure they're used to tourists coming in and wanting some piece of the story. I'm definitely curious to go back and eat there. To finish this blog, I would highly recommend anyone visiting Gloucester - whether you live in MA or whether you visiting Boston, Cape Cod, or wherever. It's definitely a treat, but I would also recommend you going in the Summer or early Fall.
We're here...
Originally posted on August 24, 2005.
Hello Boston (and anyone else who may be reading this)! I have now been in Boston (or Jamaica Plain to be more precise) since August 11th. To give you and idea of how things have just not been going well, I just got my internet working last night. I'm going to take the short time that I'll be here in JP to give reviews on places I eat and things I see and do. I will also use this to keep my friends and family updated on what's going on with my husband and daughter.
To start off, I'll explain why I moved to Boston from Tallahassee, FL. My husband is a fourth year medical student at Florida State University and he decided that he wanted to get an MPH (Masters in Public Health) because he really has a passion for the underserved community and for the millions of uninsured, especially the uinsured kids, of America. I'm very proud to say that he was accepted to Harvard (as well as Johns Hopkins and Duke) and his program is only 9 months long due to the fact that he is getting his MD as well. Otherwise, it would've been a 2 year degree. So...after the process of trying to find a place to live with 3 dogs (which was a pain in the butt even though we were buying a place) we packed up our house in Tallahassee (which is now seeming so HUGE - 1209 sq. ft. vs. our 750 sq. ft. condo we are living in now). But don't think for a moment that from there everything as easy. The day we moved we realized that our moving truck was too small to fit all of our boxes. So, after loading the truck as much as possible, we had to take 29 boxes to UPS and ship them to Boston (approx. $1000). On the way back from the UPS store, somehow that back of the moving truck wasn't shut properly and my 2-month old clothes dryer fell out onto N. Monroe Street. While my husband turned around to go back for it to wait for our brother-in-law to come back with the moving truck, someone had already put it in the back of THEIR truck!!! Thankfully, my husband was able to stop them and we got our dryer back, with some dents. My husband and brother-in-law started off for Boston around 4:30pm on the 9th of August. Along the way Stephen was communication with our Realtor up in Boston and the lawyer that is dealing with our condo purchase. Through this communication we find out that we may not have a place to live when we get there because the owner had yet to sign the final purchase and sale agreement even though we were told this was done a few days prior. We were also waiting on certain things to be fixed in the condo before we closed (which was supposed to be on the 25th). Nothing had been touched. So, Stephen made the decision to pull out of the deal since the owner was in breach of contract. As soon as we were getting ready to pull out the owner signed the P&S agreement. So, Stephen and our brother-in-law got to Boston on the 10th around 11:30pm. Pretty good timing if you ask me, especially for traveling through some very busy cities.
On August 11th I flew up with our daughter and Stephen's sister. We arrive around 11:15am and didn't get home until close to 1pm due to traffic and getting lost (even though we only live about 10 min. from the airport). We get to the condo and the smallness of it really hits me! But, it's livable. We'll all just be really close and comfy during the cold winter. As we are unloading the truck and unpacking, we notice that there is no phone line in the whole place! What is up with that?!?! Doesn't that come standard in the 21st century?!?! So, therefore, we can't hook up our phones, internet, or our satellite TV, which leads me to today. Since we've moved in, we've finally gotten our phone line put in and have a phone, although the only calls we get are wrong numbers and like I said previously, if it's not obvious already, we have our DSL - finally!! And yeah, and the closing that's supposed to be happening tomorrow at 2pm...not happening because the owner is now having title problems. I haven't met this guy yet, but he sounds like a real winner to me!
As we stand, we're hopefully going to close by the 29th, which is also the day that we'll finally get our DirecTV set up! Woo Hoo! Stephen's orientation starts on the 29th as well and lasts the whole week. His classes don't officially start until the Tues. after Labor Day. So, I will then be home alone more often doing the mommy-thang and hanging out with the dogs. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather and the changing seasons. In my next blog, I will go ahead and fill you in on the places we've eaten so far and the Boston attractions we've been to. Maybe this will end up being more of a travel blog!
Hello Boston (and anyone else who may be reading this)! I have now been in Boston (or Jamaica Plain to be more precise) since August 11th. To give you and idea of how things have just not been going well, I just got my internet working last night. I'm going to take the short time that I'll be here in JP to give reviews on places I eat and things I see and do. I will also use this to keep my friends and family updated on what's going on with my husband and daughter.
To start off, I'll explain why I moved to Boston from Tallahassee, FL. My husband is a fourth year medical student at Florida State University and he decided that he wanted to get an MPH (Masters in Public Health) because he really has a passion for the underserved community and for the millions of uninsured, especially the uinsured kids, of America. I'm very proud to say that he was accepted to Harvard (as well as Johns Hopkins and Duke) and his program is only 9 months long due to the fact that he is getting his MD as well. Otherwise, it would've been a 2 year degree. So...after the process of trying to find a place to live with 3 dogs (which was a pain in the butt even though we were buying a place) we packed up our house in Tallahassee (which is now seeming so HUGE - 1209 sq. ft. vs. our 750 sq. ft. condo we are living in now). But don't think for a moment that from there everything as easy. The day we moved we realized that our moving truck was too small to fit all of our boxes. So, after loading the truck as much as possible, we had to take 29 boxes to UPS and ship them to Boston (approx. $1000). On the way back from the UPS store, somehow that back of the moving truck wasn't shut properly and my 2-month old clothes dryer fell out onto N. Monroe Street. While my husband turned around to go back for it to wait for our brother-in-law to come back with the moving truck, someone had already put it in the back of THEIR truck!!! Thankfully, my husband was able to stop them and we got our dryer back, with some dents. My husband and brother-in-law started off for Boston around 4:30pm on the 9th of August. Along the way Stephen was communication with our Realtor up in Boston and the lawyer that is dealing with our condo purchase. Through this communication we find out that we may not have a place to live when we get there because the owner had yet to sign the final purchase and sale agreement even though we were told this was done a few days prior. We were also waiting on certain things to be fixed in the condo before we closed (which was supposed to be on the 25th). Nothing had been touched. So, Stephen made the decision to pull out of the deal since the owner was in breach of contract. As soon as we were getting ready to pull out the owner signed the P&S agreement. So, Stephen and our brother-in-law got to Boston on the 10th around 11:30pm. Pretty good timing if you ask me, especially for traveling through some very busy cities.
On August 11th I flew up with our daughter and Stephen's sister. We arrive around 11:15am and didn't get home until close to 1pm due to traffic and getting lost (even though we only live about 10 min. from the airport). We get to the condo and the smallness of it really hits me! But, it's livable. We'll all just be really close and comfy during the cold winter. As we are unloading the truck and unpacking, we notice that there is no phone line in the whole place! What is up with that?!?! Doesn't that come standard in the 21st century?!?! So, therefore, we can't hook up our phones, internet, or our satellite TV, which leads me to today. Since we've moved in, we've finally gotten our phone line put in and have a phone, although the only calls we get are wrong numbers and like I said previously, if it's not obvious already, we have our DSL - finally!! And yeah, and the closing that's supposed to be happening tomorrow at 2pm...not happening because the owner is now having title problems. I haven't met this guy yet, but he sounds like a real winner to me!
As we stand, we're hopefully going to close by the 29th, which is also the day that we'll finally get our DirecTV set up! Woo Hoo! Stephen's orientation starts on the 29th as well and lasts the whole week. His classes don't officially start until the Tues. after Labor Day. So, I will then be home alone more often doing the mommy-thang and hanging out with the dogs. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather and the changing seasons. In my next blog, I will go ahead and fill you in on the places we've eaten so far and the Boston attractions we've been to. Maybe this will end up being more of a travel blog!
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Hello from Boston...it's freezing up here!
This is my first time blogging on Blogspot. I usually blog on Yahoo!360, but I've decided to branch out and try and let more of my friends and family read my postings. So, I will take the time to copy my previous blogs from back in August '05 over to Blogspot in case anyone has the time to read about what we've been doing since we've moved to Beantown.
I will continue to write about my parenting 'skills' and all of my wonderful and not-so-wonderful experiences of being a mother. And I'll also fill you in on the wild and unrelenting journey of being married to a soon-to-be medical doctor. For those of you who may not know, taking a year off to get a Masters degree in the middle of medical school isn't 'normal'. Yes, other people do it, but it's not the norm...so, of course, my husband would do it!
I welcome any feedback...good or bad. But, if you dish it out please be willing to take it! :)
More to come...
I will continue to write about my parenting 'skills' and all of my wonderful and not-so-wonderful experiences of being a mother. And I'll also fill you in on the wild and unrelenting journey of being married to a soon-to-be medical doctor. For those of you who may not know, taking a year off to get a Masters degree in the middle of medical school isn't 'normal'. Yes, other people do it, but it's not the norm...so, of course, my husband would do it!
I welcome any feedback...good or bad. But, if you dish it out please be willing to take it! :)
More to come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)