Home Sweet Home

We came back from Chicago on Friday and managed to sneak out before the snow was really a threat to our travel plans. Woohoo! We had a great trip. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we got to spend a good amount of time with our various family members (and even got the chance to see a couple friends too!). And I don't think we angered or offended anyone, which is always a challenge when we have so many schedules to try to manage, and so many demands on our time. Overall one of our better trips. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see my cousins Donna and Barb. I had really hoped for some time with them, but between being busy with the family and my being extremely tired (not only because of my pregnancy, but Alex's fun sleep schedule had its impact), I never had the chance.
We were glad to have the weekend at home before Andy started his work week. In the past we always came back from trips on Saturday or Sunday and jumped right back into the routine on Monday, and I can now see the real benefit to having some time before getting back to reality. It was far more relaxing... the boys were happy to play with their Christmas presents that we had left behind for our trip, Andy and I had some time to unwind and get things done (like the eight loads of laundry I tackled) and we are more prepared heading into the week. Plus returning to the warm weather feels like a vacation even though this is home now. I'm sure that the novelty of the weather will wear off, but not yet. =) We were also quite excited to return home to a giant stack of Christmas cards from our friends and loved ones; they were wonderful! Its always nice to get the quick update from our far away friends, and now more and more of our friends fit into that category. We miss you!
We have our usual plans for New Years Eve... watch a movie and hope that I can stay awake until midnight. These plans started when I was pregnant with Devin, and have become our status quo since. Not terribly exciting, but I am sure that we will enjoy ourselves. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!

Chicago

We're in Chicago now visiting the families and the boys have been loving the snow. I think we've spent at least an hour or more each of the last few days throwing snow balls and making snow men. They love it! The have even managed to get grandma (my mom) and Deda (Andy's dad) out playing with them (and my mom hates the snow!). We began our trip staying with Andy's parents. We typically stay with them towards the end of a trip, since their house is like a quiet respite after the mayhem and craziness of my large family, but we decided to switch things up this time. The boys have enjoyed themselves, but after a couple days they were really ready to see their cousins. Luckily that came today with a gathering at my sister's house. We had a great time catching up with everyone and the kids had a blast (meaning that I rarely saw them during the four+ hours that we were there, since they were too busy running around). I love seeing them interact with their big cousins, and its really fun to see how grown-up my nieces and nephews are getting.

Unfortunately Alex is not sleeping well on the road yet. This morning he slept until five am, which has been his latest morning yet. I love Alex, but at 4:30am I really don't feel the need to share my love with him. I am hopeful that tomorrow morning will be better (especially after playing with the cousins), but in case not I had better sign off.
Sweet dreams!

santa claus arrives!

Since we travel for Christmas each year, Santa comes to our house early so that we can have Christmas at home before we leave (isn't it nice how accommodating Santa is? I was no small feat pulling that off merely a couple weeks after we moved, but Andy and I did it!). We woke yesterday morning to a house full of presents and the boys had a blast. I think Santa went overboard a bit this year. I'm not sure if that is because of the move (wanting to spoil the boys a bit after uprooting their worlds) or if its because we forgot about some of the gifts that were purchased before the move, but they definitely made out. We had a lazy day in our pajamas and a wonderful Christmas dinner. The only thing missing was the snow, but hopefully we will see plenty of that when we go to Chicago later this week.

Our friends in MA and our families in Chicago have been keeping us posted on the cold weather. I think that I can certainly settle into the Charlotte weather, as we haven't worn our winter coats yet since we arrived. In fact, the weather has been unseasonably warm, and I had to find the boys shorts so they could play outside last week in the eighty degree weather. The only downside that I have found to the weather is that I had to do some shopping, since most of the clothes that fit me at this stage of my pregnancy are wool, but its a cross that I willingly bear.

We have met a number of our neighbors and are starting to get friendly with the locals. The good weather has helped since everyone is out. I am a little surprised at how many people we've met with ties to Chicago. In fact, a woman that I used to lifeguard with at the University of Illinois lives a few streets over. We were at the neighborhood children's Christmas party and she was talking to my neighbor (both women are pregnant - I've never seen so many round bellies!!) and I was wracking my brain trying to think of why I knew her. I haven't seen her in at least fourteen years, so it was a surprise to both of us to meet again. Small world. I have met a lot of friendly people and am starting to develop some friendships that I think will be good ones. Our neighborhood has a gazillion kids, so the boys are in heaven. We have been riding bikes to the park or with the neighbor kids most afternoons, so we are starting to branch out some. We all miss our friends though. Every time we go for a bike ride Alex asks if we are going to ride to Loretta's house. That would be one long ride little man!!

southern living

Our friends in Massachusetts had a wonderful send-off for us (and our kids) before we left. At that time, my friend Sue suggested that I start a blog to keep our many far-away friends up to speed on our changing lives. While I laughed it off at the time (something about moving 850 miles away the week after Thanksgiving with two little kids while pregnant... a blog seemed tough to maintain), I found myself often thinking of what I would write in my blog (while unpacking boxes or playing with the boys). Clearly there is a huge difference between contemplation of blog-worthy items and the execution of creating the blog, but I have decided to give it my best shot.

So since we last saw you all:
I was sadder than I thought I'd be when we left our lovely home in MA the day before Thanksgiving and went to our vacation house in NH to spend the holiday with some friends. I guess it really hit me that we were leaving our lives and starting anew (something I didn't give thought to when dealing with movers and cleaning the house and taking care of the kids). We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with old and dear friends before we set off for the warmer climate of our new home. In just a few days we travelled across ten states, stayed at 4 different places, moved 18,000 pounds of belongings, and ate more take out than I ever imagined. The boys did great. Seriously. Andy and I were pretty surprised at how good they were through the trip. I think our plan of doing fun things in the morning and driving in the afternoon saved us. After all, they got to go to the aquarium in Baltimore with their Tetka (Aunt Nena), play with their friends Jack and Abbey in Raleigh, and swim at least once per day at the various hotel pools. Does it get any better than that?

Our move was as uneventful as we had hoped; the close went seamlessly, the movers were great, our belongings are all present and in good condition. In the almost three weeks (already!) that we have been in the house we have primed and painted Devin's room (before the move he insisted that the hot-pink room was not his, so we knew that was a change that needed to happen quickly), unpacked and settled all the common areas of the house, met our pediatrician (twice), joined the gym, met my obstetrician, spent hundreds at Target and Lowes and have started meeting new friends. The boys are settling into preschool and are really enjoying themselves. Devin's teachers say that he seems so comfortable there that he is no different than the kids that they have had since September. Alex loves everything about school; his teacher, the activities that they do, his friends (although my fears about him being a preschool bruiser weren't unfounded), and especially eating lunch at school. =) I am enjoying my two kid-free mornings each week, but have been extremely busy acting as Santa's helper and tackling house projects that are best completed without the help of little hands. Andy has been at his new job for two weeks now and is enjoying the new role (although he is still figuring out what that role is). Overall I would say that we are pretty happy here. I am sometimes overwhelmed at the amount of work that we have ahead of us in the house and I don't think I will move at Christmas time again if I can avoid it, but things are going well.
Love to all!

news from 11/4/2007

Our time as Northeasterners is nearly drawing to a close. The movers are coming the week of Thanksgiving to pack and load our things, and we will slowly make the drive down to NC in time to close on our new house on Nov. 26th. We found a great home in an amazing subdivision that sits on the NC - SC border, so we will actually be living in South Carolina. Our house is about 15 miles from 'uptown' Charlotte, where Andy will be working and is close to all the amenities and activities to which the boys and I have become accustomed. We are very excited for our new adventure, but quite sad about leaving our good friends. In fact, Devin has been insisting that his friend from preschool is coming to NC also. =) But I am sure that he and Alex will quickly make new friends in preschool while I am busy trying to settle our house before Christmas.
Among the tasks that I will quickly tackle is picking colors for the kids rooms. Our other exciting news is that baby #3 is a girl, so we will actually be introducing pink into our world! We are thrilled. Andy is nervous about how this will affect his humor and we both realize that we will need to learn a whole new set of toys, but we are really very excited.

news from 9/28/2007

First, we are very excited to report that we are adding to the family again! We are expecting another little Blake in the spring. While many ask if we are hoping for a girl, we both agree that we would need a pretty tough girl to keep up with the likes of our two wild men. We would be truly thrilled for either a girl or a boy baby in our family. However, we fully intend to find out which we are having when the opportunity presents itself, since I am determined not to decorate our next nursery in gender neutral colors... its trucks and trains all the way or pink as pink can be!!
Our other crazy news is that we are relocating to Charlotte, NC. Andy was presented with a wonderful opportunity managing international projects for Wachovia (the parent company of his existing employer). Thankfully since Andy's new boss is based in Europe, this position should not mean a lot of travel for Andy, but it does mean that he needs to be at Wachovia's headquarters in NC. We have been busy preparing our house to list it in the coming week, and will be traveling to Charlotte in two weeks to look for houses. Andy will start his new position in the beginning of December, and we plan to move by the end of the year (if not before his start date). We are all very excited about this great opportunity not only for Andy, but for our growing family (Charlotte is really family focused and the weather is lovely!), but we are also very sad to leave behind our amazing friends (and "chosen family") in Massachusetts. Andy has already mapped out the drive, and Charlotte is a mere 14 hours from Shrewsbury, MA and about 13 hours from Chicago. When it snows during spring break, we welcome all Northerners seeking sunshine!!
We hope that everyone is doing well, and we promise more updates as we have them.
Love to all!
Meaghan

New look, new blog

Hopefully this time I will stay with it!

Our family has some tremendous changes coming up. In the interest of consistency, I am posting a few updates to ensure that any new posts don't catch people off guard. Also, I had been using pseudonyms for the family in previous posts due to a pretty scary article I read about people assuming the identity of certain bloggers. Since I am lucky to get a post in these days I will not be maintaining the pseudonyms going forward. I apologize for the confusion!

mistake

Henry has a cold. Last night he got up around 12:30 am because he lost his binki and he was completely unsettled. Ten minutes later he wanted me to fix his blanket; fifteen minutes later it was the lost bunny. I started to let him cry it out (much to the dismay of my loving husband) until finally I asked the King to give him some night-time medicine to see if we could get him back to sleep. By then the King was quite frustrated with our little prince and was quite stern with him, which just about crushed the little man. Then the King made a horrible mistake, a dreadful horrible mistake. He gave Henry medicine alright, but when I got up with Henry again after another fifteen minutes of crying I realized that the King gave him non-drowsy sudafed... at 1:30 am. So the King and Prince Henry had some quality bonding time last night until about 3:00 am. I was just so glad that my hubby came through in the clutch and took ownership of the medicine mishap. This morning my weary husband told me that in the future I need to medicate the kids at night. Poor guy!

swimming

Swimming makes me so exhausted. Seriously. I used to say that it made me ravenous, but by mid-day I think exhausted is winning out, and I didn't even swim that far today! My knee started bothering me about a month ago and it landed me in physical therapy twice per week. It turns out that I have a leg length discrepancy (who doesn't?) which is causing my hips to shift out of alignment and is straining my hamstring and knee. So I have a gel insert in my right shoe (just like the Dr. Scholls ads - I'm gel-ing) and I am doing loads of exercises to try to strengthen my core, glutes, etc around my hips to keep them in alignment. My cardio is limited to swimming right now and my knee still hurts pretty much whenever I attempt any exercise (including my PT). Needless to say my motivation is lagging. The King teases me that I should be following his regimen of healthy fat and loads of liquor with minimal exercise to stay healthy, since clearly the nutrition plan and the multitude of workouts isn't keeping me healthy. =) I think I'll have to kick his ass!

the boys

I decided that for Lent I am going to try to maintain a positive disposition and try to find more patience for my boys. They are genuinely good kids and they behave pretty well, but they are still kids. Like all kids they get rambunctious and willful at times, and I find that I can have a pretty short fuse for them (especially at the end of the day). Henry (almost 2 years old) can be particularly difficult because he's at the point where he knows what he wants but can't always communicate it... and sometimes he can communicate what he wants but cannot have it and he doesn't understand that ("yes, I understand that you want a pancakes but we are having chicken for dinner tonight). Then he gets angry and throws his food, cup, etc on the floor. Not my favorite stage. And yet, yesterday I was sitting on the floor with William and Henry kept coming up to hug me from behind. Then he crawled in my lap and gave me a big old open mouth sloppy drooly kiss (the kind where you need a napkin to recover). I loved it! So I alternate with being frustrated with him and completely smitten by him. I guess this is what its all about though. William (almost four years old) is proof to me that our kids do listen to us, since he constantly uses our expressions. Its hysterical when I ask him to do something and he says, "no problem" or when he tells Henry he's an eating machine. So fun! Just by the questions William
asks ("Mommy, what animal made those tracks in the snow?) and the stories he tells ("I dreamt that the dinosaurs were driving the race cars and they went so fast!") I see him really flourishing before my eyes. And he can write his name. Officially. For a while he needed help writing it, but now he can do it on his own. I am really proud of my boys and I am truly blessed by these little guys.

February 1st

Thursday is February 1st, and should be my niece Brianna's eleventh birthday. Brianna should be turning eleven. Just thinking of that is enough to make me want to cry. I can't believe its been two years since I last saw her alive. I just don't know how my sister and husband manage. They are amazing people.

the joy of naps

William has decided that naps are "so 2006". I knew this was coming, after all he is three and a half, but I am devastated! I can still get him to "have a rest" for about an hour in his bed before he starts with the constant, "Mommy, is my awake?" (note: need to work on the kid's grammar). Its seriously one of the hardest things for a parent to come to terms with, and I am struggling. After all, if he doesn't nap then I am on the job with the little men from 6:30 in the morning (or 7:00 on a good day) until 7:30 at night. No break. No time to do anything without the help of the boys. Sure I can make phone calls, do laundry, clean the kitchen when they are around, but email is damn near impossible and forget any nap-time workouts (which is particularly brutal since they have been sick and I haven't been making it to the gym). Now Henry is up. Until another day...

happy holidays

I love the holidays. I really do; the only thing better than Christmas is my birthday (although now that I am getting older the birthdays are getting a little less exciting). Unfortunately we were all sick with the stomach flu when Santa came to our house. We all managed to rally that morning and have a great time (after all, what is more exciting than presents!), but the night before was tough for William and I and the night following was horrible for the King. Then we all had vicious colds in time for our trip to Chicago. For a change, we were the people hacking on the plane (much to other passengers dismay, of course). Our time in Chicago was hectic as always, but very fun. The boys really loved their time with the family, and I can really see how they get different enjoyment from each place that we stay (quality time with the grandparents, crazy time with the cousins). Moving around a lot while we are there is tough, but its good for them to see more of the family that way. They were really quite resilient about sleeping different places (Henry even slept in a bed for a couple days!)and we all got over our colds. I managed to contain the damage of not working out for weeks and eating/drinking more than usual. I only gained two pounds on our trip - not too bad considering how far from my normal habits I strayed. We had a really good trip, but we were all thrilled to be home again. Today the King went to work, William went to preschool and Henry and I went to the gym. I love being back in the routine. Happy 2007!