It's been a while!!

It has been a long time since my last post.  Things are FINALLY starting to settle down.

We have moved into our new house, it is absolutely beautiful!!! Here is a picture of Andy and Cale the morning that we closed on the house.  All our stuff has arrived and is mostly unpacked and we all love it.

Two weeks ago we spent a wonderful week up in the Adirondacks - the mountains in upstate NY - with my parents. We had a big house to share that was right on the water.  We had a canoe, kayak and rowing boat at the house that we could use. I bought Cale a fishing pole and he had a blast learning how to cast into the water (I never actually put bait on it, he was content enough with the rubber fish that came on the end of it and who was I to argue against not having an actual hook?)  It rained some during the trip but we enjoyed just relaxing inside the house.







Today we went with the moms group to a farm where we went apple picking. It was the first time for the boys and I had not been in ages. We had a great time and took home two nice bags of apples. We actually took a horse drawn carriage ride to the orchards - so much fun!  Apparently in the winter they do horse drawn sleigh rides - gotta remember that one!





Hopefully now that we are settling into a routine I will be better about getting more posts on the blog to update you all on our lives.

Missing

This past week has been a bit of a rough one.  We are VERY ready to be out of this temporary housing.  Other than the pool (which is nice, but not so easy with a 4 year old and 6 month old) there is no outdoor space.  The kitchen has hardly any pots/kitchen tools so cooking even simple things is a challenge.  None of our stuff is here - we each have a suitcase and a few toys and that is it.  The tv stinks.  Ok, complaining over on our place.  In reality it is a decent two bedroom place, we just need our things back and some room to go outside and play.  In just over two weeks we will be in our new house with all our things and I CAN'T WAIT.

Mostly what I missed this week were my friends. I missed having a full schedule of activities at places I know. I missed knowing all the people when I got to the playground and having easy conversation rather than having to introduce myself to everybody and make sure I stood out and talked to everybody.  I missed Cale having all his friends. I missed having someone happy to hold Oliver without even asking. It was hard last night knowing they were all together having a fun day and I wasn't there.

I know it will get easier as I have a moms group that seems like a good fit and I am making friends, but for right now it is still hard and I have days or weeks that are harder than others.

Here's to a better week - I already have activities planned Monday through Thursday so that should make things quite a bit easier.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been ages since my last blog post - I had hoped to blog at least once or twice a week but living in temporary housing has just not allowed me the time to do everything that I want.

Things are going well here - I am getting to know the area better every day. I have found a new moms group that seems to be a good fit. They have known each other for years like my San Diego group so it will take some time to really get to know them, but I am making good progress. I went to a moms night in (book club meeting) at one of the girl's house and it was so nice to get out of the house and just do some fun gossiping with the girls. Several of them have really been outgoing and welcoming which makes a huge difference.

So..what have we been up to? This weekend we went to Cape Cod for a small trip to see some old friends - the family I used to babysit for during college. It was my first time going to Cape Cod and I really liked it. I would like to spend longer there again for a real vacation rather than just an overnight. It was so much fun to catch up with old friends.

Oliver is growing more every day. He is really sitting on his own now and has started eating solid foods. He is such a little love. He is happy, loves to smile and laugh and is just so easy going - the perfect second child :)  He is getting some teeth in now though so he is not his usual happy self and neither of us is getting much sleep at night. I hope these teeth come soon so that I can get at least one or two decent nights of sleep!!!

Here are a few cute pictures from the past few weeks:

Cale and a giant Mr. Potato Head. This one was at a local playground, but there are many others scattered around the city. There is of course one in front of the Hasbro offices.  Apparently there is also the car from the Transformers movie that was Bumblebee (the yellow one) that sometimes is at the office - can't wait to take a picture of that one!

Cale's feet. He took this picture and for some reason it just makes me smile :)

Me and Oliver - just love this shot!

A shot of Oliver sitting today.  I may be biased, but he is seriously the cutest baby I have ever seen (he is Cale's twin so I can say this without saying Cale was not as cute, lol)

A good week

We have made lots of great progress this week!

1. We have a bid accepted on a house here to buy in Rhode Island.  It is a pretty amazing house - crazy how much more you can get here than in San Diego!!  It is a 4 bedroom house with an additional room for Andy's office.  There is a large living room and family room, a dining room and a beautiful kitchen.  The backyard is huge.  The only downside? The neighbors have playground equipment, pools and trampolines. You may think that is a plus but it means Cale is constantly going to want to go an use their stuff so I see some backyard purchases in our near future...  There is a great playground and a beautiful library just minutes from the house. Preschool is only a 5 minute drive. I think it will work really well for us.  Here is a picture and video of us at the playground. Cale has learned how to pump his legs on the swing (thanks to having swings at preschool he learned how to pump his legs there the first day!)

2.  We went to a minor league baseball game right in Pawtucket (the area that Andy works). It was so much fun - we lasted a number of innings in the seats and then moved to a grassy area where Cale was able to run around. The tickets are cheap and the baseball is actually quite good.  After the game we were allowed to run the bases which was so much fun.  Cale actually got to do it twice he liked it so much.  Here is some evidence:























3. I found a moms group that seems like it is going to be a great fit yay!!!  The group has clearly been around for a while so they know each other quite well, but they were really friendly and I seemed to fit in quite well. I know what I need to do to make myself stand out and fit in so I talked a lot and made sure to talk to each of them at some point. We are headed to a small beach on a lake tomorrow. I am trying to make as many meetups as possible over the next few weeks to get myself comfortably in the group. It is not so easy with Cale doing preschool summer camp but that is only every other week so I can schedule meetups any time that he is not in school.  I also made a friend here at our apartment complex that I met at the pool. She has a 20 month old little girl. This afternoon we went to the childrens museum together and had a great time.

4. We are having lots of great family time since we don't really know anybody here.  Here are some pictures of the boys, well, being boys :)

 

5. Oliver is learning how to sit!

Getting to know Providence

Sorry it is so long between blogs - I feel like I have a million things to do at every moment.

We have survived our first week here in Providence.  The apartment that we are temporarily in is quite nice. It is a two bedroom corner apartment on the 9th floor of the building with a nice view of the surrounding city. Unfortunately laundry is down in the basement to I am getting used to that rather than having it in our house, but heck in New York I never even had laundry in my building so it really is not a big deal.  There is a nice pool in the complex that we go to daily.  Apparently our apartment complex is the place to live for 20 year olds.  Going to the pool during the week is like going to a fashion show. All the girls have their hair done, best suits on and are doing their best to attract the most attention while sunning themselves.  Guys are pretty much doing the same. It is pretty funny to be there with two small children surrounded by all these post college kids.

We went to check out Cale's new preschool and really liked it. He starts tomorrow for a summer camp program. Every other week he will go Monday through Thursday 9-12. I am looking forward to the break and I think it will be really nice for him to have friends to play with his age.  We found a moms group that we tried out this week. Very nice moms, but the kids were all too young for Cale and too old for Oliver. I found another group that looks really promising - lots of actvities each week and a varied group of ages. Seems like that one will hopefully work well for us!  We will go to our first meetup with that group on Wednesday afternoon after preschool.

Oliver is growing more of a personality every day.  He is working on sitting up (tipping over quite frequently - we still have a ways to go before he is really doing it on his own).  I have a picture but the computer is acting up so hopefully on the next post I will have it figured out and have lots of pictures.

We have put a bid on a house and are really excited. It is lots of space for us, and also plenty of space for visitors (anyone want to come visit in a few months???)  We are also looking at cars since we only have the one car and it would be really nice to have a second car so that I do not have to take Andy to and from work every day like I did in California.

Today we are headed to the Pawtucket Red Sox, a minor league baseball team.  I am missing my friends a lot but it was really great to get to talk to them on Skype last night while they had moms craft night. Wish I could have been there in person but at least I got to talk to them and see them.  Hopefully I can find some good friends in this new group that I joined - I am getting a bit desperate for some more adult interaction. A week of just me and the kids is enough for me!

What a week!!!!

It has not been easy to get to the blog lately with so much going on.  We have officially left San Diego and begun our journey to the east coast.  We have spent the last week at my parents place while Andy has started at Hasbro. He is back with us this weekend to celebrate the 4th and then we will all head off to Providence for our new adventure.

So...a bit of a summary of the week

- The boys did wonderfully on the two planes to get us here. Cale is great on planes now and is really an easy traveller. Oliver slept a lot of the flight which was wonderful (thankfully we had an extra seat for him on the plane so he could sleep in his carseat some and give my arms a break!)
- We are all adjusting to the time change. Surprisingly it is Oliver that has had the hardest time with it. His naps have been all over the place, mostly really short and far between.  Finally today he took two good naps and I was SO grateful!
- We have done lots of fun activites here on Long Island. As we always do, we took a trip to a local farm where you can feed some of the animals, play on old tractors, and run around on lots of little paths.  Here are a few shots of us enjoying ourselves on the farm:

Today is also technically Cale's 4th birthday. Since Andy did not get home until later today we told Cale that tomorrow was his birthday so that we could all celebrate the day together.  Mom, Cale and I have worked hard to make homemade party hats for everybody as well as several other party favors (rolled paper telescopes made by Cale, paper cups made by Mimi that will be filled with candies)  I got balloons for Cale and we are going to decorate the hallway leading out of his bedroom which my mom used to do for me when I was little.  The day will finish with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins - yum!!!  More pictures will come tomorrow of all the festivities.

I really can't believe my little guy is 4 - sounds so old!!!!  He is such a wonderful little boy and he make me smile every day :)

Farewell My Friends

Our time here in San Diego is drawing to a close.  Throughout this past weekend and next week there are several going away celebrations. I have made some AMAZING friends here and am so sad to leave them. It has been nice to have a few parties to celebrate our friendships and say our goodbyes.

This weekend we had a going away party (which also doubled as Cale's 4th birthday party). We had about 50+ people here to bbq, a jump house, a keg, and lots of tasty food.  It was loud, chaotic and tons of fun.  Our house was pretty trashed by the end of the day - around 15 toddlers can cause some serious toy explosions.  Here are a few pictures from the party:

My girls, whom I will miss terribly...

Enjoying ourselves at the party...

Cale's personal cake (Cincinnati Reds) made by Amy and a million cupcakes made by myself:

Everyone enjoying the little cake :)

Today we had a going away party with my moms group.  I will still be able to attend a few more meetups but this was a chance for us all to get together and have my favorite - a potluck.  Amy made an adorable cake and the girls all pitched in and made Cale a hardback photo book with all sorts of photos of him and his friends over the last 3 years. I teared up with I saw the book - it is such a great memory for him and for us.



This weekend we are going to Shout House, a dueling piano bar.  It is a couples night out so a bunch of us will be heading over there for a fun night on the town.  Cale's preschool teacher will be babysitting for us so I know both boys will be in good hands!