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!

One our own and surviving

It has been a busy couple of days for us around here.  Andy has been out of town on various trips. Over the weekend it was his last convention while working for IDW and then this week he is off to Cincinnati to see the Reds play a few last games before his parents leave to live in Alabama.  This means that the boys and I have been on our own.  I am surviving - sometimes just barely - but overall we are doing well.

Last night Cale had Family night for his preschool to celebrate the end of the preschool year. It was a fun night and they had a bubble show after we had all eaten dinner.  Below is a (blurry) picture of Cale surrounded by a huge bubble. It took some convincing to get him to do it, but he was veryhappy afterwards.  It is sad knowing we will leave this preschool after next week. It has been an amazing place and I feel lucky it was where Cale first got to go to school.  I can't imagine having a better teacher than the one he has now but hopefully the new place we have found in Rhode Island will prove to be just as special.

 

And here is Oliver enjoying his new highchair (a Svan we got at a local resale shop). I never had a high chair for Cale (we just used the clip on booster seats) but I really wanted to have something that Oliver could sit up high in to watch me in the kitchen or join us at the dinner table.  So far he really likes it!  It will be several months until he actually eats in it, but for now it is good to hold toys for him to look at :) 

Tomorrow Andy gets home finally and then he can help us get ready for the huge backyard bbq we are having on Saturday to celebrate our departure and Cale's birthday. We are having 50+ people (that includes the kids) so it is going to be a crazy day.  We have a keg and a bounce house booked - no one can be unhappy with those two items present :)

We're on a roll!

We had a really fun day yesterday!  In the morning we headed to Oma's Dairy Farm, a favorite spot of ours. They were having a special family day which was great since I was sad that we were potentially not going to be able to go before we left, but luckily they had a special day in June for us to come!!  Andy is out of town for his last convention with IDW so I went with several friends from my moms group.  They have amazing activities for kids - a cotton seed hill to sled town, a mound of dirt with more tonka trucks that you can count, multiple playgrounds, sports games, and so much more.  We also got to go on a special hay ride around the farm (a working Dairy farm) and they showed us a cow getting milked - very cool!

At one of the playgrounds, they had baby swings and Oliver took his frist swing ride - he enjoyed it thoroughly!



And then here is Cale, way too big for the baby swings but insisting to ride one none the less...


Later in the afternoon I had friends over for a Mom's Craft night.  I had Oliver doing some tummy time (which he finally will tolerate) and he rolled over for the first time!  Didn't take him long to roll over once he finally allowed me to put him on his belly :)

Here is a picture of him enjoying tummy time for a few moments before he tipped himself over:


And here is a cute shot of Oliver and Daniel, a little friend from our mom's group who is about 1.5 months younger than Oliver.

Ah, to be 3

So Cale has decided that rather than saying "excuse me" or "pardon me" when he burps that he will say "I love you".  So now all I hear all day long is "I love you mom, I burped" or "I love you mom, I farted"  At least he is polite right?  Gotta love  year olds....

Activities this week

It has been another busy week for us!  No pictures to add to the post (got to get used to bringing a camera with me more often)

Monday was memorial day so we were all home.  We didn't do much but got a ton of organizing and cleaning done around the house that was much needed. In the evening Andy's cousin Betsy and her two little ones came to spend the night. The kids had a great time playing together and we enjoyed Mexican from JVs, our favorite local spot. We have to make sure to eat JVs as much as possible over the next three weeks since we will definitely miss it on the East Coast!

Tuesday was preschool day.  Cale attends preschool from 9-1 on Tuesdays.  After preschool we came home for Oliver to take a nap and for Cale and I to have a bit of down time. Around 3 we met up with a bunch of friends from my moms group for an afternoon at the playground. The kids had a blast - this was an experiment to see how the kids did with playing in the afternoon and it was definitely a success!  Have to schedule more of these in the next few weeks while I am still here.  So nice to come home and it is already time for dinner and then bedtime :)

Wednesday we headed to the San Diego Zoo for a special moms group morning.  We get to go to these programs once a month and they cover a specific animal or category of animals each month.  At the end they read stories and get stickers. This month it was gorillas and monkeys - lots of fun!  We spent the whole morning at the zoo. Of course with all the amazing things we saw, the part the kids liked the most was when we left the zoo and they played in a small wooded area for at least an hour more playing hide and seek. Go figure!

Thursday was a busy morning! Cale headed off to preschool while I brought Oliver to the doctor for his 4 month checkup. He is 14.8 pounds (50th percentile) and 26.5in tall (90th percentile!)  I knew he was quite tall since he is quickly growing out of his 6 month clothes due to height.  He was declared a happy and healthy little boy.  He is finally liking tummy time so I am sure he will be rolling and moving around in no time now that he will actually tolerate being on his tummy.  We then headed back to preschool to see Cale's tumbling class show.  It is a pretty adorable show full of 3 and 4 year olds doing "gymnastic" moves - I say that in quotes since 3 year olds can't really do that much other than front rolls but it is quite amusing to watch them try to do cartwheels!

Tomorrow we are headed to a friend's house to play - yay!!

Photoshoot at the Farm

Today we went to the farm with my moms group and had a great time. It was a really sweet little place with a nice grass area to play on, a rooster, cat, rabbit, sand box, and lots of fruit trees and flowers.  We had a little impromptu photoshoot and got some great shots (thanks Amy for the shots of me and the boys!).  Here are a few of my favorites:

Cale with a few of his buddies from my moms group:

Some fantastic shots of me and the boys taken by my friend Amy (the boys are wearing their matching big brother and little brother shirts)

Note the progression by Oliver on the next three, he he



There are colored doors throughout the farm which made for great photo ops:

Oliver up close and personal, and then having a little snooze in my arms :)





First Blog!

I have wanted to do a blog for ages so here goes.  This blog will be mostly about the family and what we are up to.  I hope that you all enjoy!

Here are a few recent pictures of the boys.  Oliver is now almost 4 months old and Cale will be 4 in July. These are from an impromptu photo shoot that we did in the living room :)