On Hiatus

It has been an embarrassingly long time since I posted an update here. It's not that we haven't been doing tons of fun things or that the boys don't continue to amaze me, it's just been an insanely crazy month! I started a new job, and while it's off to a great start, I'm completely overwhelmed with tons of new faces and new information every single day. By the time I hit the sheets at night I feel like my head is going to explode. It's all good, but keeping things together at home and at work is going to take everything I've got for the next few months.

The other part of having a new job is having a bunch of new equipment. My new computer is like Fort Knox, so old standbys like Picasa and Gmail are no longer an option. I had no idea how much I loved my old Blackberry until it was gone. I can hardly make a phone call much less upload a photo on the fly. Yes, I sound like a 90-year-old, but it's the real reason why there aren't any photos with this post. Sad, but true.

We also continue to be plagued by colds and had a very rough round of the stomach flu which happened to coincide with a broken dryer. It also coincided with my first week of work, so I spent a fair share of my second day with my head in a toilet at work. Not exactly the way I had imagined starting my new job.

But on the bright side, January is behind us and winter should be wrapped up within the next two months. We've been surviving by doing lots of fun things on the weekends -- Children's Museum, swimming lessons, Stages Theater, Mall of America (MOA is actually an overpriced hell on earth, but we still had fun), and plenty of snuggling on the couch.

Elliott is starting to truck around the house with his cart and it puts a huge smile on his face every time. Sam continues to entertain with his one-liners and his elaborate imaginary games.

So all in all, life is good. Getting another two hours of sleep every night and having a photographic memory would be hugely helpful, but neither is likely, so I just keep on drinking lots of coffee and kissing the boys constantly. Both miraculously keep me afloat.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

2009 ushered in lots of changes by way of a pregnancy and a new baby, but that was no match for 2010. Change was the name of the game! Steve got a job offer in early April and our move back to MN was instantly set in motion. A month later we had said goodbye to Chicago and hello to South Minneapolis. It’s been a whirlwind since then – settling into a rental house, exploring new and old neighborhoods, and just generally getting the hang of our new normal in Minneapolis.

It’s astonishing to me how little changed in the seven years that we were gone. Most days it feels like we never left! And as much as we loved Chicago, Minneapolis has it beat in terms of a place for raising kids. We love our yard, the lakes, the pools, the parks, all of the free and accessible parking and of course, the proximity to our families. On the other hand, we have been reminded that the mosquitoes definitely cut summer nights short and the snow is an all-around pain in the rear. There’s absolutely no arguing that winter is harsher in MN than Chicago.

Overall, life has been incredibly good to us in the past 12 months and I speak for us all when I say we are grateful for our good fortune.

In a nutshell, here are the highlights and lowlights:

Highlights:
--Watching Elliott learn to smile, eat, crawl and say Momma. Up next? Walking and talking!
--Starting Sam off at school in September, and watching him discover the joys of learning (he also fell in love with birthday parties and Santa Claus, which was a lot of fun too)
--Cracking the code on potty training. One down, one to go!
--Being able to pop in to see friends and relatives on short notice.

Lowlights:
--Coming home from vacation to find that the garage shelves had fallen on our newly-purchased car while we were gone. So much for saving some dough by buying used!
--Our house in Chicago was sold....for about five days. And it's STILL on the market now.
--10 ear infections that culminated in tubes on Dec. 27. So far it’s been smooth sailing, so hopefully we’re headed for a turnaround!
--Sam’s dog bite right out of the gate in February. I’m really, really hopeful that is the only time we’re forced to visit the ER.
--The six weeks between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15. We were plagued with colds, ear infections and stomach bugs. YUCK.


Here we are ringing in the new year at the Rose Bowl.