Licking the Bowl

Yikes! It's been a long time since my last post. That's the trouble with sleep training, you have no energy left for anything else. I've finally decided that the little bugger is a 5 am boy. The attitude adjustment has certainly helped though I'm still dragging!

I had two enthusiastic helpers making Theo's birthday cake. They were so good to wait until we were done to lick the bowl. Theo really got in there! I love how Maddie is focused on scooping as much as possible off the side and Theo is in perfect licking the bowl position with foot on the counter.

Nana to the rescue!

We were so excited to have an entire week with Nana! Now, a bit of history, it seems that often when we get a visit from Nana, Nathan will be incredibly busy at work. This has happened more times than not. (As I'm writing this, I realize how the sentence above may sound! But, truly, his busyness at the office is completely out of his control - something that we are sad about and Nana understands.) Anyhow, last week, Nathan called home on St Patrick's Day around 5. I said, "Can you make it home by 6? We'll wait to have our Irish feast if you can." He said, "Yes." (Amazing dialogue, isn't it?). Twenty minutes later he calls back and says, "You won't believe this but I have to go to London tomorrow and may not be back until this weekend." This was sad on three levels: 1. Our Irish feast would be Nathanless. 2. Our 10 year anniversary would be Nathanless. 3. The start of Nana's visit would be Nathanless. Little did we know that Nana would not see Nathan at all, not one bit. He was gone for 10 days, worked 66 hours straight at one point (I'm not kidding), consumed 8 cups of coffee in one eight hour time period, slept 16 hours in eight days, and finally came home to a happy family.

After we got over the despair of not having Nathan at home, we had a blast with Nana. She was such a help to me, providing an extra pair of hands and a friend to chat with. It was great fun! She got to experience a slice of our life by taking Theo to his music and art class, walking Maddie to school, reading stories, a bit of snow, park time, playing games and helping with the bedtime routine. We also did some other fun activities: bowling at the Windsor Club, shopping expedition to Talbots Outlet, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, coffee at Taste, ice cream at Cabors, dinner at Zocalo, lunch at Barry's Deli and Baker's Best, and some fun movies and shows after the kids were asleep.



Happy girls!

Maddie picked some flowers from the yard and requested a crown. Nana quickly put together a beauty!

Theo is obsessed with snowglobes. He was thrilled to open up his birthday present from Nana and find a Snoopy baseball one!

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love

10 years! And how wonderful it's been. We've crossed the country three times, traveled to 13 countries and about 38 states, had nine jobs (seven of which were Erin's), and not to mention, added three amazing little ones to our family. We've grown together as a couple and individually. And before I get too sappy, are more in love today than ever!

Swinging

Our friends the Roths came over for brunch. It was such a beautiful day we headed to the park afterward (Nathan had to go to the office). No coats, the sun was shining - heaven! Gabriel had his first swing and loved it. He got to sit back to back with Alexandria. Joy!

Fun together

For the most part, Maddie and Theo are lovely together. We've been dealing with a bit of sass from Miss M which translates into a bit of unkindness to her brother (not Gabriel, yet). I do love these moments when they are just having fun together.


It's most fun to dance with Theo when you can wildly spin him around.



Look how intently Theo is looking at the book.

He's delicious

Rock climbing in Rockport

We were going stir crazy. Five months with the heat on, snow still on the ground - a short day trip was in order. So we headed out after lunch to the cute town of Rockport, MA, an artist village. It's about an hour away just north of Gloucester. We enjoyed a coffee and some treats in a sweet cafe overlooking the bay. Nathan, Maddie and Theo then had to traverse the rock outcropping. Maddie skipped lightly over the rocks going back and forth, back and forth. And Theo muscled over each rock making it to the end. Nathan said he talked the whole way. Gabriel and I strolled the streets poking into some stores. It was so nice to get fresh air and a change of scenery.


Here's Maddie running back to the guys!

The happy climbers.