October (the best month of the year)

We went to see U2 at Scotts Stadium in Charlottesville. It was fantastic. I really didn't have very high expectations. I knew it would be very good, I just wasn't that excited. It was great, they played great songs and played for a long time. We were on the lawn, I think we were the oldest ones there, we were surrounded by khaki and button down UVA students.

We also went to Palm Springs California for my Kristin's wedding. It was so much fun. Great weather, great company and very good scenery and food. We went into the mountains and they were crazy high, just large shoots of granite. You rode up on a gondola sort of thing that rotated around, pretty nice and a little unnerving. . They just shot out of the ground like a massive wrinkle in foil (that is an odd way to pout it, but it is hard to describe) It was breathtaking.

I had a birthday (it's not necessary to put the age in here) it was a nice day. The boys were supposed to go camping overnight (which was very exciting - a whole day on my own!) It rained though. It was a great day anyway.

Now things are crisp and smell like crunchy leaves. Halloween meant we had 2 Buzz Lightyears. They were adorable. Sam got a fever on Thursday night. SO he had to miss his school Halloween parade and a school Halloween party, he was better on the actual day though. We went down to Hanover Ave in the fan to see their street fair. It was incredible. Really large and well thought out house decorations. One made itself into a pirate ship with Pirates of the Caribbean costumes and music playing. There were so many people they had o wait in line to get candy. It was really nice. My only Halloween complaint is that since we weren't around to man our house and hand out candy we have a LOT of it left over.

End of Summer '09

The summer is over and fall is here. I love fall, the boys can play outside without the bugs or the humidity and I get to look at the leaves and rake them into a pile so that they can get thrown all over the place again. It's great. Sam is 5, we had his birthday at Maymont park. It was cold and drizzly but all the superheroes ran around and had fun anyway.

We all went to England for Jonny Moore's wedding. The boys were very good on the plane (sort of). They had a great time in England. Grandma and Grandad's house had apples on the tree and berries on the bushes. All the Simpsons took a spin around Legoland. It was nice for everyone to get a chance to catch up. The actual Legoland Legos were insane! They must have certified Lego architects that can put together all of the major European cities in Legos. Sam's godfather gave Sam a Lego set for his birthday and it is ridiculous how complicated it can seem. Those pieces are just so small, it's really absurd. Needless to say we made the motorcycle and airplane but they did not survive hurricane Oliver.

I also got to see my wonderful friends who moved away from Richmond over to England and see their families. The Peak District of England is much more beautiful than I would have imagined. The kids seemed toplay all together lke they hadn't seen each other in 4 days, when really they hadn't all been together in 2 years. It was wonderful.


Sam started school at Reveille Preschool. He seems happy enough there. Iwas worried that he wouldn't like the switch, but he really doesn't seem to be that bothered. Pretty laid back I guess. Oliver is at St Matthews twice a week, he seems pretty happy too. I decided to teach ESL to adults on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-9. I like it. The students are really inspiring. They have difficult situations and they manage to come to class for 2 hours after work and struggle through Verb structure and learning kitchen appliance words. Humbling really. Especially when I feel like i can't even find the time to get a shower in on some days.

Lucy

Today was the day that Lucy has left us. She has been sick for quite a while and her abdomen got so swollen that she was having trouble walking. eating and just moving around. She stayed in the basement and under the bed until the kids went to sleep and then she came upstairs to watch TV. She was so uncomfortable and unhappy and today was the day that we made the decision that her quality of life was not good and was certainly not going to improve. Goodness this is hard.

You don't really realize what friends they are. I sort of think that pets are pets and you enjoy them etc but I don't really equate them to friends so much. They are. She used to come to our car when we got home, run to one of us when we were sad, sleep (hog) the bed and even drink and eat our food. She is greatly missed already. The vet was extremely compassionate and I suppose it went as well as it could be. We are sad. Just sad. At the same time, I am happy that she is no longer uncomfortable and I am grateful that I got to love her. When we told the kids I didn't think they would get it. Immediately Sam started REALLY crying and saying that he just wanted her to come back. I didn't expect that. I thought they would hear it be confused and then a little while later ask a lot of questions and then understand, not instantly. I told Sam that she went to heaven where Pabert was and he said, I sure hope Pabert likes Lucy when she gets there. Maybe I should just go and get her back."
These kids are quick. Rest in Peace my dear friend Lucy.

Purposely Untitled

We are down at the beach and it is so nice here. It's a quiet one this year with not the whole family (F&J expecting a baby and L&J in Europe and the Swiss in Switzerland). I like it, I like it crowded too, but it's quieter so my kids are making up for the loss of noise. Every time I come here I am so relaxed and I spend a lot of time wishing and trying to figure out how we can live vacation all the time. Not what it's about though.

The tricky situation is Lucy. Lucy was found at the Virginia SPCA. I found her with my college roommate Sarah. In hindsight, visiting the SPCA for fun when you're not looking for a pet is not the greatest idea. Especially when you are leaving to live in the UK in 2 months.

Lucy was in a cage and very cross eyed, they said she was really mean and that I should not even think about taking her home. Her name was Simba (strange since she is a white and grey cat and doesn't even look like any animal from the Lion King) I thought that that woman was nuts and took her anyway. Actually, Sarah adopted her since they don't let you adopt over state lines. I have a lot of Lucy stories, too many to blog. So, I'll just get the highlights. She likes to come to the car when you get home, like a dog. She used to hide under the bed and attack your feet as soon as you woke up to get up When I got married, she didn't like it and would lay beside Joel and stare at him all night long and freak him out.

Last year, Lucy was diagnosed with diabetes, so we bought the special food (which she didn't eat) and started giving her shots. Since she wouldn't eat the food, I made her chicken so she would have a high protein diet. We got a cat lover to take care of her when we were out of town. But now she isn't doing well. Her belly is swollen, she is probably blind and she is staying in the basement all of the time. We aren't exactly sure what to do. She is 13 years old and it seems as if we should just make her comfortable. I feel like I'm giving up. What happened to the me that would jump though any hoop, spend any amount of money, and wouldn't even go out of town if it meant she would be lonely. Now, I am practical (old) and it seems like I just want her to be better, but am not sure how to do it and I have sort of given up. I feel like Lucy and I have grown up together, her always there for me and me, slipping away. She was there before my current life (husband, kids etc.) and I feel like I have abandoned her and I am sad. I don't even know what I'm writing right now, it just seems like for Lucy she is losing out in every level. I am crying too much to keep my thoughts to get it together so I had better sign off.

Some Summer Stuff

The heroes and Betsy with their popsicles.

I really have no idea why this painting project surprised me



Ingrid took some pictures of us at the beach. June 2009
Sam's tennis form. Wimbledon? We were watching Wimbledon and so when he went for his second tennis lesson he was shuffling his feet back and forth - hysterical. He thought it was weird that Andy Roddick got a mirror when Roger "Feathery" got a cup.







It seems silly to blog about weather, since that topic is for polite conversation that you have with semi-strangers, but this summer in Richmond has been really good. I really don't like the summers here. When someone asks me if I like Richmond I say, "yes, but it is awful in the summer." It can be 87 degrees but the heat index is something like 102. Ridiculous. You can't even get dry after you get out of the shower. So, the weather is pretty key to my summer survival and it has been so nice. The fact that we have been able to go to the park and doing anything outside is surprising and is keeping the peace around our house.

This summer is different because I have scored myself a helper. She is a student from the University of Richmond but lives in NYC. She has an internship in Richmond this summer and is currently living in our basement. In exchange for that, she helps with the kids about 10 hours a week. It has been great. We are all really happy with the situation. The kids love her and Joel and I get to go out at least twice a week. We have been able to go out from 3-10 - totally unheard of! It's so helpful to have someone who can sit with the children through what feels like endless dinner times and we don't have to pay too dearly for it. The kids really like her, as Sam said, "She is my favorite big person." This little situation has made our lives a lot easier. She works during the day and she is out with her friends a lot of the time, and then she is here when we need her. It's nice having someone around. At this point, with only 1 more weekend to go before she leaves, I am not very excited to going back to the way it was. It's nice to not have the high expectation anxiety that comes with booking a babysitter and making sure you have the time of your life while the clock is ticking.
The kids have changed their play too. Flying is still the theme around here, but it's not Peter Pan it's Superheroes. Sam is Superman. Oliver is Batman. I made some (very bad quality capes - luckily they are not at the stage yet where homemade things aren't as good as the store bought stuff). So, it turns out that superheroes aren't necessarily appropriate for 4 year olds, that stuff can be kind of scary. So, we've spent a lot of time on youtube.com watching the theme song from Superman and seen Christopher Reeve flying everywhere and saving helicopters. Sam likes to dress like the man of steel, but you have to do with what you've got. So, he wears his Spiderman costume (it's blue and red, underwear on top - since Superman has that on his costume) and his cape. Sometimes he puts on a button down shirt and then pretends to rip it open to show the big "S". It's classic. Oliver isn't in to dressing up too much, he just walks around and repeats everything that Sam says and basically just being a monkey.

So it's already May, the boys are out of school and it is already so hot that I am suffering in the house and if I wasn't so stubborn I would put on the AC. We have had a good spring, went to Panama with the Lavelle family for my mom's 65th birthday. I didn't expect much, you don't hear of people going to Panama often, but 8it's always those times when you have the most fun. But it was a really funky place that was very calm and beautiful. Lots of water taxis, oversize star fish and slow food service, just the sort of thing you need on vacation.
Joel's parents came for 2 weeks to visit. That was nice too, it's always fun to have something different going on and the kid-kadoos get very excited to run downstairs and wake them up in the morning.
I cut Oliver's hair. It was really long and in a mullet style. I really don't know why I find it hard to do that first haircut. He was 26 months when I sat him outside with a Popsicle and chopped his locks off with some kitchen scissors (it looks surprisingly good all thing considered). Sam still likes to wear dress up clothes most of the time although it seems like we've moved on from Peter Pan to Robin Hood, they wear the same thing though except one has a belt. Sam is desperate to take upright bass lessons. It's sort of the dilemma of the moment. I have found a teacher and an instrument (they don't make mini double basses, I guess there is not a lot of demand for them) that I would have to go and get in Maryland. The thing is, he's 4 - how much can he practice with this instrument and can he take care of it? He has been unwavering on his wanting to play the bass. He will take Joel's guitar, which is full size, stand it upright and grab a chopstick from the drawer and pretend that he is using tat a s a bow and play the bass. We shall see what becomes of this, it is sort of a commitment since you have to rent the instrument and everything, we're trying to work it out. I really admire his creativity though.
Oliver is speaking a lot, you sort have to be around him all the time to understand what he's saying. So far his clearest sentence has been, "No, Mammy (Sam) is shoo shoo head!" It's about time he started sticking up for himself. I suppose you can only be called a shoo shoo head so much before you lose it.

The wee one

The original purpose of this blog was to compensate for the fact that I am not a good historian. I am hopeless at journals, not the best at photo albums and realistically will not get a baby book done. So, this blog was going to be the answer to all of those woes. I was going to catalog and write down in painful detail all of the wonderful things that are going on in our little house. All of those precious memories would be saved on the internet for generations to come and my great-great-great grandchild, who is curious about ancestors, will see how funny and cool we were. Great idea right? The catch is...that doesn't really happen too much. Not that wonderful things don't go on, they do, they just don't always make it in the blog. It was predictable really, but at least it got started even if it is sporadic.

So, It's been a while and I haven't ever written much about Oliver. The poor number 2, it's true they really don't get all the fanfare as the first. So, he deserves a post all his own. Oliver doesn't look a thing like Sam. He'll be 2 in a few weeks and he's just now starting to talk and he is hysterical. When you first meet him you think he's a bit of a bruiser, maybe even a thug, but he's a softie. He screams really easily when he doesn't get his way. If he doesn't want to come with you he will just sit down wherever he is, if that isn't efective enough he'll lay down , ANYWHERE! Occassionally, if he's in a particular mood he will just walk slowly backwards until he bumps into something and then he will start the sit down/lay down routine. Through all of this you start to see that he is exraordinarily kind.

When Joel leaves for work there is some ritual that goes on, he goes over and kisses Oliver on the head and says "See you later alligator" to Sam, who say, "after a while crocodile", and then he says, "hope it's soon baboon" and then he leaves. If any of that ritual doesn't happen 1 or both of them is devastated. We have had to do the the hwol Alligator, crocodile, baboon schpeel screaming over the yard. Anyway, the other day Oliver got down from the table screaming and ran to the door with his poor little hand on his head just screaming and I couldn't figure out what it was, but I guess Joel had just said goodbye and didn't kiss him on the head. So, Joel came all the way back in, kissed him and then Ollie just turned around and went and sat back down to eat his breakfast as though nothing had happened.

Yesterday morning Oliver woke up and Sam was still asleep and Oliver found one of Sam's many mimis (blankies) in his room, so he went over to Sam's room opened the door, put the mimi in Sam's bed and came out and shut the door again. This morning we went downstairs and got the milks so Oliver started walking up the stairs with both of the cups and Joel said that he had to stay downstairs with the milk it'll get spilled and reached for them. Oliver went hysterical and started screaming and crying so hard, we really couldn't figure it out, it was pretty over the top, even for Ollie. Anyway, so then I asked him if he was bringing the milk to Sam and he said, "yes". It was so sweet of course we let him take the milk upstairs. I couldn't believe he got so upset, he's been told not to bring milk upstairs heaps of times (obviously no that consistently or he wouldn't be trying it again but..)

He is very in love with animals and is always looking for Lucy and he tries to show her pictures in books and feed her apples and carrots. These are just a few of the things that are in my head for the moment and best to put them in the blog where they belong since my head can't hold much these days. Now they are safe for the generations to come.

Growing Up

Oliver will be 2 next month and Sam writes his name (Mom,Dad, cat, red, dog and pan . Lucy is 12 now and she has diabetes and I think she's heading downhill. My grandfather has passed away recently and wrinkles are popping out everywhere. As much as my mind always seems to tell me that I am in my mid 20s, all the signs seem to say we are all growing up. Sam, who loves and wants to be Peter Pan, says that he doesn't want to grow up. He says he will turn 5, but it's not growing up it's getting bigger. Our 92 year old neighbor Kitty says that growing older is not for the fainthearted and that's a good way to put it. She is remarkable. She's happy, positive and very with it. She likes to talk politics, the economic crisis and she watches The Office.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that just because I am 34 and my kids are growing up makes me past my prime, it might just mean I'm no spring chicken. I'm OK with that. We are all lucky to get to grow older. I would hate to be a "fights it every step of the way" person. Winter is over and the weather is warmer and I guess you always notice the time passing when the seasons change.

Breaks my heart a little

As we have gone on in our parenting experiment I am seeing more and more how these little kids are so kind that it breaks my heart, in a good way but it is still a little painful. Last night Sam had a strange coughing fit that lasted a couple of minutes, he just couldn't stop. He wasn't hurt or anything he just couldn't stop coughing. We wanted to help him feel better. Joel was feeling kinder than I was at 3:30 am and he went in to hold Sam and decided to sleep on the floor (I really wasn't sure what that was accomplishing but it was a nice idea) So, he went to go and sleep in Sam's room for a little while. Sam loved it and was very excited to host a visitor.

Today he was really excited about it and decided to make his dad a bed. He took the quilt from his bed and laid it on the floor, got a pillow from our bed for the top of the "bed" and he put some books beside it (Monkey Puzzle, My Very Own Name Book, The Gruffalo) and he gave him his Mimi sheep (not the biggest player of the Mimi blankets, but an important one). He showed it to me. Apparently, my bed is still in the other room but if I really wanted to sleep in his room he would make a space for me.

Like I said - so sweet that it breaks and melts your heart.

Sickness

Our family (like most everyone else) has been fighting sickness. Oliver got Croup which is as scary as it sounds. It involved barking like a seal and not being able to breathe with no treatment at all. The croup went away after a few days and left behind this wretched cough. He was just pitiful. He needed to be held all of the time, which made me pretty pitiful too. We were out of commission for over a week and then Sam got sick at the tail end of that.

We have been really fortunate (knock on wood) with sickness so far, of course they've been sick but only for a few days - no prolonged illnesses yet. We've had the occasional ear infection or cough but all in all, they've been pretty healthy. I hate to lay blame, but the YMCA is very germy. They love to go and I love to go and work out, but they get some funky illnesses there. It isn't easy to balance the kids when they're sick and I have a realr espect for parents who have to deal with this in a big way. I am not trying to complain here, just marking an event in our lives. It is silly to say, but the cuddles and they cling that come along with them when tey feel sick, feels kind of nice (for the first couple of days). well, we are out on the other siad and everyone is tip top.

Christmas

Let's just start by saying that I love Christmas. We live in a house with a 4 and a 1 1/2 year old so it's hard not to get excited. But even if we didn't have them, I still get pretty worked up around the holiday, having kids definitely legitimizes my excitement. Sam has been asking for the same gifts for a while. I thought he might keep adding to the list, but he stuck to his little trio of gifts bravely. He wanted a Saxophone, trumpet and a clarinet. He was almost as adamant as Ralphie and his gun. Luckily the instruments can't "shoot his eye out".

We decided to have our first ever Christmas at our house. We've always traveled before and it's nice to get away, but it was nice to be home too. Although there was a serious amount of cooking. Next year we'll have to borrow the elves (if they moonlight) and get some help. It was a lot of work. Since we are usually in Asheville, it always feels little like a long holiday. It was great and much easier (cooking aside) to be here, but it felt more like a day. There was a lot of ..."we can do it on Friday". It's fine but if we were in Asheville it would be more... it'll have to wait until we get home.

So, the Christmas Eve pageant. Our church has a family service at 5:00 on Christmas Eve. We've never been in town before, so we've never been. All of the kids meet up about 1/2 early and get dressed up as animals, angels, shepherd or wise men., Mary and Joseph have to rehearse. Mine were a lamb and a recorder playing donkey.
It was hysterical. I was asked to lead the animals up the side isle and they could go up to the manger and be with Mary and Joseph. Well I didn't give very much stage direction because they all went up and stood smack in front of the manger and didn't move. No one could see anything. Oliver decided to upstage everyone so whilst everyone was looking at the baby he walked towards the congregation sat down facing us and put his finger up his nose and stayed like that for the last 1/2 of the play. He wasn't really picking his nose, he sort of seemed to be letting his fingers hang out up there. After a while he changed fingers. So, as I mom I know that they are very talented actors, but a little more practice is probably what they need.

Sam was more into Christmas this year and he had more questions. He would mention that Santa probably couldn't get down our chimney and that if it didn't snow, would his sleigh still work. The best part was putting the cookies out the night before. We put out the cookies, milk and a carrot for the reindeer (only 1 carrot not 9 - hopefully some other people thought about them too). The best part was that on Christmas morning the fact tat the cookies, milk and carrot was gone was the evidence that Santa had come. The fact that the tree was no longer visible behind the presents didn't really seem to tip him off. He ran up and got me and showed me the crumbs and said he knew Santa had come because the cookies were gone.

So everyone got together Joel, Sam, Oliver, me and Joel's parents and we got started. Sam was very excited with Santa's presents and Oliver - who is a little easier to please) was happy with his Wiggles guitar.

For the rest of the day we ate, ate, ate and all was well with our world.
Merry Christmas!