A visit to Galena, IL with friends

Yesterday we got to spend the entire day with our very good friends, Michael, Liz, and Viviane Cole. It was SO nice to visit with them (I was going to say chat, but Brian informed me that men don't chat!) and we also got to see the quaint, scenic town of Galena. We first toured the home of Ulysses S. Grant. After the tour Michael and Liz treated us to lunch at Vinny's Italian Restaurant. Oh boy was that yummy! The garlic bread...don't even get me started...I could have had my entire meal on that! After lunch we walked Main Street and enjoyed looking in all the little shops. Well, the ladies enjoyed the shops. The men pushed the strollers and philosophized--no doubt about theology! We ended our time in Galena with a stop at the Chocolate Factory where we all enjoyed a delicious treat. Pretty sure it is a dangerous thing to send two pregnant woman into a chocolate shop!

Thank you Michael, Liz, and Viviane for a great day!

Catch up!

Phew! A lot has been going on and we haven't had much of an opportunity to post on the blog. Hopefully this will catch you up a bit to what has been happening.


Shortly before we moved from New England, we were able to make one last trip to Vermont to see Chris, Lydia, and Cooper. We had such a nice time with them and got to enjoy the beauty of Vermont in the fall one last time.

Moving day! We were grateful for the men and teen guys who helped us. I know it appears that the teen guys did nothing but eat pizza, but they were the ones that did all the running down the stairs. Here they are eating while the men tried to solve the puzzle of fitting things into the truck. It was pretty packed and every square inch was used. Stefan enjoyed playing in all the empty cabinets!

We also got to visit Erik and his girlfriend Bethany. We were glad to meet Bethany for the first time. We met in Albany, NY at the NY State Museum. We enjoyed touring the museum (the 9/11 area was especially interesting and sobering), as well as visiting and getting to know Bethany. Stefan got to go on his first carousel ride!

Baby Bump!

We have reached the half way point of the pregnancy! Yipee! So exciting. Baby Girl is very active already. She kicks and moves around and distorts my stomach in all kinds of strange ways. I love her already and can't wait to hold her in my arms instead of my belly!

I hope you all have a great weekend. We are off for a quick trip to Vermont to see family. It should be a beautiful drive this time of year. I'm especially excited about leaving the boxes for a couple of days. We'll be back Saturday night and load the truck on Monday. We will probably have limited internet access once our computer is packed. We don't have a reliable laptop:-( I'll do my best to post when possible, but no promises!

Breakfast this morning:-)

When it's quiet...

This is what I found after a couple of minutes of a too quiet house. Apparently I left the brownies a little too close for reach.

Climbing to great heights!

Daddy's Helper

Being guided by Daddy's hands

The squeal of delight that Stefan let out when he accomplished the goal of getting the curtain hook off the wall was so cute. I wish I had gotten it on video.

Washing Dishes

This morning while I was washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen Stefan wanted to help. He was quite the diligent helper, very intent on making sure the dishes he had were thoroughly cleaned. We had a delightful time chatting together about, well, the normal things one chats with with a 20 month old. I wonder if he'll like washing dishes with his mom this much when he is 15? Probably not. I'm enjoying these days.

(p.s. you know you take a lot of pictures of your child when as soon as he sees the camera he looks up at you with these smiles!)



This was all that was left of the soapy water. All that was left in the bowl that is. I knew you'd ask...the rest of it was on the kitchen floor. Uh huh, I think my kitchen floor has never been cleaned with so much soap and water. And yes, Stefan did require an outfit change.



Was it worth it? You tell me. This was the face he gave me when I said, "show Mommy how much fun you had."

Pretty sure I didn't give the extra work of changing his soaking clothes and mopping up the extra water a second thought.These moments are fleeting by.

What we're up to

Playing with rice...I mean, how much fun is that? Truly, this entertains him for a long time. Great tool right now!

And packing boxes...uh, or climbing and sitting on them. Hopefully I'll write a detailed post on our upcoming move, but for now I need to get busy packing boxes. We have three weeks to get our things packed and loaded into the truck to be moved 1000 miles away. Ah yes, much to do, but no fears we're making it fun. I'm working at being as excited about the packing as I am about the move. Can't have one without the other, I guess.

Thinking PINK!

A Walk Along the Cape Canal

On Thursday we enjoyed a nice walk along the Cape Canal with Papi and Meme. Stefan had fun especially with watching the boats, including a huge barge, sail by. It was a beautiful afternoon to stroll with the family.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the best woman, wife, and mommy in the world! We are blessed to have you in our lives.
We all love you very much.

Brian, Stefan, and Peanut

Enjoying Papi and Meme!

Even though we only saw Papi for a couple of hours, Stefan still got some playing time in! We're all very much enjoying having Meme around these days.

Checkups!

On Tuesday, Stefan had a doctor's appointment. Due to insurance issues that required us to change doctors, it has been a while since he has been in for a checkup. All is well and he is growing like a weed. He weighed in at 30 pounds (88th percentile), and was "off the charts" in height at 35.5 inches.

Wednesday was the little Peanut's turn to be checked on. We are thankful for a good appointment with things starting to look a little better. Measuring at just over 3 inches the Peanut was rubbing his eyes and kicking his legs. I think he was upset that we were disturbing his rest. (The ultrasound technician prodded and poked to get him to turn around so we could see his face.) The heartbeat was 168, and he is a healthy, growing little baby.

(Please note that the pronoun "he" does not imply a preference of sex)