The Grandparents Must Love Us

In my last post, I mentioned that Mom and Dad had the kids for a few days. Well, that Thursday night I got a call that Mom was starting to feel badly and that I needed to come and get the kids. Luckily, we did; she came down with the same thing we all had. We figured after all that time, we weren't carrying the virus anymore. Guess not - Dad got sick on Saturday. And, after spending Saturday with us, Carlene got sick on Tuesday. We're waiting to see if Jerry gets it next (and keeping our fingers crossed that he doesn't). So, the grandparents must really love us (meaning the grandkids) if they can put up with all this to spend time with our kids (who are feeling fine, by the way). For the rest of you, we really do think we're out of the woods, so we hope to see you soon.

March Madness

And, I'm not talking about basketball (at least not now). In my family, we have 9 birthdays in the span of 4 weeks in Feb and March - it's a little crazy! And, this year was my Grandpap's 90th birthday. So, we all headed out to Pittsburgh to celebrate with him. It was our first really long car trip with Sofia being more aware of what's going on (the last trip was in Nov and she slept for most of it) and she did really well. Will did great too, even though he was awake the whole time. Luckily, he's an avid construction and car/truck fan, so he kept us up to date on all the traffic around us. It was pretty cute. And, he really liked the rest stops - he found the little aracade area and we played pin ball and this odd version of ski-ball for him. He really got a kick out of it.

It was really nice to spend time with everyone in PA. Most of my extended family is there and this was the second time most of them got to see Sofia - and she's changed so much from the last time they saw her (in Nov for my Uncle Howards' 90th birthday).

A day after we got back from PA, Steven, Reshma, and Layla came to town for a visit. It was great to see them for a couple of days - I really miss them, and even though they're having a great time in Houston, I wish they were closer. Will LOVED playing with Steven and we dressed Sofia up the one of the sari's Reshma got her (she looks so cute - I'll take a picture and post it soon).

After Steven and Reshma headed back to Midland for some more MI fun, the NCAA tournament started. This is honestly Brent's favorite thing in the world (maybe after the kids and me) - he acts like it's Christmas, but with better TV programming. He studies brackets and gets super serious about it. He took Friday off of work to watch all the games. Jerry came over for the day, so I made chili for everyone. While they had a great time watching hoops and the kids, I went shopping for a few hours. It was really nice - I bought a new pair of shoes with my birthday money (I know - but I really needed these shoes!)

*** Gross factor increasing, so skip if you don't want to hear it ***

Then, unfortuately, things got bad on Sunday. I got stomach flu badly and spent the wee hours of Sun in our bathroom. I actually think I got this illness from Will - which would be a first. We were at Lily's in Royal Oak for our family birthday dinner on Thursday (since Steven, Reshma, and Layla were in town and Reshma's birthday is part of the Feb/Mar craziness) and right at the end of dinner, Will gets violently sick all over the place. This experience immediately shows who's had children and who hasn't - everyone who's had kids looks at you with pity and goes back to their business; everyone else looks at you like it's now your fault that their experience is ruined. Not that I cared less about those looks - I was too busy taking Will to the bathroom and trying to make him feel better, poor baby. After cleaning him up, we went back to the table and tried to take care of that - our waitress was not up to the challenge and will probably ask to never wait on children again. We headed home and had a very rough evening with my poor little boy. Luckily, he started to feel better towards Fri afternoon. I started to feel better Sunday night; and then, wouldn't you know it, Brent got very, very sick in the wee hours of Sunday. As I got up to help him, Sofia got sick too. Monday was a very messy day at the Maxwell house - I only just finished all the laundry. Will was very patient and played well while I was taking care of everyone else. For that, he and I walked to get ice cream (our favorite corner place is now open again - it must be spring finally!)

Tuesday, a painter showed up to do our kitchen and bathroom. He'll be done tomorrow and everything already looks so great! Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to take the kids Tuesday night, so I've managed to get a lot done towards the staging/decluttlering of the house. I'm amazed at how much I can actually get done with no children running around. We actually feel good enough to call a realtor next week.

So, that's been our crazy past few weeks and why this blog has been silent for awhile. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I'll do my best. I'm still hoping to get more pictures up here - so I'll include the house when it's all staged and ready.

Some Good Things

While I was whining yesterday, I realized that I should have put in some positive media I've seen and read recently. First off, I finally got to watch Enchanted and Penelope - can you tell Brent was on the road this week? :) They are both such cute, happy movies and I really enjoyed them and can't wait to watch them again on cable. I also finished reading The Island, which Ann loaned to me. She always has wonderful book recommendations/loans for me. In any case, The Island is about a leper colony in Greece and 3 generations of women - very good book and makes you fully appreciate the love of family.
Other good things - I got to spend Monday with my friend, Kristi, and her great 3 kids. She has 2 darling twin girls and a new baby boy - she's such a super mom and I don't know how she manages. I'm always amazed when we hang out. It was lots of fun and great to meet baby Tae - he's just beautiful! We're going to miss them - Will and the girls have such a good time - he gets them so riled up! It's total chaos and tons of fun.
Today's good thing is my first shamrock shake of the year - I love them and wish McD's would have them all the time. I plan on indulging in them this weekend too, all the way up to St. Pat's Day. Yum!
Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy some good things!

Dashing Expectations

I decided last week, with Brent being out of town, that I should start taking a "technology break" at least once a week - I love to read, but TV and the internet seem to take up most of my evenings after the kids go to sleep. So, I spent 2 nights finishing "Revolutionary Road" instead of watching TV. I was SO excited to read this book - I love Kate Winslet and the movie seemed to be getting rave reviews (I have not seen it - we don't get to a lot of movies). Oh my gosh! What a let down! Not to ruin anything for those of your interested in reading it, but it was so intense and morally bankrupt . . . I was so bummed! I had to read a teen book to get over it. I thought it was going to be like Mad Men (AMC plug here) - I love this show about the '60's advertising agency, NYC, and family life. The show is great - well written, well acted, lots of good drama - and it's not exactly fluffy bunnies, but it seems like a kiddie story when compared to "Revolutionarly Road."
To follow up this disappointment, Brent and I decided to watch "In Bruges" Saturday night because it looked like a comedy. NOT! Again, not to ruin anything, but it was way more intense than I bargained for. However, I will say it was a good movie and totally made me want to go back to Europe. So, there's that.
So, I am now on the hunt for something new to read - my friend, Ann, always lends me great books but I am done those now. Readers (if there are any), please leave me some suggestions.

Mommy got a ticket

A parking ticket, that is! Now, for those of you who know me from my Ann Arbor days, you know I was VERY familiar with the parking ticket procedure - I think I helped fund the new street and lights on North campus. Well, this past Wednesday, we were at the library and were having so much fun that I lost track of time. When we got back to the car, I had a parking ticket - my first in Royal Oak and my first since Ann Arbor days. Since everyone was still loaded in the stroller and City Hall is right next door to the library, I plugged some money in the meter and headed over to pay. We get inside and there is this big sign that says "All parking tickets must be paid at the 44th District Court," the same statement that is on the ticket and the envelope. However, there is nothing that actually has the address of the court and no one in City Hall could tell me where it was either (the Clerk was still at lunch). So, we took a little walk around the block, thinking it should be close by. After a couple of times around, nothing. So, we head back to City Hall. Finally, we found out the court is right behind the Farmer's Market (for future reference, those of you in RO).
So, we get to the court and I have to get the double stroller through a metal dector. Good fun! I ran into the darn thing and moved it about 6 inches. Oops! At least the security guy just laughed. There was only one window open and a guy in front of me was asking which of his tickets he should pay. Seriously! I am hoping at this point that I put enough money in the meter the 2nd time so that I don't have to repeat the whole experience the same day. We finally get to pay our $8 and race back to the car to find that I have 4 minutes left. Yeah! From now on, I'm just going to put an extra quarter in the meter every time.

"Let's Learn"

. . . says Will as he coaxes Sofia up the stairs. Seriously, it was the cutest thing ever! Fi and Will were chasing each other around the hallway (it cracks me up when they do that) and he runs up the stairs, which is totally unfair at this point and just teases her. She's at the bottom of the steps, just thinking about heading up there, and he tells her, "Come on!" So, she pounds the step with her right hand twice, and up goes her legs - she makes one step! She pounds the right hand twice again and goes up another step. It was great! She made it almost half way up before she tried to turn around, see where she was, and sit on the step. Luckily, I was right behind her so she didn't fall (as there was no where to sit but down the staircase). We then continued all the way up - and she kept up the right hand double stomp the whole way. So funny! And, Will helped us to celebrate too by clapping and smiling. It was very fun.

We're also learning how to Skype, which is pretty cool and I totally recommend it. Skype is this fun, completely free video-chat web-site (http://www.skype.com/) that allows you to have a virtual conversation with anyone else who is online and has a web-cam. Steven and Reshma got us a web-cam for Christmas (thanks again, guys) and we finally got around to unpacking it and installing it (no easy feat for us). We tried it for the first time Sunday to wish Mom a happy birthday - and it worked! Will, Fi, and I chatted with Steven and Reshma tonight and got a tour of their Houston house. Will enjoyed seeing Crystal doggie again and showing Uncle Steve his cherry picker (latest favorite toy). It was really cool to see people while we talk to them, and we know we're really going to love it when we're down south. So, for all of you who don't have them - get a web-cam! Everyone else, join Skype and we'll talk - live and in person!

Ready for Greenville

Brent and I have just come back from a nice week in Greenville, SC - they now blame us for the snow and I hope the weather hasn't worn out our welcome. In any case, the week was very productive. We now have a moving date - May 23rd we hit the road! I'm super excited about this later date as it means we can have the kids birthdays before we go and it give us even more time to get the house sold.
We also have a new place to live - for 6 months at least. We'll have a 3 bedroom apartment that's actually bigger than our current house, so that'll be nice. The complex has 2 pools and I know the kids will enjoy that. We also interviewed 2 pediatricians - they both seem nice and I'll have to pick one for Sofia's 15 month appointment. But, we are very sad to be leaving our current practice - they are wonderful and totally in-line with our way of thinking.
Finally, we enrolled Will in preschool. I was totally stressed about this for some reason, but feel really good about our choice. I called about 12 preschools and only 2 of them had part time programs - I really wanted something that was 2 days a week for a half day. And, to top it off, none of the public school programs had anything for a 3 yr old; they start at 4. So, we ended up visiting the 2 that had programs I wanted and we're really happy with the one we picked. They have a music program once a week, which I know Will will love, and lot of space for playing. I think it'll be a great experience for us all.
We were also able to roam around downtown Greenville a bit more this visit - they have such a cute downtown with a lot of different restaurants, bars, and shops. We discovered the downtown river walk area, where I think we'll be spending a lot of time this summer. There's a splash pad area (with a train, no less) for Will to enoy and a children's garden, and lots of walking space. I can't wait to explore it more and really get to know the area.