2nd Annual Hines\Lee NH Trip

Well, we are now well into packing land. Most of the weekend was devoted to getting our house ready for the move. With only one more weekend before the big event, there's no time to mess around! Since blogging about packing is not at all exciting or interesting, I figured I would reminisce back to the weekend before when we were having some fun.

I took off the Friday before last for the 2nd annual Hines\Lee NH trip. Last summer, we had Mike's cousin and his family (Erik, Jessie, Justin and Ryan) up for a trial run of Storyland fun. And while it was fun, it was also really blasting hot. With that not a distant enough memory, we opted to try for a 2nd annual trip when we might be in for a little cooler weather. So, back in the spring, we picked the weekend in September to be the time. Little did we know then that it would be our last bit of fun before moving madness.

Thursday night, we all arrived late and just unpacked and got kids in bed. Friday morning was when the fun would begin. And what's more fun than pancakes for breakfast followed by the Polar Caves? Almost nothing!

Ryan, Justin and Dylan Waiting for the Grub

When we arrived at the parking lot of the Polar Caves for the second time that morning (the first we were there 45 minutes before it opened so did a detour to Walmart down the street first), I gave Erik a demo of our back pack. We thought it would be great for him to carry Ryan through the caves in. Since Dylan's very used to the backpack, I used him for the demo. Well, my little lazy boy then refused to get out of it. So, I was a pretty silly sight for a while - a big ol' pregnant lady carrying around a big 2 year old!

Dylan, Preggo and the Bear

Feeding the Deer

After looking at the pretty pheasants they have and feeding the deer and ducks, I convinced Dylan to get out of the pack and walk around. It was time to head to the caves!

Erik, Ryan and Justin

Smooch on the Kissing Bridge

The Lee Family

Dylan and Justin did an amazing job of climbing up and down all of the stairs (and there are TONS of them) and were brave little boys adventuring through all the caves. Mike, Jessie and I accompanied the boys in all of the caves but Erik and Ryan only went through a few. The backpack wasn't working all that well for him since he was a) not used to it and b) pretty nervous about knocking Ryan's noggin' on the rocks. He also came to the decision that Ryan was far too heavy to carry while climbing through the caves. So, they patiently waited for the rest of us to go through the caves.

Cousins in a Cave

Justin and Jessie on the Descent

Mike and Dylan Following

I think the timing was perfect for the trip. The weather was great, 2 out of 3 kids were big enough to walk through with assistance and I didn't get stuck anywhere (a few more weeks along, that might not have been the case)!

After all that climbing, we stopped at a gazebo on the grounds for some snacks. And since everyone did such a great job, it was "Polar Cave High Fives" all around.

Back out towards the entrance, we stopped again to watch the ducks. The boys really enjoyed them. Especially Dylan.

And we had one more attempt to get a family picture by their bear statues. Dylan wasn't into it so you just have to be happy looking at Mike and my mugs.

After our adventure, we stopped at a sandwich\pizza spot for lunch. With full bellies, it was time for naps all around (since the previous night didn't give any of us a good night's rest). And by all around I mean in rounds. The kids napped while some parents did then other parents napped while the boys were taken outside to play for a while. Then we fed the kids and got them to bed. The adults stayed up for a while talking....probably too long since the next morning called for an early start and a long day. We were all going to Storyland!

2 years, 2 months and some change

It's been a couple of months since a Dylan update. Mike and I are constantly in awe of watching this little human being develop in so many ways. It seems every week brings something new, and usually cute, to note.

The boy is still running on little to no food yet growing like a weed. I seriously don't understand it. At the beginning of the summer, size 2T clothes were too big for him. Now, he's already starting to grow out of that size. Where is the food energy coming from for all this growth? Quite the mystery.

With all the TV watching we did during the house search and prepping the house for sale, he became a bit of an addict. With less time in the car and more time to engage with him, we're trying to curb that addiction. He very often says "watch TV." When we say that it's not time to watch TV, he normally follows up with "read a book." Now that's definitely an activity that has my stamp of approval!

Not only is he great about sitting and listening to books while we read to him, he's starting to "read" to us! He has a couple of very simple book that he can narrate to us. One is a "this baby is happy" kind of book where you then lift a flap to see the words "hee hee!" Dylan's great at "reading" it can read it all the way through to us. We also have a Peek-a-Boo book where you read a blurb and then have to lift the flap for the answer. Dylan loves lifting the flaps and "reading" us all the answers. Perhaps he'll be an early reader like his Mom was...no pressure or anything though. :)

His language continues to develop by leaps and bounds. He's great at repeating things we say to him and you can see the wheels turning and processing all the new information. Now, he's relaying information to us that happened previously, not always about what's currently going on around him. It's great except for one thing - it's more difficult for us to translate his words when they're out of context! That means I've been relying on Mike a lot more to translate for me since I'm not around him most of his week day life.

Dylan also likes to play games where he asks questions and gives his own answers. Like he'll say, "Mommy in the kitchen? No!" or "Oliver sleeping? Yes." It's very cute. Might be, probably and could be are favorite new words\concepts for him. For instance, in the morning he'll see Oliver going downstairs and will say "Oliver go downstairs. Might be eating." Of course whenever the cats (or anything for that matter) is out of sight it's always that they're "probably sleeping." In the cats' case, Dylan's likely right.

He continues to improve leaps and bounds with his independent play which is giving us more time to do things other than entertain him. Even if I'm not playing with him, I do like to stop often and watch him play (something Mike has the luxury of doing a lot more than I do). It's adorable to watch him create dialogue and stories with his toys.

Dylan still loves swinging. We've found that going to parks without swings is a lot more fun for us. Otherwise, our park scene pretty much plays out with us pushing the swing with Dylan on it for about a solid hour before we force him to get out of the swing and leave.

Despite our early efforts to get him on the potty training track, he's shown absolutely zero interest in that potty business. After bath time, he very often wanders around in his cute hooded animal towels. For some reason, a couple of weeks ago,his time was always when he needed to tinkle and he would just do it right on the floor. We would remind hi tm when putting on the towel that if he needed to tinkle, he should use the potty but 30 seconds later, there would be a puddle on the floor. After this scenario was repeated several times (luckily without any major collateral damage), he wants his diaper on pretty immediately to avoid the piddle on the floor. I know a lot of folks swear to having their child run around in the buff to help with potty training, but it seems that's not going to help in our case. With the upcoming move, holidays and new baby, I have no plans to push any potty training on Dylan. We'll keep reiterating the concepts and wait for him to be ready to be a big boy. Honestly, I don't mind at all. After recently being around some older boys that have potty trained within the last year and watching their parents drop whatever they're doing to find a restroom immediately, the diapers almost seem more convenient!

One thing you can't say about Dylan is that he's a dirty kid. I bet he's one of the cleanest 2 year olds around because he ALWAYS wants to take a shower. Whenever one of us is getting in, he must come with us. In fact, if there's some reason we don't have the time for him to jump in with us, he gets very upset about it. So, pretty much every morning, he showers with me, stays in the tubby after I get out then showers with Mike. Many times we have to coax him out after all that time as well (usually 30 minutes or so). He's a squeaky clean kid!

Well, that's my little guy in a nutshell. The next month or so it will be interesting to see how he handles all the trials and tribulations of moving and adjusting to a new home environment. Something tells me he'll likely be better at it than any other humans or critters in our household!

My Cool Dude

Pile It On

Why is it when you think you're plate is so over filled, stacked high and threatening to overflow that somehow another scoop of crap is added to the top? Stressful life events seem to get all stacked together and truly test how much you can handle.

All the house stuff, while busy, stressful, frustrating and taking up every spare moment of our lives, was a lot. We've been trying to be diligent in tasks and doing whatever we can to make the transition easier. For example, we had already purchased a new couch, treadmill and washer\dryer for the new house and scheduled delivery as well as put in our change of address with the post office. Of course, we had to go and change all that this week, essentially doing all the work twice. Yay, I love wasted time.

Another thing we wanted to do to ease into our new neighborhood was to get the cats' annual exams, due at the end of October, done before we moved to buy us some time in finding a new vet. Taking the animals to the vet is really low on my "want to do" list so Michael has always had this lovely responsibility. Last year, Dylan accompanied the crew and it was a disaster! Oliver goes crazy, which upset Dylan and Mike was trying to calm a 1 year old and essentially having to ignore the cat that seriously needed attention. It was not a good scene. So, this year, we thought we'd see if Dylan could be removed from the chaotic situation.

As our luck would have it, our two wonderful neighborhood friends we can usually call on in a pinch were unavailable to take Dylan. Mike decided to bite the bullet, as opposed to reschedule, and take Dylan in with the two cats. Literally, more than two handfuls.

Yesterday morning, the cats were loaded into carriers, Dylan was dressed with shoes on ready to go and Mike headed out to start the car to head to the vet. His battery was absolutely dead! No neighbors were around to help him jump his car (I had already left for work). Being the adventurous and resourceful guy he is, he plopped Dylan in the stroller, put Luci's carrier in the storage compartment underneath and balanced Oliver on top of the sun shade\handle of the stroller. I only wish he had been able to get a picture of that because I'm sure it was quite a sight to behold!

Being the practical people we are and having cats that aren't great travelers, we go to a vet only 3 blocks from the house. Good thing, otherwise that stroller solution wouldn't have worked so "easy." Apparently, Dylan being a sweet boy and a parrot to boot, repeated his Daddy's "It's ok Luci" and "It's ok Oliver" to the unhappy cats en route. What a good guy!

Unfortunately, the morning drama caused Mike to be 5 minutes late for "crazy" Oliver's appointment and they took the next appointment that had already arrived which meant the boys had to wait. Yeah, not good for scared kitties.

Upon entering the exam room, Oliver upped his protest to make sure everyone knew he was not happy about being there.  Dylan was semi-watching Bugs Life on our iPad and trying to take in the odd surroundings of a vet's exam room.  Luci was huddled on the floor in her carrier with the top open trying not to move too much.  Dylan would frequently go over, sit on the floor, and try and make sure she was ok.

As soon as the Doctor entered the room, Oliver greeted her with a loud cry and a hiss.  As the doctor and Mike spoke for a few minutes about Oliver and how he was doing his protests grew louder.  The doctor called for some backup to restrain Oliver during the exam and off they went.  Screaming, hissing, crying at the volume of an opera singer he went through his exam.  Dylan looked at Mike several times and Mike had to reassure him that Oliver was fine, he just didn't want the doctors touching him.  Mike promised they were not hurting him and that he would be ok.  A sad 2 year old looked up at him with a slightly extended bottom lip and watery eyes.  After saying it's ok he then put his hands over his face.  He loves his cats and doesn't want them to be unhappy.

After Oliver's exam he was placed back in his carrier and left to be grumpy in the corner.  Luci is the exact opposite of Oliver.  Mike picked her up out of her carrier, gave her to the vet and she just sat on the table quietly while the doc did her exam.  She didn't move or make a peep the whole time. She was terrified, but held it together well!

After all that drama and the vet not being too concerned about Oliver's weight loss, we just had to wait on the blood test to come back this morning to confirm all was good with our furry baby. The vet called this morning with the results. Here's where you insert the big ol' game show "WAH WAH!" Oliver does have a problem. My poor little 15 year old insulin dependent cat now also has a hyper thyroid. Yuck!

After the vet gave us the options (including a now mostly defunct surgical procedure to remove the thyroid and some crazy process where they cure him by giving him radioactive iodine and then cage him for 3-5 days to keep his radioactive urine away from the outside world while charging you a month's mortgage payment or more), we settled on the "easy" twice a day pill pop. While Oliver doesn't love getting a pill (literally) shoved down his throat, he (and we) are already accustomed to a twice daily medication schedule so we figured what's one more to give?

We'll start him on the medication tonight and then need to call the new vet by our soon to be new house to make an appointment in 3-4 weeks to do a blood test and see how we might need to adjust the dosage.

So, there's today's new brick to add to our loads. Anyone else have bad\stressful news they want to give to us? I mean, we don't have much going on so we can handle it. Har har.

Labor Day Minus the Labor

Labor Day weekend was glorious and gloriously labor free.

Realtors, mortgage brokers and lawyers were all trying to do what we were trying to do - forget about the responsibilities of life and enjoy the "last weekend of summer." I did a really great job of not thinking about all the chaos (well, as much as possible) and just enjoyed some good ol' family time with my boys.

We definitely did a few fun things out of the house. The times when we weren't out and about, we were just blissfully hanging out at home. When Dylan napped, I read and\or slept. When Dylan was up, we played and did fun things. I really couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Here are some of the things we did do.

Swung - at home and at the park.

On Saturday, we went to the Zoo with Mike's Sister, Kristina, and Her Two Boys

There, we fed the budgies,

Enjoyed our time together,

And were entertained by the animals.

Sunday, Mike's parents came over for an evening cookout. Monday, we met up with friends Ross and Tamara and their little girl, Elsa, for some park time and a walk along the Charles River. And, Monday night, we painted!

I suppose there was a splattering of responsible stuff going on. I mean, we did manage to all shower every day, get in a little exercise and kept the house looking fairly well picked up. It was SOOOO nice to just not have too much going on though. It makes me long for more of those kinds of weekends. Is it possible we'll be able to have some of those after getting settled from our move, before the holidays and, more importantly, before the new baby arrives? I highly doubt it, but a gal can wish, can't she?

Having said that, I'm taking the day off tomorrow for a long ago planned weekend of fun in NH with Mike's cousin and his family. While we're sure to be packing in a lot of fun, I'm guessing that have 3 young kiddos about and being out of everyone's routines won't exactly feel leisurely. I'll still be very happy to have this one last hurrah before the moving rush begins though!

Delays, Delays, Delays

Now, I'm no naive person. I don't expect all processes involving buying and selling a home concurrently to go well. However, it seems that most aspects on both sides of this equation have been giving us headaches.

First it was the home search. Then it was the fire drill related to our home buyers almost backing out at the purchase and sale. Last week (and still ongoing) is mortgage problems.

I am not what you call an investment risk. Obviously, the climate for obtaining a mortgage today is a lot different than it was last time I purchased a home. So, I expected a few more hoops to jump through. What I did not expect was the complete obstacle course provided in order to apply for a mortgage. While that was hassle enough alone, I was absolutely not prepared for the roadblock that was hit last week.

Our original mortgage commitment deadline date was a week ago today. On that date, my mortgage broker was still requesting paperwork from me even though I had provided every single document requested within 24 hours of all previous requests, none of which I'd had in over one and a half week. I was also informed that my lawyer was requesting an extension of a week of that deadline (ie today) from the sellers. I was assured over and over that this extension request is VERY common in today's mortgage market. On Wednesday I got an email from my mortgage broker's assistant that was a little alarming in our status. However, after speaking with my mortgage broker that day, I was assured everything was a-okay.

Thursday morning, I came into my office and had received an email from my broker late the previous evening. Everything was not a-okay and I was indeed losing the mortgage we had applied for. Why? Not because I'm not a qualified lender, not because I don't have a good credit standing, not because I don't have all the finances necessary, but because my (apparently) incompetent mortgage broker didn't carefully read the parameters of the specific loan he applied me for that had outrageous reserve account requirements that we fell just a wee bit short of. Grrr!!!!

So, 2 days of phone calls, emails, research, scrambling and decision making later, our closing is now delayed by a couple of weeks. Why? Well, I either need to close on our current house first (there goes the nice 2 week window we had arranged for ourselves to get floors refinished in the new place and have a decent moving timeline) or wait for the new mortgage I started the processes on Friday afternoon (with a different broker) to get finalized. One way or the other, we'll be closing on the 30th. Doesn't closing on 2 houses and moving the same day sound like fun? Yeah, doesn't to me either.

Needless to say, I am furious at my original broker for costing me time, money (now we have to cover carrying costs of the buyer for the delay) and a good deal of stress. It's one things for closing delays to legitimately occur. I get it, it happens. We had padded ourselves fairly well between the closing dates of the two houses to give us some leeway for that. If I weren't a qualified lender then hey that would be my fault. But for a person that's supposed to be working on my team and whose job it is to get people a loan to be at the root of the problem, that's just unacceptable. I'm not sure which loan I'm going to take in the end. I will be receiving a mortgage commitment letter today from the original lender but am going forward with this new loan application. It depends which will cost me less in the long run which is yet to be determined. But, I will promise this, my mortgage broker won't be hearing from me again for any new business or referrals in the future!

The upside to all this is that our sellers are being really great about everything. Yes, they requested we pay the carrying costs of the house during the delay, but I would expect them to. However, with the snafu of closing times, they are being great about the floor refinishing situation. If we use their floor guy (the seller is a builder and has a relationship with this company), they will still allow us to have the floors refinished before we actually own the house. I feel like that's above and beyond expectations and appreciate it a lot! We may also be able to move in a day or two before closing, but that's not desirable for us as it presents a whole new set of liabilities and risks I'd rather not deal with. However, the logistics of 2 closings and moving in the same day....we might just need to be a little risky on that front.

So, though not a desirable development, we've accepted our options and are moving forward. I guess this means we have a little more time to pack!

The Calm Before the Storm

We have (very happily) reached a bit of a lull in the hectic house buying\selling process. Given that the house hunt has taken over most of our summer, we're trying to fit in some summer fun before we get into closings and moving, not to mention Fall. This past weekend and the next 2 are the only ones we have left until the chaos of the moving storm begins. Also, hurricane Irene was forecast to blow through Boston yesterday. Since we had a brief lull before both storms, we packed our weekend fun into Saturday morning.

On Thursday and Friday, Mike prepped our house for the storm. He removed the grill, patio furniture and all toys from the yard. He rolled up the rugs in the basement (in case intense amounts of rain caused some puddling there), cleaned out the gutters and he got us some supplies from the store - bottled water in case our city's water supply was compromised, batteries to power a radio and flashlights in case the electricity went out and some canned food to chew on if needed. With preparations for the storm made, we packed up the car on Friday and headed to NH.

We left late since I'd had an appointment for a haircut that night. Dylan didn't fall asleep until an hour and a half past his bedtime then only slept an hour until he woke up when we arrived at the condo. After we unpacked, we got him back to bed as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that boy's morning alarm clock goes off regardless of what time he goes to bed, so he was up at 6:30. We all got up, got ready, had some breakfast, re-packed the car up and headed a few highway exits north to Clark's Trading Post.

Mike and I had been to Clark's once with his sister's family several years back. Dylan, being at an age where we thought he would enjoy it, definitely needed to go so we didn't want to miss out on the venue this summer.

Once we got there, he was super excited to get in his stroller. Unfortunately, not having enough sleep under his belt meant he was a bit cranky and didn't want to get out of his stroller. After a failed attempt to take him into the "Mystical Mansion," we were a bit worried about how he would enjoy the day.

We wandered through the "museum" of antique fire engines and motorcycles and wandered through the gift shops. Then we went to climb on board the train. It was a struggle to get Dylan to get out of the stroller again, but luckily he calmed pretty quickly once we were seated on the train. The train steams along a short distance, hits a dead end then heads back to the station. On this route, you head through the "dangerous" wolfman territory.....ooooooh! We were a bit worried Dylan might get scared at a strange man yelling at the train (since our last trip there one of the kids we were with definitely felt that away) but I think more than anything he was just confused - who was that strange looking guy and why was he so mad?

The Dreaded Wolfman!

On the Train

After the train ride, we headed straight over for the bear show. This is definitely the main attraction of the park. The family that owns\runs Clark's has been doing the trained bear show for decades and treats the bears like family pets. The bears really do enjoy performing.....and the crowds love watching them! They are so cute!

Echo the Bear Swinging

Echo Weighing In (300+ pounds!)

Echo Hiding

Tula the Bear Dancing

Tula Playing Hoops

Tula Practicing Her Scooter Riding
(She's a young bear and still "in training.")

The bears have fun performing but I think a big reason they like the tricks is for the treat they get afterwards. The bears get to enjoy some ice cream!

Echo Licking the Spoon Clean

Tula Getting a Spoonful

Well since the bears got ice cream treats, we of course needed them too! After the show, we headed to the ice cream parlor. Dylan fed himself his favorite scoop - chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles, and I had a vanilla milkshake. Yum! Mike passed on the ice cream. That boy just isn't into sweets. Weird.

Bellies full of ice cream, we walked around the rest of the smallish park and took in the sights. We did do a little tour through the Rustic House. It's one of those tilted, gravity defying optical illusion kind of places. The tour was a bit long and filled with way too many corny jokes but we stayed til the end. By that point, it was a bit past Dylan's nap time so we headed back to the car, having done pretty much all Clark's had to offer anyway, and started the trip back home.

The rain started about 20 minutes from home and it was heavy! The rest of Saturday afternoon, we got off and on rain, but the true storm wasn't to hit until Sunday. So, we hunkered down and waited.

At 7am on Sunday, I was aware that the strong winds had begun. We spent the day indoors (obviously) and waited for the worst to happen. While we had electricity, we would just have a fun pajama day watching movies. I figured we would save the arts and crafts projects I had planned for entertainment when we lost the lights. As the day progressed, a few pieces of our siding blew off (rescued from the yard and will be replaced this week) and I watched our young birch tree blow sideways many times. Lots of limbs and leaves littered the street and it rained on and off. But, we never lost power and never got water in the basement. I'd say we got pretty lucky!

Finally....A Truly Relaxing Weekend

After the highs and lows of the previous week, I was in some serious need of some real R&R over the weekend. And, for once, I actually got it. I pretty much went off the grid (no phone calls, email, etc.) and just spent the weekend doing what I wanted to - spending some quality time with my family.

Saturday, we got up, had some breakfast and packed up. I decided that I wanted to go to the zoo! Mike was happy to oblige so the 3 of us went to the local Franklin Park Zoo and saw some animals for a little while.

Then, it was back to the house for nap time. While Dylan took an unusually long nap, Mike did too. I had some lunch, finished a book and caught up on a little tv. When they woke up, we all got ready to head a little west to Mike's cousin's (Erik's) place. Erik and his wife Jessie are good friends so we want our kiddos to spend as much time together and get to be friends as well. The boys played in the pool, Jessie and I got some quality chat time in, we had a little cookout and a great time together. When bed times approached, we headed home. Dylan went down and Mike and I kicked back for a little couch\tv time together.

Cousins - Justin, Ryan, Dylan 

Ryan, Dylan, Justin

Practicing His Swimming Moves

Sunday morning, we were up fairly early and I made the boys some pancakes. This is starting to become a little tradition as I've done this 3 out of the last 4 weekends. Dylan absolutely LOVES pancakes! My normally fairly light eater can inhale 2 good sized flapjacks (as well as some toast and fruit). Since I make multi grain ones, I can pretend it's somewhat good for him. After breakfast, Dylan and I went for a long walk with my good friend Jenn. Jenn and I chatted and Dylan (happily) zoned out in the stroller. He loves going for walks almost as much as I do.

Sunday afternoon was a rare treat - date time with Mike! After re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it was finally time to see part 2 of the movie. My in-laws came over while Dylan was napping and Mike and I took off to see the movie - the 3D IMAX way of course! It was fantastic! We can't wait until it comes out on dvd and we can watch it again with another Harry Potter fan, Dylan. After the movie, my in-laws drove out to meet us (Dylan in tow) so we could drive them by the new house which wasn't far from the theater. We did that and then split ways again so Mike and I could go out for an early dinner. It's a rare treat when we get to sit face to face with no distractions, other than the waiter dropping by, enjoy a nice meal and talk. Even though we mostly talked about the same topic that have been clouding our day to day conversations, house plans, it was about the more enjoyable aspects of the move and therefore happy.

We got home just in time to put Dylan to bed. Then it was a little more tv time together on the couch and an early to bed for me. For once, I actually felt a little recharged after the weekend. It's been a long time since I've experienced that.