2010 in review

Almost Christmas! How in the world did this sneak up on us? It seems like it was just Halloween. I feel like the time in between Labor Day and New Year's is a blur. Every year once Labor Day hits it's like the year is on fast forward. We've had a great year, and have lots to be thankful for.

Nicholas was born this year. Can't imagine things without him around. Annie has become more self sufficient, which has been good and bad. Good that she can do more things on her own and bad that she can do more things on her own. I don't mind admitting that she's driven us to purchase several new parenting books, all with similar titles like "How to make your child mind" or "How to make your child take you seriously", etc. We're still working on that.

Karen also started taking care of both kids full time, which has been tremendous. Aside from all the obvious advantages, one of the best parts for me is not to have to rush out the door every morning making sure that everyone is all packed up, etc. I used to dread Sunday nights, knowing that Monday morning we would have to be out the door by 7:30 in order to drop Annie off, and make it to work on time. And I certainly don't miss all the times last winter when Annie was getting kicked out of daycare for a runny nose or some other lame excuse. I can't imagine how much more stressful this would be with two kids.

We've went on a lot of great trips. Ohio, Florida, Pointe Aux Barques, and who can forget... Paris. We tried selling our condo, to no avail. That was a bummer, but the upside was that we hadn't found a new place, so we never had to go through the disappointment of falling in love with a new house only to not be able to buy it. Or buy it, but not be able to sell your old place.

For 2.5 years we never had to go to the ER, until we had to go twice in two weeks. Let's hope that fills our quota for a while. First Annie fell at the park and put a pretty nice gash in her forehead, then two weeks later Nichol got hives...

It's definitely been an adjustment with two kids, but it feels good. It feels good to go to a restaurant and be a party of four. It feels good to always have a kid in your arms or holding your hand. It feels good in the morning when everyone crowds in your bed and inevitably someone gets a foot to the head. It feels good when you get a big wet kiss. And most of all it feels good when you come home and so many people are happy to see you.

As this year comes to a close, thanks for reading and checking in with us. See you in 2011!

Leftover lunch

Things sure have gotten busy around here. Or maybe it just seems that way when I haven't updated the blog in a while and it feels like I have a lot to catch up on. First things first... in the past few weeks we've made two visits to the ER. A few weeks ago we were all at the park, and Annie was playing, fell, and ended up putting a pretty serious dent in her forehead. So we went to MGH to get her checked out. One of the things I really like about living in the city is how close everything is. MGH is in Beacon Hill and a short drive from where we live. It's also the hospital both Annie and Nichol were born in. Of course, being in a big city can have some drawbacks. While we were waiting in the ER, a prisoner in full on shackles (hands and feet) was brought in with two guards. You see all sorts in an ER waiting room.

Annie ended up having two stitches, and hopefully the scar won't be too noticeable. She was a trooper throughout the whole thing too. After that saga, fast forward two weeks... It's a Friday night and as I'm getting Nichol ready for bed, I notice he has got these red bumps on his torso, I thought they could be hives? I gave him some benadryl, waited 45 minutes and checked him again. I thought the bumps looked better so I put him to bed. The next morning the hives/rash had spread all over his trunk, up his back, down his legs, and started to go up his head. So we headed to the ER, worried they might impair his airway if they continue to get worse. Back to MGH.

This time as we're getting checked in, the same lady who checked us in two weeks ago peeks over and says, "Weren't you just here?" Me: "Yes, but different kid." Her: "Well how many more do you have at home?" Haha... Everyone is a comedian! The doctors settled on a diagnosis that Nichol was allergic to mangoes, since he had just eaten them on Friday for the first time. However on Monday, our pediatrician didn't think it was a food allergy because the benadryl was not effective. He thought Nichol had a virus that he was allergic to and that was causing the reaction all over his body. Either way, Nichol will be avoiding mangoes for a while.

What else has been going on... We had a great Thanksgiving hosted by my sister and her husband. We got our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and have been enjoying it every day since! We were a little late on the Christmas card bus, so they might be pretty close to deadline! Annie's latest music class has ended so we're in between sessions until January. The weather has turned pretty crisp recently going from the 40-50s down to the 30s. Nichol has pretty much begun crawling, maybe you'd call it more of a slither. He's working up to the actual crawling on all fours, but I have a feeling that's going to be pretty soon. And that's about it, other then getting ready for Christmas!