A Photo I Overlooked

I was looking through some of our photos from this winter and I happened upon one that I thought I should post. It is Rachel and Mindy visiting the National Tree in front of the White House.




All in all I was a little disappointed in the tree as all they did was drape a cargo net like arrangement of lights on it which somewhat distorted the shape of the tree. It was fun to see, but I prefer the tree at Rockefeller Center any day!

Video Evidence of Erin Walking

Here is a quick video of Erin stumbling about...

The Big Decision 08

Keeping with the theme of this blog this is a family related post and not a political one. So we apologize if you were dying to hear who we are voting for... Instead we are pleased to report that we have decided to move back to Tucson, AZ. We debated this for a long time but when all is said and done we just can't justify supporting two homes any longer. Had the housing market been more generous to us or a better job offer come my way things might have worked out differently. Now we just have break this news to my family...

So AZ here we come! Can't wait to get some good Mexican food!

Catchup

OK so a lot of things have gone on in the past month and for much of it we were sans internet connection.

Erin turned 1 on January 4th. We didn't get to celebrate it due to my hospital stay and our move back to New Hampshire. We have decided to throw a party for her on her due date, Valentine's Day, so look for a picture or two at that time.

Speaking of Erin, she is walking all the time now but still drops down and crawls quite a bit. She is also saying a few more words now, of which her favorite is "hot". It has become her all purpose word and she uses it for everything.

Rachel has been a complete daddy's girl the past month, I think she was scared of losing me while I was in the hospital. In the interim she has become a pretty good Uno player and we usually spend an hour or so every night after dinner playing. Rachel hasn't quite grasped the whole good winner/sore loser thing yet but we are working on that and hopefully one day she will learn the joys of winning and/or losing graciously! Additionally, it appears that she is going through another growth spurt as all of her pants are high waters now. I swear this girl is going to be 6 feet tall one day!

We moved back to New Hampshire for the short term. Like the pair of geniuses we are Mindy and I forgot the big bin that contained our winter clothes - not a good thing in New Hampshire during the winter. So we are making due with the bare minimum. We bought Erin a bear suit that is quite warm and Rachel already has her winter coat with her. Mindy and I are making due with the jackets we were wearing in Virginia, which aren't made for a New England winter. We are staying in a house previously occupied by a family that we were good friends with, the Andersons, while they are in California doing an externship. So we have yet another address until May 31st! Seriously it is scary how many addresses we have had in the past few years.

Mindy's mom Regina (AKA Grammy Guzza) came out to help us out for a few weeks while things settled down. She was an immense help and I told her that will have to find excuses to get her back out here again to "help out".

School started up again and after all that time out there working I really don't feel like doing the school thing again. Its a real drag but the good news is I will have a JD in 4 months!

Mindy and I decided to go on diets, well in all honesty Mindy told me we are going on diets and so far it has worked out well for us. My appetite still hasn't recovered from the hospital stay, which is a good thing while trying to lose weight.

I'll get new photos posted soon. Sorry for the long absence.

Hiatus

I have been on hiatus from this thing due to an illness, which I am not going to get into the details of right here and/or now, that kept me hospitalized and down for quite some time. If you have an inquiring mind and need to know give me a call or drop me an email and I am happy to discuss it further. I am fine discussing it with anyone of our friends out there so please do not feel uncomfortable contacting us. Mindy is probably the best source of information on the incident as I was unconscious for most of it so you may wish to call her first.

Let's just leave it at this: it was a harrowing experience for all involved.

I'll resume writing again soon.

My Present Came A Day Late

All I wanted for Christmas was for Erin to take her first steps. I was a little disappointed that she wouldn't give it a try yesterday choosing instead to drop down and crawl to me each and every time we attempted to induce her to walk. Well fast forward a few hours to this morning and Erin took two steps to me. Then she did it again and again, it was awesome. She was so excited by my excitement and was so happy to walk to me! Of course I rushed her downstairs to show Mindy and she did it again before becoming too distracted by the piles of toys at my Mom's house. Nevertheless it was extremely exciting.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Sign of the Times

I always wonder what should count as baby's first word. Is it when the say "mama" or "dada", when they parrot something you say or is it when they say a word and obviously understand its meaning?

Erin has been saying mama, dada, and all the usual baby words for quite some time and recently she began parroting our speech. The funniest example has to be when I use my "authority voice" to get her attention, usually when she is climbing the stairs, to which now she responds with a "no". It is hard not to laugh and often I do.

This is the usual exchange now:

Me - "ERIN!"

Erin - "No"

Me - laughter

I really wish it wasn't so funny because I am trying to establish boundaries, such as don't climb the steps or put small objects in her mouth. Oh well, so much for being an authority figure in her life...