Country Mouse, City Mouse, Suburban Mouse?

Today we did what should be the last of the paperwork for our new lease. Our new apartment isn’t far from our old one – actually just across the driveway – but it is smaller. As we’ve gone from 1800 to 1300 and next to 1200 square feet of living space and from 2 to 3 to 4 people, the change has made me think about how different this sort of life is to the one I had when I was growing up. City life means less space, but has meant more together time. We may not all eat meals at the same time, but there’s also no eating and retreating to your bedroom immediately afterward. Kid H can’t just go outside and play by herself, so we all go to the beach or playground together. Our apartment is almost always cluttered, with toys, projects, files, and dishes, but cleaning it up only takes a couple of hours so it’s not a big deal.

Living in Boston has exposed Kid H to some things earlier than I would have preferred, but has given her other opportunities that were almost only special occasion events for me when I was growing up. Frequent moves have forced all of us to be a little more adaptable, a little more flexible, and have seemed to strengthen our bonds as a family. It’s also changed our perspective on what we own. A move has a way of making that indispensible item into just one more round trip on the stairs. We are also finding that while the quantity of things we own decreases, we are becoming more and more particular about what it is that we hang on to.

Other discoveries:
• Public schools aren’t necessarily as good, but having Italian classes in K1 is great
• Cost of housing is high, but there are lots of jobs and housing around should you need it
• Groceries are expensive and grocery stores are kind of crazy, but Peapod delivers and there’s Haymarket on Saturdays
• Friends are everywhere, but everyone seems busy
• Car insurance is ridiculous, but if you don’t use it often, operating costs are very low
• Park Street Church – probably the best or second-best church we’ve attended

I occasionally wonder about living in the suburbs. It seems to be what lots of city mice with kids eventually do. However, although the space would be nice, I think the suburbs would be the death of me. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for us.

Up To Something

Why yes, Baby H and I are up to something. Why do you ask?

Italian Lessons

Kid H loves her Italian classes at school!

Birthday Party Prep

Here's a shot of Mrs. H and Kid H hard at work the day before the birthday party getting the frosting, sprinkles, and all-important princess rings on the cupcakes. The cupcakes were pink cake with white frosting and pink sprinkles.

We're trying to decide what to do with the leftover frosting in the frosting gun you can see on the counter. I offered to squirt it into Mr. and Mrs. R's eldest son before he left for home after the birthday party on Saturday, but was turned down. I thought it would be an interesting experiment.

Birthday Party Adventures

Kid H had her birthday party today. To celebrate, we invited her class from school as well as some of her other friends, but in the end only her friends from Bright Horizons, our wonderful neighbors, and our good friends Mr. and Mrs. R showed up. This ended up being perfect and everyone (both adults and kids) seemed to have a great time and enjoy themselves.

The birthday was princess-themed, including decorations; a reading of Tea for Ruby; making princess tiaras, bracelets, and necklaces; and a game of Put the Princess In the Castle.

After it was all done, Mr. and Mrs. R and their kids came up and we all hung out in our apartment, had supper together and relaxed for a while. It was a great birthday party and we all had a lot of fun. Tomorrow, Kid H sings "My God Is So Big" in church as well, so the weekend is definitely not over yet. We're also going to have a quiet family party with just the four of us. Besides, we still have a few cupcakes left over!

There were some great quotes today, like:

• "Presto! Now you're a fairy!" said to Mr. R by Sophia after a wave of her magic princess wand.
• "Why do they even make princess rings that aren't pink?" asked by Mrs. H as the cupcakes were being handed out and all the ones with pink rings disappeared first.
• In a little whispered voice just before all the guests left, "Thank you Mommy for the wonderful party," from the birthday girl.

Deep Thoughts On Juice

Tonight, while Kid H was getting ready to go to bed, she asked for some juice and milk to drink. Since Kid H and I had birthday cupcakes earlier in the evening, I suggested she drink water. After negotiating for milk, Kid H stated that it was better for her than juice since both milk and water prevented any accidents later in the night. This was followed by this analysis of where orange juice comes from:

Yeah, cause juice is made of pee!

Ok . . .

Juliet and Rachmaninoff

Here's Baby H showing off her Christmas dress, Romeo and Juliet face, and Rachmaninoff hands. Her hands and feet are gigantic already, and she started rolling over before she was one month old.

We're expecting her to be another tall kid. Her newborn sleepers are already starting to look like flying squirrel costumes on her. Her feet go all the way to the bottom, but she's not nearly large enough around to fill them out.

A thousand times good night!

Dealing With Change

Though this picture was taken over Christmas, it's a great illustration of my general state of mind. Barring a miracle, we will be moving to another apartment sometime in February, and probably making another move to an apartment in Washington DC sometime in the next two to eighteen months. In reality, this move will probably come sooner rather than later, but it is impossible to make that prediction, and I won't know that we're moving until about 4 weeks before we need to move. However, in order to hold out for the long shot that will perhaps let us make just one move, we are trying to put off our move in February as long as possible.

Dealing with this sort of uncertainty and upheaval has been a challenge for our entire family and a test of our belief that things work out for our good. It's been exhausting, even though we haven't actually made a move yet. However, it's the waiting that's the hard part. Execution means you have a plan. We're still trying to put one together while hoping that in the end maybe we won't have to move twice.

New Baby

It's been a while since the last post again, but in the meantime we added another member to our household, had company at our place for 2 weeks over Christmas, and have been doing the newborn thing since then. Baby H is doing well. She was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long when born, but has been stretching out a lot since then. She has also been an easy baby to take care of, which has been a huge blessing after another rather difficult pregnancy for Mrs. H.

Now that the baby is here, we have been very grateful for occasional meals brought in by the South Boston Mom's Club and my ability to work from home. It seems someone's always sleeping and someone's always awake around the clock. Baby H is almost sleeping through the night, but isn't quite there yet. Hopefully, things will even out in another week or two. Kid H seems to be enjoying having a baby sister and has been very helpful in taking care of her. I'm waiting for the day when she'll volunteer to help with the diapers, but I think that's still a way off.