What's New?

Wow. It really has been almost a month since I last posted.

Sometimes, life gets really, really busy...and this past month is no different.

The good:
* My broken toe has healed! I won't lie, it's still a little sore if I wiggle it the wrong way, but I am fully able to run again, and happy about that. Unfortunately, after a month of being instructed not to exercise, all the hard work I did the month prior to that has gone to waste. Bummer. I can definitely feel that my fitness level dropped so I need to work hard to get that back.

* We scheduled Angelica's FOURTH birthday party! Her birthday is over Memorial Day weekend so we scheduled it the following weekend to make sure all her friends would be able to come, since a lot of people travel over the long weekend. I still cannot believe my tiny baby is almost a big four year old.

* I truly love my job. I love living in Boston. We're finally making friends. Life up here, for us, is really, really good. 

The bad:
* Angelica is homesick. She had a breakdown last night and cried and cried because she misses her old friends and her old school and her cousins. My heart just broke when she talked about how she is unhappy here and said "I just want to pack up!" Poor thing. She has tons of friends and for the most part she is so happy, but I remember moving when I was a kid and leaving my best friend and it was hard on me too. Luckily, we'll be visiting friends and family in Florida in the summer. I can't wait!

* Our cars. Oh, our ancient cars. On Friday the battery light on my dashboard came on, and I thought it was just a fluke because my battery is still new. Saturday night my car died with a trunk full of groceries, so Scott came and jump started it so I could get home. Sunday, it would jumpstart but would die after driving a few feet, so I had it towed into the repair shop. The alternator was bad, so this morning I gave them the okay to fix it and Scott drove me to work. As we pull into the parking lot at work, smoke starts coming out from under the hood of his car. He drove it across the street to the repair shop, and after examining it, the mechanic told him "It's not even worth it to fix this." Our cars are both 11 years old. So, I guess we're car shopping.

And that's it for now. I'm going to try to have a Wordless Wednesday post this week, too, and showcase some photos of the fun we've had over the past month.

Another Boston Blog Update

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted! My blog titles are getting lame. I need to work on that.

February was kind of a whirlwind. We worked on getting settled here, and I think we're almost to that point. Scott's loving his job, Angelica's loving her daycare, and I just started a new job at a very busy search marketing agency and loving every second of it so far. We're starting to get used to the area. I'm finding I'm using my GPS less and less. I can get to and from work, to and from the grocery store and to and from a really awesome shopping center without using it. We've been church-hopping a bit, but once we pick a permanent church home (and I think we have), I'll have to make sure to learn the routes there.

We're all really loving living here. It's been a much smoother transition than expected. Angelica loves taking the train (and so do I -- I hate driving!) and the city itself is just a wonder. I had coffee with the recruiter who helped me land the job a couple weeks ago, and got lost in downtown Boston, and instead of getting frustrated (okay -- maybe I was a little frustrated) I was in awe of the city. The old buildings. The landscape. The fact that the roads are paved over horse trails so you know how our ancestors must have traveled. (And they must have been lost ALL THE TIME with the crazy roads around here!)

It's been a mild winter, which I think has helped the transition. We've only had two snowstorms since we got here. One was last week, and it was pretty heavy. I had to dig myself out of my parking space, but in true Andrea fashion, didn't account for the extra time that would take and of course it made me a little bit late for work. Angelica just loves the snow! I'm thinking she'll enjoy it even more next winter if/when we have even more of it. Temperature-wise, it hasn't been too bad. In fact, in a couple of days we'll have temps in the 60s!

Some of the things we've done since we've been here:
- Saw Disney on Ice's Dare to Dream at TD Garden (where the Bruins play)
- Visited four different shopping malls
- Had dinner at a few small, locally-owned restaurants
- Been to two different Unitarian Universalist churches. (Lucky us, there are about a million of them up here! We fit right in!)
- I got majorly lost in downtown Boston, as I mentioned before, which resulted in me driving past Northeastern University, Boston College, and some other college I can't remember the name of, plus seeing a trolley for the first time in my life.
- Took the train to Quincy Market. Don't call it Quin-see, by the way. It's Qwyn-zee. The locals will look at you funny if you pronounce it wrong.
- Saw an outdoor pay toilet.
- Found an indoor playground for Angelica.
- Went to a birthday party for one of Angelica's new daycare friends.
- Registered Angelica for K-1, which is something I didn't know Boston had. Up here, kids basically start Kindergarten at age 4, and then have two years of it. AND, you get your pick of schools, as long as you register early and beat the lottery system.
- I've now taken a train, a bus, and the subway. I love public transportation.

I'm sure there are some things I've forgotten. But I have rambled on a LOT. How about some cute pictures!

 

Playing "vacation" with her Toy Story toys

The next few are from an indoor kids playground that we went to on a snowy day

Angelica opening Valentines from her friends at school

Headed to our community playground

No worse feeling than this.

Last night as I was getting Angelica ready for her shower, she flipped out on me. Since she's three, I'm used to her very, very regular freak-outs but this was something entirely different. The conversation went a little like this.

A - Mommy, I want to sleep in YOUR room.
Me - I know you do, but you need to sleep in your own bed. (She had been in our bed the night before and I got almost no sleep as a result.)
A - But I don't LIKE my room. It's scary!
Me - What' so scary about your room?
A - It just IS! I want to sleep in your bed!
Me - Well, honey, I'll stay with you for awhile.
A - But when you leave I'll be all alone! And I don't like my room! It's scary! I want a DORA room!
(For those not in the know, before we moved, she had a Dora-themed room. It's now Ladybugs, which is what she asked for when we moved.)

After she said that, it hit me all of a sudden what she was really saying. With three year olds, you have to read between the lines sometimes, and this was one of those times.

Me - Honey, do you just miss your old bedroom?
A - Yes! (Starts wailing)
Me - And your old house? And your old friends?
A - Yes! Yes yes yes!
Me - And your old school? And your old church?
A - Yes! (She really lost it at the mention of our old church. She loved it there so much.)

By this point, I'm already sitting with her on the floor, holding her in my lap while she sobs, big fat tears rolling down her cheeks. She buried her face in my shoulder and just wrapped her arms around my neck and cried and cried the saddest sounding cries while I patted her back and tried to soothe her.

I assured her mommy and daddy were there for her. And that we'd visit her friends, and our family back in Florida. And they would come visit us.

It was tough to hear that. In all honesty, while I love it here, I've been having a hard time adjusting to the not knowing anyone and it's been lonely. I also miss my friends, my coworkers, my family, my church...but she seemed so happy. She was always saying she didn't miss her old home or old friends, and she liked her new school (the last of which is probably true). She's been SO giggly and happy. Little did I know she is JUST LIKE ME when it comes to her emotions. She buried her sadness and put on a happy face and just tried to fake it and eventually it became too much for her to bear.

Me - Angelica, sweetie, are you just lonely?
A - (calmer now, but still crying a little) Yes, I'm lonely.

So I told her we'd go out and meet people. And that I would always, always be there for her if she needed to talk. And that I know that sometimes, it's hard to talk about the tough feelings but that I would always be happy to listen.

Later on, after I got her ready for bed:

Me - Do you feel better now that we talked?
A - Yes, I feel much better.
Me - Are you glad you told me how you were feeling?
A - Yes, it made me feel happier.

I'm so happy she felt better at the end of the night. I'm so glad we talked about it too. But there is truly no worse feeling than when your child is hurting and there's nothing you can really do to make it all better.

Once upon a time in Angelica world...

So this evening Angelica and I were camping out, watching My Little Pony and enjoying our time together, when I had to go to the bathroom. It happens. And when you have a 3 year old, it's never easy to navigate the right time for it to happen. This time, she was wrapped up in watching My Little Pony so I just went upstairs to go to the bathroom without saying anything.

No sooner had I sat down on the seat, I hear, "MOMMY! WHERE ARE YOU?"

I reply, "I'm in the bathroom! Be right there!"
She yells back, "But Mommy! I need to tell you something!"
I yell: "Okay! Be right there!"
"BUT I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!" Enter hysterical crying here. I was gone for less than a minute and she was hysterical.

I finish up on the potty and wash my hands and go back downstairs and she is just wailing. I give her a hug and ask her what she needed to tell me.

"I'll tell you TOMORROW. LEAVE ME ALONE." she yells.

So I back off and give her some room. She calms down. Silence for a few minutes. Then...

"Mommy, did you know Rainbow Jack can fly?" I assured her that I did.

"Now that you're calm, do you want to tell me what you wanted to say a minute ago?"

"I just did!"

Oh, the priorities of a three year old. Gone for less than a minute, and I missed something incredibly important.

A Boston Update

Well, we've been in Boston just over a week now and all is going better than expected. We are almost fully unpacked, and later this week our new couch is being delivered. I think at that point, we'll be fully moved in and settled.

Angelica started in her new pre-k program and is loving it. She adjusted really quickly. The first day we dropped her off, we took the tour to find out where everything goes and how her day will be scheduled but when I asked her if she wanted us to hang out, she said "Nope! You can go now!" Her teachers said she's been having a great time and she's one of the most polite three year olds they've ever met. That makes me proud. I know we've worked hard to instill good manners, and they definitely reinforced that at the daycare she was at in Florida.

I was talking with a fellow mom at church this weekend, and she works as a guidance counselor and she clued me in that Boston schools don't work like Florida's do. In Florida, you basically are assigned a district, and your child automatically goes to the school assigned to that district. In Boston, there are zones, several schools in that zone, and you have to pick a school in that zone for your child to go to...however, in order to increase your odds of getting a spot in your school of choice, you have to sign your four year old up for K-1, which is prekindergarten but in a public school. That's actually GREAT news because it's free, except for after school care. So that's my task for the week -- especially since registration ends this Friday!

On the job front -- Scott is LOVING his new job, and it makes me so happy. It's a lot less stressful when I know he'll be home at 6pm instead of "maybe" around 7 or 7:30. I had a great interview last Friday so I've got my fingers and toes crossed. I'm working on contract for the company I worked for back in Florida, and enjoying that, but I know it will come to an end so I'm trying to be as proactive as possible.

The weather has been good. There was about 3 inches of snow the day we landed, but then the temperature got up to the mid 50s a couple of days later and it all melted. I went for a run one evening last week and it snowed very lightly while I was out but it was warm enough that none of it stuck.

Finally, last weekend Scott's sister Shannon and her boyfriend Steve came up from Connecticut for a visit and we took the T into the city and went to Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. The geeks in us were drawn to Newbury Comics, which was awesome, and we ate in the Quincy Market Colonnade. Angelica just loved taking the "orange train" to and from the city, and it was a lot of fun. We'd have stayed a lot longer if she hadn't gotten too tired.

Here are a few pictures just from around the house from the past week. You'll probably notice a theme. Angelica has never lived somewhere with stairs before, so they're an obsession for her.

Wordless Wednesday: SNOW!

We're still getting settled up here in Boston, but here are some pictures from my phone of our first few days here.

This was on the plane. While we were getting ready for takeoff, she got a little nervous and asked to hold my hand. Once we were in the air, she was totally relaxed and excited about the flight. She was SO well behaved on the plane, too...she sat and watched her movie (The Lion King) and drank her juice and kept quiet. I was so proud of her.

This was right after we arrived...we were about to get in the car. Angelica was fascinated by the snow. While we walked to the car, she just kept touching the snow and squealing with delight.

Angelica making her first snowball.

The view from my back door. Somewhere down there are steps and a brick patio...

The original setup for Angelica's new room. We got this bed because we thought it would be fun for her to have a little "fort" to play in underneath the bed. Unfortunately, she thought the loft was too scary, so we flipped the bed over so the bed part is on the floor. Maybe when she's older...

My child is sneaky.

Last night I was babysitting my niece and nephew (ages 3 and 5, respectively) and Angelica was at the house with me. My sister's family just moved and their house is all in boxes, and right in the middle of the room was a box with a bowl full of candy in it. Of course, children ages 3-5 are drawn to candy like moths to a flame and somehow unearthed the box and proceeded to dig in before the parents realized what was happening.

So, of course, after noticing they had eaten about ten pieces of candy each, we took the bowl away. Somehow, they had a stash.

I was making dinner for the kids, and it got quiet. Too quiet. So I went looking for the kids and I heard some whispers and giggles coming from behind an open door.

I peered around the door, and what did I find? Three little ones, giggling, hiding, and secretly opening up their hidden candy stash. All three looked up at me with their candy hidden in their hands behind their backs. Angelica said, "Mommy, go away!"

Oh, those sneaky, sneaky kids...

Mommy, tell me about Baby Angelica

The past couple of weeks, Angelica has been very interested in how she was as a baby. One night, she asked me to read a book that was a favorite of hers before she even turned a year old, and I mentioned how she loved that book as a baby, and she loved it so much that her first copy got worn out and I had to buy a replacement.

(For reference, that book was Baby Einstein's Touch and Feel Baby Animals. Angelica now calls it "the fuzzy book".)

Ever since telling her that story, she will pull it off the shelf and tell me, "When I was a baby, I loved the fuzzy book, and then it broke and you had to buy me a new one and then I was a big girl!"

So this story about a book has turned into her asking me to tell her a story about Baby Angelica almost every night. She absolutely loves to hear about the sweet and silly things she did as a baby, and looking at it from an adult perspective, I feel like it gives her a real sense of who she is and how she became the amazing kid she is now.

Tonight she asked to see a picture of Baby Angelica, so I showed her the hospital photos we had done, and she asked what dress she was wearing. That dress still hangs in her closet, so I took it out and showed her. She said, "Ooh...how small! That wouldn't fit me now!" And I replied with, "Would you believe when we took that picture, this dress was too big?"


I also practically had her in tears from laughing so hard about some of the things she did as a baby. For example, when she was first learning how to talk, she would pick up one our cell phones, hold it up to her ear and say, "Hello? Chip? Wassup? Goodbye!"

As I was rubbing her back, she was quiet and still, and I thought she was asleep. Then, out of nowhere, she busts out laughing! She had started to drift off and then remembered what I'd told her about the phones, and she just couldn't stop laughing. It was kind of amazing.

But, wasn't it just yesterday that she WAS Baby Angelica? It feels like yesterday she was, and now I'm telling stories about that baby to BIG girl Angelica. Kind of surreal.

Thanksgiving 2011 Photos

Since I already wrote a long recap of the Thanksgiving holiday, here are some photos to illustrate the fun we had that day!

Playing baseball in her pretty dress

My friend Amber captioned this one, "Come at me, bro!" Even in a frilly dress and tights and girly boots, she still kicks butt!

Sneaky...

"Reading" Curious George to Aunt Tarah

Playing with Grandma Tammy's Great Dane, Brandi

"Helping" in the kitchen

Hanging out with Grandpa Joe

Riding a "horsey"

Hanging out with Grandma Tammy

Pretending to nap by the pool

Patiently waiting for dinner

Post-dinner nap

Snuggles with Great Grandma June

Second Dinner!

Wordless Wednesday: ICE!

We went to ICE! with LeeAnn, Brian, Rylie and Bryce a couple of weekends ago. It was our first time going and it was fun. Honestly, I probably won't go back until Angelica's a little older, because she'll appreciate it more then...she thought we were going ice skating and was very disappointed when we weren't. She did, however, enjoy the ice slides. And then she was too cold, and tired, and hungry, so we left.

Waiting to go in...

Photo of all of us in our ICE! coats.

Angelica & Rylie with Puss In Boots

Angelica is SO COLD.

Angelica and Daddy going down the ice slide. She and I went on them together after this.

So fun!