tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7655186250058847612012-01-01T14:16:05.859-05:00Keepin' up with the MasterwongsBeckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1991100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-9117077963650431872011-09-05T20:09:00.000-05:002011-09-05T20:09:40.376-05:00

[ed note: Hi!  Remember me?  It's been too long to bother with excuses- life happens. But we've got some major stuff going on that needs to be captured - so I'm back, for as long as I can be.  Also - I'm posting 2 months after writing it - does not bode well for continued posting....] When I was a little girl my Dad got a telescope.  I can't tell you anything about the telescope - what kind it

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-75216595876179793772010-12-22T20:53:00.000-05:002010-12-28T12:49:53.463-05:00

Today Lily officially became a four-year-old.  All day she kept asking me - "am I four yet?"  Finally at dinner time I could tell her - "yes, honey you're four now".  Playing that little game with her made me wonder if I had forgotten what time she was born.  It seemed crazy to think I got to the hospital at 6AM, but she didn't make her entrance until twelve hours later!  On the way home from

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-54163334299657880032010-12-18T12:58:00.001-05:002010-12-28T13:46:11.068-05:00

The true beginning of Christmas for me every year is marked by the Somerville Arts Council Illumination Tour. The Arts Council gets together a bunch of trolleys to take folks on a tour of the awesome Christmas light displays in Somerville. It's a pretty big deal locally and everyone gets really into it. The tickets go on sale at Blue Cloud Gallery a couple of weeks before the tour and you have

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-66599727842995117482010-12-11T11:51:00.001-05:002010-12-28T12:50:23.607-05:00

Every year my Mom's school, Holy Name, rents out the Carousel at Battleship Cove for a Christmas party.  We've driven down there to take advantage of the unlimited carousel rides - and get bonus Grammy and Papa time - for the past three years.  I dare say it's become somewhat of a Christmas tradition for us. This year was the first time I'd been there not pregnant or toting around a little baby.

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-18125729878812692922010-11-28T11:19:00.001-05:002010-12-28T12:50:23.608-05:00

[Ed Note: We are in New Jersey now visiting family and in a fit of fit time while the cousins play out in the snow I am going to try to do some catch-up here.  It would be lunacy to try to, you know, actually catch up - so let's just see if I can post about our December] December is a particularly crazy time for us.  It starts back on November 16th with our niece Sera's birthday and then just

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-52908931899957016862010-11-26T19:55:00.000-05:002010-12-28T12:50:02.771-05:00

Halloween is a big deal in our house  - it is hands down Lily's favorite holiday.  I'm not entirely sure why this is as neither Gordon nor I are big Halloween people. But man that kid - she loves Halloween.  She was talking about her costume months before.  We went through a bunch of potentials.  First she wanted to be John Flansburgh from They Might Be Giants - I was supposed to dress as John

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-73194097882890543742010-11-26T19:20:00.000-05:002010-12-28T12:50:23.609-05:00

"Reggie's Runners" 2010 This year we decided to do the Memory Walk in Newport, RI instead of Portsmouth.  We were hoping to get the whole gang to walk this time, but as usual our efforts were thwarted.  My poor Mom ended up with a terrible case of pneumonia that landed her in the hospital for over 2 weeks!  The Walk was during the first weekend of her hospital stay.  So we had to split up the

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-56587131745317016432010-10-10T21:46:00.001-05:002010-12-28T12:55:44.655-05:00

Every year I mean to write about the HONK! festival here in Somerville and every year I seem to fail.  But this year - I'm doing it because really - it's one of my FAVORITE things about Somerville (hmm I bet I say that about a lot of things...)  But really - it's the bomb.  Just imagine a whole slew of "activist street bands" from all over the country and the world descending on Davis Square

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-42730188260743125632010-10-07T22:36:00.000-05:002010-12-28T12:50:12.583-05:00

About a year ago, when my Dad was still not quite himself and my brother and I were falling all over ourselves and each other to just DO SOMETHING to fix the situation damnit! we found ourselves going through my parents storage unit trying to consolidate it and save them some money.  That day is a story all by itself as we ended up in a horrific fight brought on by many years of sibling issues

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-89416595838866600322010-10-07T22:12:00.000-05:002010-12-28T12:51:07.193-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about communication.  I'm participating in a fluency clinic over at BU for the semester.  If you're reading this blog chances are you've known me for some time and you know that I stutter.  I always have - as far back as I can remember talking.  I've done a bunch of things therapy-wise over my life: speech therapy through public school, a private therapist, and an

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-65068351304671240882010-10-03T22:20:00.001-05:002010-10-24T22:40:51.883-05:00

Taking photos of your kids in pumpkin patches - it's just one of those things that you have to DO if you live in New England.   I'm not sure where the rule is written down, but somehow parents all over NE know that as soon as the weather gets a little chilly and the kids start talking about Halloween costumes it is time to get yourselves to a pumpkin patch. This year we found ourselves in North

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-12677240818309708172010-09-18T22:16:00.001-05:002010-09-19T12:27:47.985-05:00

My grandmother died a little over a year ago.  I suppose I should have written this post on the anniversary of her death, but I think the truth is that the actual date doesn't stick with me.  For one, we were going through quite a lot as a family at the time.  Without judgement, the anniversary of my Dad's brain hemorrhage is the one that stuck out for me this year.  But I think that the real

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-25649510864914112812010-08-27T22:19:00.000-05:002010-08-27T22:19:21.503-05:00

Tonight Lily, Quinn and I were driving out to Sandy Beach for the last of the "extreme happy hours".  On the way we were listening to a playlist from my iphone that I had made for Lily when she was a baby.  It included some kid songs and some of my favorite songs that I thought she would enjoy. "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors come on - and I admit - the Spin Doctors are not the most brilliant

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-44006799015395438112010-08-19T22:10:00.000-05:002010-08-19T22:10:02.002-05:00

So that Quinn - he's talking - I know - when did THAT happen?  I have no idea.  I think he's been doing it for a while and I just didn't notice.  It's funny I was actually worried about Lily when she was Quinn's age because she had no words at all.  Then by 18 months she had like 60.  Quinn's followed a much more typical language development trajectory I think.  His first word might have

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-33059888331531975202010-08-19T11:38:00.001-05:002010-08-19T22:08:33.056-05:00

Here's my latest attempt at a new "regular installment" on the LilyPad - snippets of conversations that Lily and I have in the car on the way to school. Today, after we dropped off Quinn she requested "something else" on the radio. Apparently it wasn't an NPR kind of day.  So I switched over to MIKE FM and a nice poppy 80's Madonna tune was playing (think: Borderline, I can't actually remember

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-17632716007408999942010-08-04T22:13:00.000-05:002010-08-04T22:13:44.239-05:00

Why Hello August!  And boy do I have a quite a bit to say about our little baby boy.  I found out this week that he's officially a toddler now.  I got a call from some childhood development lab at UMass Boston asking if I had a toddler in the house.  I asked them what age a toddler would be and they told me "between 14 and 18 months" (which, yeah, narrow range for a toddler, no?)  But STILL!  I

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-80653046626326099472010-07-31T21:24:00.000-05:002010-09-17T22:06:02.607-05:00

After all the fun we had on our first camping trip of the summer we were pretty ready for camping trip #2.  In late July we went back to Greenfield State Park in NH with our dear friends Lisa, Rick, Sofia and Aly.  We went camping with them two summers ago when there were still only six of us.  Lily and Sofia were between 1.5 and 2 years old.  We only camped for one night that time so it was a

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-33313910277965511792010-07-08T20:00:00.001-05:002010-09-13T22:11:36.577-05:00

Stephanie and Tara organized the Teddy Bear Parade as part of the summer happy hour series.  It was the first highly non-traditional happy hour in that it was held on a Thursday and included teddy bears and entertainment.  Stephanie outdid herself as usual.  The event was held at Lincoln Park, right by her house and her husband Joe told me at some point that he believed all the furniture in his

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-13019622248571930432010-07-02T22:22:00.004-05:002010-08-15T22:40:29.648-05:00

As summer marched on so did the Happy Hours.  Sadly we were absent for most of the July ones, but we did manage to get to the first July event hosted by Lisa, Jed, Lara-Jean and Zachary.  They have a great backyard-driveway setup and the kids had a great time playing in the pool, sliding down the slide and driving around in the many vehicles.  Lisa and Jed put out a great spread of food and the

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-51807481172333633042010-06-27T21:39:00.000-05:002010-06-29T21:02:37.656-05:00

Summer is here - and boy has it come on fast this year! June is moving at break-neck speed towards July and I have yet to write my baby boy a 1-year birthday post! And I was doing so well with those monthly things... sigh. So instead of writing that post NOW I'll write a post about his first birthday party - because there are lots of fun pictures of that. We held the party the week after

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-10255860982782820122010-06-27T19:35:00.001-05:002010-07-14T21:53:30.229-05:00

Keeping with the tradition of our new and improved "extreme Happy Hours" we decided to take it on the road and try a group camping trip.  We started planning awhile ago and by go-time had 6 families comprised of 12 adults and 11 children.  We decided on Harold Parker State Forest because it's pretty low commitment.  It's located in Andover, only about 30 minutes from Somerville and the state

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-18174904642178405552010-06-18T21:05:00.000-05:002010-07-02T21:24:57.855-05:00

This week's Happy Hour was brought to us by Abby, Ben, Ruby and Eva.  We had another great day weather-wise for another fantastic backyard party.  Again - am very jealous of all these awesome Somerville backyards.  Ben&Abby have a great patio area, terrific garden space and a hammock under grapevines.  What more can you ask for? This Happy Hour was extra cool for me because I got to send Gordon,

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-78765885767328794722010-06-14T22:42:00.000-05:002010-06-29T21:02:29.684-05:00

Gordon has a pretty big family. If we just focus on his Mom's side for now - his Mom has four sisters and one brother. They all have at least one child. So he's got nine first cousins, to my three. (Of course my first cousins are ALSO my second cousins... so there's that - I'll let you think about that one for a bit. Here's a hint though: it's totally "ok" - and not icky weird). And of

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-42724932602455105062010-06-11T20:57:00.001-05:002010-07-01T22:10:06.018-05:00

[ed note: we had another happy hour before this one at our place - but sadly we have NO PICTURES of it.  I wish we did because it was nuts.  There were easily over 50 people here.  The place looked like we had thrown a kegger for pre-schoolers.  We needed a shovel to get through the mound of toys strewn across the playroom floor.  Boy do these kids know how to party] Bob, Elizabeth, Cyrus and

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-18839000168328654082010-06-06T21:02:00.000-05:002010-06-29T21:02:29.685-05:00

In late April we had the pleasure of traveling to Toronto for Gordon's cousin Mabel's wedding. I absolutely LOVE visiting Gordon's family in Toronto. His Grandmother (Pau Pau) lives there along with one of his Aunts and three of his cousins: Fred, Mabel and Kevin.  Every time we go up there to visit they all treat us extremely well.  And I just love love love Toronto - what a fantastic city!

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-12913933871259404182010-05-22T22:21:00.000-05:002010-06-29T21:03:00.258-05:00

I'm a bit behind on posting stuff - well, as usual. I should probably stop saying that and just have it be the default. Then I can comment when I post something on time instead. Probably less annoying that way - and less likely to ever happen. In the meantime, spring is in full swing and summer is knocking at our door with promises of camping, beach days, ice cream and cute, pudgy baby legs

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-47919258642088558112010-05-21T21:01:00.000-05:002010-06-29T22:41:02.858-05:00

Gordon and I really moved to Somerville on a whim.  We looked at houses/condos/townhouses in a number of communities in and around Boston: Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, Milton, Sharon, Canton.  We made offers on at least eight places.  Truth be told, we ended up in Somerville because it just happened to be where we found a place that worked for us - oh and an offer was finally

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-19904296980469337792010-05-09T22:08:00.001-05:002010-06-29T21:02:52.296-05:00

For Mother's Day this year Gordon got all four of us to Arnold Arboretum for Lilac Sunday.  Every year on Mother's Day you are allowed to picnic in the arboretum and the lilacs are in full bloom.  I have been wanting to make it there for a few years now, but last year I came home from the hospital with Quinn on Mother's Day and the years prior we didn't have our act together enough to get farther

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-19470256719587422172010-05-08T22:24:00.000-05:002010-05-08T22:37:29.575-05:00

[Ed note: Yes, today is Quinn's 1st birthday - and he should be probably getting a post about that.  This post - it's kind of about that - but a little more about me than about him.  So please forgive this bit of self-involvement.  I've had this post brewing my my head for awhile and need to get it out there.  If only to stop hearing "closing time" playing over and over in my head (which, did

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-27352658520569597252010-04-17T21:49:00.000-05:002010-05-08T22:37:08.711-05:00

Ack! Q's 11 month-day came and went without a post! I thought I was going to be on top of it this month - but yeah whatever. I just got back from my Houston trip and am tired, but here are some pictures of Quinn's 11 month: This month has been all about motion for our little Q. He's definitely given up the army crawl now and is an expert crawler. He's fast too. He's standing and cruising

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-69691322645250251332010-04-16T21:52:00.000-05:002010-05-08T22:38:18.729-05:00

The successful launch of Discovery (STS-131) landed me in Houston this week for work.  It's been over a year since I've been down here for flight support.  My last flight was in March before Quinn was born - I think it was STS-119 - the last of the big solar panel missions.  I was a little apprehensive coming this time - it's the first time I've left Quinn for any longer than an overnight. But

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-3848547463919498742010-04-03T22:23:00.000-05:002010-05-08T22:38:38.095-05:00

I wrote a little bit ago about Lily's extensive world of imaginary friends.  I had no idea, at the time, that it was just the tip of the iceberg.  Lately we have been living in a world entirely of Lily's imagining.  There are no printed directions, no road map.  I pretty much just muddle through trying to keep track of what is what and who is who and hope that some day I'll recognize things again

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-55516787472189652232010-03-29T19:40:00.000-05:002010-04-03T21:38:14.973-05:00

A few weekends ago - okay well back at the beginning of March - we went up to North Conway for a nice little long weekend with some of our Somerville friends. There were 3 families: 6 adults, 4 little girls and 2 baby boys. We stayed in a really great condo situated very close to town. The weather was awesome and we had a great time. The guys got in one full day of skiing at Bretton Woods,

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-43344582481531292482010-03-16T21:54:00.000-05:002010-04-03T21:38:07.447-05:00

Boy did this tenth month go by fast - and TEN MONTHS! WHAT??? I'm still marveling at the fact that there's a baby in our house and you know what - he's hardly a baby anymore! It seems like a LOT has happened for our little Q this month. It's been a big one in terms of milestones and personality. He's completely and totally on the go now. I can't take my eyes away for a minute and have him

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-45500180415966418292010-03-11T23:44:00.000-05:002010-04-03T21:37:59.917-05:00

About eight years ago boy met girl, fell in love, and moved out of fancy Back Bay apartment to live in run-down MIT housing with girl, a large number of college undergraduates and some rather large cockroaches.  As boy and girl transitioned from living alone to living together it became apparent that the couple had one major difference to contend with:  boy had the "stinky towel gene" and girl

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-33756467095686519672010-03-08T23:52:00.000-05:002010-03-11T23:02:47.900-05:00

[yeah so I know today is Q's 10-month-day, but as usual I am behind.  So don't worry Q, I haven't forgotten - it's coming....] Well Quinn is officially on the move - and boy is he ever.  I can't say exactly when it started - his transition from stationary to "OMG all over the place" was kind of gradual.  He started out army crawling and got really really good at that.  Now he's mixing it up with

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-14542092104158213172010-02-20T22:16:00.000-05:002010-02-20T22:17:11.728-05:00

I've been feeling kind of bad for some time now that I never really wrote any further about how my Dad is doing.  It's funny how when the hemorrhage occurred I was able to just drop everything in my life and live at Rhode Island Hospital for four weeks.  I remember thinking about how at a time like that all the things in life that seem so pressing and important melt away and you find that you

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-3303615298145777662010-02-17T22:45:00.001-05:002010-02-17T22:47:17.713-05:00

Like pigs with wings or an ice skating rink in hell here are some photos of things you probably never thought you'd see. Exhibit 1:  Lily sitting on the couch watching TV with a dog (and Grammy of course).  Ok so you can't REALLY tell she's watching TV but she is.  It's the Olympics  - and it doesn't happen that often - so watch closely kid.  Next chance won't come around for another two years*.

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-60643446442763885012010-02-11T22:25:00.004-05:002010-02-11T23:42:23.254-05:00

Nine months have gone by. Quinn has now officially been here with us for longer than I carried him around with me everywhere I went (yeah - okay so that went on a little beyond the in-utero bit - but at least I got to sleep alone... occasionally). We've known him and held him in our arms for longer than we prepared for him, dreamed about him, wondered what he'd be like. These nine months -

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-53390408861468691672010-01-30T11:09:00.009-05:002010-02-11T09:44:08.940-05:00

In the past 6 months or so we have had a revolving door of "guests" in our home - all are invisible, some are based on "real" people/things while others seem to be completely fabricated. Some of these friends seem to live here, some only come when Lily's not home, others come and go as they please and still others only come when summoned (yes it's as creepy as that sounds). Since I've failed to

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-71915739717130594232010-01-22T22:55:00.003-05:002010-02-11T09:43:41.479-05:00

OK Quinn was 8 months a while ago - and since he's patently refusing to do his post this time around - I guess I need to stop procrastinating. He says he's too busy figuring out crawling. What a slacker.And since I'm writing late - I'm going to have a hard time keeping straight what happened before and after his 8 month birthday. But I'll try. Also - short on pictures this month (sorry BaBa).

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-19399463057962902132010-01-15T20:19:00.003-05:002010-05-08T22:38:18.729-05:00

I went back to work the week before Thanksgiving. I wanted to sit down and write out my thoughts about it at the time. But well - the issue with being a working Mom is that you don't have time for anything else - ever. I suppose that's the issue with just having kids regardless of your gender or employment status - but for my particular situation I'm sort of "ok" until you start trying to make

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-45222041380971967582010-01-11T22:19:00.005-05:002010-02-11T09:44:19.571-05:00

Every year we take a trip to New Jersey for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. In addition to being a chance to spend time with family and friends, the trip is also an opportunity for G and I to have some actual conversations during the drives there and back. Over the years we've had some pretty deep heart-to-hearts while driving down 84 or cruising the Merrit Parkway - including

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-50365215107853918002010-01-04T23:10:00.002-05:002010-01-11T22:17:07.529-05:00

So remember my last post? In which I made some cheeky reference to the 2009 ER trip? Well someone was paying attention and decided to punish me because tonight we landed in the ER again. The second January in a row. Last year we went 20 days into the new year - this year it was only about 3.75.*************Let's back up a bit - the year is 1977 and it's June (holy GOD that sounds like a LONG

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-20579193682772108762009-12-25T19:57:00.005-05:002010-01-11T22:17:43.962-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! We had a great day and I hope you all did as well. I'd love to write a post about - you know - our actual Christmas. But I'm completely and utterly exhausted. December has a way of completely sucking the life out of me every year. Maybe it has something to do with the FIVE family birthdays that fall between November 16th and Christmas Day - all culminating in the

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-2712225258687608022009-12-21T15:20:00.005-05:002010-01-11T22:17:14.878-05:00

Boy do I owe Lily a post or what? I feel like over here in LilyPad land it's been all about Quinn lately. Part of the reason for that is there is just too much Lily material lately. I don't even know what to say or how to boil it all down! But our little girl is turning three tomorrow- THREE! So she is very much deserving of some catch-up posts. Let's see what I can do...First - I have to

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-77313046407953175972009-12-14T23:03:00.004-05:002010-01-11T22:18:04.301-05:00

Mom's pretty late on this 7-month post of mine - so I decided to take matters into my own hands. After all I'm SEVEN MONTHS old now - I think I can handle blogger. Besides, she's way distracted lately - something about birthdays and Christmas and whatever - just give me more of that food lady and stop the whining. That's my department.Anyway - my seventh month has been pretty good. I still

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-66525756014989084202009-11-19T06:58:00.005-05:002010-01-11T22:18:41.309-05:00

When she was just a baby Lily received the book "Lily and the Imaginary Zoo" from our friends Shawn and Liz. It is the story of a little girl named Lily who accompanies her Mom on errands through Boston. On their way she befriends a number of animals - sculptures scattered throughout the city. We read it often and it's definitely had it's time in the 'favorite book' seat. Even now, we still

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-91089810183090185982009-11-11T20:01:00.004-05:002010-01-11T22:18:04.304-05:00

Despite our troubles trying to cloth diaper Lily - we've been successfully using cloth with Quinn for - well 6 months now. It helps that we got a bunch of hand-me downs from our friends (thanks Sandra and Vita!) and that The Diaper Lab moved just a couple of blocks down the street from us. I've been wanting to write this big old post about our cloth diapering experience with Quinn - but it

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-89239844839402406252009-11-11T15:51:00.005-05:002010-01-11T22:18:04.304-05:00

Three days ago Quinn hit the 6-month mark. I'm still not sure how that happened. It feels monumental - he's halfway through his first year now and SO much happens in that second half. It's hard to believe that soon our little guy will be working on crawling and walking and then will become a toddler... OK OK I'm getting ahead of ourselves... but he just got here SO QUICKLY!Six months also

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-53420957462197429612009-11-08T21:14:00.003-05:002010-01-11T22:19:11.735-05:00

Somehow we just celebrated our FOURTH Halloween here - where did the time go? This year I had aspirations of doing a "family-themed" Halloween costume - like maybe we could all go as characters from "Goodnight Gorilla" or something equally as charming. But then Lily announced "I want to be a ballerina - a fairy ballerina" and that ended that idea. So I scrambled around and with the help of a

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-27374688851558702022009-11-06T14:52:00.002-05:002010-05-08T22:38:56.819-05:00

I mean to post something the first day that Quinn had a taste of solid foods.. and of course I didn't. Because I had no pictures! What's the sense of a post without pictures! Sigh. So now I have pictures, and I'm finally posting them.... weeks after they were taken. Yeah, I rock.Anyway, the point is that Quinn is eating solids now. And honestly, I wasn't in a rush for it this time around.

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-3572750090427804782009-10-29T18:19:00.003-05:002010-02-11T09:44:42.494-05:00

My cousin Lisa, along with her husband Eric and her daughter Victoria, have been forming a team to do the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association in honor of Grams. This year we joined their team and walked to fight Alzheimer's and remember Grams. The walk was held in Pawtucket, RI at Slater Memorial Park. We thought we were going to get rained out, but we ended up with a nice, if a little

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-79939448590475383812009-10-22T17:53:00.003-05:002010-02-14T09:06:04.690-05:00

One of the many things I love about Somerville is the city's commitment to making it a nice place to live for families. One way in which they do that is by keeping up wit the many many parks. When we moved in there were two really nice toddler parks within walking distance of us and one run-down sketchy one. The sketchy one is on the next street over, Albion street. It had old, falling-down

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-10054418832017306202009-10-21T22:35:00.001-05:002010-01-11T22:18:41.310-05:00

A while ago Lily came into the possession of a little flashlight that a friend's company was giving away as SWAG at a career fair. It's this little thing that fits in your palm and you can "charge" it up by pushing a little lever to get light. Anyway she played with it and then one day it disappeared into my diaper bag never to be seen again.Until she was put in time-out in a chair right next

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-89466130572133992592009-10-18T22:09:00.002-05:002010-02-11T23:32:55.003-05:00

We had bad luck with local farms this year. In August we tried to go blueberry picking and failed. We got there only to find out that there were no blueberries to pick. Then we gave Wilson Farms a try recently on a weekday looking for a pumpkin patch. It's possible we didn't look hard enough, but all we really found was a big old farm stand. Then last weekend we went out to Connor's Farm for

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-36353302627511472372009-10-12T21:56:00.001-05:002010-02-11T23:44:22.667-05:00

While my Dad was in the hospital and rehab he went through a phase in which he kept referring to Quinn as "Oblio" - yeah the kid from that movie The Point I mentioned a while back. It all started when I made some comment about liking Dad's new shaved head look. He went on to say that he looked like Quinn and that they both looked like Oblio - the round-headed kid in the Land of Point. From

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-66840187985239992832009-10-09T14:33:00.003-05:002009-10-18T22:12:17.365-05:00

I've always been .. umm, well a *little* behind the times when it comes to technology. I'm not sure why. For example, I just recently decided it's probably okay to deposit checks in ATM machines. As a result I've been way behind the "take video of your kids" craze. I've always said that I just didn't see the big deal about video -who's going to sit around and watch these little clips someday?

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-51294352605611184702009-10-08T20:35:00.003-05:002009-10-18T22:12:04.528-05:00

OK I have to admit it - turns out I'm not so much a "wee little baby person". I mean babies are cuddly and I am totally in love with that moment when I first hold my babies, but the day to day reality of infants - eh. I do like the cuddling and the sleeping on me and the cute little baby coos. But I'm not so much a fan of the constant demanding and neediness without a ton of personality. I'm

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-17446744459420313172009-10-02T22:00:00.000-05:002010-02-11T09:45:16.514-05:00

I've mentioned before that Quinn loves to be held - a lot. And for the first three months I was down with that - he's a baby! an infant! you can't spoil a baby! And I still believe all that. But now - he's almost 5 months and it's feeling like we've transitioned from "I need to be held" to "really, Mom, I'd prefer to be held and I know I can make you do it if I really try".Along with the

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-67235045000494069372009-09-25T20:34:00.005-05:002009-09-25T20:54:11.528-05:00

The other day I was home with Q and doing some closet-cleaning. So I popped him in the exersaucer right next to me and started entertaining him with songs and senseless pratter. He was having such a great time I had to grab the camera (aren't you proud of me, G?).Mom, you're SO funnySeriously, do that againYou're killing me over here!!OK OK I'm pulling myself togetherI'm so totally chill nowAside

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-30244577463620763812009-09-19T21:51:00.002-05:002009-09-19T21:57:25.609-05:00

The other day I was explaining to Lily that she would be going to hang out with our neighbors across the street for an hour before Daddy got home (Q and I were heading to Braintree to see my Dad). She wanted to know if Rex, their oldest son, would be home. I told her that he would be home, but that he had some homework to do before he could play. We then had this conversation:Lily: What's

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-63649017531162633862009-09-17T09:24:00.004-05:002009-09-19T21:50:13.109-05:00

OK so back to some regularly scheduled programming for a little while as things have calmed down around here a little. Dad is still in rehab, but doing well. He should be coming home sometime in the next week. But more on that in another post...While all this crazy stuff has been going on Quinn has been quietly becoming another month older. Hard to believe our little baby is 4 months old.

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-13370590323102657442009-09-13T18:39:00.004-05:002009-09-13T19:49:02.008-05:00

.... though not the kind you're thinking about - Reunions and Rehab! (but ugh - *I* could sure use some rest and relaxation - anyone want to watch the kids while we escape to an island somewhere?) This past Friday, 9/11, Dad was moved from Rhode Island Hospital to Braintree Rehabilitation. And although I appreciate EVERYTHING that was done for him at R.I.H. - if I never see that place again

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-49719893648634770832009-09-09T19:37:00.013-05:002010-02-11T10:58:00.269-05:00

Agnes, Mom, Grandma, Grams, "Beema", Auntie Reggie, MadrinhaShe went by many names, played many roles, evidence of all the lives that she touched. Thanksgiving, 2008Grandma said her goodbyes on August 17, 2009 and moved on to a more peaceful state. She left behind the nursing home and staff who loved her, her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, her many nieces

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-18672220843711438262009-09-08T13:08:00.005-05:002009-09-10T13:02:47.999-05:00

When Eric got to the hospital Sunday morning he discovered that Dad had been moved from the INCU! Such a big step and one we had all been waiting and hoping for. He was set up in his own room when I got there. The only tubes left are the feeding tube and the foley catheter. Sunday was kind of a rushed day as we spent the beginning of it at the yearly family cookout at my cousin Lisa's house.

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-39180019687378316562009-09-05T21:03:00.002-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.296-05:00

Gosh I really thought I was going to get caught up on these posts while home in Somerville - that I could start posting things in "real time". Well I failed. I guess it's because when I go home I tend to spend the evenings catching up - doing our bills, doing laundry, sleeping, talking with friends - and then packing again for the next journey down to see Dad. So that's what happened.Now, we

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-47092837318527154542009-09-01T14:19:00.003-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.297-05:00

OK so here we are - Tuesday Sept 1. I spent two nights in Fall River this weekend and one extra night in Canton. We got back to Somerville last night. So where are we now?Dad's still awake. He still has the EVD - although they moved it from one side to the other on Saturday (Friday?) to prevent infection. He's had good days and bad days. Some days we go in and talk to him and we can really talk

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-19692863457635433142009-09-01T13:33:00.002-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.297-05:00

Two Sundays ago - 8/23 - Dad's pneumonia was under control enough such that they could remove the breathing tube. He had been doing most of the breathing on his own anyway, with the machine just providing a little extra help. I saw in the middle of the day. He was just starting to wake up a bit. He would open his eyes and look at me. He seemed to see me - he moved his lips as if he had

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-60801096456691214042009-08-27T21:23:00.002-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.297-05:00

I'm going to speed this up a bit not - partly so I can catch up to real time and partly because the next week didn't bring a lot in terms of action for my Dad. From my perspective there was a big change with Dad from Saturday to my return on Monday. He was awake on Sunday, but they had to put the catheter back in and that didn't go so well. He strongly resisted the whole thing and they needed

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-1969825944992400702009-08-27T19:53:00.000-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.298-05:00

The next day was Saturday - and things started getting a little more complicated. We started out the day by heading to the nursing home to visit with Grandma. Seeing her had been our original intentions before everything went crazy - so we still wanted to make that visit happen. My brother went off to the hospital to be with Dad, while Mom went with us to visit Grams.When we got to the

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-80228853449977490882009-08-26T13:45:00.003-05:002009-09-05T22:11:40.298-05:00

I'm not sure how to start this post or how to write it - but there's been a lot going on here, and I feel compelled to talk about it.   Also, so many people have been asking after us and offering help - I thought it'd be nice to have a place to post updates as we go along.  So here we go...Friday morning, August 14th (so nearly 2 weeks ago now) - Quinn woke up for his feeding shortly after 4AM.  

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-46198335418903804332009-08-13T21:33:00.007-05:002009-09-13T19:49:12.284-05:00

Life with a two and a half year old- it's never boring and often trying. I have to say that I've felt kind of bad for Lily lately. Quinn's arrival and the challenge of meeting all his needs and Lily's at the same time has left me with less patience for her - and it makes me sad. But really, when you have a crying baby who just wants some food on one hand and a 2-year old throwing a fit

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-85843311305430175242009-08-08T21:20:00.004-05:002009-09-10T13:02:31.536-05:00

Being a second child and all there are fewer pictures of Quinn than we had of Lily. Now that's not to say there aren't any pictures - Gordon's still all over that camera - but he took ALOT of pictures of Lily. So I'm making up for it with a ton of extra blog posts dedicated to the little guy. Anyway, it took some time to catch a real Q-smile on camera - but here you go:What? do you want

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-59719944600867503232009-08-08T21:13:00.005-05:002009-09-10T13:02:31.537-05:00

Well here we are already - 3 months old! It's the end of Harvey Karp's "4th trimester". And let me tell you - I DO hope that this means Quinn will start being more and more okay with a little less holding - cuz my arms are tired. At least he's been a very effective post-partum weight loss program. Turns out walking around with a 10+ lb weight strapped to your chest is not bad exercise.Ah poor

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-40067265447058341592009-07-15T14:25:00.006-05:002009-09-10T13:02:31.537-05:00

Holy Smokes - Quinn is two months old - actually two months and one week. I'm not entirely sure how that happened -where did the last two months go? I realized he was indeed growing when suddenly the newborn prefold diapers were no longer quite big enough and the Carter's NB-sized onesies became a challenge to snap closed. Everything just seems to be happening faster this time around. I guess

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-8812815405955530252009-07-13T14:22:00.006-05:002009-09-10T13:04:35.879-05:00

Bedtime, naptime - such bittersweet times of the day. Theoretically these are times when the little cherubs are getting what they need - lots of good sleep for developing bodies and minds - and the adults are getting what they need - some time to themselves before passing out from shear exhaustion in front of the Sopranos or something. Lately however, these have become times of strife in our

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-41666501277464362832009-07-08T12:46:00.004-05:002009-07-11T09:53:58.426-05:00

Ah summer - although we've had precious little of it around here so far... we DID manage to get in strawberry picking before the season came and went in a rainy blur. The day of the Strawberry Festival at Land Sake's farm in Weston turned out to be one of the few sunny breaks in an otherwise very wet and dreary June. So we jumped in the car and met our friends Hector and Jeanie and their son

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-69139312904102567792009-07-07T16:47:00.006-05:002010-02-11T23:33:53.296-05:00

Ah the famous "why" stage. Looks like we're in it. And it's both infuriating and adorable at the same time. Lily has this cute way of making a statement and then adding why to the end - kind of like this:Lily: "Mommy, you just dropped the spoon on the floor. WHY????"Me: "Because I'm clumsy sometimes"Lily: WHY????Me: "Because I was born that way"Lily: "WHY???"Me: "I don't know, ask

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-90491282851082717812009-07-05T12:00:00.000-05:002009-09-10T13:03:04.218-05:00

In Chinese culture there is a 1-month celebration for a new baby called a red egg and ginger party. We had one of these for Lily at her Uncle Gabe's house in New Jersey right around her 1-month birthday. This time around we decided to have the party in our neck of the woods instead. The decision to do it this way was made before Quinn was born based on the fact that we'd have two kids this

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-31652427984696010052009-06-30T11:25:00.006-05:002009-09-19T21:50:29.078-05:00

I'm always looking for things to do with Lily on our days home together. I'm just not a Mom who can make a day at home into a jam-packed day of activities and entertainment - I lack the creatvity required. So when a friend of mine told me about a new art class that her friend was launching for 2-3 year olds I was all "sign us up!". We took Annie and Erin's "KidArt" class the first time it was

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-66799088822375299322009-06-20T16:07:00.006-05:002009-09-19T21:50:37.382-05:00

So that Quinn, he likes being held. And it turns out - Lily - she still has needs too. I've been trying to teach her to cook her own lunch, but she's just not quite there yet. Come on kid - get with the program!In the meantime, there is my mei tai. No, no not "mai tai" - mei tai. It's an asian-style baby carrier and without it I would be a woman adrift in a sea of hopelessness. How else can

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-35905688972474696482009-06-17T10:36:00.005-05:002009-09-10T13:03:25.124-05:00

Today Wednesday I got a big old smile from Mr. Quinn. I'm not sure that it's his first - I swear I've seen others from him over the past two weeks - but there was no mistaking this one. The others had been kind of small, a little tentative. All in response to me talking and smiling at him, but I just wasn't sure. But today Wednesday.... I was holding him and talking to him and he was watching

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-89149521738653496322009-06-11T21:06:00.004-05:002009-09-10T13:03:54.544-05:00

The one thing about Lily's infancy that mad me sad was my inability to nurse her. I didn't write about it here at the time, but during my pregnancy with Lily I was on a drug called Imuran to manage my myasthenia gravis. The drug did a great job keeping me stable, but it's a drug with side effects and its safety during pregnancy is uncertain. Lily did just fine, of course, but once she was born

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-59874466845713177162009-06-06T09:17:00.007-05:002009-09-10T13:04:14.310-05:00

I wish I could just sit down and write something here everyday instead of letting things build up and eat at my brain until I get all bummed about not recording it somewhere and finally give in. Lily's been saying such fun things lately I really want to capture them here. So someday, I can come back and remember - Like when she's a teenager and I want to strangle myself. To that end, here's a

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-19938154367309107642009-06-03T15:27:00.003-05:002009-09-10T13:03:25.125-05:00

Somehow it's been almost a month since Quinn was born. How is that even possible? He'll be 4 weeks old this Friday. Gordon went back to work last week, so I've been on my own for a little bit now. It's going okay. The days with just Q and I are totally doable. I've forgotten a bit how much attention newborns need/demand. But otherwise, we're hanging in. My days with both Lily AND Quinn -

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-33910636248416517752009-05-24T15:45:00.010-05:002009-09-10T13:03:25.125-05:00

I've always had this (potentially very annoying) habit of complaining about things that in reality make me very happy. For example, I was feeling pretty run down by the end of my pregnancy - like REALLY run down. My doctor was all "stop working - you have the diagnosis for it - I will give you whatever paperwork you need. So just stop". I was all "No! I must work until the last minute - how

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-54891486293600904452009-05-14T15:39:00.005-05:002010-02-11T23:32:02.332-05:00

OK OK so I had about 3-4 posts neatly lined up in my head all planned for those wonderful days that I would be off work waiting for Baby Koi to arrive and Lily was off at Mimi's house preserving her day care schedule. These posts were just one item among a whole list of "stuff to do with my new found free time before we have two children". Well I had my last day of work on Thursday, May 7th and

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-32776296700497822412009-05-03T06:29:00.004-05:002010-02-11T10:59:56.308-05:00

Well folks today is 37 weeks - that means that Baby Koi is officially full term and is hereby invited to vacate the premises ANYTIME. I'm pretty much done at this point - and here's how I know: my feet are so swollen that walking has become difficult. I sort of hop/limp my way up and down the hallway at work to get to/from the bathroom. when Lily runs to me saying "Mommy I have to poop!" and

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-88711907395142238702009-04-27T14:17:00.003-05:002010-02-11T23:31:40.473-05:00

There is nothing quite like spring time in New England - at least for me. Every winter seems a little harder to bear than the last (maybe it's being stuck inside with a toddler?) - but the upside is that it makes spring that much more spectacular. I especially love it around here in Somervile because there are so many parks and places to be outside. It's great to see the other parents and kids

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-12974907044139870422009-04-27T14:00:00.003-05:002010-02-11T10:58:30.342-05:00

After our little Easter Egg hunt at home we piled in the car and headed to Fall River to celebrate with my family. We met my Mom at my Grandma's nursing home first. Really this whole post is just an excuse to post some of the pictures that were taken there. The light was particular good and Gordon got some great shots. Lily enjoyed looking at all the pictures in Vo-Vo's room and we enjoyed

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-22056914046914117862009-04-27T13:56:00.005-05:002010-02-11T10:58:30.342-05:00

Easter started at our house with a basket of goodies and an egg hunt. Lily wasn't super psyched about the Easter Bunny because .. um.... we sort of never mentioned him to her. But she was still pretty happy to see the basket and got totally into the egg hunting aspect. Our version of the Easter Bunny stuffs his eggs with such goodies as: kix cereal, goldfish (ooo decadent!), dried apricots and

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-91481158002788852622009-04-17T14:19:00.004-05:002010-02-11T23:41:48.016-05:00

As usual Easter snuck up on us. It even came a little later this year - but still seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Despite the usual "lack of togetherness" we did manage to get some eggs colored (albeit the day before the actual holiday!). We had an extra treat because Uncle Justin was in town and he was at our house to help us out. As you can tell from the pictures below Lily is pretty

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-9759123638431243852009-04-01T18:46:00.006-05:002010-02-11T23:34:42.258-05:00

Like any good pregnant woman I am feeling that whole "nesting" urge. Of course it's a little different with our second since we've already got a nursery of sorts set up and no additional bedroom for the little one. So the whole getting ready bit just consists of rearranging some stuff in Lily's room. There's not a ton of new furniture to buy, rooms to paint, etc. However, why let that stop me

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-89276630695363016282009-03-30T13:48:00.003-05:002010-02-11T10:59:07.014-05:00

I had another ultrasound today. It was a growth ultrasound and it sounds like there will be a couple more before all is said and done because of the GD. It's funny, most women only get one ultrasound and would be psyched for more. Being high-risk, I got a ton and am starting to get a little tired of it. Only because it makes for a pretty long appointment. As the weeks tick by it's getting

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-35668951751249365022009-03-24T16:27:00.004-05:002010-02-11T10:59:07.014-05:00

I guess this blog has taken many forms over the past couple of years -sometimes just a "hey look what we're up to" and other times more of a "baby book" and then occasionally a place for me to just type stuff. Well I'll caution that this will probably end up being one of those latter, more self-indulgent type posts. But I kind of need it.It's been a busy couple of weeks. When Discovery finally

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-75458346685322658672009-03-08T21:40:00.003-05:002010-02-11T10:59:42.229-05:00

I mentioned that Lily was sick. Turns out she was pretty sick. Her doctor kept commending me for bringing her in at "just the perfect time". He was saying how he's seen a hundred children with nothing more than viral infections so it was nice to find one who actually needed a doctor. I think he was trying to make me feel good about my instincts or something - but instead I mostly felt like,

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-25640886803964644752009-03-06T08:33:00.003-05:002010-02-11T10:59:42.229-05:00

This week Lily got sick - if you remember she was pretty sick last March too (hey - that was posted EXACTLY one year ago to the day!). All in all we've been lucky in terms of illnesses - she's been pretty healthy. But you know - it's winter, and she goes to daycare - so it's to be expected every now and then.This year she woke up with a fever on my birthday - pretty much killing any plans we

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-46306026262046486592009-02-28T07:47:00.003-05:002010-02-11T23:32:29.803-05:00

Whew - look at me getting a Valentine's Day post in while it's STILL FEBRUARY - amazing.I'm not much of a Valentine's Day person - I don't despise the holiday or anything - but I don't care much for it. It seems like a lot of pressure for no good reason. Also - roses - who came up with that? Because here's what happens: I get roses, I have to find a vase, cut the stems, figure out how much

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-765518625005884761.post-63803435095754841612009-02-21T20:49:00.003-05:002009-02-21T22:53:21.533-05:00

I'm beginning to worry that I really don't stand a chance against Lily. I mean I've tried - and I think that in general I've been pretty good at not being a total pushover. She's pretty good about limits (so far): she sits at the table through a meal, is somewhat polite (please and thank yous), knows that sharing is good and really tries, and goes to bed without a huge fit. But lately, she's

Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08834232073972867030noreply@blogger.com0