Flying Solo

Hi- lots of catching up to do.

We've been busy in what sort of feels like a do-nothing kind of busy. What I've realized though, is that even our do-nothing weekends still feel pretty full; doing all the things that I'm not doing during the week. Combine that with the sheer exhaustion that comes with being back at work, and I've found it hard to get inspired to write. And since I'm working, I'm not taking as many pictures, which means the pressure is on to say how things are going, instead of showing how things are going.

We had some incredible weather recently. Record temps - 85 degrees! - which made this past week of more seasonable 40s and 50s all that much harder.

Addy was struck with her first super-nasty virus of 2012, which left her with a runny nose, an alarming cough, and a high fever for 3 days. And "irritable" seems a bit too mild - more like 72 straight hours of inconsolability. It took about a week for her to be back to normal, but we're there now.

Pete was traveling this week. And although I handled it all fine, it reminded me how lucky I am to have an involved, helpful partner in parenting.

But, enough chatter.

Easter shoot. With real bunnies. It feels like eons ago. Addy and Chloe were bunny obsessed. 2 hours of just sitting and petting. The begging for a bunny has begun.

 The Donatos. There is so much I could say about them, but it wouldn't be enough. Seriously, I've written about 10 sentences here and deleted each one, because it barely scratched the surface. They rock.

 Sandals in March? We were happy to. Addy calls these shoes her "mouse shoes" - they are WeeSqueaks, so they squeak when she walks. She LOVES it.

Other things we love? Little girls in nightgowns. And peanut butter cracker towers.

 So maybe I cracked out one of her birthday gifts a little early. Two words: stamp. obsessed.

Lots of big events coming up this week - a big birthday on Thursday, and an egg hunt on Sunday. Stay posted - I promise I'll be posting again soon.

Not my kids.

Wow.




I'm back to work. And in case my silenced blog wasn't evidence enough, let me tell you. It is an adjustment. But, we're getting into the swing of things. After two weeks, I finally feel like even if I'm not ahead of the rat race, at least I'm keeping up with the pack. And that just means that I'm getting up and dressed and the kids out the door and me to work on time. I'm not talking about housework, dishes, or laundry.
I'm working part time as a nurse practitioner in the pediatric cardiology division at Tufts Floating Hospital for Children, covering for someone out on maternity leave. I am learning a lot, and learning feels good. Although, I have to confess that cardiology was my least favorite lecture in any nursing classes I ever took. I just didn't get it. I'm slowly, slowly starting to get it, and feel confident that if there's a murmur to be heard, I'll find it. So, I'll be fixing broken hearts until June :) doesn't that sound nice?

Since I last posted, we traveled down to NJ to meet two new babies - Abigail Rose and Finnegan William. My two best friends from high school had babies within the same week, and I was lucky enough to get to capture them both.

First, Finnegan:

And Abby:

Our nephew Austin turned 1, and we were happy to be there with him to celebrate, and to let the kids get some cousin time in.

Last but not least, I did a photo shoot with our youngest nephew, Brayden.

I left the girls in NJ for the remainder of the week. Leaving was hard, and I wasn't sure that I was ready to leave Addy for the last 4 hours I was there, but I did it. And I'm glad I did. She had a great time, we FaceTimed regularly, and came back chatting up a blue streak -- her speech therapist calls it 'jargon-ing'. It's one step more advanced than babbling, because she's working hard at using speech as communication, even if we can't understand what she is trying to tell us. And her signing is really taking off, as her fine motor skills improve.
Pete and I spent the week reconnecting - going out to dinner, having a glass of wine, just being together. It was good. It reminded me why I want to do date nights more often... and then the scale (and credit card bill) reminded me why it's a good thing we don't. But, for that week, we were childless, and the scale and bills didn't matter.

Pete ran his marathon, and although he fell a bit short of meeting his goal of breaking 4 hours, he still ran 26.2 miles more than most people did that day. He's back to training for another half-Ironman. Yuck.

So it's back to the grind.

Yep, not a single picture of my own kids in this post. They'll be back next time.