P&S

Today Kevin and I had the P & S for our new house. This is the Purchase & Signing and basically means we had to sign the contract saying we're buying the house and provide our down payment to the realtor, who will hold it in escrow for us. Our attorney and the seller's attorney have gone back and forth on the documents over the past few days and our attorney has had a couple of conversations with Kevin to go over the legalese. Remind me to never get a law degree, because this woman (our attorney is a woman) has been working not only while pregnant, but also right after giving birth. I spoke with her on Thursday, she sent me and Kevin emails on Friday, she had her baby on Sunday, and was emailing with the seller's attorney on Monday and Tuesday. She and Kevin chatted today, but she did not attend our P&S. I think she must be super woman, or a little bit of a workaholic. What do you think?!?

I'm not entirely sure what the next step is now. I believe the bank will do an appraisal of the house, to be sure it's appraised for what we purchased it for (I believe that if it is less they won't give us the mortgage -- so we'd have to renegotiate purchase price again). We also have to be sure our mortgage is on track (they're working on things with that now -- background checks and the like). And then we need to get set up with homeowner's insurance, and I've already reached out to an insurance company for an estimate and to find out next steps. I think we'll probably go with them -- the agent has been my car insurance agent for a few years and he's very nice and helpful. I will also get a discount because they work with my firm.

We do need to buy a new refrigerator and a dryer immediately as the seller is taking both of those items, and we're starting to look around and figure out what we want and like. One nice thing is that the seller is leaving us the lawnmower, snowblower, fertilizer spreader, and some other various gardening/lawn tools, which will be super helpful since as renters we of course don't have any of that stuff!

We close and move in 1 month. I still can't believe it! I don't think I will completely believe it until we get the keys and walk in that front door!

A Parenting Milestone

There comes a time in every boy's life when he must assemble the first of his child's complicated birthday/Christmas/insert-holiday-here toys. Today that boy, my husband Kevin, crossed that milestone off of his to-do list.

For his big 02 birthday this year, Zach received not 1, but 2 kiddy tricycles. You might think Zach is young for a tricycle, and he is, but these are geared towards younger tots, and they have a built in steering handle on the back, for the parent to push and steer the youngster down the sidewalk. Anyway, we got Zach one of these cool trikes, and his godmother, "Aunt Liz", got him one too. We're going to keep the one we got him and return the one from Liz (Zach is more than happy to go shopping and see what else he can buy!) Kevin had loads o' fun assembling the trike this evening.

Young Zachary has not seen this trike just yet, and I'm actually considering hiding it until we get home from work tomorrow. I know that he will immediately want to hop on and go outside (one of his favorite words -- "OUTTIDE!, OUTTIDE!"), and all hell will break loose when we explain that we need to have breakfast and to go to Lucy's. But I don't think that the other boy (Kevin) will allow me to hide it, and will instead encourage the morning recklessness. Hey, you're only 2 once.

Sad News

My dad's younger brother, my Uncle Bob, passed away today. He had a slew of health issues and things had been looking grim for the past few weeks. I was not close to Uncle Bob, but it's still tough to lose a family member. My dad is hanging in there, but I'm sure it's not easy to see your little brother succumb to an illness. We all know that Uncle Bob is in a much better place, and in fact Dad and I had a nice conversation on the phone this evening about how Uncle Bob is partying up in Heaven with their younger brother (Uncle Tom), Grandma, Grandpa, my cousin Suzanne (Uncle Bob's daughter), and various other Langleys. It is comforting to think about Death that way, that you are finally at peace and happy, and surrounded by the rest of your family and friends, in a place where there is no more hurt, no more tears.

Rest in peace, Uncle Bob.

The Mullens of Murphy Circle

Kevin and I bought a house! It's been a whirlwind of activity and things are moving very very rapidly, but I am happy to say that we are soon to become actual homeowners. I've been really hesitant to talk about it too much, call me superstitious or crazy, but I've kind of felt like if I talked about it then it wouldn't come true. The stars are all in alignment though, because our offer was accepted and we're set to close on it in one month.

Crazy that just a few weeks ago we'd never heard of Murphy Circle. None of my housing searches on the realtor websites had pulled up our house. But it was out there, hiding behind a higher sticker price, just out of our price range. When it dropped to a lower asking price, our realtor jumped on it, and brought us to see it the next day. Of course we loved it, and went back to see it again at their open house two days later. We put in an offer and found that someone else also loved our house and had also put in an offer -- for 10 grand higher than we offered. Luckily for us, the other bidders had contingencies on their offer that made us look a lot more attractive as buyers, and the homeowners went with our offer. We had the inspection last week and everything went really well. The inspector did recommend a couple of second opinions on some work to the house, and those inspections were done today. We were scheduled to have the P&S (purchase & sales?) tomorrow, but as it turns out, our attorney just had a baby -- as in JUST had a baby, like over the weekend -- so we're delaying that a week. It shouldn't affect our closing date though.

Speaking of, the closing date is set for August 28th. It's a great date, just at the end of our rental period with our Brookline place. We're hoping the stars stay aligned and that date stays firm.

Hap Birf to you, dear Zach! (as sung by Zachary)

Zachary is officially no longer a baby. He turned 2 on Saturday, which is what I define as the age when babyhood ends, although I don’t know if I can actually stop calling him Baby. Since he was born I’ve been getting emails from various kid sites and the subject lines have been “your baby at 6 weeks; your baby at 9 months; your toddler at 15 months, etc”. On Saturday I got an email entitled “your preschooler at 24 months.” I don’t think I can make that leap to preschooler just yet. He’s still well into toddlerhood in my mind.

So Saturday was an absolutely perfect (although a tad too hot) summer day, and we celebrated Zach’s birthday with a party in the park. His friends Nicholas, Isabel, Kiran, and Nadia were able to join us. We played on the swings, in the sand, and running all around. Unbelievably, the park was empty for almost the entire party, so we took over the whole seating area. It was very nice. It’s so funny and cute to see Zach with little friends and to watch them interact.

Because of the timing of the party (mid-afternoon) we opted to not have a meal, but we did have snacky foods and, of course, cake. Kevin feels very strongly about homemade birthday cakes, and we went back and forth on what we should make. I had originally thought Zach’s birthday party theme would be puppies because he loves them so much, but in the end we went with a beach-y sort of theme instead. His invitations were photo invitations and he was clearly on the beach in the photo, so we continued with that thinking. Kevin initially wanted to make a sailboat cake, but my idea of a sandcastle cake won him over, and I think the end result came out pretty well. Kevin baked the cakes and I cut them out and decorated them. It was actually pretty fun and easy to do.

Zach got some great gifts at his party, and has been playing non-stop with them ever since we got home that afternoon! I think it’s time to start packing up (and putting away) some of his younger babyish toys, and finding room for his more mature toys. Lately he’s into toy foods, pretend play, and trains, as well as bubbles and riding toys.

There was a lovely breeze when I was trying to light the candle on Zach’s cake, and we ended up not being able to get it to stay lit. So we sang Happy Birthday without having a lit candle. We thought Zach would join in the singing – he sings that song several times a day – but instead he got a little shy and smiley instead. He did enjoy the cake (and the gogurt which got all over him) as well as his Elmo juice box, and sang it privately at home to us later.

Happy birthday to my baby Zachary! No matter how old you get, you’ll always be my sweet baby boy.

6 Weeks

Kevin was gone for 6+ weeks this summer, as is usual, while he was on his excavation in Spain. We missed him terribly, but we were actually pretty busy so the time went pretty quickly. We had a lot going on over the weekends and I never posted anything about those fun weekends because there was too much to capture! But I think I’ll put up a Cliffs Notes version of it all now with a few photos as well.

Weekend 1 – May 22nd
My sister (Barb), my mom, and my niece (Abby) and nephew (Alex) came for a visit. Kevin left on Friday and they came on Saturday! Mom hadn’t seen Zach since he was 6 weeks old and I think was amazed at how big he had gotten. We went down to the Boston Public Gardens and Fanueil Hall and had a nice time. The weather was all over the place, warm, then cold, so Em was all bundled up (she’s always cold) and Abby was in summer gear (she was optimistic). Zach loved having more family members to play with, and he and Abby actually got along quite well, despite their age difference (she’s 8, but loves babies!) The weekend went by too quickly; it was so good to see them!

Weekend 2 – May 29th
Hmm, of course now I can’t remember this particular weekend! It might have been the only weekend we didn’t have anything going on. The following week was Em’s prom and prep for her graduation.

Weekend 3 – June 5th
This was Emily’s graduation weekend, which I already posted about. Sandy came up and was tremendously helpful as always, in particular with watching Zach for me so that I could get the house in order for the party, as well as just to sit in peace during the graduation ceremony itself and get teary eyed over my baby girl’s high school graduation.

Weekend 4 – June 12th
We traveled to NJ on Thursday evening because Friday evening was my goddaughter Michelle’s sweet 16 birthday party. Her actual birthday was in April, but they had the party in June to help travelers (ie: us) who were also attending her brother Jonathan and stepsister Megan’s graduation party the following day. Michelle’s party was super fun and she was absolutely breathtaking in her gold dress. The guests all wore black, white, or black & white, so she really stood out in her shimmery dress. I remember very clearly the first time I held Michelle in my arms when she was just about a month old. I can’t believe she can drive now! Crazy. Zach didn’t go to Chelle’s party – he partied instead with Grammy and Papa Bob. The following day was the graduation party for Jonathan and Megan. The weather didn’t hold out so it was overcast and rainy on and off all day. They have a pool and some brave souls did go in for a little bit (Em was one of those brave folks), but for the most part we stayed in the house or went out to roast marshmallows over the fire pit. The kids also bounced on the trampoline, and Zach made friends with some of the other kids there, although he was the youngest by many years. Our other very close family friends (the Meynardi’s) were there and it was so wonderful to see them as well. Debbie, Karen, and I were all friends in Albany many, many years ago (Karen and I went to college together, and Deb and I met when Em and Jonathan were 6 months old). It was so great to see all those guys and get the kids together like we used to do a lot more often when they were younger. On Sunday I took Em out to the Jersey Shore to meet her college roommate Tori. She is very nice and very pretty and the girls hit it off right away. I think they’re going to be a great fit. Weekend 5 – June 19th
Saturday was our little friend Nicholas’s first birthday party! He had a luau-themed party at his house and it was so cute and fun! Zach even tried on a grass skirt. Nicholas had such a yummy birthday cake, but they also had a tray of desserts and goodies. I grabbed a mini-cupcake for Z and he immediately licked all the icing off and then handed me the unbitten cupcake for me to eat.

Weekend 6 – June 26th
Back down to New Jersey we went for my friend Nancy’s baby shower. She’s due with Baby Jack at the end of August. Nancy is one of my oldest friends – we were on the crew team together in college, and we were roommates in Philadelphia (during our short-lived move there post-college). She threw me one of my baby showers when I was pregnant with Emily, and it was so nice to be a part of her baby shower (her first baby!) The party was held at our friend Sandra’s house in Maplewood, which is the town that Nancy and her husband Glenn also just bought a house in, so we walked over to the new house to take a look.

Weekend 7 – July 3rd
Yay! It was a long weekend and I took the following week off on vacation (my “staycation” – also another post). Em was at her dad’s house for the weekend so Zach and I went to my friends’ house up in Boxford (north of Boston) on the 4th of July. I went to college with Lisa and Eric and hadn’t seen them in years although they moved to Massachusetts about a year and a half ago. They have twin boys who are 13 and a 7 year old daughter. We had a lovely cookout at their house and caught up on things. Zach hadn’t had a nap so we didn’t stay late. Plus, I wanted to get him home before we got caught in too much traffic coming into Boston for the big fireworks and party on the Esplanade. I got Zach off to bed for the night before the fireworks really got into it – we live close enough to Boston that you can see the fireworks from my bedroom window (they’re low on the horizon, but you can see them , especially the finale), and especially you can hear them. On Sunday we went to a birthday party for Zach’s friend Sarah, who just turned 2 as well.

Monday, July 6th
Emily, Zach and I went to Revere Beach and had a great time! I totally got sunburned but it was so beautiful and really one of the first really great summery days so far this year. We had our traditional lunch from Kelly’s Roast Beef and ate it on the beach. Zach made friends with a little boy and they played together until we left. After a good nap and bath, he and I went to the airport and picked up Kevin!! Yay!!!

The rest of last week was good. Kevin was home (although had to work), but the weather wasn’t great. We did a lot of things around the house and it was nice to just chill. On Friday we met with our realtor and went out to look at some houses with him. The results of that are worthy of another post, so will post that later (along with lots of pictures!)

Day 1 of my "staycation"

Today is the first day I have off for my week home on my staycation. (For those of you who don't know, a staycation is a vacation where you stay at home, and explore your home area. I'm having a staycation because we have no money to go anywhere, and daycare is closed next week, so we're going to explore our local beaches and parks.)

Fortunately, the weather cooperated and Zach and I hit a couple of our local parks. He did not get the memo on letting Mommy sleep past 6:00 (or even at least until 6:00), so he and I were up with the birds (although he was back down for a nap at 10:00). It really felt nice to just kind of hang out, play with and rediscover his toys, even do laundry! The past month has been so hectic, that it felt luxurious to not do a whole lot today.

I have a famously bad sense of direction, but actually gave tourists correct directions into town today. Does that mean I've become a local? Am I a Bostonian? No, I don't think so either. I'm just a displaced Upstate New Yorker girl (although I am becoming kind of urban).

Em is at her dad's for the weekend and Kevin comes home on Sunday. I am so excited for his return! I know Zach is missing him a lot as well. He was really cute earlier -- we watched some old Zachary videos on the computer, and I think he got confused with the ones where Kevin was in them because he kept trying to talk to him. We do talk to Kevin on Skype on the computer and I think he thinks that Kevin lives in the computer monitor.

Tomorrow we're heading up north of Boston to visit my friends Lisa and Eric. They are friends of mine from college and moved here a year or two ago and we haven't gotten together yet. They invited us over for a cookout and I thought that might be fun. Zach and I are going to skip the fireworks because they start so late, but it will be nice to celebrate the holiday with friends. We have a party on Sunday as well -- a birthday party for my friend Lydia's daughter Sarah. She's turning 2 and she and Zach are friends as well.

I should probably head to bed early since Zach will likely have me up early, plus we have a Skype date with Kevin first thing in the morning.!

Breakfast is more fun when you share it with friends

This is pretty self-explanatory. Zach likes blueberries, but so do his toy-friends. He's a very good share-r.

Looking on the bright side

It has rained what I believe is a record number of days in a row here in Boston. Or maybe a record number of days for this time of year. It's rainy and a little chilly, yet still humid (such a nice combo, right? It does wonders for the hair). It really stinks, we're all in bad moods, but I'm trying to put a positive spin on it and think on the bright side, so I've come up with a list of reasons why it's not so bad that the weather is crappy.

Jody's Top 10 Reasons Why a Cold and Rainy June (and July) is Okay:
1) I haven't had to turn on the a/c yet so we're saving on electric bills.
2) I'm saving myself from the risk of dying from skin cancer by not exposing myself to the sun.
3) I'm saving others from the risk of laughing to death at the sight of me in a bathing suit on the beach.
4) My normally sadly neglected outdoor plants are thriving and out of control.
5) Boston will surely not encounter a drought or water shortage this year.
6) My windshield wipers are earning their keep.
7) So that I don't run the risk of sleeping through the night and being too well rested, I get the comforting crack of thunder a few times each night to help wake me up.
8) When the sun finally does appear and summer actually arrives, I will really appreciate it!
9) I'm getting a lot of use out of my cold weather clothes.
10) Zach gets the fun of jumping into puddles on a daily basis.

Our heat also just got fixed today after not working since some time in April. Of course this should be a harbinger of summer for us -- now that we can actually turn on the heat, we don't need it, right? I should thank the landlords.