August 21, 2012: REAL TIME SNAPSHOT

  I am woefully behind on keeping this blog updated (almost 8 months--yikes!), so I'll try to do occasional "real time" posts until I (theoretically) get caught back up again someday.

  Between Christmas of 2011 and now, we have had some exciting changes.  Sometime in late April we walked to Lib's and ran into Matt Lane, who mentioned that we should visit the new Falmouth Elementary School playground.  We walked home and, after it stopped raining, we decided to check it out.  It is a beautiful playground and a wonderful elementary school campus.  Scott, in particular, was really blown away at the difference between the Falmouth and Lyseth playgrounds and physical plants.  Thus began a discussion about how maybe we should consider moving.  Either that night or the next night, I read an article I caught on Facebook containing the Maine elementary school rankings.  Lyseth had fallen from something like 42 to 146 or 46 to 142 out of about 222 Maine elementary schools.  Yarmouth was #1...  We started looking at real estate immediately and quickly narrowed the search to antique houses in Yarmouth that didn't need much or any work.  We considered briefly actually moving our old house, but nixed that after not too much thought.

  We checked out the huge house on East Main Street (awful location) and happened to drive past 6 Church Street on our way to my parents' house to pick up the boys.  The house seemed out of our price range, but we grabbed a flyer nonetheless because I really liked the look of the outside.  We soon saw the farm house on McCartney Street, where we met Lucy Tucker, who was the seller's agent for that home.  We hated that house, but Lucy offered to get us into both the Cumberland Street and Church Street houses, the first listed by David Kitchen and the second FSBO.  We liked Cumberland Street, but it was out of our price range and had a bizarre real estate issue.

  I fell in love with the Church Street house immediately.  I cried sitting in the corner of the living room, looking toward the kitchen and said, "It feels like it could be OUR home."

  We committed pretty quickly after learning that perhaps 1 or 2 houses come on the market per year of the type we were looking for.  We didn't want to lose momentum and find ourselves nearing the fall of 2014 and Selwyn's kindergarten year without having found something else that we liked as much or more; it seemed more likely we would "settle" for something, which wouldn't have made anyone happy.  We went back and forth with the sellers with regard to price, and discovered some issues along the way (sewer pipe needed to be replaced, radon was slightly elevated--have yet to fix that, roof needed some repairs--still waiting on the roof guy).  Lucy certainly earned her commission along the way!  We closed on July 7, 2012.

  We listed the Washington Avenue house this past Friday.  I sure hope it sells soon.  Lucy has an open house scheduled for August 26th, and a broker's tour planned two days later.  I know she'll do her best to sell it.

  SO, updates on us!  I'm at the beginning of Week 5 of the Couch to 5K program, and Scott is also on his 5th week of running.  His suits were starting to not fit well, and he has definitely lost some weight.  He says he feels much better and has more energy.  I invested in a Bob Duallie stroller, as I found one at a good price/on sale on Amazon. I know the resale value of those strollers is high, and Scott and I have each already used it twice, so it seems like a good purchase.  Scott is super busy at work, of course, and work has been blessedly light for me this summer.  I'm not sure how else we would have negotiated the purchase and loan and moved so much stuff out of the old house if my work had been busy.  I guess the Universe determined the timing was right, overall.  We just celebrated our 5th anniversary last weekend.  Mom came over and watched the kids while we returned shoes to L.L. Bean and bought new dress shirts for Scott; picked up Scott's "new" suits from last Christmas, which had remained untailored until now and took them to Men's Wearhouse; got a coffee pot at Target so Scott can make iced coffee in more significant quanitities; bought Selwyn a new Lightning McQueen bicycle; ate at Minami; and shopped a bit for some non-sexy lingerie at Macy's. :)

  Selwyn.  Selwyn is solidly 3 1/2 now, and he is amazing.  He is athletic, confident, smart, helpful, cute and he loves reading.  Jackson's, Joseph's and Wyatt's moms have all told me their boys talk about Selwyn constantly.  He is SO inquisitive.  We hear "why" ALL THE TIME!

Recent questions include:

-"Do jellyfish have a mouth?"
-"Do all animals have a nose?"
-"How did the cows get over there?" (Using their legs, buddy...)
-At day care, he asked Kayla how she's going to get the baby out of her belly. Jackson informed him, "She'll push the baby out!"

Recent statements include:

-"When I grow up, I'm going to have a baby in my belly and then be a mom."  This led to a discussion of how only ladies can have babies.
-"When I grow up, I'm going to be a fireman, a dad, and a banker."
-"When I grow up I'm going to marry you, Mom."  This led to a discussion of how you can't marry a family member.  He decided he'll marry Emma's mom.

Selwyn still naps most days, although we have had some weekend days where he just didn't nap (and was usually fine).  He is a decent eater, and he has solidly added carrots with peanut butter and broccoli with cheese as vegetables he will eat on a daily basis.  He understands that broccoli makes him strong and carrots are good for his eyes.  His last two haircuts (followed by a frosted, sprinkled donut) have gone totally fine after more than a year and a half of ridiculous hollering.  Selwyn constantly talks about when he will be an adult.  He can't wait; silly boy... ;)  He (and all of us) had a blast at Storyland a few weeks ago with Dee, Adam, Ben and Lila.  I REALLY enjoyed taking my big guy on the rides.  He is not afraid of anything!  We've enjoyed play dates with Emma Michaud and Joseph Nano, and we're planning one with Jackson Holmes when they return from vacation.  Selwyn held his own as the youngest kid at Wyatt Sholl's 4th birthday party, where he whacked the crap out of a pinata, bounced like crazy in the bounce house, and played quietly and for a long time with Wyatt's Batman figurine play set.  I even bought him one off the Trading Post recently because I think he'll be totally into it, and he deserves something in his room that Everett cannot attack.  Selwyn is SO tolerant of Everett, talks to him so nicely most of the time, and shares his toys and food unselfishly.  He sleeps wonderfully at night.  He tells us he loves us multiple times on a daily basis, and he loves his grandparents fiercely.  He really is an amazing little boy.  We are so fortunate.

  Mr. Everett Patrick or "E.P.".  Everett is now 16 months and a week, and he is a firecracker!  He loves running away from us and laughing in the process.  He makes it known very loudly when he does not want something, and he tries absolutely everything Selwyn does, activity-wise.  Yesterday he mastered climbing to the top of the plastic Little Tykes play set in the back yard and sliding somewhat clumsily down the slide.  He enjoys bath time; rides in the stroller, jogger and wagon; playing golf and dragging the boogie board around the back yard.  He is just starting to enjoy books, especially Old MacDonald and Twinkle Twinkle with the wheels on the side.  He tries to sing.  I'm pretty sure E is the one that will give us a run for our money along the way, although he is often fairly good at listening.  He likes to help, too.  He puts things away and "back" when asked, like putting his milk in the fridge.  He is becoming more tolerant of having his 8 teeth brushed.  His words are: Hi (with a great wave--means both "hi" and "bye"), Mama, Daddy, doggie ("DAW-dee"), birdie (same as doggie), no ("nah"), all done ("arrah" with the hand shuffle sign to go with it), grampa ("gunkah"--with enthusiasm!), and tuckatucka (while tickling an adult).  He'll copy certain things like blowing on hot food.  He eats a bowl of cereal with milk by himself and quite well.  He uses a fork well, too.  He seems to like corn and broccoli for veggies.  His naps are a bit shorter than Selwyn's were at this age, but he still does a good 2 hours or so.  Everett went through a funky patch of night sleeping about a week ago, but he is generally a great night sleeper.  He still nurses most days in the morning and at night, although I think our time is short on that.  Lately he has taken to laughing at my breasts, which is both uncomfortable and hilarious.  I'm really proud of how long we have continued our nursing relationship.  I loved him from the second I saw him, and the feeling has never waned.

  We love our house.  We have so much more space here.  The computer is upstairs in the large guest room, and it is so pleasant.  The kitchen, playroom and living room are huge.  I love how the boys have their own bathroom, and I love how Scott and I have two sinks in our bathroom.  Everett's and Selwyn's rooms are great sizes, and they will be able to grow into them and change them around over the years.  Our back yard is awesome.  It is so nice to have the fenced-in area with a slew of outdoor toys.  The kids will be able to walk to school, home from practice, etc.   I'm praying the house isn't freezing in the winter...

  Being back in Yarmouth is awesome.  This neighborhood is phenomenal for riding bikes and walking.  Doug and Denise Bean brought us champagne when we moved in, and the Pikers dropped off gelato last Saturday.  People are friendly but not nosy.  We have gone to Andy's for ice cream and popsicles several times; the North Road playground; the antique store; the book store; the dump; and the library twice.  We threw a kick-ass Clam Festival Parade party.  Key Bank is super close (with a drive through), and it takes all of two minutes to get to Hannaford or my parents' house.  Freeport is only 7 minutes away, Brunswick 12, Downtown Portland 15, and day care is only 18.  I'm glad we're staying with Little Hands for at least another year.  I've seen around town Erin Harden's mom, Amy Suchanek's mom, Liz Wheat, Kate Brown, and Kristin Powell.  We had Ariel Carr and her family over this past weekend for  back yard play.  So fun.  I hope they move back as well.
 
  So I think that's a pretty good summary of where we are in life right now.  We're all healthy, happy and ridiculously fortunate.  Thanks, Universe!

Christmas Part II: The McGilverys

 After we had some time together as a family of four at Christmas for the first time, Grammie and Grampa Mac came over, and Aunt Abbie arrived a bit later.  Above, Grammie snuggled her grandsons.  Below, Everett LOVED looking at Grammie Mac!

 Selwyn had a fun time playing with Grammie and his new Play Dough Factory.  The carpet had seen better days... ;)

 Brunch was amazing!  Grammie Mac really went all-out to provide an awesome feast!

Christmas 2011 Part III: Logans and Berinskys

The Christmas fun continued with the arrival of the Logan/Berinsky clan!

 Everett received snuggles from Grandma KT, Ben, and Mommy.

 The kids enjoyed toys, both new and old.  Selwyn was very interested in Lila's new pack 'n' play for her baby doll.  They played really well together.

 The food was phenomenal.  KT did a fantastic job with the biscuits, spiral ham, stuffing, green beans, squash, and cranberry sauce.  YUM!  It was unbelievably nice to be able to relax with our family.

 Above, Lila and Selwyn dined together at the "kid table".  Below was actually the beginning of the visit, where Aunt Deirdre opened her birthday gifts.

 Above, voluminous snacks.  Below, Everett got snuggle time with Aunt Dee, too.