GRAM

 My Gram Dianne, whom Vivienne is named after, came out for nearly two weeks for a visit.  She came out as I was going back to work to help my transition be a bit easier, which worked. It was so wonderful to have my grandma here, she is the best!  She is easy going, clean and willing to do anything to help out.  She watched the kiddos several times for us so we could go out, which was fabulous and probably wont happen for a long time again.  She is all around a fabulous woman!  Not only is she fabulous but she spoiled us so much while she was out here, we were so lucky to have her  here.

While Gram was here we took a trip to the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) to see the Nick Cave Exhibit.  Christian and I were both pleasantly surprised at how much Berkeley loved the exhibits and still talks about how much fun it was.  The exhibit was pretty awesome, we all enjoyed it.

 Gram had a wonderful time bonding with Vivienne; watching her each day as I went to work.  It was nice to know she was at home being cared for by someone who loves her. Gram would send me pictures at work which was wonderful  and then I came home to a clean house and help with the kids and the night routine.

We also ventured out to the Aquarium to see all the sea creatures.  We had a really fun day there petting sting rays, star fish and flank fish and looking at all the beautiful fish, turtles, seahorse and jellyfish.  

 One day it was nice outside (meaning above 40 degrees), so we went for a Sunday drive to Rockport, MA.  We were able to visit with our long lost friend the ocean, do a bit of shopping and eat some delicious sea food.

 Gram was such a sport to venture out in the cold, it was freezing outside the entire time she was here.  I know she hates the cold, and the humidity here makes the cold so much more bitter, but she never complained. By the way I AM SO OVER WINTER!!!!  We have had yet another terribly cold, snowy and long winter and I am done.  While I love living out here for all the wonderful things it has to offer, the winter is a terrible downside.

 My kids are so lucky that they know their great grandmother so well, she is an amazing person so full of love and would do anything for her family.  We had such a great visit and are ready for her to be back here ASAP.

 Shortly after Gram left, Vivienne turned 3 months old (time goes by so much faster when babies are not growing inside of you!)  

She weights 12.8 lbs

23 inches long

sleeps 10-12 hours a night

and smiles all the time.  

She is such a happy baby; she loves to be held and talked to and then lets you know if she is hungry or tired.  She is now laughing a bit; her brother is the only one who can get the giggles out of her.  Berkeley is starting to finally really be interested in her because she can smile and laugh at him and isn't just taking all of his mommies time. He has been a great helper with his little sister and appears to have a deep love for her already, we all do.  She really is such a beautiful girl and it looks as though she will be a ginger; she does not have much hair but what little she does is bright red.  I'm pretty sure she is gonna rock her red locks, and hopefully leave that well rumored red headed temper somewhere else.

 Mr. Berke man is as silly as ever, he is in that fun phase where he asks what everything is and/or means.  He is obsessed with Star Wars and Legos and loved seeing the Lego movie with his Dad and Travis.  He enjoys pretending various characters from Star Wars are his imaginary friends and they seem to always be causing problems.  

He is also in that fun phase where he has selective hearing and it feels like we ask him 20 times to do a simple task.  This tends to leave us a bit less patient these days, but we are working on that.

He is doing really well learning to read and the last month his writing has improved by leaps and bounds.  It is really hard for him to focus while learning these tasks but he has really worked hard and is making a lot of progress and we are so proud of him.  

I love this pictures of Berke; Porter Square is "our square," everyone tells you where they live in accordance to which "square" they lives closest to.  We are close to Porter, Union and Davis Square but we spend a lot of our time in Porter.  We walk to Porter to catch the train, to go to the gym, to get my nails done, our toy store is there, our pharmacy and so on and so forth.  While it is an absolute nightmare to park and drive around, it is our square and we love it.