Story of the Day

Today as I was visiting an elderly gentleman our conversation went something like this:

Laci: So, do you still drive?

Man: OH No! You know those things called Stop signs, or slow down signs?

Laci: yes

Man: Well, sometimes they are on the right and sometimes they are on the left. One day, I was driving my daughter somewhere and there was one of them "Stop" signs right in the middle of the road. Well, I just went straight over it. It didn't hurt, it just felt kinda like road kill. A police officer pulled me over; he knew me and told me I wasn't supposed to be driving. Ever since that day, I drove home and haven't driven since. You know, my eyes aren't too good.

Laci: That is probably a good thing.

Man: (Laughs hysterically)

St. Patty's

Today was one of those PERFECT days. After a REALLY long winter, today finally felt like spring; it was an amazingly sunny and 62 degree kinda day. What made this day the best was that I had the day off in these perfect conditions. That's right, March 17th is not only St. Patrick's Day, but it is also Evacuation Day in Suffolk County (where I work). The holiday commemorates the evacuation of British forces from the city of Boston following the Siege of Boston, early in the American Revolutionary War.

Berkeley and I slept in until 8:00 a.m., and had a fun morning together before getting ready to head to Brandeis University to have lunch with C. Then we went to show Berkeley off to his freshman writing class; as we left I heard one of the girls say, "OMG, you seriously have the cutest kid ever." I have to agree with her. We had some R and R when we got home and then headed to a play group with some friends from church. Berke loved playing with his BFF Lily on the grass and swinging in the swing. We also chatted with our neighbors Charlotte and Agnus who just cant get enough of our little guy and his adorable smile.

It was really great to spend the day with my little one. He is such a joy and I love being his mom. I hope everyone else had sunshine in their days and were able to celebrate the luck of the Irish.

Bob

We have been very blessed to live in a neighborhood with such amazing people. There are a few elderly neighbors that we have grown quite fond of, as they have become like our family. Bob is a HUGE Red Sox fan, and lives two houses up the hill from us. He has lived on our street his entire life in a few different houses. Bob took a liking to McDuff the day we moved in; he stopped to pet and talk with him as we carried our boxes in the house. Since that time (almost 3 years ago), McDuff has become Bob's Goddog. Bob picks McDuff up twice a week, the days I work and C has school. They hang out the whole day and Bob brings him back around 5:00p.m. Bob loves this dog. He has also been amazing to take McDuff when we go out of town or when I was in the hospital delivering Berkeley. Sometimes he just comes and gets him to take him on a walk; he is the best dog sitter around. We feel so lucky to have someone who will help us care for our dog on a weekly basis. McDuff loves Bob as well and if he sees Bob walking down the street he starts barking because he is upset he doesn't get to go. What a pair!

Rain, Rain Go Away

It has been declared a state of emergency here in Boston due to the fact that in the last 72 hours we have had 10 inches of rain. It has been pretty much a steady down poor since Saturday morning. Luckily we live on a hill so we have avoided basement flooding, but many have not been so lucky. The images on the news of cars submerged are crazy. These dark rainy days have a lot of people down, but we are trying to stay optimistic by:

laughing and giggling

going to the mall
having lunch with good friends that are in town visiting
taking Sunday afternoon naps
watching movies
talking to our family on the cell
drinking Diet Dr. Pepper
wearing sexy rain boots
singing Broadway tunes to the piano
going to Costco
Eating Fat Free Frozen Yogurt

and of coarse

watching YouTube videos of Elmo

We are hopeful as the rain is supposed to subside this evening, and by Wednesday it will be 57 degrees and sunny.

13 Months

My baby will be 14 months tomorrow; I just wish I could push the pause button for a minute and enjoy all these changes a little longer. This last month has been a fun and challenging one.

Berke has struggled with these glasses, but finally seems to have accepted that they are a part of him and now takes them off only a handful of time each day. They seem to be helping him see, and we are hopeful that his eyes will get stronger and this will be a short term situation.

Berkeley has started "talking" a little bit more. He is saying dog, dada, apple, elmo, and HI! He loves to jabber away and I have no idea what he is trying to tell me.

This little guy is so close to walking; he can do it while holding onto one finger but as soon as that is gone he is quick to fall to his knees. He is kinda wimpy, lets just get that out there. I expect him to take off any day now.

One of my favorite things my boy does lately is when he sees me sitting on the floor, he just loves to crawl right into my lap to play. We read, sing, watch Elmo sing on YouTube, and play. Berkeley has not really had "stranger danger" until recently and he will now sometimes cry when I leave him at the babysitter. This pretty much rips my heart out of my chest each time it happens; luckily he is quickly consoled and can be distracted pretty easily.

Berkeley has started interacting more with his BFF Lily which he gets to play with 2xs a week. They are seriously adorable together. Every time Lily sees Berke she yells out, "Gerkey!" He has also been playing more with his new pal, Soren. They have recently had quite a few "play dates" and seem to get along pretty well. I am so lucky to have such great friends that I can trust to leave Berkeley with while I am working. I always know he is having a good time and being well taken care of by these amazing women. Thanks ladies!

The Head Banging at night continues, but has lessened. Berke is still banging his head against the crib about 5 out of 7 nights, however, it used to go on for 30-60 minutes and now USUALLY only last 3-10 minutes. We are hoping he grows out of this special habit any day now.

We have come to the conclusion that Berkeley is a food snob. He is still mainly eating stage 2 baby food along with crackers, goldfish and cheerios. We have tried to get him to eat more solid foods but we have had very little success. If we try to sneak it into the baby food, he spits it right out. So far the only things we have been successful with him actually eating are gnocchi, risotto, and spinach quiche (all food I never even knew existed until I was an adult).

This kid LOVES Elmo. Any time I sit down at the computer he crawls right over and starts crying until I pick him up, put him on my lap and start playing YouTube videos of Elmo songs. I have created a monster. He watches these videos with a huge smile on his face and just sways back and forth....ahhh, bliss.

Ultimately, we have decided this guy is a keeper. We love him so much and could not be happier being his parents.

East Boston

I get to travel all over Greater Boston for my job, but Christian has never really got to explore much of Boston except for Boston proper. On Presidents Day we took a trip with some friends to "Eastie" so I could show them a different part of the city.

We ate at the famous pizza joint, saw this lovely statue of the Virgin Mary and visited a park with a great view of the city. It was a cold day but we had a fun field trip to East Boston.

Nothin' New Here

It is winter in New England so life is pretty dull. We had a good snow storm this week and then Berke and I got sick, so we did a lot of this....

and he always does a lot of this...

This guy has been right by my side through my illness (unless Berke is eating of course.)

Berke's also been a good model while I take hundreds of photos of his adorableness.

We hope to feel better this week and have a more exciting blog post next week.