The Boxes Are Here!

This is it! We're moving in one short week! And the boxes have arrived!

Matt and I are starting to get really excited about this move. Obviously, so are the kids! So, we are totally upgrading with this apartment, so I thought I'd do another list:

Why I'm excited about our new apartment:

• it has a dishwasher!
• it's totally renovated and 'brand new' looking. That doesn't really matter much in reality, but it feels nice. Stainless steel appliances and all that.
• there are 6 outlets at the kitchen countertop - hello crockpots!
• it's not bigger, but at least it's not smaller!
• rent is $350 LESS per month.
• there are 2 Catholic churches, 3 grocery stores, a Goodwill, an express subway station WITH AN ELEVATOR and the post office right around the corner.
• our whole building is stroller friendly - elevators all the way, no more stairs!
• 24-hr security guards and a high iron fence surround the private courtyard.
• the private courtyard has TWO playgrounds and a basketball court.
• we have an excuse to buy a new couch and bed, both of which have been killing my back during this pregnancy, plus our bed is just too small.
• if something is broken, we call the leasing office and they send a porter within 24 hrs - no more living with leaks on account of a crappy super.
• The Bronx Zoo (which we have a membership to) is much closer, as is the Bronx Terminal shopping center which has two of my favorite places - Applebee's and Target (it's like a faux America).

Hopefully I'll find some other stuff to add to this list once we get settled. Now, on to packing. Matt's already packed most of the living room - on to the kitchen for me!

My Wonderful Hubby

This morning my wonderful hubby got up early to pick up the apartment and do the boat load of dishes that were still in the sink, on account of me nearly having a nervous breakdown yesterday. He also took care of the kiddos all morning so I could sleep in, including making them breakfast, changing/removing diapers and dressing half of them.

I'm not going to go nuts here and say he's amazing or anything, but he's definitely above average, I'd say, which is worthy of note.

No Time to Post

That's really not true, I have time to post updates about the kids, everyday something happens that I think I should write about that! But I don't. 'Cause I'd rather be with my kids. The kids are ALL napping now, so I thought I'd make writing a priority.

For the first time in quite a while, I am home, by myself, with all three kids. This hasn't happened for more than a day or two since last summer, and even then I had help coming in left and right because Max was a newborn. I was very scared about how these few weeks of summer break would go for us, but actually, they've gone really well. I'm lucky to have fantastically well-behaved children, and have been able to do the grocery store, parks/playgrounds, library, post office and all kinds of other errands with them with pretty much no problem - except that the stroller has two seriously deflated tires. The actual wheel has broken and we're waiting for replacements, which need to come hella fast, because pushing that thing uphill is no easy task as it is.

We've been doing a homeschool dry-run with Karol and Patrick, and they are having a ton of fun with it. We are finally starting to catch up to Karol's abilities in her math book, so we've been able to slow down a bit with it.

Max had his first birthday! And it was a blast. We celebrated while we were in Indiana catching up with tons of friends and family. Speaking of which - what a whirlwind vacation that was! I already feel like I need another one; Matt and I did get to escape the kids for a couple days, though, at the lovely Swan Lake Inn Golf Resort.

Karol is about two weeks away from turning FOUR. I'm just a bit disturbed about this. I'm really not ready for her to be four. It's already time for decision 2012: kindergarten. And we could not be in a harder place to make this decision. New York has a lot of fantastic options and a lot of terrible ones as well, and not much in between. But enough of that, because I'm sure I'll be writing about nothing else in about 9 months when it becomes a really serious decision.

Patrick is picking up communication skills hand over fist these days. He is amazing, to say the least. Usually when kids can't find a way to express what they're thinking, they throw a tantrum. Patrick will try to explain something, sigh, and then say "I don't know the words." And that is that. I assure him that someday he'll know all the words, and he can tell me about it then.

I am really soaking up this opportunity I've got to experience my kids through constant immersion. The apartment is looking a little worse for the wear, but amazingly I've been able to keep up with the regular cleaning stuff. It's keeping the kids' toys under control that seems to be impossible. Although it's amazing how quickly they clean up all their own things when there's money to be earned.

That's right, money. No, we aren't outright paying our kids to do what they should be doing anyway, but since Karol's been learning about pennies and nickels in her math book, we've had to find a reason to give her (and Patrick, can't leave him out) change to buy things in our 'store.' In order to drive home the whole money concept, I gave the kids some pennies and nickels (just pennies for Pat, he's working on counting 1-20) and they 'bought' some of their toys from the living room to take to their bedroom. They quickly ran out of money, however, so they withdrew some from the bank. Pretty soon I decided they needed to 'work' for their money, lest they get the idea that it grows on trees. Hence the living room pick up. Then the game could continue. I haven't taught them about saving yet, I figure I can wait until we cover dimes, quarters and dollars before I bust out compound interest and that sort of thing.

In other news...well, there's not much other news. Matt's still working his buns off, the kids will be returning to Nazareth Nursery in the coming weeks, and I'm just here, trying to keep people clean and fed.

A Small Tragedy: The 24-hour dad mug

I knew it was only a matter of time. In some ways I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. And yet it's still a raw shock that it's time with us was so brief.

Last Saturday was a beautiful day, and I decided to take Karol for some mommy-daughter time to a place called Little Shop of Crafts not far from where we live. It's a really neat place where you can hang out as long as you want, listen to music, and make crafty things. But it's not cheap. The trade for not having a sitting fee or materials fee is that the pottery or other products for painting/decorating are a little overpriced. In the long run, however, it's totally worth it not to have to ration your paint or watch the clock. If you don't finish the day you come in, you can even bring your stuff back another day and continue working!

Karol spent 20 minutes picking out a small mug with sharks engraved in it to paint as a special gift for Daddy, then we had a barrel of fun painting it for a couple of hours! It would be ready for pick-up a week later: yesterday.

After a long conversation about carrying with two hands and walking slowly, Karol delivered the gift to Matt, who of course loved it and put it in the cabinet with the rest of the mugs.

Today, desperate for any form of caffeine, Matt used his new, favorite mug to brew some tea, left it perilously close to the edge of the counter and left the room.

Enter Patrick. My sweet, sweet Patrick. He came into the kitchen with a dirty dish and I told him to put it in the sink. I noticed he was due for a diaper change, so I left the kitchen to get a new diaper, just one room away. Then it happened.

*CRASH* *TEARS* I bolt back into the kitchen to find Pat a little wet from the scalding hot water and completely and totally distraught, overwhelmed by emotion. I scoop him up only a moment before Karol comes in to see what's going on and finds her precious new mug shattered into at least a dozen pieces. Emotional breakdown number 2, tears and wailing commence.

I hand Patrick off to Matt who checks him for burns from the water (he was totally fine) and scoop up the second heartbroken baby saying, "it's okay, it's just a mug, we can make another one. Yes it's very sad, but it was an accident."

And then we switch. Naturally, Matt assuages Karol by telling her how much he loved the mug, but now she can make a new one, and they begin cleaning up the mess.

Patrick is still balling his eyes out and so while changing his diaper (he still needed a change, after all) I tried to listen through the tears at what he was saying. "I broke Karol's cup, I broke Karol's cup," he kept repeating. He was obviously very guilt stricken and upset. Even though it was an accident, he felt terrible! Now that I think about it, it was a surprisingly kind-hearted and mature emotion for a (should-be) self-absorbed 2-year-old to have - but that's my Patrick :)

It was clear he needed redemption so I told him that it was an accident and it was not his fault but if he felt bad he should go tell Karol he's sorry. After a heartfelt "I sorry, Kawol" and a hug, the tears dried up quickly.

Bear in mind, this all happened within like a 4-minute span of time, at the most. What kills me is how I felt throughout this whole ordeal. It could not have been a more pitiful situation, with both children involved, and both legitimately upset, and no one really did anything wrong, per se. But to see and to know how upset and grieved they both were was more painful for me as a mother to watch than for them to experience, it seemed!

In short, a lot of good, hard lessons learned today, for everyone. I'm certainly not looking forward to the many heartbreaks yet to come, even more serious than this.

Oh, and if you're wondering where Max was for all of this, thankfully, he napped through the entire thing.

First Blog Post in a LONG Time

Oh my goodness. It's been forever since I last posted here. Oh well, I'm just going to pick up where we are. A quick re-cap:

• Max was born July 29th
• Karol started at Nazareth Nursery
• I worked on a campaign for Congress
• We went home for Thanksgiving, stayed in NYC for the rest of the holidays
• Pat turned 2 AND started at Nazareth Nursery
• I'm consulting a variety of intriguing clients, from home with Max

The world continues to turn. Matt's office, which was in midtown Manhattan, got moved to Jersey City. The commute is longer, and now we live in Manhattan (and pay Manhattan taxes/rent) for no apparent reason. Life is hilarious.

The kids' school is in Chelsea, so we'd like to move there, but to find someplace we can all fit into is next to impossible, unless we want to pay upwards of $5k/mo. Which just seems silly. Moving to Jersey City is an option, maybe. We could get more space for less money, but getting the kids to school would be a weird, twice a day commute that wouldn't make sense unless I was coming into Manhattan for work anyway. Of course, anything could happen in the next 18 months before our lease is up, so I'm in no rush to change things.

I don't really have much time to blog, obviously, between Max, a growing client list and the haul to pick up the kids from school every day - but I'm getting better at it.

We've all been sick for the past month or so (and really since Thanksgiving, off and on), and I've devised a sort of cleaning/chore schedule to go along with my new SAHM image - I've yet to actually complete my daily chores in a day, but I'm getting better.

That's the update for now. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of blogging again. Maybe if I can pull it off here, I can work on my other projects, JillianShaw.com and GOPCampaigner.com (still building that one). Say a prayer for me!

Moved In

My oh my, it's been a busy week and a half. We've been making the move to NYC, which in a lot of ways took a lot longer than we expected. We're still not completely out of boxes, and Max's room is kind of a temporary catch-all for the stuff we can't deal with at the moment, but for the most part we've turned this little three bedroom into a home for Karol, Pat, Matt and I. I think I'll tell the story in pictures.

Patrick and Karol are playing in the courtyard of our Arlington apartment, waiting for Mimu and Grandpa Plomin to arrive last Friday. Matt & friends spent the whole day loading the U-Haul and I had my last day at work.

We got a late start and some hiccups in the plan for driving up Friday night, so we stayed at a hotel just south of Baltimore and woke up at 5 to drive up to NYC.

Here's our U-Haul and one of the moving guys we hired to help us unload, bright and early at 9:30am.

Here's our new apartment! No, not in the Sushi shop, four floors above it.

Working on unloading...

Matt has gotten a LOT of handyman experience. He built a bunch of new furniture (this is Karol & Pat's new bed), and hung shelving and pictures.

Our new kitchen table! It has leaves to fold out and we found it in the 'As Is' section of Ikea. I think it was a display model. We got lucky, because this table (that I'd already decided was 'the one') was discontinued, so you can't get it new anymore.

Karol and Patrick arrive on Monday! Here they are exploring their new bunk beds.

Patrick's on the bottom and Karol's on the top. Thomas the Tank Engine sheets for Pat and Disney Princess sheets for Karol.

First bath in the new - much smaller - bathroom. Mommy is not a fan of the faucet being in the middle.

Karol helped me unpack some of her clothes.

K & P 'sort' hair clips while I unpack stuff in our bedroom. They made a mess, but it occupied them for quite a while.

Patrick tested the new freedom of his big boy bed for a couple of nights, getting up and sneaking into bed with mom and dad at 3am. We were too tired to put him back! These boys were so adorable I just had to snap a picture.

We've spent quite a lot of time at Ikea and Home Depot. Here's K & P working on their math skills in the children's section of Ikea. Mmm, gotta love the Swedish Meatballs for lunch!

We spent a lot of mornings at a diner a few blocks away because it took us days to get the kitchen set up. Groceries in Manhattan are ridiculous (think $8 for a small box of cereal), luckily the day before Matt started work we were able to drive out to Ft. Hamilton (about 1 hr each way, in Brooklyn) to the commissary and stocked up. The money we saved was WELL worth the drive.

Here's Karol enjoying some eggs and pancakes.

The living room is very kid-centric. Matt built all these little white shelves and all of the kids' toys now have their own special places, which makes clean up MUCH easier. The kids are getting used to putting away Toy A before getting out Toy B.

So now it's time to test out our new system with Matt going to work and me (eek!) staying home. I'm fearful that I will lose my mind, or spend every minute entertaining the kids, or become TV mom and let them watch PBSKids all day. I'm striving to find balance. I guess we'll see how it goes!

Smith Family Reunion

Well our quick trip to Anderson for the Smith Family Reunion went fantastically. We got to see lots of family we haven't seen in a while (some K&P met for the first time!) and then I zipped back to DC to work. Matt and the kiddies are hanging with Mimu and Grandpa Plomin for the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, this means Matt will miss an ultrasound for the first time ever on Friday. I would reschedule, but 2pm on a Friday was the only appointment I could get three weeks ago, so we definitely won't be able to get this very important one in before we move otherwise.

So I've got a few days to myself in the nation's capital...and I'm trying to pack like crazy. I have been researching the best ways to pack (what order, how to pack breakables, that sort of thing) and one thing that I see a lot is to pack the kids' room last. This makes sense, especially since they'll need to use their stuff - like cribs and beds - up to the day of the move.

Lots of articles advise taking special items that the kids find important for them to take in the car instead of pack. The only problem with that is that I can't think of any specific toy or stuffed animal or blanket that either one of the kids are particularly attached to. My kids are strangely without 'loveys' altogether. So I guess I'll just leave out a couple of their every day sorts of things.

Well, back to packing. Enjoy these pics from the reunion.

Saturday with Mommy

Well Matt is getting the keys and moving the first few boxes into the Manhattan apartment today! That means I'm home with the kiddies - of course it's a free-for-all while Daddy's away!

Actually, I've done a fairly good job keeping a schedule, of sorts, today. Karol sneaked into my room a little after 7, and Patrick was just waking up in his crib at the same time, so we started the morning a little earlier than normal. But that was just as well, since the farmer's market starts at 7 and all the best stuff goes early.

The kids were dressed, fed and ready to go by 8am! But they decided they wanted to do a puzzle first. After a scuffle over piggy banks (don't ask) I managed to convince them they wanted to go for a walk to the farmer's market.

Rather than stroll, I strapped on their monkey and doggie backpacks and they walked with me. Luckily it's only one block away. We checked out all the different foods, but they were most entertained just sitting in the grass picking wildflowers and clovers.

We even got to pet a couple of dogs while we were out!

We started heading back home around 9, and Patrick demanded we stop at the courtyard for some rock pile action. Of course, they ended up completely soaked, but they had a blast.

I let them pick a flower from the landscaping in exchange for going inside and changing. Since they were already wet, I decided it was a fantastic time to brush teeth (forgot to do it this morning). Then they stripped off the wet clothes and decided to do puzzles again.

Snack time rolled around and they actually wanted cold oatmeal as their snack. My kids are weird.

After snacks, we threw in another load of laundry together.

I knew I needed to burn some time and some energy for a successful nap time, so I took the kids up to the pool all by myself. Until now, there's no way I would ever feel comfortable taking more than one kid to a pool without some back up. But I devised a strategy and I felt pretty confident I could do it. It helps that there's always a lifeguard on duty, and it's a 4-foot pool, so I can just stand.

We suited up - Coast Guard approved life jackets, sunblock and all - in the apartment. I didn't want to be stuck snapping Karol's jacket while Pat wondered off to the pool. After a pep talk about staying right next to Mommy all the time, we headed up to the pool deck. And I couldn't be more thankful we did. The water was perfect, and the kids both did a great job of holding onto Mommy, the wall, or a combination of the two. The jackets give the kids a lot of buoyancy and Karol was able to keep herself upright really well. Her big thing at the pool is propelling herself around the edge, so we did that a lot while I bounced Patrick on my hip.

The only real issue was actually the other children at the pool. There was a group of three sisters - two 8 year olds and a 5 year old - that took an interest in Karol and therefore were in my way a bit. And they were annoying. The 5 year old would take Karol's hand and inevitably she'd get a mouthful of water from losing her balance. Meanwhile, Patrick was already tired and cranky, so we needed to leave. This was simple enough, because I told Karol that we could go inside and watch Caillou. She was ready to go instantly.

Getting out of the pool was easier than I anticipated, but still no picnic. The kids were easy - I just sat them up on the edge and they walked over to our pool bag. I didn't want to be more than arms-length away for very long though, so I 'hopped' out of the pool up onto the side instead of taking the ladder, as best a 7 month pregnant lady can. I was shocked at my own ability to do it, but it couldn't have been pretty to watch.

Karol and Patrick sunbathed for a couple of minutes while I loaded up all the swimming supplies, and then we headed back to the apartment.

Caillou gave me enough time to make lunch - mac & cheese and peas - and then those kids just sat and ate. They must have been hungry because they both had two helpings of mac & cheese and most of their peas, and they didn't even talk or goof around, they were so intent on eating.

Next we caught Grandpa Shaw on Skype and then an episode of Wonderpets before stories and naps.

They are both sleeping like rocks now. Matt's already on the road back, so I'm hoping he makes it home in time to play with the kids before bedtime!

The Men in My Life: Patrick & Daddy

I am really amazed to see such a transformation in the relationship between Matt and Patrick. Probably imperceptible to them, I can see that Patrick has grown so deeply attached to Matt in the short time that Matt has been with the kids day in and day out. I think Patty will definitely remain a mama's boy at the core, but the bond between father & son is already so strong.

When Matt left for New York last summer, I think we were both a little worried that he and Pat would miss out on some relationship building. In actuality, Patrick was probably too young to notice that Matt was only around on the weekends, and the time they spend together now is far more valuable than the time that was missed last summer. The quiver in Patrick's lip when Matt leaves the room even for a few minutes or the way his face lights up when he sees him first thing in the morning, it's so precious.

It really makes me happy to see how natural and loving Matt and the kids are. I'm almost a little worried that they'll be sad when he's the one going away to an office every day!

On top of being stay-at-home Dad, Matt's pulling more than his fair share after hours, too, thanks to Max putting me out of commission a good deal more than Karol or Patrick did. I'm really looking forward to meeting this kid face to face and giving my internal organs a little more space!

A New World Order

This was week 1 of Daddy Duty. Since Matt's completely done with school, we've set the childcare tech free to pursue bigger and better things, and now Matt is stay-at-home-dad...I know what you're thinking - I'm scared, too!

No, just kidding. The kids survived and Matt's actually got them on a pretty tight schedule. I've been trying to help out as much as I can before work and at lunchtime, other than that, he's on his own. No surprise here, Karol is eating it up having Daddy around 24/7. She is such a daddy's girl.

Last weekend we both GRADUATED!!! And now we have Master's degrees. It still hasn't sunken in yet. Matt's got his post-grad job, now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with mine, after Max arrives, of course.

Speaking of which, he's been a pain in the back recently, literally. I've always had a little acute lower back pain during pregnancy, but in the past couple of days its been debilitating. It started Friday, and luckily, being at work is actually easier on the muscles than being at home is (Patrick loves his mommy but he's heavy!).

So now it's back to work on Monday. Only 11 1/2 more weeks of lugging this kid around the hard way!

Good Times in the Bath

Karol and I wrapped up the evening (a terrible, nothing goes right type of day today) with a mommy-daughter bath, complete with facial masques, tea-tree oil foot scrubs, and an intense game of 'Spuh-LASH!' which is a lot like catch, but without the catching.

Luckily the rest of the night went smoothly with no tears from either toddler at bedtime. Unfortunately, Matt will be up late tonight working on one of two final papers that is due tomorrow at noon. I will be SO glad when he is done with all of this on WEDNESDAY.

As for me, I've been done with class for a week or two now (yay!). Now I'm going nuts about packing, going through the kids' clothes and weeding the outgrown and winter weather gear from their drawers for storage, and making big piles of random stuff to be donated. We are going to be losing a lot of space with the move to NYC (oh yeah, and adding a kid) and the extra stuff just isn't getting out of my apartment fast enough for my taste.

It's 9pm, and I think I'm going to go to bed. That's actually a little early for me. I'm hoping tomorrow starts off a little smoother than today did, but I'm not looking forward to Matt being MIA while he crams on final projects the next three days!

Happy and Healthy Babies - All of Them!

Today was a 'big' day for the DC Plomins.  Bright and early this morning the whole family trekked up to our old stomping grounds, Silver Spring, for a round of doctor's appointments.

Karol - not surprisingly, Karol got a gold star for verbal ability.  The doctor was floored that she was answering questions like "how old are you?" and "are you a boy or a girl?"  I guess those are questions a 3 year old may be able to answer.  She was also impressed with the 6-word sentences she was uttering -but Matt and I know she can easily do 15-word sentences and more!
She's an expert at jumping, but hasn't mastered walking backwards yet - although that's another 3 year old task.

Patrick - Patrick is right on track developmentally, and doing especially well in the walking/climbing arena.  He's off the charts for both height and weight and a very healthy growing boy.  Patrick's language is seemingly ahead of schedule, too, but of course he was too shy to talk to Dr. Fishman at all.  He did manage a 'high five' though.
Patrick got a whopping 3 shots, one of which being the chicken pox vaccine.  The good news is that he won't need any at all at the 18 month check up.  I'm hoping we can squeeze that one in before we have to leave for NYC in July.

Baby #3 - Mommy and baby got a check up today, too.  I'm doing fine, of course, and New Baby Plomin has all the major organs and limbs and whatnot that they check for in the 20 week ultrasound.  And of course we got the opportunity to find out what we're having.  And, as I've been predicting since day 1 - the ultrasound confirmed we're having a boy!  Karol and Patrick are excited to have a baby brother and Matt and I are excited to use pronouns like "he" instead of "it" when referring to "him."

Measurement-wise he is still on track with his original due date of Aug 10, give or take a couple days.  I'm betting he'll be quite an average size, weighing more than Karol did (7 lbs 9 oz) and less than Patrick (9 lbs 3 oz).  It'll be 'fun' to get to know all new doctors just a month before he's born to deliver him in NYC, but we're getting closer to figuring out who that will be now.  Or I should say, Matt is.  I've put him in charge of finding the doc, the hospital and an apartment in NYC.  We'll see how that goes.

The apartment search is still pretty passive - it's still early - but we've got some feelers out.  We're still pretty focused on the West side, hopefully somewhere in our between the West Village and Upper West Side.  I'm not really thinking about that now, though.  For right now I'm just looking forward to tying my shoes without straining and meeting my new little boy, and thanking God we are so very lucky to have such beautiful and healthy children.

So that's the update for now!

Matt's Stepping Up

I have to take a moment to talk about my husband. 

Matt has really stepped up this time around.  Not that he hasn't in the past two pregnancies, of course, but this time I'm a lot more needy.  This baby is really draining me, mentally and physically.  On top of working full time still, I am in the middle of my very last class for my Masters program. 

Matt has picked up bedtime duties, probably 90% of the housework, drop off and pick up at childcare (I usually go to get them, but can't lift Patrick that much any more so he comes with), and most of the morning routine, too.  When I nudge him I can usually get a foot or back rub, and he's even doing well at making me feel like I'm not horribly fat and ugly - a common side effect of having your belly go from rock to rubber.  He's really making my job easier. 

The down side of the situation is that I feel a little out of touch with my kids.  I miss having the energy to run around with them, and the strength to pick them up, especially Patrick.  It doesn't help that he's bigger, but he's still such a little baby.  He loves his Mama, and he loves to be held and carried.

All in all, there aren't words to describe how grateful I am for such a supportive and loving hubby.  Thanks to God for giving me such a great guy.

NYC, I Give You Fair Warning

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. Matt and I are officially taking the plunge and moving to the Big Apple, the Empire State. Yep, good ole NYC. I'm not talking about living in New Jersey or the boroughs either. We are moving to FRICKIN MANHATTAN. Or at the very least, Queens.



So, we're relocating from our posh Arlington apartment right next door to the greatest job I've ever had, down the street from the best child care provider you could ever hope to have for your kids, in a neighborhood just minutes away from Costco, Pentagon City Mall, the national monuments, historic Georgetown and my beloved cupcakes, to a place where we are going to be starting all over, the taxes are highest in the country, in an undoubtably much smaller apartment. I'm getting used to the idea.



Matt's job is going to be great for him. He'll be an Associate in Institutional Asset Management for Deutsche Bank. He loves the group he's working with; they're the same one he worked with over the summer. It's what he's always wanted to do and he's gonna go far, I just know it.


As for me, it's up in the air. There's a very good chance I'll go back to political consulting (2010 is shaping up to be excellent for real Republicans), and maybe start a new thing consulting small business. The job market is rich in NYC for ad/pr, so I could always do a 9-5 again, too. After the baby is born, that is.



What? A baby? Another baby? Didn't you just have one?


Yeah, I did. And we're going to have number three sometime mid-August, probably at the Eli and Abby Manning Birthing Center in the Village (thank God we still have a Manning!).

My belly right now.

My belly 8 months after Patrick. *sigh* C'est la vie.

Once we made the decision that we are indeed moving, all the other decisions had to be made. Luckily, my search for the perfect pre-school (for Karol only, for now) was a quick one. There's actually a Catholic Montessori (exactly what I wanted) right smack in the West Village that is quite affordable. We haven't visited or anything yet, but I did make a call. Hopefully we can run up there sometime in March to check the place out and get Karol enrolled. I've heard how awful New York private school admissions can be, but I think this school is an exception.



That decision led to the next one: Where to live? West Village is pretty 'up and coming' we've heard, and the subway right by the pre-school goes straight to Matt's office. It's also a little more neighborhood-ish than living in East Midtown where Matt will be working. There will be (a little) more access to shops, restaurants, and other necessary places. We're hoping to find something close to Washington Park.

Another option is Astoria (part of Queens). It's more affordable, and if we stay close to the subway line it'd be just as easy a commute as West Village for Matt, but a little further down the line for Karol's school.

It's way too early to know anything though.



The giant elephant problem with moving to NYC is that it's NOT a kid-friendly place to live. And it's not a parent-friendly place to live. Everything I see online about living in New York talks about the 'awesome night-life' and great places for grown ups to go by themselves. We don't HAVE a night-life. I'm lucky to get a day-life with 2 kids 2 and under. Oh wait, make that 3 under 3! I swear if I read another article or post about how great it is to be single and responsibility-free in New York I will scream.



Oh well. Maybe Matt will get a huge bonus and we'll be able to afford a babysitter once in a while. Until then, nose to the grindstone.

Thanksgiving Day

Matt and I have an enormous amount to be thankful for. The only things I'll bother to mention, though, are our children and each other. Even though we decided not to shell out the dough for a trip home (saving that for an extra-long Christmas visit), we had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Arlington. I made the extra special effort to dress up the kids even though 75% of the time they were bedecked it was just the four of us.

Well, Karol was dressed up. Pat's 'dress up' clothes are so restricting, I gave him a break. But he did sport a nice "Baby's First Thanksgiving" bib.

Matt spent the entire day - from 7am until 4pm - in the kitchen. Our new apartment has a phenomenal kitchen compared to the tiny set up in our place in Silver Spring, and Matt really enjoyed flexing his culinary muscles. He didn't have to go it alone though - our college buddy, Dan Wanke, stayed in town (for the same reasons we did - he's from Wisconsin); we were thrilled to have him over and he helped Matt with all the side dishes, of which there were many.

Besides an incredibly juicy, flavorful, delicious turkey, we had creamed corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed spinach, chestnut stuffing, traditional stuffing, apple-topped sweet potatoes and traditional sweet potatoes (my personal Thanksgiving fave). Matt, did I miss anything? Dan brought over two pumpkin pies (I just polished off the leftovers of that while typing this, actually), I made a rather bland pumpkin bisque and a family recipe Irish coffee cake and Matt's friend Cherub brought an Indian dish (thankfully for me not too spicy!) as well.

We had a full house this Thanksgiving, since we had the honor of hosting Dan and three of Matt's friends from GWU-Anand, Ritwik and Cherub. They are from India, so not surprisingly they can't make the trip home either (and I thought we lived too far from home!). My favorite part of having friends over is seeing the interaction they have with Karol and Patrick. Karol used to be a frequent visitor to group meetings, classes, and the like, if I was on military duty, if someone was sick or if childcare fell through, so Karol is especially familiar with the GW MBA class of 2010. I love that she is comfortable playing and talking to Matt's classmates and that they are open to playing "Uncle" to K&P every now and then. And they loves the extra attention, of course!

Dan & Pat

Cherub & Karol

Ritwik & Pat

Anand & Karol

The next day we hit the Black Friday sales! I know what you're thinking, "Black Friday sales with two kids, is she nuts?" Actually, we didn't really start our shopping until after 8, and the craziness is pretty much quelled by then. We hit Target, Staples, and Guitar Center, all of which were only a little livelier than normal. Best Buy was the only place we went with any Black Friday rush left, so Matt dropped me off at the door and I grabbed what we needed while he drove around with the kids.

After that, we went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Judy's house at Karol's insistence. She absolutely loves going over there, especially when she gets to brush Dusty and give him treats!

The next day, Matt and Karol wanted to check out all the new decorations at the mall and maybe get some of our own for the apartment, so we spent all day at Springfield Mall and Tyson's Corner. The kids were both so good the whole day through (hint, hint, St. Nick) and we all had a great time. We crossed a few people off our gift list, got some cute new Christmas shirts for Patrick, and Mommy got a couple things from her new favorite store, New York & Company. Everyone except Matt has their Christmas socks for Louisville Christmas, which I'm told is a necessity. We'll have to pick up some for Daddy today.

So after a pretty packed long weekend, this Sunday we are chilling at home, writing letters to Santa, and maybe taking a long walk before Mass this evening. We are getting really excited for Advent and Christmas, and looking forward to a week and a half in Indiana. Next on the holiday to-do list: get a Christmas tree! I have no idea where we'll put it though!

I can't even count the many ways God has blessed us this year. I just pray that our good fortune continues and that we keep growing together as a family.

Happy holidays to everyone and we can't wait to see you at Christmas!

"Hold still and smile!"