Mexico

I'm on my parents' Windows laptop. It doesn't have a simple, Mac-like facility for putting the accent on the 'e' in Mexico. Grumble.

So, the family is down here in Mazanillo at an all-inclusive resort. If you've never been to one, you pay one price on arrival, and all food and drinks are included. Well, maybe not all. The first day, I ordered Jack on the rocks, and was asked to pay 35 pesos ($3). The next day I went into town and bought a bottle of Jack for 267 pesos ($24). No problema!

But each morning we wake up, tend to the kids, go to breakfast, and then hang out in the pool. We have little floating boats for the kids to sit in. They both like it, though they're a bit sensitive to the cold. Some lunch, afternoon naps, and then a nice dinner. Pretty relaxing.

Happy Halloween!

You can't make it out, but Elise's shirt says "this time: TRIPLETS!" which was the scariest thing she could think of.

3 years

So this week, Steve and I are celebrating our third anniversary of meeting each other. (Oct. 1--first email, Oct 3--first date, etc.) We've packed a lot into a few years.

I can honestly say that despite his hundred or so frustrating habits, I love my husband now more than I ever have. And despite my equally frustrating hundred or so habits, he still loves me, too.

We celebrated by going to our favorite Italian place for dinner Friday night, where the owner took Meredith and held her while he sat people at tables and chatted up other guests. She was the hit of the place. Fisher slept through this entire event.

Now we are going on our first "full unit" outing. That is, to the coffee house/dog park in the Flame-mobile with the Sparks Five. Steve is recovering from his biggest BBQ gig to date, and we are all a little worn out. But happy.

Goin' Mobile

Going Mobile - The Who



We've been taking the kids out a bit here and there. Here we see the babes ready for brunch yesterday. We took them to Calavino's, a brunch place we like. Here is Calavino, and her partner Doria, holding a sleepy Fisher (who they keep calling "Fitch".)



And here's a picture of Meredith checking out the lattice work at Holy Taco.

The Trifecta

They say the three most stressful things one can do are (a) move, (b) add or lose a family member, and (c) change careers. You've watched on this blog as we built a house, moved, and added two family members. Well, Wednesday, I left Premiere. I've completed the trifecta. Do I get a prize?

Obviously there's a lot to say about the situation that led to my leaving, but I think I'm going to let time and distance have their effect before getting too much into it. But Premiere was VERY generous in their severance, and there are other people who want some part-time help with a few things, so the net result is that I will get to spend this holiday season with my new family. I'm tremendously happy about that!

I also want to start a venture, so stay tuned on that one.

Love and kisses! It's a great day!

Labor Day Weekend

Here's to LABOR UNIONS!

Around, say, 1870, work sucked. Six or seven days a week, twelve hours a day, horrible conditions, etc., etc., etc. Bosses could fire for no reason; workers had no power at all, and bosses routinely abused the situation. Over about a hundred years, the unionization of America fixed those ills and for the most part, the workplace in America is much better for their efforts. We got Saturdays off, too.

But we also got the spare day, once a year, tacked onto the end of this weekend. Woot! Our first family holiday together, we've got Elise's brother John and his whole family, plus Elise's mom. We'll be throwin' down some ribs and chicken and steaks and burgers.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

Kids update: All is well, nothing really to report. They're focusing much better these days, but still they're mostly scream machines.

Have a Swingin' Sunday Mornin'!

So sayeth The Meredith.

They are growing!

I sort of thought that they were getting heavier, and Meredith's legs seemed to be getting chubbier. When we went to the pediatrician yesterday, the scale told the tale:

Meredith: 8 lbs., 12 oz.; 20.9 inches long; 13.7 inch head
Fisher: 8 lbs., 9 oz.; 21.3 inches long; 14.9 inch head

So Meredith's bigger, but Fisher has the big head. They also got their first round of shots. That wasn't fun for anyone in the room. Meredith's cries invite more pity, but Fisher's cries (though short-lived) could wake the dead!

We have the best pediatrician imaginable. Three cheers for Dr. Sells!

All's well

Apologies for the lack of updates. We're all doing stuff like juggling babies a lot of the time.

I posted some pictures up on the Flickr site. Below are some of the best ones, click through to the photostream:

Elise calls me the 'Pied Piper' because I can usually calm them down pretty quickly. So we see scenes like this when they're both fussing.



This one, the light was funny, so I snapped the picture.


A montage of sadness:

All the parents are gone.

One one hand, that really feels great. For the first time tonight this house will be OURS, just Elise's and mine, and our children and the pup. And that's something we're both very excited about. Symbolic, but no less important for it.

But on the other, now we're sinking or swimming on our own. That's a bit of a scary prospect. Not because I think we have a chance of failure, but because we really can't hand a screaming baby off to a grandmother who has the magical power to chill a baby out. So tonight we might get pretty pissy, y'know?

For the moment, I'm enjoying being in my house with my family. It's a sweet moment indeed.