Thursday, August 29, 2013

Back to School and Work

I haven't had this much quiet in two months.  While it unnerved and saddened me at first--I felt terribly lonely this week in the house without the boys (or Lexi!)--I am slowly starting to come to terms with being back to work.  I will admit the quiet and ability to think is sort of nice.

I dropped the boys off at daycare on Monday and felt like someone had yanked my heart out of my chest.  It was nowhere near as hard as when I left them at First Step daycare in Watertown for the first time.  I am not sure why...I just didn't want our summer to be over, I guess.  I went to the office...no one was around.  I waited until 10am and then texted a colleague.  Turns out I don't have to physically go to the office all this week unless I have a parent or student meeting set up.  So, I got out of there and came home to write letters.

When I picked up the boys, they were fine and had had a great day.  Miss Tina said it was like they had never left, although they kept saying "Mama?" and lifting their heads up at nap time.  (During the summer I got them right after lunch, right before nap time.  They knew the routine and understood something was different!)  We took a walk when we got home--to wind down.  They are noticeably more keyed up and emotional (and cranky!) after a day at daycare than day at home with me.  As we were walking, this is what happened.  Oh, BE STILL MY HEART.  I love those boys.


Tuesday I went down the Cape to Yarmouthport to my boss's house for an office retreat.  We ate like kings and queens, and it was nice to see everyone again.  I do have a good time with my colleagues!

Yesterday and today I'm home writing letters.  I'm taking a break right now for lunch and to clear the cobwebs!  I already wrote three letters this morning!  :-)  Super proud of myself!  It's so much easier to get the words on the paper this year, my second year.

Tomorrow I have a parent meeting so I have to go to the office, and I have an appointment to potentially sell our old snowblower to a colleague.  I hope they buy it!!  Will be nice to have some cash in hand and more space in our garage!

Speaking of cash, we are on a strict financial diet starting NOW.  No more cafeteria-bought lunches for Carlos at Meditech.  No more iced coffees or other treats.  Only the rare breakfast out on Saturday mornings.  We have to get in good shape for the nanny expenses.  And lately it seems everything in the house is costing us money.  We did a furnace tune up--the following week it started to leak.  Supposedly unrelated to the clean out.  So we had to pay a huge chunk of money for that.  We had a chimney cap installed to keep animals out of the house.  Ouch.  My car needed a $hitload of work.  Then there was the background check for Natalie, the nanny.  And her worker's comp insurance.  And the registration fee with the payroll company...I could keep going but it's depressing me.

So, financial diet.  It's like an all-juice cleansing experience.  From now on we can only drink juice until the boys are in school and it's free!!!!!!

On a happier note, isn't this adorable?  They did this "family tree" at school...


Sunday, August 25, 2013

My Last Weekend of Summer

We made this a jam-packed weekend--I wanted to feel like we made the most of the time.

Yesterday we rented a U-Haul and drove into East Cambridge to buy a couch from a friend of mine from Milton.  For $150, we got this sleeper beauty



It's in great shape, and it folds out to a full-sized bed and has storage underneath to store stuff.  It's not the best looking couch in the world, and these pictures aren't the best either, but I was happy to replace the small, uncomfortable blue Ikea couch that was down there (the one that used to be in my office at Harvard).

After we returned the U-Haul, the boys had haircuts at 10:30 in Bridgewater.  We just made it!  The boys were stinkers about having their hair cut.  You would have thought they were being tortured!  Thank God Maria, who I've known since I was in 7th grade, is a great sport and good with kids.

After naps, we went to Freetown State Forest to check out their wading pool splash pad and bike around the forest.  The weather was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, we pretty much struck out there as the wading pool was not really what I was hoping for (it's really nice--I just like the splash pads for them right now since they can't get their ears wet) and the trails were too rocky for our cross bikes (road bikes with slightly knobbier tires).  We should have brought the mountain bikes...but then it's hard to pull the trailer.  Anyway, we took a short ride and the day was nice, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.  On the way home, we stopped at a farm stand and bought some mums to plant in the yard.  After the boys were in bed, we put them at the end of the driveway.  When they bloom they will be orange, yellow, red, and magenta.  Pretty!  I love mums.



I also ripped out the peonies that were at the entrance to the path to the doors.  They were just in the way and not that pretty anyway.  I thought about transplanting them, but I have no where to put them and I don't like them enough anyway.

Here's what they looked like before:


And after....will look better once it's seeded and grass grows in!


We also tried to rip up the AstroTurf on the steps, but there is a thick layer of glue on the concrete that would either have to be chipped off or perhaps covered up with another layer of concrete?  I have to ask the Paones what they would do...So for now, we're stuck with it, because I think what's underneath is actually worse until we have the time and money to fix it.

After the yard work, Carlos and I watched the movie It's Complicated.  I love Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin, so I knew I'd love the movie.  And I did!  I haven't watched a movie in ages, so that was nice.

Today, Sunday, we went to breakfast with my mom.  She treated (thanks, Mom!), which was very nice of her.  The boys (really I mean Sebastian...Adrian is always good) were actually good today, and that was an added bonus.  Then we went to Market Basket to do our shopping and Lowe's to look for light fixtures for over the dining room table.  Nothing.  After siesta time, we packed up the bikes and went to Hull.  We rode from my dad's house with my boys in the trailer down to the Paragon carousel.  Adrian liked it and Sebastian cried.











After the carousel, the boys played briefly with hula hoops out in front.



We took a very short walk...




And then went to the arcade.  The boys were content to "drive" without putting any money in the machines!  ;-)


Then the boys and I hung out on the porch while Grumpy and Papi cooked.









After we ate, we went straight home!  It was just 7pm as we pulled in the driveway.  Bedtime for the boys--they have a long day at daycare tomorrow...I'm so sad!!

Friday, August 23, 2013

My Last Day of Summer Alone with the Boys

Today was my last day alone with the boys until next summer.  I found it so bittersweet.  I honestly just don't know where the summer went.  It absolutely flew by.  I worked all last year to get to the summer--it was the reason for switching jobs and the thing that got me up in the morning.  And it's sort of depressing to think about having to get through another whole academic year to be home with the boys again.  It's also making me realize how much I'd love to be home with them all the time, but at the same time, I do miss my colleagues and adult life.  Anyway, it is what it is.  I have to work, and I'm still excited about the changes afoot with Natalie starting etc.

So, I wanted to make today special and worthwhile and not fritter away the hours.  When the boys woke up, I still didn't know how I wanted to spend the day.  But my mom ended up texting and suggesting we go visit Nana.  So that's what we did!  We left the house around 8am.  There was no traffic--it was eerily quiet on the highway.  We spent some time at Nana's house playing inside, taking a short walk down her street, playing in the yard, and exploring her deck.  


Then we went to lunch.  We went to McDonald's--Nana's choice.  The boys basically only ate French fries...so healthy!  At least I got some milk in them and some homemade energy bites with peanut butter for protein.  Still, they had a great time with Nana and Mugie, and about half way through, Tía Mimi surprised us by dropping by to say hello.  I was so glad to see her, too!!





After we ate lunch, we got on the road because the boys were cranky and tired.  They barely slept in the car on the way home, so I was in for a long afternoon.  But they were good despite the lack of a nap.

First, we played with the new water table.  They stripped down to their diapers and went at it!  I try to weed out pictures, but I always post too many.  This is my photo album and I like them all!!  :-)















After the water table, the boys tried out my "new" swing.  They loved it, especially Adrian.







 After playing at home, we got back in the car and went to the playground.  This time, we were there for about an hour, and the boys had a lot of fun.  They were more adventurous about trying things out and climbing all over it than in the past.  And once again, we had it all to ourselves.  Lovely.






Sebastian is still afraid on the swings.  He's start out laughing and then quickly start to cry.



Adrian LOVES the swing.  Love the looks of joy on his face.











What a nice way to end our summer together.  I will go to bed happy tonight.  I hope they did, too.  I can't ask for much more.