a matter of time

We knew it would happen, but I'm just not sure we were ready. Nate can open doors. Eek!

can't think of a title

Today Nate and I went for a walk in the Arboretum where we encountered lots of exciting things. The highlights for Nate were a creek, dogs, and a big truck. He got to inspect the truck and its wheels up close, which was quite exhilarating. It's great that he can get so excited by things that most of us consider so mundane.

It's been a hectic week of work, home inspections, and yet another cold that both Nate and I bogged down. Well, Nate seems a bit under the weather but still has a ton of energy, which might be why I'm feeling exhausted. I must admit, I'm sick of being sick.

We had our engineer's inspection earlier this week and we're doing another more specific inspection tomorrow to look into a few issues more deeply, but we're hoping that we can reach a deal soon. The whole home-buying experience is odd - basically you make an offer, then inspect the place and re-negotiate based on any possible problems or concerns that pop up during the inspection. We're in that re-negotiation stage right now, but can hopefully hammer out those details and reach an agreement. So keep your fingers crossed!

happy easter

As my friend Bob pointed out, "Easter in Vermont" doesn't quite have the same ring to it as "Christmas in Vermont," yet despite the possibility of sinking into mud we headed up north to visit with Thad's family for the weekend. We took the Corolla since we were told to "gingerly" drive the new Subaru (which, inquiring minds, is silver) and the mountain roads are covered in frost heaves. It was still pretty cold there, so we stayed atop the frozen ground where we relaxed and ate ham.

Nate's favorite parts of Gamma and Gampa's house were, in no particular order, A) the cat, and B) the clock. At this point, both words sound pretty much the same, so it was something of a guessing game trying to figure out what he was excited about at any point in time. He also had a great time drinking my glass of water. Seriously. Who would have figured that to entertain a toddler all you needed was a clock and some water?










































We conveniently timed our return trip to coincide with the Corbo-Hudak household's Easter dinner, where we had yet another delicious ham (not being sarcastic).

We also encountered a bit of grandfather confusion as we realized they both masquerade as lumberjacks. At least Gampa Carlson lives in a rural area!

at last

Yesterday afternoon, around 3:30, we got a call from our realtor. The deal on the (third) house we didn't get fell through and the sellers wanted to find out if we were still interested. An hour later we were in our realtor's office filling out our fourth offer. An hour later the paperwork was passed along to the seller's realtor. And an hour after that, they signed the offer! We still have a number of hoops, but assuming everything goes according to plan, we should be able to close in late June. Yippee!

farewell greenie

R.I.P. Ford "Greenie" Explorer
1994-2008













Hellooooooo Subaru!















































We unfortunately didn't get the house, and our attempt to hemorrhage money this past weekend was only mildly successful. There were eight bids on "our" house and we came in #2. Aargh. This is the third house we've bid on and still no luck. We'll keep you posted on any new changes, though.

On the other hand, Subaru was more than happy to take our money, and we are proud new owners of a shiny, carpool-ready station wagon. Thad is thrilled to be driving a standard again, and I'm thrilled that he's driving a car that isn't likely to cause his death. Nate is thrilled because the car has many lights, which are very interesting.

32 just flew by

So, yesterday was Thad's 32nd birthday. When my mom asked how old he was, he said "33," and he really believed it, too.



















We spent most of the day trying to spend an astronomical amount of money, looking at both cars and houses. Looks like Thad'll have a new set of wheels in the very immediate future (tonight, perhaps?) And we're making an offer on a house that we really like, although we expect a lot of competition so we're not certain if we'll get the place or not. We will keep you posted!

powerless

So, our power company was working on some apparently major problem and we were out of power (and internet!) for almost two whole (business) days. This put a major cramp in my freelance work, but enabled me to spend some mildly relaxing time, squinting through the sunless afternoon. Nate seemed entirely unphased by the lack of modern conveniences, and did his normal thing, setting off every battery-operated toy he has and making a major racket.

Thad's car is dying a slow, painful death. Over this weekend we're going to look for a new car, complete with working brakes. We're also still house hunting, so if we find both a house and a car we could spend an astronomical amount within a 24 hour period. If we pass out, Nate will likely revive us by whacking us in the heads and pulling my hair.

hack

Nate's word of the day is "honey." He learned this while watching us prepare tea because I'm sick again! Can you believe it?! Health-wise, this has been the worst winter I can remember. So far, Thad and I are sick, but Nate just seems stuffy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way.

let the games begin

Nate has invented a great new game. It has a few variations, and I will share the most frequent with you. It began in Aunt Jeannie's concourse-level suite, which has a small half staircase leading out a back door. At the bottom of the stairs is a curtain, mostly for keeping the heat inside the house instead of having it flitter away into the wilderness of West Roxbury. Nate will climb up one step, turn around, and dive off into the curtains. Luckily there has been another person behind the curtain for most of his Evil Kanieviel stunts, but who knows what would happen if we just let him free fall through the billowing curtains and onto the concrete basement floor. His latest variation on the step game is to climb on his little yellow booster seat (that was actually mine when I was a kid) and to step off of that. It takes a lot of courage for him to get the guts to "jump" the couple of inches to the floor, but he really gets a kick out of it.

Nate's other fabulous game is far less dangerous, but just as unappealing. He takes a big swig from his sippy cup and then opens his mouth just wide enough for everything to just piddle out, down his chin, and all over his shirt. Great. Just great.

we're back!

Hi all - thanks to everyone for their kind sentiments regarding my grandfather. We definitely will miss him.

Back to the center of the universe (aka Nathaniel). Since it's been a while since my last post, here are a handful of tidbits about our last week or so.

Radiators
Radiators and mouths are not a good pair. Nate helped reinforce this last week when he ran face-first into a radiator. It wasn't nearly as traumatic as the broken head incident, but it did necessitate driving through a snow storm to visit the doctor. It looks like there wasn't any major damage, although there's a chance that Nate's teeth may turn black at some point. That may coincide with the halloween we dress him up as a pirate.

Talking
Nate reminded me that he knows so very many more words than I mentioned the other day. It seems like every day he says another word or two. Flower, shoe, car, hat, hot, cup, more... He's like a little, abridged dictionary.

Raisins
Most kids like raisins, and they are a healthy, handy snack. Easy to carry around, they don't go bad very quickly, are a good source of iron... you know. I used to like them myself, but since they've become one of Nate's favorite snacks, they have plummeted off my "things I like" list. Why? Because they result in very disturbing poops, filled with plump little raisins. Ew!

Tantrums
Nate's been throwing tantrums recently. He is also still throwing food. And occasionally he throws both food and a tantrum at the same time. I'm really not sure how to handle it. Anyone have any suggestions for resources about toddler behavior? When he's really worked up, he will stamp his feet and flail his arms around. It's really fabulous.

Duckie
On our way down to NJ last week we pulled over to a Barnes & Noble when Nate woke up from his nap, mainly so he could stretch his legs a bit. After laying down on the floor and throwing a small fit because we wouldn't let him pull all the books off the shelf, we made our way to the children's department at the back of the store. They had some Easter books and toys scattered throughout the area, including multiple versions of Nate's favorite stuffed animal, which we have cleverly named "Duckie." I forgot how good Duckie used to look, but over the past months he's been loved so much he looks like he was in a bar fight. Nate's favorite thing to do with Duckie is give him a big hug and then bite his beak and walk around with the poor duck hanging out of his mouth. Anyway, at the bookstore, Nate ran from display to display pulling all the clean Duckies off the shelf and trying to eat them. To top it off, there were a ton of truck books, and even one about an apple truck! This was almost too much to handle and Hurricane Nate took off through the displays biting innocent Duckies, saying "vroom vroom!" and grabbing apple books. We made it out relatively unscathed and got a truck book that enabled us to have an extra ten minutes of screaming-free driving.