Signing off...

Returning the cable modem tomorrow and then going Internet-less (Internet-free?) for at least a week... well that's not really true, but I can't blog from my phone.

Things are crazy here - boxes and piles and miscellaneous stuff. Trying to keep the piles straight of what goes in the pods, the car, on the plane, and if on the plane in which of the four trips west that we're making in the next few weeks. No longer writing in complete sentences.

Today was my last day in the office and Grace's last day of daycare. No tears for me until I choked up when I picked up Grace because her teacher kept giving her kisses and saying how much she would miss her.

We head off to Montana next week for the wedding of the year. Looking forward to some adventuring to Yellowstone, hot springs and family time!

See you on the west side.

Ham

Somebody seems to have started to get the idea about the camera. Too bad I had it set to "night scenery" for some reason... it was evening, but I'm not sure she counts as scenery. Does scenery move constantly?

Note the look of glee here as she prepares to drop the graham cracker on the floor. I can't stop singing love songs to my dustbuster.

Good-byes

I am the definition of ambivalence these days. I'm so sick of packing and living in a disaster zone and organizing logistics that I would like to be in San Francisco already. Except that I suddenly can't bear the thought of leaving our life here. Since it's spring, I love Boston! Living here almost three years means that we have really started to build a community. We have people to spend holidays with and call in an emergency. We run into people we know almost every time we go out. We know the guy at the post office and the librarians and the clerks at the little deli. Our neighborhood is just about ideal - we can walk almost anywhere we want to go, and the Charles River Esplanade has been our backyard. Plus, I can finally drive places without the GPS and sometimes even come up with stealthy alternate routes if there's traffic. And we have wonderful friends.

I'm sure we will make new friends and settle into a new neighborhood, not to mention that we are over the moon about reconnecting with family and friends in the Bay Area, some of whom we haven't seen in years. And I love all the exploring that comes with moving, settling into new routines and finding the hidden gems that make you feel like a local. But that means leaving this place, a place that despite the winters and the distance from so many loved ones, has become our home. And it's hard to leave home, no matter how excited we are about what comes next.

So, there have been a lot of good-byes lately, a lot of last this and last that. I was overcome by emotion the other day at a playdate with our old moms group friends when the host had a cake that said "We'll miss you Grace." Here's Grace attempting to adorn the cake with goldfish.

And with her buddy Lily... how these two have grown and changed.

And then on Friday we had to say good-bye to sweet little Eli... these two just crack me up together. We'll miss him and his mom so much.

Ugh. So many more good-byes in the next week.

Pink sandals = hiking shoes

The first weekend we lived in Massachusetts, we went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to hike. Here's proof (at least proof that Steve was there - apparently there are no pictures of the two of us that day).

We remember the trip fondly and have returned to NH a number of times, once even with the X-treme Jensens. Anyhow, we wanted to return to that first hike this weekend as a sort of last hurrah for adventuring in New England. It was long and flat and had fantastic waterfalls to picnic beside. Luckily, we didn't go because the drive seemed like too much for Grace. So we picked a slightly closer hike in southern New Hampshire instead.

Gorgeous spring day and Grace slept for the entire drive. Then, we failed to find the trailhead on the side of the highway. So we clutched and decided to try an alternate route to the top of Mt. Monadnock, which we had hiked once before, pre-Grace, and had a fabulous time. Grace was psyched to be in the Ergo, babbling away like crazy, kicking and laughing and playing drop-the-map-daddy-pick-it-up. For about 10 minutes. Then, she started screaming and crying so we thought we'd carry her and let her walk a bit. And then she kept yanking off her hat, so we put sunscreen in her eye. Not on purpose, but the water we then had to pour on her eye didn't help matters and she was a screaming, howling mess. We were determined to at least get to a decent picnic spot, so we kept chugging, screamer and all. Welcome to parenthood. I remember being the screamer, or at least the whiner, on many a hike.

It took several tries for Grace not to be scowling in this shot.

Apparently, she was hungry and that hiker's adage that food tastes better outside was absolutely true. We found a lovely meadow with a big rock and a great view of the hills. Grace gobbled down her lunch and resumed being the sweetest, happiest baby ever. We threw in the towel, realizing it was ridiculous to think we could make it to the top of the mountain and make the two hour drive back and take another load to Goodwill.

Thirsty hiker - no hands!

We headed down, and apparently that's when Grace's inner hiker really emerged. Holding onto both of us, she plowed down the rocky trail like it was flat carpet, in fact better than she walks on flat carpet. She was going over rocks, stepping down off rocks and plowing right through them (why bother going around?) like nobody's business. Steve and I couldn't stop laughing. So, despite the rocky start, it ended up being a lovely day. Grace snoozed again on the way home while we enjoyed the picturesque New England towns, all white clapboard against endless green trees.

Whaddya mean you can't hike in sandals?

All the pictures here, including one of my favorite Steve-Grace sequences ever.

Visitors

We had a very special treat over the weekend - Pete and Andréa made the road trip from North Carolina to Boston for one last east coast rendezvous. You might remember that they are two of Gracie's three godparents and very dear friends.

They rolled into town on Friday afternoon and while Grace was surprised to find them here when she awoke from a nap, she quickly acclimated to having two more adoring fans. We had supper in and then they headed up to stay with Becky, Ben and Eli (and that is how we know Becky - her close childhood friend went to college with Andréa, then they were all roommates afterward in Chicagoland, and now Becky is one of our favorite people, too!). Saturday we toured the Ether Dome and then wandered over to Beacon Hill for lunch outside at a favorite cafe where Grace attracted quite a crowd by waving at everyone she saw. We went to the arboretum (part of the bucket list) to walk, and then all headed up to dinner with Becky, Ben and Eli. Grace and Eli made quite a disaster area under their chairs, tossed milk cups around, grabbed each other's food and

bickered over whether or not they could touch one another's high chairs. It was hilarious, but suffice to say that Becky and I were slightly exhausted at the "kids end" of the table. Great time, though!

On Sunday A&P came down to join us at church where Grace was a bit more active than when she slept through her baptism. In fact, she crawled away under the pews. Her godparents have their work cut out for them! We picnicked in the Garden, walked by the river and had too much ice cream. Monday morning, Andréa and I ran up to Cambridge while Pete saw and old friend and then they had take off... too soon, but it was wonderful to see them and dream about where we might all live and get to visit each other in the future. And it was delightful to see

how much Gracie enjoyed them - she couldn't stop giving Pete hugs good-bye and found it hilarious when they tried to teach her how to juggle. Not sure I've heard her laugh that hard, but of course the video camera was packed so it will have to be a fond memory.

All the weekend photos are here, along with a bunch of other random shots from the last few weeks that I hadn't managed to post yet.

Firsts

First birthday on Saturday, first allergic reaction Monday, first trip to the ER on Wednesday. The peanut or possible antibiotic (both?) allergy progressed to vomiting, which led to a dramatic four hour run in the ER. Gracie was a champ, given that she was missing sleep and sick. In fact, she was mostly charming everyone in the ER until she got so exhausted that all she could do was whine, punctuated with periodic screaming, and the only thing that would calm her down was playing with water from the faucet. At 3:45AM in the ER, you do what you gotta do.

All this was made that much better by the fact that her extra sheets were already packed so when she threw up in the crib, we moved her to our bed. Our extra sheets were also packed so when she threw up in our bed, we were more or less out of luck. It was a long night and an even longer day at work the next day. What's not to love about having two members of a three person family in the ER in less than six months? Here's hoping I don't round out the trifecta and make my own trip in the next two weeks.

Fortunately, the hives are finally fading and she has her appetite back and seems to be feeling much, much better. She even took four steps on her own on Friday! It was probably the good influence of Andrea and Pete coming for a visit. More on that as soon as I transfer the photos.

Take me out

Fun and unexpected date night last week when Steve won a raffle at work for Red Sox tickets! We had been wanting to get to a game, having never been, but didn't think it was going to happen with our crazy schedules and lack of planning. But then, he won the raffle and Anna was available to baby-sit at the last minute (Thank you again, Anna! So much!).

It was a gorgeous spring evening and the people watching was as good as the baseball. The seats were excellent. It was such fun to have a surprise date since normally these things take some planning. And a year from when my contractions started, no less. We had a blast.

The only bad thing? They were playing the Angles, who are not from LA, but Orange County. The LA Angels "of Anaheim" is almost a dumber name than the Oklahoma City Thunder (albeit for different reasons).

Fears confirmed

I gave Gracie some peanut butter puffins on Monday, hoping they would be a new food that she would actually eat and a way to get her more fat. I did it Monday because her 12 month visit to the pediatrician was scheduled for this morning. Since reactions get worse the second time with allergies, I figured we would see how it went Monday and then I would give her more this morning so that if she had a really bad reaction, we'd be going to the doctor anyway. Yes, I actually think things out to this degree of neurosis.

Well, good thing. Bonus, we got to skip this morning's "dose" of pb because she got hives Monday night that have gotten worse and worse. Everyone is guessing it's the pb, but we won't do any tests to confirm until she is 2. We'll check other nuts then, too.

I was so hoping she would escape the nut allergies that plague my side of the family. I was hoping her father's total lack of allergies would dilute my contribution. And if she had to have a nut allergy, I really didn't want it to be peanuts but rather something obscure like mine. Since I'm trying hard not to write my simpler, more vulgar thoughts on the matter so picture my angry face.

Mother's Day

Just a lazy Mother's Day around here. Steve got up with Grace while I laid in bed reading the Times Magazine (yes, sleeping in would have been even better but that's not an option when you've been up before 5:30 every day for the past two weeks and the sun is bright). When I dragged myself out of bed, there was a card and flowers on the table and breakfast and coffee just about ready. Ahhh. That was nice, but possibly just as nice was laying on the couch with more coffee and chatting with Steve while Grace played. We finally rallied too late to make the Duck Walk we'd planned to attend with Lisa, Paul and Livia, but we did manage to meet them at the end and see all the costumes. A lovely lunch in a cafe on Beacon Hill and a walk rounded out the good part of the day.

Then we went to the Pru to exchange something and failed. So, I tried on approximately every black dress in two malls and found nothing suitable. If that's not discouraging, when even black isn't working, I don't know what is. The hunt is on, which is the last thing I have time for but with Grace as my trusty and patient shopping companion, I'll find something. Right?

Shout out

I was terribly remiss in my last post by forgetting to note some key players in Saturday's party success! Huge thank you to Lisa (and Livia) for helping entertain Grace while I prepped on Friday and for frosting cupcakes with me. And giant thank you to Sarah for helping with all kinds of set up activities on Saturday. We couldn't have done it without you two! This is also a bittersweet reminder of the wonderful community we're leaving in a few weeks.

ONE

Gracie is one!

She woke up in a great mood on her birthday and we were pretty lucky because it lasted all day. She seemed to have a wonderful time at her party - as we know, girl loves a crowd and attention.

All the photos are here and sadly the lighting was terrible in the space so many are out of focus. Oh, and that's my dress she's wearing. Thank you, Mom, for saving it. We had a late morning brunch (thanks to Jeff for the menu-consultation/planning, i.e. we cribbed Sadie's birthday menu). I made quiche for the first time and definitely recommend this easy-peasy recipe. And I forgot to halve the two cupcake recipes so we are now swimming in cupcakes... come on over if you want more! Sadly, the photos don't capture Steve's artistic cupcake design, but he made them into a G and it looked great.

This post is not accurately capturing our sense of shock that our baby girl is one. She is such a happy little love-bug these days, doling out hugs and "kisses" and smiles and giggles, and working hard at learning to walk and talk and exploring everything.

Gracie Mae baby girl lovey pie sweet pea, we love you so much. You are joy, and we are deeply grateful for the blessing of being your parents.

And, Happy Mother's Day to my mom and mother-in-law, and all the other mothers reading this.

So then things get interesting

The Walk for Hunger was today! I was ridiculously excited to participate because I've wanted to since we moved here, but the timing hasn't worked (well, last year I was a hundred years pregnant). Steve and Grace joined my team for about half the Walk. It was a blast! Also very hot. Good people to walk with and a vital cause. Thank you to so many of you who contributed - our team raised over $1,200 to fight hunger. I believe all walkers together last year raised over $3 million. Awesome! Thanks again!

The backdrop of this amazing event was the fact that Greater Boston does not have potable water. Yesterday a water main broke so now the entire area is under a "boil water order" (on back up water that isn't safe to drink). This means boiling water before cooking/drinking. That part is actually not so bad - it doesn't taste great, but it's doable. At least we have running water. We can bathe (well, Grace has to have sponge baths) and the toilets work, but the challenge is doing dishes! Our dishwasher doesn't have a sanitize cycle so we have to rinse everything in a boiled water/bleach solution after washing. Sounds easier than it is - I've spent a lot of time juggling pots around, keeping enough water boiled, trying to find a pot big enough to dunk the clean dishes, etc. And it was 84 degrees out at 6pm.

So anyway, the boiling water thing is challenging, but it also makes me appreciate what it means to have safe running water. It's inconvenient to boil water, but I can turn on the tap to get the water. And it's a little scary to have unsafe water and need to take precautions, especially to keep Grace from ingesting any (sponge baths). However, millions (billions?) of people live without clean or running water and routinely face these challenges and dangers. We are so blessed. Walking for hunger juxtaposed against not having potable water certainly helps balance one's perspective and to realize how reliant we are on modern infrastructure.

In other news:

- 3AM fire alarm+sick baby+12 flights of stairs+fireman saying you can go back in as soon as we get outside = not cool.

- Grace has another fever (pre-water boil issue, so not caused by it but also not helped).

- We have a place to live in San Francisco!

It has been a good but exhausting weekend.