Child Care

I'm quoted in this week's Time Out New York Kids magazine, which centers on child care in NYC this week. The feature article was written by our friend Sarah Robbins who interviewed me about finding child care here in the city. I can't say that Atlanta is that much easier as far as child care is concerned, but we've been lucky enough (thanks to Carter the elder's assistance) to find what seems like a great nanny share situation. Once we get to Atlanta, we'll be sharing a nanny with another family in our new town. The other family has a boy (also blond haired and blue eyed) who is just a few months older than Carter. The two boys will spend two days a week at our house and three days a week at the other family's house. Since we've been using daycare for over a year now, it will be quite a change, but we're looking forward to it. Thomas met the other family and the nanny when he was in Atlanta training earlier in the month, and they all seem great.

Carter the Wild

We went over to Patrick & Kirstin's place for a delicious (garlicious) dinner on Sunday night. Carter immensely enjoyed himself, to the point of refusing to sleep and breaking at least one thing. But I know he just couldn't help himself. Being at Patrick & Kirstin's place would be fun in and of itself, but their cats just make it unbearably exciting. He chased their kitten Fidel Catstro all over the place, even through an open bookshelf.

(Below, Carter is pouncing on his stuffed panda, Theodore, not the cat. But if he'd been able to catch the cat, Carter would have tackled him too.)

Strollin'

August 2006 and August 2007
What a difference a year makes!

Catch

A pic from Joo's visit last weekend:

Laundry Day

Carter highly enjoyed himself when we did laundry recently.

(Yes, that is my underwear).

Fashion Experiments

I got pretty experimental in high school with some of my fashion choices. I was known to alter or make my own clothes to get exactly the look I was going for. Since my parents are moving, my mom has been cleaning out and recently sent me some of my experiments. I don't feel a need to keep these anymore, so they are being purged in preparation for our own move, but I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of my high school handiwork.

I know these aren't fashionable now, and I have a sinking feeling that they weren't back then either...

Sadly, my car wash skirt seems to have disappeared.

Today

Joo came over and spent most of the day with us. Here's a great pic she snapped!

Sorry

Sorry that we haven't posted in a week. We've been under the weather, very busy at work and planning the move...

We'll try to be better this weekend!

How much is that baby in the window?

A cute picture from yesterday:

Picnic

Carter's daycare had a picnic yesterday afternoon, complete with a pony! You'll notice that there are no pony pictures here, and that is because Carter refused to either sit on or pet the pony. He was, however, very upset if anyone else rode the pony. He wanted it to stand right next to him - but he didn't want to touch it. That was, in part, because he just wanted to hold on to me. Until a certain 5-year-old girl came over, at which point he got down, grabbed her hand, and off they went.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's our fourth anniversary! Alas, we're in different cities today. Since we couldn't go out together tonight, we thought we'd celebrate by buying a house. So we did.

I'm Back

We had a very productive house-hunting weekend, and hope to have more news on that front soon. I got back tonight, and Thomas is in Atlanta through Wednesday to train on his new job. Carter is still with Patrick and Kirstin through tomorrow morning. It sounds like they had a good weekend together, though I'm sure they'll be glad to give him back! And I'll be glad to have him back - I miss my baby!

Baseball Weekend

Thomas' dad spent a long weekend with us for an NYC baseball experience. He and Thomas went to a Yankee's game on Sunday. On Monday, wee Carter, elder Carter and Thomas took in a Brooklyn Cyclones game, and then on Tuesday night Thomas elder Carter and I went to a Mets game. That was the very best because Thomas caught a ball (though I'm pretty sure Moises Alou was throwing it specifically to me... ah, sweet Moises). The Carters had a lovely time together. Unfortunately, we took shamefully few pictures.

Tomorrow evening, Thomas and I are off to Atlanta for house-hunting. We are leaving Carter here with Patrick and Kirstin for the whole weekend! I'm sure they'll be fine, but wish me luck in handling the separation! I've taken longer trips away than this, but Thomas and I have never both been so far away from him at the same time.

Georgia on My Mind

Well, we're on the road again...takin' the midnight train to Georgia...you get the idea.

That's right, we're moving! Again!

After 4 years of living it up in the Big Apple, we have decided it is time to change fruits and move to the Peach State. I have taken a job as the Director of Production for the Atlanta Ballet and start after Labor Day. Elizabeth will become a telecommuter, keeping her current job and working from home in Atlanta via the internets. All of them. She will spend a few days a month in NYC, but will mostly enjoy the opportunity to work in her bathrobe whenever she decides to. For Carter, it means grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the southern upbringing he was meant to have. (P.S. It also means he is leaving an uncle and aunt(s) in NYC to much heartbreak, but hopefully there will be much travel in all of our futures...).

Wait, did I say "home?" Yes, I did. We are in the process of searching for, and eventually, buying, our first home. We have a real estate agent and everything. It is very exciting. We are spending this coming weekend seeing as many houses as possible and hopefully making an offer on one so we can be ready to move by the end of September. The month of September will be tricky with me working in Atlanta and Elizabeth staying in NYC with Carter (and his daycare), but it will be worth it so we can move directly into our new home (at least that is the current plan!).

We will post more as the house hunt develops and the move progresses. Wish us luck!

More Tahoe Pics

This is the last batch of photos from Tahoe... I think.

It was great (though strange - in a good way) to have family and friends all gathered in the same place.

Carter got to spend time with Grandad Ron,

Uncle Park

Crazy Uncle Mike, Aunt Ashley,
and Grandma Bronwyn!

Happy Blogiversary!

It has been one year since our first blog post! Err... actually, this was the very first post. In the last year we've posted 274 entries. Of those, 247 were posted by me, and 27 by Thomas (though I think you'll notice that Thomas takes quite a bit more care with composing his blog entries). You have made 434 comments on our blog entries. That works out to 1.76 comments per post. As far as blog content goes, Carter was the clear winner, with 121 posts about the boy (what can I say - we give the people what they want). Family, holidays, home, travel and milestones (also generally posts about Carter) were distant runners up.

It's (mostly) been a pleasure blogging for you this year. Now, come on people, let's see if we can get our average up to over 2 comments per post next year!

Tahoe Scenery

Tahoe is an incredibly beautiful place. We were very near the recent burn area, and it was quite sad to see the charred landscape. There were places just down the hill from where we were staying where homes had burned completely down - only chimneys were standing - and right across the street would be an untouched home. On the top of the hill where we stayed, you couldn't even tell there had been a fire.

One day we took a drive to a nearby overlook on a ridge, and here is what you could see:

One side of the ridge was completely burned, and the other side (not pictured) was completely fine. However, things are already starting to sprout again! Near the overlook, we lucked into finding a very beautiful little lake with canoes.

And, yes, we did have him in a life jacket when we were actually out on the water. But we didn't go far out with him because we were insistent that he sit in our laps, and he was insistent that he sit and paddle the boat all by himself.

Wedding Festivities

Wasn't it a beautiful spot for a wedding?!

The bride and groom at rehearsal.
Here comes the bride!
What do you figure they are talking about?

See the Kimbro blog for pics of the men getting pretty. Oh, and for the record, when Carter saw the three of them in their tuxes on the way out, he pointed at them and burst out laughing. I'm not sure what that was about...

Ah, how weddings inspire romance...There were happy couples everywhere!

Tahoe Fun

Oh, where to start with posting about our trip? I'll begin at the beginning of the week, before the wedding festivities really got into full swing.

Early last week we shared a cabin with the Kimbros and tried to make the most of the Tahoe scenery and terrific weather!

Eleanor, Rachel and I took a paddle boat out on the lake.

Eleanor and Carter played in a pool in our front yard.

We took a hike at Echo Lake.

Carter took a motorboat out for a spin.

He was actually very well behaved on this otherwise adults-only boat excursion. The only rough patch was when Thomas and I both jumped into the water. Carter was very disturbed - he didn't know where his parents disappeared to!

The boys on the beach.
This was perhaps the only extended period of time when all the kids were still and quiet at the same time (other than when the DVDs were on - apparently Carter enjoys Blues Clues)!