Potty Training, Day 1

We started out the day in Dora underwear, at Abby's request last night. It's just after 10 am and we've had one accident, and one success so far. She also has 3 stickers, one on each arm and one on her knee, as rewards for every time she sits on the potty, no matter what happens. I've recently brought out the big guns- a big sippy cup full of her favorite juice, and a huge can of lysol. We are all set!

Note also, the boys just left for their big Northeast Grandma tour! Grandmas-- they are on their way!!

Trip to NC

Mike, Jake and Abby came down at the end of last week and joined me in Durham right after my last class of the term. It was the first time we've all been there together, and it was wonderful to explore and hang out as a family in our soon-to-be new home locale!

One of the highlights of our trip was a quick morning visit I did with the kids to the Sarah P Duke Gardens. They were just beautiful! And free. Cannot wait to go back and see more. We went really early and by 10:45am it was already steamy so we went back to the car where Mike was waiting and started our 2 car trek back to VA.

The other highlight was taking Abby for her intake interview at her new Montessori school. They wanted to meet her, let her play with the works, and see how she did with me leaving the room. They normally don't let children in until they are 3, and she'll be 4 months shy of that, so they wanted to assess her readiness also.

She was so happy! She wanted to play with everything and didn't care one whit that I left the room. They said she was quite advanced for her age, and was welcome to come in September. I took her out to the playground, and she met some kids, tried a tricycle, buried half her body with sand, and cried when it was time to leave. My little girl is growing up! I think she's going to adore going to that school!!! Since Jake can enroll in his public school when we move, we're all set for schools!

8 am Stroll in Oxford

Am in Oxford, UK for the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Had a lovely dinner last night at one of the original Oxford dining halls. Am out strolling now enjoying watching a small european town come to life at 8 am. Tiny street cleaner trucks are sweeping, students are biking to class, and here in the covered market, fruits and veggies are being arranged and the grills are getting prepped for the lunch crowd. Found myself a satisfying hot breakfast and am off to walk around more before my meeting starts at 9.

Big Snack!

Abby's head cold morphed into an ear infection. Such pain! Such crying! Not fun at all. We got her on antibiotics finally, last night.

Poor Abby has not eaten anything but soymilk for days. Today I took her for a stroller walk and on arriving home, she asked for a "big snack."

Happiness is your first taste of cheese and crackers after 3 days of not eating!

Busy March

It's been quite a week. Jake and Mike went down to NC to look at houses and schools and Abby and I busied ourselves with playgroup and a great but very rowdy visit to the new Bounce N' Play in town. She had a blast and it ended up working nicely for all since I had urgent cell phone calls all morning over terms of my new contract and she was pretty happily occupied.

I also took advantage of the boys being gone to paint the hallway upstairs. No fingerprints anymore!

Abby and I also did a special girls' night out dinner at Appleby's - our second - it made her so happy! She keeps talking about how she had "apple juice at Abbleby's!" Next time maybe I'll just take her out for juice. My 2 meals there have been less than stellar.

Then 2 days later she woke up with a 104 degree fever and I spent all night up with her as she cried and coughed. She's coming out of it now, thankfully, and the doctor said it's just a bad head cold.

Jake is finally all better from his bout with pneumonia. He's taking the idea of moving very well so far; liked the school he visited and seems excited about the move!

We are still keeping our house immaculate for potential buyers - a lot of work!


Here's Abby last week before she got sick...
And at the Bounce N' Play:
The toddler area was perfect for her. She was happy in there for almost 2 hours!

Wanna Buy a House?

Ours is officially for sale! The listing is here. It is a bittersweet time. I've gotten a nice offer from Duke to continue to work part-time in a faculty role (control over my schedule and summers off!) but with stable pay and full benefits. And after commuting there two days a week and causing huge disruption to the family, this is not something I can refuse. And I actually love the work I'm doing there - great people, great projects. It is a fabulous next phase for me.

We've looked around enough to get excited about living in Carrboro/Chapel Hill. It's very family friendly, with fabulous public schools, the best in NC. But I'm sad too about ending my 5 year stint at the Lake. This is where I reveled in the idea of us both working part-time from home while raising our babies. Jake was 1 when we moved here, and in the first week I went for a stroll and met Melissa K and discovered the amazing moms I now count among my very best friends. The support and community we've found here have simply been incredible. And C'ville is so very beautiful, with the lake to enjoy in the summer and the mountains nearby and the casual, friendly, low-stress culture of a still very rural college town.

But, school beckons for the kids and it's time to organize a new phase for us. We're totally excited and hope we can have a nice, smooth transition this year for all. Jake is sitting next to me as I write and when I asked him just now what he thinks about our move, his answer was "Yay - we're going to buy a new house!" Everyone is ready!

If you clean my back...

Snowy golf course

This was the view from my hotel room this morning. It dusted snow in Durham last night and all the schools opened 2 hrs late. Madam, we are in the South!