Well Hello Sunshine!!

The craziest of storms blew through here over the weekend. Our town looks a lot like there was a tornado, just tons and tons of trees and limbs and telephone poles knocked down. There's four different back roads you can take to get to our house and three of them are still closed because of a tree or pole down blocking the way. Over half of the town is still without power (and has been since Saturday!) and schools have been closed. Miraculously we never lost power. With the exception of our street and one other, our neighborhood is completely dark at night. We are so lucky! They are predicting that the rest of town should have power and phones back by Thursday. Even with the storm Andrew and I managed to still have our planned date night on Saturday night and we had such a great time! The Melting Pot did not disappoint!! I'm still thinking about how yummy it was.

And today the sun finally came out again! This morning Connor and I went for a long walk/run with the jogging stroller and it was so nice to be outside again. Such a pretty day.

First I jogged with him in the stroller for about 20 minutes (and covered roughly 2 miles), then let him out to walk on his own for 20 minutes (and covered roughly 10 feet.)

Why so slow? Because he stops to pick up every rock he passes.

And then move it to a different location.

He also likes to stop to show me all the different leaves, pine cones, sticks, etc. that he finds. Such a little nature lover!

Not like I could hurry this sweet face along anyway :)

When we got home he continued to run around the yard for a bit. For a good 10 minutes his game was to start at the top of this hill and run down to me where he'd give me a HUGE bear hug and kiss. He must have done it 30 times. Loved that game!

Then after nap time we hit the streets again via tricycle.

My man on the move!

Life is Good (Again)!

This may be another long post, please bear with me! These have been a tough couple of weeks on the Eich family, all having to do with being SICK. I guess it kicked off when we were still in our apt. and Andrew brought swine flu home with him from Tokyo (lovely). Then shortly after we moved to our new house Connor came down with a bad cold. He got over it, but along the way he passed it to me in the form of a nasty sinus infection (I have already written about this). I got some antibiotics for it but before they could work their magic I ended up at the ER at 10pm on a Saturday night (and for those that have not experienced this before- the ER on a Saturday night is NOT a fun place to be- all the crazies are out!!). Basically my sinus infection had escalated so badly that I literally felt like I had been shot in the face. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I felt like I could barely breathe. So they hooked me up with an anti-inflammatory steroid (I think that's what finally helped) and pain meds and I was good to go. Fast forward three days, the infection was finally gone, but I started to have a reaction to the antibiotics whereby I threw up literally every 1-2 hours for almost 24 hours. It sucked. At first this scared Connor and he would cry every time I'd have to make a run for the bathroom. So I told him that Mommy was only pretending to throw up- that it was a fun game. From then on whenever I'd have to throw up he'd run to the bathroom with me and pretend to throw up beside me, giggling the whole time (which made me laugh too.) Even now if you ask him what Mommy sounds like when she throws up he can do a ridiculously funny and eerily accurate impression. I got over this as the antibiotics wore off but it was no more that a couple days before Connor came down with another cold over the weekend (this is not the norm for our family!!). On Monday of last week I took him to his pediatrician's office for what I thought would be a quick visit. However after listening to Connor's breathing (and a whole lot of tests) he advised us that we should take Connor to the hospital ASAP. Apparently his breathing was too rapid and his blood oxygen levels were too low. I was scared to death. Once we got to the hospital, Connor had to be hooked up to oxygen (NO FUN for a toddler) and monitored constantly. We spent three long nights in the hospital, with either Andrew or I sharing a bed with him and the both of us at his side at all times. It is absolutely the most helpless feeling to see your child so sick. He was such a trooper too- just laying there in the bed in his little hospital gown, Puppy tucked under his arm while watching cartoons and reading books, little tubes up his nose. Finally on Thursday morning his levels returned to normal and they allowed us to leave. He had been diagnosed with viral pneumonia. It's now the following Tuesday and he is 100% back to normal, thank goodness!! It continues to amaze me just how sick kids can be yet how quickly they can totally bounce back. Here's a picture I snapped on Andrew's phone of Connor once he was feeling better. He was zooming around on a toy car, about to crash it into the nurses station ;) As you can imagine, everyone at the hospital just loved Connor and got a real kick out of him!

To all our family and friends that knew what was going on and how worried and scared Andrew and I were, thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers- we are so appreciative!!

Now that last week is behind us, and ALL of us are feeling a-okay, there is so much that I am thankful for at the moment, here's a few:

* The health of my family- finally!!
* Our house and our new town which we are so in love with. I am still shocked at how friendly and welcoming everyone is here. All the Moms talk to me on the playground. Everyone says hello. My neighbors have come over to introduce themselves and make sure we were off to a good start. One even brought a bundt cake. I just didn't know that happened anymore!
* That this past weekend I got to go away for a girls weekend in Atlantic City and had a blast! I was going to cancel given the week we had just had with Connor and all but he was totally better by the weekend and Andrew encouraged me to still go. So glad I did!
*When I got home I got to see what Andrew had bought while I was away- a riding lawn mower (I knew it was only a matter or time- he has been talking about and researching these things for as long as I can remember). As you can imagine, Connor has loved going for rides on the tractor, and I really get a kick out of their matching John Deere hats.



*Our amazing weather right now. We've been eating lunch outside on the patio every day for the past few days. Connor can entertain himself for long periods of time out in the back yard, just throwing rocks or kicking the ball around. This morning I even read for a bit while he was busy out there playing. So fun! All of the snow has now melted which is hard to believe, being that this was our street only last week:

*This weekend we're getting our first sitter here so that Andrew and I can go out to dinner. We're going to The Melting Pot, one of my fave date spots only to be found in the burbs. It's seriously been years and years since we've been to one and I am sooooo excited!
*Also worth mentioning is that two weeks ago Connor started pre-school. Obviously this is a big deal deserving of its own post but I the time just got away from me. It's only for two hours two days a week but I can't even put into words how much he loves it. Literally every day he asks if we're going to school. I love to peek in his classroom and see what he's doing. The other day I looked in and he was standing at an easel in a little smock painting. Today he was holding hands with the other kids doing "Ring around the Rosy" and then sitting down for a show and tell (they were asked to bring in their favorite stuffed animal, obviously Connor brought Puppy!). Every day I bring home all of Connor's beautiful artwork from the day which I've been hanging in his playroom. They also have all sorts of activities during the week outside of the classroom (free- too!) On Friday afternoon they showed a Dr. Seuss movie for the kids and had a pizza party. This Sat. morning is a "Dads and Donuts" (this makes me laugh a bit) thing for Andrew and Connor to go to, and a chance for Andrew to see Connor's classroom and to meet some other Dads. My intention was just for Connor to be exposed to other kids right off the bat since we don't really know anyone here yet but its turned out to be so much more than that and we both couldn't be more pleased!
*And last but certainly not least, I am so happy and thankful to announce that we have another baby on the way!! Baby Eich 2.0 is due Sept. 7th, I'm 14 weeks along right now and finally feeling really, really great (all that sickness made for an extra tough first trimester, not to mention the whole move/new house thing!) Here's a picture of me sporting my new baby bump (and yes its mildly ridiculous that I'm showing this early but apparently that is to be expected the second time around and I'm not really minding it too much). Pardon the gym clothes.

Needless to say, we just couldn't be more thrilled! We know Connor is going to be the best big brother in the world and the spacing of the two kids is just perfect for us. We are already so looking forward to meeting this new baby!

Life is Good!!

Snow!

Woke up to another winter wonderland this morning and Andrew is once again working from home today. Love days like this! The boys have already been out to shovel the back steps and part of the driveway. Looks like we'll be hanging at home by the fire today.

We got Connor his own shovel so he could help on days like this.

Showing me all the snow!

Attempting to eat it.




Most people hurry out to the grocery store when they hear a snow storm is coming. Not us- we headed right to Home Depot where we picked up enough paint and supplies to keep us busy should we not be able to leave the house. This weekend we (and by "we" I mean Andrew) will be tackling his office and the downstairs bathroom. Will try and post some before and after pics.

Yay for the Olympics!

Happy to say that after taking some decent meds yesterday I'm finally really starting to feel better.

And do you know what put me in an an even better mood last night? Watching the Olympics. I think I've finally found my Olympic spirit, it always takes me a few days. The pairs free skate (on last night) is always one of my favorite events. In my next life I'd really like to come back as a female pair skater. I just love it. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll watch Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov's 1988 Calgary Olympics long program on You Tube just because. I can distinctly remember watching it in awe live for the first time when I was only 8 years old and it still takes my breath away. RIP Sergei. It's times like these I miss living with my Dad, who also has an appreciation for the Olympics and figure skating. Unlike Andrew, who told me last night that he couldn't watch with me because he automatically thinks about Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in the movie "Blades of Glory" and therefore can't take it seriously. Oh well.

Oh and those snowboarders are so badass. The few times I attempted snowboarding were such a disaster that I have a special respect for them. In that next life I was talking about where I'm an Olympic pair skater I'm totally going to become friends with lots of snowboarders. I bet they are really cool.

Go USA!

Sick of being sick!

For the first time in my stay at home mom career I had to call in sick this week. I caught what I thought was just Connor's small cold but it hit me like a freight train. Quite annoying, since I pride myself on normally having a Chuck Norris-like immune system. Not this time. By Tuesday it was so bad that I literally could not get out of bed, let alone take care of Connor. So Andrew worked from home for the day, and took care of us both. Thank God for him!! Connor is pretty much over his cold but I'm still getting there (my symptoms were more flu-like). I finally went to the doctor this morning for some meds so hopefully I should be back on track soon. I am so over being sick!!

Oh and on Wednesday we got our first serious snow since living here. I think all said we got about a foot. I was secretly getting a little jealous of all of my Maryland friends and family who saw tons of snow the prior weekend so I was really excited! Andrew worked from home on Wednesday too, since the trains were running on a limited schedule and the roads by us had not yet been plowed. Glad Andrew was around to take Connor out to play in the snow, since I was still feeling so crappy. They went sledding (we have a decent sledding hill back there), built a pretty cool igloo and threw lots and lots of snowballs. Connor so loves to roll around in the snow with his Dad!

So overall our week wasn't all that exciting. Kind of a bummer since I had several fun activities planned for us but I guess there's always next week. Here's a few random pictures from the week:

The view from my bed. It's so pretty when it snows here!

Snow tackle!

The boys.

Surfer snow dude.

Ok so we were admittedly a little ill equipped for the sudden winter weather. We got almost no snow in NYC so while Connor was outfitted properly, Andrew has no snow boots. Here he is in leather sneakers with plastic bags taped around his argyle socks to keep the snow out. They are sledding on a trash can lid wrapped in a trash bag. Next year we will be better prepared. They still had a ton of fun though!

Watching Andrew outside shoveling snow.

Our little Mr. Fix It. Since Andrew has been spending most of his free time doing all sorts of projects around the house (lots of hammering and drilling!) we got Connor his first real tool set so that he could "help" Andrew with everything he's doing. Of course Connor's fave tool is the drill because its the one that moves and makes the most noise...

Andrew was up in the attic laying down insulation so of course Connor was anxious to join him, hammer in hand!

Better fix the door on our way up.

Andrew's college buddy Mike came to stay with us on Saturday night. He was in NYC for the weekend so just hopped on a train out to us to stay for a night. It was so nice to see him and Connor loved having another guy around to hang out with! Here they are playing football in the driveway.

Some things never change

Leaving Tokyo:

Leaving NYC:

Pushing things around is still one of his favorite things to do!

We're Here!

And pretty much unpacked! Like I've mentioned before- we're basically gypsies, moving is what we do. Overall, I'd say everything went extremely smoothly. Andrew's parents came out to help and it was so nice to have them here. At the last minute our close got pushed back a day which was an issue because our stuff was due to arrive the afternoon of our original close. But Andrew was able to arrange an early entry agreement so that we could occupy the house before actually owning it, whew! Then while our stuff was being moved in the alarm system started making some odd beeping noises so Andrew pushed the big red button to try to stop them (for the record I never would have pressed that button). Turns out it was the "Panic" button and then all hell broke loose. Of course we didn't technically own the house yet so we didn't have the right codes. After several frantic phone calls, we just narrowly avoided our first encounter with the local law enforcement. Great way to make a first impression with the neighbors! But that was the extent of the issues so I'd say not bad.

Connor in the driveway.

Checking out all the new nature.


Connor likes to supervise all projects around the house.

Lots of snow in the backyard.


Some general thoughts and notes on our new life in the burbs:

It's really, really, really dark and quiet out here. I've just now gotten used to it. No more sights and sounds of the city! It's also really cold.

That said, it is SO SO SO pretty here. I'm absolutely in love! It's snowed twice so far and since we have lots of windows and no window treatments yet, it feels like we are in a snow globe.

We often see deer in our back yard. Connor thinks they are reindeer so he points to them and says "Santa??!"

I am extremely impressed with the response time of snow plows out on these back roads where we live. Glad to know that's not going to be an issue.

The people here are so friendly! Everyone knows everyone. People wave at each other when they pass in a car and say hi to each other on the street. They hold the doors for you and when they see you struggling with a stroller and/or bags they hurry over to help (unlike the city where you could be flailing on the ground having a heart attack and people would just step over you to get by). This is going to take some getting used to. At first I was a little taken aback by all the friendliness but I'm starting to warm up.

I'm mildly obsessed with my car and being able to drive us where we want to go. It's been so long since I've had my own car too.

The most exciting vehicles to come down our road are mail and delivery trucks and snow plows. Luckily we drove into Stamford yesterday and Connor got to see a firetruck and ambulance in action. Phew- he's really going to miss all the city emergency vehicles, they were always a highlight of his day!

I still have to use my car's navigation system to find my way home. Very thankful I have one.

Connor loves the new house. He's spent so much time just exploring the back yard. He slept like a champ from night one. I even switched which room was his on Day #3 (Andrew and his Dad were quite pleased with me) and he still didn't care. As long as Puppy is tucked under his arm he'll basically sleep anywhere. He's also been sleeping in until almost 8am every morning too, I think he's really digging the fresh county air (and the quiet!)

Last week our new high efficiency, triple load washer and dryer were delivered. It was the third most exciting day of my life (behind Connor's birth and our wedding day). After having had to drag all of our laundry to the basement of our building for the last year I am SO excited to be able to do our laundry in the comfort of our own home. And all of it at once too! It's almost pathetic how excited I am about this.

Yesterday I caught myself complaining to Connor that my car was dirty. I've waited so long to be able to complain that my car was dirty!

At first we thought all the deer were really neat. We'd keep calling each other over to the window, "look- deer!!" But then I came uncomfortably close to hitting one with my car yesterday. And I realized they poop in our yard and eat our flowers and spread Lyme disease. How quickly I now hate the deer.

We've already been to Home Depot three times and imagine we will probably be going there on a weekly basis for the next year. I can already see that home ownership is going to be expensive!

We're loving the extra space. Andrew finally has his own office (instead of just a desk in the living room/playroom.) We now have a den area where all Connor's toys go. And although we don't have all that much stuff, I really like having a basement to store stuff- old toys, Christmas decorations, clothes that Connor has outgrown, etc. This all went under our beds or in the coat closet before. Connor's loving the extra room to run around and ride his little car. He also realized that if he rams his car hard enough into the sliding glass door it will set off the alarm system (which he thinks is really funny.)

Andrew and I both really like to cook so its been fun having a kitchen big enough for us to both stand comfortably in at the same time.

You know you're living in a small town when you go to the liquor store and they ask you if you want to put it on your house account!

At first I was a little freaked out by the whole well water thing. But I have to admit that I've been having some fantastic hair days because of it and now I'm a fan.

We have a wonderful guest room all set up and awaiting visitors :)

I joined the YMCA which has a great fitness center and childcare for Connor. For our entire family to belong here it's roughly half the cost of my single gym membership back in NYC. Yay!! Connor will start swim lessons here in March. While taking a tour of the facility I ran into a woman that I knew from the Tokyo American Club- small world!! And a friend that was actually in my original Tokyo baby group lives here too. Who knew I'd find multiple former Tokyo expats here of all places?!

While showering today I realized there was a large bug in there with me (ok it was smaller than a quarter, but still). I haven't had to deal with things like this since our very first NYC apartment (which was just gross). But I know living out here in the woods its probably going to be unavoidable not to see something creepy from time to time. After a brief stare down to see who was going to make the first move I left to finish my shower in the guest bathroom. I've been checking on him throughout the day and so far he's still in there (and Andrew will hopefully take care of him when he gets home.) I will have to get used to this I guess.

The drive from our house into town takes about 12 minutes. However after returning home from the grocery store today only to discover that Puppy AND Elmo had been left behind in the grocery cart I was able to make it back into town in under 6 minutes. Good to know that in "emergency" situations I can get us there in no time!

This afternoon Connor kicked a soccer ball around our driveway for almost 40 minutes. This is exactly why we moved to the burbs!! He had such a blast (and by the way- early prediction is that soccer is going to be his sport!)

I took Connor to the YMCA daycare for the first time yesterday morning (he had a great time). When I told him we were going to the gym he kept asking for his friend Levi, who's Mom always went to our old gym at the same time as me. Levi is the first friend Connor made totally on his own (at the gym daycare.) Levi must have talked a lot about Connor too because we were invited to Levi's birthday party even though I had never met his Mom! So I told him "No honey, Levi won't be at this gym but maybe we'll meet some new friends." And he said, "No no no, Leeeeeeeviiiiii!" So sad! It just breaks my heart that he won't get to see Levi anymore. Or Nico. Or Claire. Or for me to see their Moms (at least anytime soon). Sigh.

I joined the town Newcomers group which has all sorts of activities throughout the month. One is a weekly playgroup done by age group. Connor will be in the 2-3 year old group. Hopefully this will be a good way for Connor and I to both meet some new friends.

So that's about it. I'd say overall we've hit the ground running best we can. If it sounds like I'm on Cloud 9 it's because I really am. I think Suburbia is going to suit us well!!