Seventeen Months

Dear Sylvia,

Yesterday I looked at you and said to myself, for the hundredth time since you were born, "Wow, there's no way she gets any better than this."  I guess that's the perk of being the oldest or only child.  We have no idea what's around the corner, so every time you do something new, it's just the most amazing thing EVER to us!  I realized yesterday that you are so much easier to take care of than you were a few months ago.  You can walk, you can go up and down the steps without any help, you can climb onto a chair or the couch all by yourself and you can slip down to the floor when you're done.  Also, you're starting to chill out on the whole "I have to put everything in my mouth right now" thing, thank goodness.  It's like I can finally SIT DOWN and watch you play.  It's amazing!

We've been staying with Grammy and Grandpa while we're in between houses, so they get to watch you grow just like we do!  They are always amazed at how much you understand, in English and in French!  You can point to all of your body parts and you can make a few animal noises, but the other day you really surprised me.  You were on the back deck drinking a juice box and I said, "Okay, Sylvia!  Let's put it in the garbage can!" And you walked right to the door, I opened it, you ran into the kitchen, opened the cabinet under the sink, and tossed the box in the trash!  HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT???  I'm positive I've never tried to teach you "garbage can."  You just knew.  Because you're a genius.

You have become very playful, Nugget, especially since you've been spending your days with Eva and Claire.  You like to run and jump and climb on and over everything you see.  You like to stop what you're doing, look at one of us, and grin with all of your teeth showing, nose scrunched, head tilted back.  You love to wear Grammy's necklaces and bracelets.  Today I came home to find you in your tutu, and you ran up to me and TWIRLED around!  That's new.  I don't know where you picked that up, but I'm going to go ahead and blame Eva for that one.  You love hanging out with those girls during the day.  Sometimes you get frustrated and bite them, but I think (I HOPE) that's a short-lived phase.

So every once in a while I decide that I love you at whatever particular age you happen to be in.  I can't possibly imagine any better age than that, but you always get better, month my month and day by day.  I was looking back at some of my old posts and I can't get over how grown up you look these days.  You're losing your chubby baby-fat cheeks, your hair is getting longer and thicker (pigtails are right around the corner!!), and your arms and legs just keep growing and growing!  You're turning into a kid and I adore watching it happen.

Here you are watching the bulldozers on Grammy's street and looking like such a big girl!

We love you forever and ever.  Thanks for being you.

Love,
Mama

Therapy

I'm forcing myself to sit down at the computer and get through with this post.  I realize it's been over a month since I've logged on, and I don't want to look back on this time and see a gaping hole in our family's history, at least not a hole any bigger than the one I've already left.  I have so much to say, but I'll try to make it as concise as possible.

Our house is alllmmmoooossssttttt sold.  We are so close!  All we're waiting on is a closing date, but I refuse to let myself get excited about this until I'm sitting in a lawyer's office, handing over the keys.  The inspections are over, the repair requests are over, the appraisal is over....but we're not done yet!  That being said, we are officially a "dual city" family!  We go back to our old house as often as we can to pack up boxes and mow the lawn, but all of our day-to-day goings-on happen at Casa Eiben.  We moved in with Mom and Jay almost a month ago, and we couldn't be more grateful for their open arms and extra bedrooms.  Sylvia sleeps as well here as she ever did at our house.  We have a giant basement for our TV, computer, and toys.  We have in-house babysitters who agree to watch Sylvia at any given moment.  Not to mention, we both started our new jobs and we absolutely, one hundred and twenty percent, LOVE our schools and our students. We could not be any more blessed.

So why am I so sad?

Well, I realized something about memory while I was watching HGTV.  Memory is visual.  There was a woman who got emotional about tearing down a wall in her house because she could picture her grandma sitting against it and doing...whatever she did, I can't remember.  But I thought to myself, "Seriously?!  It's a wall, lady!  Get over it!"  Then I almost lost my breath when I realized EXACTLY how she was feeling.  I only get sad about our old house when I visualize our old house, which I force myself not to do almost every night.  I picture our backyard, and Sylvia with her plastic wagon, or Sylvain watering the garden, or my red rocking chairs on the front porch....and ohhhhhhh, how I miss it SO MUCH!  All it takes is a split second of green grass or hydrangeas or roses for me to absolutely LOSE IT. 

So I put off this post for a long time.  I didn't want to sit down and cry.  I don't have that kind of time to waste, especially since we're back in school.  But our staff meeting was cancelled this afternoon, and I left all of my work at school on purpose so that I'd have nothing else to do but sit down and write after Sylvia went to bed.  And here I am.

I think just putting down in words how much I miss that place will help me not miss it so much anymore.  If I admit that we had wonderful summer and post some pictures to prove it, I won't feel guilty about a month of not blogging.  I thought pretty hard about the first picture I'd post after such a long hiatus, and I think this one is the best.  It's how I always want to remember our first sweet house.

Look at my sweet Nugget!  She has grown so much lately.  She understands everything we say, which is scary.  And she has so much spunk and energy that it's hard for me to keep up with her at times, but I always, always, ALWAYS admire her for being so raw and honest.  When she screams, she's got something to say.  When she cries, she's truly and deeply hurt.  And when she leans forward and slobbers a kiss all over my mouth, or when she throws her arms up and wraps them around my neck, it's nothing but pure, innocent and true love at it's finest.  Oh, she is my world!  She does this crinkled nose, toothy grin that melts my heart.  She bounces and dances and laughs like no child I've ever seen before!  I can't help but smile every second I'm with her, especially now that we're not together all day.  On that note, let me shout out a giant THANK YOU to our awesome care giver, Laura.  She and her girls are a saving grace for our family.  I don't worry about Sylvia for one single second during the day because she has so much fun playing with her new friends.  I love them dearly, and I love my Nugget beyond words.

So when all is said and done, when I finish crying about how much I miss our back yard and my own bed, I come to the conclusion that I have absolutely nothing to cry about.  Because at the end of the day, we have each other.  We may go our separate ways in the morning, but I go to bed next to the sweetest husband a girl could ask for, across the hall from the sweetest baby a Mama could want.  We may not know where we're going to live in the near future, but we'll live somewhere together.  In the midst of hurricanes, and deployed soldiers, and starving babies in Somalia...I'm just a big fat wuss crying about nothing.


I have a lot more to post about our transitional journey, but I think that's enough for tonight.  I still need to add pics of our awesome vacation to Lake Erie at the end of JULY.  Yeah, I'm a little behind.

After 20 Years of Waiting...

...I saw NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK in concert!  Let me tell you something folks, last night was the greatest night of my life.

Someday, I'm sure the memory of this concert will settle into a deserving 3rd place, behind the appropriate 30-Year-Old Mom memories - wedding and childbirth.  But today, and last night, it sits way, way, waaaaaay up there at a soaring #1.  It was amazing.  It took my breath away.  I cried.  And I'll try to tell you all the wonderful details, but they will never do this night justice.  So here we go:

Me, Analese, Charity, Eric and Karen

We started the night in the cheap seats, where we saw the opening act, Matthew Morrison - Mr. Schuester from Glee!  (I often have to remind myself that I do NOT live in a perpetual episode of Glee and that it is NOT appropriate to burst out into song at any given moment.)  We didn't know if there would be an opening act, so when he took the stage, I was beyond excited!  He sang and danced and generally made me warm and happy all over.  We knew immediately that we HAD to get closer.  Analese had a friend down on the first level (not the floor, but one up from there) who said there were lots of seats open, so off we went, and you know what?  W e waltzed our way right next to the darn stage!  We were so, SO close, you guys.  Closer to the love of my life than I ever thought I'd ever be.

When the lights went off, I knew it was going to be good.  I, along with thousands and thousands of other old ladies, started feeling that tingle of nostalgia.  The lights came up, and there they were - New Kids on the Block and The Back Street Boys, standing with legs apart, heads down, on a stage that was spewing fog and ascending into the air!  I started screaming.  Now, I've been to shows and concerts before, and I like to scream and cheer and get crazy, so I know what my normal "hey, I like this band" scream sounds like.  But this scream?

This scream came from a part of my body that hasn't been this excited since she was ten years old.  This was a pure, involuntary, smitten, joyful, manic adolescent scream.  I don't think I'll ever hear it again.

They sang the first song together, and toward the end, they separated so that the New Kids danced their way down the catwalk to the smaller circle in the middle of the floor.  Then this happened, and I cried (you can also hear my aforementioned girl scream at the end):

I mean, I wasn't bawling or anything, but my eyes were filled with tears, and my heart was racing, and I just couldn't believe what I was feeling!  I expected the show to be great, but I did not expect it to whisk me away to my Mom's basement circa 1989, where the neighbor girls and I spent an entire summer perfecting our NKOTB dance moves.  All I could think about was that tiny boom box, my cassette tapes, and my finger pressing the play button a hundred times a day.  I was overwhelmed to say the least.

For the rest of the show, I kept my eyes on Joey.  I did my best to put down the camera every once in a while, but I couldn't resist the urge to catch this experience and hang on to it forever!  Here are some more videos and pictures, but they will never, never, NEVER be able to show you how much fun we had.

Here's my boyfriend singing "Summertime" and showing off his hot bod!  Some of these moves were borderline inappropriate, but then again, I'm old.  I certainly didn't mind watching it!

And here's a video that Eric took from two rows behind me.  Can you believe how close we were??  Clearly, Joe couldn't find me in the crowd, otherwise he would have certainly proposed at this point.  I guess he was too busy flirting with the hussies a few rows up from us.  Psh!

At one point, Danny Wood was standing in that spot.  I waved to him, and he looked me right in the eye and WAVED BACK!  Whaaaa!!!!!  I don't even like him!  But I was so happy!!!

Just a-singin' and a-dancin'!

This is one of the Back Street Boys, don't know which one, but he was just adorable!

I stood next to Charity for the whole show, and she's a Back Street fan (a youngin'), and we agreed that the set up of the show was fantastic.  They would alternate songs so that we heard a few NKOTB and a few BSB and then sometimes they'd sing together.  More bands should do this!  It gave me time to recover from my Joey high while watching her swoon for a while.  Also, Charity wins the luckiest fan award, because when the show was over, we could see them walking behind the stage on the floor below us, and wouldn't you know it - Donnie Whalberg threw his sweaty towel into the crowd and Charity CAUGHT IT!  Oh my word, how awesome is that?!

It was really such an amazing night!  One I will not soon forget.  And just for anyone out there wondering: I haven't been to an arena concert since 2005.  Who did I see?  Nine Inch Nails.  And I loved it!  But not as much as I loved this.  This should hold me over for at least another 20 years.

What a Weekend!

My loving and wonderful husband, along with my loving and wonderful parents, planned a great weekend getaway for us in Lexington.  Mom and Jay met us Saturday afternoon and took Sylvia up to their house for the night.  Let me say that again: they TOOK MY CHILD AWAY FROM ME.  Do I sound mad, or sad, or upset?  Because I wasn't.  I was so, incredibly happy!  I love my daughter more than anything, but taking her for the night, and letting us have some fun, was the world's greatest gift.  I was thrilled!

Before I tell you how much fun I had this weekend, let me give you a little sneak peek at how much fun Sylvia had:

 (I took this video when we went to pick her up today - she did NOT miss me!)

After Mom and Jay took our kid, I found out that we would not be staying at a friend's house!  Instead, Mom and Jay got us a hotel room (as a birthday present) and I almost cried when I realized that I'd be sleeping in a giant, comfy, QUIET bed, without a baby waking me up in the morning.  Here's what we found when we got into the room...

 What I thought was an enormous box of chocolates turned out to be these babies!  Woah, Mama!

When I had a glass of champagne in one hand, a strawberry in the other, and a cozy couch underneath me, I told Sylvain I wasn't leaving the room.  Ever.  I told him to cancel all of our plans, because the champagne and strawberries were more than enough to fill me up for the night.  But then he reminded me why we came - we had reservations at the world's greatest restaurant - Malone's!  I sighed when I realized that I'm very, very lucky.

I suppose there are lots of people in Lexington that can eat at Malone's whenever they want, because some of the patrons were not as dressed up as I think everyone should be.  To us, Malone's is a big deal - for very special occasions - and we haven't been there since December 29th, 2009.  Laura talked me into buying a new blue dress just for this dinner, and darn it, we looked goooooood!  I've been dreaming about this meal for months.  We had the Lexingtonian Salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, I had the filet medallions crusted with bleu cheese and a side of fresh asparagus.  People, there is little in this world that makes me as happy as this food.  It is worth every penny and I savored every bite!  YUM!!!


Sylvain was very cryptic about our after-dinner plans, so I assumed something was up.  I figured we'd be meeting up with some friends to have drinks, but I though there would only be a few, since almost all of our friends have babies.  Well, there were more than a few folks waiting for us next door at Harry's Bar!  It was pretty much everyone I love in Lexington, PLUS a couple of babies!  Yippee!!

 Michael, Sylvain, Pete, Emily, Ben, and Emily.  

John, Megan, Clover, Laura (Ellie in her carrier!), Krista, Emily

 My awesome (and delicious) 80's themed cupcakes!

 Sylvain never smiles with teeth!  I love this picture!!!

 Laura and Ellie, right after she woke up and caught a glimpse of the lights and ceiling fan.

 John and Clover

 Thanks for talking me into this dress, Laura!

We sat outside, had some drinks, and chit-chatted about the good old days for hours and hours.  Then, around 11:30, Michael and I were ready to sing karaoke, or go dancing, or party until the "breaka breaka dawn," in his words.  But then I remembered that I'm old, and I thought about that amazing hotel bed and the fluffy cloud pillows, and I really, really, REALLY wanted to get a good night's sleep.  When everyone else left, so did we, and it was the right move.   I was tucked in and fast asleep by midnight.  We're not as young as we used to be, and I don't mind one bit!  

We checked out this morning and I said a tearful goodbye to our hotel room.  I was excited to get up to Mom's house and see my Nugget, though!  Clearly, she didn't even know I was gone.  She generally behaved like a wild woman, and I'm sure Mom was exhausted after trying to keep up with her.  

Since I'm a sucker for getting stuck with my baby in awkward public situations, I thought it would be a great idea to invite Ann and Cecilia out to a movie.  Ann loves Winnie the Pooh and always has, so as soon as I saw the previews a few months ago, I knew we would have to do this.  It was Sylvia's and Cecilia's first movie, so there was no telling how this would work out.

 Wouldn't you know, those girls sat on our laps and watched the WHOLE DANG MOVIE!!!  I could not believe it.  Sylvia never once fussed, or squirmed or tried to run around the theater.  Ann brought a few Winnie the Pooh toys, and we both smuggled in plenty of baby snacks, so these girls had the time of their lives!  It was a ton of fun.

 Cecilia was decked out in the finest Pooh Bear jumper.  What a cutie pie!

After the movie, Sylvia was worn out, so we popped over to Dad's house to drop of a birthday present for Sally (Happy Birthday!!!) and then we headed on home.  Now for a nice relaxing week or two before our entire world gets turned upside down.  I'll post soon about the house selling details, I'm forcing myself not to think about it for a while.

On Turning 30

It's really not so bad.

4th of July and Other Adventures

We've been on the go for over a week and I'm just now sitting down to dump some pictures onto the blog.  Whew!  Here's the lowdown:

Last Friday we visited yet another amazing sprayground!  While Sylvain played a little disk golf, Sylvia and I hit the sprayground and playground for a good two hours.  She loved every second of it!  What a water bug!

My sweet nephew and Sylvia's favorite cousin, Charlie, turned two years old on Sunday!  We had a blast at his birthday party.  Sylvia really held her own running around with a bunch of older kids. 

 Tickle Me Elmo!

We busted out her super cute 4th of July dress one day early.  You know, as a sneak peek.

On Monday morning, we went to the Ft. Thomas parade, which was RISKY because it meant Sylvia didn't take her morning nap.  It was rainy and gross outside, but we went anyway, and she had a blast!  We got there early for a primo spot in front of the firehouse, so there was plenty of room to run around and we were able to stand in the garage to stay dry. 

 Sylvia cannot resist petting dogs (or cats, or horses, or people, for that matter).  Luckily, every dog we've ever encountered has been kid-friendly!

I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but the girl NEVER STOPS MOVING!  I'm suprised we got any pictures at all!  Once the parade started, I held her and she stayed put, because it was the only way she could see.  She loved the marching band and the dance team!  And she squealed whenever candy was thrown in our direction or whenever there was a dog in the parade.  Good times.

That night we went to Dad's house for supper, and I used my fancy shmancy camera which took terrible pictures.  Since Sylvia was on a food strike (Monday was her second day of not eating anything but cheerios), I thought maybe Sally could work some magic and get her to eat SOMETHING.  Sure enough, after she turned down hot dogs, green beans, and pasta, Sally brought out the one thing no child will ever resist:

An ice cream cone!  Which she devoured in a heartbeat, only taking a quick break to play "Let's All Touch Our Heads," her favorite game to play with Uncle Evan.

We were planning to come home on Tuesday, but decided to stay an extra day to hang out with this guy:

Uncle Evan is heading off to the Army in October (which is another post for another day), and since he and Uncle John were both free on Wednesday, we decided to take our annual trip to King's Island!  It was hot.  Sylvia and I left early.  But it was really fun to see the Uncles and spend some time together. 

So there you have it, our 4th of July adventures in a nutshell.  July always seems to fly by, and with our packed schedule over the next three weeks (weekend vacays, conference in Morehead, trip to Lake Erie, moving into Mom's house) this month will be over before I know it.  Yipes! 

What Day Is It?

Who cares!!!  We are well into the middle of what Sylvain lovingly calls our "ninety day weekend."  We are so blessed to be able to stay home with our little one, enjoying some magical summertime memories.  Here are a few highlights, most of which involve water!

We've been to the zoo about......four hundred times already.  Seriously, we've gone about twice a week.  And we LOVE it.  Yesterday we met the Elliott's at the zoo and Sylvia got to run around with her adorable friend, Addy.   They held hands almost the entire time.

Addy is four years old, but has lovely manners, and used the word "offered" correctly in a sentence about her brother.  I love this kid and I hope Sylvia is just like her!


Today, we met Beth and Sudie at the zoo's splash park.  *Gasp!*  I finally let Sylvia go into the splash park!  Every time we walk by, it's packed with kids, and I'm all, "I don't knoooooow, we'd have to put her in her swim diaper (which is in the diaper bag)......and those big kids might knock her over.......and I might get wet......." But today I decided it was time to just go ahead and DO IT! It was a good idea.  She loved it!  And for the record, she knocked over plenty of big kids when she spontaneously left the baby side and made a bee line for the real action.  There were moms commenting on how amazingly small she was for a kid who is so fast and...assertive?  Yeah, she's assertive.

I've said it before...this child is fearless.  As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started running through the fountains and screaming like a pterodactyl.  But that's because she's had a lot of practice at our local sprayground!  Which brings me to our other favorite summer spot - the park!

We walk to this adorable park behind our house almost every night before or after dinner.  Sometimes we can walk right by the sprayground and she doesn't mind, because she knows we're headed for the swings.  But usually she starts pointing and shrieking and making the sign for "more" (which, I guess, she has turned into the sign for "I want!") when we get within sight of the fountains.  Tonight I finally got some good video of her two favorite activities - water and swings!

Here are some more pics of our wonderful park.  Notice all the shade and wide walkways and the cute bridge! 

On our walks to (and through) the park, we say hello to our neighbors, we pass the library, where we sometimes stop to drop off our books or get some new ones, and Sylvia waves, points, and talks to all the neighborhood kids.  We've really just started feeling like part of a community this year, and now we have to leave.  I can't even write that sentence without choking up.  The biggest reason I haven't blogged in weeks is because I am so incredibly and desperately S.A.D. about moving away from here.  I can't wait to be with my family, but our house hasn't sold yet, and our living situation is so uncertain that it's making me sick to think about it.  My Mom and Jay have graciously agreed to let us stay at their house until we figure things out, but leaving this sweet little house, in this sweet little neighborhood, where our sweet little girl was born and where we have spent every sweet day of her life.....it's just really, really hard. 

But I guess that's another post altogether.  This one was supposed to be about summer and sunshine and water and fun!!!