Okay. Bear with me.
I am sorry for the hiatus but am finally feeling underwhelmed enough to start this process up again, though it is still overwhelming to think of all I need to catch you up on. So, bear.
Over a month goes by, and so much has taken priority over blogging. Here, in a nutshell, is “so much:”
1. The nightmarish adventure of packing up our house, saying good-bye to friends and neighbors and favorite places (I kick myself now for not going through with the idea of doing an entire post about our favorite places in DC, complete with wacky pictures and stories. KICK! Ahhh!), and being in transit to St. Louis while our buyers’ loan fell through, and we were forced to put our house back on the market while Andrew was homeless and we (Milo, Oliver, Proudie, and I) wreaked havoc on Annie and Billy’s household for an untold quantity of days. I= emotional wreck.
2. The move-in, the unpacking, the screaming of children.
3. The painting. The painting. The painting.
4. The gardening. Not complete.
5. The VACATION!!! More to come on that one.
6. The re-settling.
Sooooo… things are going great! They really are. With all the stale factoids listed above come beautiful realities. Oliver learning to crawl at Gina-mom’s house, Milo having the [naked] time of his life with cousin Reina, relaxing at my mom’s house with her horse-of-a-dog lying on top of Milo to watch some much-needed TV, Milo learning what a wasp sting really feels like (okay, not beautiful. Just reality), cooking with Annie (but mainly just eating Annie’s cooking. yum), pond time at Janine and Dan’s, plane time with Michael-dad, the list goes on and on and you will unfortunately just have to use your imagination, as the movers had packed up my camera for this transient time. What else the movers packed… a whole bunch of empty boxes so they could get paid a little extra, but what the hell. Gotta do what you gotta do I guess.
But before we left…
Going-away party in DC c/o Chris and Tony
My Bestie. How I miss Miss Mary
More party- this time for Ben’s third birthday
Ice cubes and undies…
… and nudity. Of course!
And promises. From me. Promises to keep up with this blog. It is ever so important to me and I will do better.
Next up: Vacation in the Dominican Republic!
Lauren! So nice to see you back in the blogging world 🙂 and so great to hear things are calming down.. Can’t wait to see pics of the trip! Say hi to Andrew and the kiddies
p.s. if you like gazpacho, I’m doing a post tomorrow that you will enjoy 🙂
So glad to hear your update! I can’t wait to see pics of the new house and hear more about your adventures. When you have time to breathe, we’ll have to plan a time to see one another–Chicago isn’t that far from St. Louis!!!
Give everyone big hugs and kisses from G and I!
SO happy your are back!! We’ve missed all your smiling faces. Oliver already looks so much bigger. I cant wait to see pics of the trip. Glad things are settling to “normal” in St. Louis.
So great to read this blog again! I was just noticing how much Milo looks like Andrew in the last picture. Can’t wait to see you all! Now you can really settle into your beautiful home and relax.
You are AMAZING. How did you SURVIVE?! That is a whole lot of life crammed into one short month.
So! We really must get together soon. I know you are insanely busy. We are leaving for a short time away but then will be back for a while. I really want to meet you and your beautiful boys! My cooking is probably not on par with Annies, but I can promise cold beer and wine?
I don’t know how you made it through all that – really! We’ve lived here for almost 4 months and we have ONE room painted – if it makes you feel better! We loved seeing you and Milo and Oliver and can’t wait to drive out and visit. Jack says he has some more things to teach Milo about his tools haha…