We've moved!

We finally moved to Natick. After living in Plymouth for almost 5 weeks, we finally live much closer to the city and our jobs. Instead of Todd having a130 mile round trip drive every day, he now has a 1.5 mile commute! Natalie is about 1-2 miles from daycare, and I have a 45 minute -1 hour commute. I had been commuting 1 hour and 45 minutes door-to-door! I'm very glad that is over. It was extremely nice of my in-laws to let us stay at their place though. We love our new place too! We got 10 inches of snow on Monday and it looked really pretty. Today, however, it looks like a brown mush. So we especially love the new garage we have. My sister-in-law has Todd's car this week due to an unfortunate incident with a concrete parking stopper in the parking lot of the dance studio near our home. So my car has been enjoying some alone time in the garage. Natalie LOVES garages. She loves pushing the button to make the "godge down." She's very proud of herself when she does it. I apologize for not posting any new pics of Natalie here, or on our smugmug site. To be honest, we haven't taken any! We've been really busy with the move (and getting up at 4:30 am when we lived in Plymouth!!!). Now we're trying to get everything unpacked. Once we get our lives a little back to normal, and once we find that darn camera cord, we'll upload some more! PLUS... it's supposed to be 58 degrees both Saturday and Sunday, so we hope to get out and explore our new town!

Inauguration Day!

Todd and I got up early this morning, dropped Natalie off at Barbie's (despite the fact that she's got a nice cold brewing), and headed up to the Ballston metro stop where there was still plenty of parking- on our way to Barack Obama's inauguration! We finally get to the actual metro (a hike if you're familiar with where the Ballston Mall parking garage is!), no one was getting into the station, but plenty of people were waiting. Apparently, since Ballston is fairly close to the city (about a handful of stops), by the time the trains got there, they were already full, so no one at Ballston could get on the trains. Thankfully, we talked to a guy on our long walk TO the metro station and he mentioned the 38B bus that went into the city. Well, not today! Today, it only went as far as Rosslyn (the last stop in Virginia). So we got on the bus and went to Rosslyn, then walked across the Key Bridge, through Georgetown (actually down the Whitehurst Freeway, HA!) and to the Mall. The sea of people was unbelievable. And everyone was in such a good mood! We walked up to the Washington Monument (which is on a hill, and provides pretty darn good views for a short person like me) where we stayed from 9-about 12:30. It was cold, but we had feet and hand warmers and lots of layers, so it wasn't really that bad. The wind could have settled down and that would have been helpful, and I'm pretty sure I have frostbite on my chin, but it was an incredible day. Even more incredible was that after the ceremony, we walked (slowly, with the crowds) off the Mall, and to the Foggy Bottom metro stop where we promptly got on a metro car. I even got a seat! We went back to Ballston and went to Rock Bottom brewery where we celebrated with a few delicious Oatmeal Stouts and a nice late lunch. Today was really amazing though. The crowds were amazing, Aretha Franklin was amazing, Yo Yo Ma and the quartet who played Air and Simple Gifts was amazing, and of course, the inauguration itself was BEYOND amazing. I was so proud to be a part of such a historic day. Since Todd and I are moving to Massachusetts this week, it was probably our only chance to get to attend an inauguration. And really, I can't think of a better one to attend! I'm cautiously optimistic though. President Obama has a huge burden on his shoulders, and I hope he can handle it. Bush has soured me to politics, but President Obama has given me hope. While I have always been and will always be proud to be an American, President Obama has renewed the excitement that I feel for my country. I don't expect miracles in a week, but I hope in 4 years (or 8 years!), we are better off than we are today.

18 month appointment

Natalie had her 18 month appointment this week. It was a bit late because of the holidays, but the stats are in. She is 24 lbs 11 ounces (50-60th percentile), 32.5 inches (75th percentile) and off the charts once again with a 20 inch head circumference! If she were 3 years old, she would still be in the 90th percentile with a head that large. That's my brainy girl!

Meme - The Tagging Blogger game

Okay, I got this from Mimi (Defining Sienna) and I'm passing it on! Because she already sent it to half of my blogging friends, I'm not going to ask anyone to do this.


Here are the rules: Link to the person who tagged you.-Post the rules on your blog.-Write 6 random things about yourself.-Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.-Let each person know he/she has been tagged (or let them get tagged by reading your blog).-Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are the 6 random things about me.


1. I have the worlds longest tongue. Okay, not quite, because I found out the guy who has the world's longest tongue (in the Guinness Book of World Records) actually has a couple of inches on me (can you believe that?). But I was born without my Frenulum, the little piece of skin that connects the underneath part of your tongue to your mouth. SO... it appears that my tongue is really crazy long.



2. I love cupcakes, donuts, and Diet Coke. It's really an obsession. I try to hit all of the cupcake places I can. Just last night I had one of Best Buns vanilla/vanilla cupcakes. I'm a big fan of Magnolia Bakery (NYC), Cakelove (DC), and Crumbs (NYC).



3. I hate to cook. I really hate it. Thank goodness my husband is a GREAT cook. Otherwise I would starve. Not only do I hate it, I'm actually terrible at it. When someone says, "I can burn water" - it's really true with me. We have a flat top stove and I can always manage to boil the water so much that it overflows and burns onto the stove. I hate recipes that say things like, "Bring to a boil, then simmer." What does simmer mean? And please use words that I know and understand (and that match my stove) such as "Medium Low" or "High."



4. My college roommate Kristin is my 4th cousin once removed. We didn't know it when we met. I had never met her before we went to Auburn. She was from Georgia, I was from Florida, but we both had family in Indiana. We became sorority sisters, roommates, best friends, and little did we know, we were cousins too! My great great grandfather and her great great great grandfather were brothers (or something like that). Oh, and my parents are 5th cousins! Which probably explains a lot about me. I am my own cousin!



5. I love to write books. Not just stories, I mean full novels. 400, 500 pages. Typed. No one has ever read them. I would be way too embarrassed for anyone to read them, because the main character is always me. They aren't very good, but I love writing fiction and being able to escape into another world. When you have a toddler, sometimes you just need to escape!


6. When I worked for XM, I was the first person to ever give a traffic report on any satellite radio medium. Word got out that XM was going to start their traffic and weather stations on March 1, 2004 (at midnight). So it was somehow leaked that Sirius would begin traffic and weather reports on February 29, 2004 (at midnight). Secretively, XM jumped ahead, and I was the first person to give the traffic reports (for Washington DC) at midnight on February 28, 2004.

Happy To You!

This morning, we had a visit from Santa. See, he said that although he knows we are going to Massachusetts this year for Christmas, he knows that airlines are charging crazy fees for extra bags (or bags that are overweight) so he thought he would go easy on us this year and deliver our goodies early. So when we got up this morning, he had been here. There were only presents for Natalie (I guess Todd and I weren't good this year). Later in the day, after opening presents, I told Natalie it was Jesus' birthday on the 25th and we should sing happy birthday to Him. So I sang the song, and afterwards, she walked around most of the day singing, "Happy To You! Happy To You! Happy To You!"

A visit with Santa

We took a little visit to the mall a couple of weekends ago to visit with the Big Man himself. SC. Santa Claus. Kris Kringle. Old Saint Nick. He was working at Pentagon Mall (you know, he makes toys during the week and works the malls as a weekend gig). We tried our best to prepare Natalie for her visit with Santa, but it didn't do much good. Todd took her to see him and to watch the other kids get on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. She got very excited, and kept pointing at him and saying, "Santa!" But of course, when it came time to sit on his lap, she didn't really like that idea at all. You can see by the pictures above, it went from "Cautious Natalie" to "Freaked Out Natalie" in about 5 seconds. Thankfully they snapped quickly (must be something they teach those elves at the North Pole!). Afterwards, we wandered around the big tree in the mall. Natalie looked so pretty in her Christmas dress. It made me a bit melancholy, thinking about how she looks so much older with every month that goes by. (Not that I didn't expect that to happen!). Now we anxiously await Santa's visit to Grami and Grampy's house, where we will be in Massachusetts for Christmas!

Thanksgiving Fun

 Despite the fact that Natalie and I both got sick over Thanksgiving break with a nasty cold (and mommy got a bladder infection and had to go to the ER on Thanksgiving evening), we had a great time on our trip to Florida!

 

  

The weather was amazing, and we had a good time with Nana, Pop Pop, Uncle CoCo, and Brianna. Thanksgiving dinner was AMAZING. Natalie LOVED Nana's noodles (also known as Memo, my grandmother's noodles). Brianna made an awesome sweet potato casserole that was delicious. Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Dave, and Dave's sister Susie and niece Lisa joined us for the best Thanksgiving dinner of my life. Even Natalie ate a lot. We walked the 5K Turkey Trot in Clearwater in the morning, so it was okay that we ate as much as we did. Other than stuffing ourselves, Todd and I also got to go out and finally celebrate our 3 year anniversary (Nov. 12). We went to Alfano's, which is where we had our rehearsal dinner. Then after a bottle of wine, we went to see "Role Models." It was SO funny, especially after all of that wine! My mom also got Natalie some bubbles, which we enjoyed outside almost every day. She loved them! Note to self...

 

 

Sam's 3rd birthday party

 

The day before we left for Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday, we went to the soft play room at Lee District Rec Center for Sam's 3rd birthday party. He's one of Natalie's favorite kids at daycare. Natalie had a blast playing with the bigger kids. She especially enjoyed the ball pit. So much, she was quite content to just lay there and relax. She had a good time running around (well, running is a strong word for Natalie... more like walking like Frankenstein). Even when she fell, it didn't bother her. This all came about a half hour after she tripped on her shoes and smacked her forehead (pretty hard) on the coffee table. Poor kid!

 

 

Catching Up

November was a very busy month for us! In mid November, Natalie and I went to Atlanta for my friend Kristin's baby shower. She is having a baby girl (Renna) in January. Natalie slept through the whole shower, so that was a plus. We also got to see our friends Staci and Peter, and their kids, Kara, Gavin, and Owen (in the picture above with Natalie). (Staci and I were sorority sisters at Auburn). Natalie took her first major steps at the Cullinan house! Staci and I were holding our breath as she walked from the couch to the big chair and from the coffee table to the big chair in their family room. She finally started walking at almost 17 months, after almost a year of physical therapy. Yay Natalie!

 

Halloween picture

Here is a picture of Natalie dressed up for Halloween as an angel (or as I called her, "My Holy Terror!") We had lots of fun at Barbie's daycare Halloween party on Thursday (where we had a mini cupcake) and at the Fairlington Halloween party (where we had pizza) on Friday. Thankfully it was pretty warm this year (with temps nearing 70!) so she got to go out in her costume without a sweater on. Hooray for global warming! (Ha ha, just kidding!)