Saturday, November 24, 2007

Small World Getting Smaller

I was supposed to be in New Paltz New York tonight at a dear friend's 40th birthday party. I really wanted to be there, but I really didn't want to drive there. In the end, I bagged and I feel bad about it. But I just didn't want to go into the new week feeling strange and exhausted.

We went to a first birthday party this afternoon for the daughter of one of my oldest friends. This family has been close to mine since about 1975. They even ended up buying the farm next to ours out in Western, MA.

Last time we went to one of their parties, we ran into one of Rich's former coworkers that we used to hang out with socially from time to time. He had married one of their cousins.

This time, there was a woman there who looked really familiar, but I couldn't place her. She and I were trying to figure out if we had just met at one of these parties before, but I didn't think that was it. Then she said she worked at Children's Hospital. "OH!" I said, "You're Dr ____." She's Eric's 'Tummy Doctor', aka Pediatric Gastrointerologist. We LOVED her when we met her in September, and I was so pleased to have a personal connection to the GI's at Children's. I had noticed that she had the same last name as the husband of one of the sisters of our friend's family, but I thought What are the chances of them being related? Turns out she's his cousin.

Small world indeed.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for so many things right now, it's a little hard to quantify.

In no particular order:

I am thankful for two healthy, loving children.
I am thankful that we got a quick diagnosis for Eric's celiac disease and we didn't have to go through the hell that a lot of families go through to figure out what was wrong.
I'm thankful that all four of my children's grandparents are still kicking it GrandParent style!
I am thankful that I still have one living grandparent
I am thankful that I seem to be going back to work next week at a really neat place
I am thankful that I have a husband who makes me go to the dentist
I am thankful that I have six pies downstairs


Here we are this morning at Fresh Pond. Eric zoomed all the way around on his bike and we cranked behind him pushing Kaylee in the stroller.

Then we're off down the street to my parent's house for a gluten free holiday. If anybody can pull this off she can.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

We Hath Survived!

It's finally over. Rich was back at work today. The virus that brought down my entire family one at a time has run its course.

As the creepily small yet corpulent woman with the teeny tiny voice said in Poltergeist "This house is clean."

Monday, November 19, 2007

Another One Bites the Dust

Rich has succumbed to the stomach virus from Hell. He's downstairs whimpering. This is the first time since I met him 10 years ago that he's been sick twice in the same year.

Poor guy.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Tree Lighting at Fanueil Hall

After being housebound for more days than I'd like to count, Rich decided we needed to trek over to Fanueil Hall for the Mayor's Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.

We contemplated taking the redline into Park and walking over with the stroller. We let Eric make the final call on it because he's been such a trooper over his never ending virus from Hell.

"I want to ride in the car." So we packed up Ye Olde Phil and Ted E3 Stroller into the boot of Ye Olde Honda CRV and headed down Hampshire Street to the Salt and Pepper Bridge.

About five minutes out of our driveway said boy began to howl, "I wanted to take the TRAIN!" We couldn't convince him that we'd said otherwise until we went over the bridge and saw that both sides of the tracks were blocked with heavy equipment. The redline was shut down for the night, and we saw packed buses ferrying would-be subway riders over to Park Street.

Driving, it turned out was the best option for us after all. We even found ourselves some free on street LEGAL parking. When we got there, some blond bimbette band was rapping some Christmas Carols, which make me want to shoot myself in the head. So, I went over to Ann Taylor Loft and picked out some pants to wear to work in December while Rich hung out with the kids. I haven't had a job that required me to dress as a grown up since the early '90's and I was quite surprised to see how the fashions had changed. The damn pants are so wide, I could stuff both my legs into one side. What is up with that? Dear fashion lady... My legs look too thin. Pleas add extra fabric to my pants that will bunch when I walk, and make them so long that they only look good with heels. I did manage to find a couple of pairs, but it was really hard.

They were supposed to light the tree at 5:15, but The Mayor was late. I was standing there cursing the cold, each of us clutching a child in our arms in the thick crowd. By 5:30 our arms were aching, and Kaylee only wanted her Daddy. Finally Menino showed up with The Green Monster and Santa Clause and the Redsox World Series Trophy. We called it "An Evening with 3 Prominent Fat Men of Boston." And they threw the switch and the whole square lit up and they blew millions of white, swirling pieces of rectangular paper over the crowd. The effect was reminiscent of standing in a snow squall but it was quite pretty. I wonder if in 20 years that's the closest thing to snow my kids will see.

Then we went to Wagamama for dinner. I was very pleased with them. The food was good, inexpensive, and they can serve Eric a bowl of rice noodles that he will eat. Going out to eat with my family is so freaking hard these days. Someday, Eric will add items to his diet like rice and meat, but for now, we either have to pack a thermos, which he doesn't like. He likes to schmooze with the server and have his food come with everybody else's. It's nice to have another place to go besides Maggiano's. (They have gluten free pasta, but I so don't like that kind of heavy Italian food. I can make stuff that tastes basically the same at 1/10 the cost and calories.) Plus, there is a Wagamama in Harvard Square, so it's a place we could end up at when we're out on adventure.