Paige is adding words pretty fast. She's been doing sign language for "more" for a few months and now at 14 months she says:

• uh oh
• wow
• yay!
• mama (sometimes mama means "more")
• here-go ("here you go" when handing us something)
• ankyou
• and the latest is apple - she loves to eat apples whole, none of those whimpy skinned slices for her

We just got back from a 5 day family cruise. Unc took the whole family on a Royal Caribbean cruise from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was a little dubious, but the boat was first-class and we had a blast. The trip was meticulously organized and we never waited a minute for anything, hard to believe that we shared the boat with 2100 passengers and about 900 crew.

A Few highlights:

• we had 2 waiters dedicated to our table for dinner. i ordered fruit for the kids the first night and they had it waiting each night after that
• first stop was Portland, ME - walked around all morning
• next was Bar Harbor - took a bus tour of Acadia Park - nice town, let's go back sometime
• then Halifax where we rented vans and drove thru town and out to Peggy's cove where Dad and Wendy saw a whale
• kids loved going to shows after dinner (Platters, comedian, tango dancing, juggler)
• i got to workout 3 mornings in a row ...nice
• E loved the saltwater pool with waves made by the ship's rocking
• her first comment the day we got back was "I want to go back to our cruise boat"

Tough Nights

Ok, 90% of our lives as parents is miraculous, too wonderful for words. But oh boy, that other 10% is rough. Paige consistently slept through the night for only two months, back when she was about 4 months old. Before that she would wake at least twice and now she wakes up a lot. She usually starts with a few whimpers that turn into cries until we pick her up and give her some warm milk. I stopped breastfeeding at 13 months so night feedings mean warming up a bottle. Not fun at 3:00am.

Last night Paige woke up at 3:00am with happy chirps, drank 8oz, and went right back to sleep. Then at 3:30 as we were falling back to sleep, Miss Elizabeth came wandering in asking to sleep with us. We all finally fell back to sleep after 4:00am. Zzzzzzzzzz..........

A blog update is way overdue. Here's a quick overview of what we've been up to over the last year:

Current Events as of Oct 1:
Elizabeth's big news - officially potty trained! No more diapers, even at night
Paige's big news - started taking steps at 12 months and fully walking a few weeks later.

The last year:
E started gymnastic classes at the Gymnastics Academy of Boston in Cambridge in Sept 2005 and got promoted to the no-parents class after about 6 months. She loves it.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our place (Mom, Dad, Unc, Kris, Scott, X and M)
We hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at out house (Mom, Dad, Unc, Wendy, Marty - plus Suchi, Mark and the kids for Christmas Day)
We pulled it off, but boy! it was a ton of work. We're definitly going to someone else's house this year.

March - E turned 3 and we had her party on March 18th. I did my usual sandwich buffet and set up a sand art station for the kids. They loved it.

We skiied at Killington in March or April, can't remember. E went up the magic carpet a few times and then wanted to tackle the real ski lift - hey, why not. Wendy and I took turns sking with E in front of us the entire way down Rams Head. E did amazing. She was able to ski just holding on to our arm the next day.

April – E starts ballet class at Munroe Art Center in Lexingon, with Miss Madeline, Saturdays at 9:00

May – up to VT to visit G&G and Whittakers Memorial Day BBQE had a blast with Xander and Colleen, running around wearing E’s beads and

June
Got elected to the Board for a second term, elected by the Board as President
Turned 40, took a vacation day for bike ride with Danny, dinner out at Tapas place in Waltham, then family party at Kris & Scott’s

Early Summer – E has a ballet recital at 9:00 followed by her gymnastics show at 3:00. She had a cold, didn’t sleep well, woke up early, and it was pouring rain and cold – wonderful. We got to the ballet recital on time and got E into her costume (whew!) She made it most of the way through the recital, then broke away from the other dancers and plopped on the floor next to us and said she didn’t want to dance anymore. We celebrated with coffee, chocolate milk, and treats at a local café. The morning excitement and sugar meant no nap, so off we went through the rain to the gymnastics show with E wearing her fancy sparkly leatoard under her dress. She didn't want to take off her dress, but did a great job at doing her stretches in front of about 200 people and got a medal around her neck. A pink cupcake after the show topped off her day.

June 28 – July 9th – LA trip (add some notes)

July 23 – Aug 6 – Nancy and Helena visit. We had a blast despite two weeks of heat wave.

Sept - E starts new ballet classes at Arlington Dance Place - very casual place, she likes it a lot better.

Sept 22 – 24 – NYC weekend, first weekend away without kids.