Greetings, finally, from Carlsbad, CA!

In the last month, many of our friends and family have been checking in on us and we haven't had enough time for a good response -- so here it is, a global one for all friends and family.

About our move: Our move from Belmont, MA to Carlsbad, CA wasn't too bad. On the Belmont end, our truck was delayed about six hours getting to our house, which put our moving help behind (and Dan without any help for a few hours), but once the movers showed up, it went fast. Stacy and Randy were so kind to host a going-away BBQ for us that night, let us stay overnight, and took us to the airport bright and early the next day. Phil, Carrie, Stan, Ben, Bry and Kyla all joined us for our final MA-last-hurrah, which was bittersweet. We've really enjoyed everyone's company over the last year and we'll remember all of the apple-picking, sledding, easter-egg hunting, sushi-eating, and bbq-ing adventures with everyone. :)

The next day, me and the girls flew to Arizona to spend the week with Grandma (Cynthia's mom) and Papa Scott and Uncle Michael, while Dan continued on to San Diego for work. Everyone had a great time in the pool, eating ice cream and enjoying the HOT weather. :) We were going to fly to Carlsbad after one week, but our movers needed one more week to get our stuff to Carlsbad. Ack. We considered spending one more week in Arizona, but we decided to have Dan drive out and we all just drove to Carlsbad ourselves. Our friend was house-sitting for her family so her apartment was free and we all stayed there for a week. Thankfully, her apt is in Carlsbad, so we were really close to our new house and in the same neighborhood.Our stuff arrived, as promised, one week later and we finally moved in! Yea! After living in a 500 square foot upstairs apt, we are loving our 1725 sq ft townhome. It has four bedrooms, a nice useful patio and plenty of room for all of us. Anna, especially, loved her room right away and immediatly ran circles around and around the room, declaring, "this is MY room!" Even Erin took to sleeping in her crib right away, after only sleeping in the Pack N Play or bassinette her whole life. :)

Life after the big move (number 2): Dan and I have settled in immediately. Since we were gone only one year and literally moved about two miles from our old house, life in CA settled back in pretty fast. Dan is at the same job, same yuck commute, but is now back to his Sat morning surfs on the beach and I'm back walking with friends each Saturday morning.

Thanks to Grandma's generous house-warming gift, our whole family has annual passes to LegoLand, which is 10 min from us and Anna's favorite spot. We go there weekly, which is awesome because we can hang out at the musical fountain and train for two hours and come home by lunch without spending a dime, since parking is included and you can bring snacks!

I'm now officially a stay-at-home mom, partly because daycare is too darn expensive with two kids and partly, well, I wanted to try it out! Being a stay-at-home-mom is about the hardest thing I've ever had to do (exhausting!), but I think it has been great for all of us, esp Erin, since I only had six weeks home with Anna after she was born. Though, I'm still working part-time as a freelance editor/writer with two, local regular clients. For one, I'm the proofreader for a local direct marketing company, editing anything from their web-sites and internal documents. My other client is actually Tony Robbins (the motivational speaker) and I'm busy drafting summary outlines of meeting and seminar transcripts. The work is pretty easy and, most of all, I can do it all on my own time and at home! This is exactly where I hoped to be after I had kids. I hope it continues, as the schedule is somewhat draining now with everyone here, but I think it will be great in the long-term.

Here are a few quick updates on the girls:

Anna: She is almost 3.5! She is sweet, smart, fiesty and very independent. Lately, her mantra is "By myself!" and demands to do everything herself from getting dressed to getting Erin's diapers for me. She is proving to be an awesome big sister to Erin and genuinely seems to like her and loves to help me. She is going to pre-school two mornings per week at a local Bright Horizon, which, so far, seems to be working out. She does miss her old school and often talks about "old school?" and talks about her friends. Finally, we are on the road to potty-training and, for the last week, has been pretty dry at home. Our next step is to tackle going to the potty in big,scary potties at school or elsewhere. She is adjusting pretty well and has taken on a lot of change in the last year.

Erin: She is going to be six months in two weeks! Where has the time gone? Erin is a great eater (nursing) and decent sleeper (still up once, sometimes twice at night) and has the sweetest temperment. She is very laid-back, smiles a lot and loves her sister. We've seen some great giggles, some rolling-over and she is about to start solid foods. She also loves the pool and loves bouncing up and down in the water. Dad even dunked her a little and it didnt phase her that much! Do we have a surfer-girl on our hands?

Whew, that was one long post, but I wanted to get everyone caught up at once. So, friends and family, please don't give up on us. We are finally getting into a groove and will return more personal email responses soon.

Please check back, as we'll post pictures and updates frequently -- I hope!

Love, Cynthia