I'm back

Whew. I'm back if you'll have me. It's mid-August. I haven't written in almost 3 months. I'm embarrassed, I feel like a slacker but, in some ways, I also don't care all that much. I started this blog to keep people informed on what it going on in my life and quite frankly, I think my absence says more than my words can. Theo is 10 months old, crawling like a fiend, pulling himself up, talking (albeit in a language only he understands), eating bigger chunks of food and still not sleeping all that great. We have a routine each day and sometimes, in those precious couple of hours I get to myself during the day, I just don't want to blog. I often think in blog. I have good intentions. I think to myself, "I am going to blog about this today" but it just doesn't happen.

We have traveled a lot this summer. We went to Cape Cod in June to stay at our friend Dylan's family's house. We were there for a week. It was great to be away. The beach was warm, the water was freezing. I was paranoid that Theo would get eaten alive by mosquitoes, sucked on by a tick or covered in poison ivy. None of it happened but all the possibilities made it slightly less relaxing than I had imagined. I also learned an important lesson that week: "vacation" is redefined when you become a parent. You are off routine, you don't have access to everything you may need, you aren't in control of your surroundings and, in our case, Theo doesn't sleep well outside of his own crib. "Vacation" isn't a relaxing word anymore. It means making sure I don't forget important things and bracing myself for even less sleep.

After the Cape we were home for a few weeks before Rich took off for a conference in Vienna and I took Theo to visit my mom in Jacksonville. I couldn't bare the thought of being alone in the sweltering city for nearly 10 days so I ran home to Mom's house where I could rely on doting family and friends. I was not let down. My mom was up with us at 6:30 every morning, she came in to see if she could help the nights Theo was awake at 2am, we saw my Aunt Jane and her family who were visiting from England, Jenny drove up from Orlando to see us and my brother Jeremy hung out with us a lot. It was a great trip that culminated in two canceled flights and finally arriving home in NYC a day late and at 1:30am with a very sleepy, but incredibly patient little man.

A week after arriving home from FL we flew to ATL for our friend Nick's wedding. So good to be there but my Lord, we spent a ton of money getting there, the weekend flew by and I missed most of the ceremony and reception taking care of Theo who was not going to sit through an entire Catholic mass, missed a proper afternoon nap and therefore desperately needed to go back to the hotel room to go to bed.

Four days after returning from ATL, we were on a plane again, this time to Seattle where we are right now. It is great to be back. We are here for 3 weeks (already been here for one) while Rich works. I have been rediscovering this city as a parent. Theo and I have been to the zoo, the aquarium, several new playgrounds, the Pacific Science Center and on a harbor cruise. There are still more playgrounds to track down, there is Pike Place Market and the Children's Museum. I think we'll stay occupied pretty well for the rest of our trip. I have been entertaining delightful fantasies of moving back, buying a Craftsman home somewhere in Central Seattle (hello, fantasy - can't do that for less than a cool half mil these days), teaching for The Seattle Children's Theatre and happily volunteering for KEXP all the time.

So, that's where I've been the last few months. Right now, Rich is out having a boy's night out and so I realized it was a perfect time to catch up on my blog. I don't know if any of you still check in anymore, but I will hopefully keep writing so that the next time you do you will be pleasantly surprised.