Catching-Up

Okay, I feel like things are starting to settle down (just in time for Christmas), and so I am going to attempt to get caught up here.  I have about 1500 pictures, so I apologize in advance.

Anyway, here is a little recap of what our fall was like…all of Sept/Oct, our construction was ongoing, it was stressful, and we were still in HB at my parents' house.  So Henry really only went to school 2-3 times total (it wasn't worth it), and Charlotte went about once a week.  The commute from HB would take about 2 hours in the morning, I would need Mamie to babysit Henry, and everyone was exhausted.  We were so over the construction and everything, and just wanted to be back in our house.

On Thurs, Oct. 25th, I went into the house and started to move us back in.  And finally, on Friday, Oct. 26th, the kids arrived and we had our family back together in our home…we felt some semblance of normalcy, and even though we still had a lot to do, we were thrilled.

I am still going to do a before/after post when everything is 100% done, but here are some pictures I took the day we moved back...

And here is the powder room, before they even hung the towel bars or painted the trim or anything!

Love it, but more on that later :)

The kids (especially Henry) were excited to arrive and see that we still had workers at our house doing our back stoop.  Not much can beat a cement mixer in front of the house for a 2 year old boy!

And the workers out the back (more on that later too)...

Jon had taken off that Friday so we could all get settled as a family, and so I conveniently scheduled Henry's 2 year old doctor's appointment (yes, I realize he turned 2 in the beginning of August) and the appointment for Charlotte's flu shot that afternoon so I wouldn't have to go alone.  Let's just say that I was glad Jon got to experience what I deal with every single time we set foot in the office!!!

The kids were very nervous (which I understand), but that soon turned in to absolute hysteria and carrying on like you wouldn't believe.  (Side note: I always find it strange when the nurses have to come in and close the door because my kids are scaring the other children…they can't be the only ones who behave like this, can they?!).  Anyway, Henry started crying the second we took him out of the stroller…didn't want to be weighed, examined, etc etc. When I was holding him for his shots, Charlotte literally started climbing up my body like King Kong hysterically crying and screaming. It was honestly insane.  Jon and I were both sweating.  And the lollipop bribes didn't even really work this time (stellar parenting technique right there).  That being said, Henry is doing well…he was 26 lbs and change (details are hard to focus on when you are profusely sweating and your ears are ringing), and I have absolutely no idea how tall he is.  That should tell you a little bit about how crazy the appointment was :)

P.S.--Charlotte kept the bandaid on her arm for over 3 weeks, and flipped out every time Jon or I tried to pull it off.  True story.

That evening, Charlotte went to a Halloween "Spooktacular" at United…it was a cute little Halloween party at her school, and she was so excited to see all of her friends (especially Hari!).  Even though she was going to be Cinderella for Halloween, she had to go as Rapunzel because she "can't wear the same outfit twice!".  Silly mommy.  Here are some pictures...

 

And one of them sitting together in the party.

Meanwhile, Jon, Henry and I were enjoying some Thai food at home, and Henry was being a total ham :)

He especially liked playing in Charlotte's room while she wasn't there!

So busy! :)

The next day, Jon and I were taking the kids to St. Marks to get some pumpkins, but first Charlotte needed to put on a fashion show…this would be outfit #1

…and #2 (actually, who am I kidding? There were at least 3 other outfits in between these two!)

And they quickly found a good place to eat their snacks! :)

With my goose at St. Marks

Henry found a wagon, and that was pretty much it for him!

So determined

He wouldn't let her help, despite her best efforts haha

Shopping for pumpkins!

Not happy about leaving his wagon!

Taking a little rest :)

This could work...

Maybe not.  Clearly, she was NOT happy (notice the crossed arms!)

And he isn't really happy with this arrangement either…he wants to be pulling the wagon!

At least one of my kids will look at the camera :)

Now he is looking, but he just looks mad haha

Sweet love

She is so cooperative :)

And we are back to wagon pulling...

Juggling pumpkins

So handsome ;)

That is a big pumpkin for a little girl!

Running off together…sweet peas :)

With the witch? Scarecrow? Hard to tell haha

So, that was Sat, Oct. 27th…that evening, I had some unpacking to do, so Jon took the kids to Long Beach to walk on the boardwalk and play on the playground.  Little did any of us know that the entire town would be decimated a few days later.  The playground where they played, and the boardwalk where they walked…none of it is there anymore.

Jon also took them to dinner at Five Guys Burgers in Long Beach that night…here is Henry thoroughly enjoying his meal :)  (Just feel like I have to mention that those aren't sodas, haha).

And Charlotte too!

Polishing it off with an ice cream!  Lucky kiddies :)

So, it was a great day…followed by a not-so-great night.  We went to sleep, for the second night together in our house, and at around 5:30am, we were awoken by the sound of alarms going off.  We were obviously kind of out of it, being that it was the middle of the night, but Jon and I got up and tried to get oriented, figure out what was going on.  At this point, Charlotte was up screaming, so Jon went into her room, and I saw the carbon monoxide alarm in our hallway was blinking and saying "evacuate, evacuate".  So I grabbed my phone and was dialing the police as I grabbed Henry out of his crib and we all ran out…the officer just told me to get everyone out as soon as possible (which we did).  We just grabbed our car keys and went out to the car (parked in the street), and waited for the authorities.  First a cop car came, and then a few fire engines…here is what we saw coming down our street.

Not exactly what you envision for your homecoming!

Anyway, it turns out that there was carbon monoxide throughout the house…apparently, the stupid masons (from the above picture) covered the out with wood, and then, in their "attempt" to prepare for the storm, they put a tarp over everything.  So, as I understand it, the carbon monoxide then seeped back into the window and went throughout the house.  One of the firemen told Jon that it was one of the worst cases of criminal negligence he had ever seen. I still can't talk about it without getting incredibly angry.  If we didn't have the detectors, it would've been a very different ending.  GET ALARMS.  CHECK YOUR BATTERIES!  Okay, PSA over, but seriously, awful.  We are incredibly lucky.

So, by the time everything was checked out, the firemen let me run back into the house and get my wallet and contacts (I was pretty blind and useless the entire time), and grab a few things for the kids.  And then, by 7am, I was in my car driving back to my parents' house, while Jon stayed behind to try to figure out what had happened and how we could make our house safe again.  So, this was Sunday morning, and Monday we were supposed to get a huge hurricane.  Good times.

Anyway, we were back in HB just as my parents had gotten rid of all of the baby proofing and probably just stopped dancing/partying :)

Jon and I were extremely uneasy and emotional and worked up about everything, but the kids seemed to just think it was exciting for the most part.  And they wanted to carry on as usual…so, we went outside and played at Mamie and Poppy's house.

Silly girl…still in her pjs haha

But because we were expecting the hurricane, and the firemen had already come around to evacuate my mom (my dad was away!), we decided we would be better off at home because we were further away from the water.  Jon had met with the police and firemen later in the day, after he and Jim opened everything up and made sure there were no more issues with the pipes, so he felt that it was safer for us at home.  Sooooo….back to RVC we went.

The next day, Hurricane Sandy hit.  It was Mon, Oct. 29th. We lost power, but he towns around us were absolutely destroyed.  Long Beach and Oceanside, two of the towns right next to us, are still in total disarray months later.  Some people still don't even have power.  Horrific.  Scary for us, but the devastation nearby…in Staten Island, NJ, and on LI...was just staggering.

There was a hurricane rapidly approaching, but Charlotte still had time for fashion/dancing shows.

We spent the night with no power, very high winds, scared about the large trees surrounding our house…we moved Henry into Charlotte's room away from the huge pine tree, but I didn't get much sleep that night.  The next day I was able to get in touch with my mom, and we found out that she had only lost power for 2 hours!  So, guess what?! It was back to HB for us once again!  And this time, we were out of power for over a week, so it wasn't just in and out :)  (If you are counting, at this point, we had only spent 4 nights in our house, one in which we were awoken in the middle of the night!)

Luckily, once again, kids were somewhat oblivious as to what was going on…Charlotte knew that a lot of people lost their homes from the hurricane, and that it was sad, but thankfully they never felt we were in danger.

Here is a picture of Oakland's during the storm.  There are so many crazy pictures, but that is where our little Jamesy stands every day during the summer, so it hits close to home!

And here are some pictures of my parents' development from the day after the storm...

The storm was just so awful…so thankful our family was all okay.

On Wednesday after Sandy, Jon and I took the kids to the bay…definitely the calm after the storm.

Hard to believe that a few days before this there were huge waves breaking!

And for the rest of the week, we were just waiting for our power to come back on…and in the meantime, it was business as usual for the kiddies :)

Charlotte picked this outfit, clearly!

My loves

He looks perplexed :)

Monkey boy!

Hide & seek..Henry's favorite game!

My love

Um, clearly she was expecting :)

It is hard to sit down when you are pregnant :)

Playing with the caterpillar

So funny

Someone won't cooperate and look at the camera :)

Off with their babies...

One night, not surprisingly, Henry hadn't eaten anything for dinner, so I told him he couldn't have any dessert...

Charlotte had actually eaten, and so she got an ice cream sandwich.  I was sitting next to her, and watched Henry sidle up to her…closer…and…closer

…until he just went in for a bite!

Hysterical

Even he knew how funny it was :)

She couldn't believe what he was doing :)

Love bugs :)

The Wednesday after the storm was Halloween, and because the area was decimated, obviously there was no trick-or-treating or celebrating in any way.  However, on the following Saturday, Nov. 3rd, Hampton Bays high school had trunk-or-treating in parking lot, where the kids could go from car to car and get some candy.  It was nice for the kids to be able to dress up and have some fun. Here are some pics.

My little Cinderella!

Sweet fireman

With Jack (they also lost power and were taking shelter in HB, haha)

This was the first year where I actually gave Henry candy, and he was a very happy camper!

With Jack & Owen :)

Nicholas was there too!

Good times :)

Running in circles…that is what you call a sugar high! :)

Pole dancing--he makes me so proud

Such a ham

He would NOT let go of that lollipop!

Love :)

So serious

My handsome  boy

Nicholas had M&Ms…and Henry walked up to him, tilted his head, and started trying to convince him to turn them over! Luckily, Nicholas had no idea what he was doing/saying, so no harm done :)

Uh oh, pregnant again.

And then we moved back to RVC on Sun, Nov. 4th…and in a case of awful timing, Jon left for Arizona for the week for work, so the kids and I were on our own :(

But we finally got settled and we are back in our routine.  I would say we have had a rough little patch, but we love our house, we are very happy here, and everyone is very excited for Christmas, so we are looking forward to all good things in the near future.

And I promise I will update the blog more regularly going forward :)

Xoxoxo