Rumpus: The Chronicles of Max and Henry: October 2008

Well, after two agonizing weeks without internet access, my new best friend, the Comcast man, arrived today to lift me out of my technological isolation. There is so much to report that I couldn't possibly explain it all, so here are a few highlights:

1.) We successfully moved out of our house in Alexandria and moved in with Scott's Dad and stepmother in Oakland. They have been extremely generous, and so far the cohabitation is going well (at least from my perspective. Maybe there's a reason that Ron left on a "business trip" last week and that the two of them suddenly decided to go down to LA this weekend. Hmmmm...too much time with the crazy grandsons, perhaps??!!)

2.) We bought a house in Alameda and will be moving in in late November. I hear there's a housing crisis in this country, but that certainly wasn't our experience! We made offers on two houses and both times there were two other offers. On this most recent house, we emerged victorious, but probably overpaid a bit in the deal. Oh well. Who needs cable TV, organic groceries or dinners out? I think it will be a great house for our family for many years to come and I love the location. Photos to follow soon.

3.) Max has not settled into the big-boy bed routine particularly well. It takes close to an hour to get him down at night and most nights he hops out of the bed and comes into our room several times. This is exhausting and frustrating for everyone, but Scott and I remain hopeful that our patience will hold out and he will eventually get the idea. Otherwise, we're slapping a lock on that bedroom door in the new house and Max can take it up with his psychiatrist sometime in the future!

4.) Henry has completely transformed in the past two weeks. He's grown hair, sprouted five teeth, taken to eating Cheerios, and learned how to crawl! His crawling is more like an inchworm or a 1980s breakdancer than any traditional form of crawling, but it is still purposeful forward locomotion and he is getting better at it by the day. God help us all!!!!

5.) California is gorgeous. The weather has been picture perfect since the day we arrived and we have been enjoying driving around, visiting San Francisco, Berkeley, and Stinson Beach, and reconnecting with old friends. We really miss everyone in Alexandria, but we are excited about our future here.

I promise to post more soon. Everyone please keep in touch!

Max, Henry, and one of our movers in Alexandria.

Henry in our empty living room in Alexandria. So sad!!!

Max at Dulles. Thank God for the portable DVD player and Finding Nemo!

Henry chilling out on our Virgin America flight. This was before we both fell asleep and I let him roll off the seat and fall onto the floor. Yup. I win the Parent of the Year Award for sure.