A Fresh Start

I realize it has been a long time since this blog has been updated and there is a very good reason for that. Or family has been going through so many changes in the last few months. We have a whole new life in a new place with new jobs and new friends. Philip got his PhD from Cornell in January (in record time! Just 4.5 years!) and accepted a job with IBM in Yorktown Heights, NY which is in Westchester county and a suburb of NYC. He is working on a secret project he is not even allowed to tell me much about it (not that I would understand anyway :-D). It is still in the Nanotechnology field and so far he loves what he is doing.

Since we couldn't afford to live in Westchester county and didn't want to pay $5,000 per month in rent we decided to move north and have a commute. We chose a lovely town called Fishkill (Kill in dutch means "stream") It is just south of Poughkeepsie. It has everything we could want from restaurants to shopping and there is a hospital nearby. We live in a wonderful community of townhouses and we are looking forward to the pool opening up this summer to meet some other families. It is just starting to warm up after the huge snowstorm leaving over 2 feet of snow and then the rainstorm flooding a lot of the area. Luckily we did not loose power or have any flooding. We have been so busy making our new house into our home. We still have a lot of decorating and hanging up pictures but it is starting to feel a little bit more like our own. We were even able to get some new furniture that didn't come from a box! I felt like such a grown-up going to the furniture store to pick it out and then waiting for the delivery. I love the pieces we chose! For those of you who know me well you know that I love to be in the kitchen. Unfortunately in our new home the kitchen is rather small and I struggle with space. Also I am in a constant battle with my oven that tends to burn everything I bake. I had to bake Philip 3 birthday cakes before I got one that was edible. I need some more time to figure this out and learn how to adapt.

Jack and Claire are doing wonderfully adapting to their new environment. Jack acts as though this has always been his house. I was really worried about the fact that there are 4 levels in our house and Jack didn't have that much experience with stairs. Well, we have been here 3 weeks and he can go up AND down the stairs safely! Just yesterday I was changing Claire's diaper when I heard him cry out from far away. I had thought he had run into the kitchen but I was wrong. When I found him he was halfway down the stairs from Claire's room on the 4th floor! He was pretty proud of himself and mommy realized she needed to buy a new gate this weekend! :-) One of the wonderful features of our house is a playroom on the main level. It is complete with built in cabinets and shelving that makes organizing a dream! There are also french doors that seperate it from the rest of the house so if I don't want to look at the mess of toys at the end of the day I can just close the doors. Both Jack and Claire love to play in the playroom all day. Claire is really developing since we have been here. She is 9.5 months old but already thinks she's 1. She has 3 teeth and another 2 right at the surface. She is climbing up and cruising on everything! She's even climbing up on her little doll stroller and walking behind it all over the house! She loves to climb up on our laps and then just push herself up to stand! She can stand by herself for a few seconds before falling. She will be walking soon for sure. The other amazing thing about Claire is her eating. With Jack, we never got to experience oral eating. Claire is way ahead of her peers and LOVES her food! The only things she has not liked is tomato basil spaghetti sauce (all others ore ok...) and last night we found out that meatloaf is not her favorite (takes after her momma). Other than those things she eats everything! Most anything I cook for dinner she eats. Most babies her age are still eating purees but not Claire! She wants the big kid stuff!

So, we are still here and doing well. As soon as we find our camera adapter we will be able to post pictures from the last few months. Keep checking back!