January!

January photos now up! See them here.

So, now that I've caught up on the pictures, let me add a bit of commentary. It seems like a long time ago already, but the move from New Haven to Roslindale went as smoothly as we could have hoped. Northeastern paid for packers and movers, which was so so wonderful. Two men packed our entire house in a day. I'm pretty sure it would have taken us a week at least. We had a goodbye party with friends at our neighbor's house. It was sad to leave, for sure.

We camped in Braintree while all of our things were unloaded into the new house. John E (Grandpa) helped paint the dining room, while a crew of family (the Joneses and Laura) helped unpack and Karen and Alison and Matt helped with Iris-care. We were very grateful to have our family nearby and willing to help us! We're largely unpacked at this point, but still need to get things on the walls.

We love the new house - it's spacious and well designed. We have four bedrooms, which means there's an official guest bedroom so you can come and visit us! Hazel and Iris have their own rooms.

The Joneses brought us a Christmas tree from their farm which we set up right away. We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with the Jones-McKeons, now only a thirty minute drive away in Somerville, and Christmas at the Brouhard-Eckelmans. New Years was at the Ippolitos, and then we got to spend time with the Rabinowitzs too! A wonderful holiday season all around.

In the new year, Iris started a new daycare that she goes to from 8-12 every morning. Matt started his new job at Northeastern. He isn't teaching this semester, which gives him time to develop his research projects and get acclimated to the new department and school. So far, all is going well. I (Gwyneth) am home with Hazel in the morning and then watching both girls in the afternoon. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be looking for a job. :) Now that I've dug my way out of a back-log of financial transactions and organizing the office, the search will start in earnest.

So, what's new with the girls? Hazel is 8 months old. She sits up; no crawling yet; eats pretty much everything we put in front of her (fruit, veggies, meat, etc); strongly prefers to feed herself, sleeps well; has six teeth; is large.

Iris is three. She has experienced another language explosion and talks non-stop. She loves to sing and has a great memory for songs and poems. She remains a very physically active, energetic girl with strong opinions. Very strong opinions. About everything.

More anecdotes soon. We have plenty of them . . .

So, life is good. We hope to make friends in our new town soon. Meanwhile, we hope you're all doing well in 2012!