I'm sitting here on our deck with the fans cooling me from above, the wireless laptop and a cup of coffee, while Lucy sleeps upstairs (baby monitor humming right here) and Hannah colors the brick with colored chalk.

Tough life, I tell ya.

The Goose's birthday has come to an end, and I think it's safe to say she had a grand time. We had a little early birthday celebration in Chicago with the McNulty clan on Saturday. Then we had a few friends over here in Boston on her actual birthday as well. She tackled both cakes with might, but seemed pretty oblivious to the whole gift-opening deal. She sure likes the toys once they are opened, though.

She's THIS CLOSE to walking - can walk when you are holding only one hand, and makes attempts to go solo throughout the day. Her favorite things to do are tackling people - mainly her sister, singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and dancing feverishly to the theme song of any TV show that comes on. (Her favorites being the opening tracks to "The Little Einsteins" and "Go Diego Go". All around, she's just SO HAPPY which makes her wonderful to be around every day.

Hannah is a riot these days. Her language skills are going through the roof, and she surprises us with phrases that do not sound like they come from a three year old. Yesterday, when I cut her peanut butter sandwich in a manner that was unsatisfactory, she said, "Look, mama. This is open, and this is folded. I don't want it folded. So you just think about that." I'm not even kidding. But with the reprimands come moments of over-the-top cuteness - like reminding me frequently that we are "best friends". And tonight, when I told her to go to sleep, she said she was just going to lie there and "think about growing up." Okay there, Hannah. But not too fast.

We're here! Posting's been pretty light since we started the move to Boston. We are getting ourselves settled in to our new surroundings and took some time off to do a Father's Day tourist activity - the Museum of Science. It's a great museum - very kid friendly and interactive. My favorite was definitely the Archimedean Excogitation by George Rhoads. You could sit for hours watching the chain reactions as the pool balls travel through the ramps. Hannah  loved the weather exhibit where she could create rainstorms by pressing buttons and "feel" a  simulated tornado. Lucy liked pressing all the buttons - and chewing on her shoe.

Hannah's doing pretty well with her adjustment to Arlington. We've been taking little walks each day to explore the bike path that runs along the back of our yard. She's constantly reassuring herself. "It's fun to go exploring, mama. Mama, is it fun to go exploring?" She has made friends with the neighbor's grandsons who are close in age. They ride bikes up and down the street and play tag. And she starts dancecamp tomorrow morning - a short 3-day minicamp for 3-year olds. While still in Chicago, we told Hannah that she could take ballet lessons and this is all that's available in the summer. She's a little worried about it, I can tell, but I think she'll be fine. We talked tonight about how it's okay to be a little scared when something's new, and that seemed to reassure her greatly. You can almost literally see the little workings of her mind as she makes sense of all of the change around us. She asks if people from Chicago can come visit and protests that they have a car when we say that it's too far. Before, far meant non-walkable. Now, far means non-drive-able. So that's taking a little time to sink in.

Lucy, on the other hand, seems to be oblivious to the change and happy as a clam. She is so close to walking - she takes about 3 steps and then drops to her knees and claps for herself. She loves tackling us and giving kisses. And boy does this kid eat like a champ. It doesn't matter what it is - salmon, swordfish, lasagna, cheese - it all goes in fast and she's looking for more. About the only thing Lucy definitely does not like is driving in the car. Which is troublesome when mommy misses her turn in the traffic circle and gets us lost for the third time that day. Luckily we just got a GPS. Hannah has named the lady's voice who gives us directions on the GPS Sally.

All and all, Trapper and I just can't help but feel like we've hit the jackpot here. The house is absolutely perfect, and made all the better by the nice neighbors and awesome neighborhood. Literally within walking distance, I have a gym, post office, ice cream parlor, old-school diner, Italian deli, Panera, and Trader Joe's. The path leads to the Reservoir, which has a little filtered kiddie-beach that will open this week. If we had to move from all of our friends and family in Chicago, we couldn't have found a luckier place.

Somewhere on I-94, all of our belongings (including our car!) are traveling eastward, headed to Boston. The movers started packing the house around 7:30am yesterday and pulled out of Flossmoor about 12 hours later.

We brought the girls by the house so Hannah could see everything being packed up. My hope is that this will help her understand where our belongings are when we stop at the house next week and it is empty. I learned that she doesn't understand the whole concept with perfect clarity when she asked when the movers were going to pack up grandma and grandpa's house. Ooops. Guess she'll learn soon enough that they won't be 3 miles away in Boston.

So now we are camped out at my parents' house. I fly out next weekend to help Trapper unpack boxes. Then the following week we will all be out there for good! The last phase of this transition has begun!

We are busily preparing for our move here at the Markelz household. The movers start packing the house on Tuesday, which means I am furiously cleaning out drawers and organizing closets to get us ready. If we didn't unpack it from our last move, or I haven't used it/worn it since before Hannah - it's GONE. We have a huge pile sitting on the street right now waiting for Salvation Army to come pick up.

In the midst of this hulabaloo, our little Lucy has decided to go and get sick AGAIN. I swear all germs enter our house, look at Hannah and say "Nah...." and then head straight to Lucy. The poor thing has been on medicine so many times in her short 11 months - way more than I feel comfortable with. She's been a trooper, though, and continues to get bigger everyday. She keeps making attempts to stand on her own - I think her longest hangtime is about 3 seconds.

Hannah's her normal energetic self. Well, almost. She had so much fun last weekend at a family party on Saturday and then Mother's Day celebrations on Sunday that she fell asleep in the car on the way home at 3pm, and slept all the way til the next morning at 6! We kept trying to wake her up, but she was dead to the world. Needless to say, she had quite a bit of energy the next day.

I'm excited about our move - we are in such a state of transition right now that I just want to GET THERE. And we are excited to not have Trapper gone 3-4 days a week. It will be so comforting to be back in a routine where we all wake up together and eat together - we all miss it. In the meantime, I'm gurgling with Listorene and pounding the vitamins, because if I get sick - WE'RE SCREWED! :)

Hannah turned 3 this week to much fanfare! Dad took a special early flight home Tuesday night so he could spend Wednesday with the birthday girl. She brought special birthday cookies to school (put the sprinkles on herself!) and spent the afternoon flying her new kite from Grandma Mc. at the park. After her birthday supper (the requested chicken and green beans - that's my girl), we had cake and ice cream and she opened all her presents. So far the favorites are the Dora Dancing Game and the Sand & Water Table. She looks so old when she is dancing to the Dora game, and Lucy is hilarious because she totally tries to do the moves too. The other much-asked-for present was a big dump truck. We have no idea where she got the idea that she wanted one, but I was happy to oblige. Somehow I don't think boys tuck their stuffed animals in the back of the truck for naps, though.

Today, we met up with some friends at Millennium Park for a small birthday picnic. The weather turned out surprisingly perfect and Hannah had an awesome time running around with all her friends. We'll miss that park so much - such an awesome Chicago space. It was the perfect day - good friends and family relaxing outside. When we got home, Hannah was so tired, she stuck her french fry in her eye. With ketchup on it. That's pretty tired.

Now begins the mad dash of our last month before we move on May 20th. We've sold the condo (THANK YOU GOD!), now just one more to go. We had 3 showings at the house this week, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!

Now that I have fully recovered from the hangover, I can blog about what an awesome time we had Saturday night at our "Boston Tea Party" send-off. I think this picture pretty much sums up the evening - lots of laughter and good times. I wish someone had been able to tape the roasts so I could remember them more fully, but at the same time am glad no one did, because the memory is good enough. Those kinds of things don't need to be lived twice. :)

Trapp & I have been so lucky to meet such a close group of friends here in Chicago. A lot of us first met swing dancing, but our friendships really grew once we stopped dancing and started doing other things with our lives. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I ventured into my first apartment in Roscoe Village after college. Who would have guessed my life would have taken the awesome path it has. I'm purely grateful.

An old friend from high school came to the party and brought an acquaintance along. By the end of the roasts, the acquaintance was crying, and said to my friend, "I don't even know them and I don't want them to leave!" If that doesn't mean it was a good send-off, I don't know what does.

We posted video of Hannah all the time when she was a baby, and we never post it of Lucy. Such bad parents. Here we go.

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Now that the muzzle has been lifted, I can mention in my blog that we are MOVING TO BOSTON. Life is just going at a crazy pace these days. Trapp and I have visited the the city together twice. We spent one day with a realtor getting a good feel of the immediate surrounding suburbs. Our current plan is to go out, with Hannah, on the weekend of the 5th so we can find a house/condo to rent. We just see no incentive to buy right now in this terrible market, when we don't know very much about the area. So we are looking at apartments in Arlington, Massachusetts. Then we hope to move in some place in the beginning of May. Trapp starts working March 31st, so that will mean 1 month of commuting between 2 cities.

We've shared as much as we can with Hannah at this point- it's hard since we have no dates or concrete details to explain to her. She'll understand soon enough. All she knows now is that they have ballet classes in Boston, and since that is her current passion, she couldn't be happier. She also is excited to go on the plane ride - because they give you snacks and juice on the plane. Easy to please, this one.

Lucy is happily oblivious to the entire transition. She will never even remember the 8 months that she spent living in Flossmoor. But we can remind her later that this is where we saw her first smiles, rolling over, and pulling up. And where she first did the splits- as she did today where her socked feet slowly spread apart on the hard wood floor. She's pretty hilarious these days.

It's been hard to update the blog with all the big changes going on that are not-yet-ready-to-be-blogged. Although anyone who's been in contact with us recently knows most the details. But there have been just as many changes with the girls going on quietly around here.

Lucy is so much fun these days. While there's something to be said for the quiet cuddliness of a newborn and the sweet laughs of the infant, I really think this is the age when you just fall in love with your child. Every look is filled with so much joy and anticipation. She is just SO DARN EXCITED to see us in the morning - or pretty much any time. Last Saturday, she pulled herself up for the first time onto a toy, and it's been non-stop ever since. It's all she wants to do. Every afternoon, I put her down for her nap, then have to go back up 15 minutes later when, after pulling herself to standing in the crib, she is finally tired and doesn't know how to get back down. The down part is the hard part these days and she cries with such devastation when she falls over. Two little teeth on the bottom have finally poked through, and I can feel those top teeth right under the gums. She loves playing peekaboo, likes to be startled, and above all else wants to do whatever her sister is doing. She is much stronger at this age than Hannah was, so I think she'll be walking a lot sooner as well. Hannah better watch out, because once Lucy can actually run after her, life will never be the same.

As for Hannah, she is growing faster than we can keep up with her. Potty training is this close to being complete. Every day that she is dry, she gets to wear her crown that she got from Uncle Kevin to dinner. Accidents result in a pure melt-down of great force - "BUT I WANT TO WEAR MY CROWN!!!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!" But when she is successful, she asks over and over again if we are proud and "super-happy". Her preschool teacher told me she has been using the bathroom at school and whenever she does, she tells her that her dad is going to be so happy. Hannah knows so many of her letters and numbers now - she's really a sponge, soaking everything up. And her language catches us off-guard all the time. She repeatedly asks us to "Check it out" when she wants to show us something. And whenever she talks to another adult on the phone, she asks about the status of their relationship: "Tracy, do you still have Brian?" "Grandma, do you still have Gramps?" "Kevin, do you still have Nicole?" She loves school and gives me the update each day on who got into trouble and what they had for snack. School has taught her so many things. She can put her shoes and coat on all by herself now and helps set the table every night.

All in all, while we have many stressful details going on, the big picture is exciting and happy. Can't feel down when you've got these two kids around.