A Real Doctor

There's been so much celebration these past couple of months. It's hard to believe that C's medical school graduation was just last week. It's been a fast four years- at least now, looking back. One of the silliest things (or most annoying, depending on who you ask) I used to do was to act skeptical whenever C would give medical advice and say that I'd wait to judge said advice until I heard it from a real doctor. Though funny for me, I'm sure it drove him nuts. Well, since someone's a real doctor now, I can say that no more! 

Kendrick and I are really so proud. (Though by the above photo you can hardly tell that's how Kendrick feels).

The morning of the graduation was the first time since Kendrick was born that we had to be somewhere  by a certain time. Boy was I nervous about getting a newborn ready and out the door. We did make it on time, though Kendrick and I weren't able to enjoy most of the ceremony since he was just so fussy. We trekked up and down the treacherous stadium stairs countless times, but miraculously I guess Kendrick timed it so that we were able to see Papa walk up to the stage to receive his diploma.

We were all so exhausted from the day's festivities that we needed a family nap after getting home and before heading out to dinner with C's family in Quincy. The nap felt marvelous. 

Family selfie after nap time…and a thumbs up from Kendrick

Here's to the next chapter for a real doctor and family!

First Mother's Day

It would be inaccurate to portray my first Mother's Day as beautiful and perfect. Mother's Day happened to also fall on Kendrick's four-week birthday, and the above picture is a pretty accurate representation of what our day was like. Mother's Day coincided with the peak of this little guy's fussy period, which started after his two week birthday. 

C tried very hard to make it a nice day for me and made a delicious breakfast of pancakes (my culinary request for the day), sausages, and eggs. He even brewed the last of my highly coveted, decaf coffee from Philz. During breakfast, a beautiful flower arrangement from C's family got delivered to our door. The lovely note was very uplifting. 

a bright bouquet on Mother's Day

C took charge of all our meals that day and grilled a delicious dinner of shrimp (my mom's favorite), salmon, and steak. It was the first time we've used the grill this year, which surely beats when we got the grill last year, I believe. Kendrick and I took a little breather outside to hang out with Papa while he grilled. We also took a few family photos while outside, but being as fussy as he had been, Kendrick looks crazed in most of those photos, so I won't share them here.

spending time in the backyard while Papa grills

This picture reminds me: Our yard is looking stupendous! C has been really working hard to make it look great and it's paid off in spades. What a refreshing change from what the past winter did to our yard! The azaleas I planted last year are starting to bloom around this time, our hydrangeas that we pruned last year are teaming with new leaves, and we discovered that we have a lilac bush! We planted some nice perennials along the back fence a few weeks ago, where previously, only tall weeds grew. This was spurred mostly by the fact that we can see directly into our neighbor's backyard and they put up some nice landscaping and plants all by themselves in about a morning. 

Here's to fewer fussy Mother's Days and more time spent in the yard in the next few months.

Daily outings

We've tried to leave the house at least once daily. It's been a little hard with scheduling around Kendrick's sleeping and feeding schedule, but we've been otherwise pretty successful. Most of our outings involve food (of course) and other times they involve household chores (like getting our snow tires changed out-  finally!).

Today, we didn't fully get up and out of bed until noon- yikes. K can really mess with our mornings. Well, and nights too for that matter (someone became fussy for a whole hour between 6 and 7 a.m. this morning). 

Our outing today was centered around finding a good bakery that we have never been to before. We found Bread and Chocolate Bakery in Newton and I'm glad we did! K slept through the entire lunch, in his baby carrier. 

After lunch, we walked around the little stretch of shops in Newton Highlands. Apparently it was Newton-Taiwan day (though we're not entirely sure what this meant). We also found the smallest farmer's market inside a gym. It was cute, but we were so stuffed from lunch that we didn't get a thing. The farm fresh eggs seemed very appealing, though.

Here are some snaps from other outings we've been on this past week:

A very chilly day at Volante Farms for baked goods and vegetable seeds for the garden

A baby in the flower nursery at Volante Farms

Selfie with baby (though you can't see him) on our walk to the local bakery, Quebrada. 

Welcome, baby!

Our baby, Kendrick, was born on April 12, 2015. One day, I'd like to write down his birth story because I don't want to forget all the details of the day before and the day that he actually arrived. Today is exactly his two week birthday and I just happened to look up at the clock and saw that it was exactly, to the minute, 2 weeks after his birth. He is a very sweet baby and we loved him immensely from the first moment.  It makes me a little wistful/sad to think that two whole weeks have past. They really do grow up so fast!

First selfie as a family of three

Here are some things we noticed about him really love about him:

• From birth, he will occasionally look at us with only one eye open- typically his left eye. Not sure where he gets this from, but it's darn cute. 
• Loves to stretch. He makes huge yawns and stretches his arms out wide. Definitely gets this from C.
• Mighty baby. From birth, this guy loves to flex his muscles. He can hold his head up for a surprisingly long time for being so young and C even had troubles cutting the umbilical cord because he was kicking so much!
• Baby acne. I don't think acne could be any cuter on anyone else
• "Eh? Eh, eh, eh?" This is how K communicates when he's awake and in a good mood. The sweetest baby noises

Of course there are so many other things and I'm sure I will document them from time to time. 

We've tried to take him on an outing every day since we've been home. However, this has proved difficult on certain days where we just get started late in the day, or if the weather is just not as cooperative. During the nine months of pregnancy, I dreamed about taking him out on Marathon Monday to watch the marathon around the corner. There's something about Marathon Monday where typically, you feel that spring is really in the air and the sun is shining and people are excited and happy. This year was the complete opposite. It was cold, rainy, and windy. We did attempt to go out, but it started drizzling as soon as we stepped outside and despite our efforts, we had to duck back inside before even leaving our driveway, to avoid getting too cold. It was a a major bummer.  

However, we did successfully take K to a restaurant that evening and he slept through the entire dinner. What a good boy!

First dinner out on Marathon Monday. He did great!

Running bucket list for Spring and Summer 2015

Once the weather finally warms up, we'll have to make the most of our time together with baby. I came across someone's summer bucket list today while blog-surfing and thought that this was a wonderful idea. Here is mine for these upcoming months! And several photos from last spring/summer to get us revved up for the upcoming season!

• Starting up the vegetable garden
• Make homemade popsicles (I'm thinking we need one of these)
• Stroll to the local farmer's market on Saturdays starting in May! (I am SO excited about our local farmer's market. I just got wind of it today! They were such a staple for us in NYC and we miss them quite a bit)
• Morning walks around the neighborhood with dogs and baby
• Bookbabies time at the local library for story-time and songs (I just found out this is a weekly event!)
• Read (and finish) a book for leisure- anything! (We used to go to the Harvard Coop often and I would take photos of books I'm interested in reading, so I think I've got a few options)
• Splashing away downtown
• Make more fruit and vegetable shakes with our Vitamix
• Bike rides with baby and dogs (we need this when baby can sit up himself, so it may be several more months! Likely in the fall, perhaps)
• Bake a fresh berry pie from scratch
• Dog park time in Boston and the surrounds
• Shucking and enjoying our own raw oysters
• Going to free Friday Flicks at the Hatch Shell. (This would have been so much easier when we still lived in Beacon Hill!)
• Make fresh lemonade from scratch (like we used to do in college!)

That's a sizable list for now, but I'll think of some more to add in as the weeks go by!

Back when the backyard was lush and green. Not demolished by hills of snow.

Looking forward to watermelon season!

Life lately: waiting around

We haven't had anything too exciting going on these past few months. The snow is FINALLY disappearing these past couple of weeks and I hear it's the last cold day of the year until it starts to become quite pleasantly warm! It's about crunch time for baby's arrival so when we've had the chance, we've tried to combine getting everything in order for his arrival and also enjoying/treating ourselves to meals out or sleeping in.

We had a delicious lunch at Toro a few weeks ago (above photos- tuna toast!), thanks to a birthday certificate from my brother from last year. We've always wanted to go, but it's quite the hip place at night even after all these years, and reservations are impossible. So, lunch was perfect. We were so intent on eating that we didn't really take too many pictures. The corn was my favorite part of the meal. I could go again and order just the corn and be completely satisfied. The best corn of all time!

A few weeks ago, we planned a last minute lunch reservation at the Capital Grille during Restaurant Week. We each got our favorite desserts! It doesn't get better than that. Creme brûlée for me and chocolate cake for C. 

Crema Cafe. The best English muffin in town.

This week marks the start of my maternity leave from work and we had the good fortune of C having the day off on Monday. We had a grand time walking around Harvard Square, going to our favorite cafe there, Crema Cafe and enjoying our favorite breakfast/snack, their English muffin with butter and jam (why can't we ever find raspberry jam this good?! Believe me, I've tried. C even gave me grief about always buying strawberry jam after tasting again how delicious the raspberry jam on the muffin is!) I ordered something new that I should try at home: an Almond Earl Gray, which is EG tea with steamed and frothed almond milk. 

We've done a little baking. Or rather, I should say C did a little baking. Bless his little heart- I haven't had much energy or patience these days for cooking, much less baking, but he loves it so it works out quite well. We tried an Asian Milk Bread recipe that I came across. It was delicious! And preservative free!

We've otherwise just been relaxing at home, on the couch, catching up on all our shows (and new ones) and waiting…

Life pretty much any day of the week: napping on the couch with comfortable blankies

Baby's Afternoon Tea

We had an afternoon tea party last weekend at L'Espalier (my favorite restaurant in Boston) to celebrate baby's upcoming arrival. It was a cloudy and snowy day, but it was toasty inside and we were so happy that so many of our friends were able to attend. It made everything feel very special.

The Library Room was perfect for the occasion- cozy, warm, and BLUE! There must have been the largest collection of blue books I've ever seen. Every single one of those books was a shade of blue, though you might not know it from the photos.  E confirmed that they were real books, too. 

There were delicious tea sandwiches and quite the selection of sweets- almost too many sweets for my taste, but who can complain about afternoon tea?! Not even the Queen (though as Chris kept reminding me, she would not be there).

just the most delightful selection of tea sandwiches!

These mugs will become veeeery familiar to you, Baby!

And these ones too- your aunts and uncles!

There's quite a bit to get together before baby's arrival, but week by week I feel like we're making some progress. Nine weeks left to go!