Visiting Thomas the Train

Thomas the Train came to a town just an hour south of Boston and we just had to go see him. It was at a little theme park that has rides designed for little kids. Thomas had a blast. We met up with some friends in time for the train ride. I think Thomas may have enjoyed flying the planes the most. He kept wanting to go back and ride them again and again.

Thomas the Train

Catching Up

It's been a little while since I was last able to post. So, I'm going to try and catch up a little with the month of September. Mima was still here for a good part of it and we really enjoyed having her around. Enjoy the next several posts to find out what we were up to. Remember if you click on the photos it will take you a web album with all the photos for that post.

Brother & Sister

Here are some recent photographs of Thomas and Emily. The first photo session of many to come! Enjoy!

EAC&TRC

Thomas' 3rd Birthday

I can't believe that Thomas is now 3 years old. The time has gone by so quickly it seems and he is growing into such an independant little man. He likes to do most things by himself (except when he's wanting Mommy's attention) and it frustrates him when it's not working the way HE thinks it should. We have started going to The Little Gym again. I'm afraid at some point he is going to outgrow this but for now he still enjoys it. And I enjoy seeing him bounce off someone else's walls...where it's okay to do so!

Since we just moved to the area, I didn't plan a big party for him this year. We kept the birthday celebration to a quiet, family party. But he still felt very special and was excited about his big day. He really enjoyed opening everyone's gifts. In fact, he wanted to stop after each one and play with it for a while before opening the next gift. This stretched out the gift opening process over several days, but he didn't seem to mind.

I guess he's officially out of toddlerhood because he now has a big boy bike (with training wheels). He absolutely loves that thing. In my mind I can see him a few years from now biking on the trails with Daddy. It didn't take him long to get the hang of peddling it and how to brake. He's a pro now...but not ready for the training wheels to come off.

Sunday we also met up with some friends up here and went to the Aquarium. There son was turning 3 the same weekend so we thought it would be fun to enjoy a day at the aquarium together. Thomas really enjoyed seeing all the fish and other animals. I think his favorite was the penguins.

Here are some more pictures for you to see all his excitement. When you click on the picture it will take you an album with all the pictures.

TRC BDAY

Reflections on the first two weeks...

It's really hard to believe that Emily is two weeks old. The time has really flown by quickly. Of course, when you're not getting much sleep the days do begin to run together. She is the sweetest little girl, and I'm not being biased either. She has the most beautiful blue eyes that just stare back at me. She has a lot of hair just like Thomas did, but I think it's a little bit lighter. Her eyebrows and eyelashes are also lighter so maybe she'll be a blondie after all. We really can't believe how much she looks like Thomas. There will be no mistaken them for brother and sister. Speaking of Thomas, he's over the moon in love with her too. He really likes to hold her, kiss her, hug her, and rub her head. Of course, we have to stick close by because he doesn't understand how fragile she still is. And he loves to ask ton of questions about her.



I knew she was going to have her days and nights mixed up a little because she would get active in utero around 2 a.m. and be quiet as a mouse in the morning. I wasn't sure how long this would last but was hoping for the best. It's still a little hit or miss but most nights she does well. On occasion she will still be alert after feeding in the middle of the night. Thankfully I can catch a nap during the day most of the time. We still haven't ventured out of the house much. Instead, Cindy has been taking Thomas to the park in the mornings and we spend our days hanging out at the house. Although, with the nice weather that's coming I may get some cabin fever and want to get out a little more.



Here are some more pictures of Emily. It seems like she's constantly changing.

Emily Anniston - going home from the hospital.

EAC 2 wks

Emily Anniston Craig Has Arrived!!

Our precious little girl arrived earlier this week. She was born Tuesday, August 11, at 11:56 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and is 20.75 inches long. Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Thomas are over the moon in love with her. If you're wondering who she looks like it's definately Thomas. We look at his baby pictures and just marvel at the resemblance. She is as sweet as can be. Unfortunately she does have her days and nights mixed up, but we are working on straightening that out. You can click on the pictures below to see more of our little, precious girl.

Emily Anniston Birth Day

Emily's Room

I've made some really good progress on Emily's Room within the last week. It's still not the finished product but MUCH better. I still need to put things on the walls (some of it is still in boxes and will have to be found). But it is at least mostly ready. I'm really pleased with how it looks so far and can't wait to finish it soon.

Click on the picture and it will take you to the online web album.

Emily's Room

Settling In

So, you've seen few pictures of our place in Boston before we moved in and a few with boxes. Now that we are getting a little more settled I thought I'd share some more pictures where it looks a little more like home. We are still working on getting pictures up on the walls but we will get there. Each week it feels a little more like home. We actually do have a good amount of space. What we lack is closet/storage space that's not in the basement. But at least we have a basement. I already have pieces of furniture picked out from Ikea to help solve this problem. And we decided to lift up our bed to allow for more storage space underneath it. But that means that I need a step stool just to get into bed.

Emily's room isn't ready yet so I haven't taken pictures of it. I am running out of time before she arrives but she will be sleeping in our room for the first few months anyways. And it's gotten harder for me to maneuver with this round belly. LOL. As soon as I feel that it's picture worthy I will share with all of you.



If you'd like to look at the photos individually you can see them at:

Boston House Part 2

Exploring Boston

Well, as many of you know, Boston is a very cool city. After digging ourselves out of boxes for the first week, Thomas and I started exploring things to do in the city.

Here are pictures from our first weekend in Boston. When you click on them you will be taken to another website with more pictures from that album. Enjoy!

Exploring Boston

A few from the Children's Museum.

Boston Children's Museum

Pictures from the Fourth of July down at the Charles River. It was a spectacular show. Thomas was a little unsure at first but once I covered his ears he enjoyed it much more. He did make a new friend that day... a little dog sitting right next to us. We thought it was a puppy but turns out to be quite an old dog. Thomas was also given the last flag one of the military guys was handing out. It was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July and moving to Boston.

Fourth of July

After being here a couple of weeks we were mostly settled in our house. Most of the boxes were unpacked or downstairs in the basement. So, then it was time to make some new friends. John had mentioned that one of the other fellows that started this year also had a son Thomas' age (and another one 7 months old). Well, I knew they were in the same boat we were ~ moved to a new city and didn't know anyone. So, I called his wife up and we decided to get together. It has been such a wonderful blessing to have connected up with them. Thomas and Leo get along great and so do the Mommies. Thomas loves that his name is Leo because that is his favorite character on Little Einsteins (and I know Leo likes Thomas the Train so I wouldn't be surprised if he feels the same way). We have gotten together a couple of times since we first met and it's been great for the boys.

One of our outings was to a water play area and playground across from Mass. General Hospital. John was able to look out his office windows and see us playing in the water.

Boston Water Park

Another time all of us attempted to find a suitable trail to hike in a nearby reserve. I know we will eventually find a good one, this just wasn't the day. We did have a good time exploring, though.

Let's Go for a Hike

A different water play area but no less fun.

July 20, 2009

I think that catches everyone up on what's been going on in our lives over the past month. I thought I'd never get caught up but I'm sure it won't last long. Keep checking in because who knows when Emily is going to decide to make her appearance.

Our Moving Adventure!

Our move to Boston was certainly the biggest adventure I've had in my life up to this point. We really couldn't have done it without all the help we received from family and friends. So many of you gave your time and energy to help pack and clean and even physically move our stuff. May the Lord bless you richly for your generosity.


The trip up was LONG and complicated. I had planned on breaking it up into 3 segments. Spend the first night with Karissa (8 hour drive) spend the next night with Grandmama (8 hour drive) & spend an extra day with her and then another 8 hours to Boston and be in our new home. The plan was to arrive by Wednesday evening. HOWEVER, things never go as planned do they? John & his dad, Michael, were driving the truck and pulling his car and were aiming to get in by Monday night (left early Sunday morning). They were about 3.5 hours outside of Boston when the truck broke down. So, it had to be towed to a place that could check it out. The mechanic determined what was wrong (thankfully not caused by the guys) and set about working on it Tuesday. They fixed the problem but it STILL wouldn't work so now they had to transfer everything to a new truck. So, we (me, Thomas, Latonia and her kids) stayed an extra day with Grandmama. It was certainly a nice blessing to get to spend extra time with her And there was no sense in us getting there ahead of the guys or even at the same time. But I honestly didn't see how they were going to get everything back into one truck. We really had that thing packed and even ended up leaving some things behind because we couldn't get them to fit. Amazingly, though, they were able to get it all back into one truck. I do believe they were professionals, but they were not as careful about how things were packed. So, several pieces of furniture have shown up here with nicks and dings which is a little disheartening. Thankfully, the truck company was generous enough to comp us the car dolly and let them leave it there at the mechanic's. That made it easier getting into Boston and not worrying about dropping it off or maneuvering around with it.




So, that put them getting in Wednesday night and I was planning on arriving Thursday night. But again, things don't always go as planned. Wouldn't you know that my Jeep broke down 4 hours outside of Boston, just a short distance from where they broke down. It started with the battery, but we didn't realize that at first. All my gages were going crazy and I thought it was something electrical. I was working on getting a tow truck when the service station lady came out to give me an unbelievable hard time about moving my vehicle. Like I wanted to be sitting there blocking her pump! We had been fine on the interstate and we didn't have problems until we were finished fueling. We were able to get it jumped and I set out for Walmart to get the battery replaced. But after we got that taken care of the thermostat went haywire! We had passed a Jeep dealer on our way to Walmart so I headed back to it. But I just couldn't make it there, though, without it going up into the red zone. We were 500 feet from them and I had to ask for a shuttle for the kids and a tow truck for the Jeep. But I've got to say, of all the dealers I could have ended up dealing with these guys were the nicest. They brought it in and assessed what was wrong. It was the radiator, of course. And the part wouldn't be there until the morning so we were going to have to spend the night. The guy at the dealer gave us a recommendation for a hotel (had a pool for the kids and a WONDERFUL breakfast included) AND he said they would pay for a rental car. Can you believe that?!? I was floored. They have a rental agency right there at the dealership so we didn't have to go anywhere for that, thankfully.

We got the necessities transferred to the rental car and headed to the hotel. The kids had a great time in the pool, of course, and it wore them out good for bedtime. And I had requested a late check-out for the next day so the kids could play some more in the pool and so we wouldn't be stuck in the waiting room all day. After the kids went to bed, Latonia were going to watch some TV to unwind from the day and it wouldn't work. So, when I check out in the morning I mentioned it to them and they credited my bill 25%. Again, unbelievable, but I'm so thankful. Every little bit helps at this point.

We were finally able to get back on the road late in the afternoon and I was just dying to get to Boston. I just wanted to see John and sleep in my own bed! No more complications, thankfully, and we finally arrived right before sundown Friday night ~ a little more than 2 days later than planned.