The Rokita Family

skating Sydney

2012-02-01T23:34:00.001-05:00

Yeah so it's been forever since I've posted. I know I know, but give a girl a break. I've been busy! But more on that later. For now enjoy this photo of Sydney ice skating for the very first time ever! (And in our own little homemade rink too.)

twinkle toes

2011-09-26T14:37:00.001-04:00

Sydney started dance class a couple weeks ago. One half hour ballet + One half hour of tap = One LONG hour of chasing Trystan away from the Dance Studio trophies, bars and mirrors.

limbo

2011-09-07T17:13:00.001-04:00

Apparently Trystan sees any and all babyproofing as a personal challenge.

back to (pre)school

2011-09-07T13:16:00.003-04:00

Today (to my surprise) Sydney was very excited to return to school and walked right in without even so much as a kiss or a wave for me.

Trystan on the other hand, cried from the moment Syd walked away to the second we hit the driveway, when his eyes fell shut for a nap and I did an old school fist pump in the front seat of my quiet car.

proud little patron

2011-07-12T14:18:00.001-04:00

Look who got her very own library card!

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off camping

2011-07-01T12:28:00.001-04:00

If you think this is packed, you should see the BED of the truck!

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just to explain

2011-06-27T00:40:00.001-04:00

This...

is just one of the many reasons I have become a delinquent blogger:...
my apologies! More posts to follow - I Promise!!

duck, duck, Swan

2011-05-10T21:05:00.019-04:00

Last week, I informed Tom he'd be taking us all to the Duckling Day Parade in the city to celebrate Mother's Day. After all, it's my day, so if I want to dress my children in duck costumes and march the streets of Boston to reenact a juvenille storybook, so be it.
Lisa mentioned the parade to me a couple months back and as you can imagine, after hearing the words "costume" "duckling" and "public garden" in the same sentence, my ears immediately perked up. The event celebrates the classic Boston-based children's book Make Way for Ducklings and the parade follows the Mallard family's route from the Charles River to the Public Gardens (or at least as much of it as a four year old could walk without complaining).
And just so you don't think I'm making this up, check out the official Duckling Day Parade website here (paying close attention to photo #19 - ahem, yes we're famous).

Highlights from the day:

A quick stop at Mr. Balloon Wizard before the parade.

Lil' duckiling Mack, Mrs. Mallard, & Officer Michael watch the magician.

Daddy gives Mrs. Mallard's tired feet a rest.

Taking in the sites at the Public Garden.

Giving hugs to the real Mrs. Mallard.

Want more photos? Click here.

the big apple

2011-05-01T21:57:00.001-04:00

circus, that is...

haircut

2011-04-11T22:42:00.006-04:00

I know, I know - what hair? But truly, Trystan may still be nearly bald, but he's been growing a little baby-fro at the nape of his neck. It's just enough to give him a nice glow of bedhead when he wakes up from napping. So I decided my boy wasn't fit for a baby mullet and gave him a little fuzz cut this evening. It took all of one minute, but I guess it counts as his first official haircut, so Sydney took a photo to commemorate the ocassion. I promise he wasn't nearly as unhappy as he looks... two minutes later he was back to scavenging in the vanity for his sister's lipsmacker to throw in the toilet.

ONE

2011-04-06T00:01:00.025-04:00

One year ago today, Sydney and I were spending the afternoon at the mall with my good friend Kyla and her two daughters. Oddly enough, we were convinced by the mall photographer to "stop in for a free picture" - Kyla was in town visiting for her birthday, we rarely get everyone together, all the girls were smiling and giddy - so why not? As it turns out, I never had a chance to view our "free photo" that day - instead, my water broke, and I went straight from our impromptu photo shoot to the hospital, where we welcomed Trystan at 11:59 PM. So here's Trystan on his very "first" birthday...

And here he is today - we went back for another photo,
for old time's sake.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, little guy!

caught

2011-03-30T12:54:00.001-04:00

Red-handed, hiding under the table with Sydney's apple juice...

cheerio

2011-03-14T10:27:00.001-04:00

Breakfast with GA Rosie... what could be better?

bruiser

2011-03-09T10:54:00.004-05:00

Somehow I have survived my entire life, from rough-housing with an older brother, to playing soccer against brutal opponents - even jumping off bridges and out of planes without ever experiencing the public embarrassment of a black eye. Ironically, our dear little Trystan couldn't even make it eleven months...

To say the guilt is overwhelming would be an understatement. But to our defense, it happened so fast that there really wasn't much we could have done - he just ran his little walker smack into Syd's wooden school desk. And then he shrieked... and then got right back up, turned his walker in another direction and kept on trucking.

peek

2011-03-08T21:19:00.004-05:00

adorabELLA!

2011-03-07T20:57:00.002-05:00

Lisa sent me this and I just can't help but share... oh my ADORABLE niece, I love you!

babysteps

2011-03-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

proof!

caught

2011-02-16T19:32:00.003-05:00

time to babyproof...

lil sweethearts

2011-02-14T23:21:00.006-05:00

Lisa & Ella came over for lunch today and while we had them here for a rare twenty minutes of downtime, I felt compelled to take some long overdue photos of the junior cousins... and not a minute too soon. I don't think these adorable little denim getups I scored on clearance at Old Navy would have fit them if we'd have waited another day. And to be honest, I'm not sure which makes me happier - the photos of the wee ones looking so darn cute together, or the fact that each outfit only cost me about $1.27!

Click here to see a few more of the photos. Notice how Ella is so docile and beautifully posed, while Trystan is a bumbling blur or energy trying his best to flee the scene, or at least cause some mahem along the way.

snow way josé

2011-02-02T18:01:00.003-05:00

And yes, it's still snowing.

ice ice & baby

2011-01-29T11:18:00.004-05:00

Uncle Matty taught the girls (& Tom) the fine art of ice fishing this morning. When she arrived home, Sydney explained proudly, "We caught a WORM!" and judging by Isabelle's pants, it looked like she enjoyed some ice swimming... but they all had fun, and I got some alone time with lil T which is always a good thing.

got mail

2011-01-22T16:15:00.007-05:00

We took a walk down to the mailbox this afternoon. Trystan seems to love being all bundled and just peeks his little head out of his carrier to keep an eye on the snow flurries falling from the trees, while Sydney prefers to make snowball after snowball "to drink" along the way. When we made it to the mailbox I noticed it was barely hanging on by one screw and was nearly falling off the mangled post.
"What happened here?!" I exclaimed to which Tom shrugged with a guilty grin.
"Must've been the plow..." he accused.
"You ARE the plow!" I huffed as I opened the mailbox and watched the mail slide right out into the slush on the street.

yet another snow storm

2011-01-18T19:14:00.001-05:00

We are up to our necks in snow here... literally!

history repeats itself

2011-01-13T11:59:00.001-05:00

Apparently Trystan enjoys the excitement of food shopping just as much as Sydney used to...

snow

2011-01-12T22:55:00.010-05:00

We had quite a storm here today - lots and lots and lots of snow. Schools were closed (actually, everything was closed) so we didn't even leave the house - but to plow, shovel and make the ocassional snow angel. Instead we stayed in our PJs all day and Syd enjoyed endless board games and far too many animated TV shows, all the while demanding "PEANUT BUTTER FLUFF! APPLE JUICE!" Apparently in her world, this delicacy requires no please nor thank you, and appears instantly and miraculously out of thin air - without crusts.

b'gosh

2011-01-05T21:41:00.002-05:00

I can't decide which is cuter - Trystan's new trick (he's just SO proud of himself) or his new overalls from Uncle Edwah & Auntie Carol! You be the judge...

"FINE!"

2010-12-31T15:18:00.001-05:00

This morning as I was getting dressed I overheard Sydney whimpering and whining, "I don't want to go outside. I don't WANT to go outside!" to which Tom answered sternly, "We are going out to build a SNOWMAN and that's THAT."
"FINE!" Sydney yelled and threw on her boots with a huff...
A half hour later, I was being paged from the deck to "COME TAKE A PICTURE!"

I'm still debating who had more fun out there.

blizzard

2010-12-27T22:33:00.001-05:00

We got over a foot of snow last night. Tom got a crash course in plowing - he was out for hours clearing the driveway, then the road, then the front walkway, then a racetrack around the house for the dogs, and then a big old snow pile for Syd to ride down... I'm pretty sure he loved every single minute of it. And this afternoon he got to pull the girls behind the four-wheeler - very, very, VERY slowly. It was definitely a site to see.

pinkie pie

2010-12-25T23:13:00.015-05:00

'Tis the season for an all-inclusive post with photos from various events over the past few busy weeks...

We finally got a few inches of snow last week, so Tom tested out his new plow (read: overkill) and then showed Sydney how to make a snow angel. But most importantly, Syd got to try out her brand new snowsuit.

(Thanks GranGran. Syd loves it!)

Meanwhile, Trystan has learned to clap in excitement. And he is pulling himself up on everything - even taking a few wobbley steps while holding on (very tightly) to his little push-along before getting so excited that he lets go to clap for himself, when he quickly takes a nose dive. But as you can see in his photo, he's still Very proud of himself and really likes his new perspective on things.

Sydney had a Holiday Party at school this past Thursday and really enjoyed making her "gingerbread house" (aka - an empty milk carton covered with every sugary confection known to man). I'm pretty sure the ratio of candy ON the house vs IN her mouth was pretty low, but she had a great time and got a lot of envious compliments on her application of chocolate morsel shingles. It took me a while to realize she was stockpiling candy INSIDE her house to smuggle home, and by that time my efforts had moved toward fending off the Munchkins and Chocolate Cupcakes. Aah, the Holidays.

Santa brought lots of presents this morning. Sydney was ecstatic unwrapping everything for everyone, while Trystan was more interested in pulling tree branches, clapping bows, and yanking at All of Sydney new toys just as soon as she opened them. (Seriously Tryst? the pink sparkley unicorn with silver hair? Really?!)

Luckily there were MORE than enough My Little Ponies to go around... it was a Happy Holiday indeed!

Mop Dreams

2010-12-21T12:46:00.002-05:00

Today Sydney's battling a stomach bug, so I've been mopping and disinfecting all morning. While I was down on the hardwood scrubbing (picture old PJ's and yellow rubber gloves) Sydney perked up and came to me to proclaim, "Mama - someday when I'M a Mommy, *I* want to do THAT!" Dream Big, Syd. Dream BIG!

slacker

2010-12-19T02:17:00.004-05:00

Okay, I admit. I've been slacking. But to my defense, the past few weeks have been pretty busy around here (as I'm sure they are everywhere!). Here's a recap. We put up the Christmas lights, celebrated Hanukkah with the Cohen's, decorated our Christmas tree, ate latkes at Matty's house, ate latkes at Shelley's house, exchanged Hanukkah gifts, shopped for more gifts, sewed a few more gifts, all while Sydney demands "just ONE more candy Mama? PLEASE?!" while pointing to her beloved chocolate advent calendar.
Meanwhile, Trystan got two teeth and has learned to crawl - or at least slither. Check him out:

knock knock

2010-11-14T20:37:00.000-05:00

The door is IN!

But notice that the first foot and a half of hardwood is OUT... Tom had to take the hardwood and the subfloor out because of water damage. Apparently the old homeowners weren't aware that an unsealed door & an absence of gutters was a bad combination. I'm trying to think of it as an opportunity to create a new tiled entryway, but Tom seems to enjoy calling it our new skylight to the basement.

good morning?

2010-11-13T22:28:00.002-05:00

This morning I woke up to find a big gaping hole in the front of our house... let's hope tomorrow morning I can post a photo of our new and improved front door. (And let's also hope the coyote don't realize that the only thing separating them from us is a utility tarp and some staples.)

look who's sitting

2010-11-07T22:08:00.004-05:00

That's right - Charlie Brown!

He's also starting to prop himself up on his hands and knees for a minute or two (at which time he shoots me a look that begs, "What now?!" and then topples into the inevitable faceplant)

I'm really trying to savor these last few sedentary weeks before he gains mobility and life as I know it is officially over.

sweet potato sweetie

2010-11-06T22:03:00.000-04:00

peek week

2010-11-02T22:55:00.004-04:00

Sydney had her last day of Gymnastics today, and while they typically discourage us nosy parents from staying to watch the class, today we were welcome to enjoy "peek week" and watch the kids show off what they have learned during the session. I have to admit I have, on rare occasions, secretly glanced in the window to the gym to see how my little tumbler was doing and am proud to report she tackled those lessons like a pro. Walk sideways on the balance beam and hop on one foot? No problem. Forward roll down the incline mat? Easy. Climb her feet up the wall in a reverse handstand? She did it twice and laughed.

So when I arrived at Peek Week, I grabbed a seat front and center so I could show Sydney just how proud I was. Auntie Lisa came too - we sat with babes in arms and waited with smiles and shared proud grins while Sydney's teacher called her name and asked her to take "ten jumps on the trampoline" to which Sydney replied a low, soft, "ma ma" and looked out at me unwilling to move. The teacher moved on to the rest of the kids and then asked Syd again if she wanted to take her ten jumps... a painfully slow crawl toward the trampoline ensued, then an almost non-existent bounce as she stared at me with a look of terror and confusion.

The vault? Oh yeah, that was equally as painful. Lisa kept mumbling, "Don't look at her. Look the other WAY" which suprisingly seemed to help. It was hard not to laugh. You can see she warmed up a bit with the balance beams.

Of course, the few photos I have where it looks like she may have actually participated are blurry... I think next time I'll might watch Peek Week from outside the window.

tubby

2010-11-02T22:47:00.010-04:00

Why yes, his father is an Award Winning swimmer - how did you guess?

halloween gnomes

2010-11-01T23:41:00.006-04:00

I just had to post these:

That makes my Official Halloween Costume Count =
3 garden gnomes + 2 hobos + 1 kitty cat + 1 Charlie Brown.

happy halloween

2010-11-01T23:31:00.001-04:00

from our own little Charlie Brown and "Sparkly Kitty Cat"

skyventure

2010-10-09T23:51:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday Ma!

happy one half lil' guy

2010-10-06T14:35:00.005-04:00

Today Trystan is 28 inches tall (91st percentile).
He weighs 16.75 lbs (37th percentile).
He can roll every which way.
He can sit... mostly.
And he continues to laugh, always.

veggie-theft

2010-09-30T21:18:00.003-04:00

I survived the entire summer without any animals feasting on my prized vegetable garden... then last week eight white eggplants disappeared, then six bell peppers, a handful of lima beans, a lemon-sized watermelon and an entire pot of radish sprouts (pot, soil and all) - I suspected deer, a fox, maybe even a chipmunk. I started to believe Sydney was stockpiling our harvest somewhere in secret. But today I caught our culprit red-handed:

break it down

2010-09-25T13:59:00.001-04:00

Sydney's first rock show!

from westcoast to westford

2010-09-23T22:00:00.008-04:00

My dearest friend Sarah and her adorable one-year-old son Oscar flew in to Boston from Oregon for a family wedding and we were lucky enough to steal them for a day. Sydney showed Oscar all her toys (rather forcefully I might add) and I showed Sarah all my sewing machines. Then we went for a quick trip to Parlee Farms to see the animals, the pumpkins, and of course the award winning apple cider donuts.

Back at home we cracked open some steamed lobsters for dinner, and finally cooked up the garden-fresh butternut squash for the little guys. Everyone was happy. I only wish Sarah & Oscar could have stayed longer! To see more photos from our day, Click Here.

chunky monkey

2010-09-18T15:00:00.002-04:00

I finally gave Trystan some "real food" tonight - steamed, smashed summer squash straight from the garden - I think it's safe to say he liked it.

full house

2010-09-16T21:00:00.007-04:00

Look who came out to Westford today:

Great Great Aunt Rita & THE Grand Bubba! It was amazing to have so many generations together in our home. Better yet, my favorite part of the day was driving Bubba around on the 4-wheeler. I believe her exact response to my invitation for a ride was a calm "Oh Yes" followed quickly by "You all thought I came out here to visit you, but really I came out to ride THAT thing."

Yes, that's my Bubba. I'd like to think I've inherited a bit of her moxie.

first day - first to arrive.

2010-09-13T22:55:00.001-04:00

Sydney started Preschool today, and while most of you know I am by NO means a "morning person," we managed to arrive to school an entire 35 MINUTES early! Yes, I messed up the dropoff time. Of course my first thought was, "WHAT?! I could have slept another half hour!" But luckily my morning mistake left us just enough time to stop by and say hi to Cousin Isabelle at the bus stop...

And if that's not worth waking up too early, inhaling only a third of my coffee and then rushing Sydney out the door while trying to wrestle two doberman out of the way with a 40 lb infant carrier, I don't know what is!

today's harvest

2010-08-13T14:28:00.001-04:00

Note the toddler-sized chomp out of the zucchini.

oldie

2010-08-03T23:07:00.004-04:00

happy birthday big brother!

...nice cowlick.

here we go again

2010-08-02T21:53:00.000-04:00

Wednesday he sold the boat. Monday he bought this...

life's a peach.

2010-07-28T00:34:00.001-04:00

We went peach picking today - and picked a really HOT day to go at that. I'd estimate we came home with about 6 pounds of peaches. And I'd also bet Sydney alone ate 3 pounds of peaches in the orchard... while Trystan just barely gummed one.

swim

2010-07-25T21:56:00.001-04:00

Trystan took a dip in the pool today...

unfortunately for him, Sydney quickly realized he made a perfect dock for her toys.

can't beat it? eat it.

2010-07-22T18:06:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to get rid of our giant thorn bushes over by the stonewall, but no matter what I try, they just keep on growing. So today I admitted defeat and we started harvesting the blackberries. Truth be told - Sydney and I had a fun morning out there. And we didn't even put a dent into the supply! Now if I just knew someone who loves eating them... other than Rolo that is.

3 months

2010-07-21T23:23:00.014-04:00

Okay so it's a couple weeks late, but I took Syd and Trystan to get some "3 month old" mall photos. It was a bit of a struggle to get Sydney to sit still - I swear the photographer said, "GENTLE!" a few hundred times while Sydney pretended to bite Trystan's head and then "accidentally" rolled over him during his solo-photos (note the random big-sister-toes in the back of some of his portraits). Surprisingly there were still a couple decent shots in the mix.
Click HERE to see them all.

watch out

2010-07-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

Daddy got Syd a new toy. She calls it her "four-wheel" and likes to aim it toward Rolo.

sweltering

2010-07-16T13:15:00.001-04:00

Its a far cry from pulling the boat up on the sandbar, but somehow Sydney couldn't be happier.

beach stop

2010-07-15T13:58:00.002-04:00

Today, Trystan's tiny toes touched the Atlantic.
(Try saying that three times fast!)

Sydarella

2010-07-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

Back when I was a little girl, I remember Mom and Dad packing Matty and me into the station wagon and driving forever to get to this great big tented theater. Well, Nana took us back there today and Sydney and Trystan got to see Cinderella come to life.

But things seemed a little different to me this time around. First off the drive wasn't long at all. And once we arrived the whole place seemed a little less "magical" - the stage was a little smaller, the actors a little less polished, the costumes a little less glamourous, and I wondered if maybe things had changed since I was little, but as I was looking around trying to remember more from my many childhood trips, I caught a glimpse of Sydney, in her sparkly little Cinderella dress, watching the performance from the very edge of her seat in complete silence with her mouth wide open in amazement. And I realized nothing has changed about that theater at all. There's still plenty of magic there...

big lil t

2010-07-08T12:22:00.002-04:00

I think he's officially graduated from the little sink.

a big little town

2010-07-05T23:19:00.001-04:00

I just uploaded the photos from this weekend in Narberth. Here are a few of my favorites from the baby parade:

Check out the rest of the photos HERE. Isabelle won second place in "Most Patriotic" while Sydney came in third for "Curliest Hair" and our four generations of red,white+blue family came in third for "Most Interesting Family Group" - obviously it was rigged. I mean, who could possibly be more interesting than the O'Neill family?

hour 6

2010-07-05T17:04:00.002-04:00

almost home...

happy 4th

2010-07-03T15:05:00.002-04:00

Can you believe she's never had cotton candy before??

hangin out

2010-06-26T14:08:00.002-04:00

NEW SWING!

congrats Amm!

2010-06-21T22:06:00.013-04:00

Trystan and I flew out to Colorado on Friday for one of my oldest and dearest friend's wedding. To my surprise, T was not the only (nor the youngest) baby there. There was also a 1 yr old, a 9 month old, an 8 week old, and even a 7 week old!
I have to admit, between the time change, the elevation change and the general mayhem that tends to ensue when traveling with a newborn, I was expecting a difficult trip, but I was amazed at how well Trystan did and how smoothly everything worked out. I do believe T could quite possible be the easiest baby. (PHEW!)
Here are some photos from the weekend. The wedding site was amazing - a very private, serene meadow in the mountains of Pine, Colorado. Perfectly Ammilee!

sleepy T

2010-06-18T11:45:00.001-04:00

Four hour flight to Denver and he slept the whole way! That's my boy...

sweets & dreams

2010-06-10T21:00:00.000-04:00

My good friend Robyn was visiting earlier this week and since she enjoys taking photos as much as I do - I've got some great images to post. Enjoy!

(And YES, Ma - I did brush her teeth after the lollipop...)

thanks Sarah!

2010-06-08T00:20:00.001-04:00

...finally got around to photographing Trystan on his new quilt with his new lil' buddy. Aren't they all so cute?!

morning sun

2010-06-05T21:35:00.001-04:00

This is how we spend our mornings these days. Typically Sydney has about four wheeling toys, two folding chairs, a huge tea set, and a mud pie restaurant set up in the driveway. And I could care less if it means I can get a few minutes of peace in the garden... (This weekend I had Tom build me another 8' x 8' square. I think I'm getting a little carried away... but seriously - addicted to vegetable planting? it could be a lot worse.) And did I mention I caught Rolo picking up my seedling pots in his mouth and spilling them randomly across the lawn? That dog never ceases to amaze me...

8 week old baby

2010-06-02T23:43:00.001-04:00

35 YEAR old jumper!!

drive-in

2010-05-30T21:50:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, the Cohen's took us back in time to a good ol' Drive-In. We ate dinner on the tailgate, got the girls hopped up on candy, and piled in the bed of the truck for the latest Shrek movie. And when I say the "bed" of the truck - I mean it literally. That's Matty's air mattress you see the girls lounging on...

Check out a video of the candy-induced laughing fest here.

Family Friday

2010-05-28T22:06:00.003-04:00

Today Lisa and I took the girls for an impromptu trip to the "beach" just a few minutes away from the house. The weather was perfect and our timing couldn't have been better. We had the whole place to ourselves. And surprisingly the pond wasn't all that cold.
(Notice how Isabelle's entire face is blocked by Sydney curly 'fro... hysterical!)
Meanwhile, Trystan was happy to just lounge in the shade

at least until I put his lil scally cap on.

it's a skorcha!

2010-05-25T17:32:00.001-04:00

a lil' dirt don't hurt.

2010-05-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

My Mothers Day gift is finally in! Nothing like a couple of 2x6's and a big ol' mound of dirt to say they love me...
The cherry tomatoes, red & yellow peppers and a few herbs are in. The rest are still germinating. And I'm now taking bets on who will get to the veggies first - the dogs, the deer, or Sydney. I just don't understand why - in our entire yard and the land around us - everyone feels the need to jump, wiggle and/or dig in my nice lil' 8x8' square?!

"take our picture!"

2010-05-19T21:17:00.002-04:00

good idea Isabelle...

Thanks Matty.

2010-05-16T23:25:00.002-04:00

Matty upgraded his mower to a zero-turn...
so Tom got a "new" toy today!

I have a feeling he'll be riding it down to get the mail soon.

snore

2010-05-13T23:49:00.001-04:00

This is what Trystan thinks of food shopping:

"free" time

2010-05-10T17:19:00.002-04:00

Finally, I found a few minutes to post...

Photos... finally.

2010-04-13T16:58:00.004-04:00

This is quite possibly my favorite photo of all time - my new little family! Click Here to see the rest of the photos from the hospital - and while I may not be in any of these, I am at least behind the camera - a perfect place for postpartum me. Enjoy.

Look who's here!

2010-04-08T01:48:00.005-04:00

Welcome lil Trystan Joseph!
Born 4.6.2010 at 11:59 PM - 6 lbs 11 oz - 20 adorable inches.

Happy Eastover!

2010-04-04T23:10:00.001-04:00

snakes and sun

2010-04-01T17:37:00.001-04:00

It's a beautiful day here today, so all of us girls set out to do a little "exploring" after lunch... here are some photos from the woods:

and my absolute favorite...

cliff notes

2010-03-31T22:21:00.024-04:00

Forgive me for not writing in a VERY long time, but it's been an insane past couple months - and as my brother said to me at the dinner table a couple weeks ago, "what? you haven't posted in months?! but SO MUCH is happening, you should be blogging like CRAZY!"
Well, as it turns out, so much HAS happened - but that means I've been incredibly busy, overly exhausted, and honestly just too preoccupied to post. So instead, I'm going to attempt to run through the past few life-changing events in record time. Bear with me.

SO, we got an offer on our Summerville home back in January and in the following three weeks, we had to say good bye to all of our friends

to our Neighborhood

and pack up all our worldy belongings...

We put my car on a transport

and had our house packed into a big trailer

to be stored in SC until we found a new home... our deadline was pretty ambitious. I was more than 8 months pregnant!
And just a note - our moving day just so happened to be the ONE day in twenty years when SC got snow. It started mid afternoon (our movers were there until after 8 pm!!) and didn't stop until we had over 6 inches the next morning! How ironic is that?!Check out Sydney and Meghan with one of the many Legend Oaks snowmen.

So after a quick round of one-last-goodbye's with all our neighbors, we hooked up the boat... No wait, Tom shoveled out the boat, then loaded it up with our "absolutely-necessary-for-the-next-couple-months" boxes, THEN hooked up the trailer and off we went, with Rolo, Sydney and Kya all cuddled in the back seat for our 20 hour drive to Westford, Massachusetts.

We stopped just north of DC at a dog-friendly hotel around 2 am that night, amidst the extraordinary heaps of blizzard snow that had been pushed just about everywhere and anywhere. (Try parking a large pick-up truck and boat in THAT - better yet, try walking two dogs that are used to 80 degree weather around that!)

But finally, that following night - on Valentine's Day to be exact - after a long exhausting trip, we made it to Westford, just about an hour after my car arrived safe and sound off the transport. We were tired, we were disheveled, we were overwhelmed and we were homeless - but we could not have been happier to see Matty, Lisa, Amelia & Isabelle and the attic that we would call home for the next five weeks.

Tom was up and running, working from the dining room by Monday night, and I was busy scheduling appts to meet my new Dr's, take a tour of the local birthing center at Emerson Hospital and of course speak with our real estate agent to set up as many showings as humanly possible as soon as we could manage. The first few days of house hunting were crushing. I was very seriously worried that I was going to be delivering this baby boy in Matty's attic. But as soon as we got our expectations in line with what was realistic up here in such a "different" market than South Carolina - and as soon as I started to think we were just going to have to settle for something that was "good enough - I guess," we drove to what would end up being our new home. I remember following our real estate agent up the endless unpaved drive, thankful that we were in Tom's 4WD truck, and hearing Tom saying, "Wow, this is Impressive!" and thinking, "Wow, this would be a PAINFUL ride when I'm in labor." And then at the end of the long wooded road, we saw a house all alone with nothing but land and trails and rocks around it. Tom was instantly smitten, but as always, I was a much harder sell. After a second showing and some second third and forth opinions from the family, we put in an offer... and after a bit of negotiating and inspecting and all the insanity that goes along with homebuying - here we are, official Westford residents!

I was SO excited to schedule delivery of our trailer. Living at Matty and Lisa's was great - don't get me wrong, we LOVED it - but living out of suitcases and bare-necessities-boxes gets old real quick. The day the trailer was coming felt like Christmas in March! I was SO excited to see it coming up the drive...

But moving in proved to be a pretty big headache - the truck driver had some troubles getting up to our house...

after cutting some limbs (that's our crazy driver up in the tree - luckily he let us unpack our ladder from the truck for him) and digging out numerous rocks and stumps...

our driver made it to the very last little curve in the road, and after hours of trying, he decided he just couldn't cut it.
After nearly a half mile up the road, he gave up just 100 yards from our driveway. I was utterly disappointed and stressed beyond belief. Tom's hands were blistered and torn from digging out more and more of the road. My brother and my dad were sweating over their shovels and rakes and chainsaws. And all we could do was watch our trailer drive away, and reschedule our move for the following day, rent an additional shuttle truck and hope for better luck with our second attempt and a brand new day. All in all, by the following night - everything was in the house, and I had not been thrown into labor - so in hindsight, it was just a small kink in an otherwise remarkably smooth transition. So - here are some photos of the house and the surrounding woods.

Once I clear enough boxes out to show anything inside, I'll put up some interior pictures too... slowly but surely. I promise.
Of course, we're not the only ones who are ecstatic to be in our new home - the dogs are in heaven here. Rolo runs with the deer and Kya ocassionally comes in from outside sopping wet from whatever new stream or pond she's discovered, but we're really trying to teach them to stay in the yard. It's a slow process, but at least we have no real neighbors to complain. We do have the weekly parade of motorbikes and 4-wheelers out front, but other than that it's pretty quiet back here. One day last week we had a new record - 4 cars came up the road in one day, all of them ultimately reaching our driveway, looking utterly confused, and making an awkward u-turn back out. It's funny how quickly Sydney and I have begun to stare out the window with a look of "who the heck are you and what do you want?!" when just a couple short months ago we would've said, "oh, bless your hearts - y'all come back now ya hee-ah?"

It's been a long time...

2010-02-10T19:43:00.002-05:00

Well, I have LOTS of adorable pictures to post from our trip back home but it's been such a whirlwind and so much has happened since my last post that I just haven't had a spare minute to upload or update... so let me explain:
Inevitably - while I was in Boston, we not only had two second-showings from two interested buyers (MIS-scheduled - of course - at just about the SAME time) but we had an offer quickly come in which (after the obligatory negotiations) Tom and I accepted. Strangely enough, it was the exact moment that Matty touched the ultrasound transducer to my belly and I caught a glimpse of our baby boy that I got the call on my cell phone from Tom that we had an offer.
From that moment on, the rest of the visit and the rest of this past month has been one big QUICK blur. Our buyers wanted to close in less than 30 days so here we are - up to our ears in boxes, trying to comprehend the reality of what's going on.
My car will be picked up for transport tomorrow night. The moving truck will come Friday morning to take all of our worldly belongings to storage, and Saturday morning Tom, Sydney, Rolo, Kya and I will pack into the truck and tow the boat up into the snow.
Thanks to Matty and Lisa we will have a place to stay while we are searching for a home and we are optimistic we will be in a new place before the baby arrives (and before Matty and Lisa realize they are Crazy for inviting two dobermans, two extra cars and a BOAT to stay at their home).
Wish us luck. I think we might just need it!

NapTime

2010-01-14T14:30:00.002-05:00

so much for sleeping...

We have arrived...

2010-01-12T21:08:00.002-05:00

and Sydney couldn't be happier.

conducting Kya

2010-01-08T23:16:00.007-05:00

I'm not sure why, but the dogs seemed to actually enjoy this:

and it probably lasted for over an hour! Rolo even started to sit when she cued him. Now if I could just get him to "not eat my down comforter" on cue, we'd be all set...

painting...painting...painting...ROLO & KYA

2010-01-04T00:06:00.011-05:00

Six Months.

2010-01-03T22:12:00.001-05:00

I've had a few questions about how big I am, so here you go -
my big ol belly at six months...

Better than Ice Cream!

2009-12-27T21:00:00.001-05:00

Nana & Papa are here for the Holiday!!

Ironically, just as Tom and I were catching a poorly-timed cold, Nana & Papa were catching a flight down to Charleston to spend Christmas with us in our 70 degree Winter Wonderland. By the time they arrived, Tom was feeling a little better and I had lost my voice completely. Sydney was just getting used to me clicking, whispering, and (unfortunately) snapping at her - and her new favorite phrase was "Mommy, You Speak LOUDER!" so she was even MORE excited than normal to see (and hear) Nana & Papa - as was I! (read NAPTIME for Mommy)
For those of you who don't know, Nana is recovering from some scheduled surgery on her foot and is hobbling on crutches, so she was being chauffered by my father through the airport - Sydney was more than happy to take over...

Walking out of the airport, Nana was laughing hysterically at the site of us in the crosswalk - Sick Pregnant Woman pushing Grandmother holding Toddler in wheelchair while carrying crutches. "We would be at least a thousand points!" she burst out laughing. You can see where I get my sense of humor from.

But regardless of any of our setbacks, we had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed lots of laughs (and naps) and plenty of Christmas fun!
CLICK HERE to see more photos of our week.

Santa's "Sleigh"

2009-12-19T17:00:00.005-05:00

Waiting for Santa to come on the firetruck...

and here he is! All the kids came out to see him
and everyone got candy from his fireman "elf"

I realized today that Sydney doesn't really know what a sleigh is.
She's only ever seen Santa on a Firetruck!

No Tears.

2009-12-13T21:03:00.001-05:00

Santa stopped by the Club House today. Sydney was genuinely very excited to see him, and thankfully he was patient enough to wait for her to ask for "candy and Olivia's Christmas Book" to which he just smiled and nodded. But on the way home Syd assured us that Santa already knew all this because, "Yeah, it's on my list."

But ironically, after we lit the candles tonight, it was Hanukkah Harry that brought her the coveted Olivia Helps with Christmas. I just finished reading it to her after Daddy tucked her in bed. Oh yes, it is a Happy Hanukristmas for everyone!

Note the new Olivia doll that Auntie Berta sent (and Sydney's matching collar left over from her Halloween costume) as well as her new boots from GranGran and PopPop, which I might add, light up in three places when she walks... (and Yes, I Do wish they made them in my size - thank you very much.)

Just another

2009-12-06T23:07:00.000-05:00

day at the park with Moira...

S'mile

2009-12-01T21:33:00.001-05:00

Today Sydney discovered the magic that is the S'more.

Green Friday

2009-11-27T21:28:00.000-05:00

Well, no doorbuster deals could get us out of bed at 4 am this Friday, but we did head out in the afternoon to get our Christmas Tree (or "Hanukkah Bush", depending on which side of the family you're on...) Tom was ready to buy the first one he saw, but I insisted he hold them up one by one, so Sydney and I could inspect each one and find the perfect Rokita Family Christmas Tree. By tree number two, Sydney cared more about hiding her toy frog in the cinder blocks separating the trees while completely ignoring Tom and me - so we compromised on a nearly perfect tree that was on top of the pile and called it a day.

Surprisingly, we brought the tree in the house and set it all up by Friday night, but since then we've only made it as far as the lights and a few strands of tinsel. But Sydney doesn't seem to mind. That way she can still play "Ring-Around-The-Christmas-Tree" and not break anything.

Thankful

2009-11-26T21:09:00.000-05:00

Hope you all enjoyed your Holiday. We enjoyed a nice relaxed Thanksgiving over at Ms. Cindy's house next door. I made Sydney a simple little smockdress for the occasion, and surprisingly she loved it. It was reversible so she kept peeking inside the collar to make sure her pocket was still there, or to announce that the "S for Sydney" was on the inside... Typically she couldn't care less about anything I make her, and as soon as I make her try something on, she takes one look and says, "mmn, I want this Off" so I was thankful that she was pretty excited to wear this little number. And best of all, when she inevitably got cranberry sauce and gravy on one side, we just flipped it over, so she could get pumpkin pie and whipped cream on the other.

Soccer Star

2009-11-24T22:06:00.001-05:00

Well, the Titans had their last game of the season this past Saturday.

After the game (and after their "Mighty Mighty Titans" song)

they had a little awards ceremony and...

Sydney got a TROPHY - a bobblehead soccerman trophy to be exact.
She's very proud. As were we.

Although I do think Syd's trophy should have read, "ALL STAR HANDHOLDER" or "RING-AROUND-THE-ROSIE QUEEN" or "DID I KICK IT ENOUGH TO GET A TREAT YET?"

Tiny Titans

2009-11-14T23:50:00.001-05:00

Got Sydney's soccer photos today...

I guess I should be happy she's even looking at the camera.

Soccer Syd

2009-11-07T16:29:00.000-05:00

Check it out - it looks like she's actually running TOWARD to ball!
Now that's what I call progress... or just a well-timed photo. Either way, I'll take it.

It's official...

2009-11-03T20:53:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm finally ready to announce the news... I'm pregnant!
And it's a Boy!! Thanks to those of you who have been keeping it a secret - or who have just been pretending not to see my bulging belly. I had my 16 week ultrasound today and everything looked good - so that was a huge relief. They've put my due date at April 17th, which means Sydney may just have to share her birthday with this little guy. I'm betting she'll be okay with that... as long as it doesn't involve sharing her cake.

A Very HAPPY Halloween!

2009-11-01T10:19:00.001-05:00

Don't worry Papa - I brushed her teeth like crazy...
Click here to see more of the Halloween Fun.