Yes, we are still alive around here, though the blog has been sorely neglected. Since last time we talked, we’ve packed up and moved about 1.5 miles away to our beautiful new house. The house is beautiful, the neighborhood is friendly, we have wonderful friends and family who helped us tremendously, and we are all enjoying being in a bigger space. It was also just as crazy, chaotic and exhausting and I thought it would be. I may never move again. We still have unpacked boxes sitting around (though now they are mostly limited to the office and the garage) and I still haven’t found my extra towels and a bunch of other things I’m just getting used to living without.

I’ll put in some pictures of Clare bopping around the new house – to give you an idea of what the new house looks like. Most of these pictures were taken in our first week here, so ignore the boxes and the laundry basket sitting around.

Moving whining aside, Clare is pretty cute these days. She struggled with the move a little bit so we saw some extra whining, testing and general crankiness. Fortunately the struggle is over and she loves her new house. I planned to set up her room like a reading nook with all of her books and comfy places to sit – I figured she’d love the quiet time in there. Nope. No more quiet time in this house! While Clare regularly played quietly in her room in the condo, in the new house she likes to run, generally shrieking or singing, from one end of the house to the other. I think she likes to be able to stretch her legs. She also likes to look out the windows, point out when the neighbors wind “chines” are chiming, and climb on the kitchen chairs.

I’ll write more about Clare’s latest milestones later, but here are a few pictures from our new front yard. The daffodils are blooming and it finally looks like it might be spring around here.