update from lynn

so, it is true. mark is a slacker :). he hasn't updated the blog in forever, so i (lynn) am going to try.

claire and i have been in florida this week visiting my parents. we have had an absolute blast. we went to the beach (bear is still not a fan of the sand) and saw three dolphins, we swam in the pool every day (bear wasn't keen on it at first, but now we can't get her out of the pool!), we colored and danced and sang and bear followed grampy around like a shadow! photos from our trip can be found here.

we are gearing up for the holidays and will put up our holiday decorations upon our return. bear can "help" this year!

baby #2 has been very active lately and was actually kicking his/her sister last night as bear sat on my lap to watch shrek.

hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving. hug those nearest and dearest to you and send out virtual hugs to those that you can't put your arms physically around.

thanks to all of you for being such important parts of our lives

-lynn and bear

updates...

Ok, ok. I haven't posted anything in nearly 3 weeks. We have been so busy. After returning from Greece, Lynn spent the following weekend in Rome with our friend Suzanne and her mom. They came to Montepulciano for 4 days and also visited Florence and Pisa. the next weekend a former student of mine and his wife came to visit for 2 days. The program wrapped up uneventfully the following week and at 1 am on Nov. 4, we headed to Rome for our flights to Frankfurt and then on to Atlanta. Claire slept on the bus ride to Rome. Once at the airport, Lynn discovered that she was booked the Nov 6 flight from Rome to Frankfurt and the Nov 4 flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta. It took nearly two hours (at 4am in the morning) to sort this out. Claire slept all the way to Frankfurt. On our flight to Atlanta we got a basinette for Claire, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She stayed awake for the first 5 hours and then slept for the last 5 hours in Lynn's arms. Lynn was pretty sore by the time we got to Atlanta.

It took us nearly 90 minutes to clear immigration, customs and security, and then another 90 minutes for Lynn's parents to pick us up. We forgot to call them when we landed. They were staying at our house on their way to Florida, and just left this morning. We certainly enjoyed having them with us and I am sure Claire did too.

It took a couple of days for Claire to get over jetlag, but now she is back on track with respect to her sleeping schedule. I am sure Claire won't remember any of our adventures in Italy, but hopefully this blog will serve as a travelogue for her to read one day. The ladies at her daycare were sad to see her leave - that's them in the photo. It was a great experience for Claire. Overall we had a great time in Italy, but we are not sure if we want to do it again. I was asked to be the director for the Fall 2011 program. It is a lot of work and admittedly Lynn bore then bulk of the parenting. I think it would be more than twice as much work with 2 kids. Plus I would be on call 24/7, dealing with things such as doctor's visits, missing linen, bus schedules, etc.

The day after we returned home, Lynn and I went to the doctor's for an ultrasound. Claire's sibling is healthy and growing. 10 fingers and 10 toes, and no, we don't know the sex of the baby. Claire went to the doctor's the following day for 4 vaccinations and boy did she cry. She was measured at 35 inches, but we didn't think that was right. When we got home we remeasured her and got 33 inches. I think she will end up being 5' 10" when she is older.

On Friday night, I am heading to Chile to present a paper at a conference and will return on Thursday morning. Lynn and Claire are heading to Sarasota on Thursday morning, so we will have breakfast together at the airport. Claire's trip to Florida will be her second last free flight, as after she turns 2, we will have to start paying for her to fly. I think we definitely got our money's worth from free flight for her.

That's been our last 3 weeks in a nutshell. The traveling for us ends in mid January, as the due date approaches. We will have a full house for Christmas and hopefully lots of photos and stories to share with everyone.

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