la copa mondial

world cup fever has officially hit the north end. not too surprising i suppose. the games were pretty popular for the locals from the beginning but now that they are into the later rounds, its insane. they have added firecrackers to their repertoire (i'm not doing a spell check on that one so cut me some slack. i think its close) of yelling, singing, chanting and honking. its great fun if you don't have a BABY sleeping. i'm over it right now but the other day, i was near tears. pregame firecrackers woke him up, then i finally get him asleep again and halftime firecrackers woke him up, asleep again for the end of the game firecrackers. it was painful.

but today is a new day. the game is over. the italians won. andrew has slept through all of the firecrackers today. so i love the massive celebration. i guess he's pretty tired. anyway, i can't get over the sheer volume of the crowd. there aren't THAT many of them but i feel like i'm in a stadium in italy. it makes me wonder what being in a stadium in italy could possibly be like. deafening.

i don't know that i could accurately describe what it was like outside while doing it justice. i actually taped it this time so everyone could check it out. i've seen that people can download videos for their blog but i'm just not ready for that yet. here is a still shot from during the game. sadly, i got none of the post game madness when everyone came out of wherever they were watching the game and filled the street for a block. my block. the 50 yard line of insanity. i will miss it a little.

post-partem auditory dementia...

...is what i am naming the phenomenon of hearing babies crying while standing in or near running water. i am unable to take a shower without hearing one or both of my kids screaming crying. what's the story? it is really the only daily - ok, every other day - occurrence when i am allowed to be ALONE and it isn't even relaxing!

the joke is on me though, absolutely every time i turn off the water i am greeted by silence. foolish girl.

2 months and 22 months

ok. i have come to realize that i am never going to backfill all of the days/weeks i've missed - and its just getting worse because i am dreading it - so i am just going to get started from today. and by the way, we are going on vacation tomorrow for a week with no online access so this is just a bit ridiculous. but anyway, here's a quick update on the posterity...

andrew smiles at us - and especially at his big sister. it is crazy. he loves her and she loves it. she is very proud of herself when he smiles at her. its pretty cute if i do say so myself. he gurgles and coos like a wildman in the morning and at night. he still hates the car - more than a bit terrifying given the fact that we are driving 6 hours to canada tomorrow. we are worried, to say the least - the one blessing is that bridget can sleep through hours of wailing and doesn't seem to mind it when she's awake. i wish i could say the same thing for myself. he does give us a 5 hour chunk of sleep every night and 2 decent size naps during the day. still swaddled as tight as i can manage because he gets himself crazy with his flailing arms.

bridget has just about mastered the spoon when eating and can handle little spplesauces and yo babys without making a mess. she's spitting out new words every day - although she doesn't feel that the end of most words are worth her effort and leaves them off. "gucky" is the word she uses for things that she doesn't know the word for. she runs and jumps around non-stop and copies everything we do (i.e. puts on deodorant, lotion, hair products). she is very good with her brother and hasn't tried to kill him yet. we did put up some very attractive bars across our windows since she is a climber.

in addition to all of the changes that our two little cherubs have gone through, we are buying a house. i'm a little gunshy about calling it a done deal until the actual closing but everything seems to be going smoothly. the inspection went well, we are signing the P&S on friday and close date is 8/8. we'll see what happens although i'm getting pretty excited about a driveway, yard and dishwasher whose name isn't mary.