Year: 2013

I do anticipate that unless you are a family member, are pregnant yourself, or have recently been through pregnancy, this post won’t do it for you. Nonetheless, our next new Nill is halfway to being here so I thought I’d share an update.

First, we had the chance two weeks ago to find out boy or girl. We had told her in the beginning we were planning to keep it a surprise but at the end, when she said, “Ok, if you really don’t want to know, don’t look because I have to take some measurements.” I said, “You know what it is?” and she said, “Yep!” and in that moment I nearly cracked and said “Tell me!!” But Jason reeled me in. So, we left happy in knowing that everything looked good but that we were able to keep the sex a surprise until March.

Last weekend was one of those picture perfect fall days in New England. Bright, sunny, just warm enough for no jacket but just cool enough to have your boots and a cute sweater on. The Head of the Charles is the annual crew race on the Charles River and schools and participants come from all over the country. It’s really fun to go walk around, see the boats, and take in the sights – tents, music, food, etc. Even though Jason stopped working at the Lenox last April, they set up a spectacular hospitality tent and we stopped by to say hello to everyone. It worked out great because they were giving out freshly fried veggie chips that kept Ashton busy for a long time. We sat on the hay bales, snacked and soaked in the sunshine. I wanted to make sure to do a quick post on this but like most things, being there in person was far better than anything I could get in pictures. Oh well, here they are anyway 🙂

Despite having been married to Jason for 4 years, earlier this week I learned something about him that I never knew before: he can dunk. Like, on a basketball hoop. Whoa honey! I was somewhat less shocked to learn about his life above the rim than I was when I found out he used to have his tongue pierced (?!?!), but still shocked nonetheless. But this post isn’t “fun facts you never knew about Jason” (al-thooooough…that could be interesting 😉 )

But anyways there we were, down at the middle school tennis/basketball courts playing with a mini soccer ball with Ashton. Just passing it around, kick kick kick, la la la. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Jason grabs the ball, jumps up and soars through the air and slams it down through the net. Again, ?!?! “White Men Can’t Jump”? Psssh! Not on this court! Ashton, naturally, went bananas. I got out my camera and totally made Jason do it again (uh, and again and again) so I could capture how cute Ashton was being.

It never got old. But after awhile, just to make sure we hadn’t forgotten that he is a toddler with unreasonable demands, Ashton wanted to try it himself. I ended up learning something else about Jason: he is an incredible coach. After getting him comfortable with the height:

That, my friends, is a real picture.

After witnessing such a spectacular showing of unknown talent, I walked home in a shocked stupor behind them. Such an ordinary picture of two extraordinary boys. Extraordinary to me, anyway 😉

Another little house project that took me months to complete. I wanted to do the trendy photo wall thing and at first thought I would be doing all different frames, mediums, colors, etc. You know, a mish mash that somehow all looks effortlessly great together. Like this:

Nope. After spending way too long collecting frames, spray painting some, trying to figure out which ones should be big and which should be small, where the words and cool art should go…I settled for all white and pictures only. As soon as I gave in to this it got much easier. These photo walls are harder than they look! So here’s the true BEFORE:

It’s blurry because I was likely running after Ashton. That was before we moved in. Once we did, we painted:

 Once I had all my frames ready to go, I cut pieces of paper that were of equal size and taped them up so I could adjust the pattern as I went. I bought a kit of 7 frames from Amazon that actually came with paper guides so that was helpful for some of them.

 Once I had everything where I wanted it (or, good enough) I naturally made Jason do the rest. Here is the AFTER, hastily taken this morning so all the frames are not entirely straight

Now mind you, getting these frames up in the first place was such a feat that they sat half empty for 3 months because I could not decide which pictures to put in. But I finally did that yesterday and hence, this post. Ta-da!

Just a little Columbus Day weekend recap. I do not guarantee that this will be a mind-blowing post. In fact, expect that it won’t be (which ones really are?) and that you will finally have the answer to “How many pictures of one little boy can a person take??” (It’s: “To infinity and beyond.”) Nonetheless, this post is how we spent our time. First, Jason was off on Saturday so we went to get our pumpkins. We were incredibly lazy about it and went to Russo’s, a local market where the pumpkins are already harvested and sorted by size, instead of to an actual farm. Oh well, Ashton didn’t know the difference.

There was a lot of pointing and running. Come ON mom!

 We ended up with four total and they are nicely lined up on our stoop until we carve them.

The next day Jason headed off to work and Ashton and I set about to do some baking. I moved a little bench into the kitchen and away we went! The recipe was for blueberry muffins but I didn’t have any blueberries so we went chocolate chip instead. Ashton got flour on his face immediately.

But he was a great helper and we had our batter in tins in no time!

Into the oven they went, and boy was that the longest 12 minutes ever. Minutes 1 and 2 were okay, he knew the oven was “HOT!” and then was really curious once I turned the light on.

By minute 3, nothing was really happening and things got ugly. Lots of crying and impatience. Which is funny, because when they were finally done, he wouldn’t even eat them!

Spit it right out actually. (Btw please excuse the huge wet spot on his shirt. He’s just a very drooly kid and I didn’t have bib on him )

Anyway, I tried one more time at lunch to give him one and got this look:

 He then said, “NO!” and threw it. The rewards of toddler parenting, I tell you – too numerous to count.

The rest of the weekend we spent outside. A little swinging, a little walking, a little exploring…some beautiful fall weather.

Happy Columbus Day! And, uh, if anyone wants an egg-free chocolate chip muffin, I have extras.

We have some exciting new house developments going on lately! One of the biggest challenges we faced when moving in was our living room. It is wide like side-to-side, but narrow front-to-back. Plus, there is literally no wall space for a TV besides above the fireplace. So we knew that we faced a furniture/layout issue right away and decided that while it would look better to perhaps do a loveseat and two chairs facing each other, function and comfort called for a L-shape. Like so:

We actually had a hard time finding a couch that would fit. Most sectionals, it turns out, are giant. But that’s not what this post is about. No, this post is about that far wall, with the big window and lone radiator:

With just a couch and a coffee table in this room so far, something significant was really needed on this wall to bring the room together. I took to Pinterest and found this:

Sooo lovely. I gave the picture to Jason and said, “Let’s see it honey!” 🙂 And here we are, several months later, and boy do I see it! What he did is amazing!

Here’s the official “before”:

And “after”!

The radiator is built in under the window seat – he used some silver grating that looks fantastic. And all the woodwork and moldings…gold star for Jason! Here are some more photos of the process…

And the finished product:

My job was mostly limited to finding the fabric for the bench cushion. Oh, and picking the handles on the cabinets. I still need to get to Home Goods to find some pillows for the window seat, get some little knick knacks, organize the books, and “style” the shelves, but otherwise, all done! It warms up our living room like you can’t believe and I’m totally in love. But no rest for the weary, Jason already knows what his next project is (built in closets for our bedroom). The house list marches on!

p.s. seriously can you believe Jason did this? Based on my inspiration picture? xo honey, X…O. Now can you take the air conditioner out of that window? It’s an eyesore in my photos 😉

Yesterday Ashton did not nap. Trust me, this is a !!! kind of event. But we chose to see the silver lining and go apple picking – we hopped in the car to South Natick and arrived at Belkin Family Lookout Farm around 4 pm. I had heard such great things about this place in terms of U-pick, animals, fun for kids, etc. It was a beautiful day and despite knowing they closed at 5 pm, I really wanted to take advantage of Jason having a Sunday afternoon off and go for it.

The farm did not disappoint one bit, but I had no idea it would be the most expensive bushel of apples I have ever picked. Now, usually I don’t gripe about money but after paying $28 for two adults plus $16 for the bag, I did something I’m not proud of. I lied and said Ashton was under 2. Who does that?! But kids OVER 2 are another $8 and I thought at $44 we had paid quite enough; they were closing in an hour! That indiscretion aside (which I actually felt terrible about, and decided later that giving them another $8 would have totally been worth not feeling that terrible, so I maybe plan to make up for that next time), we had so much fun! The orchards are incredibly expansive, there are a dozen varieties of apples and I could not believe the fruit everywhere. And there was a fun train to ride – it stopped at different areas and you could hop on and off and pick away…

So there’s been a lot of baking going on in the Nill house lately. In fact, I’ve been baking up a storm for a little over three months now. Like, 24/7. It’s a very time-consuming recipe that I want to make sure to get just right because I’ve got a yummy little…

I started at Bentley on September 4, 2012, which made yesterday my one year anniversary! For nearly half of Ashton’s life, I have been a working mom. Gosh, not hard labor or anything, just general office stuff 😉 There are a lot of things I love and a lot of things I don’t, and I thought it would be good for the blog (and good for me) to reflect on the past 12 months.

Things I like

1) Getting up, dressed and out in the morning. Jason has the “morning shift” and is responsible for Ashton’s breakfast and drop-off at either Chera’s or Christine’s (his new home daycare two days a week). I like having a specific start to each day.

2) My commute. It’s a blissful 2.1 miles and often my only alone time. Oh, and I drive. After years of riding the bus and the T to get downtown and their unspeakable horrors (I often thought about writing a collection of short stories about my encounters on public transportation) being in my car is a luxury every time.
3) The first minutes of my work day: drinking coffee, reading the news, catching up on Facebook, etc. in peace and in front of a real computer vs. on my iPhone.

4) Being connected to a calendar and having my weeks structured a lot like most peoples’. This includes looking forward to vacations and feeling like I’ve earned my time “off” (rather, when I go from being a full time employee to being a full time picker upper/laundry washer/lunch packer/diaper changer/what have you).

5) Lunch breaks – these hours are far too valuable to waste eating. I get all my errands done: I can run to the drycleaner, the bank, the drug store, the post office, get gas or even head to TJ Maxx for a little while. The other day I went grocery shopping and then home to unload everything, watered the plants, picked up some toys, paid a bill, made a sandwich and was back at work within 60 minutes. Boom! In the beginning, I thought I’d be asking Chera if I could come have lunch with Ashton but quickly decided that would be too hard on me and on him. Now I love getting errands done that I’d otherwise have to do after work with him in tow – time we currently use for walking to the park and playing with toys.

6) Ashton experiences a world outside of me. Three days a week he is with one of my best friends and Owen is his 2.9 year old hero – like a brother, really. And two days a week he is in a home daycare with 5 or 6 other kids his age and learning how to be a part of a group, follow directions, and become more independent.

Things I don’t like

1) Feeling like less of a mom. I can’t devote all my time to Pinterest art projects or sensory games. 5 days a week, all we have is between 4:45 pm – 8 pm. And you can’t really count from 6:30 pm on because I’m making Ashton’s dinner, he’s eating, and then we do bathtime, storytime, etc and then bed. Is this enough? Who’s to say. But I do make it count and really try to “unplug” during this time – most people know that between 6-8 pm especially is a dead zone to try and reach me 🙂

2) Feeling like I am always racing. Refer to #5 above. I race everywhere, to work, from work, on errands…whether or not I have Ashton with me. If I don’t have him, I’m pressed for time because I’m usually on my lunch break or on borrowed time with whoever is watching him. If I do have him, I race because he hates to shop and I’d rather be somewhere where he can run and play. It’s really, really stressful.

3) I don’t like that I like to go to work. Honestly, it’s easier! Being chased by a whining, persistent toddler who wants yet another cracker, picking up toys, wiping spills, etc….moms that stay home deserve gold stars. It’s funny, I was recently at a work retreat and we were all at lunch together. I was sitting next to another mom who had a 6-month-old and just finished her maternity leave. I mentioned that I was lucky enough to take a year off myself before starting at Bentley. Some younger women across the table said, “Wow, you were home for a year?? Like, what did you do? What’s it like to just, not work?” The other mom and I laughed – how could we possibly explain? “Oh, you work!” Is what we said. But they thought exactly what I used to about maternity leave: all that time off! There must be vacations! Parties! Relaxation! Shopping! Ummm, no. No, no, no, no…no. Maternity leave is not about you! But anyway I will just never forget that innocent question 🙂 The point is, staying home full-time has many challenges – I have challenges at work too but they seem easier to conquer.

4) Hearing other people tell you things about your own child – new milestones, funny observations, suggestions about what they might like. Don’t get me wrong, I live for these things and am grateful for every last ounce of information about Ashton’s day – I soak in every word and am lucky that I have such great care for him. But it’s very, very hard to think someone else might know your kid better than you do in some ways. Last week I picked Ashton up from Chera’s and noticed a picture of Jason and I on the floor. Chera said he was walking around asking about mommy and daddy and she said, “I ended up printing the picture and I show it to him when he says your name and it seems to help.”
Words cannot even describe that. Searing pain in my heart. You never get over what you are missing by not being there.

5) That there really is no good choice for the average young mothers these days. Oh, how I could turn this topic into a completely separate post! My guess is we fall into one of three categories: 1) we can’t afford to stay home with our children, 2) we don’t want to have to give up where we have gotten in our careers or sacrifice our professional selves to stay home or 3) the cost of childcare is so high that it would eat up almost every dollar we made if we did work so we stay home and the income responsibility falls on the husband, however great or small. In my case, I went back to work because we really wanted to move out of our condo and get a house. We couldn’t afford it without another salary besides Jason’s. Bentley has been the perfect place for me but you know what they say…the grass is always greener and I do sometimes wish I was able to stay home like I did the first year. Sometimes 😉

So as I said, yesterday was my one year anniversary at Bentley and what did I do to celebrate? I performed in the staff flash mob! This has become a Bentley tradition during the first week of classes and a couple months ago when the email went out to sign up to participate, I almost deleted it. Then I thought, you know what, I have never done anything like this and sometimes we need to get out of our comfort zones! I clicked reply and said, “Count me in!” Here is the result 🙂 I’m on the left hand side and come in around the 26 second mark (during some rough slide moves haha). The camera pans all around but I’m in a black dress and my blond hair is down. I’m so proud and had a huge smile on my face the whole time! It’s been a great year 🙂

A couple weekends ago on August 16th, two very dear friends of ours got married. The groom (Jason Lomberg aka “Berg”) has been Jason’s best friend since freshman year of college. Berg and Karen met at the same restaurant that Jason and I did way back when so we have all been friends for a very long time. The wedding was held at the Hyatt Harborside which has an absolutely stunning view of Boston across the harbor. It was a gorgeous evening – their ceremony was right on the water and officiated by another very good friend, Mr. Bob Kollar. Jason was the best man and A New Nill’s own Ashton Christopher made his debut as the ringbearer extraordinaire. He was adorable in his little charcoal gray suit and hot pink bowtie, clutching his tractor for dear life:

 But his performance was nearly flawless. I say nearly because his boutonniere didn’t last until the ceremony  (the flower on his jacket was just too interesting to let be) and he offered the pillow to the first guy he saw.

But then I knelt down, pointed to Jason at the other end and said, “Bring the pillow to Daddy!” and he was confused for a minute but then ambled off down the aisle. He held the pillow straight out the whole way. Honestly I was so proud watching him that I nearly cried, he was so cute.

At this point, I passed Ashton off to his “handlers” (GG and Grandpa Pat) and the rest of the ceremony was just perfect.

After a couple of pictures post-ceremony, GG and Grandpa Pat took Ashton home and Jason and I stayed and had a wonderful night! We slept at the hotel which marked the second night I had ever been away from Ashton in his whole life. And boy was I fine with it.

Here are some fabulous detail shots as well as some of my other favorites. Jason’s whole family was there (Berg has been a friend for so long he is an honorary family member) and tons of my friends and we had a great time. Karen, you looked totally and absolutely gorgeous and I want to thank both you and Berg for letting us all share in a beautiful night of love and laughter. Congratulations!! 🙂 xoxox

Like could NOT stop taking pictures of the view and the sunset. Gorgeous!

p.s. This is the link to a video of the processional (Ashton comes in around the 1 min 40 second mark) and this is the link to Karen and her dad walking down the aisle 🙂