Hi gang, it's Andy again.
I started this Blog on March 4
th, and it's now almost St Paddy's Day.
It's been the longest time since I have been able to get in front of the computer. Why?
Well basically...work.
We've had a few interesting changes at work. There are some people coming to the end of their terms, and others arriving. One of those leaving is my good friend Erin. She has accepted a position in Boston Operations (just across the road) and started on March 1st.
What this means is that I got a large part of her workload on top of my own. Don't worry though, it's all good. So far I haven't seen or felt any problems. All these changes make life (well work anyways) very interesting.
The only downside to these changes is that I am working some long hours - leaving home at 6.30am and often not leaving the classroom (at the earliest) until 6pm in the evenings. However one good thing is that I have to be home to help Jen with Lexie and this is a great way to make sure I leave work at a reasonable hour. Most people are now chasing me out of the office if it gets too late.
At 15 months of age, Lexie is still getting teeth through - mainly the big molars. Her cheeks are quite red as the teeth come through. She keeps wanting to go outside in the snow. Whether it be to shovel snow, sweep snow or just be there because Daddy is shovelling the driveway. Aaah....she's definitely her father's child.
It's also tax time here. The TV is full of commercials showing us this tax software product or that tax agency. We've been lucky to get a good tax accountant who not only knows the US tax laws but also the Aussie ones, having done a number of ex-pats in the recent past. We've collected all the necessary data and are now ready to go.
The weather is finally warming up. Hovering around 0 deg Celsius (32 F) for the most part. The snow in our backyard is almost melted but there is a stubborn patch just under the deck. We can actually see the grass again. Lexie has been kicking the football around but all the melting snow has meant that the back yard is a bit of a quagmire. As it dries out we'll get prepped for BBQ season.
I opened the window in the study last weekend and Lexie loved it. She stuck her head out and got really cranky when we had to close it again. Bear in mind that the temperature was about 1 degree Celsius and we NEEDED the window to be shut.
She got very excited when I went outside with the camera, she wanted to follow me to see what I was doing. Hilarious!
For those of you who don't know, we are expecting again. All is progressing well. This one is a real mover and shaker if the ultrasound photos were anything to go by. Again we don't know what it is, but if you must ask the question then I'll answer it right now:
I am hoping it's a human. After all Jen and I are both humans so we should be OK.
I wanted a puppy!
And now some more good news. On December 31 I was shovelling snow, in the cool (-15C) weather. As a result my fingers contracted and somehow my wedding ring slipped off my finger. It caused no amount of angst, let me tell you. Anyway we waited until the snow melted and tracked back to all the places we thought it would have been lost. Sounds easy to do, but in reality it was bloody difficult. The snow didn't fully melt until last week - nearly 3 months later!
Jen and I had toyed with hiring a metal detector. Keith (one of my Aussie work friends) had told me this was the best way to find it. Jen found a shop and away we went. $40 for a weekend. She took the detector for a burl on Friday while I was still at work and B-I-N-G-O! She found the ring. It was alongside the driveway near a drainage trench - the ring must have flicked off while I was shovelling. no where near the areas we had identified it could have been lost. Needless to say the ring is being re-sized and is now duct-taped to my finger!
In less than a month's time we are off to Paris for a week. No Tim, not Paris,Texas! The other one!
I have to deliver some materials there and Jen and Lexie are coming too. We are then taking a week off and going to catch the SNCF train into Belgium and visit Brussels. Bruges, Antwerp and many other places in between. Should be a lot of fun - I hope my memories of Belgium hold up! I've been speaking some French with a few Quebecois friends but I know that this isn't "French" French! Oh well I would prefer to sound like a French-Canadian than a dumb Aussie!
And on that note, I am going to go and have some lunch. It's a beautiful day outside and has warmed up to 5C! Time to get the cossie on and get out there sunbaking!
