7 January 2012

As noted earlier, we have been without home internet since moving. We had some good fortune as we figured out which neighbor had internet and optimized our computer and iPod placement in the house to pick up the signal. Then the last two days, the wireless was broadcasting but for some reason it wasn’t connected to the internet. Hey! Neighbor! We’re counting on you here! Reset your router! 

Add to that the fact that we’ve been too busy to go seeking out internet at our offices or the coffee shop, and you have the reason why I haven’t been posting the last several days. Even when we went somewhere to check e-mail, I didn’t have time to put together a coherent blog post.

Finally, at the end of last week, we got a call from AT&T telling us that they had finally figured out that, in fact, they could provide us internet. And they could get us hooked up… next Tuesday. Night. Ah well. We’ll take what we can get. One thing they could do for us: give us their fastest internet connection for less than we used to pay for their standard speed (for the first year—we’ll see what it looks like in 12 months).

Today, the neighbor’s internet has started working again, as much as it ever did for us, but we’re looking forward to getting our own going Tuesday night. As it is, we’ve been pretty busy anyway: Friday, family started showing up to spend the weekend with us and then today was our daughter’s second birthday. For her party, she had 3 grandparents, 2 aunts, an uncle, 7 children 5-years-old or younger, plus 9 of their parents. Most exciting of all, she had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake (Lauren did most of the work, though I helped).

 

In case you're not familiar, this is not some kind of Van Gogh take on Mickey Mouse--it's the Clubhouse, in which different buildings (it's more the Mickey Mouse Compound than a single clubhouse) are in the shape of different parts of Mickey's anatomy.

It’s pretty amazing how much has changed in the last two years (or in one year, for that matter!). Two years ago, we drove to the hospital in the middle of the night. By morning we had 9 inches of snow and a beautiful baby girl. Now we have an even more beautiful 2-year-old. She’s chatty and amusing and amazing, and thanks to Christmas and her birthday, she’s amassing quite a load of toys around here. One year ago, she couldn’t feed herself, couldn’t really walk or talk—now she’s more or less unstoppable. I’m sure by the time she turns three, she’ll be even more amazing to us—and by then she’ll be a big sister, which will represent an even bigger change in our whole family.