Today.

Tommy began vomiting at 4am (thanks for getting up with him, Eli!), and has been sick all day. As he explained to me, "even Batman doesn't feel well sometimes."

Lizzie is feeling quite well and had a good play in the tunnel this morning.

The many faces of lunchtime

(singing, below)

Heigh-ho

So, barring approval from one person in DC, I am off to work in late June/early July. On Friday I had my second interview at Jones Day, and the partner I met with said I've got the job. I don't have an official offer yet, so I suppose things could fall through, but he told me to begin searching for a nanny.

The shocking part of this: I am happy and excited. This is mixed with a bit of guilt for feeling so happy and excited. And of course there's some anxiety about who we will find to care for the kids. But I have a couple of leads, and I'm optimistic that with the time I have, I can find someone great.

So yay.

(I am also looking very forward to hiring a cleaning person. I'll be honest. I hate mopping.)

Update

So the kids are adorable these days. Tommy still talks of superheroes constantly and is focused on obtaining two things: a ben-10 watch (don't worry; we don't really know who he is either) and a Spiderman costume. Tommy likes to know what animals eat and we often spend the entire walk to school discussing this topic. After a discussion of what snails eat, his teacher Miss Karina told him that snails ate two of her mother's rhododendron plans, and now he wants to get rhododendrons so that he can have a pet snail. (He really wants a pet, and a cat is his top choice.)

He is telling a lot of stories these days. Here are two from this morning:

This is a story about a lion. Once upon a time, there was a lion. He saw his mother and he saw a deer and he was trying to catch it because it was baby's snack time. The lion ran so fast, you couldn't even see him! Then they goes up onto the deer and killed its leg and ears and mouth and back. And there was a little baby chicklet -- a kind of baby bird that lives in the forest -- and he went pshew! off in the sky and flew away. And then the story's done. All done.

This is a story about as snake fish. Once upon a time, there lived a snake fish, and after that there's a big huge story of the fish that lives in the dark with the light thing over the top of his back. I'm not very scared of those. The snake fish was looking for his dinner and he met one of his friends that was a shark named Jack. And they went together and found loads of little fish and then gobbled them up and that's the end.

Lizzie loves to read. "Goodnight Moon" is her favorite. She loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" -- her part is "round and round, round and round, round and round" though her pronunciation is imperfect. She also sings part of the Wyoming fight song, whatever it's called. Last night she said, "help please" after I prompted her. It was adorable, in her tiny voice. When she doesn't get what she wants, she lets you know immediately and emphatically. She loves to eat pancakes and pasta. She takes after Millie in that she is not a huge fruit fan though she can sometimes be convinced to eat grapes and pineapple. No berries at all.

Lizzie loves to run into her room, wrap herself up in her drapes and play "where's Lizzie?" It's a very very fun game. Tommy and I pretend we have no idea where she is, and when she emerges from the drapes (which can take a while depending on how thoroughly she's tangled herself in them), she laughs and laughs.

Lizzie's other big news is that she is done nursing and she seems totally fine with it. Yay.

Photos next time? (Or, even videos? I have a great one of Tommy running like his favorite dinosaur.)

Budapest

I had a great weekend in Budapest. We went to the opera, and I loved it, though by the time Manon finally died, I was ready. Hanh also arranged for us to go to a cooking school. We got there, had a glass of wine, and then went into the kitchen with one of Hungary's famous chefs and cooked dinner according to his translated instructions. It was inefficient but fun and we ate decent food. The trip was also nice because the purpose was to take lots of baby stuff to Hanh and now it's out of our house, right in time for me to start spring cleaning. Another highlight for me is that Hanh lives right near an island in the middle of the Danube that has a four mile running path around it. The weather was beautiful and I felt so fast, running without a stroller!

A lovely weekend that allowed me to escape from (1) my children and (2) the emotional turmoil of the job stuff. And, of course, gave me hours of time to chat with Hanh. We never run out of things to talk about.

(I did not take even one picture.)

Update

So things around here are a bit nuts. Tomorrow, I fly to Budapest to visit Hanh. This is the first time I will leave Lizzie, and it's feeling fine though I am going to miss my sweet little family a lot.

The other big news is that I have started the interview process for a job. It all happened sort of randomly, but on Monday night an old partner I worked for asked for my resume, on Tuesday, I was called for an interview and on Wednesday at 10:00, I went in for an interview. I have to meet a couple of other partners next Friday, but if all goes well, I may have a job.

It is making me totally sick to my stomach.

I'd planned to start looking for a job in September and this is feeling much too fast. I asked to start in September, but I think they will want me to start sooner -- and I also asked for an 80% schedule.

BUT, I remember how happy I was when I went back to work after Tommy was born and have to hope that this will be a similar experience.

Aren't you glad you don't live here with me? My stress level is totally worrying my poor husband.

Coming next week: a post with pictures, I promise. I might even have some cute ones.

Royal Wedding, part II

For those of you who don't know, last Friday, Prince William married Catherine Middleton. (My post discussing a dress was referring to Kate's wedding gown.) I watched it on television. (No joke, I even got a little bit teary, which pretty nearly killed my husband.) But in the afternoon, we had a babysitter and an uncooperative movie schedule. So we picked a neighborhood and went for a walk, just like we did before we had two kids, and somehow ended up at Buckingham Palace. And guess who drove by us on the way to the evening party? That's right, Kate and William. But guess how we knew? Because I asked a photographer if it had been Wills & Kate in the car. We sure couldn't see them. But here I am, with all the people (and shocking amounts of litter).

Warning: 35 feels old.

Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes. I had a nice day, and those of you who are familiar with my behavior on my birthday will be glad to know that Eli didn't leave me.

This birthday hit me hard. I wish I'd accomplished more by now. A novel, perhaps? I don't know. I'm just feeling old.

Here are some cute pictures of the kids, to cheer us up.

Here they are on Friday, after school. I kept Lizzie really hungry so she actually sat on the blanket for a few minutes, which meant I got to eat before I began chasing her. They really loved it.

Lizzie, on a hot day, insisting on wearing her boots: