5th Street and a Lucy Update

We’ve been in our new home now for 4 full months –I asked Sean last night if he missed our old apartment.


No, he said.

No? Not even a little?

Nope – I don’t miss fighting for parking, the noisy neighbors, the rude neighbors, the litter on the street, Lou stomping around upstairs, the Rastafarian, the crazy naked lady at the end of the street, the yappy dog across the street, not having yard, …no I don’t miss it…..

Hmm, I do miss it.

Never mind that I miss living on one floor and having the laundry right outside the bedrooms and bathroom. Never mind that I miss my spacious eat in kitchen we traded in for a Galley Kitchen.
Never mind that I don’t drive home stressed out after a snow storm because I’ll need to find parking (though I did stress a bit after the first two storms this winter because for nine winters, I worried about parking)
Never mind that I have storage for all my junk and don’t have to take cover when I open a closet door for fear of some storage bin falling on top of me……

I miss 12 5th Street.

I miss the sound of the train going by every few minutes.
I miss hearing the sirens and saying a prayer for whomever the sirens were headed for.

I miss spying on the crazy neighbors and wondering who would steal whose parking spot next – or who the guy across the street would bring home Saturday night.
I miss smelling the bakery that was two streets over from us. I miss Kappy’s on the corner.

I miss watching the progress of the Great Wall the new neighbor across the street started to build before we left. I miss watching his neighbors trying to mow their lawn with a pair of clippers….yes yes, they used to mow their lawn with the clippers one would use to trim their hedges.

I miss hearing the planes overhead every other month as the flying patterns changed.
I miss watching the Blimp on the nights of home games slowly make its way over to Fenway to hover over the crowd much to the delight of kids of all ages (and yes, I know at some point the Blimp stopper because it got to be too expensive but please, I’m talking about an almost ten year cumulative experience).

I miss being able to see the end of the fireworks from 4 different cities, including Boston, on the 4th of July…and its only February!

I miss our Church and seeing the same people every week – the old folks who loved cooing over Lucy and the young kids who would wave at her and make faces.
I miss the Kids Choir that sings at the 9am Mass and the Deacon who married us.

I miss the pizza place that was less than five minutes away.
I miss Kelly’s Roast Beef. I miss having 3 Dunkin Donuts, CVS, Walgreens, the grocery store and various other shopping venues (including Modell’s and the Auto Part store) within walking distance.

I miss Boston being 3 miles from my door step…
I miss being able to get to Quincy Market, the Aquarium and the North End in 10 minutes (that’s leaving time for traffic and finding a parking spot)
I miss the Public Garden and the Common being just as close.
I miss being able to walk to the train station to catch the T.
I miss being able to get to the Science Museum, Harvard Square, and Fenway in 15 minutes (again, leaving time for traffic and parking) And yes, my times may be a bit off for some of your likings but it all depends on which way you go and who is driving so keep your corrections and criticisms to yourself…………….. this is my blog, my feelings, my perspective!

I like our new house – I really do.

I like that Lucy has her own room and that we have a spare room for family to come and stay.

I like having two bathrooms

I like that Lucy can have a toy chest in the Family Room down in the basement and in the living room on the first floor and we don’t feel overrun with toys.

I like that the laundry is in a closed, confined area with a clothes line strung across the room and that when company comes, I don’t have to hide the drying rack in one of the bedrooms (but I have to admit, I hate that I forget something in the laundry room and realize it when I am on the second floor in the middle of dressing Lucy!)

I like not having to fight for parking or driving home stressed out about a spot – and I LOVE not having to worry about being shoveled out the next morning as we have a plow guy.

I like that we don’t have to line the windows and doors with draft dodgers starting in October because we actually have decent windows and good insulation.

I like that we have a little yard Lucy can run around in and come summer, we can open the slider off the kitchen and have coffee and breakfast on our little deck.

I like that right down the street is a community pool and playground that we can use all summer long

I’m not even bothered that you have to drive through the Hood to get to us

I just miss 12 5th Street now and then……

Lucy Update:

Lucy’s ear infection still has not cleared up, it actually got worse.

She went to see the Ear Nose and Throat Doctor and he could only see the tube in her right ear…he noted that there was so much fluid in the right ear that it was not draining quickly enough so it was starting to harden and block the tube.

He could not see the tube in the other ear as there was pus and fluid blocking his view.

So we got stronger drops to help soften up the junk in her ear and she is back on Suprax, the super duper antibiotic as he said the infection needs to be fought from within…..and yet Lucy still smiles, laughs and cuddles her (stuffed) puppy dogs! She even seems resigned to us putting the drops in as she does not fight us anymore…..poor kid.

We go back March 10 for a follow up to confirm the infection is gone and to make sure the tubes are still intact – and if either tube has fallen out, it will be replaced.

Lucy’s new favorite food is spaghetti…and grilled cheese sandwiches. Still can’t get her to eat yogurt

She is being a champ and sleeping through the night and is put to bed with minimal fuss and rocking

We were actually discussing last night (before our conversation and my emotion about 12 5th Street) her first birthday and what we would do(party, no party, face painting and a pony, just a pony….) and I don’t think either of us can believe she is almost one….or how blessed we are to have her.

My friend Annette gave her this little rocking toy called Homer – he’s like a rocking horse except the seat is a baseball glove and the face is a big baseball with a cap on his head.

Every night, we go down to the family room after our bath (yes, I bathe her every night….and I’m sure someone out there will tell me I should not be bathing her every day but you know what, she’s a day care baby and comes home looking like a little grubber…..and it’s not like I’m dipping her in bleach…..its water, a bit of baby wash, she’ll be fine)

Anyway, after her bath, we head downstairs for some play time and at least ten minutes is spent rocking on Homer EVERY night. Initially, we had to rock her but she has figured out how to move her body back and forth to get Homer to rock….really quite cute and endearing! We call her Cowboo….

Maria, the Mum