It's been a long time....

I am realizing that this will be only my third post in 2010. Yikes. That's pretty pathetic. (And as a side note, it's amazing how fast time flies, because it doesn't seem like it has been that long.) Perhaps the truly sad thing is that I often think of things that I would like to write in a blog post, but then I never actually do.

We live in a house now. It has a backyard. And a garage. And a deck. With a grill. We're surrounded by trees and you can't see our house from the street. My kids are cute and drive me crazy. Right now Evan and Caleb are being superheroes. They just saved me from a tornado.

Every fall since Evan was a year old, I have taken pictures of the boys in the leaves. Here are this year's pictures.

All three boys:


The Ash-Man in all his adorableness.


Caleb and his crazy hair.


Evan. Look at those dimples!

A Surprising Announcement

At least it's surprising to me. No, it's not what you're thinking. I am not pregnant. Scott got a job and we're moving!

Now, most of you probably have no reason to be surprised by this announcement, but if you're really on top of our life plan -- and you should be because it's an exciting plan -- you know that we were planning to be in Boston for another year-and-a-half while Scott finishes his PhD at MIT. But then, a few months ago, Scott received an unexpected email about a possible job opportunity that he was highly qualified for because of research he did for his Masters degree. In our consideration of the opportunity, we learned of a little-known MIT policy that would allow him to work full-time while simultaneously pursuing his PhD. Even better, he was able to align his PhD research with this job opportunity, effectively killing two birds with one stone. We received final approval from MIT this week, and so we've decided to take the job.

The job is for a small company recently acquired by GE and located in Northampton, MA, which is about 2 hours west of Boston. It's a beautiful area (as you can see from the top photo), and Northampton manages to have simultaneously a quaint New England feel with a vibrant -- even alternative -- lifestyle.

It seems like a fun place. We're excited about this opportunity -- I'm especially looking forward to having a house with a yard -- but we're also very sad to be leaving Boston. We've had a great experience here and have made good friends. Two of our three children were born here. Boston has been good to us.

At George's Island


Checking out the fort at George's Island


Throwing rocks in the water at George's Island


Scott and Evan at a PawSox minor league game


The adorable Asher, who likes to show off his tongue


The 'Bub enjoying the game


Evan and Caleb at the zoo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear family and friends,

We hope you had a merry Christmas! This is the closest we're going to get to sending out a Christmas card this year -- and possibly ever.

The last year has been a good one for us. We've enjoyed having family visit and visiting family. The boys and I got to travel to Utah and California in the summer to visit grandparents and cousins. Scott and I also had a wonderful, no-kids trip to France and Spain. It was awesome! (And we owe a big thanks to the grandparents -- both sets -- and Shelly for making it possible.) Scott passed his Qualifying Exam, we added a third little boy to our family, and Evan started preschool.

We continue to live in Boston while Scott finishes up his PhD in mechanical engineering. He decided on his project earlier this year and will be developing a needless injection device. He spends the vast majority of his time at school -- in class, being a T.A., or researching in the lab. We see him some, but not as much as we'd like. What little free time he has, Scott spends reading Presidential biographies, running/biking, and hanging out with his doting wife and children.

The last year brought many changes for me as well. I had our third child in September and left my job as an associate at Ropes & Gray to stay home full time with our three boys, who keep me quite busy. The transition to being at home full-time hasn't been -- and still isn't -- easy for me, but I know it's where I need to be right now. I have managed to squeeze in a little work as a contract attorney, though. In my spare time I like to pass out on the couch, read my latest book club book with Scott, sleep, and go to the grocery store without any kids.

Evan turned the big 4 this year. He's in preschool for a few hours each week and is loving every minute of it. He also got to take a sports class earlier in the fall, where he was able to try playing several different sports. He especially enjoyed field hockey, but was disappointed they didn't do any bowling. He talks a mile a minute and is endlessly full of questions. He aspires to be a garbage truck driver. In his spare time, he loves to play with trains, ride his bike, play with his brother and BFF Colby, and build lego towers.

Caleb is two and really working on his talking skills. He is an extremely happy child and ridiculously cute. He wants to do everything himself and can hold his own against his big brother. His big accomplishment this year is learning to be comfortable in nursery. He loves to play with trains, do anything Evan is doing, throw and kick balls, and watch Curious George.

Asher is four months old. He's smiley and sweet, but not sleeping as well as we'd like. He's quite the mama's boy already and is very much doted upon by his older brothers. In his free time he enjoys eating (as long as it's not from a bottle), sleeping, sucking on his pacifier, playing pat-a-cake, looking around, and watching his mobile.

We hope all of you felt the peaceful spirit of the Christmas season and enjoyed time with friends and family. And we wish all of you a wonderful new year, full of renewed hope and promise.

Love,

Scott, Maren, Evan, Caleb, and Asher

Happy Birthday, Evan!

It's hard to believe that my first born is already four! After witnessing his friends' birthdays and Caleb's birthday (and having some memory of his own birthday a year ago), Evan was so excited for his birthday. I even got it together enough to throw him a birthday party, the first one I've done for any of the kids. My parents and in-laws were coming into town for Asher's baby blessing the weekend of Halloween, so I thought I'd kill three birds with one stone and have Evan's party be a Halloween party the day before Halloween. At Evan's request, I made a train cake.

(I made it a haunted train cake to go with the Halloween theme).

He also begged to have a pinata for his birthday. He was so cute about it and I have such fond memories of always having pinatas at my birthday parties growing up, that I just couldn't say no. I missed out on the Halloween pinatas, but I was able to find a dinosaur one at Target that went well enough with the Halloween spirit.

We invited all the kids from Evan's Primary class and they all had a great time hitting the pinata. Ultimately, though, Scott had to do the honors to actually get any candy out. Here are Evan and Caleb going at it with my fondant rolling pin:





And here's Asher enjoying the party with Grandma.

And a slideshow of photos:


Evan had a great time at his party and is already talking about next year's birthday. A week after we had his party was his real birthday, and he got a balloon, cake (much less elaborate than for his party) and presents, all of which he was really excited about.

Cake
Presents
Riding his new bike.

Evan really is quite the kid. Most of the time he's happy and helpful. The rest of the time he's doing everything within his power to drive us out of our minds. He's always full of energy and is endlessly curious and inquisitive. He talks nonstop. He loves to tease and be teased. He loves trains (still), garbage trucks, and excavators. He loves wrestling with his daddy. Evan is such a good big brother and loves to play with Caleb and to pat Asher on the head. If Asher is crying, Evan often tries to help him feel better. I really can't believe what a big boy he is. (Big enough that Scott and I can no longer say things around him if we don't want him to hear and internalize everything we say.) We think he's pretty great! He brings great happiness, joy, and excitement to our family. Happy birthday!

Caleb Turns 2!

Hard as it is for me to believe, Caleb turned two today! We celebrated by playing at the playground this morning, getting balloons, and then ordering pizza for dinner, followed by cake and present opening. Unfortunately, between taking care of Evan and Caleb and nursing Asher a good fifteen times today, we didn't quite get to the cake and presents until a little late.

And I didn't have time to work on the cake as much as I wanted, so of course I was unhappy with it, but at least Caleb's an easy boy to please when it comes to cake.

He didn't much like us singing to him, though. He was all smiles until we started to sing and then he got this look on his face:

He was pretty excited about all his presents, though not as excited as Evan (who is also nearly beside himself with excitement for his own birthday in a couple of weeks). I found a fabulous deal on a wagon at a Mothers of Multiples sale that was one of Caleb's presents tonight, and he refused to go to bed until he got a ride in it.

Caleb is such a vibrant, happy boy. He calls himself Ca-bub and always wants to do anything Evan is doing. He's incredibly cute and sweet with his baby brother. He loves throwing and kicking balls, swinging at the playground, his blankie and (sadly) paci, Curious George, trains, playing in water, and giving big hugs. He hates getting dressed, not getting to do things himself ("doing it" he says whenever he wants to do something by himself), and not getting his way. He's also getting to be quite the chatter-box. Caleb brings such joy to our home and we love him so much!

Asher!

After only 4 1/2 weeks, we are thrilled to announce the arrival of Asher Alfred McEuen (Alfred after my both my grandfathers) on September 9, 2009 at 8:01am. (He was due a week-and-a-half before that, but we think he just wanted to wait for a cool birth date -- 9/9/9!) He weighed in at 8lbs, 7oz and was 21" long.

I've been meaning to write this post for the last 4 1/2 weeks, but I wanted to include the birth story with it (since I'm sure all of you are dying to read it), but I've come to the conclusion that if I wait for the birth story to be written, I might not get this post up until Asher is six months old. So for now, long story short, I was pretty convinced that Asher was never going to be born and I was going to be pregnant forever. He was later than both my other two had been. On Tuesday September 8th I went in for a non-stress test since Asher was more than a week past his EDD (estimated due date). Everything looked great, though, and I asked the midwife to strip my membranes to see it that would jump start labor. It did, almost immediately. After about thirteen hours of labor (definitely my most difficult so far) Asher was born in water. I was the first one to touch him. It was awesome! And the water was amazing.

Asher's healthy and (mostly) happy. He sleeps pretty well and is starting to smile now, which is so fun to see.

His big brothers have been wonderful with him and show lots of love and concern
for him.

I'm doing well also. This is the easiest recovery I've had, though adjusting to three is difficult at times. Still, we wouldn't change it!

Yes, I am still alive

and yes, I do still intend to have a blog. One that gets updated more often than every four months. So, very briefly (or at least as brief as I am capable of being), here's what's been going on with us:
-- Baby boy McEuen #3 is locked, loaded, and ready to make his appearance some time in the next 2 1/2 weeks or so (He's due two weeks from yesterday). No name as of yet. We'll decide after he's born.
-- In May, Scott and I went to Paris and Spain sans children and had a wonderful time.
-- I will officially be a stay-at-home-mom as of August 31st.
-- Scott has been working this summer on his PhD project, a needleless injection system (think Star Trek), and will be starting up with classes and TA-ing next month. We don't expect to see him a whole lot.
-- Evan is 3.75 years old, very excited about his birthday, turning into quite the big boy, and starting part-time preschool next month.
-- Caleb will be 2 in October, is getting pretty talkative, is easily frustrated, loves to run around after his big brother, loves Curious George, is quite the mama's boy, and will most likely not be a fan of his little brother when he does finally make his appearance.
-- For the 4th of July we were able to go to the Boston Pops rehearsal concert (Neil Diamond was the guest performer -- so cool to hear him sing Sweet Caroline in Boston to a bunch of Red Sox fans), and it was a really fun, if exhausting, experience.
-- Later in July the boys and I spent a week visiting McEuen family in Utah and a week visiting Mangum family in San Diego (Kara and her boys flew in, but unfortunately we didn't get to see Michelle, who was bumming around Europe). We had a great time (except for the flights), and the boys absolutley loved playing with their cousins. We also got to see the lovely Morgan and her boys in Vegas, which was so much fun! (See pictures below.)
-- Our camera died a few months ago. Right around the 4th of July we finally bought a new one. Last week, I wore it into the lake. (You know that voice in your head that says, "Hey stupid, you're on your way to go swimming. Don't put the camera in your pocket."? You should really listen to it.) So the camera issues are part of the reason the blog hasn't been updated more.
-- I'm sure there's more, but that's all for now....

Evan, Caleb, and cousin Hunter at the beach (Hunter came with Aunt Shelly to help watch the boys while we were in Europe).

Scott and me in Paris

Evan and Andrew.

Morgan's boys and my boys, each set born w/in a few months of each other at most (our uteruses have a psychic connection....)

Evan and Caleb playing doctor with daddy.

With the McEuen cousins (Caleb not so happy)

Evan playing baseball w/Uncle Bryce. Loved it.

At the 4th of July rehearsal concert.

Evan at the 4th of July rehearsal conert.