Thank you for all your email, calls, and comments. It is nice to know we are welcome back in the Bay. We are both seriously behind on responding because this has been a very busy couple of weeks. Completely unrelated to the move, we are both working nearly from the moment Simon hits the pillow until we absolutely must turn in ourselves. And Simon has been *cough* difficult for the past week or so. That night, when we said he was going to stay in his crib until 7 am? That lasted about two hours until it became clear something was wrong. We got him out of bed and he wouldn't stop crying. Fortunately, he cupped his hand over his mouth where his new molar is located and cried "CHELLIES!" After consuming an entire bowl of frozen cherries and some Tylenol he went to sleep again -- until the Tylenol wore off, five hours later.

The next night was much of the same and the one after that. There was no napping last week and when Simon doesn't nap and he is in pain and he is hungry he gets aggressive. Aggressive Simon isn't welcome at school. That left aggressive non sleeping hungry Simon with Matthew who had other pressing plans for his week that had to be postponed so he could comfort the cranky boy. The past four days and the past two nights, Simon has been getting a bit better. He again naps for four hour stretches and sleeps through the night without needing comfort. We've also shut off the Tylenol drip - although that may be a bit premature. The final corner of the final tooth still isn't in and he remains a bit cranky. He did go to school today and only got into one fight (only).

Getting the house on the market and orchestrating this move is a minor blip on the Kagle stress ratio which has already hit an all-time high. We and Realtor Rick hope to have the house ready to show starting next week. And, fortunately, we know some really great movers and Matthew and the Fee Fadders already have a route picked out. It almost seems like we've done this before. Hava and Simon adjusted their round-trip holiday flight to make it one way without Matthew and we are starting to virtually look at two and three bedroom quiet apartments/townhouses/houses with short leases near the light rail in Mountain View or Sunnyvale (because we're down to one car and Moto is on the line). If you know of anything, please send us a note.

It seems, though, that we may be giving Chicago a bad rap. And since Chicago is a great place, we've compiled a list of things we will definitely miss...

fun indoor playrooms for not-so-nice days
the museum of science and industry
the L
finally being able to see April and Jay on a semi-regular basis
architecture, everywhere
Lakeshore Drive
Amelie and her parents and her baby sister
space and a view
weather
Millennium Park
Language Stars
the very nice people who keep Matthew and Simon filled with cookies