While Kay Kay and Pa were here, we were looking for something fun to do. Criteria: Caroline had to come too, it had to be indoors, free/cheap is always a bonus, and it had to be fun for adults, too. We tried a handful of ideas and finally landed on the American History Museum because it had an exhibit on Sesame Street and promised a free children’s play area. We headed out on a gray, drizzling day with fairly low…
We have made some wonderful baby acquaintances since our very own arrived last March, and Mike and I made a New Year’s resolution to have more people over to our house for fun events–especially those who have little ones. So fast forward to a chilly day in mid-January when we invited a small group of friends (all of whom have had babies in 2017) to join us for some old fashioned baby camaraderie, brunch foods, and (of course) champagne. We…
So this weekend, we took Caroline out to the little park in our neighborhood that’s designed for little ones ages 2-5. She loves the swings there and the Baby Benz. I plop her on top and lean in behind her, snuggling her close…and then I sprint as fast as I can around the path! The faster I go, the more she laughs. It’s the best sound even and makes it totally worth it to run wind sprints. She loves the…
Last Saturday, the Patriots stomped all over the Titans and secured themselves a spot in the AFC Championship game. That didn’t surprise anyone—it is the Patriots, afterall. You expect them to win. But then the very next day, my high schools friends and I gathered together and watched the Jacksonville Jaguars take on the Pittsburgh Steelers…at Heinz Field, no less. All those Steelers fans with all of their terrible towels. But the Jaguars were up for the task! Especially when…
Caroline is a champion eater. We started her on baby rice cereal right at six months and she devoured the first bowl. From there we moved on to smooshed avocado and that was a hit. Next was green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, yellow squash, corn…you name it, I pureed it. And she inhaled them all. Right around 10 months, I decided we needed to expand her palette and introduce the most kid-friendly of all the foods…Cheerios. And…
Happy 10 months to our favorite little girl! Caroline hit the big double digits amidst all the football playoff hoopla. I cannot believe she is two months away from turning ONE! Someone said to me that ONE = toddlerhood. As in, no longer my baby. I can’t even handle that, so I’m not going to try. I am though, going to celebrate how much fun she is becoming. This last month was special to Mike and me because we got…
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a CRAWLER! It’s official. Caroline is crawling on all fours–hands and knees. She is getting faster and will hightail it right away to the most dangerous item in the room. Mike and I were both working from home on a recent snow day and placed her in the middle of the room where it was 100% impossible for her to get into anything that was dangerous. One quick email reply later, she emerged from under…
So to close out 2017, Mike and I headed to the Gaylord National in Maryland for the ICE! Exhibit. Note–the ICE! Exhibit is 9 degrees. But Sugar Bear has a sugar bear suit so we decided to give it a shot and do something fun. Like Christmas fun in general, we were both pleasantly surprised by how much she actually enjoyed it! We started off the morning of the last day of the year in our matching Chistmas jammies, which…
So Christmas morning came bring and early for us all in Florida. Before we headed downstairs for all the excitement, I snapped this quick picture of me and Caroline to remember the magical moment of her FIRST CHRISTMAS! Some of us wore our matching jammies (others didn’t have theirs arrive in time, grrrr) but we looked our merriest anyway. The adults headed down first so we could see the four-year-old’s reaction coming down the stairs and it was oh so…
Mike, Caroline, and I were lucky enough that we got to spend eleven beautiful, blissful days in the Great State of Florida for a long Christmas vacation. This year definitely made up for last year, when I was six months pregnant with Caroline and banned from the state because of the Zika threat. We had a lovely, albeit quiet time then. But this year, we were ready to introduce Caroline to how our family does Christmas. We kicked off the…