the week that was

Sunday, March 23
We enjoyed Easter lunch at Gma and Gpa L’s. Since the weather was nice, Madeline also got to experience her first swing courtesy of Gpa’s ultimate tree swing.

She also turned 10 months old today, so I'm posting a close-up to mark the occasion. You can see her two bottom teeth in this pic. They’re not sticking up very far, but they are sharp!

Monday, March 24
Madeline and I met up with Zack for lunch. He caught me up on the current shenanigans at the DOT and confirmed yet again that I don’t miss working there. After lunch, I took Madeline to a nearby park with a toddler-specific playground and introduced her to the joy of slides. After some initial trepidation, her screeches of delight filled the air. All of the equipment was sized for small folks and the base material for the playground was a solid rubbery composite – so much better than gravel, sand or mulch! Although a swing was absent from this playground, I think we’ll be visiting this place frequently.

Tuesday, March 25
Progress! Madeline discovered that she could walk while holding on with only one hand to a grown-up.

Wednesday, March 26

We had playgroup at the Duke Gardens -- it seems to be our regular haunt during beautiful weather. The babies are starting to realize that they can get to the grass/twigs/leaves/dirt if they just get to the edge of the blankets. As soon as one of them pulls back a corner of a blanket, the rest seem to gravitate towards the newly uncovered vegetation and the hand-to- mouth-before-mommy-can-intercede race begins.

Thursday, March 27
We made a trip to Duke today for the weekly Theta Finance meeting. This evening's activities included a canola oil treatment (I just couldn’t bring myself to use my good olive oil) for Madeline's cradle cap. The resulting hairdos were amazing.

Friday, March 28
What a busy day! Madeline spent Friday cruising all around the house, especially making clockwise laps around the coffee table in the living room and the ottoman in her bedroom.

She also took some time to play ball and “crinkle the paper” with the cat.

Saturday, March 29
A 30 degree drop in temps today kept us indoors and prompted imitations of hibernating bears.

Sunday, March 30
Madeline’s new “walker” debuted today. I apologize for the periodic shaking image – the camerawoman was having fits of giggles while taping.

Tennis, anyone?

We had our nephew Dawson spend the weekend with us in honor of his birthday. We really enjoy having one-on-one time with our nieces and nephews, especially when we get to introduce them to new games (board games, video games, outdoor games) and new dining experiences (Cookout's foot-long hot dog with a side of chicken nuggets -- who wants fries when you can get nuggs?). On Sunday, Dawson and Josh hit the tennis courts for a few beginner lessons. Hopefully the pupil had as much fun as the teacher did!

wagon adventure

Today was beautiful and Josh arrived home earlier than usual, so we met up with Adrian, Abby & Linus to take an early evening stroll through Northgate Park. This was Linus' first ride in the wagon and he seemed to enjoy it, especially since he could lounge on the Boppy. Madeline was a somewhat gracious hostess -- she limited her toy-stealing attempts and only poked Linus in the eye once. I guess she was otherwise distracted by the flora and fauna (and passing cars).

Spring cleaning

Whether it's shaking off the winter doldrums or preparing for the Easter season or simply the annual explosion of my compulsion to be neat and tidy, every year I go through some sort of spring cleaning.

My efforts are usually parceled out over a month or more and involve a random smattering of procrastinated yard work (who rakes leaves in the fall?!), reorganizing closets and dressers, rearranging furniture and lots and lots of washing. I wash windows, floors, baseboards, rugs, slipcovers, curtains, table linens... well, you get the idea.

All my trips to the washing machine finally stirred Madeline's interest and she had to check out what was going on...

Busy little bees

It's been a busy past few weeks with us as you probably presumed from the lack of posts appearing here. I've tried to be true to the timeline, so I've backposted what's been happening with us since Valentine's Day. Make sure to scroll down so that you can see all that we've been up to!

Garden groupies

Playgroup this week was held at Duke Gardens so that we could enjoy the sunshine and get our fill of Vitamin D. Here's a pic of the kiddos :

L to R: Linus, Wyatt, Madeline, Hayli, Katie, Gavin, Cadence

While this photo shows all of them looking forward, there are many other versions showing them examining each other's ears, hands, and feet. It was a riot!

Girls night out

Despite the tornado watch and the monsoon-like conditions, the moms from playgroup met up for dinner tonight at Rue Cler. Some chose from the a la carte selections, others (including me) chose the three-course, prix fixe menu. It all was yummy. I've only had brunch at Vin Rouge, so I don't feel like I can make a fair comparison between these two French-bistro eateries. Hopefully that will be rectified soon - the gratin de macaroni at Vin Rouge is calling my name.

It was only a matter of time

This morning we awoke to an unfamiliar sound. It seemed like someone was playing pat-a-cake with her bed. I went to investigate and was greeted with this sight:

The mattress has now been lowered.