Playing pretend driving

I was at the thrift store the other day, and I picked up a few good toddler activity idea books.  I've been sifting through them and jotting notes down about things we could do.  Lily is not at all the kind of baby who can play by herself or play with a toy for a long time.  I realized recently that if I plan out our day, it will help us both manage expectations.

One of the ideas was to take a big box and make a car.  We're at the point right now where she can't wait long for me to gather materials, so instead of making it complicated, I just took a marker and drew on the box.  We both get in (my feet hanging over) and she drives.  She beeps the horn, hits the gas peddle, and puts the blinker on.  She even changes the radio to put on Taylor Swift, though she is also nice enough to let me listen to the news.

Some liquid was spilled on the dashboard, and Lily got upset last night when she saw it. 

"Oh no! It's dirty!  Look, it's dirty!"  Lily said.

"No worries, baby," Mommy said.  "It's just like in our car when mommy spills coffee all over the place."

"Is it red?" She asked.

"No, it's green.  GO! GO! GO!"

We took our first paddle boat ride!

Daddy had a four-day weekend for the Fourth of July, so we went to the Reston Zoo on Friday.  We took our first paddle boat ride.  With Lily being so intense and kicking/writhing when she doesn't want to do something, I thought it would be a long while before we got to this point where we could have her in a water craft without ending up in the water!  It was a lot of fun.

Escape to Old Town Alexandria

Sometimes it's hard to escape from our routine, because we need places we can walk, eat and do something else fun all in one swoop.  On Sunday, we wound up in Old Town Alexandria.  Lily and I have been here a few times, and we were thinking this is the first time since we've had Lily that Sean and I have been in Old Town together.  That just seems weird, because we used to always be down that way for something.

We walked, played at the Armory Tot Lot, and then took a water tour of Alexandria.

Crazy toddler playdate turns into insane shopping spree

Last weekend, we hosted a playdate for some of the local toddlers and families, which turned into a massive potluck and then eventually into a movie night.  The toddlers were jumping on the bed and screaming in glee.  People kept showing up with food and we were having so much fun, everyone stuck around until long after Lily fell asleep in the middle of the chaos on the couch.  We had to bring in some toddler lawn chairs so the rugrats could watch the movie without sitting on each other. :)

The next day, we wound up at a 50% off sale at Value Village.  Alice spent $10, Cree spent $40, I spent $63, and Heather won with $84.  We came home with a bunch of clothes, board games for $1 ( I Spy Eagle Eye, Break the Ice, Operation, Mouse Trap, others), an activity tray, and two of these dance pads, one being a piano and the other being a number-based dance mat.

Jaimeson and Olivia shopping

We needed 4 carts in the end, even though Alice only bought 4 things.

Dance Challenge Mat

Things Lily says at 2.5 years old

Raiding the cussing jar.

"GET OFF ME!"

"I farted."

"What is he doing?"

"I'm going to run away (from that diaper change)."

"I love you."

"It's magic!"

"I need a hat."

Mommy presented Lily with Lamb-lamb.  "NO! I want MINI Lamb-lamb!"

"I want ice cream/chocolate/beans (M&Ms)"

"Do you want to cuddle with me?"

"I want your phone."

"Give me that phone."

"Let me do it!"

"No, let me try."

"I need more water."

"I need more MILK!"

"NO! I don't want it!"

"I don't want my diaper changed."

"I don't want a shirt."

"Can daddy do it?"

"Oh no!  I lost Lamb-lamb/bottle/it."

"Where is it?  I don't see it?"

"Where is the mall?"

"Where is Whole Foods?"

"I have a boo-boo. Kiss it?"

"I want to go to the pool/mall/market."

"Lay down with me?"

"Bottle, where are you?"

 "Is it dead?"

"Beep, beep - Get out the way!"

"Daddy, I'm all done!"

"Is it poop?"

"I want more milk.  I want a lot."

Lily, you need money for more milk.  (Checks her own pocket) "Where is it? I don't see it."

Lily, give me a big kiss, I am leaving. "Where are you going?" I have a meeting.  (Sweet baby kiss.) "GET OUT!" (Uses feet to propel unsuspecting victim away.)

"Where is Daddy?"  He went to work. (Remembering our conversation yestereday...) "Oh no! He took my go-de-go (stroller)!" 

"TA-DA: It's magic!"

<--- This was Lily on a late family trip to Whole Foods after she slept 5:15p to 7:15p.  It's midnight, and she just went to bed.  What are you supposed to do with that?  Watch Shawn the Sheep, we say.

We stayed in most of today.  Played Mister Potato head and with chalk on the porch.  Eventually, we put together the 50 states puzzle and played Migoga marble run, which took up an hour and a half.

Lily loved Migoga, but we don't play it often, because it's for older kids.  Eventually, she took one of the legs and used it as a cup to drop the ball from.  She then raised it up like a wand and said, "Ta-da!  Look, mama, it's magic!  I need a hat!"

"A magic hat?"

"Yes!" She said, taking the Santa hat out of the dress-up drawer.  She told me to wear the big floppy purple hat.  That could be my magic hat.  It is indeed a magic hat.  There are no pictures of that, so sorry.  We were having too much fun, plus, I needed to hands to hold the marble run upright, as it was missing a leg or two at this point.  We both needed wands.

"Ta-da, it's magic!"

Update on the Family

I haven't been blogging much, but that doesn't mean that I'm not writing!  Here's what has been going on:

Getting ready for our big move to Tampa.

Sean is running around trying to get the paperwork completed so that we can get his orders.  This especially to get on the base housing wait list.  And, we're trying to figure out how to handle the Hyattsville house.  My mom is looking for jobs back in Ohio. 

I've been learning so much about TV news these past couple of months.   I am taking online classes, watching webinars, shadowing producers, shadowing assignment editors, talking to managers about advice, applying for jobs, and practicing tv news writing.

Lily is crazy fussy with Mommy.

She is still not sleeping well.  We had it figured out, and then a week of 6 days, 53 hours, and the night shift really messed that up.  So, she's constantly waking up now, I'm not getting sleep, I go back to sleep for an hour, Sean has to be to work earlier, and when I come downstairs, she spends the next 3 hours freaking out.  She's an emotional wreck when I'm around.  Not only that, some days, she takes one nap, other days, she wants two naps.  She's waking up at 3am and 4am some days, and it's impossible to get her back to sleep.  I've been at my wits end here for awhile.  We decided that I'm taking a mommy vacation this weekend and getting a hotel room.

And, she is still having trouble with lots of people.  We figured out that one unfamiliar person who keeps their distance and lets her come to them is best.  We thought a baby dance would be cool.  She loves to dance, loves to walk around new places.  But, she got in there and couldn't handle all of the people.  I don't understand it, because we took her to the mall right after, which was just as packed, but she walked around the mall for a happy hour.

Lily is an amazing baby.

This has all been so hard, but it's so incredible to watch her grow up.  She probably has about 15-20 words now.  She blows kisses.  She hugs stuffed animals.  She walks all over the place by herself.  She loves to adult push buttons and flip light switches.  She sings to herself. She's even sang herself to sleep a couple of rare times.  She squawks.  She dances.  She loves to cook and clean.  Hehe.  She also loves buses and trucks.  She loves to push around her baby doll stroller.  And, she even crawled through the tunnel at the baby dance.  CRAWLED!

It is incredible to watch her develop skills.  We go from one month, she can't push the baby stroller around at all.  She still had trouble with her weight distribution.  We put something flimsy up and wait until she can walk better.  Then, she can walk better, but it's exhausting to help her turn the stroller around the house.  We were hunched over again.  But, it seriously only took her two days of being helped before she could turn the stroller all over the house herself.  OMG.  I was just astounded.  She really wanted to push that stroller around!!!

13 Months

Lily turned 13 months old last week.  She is still walking, but will now army crawl a bit, if the mood strikes her.  She is walking across large spaces and is falling less.  She learned to fall on her hands instead of her head (most of the time).  I muse that maybe this month, she'll be fully walking on her own.  She started getting onto her hands and knees and trying to stand up.  I just laughed at the sight.  Why now, after all this time?  It is like a dream.  Cannot be true.

She has so many words.  She tries to say some and she knows so many.  She says ox, sock, and rock, which come out as "ock"  She also tries to say cat, truck, and some other things. 

She loves to put the hat, sock, and shirt pieces back into her play suitcase.  It is very interesting to watch her turn them the right way. She loves instruments.  Anything you can shake, bang, or press to make noise is a hit.

She loves to touch other people.  She walks up to other kids and grabs them.  These toddlers and preschoolers don't know what to make of it.  Today, another little girl freaked out that the baby touched her. 

Lily is hugging now a lot.  It's so good to have her arms around you after a year of her smacking you away.  Lol.

Bad Sleep and Normal Schedule

So, we've been getting really bad sleep for weeks.  I mean, there was the two weeks I was on nights, a week in Texas, and then it took three weeks after that for everything to be sorta right.  There was a developmental phase and teething.  Sure enough, she was either awake for two hours in the middle of the night or thrashing around.

It is a funny realization when after 5 months of wishing baby girl would wake up after 7:00am, then she finally starts waking up at 7:00am (after being awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night), and all I want is for her to go back to waking up at 5:30am again.  I built my routine around her going to bed around 8:00pm and waking up at 5:30am.  I might get to snooze by myself for 15 minutes.  We play, we eat, we take a walk.  We try to drink coffee.  When she takes a long nap, I get to get ready for work and poke around on the computer.  With her waking up at 7:00am, I lost my getting ready for work time, cooking time, showering time, and we lost our morning walk.

I knew the 7:00am wake up couldn't last.  I suppose I don't care what kind of crazy sleep schedule she has, just as long as it's some kind of consistent.  That way, we can build our schedules around her crazy.

This morning, she woke up at 5:30am, and it was the most wonderful thing.   And, I will deny that I ever said that.

Breaking News and the TV Mom

We were on our way to a baby activity Monday morning when I heard about the shooting at the Navy Yard on the radio.  I immediately knew what this meant:

1. This would be a soul-breaking day too close to home.
2. I would be walking into wall-to-wall (no commercials) breaking news for hours and hours.
3. My bones would hurt when we're done.
4. I would not be able to get to work my normal route.  It goes right by the Navy Yard.
5. Traffic would be crazy.  I would need to leave early.
6. We would be fed something greasy and yummy.
7. I wouldn't be able to pump much. 
8. My boss would like to call me in early, but would not actually call, because it's difficult for Lily to be away from me for so long as it is.
9. I had forgotten that there would be no time to get snacks.  Damn it.  Tragic breaking news demands snacks.  Must feed soul sugar.

I decided we would go to the activity anyway and just stay for 30 minutes.  The staff apologized, because the performer would be a little late "due to, you know, the metro situation."   I clarified, "The shooting?"   There was only one other child running around on cushions very far from us.   I suppose I'm a realist.  It is what it is.  Not trying to shelter anyone from the reality of the world.  "Uh, yeah."  She nodded.  But, kids should be free to be kids and hot have to worry about adult problems, right?  I suppose that's what you get when your mom works in the news business.  I am starting to think that there can be a little too much real in reality.

Quickly slipping into "breaking news" mom, I noticed that I kept trying to pull Lily back to our table so that I could message people.  We only had a short time together, and I needed to put down my phone and enjoy this activity with her.  So, we danced, sang, listened to stories, and walked around.  Lily loved meeting new people, seeing babies and toddlers of all different developmental stages.

To change her diaper, we walked into the main room of the cafe, which was separated by swinging double doors, and the TV's were blaring the news.  The staff was watching some network.  Whatever it was, it wasn't my station.  I couldn't hide from the reality of what we do.  My adrenaline started to rise and I could feel my body move into breaking news mode.  Walking back into the activity, it was a little kid bubble that was sheltered from the reality of what was happening outside.  This was a happy place.  I wished we could stay and that what was happening wasn't happening.  But, I purposely parked in a 30 minute parking spot to make sure that we only stayed a little while.

I packed the baby up, to go coffee in hand, and we headed for home.  Enough time to nurse the baby, throw everything in the car and go.  The route that I normally take to work was shut down.  Helicopters were landing on the bridge from DC to VA.  So, I had to wind a bit through the city. There is no being late on a day like today.  My mom had asked if I would be home late.  This not being my first rodeo, I said nope, it will have winded down by quitting time.

I had heard in the car on the way to the activity that two people were presumed dead.  At the activity, I heard that four people were possibly dead.  At home, my mom said my station said three people were dead, but shortly after that, they were saying four.  These rising numbers and the delay in dissemination information in such a short period of time was telling.  This thing was far from over.  It was going to be a long day for everyone.

The shooting happened at 8:20am, and it was 11:10am when I walked into the News Transmission Control Room.  I deal with live shots via microwave, satellite, and fiber.  On days like this, lots of them.  We also work with LiveU, which is a multi-cell network transmitter that lets us get live from places we would have never gotten live from otherwise.  A busy day for one operator is typically three or more live shots.  At this point, there were six live shots with various reporters, interviews, and press conferences.  Three were LiveU (Navy Yard, Medstar Hosital, and Washington Hospital Center).  Two reporters were live near the Navy Yard via microwave.  One was live via satellite a little farther away from the Navy Yard.  Eventually, we would have set up seven microwave live shots (all in the direction of the Navy Yard), two LiveU's, and a satellite shot for the 5pm news. We usually pay for satellite time in 5-15 minute increments, which we have to call to book, but that shot was transmitting longer than my entire 8 hour shift.  It feels like one of those days where someone called and said just give us the window until further notice.

I wonder what Lily will think about my job in TV as she grows up.  After all, she grew from a little seed into a baby bean during a presidential election year.  I think a TV station is a pretty cool place to tour.  It's fast, exciting, and mysterious to the outside.  Like police officers and firefighters, we're the kind of people who don't evacuate.  We don't run from crazy shit--we run towards it. We ride towards the storm, instead of away from it.  What's that, a hurricane?  Let's get a hotel room to make sure that we're able to get on the air!  Every cell phone is now a potential live camera.  We're here no matter what, holiday, hurricanes, shootings, bombings, fire alarms, presidential inaugurations, marches on Washington, and all.

But on that crazy night, I drove by the Navy Yard on the way home.  I started to get excited about how I would get home to Lily more quickly today, since everyone stayed away.  Then, I realized the great traffic was due to the fact that 12 people were shot dead while they were doing what we do every day.  Just working.  My heart will be forever with them as I pass by.

Night Shift Ends

Here's the good from today:

• I got to sleep a little longer than Lily, because my mom took the baby when we woke up.
• Sean passed a certification exam than he's been stressing about. 
  
• Sean got home at around 11am, had nothing to do, so we got to make out in the living room for a few minutes.
• Sean got to play with Lily lots and lots.
• Lily and Daddy went on a walk.
  
• My mom and I started packing for the Texas trip, minimizing how much I freak out tomorrow.
• There were three adults to one baby, so no one felt like they were exhausted.
• Daddy got to take a nap.
• Lily took a 2nd nap before I left, so we used less milk.  This was unexpected, because she woke up so late in the day.
• The 2nd traffic back up dissipated before I hit it.
• I got to work 5 minutes early.
• I have left over Indian food in the fridge for dinner.

And, the bad from today:

• Lily was awake from 3am to 4:30am, even though I got into bed at 12:30am.
• The baby treated my boob like she was a gymnast at Cirque du Soleil this morning.  She was flipping and flopping all over the place with the boob in her mouth.
• Checked traffic during her 2nd nap, which was horrendous.  Even the back way to work was jacked.  I had to leave ASAP, which should have been easy.  Not today!  A 20 minute process turned into an upside down 45 minute process.
• I couldn't slip away from sleeping baby during her 2nd nap, because she was intent on using me as a pacifier.
• I almost slipped away the 5th time, but I was wearing a sweater that wound up under the sleeping baby. 
• From me trying too many times to slip away, Lily woke up.  This usually means a fussy day with Grandma and/or more milk.
• I was freaking out when I left, because of the blown nap and the bad traffic, so my last few minutes with Lily weren't good.  That means I'm super gonna miss her all day.
• Now stressed and rushing, I microwaved some pizza, instead of using the oven to warm it up.
• There was no time to stop and get snacks at the store.  I don't have a snack. Boohoo.
• I wanna go home.

How are You Supposed to Run Errands with a Baby?

Just woke up from a nap outside the DMV
in line sitting in a folding chair

I don't understand how people with kids are supposed to do these inane and time consuming errands.  I don't know how all of you moms and dads out there do it.  This is ridiculous!  There's eating, nap time, boredom, and diaper changing to contend with. 

Sean is working his butt off, and I'm not able to take off work to deal with this stuff.  I talked to my boss about what she did when she was a single parent.  Did her parents watch her little one while she ran errands?  Nope, like me, she trekked around town doing this stuff with her baby girl.  I thought I hated waiting in a government line when I was single.  Pssh.  Try doing it with a squirmy, fussy, breastfeeding baby!

When we moved into the house in Maryland, I had to go change my tags, registration, and license.  That was a two-day process.  I took Lily with me, because it could take three hours a pop, and I could not easily pump the amount of milk we would have used during that time.  I showed up the first day right when they opened--it was me and 50 other people.  I thought I'd get a number and sit down in a chair to wait for your turn.  You know, like you do in Virginia when I worked the night shift and no one was in front of me at the first counter.  NOPE.  You had to tell someone why you were there before you could get a number.  I spent more than 30 minutes in line before we could sit down.  I was freaking out holding a squirmy baby that just wanted to nurse.  But, I had so much stuff with me, and we had to get in and get out so that I could make it to work, I couldn't just get out of line to do what we needed to do.  When I had to change her diaper, I was afraid I wouldn't hear my number be called!

I had to go back the next day because I needed a 10th piece of paper that said I was a resident.  Ugh.  The second day, I got there 45 minutes before they opened, took a folding chair up to the door, and even napped Lily before the DMV opened.  We were in and out as quickly as possible.

When I got the notice a few weeks later that I needed a separate emissions test (this after I had to drop my car off for two days to get a safety check), I about shit a brick.  Come on!  Why couldn't this have been required BEFORE registration?  Like in Virginia and Ohio.  Ugh.  And, why is this a 50 step process?!  Lily and I get in the car and head to the emissions test center a half of an hour before they opened.  This place was a cluster to say the least.  The gates to what looked like a parking lot were locked.  The only place to line up was on the street, but cars were parked there.  I was the first person there, but this van pulled up in front of me to "park".  I was nursing Lily in the back seat, and when the gate opened, I had to put her back in the car seat and jump in the front, so that I didn't end up at the back of the line.  I almost got into it with the guy in the van who tried to jump the line.  When they did the test, I had to pull the car in and there wasn't an opportunity to really get Lily out of the car the entire time.  And, there wasn't a waiting area.  It was just mostly unfinished shop-ish in there.  It was over in a few minutes, but what an experience getting to drive away.  I had to stop on the side of the road and check her diaper, because there was nowhere to do that near the complex.

Putting air in the tires was a two-day process.  I stopped to get gas, but the gas pump kept kicking off.  Had to wait for the lady in front of me to move to her car (she was idling doing something, I don't know what) so that I could use the pump in front of me. This whole 10 minutes, no one was at the air pump.  As soon as I'm finished getting gas, a car pulls in front of me and up to the air dispenser.  DAMN IT.  So, I decided to vacuum my car while waiting.  NOPE.  The only open vacuum was out of order.  DAMN IT.  I decided to leave and come back the next day, because I couldn't make this a 20-30 minute stop at Lily's bed time.

My tires were low on air, because I had screws in not one, but TWO tires that needed patched. I found several tire places near me.  The next day, I pack Lily into the car at 7:00am to get to the tire place when it first opened so that we weren't there all day and I could actually make it to work.  Oops.  I looked up the hours for the wrong tire place, so the one I showed up at opened at 9:00am.  No wonder why there were no cars in the parking lot!  It had awesome Google reviews and I remember Sean had a tire patched there lickety-split a few months ago.  I decided to head down the road with the fussy baby to the Just Tire place that was actually open at 7:30am.  Turns out that they do EVERYTHING and tires, so the guy tells me that I need to leave my car for a day (to patch a tire) because I don't have an appointment.  We head back down the road to the other place.  We walked to Starbucks, watched the cars, and then came back to nurse in the car.  When they finally opened at 9:00am, we'd been there for almost two hours.  They were super fast.  They patched both tires in 40 minutes.  But, I was starting to blow her nap time, and we were getting an increasingly fussy baby. If she fell asleep on the way home, we'd be in trouble, because the convertible carseat doesn't come out of the car, and I had to go to work!

I was finally able to vacuum my car on my lunch break.  I have been trying for a couple of weeks to find time to do that.

And now, I have a headlight out and the one lamp that does work is kinda pointed in the wrong direction.  I'd never know, except I'm on the night shift for two weeks, so I'm driving in the dark every day.  We have tried two times to stop at the auto parts store, but we keep running out of time in the morning.  I have no idea how we're going to manage to get a new bulb.  Hopefully, Sean can help me do that this weekend.

Thank goodness we can walk to Target.  That's all I have to say.

Night Shift Begins

So far this week, we've gone to a baby/toddler music time, library story time, and a baby/toddler pool play date.  It hasn't been a bad week.  This was the start of Monday and sums up our new routine:

5:30am - Baby wakes up.  Daddy the trooper plays hard with her while Mommy sleeps.  They had stations set up and just kept rotating around the house.  They were so busy, neither of them remembered to eat breakfast!

6:30am - Mommy turns off alarm and accidentally falls back asleep.

6:40am - Lily and Daddy come to find sleeping Mommy so that Daddy can get ready for work.  Mommy nurses Lily in the nursery glider.  Lily falls back asleep!  Whoa!  They really played hard. Lily and Mommy curl up back in the bed and sleep longer.

7:30am - Lily wakes up, nurses, and we go to find breakfast!  Lily doesn't want breakfast.  Well, she eats a potato and lots of bacon.  Hmmm.

9:20am - Mommy and Lily leave for baby-toddler music time.  Lily loves walking around a new place (since Mommy brought socks).  Lily hates the socks, because her feet were getting warm, but she likes to walk around.  There were several steps all of the walkers like to walk up and down.  There is often a traffic jam between toddlers, parents, and servers at the stairs.

10:30am - Lily is getting tired, but Mommy wants her to stay away as long as possible.  If Grandma has to put her down for a 2nd or 3rd nap later AND put her to bed, she'll use way, way more milk than Mommy can pump in a day.

10:45am - Lily and Mommy go to the store to buy bananas and apples.

11:10am - Lily and Mommy go to the library to return our book about penguins and check out a book about goats.

11:20am - Lily and Mommy get back to the house.  Lily has a blast walking all over the house.  Lily plays "Pay Bills and Read Mail" and then pushed her walker around.  Grandma brings Lily's pack-n-play upstairs.

11:50am - Lily naps!

12:20pm - Mommy absconds from sleeping baby to get ready for work, which includes packing pump, changing into work clothes, making lunches, and wandering around the house like a confused and lost mental patient.

1:20pm - Baby wakes up from nap.  Mommy tries several times to nurse distracted baby.  Walk around house with baby.

2:00pm - Mommy runs out of house like crazy person.

10 Months Today

walked to Starbucks

Wow, this is exciting.  The home stretch to the end of the first year.  I heard someone saying the other day that they've been having more bad days than good lately.  Oh, that's right.  It's not about being happy or getting it all right all the time.  It's not about balance.  The only thing I can balance is Starbucks on my head.  It's about having more good days than bad.  But, sometimes, I don't know that it's actually a good day until I look back on it and it's over.  And, a good day can totally include a freak out by Mommy or Daddy.  I have started pausing to appreciate the good moments in the day and the small victories amongst the chaos.

Lily is closer to walking than crawling. Watching her learn to walk has been amazing.  We have been kind of desperate to get her to crawl or move on her own.  She hates trying to crawl, though the last few days have given us a couple of good scoots towards a toy.  Even though everyone says we don't want her to be moving around on her own, we disagree because she so very much wants to move around.  She doesn't sit up well, doesn't play on her own much anymore (this because she wants to be WALKING all over the place to play with everything).  So, she drags us all over the place.  She's sitting up better this week.  However, if she sits herself down, she will still keep a tight hold on your finger so that you can't get away.  I'd much rather be running after a hyper baby with a coffee in hand instead of hunched over a determined, curious, playful baby for hours glancing towards the other room where my coffee sits on some table yonder.   All of the adults in this house agree.

She's happy, she's learning a broader spectrum of emotions.  She clearly knows what she wants, but she struggles when she can't have it.  It's hard to explain to a 10 month old baby why she can't walk around a restaurant when she has free reign at home.  Or why she can walk down the stairs when grandma's watching her, but we don't want to go down the stairs when I'm watching her.

Just when you think you figured it out, that you're just struggling to find your own space in this crazy existence of Parenthood, something funny happens. I start to appreciate moments that used to drive me crazy.  Last week was really hard for me.  It was emotionally draining in a way that hurt my soul.  The thing that got me through was curling up with my baby girl. It was the thing that healed my spirit.  It was all I wanted to do.  I knew it was a rough week for everyone, so for a few nights, I just brushed my teeth when I got home and fell asleep with this precious little girl.

Here's what happened this month:

play date

splash fountain

crunchy play date

visit from Texas

Elevation Burger

Port Discovery

play date

library storytime

first metro ride

first museum

splashing in water

retrying cloth diapers

now walking

loves beets!

Hanging in Old Town

elimination communication play date