On the road again

After going to church in the morning and stopping at home for lunch, we got in the car and took at trip up to Alexandria, VA to see Kay and baby Audrey, who were visiting from Arizona for a few days. I knew it was ambitious to drive up there and back in one day, but I didn't know when we might get to see them again, and figured the girls would nap on the way up and go to sleep for the night on our way down. My plan worked pretty well as far the girls were concerned, but not driving-wise. Traffic was terrible, and it took us 4 hours to get up there, and 5 1/2 to get back. I sat still on I-64 from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m. just waiting to get through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel into Norfolk. Did you ever wonder if and how they clean the tiles on the inside of a tunnel? Well, now I know. They close one lane, get out some pressure washers, and make a lot of people very upset. As soon as we were in the tunnel, people rolled down their windows and started shouting assorted expletives into the night air, and got creative with their horns. I would have been laughing if I wasn't practically crying from exhaustion.

Anyway, aside from the traffic, we had a lovely visit and dinner with Kay and her parents. Audrey is adorable - very observant and interested in people - and Kay looks and sounds great. Nora and Caroline were interested in Audrey, but more interested in chasing Jake the cat up and down the stairs. Caroline kept trying to call Jake a dog, and we soon corrected her and got her to say "gah" (she doesn't put consonants on the ends of words, just the beginnings...so "gah" is cat, "doh" is dog, "bah" is ball, "bah bah" is bottle, "buh" is bear, "Noa" is Nora).

More bathtime fun

As I turned my head from the girls in their bubble bath tonight, I heard Nora start to sing "Who's gotta beard that's long and white?" (Raffi's Santa Claus song) and turned around to discover that she had given Caroline a bubble beard, much to Caroline's delight. Caroline is such a good sport...I think these girls are going to have a lot of fun together in the months and years ahead! It was a chilly, rainy day here, so we stayed close to home. We're taking a day trip up to Northern Virginia tomorrow to see Kay and baby Audrey, who flew in from Tucson for a visit, so that'll fun (and is sure to produce more photos for the blog!).

Party time!

Yesterday was a day of firsts - the first cold, rainy day we've had in over a week, the first day that Caroline transitioned from using crawling as her default mode of transportation to walking, and the day we celebrated her first birthday! We had a nice morning together - we got lots of phone calls, including one from Daddy, baked cupcakes, and readied the house for our party later in the day. Assisted by Nora, Caroline opened her presents after lunch (since the party was a "no-gift" party). She got two new "Nubby" books from Nora, a duck pull toy from Pop Pop (which both girls now love), more lift-the-flap books from Mommy and Daddy, touch-and-feel books from Aunt Alli and Uncle Gregory (although she particularly liked the Elmo card identical to the one Daddy gave her and the newspaper stuffing from the box) and, today, cool Gap clothes from Aunt Nancy. Thank you all!

Alli Paul and her girls Claire and Elise came over around 5, and were followed by Lisa, Shannon and Taylor, then Bernadette, Bronwyn and Lauren, and Kelly. We all had a great time - Caroline got to eat lots of pizza, her favorite, and tore apart her birthday cupcake. The 4 girlfriends (Nora, Taylor, Lauren and Claire) spent most of the party upstairs in Nora and Caroline's room - trying on dress up clothes, playing with stuffed animals, and jumping on the bed - which gave the grown ups an unusual chance to talk and catch up with one another. Poor Caroline didn't quite know what to do with herself...she was a little too big to play with Elise, who is 8 months, but too young to jump up and down on the bed with the girls (which is where she really wanted to be). We'll have to make sure that she has some of her own friends to play with for her second birthday party so that she's not always tagging behind Nora, the oft ill-fated role of the second child. I am so grateful for our wonderful friends who warmed our hearts and home on Caroline's special day. What a blessing.

Daddy's home (well, sort of) and Happy Bday Caroline!

On Wednesday afternoon, Nora and Caroline were thrilled to discover another mailing from Daddy...this time, a package containing two books - "Ladybug Girl" and "Pinkalicious" - and a DVD of him reading them. Nora watched it that night for her bedtime stories (she begged me to watch it twice), and we watched it again yesterday (Thursday morning) with Caroline, and again last night before bed. It was fun to see Caroline's reaction...she was busy standing on the couch, looking out the window at the backyard (one of her new favorite activities), when all of a sudden, she heard Daddy's voice. She turned her head and stared at the screen with a perplexed look on her face, and then lit up and said "Dah" (I kid you not!). I helped her off the couch and she crawled right over to the tv and started smacking the screen with delight. Nora got annoyed with her (prompting a whiny "Ca-ro-line!!!," a phrase we're hearing more and more of these days) b/c she was trying to follow the book and Caroline was in her way. What a wonderful gift, Mike. It's almost like you're right back home with us, only not really. We should have taken more video like this before you left, but oh well...maybe I'll just dig up old family videos and we can have Daddy-movie-night once a week. (Nora took the photo of just Mike on the screen...I like how she captured part of the map and how the word "World" appears next to Mike's face).

Today is an exciting day - Caroline's 1st Birthday! I sang Happy Bday to her when she woke up this morning (the 5:30 am wake up, and not the 1:30 am wake up that woke up me and Nora and prevented us from falling back to sleep until after 3 am!) and organized a little get together with a few friends and neighbors this afternoon to celebrate with pizza and cupcakes. I hope to squeeze in a trip to the Y as I do all my errands to prepare for tonight, but we shall see how that goes. There's always tomorrow...(which makes me think of the song from "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer," the movie Nora watched on our way up and down from NY, and loves).

Letters from Daddy

When we went to the post office this morning to collect our week of mail, we discovered two letters from Daddy for the girls in the pile. Nora enthusiastically ripped open the envelope and read her own name and the "Love, Daddy" part, while I read the text in between outloud. And Caroline was excited to see her Elmo birthday card and give it a taste. We talked about Daddy at the dinner table tonight...I asked Nora if she remembers what Daddy looks like and she said, with a smile, "Yeah...he's a handsome guy." Upon further inquiry, she informed me that he's tall, and has black hair and brown eyes. Oops. Don't worry, Mike...I haven't had any tall, dark and handsome men come a callin' while you've been gone! I reminded her that Daddy has the same color hair and eyes that she does, and she giggled and said "Oh...yeah...right." We had a nice day today - Nora went to school while Caroline and I ran errands, and I raked our front lawn while the girls napped. It's going to be in the 80s all week...crazy, considering that we were wearing winter coats in NY last week!

Miss Turnstiles

Just like Ivy Smith from the musical "On The Town," Nora could have been selected Miss Turnstiles this month (if such a thing still existed), now that she's a veteran of the NY subway and looks so cute in this photo taken by cousin Frankie. We had a great time during our weeklong stay in NYC with the Walshes. I got to go to Tibby's wedding in Philly while Mom took the girls to the Brooklyn Children's Museum and watched them for the day. The next day, we visited with the Cacciola cousins and kids and had a delicious lunch that I picked up from Mike's Delicatessen in Bay Ridge. On our way, I explained to Nora that we had to stop at the deli before we got to cousin Frankie's, to which Nora replied, "Who is Deli? Does she know Frankie?" I couldn't believe my ears...she doesn't know what a deli is? But of course not - why would she? We live in the South, in the 'burbs. I promptly explained to her the significance and importance of the NY deli - I can't believe I left this vital piece of information out of her education!

We spent a fun couple of days with Omi - went for walks to the playgrounds of Sunset Park/Bay Ridge, had lunch at the cool new Ikea in Red Hook, and visited with Aunt Irene. We rode the subway into Manhattan and spent time with Pop Pop at the Central Park zoo and carousel, a ride that Nora loved and Caroline LOVED. She was squealing with delight the whole time. Before heading back to Brooklyn, we stopped at Chanel to visit Nancy and her coworkers, and Nora and Caroline made themselves right at home with all the girls. We spent the last few days of our trip at Pop Pop's apartment. Aunt Marilyn came to visit on Friday and Pop Pop took the girls to visit Aunt Gina and Uncle Richie on Saturday while I went to Martina's wedding with mom and Nancy. We spent two beautiful mornings down at the playground in Dumbo, the neighborhood between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, and I got some pretty shots of the girls.

Bath tub blues

Yesterday afternoon, Nora developed a low grade fever that had me a little concerned. This morning, however, I was relieved to discover that she was down to about 99 (from just over 100), so we did our usual Wednesday thing and went to gymnastics. Although she was happy and full of energy all day, Nora was a bit emotional and testy with me. She wasn't very free with her smiles, even in the tub, as you can see in the pictures. Maybe she still has a bug. Or maybe she just misses her daddy (she's been talking about you and the ship a lot, Mike...she even drew a picture of the ship coming home on a onesie she decorated for Bernadette's soon-to-arrive baby). Caroline, on the other hand, is happy just as long as she has a squeezy fish in her hand. Oh, to be 11 months again. One of these photos is of Nora standing next to her impressive chalkboard drawing...the tall figure with glasses is Omi (which is why I had to capture it on film before it disappears). Omi is flanked by me, Mike and Pop Pop, while Caroline and Nora stand off to the far left. Looks like Nora's got the hierarchy of things down pat (ha ha)!