Thanks Mr. Bunny!

Among the books, shoes, and toys in Libby's Easter basket, Mr. Easter Bunny left a sweet new ride! A Little Tykes trike! In theory (insert slight skepticism), Libby can use this trike until she can pedal it around on her own. It stages her through starting with parental control of the front wheel direction via the handle, then the handle bar locks come off and then the parent handle comes off. I hope it lives up to its promise! Needless to say... it was a huge hit! Libby loves riding on her trike and it is fun to push her around on.

Easter weekend

What a gorgeous Easter weekend! We were happy to share the weekend with Gram and Gpa (otherwise known as Jim and Mom). We spent Saturday afternoon at the park pushing Libby in the swings, going down the slide and pushing the stroller. It was a lot of fun! Libby loves the park and loves watching the other children. Craig hadn't had the opportunity to push her on the swings yet so it was his mission for the weekend. Libby squealed with delight from her bucket swing and Craig looked like he was having fun too.

Sunday, we attempted to change Libby's napping schedule by getting her up early and playing hard all morning but to no avail. Craig and I went to church and Libby slept soundly in her crib while her grandparents babysat. The service was wonderful and best of all, Carson Linkous was an angel throughout the entire service and for his Baptism!! He looked beautiful in his Christening gown and tolerated his water and oil bath like a champion! The stunned look on his mother's face was wonderful. After church, Libby, Gram and Gpa joined us and we took family pictures by the azaleas. A family tradition. There are many pictures of me and my brother in our Easter outfits standing in front of the blooming azaleas in the yard. There is even a bump picture in front of the azaleas from last Easter. Since our yard only has small, young bushes, we headed for one of the local parks.

After pictures, we had lunch at the Linkouses house. They had a wonderful luncheon in honor of Carson's Baptism. We enjoyed visiting with Michelle and Stephen's families and with our friends. A wonderful weekend!

Bye Bye Saturn

Tonight, we sold my Saturn SL2 to CarMax. The car was replaced in October with my Volvo SUV and it has been sitting in the drive way for the last 6 months. We have had several interested folks come and drive the car through word of mouth and have offered it at increasingly lower prices to family members in need of wheels, but no one wanted my sweet, old car.

I may be oddly attached to this vehicle but the truth is that there was so much more than 104,000 miles on that car. I got her when I was 20 years old. She had 7 miles on the odometer when she was delivered to my apartment from Saturn of Cary. My dad bought the car for me after a shoulder injury sidelined my first Saturn. Seriously. The car had no power steering and I had no right shoulder strength. Made for VERY interesting parking situations.

My dad let me pick the car and the color. A very big deal to me. That car carried me, literally, all the way through my 20s.

I drove it to Memphis, TN and back, which led to the tumultuous end of Craig & Meg - Part I. But it was the same car I drove when Craig & Meg - Part II started. I drove it home from our second first date. I drove it home from the airport after flying back from our honeymoon.

It drove me to my first job out of college. Should have been something glamorous for a newly graduated engineer. Yeah... I was a hostess at Olive Garden. But it all worked out. I eventually drove that car to medical school and then residency. It safely transported me back and forth to the hospital more times than any vehicle ever should.

There are many more tales.... the serial break ins, the miracle accident in Memphis, the hunk of the metal in the middle of the highway that some how only caused a scratch in the door. Yes, it was a 10 year old car made by a now out of business car maker but it was a good friend of mine that was with me for a formative decade of my life.

I started driving her as a silly 20 year old with stars in my eyes and the last time I drove her, I put my daughter in the backseat and drove her to her first doctor's appointment. Pretty cool.

Chatterbox

Libby has become quite the little chatterbox! After months of sounds (mmm, ooommm, grrrrr) and raspberries (lots and lots of raspberries), she has finally started babbling!!! We hear ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma and an occasional la-la all day. She will even whisper the sounds sometimes. She looks like a little goldfish when she goes into this mode.

But da-da has eluded us. Despite Craig's diligent work with the Da Da book and saying it to her every time he sees her, no da-das. This morning he swears she said it when he got her out of the crib but it could have been wishful thinking. :)

I am trying to capture these little sounds on the Flip and will post a video later! Here's a photo taken right after her first babble.... ma-ma. I was one happy happy mommy!!!!

Sad, bad, vomit covered mommy

We have been blessed beyond words that for 7 months, Libby has been healthy. I won't say this has occurred without major effort. I have broken records with the amount of Purell I pile on every day - shake a hand, purell, examine a kid, purell, pick up a pen I might of touched without purell first, purell. You get the picture. If it has been a particularly sick day in the clinic and I am worried that I am transporting nastiness home to my little girl, I will change clothes before I pick her up. I have mightily fought the battle of germs coming through the door and have been very happy with the results.

Last night, Craig and I were enjoying our favorite show and winding down our day with strange and unfamiliar sounds came from the nursery. Libby is awake? That's odd.... I peak in the door and realize my poor daughter is covered in avocado green vomit. It was in her eyelashes - I mean covered.

Bad, sad mommy. I fed her avocado for dinner that I made this weekend. Yes it had turned brown on top, but I scraped that off and fed her the lovely green, handmade puree underneath.

After a bath and a pj/sleepsack change, she continued to be sick for a few more times and then was so tired she wouldn't fall asleep. Her sad, overtired cries just compounded that horrible guilt. Thankfully she eventually fell asleep in her crib and slept the rest of the night.

This morning, she is back to her old silly self but I won't be feeding her any more avocado for a while.

7 months of parenthood

7 months old... wow that went fast. Libby is such a wild, silly, sweet and precious girl.

Craig and I didn't get a chance to spend the whole weekend with her as we would have liked. I was on call and had clinic both days and we tackled 56 bags of mulch for the yard. But we still took a few minutes to fill out her 7 month page in her baby book together. It was such a neat experience! As we went through the questions on the page, we each remembered different aspects of Libby and loved sharing them with each other.

7 months is such a wonderful age!! We just love coming home to her big, toothy, drooly smiles every day!!


Some fun 7 month Libby stuff.....
- EVERYTHING goes in her mouth
- She loves music - loves to listen to her musical toys and her toys that make sounds
- She really settles and focuses when you read to her
- She laughs and laughs when you tickle her ribs or when MacKenzie licks her hands
- She is working on waving.... I know its going to all come together any day now... you can just see the wheels turning in there