Cleaned off the camera's hard drive...

And found a few random pictures to post. Some of them are poor quality and some are just plain silly, but here goes...

Sadie strikes out in Carr Mill Mall in search of the perfect broccoli casserole at Elmo's Diner. Yumm.


Crouching toddler, hidden diaper...

Since the weather has warmed up and the days are longer, we often take an evening stroll through the neighborhood. We usually head down the road and check out our two ponds and push Sadie's little gender specific pink car around the big pond on the rather ragged trail. The interesting bit is that we are usually joined by Obi-Wan, our faithful Lab, and one of our two cats, Madison. No matter how far we walk, our kitty stays close by and follows us just like a dog.
Here is our family, on the trail...


On the big pond, we are keeping our eyes on a nesting pair of Canada Geese, though we try to keep a healthy distance so they don't stress at the sight of two adults, a lumbering toddler, a dog and a cat. One goose usually floats around the lake, acting as a sentinel, while the other keeps a low profile on the floating platform nest. Mom swore she couldn't see a goose on the nest and thought she was looking at a log. Mom, that's no log.


Sadie is pounding random natural objects with a quartz rock...

"I Wanna ROCK! ROCK! I Wanna ROCK! ROCK!"
THIS is the reason that parents should probably not take toddlers to fine restaurants.

Generic entry title...

Broken record... Sadie is sick again... I think I should just save that sentence in my clipboard, so I can paste it here every week... Little germ factories these small fry are, I tell you. She has a cold and an ear infection, and she was given a regiment of antibiotics yesterday. Her visit to the doctor was radically different than usual... Normally, the pediatrician spends a few moments peering into Sadie's ears and throat while she thrashes, whines and wriggles, and exclaims "It's viral, and will just have to run its course. That will be $10,000, please." Well, yesterday, the doctor peeked into Sadie's ears and throat and exclaimed, "It's an ear infection... Here's a prescription for antibiotics... It's just going to have to run its course. That will be $20,000, please".

Over the weekend, we went to the Farmer's Market with Robena, her mother, and Twyla on Saturday. Then, on Sunday night, my Uncle David and Aunt Diane came through town. They have been vacationing in Florida, and are slowly making their way back to Vermont. They came with Mom and Sadie to pick me up for lunch on Monday, and we spent a little time at the always lovely Duke Gardens...

My pictures are pretty sad today. Most of the weekend, my camera battery was charging, and I was too busy chasing Sadie around at the Gardens to take many pictures. She's at a stage where it is near impossible to take good pictures of her, because she never stands still.

Sadie, a flower tucked behind ear (Thanks, Aunt Diane), listens closely for the approaching hooves of the buffalo herd....
Have milk, will travel...
Grandma is apparently looking to see what new items of nature's bounty Sadie has decided to eat...

The next couple of pictures crack me up. Here we are, Aunt Diane, Uncle David, Grandma and Sadie in the first picture. Note the placid, relaxed smiles of my aunt and uncle, who are on vacation. Note the look of utter exhaustion on my mother's face. This looks like a woman who is watching her 17 month old granddaughter full time. Now, look down at Sadie, who is desperately trying to get the heck out of Dodge.

A kindhearted stranger offered to take a picture of all of us, so now I appear in this next photo. Note the pleasant smiles we all give this random stranger. Yes, yes, life is good. Now look at Sadie, struggling against the straps of bondage...

Only strong stomachs need to apply...

How is it that some people remember to record their lives properly for blogging purposes? We had several great opportunities for picture taking this weekend, and totally spaced and just lived in the moment. How rude of us!

Mom and I met my friend Anne for breakfast at Saturday morning, did some shopping for new Sadie shoes, and managed to get Sadie her second haircut. Saturday night, Brian, Missy and Lila came over for dinner, and we totally forgot to snap some new pix of the happy family. Lila is holding herself up quite nicely, and is full of gummy smiles. She is about five and half months old now.

Sunday, we went to the Museum of Life and Sciences in Durham, and this was Sadie's first visit since she learned to walk. We took a train ride, which amused her for the first five minutes, and traumatized her the rest of the way. The sides of the cars were open, and we had to hang on to a squiggly, wriggly, crying toddler for what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life. I thought she'd vault right out the side. She did enjoy the butterflies and the barnyard animals, who served the purpose of being three dimensional language learning opportunities...

"Sadie! That's a COW. COOOOOOW. Can you say COOOOOOOOOW?"

"Gah"

"OMG, she said cow!"

"Sadie- see the PIG. PIIIIIIIIIIIG. Can you say PIIIIIIIIIG?"

"Gah"

"OMG, she said pig!"

She chased butterflies in the butterfly room "GAH!" and managed to keep us running after her most of the day. And yes, I left the camera in the car.

First, here's a new film. And I warn you, it's not for the weak stomached. Sadie was going a bit crazy with some Lo Mein, and we couldn't resist filming. Note that we strip her down to her diaper at meal time these days, as she just rips her bib off.



Sadie sports her new 'do and outfit, and prepares to pull every pair of her socks out of the orange chest of drawers.
Redmond took a series of shots of Sadie in the car while I waited for Chinese take out. I call them "Portrait of a runny-nosed, silly-faced tot".





Hopefully, we'll do something interesting next weekend AND bring the camera along!

Yes, we're all still alive....

I guess it's about time to update this dusty blog. I read some statistic not long ago that 66% of all created blogs have been abandoned. An estimated 25% of all new blogs are essentially "one day wonders". (Some Perseus study I didn't bother to cite) I am struggling against the tide here, folks.

Sadie finally got over her nasty whatever-the-heck-it-was virus that was like Norovirus. For about three days. And then, I brought home yet another cold to torment the poor dear. I was out of work on Friday, as the virus moved into my chest and restarted my bronchial asthma, and she's had a runny nose and a nasty cough all weekend. She's still functioning and feeling playful, so we haven't taken her to the pediatrician yet, but we're keeping an eye on her. This has been the oddest winter. We have all been basically trading various and sundry illnesses since Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that spring brings some relief.

Ah well, we did snap some pictures this weekend. First, here is a video we took a few weeks ago. Redmond is tossing Sadie into her bunny chair and she's squealing.



I love clothes that turn wee children into various and sundry animals. Here, Sadie sports her cow outfit.
Saturday was a lovely, temperate day, so we took Sadie out in the pink girlie car. We thought we were buying her a nice, gender neutral, red car, and found when we came home that Toys-R-Us had placed a floor model pink car in a red car box. I am apparently too lazy to be a proper advocate for gender neutral toys, because the car is still with us....

Daddy spent some time this weekend mounting Sadie's outdoor swing. Here, he shows her a few carpentry tricks...

Sadie is going through a huge "Daddy is the only person in the world" stage. Every time he attempted to mount the swing, she'd cry and wail, so he eventually wielded tools in one hand and Sadie with the other....


Daddy is the king of sillyface. The new swing is to the left. Our deck is dirty. Please pretend you don't notice.

My father came to visit this weekend, and can you believe that he managed to escape yet again without any pictures? After he left, and after Sadie took a meganap, we took her out to the park in Carrboro. Yes, you've already seen pictures of Sadie in this park. Forgive us the duplication. I am making myself a reminder to do something more interesting next weekend, so this won't become the "Sadie in the Playground" blog.

Sadie navigates the tunnels...
Mommy attempts to block all the giant openings where babies can fall or jump over the side....


Smiling through a plastic wall...


A rare picture of Sadie actually going DOWN a slide... Normally, she's trying to crawl UP.


More tunnel excitement, and lower torso shots of total strangers....

I am queen of the playground....

Fun with other wee toddlers in the tunnel. A few times, we had a traffic jam....