Who DIDN'T go to the zoo yesterday?

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in the DC area yesterday. We were itching for Addie to get her nap over with so we could get out of the house and into the sunlight. She went down a bit later than normal, and then we had to have lunch, and THEN we got out of the house.

We decided to head to the zoo. The last time Addie went to the zoo, she was too young to really get a lot out of it. Well now that she has her repertoire of animal noises and she can point to the animals in a book when we ask here "Where's the duck? Where's the elephant?" we knew that the real live animals would captivate her.

What we didn't know was that pretty much everyone else in the DC area wanted to go to the zoo, too, which meant that parking was HORRENDOUS. Like many of the attractions in the DC area (museums, monuments), the zoo itself is actually free of charge, so we are happy and willing to pay the exorbitant parking fee (hey, they gotta feed the elephants), but there wasn't any parking to be had. Tempers were running high in other cars (and, admittedly, in the front seat), but luckily Addie didn't notice--she was in a great mood (having snacks in the car was also a help) so she didn't notice that we circled the zoo grounds numerous times. We were about to give up, when we headed up Connecticut Ave. and found a spot right in front of the nearest metro station, which just a 10 minute walk away.

So by now it was 2:20. The only problem was--Steve had to be at a function for work back in VA at 4pm. So we decided we had approximately 35 minutes to be at the zoo. Add in the fact that mommy and daddy needed a bathroom break, let's just say that we did a zoo "blitz"

We saw: zebras, miniature pygmy ponies (which we just called "horses"), emus, elephants, hippopotamuses, a sloth bear, and gorillas. Of course, there were a few squirrels and birds on hand, too.

Here are some of the few photos we felt we could spare the extra seconds to snap on our rush through the zoo :)

Superbowl Sunday

Steve and I were trying to figure out what we did for the Superbowl last year. Having a 2.5 month old who wasn't sleeping well meant we were in the land of zombies. If anyone remembers what we did last year, please let us know.

In preparations for Addie's first "aware" superbowl, she got a pre-game massage from Grandma Eva (whom Addie started to call "Ga Ga")


We put her in the only football jersey she has, a Redskin's jersey from her great cousin Stephanie


Reading up on some pre-game stats...


And in deciding she looks too much like a boy, she found her tutu from her Great Aunt Anna and ordered us to put it on her:

TOUCHDOWN!!!

Snow Day!

During Addie's very first snowfall last year, she didn't really get what all the excitement was about, because....

...she slept through the whole thing. And there wasn't much more than flurries last winter anyway.

So far this year all we've had were a few light flurries, until earlier this week when we woke up to a view from the window with some strange white stuff on the ground.

Hmm....what's going on outside?

We waited until Steve came home from work (mid-day since he was on call at the hospital the night before) so we could go out and play as a family. We layered Addie with the following:

Long-sleeved onesie
Fleece footed pjs (as seen in the above photo)
Fleece unfooted pjs
Sweatpants
Nylon pants
Socks and shoes
Hat and gloves
Winter jacket with hood

Warm enough? Hopefully :) We did buy Addie some boots and we bought a size 5. She's in size 4 shoes, so we thought size 5 would cover it. After many tears as we tried to stuff her feet inside, we realized it was a lost cause and just hoped for the best with her shoes!

Hey Dad, what is this white stuff falling all around us?

Mom, please don't slip while you're holding me!!

Hey, this stuff is pretty cool!

Whoops, I fell.

Addie's accidental snow angel:

Steve passing down the fine art of snowball-making to his daughter--gotta learn early.

Heading to the playground for some more snow-filled fun

Um, guys...I'm getting a little cold here!

So home we went to peel off all the layers (I'm happy to report that her feet were toasty and dry!) and have a lunch of spinach and cheese quesadillas and vegetable barley soup. Yum!

Then to stave off more cabin fever, we headed to the Borders bookstore which has a fun kids area. We played with the stuffed animals and read the books there.

Not pictured: After Addie went to bed, Steve lit a fire and we drank hot chocolate.

All in all...a wonderful snow day!

First Museum visit

We had plans to meet up with the Philadelphia McGee's in Baltimore for a trip to their children's museum, Port Discovery. Alas, poor Shannon had been sick all week, so the rendezvous was postponed. Addie had never been to a museum before, mostly because of my reluctance to deal with DC parking and risk Addie-inspired meltdowns in public far from home. Now that she's only napping once a day, there's more available time-windows in which to go on these little trips, so on Sunday afternoon, after her nap and lunch we headed out.

It only took us 15 minutes to get downtown, but took almost 25 to find parking. It was COLD so we bundled Addie up in the stroller and headed to...the National Museum of Natural History.

You know, the one with the elephant in the rotunda:

Apparently, Addie thinks the elephant needs a hat. :)


We saw the big whale and other sea-life as well as the dinosaur bones.

We found the Discovery Room where we read stories about ladybugs (check out the stlyin' ladyubg puppet on Steve's hand)

And looked at butterflies--one of Addie's current favorite animals.

Yesterday we got a heap of snow! Check back soon for the pics of Addie's first romp in the white fluffy stuff.

Helpin' out

Our fellow blog readers: I came across (through a friend of a friend of a friend--you know how it is) an opportunity to help a family adopt a little girl from Korea. They are raising the funds needed to bring her home. They're offering a great raffle, so while donating to help this family out, you could also win some cool prizes (it's really a win-win situation!). Steve and I decided to pitch in and support them and thought you may be interested in checking it out!

You can click on the raffle link above or go directly to their blog:
http://asisterforthebean.blogspot.com/

Best of luck to the family!

How Addie celebrated the Inauguration of our 44th president

The inauguration of President Barack Obama started at around 11:30am Eastern Standard time--precisely the time Ms. Adeline Eve went down for her nap. We were a bit bummed that having a child meant that trekking into downtown DC for the festivities was just not a viable option (it was below freezing yesterday and where on earth would we change a diaper?), but being in the same metropolitan area gave us a little sense of the excitment and electricity in the air.

Steve didn't have to go in to work until the afternoon, so while we celebrated the making of history by watching it from the warmth of our living room couch, a little someone was dreaming of strawberries, butterflies, and baby dolls (that little TV on the bottom is our video monitor).




A couple more.....

Our little Ms. Sassy Pants.


Peek-a-boo!!!!

Monica's Parenting Tip #43493

Monica's Parenting Tip #43493:

Don't teach your child that you can see a playback of those short video recordings video you take of your adorable little one on your digital camera.

Because one day, when you're trying to capture their 14-month old shots to record how beautiful and grown-up they are, you get anger that you're not playing those videos. Instead of toothy smiles (she has 12 teeth now!), you end up with this:

and this...
and this...

and this.

Happy 14 month old, my darling little cranky-pants :)