What a whirlwind 2 weeks it’s been for Ada and her mama! Ada’s Uncle Will and Aunt Jess recently returned from Germany after a 3-year station there, and it was really important that we spend as much time as possible with them before they move (again!) to Georgia in a couple weeks. So rather than spend a number of hours with an unhappy Ada in a car, Mama and Ada flew to DC! The best part of the flight was the duration: just under an hour. For comparison’s sake, it took much longer than that to drive in a car from our house to JFK airport! But we made it, and with a nod of thanks to the kindness of strangers, managed to get ourselves, all of our baby gear and luggage to Virginia.
Ada did very well on the short flight. It wasn’t a full flight and we mercifully got the whole row to ourselves. Good thing too, because Ada had no interest in cat napping, but wanted to jump on the seats, climb the back of the seat in front of us, and hop back and forth between the seats in our row.
Someone’s a window seat baby!
Grandma Barb meeting us at the airport. Hooray for a second pair of hands at last!
We settled in nicely at Grandma Barb’s house and began a week of many visits to friends and family.
With, you know, some sleeping in thrown in here and there.
Grandma Barb set up a HUGE play area for Ada downstairs. Her favorite is the music table just like we have at home and the train that actually pulls circus animals.
We even had a Friday dinner at Wegmans. Ohh, mama misses Wegmans.
“I’ve called you all to this morning meeting,” Ada said, “to discuss unacceptable workplace bullying of other toys that aren’t as cool as you.”
We were really sad that we couldn’t be together with Daddy for Ada’s first Hanukkah. We lit candles with Grampa Joe each night, and when we were able we Facetimed with Daddy so we could see the candles at home in New Jersey too.
First night in Virginia
Third night with Daddy in New Jersey.
In the meantime, we had lots of time during the days to visit with Uncle Will and Aunt Jess. We went shopping for remaining Christmas gifts, baby gear for their daughter-on-the-way (due in April!), and generally made the Northern Virginia circuits. This was Ada’s first opportunity to meet Jess and Will, and it was clear early on that they had hit it off nicely.
Ada thinks Uncle Will has great taste in sandwich shops.
For one of our outings, we visited Mama’s old law firm in DC and had lunch all together with Jess Vought and Linda. Afterwards, we ran some errands in DC and stopped in Georgetown for BOTH Georgetown Cupcakes and Sprinkles cupcakes. We had to do a taste comparison, naturally. (In case you’re interested in the verdict, GC had better – albeit slidey – icing, but Spinkles had the better cake and the larger cupcake. My vote is for Sprinkles.)
“Yeah, yeah,” Ada said. “Are we at the cupcake shop yet?”
Ada clearly had NO FUN AT ALL with Uncle Will at the toy shop.
Or in the Daddy’s sports section of the maternity clothes store.
We also got to spend a whole day with Ada’s great-Nana, and her Granddad Dave and Grammy Pat joined for dinner. There we learned that Ada LOVES pomegranates, and that Granddad Dave is a tireless popcorn-car lap leader. Let’s just call it: grandparents are the best!
Snuggles with Nana
Mmmmm, pomegranates. Doesn’t she look sophisticated?
Nana didn’t even mind that we had about a million pomegranates under the floor that pop like crazy when you step on them. (Mama cleaned them up, thanks.)
Back at Grandma Barb’s, Ada is taking advantage of a kitty who actually wants to hang out with her.
This will NEVER be Mable.
Vampire baby! You guessed it… leftover pomegranate seeds.
And a big girl who prefers to hold her own watermelon.
At the end of the week, Mama got to go to a fancy law firm holiday party with old friends and co-workers. It was a spectacular shindig, and a fun night out. Unfortunately just a couple hours after I got back, Ada started throwing up nonstop. It was the beginning of the end of a week of socializing and busy bee baby and Mama. It seems that on one of our adventures with Jess and Will, somehow Ada, Mama and Aunt Jess got some sort of nasty stomach virus. We were all three down for a day or two, not happy campers.
Well, to be more specific, the Mama Jesses were down for the count. Ada was sick for about 6 hours and then made a miraculous recovery. She woke up after a night of vomiting and was cheery, no longer vomiting, and wanted to play. Hey, we’ll take it! Mamas would much rather be the ones sick.
We’re preparing for another fun week, because DADDY comes into town tomorrow! We’ve missed him so much and even though Facetime helps to allay some of it, we’re looking forward to having him with us.