A Few Things Happened This Week

I played on a fun quilt made by GranVicky's friend Eleanor:

Paige, whose parents were in my parents' birthing class, came over for dinner! Paige was born just a couple weeks before me!

I sat in my little green chair.

And GranVicky came for a visit!!!!!!

Also, I visited downtown Raleigh and met some of my mom's friends from college and work, but she forgot to get any pictures! We also walked to the Parkwood library and met a lady who thought my name was Linda, because she kept saying "Que linda! Que linda!" :-)

I Like to Pray (or, I Can't Figure Out How to Untangle My Hands)

Another Video for the Grandparents

Merritt thinks we communicate by gargling:

Playmat Discovery

Merritt is really learning to love her Baby Einstein playmat!



And so are some other members of our family:

Sorry for the belated post. There are two reasons for this - Doug and I have both been sick for over a week. In fact, Doug went to bed Saturday afternoon, and pretty much didn't get up until Thursday morning. We are thankful that Merritt has not gotten sick at all. Also, this is what Doug got me for Valentine's Day -http://www.provocraft.com/products/detail.php?cl=cricut&scl=expression&cat=&item=29-0300. This is the first thing we've ever bought after watching an Infomercial. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed about it, but I love it!

McKethans and Valentines

We enjoyed a quick visit by our Alexandria-based friends, Sarah and Aaron McKethan, and their daughters, Addie (not quite 3) and Nora (brand new). They were heading to Fayetteville to visit family, and stopped to spend the night with us. Even thought it was a short visit, we LOVED getting to see them and meet Nora for the first time.

Aaron and Addie:


Baby Nora:

Doug and I have both been battling nasty colds this week, and Doug took a turn for the worse this evening. After an extremely yummy Valentine's dinner from Foster's, we tried to watch a movie. About 30 minutes into it, Doug announced he had to go to bed - it was only 7:30. Poor guy - he is truly feeling terrible. But, since he's not here to defend himself, I have to tell a story on him.

I gave Doug a Valentine's card that said "Enamo(red)" on the front. Doug said, "Enamo Red. What's 'Enamo'?" He's very cute when he's not feeling well. :-)

Chubby Tummy Time

Here's a few photos from playtime on the floor yesterday. PS - Can anyone tell me why blogger rotates my pictures when I upload them, and how to fix it?

Cheering for the Heels!

Watching the Heels beat Duke with my dad:



I can dribble too!


And stick my tongue out like Michael Jordan!


Basketball is fun!

Visit with GranJerry and Stuarty

We stopped by Jerry and Stuart Huffman's house on Sunday afternoon for a quick visit. Stuart recently had surgery so we hadn't seen them in a while. He seems to be recovering very well and we can't wait until they're back in full swing! Merritt enjoyed visiting with her Durham grandparents and showed off her new talking and blowing bubble skills:

Look Who's Talking

Here's a video for the grandparents (pretty boring for anyone else!):

Photos from this week

Here's a quick update from this week. Merritt is now grabbing at toys, and even appeared to remove her pacifier from her mouth and throw it down! She's been on an anti-long nap kick, but today, was down for 3 hours (yay!). I was able to visit my friend, Mary Elizabeth, on Tuesday morning for a play group. We had five kids there, all 4 or younger. Our friends, Cynthia and Mark, brought us a wonderful dinner last night. We enjoyed playing with their son James. They have graciously agreed to watch Merritt for us on Saturday afternoon so we can go to a UNC basketball game. Our first outting since the baby was born! Yesterday, I went to the mall with my friend Cathy. We "discovered" the Nordstrom's ladies lounge - the perfect spot for feeding our babies. Soon, we had a crowd of other moms and a good discussion going about infants, nursing and baby accoutrements. Amazing how parenting can be such a good conversation starter! Big props to Nordstroms for providing this luxury. Here are some pictures of the kiddo from this week:

Marathon Man

Doug's brother, Dan, lives and works in Bangkok. He's an awesome runner, and recently ran the Khon Kaen marathon. We are so proud of him! Here's his account of how the race went:

Greetings,Well, the end of January came and went and with it the Khon Kaen marathon. I left Bangkok at 6am in a dense thick fog on Saturday, Jan. 24th. Drove the 6 hours to Khon Kaen. The marathon was last Sunday (Jan. 25th), starting at 4:30 am. A beautiful cool morning. The starting line was on the campus of Khon Kaen University in the province and capital city of Khon Kaen. Located in the northeast region of Thailand. This was an international marathon, supported by IAAF, the official organization for marathons (as well as other athletic events). The Kenyans, and Ethiopians, and Russians, and Americans, and Thais, and Japanese, and well a lot of countries were represented. The course meandered through the streets of Khon Kaen. Crowds of people were lining the streets cheering us on the entire time. I had a great run. I was able to hit a 4:29 min/kilometer pace in the first half of the marathon and pegged it for the rest of the time. Finishing witha 4:29 average pace. I came in 13th in the age group out of 48 runners and 64th overall, out of 549. Not bad, I think. My time (if you have not done the math yet) was 3 hours 8 minutes 41 seconds. I beat my previous best time (this past Nov. in the BKK marathon) of 3 hrs 22 min 29 sec. Crushed it really. This time is also good enough to qualify for the Boston marathon. Unfortunately, Boston is already sold out for the April 2009 marathon. Great run. ---dan

Weekend with Don!

We had a great visit with Doug's brother, Don, this weekend. Don is from Atlanta, and arrived on Friday night. On Saturday the boys went to an extreme go-cart place in a nearby town and had a blast racing each other. Of course, they had lots of questions afterwards. Like, why does the place provide fire-retardant caps, and not complete bodysuits? Also, if Doug wore a medium sized helmet, and Don wore large, who on earth is wearing the XXL they offered? And, is anyone else slightly nervous about having to straddle the gas tank on the go-carts? Again, they questioned the choice of fire-retardant caps.

We went out to the Q-Shack for dinner and took a quick walk around the American Tobacco Campus. It was a chilly night! Today we went to the early service at church, then to Foster's for brunch. The weather today was very sunny and in the 60s', so we also took a walk around the neighborhood. We were all sad to see Don leave this evening. Merritt, Buddy and Molly all enjoyed the extra attention he gave them.

We also wanted to send a shout-out to our nephew, Blaine. Happy Birthday Blaine! Today is his THIRD birthday! We can't believe how quickly he's growing up. It seems like just yesterday that he was born: