Day 282: NAACP Freedom Fund Awards Banquet

Today was a special day.  After work, Michal and Josh picked me up and we drove up to Baltimore to celebrate Josh's mom, Judy, who was being honored with the President's Award by her chapter of the NAACP at their Annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet.  We were a little nervous that Michal wouldn't make it through the three hour event, but luckily the facility had a number of areas where a restless nearly 14 month old could roam.

  With Grandma Judy before the luncheon.  Look at that unintentional color coordination!

We arrived earlier than anticipated, so we took pictures of the Goose. It was a gorgeous setting - look how cute she is in the gazebo!

It's a Michal-sized seat!  She LOVED playing with the rocks at her feet - she kept swishing her feet back and forth, moving the rocks.  She looks like such a big kid here, especially with her awesome new Toms!

Yay, a smile for Mommy! 

Goober butt mean mugging for the camera.

A very nice gentleman passing by offered to take a picture of the three of us. 

We really need to do this more often! 

 My attempt to take a lovely, touching Daddy daughter picture.  ::sigh::

Chatting up a new friend 

It was a star-studded event - we saw one of Maryland's senators, the state comptroller, a congressperson, and this guy.  Who is he?  Oh, you know, just the Lieutenant Governor of the state of Maryland, Anthony Brown.  He was so great with the baby - took her from Judy and got her comfortable.  This pairs nicely with Michal's visit with the governor last fall.

Right before the lieutenant governor was going to speak, Michal started to get a bit antsy (it was naptime, after all), so we went back out to the lobby to roam freely.  

... and climb stairs.  She loves climbing stairs.   

Playing peekaboo. 

Trying to get friendly with the Secret Service.  One guy did smile at her.

Congratulations, Judy!

Day 281: Apple Picking

Today was Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.  As such, Josh and I both fasted all day.  Michal did not have to fast (obviously, she's a baby, after all!), so to her it was a normal day.  Which meant she chose not to nap and was a general menace.  After it became clear that she was not going to take her afternoon nap (after skipping her morning nap because of services at synagogue), we threw the towel in, packed up the car, and headed to a nearby farm to pick some apples.  Torture, yes, since we couldn't indulge in the apples right away.  It was also the first time I've worn Michal in the back-carry position of the Ergo.  Not too bad, although hiking all over an orchard on an empty stomach might have been an iffy choice. 

Thoughtful baby.

Day 280: Getting Chilly

It's starting to get a little chilly! No more lightweight pajamas.  We've slowly been switching over to Michal's warmer jammies.  These are her super awesome wool longies.  About a month ago, I wrote about the cool properties of wool and why they make for a great cloth diaper combo.  Of course, they are also great for evenings when it gets a bit chilly!  I bet the Goose will be warm tonight!

Day 279: Michal the Menace

Michal has a favorite new toy - Bailey's water and food bowls.  If I turn my back for a second, she'll dump the water out of that bowl, stack it with the food bowl, and turn over the base into which they both fit.  I have no idea why she loves it, but she does.  Not sure how Bailey feels about it, but he still seems a bit weary.

Day 278: Peek-a-Boo

We have so much fun after bathtime.  Just hanging out in Michal's room, playing with puzzles, reading books, crawling around at lightning speed to escape from a marauding daddy as he comes into the room (okay, he wasn't really marauding, but I think Michal thought it was funny to pretend he was).  She gets really silly and giggly before bedtime.


Blast from the past - an old favorite returns! 

Where's the baby?  Where's Michal?

There she is!  

We haven't had a peek-a-boo craze in a while, but boy is she loving it again!

Day 277: Antics

There are days when I actually manage to coordinate Michal's outfits.  While she still has no shoes, I occasionally come upon a pair of socks that look okay.  Today I even found her pink bow clip - the only thing that manages to keep her hair in place without simply sliding out... 

... that is, until she pulls it out of her hair.  And that, of course, is followed by the deft removal of socks.  I guess she prefers to go without adornment.  Look at that slight smile. She knows she's being annoying!

What little did I know.  This is after lunch.  Getting back into the car to go to work, Michal decided she would prefer to not ride in her carseat.  What is missing in this picture is the crying, fussing, and extreme wiggling she enacted before she ended up in this position, all in order to NOT get strapped in.  She looks relatively mild here.  It's all an illusion, folks.  She can be a sneaky, wily, pain in the butt baby!

Day 276: Chill

There was a period of time, before Michal was born, when we jokingly said that the baby might have some unnatural qualities.  Crazy things just seemed to happen once we got pregnant.  We discovered we were pregnant on Thursday, December 17, 2009, while we were in New York City - Josh was there for work, and I'd joined him for what was to be a weekend trip.  After learning that a huge snow storm was approaching the area, we decided to leave early, hitting the snow while we were on our way back home.  That storm dumped something like 18" of snow on the area December 18-19.  


But that wasn't the only crazy thing to happen once we were pregnant.  Later that winter in February, we had two HUGE snow storms back to back - the first gave us a whopping 27" of snow, the second storm, hitting just a few days later, dumped another 14"+ on us.  All this for an area that goes nuts when we get 2" - it was a little unusual.  


Later that year, we were blessed with the hottest summer on record, setting a number of records, including the first summer when the average daily high exceeded 90 degrees - for the entire summer.  It was HOT, and I was in my third trimester, complete with incredibly expanding ankles and all.  Oh, and an earthquake hit a few miles from our house.  Granted, it only measured 3.6 on the Richter scale, but it definitely seemed to confirm that this baby was making crazy things happen!


During that crazy hot summer, one of our teachers took to calling the baby, still to be born, "Sizzle," since it was so incredibly hot.  This teacher, Cheryl, would ask how "Sizz" or "Sizzle" was doing, and after Michal was born, she still called her by that nickname.  Until Michal's personality really started to emerge.  Michal is a really chill kid, so Sizz just did not work any longer.  So Cheryl started to call her Chill.  And it stuck. 

Here is Cheryl with her friend Chill.

Every day Michal comes to work, she spends time with Cheryl, hanging out in her classroom, playing with babushka dolls, checking out the moon calendar, or any number of things.  I love that Michal has so much interaction with other people, developing relationships with them.

The fact that we had ANOTHER earthquake - this time a bit more substantial - just one week after Michal's first birthday.  I know the baby isn't actually making any of these things happen, but it is a funny coincidence.