The newlyweds stopped by for a visit today. Caroline took a real shine to Ginger and tolerated Mike. Although they claim children are far off in their future, Caroline did her best to change their minds, with her misleading awesome behavior that she turns on in public or whenver company visits. As soon as they left, she began running around the house looking for things to destroy and drawing pentagrams on the walls (just kidding - despite her nap schedule really altered today, she was a very happy and very agreeable toddler).

Caroline went to another play group this afternoon, and had a grand time with the different toys there. With some errands this morning and the afternoon activities, her schedule was thrown off pretty badly, and she's a total sour pea tonight. Hopefully she'll decide to sleep well - the past week, she's been a pretty horrible sleeper. Coincidentally (or maybe not), Aaron and Emma have had quite a few recent difficult nights as well - should we be expecting some sort of natural disaster that perhaps the wee ones are in tune with?

Aunt Carrie's birthday - Caroline knows the drill -

Caroline went to her first movie today, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A theatre sorta nearby (30 minutes) has a weekly Movie Moms (discrimination!) club that is designed for parents to bring their young ones - the theatre isn't totally darkened, the sound isn't as loud, and talking is allowed. Caroline was mesmerized for all except the final 20 minutes - the movie was very colorful and well-paced. I enjoyed it a lot as well. On the long drive home, I watched as a car smashed into the back of an suv about two feet from the car while we were doing 60 down a crowded highway - the car's front end was completely crushed and it appeared attached to the back of the suv as they pulled towards the median. Caroline remained asleep (or, more likely, remained passed out from the gas fumes in Cheryl's terrible VW) and didn't stir at all. An exciting afternoon.

We took another trip to the Children's Museum this afternoon to avoid the ridiculous heat. This was taken in the zoo section, where all the animals are assigned negative traits, like the lazy lion, and the unhinged horse. A good learning experience - we must never trust the animals. Cheryl took Caroline to the Little Gym tonight; she reports that Caroline was able to follow almost one instruction, a definite improvement.

We only ventured outside for a short walk this morning before the temperature reached a billion degrees (555,555,538 degrees Celsius). Thus, Caroline was a bundle of energy this afternoon. For the last week or so she's been fighting sleep in the crib, usually crying with her eyes closed and wanting to be held. On one hand, this is good because she takes two naps during the day, but on the other, we have to turn the tv up really loud to drown out her screams. (Just kidding - shutting her bedroom door makes it pretty tolerable)

I really like this shirt.

Caroline and I took Cheryl to the Children's Museum for her first time. As mentioned in a previous post, there's a Krispy Kreme sponsored play bakery, and in the background here there's a supermarket sponsored by Food Lion.

We joined Emma, Aaron, and their parents at the Warthogs baseball game tonight. On Fridays they have fireworks after the game. Unfortunately, an evening thunderstorm postponed the game's start by almost two hours, and none of the wee ones made it past the fifth inning.

Emma with her dad Ben at tonight's Warthogs game.

Aaron with his dad Adrian at tonight's Warthogs game.

Caroline spent a long time in the Krispy Kreme bakery section of the Children's Museum, where the Krispy Kreme business is simulated with a conveyor belt, ovens, plastic donuts, and an accountant making up profit numbers in SEC filings.

A playgroup park trip was postponed because of the absurd heat, so Caroline and Emma went back to the Children's Museum this afternoon (Aaron was supposed to come too, but his driver must have bailed). The girls had a good time cleaning a variety of toys with their mouths.

Caroline went swimming this afternoon with Emma and Aaron. Everything was dandy while in the water, but she decided to soil her swim diaper once she got out - and thank goodness there are no pictures of the very messy diaper change. I didn't know that you can tear the sides of the swim diapers to take them off; you pull it up over the legs to put on, so I pulled it down over her legs to take off. Big mistake.

Grandma L sent Caroline a Georgia shirt and little stuffed bulldog wearing a Georgia sweater. Turns out the bulldog is a mascot for a tiny college in that quaint little state (Who knew?). How cute! Thanks, Grandma L.

Caroline took her first ride today in a forward-facing carseat. She immediately began criticizing my driving skills.

Caroline wishes her Popie a happy birthday.

This morning we went to the pool again and this afternoon we took some good long walks. Caroline actually spent a good amount of time walking with us and pushing her stroller.

Despite her fascination with dogs, Caroline flipped out when the three dogs living at the play group host's house were released. She would calm down when I picked her up, but she wanted me to carry her around to watch the dogs.

Caroline and I went to a play group this afternoon. There were 7 kids and 5 parents - including another stay at home dad. Caroline seemed to have a good time interacting with the other little girls and playing with the many toys.

As I was out for an evening run, Caroline apparently was dropping food all over today's dress. We went to the park this morning and left after she managed to get a second dirt filled hand into her mouth. We watched a few thunderstorms this afternoon - she enjoys imitating the sound of thunder. It wasn't that hot today, but tomorrow looks to be close to 90, so we may have to break out the new museum membership.

I took Caroline to the Children's Museum of Winston-Salem this afternoon - not to be confused with the Old Salem Children's Museum, which is about a half mile away. This one rocked - there was lots for her to do, the staff didn't seem to hate children, and there weren't a bunch of marbles and the like for her to choke on. I ended up buying a yearlong membership. As an aside - I've been hitting the spinach pretty hard, as you might be able to tell in this shot.

We had a retro night - it was like March all over again. Caroline woke up around 2:30 and would not go back to sleep unless she was being held. About 4am I gave up and ended up sleeping on the couch with her until about 6:45. Cheryl is pretty sure she's getting a few more teeth. I'm expecting some good naps today. And we're dosing her on the motrin and whiskey before bedtime tonight.

Cheryl took Caroline to The Little Gym, where she'll be going every Tuesday evening to play with other kids on various gym equipment. It pushed eating and bedtime back about a half hour, and although Caroline had fun at the class, she was out of it when she got home.

Back to normal. Caroline woke up after 8 again, and is enjoying her normal pre-breakfast of pretzel twists and keys.

Caroline is pictured with the groom, Mike. She woke up about 20 minutes later and was eager to party during the last two dances. We all had a great time, and wish Mike Hudson Banta and Ginger Hudson Banta the best of happiness.

Caroline passed out around 9pm at the reception - and slept for the final two hours we were there, all while the band was playing and the party was rocking. She's pictured here with Melissa, who helped out with caring for Caroline during the ceremony. Melissa is having her first baby in October - and is sharing the joys of her pregnancy on the Baby Blizzard blog.

Caroline got to catch up with Gab and Rose.

Caroline woke up early on Saturday after a late night on Friday, and then again only took short naps. I was best man and Cheryl did a reading at the wedding; unsurprisingly, in her fatigued state, Caroline did not take well to being left with semi-strangers during the ceremony and had to leave (along with some other toddlers). She perked up a bit at the reception, and we had a few dances - this shot is during the father/daughter dance.

There were a few other toddlers Caroline's age attending the weekend's events. Caroline enjoyed tackling this little boy.

We took Caroline to our friends' wedding this weekend in Richmond. From the start of the trip on Friday morning, her sleep schedule was thrown off, but our trooper made it through a bridal lunch, church rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner with no fussiness. She refused an afternoon nap at the hotel, as she was too excited by the full length closet mirror and the various things to try to destroy. We were surprised that she was able to stay up until 9pm.

For the third day now Caroline has been getting up after 8am. Today she only had one long afternoon nap. Sadly, it looks like the days of two naps are coming to an end. This morning I walked her in her stroller to Reynolda Gardens; she actually walked with me down the entire trail between the campus and the gardens - it's at least a quarter mile.

Caroline hung out with her friends Aaron and Emma again today at Polo Park. Unfortunately, she skipped her afternoon nap before getting a lot of exercise at the park, so we're expecting her to get cranky pretty early tonight.

Caroline's exhausted her stash of bottle rockets and black cats, so now she's back inside and playing with whatever plastic bags and knives she can reach. Other than that, it's been a pretty low-key fourth. We probably won't take her to a fireworks display tonight because it would be well after her bed time and she probably wouldn't truly appreciate it anyway. This morning she woke up at 8:30 am - and after going to bed at her normal time around 7:45 pm. So tomorrow I'm expecting another 5:45 am good time.

Caroline got to play with Aaron and Emma last night at Aaron's house. She hung tough until nearly 10 pm, which was unexpected. Despite being up so late, Caroline still woke up about 6:30 am. She took a short nap this morning before going to the pool with Aaron, Cheryl and Michelle (and the cameraman). Although she took a longer afternoon nap today, we were pleasantly surprised that she never got really cranky; perhaps the schedule-busting trip next weekend won't be terribly horrible...

I think we'll be spending most of today indoors, perhaps at the mall.

Caroline woke up at a more acceptable 6:30 am today. She's enjoying her pre-breakfast of water and pretzel twists.