Both Caroline and the camera have been extremely uncooperative lately; ergo, no good pictures.

Caroline was Crazy today - highly unpredictable and demanding. Our wee one woke up well before her normal time and fought against an early nap (although she would eventually go down for almost three hours). She would break into tears at the suggestion a barrette was near her hair. She staked her claim to one of the stations at the Little Gym and defended it from use by any others. On the plus side, her commands have become more specific, as she's recently started stringing two and three words together. Too bad it's mostly crazy talk.

It was a sad day for Caroline, as her visitors went home. When she came out of her crib this morning, she ran to the window and started asking for Grandma. Luckily for her, Grandma and Grandpa did stop by for an hour this morning before heading to the airport; tomorrow morning, she's stuck with just Cheryl and me.

While Cheryl, Grandpa Z and I looked at houses this morning, Caroline had a fantastic time with Grandma Z back at the hotel and later at our house.
This evening was our annual celebration involving Mexican food and sombreros. Caroline and Emma spent some quality time feeding each other guacamole, tortillas, beans and birthday cake (not all at once) and then tried to escape while the rest of us finished our drinks.

This was taken with Grandma's cameraphone a few minutes ago, while Grandma was cooking us another fabulous dinner. After a morning at the hotel with her grandparents, we went to the park with Emma and her grandma this afternoon. Tonight Caroline is sleeping over at the hotel, so Cheryl and I can host a karaoke party. We're such dorks.

Other than not wanting to go into her booster chair for dinner, Caroline had a fabulous day. She was an angel at playgroup, enjoyed reading with Grandma, and got to show off her skills to a new audience.

Grandparents Zukowski are visiting for a few days. Despite how utterly distraught she looks in this picture, Caroline was actually pretty happy to see them.

It's been cold since Friday. The camera doesn't like taking pictures when it's cold.

Caroline and I went to the Little Gym this morning for some quality workout time. There was a good turnout, and there were two other dads - surprising for a weekday. She's hanging with Aidan in the second picture - he's another San Diego transplant.



After a nice nap, the family joined Emma, Ben and Nicole for some snacks at an outdoor wine bar downtown. Then we trekked over to the park to take advantage of what may be the last nice day for a bit - it was over 70 much of the afternoon, but snow and sleet are moving into the area tonight.

For an afternoon snack, Caroline enjoyed some of Grandma Libby's Valentine's Day gift.

Playgroup was at Miller Park this morning (true to its name, many of the playgroupees had very runny noses). The weather was perfect (sunny, mid-60s), and the kids all had a great time. Except for Caroline - for the last half hour, she only wanted to ride AJ's bicycle and threw a tantrum anytime another kid took a spin. She just took a good nap, and I'm hoping she's in better spirits when we visit another park this afternoon.

Caroline decided to wear a headband this morning. I decided to pose her with the Barry Manilow cd while she snacked on teddy grams.

Happy Valentine's Day! Caroline and Jay spoiled me today with gifts and cards. We hung out at the mall for a while, enjoyed some Chinese food and Little Gym, and then chilled out at home for a bit before Jay done sprung (that's southern talk) the surprise gifts on me. I was quite taken aback and a little verklempt when presented with two cards, some flowers, John Hodgman's book, Barry Manilow's #1 CD (O! how I love the Manilow), my favorite chardonnay, and a wine chiller. I got Jay...a The Office e-card. I am the luckiest lady in the house, and perhaps the town, today.

Caroline had a stuffy and runny nose yesterday - I was worried that she was coming down with whatever killer illness I had. Fortunately, she seems a lot better this morning. And my cocktail of various antibiotics found around the house appears to be working for me.

Caroline with her Valentine's Day gift from Poppy and Grandma Libby - some cash to spend on ice cream. As soon as we convert the green to her favorite treat, she'll be thanking you.

After three days of the marketing case competition, Caroline and I welcomed Cheryl back to the family today. I'm still recovering (or getting worse) from a cold (or perhaps pneumonia - a doctor's visit tomorrow will give me some answers), so I was eager for some help. Thanks to Cheryl's return, Caroline didn't have to spend the day in her crib, while I lay on the couch playing videogames and whining about how bad I felt. Unfortunately for Caroline, Cheryl has class tomorrow. Just kidding - thanks to my stockpiles of the now difficult-to-obtain pseudoephedrine products, Caroline likely noticed no difference in my behavior, other than the nervousness, restlessness, excitability, dizziness, headache, fear, anxiety, and hallucinations.

Caroline and Emma participated in a "living exhibit" at the kickoff to the Marketing Summit at Wake Forest. Cheryl is on Wake's team. The teams have 36 hours to come up with a solution to a marketing problem. This year the sponsor is Yahoo. Although I sat through the initial presentation, I don't know for sure what their exact task will be. Caroline will next see her mom on Saturday.

It snowed this morning, for the first, and hopefully last, time this season. Though it all melted by 10am, we stayed indoors as I continued to recover from a cold.

Caroline and Emma went to the Children's Museum this morning and licked everything clean. Thanks to the chilly weather, this afternoon we hit the mall for some further playtime. Despite pretty much getting all her demands met, Caroline was often irrationally irritable, probably from lack of sun.

Caroline squints to avoid the flash. I have to be more stealthy in my picture taking. She's become very demanding about what she wants to eat at what times - and I haven't figured out a pattern or logic behind her reasoning yet.

The girls at a super bowl party. They weren't interested in the game at all. We made it through one half before taking Caroline home for bed. She only knocked over one beer, despite plenty of opportunities for more destruction.

We joined some other playgroup parents and kids at dinner tonight. The younguns were way too excited by the fishtank full of carp to eat anything substantial, and kept at least half of each couple away from the table for extended periods of time - but it was a good time nonetheless.

We watched Emma this afternoon while her parents celebrated her mom's birthday. This tired us out much more than we'd anticipated. Although they were pretty well-behaved, Caroline wouldn't eat anything except dirt at the park, and Emma was quite a runner. I was so spent that this is the best picture from the day.

The playgroup went to Chuck E. Cheese today. I'd never been. I was pleasantly surprised with how clean and well-maintained the rides and games all were; we may actually go back. Caroline quickly figured out how to demand tokens and place them in the coin slots to start her favorite rides. Other than shunning the pizza - nothing unusual for her - she had a great time.