Our weekends have been pretty full recently, but with lots of annual events and fun: Rosslyn Jazz Festival, Maryland Renaissance Festival, and International Gold Cup, to name a few. And of course, we always look forward to W&M Homecoming, coming up this weekend.

New photos in Lily’s 2011 album!

On the heels of our annual week-long family beach week, Stephanie and I recently flew out to Las Vegas for a three-day whirlwind party! A close friend of ours had reached a milestone birthday, and asked a group of us to join in the fun. So with the extremely generous help of Steph’s parents, we kissed Lily goodbye and left for our first trip to Sin City.

Neither of us had been before, so we didn’t quite know what to expect aside from what we knew from movies, TV, and second-hand stories. But most of that turned out to be true – lights, people, booze, and noise. And of course the windowless casinos that devour your time and money. (Unless you’re Stephanie, who apparently has the magic touch with craps.) There was no breaking even, but it’s still good to cash in a stack of chips at the end of the night!

In between buffets and drinks and gambling, we also took in a few tourist activities: a spa treatment, the Titanic Exhibition, the Bodies Exhibition, and a very memorable helicopter tour of the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon.

So happy birthday to Shauna – hope you had a blast! And another huge thanks to the grandparents for taking care of Lily.

I put up a few photos documenting our weekend, but those don’t include the shots of the chicken, jail cell, or stolen police car.

We’ll also have our share of quiet time – given the frantic state of daycare in this area, we’re not able to pull Lily for the summer and have a guaranteed spot for her when Steph returns to school in the fall. Fortunately, she’ll only go for a fraction of her normal weekly schedule – giving us some toddler-free time to get things done around the house, but still not feel like we’re missing out on being with her. We’re elated with the quality of our care provider, so continuing to write out a check each week (rather than risk Lily’s enrollment) was an easy decision.

Toddler life moves on at a blistering pace. Ecstatic one minute, sobbing the next. Ridiculous demands, sly negotiations, imaginative stories, thoughtful debates, and blatant lies. Not to mention tons of hugs, and alarming amounts of empathy. It’s all a hilarious adventure for us, and amazing to watch her develop right before our eyes! I’ve created a 2011 photo album for this year, which I’ll add to periodically with all the best moments. Be on the lookout soon for updates on switching to a big-girl bed, and wacky potty training time.

On the recent sleep front, though, Lily has been waking up around 5:45 each morning for the past few weeks. This is fairly unacceptable to mommy and daddy, who were quite accustomed to the 6:30 wake up call we enjoyed for months. Then came daylight saving time. This ["spring forward"] has actually worked in our favor in the morning, but we’re now faced with the evening bedtime challenge. So we’re trying to gradually shift bedtimes around until we’re back to a normal schedule, and hopefully everyone comes out sane and well-rested.

All this has also put a slight damper on our crib/bed plans. She has a “4 in 1 convertible crib”, and we were planning on changing it soon – from crib to daybed. But maybe we’ll wait for a less disruptive opportunity.

What is ideal about the time change, though, is that it’s now still daylight during the 6 to 7pm hour – traditionally known in our house as the “Post Dinner Freakout”. This means we can now open the door and set her loose to blow off some stink. Rejoice!

In other news, we’re going to the pediatrician today to follow-up on Lily’s allergies. For the past week, she’s had some … “diaper trouble” … previously associated with food allergies. We’re desperately hoping she hasn’t re-developed a reaction to something thought to be cleared, but they’ll take some blood and get to the bottom of it. Current known allergy roundup: wheat, eggs, and peanuts. Who knows – maybe she just has a little bug.

Lily’s vocabulary has simply exploded – she’s now able to communicate her wants and needs fairly articulately, which is both a blessing and a curse. (“What do you want for breakfast?” “I want a cupcake!”) With this dawning of conversation, though, she’s also fully into the “being a two year old” stage. Lots of “no”, lots of “I want”, lots of whining and carrying on. But at the same time, she is lots of fun. Always playing, singing songs, “reading” to herself, talking to her stuffed animals, and generously giving out hugs and kisses. It’s the best!

In other goings-on, it’s February, and that means birthdays galore. I’m pretty sure there are already at least three parties planned for Lily. For my birthday, I’ll be on a plane, on a business trip – but I’m sure I can squeeze in some festivities at some point. But as always, birthday wishes go out to Aaron, Ryan, Becca, and about twenty others!

Check out the “new” video below, shot in early December (two months ago). Your classic toddler serenade.

The past seven days have been nuts! Last week, I was out to Minneapolis for two days on business. The trip was productive but uneventful, except for missing my baby. I arrived home late Thursday night, clocked another two hours, then crashed. Friday morning the alarm went off, I smooched on Lily, and once again left for the airport – this time with Stephanie for a weekend in Lake Tahoe to celebrate a friend’s wedding.

To minimize disruptions to Lily, we left her home with a heaping bowl full of cereal, a water bottle, and a clean litter box. No, I kid. Steph’s parents mustered all their strength and stayed at our place over the weekend chasing Lily down and doing their best to keep up with her relentless antics. Everybody survived, and we cannot begin to thank them for their generous efforts.

The wedding was a blast! Despite the travel time, friends from all over gathered to celebrate and we had a weekend we won’t soon forget. All our love to Justin and Matt! We also snapped a few great shots of the lake thanks to a weekend of perfect weather.

Now it’s back to the grind this week, as we recover from that fun mix of champagne and jet lag.

After just three months in our new house, Lily is completely comfortable in her surroundings and tears around the neighborhood with glee! It didn’t take long for most of our neighbors to meet her, as she’s apparently more interested in running down the sidewalk and into people’s yards than she is listening to mommy and daddy call out to her. What a monkey.

It’s also a load off our mind to finally find a child-care provider for Lily during the coming school year! Her babysitter from last year, Lyndsay, was blessed with the recent arrival of her own second child – so isn’t able to continue watching Lily. Fortunately, we found some availability with another local provider who came highly recommended, and we look forward to getting back into the routine come September. We’ll certainly miss the incredible care Miss Lyndsay provided, though, and wish her tremendous happiness with the new addition to their family!

We’ve taken a ton of photos and videos lately which I still need to get online – stay tuned!

And speaking of moving, this is it. In two days we go to settlement, then will move over the weekend. The stress of the entire process, plus a baby, plus both of us working long hours lately has really worn us down. But many thanks to our family and friends who have helped out in so many ways over the recent weeks! We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a smooth weekend, and should be enjoying our new house before we know it!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a fun 1^st birthday party for Lily! We all had a great time and were glad that she did so well throughout the day. I added a photo recently with a cute shot her of her eating her birthday “cake” (an egg/wheat/dairy-free brownie topped with a blueberry glaze). Credit to Stephanie for the creative, allergy-free eats!

Finally, we got the following two videos the day of Lily’s birthday – as you can see, she can’t walk completely on her own yet, but it’s certainly not stopping her from tearing around the house screeching with glee.

Birthdays! There’s something about this time of year – in September, well-wishes went out to Steph’s dad, our friends Luke and Amy, Rob, Brenden, and Uncle Paul! In October we’re celebrating with Noel, Colleen, Stephanie, and my Grandma (on mom’s side)! It’s for this last birthday that we’ll be traveling up to Syracuse this weekend – Grandma is turning 90, so much of the family is gathering up there for a weekend of fun. We’re really looking forward to it, but hope that Lily deals well with the road trip.

Next weekend, it’s time for our annual outing to the International Gold Cup Races. It’s always a fun afternoon, but no babies for our group – so anyone want to babysit?

After that, we’re on our way to W&M’s Homecoming – I’m in complete denial that it’s my 10^th. Should be another fun weekend, though, and we look forward to showing Lily off. Put in your orders for bread ends and house now.

And of course there’s Halloween at the end of the month, and Steph already bought Lily her costume. Oh yes, there will be photos.