Kid Tour of Ohio

As I mentioned on Monday, Madeleine and I spent last week in Ohio visiting family and friends. Gone are the days when my trips home entailed sleeping till noon, spending minimal time with family, and going out with friends each night until the wee hours of the morning. Now, visits to Ohio include as much family and close friend time as possible, sometimes overlapping, and lots of play dates.

Of course, Madeleine's grandparents collected as many cuddles as possible and even babysat a few mornings and an evening while I caught up with friends.

Miss M had mid-week play dates with two different families of cousins. Unfortunately, I had a mommy failure and forgot to get the camera out at one of them.

Madeleine is nearly birthday buddies (exactly one week apart) with the daughter of our friends, Sarah and Rob. We were able to swing by for a play date with Alexandra and Sarah, and it was fun - if a bit surprising - to see how similar Madeleine and Alexandra are in size and manner of play. Unsurprisingly, they both liked each other's sippy cup more than their own and both loved the dogs' beds. Ha!

Compare with last year's photo, when they were nearly 7 and 8 weeks, respectively.

When we celebrated my dear friend, Denaye, and her upcoming baby, our friend, Stacie, brought her girls. Madeleine, Parker, and Teagan had a great time playing. It was absolutely heart-melting to hear Parker ask, "where is baby Madeleine?" whenever Madeleine wasn't within her reach. It was also fabulous to catch up with my friends, even if briefly, and to celebrate Denaye!

Miranda, Parker, Stacie, Teagan, Denaye, Madeleine, Amanda

Just before we left, we had a larger family gathering where Madeleine and I got to meet her twin cousins (my first cousin's daughters) from DC. It was such a treat for all of us to have been in town at the same time!

Of course, we took advantage of the opportunity to capture most (sadly, not quite all) of the newest generation of the family. I now desperately want to get my hands on a photo of my generation because I'm pretty sure the resemblances would be striking. The oldest in this picture is the son of the oldest in my generation, and I'm pretty sure he would be holding on to the younger cousins just like his son. And you'd probably find me sucking the exact same fingers as Madeleine in every picture, too.

I love visiting and building new memories with my Ohio family, but I admit that it is good to be home. After nearly eight years in the Seattle area, I can confidently say that this is home.

For the inquiring minds, Madeleine was a super traveler. She had a rough time falling asleep on our red eye flight to DC, but then she fell asleep for the remainder of the flight and handled an extended layover, connecting flight, and five hour daytime return flight like a total champ. After our Phoenix disaster, I think my traveling with baby confidence has been restored. Watch out, world!