Jovie's First 4th of July!

Fourth of July was a fun day!  The first part of the day was spent doing some scrubbing the house and working, because all the days without power left things kind of gross.  But in the afternoon, we all went to the pool.  I love swimming on the 4th of July!  It reminds me of my childhood 4th's!

Then, we put Jovie down for her second nap late, she woke up late and ate a late dinner and we prepared to go to the fireworks.  

Happy Baby at Dinner

Around 7 pm, we drove to Crystal City and parked at my office.  Then we walked to Longbridge park to peek at the festival there, then walked to the Metro.  It was a PACKED Metro ride to Arlington Cemetery.  I was hanging onto Jovie tightly with one arm, while gripping the rail with the other.  We were sardines, and I was sweating!  Had Julie not been with us, we wouldn't have done it.  But we would have missed out, because it was so much fun!

When we got there, we got a great spot above the Mount Vernon trail.  We were close enough to hear them, but not in the Mall crowds.  We had about an hour to wait, and Jovie loved playing!  The breeze from the river felt great, and we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

In our prime spot

 Crawling around pulling the grass

 Love my Daddy

 Playing with Daddy, waiting for fireworks

Playing with Aunt Julie's water bottle 

Then the fireworks started!  I was nervous about how Jovie would react, but I had nothing to worry about. She was mesmerized, and LOVED them.  She kept giggling and was fascinated.  And it was a good show this year.

 Laughing with Julie about Jovie's cute reaction to the fireworks

 Love the way the colors reflect off the river and you can see the boats!

 After the fireworks, Jovie's ponytail came out

We had prepared ourselves for a killer commute home, but it wasn't so bad!  We took the elevator down to the Metro, so skipped some of the foot traffic.  We grabbed an empty train that they hadn't allowed people to board on the Mall, and zipped right over to Crystal City.  We were so happy to miss all the misery of the trip home.

Then, of course, we came home and watched the show on PBS with the music, as we do every year.  Happy 4th of July!

What a Weekend!

It all started on Friday.  Well, a little earlier, actually.  On Wednesday, Jovie was very fussy and just not herself.  We attributed it to teething.  On Thursday when I came home from work, she had a rash on her legs, arms, hands, feet and mouth.  On Friday, we - mainly Mike- suspected hand, foot and mouth disease.  A late afternoon trip to the pediatrician confirmed it.

We had planned all kinds of fun things for the weekend - I was supposed to have a ladies night on Friday night, Saturday was Owen's fifth birthday party, Eli Cummins was supposed to come to our house for us to watch him, and Sunday we were going to go to the zoo and pool with Julie.  But, it was looking like none of this would work out.

Then, on Friday night, a quick but massive storm came through the region (it had started in Chicago and gone through Ohio around the time I was on the way home from the pediatrician).  Winds were 80 mph, and we lost power on Friday night.  We went to bed thinking that power would be restored by the time we woke up on Saturday.  Nope.  There were hundreds of thousands of people in the area without power, and this could take awhile!

Here are some pictures of Jovie and Daddy sitting in our hot house.

 Poor baby with a rash.  :(

It was a scorcher weekend (100+ degree temps), so on Saturday we went to Pentagon City to soak up their power and went shopping and out to eat.  Jovie seemed to be doing better, but Julie was getting sick.  On Saturday night, I watched Eli at his house (with power) and tried, quite unsuccessfully, to buy ice to save some stuff in the fridge and freezer.  I went to three different stores and two gas stations - no ice.

By Sunday morning, many of our neighbors had power, but we didn't.  We could see the power across the street, but there was none.  And we couldn't go stay with friends, because Jovie's hand, foot and mouth was so contagious.  Besides, by Sunday, I was feeling really rough, and with three out of four people in the house feeling sick, we didn't want to pass it around.  Sunday afternoon, I did drop off our frozen food at the McGinnises, to try to save something.

Sunday was spent doing some air conditioning seeking (McDonald's, Alexandria Pastry), late night walks and some laying around in the house.  Julie and I were fighting fevers, and as terribly hot as it felt in the house, we would shiver under blankets and simultaneously sweat with our fevers spiking.  Sunday night, we were laughing as we fanned ourselves with wet rags and laid on the floor and couches.  Mike left the house a lot, running errands, taking Howie for a walk, anything to get him out of the house.  It was frustrating seeing neighbors with power and being without it!

Some cuddle time with sick Mommy

At night, we would take shifts walking around the neighborhood just to get out of the house.  Then, we would take cold showers and hurry downstairs to try to stay cool.  We all slept in the basement, even Howie.

On Monday, I went into work, still sick, but with lots to do, including interviewing a candidate.  Julie stayed home with Jovie, who seemed to be feeling great.  Julie, however, did not feel great.  Sore throat and generally not feeling well.  On Monday night after work, we finally got smart and went to ask our neighboring condo association with power if we could use their pool since our power was out and our pool was closed.  They said yes.  So we stayed at that pool for a couple hours, even though it was past Jovie's bedtime.  I don't remember a pool ever feeling so amazing!

On Monday night, Julie and I went to Starbucks and McDonalds to charge phones (hanging from the ceiling outlets) and use the internet.  We learned from someone at Starbucks who also lived in Fairlington Arbor that Tuesday night was the soonest we would get our power back, due to some crazy transformer issues.

On Tuesday at 2 am, Julie awoke to the sound of a fan, and woke us up.  We had power!!!  It was the best sound ever!  By Tuesday evening, we all felt a little better.

It was quite an adventure, these three days without power and three sick people in the house.  But, now we have interesting stories to tell and quite a lot of memories to share!

You are my sunshine... in June

Love summer baby pictures!

June 9th

 June 10th - Pretty Baby!

 June 12th - Hey!

 June 13th

June 19th

Photo shoot with Aunt Julie

June 20th

Cute in the pool

 June 22nd

Love this cute little pose with the toes!

First Time in Pigtails!

Today, Grandma Young sent a package with clothes.  In it, were little rubber bands.  I've been toying with the idea of putting Jovie's hair in pigtails for some time, and this was all the encouragement I needed.  She didn't love the process of me putting them in, but how adorable are they?!

 Then we decided that she would look super cute in piggies AND the cute denim romper that Aunt Julie bought.  And we were right. (I also love the shadows caused by her pigtails.)

 It can be hard to get a picture of Jovie these days as she moves on to the next thing...

 Love the hair piggies and the toe piggies :)

 Blue eyes!  (and a bit of a runny nose - teething!)

I love doing Jovie's hair!  So, she'll either eventually learn to sit patiently as she grows, or, this will be our first big battle of the wills.  My hope is the former - I can't wait to sit and do her hair while she sits and talks to me.  It's going to be so fun!

More Fun with Aunt Julie!

Since Aunt Julie's been here, we've been showing her what it's like to live in D.C. and having lots of fun!

6-22-12 - One of the best things is to steal some Jovie snuggles when hanging out at our house :)

On Saturday, 6-23-12, we went to Eastern Market!  It was a pretty hot day, but Aunt Julie likes to shop, and I like the handmade, fair trade, and eco-friendly items at Eastern Market.  Not to mention the very tasty food all around.  So we had a fun time!

 Jovie tried on a floppy hat

We had a pretty successful shopping day - lots of produce, a bottle of hot sauce, a wooden giraffe on wheels (a future birthday present for Jovie), Jovie's birthday dress (handmade in Ecuador by the vendor's family), a dress for Aunt Julie, a scarf for me.  We capped it off with a snack at Tortilla Cafe - yum!

 Here's a picture of Aunt Julie and Jovie among the stalls.  

 After Eastern Market, Jovie took a nap and ate dinner.  Then, we were excited to head to the pool in the evening!

 Jovie is soooo going to miss Aunt Julie when she leaves.  They are buds!

 Cutest baby in a floatie - ever.

Mike had to work, but after he got home he joined us and we played for awhile longer in the pool.  So relaxing after a hot day!

Then we came home and put Jovie to bed and made grilled pizzas!  So yummy!

On Sunday after church, we went to Sandy Point, a park on the Chesapeake Bay.  It was REALLY crowded and really warm.  And, I'll admit that Mike and I were a bit crabby and snippy to one another.  Until we got into the water.

Jovie and her bottle and her aunt.  Jovie was crabby til she had her bottle.

 How cute is this baby?!

Granted, the water in the Bay isn't the best.  It might be close to the worst.  But the Bay is only an hour away    (and a day trip when the ocean is 3.5 hours away and an overnight trip), and it was hot!  So the water felt good.  And, I like the bridge and watching the big cargo boats.  We hung out in the bay for quite awhile.  Jovie wasn't thrilled at first, but eventually she really liked it!

 Happy Baby!

 Playing in the sand (a handful went in the mouth before I could get it)

After Sandy Point, we drove into Annapolis where we ate dinner.  Here's some pictures by the docks.

We ate dinner at Chick and Ruth's Delly, where we got to see someone do the Colossal Shake challenge.  Not quite the entire "Man vs. Food" challenge, but a 6 pound shake, none-the-less.  We didn't get to stay to see if he finished it.

What a fun summer day!

On Monday, after work, Mike grilled veggies and we went to the pool.  We played and had lots of fun!

Then, we went to crave, the frozen yogurt shop.  Yummy!  Jovie had the no-sugar-added vanilla.  Just a little bit.  But she really liked it.

We are having so much fun with Aunt Julie!