Millie's Walking!

We call her "Frank" -- short for Frankenstein. She finally started walking last week and is picking up some speed. Most often she's got one or both arms straight out in front of her, and there's not a lot of give in the knees, but she gets it done. Here's some video from this afternoon.




We're off to Vermont to ski with Christopher's family next week. Mom and Mils will have lots of inside time together. Photos of the fun when we get home!

Play Time!

Millie and friends Violet and Aliyah at the National Building Museum

It's cold outside so we've been hitting the museums HARD these past two weeks. Today was a great outing with Wendy and Reagan to the National Gallery of Art to see the Edward Hopper exhibit. We survived the entire two-level exhibit without a single melt-down or cying fit and were rewarded with a great lunch in the cafe afterwards. Last week we met Wendy and Reagan at the Natural History Museum -- home of that famous giant elephant with huge tusks. Millie was terrified so we headed outside to the Mall to do some energy burn-off and an awesome carousel ride.

Reagan at the National Gallery of Art

Millie & Mom on the carousel on the Mall

My pack of mom friends met up at the National Building Museum last week for lunch and play. It has a great indoor space for lots of running (or fast crawling in Millie's case) along with oversized soft legos, soft building tools and this great giant playhouse. It's as if I'm on some kind of frantic "check-off before we move away" spree, because we also made it over to the National Geographic Society exhibit (not spectacular) and the Post Office Pavillion (which had a very cool tower that overlooked most all of the city).

Millie and Grace climbing the playhouse steps

Man to Man Defense

Millie had some big news to share with our families this Christmas:

She's going to be a big sister! Or as our brother-in-law Skip says, we'll soon be playing a man-to-man defense with the kids. We are expecting a new addition to the family this summer (July 15 to be exact) and of course, we are just stunned and so incredibly grateful. A move to San Diego is also in the plans for this summer, so Christopher is doing some intense negotiating to get it worked out so that we can stick around here through the birth and those first crazy weeks.

So to all who have been praying for us so faithfully, thank you. We can not imagine a sweeter, more tangible answer to your prayer. We are so blessed.

Christmas Magic

Christmas Eve

We are settling back into 'real life' after a magical Christmas season. We were able to spend a few days, including Christmas, with the entire Greer clan in Delaware. The little girls (cousins Millie and Kaitlin) loved playing together almost as much as they loved all the attention and love from their Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles.

Uncle Skip and the girls; Millie LOVES her Raggedy Ann!

We made it back down to DC to spend the end of the week with the Steinbeiss gang. Julie was in from San Diego, Mike was in from Boulder (via Costa Rica) and Matt stopped by from Denver on his way to ten days in Europe. I don't think Millie's feet hit the floor the entire visit...she was always wrapped up in someone's arms.




Uncle Mike and Millie form a band; Millie and her beloved rocking horse.

Millie and Aunt Julie

Baby It's Cold Outside

As the high temperature today is expected to be in the 20's, our upcoming move to San Diego is starting to sound like a tropical vacation. Millie and I are attempting the rarely experienced "all day in the house" scenario today. I'm not good at this. I like us to have one activity a day: a walk to the Capitol and back, an outing with our friends to a fun museum, even the hideous trip to the commissary counts as an outing. But it's so cold today that I think we should invent some inside games (perhaps work on our walking skills???) and keep cozy in here. We'll see if I can make it to the afternoon nap.