Eating out

One thing that no one told me about having a child is how much work it was to go out to eat. To begin, you have to pack a diaper bag, make sure you have a bib and wipes, diapers, change of clothes, toys to entertain while waiting for food, possibly snacks in case the food takes too long. And then you have to think, will they have a high chair, or should I bring my portable seat. Once you get to the restraunt, you look at the menu and think, "What will my child eat?" You dont want to order something different because it costs too much for them to waste it, but the only options sometimes are spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, or chicken fingers and fries. Very rarely are there healthy options. So, you wish that you would have brought something from home in order for your child to have a healthy option. Your child throws everything within reach onto the floor, and anything you give her to distract her, she throws. That is until you think of giving her a sugar packet, without thinking that it is made of paper. She eats half of the sugar packet before you realize.

When the food comes your child is so hungry you have to feed her immediately, pushing your food to the side, while making sure you have a continuous stream of food in your child's mouth, because if you dont, she will begin to scream. Once your child is done eating, she wants to get up and walk around, and is not content sitting and watching you eat. So, you grab a few bites of your food and ask the waitress for a box and the check. Your husband waits to pay the bill while you take your child outside to walk around and look at rocks. Yes, your husband is there with you but you would not have known because you had almost no conversation with him for the distraction of your child. All while the whole time trying to keep your child quiet as not to disturb the people around you, or keep them from rolling their eyes or asking to be moved...

Or, maybe that is just me.

Quiet clapping is sometimes a successful distraction

What a handsome boy! Waiting for his food at Olive Garden.

Cara Loves Spaghetti!

Aunt Terre's house=fun house!

It has been really nice to have my sister living so close. One of the things that we both wanted was for Cara and Ethan to grow up together and have a relationship.. For a lot of different reasons I believe Cara will grow up thinking of Terre's house as being the fun house. For one, they have so many toys! Way more than the 10 toy limit we have at our house:)

Also, there are always at least one other kid there (Ethan). But sometimes, other kids come over too.

And Ethan has this blue chair that is really fun to climb in!

Terre also usually provides snacks, like crackers. It is very cute because Cara has begin saying "Ca Ca" for cracker. She sometimes refers to other food as cracker too, but a friend of mine who speaks Spanish says that Cara is cussing when she says it.

I am looking forward to having more free time (you know, once school is done) so that Cara can spend even more time with her cousins. 

What have we been up to lately?

Doing things, like playing at the park with Ethan

Eating wood chips, at said park:

Playing in tunnels

Having picnics

You know, the usual stuff!

**Although, these pictures are really from about a month ago... I have been on a blogging hiatus.

Mama and Cara Date Night

A few weeks ago Cephas went out of town for the weekend. I decided on that Friday night to bring Cara out on a "date." We started with fixing out hair:

Well, Cara's hair. And once I put her in the car and started driving she took every single one of those hairbands out.

Next, we went to dinner. I didn't get any pictures during dinner, Cara and Mommy were both very hungry. I had the apple salad and Cara had macaroni and cheese and bean soup.

I took a picture of Cara with the leftovers, to capture the moment.

Then, we went to a bakery for desert.

Cara had a bite sized cholocate covered cake (no really, it was like 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch) and I had a chocolate chip cookie. Afterward we went home and I put Cara to bed, did a few things, and then went to bed myself. It was the most perfect date and I enjoyed spending the quality time with my girl.

Trip to Wilmington

Last weekend Cara and I took a quick trip to vsit our friends in Wilmington. We were only able to stay one night, but had a good time meeting Hannah for the first time. Hannah's mom, Amanda, is a friend from college. She and I lived on the same hall in our dorm. Here are some pictures from our visit.

It rained the whole time we were there. Didn't get to go to the beach but did play at the mall.



Hannah and her daddy. They don't look alike at all!



Got them both smiling... and one the second picture! Hannah's daddy was the trick.

And the mamas. Nice to see her again.



The trip out there went OK. Cara slept for an hour, was happy and awake for an hour and then awake and crying for an hour. On the way back, she slept the whole time, thanks to the bunny from her friend Leah.