The life and adventures of Meg, Easter week

<-- Margaret's Easter bunny ears.

Meggie has had quite the eventful week. She's definitely growing: she now notices her toys, and will wave them around and get them close enough to chew on. (But the froggie is still her favorite.) I think she's developing a "snuggie" habit, and will pull a burp cloth or her skirt up to her mouth. She loves going outside for walks, too, though not in the heat so much, and unfortunately it's been quite warm here lately.

A few of the highlights: It started Maundy Thursday, when we were sitting out on the back steps in the sun. She wriggled a great wriggle and slipped right out of my arms, and bunged her lip on the step. It only bled a little bit, but naturally she started crying, and I started yelling for Jonathan, and he had to run off to class, and I phoned her nurse, and it was quite exciting. (Don't worry: she's completely healed now.)

On Good Friday we went to Maymont. It's one of the most beautiful places in Virginia, I think: a historic plantation house with a stream at the bottom of the garden and a museum and a children's zoo. We went just at sunset and hardly anyone was there. We got some nice pictures, too. And then we went and explored the Carillon and Dogwood Dell, which is a park area near Maymont consisting of a brick tower (the Carillon) and... (drumroll)... an amphitheater! It was deserted - well, until we got there, of course - so Meggie had her first experience on stage. Naturally we dragged out all the Macbeth and Henry V monologues we could remember. We determined that what we really need to do is start a Random Shakespeare group, and read through the fun plays together of an evening. Email me if you're interested. :-)

Saturday we went to Sam's and bought fifty pounds of rice and some lovely apple juice. I'm really enjoying that Sam's membership Mom got me.

Sunday was Easter! Meggie had just the normal for breakfast, but Jonathan and I had hot cross buns and boiled eggs. We dressed up Meggie in her blue embroidered dress from Aunt Emily's wedding, and after church, we posed her in bunny ears with a big pink pinwheel and took pictures out back. She is absolutely the cutest bunny-rabbit-fairy child I've ever seen. Pictures will be up on Facebook soon.

On Tuesday we had some amazing spit-up. It got me, Meg, the sheets, the mattress pad, the Boppy, and the pillow I was leaning against. So I washed Meg, changed the sheets, and put the pillows in the washer. Only I think it was a bit more than the washer was really up for, because it flooded the kitchen floor. Jonathan discovered this when he came home for lunch. Meanwhile, Meg started wailing. So we took turns holding the baby, sopping up the floor, and transferring the 47 dry pounds of that 50-pound bag of rice into clean bowls on the table. Then I got to shower. We dropped off Jonathan at the clinic (and Margaret finally fell asleep in her car seat) and went to Wal-Mart for Very Large Bins for the Permanent Storage of Rice. Success! I came home, mopped the floor properly, and went to pick up Jonathan. The rice now resides on the back left corner of the dryer. It felt like an "if you give a mouse a cookie" day - glad to get it all settled. Whew!