Saturday, December 09, 2006
The meetup
The meetup in Maryland went great. Everyone made it in one piece. There were three other mommies from my mommy group including Jen, Allie and Sue. We had tons of toys for the kids to play with so they were pretty happy.

Allie's daughter, Avery, was as cute as she could be. Everyone in my family who met her remarked on how well she talked, and that sweet little voice was adorable. She became attached to two "animated" stuffed animals. One she referred to as Goofy. It was a dog that sang Christmas tunes. The other was a chicken, wearing antlers, that would play the chicken dance. I joked that it was never hard to find Avery when she wandered off because you could follow the homing devices she was carrying around. I think this household might be chicken-danced out for a while though ;)

Jen's kids, Hunter and Gabe, we quite cute also. Hunter was the quiet one. He played very well with the other kids. His agenda was all about the cookies. You gotta watch out for the quiet ones. He'd slip in amongst the hustle and bustle and reach up on the table, hoping to strike gold. As a courtesy, we weren't counting anyone's cookies ;) Gabe was as sweet as he could be. The first thing that strikes you about him is all his hair. At six months old he has more hair than Emma! He's a charmer. Quick with the smiles and so sweet.

Eric was a very busy fellow. He's a big fan of cars (and Cars!) so he was very happy playing with cousin C's box of cars. He was very willing to play with the other kids and got along with everyone quite well. He was very quick with the kisses and hugs for his mommy, which was very sweet.

And then there was Emma...

It wasn't her best day. As a matter of fact, I'd rate it amongst her worst. She was in a bad mood all day. I didn't try to alter her sleep schedule, so her afternoon nap put her down for most of the meetup. I finally had to go get her for the group photo when it was time for everyone to leave. She'd been down for two hours and 45 minutes, but apparently it was still too soon to get her up. She cried over everything. I couldn't do anything to make her happy. In retrospect I should have dumped her somewhere and let her cry it out, instead of dragging her around everywhere, crying in my ear. She doesn't warm up to new kids very quickly, and I guess despite my precautions (using borrowed toys) she was still a bit territorial. I know it wasn't that she didn't like the other kids, she's just slow to warm up. Anyway, she failed miserably in her hostess role. I may need to send her to Martha Stewart boot camp.

Here are the photos:
Allie and her sweet girl, Ainsley.


Gabe was proficient at rolling himself around the room. He rolled right on over and checked out the new girl on the floor.


Hunter is checking out the kitchen with Avery watching. Note the cookie in his hand...


Sue brought Christmas beads to share with all of the kids. It looks like she's scammed more than her fair share here. You all know she was happy about that.


Here are the mudslides I promised the ladies. While they seemed like a great idea at the time. I was sort of regretting them later in the evening, when my energy was flagging.


Here is the whole group. Sue and Eric, and Jen, Hunter and Gabe all rode down from Pennsylvania. Allie and the girls flew in from California. And then we trekked up from Virginia.

Written at 7:54 AM by Highlandgal.
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