We're back from Raleigh! We had a great time with "all" the Irvings.
The flight down was quite different from our previous experience just a few weeks ago- Carolyn has become so much more determinedly mobile that it was difficult to restrain her! We were thankful that on the way home there were extra seats on the plane so she got to sit in her car seat! She quite enjoyed our layover because she got a chance to crawl around the gate and pull herself up on the chairs and the window.
Modeling Uncle Doug's glasses. :)
Getting to know Emily again...
Doug and Katy's dog, Walter, was one of the highlights of the trip for Carolyn- without the complicating presence of the other dogs at Christmas (which tend to have an... energizing... influence on his behavior), Walter is really very gentle with little ones. Carolyn loved that Walter would let her get close by (and even "ride" him!) and licked her hands.

Carolyn loved playing with Emily's toys...

Emily loved playing with Carolyn's hair. :)
We found that this time the age difference of 10 weeks seemed far less than it did even at Christmas. They are about the same size now (Carolyn's a couple inches shorter and a pound or two lighter). Both of them are doing a lot of the same things, though of course Emily has perfected some of the skills Carolyn is just beginning to refine. They interacted alot more this time, though it was hard to get any pictures without one or both of them stopping the cute thing they were doing to look at the camera. :)
Maybe her favorite thing was the couches at Doug and Katy's house- they are a little lower than our couches and the perfect place for beginning standers to learn! She is beginning to take a few steps while holding onto the furniture and is never as happy as when she is standing and attempting to walk. :)
Reading stories with Uncle Brad/Daddy
There's a small park across the street from Doug and Katy's with two swings just right for babies. Carolyn wasn't sure what to think at first...
Emily gives Carolyn an encouraging pep talk...
Soon, though, Carolyn decided she enjoyed swinging! I've been waiting for the weather to get warm enough for us to do this together!

They stood around a lot together, enjoying the world (and each other) from an upright perspective. :)
On Friday afternoon we went to a fun children's museum with a special section designed just for pre-walkers. There are all these fun things to crawl over, under, and around!
She loved pulling herself up on the large mirror that was there.

Finally, CAKE! The reason we came to visit! We celebrated Emily's first birthday on the 20th... Sadly for us all, the cake didn't sit well in Emily's tummy and she kept us all up for about 3 hours that night to keep on partying!
Here Carolyn helps Emily open up some of her presents.

And lest you think I took no pictures of anything but babies, here's the rest of the family, gathering around the table for some wine and some Be Nasty To Your Neighbor card game.

Unfortunately, this is the last picture I took on this trip! That fateful visit to the Children's Museum brought an unwelcome visitor back to the house- an incredibly virulent 24-hour Flu bug- and half of us (including myself and Carolyn) spent the next day in varying states of gastrointestinal distress and the rest spend that whole day taking care of everybody! It's a shame that I was too sick to take pictures (those of you who know me will know how sick I really was!) because there were some really cute moments... but I guess you probably get the idea. If you've read all this way, I'll know you're really my friend!

So there's the end. Comments welcome!