Day 51 - Fun with Granny D...er...Grandma D...or... DeeDee

We've had a great visit with mom. Josh especially enjoyed spending time with his grandma :) We'll be sad to see her leave tomorrow, but May is right around the corner!

Day 50 - Guess who's in town?

This afternoon we all gathered at my Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate Pop-Pop's80thbirthday. Eric, Josh, and I arrive and my mom is there to greet us! WHAT?!@#? What an awesome surprise!

Day 49 - I heart figure skating

Josh was happily playing in his exersaucer, then figure skating came on....

Day 48 - They say it's your birthday...

There are quite a few birthdays to celebrate this week!

Happy Birthday Dad, Pop-Pop,and Luke (aka Cheeze-Doodle)

*Picture taken by Bethany. Thanks!

Luke was born on February 22nd at 7:08PM, weighing in at 8lbs, 5oz and measuring 21inches. We hope to visit the F family soon! Congratulations on your newest addition!

Days 45, 46, and 47 - Nasty cold vs. The Doyle Three

Did you miss us? We've been battling horrible colds this week, which explains posting three pictures at once. Pictured below are essential items for getting well: tissues (we've already tackled one large box), ginger ale, sprite, Tylenol cold medicine, saline drops (for J) and my Kathryn Blanket. Since J's arrival we have tackled a few colds and the essential items have become stock in our house. Many of our friends with children in daycare have told us that this is what it's going to be like for the first year. I cannot believe it is only February. Boo. Cough. Hiss.

Day 44 - the return of the booger getter outer

Yes, that's right. The booger getter outer is back. Josh has another cold. This is his 3rd cold since November. This kid is going to win the perfect attendance award in grade school. Why? Because his immune system is going to be like Fort Knox! Here's hoping for a quick and speedy recovery!

Day 43 - Notorious V-A-G

Four years ago, my glam-lib bf, TK, took me to see Vagina Monologues. I am thankful to her for introducing me to such a powerful play. The play raises funds to support V-DAY, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Vagina Monologues were written by Eve Ensler and are performed every year throughout the world. This year, we saw a fantastic performance at the Pour House, all proceeds benefited Interact of Wake County.

One of my favorite monologues is I was there in the room , which is about the vagina and birth. Given the fact that I just gave birth five months ago this monologue struck me with great emotion. I think TK and I were crying before the actress started talking!

Not only do I enjoy this play, but so does E. He is actually the one who told TK and I about this performance! Another reason (to add to the gazillion others) why I love this man, my Vagina Warrior! If you have not seen Vagina Monologues...GO! It will make you a better person!

Day 42 - The Old North State

Growing up in North Carolina one would assume that you know a lot about your home state. Well, at least that is what I thought until we started receiving Our State. I have learned quite a bit about NC from reading this magazine. It's not unusual for me to pour over every page from tarheel towns to photo essays to featured stories. I heart Our State! If you have not read it please let me know and I will be happy to share a copy with you.

Day 41 - Dream a little dream...

Once again I am blogging from the magic chair. The boys are snoozing, while I watch the Olympics and surf the internet. How cute is this picture? Check out the stuffy under E's pillow. We call him Stanley the seahorse. He is like a glo-worm, but better. The glo-worm always kinda freaked me out. Stanley is a great toy and plays very soothing music. So soothing that it knocked E out too.

Day 40 - Hello my name is Josh and I am a tummy sleeper.

It's mama and Josh night, while pops is in the big city of Raleigh at a friend's gig. So, here is the lil' one fast asleep, while I'm blogging in the magic chair. What's wrong with tonight's picture? Some may say, "well he's sleeping in your bed". See the first sentence? It's mama and Josh night. Josh can sleep in the big bed until pops comes home ;) The problem with this picture is that my lil' one is sleeping on his tummy. Doctors and nurses tell you to make sure baby is sleeping on his/her back at night to prevent SIDS. Of course, this seems to be the only position that is the most comfortable for J (he is definitely his mama's son). So, what do we do? We place him in his crib on his back. After a little while he thrashes around and wakes himself up. Up until a few weeks ago we would have just swaddled him. Magic swaddle. Oh how we love the magic swaddle. Oh how we miss the magic swaddle. He is getting a little too big to be wrapped up like a burrito. We will continue to put him on his back and he will continue to wake himself up. I have no idea what we will do when he starts rolling onto his tummy in his sleep. Eek.

Day 39 - An Evening at the DPAC

Today, Cara and I went on our first "date" since Josh's arrival in September. We are both big music geeks and enjoy going to concerts when we can. The Durham Performing Arts Center, known locally as the DPAC , is a great venue in the Triangle. We saw Harry Connick Jr for the 5th time and like always it was a great show. He is truely an entertainer and knows how to work a crowd. His shows are always equal parts Jazz, New Orleans Big Band, and comedy full of laughs. We could have done without Clappy McGee a few rows ahead of us who made it her personal mission to clap through most of the show (by herself sometimes), but some people just get into the music. It would not be a Harry show if someone didn't try to get on stage to get a little piece of HCJ....he has a rough life ;-)

Day 38 - Thoughtfulness

Eric is so thoughtful. He always buys the most beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day. This year these gorgeous tulips were on the table when I arrived home. Look at them they are absolutely perfect! I'm so lucky!

Day 37 - Love, lots of love...

Valentine's Day. Love. Josh. Love. It's a wonderful day to celebrate love. Josh seems to be the popular one in the house and rightly so. All of these cards are for our darling boy. One of my favorites is from his Auntie Kaylen. Handmade with lots of love.

Day 36 - Greetings from Iowa!

What happens when Braedon takes control of Skype? We end up talking to his foot. His foot, doing an impression of our dad. There is a never a dull moment when chattin' with my family!

Day 35 - ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!

As we all know, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are now under way. One of our favorite parts of the opening ceremonies was the huge polar bear that appeared from nowhere. Even thought it will always be tough to top the Beijing opening ceremonies, the folks in Vancouver put of a pretty cool show.

Day 34 - Sweet dreams

This picture was taken right before I hit the hay.

Ah. My pillow. This is the last thing I remember before passing out. It's been quite a busy week at work. I had a BIG event last night, which was a great success and this is what I could not wait to do...sleep! Eric is so awesome. He knows how important this event means to me, how much time and effort has gone into it and knew exactly what I needed when I walked through the door...a huge bear hug. He also insisted being on overnight duty with Josh, even though it was my night. I cannot even begin to explain how great it felt to sleep in until 10am! I have not been able to do that in months...many months!

I'm running a day behind w/our blog, but plan to catch up tonight! 365 days of posting is crazy...but fun!

Day 33 - Bedtime ritual

We love story time and it has become a bedtime ritual. Let me tell you. This kid loves books. Really, he loves books. He sits, listens and looks intently at the pages. So observant. So smart. So cute. This picture just tugs at the my heart strings. My two favorite boys and the magic chair. Sigh.

Day 32 - In your eyes...

I'm working on a photo project and came across an old picture of me. I saw this and could not help but see Josh's eyes.

Day 31 - Berry

Today C and I learned some very sad news. We lost a good friend today....Berry. BB as we called her, was our good friend's dog. I've been around dogs most of my life, having two growing up and one now as an adult, and Berry was one of the best dogs I have ever met. I know some people will think I'm crazy, but she had this happy smile when you saw her each day. She was always full of excitement to see you and knew some pretty cool tricks. I like to think that she is now running to her heart's content and looking back at us "sitting pretty". We'll miss you Berry.

Day 30 - Who Dat? What Dat?

I could not resist. Want to know the history of this fine dish? Check out The Doyle Three. This picture was take with my Canon Rebel and Bethany's lightscoop, on auto! LOVE the lightscoop!

Day 29 - Auntie TK

Auntie TK came over tonight for Tacos Mexico and an Ugly Betty marathon. And of course she wanted to spend time with Josh. He loves his Auntie TK so much!

Day 28- Queue it up

Netflix has become our best friend. Our Friday and Saturday nights usually consist of a movie and a glass of wine or a good beer. I especially enjoy the friend feature. You can view your friends queue, suggest movies and share reviews. The only point of contention between E and I is the queue. Movies tend to move up and down the queue without explanation. Hmmm. It's funny how Sense and Sensibility has been pushed to the bottom, while Anvil: The Story of Anvil is in the top 5 of our queue. Looks like E and I will have to start breaking out paper, rock, scissors to make things fair. We are looking forward to viewing movies through our Wii, a feature which will become available this spring. Woohoo! Alright, time to watch a movie...

Day 27 - Run. Eat. Repeat. Puke.

That's what E will be doing on Saturday. Well, hopefully not the last word. This will be the second year E participates in the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Participants have one hour to run from the Bell Tower to Krispy Kreme (on Peace Street) scarf down a dozen doughnuts (or less if you are a casual runner) and run the two miles back to the Bell Tower. It is quite a site to see. Lots of runners. Lots of doughnuts.

Day 26 - Awesome chair

So, there is the magic chair. Well, this is the awesome chair. The folks over at Cornbread Nation have one and like it so much that we decided to buy one for Josh, instead of a highchair. This booster seat, by First Years, will meet Josh's needs from now through the toddler years. He loves to chill in his chair while we are cooking or hanging out. I think he especially gets a kick out of watching us wash his bottles. Suckers...that's what he's babbling.

Day 25 - The End

The final season of LOST. Woohoo! Next up: LOST the Movie...

Day 24 - Eco-friendly Family

Cloth diapers. We were quite spoiled with the diaper service, never having to actually launder diapers for four months. Now this is what our laundry room looks like every other day. A room full of hangers with bright colored, FuzziBunz diapers. Honestly, it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We have enough cloth diapers, so we do not have to wash every day (very important to note). Why go cloth? Not only are they easy on our budget and on baby's skin, but they are eco-friendly too. These diapers will not be sitting in a landfill for years and years. They will be used until he is ready to potty train and then passed on to the next little one. Cloth diapers are not for everyone, but they work for us!