Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

For years we hemmed and hawed about having another baby.  We knew it would be lots of work.  We feared it might negatively impact the dynamics of our family.  We never dreamed it would wreak such havok on my body, but that's another story.  Finally, two Christmases ago, we decided, YES, let's have another baby... someone little and sweet who coos and giggles.  What we got, although wonderful, was not what we were expecting.  Lili is a baby who does not fancy being a baby.  She has something to prove.  She crawled at seven months, stood up a week later, and appears downright annoyed that we expect her to be a "baby" for an entire year.  See the above photo??  This is a rarity.  Unless she is starving and being offered something exceptionally delicious, Lili will NOT take food off of a spoon offered by someone else.  She has also given up her high chair.  After wrestling her into it several times and receiving her telepath...

There was beautiful sunshine in Wales today despite the fact that there is an invisible cloud of Icelandic volcanic ash somewhere up in the stratosphere over our heads.  So all of us girls threw on our sun dresses and set out (with George, who opted not to wear a dress) to the Amelia Trust Farm in Barry.  We spent a little bit of time checking out the animals, including the lovely new baby lambs.  But we mostly enjoyed the garden and the forest trail (also knows as the Wild Piglet Trail). Lili was completely enchanted by the experience.  She was anxious to explore every leaf and stick as well as my shiny earrings.  I enjoyed vicariously experiencing her awe and curiosity.  To her EVERYTHING is new and worthy of exploration.  Typically for Lil, exploring involves grabbing the new item and chewing on it with her drooly, gummy mouth for as long as it remains pleasant.  Often we grown ups forget to notice all of the little, o...