Grandma's visit

Last month Joe had to leave town for ten days for work. (It was another one of those Caribbean cruise deals). As soon as he left, Viola developed a fever from double ear infections that had likely been brewing for some time. We made it through the weekend together by busying ourselves seeing lots of generous friends who had us over for dinners and play-dates (thanks friends!) On Monday I developed a fever from a sinus infection as well, but went to work because Viola's daycare is too far from our house to just drop her off. My mom was scheduled to come on Tuesday, so we powered through some bad single-parent dinners and unintentionally late bedtimes with that light at the end of our tunnel. Then a huge blizzard hit the Midwest and my mom's flight was canceled, but she finally made it out on Thursday, and we had a great, if brief, visit.

Viola had lots of fun showing Grandma her battery-powered bubble shooter.

We also went to the beach for a very Northwesty winter visit and watched the Packers win the Superbowl (yeah!). Grandma got to go to daycare for a half day with Viola, and observed her in her natural environment doing "potty jobs," playing dress-up, and driving cars around in the gym.

Hooray for Grandma visits. And hooray, Joe is back in town with no plans to leave again soon. Now, if we could only shake those ear infections...