Baby Jekyll & Li'l Miss Hyde

Now I'm not claiming darling Clementine has split personalities or anything, but after two terrible nights before last weekend's trip to D.C., I was worried that the plane ride and subsequent circus of family Easter might just put her over the edge. I warned everyone that between the sniffles, ear ache and lack of sleep Clementine might just be a terror. Know what? She went out of her way to prove me wrong. Dead wrong.

To start with, we almost missed our flight because I was letting her take a much needed nap (needed because she had been up until 3 a.m. the night before and then up every hour until 7). But once we trekked from the parking lot to the gate, she turned on the best baby routine ever, smiling, charming the crowd, watching strangers with her big blue eyes. I know moms tend to be biased, but seriously: Clementine was the cutest baby in the entire world from the second we hit the airport to the moment we came home (with a brief detour to stinkiest baby in the world when she decided to crap in the last ten minutes of each of our flights). Everyone wanted a piece of her and she wanted to share. She flirted, played peek-a-boo, waved, danced, jumped up and down and did these cute little head cuddles where she bends her head to rub it on someone else's in what I can only assume is blissful, blissful adoration. In short, she was amazing.

We hit D.C. and had a great time. The weather was perfect, so we spent most of Saturday walking around the tidal basin, posing for endless pictures and visiting with family. Clementine had three gorgeous dresses to wear, so there were wardrobe changes to accommodate every photo shoot, but I still didn't get one of her wearing her "George Bush Hates You" onesie in front of the White House. Maybe next trip. I did, however, get thousands of photos of C. and her cousins in every monument and outfit combination we could come up with. Of course it will take hours to get them off the camera and up on flickr, so until then here's just one:


Yes, I know she will one day kill me for stuffing her in dresses and posing her like a doll, but I'll have other people to point fingers at (ahem, Grampy and Auntie Belle), so it won't all be my fault.

After all the happiness, we headed home and Clementine took a few steps backward. She didn't sleep as well (did I mention she woke up only ONCE both nights we were in D.C.?!?!), she's a little cranky (I think it's probably just teething) and she seems to hate the car again. A harrowing trip to daycare this morning, followed by her screaming as crying as I walked away, left me with a sinking feeling all day long.

But I'm not gonna think about that for now. Today I'm 31. Scattered and unsure of what lies ahead for me but 31 nevertheless. I'm going to get out of work early today, have some chow with my two best pals Nate and Clementine and go to a killer yoga class. Then I'll upload some of these cute D.C. pics and answer some emails before I sit down and figure out what I want this next year of my life to be like.