The Queen, The Bum, and The Graduation

Things have been going much better around here, though the sleep situation is still not completely resolved. Despite enduring over a week of extreme sleep deprivation (waking at night on the hour, sometimes half hour, never getting more than 3 hours of sleep in a row and being up for the day at 6am), we are somehow all still standing, and still happy. I have been a bit grouchier than usual, but we are making progress. Milo has cut another tooth (number 5!) and is almost over his cold. Andrew actually got his hair cut, and I got a sufficient amount of cleaning, cooking, and laundry done before Andrew’s brother Bill, sister-in-law Annie, and niece Reina (the Queen) arrived for other brother Ryan’s graduation from med school in DC.

Friday brought a lot of hustle and bustle as we headed to DC to drop off food at Ryan and Kristin’s house in time to make it to the pinning ceremony Ryan put together. We then enjoyed a cookout in 50 degree weather (it was supposed to be a luau). All right, it may not have been that cold, but when the wind blew, it definitely felt that cold! After the cookout, the real fun began as we caravaned in 4 separate vehicles to Arlington to the after-party Ryan and Kristin hosted. On our way there, we were stranded for two hours on the GW Parkway in standstill traffic as they completely shut down the road due to an accident involving two tour buses.

Austin, Andrew’s 5-year-old brother, had decided to ride with us to spend some time with Milo… little did Austin know that Milo has a short fuse when it comes to traffic jams, and combined with a healthy set of lungs… well, you get the gist. My favorite quote from Austin; “How do we get him to stop crying?” Luckily, that didn’t last long, and Austin entertained us with a healthy dose of armpit music and stinky fart jokes, and lighthearted insults (second favorite quote; “Milo smells like a vomit bomb”) before having to get out and pee in the median.

We had a great time at the party listening to Ryan’s tone-deaf friends sing karaoke and give speeches to commemorate each other, then Andrew, Bill, Annie, Reina, Milo, and I headed back to Baltimore to catch a couple hours of sleep before Saturday’s events. As you can see, we were all a bit tired, even the Queen:
(Note the blanket attached to the binky under one arm, pink baby under the other, and sippy cup of milk in the middle)

Luckily, good fortune awaited us in the weather arena all day Saturday… sunny skies, 70-degree weather. A perfect day for a graduation in DC! Milo and Reina posed for a quick picture behind (way behind) the White House (you can also get a glimpse of the Washington Monument off in the distance right above Milo’s head).

All was going great, until Reina robbed Milo at gunpoint.
“Gimme all your milkie and no one gets hurt!”

The actual graduation ceremony was surprisingly enjoyable, with wonderful music, and all kinds of pomp and circumstance. Milo particularly liked the music… and playing with Ginamom, of course! Katie, Andrew’s 9-year-old sister, also helped out a great deal, entertaining Lizzy, Ava, Reina, Milo, and Austin at times!
After the ceremony, we all headed back to Ryan and Kristin’s for a lovely open house.

Towards the end, all of us were a bit loopy.

So that about sums up the weekend for us! We already miss Bill and Annie, and especially Reina, who had taken to pointing to Milo, doing sign language for “baby,” then pointing at him again, repeating, “Baby, baby! Baby!” while smiling ear-to-ear.

Now for the video you’ve been waiting for… the premiere of Milo’s crawling. Yes, folks. He moves forward, like a wind-up toy version of our baby…

… and steals dog toys.