Mother's Day

It's not very often that you get to pick up a new holiday that's all about you, so my first "real" (as in, post-pregnancy) Mother's Day was so special! For starters, I got to wake up next to a wild-haired, smiling, babbling, adorable baby girl. At a hotel, no less, so I didn't have to make the bed or make breakfast or anything. Had brunch with Harper, Daniel and his parents, and then we headed to the Kentucky Horse Park to pet the horsies. Well, for Harper to pet the horsies. Before long we were back at the Louisville airport - where Harper was reunited with her friend JP she met on our in-bound flight - for our trip back to Washington. Not to get all sappy on you, but being a mom is pretty much the best gig anyone could ever have. Check out the Mother's Day adventures album here.

Cocoa Beach

We needed a break. Bad. So we took a page from the academic calendar and went on spring break to Cocoa Beach: our first family vacation. The three of us had a few days of fun in sunny Florida. Harper LOVED vacation. It was as if she could sense our change in mood when we shut out work and home ... and she loved it. We swam in the pool, dipped our toes in the ocean, walked on the beach, caught a Cards-Nats spring training game, met up with a good friend from college and her new baby girl, went to Kennedy Space Center, saw alligators in the wild, and logged Harper's 4th roundtrip flight on Southwest. It was way too short, but we had a blast.

If you're interested in the photojournalist's version of the vacation, you can view the full vacation photo album (fair warning: we're talking 250 photos). Or here are just a handful.