What a weekend we had here! A house of visitors, coupled with an exciting day at a pumpkin patch on Saturday, made for a very exciting weekend for us all. Our friends from South Carolina, Maggie and Stephen, came to stay with us for the weekend and brought their little girl, Madison. Mad is only 8 days older than Tyler, so we were really looking forward to watching them interact. Mad is crawling all around and pulling up on everything, and Tyler isn’t doing any of this, so we thought that it would be interesting to see what he would pick up from her during her stay. Tyler definitely took notes, and we encouraged him to try all the new things he saw Madison doing. He got up on all fours and would rock back and forth, but then get frustrated and flop down on his belly and flail like a fish out of water. But we’re still practicing with him. He practiced pulling up on his own yesterday and is very close. Tyler tried to teach Madison some tricks too – namely talking. He really is quite the blabbermouth. Everything is “dadadadada, blahblahblah” with an occasional “mamama” thrown in there when he’s desperate for something (usually milk). Mad’s more of a shrieker. Hopefully, they rubbed off on each other this weekend.
Anyway, we had a great time watching the babies play with each other, but there were more babies to add to this equation. On Saturday, 2 more babies arrived at the house – Evan and David. Evan is the little boy here in Richmond that is 6 days older than Tyler, and David lives in Hampton and is just a few weeks older. Once all the babies and parents were gathered together, we hopped in our cars and headed to Belvedere Plantation, right outside of Fredericksburg. They were having a Fall Harvest and it was a beautiful day to visit there with the little ones. And speaking of little ones, we aren’t done yet. Once we got there, we were greeted by RP and his mom. RP will be one year old this Friday and lives in Culpeper. And soon thereafter, the last two joined our ranks – Claire and Lily from Arlington. Claire is a month older than Tyler, and Lily just a few weeks older than that. Have you been counting? That’s 7 babies, all under the age of 1. Yep, seven. And seven mommies (and one daddy who came along – our photographer!).
So we strapped everyone into strollers and began our journey through the Plantation. Oh wait, what was that? How did all of these mommies and babies from all over the state of Virginia meet up? I must have failed to mention. Um, yeah, I met these women on the internet. All of them. Including the one that stayed at our house. Yep, I said the internet. Long, long, long story short, when I was pregnant, I went to WebMD and found a message board full of other pregnant women and began to go there for support and answers to questions. Fast forward several months, and we are now on a new message board, but are all still together. There are about 65 of us, all over the US, and several people have met in real life. I actually met Lori and Evan this way here in Richmond. So it may be weird to some people, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was weird in the beginning, but it worked out for us. It’s absolutely amazing to have so many women going through the same things that you are. And it’s great to have little ones for Tyler to meet and play with.
Back to our journey. It was such a pretty day, warm with a light breeze every now and then. We took the little ones to watch the pig races, walked them by the displays of all the animals (Tyler particularly enjoyed watching the geese), and finally plopped down near a picnic table and threw down a few blankets on the ground and watched the babies go at it. Go at what, you might ask? Go at each other. Madness ensued. It was great. The crawlers were all over the place, and Tyler sat back and just took it all in. We all said beforehand that we would stay until the mass meltdown occurred, and we all kind of agreed that 2:00 would be that time. Well, like clockwork, the meltdowns started around 1:30, and we were on our way to the cars by 2:00. Both Madison and Tyler traveled very well, sleeping both on the way there and on the way home. It was cute to see them in the backseat together, and when they were awake, they would stare each other down. “What are you doing in the backseat? Wow, this is pretty cool!”
Madison and Tyler spent all day Sunday playing and catching up on their sleep from the action-packed day before. I think Tyler was a little sad to see Mad go home. I know that I was sad to see them go! It was a busy weekend, but it was so much fun! We all want to try and get together again in the near future for yet another play date, but with the holidays and colder weather on the horizon, it may be a while before we can get it on the calendar. At any rate, we had a great time! Now, if Tyler would start to pick up on some of those “tricks” that Madison taught him…… 
Anyway, we had a great time watching the babies play with each other, but there were more babies to add to this equation. On Saturday, 2 more babies arrived at the house – Evan and David. Evan is the little boy here in Richmond that is 6 days older than Tyler, and David lives in Hampton and is just a few weeks older. Once all the babies and parents were gathered together, we hopped in our cars and headed to Belvedere Plantation, right outside of Fredericksburg. They were having a Fall Harvest and it was a beautiful day to visit there with the little ones. And speaking of little ones, we aren’t done yet. Once we got there, we were greeted by RP and his mom. RP will be one year old this Friday and lives in Culpeper. And soon thereafter, the last two joined our ranks – Claire and Lily from Arlington. Claire is a month older than Tyler, and Lily just a few weeks older than that. Have you been counting? That’s 7 babies, all under the age of 1. Yep, seven. And seven mommies (and one daddy who came along – our photographer!).
So we strapped everyone into strollers and began our journey through the Plantation. Oh wait, what was that? How did all of these mommies and babies from all over the state of Virginia meet up? I must have failed to mention. Um, yeah, I met these women on the internet. All of them. Including the one that stayed at our house. Yep, I said the internet. Long, long, long story short, when I was pregnant, I went to WebMD and found a message board full of other pregnant women and began to go there for support and answers to questions. Fast forward several months, and we are now on a new message board, but are all still together. There are about 65 of us, all over the US, and several people have met in real life. I actually met Lori and Evan this way here in Richmond. So it may be weird to some people, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was weird in the beginning, but it worked out for us. It’s absolutely amazing to have so many women going through the same things that you are. And it’s great to have little ones for Tyler to meet and play with.
Back to our journey. It was such a pretty day, warm with a light breeze every now and then. We took the little ones to watch the pig races, walked them by the displays of all the animals (Tyler particularly enjoyed watching the geese), and finally plopped down near a picnic table and threw down a few blankets on the ground and watched the babies go at it. Go at what, you might ask? Go at each other. Madness ensued. It was great. The crawlers were all over the place, and Tyler sat back and just took it all in. We all said beforehand that we would stay until the mass meltdown occurred, and we all kind of agreed that 2:00 would be that time. Well, like clockwork, the meltdowns started around 1:30, and we were on our way to the cars by 2:00. Both Madison and Tyler traveled very well, sleeping both on the way there and on the way home. It was cute to see them in the backseat together, and when they were awake, they would stare each other down. “What are you doing in the backseat? Wow, this is pretty cool!”
Madison and Tyler spent all day Sunday playing and catching up on their sleep from the action-packed day before. I think Tyler was a little sad to see Mad go home. I know that I was sad to see them go! It was a busy weekend, but it was so much fun! We all want to try and get together again in the near future for yet another play date, but with the holidays and colder weather on the horizon, it may be a while before we can get it on the calendar. At any rate, we had a great time! Now, if Tyler would start to pick up on some of those “tricks” that Madison taught him…… 
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