Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

We took a trip down to North Carolina. Rebecca's family had an Easter weekend family reunion planned and Paela enjoyed seeing all her cousins. I taught classes on Thursday morning and we left for the airport right afterwards.

With two children, we only take direct flights now, where possible. The potential of dealing with a toddler and an infant on a layover is too horrifying for us. It was really kind of Rebecca's brother and sister-in-law to host everyone at their home.

Paela's favorite part of the week was the indoor splash park we went to. She tried the slides, wanted a boat of her own and ran around waving her arms in the air because she was so excited. Aderyn even was brave enough to dip her toes in the water.

The strange part of the trip was the girls' different reactions to the new environment. Paela had many outbursts because of the new social rules she had to play by as well as some regression on her potty training habits. Aderyn, however, hasn't slept as well since she was a newborn. We are still really confused by her behavior. At home she has become a horrible sleeper: she wakes at 9 and then goes right back to sleep. She then wakes at midnight and will thrash about until about 1:30. She will be fed at her 3am waking and when Rebecca manages to get her to fall asleep at 4:30, she likely will wake about 45 minutes later, unwilling to feed. While in NC, Aderyn woke at 9pm only to fall asleep quickly thereafter. She would then sleep until about 4am, when she would wake for a 15 minute feeding and then go right back to sleep.

We have made a long list of the differences that exist between our home and theirs in the hopes that we can figure out which combination might elicit this behavior. So far, we have had no luck. There is the potential it may be conditions we can not alter, such as the mildew smell of the entire Boston area. On an unrelated note, Aderyn likes to sit on her own.

Since we have been home, I have been preparing for a few more interviews. Classes finally picked up because my students are working on Lab work for the rest of the semester. My intro class took only two days before they realized that SecondLife is a boring place to be. But then they proceeded to fall into the same pattern as everyone who gets sucked into the seductive nature of most online social services and have forgotten the reasons for their reaction to SecondLife.

The opening reception to my painting show at the Bedford library was Sunday. We've taken a few walks to enjoy the warm weather, but unfortunately this also means that bugs are out. We think that there is a colony of ants and a hive of wasps that live inside the walls of our house and/or attic. They do not enter through the outside.

Aderyn has prevented me from going to elder's quorum for a while. She requires too much movement time, but since their meetings are on the stage, I have been able to pace with her on the other side of the curtain in order to hear the discussion. I wish I could participate because I get more from the lesson when I do.