Many meetings

Last night Madeline was still waking up somewhat frequently for feedings, so this morning it took quite a while for us to get out of bed. And before we knew it, Summer was off to Brown to attend her lab-mate's thesis defense.

With Summer gone, grandma gave Madeline a bottle; Madeline ate happily but in the end didn't seem quite sated. A little bounce-walk solved the insatiety issue by lulling baby nicely to sleep.

The sleep wouldn't last: soon it was time for a great adventure. We all -- grandma, grandpa, Madeline, and I -- made our own way over to Brown so Madeline could meet the neuroscience crew.

Grandma and grandpa explored Thayer Street while Madeline and I accompanied Summer to the Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences. Madeline had never seen a building quite like it before.

We ate, appropriately, in the atrium -- some friends found us there, too -- and then visited lab. Pictures were taken there, but sadly not by me. Madeline seemed to enjoy meeting folks (and seeing some of them again). She flashed her most winning smile.

Next stop was the upper atrium to await Summer's advisor and her lab-mate after the closed portion of the thesis defense. When they appeared, lab-mate looked dapper and ecstatically happy to now be a Doctor; advisor, too, had big grins and hugs, and seemed enamored of Madeline. After an unfortunately short introduction we had to take our leave. At some point in the proceedings, though, I snapped Madeline in front of (barely visible through the window) Brown's Pembroke campus, which was once its women's college.

(Yes, somehow I managed to get a finger in the lower right-hand corner of both the last two pictures. It's like my seven-year-old self with a Kodak 110 all over again.)

We met up with the grandparents at the Brown Bookstore, where we also ran into another friend. Friends abound around Brown! But we had to get back home because more family was due to visit.

Soon after our cramped car trip home, family duly arrived: first, cousin Nathan and his wife Brenna, who drove in from Albany, and then Uncle David, who made the trek from Cape Cod. All, importantly, also hail the maize and blue.

Wine and cheese and pizza and tasty goods from an Albany bakery flowed freely, though Madeline (a bit overwhelmed by now) treated family to more feedings and dirty diapers than big smiles. She was still largely in good spirits, though, and tomorrow morning she'll have a chance to show her happiest colors to Nathan and Brenna; if all goes well, we'll get brunch.