We're back from Hocking Hills

We had a nice weekend at Hocking Hills for the Schechter Family reunion. We enjoyed a nice hike and a dip in the pool on Saturday (intersperced with naps and eating). We had a good time with family and it was fun to have Abigail meet her new 2nd cousin, Graham. We shared a cottage and it actually worked out well. The babies didn't seem to disturb each other and the parents took turns on baby watch for various reasons (showers, campfire sing-a-longs, etc).

We headed back yesterday morning to gather ourselves again before another full work week. Abigail did a pretty good job of napping while we were there. She really didn't fight being put to sleep and actually took 1 - 3 hour nap! Amazing! This was all fine and dandy until we got home! I'm not sure what set her off but she was acting tired around 2:30 pm so we tried getting her to sleep. I headed out to mow and left Andrew to tempt her into sleep. I came back over an hour later to find her still fighting it. So, after my shower, I tried. Nothing! Finally when Andrew left to go to the grocery store at 6:00 pm (he is awesome!) I wrestled (just a term, no wrestling was involved) her into sleep for about 45 minutes. She woke up at 6:45 pm and was still tired and cranky for bed at 7:15 pm so off we went. She fought her bedtime like a bear too. Lots of crying and screaming (she screamed and I cried) and she finally fell asleep at 8:30 pm. The good news from this whole story is that she slept peacefully in her crib until 6:30 am! Through the night. Yeah! It's a good thing because I was too busy watching the Tony's to go to bed before 11:00 pm! She is silly!

Today I have her at work all day. She had a nice 1 hour nap already this morning and I just put her back down for another try and she slipped easily off into la-la land with NO FUSSING! I wish I knew what I did differently between the times she is fussy, whinning, and screaming for hours, vs 1 minute pacifier fix into blissful sleep! Ah babies!

I will post some wonderful pictures we got at Hocking Hills at some point. Probably not today as Andrew is working at PCC a few hours tonight, so I'm going solo on the bedtime routine.

Truly a post from the road!

We are headed to Hocking Hills state park this weekend for a family reunion. I am literally blogging from the road!! I am using Andrew's new phone which has internet capabilities. This is so cool!!! We are actually driving up 71 right now. Anyway I don't have much to say except this is really cool! I am thankful my husband is willing to drive and share is cool phone!

Seriously, what's up with all the posts?

I've been a blogging fool lately. Perhaps I've been spurred on by the fact that many of my friends have just started blogs. Perhaps I just have a lot to say. I have no idea!

The main focus of my life right now is Abigail's naps. Isn't that weird how I never thought about babies naps before having a baby? I never knew how important they would be to a happy health baby! We had one rough weekend with Abigail. She woke up several extra times on Friday night and the fought her naps Saturday with everything that she had! She lived up to her silly nickname "Crabbygail" on Saturday. Crazy girl! I held her off at bedtime (my art of baby distraction is becoming very refined) until 7:30 pm. Sunday was a little better. She relaxed and slept during church but really fought her nap while we were lunching at Andrew's grandparents. She finally fell asleep but only stayed down for an hour. She still needs two or three naps a day (with about 5 hours sleeping time between them). When we got home she napped after nursing for about 20 minutes. She was still so cranky, so off to bed we went. She slept from 8:00 pm until (ugh!) 5:15 am! I love it that she can sleep that long but 5:15 am is a killer since my alarm goes off at 6 am.

However, I do have good news to report. She is back to her cheerful self today! Since my MIL is away on vacation, I took her to work with me this morning. She has been an absolute angel. She slept for almost two hours (8 am to 10 am) and she just went back down for a nap at 11:30 am. She's still asleep. Perhaps she is making up for the weekend. I don't know! Hopefully she is good for Aunt Jennie this afternoon.

This weekend we are heading off to Hocking Hills State Park for a family reunion (Schechters). I am in the midst of a mental debate over what baby equipment I should bring. I always try to be a minimalist when packing but perhaps I should consider what might make the weekend a little easier on Abigail! We're staying in a cabin with the other new baby in the family so hopefully that will be the quiet cabin so the babies can nap when they need to!

Seriously, naps make my world go round! :)

Chicago Trip

We had a great trip to Chicago. I certainly am tired today but I'm so glad that we went to see my sister graduate. We will have to start calling her Dr. Jenny now! :) The trip was, again, way too short for my taste but at least we got to spend some time with my family. Part of the reason I may be extra tired is that Abigail has been waking up more than once at night for the past few nights. She got up twice last night and three times the night before that. I'm not sure why she is doing this. Last night, I went in for the second time at about 4:30 am and she was laying there making noise and kicking at her toy (playing). I moved the toy but she still didn't go back to sleep until she had some food!

Last week was a big week for my little family. Abigail had a new first . . . rolling over. I missed her first rolling over (and yes, I almost cried about that) but since then she has become a rolling maniac and has done it for me many times! She is only going from her stomach to her back. I don't think it will be too terribly long before she is going the other way. Also, my husband got a new job (and a second one may be on the way). I won't go into the details on here yet, mainly because I don't understand what he will be doing! :)

I don't have pictures of the weekend yet. We didn't have time to do anything yesterday, after we arrived home, but unpack, give Abigail a bath, and go to bed. I will hopefully post some soon. However, my main job this week is going to be trying to get our yard mowed! It has been two weeks since we have mowed (because we've been gone) and we've had lot of rain. It's a jungle!

Happy Monday!

Trip to Kansas

We had a wonderful trip to Kansas this past weekend. The only problem was that it was WAY too short! We left Thursday night about 4:00 pm and drove to Indianapolis for our flight. Abigail was an absolute doll on the flights. She fussed slightly a few times but mostly she just laid on her pillow (on our laps) and enjoyed a pacifier. She was a little fussy once we reached Manhattan. I think she was just overwhelmed with all the travel, different schedule, lack of sleep, and lots of new faces wanting to hold her. She always does better when she can sit/lay by herself without being held. She did a great job sleeping in some new beds (Pak n play) and was a joy to travel with on the way home too. We got back about 4:00 pm last night. It was a great weekend!

My cousin's wedding was very beautiful and everything went very smoothly (from what I could tell). We enjoyed wonderful hospitality and it was great to see my family again. It was the first time all of the Walter cousins had been together in such a long time. We got some great pictures.

The Walter Cousins. We haven't been together in a long time. When we used to line up like this, our heights would stair-step down. Not anymore!!

The bridesmaids waiting for the bride and groom to leave the church.

Abigail and Daddy all dressed up for the wedding. Abigail definitely preferred to be held by Andrew (even over me) all weekend long!

Me holding Abigail. She still has a runny nose! You can see it in this picture.

Abigail and Aunt Ronda (who sets a high standard for aunt "greatness"). Abigail really enjoyed hanging out with her Great Aunt Ronda!

This is an adorable picture of a happy Abigail and her Grammy (Gramie)! Abigail is so big as you can see in this picture next to my tiny mom!