Lake Weekend with the Thorpes

This past weekend we took a small get-away to Mountain Harbor with the Thorpe family. We drove down on Friday night and after getting the girls to bed, spent the evening talking, laughing, playing games and catching up on the back porch. It was 100% delightful. On Saturday we got up and had a lazy breakfast followed by a morning nap for the girls while David and Jay got the party barge ready. Once the girls woke up we headed out and basically spent the day on the lake. Abigail and Caroline even managed to snag afternoon boat naps...something Katherine and I were thrilled about. In fact, we were even more thrilled when it was Jay and David that got them down. Daddies on duty=Mommies tanning.

We ate lunch out on the lake and essentially simply enjoyed a delightful day together. I can't think of one thing I would change about the whole time we were together. It was relaxing and fun and simple. Simple and great. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Thanks for going with us Jay and Katherine! It was such a wonderful weekend!

9 Months

Abigail is NINE MONTHS old today! I've said this every single time I've written a post, and I'll say it again...I really can't believe it. Nine months seems so big, so not a little bitty baby anymore. We are soaking up every second and I'm not wishing one part of it away. The nine month photo session was a challenge today. Little girl didn't care to sit still and also didn't care to have the sticker on her shirt. If I say so myself she's still the cutest thing to ever wear these stickers. :)

Facts about Abigail this month:

1. Diapers: size 3--fitting perfectly

2. Clothing: all nine month items and some 12 month clothes

3. Sleeping: 7:30 p.m.-6:30ish a.m.

4. Eating: BIG CHANGE HERE! A couple days ago Abigail simply stopped nursing. I would try and try and try to get her to latch and she just wouldn't do. She would turn her head away or push me away and simply wasn't having any of it. It was so frustrating when it was happening. Especially since even though she wouldn't nurse, she was more than willing to take a bottle. I feel like I have been very successful at nursing her, but it definitely hasn't been that easy. Around 4 months she started refusing to eat from the left side, so since then I have pumped that side at each feeding, every day to keep production up while she nursed from the right side. This resulted in an overflow of milk that I was able to freeze. All of that pumping took up a lot of my day, but once I got into a routine it wasn't that bad at all, and I was really happy to have found a solution and to still be nursing. Up until this point Abigail has actually never had any formula. It just hasn't been necessary because I've had so much extra milk. After a couple days of the same thing with her refusing to nurse but wanting a bottle, I decided it was time to pull the plug. During those days when she was refusing to nurse, I continued to pump full feedings, but part of my decision to quit nursing also included the decision to let my milk dry up. I think that if I had not had to pump so much up until this point, I might have been willing to continue to pump full feedings, but I was tired. I had been feeling the pull to be done, but I would have never quit if she continued to want it. I feel thankful that it was her choice in a way. She made it easy for me to quit. I have LOVED this part of being a mother. It is something that I can't even really describe just how special it has been. I am content that it is over as well. I've reached that place of feeling really good about reaching nine months, and really great about moving on to the next thing. For now, Abigail will continue to have breastmilk because I have 450+ ounces frozen in my freezer. :) So technically I guess she'll be a strictly breastfed baby for about a month more depending on how fast we go through it. My milk is slowly drying up...which hasn't been that easy on me, and we're moving on to the next stage!

5. Napping: 2 naps a day. She sleeps from about 8:30-10:00 in the mornings and 1:30-3:00 in the afternoon.

6. Movement: She is definitely moving, although somewhat unconventionally. She rolls to most destinations. She'll also scoot forward by rocking and putting her little booty in the air. She hasn't connected the dots between moving all her limbs together yet though. :)

7. She's very loud with "dada" now. She'll scream it at the top of her lungs and then just smile. Melts my heart.

8. Baby food: fruits in the morning, veggie and fruit at lunch, veggies and meat at dinner. They're all baby food still because Abigail still has NO TEETH! Not one! This month she did try real bananas and was definitely a fan. I love her little toothless grin.

9. She will now swing her arms all around when she's excited. Recently she did it when the "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" song came on.

10. Daily schedule: the ounces are averages
7:00 Bottle (4 ounces)
7:45-8:00 Breakfast fruits (2-4 ounces)
8:30-9:00 Down for nap
10:00 Bottle (4 ounces)
11:30 Lunch-fruits and veggies (6 ounces)
1:00-1:30 Down for nap
4:00 Bottle (4 ounces)
5:30 Dinner-veggies and meat (6 ounces)
7:00 Bottle (4 ounces)
7:30 Bed

Sometimes she takes more ounces and sometimes she takes less.

11. Height: 27 inches--31%
Weight: 17 pounds 12 ounces--30%

12. Abigail loves to read books and will now turn the pages for us. It's so much fun.

She is such a joy in our life. She has so so much personality, is extremely busy, and is generally a happy baby. Here are a couple more pictures.

Lake DeGray Weekend Trip

This past weekend we were able to go with David's side of the family to spend some time in a cabin on Lake DeGray. Everyone could come, so it brought the grand total to 8 adults and 2 kiddos...my how the family has grown! Mike and Kathy went down on Thursday, John, Sarah and Shepherd Friday afternoon, and Ben and Abby got there around the same time we did in time for dinner! Mike grilled burgers and we enjoyed a great dinner together.

Thankfully we all had our own bedroom and bathrooms, but Abigail gave us quite a time on Friday night. She was really hard to get to sleep and then we woke her up and she woke us up basically all night long. NOT FUN. We also realized that we are completely ill-equipped to deal with a child that wakes up in the middle of the night because Abigail has literally never done it. We had no idea what to do. By the time morning came and the guys were headed off to fish, we were glad to see the sun coming up.

Saturday was great and relaxing. The guys went fishing in the morning and the girls hung around the cabin. When the guys came back we all had lunch together before naps were taken. Abigail slept great and Shepherd refused to nap at all. Some people went ahead and went out on the lake while others stayed back.

For dinner we went to Grandma's house since we were so close. As usual, she whipped up a huge meal with 3 dessert choices. I don't know how she does it at 83 years old. A fun fact about dinner, everything we ate (minus the desserts) came directly from the farm...the beef, veggies, fruit everything! Talk about farm to table eating! We also managed to make it home with some of this delicious produce. In fact I just put some okra into a gumbo in the crock pot for dinner tonight. Thanks Grandma!

On Sunday we spent some time on the the lake and ate a nice lunch at the Fish Net, where I sampled the frog legs. Not bad, not my best. :)

As a sidenote, we starting to get this whole sippy cup thing figured out...