Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Fifty-Three

Highlight of the Week

We have season passes for Kennywood Park, so we are typically there about once a week. Last Saturday, Steel Curtain – Kennywood’s new record-breaking coaster – ran it’s first set of test runs. We got over to the park as soon as we could, hoping to see it & get footage of it for Derrick’s YouTube channel. Unfortunately though, a storm was rolling in & the whole park closed down early that night.

We weren’t too concerned though, because we knew we’d be back at the park on Friday (which was last night). One of the amusement park podcasts that Derrick listens to was coming to Kennywood on Friday & hosting an event which Derrick (and I) got picked to attend. There was free food & drinks & ERT (which stands for “exclusive ride time”). Originally, Steel Curtain was already supposed to be open & we were supposed to have ERT on the new coaster. However, with it not opening for 2 more weeks, we got ERT on the next best thing: Phantom’s Revenge. It was a little dicey whether it was going to work out or not – a few storms rolled through right at the end of the day and it rained, thundered, and lightninged from about 8:30pm until 9:45pm. Our ERT was set to begin when the park closed at 10pm, but with all the rides shut down for the last 60+ minutes, we were worried that they wouldn’t open Phantom back up for us. Thankfully, our waiting around & hanging out paid off & as the park officially closed down at 10pm, we were able to waltz into the Phantom’s Revenge station & ride over-and-over-and-over-and-over again – as many times as we could – for the next hour. It was such a fun experience! I’ve ridden Phantom’s Revenge so many times, but only a handful of times in the dark, and never before just back-to-back, sitting in literally any seat every time. It was a lot of fun! Derrick & I rode several times in the front, the middle, and the back – and we both agreed: the front is the best.

Yes, This Happened

• Leander’s FOURTH tooth has popped through! I’ve been calling him “scraggle tooth” for the last 10 days because while one of his top teeth came in, but the other did not. So, he had this crazy, silly, lopsided grin. We knew the other top tooth was so close to coming through – it just took a little longer than I was expecting!
• We all have been battling these weird sickness stuffs: Leander has had a runny nose (probably tied to his teeth coming in), Braelynn has had a cough, I have had a cough, and Derrick had some weird sinus-stuff going on that left him with a slight fever & feeling achy. Thankfully, we all seem to have gotten over the worst of it (which, thankfully never really got super bad) – it’s just been a weird week of going to bed early.
• Speaking of bed! I know I’ve been shouting from the roof-tops that Leander has been sleeping so good! Ever since we did the sleep-training program with him about 6 weeks ago, he has been a CHAMPION sleeper! He takes fantastic naps & sleeps in his own bed, in his own room for 11-12 hours a night, waking only one time a night to nurse (which is normal for 4-5 month olds). At around 6 months old though, babies should drop that single night-time nurse & be able to sleep the whole night long without waking up at all. If you had told me 2 months ago, that Leander would be such an amazing sleeper that he would drop that night-time nurse all by himself & sleep 11-12 hours a night without waking up at all?! I would have laughed in your face. BUT – he has done just that! Every single night this week, he has gone to bed, and slept without waking up 11-12 hours all by himself!! It’s insane & amazing & I can hardly even believe it. Are you curious about our experience with a sleep consultant & sleep training? I’m thinking about writing a post about it – if you’d love that, leave me a comment below!

Feeling Blessed

SO – summer has arrived in full-force this week! It’s been hot & sunny every single day & it’s been wonderful. We’ve all gotten to wear our shorts & tank tops & flip flops and we’ve spent a good amount of time outside, soaking up all the sun.

It’s been hot – so I pulled out the little plastic pool I had bought last summer for Braelynn. I quickly realized that, even though it was the perfect size last summer, it shrunk over the winter-months (either the pool shrunk, or Braelynn got way big & we added a second child – I’m going with “it shrunk”). Needless to say, it was time for an upgrade & quick. So on Wednesday, I went to WalMart to buy the bigger version of the same plastic pool. As I was carrying it up to the checkout, I had this crazy idea: Hmm, this thing is really big – I hope it fits in my car! I laughed at myself & said, Nahhhh – I’m sure it’ll fit! I have a mini-SUV after all & I’m sure the people who made the pool, took into consideration the size of most vehicles! So, I bought the pool, carried it out to my car & guess what? It didn’t fit. Not even close! I tried several different tactics (the trunk, sideways across the back seat, maybe in the passenger seat?) with absolutely no luck. After a few phone calls & a little brainstorming, I realized that the only way I was getting the pool home was in a different vehicle. Enter, my sister Amy. She had just gotten home from work & she saved the day by driving my family’s 12-passenger van up to WalMart, picking up the pool, and dropping it off at my house. Cue the confetti!
The pool is perfect & so much fun! Braelynn has loved playing in it & Leander has liked splashing around in the cool water too (he’s not a big fan of when big sister splashes him though).

I’m always thankful for my family (my “village”), but even more so this week! I called my sister Amy twice this week, asking for immediate help & she dropped everything she was doing to come help me (the second time was when I woke up with a torturous migraine on Tuesday morning & she came over to hang with the kiddos while I fell asleep on the couch waiting for my Ibuprofen to kick in). My Mom watched the kids for the first part of yesterday while Derrick & I enjoyed the first part of our day at Kennywood, and my sister Emma came over to watch the kids last night while we enjoyed the second part of our day at Kennywood. I literally don’t know what I’d do without my people! And, let’s be honest, I look forward to the day that I can pay all of them back by dropping everything & running to help them out (I’m just in the season of life right now when I need the help – the day will come when the roles are reversed & I’ll be ready!)