Abby’s Saturday // Two Hundred And Seventy-Four

Highlight of the Week

You guys.
It’s officially the holiday season!

Our tree is up and Derrick is at Target as we speak buying a few more strands of lights (why is it that I carefully wrap up & put away the lights every single year only to bring them down the following year to find that they either don’t work or only half of them work – sporadically .. maybe?) So, once he gets back & I replace the strand of lights that is currently on the tree & not working – we’ll be putting ornaments up! I debated putting ornaments up at all, but Leander has done really well with the tree so far. It’s been up for a week & he really hasn’t touched it at all (I’m kind of shocked – knock on wood). So, I think we’ll attempt to put a few ornaments up (only non-precious non-breakable ornaments – I’m not that crazy).

But the real reason that it officially feels like Christmas is that we went to Kennywood’s Holiday Lights last night for their opening night! It feels like it’s been forever since we were at Kennywood last (you think I’m crazy? Well, for most of the summer, we were there once a week, so to go 2 months without a trip to Kennywood feels so strange!) We had such a wonderful time last night! Braelynn rode a ton of rides (some multiple times in a row), we saw the train display, had dinner at Johnny Rockets, and we rode the train & the carousel as a family. It was chilly (but not as chilly as that one year we went to Holiday Lights) but we bundled everyone up in multiple layers & we had a blast! We get into Holiday Lights with our Season Passes on Fridays & Sundays, so we’ll definitely be going back at least one or two more times before Christmas (we didn’t get to see the new 4-D show or walk thru the festive Noah’s Ark – a lot of the park is not open for Holiday Lights, but there is definitely still a ton to do!)

Yesterday, before going to Kennywood, Braelynn & I were talking & she asked if the roller coasters would be open. I said that they wouldn’t be as it’s too cold to run most of the coasters this time of year. And she responded: “Well, why are we even going then?” Is she Derrick’s daughter or what?!

Yes, This Happened

• Further solidifying the “it’s officially the holidays” feeling – we went to Light Up Night in our little town on Thursday night!! It was a gorgeous, not-too-cold evening & there were SO many people who came out to attend the parade!! Unfortunately, the pacing of the parade was way off, with huge long gaps in between sections of the parade (no joke, a handful of floats would go by and then there would be a 5-10 minute long stretch of nothing). It was so confusing & frustrating & so many people left early – us included. It was just so hard to tell if there was more? Was that the end? Should we continue waiting? Oh well. We saw most of the parade (I think?)
• Leander has really started to communicate with us – he now nods his head when he is affirming something and he knows how to sign “all done” – he is truly starting to break into this place of us talking to him & him being able to “talk” back! It’s hilarious & SO much fun!! You can see it in his eyes that he’s thrilled about the prospect of being able to communicate with us & it’s just the best! He’s also becoming a little more independent with his playing – I’ll find him just sitting in the living room with his toys, taking things out, putting things back, banging on things – simply entertaining himself for little stretches of time. When did my baby boy get SO big & how do we make it stop? I’m literally in denial about him turning ONE YEAR OLD in 10 days.
• Speaking of the little man: he got his first fat lip this week. Braelynn & I were sitting in the dining room, making a turkey craft, and he was entertaining himself in the living room. I was watching him – he was fine. He crawled over to this little end table we have between our couches and I turned to watch, in slow motion, as he went to pull himself up to stand (like he’s done a thousand times at this exact spot before) when he lost his grip & his little face went smack into the edge of the table. I instantly jumped up & grabbed him – looking him all over to see where exactly he had hit & I couldn’t find a bump. Well, that’s when I noticed his lip was bleeding & swelling up – his little teeth had bit right into his lip. Poor dude!! Thankfully, after a few hours the swelling had pretty much disappeared & he’s all back to normal now.
• Braelynn & I were talking at one point this week about something (I don’t even remember what now) but she asked me a question that I did not know the answer to. She responded, “That’s okay, we’ll just have to ask Daddy when he gets home. And if he doesn’t know, we’ll ask Grandma.”

Feeling Blessed

So, remember how I couldn’t stop talking about finishing up our 3rd floor a few weeks ago? Well, those final steps of painting & having carpet installed literally could not have come at a better time, as we were able to comfortably & enthusiastically host Derrick’s brother & my best friend’s family last weekend (if you aren’t familiar, it’s the same family – Derrick’s brother & my best friend got married & that’s how Derrick & I met!) They were traveling our way for Naomi’s Grandfather’s memorial service & spur of the moment, they needed a place to stay, and thankfully – we had this big beautiful new room we could host them all in! I know I keep gushing about it, but that room is incredible – we put 2 inflatable queen mattresses up there, plus a pack-n-play, plus Derrick’s desk & some of his music/recording equipment has been set in place up there, plus they had all of their suitcases & stuff – and there was STILL plenty of room!! It was absolutely delightful to have that space for them to stay in & it was absolutely delightful to have them here!

They stayed with us for 3 nights and Braelynn was in heaven! Cameron is her BFF & after a rough first night (they tried having a sleepover together in Braelynn’s room but they didn’t actually go to bed until after 10pm & then they were both up around 6am – it was rough) We said that they couldn’t sleep together the second night (due to the extreme lack of sleep the night before) but the third night they finally had a good sleepover together! It was so adorable – two best friend’s who’s babies are now best friends – so so so good.

The last full day they were here, we all went down to the Science Center in Pittsburgh for the day. I haven’t been there since I was like, 10 years old – and Derrick & Braelynn have never been there! It was SO much fun & the kids had a blast (except for the movie we saw in the planetarium about astronauts that freaked the little girls out – oops). They’ll be back in a few weeks to celebrate Leander’s first birthday with us!