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

Highlight of the Week

We’re back from being on vacation last week! And for the first time in a long time, we didn’t pack back up to leave & go anywhere last night!! This whole summer has been a whirlwind of weekend trips & extended time at the Lake House & it’s been so wonderful, but it sure was nice to not have to worry about packing a suitcase yesterday.

Our time away last week was so fun. It was so delightful to wake up all together & spend every day together as a family of four! We ate lots of good food (and tried out some new restaurants that quickly rose to the top of our “favorite Deep Creek Lake restaurants” list), we took lots of long walks, did some hiking, and did lots of relaxing. The beginning of the week was pretty chilly and even though it warmed up a little bit by the end of the week, Braelynn & Abby were the only ones brave enough to go swimming. And of course, what would a vacation for the Abbey’s be if we didn’t get a ride on a roller coaster in? We took Braelynn on the Mountain Coaster at the Wisp for the first time & she loved it!! Derrick recorded their ride on his GoPro & listening to her laugh & squeal in delight is absolutely the best!!

We’ve taken the week before Labor Day off every year for the last few years & I love it. I always used to think that taking vacation time off & having it end with a holiday was silly – why not take the week of the holiday off & use less vacation time? But, having that “extra” day feels like such a huge bonus!

Yes, This Happened

• Leander turned 9 months old this week! 9 months old! How in the world did that even happen?? I’m not sure if it was just because we were on vacation & spending more dedicated time paying attention to him, but he seemed to grow & learn so many new things last week & this week!! He suddenly got really good at pulling himself up to stand (he has become obsessed with the activity table Nana & Papa got him for Christmas last year – when he was just a few weeks old!) and now he tries to stand up on everything! He learned how to wave last week & will now show you his muscles (you just have to ask, “Leander, how strong are you?” and he squeezes his tiny fists together & scrunches up his face – it’s hilarious). He’s become more vocal, a faster crawler, and I just can’t get over how fast he’s changing & growing!
• Okay, the BIG NEWS for the week: I learned how to fold a fitted sheet!! I feel like such an official adult now! I watched a few YouTube videos, but this is the one that officially made it click! I was so excited, I pulled the giant mess that is our linen closet out & refolded everything – talk about the perfect activity for a Enneagram 1! I (very excitedly) told Derrick about my new skill when he came home from work & he just looked at me like I had lost my mind. “What’s wrong with just folding/rolling everything up?” “Nothing! But it looks so much better now that it’s all folded neatly!”
• On Thursday, we were out running a bunch of little errands and our last stop was dropping something off at my parent’s house. As we made the turn to pull into their driveway, Braelynn started screaming. She was losing her mind screaming & crying – I frantically asked, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong!?” and she squeaked out, “There’s a spider! A SPIDER!” I stopped right inside my parent’s driveway & turned around – she was pressed as fas as she could get in her carseat, but I couldn’t see anything. She was screaming & crying so insanely though that I jumped out of the car & ran around to her side. As I opened the door – I saw him: a massive brown fuzzy spider was sitting on the headrest of Braelynn’s seat. I hate spiders, but someone had to rescue my baby girl! So, I slipped off my shoe, and smooshed that thing (thankfully he didn’t jump anywhere or I probably would have lost my mind too). UGH, I still get all freaked out just thinking about how close he was to my little girl’s head!!
• Leander has discovered Abby’s dog food & water – oh boy.
• So, why is it that whenever I have the thought, “Hmm, *insert specific thing* hasn’t happened in a long time,” that it almost instantly happens? Like, “Hmm, Leander hasn’t peed on me while I was changing his diaper in a long time,” and not 30 seconds later, he’s peeing on me! Why is that?

Feeling Blessed

In case you can’t tell from this week’s Abby’s Saturday photo, we officially started school this week!! I’ve done little “school” activities with Braelynn on & off, but nothing on a regular basis or super structured. Well, we dove headfirst into “school” this week! Still nothing super structured (it’s preschool after all!) but we’ve made the habit of working together every day as soon as Leander goes down for his first nap. Yep! We’ve decided to teach Braelynn at home (did you know that both Derrick & I were homeschooled?) Braelynn is so smart & it’s absolutely delightful to watch her learn & remember things!! We’ve had a lot of fun together this week & are looking forward to the next 14ish years of school together!

Can we just talk about how big and mature Braelynn looks in this photo though? I feel like, while I’m over here looking at Leander in disbelief over how big he’s getting, Braelynn is growing super fast too! How do we slow down time??