23 Weeks old
We’ve had an adventure this week! Sean’s aunt has a cabin in Western North Carolina and his grandparents have a condo in the same area in which they stay for the summer. We headed up to the cabin for the July 4th holiday and to spend some quality time with Haley’s Great-Opa, Omi, Opa, and GG (her great-grandparents and grandparents on Sean’s side).
We left on Tuesday night just before 8PM. Why did we leave at this time, might you ask… well, we wanted to keep Haley on her schedule of sleeping at night 🙂 It was a rough drive; only because both Sean and I had been awake all day. Not to mention, Haley woke up twice on Monday night and the second time she did not want to go back to sleep easily (the first time that has happened!). Anyway, my hubby did almost all of the driving, bless his heart. He is a saint. The nice part was there was little to no traffic and we only had to take Haley out of her seat once to feed and change her. That made the trip 11 hours long, instead of what could have been probably more like 13 or more if it had been daytime.
We arrived early Wednesday morning (Happy Fourth of July!!) and Sean and I almost immediately went to bed while Sean’s parents watched Haley for us. After a ‘short’ nap, we took a walk around the property and then got to see Haley’s great-grandparents. We also had a wonderful meal! Haley got to take a bath in the big girl tub with mommy and daddy before going to bed – which was fun for all 🙂 After we got her settled down, we talked, watched tv, relaxed, and then we watched a few fireworks Sean’s dad set off. Next it was off to bed for us.
Thursday we got a late start (thanks to me sleeping in – which I’m ok with!). We took a great hike at Deep Creek. We brought Haley’s new jogging stroller and it did an awesome job! I think it’s safe to say that no one has ever taken a stroller on the path we took… Sean was amazing in his strolling skills. On the way back out, Sean’s mom and I stopped at the creek and waked across to the waterfall and took a dip! It was very refreshing 🙂 Pictures below! That evening we went to the great-grandparent’s house and had a wonderful dinner.
Friday Sean and I had a date day while Opa and GG watched Haley. We drove over to Waynesville and walked around downtown, went to the Mast General Store, visited a coffee house and a brewery, and then drove around some more. It was a very nice day and we really enjoyed having some mommy-daddy time to ourselves (although, we did miss our little girl a lot – she’s only been in our lives for 5 months, but it seems strange when she’s not around). When we got back to the house, Great-Opa and Omi were there and we had yet more yummy food. After they left, we watched some tv and then wen to bed.
Saturday, I slept in again 🙂 Now, I do have to justify – I am still getting up at night with Haley at least once, and during our trip it was twice… so I am allowed the extra sleep! That day we slowly packed up, lounged around a bit, took a walk, the 3 of us took a family nap, we got to see Great-Opa and Omi again and then Haley got to watch some fireworks! It was a nice last day in NC. We hated to leave, but it’s always so great to be at home too. Haley (and Sean and me too!) got to spend some great quality time with not only her grandparents, but her great-grandparents as well. She would have loved to visit with her uncle Nic too, but he was busy with school and work – so we better see him next time! We left around 7:30 that night and this time we both stayed awake all night. I drove the first 3 or 4 hours and then Sean drove the rest. We talked and watched a movie and then I read to him from ‘A Dance with Dragons.’ It was very tiring, but we had a good time together – which is a wonderful thing.
We arrived very early on Sunday morning – around 7 AM. We unpacked the car and then my husband did the most selfless thing – he let me sleep while he watched Haley. It was wonderful (for me!). That afternoon Sean took a nap while the two girls hung out and then later that evening we watched, ‘We Bought a Zoo.’
Monday was a sad day when we had to say bye-bye to Sean so that he could go to work and earn some money. We had a lazy day and it rained a lot so our moods were reflected in the weather.
So, that was our wonderful, first big road trip with our girl. She was great and we worked as a team – like always. It was a good way to start our traveling adventures 🙂 We’re looking forward to years of fun travels with our little family.
On the Haley front… she’s so much fun 🙂 She always was, but now she really is! She looks all around her, taking in everything. When you talk to her, she finds you in the room. I think she knows her name, because she looks at us when we call her by name 🙂 She’s starting to follow conversations – looking from person to person as they talk. I’m not worried about her having torticolis anymore – she looks both to the right and to the left equally, although she still prefers to roll to the right (but she will go both ways). She’s really sitting up quite well now without any support. She’s really playing with toys and putting everything into her mouth. She LOVES her rice cereal! She still loves to be outside. Ok- I can’t think of anything else new or fun right now! So… more next week…
(A special thanks to Aunt Rita for letting us use her wonderful house in the mountains!! What a special week we had!)
* ‘We Bought a Zoo’ – we really enjoyed this movie. It was moving and funny and interesting and just plain good. I like that it was based on a true story. I would definitely recommend it.
# of pictures taken this week: 621
# of videos taken this week: 2
# of insane hikes taken this week: 1
# of hours driven in the car this week: 20+
