Weekend in Munford Wrap up

Dear Abigail,

Yowzers, did we have a busy AND fun weekend visiting the folks back in Munford! We headed in town on Wednesday and went straight to Papa Rob's, although Mimi begged us to "just stop by for a minute." Mommy knows better... We had to get to Papa Rob's because dinner was awaiting, and your tummy apparently was telling you "I'm hungry," or so you say. After catching up over dinner with PR, the two of you headed off to your usual pillow fight, but I think PR was a little shocked at how much you've improved in your toughness!! You're no Clara Lee just yet, but you were able to finally put up a fight, and I'm pretty sure you wore him out!! Gramma made it home and after a few hugs and kisses and a few 'looking at the birds', it was off to bed.

Papa Rob and Gramma were super impressed (and a little jealous) at how late you were sleeping, but I had to clear it up for them that you only sleep that late when A) you go to bed later than usual (which that night was just the tip of the iceberg of going to bed late...) and B) when you are sleeping right beside Mommy!!! It's a personal struggle I am going through, if you must know. I know I can sleep late when you sleep late, but you sleep late when you sleep with me, but I can't really sleep with you - so where do we go... Anyway, that's for another day.

So, Thursday rolled around and we finally made it to Mimi's. After picking her up we made a quick trip to the mall where we met Emily (and Aunt G - but Em stayed with us while Aunt G did her thing). After running after you through Macy's one too many times, Mimi finally decided on a swim suit and we headed to the pool! Mammaws pool that is. One of Mommy's oldest friends, heck, maybe the oldest that I still keep in touch with, anyway - Miss Erin was stopping by with her 3 girlies to splash in the pool. We had such a good time swimming, and Mimi and Mommy were super entertained my Miss Erin's ability to watch all 3 kids, in the pool!! AND, Ellis, who is less than 2 months older than you, can swim!! Like for real swim, with no swimmy thing. After watching Ellis swim back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, I knew you had it in you, too. Not to skip too far ahead of the weekend, but the next day, that's just what you did! I asked you if you wanted to swim like Ellis and you said yes, so you swam back and forth between me and Mimi, NO SWIMMY! Now, you have to learn to kick your legs a little bit harder, but Mimi's going to work on that with you. But you have no fear whatsoever of that water and I have to keep my eye on you all the time because you will just jet from the steps, face in, and swim right to me!!!! Mimi and Mommy were so proud!! So, we owe it to Ellis that you are officially turning into the mermaid you've been dreaming of :)

After swimming at Mammaws for the afternoon, we headed back to Papa Robs but first we picked up Madison!! She was staying at Papa Robs too and you guys had to get some playing time in. Papa Rob and Mommy loved it because we kind of had a little babysitter with Madison!! We had a good dinner, oh, and a special ice cream dessert Gramma made!!, and after a quick bath, you girls decided you needed to sleep in the same bed together. Hmmmm, wonder how this is going to turn out... I decided we'd give it a go, but unfortunately A) there were terrible thunderstorms that made the electricity flicker and was really loud and B) Madison wasn't quite used to the early bedtime that you abide by! You two didn't know, but I had the monitor on, so I could hear every word the 2 of you were saying. Poor Madison doesn't do well in storms and was doing a little of whining about needing her Mommy. So you, very grown up said "I go get Gramma for you" and Madison said no, she needed her Mommy, so you said "I go get Papa Rob?" and again, she said no. It was funny listening to you console Madison through her rough time and eventually we had to separate the 2 of you (after Papa Rob tried to give it a go by laying with both of you. That was funny because his patience lasted about 5 minutes top!!!). You 2 were asleep in no time once separated and of course, you slept like a log, all night, and barely got to see Papa Rob before he left for work!

On Friday, we headed over to Mammaws to swim again, but this time we had quite the crew joining us! Aunt Lizzy and Sarah and Emery were in town from Houston, so we went to visit them and Lynnie came over, and Em, and of course Mimi, then Gracie and Sydney and their Mommy and Katie Ann! And even some neighbors stopped by!!! We played all day at the pool and you showed off your swimming skills. Sydney showed you how to kick your feet really hard and you showed her how to put her face in the water! We all played and played and played, oh and ate and ate and ate. The only picture I was able to capture through pretty much the whole weekend until Sunday morning was these two...

Not sure what you are doing here, but felt like I needed to include it because it's the only water picture I got!

Here's you and Sydney eating a special snack!

That afternoon, your BFF was picking Mommy up because she was taking me on a surprise. It pretty much came out of left field and she told me to just be ready by 2:30. I listened, and boy was I glad. Your BFF took me to have a prenatal massage!! It felt great, and I'm pretty sure Kate enjoyed it too. In the meantime, you were hanging with Mimi and the million of other folk at the pool, and apparently you did actually take a nap! Not sure how, but everyone assured me you did. Sarah and I had to stop back by after the massage because silly Mommy forgot to give Mimi the keys!!, so you got to visit with your BFF a little more. But, again, Mommy headed out with Sarah while you stayed with Mimi (we had to go see a movie you just couldn't see... sorry...). I don't think you cared because you ended up staying at Mammaws pretty late and when I got out of that movie you were STILL not asleep at Mimis. Mimi assured me you were almost though... that Mimi. Saturday morning came and while we didn't do much of anything but play at Mimis, the morning slipped by us with no problem. Mommy and Mimi and ALL the other girls in our family + Emery (19 of us to be exact - and that's not including Aunt Ash-ash and CL) were heading out to see Beauty and the Beast at the theatre. Now, I struggled with taking you or not. At first I was like no way, not in a million years. But then you REALLY love Beauty and the Beast (that's even what you call dresses - you say "I want to wear a Beauty and the Beast") but at the end of the day, the show said you had to be at least 4 to attend. So I took their word for it and instead you stayed with your BFF!!!! It was a hard toss up, but I think you enjoyed Sarah more than sitting in a theatre for multiple hours. AND, Bebe came by too!! Apparently you three went to the park and played lots of babies. And I'm pretty sure you made both Sarah and Bebe laugh with your little phrases you have going on these days - particularly "You're kiddin' me" which sometimes sounds like "You're killin' me"! After a fun packed afternoon with Sarah and Bebe, you'd think we'd just stay home, but no, we ventured back down to Mammaws to get one last dose of Lizzy and the gang in. While we didn't do any swimming, you kiddos had fun running around all crazy and wild, and for MANY hours!! Oh, and John Michael is totally saying your name like crazy!!! And I got to hear him say "Nik-nik" although your name was the top choice, no doubt! Mommy had it set in her mind that we'd leave after dinner, but after dinner ended up being at least 8 o'clock, and then we were all having such a good time, 8 turned to 9, then 9 turned to 10! And you were still awake!!! Finally I pulled the plug and we headed back to Mimis where you quickly went to sleep.

On Sunday, we had planned on heading out pretty early to meet Daddy for lunch back in Nashville, but since you went to bed so late, you slept pretty late, and so did the rest of us. It was going to be way too much to get out of the house in time to get to Nashville at lunch time, so we decided to stick around a little bit. Well, guess who finally made it home from their beach trip and HAD to see you??!! Why Clara Lee of course! Aunt Ash-ash said she talked about you their entire way home from the beach, which apparently took a lot longer than expected. There was no way Clara Lee (or Ash-ash for that matter) was going to let you leave without a little visit! So, Mimi headed to pick CL up that morning while Mommy packed the car. Since we had a little time to kill, we decided to break out the sprinkler and let you girls just play for a little bit. And that's just what you did....

Can you tell CL was super pumped about seeing you??!!!

Somehow you always convince CL (or whoever) to pull you around, while you just sit back and relax...

Somebody loves them some Abby!

And you know there are baby dolls around if CL is around...

I'm not sure what the conversation is right here, but it looks serious, and looks like CL is really paying attention and listening!

It got so hot that morning that we decided the sprinkler wasn't enough, so we jumped in the pool to cool off. You showed CL how to swim, and while she was very firm on "NO" she did NOT want to put her face in the water, I do think you got her a little more relaxed in the pool!! Unfortunately, we had to end the visit a little shorter than wanted because we had to go see Daddy (it was Father's Day after all!!!) BUT never fear, my dear, you are headed back in literally one week to stay with Mimi, wait for it... by yourself!! And for a whole week! I can pretty much guarantee that A) you will learn to kick your feet like no other and B) CL will get WAY too much Abby time and will expect it all summer!!! We may just have to schedule another week, huh :)

Love you baby girl, oh, oops, little girl!!!!!