We had a nice week at the farm. The girls were fantastic during the road trip, both ways. It’s a seven-hour trip without having to stop for feedings and diaper changes. With those it took us about 9 hours each way. We had a few moments of unhappiness, but overall the travel was great. My girls are road warriors.
We tried to be as prepared as possible, with as many of the comforts of home as we could bring in our huge vehicle (but not quite so huge when you remember we had two dogs in the back). Lass absolutely loves her swing, and it is a lifesaver for getting her to sleep at night. But it would have been very tricky to try to bring it along. Though my husband swore he would fit it in so we could have it, I managed to find a small travel swing at the last minute at our local Babies’R’Us. Literally, I was there last Saturday afternoon picking it up just hours before we hit the road. It wasn’t quite as good as the big swing, but she seemed to enjoy it pretty well.
So Lass spent the week swinging, and growing, and being adorable. She is such a good baby, she made it easy on me.
Miss had fun going outside with her Daddy and Baba. Here she is all ready to head out.
Over the weekend she got to see all of her cousins. Miss has nine boy cousins and two girl cousins in my husband’s family, so the play amongst the boys can sometimes get a bit loud and rowdy. They like to have my hubby be the “monster” and chase them around. This game comes complete with the scary monster noises from my hubby and screams of terror from the kids as they flee from him, so Miss was a bit overwhelmed and freaked out by it at first. She got really upset when the boys all ganged up on the monster and started jumping on and kicking my hubby. I kept telling her “It’s okay,” and she got to the point where she would run away from them while saying over and over “it’s okay, it’s okay” as she high-tailed it towards me to grab my legs and beg to be picked up. But she got over her fear and ended up having a great time.
They went on a few “treasure hunts” where the kids pile on the Ranger and ride around the farm searching for interesting things in nature. I have been on many of these and thoroughly enjoyed them myself, and I was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to go with Miss for her first one. But I know she had a great time. Here is what she found on her first treasure hunt.
I have never seen something like that before. Anyone know what the heck it is???
After she warmed up to them, Miss had lots of fun playing with her cousins of all ages. She had her 11- and 13-year-old boy cousins playing with her baby dolls and dancing with her and spinning her around so she could get dizzy and fall down. She played hide-and-go-seek with them too. She also learned some wrestling moves from one of her younger cousins a bit closer to her size.
She had to be reminded a few times about sharing.
The last night we were there, three of the small boys were taking a bath in one of the bathrooms and she wandered in there to see what was up. My sister-in-law who was bathing them asked her if she wanted to take a bath. Miss loves the bath, so she enthusiastically nodded her head. My sister-in-law started stripping her clothes off to put her in the bath and about the time she got to her diaper, Miss seemed to realize that my SIL intended to put her in the bathtub with the three boys. She quickly turned to me with a panicked look on her face and begged me to pick her up, saying and signing “All done! All done!!” I took her to the other bathroom for a solo bath 🙂
The last night we were there, three of the small boys were taking a bath in one of the bathrooms and she wandered in there to see what was up. My sister-in-law who was bathing them asked her if she wanted to take a bath. Miss loves the bath, so she enthusiastically nodded her head. My sister-in-law started stripping her clothes off to put her in the bath and about the time she got to her diaper, Miss seemed to realize that my SIL intended to put her in the bathtub with the three boys. She quickly turned to me with a panicked look on her face and begged me to pick her up, saying and signing “All done! All done!!” I took her to the other bathroom for a solo bath 🙂We had a good time, but as always, it’s so good to be home. Time for bed.
that’s pretty funny about the monster & about the bath… she wants to protect her daddy! glad Lass did such a good job too!
Hey, I LOVED opening up and seeing your new blog cover pic! And love the new stories and pix of the girls, too… keep ’em coming.
Love you,
Auntie
P.S. – Lass has your ears! 🙂
Amy Rochelle. Grandma Boyd says the “flower” that Miss discovered on the treasure hunt is a Jack-in -the-pulpit berry–the flower blooms April to June. There are different species with differently shaped leaves. Grandma’s research at our library: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers-Eastern. Dewey decimal: 582.13 NIE, published by Alfred Knopf, Inc.
Love you! Aunt Mag and Grandma Boyd