On the Verge...

"What up world." That's right. Abram just returned for his first out of Texas trip! And he was quite the champ. We had some moments (mainly toward the end), but overall I think he did remarkably well for a not-quite-three-month-old. A picture of his first plane ride! Today has been full of mom making to-do lists in her head for when she has time and Abram being mostly happy and taking short little cat naps between each feeding. I won't make this blog too long, so that I can get to that to do list, but I wanted to share some of the pictures from our great trip! And he just woke up. So I have about 10 minutes of CIO time to get this done! We went to Boise to visit the very large and wonderful families that Quinn belongs to. Here are some pics: Abes and his GG And his Bopa Great grandpa and grandma, Bob and Ruth Peyron Being entertained by Uncle Pete. Aunt Jan. Aunt Kris and Uncle Jim On a family walk through the Nature Center And Abey loves his walks! Silas and Un...

"Guess what I did? No... it wasn't gas..." We have just experienced a big first in the Smith house (although I don't think it will become a regular occurrence for a few weeks yet). Abram just rolled from his tummy to his back!! On the bed, which I don't know whether that is easier or harder than on a floor, but still. I guess he's about on target for it, maybe a little early. He's always had a pretty strong neck, as evidenced by the fact that when we burp him we have to be very careful that his thrashing head does not smash into our cheekbones or our mouth (which are the most painful places to be hit by a baby head). Anyway, I got a pretty bad video of him right as he was doing it. So it's authentic, but sorry about the quality (grandparents, aunts, great grandparents, etc) We have been pretty bad about pictures, lately. But we got a couple when Aunt Hilary was here for a visit. Abram loving some Auntie time. Hilly got to experience giving Abra...

Up until this moment in the lives of Anaka and Abram, there has been a two hour leash connecting us to our house. He eats about every three hours and takes about an hour to eat and burp, etc. So if we had to go anywhere, we had about a two hour window. Now that wasn't bothersome if all we needed to do was go to Target (which we do much too often...) or to the driver's license office (which we did twice yesterday...) But, it was a little annoying if we, say, wanted to go to a friend's house and hang out and talk, or have dinner with the community group girls, or go to church. These things tend to take longer than two hours, minus travel time, and kept us from going to (or staying at) those things. Now, you might be asking: "Well, why don't you just get a nursing cover and nurse him at those places?" "Fair question," I might respond. And then I might answer with some fairly detailed breastfeeding facts that you might not want to read if you ...

"I'll show you personality." Oh sure, we've gotten smiles in the past few weeks. You have even seen some on this blog. But the last two days, have actually made me hopeful that this child might actually be developing a very fun personality. We have had two - yes TWO - fun, giggly play times in the last 24 hours. Those ten minutes have officially redeemed the hundreds of hours of crying I have heard over the last eight weeks. Actually seeing him see us and smile and react to what we are doing is one of the best feelings. He feels like a person to me now and less like a baby. I see a glimpse of what he will be like as a little boy and a teenager and a man. It's crazy that he will be a man someday (an AbraMan), but it's exciting to anticipate who he will become. We got the camera out during one of the giggly times. We did not have the camera taking speed photos. These are actually all separate shots over the five minutes or so. All leading up to... a breakdown ...

It's not for sure yet... but the last two days, Abram's eating schedule has been close to the same! This may not sound like a big deal. But for a mother that has not been able to plan her life because she has been living in unexpected 2.5 to 3 hour increments based on when an 8 week old decides to wake up in the morning, it's a very big deal. His sleep schedule is not as hopeful at the moment, but maybe we will get there soon. He has had so many grandparents around him for the past two months that there has never been a shortage of someone to hold him when he is sleepy and upset. So now he and I must agree on how much holding time is appropriate. He has been winning lately for the sake of my head, but my arms and back have begun start protesting. As I type, he has woken himself up at 11:30pm after being sound asleep for only about 20 minutes. I am out in the living room trying to write a quick update, while Quinn is in bed (most likely thinking about moving to sleep ...