After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

Holy Cow...I can't believe that I just noticed that my Thanksgiving post was never actually published..it has just been sitting here in it's "draft" status since we got back. That's what I might say if I was going to try and lie to you, but I'm not. (Girls..here's a lesson from your daddy about telling the truth.)

I know that Thanksgiving was ages ago. I mean not only is it no longer November; Christmas has also passed, taking December with it. Regardless, I'm man enough to admit that I just procrastinated on this and there is no good reason for this post being so late.

Now that I got that out of the way, let me tell you about part our Thanksgiving trip to New York. If someone had bet me on whether we would be going to a park in New York during Thanksgiving week, I would have lost a lot of money. I never could have guessed that the weather would be so nice that we would go not once, but twice.

I've culled through the virtual stacks and stacks of photos that Grandma and I took and tried to narrow down the list to a manageable amount. This was quite the daunting task since our trip was longer than the usual extended weekend. I had some extra time off this year so we decided to try and avoid the typical travel days, which just added to the collection of photos.

One afternoon we headed over to the playground at the Holbrook Commons where we had the place to ourselves right up until the last few moments and the second day we hit the playground at the Brookhaven Wildlife & Ecology Center. (which we didn't get to do this summer) As you might have guessed, Macy enjoys the park more than Laney and therefore dominates the park pictures. But have no fear, Laney fans, the next post includes photos from around the house and Laney dominated those photo shoots.

You'll see that both girls really enjoyed their time at the parks. Macy especially likes slides, going down both feet first and head first and Laney even enjoyed a few moments on the swing. As we headed back to the car, Macy got to enjoy the fun of playing with the piles and piles of leaves, something we don't really get in Florida.

I haven't been around a ton of preemies, but I think it is a safe bet to say that most 5 month old babies who were born 5 weeks early don't usually wear 6-9 month clothes. Well I know of one who is, and she actually started before she was officially 5 months old. It is so strange to look back at her early pictures and to see just how small she really was. I have to wonder if people think I'm either lying or just pulling their leg, when I tell them her actual age.

I have to check with Annie on this one, but I think Laney is officially on the "growth chart" now, having reached a size that puts her on the "regular" chart and not just the "preemie" chart. I'm not certain of her percentages, but I think her length is way up there.

I often find myself just looking at my littlest little one and if she's awake, she is typically smiling back at me. I remember Macy being an easy going and happy baby, but this kid smiles ALL THE TIME. She's nowhere near as easy of a baby, but I think she coos, laughs and smiles way more. When she's in a good mood, it is really a good mood.

(Yes I might have been "enticing" her a bit...but take my word for it...she smiles and talks a lot)

The other thing I've noticed about Laney is that she seems to pay close attention to her big sister. If Macy is nearby, then Laney is probably watching her intensely. For a while Macy seemed obsessed with her sister and it seems we've now moved into a mutually obsessive relationship. Macy now likes to call out "hold it" when she wants her sister in her arms and so far, Laney doesn't mind being the "it."

Oh my...I almost forgot to tell you about Laney's expensive breakfast.This past weekend Annie took Laney up to Jacksonville (JAX) for a weekend visit with Beth. As an added bonus, the Minnesota clan was embarking on a cruise out of JAX the same weekend. They flew up Friday night to spend some time with Beth and then in the morning had breakfast with the Minnesotans. The idea was for them to return Sunday evening, but Laney had other plans. Turns out that her tiny little belly was a bit upset and she suffered through a monumental bought of diarrhea and they had to return home early; about 18 hours after they landed. They had just enough time to say hi to everyone, grab a quick bite and then got back onto a plane.  

Quite an adventerous second plane trip ever.

(PS...her belly eventually settled down and eveyrthing is ok now)

After spending a fun week in NY, we headed up to Connecticut for an action packed weekend with the Catenis and Grandpa Kupper. Somehow in the course of less than 36 hours, we went peach picking, apple picking where we rode a tractor out to the apples, attended an official New England Country fair, played with what seemed like dozens of dogs and had a yummy Cheesecake Factory dinner. I'm tired just writing about everything we did.

In the pictures below you'll see Laney being protected from the sun, in a creative manner; which is what happens when you forget her hat. You'll also see Macy's new friend, Coco Chanel who put up with a lot of poking, grabbing and prodding, in exchange for a comfortable place to ride in the car.

I'm not sure anyone else is surprised to learn that there are peach farms in CT, but I sure was. Cousin Connery was an expert in picking good ones, a trait he must have inherited from Grandpa Kupper. (Check out the close-up of Grandpa's basket of picked peaches.)

The country fair was quite interesting, at least right up until "the incident" in the pig races. It seems that this group travels around the New England fairs, with their setup of piglet races and Dachsund races. They dress the little dogs up with "hot dog bun" like covers and race them around a winding track, all being narrated by a very talented individual, who almost makes this seem fun. Once the dogs are done, they are herded back into the trailer and out come the little piglets, who are wearing cute little colored bandanas, to help you identify your favorite little racer. All was good until someone forgot to lock the Dachsund door while the piglets were at the starting gate. I didn't know that Dachshunds and pigs have such a hatred for each other, but maybe the little dogs just felt inferior to the top billing the pigs get. Regardless, once the two species mixed, it was quite ugly and disturbing. As luck would have it, I had just weaved our way into the front, so Macy could get a better look at the racing miniatures. Before we knew what was happening, there was some disturbing high pitch squealing and some bloody little piglets. Clearly they were no match for the angry dogs. The moderator, who forgot to turn off his mic let out some un-PC comments as they were trying to separate everyone. Once things settled, the moderator was too shook up to continue and the races were halted until the next showing; evidently to give them time to perform some emergency care...that or to see if anyone need a refill of some new found bacon.

BONUS: In between the time I wrote the post and my cute editor approved it, we had a development. Laney officially turned from her stomach to her back. Just to be certain it wasn't one of those weird moments, daddy made her do it three more times.