Chris and Aly get married!

This past Friday, my cousin, Chris, married his girlfriend of six years, Aly. It was a wonderful wedding held halfway between Baltimore and Washington DC at The Villa. Aly looked amazing, the food was incredible, and the music was perfect. We had an excellent time!

Daniel took a half day from work on Friday and we took the long road trip south. We would have made it right on time for the 6:00 ceremony, but an accident right at our exit off the Baltimore beltway set us back more than we expected. Nevertheless, we got there right at the start of the cocktail hour.

Aunt Lo (my mom's sister - Chris is my dad's brother's son, so Aunt Lo wasn't involved with this wedding) was gracious enough to watch Trafton for the evening at my parents' house. I was a bit nervous about leaving him, especially since he absolutely refuses to take a bottle, so I knew he would have to either be fed through a medicine dropper or go to bed without eating. Trafton refused both the bottle and the dropper and eventually did go to bed without eating after a fair amount of screaming (a big THANK YOU to Aunt Lo for getting through that!!). It was really great to have a night out with Daniel and to see all of my family. I woke Trafton up when we got home and he ate happily and went back to sleep for the night.

We headed back to Bloomsburg on Saturday, but first stopped at some of our favorite places that just aren't local to Bloomsburg. Starbucks for breakfast, Baja Fresh for lunch, and REI to get a great winter hat for Trafton. In all, it was a wonderful weekend of road-tripping with the family!

Leaving Trafton with Aunt Lo as we leave for the wedding

Aly and Chris have their first dance

My parents

Uncle Bob, Aunt Anne, and Aunt Mary

Cousins Harry and Allison, my brother Jason, and cousin Ben

Chris's parents, my Uncle Leo and Aunt Jeannie

Daniel and I with Uncle Tim

Chris and Aly greeting their guests

Inside the reception tent

Some important men in my life :)

Cutting the cake

Saturday morning hanging at my parents' house

Trafton was being a sweetheart after a night of fussing

A Sheetz stop in Duncannon on the trip home

4 Month Checkup

Today Trafton had his 4 month appointment with the doctor. He did great! He smiled and 'talked' to the doctor and nurses the whole time. When he got his round of vaccines, he was smiling, then the first shot went in and he opened his mouth to scream. He turned purple and did the whole silent cry thing before letting out one long wail of distress. By the time he made a sound, though, the shots were all finished. Then he was back to being happy. He weighs 16 pounds, 7 ounces and is 25 inches long. His percentiles are down in the 70s now, whereas at his 2 month checkup he was in the 90s for both height and weight. I have finally packed away the last of the 3 month clothes and am starting to pack away some of the 6 month clothes that are cut a little smaller. I have a whole bin of stuff already that he is finished with - unbelievable!

Great Meadows, NJ

We spent last weekend at Daniel's father's house (Al's Mountain Cabin) in Great Meadows. It was a relaxing weekend with the Beyer family. The guys spent much of Saturday splitting wood for the winter-time wood stove usage and I stopped over to see the addition of the horses, fence and barn at Mike and Courtney's house down the street.

On the porch with Aunt Courtney

On the porch with Uncle Jon


Chillin' at Uncle Mike and Aunt Courtney's place

Relaxin' at Pappy's cabin

Visiting with the guys after they finished the splitting logs

With Daddy after a hard day's work

Evening is coming on, time to start a fire and hang out

With Pappy Beyer

With Uncle Jon and Travis as we sat around the fire - Trafton stayed up a little past his bedtime since he was being so good and appeared to be just mesmerized by the fire.

Sunday morning with Pappy

Getting so close to rolling over, but at this point he just hadn't done it yet

Visit from the O'Hares

Two weekends ago my parents came to visit with us and the little grandson that they just adore. We relaxed around the house a bit and took a good long trip to the fair.

Grandpa has Trafton on top of our cat's tree.

With Grandma

At the fair

Taking a break on a bench at the fair

In the horticultural building, I think - I had never been in there, but I loved it! There were so many awesome plants and flowers to see. Trafton is busy checking out Grandpa in this picture.

Haystacks

The Friday that the fair was in town, Daniel's school district was closed, so we decided to take one of our favorite hikes to the Haystacks in World's End. It had rained so much that the Loyalsock was overflowing and the haystacks were actually completely under water! (The 'haystacks' are large smooth rocks that resemble haystacks rising from the water - they are great to play on and swim around in the summer!) It was neat to see such floodwaters. Some parts of the trail were pretty wet, but mostly the trail was okay for walking on. Trafton did great! He stayed awake until right before we came upon the water, then we woke him up to change his diaper and turn him around so he could sleep on the walk out.

Getting ready to head in the woods

So excited!

At the trailhead

Descending

Family shot

Trafton didn't quite make it to the water before falling asleep.

Diaper change time on the forest floor

Autumn baby!

In front of the flooded Loyalsock - Trafton has his 'hiking boots' on :)

We turned him facing Daddy's chest so he could get some sleep.

Heading back up

Snacktime - that hike made us both hungry!

4 Months Old!

Today Trafton is 4 months old! He is so much more aware of his surroundings and in this past month he has learned to do so many new things! He plays with toys and reaches for things, he has found his feet and attempts to put them in his mouth during diaper changes, he squeals and giggles (sometimes his squeals are really, really loud and sometimes he gets on a roll in semi-quiet public places . . .), he can roll from tummy to back, he has started to lift his head when he is on his tummy, and he 'refuses' to get in his car seat by making his entire body stiff as a board - this makes it impossible to buckle him in.

Playing with his new ball

Raising his head - he used to always scream through tummy time, but he has become slightly more interested now that he is lifing his head.

Strapped in with Daddy - the Moby wrap makes a great beer holder!

Squeaky clean after a bath

Hanging out with Lish - she stopped by on a visit back east from her current state of Washington. It was, as always, great to catch up with Lish!

Hanging out with the Smiths! Lori has Trafton as Aidan and Lily play the drums.

Relaxing on the couch

BIG Smile!

Trafton still sleeps with hands in the air.

The Bloomsburg Fair

This year we took Trafton to the fair twice. We explored the fair more than we usually do - we have only been going for maybe the past five years or so and usually we just go a couple times in the evening to eat our favorites for dinner. It was tons of fun and I found two new favorite things to eat - wings and beef & cheddar sandwiches! We even made our way to the Barton house - just one of the places I have never been to at the fair.

Outside the Barton house

Outside the Barton house

This year we plan to start our tradition of getting a real Christmas tree. In some years passed, we have spent many days on the road visiting family and friends and I have always been afraid of leaving a real tree to dry out for such a long time. This year we plan to be at home more, so a real tree it is! We talked to the gentleman from this tree farm and smelled the different trees to find a kind we liked. Daniel worked on a tree farm in New Jersey for many years in high school and college, so this will be great!

There is a small horse here during the daytime hours that you can have your picture taken with, but it was getting late at this point - I just wanted the sign in the background anyway :)

Homemade ice cream!

Trafton did great in his Cadillac Carriage!

But at this point, he had just had enough! Time to go home :)