We made another trip to Fisher this past weekend for the wedding of our good friends, Helen & Eric. It worked out well because Harper got to meet her Great Grandparents - affectionately known as Granny & Pop - as well as her Great Aunt Pam and Great Uncle Byron! Grandma Lesa and Grandpa Steve were also able to spend a little time with her while we were at the reception.

We’ve had some big things happening lately. Harper is doing just fine riding in the car now, she’s sleeping on her own in her swing, she’s doing ok riding in her stroller, she’s rolling over, babbling away at us (especially just after she wakes up from a nap), and she’s begun reaching for things. Big steps for such a little girl!

If you’re a member of our VIP club, enjoy some new pictures and videos from the last week. We’re hoping to have even more soon enough!

Last weekend we made our first long trip in the car, heading home to sweet ol’ Fisher, Illinois to visit my side of the family. We’d had a long Saturday to begin with - up early to switch our cellular service to AT&T, then ran a few last minute errands, then we packed up the car and drove to Collinsville for our friend Beth’s baby shower, then we finally hit the road for Fisher around 5:15. We probably should have known that if all that time in the car was wearing on us, it would really be wearing on Harper, whose ability to handle the car has been tentative at best.

Four hours and many stops to soothe a crying infant later, we finally pulled into the driveway at my parents’ house. To give you some perspective, the trip from Collinsville would normally take about 2.5 hours. It was not a fun day. However, we got to introduce Harper to her Aunt Kris, cousins Megan and Nicole, and Aunt Sara and Uncle Andy, who were all kind enough to wait patiently for us.

On Sunday, Harper got to meet her cousin Lucy, who is just under a year old, as well as her Aunt Leigh, and later her Uncle Drew, Uncle Mike, and cousin Aaron. She even got to meet my good friend, Jackie, who is one of those honorary aunts that I mentioned in my last post. It was a busy day, but fun for the whole family.

Finally, Monday morning we packed up the car and headed back to St. Peters, MO. We learned that the best time to travel with Harper is in the mid-to-late morning. She slept from 9:30 when we left, until 12:30 when we pulled up to our condo. Perfect!

Despite her troubles on Saturday, Harper has been doing really well in her car seat. She either passes out like most kids, or stares transfixed at the little orange elephant we bought that clips onto the seat. Either way, she’s happy, so we’re happy. We’re going home again soon to see our friends Helen and Eric get married, so we’ll see if we can keep this streak going. Wish us luck!

Those of you on our VIP list should already have an email inviting you to check out the photos from our most recent adventures at home and abroad. If you’re still not on the VIP list, shoot us an email (VIP @ lammlelounge dot com) and we’ll get you added.

By the way, I don’t know why some of you can’t see the VIP videos. I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to figure out what is making things difficult. I’ll try to tweak things a little bit the next time we have video to upload and maybe that will help.

Harper is going to be one fairly confused little girl. You see, she has a lot of female relatives. In Grandmothers alone she has four - Grandma Joan, Andrea’s mom; Grandma Lesa, my mom; and Grandma Marla, my biological mom; and, of course, she’ll know about my mom, Grandma Barb, through pictures and stories. There are a few Great Grandmothers. Throw in a few Great Aunts (who will probably spoil her so much they’ll be considered honorary grandmothers), a few friends whom we’re so close to they’ll be called “Aunt”, all those cousins on the Schumacher side, a handful of cousins on the Lammle side, and you’ll have one perplexed kid. And who could blame her? She’s going to think that every woman who ever holds her is related to her - and they probably are somehow.

Over the past weekend, Grandma Marla (that’s my bio-mom, for those trying to keep track) came down for her first visit to meet Harper. She came down Friday afternoon and stayed until about noon on Saturday, and we all had a nice time talking, watching a little TV, and generally getting to see one another. I’ll post a few pictures of her visit (hopefully) tonight.

This coming weekend, if all goes well with the whole “screaming her head off every time we drive anywhere” situation, Harper will also be meeting a bunch more of her relatives in Fisher. A few aunts, a few cousins, a few uncles, and even great grandparents. As well as a rather snobby little Yorkshire Terrier. Again, though, this all depends on her willingness to ride in the car. I swear, we have the only kid ever who hates to ride in the car. Although she has gotten better over the last few weeks, and I think it’s because we’ve been trying to get her out and about as much as possible. It seems to be helping anyway.

However, in better news, it appears we have reached a new level of sleeping comfort - she is now sleeping in her swing for fairly long stretches at a time. Yes, that’s right, Andrea has been able to sleep in a big kid bed for a little over a week now! Granted, she’s sleeping restlessly because she’s still a mom who has one ear open to listen for Harper’s cries, but she is sleeping horizontally again, rather than shoehorned into the recliner. So, one small step for mom; one giant leap for Harper.

Anyway, I just wanted to get everyone updated on how things are going with the (new) Lammle Family. Again, I’ll have pictures up of Marla’s visit and then, if all goes well, pictures from Harper’s first visit to Fisher will be up next week. Keep your fingers crossed for us!