I can’t believe how busy we have been since the last time I updated you on my life and “going-ons.” I am mobile!!! Yes, I “commando crawl” all over the place. Mommy and Daddy need to “baby proof” the house now, because I have my eye on all of the shiny and pretty things. When I am tired of crawling around, I love to sit and clap and look around for everyone to be looking at me. And they usually are. I also have another tooth, this time on the top of my mouth. It sure did hurt when it was coming in. I got it on my 10-month day. But it’s here now and I am proud of my new tooth. I am not sick this weekend either, what a bonus. The last time I went to the doctor she told Mommy that I had been on antibiotics for 40 of the last 60 days. I could have told her that but it sounded even more dramatic when she said it. I really, really, really do not like the doctor. I cry like Mommy and Daddy never hear me cry. I just do not like it at all. I get so upset I cannot calm down. I think I make my point so I am not sure why they keep taking me there. Anyway, I am not sick right now and I hope I don’t get sick again for a long time. It’s hard though, because all of the kids in my class (all 8 of us) like to put all of the toys in our mouths and also like to stick our fingers and hands in each others’ faces. I do this at home and Mommy and Daddy get sick too.

We have seen Grandma and Grandpa lots, that makes me so happy. I laugh and giggle and play with them the whole time. I get to see them on the computer too, although I still don’t quite understand how. I see them and hear them but I really just want to touch them. Luckily, they agree with me so they have come here to see me even more than I expected. We also went to see them in Toledo. We got to see lots of my cousins and friends at Judy’s bridal shower. You know how much I love a party, so the weekend was right down my alley. I had such a good time entertaining everyone at the party! I don’t always sleep well when I am the life of the party during the day, so the night that Daddy and Mommy went out with their friends until late I woke them up at 5 am because I could not sleep. Luckily Daddy is my hero and walked me around for an hour.

We sold Mommy’s convertible. Mommy was sad about not having her “top down days” or “mini vacations” she experienced when she drove it, but she knows that she and I will share different fun times for now. Just like she and Nana enjoyed Nana’s convertible before Mommy got hers, maybe she and I will get a convertible when I am older. Sometimes she opens the sunroof on the “SUV” – sport utility van, but I don’t think that’s quite the same.

Mommy went on two trips in the last month. First she went to Columbus, a city about 1 ½ hours away from here. I have been there before to see my friend Anna (there are pictures of Anna on my blog). I don’t think she went to see Anna, because she would relay to me all of the fun things Anna had to say. She was only gone for one night and Trekker was pretty tired from our trip to Toledo so he decided not to go. The next trip Mommy went on was to a place called “Camp Joy.” Since “joy” is such a happy word, I figured that she was going to have a very good time. I don’t know what camping means, but Mommy said that she used to do this all of the time when she was growing up as a girl scout. Mommy loved being a girl scout and is really excited for me to be big enough to be a girl scout too. Every time Mommy talks about girl scouts she starts singing a fun song or tells me stories of adventures and good friends, so I am excited too. Mommy went with her whole team out in the woods for a few days. They slept in cabins, ate in a dining hall, played in the rain and ate smores around a camp fire. Trekker was there, with golashes on and everything. Trekker said that it was the strangest business trip he had ever been on with Mommy. Camp Joy is about 30 minutes from here, near a family camp ground (Cowen Lake) that Mommy used to visit all of the time with Nana, Papaw, Aunt Michele, Uncle Rob and Uncle David. When Mommy arrived, everyone had to carry their fancy rolling suitcases on a muddy path, down the stairs and up the hill to the cabins. Trekker said it was really funny to watch the 35 people, many who have never been camping, getting settled at the camp. There were 4 bunk beds in each cabin so Mommy put her bag down by one of the bunk beds and put her hiking shoes and sweat shirt. Even though it’s May, it has been quite chilly, especially in the woods. And boy does the rain make it colder! But, Mommy and her work friends did not seem to notice the rain or the chill. They played games, sang songs around the fire, shared funny and touching stories and did lots of really challenging activities together. I wonder if the activities were as hard as learning how to crawl or stand on your own like what I am doing. Mommy learned a bunch about herself and her team and is still talking about what a great time it was. The night she got home was my bath night and because she was all wet from being in the rain all day, we both took a shower. We have some great pictures of the two of us in our “spa outfits” after our warm showers.

Daddy went on a business trip across the ocean. I have seen the ocean on vacation but we did not go across the ocean to get there. He left on a Saturday and came home on Wednesday. It was a very long time for him to be gone, but don’t worry, he wrote us emails and a special story for me. I have them here so you can see what Daddy wrote too.

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 3:00 PM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: Hello

Amy and Abigail, I love you! Don't have too much fun without me.
Talk to you soon. Matthew

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:03 AM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: Good Morning

Good Morning love!

I hope you slept well. Give Abigail a kiss for me! I got here fine. I am very congested from the flying. I got to the hotel and ran into Doug and Marianne. We are going to take the tram up the mountain.

Have fun today. Love always, Matthew

From: Connor, Amy
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 10:08 PM
To: Connor, Matthew
Subject: Good morning

Hi sweets - I hope you slept well!

We had a good night. She slept until 6pm then we took Colin's present to his house and returned the car cover too. Had a fun bath, book, snack and then to bed. I watched Numbers (pretty good) and was getting the car stuff organized for tomorrow.

Talk to you later. Love, Amy, Abigail, FP and Bella

P.s. Abigail started looking around for you after I got her out of the tub. It was so cute.

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 2:41 AM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: RE: Good morning

Amy,

Sounds like you had a good night. I did sleep well and wish I was still sleeping. It is another beautiful day here in Geneva and we are just getting started. I love you, give everyone kisses from me.

Matthew

From: Connor, Amy
To: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Mon May 05 20:43:14 2008
Subject: Good morning

Hi sweetie - we had a good night but will be glad to see you soon!

We ate at Panera where Abigail was a hit. We sat outside and she waved at everyone coming and going. We washed up, read a book and ate and the girl is now in bed. Not sleeping but at least in bed.

Julie sent us some CVS coupons and Kelly sent us a wine article for Napa, how sweet!

Hope you slept well. Love, Amy and the gang

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 1:35 AM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: Re: Good morning

Oh, our girl is so sweet and friendly. I can't wait to see you very soon. At this time tomorrow I will be on the plane headed for Paris and then home. I am still waking up this morning I think I could sleep another couple hrs but another beautiful day in Geneva is starting.

Matthew

From: Connor, Amy
To: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Tue May 06 21:34:26 2008
Subject: Good morning!

Hi sweets - I hope you slept well and have a safe trip home. We had a good night, went to Walmart and came home to eat. I made us money by not eating out!

Your parents are coming on Friday and are leaving on Sat before the game.

I love you and can't wait to see you. And so do Abigail and the kitties. Love, Amy

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:15 AM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: Re: Good morning!

Hi love!

I am sitting on the plane in Geneva. I am excited to begin my journey home to see all of you!

Love always, Matthew

From: Connor, Matthew
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 4:40 AM
To: Connor, Amy
Subject: Good Morning Abigail

HI Honey!

Tell Abigail that Daddy wanted to say good morning! Tell her that Daddy will come straight from the airport to school to pick her up.

I am in Paris. We should be boarding in another 15 min or so and we leave in about an hour. I am so tired. I hope I can sleep a little on the plane.

I love you! Tell Abigail I love her and will see her soon. Matthew

DADDY’S NOTE FOR ABIGAIL – WRITTEN ON HIS TRIP TO GENEVA

5/3/08
As I departed for the airport to begin my journey to Geneva, Switzerland I was sad because I would not see you for four days. Four days might not seem like a long time, but it is when you are growing as much as you are. While I know I must travel for work I will miss your vibrant smile and giggles as you look at me in the morning or when we are playing blocks. Fortunate for you, your mom (AKA The Dairy Queen) is there to take care of you and of course your brother (Fancy Pants the Cat) and sister (Bella the Cat) will help as well.

So far my travels have been relatively uneventful. I flew from Cincinnati (actually the airport is in Kentucky) to New York John F. Kennedy airport. I have flown a lot, but am not very familiar with this very large airport. It took me awhile to figure out I had to take a train from one part of the airport to another because there were no signs. I found out at the gate to get on the next plane that security was not supposed to let me through with the ticket I had. The airline needed to issue me a different one. Fortunately, security was more interested in throwing out my water bottle than I did not have a proper ticket. The nice lady at the gate gave me a new ticket. For the past hour, I have been sitting in the plane driving down the runway. I am waiting for the pilot to tell us we are driving to Switzerland. When you are a little older you will realize that is not possible because Switzerland is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The problem is that air traffic is so congested in the New York City area it takes a long time to take off and land. Great news, we just took off seventy-five minutes late. One of the first things you will learn about air travel is that leaving late qualifies as an on time departure because we were in the plane and the plane pulled back from the gate. That seems wrong to me, but that is the way it works. It is similar to people at work who make the numbers say whatever they want them to say.

I am flying on Swiss Air in an Airbus 330 airplane. The airplane is nice and much newer than some of the Delta planes that I normally fly. In Switzerland, people speak French, so there are a lot of people speaking French on the plane including the man next to me. Daddy only knows about 6 words of French, so it all sounds like gibberish to me. I hope they feed us soon, because I sure am hungry. I should have listened to Mommy and got something to eat in the airport. Your Mommy is very smart.

I hope you had fun at the baseball game and our now on your way home to bed. It is almost 9 pm, so you may already be asleep in the car. I hope to be asleep soon as well. I have heard the weather in Geneva is going to be 26 Celsius when I arrive. Since we use Fahrenheit to measure temperature in the USA (one of the only places that don’t use the metric system) I don’t really know what the exact temperature will be today but I know it will be warm. I think in the 70’s. I hope to get in a run and a nap before my dinner with my co-workers.

I love you and will write more tomorrow.

5/4/08
Abigail you are sleeping soundly right now, while I am just waking up on the plane. I can just picture you cuddled up with your blanket and sucking on your pacifier. Yes, Daddy is still on the plane. It is an 8 hour flight to Geneva and we have about an hour left. I had a nice dinner on the plane last night and watched Nicolas Cage in National Treasure II. The movie was very exciting. I think the airline copied your Mommy’s dessert with the brownie with ice cream in the middle. I think we should sue the airline for taste infringement. But it is probably not worth the hassle and Mommy’s dessert is still much better.

I think I slept a little over four hours on the plane which is pretty good considering I am still pretty congested, which is not a good condition to have on the plane. Fortunately, I have a lot of different medicines I I can take to help make me feel better. I had a croissant for breakfast which was not very exciting. I had higher expectations from this airline. I am sure I will eat fabulous food later today that will make up for breakfast. I hope you, Mommy, Nana, Uncle Rob and Aunt Jeannie had fun at the Dragons baseball game. I would have liked to been there for your first baseball game. Well I am going to do a little work now, I have about 45 minutes left before my plane lands in Geneva. Geneva is a pretty city, I hope to visit with you and Mommy some day when you are a little older. I will talk to you soon. Sweet dreams, my love.

I just landed in Geneva and grabbed a taxi ride to the Hotel. Fortunately, the driver of the taxi knew where the hotel was because Daddy just had the Hotel name not the address. Daddy needs to be more careful about his trip planning. Not having an address can cause a problem. Fortunately it did not this time. I promise that I will be more careful when we are traveling as a family. As I walked in the hotel I saw my coworkers Doug and Marianne. I stopped and talked to them for quite awhile. They were going to take a tram up the mountain to see the view of the city. I thought that sounded like fun, so I joined them on the excursion. I am sure you will find out sooner or later that your daddy is a little scared of heights. I have no problem flying and I am ok once my feet are on the ground at the top of the mountain but I do not like tram rides. I was surprised this one was not so bad. I guess it might be due to the fact I did not look out when the tram was going up the mountain. The views of the city from the mountain top were just majestic. We could see clearly for many miles. I am continually amazed at how beautiful this world we live in is. It is important that we do our best to take care of it for generations to come. We did some hiking on the mountain for an hour or so and then came back to the hotel.

It was past lunch time and we were not eating dinner until 7:30 pm, so we went to the gas station to get snacks. You may wonder why we did not go to a restaurant for lunch, well many stores and restaurants are not open on Sunday in Geneva or the rest of Europe for that matter. The gas station worked well for Daddy, he enjoyed a Coke and some chips. Unfortunately, the gas station did not carry Pepsi. Pepsi is Daddy’s favorite, but it is hard to find in Europe. Coke is the big guy. Marianne bought some bread and cheese, so Daddy had some of that as well. We sat out in front of the hotel and just talked and enjoyed the beautiful day. My goal was to take a nap, but I was not very tired. Now I am getting tired, but I am not sure I have time before dinner.

I hope you had fun watching your first marathon. I hope there are many more opportunities for you to cheer your Daddy on at races and I look forward to the day you and I may be able to do a race together. No pressure of course. I love you, talk to you soon.

Dinner was ok. We ate at the hotel with some work people. I have to say I don’t normally eat at the hotel when I travel because there are so many excellent dinner options to choose from. It was nice that when dinner was over all I had to do was go upstairs and go to bed. One issue I had was I have been having trouble unlocking my door. The hotel here uses old fashioned keys and I kept turning and turning the key but nothing was happening. This happened to your Daddy each time he came back to the room. I am sure that I looked very funny. I watched mindless television for awhile before going to sleep. It is hard to watch television here as I do not speak French or German and all of the shows are in those languages. I hope you are able to speak more than one language as you grow up. Daddy wishes he would have taken his language studies more seriously.

5/5/08
Good morning Abigail from Geneva, Switzerland. I can’t believe it is time to get up and go to the office. It feels like I just went to sleep. The funny thing is with the change in time, Daddy is getting up and you are in the middle of a sound sleep. I wish I could look in on you because you are a very sweet sleeper. I am sitting here wondering how you have positioned yourself in your bed. I can picture that Mommy has Fancy purring her a sweet lullaby and Bella is sleeping soundly at the end of the bed.

Today has been a very interesting day. It is a beautiful day here in Geneva, so we walked the 10 minutes from the hotel to the office. It sure would be nice if we could have enjoyed the sights instead of having to sit in a conference room all day. I have learned a lot from my colleagues here in Geneva. We have a great team. They shared a lot of information about their business. The only problem is that Daddy was tired and the room was very warm. One thing you will learn about Europeans is that they don’t really believe in air conditioning and some don’t believe in using deodorant. In the summer it can be a little smelly at times.

We went into the city centre to eat dinner with the whole team. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant. Daddy had fish, it was good but not fantastic. I have been a little disappointed with my meals to this point. It was fun talking to all of the people at dinner. In Geneva, the people on the team are from all over the world. One is from Mexico, one is from Germany, one is from England, four are from Franc, one is from South Africa and I think only one is actually from Switzerland. The reason we are in Geneva is for tax purposes. You will learn more about taxes when you are older. Daddy finds it very interesting talking to all these people and learning about their backgrounds. Once again your Daddy watched some mindless television in French before going to sleep for the night. I need to learn that I will be better off just going to sleep.

5/6/08

It is another beautiful spring day here in Geneva. Today we met in a conference room in the basement of the office, so we were not even be able to look outside. Today the marketing people were talking marketing stuff. This is what your Mommy does. I decided to do some work to try and not get to far behind with stuff I needed to do back home. After another long day, many in our group were headed to the airport to go to other cities to work the next day. My boss and I are flying home tomorrow, so we worked late and then went and had pizza and beers at a small place by the hotel. I think this has been my best meal of the entire trip. I don’t know if it was the Calzone (pizza wrapped in dough, with an egg in the middle) or the beer but it was good. It was nice to get time to talk to Bill (Daddy’s boss) by myself. I always learn a lot from people like Bill as they have so many work experiences. After sitting outside and enjoying the fresh spring air we went back to the hotel. I talked to your Mommy at work. The only sad thing about when I go to sleep is that you are at school, so I don’t get to say good night to you properly. I do take out you, Mommy, Fancy and Bella’s pictures to say good night. I miss you honey and can’t wait to pick you up from school tomorrow.

5/7/08

How exciting, it is time to begin my trip home to see you and Mommy. Right now you are sleeping soundly, and I am sitting in the airport in Geneva waiting on my flight. I am flying to Paris, France and then home to Cincinnati. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I arrive at school to pick you up. I love you Abigail! I look forward to our first adventure as a family this summer when we go to Colorado. Fortunately, Colorado is a lot closer than Geneva. See you soon. Daddy.

I came straight to school and when you looked up and saw me, I just about cried. You smiled and waved your arms in the air. I could not have asked for anything more. I just love you Abigail and I am so glad to be home. THE END

While Daddy was gone Mommy and I were very busy! When he left we went to Dayton to see Mommy’s friend Susan who lives in Boston but was visiting for the weekend. We went for a fun walk to DLM, the grocery store that Mommy and Daddy love. After that we went to Papaw’s house to visit him and great-grandmother Betty. After that we picked up Nana, Uncle Rob and Aunt Jeannie. We all went to dinner at Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers, a fun local restaurant by the house Mommy and Daddy used to live in. Then….we went to the Dayton Dragon’s baseball game. It was my first time going to a game like this. We went to see Colin throw the first pitch at the game. It was really cool, he got to stand out in the middle of the field and throw the ball. He did such a great job, we were all so proud. It was a really chilly night and boy I was tired after all of our activities, so we did not stay very long. We made a quick stop at Nana’s house then Nana came home to have a slumber party with us! The next morning, Mommy, Nana and I got up early and went to watch the Flying Pig marathon. Our friend Caty was fast walking in it. We stood in our “spot” – because you know I was in Mommy’s belly last year when she went to watch Caty and Mommy’s other friend Wendy. Anyway, it was really fun to see all of the people cheering and clapping for these people who were running down the street. I have not seen that many people running in one direction before. Even though I was in the Rome marathon while in Mommy’s belly and that we went to watch Daddy in a marathon last year too, it is not the same when you aren’t technically born yet. This year was different because I was able to clap (because I am very good at this) and wave my hands up and down. After the race we went home so Nana and I could take a nap and so Mommy could go to church. After Mommy came home from church, Mommy’s new friend, Dani came over to help Nana learn new exercise techniques. It was fun to crawl around while Nana was doing the same thing! After Nana left, Mommy and I hung out for awhile then went to see Kristy. What a busy weekend we had!

Last weekend was really busy too! Grandma and Grandpa came because they missed me so much. I got to leave school early Friday to hang out with them. They took me to JC Penney to get my picture taken too. I loved it! Since Mommy has been doing photo shoots with me since I was one day old, I am pretty used to it. On Saturday I played and played with Grandma and Grandpa. When they left, Daddy, Mommy and I went to the Dayton Dragon’s game (two weeks in a row for me and Mommy). We had a great time! It was a “double header,” which Daddy said just means two games on one day. Between the games, they threw out big beach balls and everyone in the stands (that’s where we all sit) bounced the balls all around. I so loved watching the balls go up and down. Daddy even got to hit the ball a couple of times. I think I would like to go to another game like that again. I don’t really care about what the men on the field are doing but I sure do like the activities in the sitting area (Daddy calls is the stands). On Mother’s Day, Daddy woke up with a belly ache so he just stayed in bed and Mommy and I ran some errands. I was such a good sport and went out in the rain with her, but after a couple of hours, I was ready to get home where it was warm and dry! So Mommy picked up Noble Roman’s, a fun type of pizza that she used to have when she was a kid. I hope I get to do as many neat things that Mommy did when she was a kid.

This past weekend was a really fun day. It was just the three of us (5 including the kitties) most of the time. We spent Saturday morning at home together. After lunch we went and bought Mommy’s Mother’s Day gift, a basketball backboard! After my afternoon nap, we went to a place called Sharon Woods to hike. Daddy put me in our new backpack and we walked on the trail where we saw a couple of ponds with fish, water falls and streams, playgrounds that I hope to play in soon and lots of trees. It was pretty warm and sunny, something different for May as it has been raining so much. On Sunday we hung out together again then we went to the playground where I got to swing and slide down the slides. Boy did I have a good time! I wanted to do it again and again and again. I think Mommy and Daddy got tired. Do they know that this is just the beginning? Then we went over to our friends Dot and Bruce’s house. They have little friends like me in their life (grandkids) and had all of the best toys for me to play (measuring spoons and cups). Mommy and Daddy, though, made a very bad planning mistake and did not have a pacifier with us. When I get tired, I need my pacy. I did not understand why they would not give it to me when I got tired and wanted to go to sleep. I always have my pacy when I am tired! So I cried, trying to tell them over and over again that I really wanted my pacy. I cried so much that I could not get to sleep. Now we have pacifiers all over the place!

Grandma and Grandpa are coming on Thursday because Mommy and Daddy are going on vacation. I know, I know, I thought vacation meant that I was going somewhere, but this time they are going without me. They are going to a place called Napa which is in California. I hope that Trekker goes this time because I want to hear all about their trip. I am sure I will have lots of stories to tell too! Grandpa knows how to play my favorite game called "I drop it on the floor and you pick it up."