Bye-bye Grandma

It was great to have Jason's mom visit, but she is safe at home now. Monday morning, before she left, we went for a walk around Woodberry. We headed down to the trail by the river, looped back through the campus buildings, and then down the golf course home. It was an amazing day (always happens the day you leave, right Diane?) and we took some great photos.

Wildflowers on the trail:

The Rapidan River:

Molly and Sierra and I are in the river (Sierra is sleeping)!

Now Grandma is in the river (Molly is STILL in the river):

Um, I think this one is called Anderson Hall:
Yay baby cows!

View from the back of Woodberry's campus (and cows):

Daffodils with the Walker Building in the background:

Daffodils:

Flowering tree with Dick Gym behind:
There's our house! Can you see it? The little yellow one between the red golf shop and the brick athletic building?

Cruisin' ...

... that goes for both Sierra and me!

We noticed Sierra was doing a little bit of cruising within the last week or so, but it's definately official now. The other night, she was a "Daddy's girl." She wriggled out of my arms as I was holding her on the couch and I helped her get her feet on the ground. Holding on to the couch, she did a little "step-slide-step-slide-step-slide" down it's entire length, changed her weight to grab the coffee table, and made her way over to the love seat where Jason was sitting. Yay Sierra!

In other Sierra news, her repetoire of syllable has increased from only "ba-ba" to now include "ya-ya," "ma-ma," and this morning, we heard a distinct "da-da." It does not seem that she is directing "da-da" or "ma-ma" at Jason and me yet, but we'll get there. I'll keep you posted.

My cruisin' occured in the form of cruising along the Perimeter Trail for 80 minutes (actually 82) today. The Perimeter Trail is the trail that goes all the way around campus: through agriculture fields, along the river, through a cow pasture and along the athletic fields on campus. What an awesome day for a run! It was spring-like and sunny and the trail was beautiful, especially the part along the river. Most of the shrubs have broken bud and are greening up and there are several species of wildflower in bloom so the trail is lined with little bursts of yellow, purple, white and blue. I was particularly nostalgic about the bluebells because my mom had those in her garden when I was younger and it made me smile to see them growing along the trail. I'm hoping to walk down there with my camera within a couple days and get some pictures.

Grandma's here!

Jason's mom is visiting. She hasn't seen Sierra since Christmas and needed some grandbaby time. After a delayed flight and navigating through fog on Virginia backroads, she finally reached out place about 11:00pm on Thursday night, just as Sierra woke up screaming. What a greeting! She'll be here until Monday late afternoon, but I think we are heading up north to see Jason's brother tomorrow, who lives outside D.C.

None of our parents have been here while school is in session so she's getting the introduction into life at a boarding school, including meals in the dining and the crazy schedule. Jason had duty Thursday night and Friday night and didn't get home until after 11:00, and he was supposed to be in Charlottesville at a lacrosse game most of the afternoon today, but it was cancelled. Which meant he got to hang out with us instead ... so, Diane and I went to Plow and Hearth with Sierra and left him to nap with the cats (we did invite him -- he just wasn't interested).

I wish the weather was a little better for Grandma's visit, but we've braved the drizzle and overcast skies and went for a walking tour of Woodberry. Yesterday, while Jason was in class and then at an almost 4 hour lacrosse practice (!) in preparation for today's game (which didn't happen), Diane, Sierra, and I went to explore Orange. We checked out the consignment shop, and then browsed around the Arts Center of Orange.

Tonight, we opted to avoid dinner with 400 or so high school boys and stayed home where we could drink wine with our dinner. We made quesadillas and spicy red beans and rice ... good stuff. Sierra had already eaten, but she joined us at the table and had a graham cracker -- which she got all slimey by taking in and out of her mouth, and then put her hand in her hair head fuzz. She was apparently exhausted because she got a little fussy, we gave her a binky and then she fell asleep. In her high chair. Ha! I suppose when you are a tiny mass of constant motion, as she is, you are just too tuckered out to make it past dinner!

"I know it's hard, but you just have to let her cry it out"

I have eluded to our struggle with Sierra's sleep habits a bit in this blog, but if you have talked to me in person, you probably have a better idea of how challenging it sometimes can be. She often doesn't go down well, doesn't stay asleep for long, is sometimes difficult to comfort when she wakes up ... you get the idea. There have been a few times when we have left her to cry in her crib for several minutes or more, but in general, I really don't like doing it. It just doesn't feel like the right thing to do.

I have had more than one person tell me that if I just let her cry, it will work out. She'll just learn to sleep on her own. So, if I'm understanding correctly, the idea is just to sit there, doing nothing, while my baby cries and cries in her crib because she's lonely/hurting/scared/confused/whatever. She's calling out for the people who she's supposed be able to count on for comfort and I should just ignore her? Again, it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do, does it?

The most recent occurance of the cry it out advise was from a friend who called specifically to say "I know it's hard, but you just have to let her cry it out." This friend had seen something I had posted, and sensed my exasperation/frustration/exhaustion. She just wanted to help, and I appreciate that. In her experience, letting her baby cry it out had "worked." I told my friend that I had let Sierra cry on a few occassions, but it hadn't helped. When she asked me how long she cried and I said "as long as I'm willing to leave her alone in her crib," my friend told me that when her son was a baby, she let him cry for an hour(!) before he finally cried himself to sleep. Ack! That is well beyond what I would ever do, and well beyond what I think anyone should do (though, that's my opinion, and I did not share it with her at the time). What it really comes down to is that as a parent, you really have to do what works for you, your family, your baby. I'm sure my friend honestly wanted to help by sharing what had worked in her experience, but it's just not something that's going to work here.

This phone call on top of several nights in a row of Sierra waking up crying multiple times during the night left me feeling both discouraged and confused. I didn't and don't want to let her cry it out, yet people around me keep saying to let her cry. Why?! Why do I have to leave my baby alone in a dark room crying when she clearly needs comfort and reassurance?

The short answer is: I don't.

I called my friend Tricia for a pep talk. I knew she wouldn't tell me to let Sierra cry. Tricia did not disaapoint. This is what she told me (I'm paraphrasing):
Em, you do not have to let her cry it out. That is a choice. It's a choice some people make, and I think it's the wrong one. If she cries, go to her, run to her. I don't know why people let their babies cry. So they can finish the dishes? The dishes are not more important than your baby.

Tricia and I chatted awhile longer, and she reminded me of some things I already knew. Babies cry because that is how they communicate. If she's crying, she needs something, even if it's just reassurance or to be held. Babies who are allowed to cry it out are not learning to put themselves to sleep. They are learning that when they cry, no one comes, so they might as well just give up. I try to imagine how I would feel if I were alone in a dark room calling out for someone to come to me and no one came. I don't want my daughter to feel like that. Tricia's right. The dishes are not more important than my child. She is the most important thing in our lives. I want her grow knowing that if she needs us, we've got her back. We won't leave her alone in the dark.

Plus, it's not as if she never sleeps ...

New photos! New video!

Well, I finally got around to uploading photos from my computer to KodakGallery. I was only ... oh ... 6 months or so behind (yikes!). You can find the albums on the sidebar under "A little bit of photography."

And since I was in a sharing mood, I also posted a few video clips on YouTube. Those should also be in the side bar, but you can also go to YouTube and subscribe to my channel, em1079.

Or, here are the newest clips:

Go Speed Crawler: My "assignment" was to film Sierra crawling toward the camera
Hello hello!: a short clip where Sierra waves
Exersaucering with your tongue out: exactly what the title says

The return of the food snatcher

Remember how I said that when I feed Casey and Molly, Thomas lurks about waiting to steal some dogfood if he gets the chance? His shenanigans continue ...

I kept hearing: BONK! BONK! BONK! BONK! I knew it was the sound of the dogfood bin opening and closing and I knew it was Thomas. I thought he was just opening it and peeking in and then it was closing again because the food was too far down in the bin for him to reach. At least I thought the food was too far down in the bin for him to reach. I was wrong. Turns out, he was digging his back claws into the bin (it's a wood half-barrel) and lowering the entire upper half of his body down into the bin to reach the food.

Behold:
I love how at the end of the video he hears me coming and runs away from the food bin. You don't see it, but when I came in the room, he looked at me like, "What? I clearly wansn't doing anything as I am too far away to have been in the food bin."

My little outdoors baby

One day, when I was pregnant, I was in REI (aka - heaven) with a couple friends. There was this absolutely adorable little down vest that I resisted the temptation to buy, even though it was pretty much the cutest baby item ever. Well, my sneaky friend somehow purchased it while I wasn't looking and gave it to me as a baby shower gift. Now, almost a year later, my little one is big enough to wear it. And, YES, it really is the cutest baby item ever!

See for yourself:

Do you like my hat? My Aunt Christine made it!Why am I sitting on this stump?
Well, hello up there!
Hmmm ... what could this be?
You know, I could put this in my mouth!
Taste analysis
I'm just getting my fiber!
Yes, I'm cute!
Sierra gazes at Woodberry. That's the golf course in front of her and the chapel at the top of the hill.

The food snatcher

With a small child at home, I doubt anyone would be surprised to learn that we feed the dogs in another room with the door closed. It is not for Sierra's benefit, however, that the dogs are separated while they eat. It is for their own.

If we are not extremely vigilent while we are feeding the dogs, Thomas will stealthily come in, dart from under a piece of furniture and abscond with a mouthful of dogfood. He shovels up as much as he can fit in his mouth and then darts off upstairs to hide under the bed to eat it. Usually I catch him as he is making his stealth move out from under the wicker furniture on the enclosed porch, where we feed the dogs. This morning I was moment too late. I yelled and clapped, but he had already reached the point of no return.

This morning, I was in a sporting move, so I chase him ... through the kitchen, through the dining room, up the stairs, into the guest room. He finally realized there was no escape and dropped his booty at the top of the stairs for a quicker get away. He had five piece of dogfood in his mouth and he managed to eat one. One time when I chased him down, he had nine. Nine! How does a cat fit nine pieces of dogfood in his mouth?!

Got any putting-baby-to sleep suggestions?

Sigh. I think I was spoiled last week when Sierra went to sleep fairly easily. The past three nights have been hell. Tonight, I got her to sleep in her crib about 8:00. 25 minutes later, she was up and crying. I don't usually let her "cry it out" but I finished my cup of tea, and 10 minutes later, she was still crying. I went up, calmed her down, thought I had her back to sleep, and left the room about a 1/2 hour after that. Almost immediately, she was up crying again. I told Jason it was his turn to deal with her. She cried for several more minutes and when it was clear she was not going back down, he went up. He's up there now, been there more than 20 minutes and all I hear is crying and crying. And we're not talking just a little fussing here. We're talking baby emergency. Sigh. Why me? We have a bedtime routine. We try to make a sleep a positive environment. I just don't know what to do!

Long run on a dreary Monday

Thank goodness Jason is back! I can for go a run! Okay, I suppose I could have strapped Sierra in the jogging stroller and taken her running with me, but after an amazing weekend last week, the rest of the week was not very warm and I just didn't want to bundle up the baby and make her ride in the stroller outside for 40 minutes or an hour.

I am running a half marathon on May 9th, so I really need to start increasing my mileage. I'm really excited about this race, it's actually a half-iron triathlon, but I'm doing it as a relay with two friends. Yay for teammates! (even though we're doing different events so don't train together)

Woodberry Forest has a trail that goes around the entire campus called ... the Perimeter Trail. I've hiked or walked on all of it at one time or another, but today I did the whole thing in one shot. I got lost once. The trail goes through a bunch of cow pastures and fields and is not well-marked in some places. I'll have to figure out where it actually goes for the next time I want to run that way. I began the run with my two canine running companions, Casey and Molly, and ended the run with JUST ONE canine running companion, Molly. As a result, I have decided that Casey is officially retired from long runs. We were running through the fields and Casey, a hound, kept stopping to sniff things, or pee on things, or sniff things, or look at cows, or sniff things ... anyway, I finally just took him off leash (I should know better) thinking he could sniff and then run to catch up, sniff, then run to catch up ...

Well, the next thing I knew, I turned around and Casey was gone. Molly just looked at me like "What? I don't know where he went." I whistled and I called, but he didn't show up. I figure he must have seen a squirrel, or a deer, or a ... leaf, and felt he just had to chase after it. That, or he just got tired and went home. I hoped he could find his way home and sure enough, when I got back from my run, there he was on the enclosed porch.

I walked in the door and Jason said, "Um, did you lose something on your run?" Apparently, Jason had stepped outside and Casey came trotting around the athletic building. J though it was strange that Casey was off leash but expected to see me behind him, but Casey just kept going, sniffing around the house, and then heading to the front yard like he knew exactly what he was doing. Jason called him, and he came right inside. I'm glad he found his way home without me.

Jason's home!

Well, we survived a week without our back-up (aka Daddy). Jason got in about 10:30 Friday night. Sierra has rewarded his arrival with another bout of non-sleeping-ness. Sigh. At least she didn't do that when I was here by myself. Well, not totally by myself. I did have Sierra, Casey, Molly, Thomas, Sophie, Bean, Gus, Doodle, Reimann, Cute, and Caaagh to keep me company. (I was taking care of our neighbors pets while they were in Florida, so in addition to our two dogs and two cats, I was responsible for four additional cats, a bunny and a fish!) I'm not really sure what's been causing the non-sleeping-ness this time, but it's exhausting. Literally. In fact, just a moment ago, I had to stop writing and go upstairs and settle the baby back down (she had been sleeping for less than an hour) because she was screaming. Wailing. Writhing around. Making high-pitched screeches that I didn't know could come out of a human. I don't know if this is developmental or related to getting teeth or if she's having nightmares. I thought things were getting better. While Jason was gone, I was able to put her down, still awake even, and she went right to sleep. Even stayed asleep for 4 hours or so. The last few days have been a real struggle. She has not been going to be easily and she's been waking up often. Too often. Sierra had her 9-month well check today, but our doctor didn't seem to think there was much we could do except muster through this period. Sigh. (again)

But speaking of Sierra's check-up, it went well. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 2 ounces (between 25th and 50th percentile) and was 27.5 inches long (50th percentile). Our provider said that she wouldn't be surprised if Sierra's walking before long, she's so active now. I wouldn't be surprised either!

Sierra's birthday buddy

Yesterday, Sierra and I made our first car trip of longer than 45 minutes without back-up (also known as "Jason" or "Daddy"). It went reasonably well. We left about 10:00am (with dogs in tow) to head for Frederick, MD and a visit with my friend Serena and her little guy, Rowan, who is 4 hours older than Sierra!

Aren't they cute?I didn't have the flash on here, so the photo is blurry (we'll call it "artistic"), but it's great that both babies are cracking up.

Compare this to the photo under JUNE 2008 here.

The drive was super easy (at least as far as directions go). I had to travel on 3 roads. That's it. Drive time was 2 hours, but we had a 20 minute stop in there, so we arrived about lunch time. We were fortunate to have a lovely day so we sat in the back yard and ate lunch (or leaves, if you're Sierra) and caught up. Serena and Rowan (and Daddy Dave) live right on a busy road in the front, but they have a wonderful back yard with pasture behind that, so you feel like you are in the country and almost forget about busy road.

Same thing on the other side of the street. Busy road but country scenery if you face away from the road. We went for a walk and saw horses and cows, birds, and Serena pointed out an insect "nest" that apparently has baby praying mantises (?) inside.

Back inside, babies had lots of fun knocking down blocks that Serena and I stacked. Sierra also had a grand time climbing all over Rowan (to the point he had to cry to be rescued at one point -- the bully!). Rowan's not yet mobile, so he had no way to escape! Rowan's been working on talking more than moving, it seems. He babbles a lot more than Sierra and says many more different syllables. I was amused that he makes the same "baby dino" noises that our little monster makes.

Playing with blocks ...
... of course, Sierra mostly just ate them.

Then Rowan decided to join her.

Casey and Molly, meanwhile, had a grand time in the backyard with their pup, Mazy.

I headed home later than I had originally intended, but what are you gonna do? Sierra had not eaten enough while we were there because she was so distracted. I knew this was going to happen, and gave her the chance to eat multiple times. There was just too much going on. New surroundings! New toys! Another baby! Anyway, of course she got hungry on the way home at a place where there wasn't really anywhere for me to pull off and sca-reamed her little head off. I tried to comfort her by reaching into the backseat and patting her, offering her a toy, letting her chew on my finger to no avail. I was so happy to finally find a suitable spot to pull over and feed the poor starving baby. Phew. Then she fell asleep for the remainder of the ride.

I was promptly assaulted by cats as I came in the door because they demand to be fed on schedule and I was late. How dare I!

The little peanut is 9 months old

March 10th ... which means 9 months ago I was in the hospital on a 98 degree day in Putnam, Connecticut having just welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world and into our lives. How serene she looked as she slept. How complete I felt as she snuggled in my arms. How helpless she was, needing us for every little thing.

...

How quickly things change. She still looks serene when she is asleep, though the hours of sleep are significantly fewer than they were in the beginning. Now, she sometimes snuggles in my arms, but mostly she wiggles. Or bangs on my head. Or pulls my earring. Or bounces up and down. And helpless? Oh, heck no! She's outta here! I cannot take my eyes off her for a second. Not one second.

A couple days ago, when it was so nice out, Sierra and I were out on the deck. I was chatting with a friend on the phone and watching her crawl around. Her back was too me, and suddenly she turned around and looked at me and her entire face was covered in mud. She had found a little ball of dirt and stuck it in her mouth where it very quickly became a ball of mud. Then she started to make a gagging noise and I stuck my finger in her mouth and pulled out a leaf!

(note the left over mud on her nose and the muddy knees from splashing in the water bowl)

This morning, I opened the fridge to get some milk for my coffee and when I closed the door, Sierra had chased the cat away from the food bowl and had a piece of catfood in her mouth.

Later, I was picking some painting things I had left out. Sierra was sitting on the floor with a bowl of Cheerios. A paintbrush I needed to wash out was outside the door of the next room. I folded up a piece of dropcloth and looked and Sierra was gone. She was in the hallway with the paintbrush in her mouth, paint covering her face and hands! I called poison control, just in case, and was told not to worry about it. The most that would happen was an upset tummy, but probably not even that since she didn't eat a significant amount of paint.

I was looking for the tape measure in my sewing room and looked down in time to see Sierra stick a little scrap of fabric in her mouth. I tried to open her mouth and she clamped it shut. I had to hold her down and pry her jaws open and scrape it off the roof of her mouth.

After lunch, I was picking up the books Sierra had taken off the shelf (for the zillionth time!) and heard a SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASHSPLASH! The little stinker had crawled into the kitchen and was up to her elbow in the dog water bowl.

She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

Baby BOOM!, Pt. 2

As I mentioned a couple days ago, the number of babies born to people I know recently is really quite surprising. I wanted to give a little nod to all the new mamas that I know that have babies who were born since I found out I was pregnant with Sierra or who will be born before Sierra's first birthday. Last time, I mentioned mamas with little ones born November 2007-July 2008. Picking up from there ...

AUGUST 2008
Lorae and Hunt: Harper. Lorae is probably my closest friend at Woodberry. Harper, just 2-1/2 months younger than Sierra is her closest-aged baby buddy. Lorae is a great confident because we are both in sort of similar places in our lives. We are both new here, have new babies, and are finding ourselves for the first time not contributing to the finances of our family since we are home with the babies. I've struggled a bit with not having an outside job and Lorae understands where I'm coming from.

That's Lorae on the left with the top of Harper's head sticking out of the carrier. I really need a better picture of us!

OCTOBER 2008
Liz and Jeff: Eliana. Liz and I have known each other since we were itty bitty ourselves. I remember seeing her playing hopscotch when she first moved into her house on Gear Street (we must have been about 4) and wondering who she was. We were buddies in grade school and became better friends in high school when we carpooled to school together every day. We lost touch for 8 years after that, but then found each other on (MySpace? I think?). She came to visit me, I went to visit her, and the rest is history. I haven't met Ellie yet, but that will be remedied in June.
Yay!

Megan and Grant: Roan. Megan was on the track team with me in college and was my roommate when we were both "super seniors." She is an amazing, smart and talented woman. I haven't seen her in years and I'm sorry for it.

Gaby and Hugo: (don't know baby's name). Hugo and I had the same academic advisor. he started at UConn the year after I did. We shared lab space and had classes together. Gaby and Hugo have an older son, Mateo. Gaby was pregnant with #2 when I left in July, but I didn't hear about the name of the new little one.

NOVEMBER 2008
Sarah and Raphael: Sophia. Sarah and Raph are Woodberry friends. Sarah and I don't cross paths as often I would prefer, but I hope when the weather gets consistently warmer we will be able to get out with the babies and some other mamas around here. That's Sarah between Lorae and me (above) 2 days before Sophia was born.

DECEMBER 2008
Cammie and Lance: Wyeth. Cammie was a collge cross country and track teammate. We were part of the "original six" -- the six cross country girls who started out as freshman and ran together for 4 years. Wyeth is #2 for Cammie and Lance; they have a little girl, Jocelyn, who just turned 3.

Angela and Tim: Abbie.
Jason and I went to college with Angela and Tim. Angela's brother is a married to my good friend Jen and Tim was Jason's "little" in their fraternity. We saw them in September when we were in St. Louis for Jen and Ben's wedding, but Abbie was still on the inside, so we haven't met her yet.

JANUARY 2009
Asha and Kumar: Alma. Asha is a friend I met at UConn, at the climbing wall. It was really funny because I guess we could both sense that the other was a grad student where almost everyone around us was an undergrad. She told me "I'm married" like it was a secret and I said, "Me too." Then talked about how we felt we had to establish that we were "cool" before admitting that we were married because it's a relative rarity in a student setting. I hope to make a trip to Connecticut in August and visit Asha and Kumar and meet Alma.

Ping and Scott: Lydia. Ping and Scott are Woodberry people. Scott coaches track, so I interacted with him quite a bit this winter when I was working with the track team. He and I were in charge of scoring the meets and he stayed very late with me the first night we were still working the kinks out of the new finish line camera system. We see Ping and Scott walking regularly because they live down the hill from the campus buildings like we do.

FEBRUARY 2009
Beth and Josh: Eleanor. Beth is a UConn friend. She an I were in the same department and we were both TA's for the Ecology class the same semester. Beth has a ton of spirit and I miss her.

Courtenay and Nate: Marshall. Courtenay and Nate are the proud parents of the newest baby on Woodberry's campus. Marshall was just born a week ago and I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting him. After Sierra, Harper, Sophia and Lydia, we have a boy!

DUE MARCH 2009
Shelly and Andrew: Boy. I met Shelly and Andrew 8 years ago on a ferry from Brindisi, Italy to Corfu Island, Greece. We stayed together at a hostel called the Pink Palace, drank ouzo, and walked on the beach. We have been periodically in contact since then. Actually, baby might be born by now, Shelly's due date was a couple days ago, but I haven't heard yet.

DUE MAY 2009
Monica and Mark: Girl. Monica and I have been friends since grade school. She and I used to go to each others houses and play in the woods and run around outside in the nice weather. I got to see her and Mark when I was in Galena over Christmas. They met Sierra and I gave them a "babywearing" demonstration.

Faulkner and Anthony: Twins. Faulkner and Anthony add to the Woodberry baby boom. Their daughter, Houston, is almost 2 and their new babes will be just about a year younger than Sierra.

Sierra's new ride

I bought a piece of lavendar silk awhile back when it was on sale, and didn't know what I was going to do with it. Then I found a lovely turquoise and lavendar brocade at JoAnn's and a match was made!

Knob Mountain Trail

Yesterday was one of those gorgeous sunny days when you look into the sky and see no clouds, just a perfect shade of blue. It was chilly, but not cold, and when the wind blue, there was a hint of warmth that whispered "spring is coming."

Our hiking crew headed out to Knob Mountain Trail for a 5-mile circuit hike.
Hiking in Shenandoah in the off-season is just a different and wonderful experience. We love it in August, but there is just something about having the park to yourself that makes it feel like your own personal playground. Since the trees are still without leaves, we had some amazing mountain views that will soon be secret to all the summer visitors.
We had intended to start near the campground, but the road to the campground (and thus the trailhead) was closed, so we began at Elkwallow Wayside, just off Skyline Drive. The trail followed just below Skyline Drive for a bit and we had view of the valley below and glimpses of the mountains through the trees. We saw no one else on the trail and not even footprints to indicate that there had been anyone there since it snowed last. I think Molly had the most fun of any of us, running ahead then turning around to make sure we were still coming, then running ahead again. Our feet crunch-crunched in the snow, but it was soft because of the warmer temperatures. Perfect snowball snow -- I know because I made one to throw at Jason -- you know, just to test!

We headed down to Jeremy's Run and over on the rocks: no bridge for this crossing, and a large tree across the water was covered in snow and too slick to walk on. We made it without getting wet!

Back up the switchbacks and a short stint on the Appalacian Trail brought us back to our starting point.

When we took Sierra for her first hikes in Shenandoah back in August, she would sleep as soon as we started walking. Now, though, she stays awake and looks around and takes in the scenery ... she did enjoy a quick 1/2 hour nap on mama's back, though!