We've howdied but we ain't shook yet

Itty Bitty Abbie had another full and fun day in Texas. In the morning we did the usual playing in the bedroom and sightseeing. When we got back to the room, she fell asleep like a log while I was reading her one of her books. After her nap, Christopher and I took her, again, to the Riverwalk Cafe' to get some of that meat that she loved so much on Sunday. She ate with gusto everything on her plate. She struck a conversation with our lovely waitress, who told us that she has a five year old girl and a 20-month old baby boy. They just loved each other, for some reason, so our waitress came up to our table a couple of times just to play with Abigail.

In the late afternoon, I took her to the outside pool. It was so nice! The water, as one can expect in a 103 degree weather, was warm and felt great after a few minutes in the sun. Abbie made several new acquaintances there. It always astounds me how quickly she draws people's attention. It's probable that most babies do, actually, but I have never had any reason to pay attention before now.

Garrett was her first victim: a ten year old with the bluest, most beautiful eyes I ever saw. Actually, I think Garrett is the most beautiful ten year old I ever saw, period; friendly and very polite. He has the deepest blue eyes, and a ton of dark, full, long eye lashes to seal the deal. Anyway, he and Abbie played in the water, and Garrett told me that she reminded him of a little puppy his grandparents have because of how she flails her arms when she is excited. The puppy puts on a similar act when he wants something. He kept on coming back to play with Abigail, and they made each other laugh.

While in the water, Abbie waved and greeted everyone nearby and chatted with anyone who gave her half a chance. And once I wore her out (or so I thought) after an hour of swimming, we lounged in the sun for a few minutes. Apparently, her excitement was superior to her fatigue, because she went crawling around to greet people. She charmed some ladies sitting behind us, and *crawled up* the chaise to greet them. They laughed quite a bit. She then found a way to get off the chaise and went to chat with Alison, who was waving at her from the pool. I took a picture of them. The whole time, Abigail did not give me a minute's rest... I was so tired of picking her up, putting her down, following her, keeping her from falling off the chaise, grabbing her, that I finally said "enough," and while people waved "Goodbye" at us, I trudged back inside the hotel.

It's true when they say that appearances can be deceiving: she was more tired than I gave her credit for - while I was rocking her and burping her after her last feed, she just pulled herself up, looked at me in the eye, and then pointed at her crib. I thought to myself: "Ha! there is no way that she is going to go down without a fight..." But I gave it a shot. I lowered into the crib, Abbie rolled on to her side, clutched her soft lovey, and went to sleep.