Happy Halloween!

This year, we celebrated Halloween with the Pumpkin and the Princess.

Below is the Pumpkin at home before trick or treating.

The pumpkin on the move.

The princess and her daddy, trick or treating at the mall. Since we don't live close to any family, we take the kids to the local mall where the stores hand out candy. It was packed this year!

Princess Emily, resplendent in her (itchy) gold dress and sparkly gold shoes, with Disney princess candy pail. She had planned on being Jasmine for weeks, but literally 5 minutes before we left the house for her school party, she decided the costume was too itchy. The only other thing we had was this dress-up princess dress, so thankfully she agreed to that. Of course, tonight all I heard was, "This dress is too itchy!"

The little Ethan pumpkin spent the whole time asleep in his stroller. What a life!

Emily's Pre-K Halloween Party

Emily's Pre-K class had their Halloween party on Thursday. All the kids wore their costumes and they were a bit...wild.

This was Emily sitting for show and tell.

Snack time...and a quick smile for the camera.

Having cookies and pumpkin-shaped jello with her classmates.

Mr. Ethan, along for the ride (again), dressed in his giraffe costume and quite pleased about it!

A Day at the Children's Museum

We've been out of town for a few days. Not far...just a trip to Indianapolis, but still, an ambitious feat with a five year old and a 3 month old. What we didn't realize is that Indy was also hosting about 55,000 Future Farmers of America at the same time. That was an...adventure.

On Saturday, we drove to the Children's Museum, which was Emily's belated birthday gift from us. She thoroughly enjoyed herself over a 4-5 hour period of time, playing and looking around.

Meanwhile, Ethan either rode in his wearable carrier (dad got the honors for the first time) or in his stroller. The picture below is of him playing with mom while waiting on Emily. Life is pretty good for the E-man.

This is what Emily was up to.

More waiting around for big sister.

Tired of waiting on Emily...better get used to it, little guy! (Note the old man pants hiked up over his knees. He insists on pulling them up, now that he can grab them.)

Emily, posing next to an underwater exhibit. What a ham!

Field Trip #3: Pumpkin Patch

This is Emily's class (minus one or two). There are 4 girls in a sea of boys.

Emily, driving the train on the playground.

Swinging with a friend.

Getting ready to go on a hayride.

The prized pumpkin...hand-picked by mom, after Emily searched for just the right one.

And of course, little brother, along for the ride in his baby carrier. After walking around for an hour and a half and licking the inside of the carrier for a while, he finally drifted off to sleep.

Ethan is Three Months Old!

Ethan:

Today you are 3 months old. Technically, you are no longer a newborn anymore. Today, you officially became an infant. (Who knew?)

The pictures this month aren't great; they're a little fuzzy, but then again, that's because you can't sit still. You love to kick and move and try to sit up. I have a feeling you will keep us on our toes.

You usually only wake up once a night to eat. I put you to bed around 10:30 and you wake up one time between then and around 7:30 am. A few times, you've even slept all the way through, which is a miracle in momma's mind, considering that your big sister still sometimes struggles with this concept. You don't nap much during the day though, but that's okay. I'd rather sleep at night too!

You enjoy sitting up in the corner of the couch. It almost always gets a smile. Although you still need to be propped up, you pull yourself forward and try to sit up more on your own. In the last week or so, you have discovered your feet and you think they're pretty interesting. You also adore your big sister. You find her fascinating...as we all do.



This month, you've really discovered your hands and you're pretty good with using them. You want very little to do with a pacifier, but you love to chew/suck on your hands and fingers. You love clasping your hands together or just waving them around and staring at them.



Speaking of using your hands, you've learned to hold on to small toys and wave them around. This week, you are particularly enamored with a little toy lion from your activity mat (which you still dearly love). It's funny to watch you focus on one toy for a few days and then watch as a new toy catches your undivided attention. You not only can hold a toy if we put it in your hand, but you can grab it yourself sometimes. Mommy's pretty impressed that you're already able to do that. You love to coo and "talk", you love it when we sing to you, you adore being naked (with a diaper of course...mommy doesn't need a shower) and you love your activity mat. The dog and cats have captured your attention, but the jury's still out on them.

On the other hand, you still hate tummy time, you still struggle with the pacifier and you will not take any brand of bottle that we've tried. You're also starting to get very upset at sudden loud noises. (You'd better get used to those soon, buddy, because big sister is one tall mess of loudness!)

All in all, you're a pretty laid-back, easy-going fellow and we can't wait to see more and more of your personality shine through.

We love you, little guy!

A Life Too Short

A little over five years ago, I blogged about a little boy from our church named Kayden. He was born on September 12, 2004, just 3 days before Emily. He left the hospital on Sept. 14th and was back on the 15th, a very critically ill little baby. His grandma, who plays the piano with me at church, came to visit me while I was in the hospital with brand-new baby Emily. She freely cried as she told me about little Kayden, who at three days old was so ill.

Kayden has been in and out of hospitals, had more tests and procedures than most people will ever have in an entire lifetime and could not talk, walk or even hold his own head up. He has required 24 hour care for his entire life. Last month, we went to a big 5th birthday party for him at church, and it was bittersweet, knowing that the whole reason for the huge celebration was because he might not have another.

Today Kayden is with Jesus, running and laughing and playing and doing all the things he could never do here on earth. Today his family is heartbroken and yet they know that he is now whole. Today, I will hug my children a little bit longer and thank God for their lives and remember this family whose arms are suddenly empty.

If you will, please say a prayer for Kayden's family. They will see him again some day, but until then, their hearts are grieving.

Fear Itself

There's an awful lot of reporting about the H1N1 flu and vaccine, and just as much debate. Everyone has an opinion, and their reason for it; even people I hold in high regard are weighing in on the vaccine debate and to be honest, I'm just plain torn.

I normally think that people like Rush Limbaugh are pretty level-headed when talking about media-wrought panics and I typically agree with their assessments, but this time, I just don't know what to think.

For example, I've heard many generally intelligent people say that they absolutely will not get the H1N1 vaccine...no way, no how, it's too new, it's untested, it may cause more harm than good. I probably would not be inclined to get the vaccine either, especially since I'm not (by myself) in a high-risk group.

However, I don't live in a bubble. Because I have an infant, I am in a very high-risk group and it is strongly recommended that I vaccinate myself and my family...everyone but Ethan because he is too young. We know for sure that Emily has already been exposed to H1N1 at her preschool and today marks seven days since the confirmed cases started exhibiting symptoms. Emily has been hacking up a lung since Sunday and has had a low-grade fever (99-100.2) every day as well. She "seems" okay otherwise, but I find myself checking her fever several times a day because I know that our area has been having a bit of an outbreak of flu cases, and this includes one very fast death of an other-wise healthy 11 year old girl. I don't panic easily, but quite frankly, that scares me.

I don't want to give in to the panic, but I don't know what to think about this vaccine and all the media hoopla isn't really helping. As a parent, I can't imagine making the choice NOT to
vaccinate and then having one of my kids get sick and heaven-forbid something worse, but on the other hand, I generally try to err on the side of caution with new vaccines/medicines. It feels like a darned if you do/darned if you don't kind of choice.

Add to this that even if I wanted the H1N1 vaccine, it's not available, and when it is, Emily will require two shots, spaced some amount of time apart, and then full immunity is not achieved for about another 3 weeks. What happens if she contracts H1N1 somewhere between those doses? I have so many questions, but so few answers and I don't like living in a constant state of worry.

Can we just skip straight to spring/summer and bypass this flu season altogether?

Emily and Ethan Make a Video

This is the first video of Emily and Ethan "talking" to us...and the Grandpeople.

Enjoy!

Two of a Kind

I'm thinking that Ethan looks a lot like his big sister.

Ethan at 12 weeks (above)

Emily at probably closer to 4 months (below). Sorry about the size. I had to scan Em's picture in and I've never done that before with this printer. I guess I'll have to actually read the instructions to get it the right size!

The Munchkin

Mr. Ethan is a little over 12 weeks old now. He's pretty happy except when he's not. I think he may have a bit of a short fuse.

He likes to be naked. He likes it a lot.

He also likes to lay on his back and kick his feet and wave his arms. He gets a little wild.

Here's the view from tummy time. I had to take this picture quick. This doesn't look quite right....

Oh yes, this more like it. Mr. E hates tummy time. This picture barely scratches the surface.

Ah...no more tummy time. Much better, but still resenting Mom a little.

The Tall Drink of Water

We had Emily's 5 year pictures taken on Friday. It was rainy and cold and gloomy outside, but Miss Em made it bright and sunshiney on the inside. (Pictures were taken at Portrait Innovations)

This is one tall 5 year old. At her five year check up, she was 45 lbs. and 46.5 inches tall. She's still above the 97th percentile in height. She's almost 4 feet tall. I have a feeling I will be looking up to her by the time she's a teenager (Heaven help us all then!).

Changing Seasons

Emily had a field trip to the local county park. While she went on a nature hike with her class, Ethan and I went on a little photo adventure of our own. (We weren't invited on the hike...no siblings allowed!)

The blue barn in the background is part of on old dairy farm that is now park property. I really liked the fall colors against the blue barn and their reflection in the water.

Looking across the river, the trees are starting to turn beautiful colors.

I don't know why, I just liked this picture.

More fall colors and reflections

A bit blurred (I was holding Mr. E) but kind of peaceful, don't you think?