Autumn Adventures

Life is busy, but so good.  Just cleared off my camera so I have room for the Halloween/All Saints Day festivities!  Here is what we have been up to the last month....

The weather has been pretty mild for October, so the kids have been able to play outside a lot, which is awesome.  This pic is from Oct. 14th when we had a crazy hail/thunderstorm!

 We had some friends over to play "old fashioned games" like hopscotch, horseshoes, duck, duck goose, etc.  I guess these are still played today, but may be considered "old-fashioned" when compared to all the electronic games kids play :)

My baby turned 11 months old yesterday, and I am happy to report that she is finally sleeping on her own in the crib.  After several nights of her waking up almost every hour to nurse, and me getting frequent headaches, I decided I couldn't take many more of these kind of nights.  Alex and Mary sleep with a cd that plays rain sounds all night, so we decided to try that with Lucy.  The first night she slept four hours at a time, and I only went in twice to feed her.  I was shocked, as she had been sleeping next to me for so long, and I thought she would have a really hard time.  The past few nights have been great as well and I only go in twice a night to nurse her.  If she wakes up shortly after that, she fusses for a few minutes and goes back to sleep on her own.  I am so, so happy to be sleeping in my own bed again and waking up rested.

A Pinterest success!

Some of Alex's recent artwork from school. He is loving the co-op and is learning so much.  Mary is also picking up the memory work from listening to the cd in the car and loves to practice the poetry.  It is neat when references to what he is learning pop up and he able to make connections and see things in different contexts.  The kids were watching "Magic School Bus" on Netflix the other day and they were talking about chemical reactions.  The science curriculum this year is Chemistry/Physics, and the kids had just done some experiments showing different kinds of chemical reactions for the science lesson that week.  Alex got so excited, and started telling me over and over, "Mommy, they are talking about chemical reactions!"  So fun :)

Making carmel apples at grammy and papa's house. Yummy!

 

Some backyard fall pictures with my beautiful babies :)

Happy Halloween!  Hope to have our Halloween/All Saints Day pics up soon :)

September 2013

I always mean to blog more, but can't seem to manage more than one post a month lately.  I feel so bad because what is posted here are the only pictures I took for the month of September :(  Oh well, at least it didn't take me much time to put them on the computer and edit them.  I really need a better picture organization method, but that is a massive project that probably won't happen until the kids are older.  

This is from a park play date.  The kids spent a lot of time playing in this mud puddle.   At least Cooper is prepared with his rubber boots!

As we were leaving, Alex picked this bouquet of "flowers" for me. *swoon*

 A blurry phone pic, but at least all three kids are looking at the camera!

We went to Lakeside Amusement Park on Labor Day again this year, and Mary was old enough to go on the rides this time.  

Alex loves to play "rocket".  He puts on his space suit costume and sets up seats and a "control panel" on his bed.  We visit all the planets and fix problems that are going on, like firestorms :).  He talks about supply pods and rovers, and it cracks me up.  I think he gets a lot of it from a show he watches on Netflix called "Lunar Jim".

Even though our Saturn had pretty low mileage for an older car (62,000), we were spending a lot on repairs, so we thought we should get rid of it before the cost of repairs became more than the car is worth.  Alex wanted a car with good MPG and all-wheel drive for those snowy commutes to work.  Subaru's were rated the highest in the areas we wanted, so here is our new car, a 2013 Impreza!  We love it so far, and it was a hassle-free process selling the Saturn on Craigslist.

Lucy is 10 months old!  She just pulled up to a standing position for the first time last night on Mary's bed.   I can't wait until she is walking so I don't have to constantly be digging things out of her mouth.  My floors are definitely not clean enough for a baby that rakes the floor with her fingers looking for the smallest crumb to put in her mouth :(  She is so much fun though, and Alex and Mary are thrilled that she is able to play with them more and more.

Alex bought these beautiful "1st day of fall" flowers for me, and they still look almost as beautiful today, weeks later!

August 2013

I'll start with an update on Mary and her eczema.  We took her to a dermatologist, who was so unhelpful that we didn't go back.  He dismissed my concerns about using steroid cream long term, and basically told us it was the only option to keep it under control.  A few weeks after that I took her to an allergist, suspecting some seasonal allergies (she had a runny nose off and on all summer) and possibly food allergies that could be contributing to the eczema.  She had allergy testing done, and was negative for everything.  While I am relieved, I still have no answers.  At least the allergist gave us some things to try for maintenance therapy, like wet wraps.  We tried a non-steroidal cream with minimal results, so right now we are using a low-potency steroid cream every few days along with lots of moisturizing in between.  Poor girl, I think she will be dealing with this her whole life.  There is also a high probability that she will develop asthma as well, so we have to keep an eye on symptoms for that.  Both Alex and Mary have a had a rough summer with colds and  fevers this summer.  The pic below is NOT one Mary's ezcema breakouts.  We think it may have been an atypical reaction to hand-foot-mouth disease, although we aren't sure.   Alex had the virus a few days before but did not get a rash.  She had it up and down her arms and legs and there were a few blisters around her mouth.

Lucy and Makayla played with puzzles during a fun morning in my friend Amanda's basement.  She runs a preschool and has lots of fun stuff!

She also hosted a bug playdate in her backyard.  Hundreds of ladybugs were released for the kids to explore.  So fun!

Here are the kiddos acting out the story "My Blue Boat".

Alex started school on Aug. 28th!  More later on how that is going.



Here is a sideways pic of my homeschool supplies closet...

And the books and supplies we use on a daily basis.

Here is my sweet Lucy-Lu at 9 months!  It has been a fun few weeks with lots of new milestones....the babbling started, she started to crawl (army-style...so funny!) and I felt a tooth poking through last week.  We think she has red hair, but it's pretty light and she doesn't have much yet so it is kind of hard to tell.  Plus she has a patch of blond or white hair on the left side of her head, which is kind of strange.  She is the most content baby out of the three, happily spending time playing on the floor for long periods of time, exploring the toys that are always strewn about.  She is still nursing around the clock, and we have moved to a mattress on the floor until I am motivated enough to try and transition her to the crib.  She is eating solid foods twice a day, and enjoys trying food from our plates.

I had to snap a pic of this, because Lucy never falls asleep unless she is nursing or in the car.  We were outside talking to a car salesman (we got a new car...pics to come!) and I guess the nice, cool breeze was very calming to her.  She woke up shortly after we went back inside :)



Spiderman and butterfly face paint from the safety fair :)

Oh, my littles.  I am so glad that they are "mine" for these few short years.  I love waking up and discovering what new adventures the day will bring!