Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

From the zoo :)
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Perfect day at the Patch

Yesterday might have been the last really nice day so we hit the pumpkin patch with our Playgroup. The kids all had a blast. And guess who was the cutest pumpkin EVER?

The huge hay pile was a big hit. Hooligans with Hay.

Have I mentioned on here that I LOVE my ergo? I could carry my hefty boy all day.

We got to take a hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Hay was thrown.



I love this picture. I cannot believe my baby girl looks like this. She is going to be 5 in March and she looks so grown up! She is getting more helpful and she is a terrific student. She remembers everything and I am loving learning right along with her. I just have to get her to start being nice to her brother and we'll be good. Any tips on that??

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Feast day of Blessed John Paul 2

Me: John Paul! Today is a very special day! Today we celebrate Pope John Paul 2. We loved him so much and thought he was so special that we named you after him!

John Paul: Can I be naked a few minutes??

Happy feast day!
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My little helper

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Sunday, October 16, 2011

Interesting

I had two interesting "cleft experiences" this week. The first one was during nap time, flipping through the channels, I happened to catch a few minutes of Dr. Phil. I noticed the woman on there had a cleft lip repair (and boy did she have ISSUES!) I listened to her for a few minutes and she sounded absolutely perfect, nothing wrong with her speech. I wondered if she had a cleft palate as well. Finally she told Dr. Phil she was born with a cleft lip and palate. That made me feel great that her speech was so good, since that is what I'm probably the most concerned about - other than his surgery. I shouldn't say I'm too concerned though, since the surgeon and speech therapist assure me that eventually no one will ever know anything was wrong.

The second thing happened at Chick fil A on Thursday night. Ken was gone on a business trip this week (left me alone with these hooligans!) so on Thursday night I took them there for supper and for them to wear themselves out in the play area. Leo was in the stroller at our table and this adorable little 3 year old Asian girl kept coming over to him. She walked right up to him and started playing with him and they both had huge smiles on their faces. I tried to ask her a few questions but she didn't answer. She did sign "baby" and point to him with a big smile on her face. I said, "Do you like babies?" and she nodded emphatically "yes!" Then I noticed that she had a cleft lip repair. I asked her dad sitting at the next table if she had also had a cleft palate. He said yes. She was adopted at 18 months from China, and had her repair at 20 months. I asked him about the surgery and told him Leo would have his in 4-5 months. He said she came through it with flying colors and it wasn't a bad recovery at all. That made me feel good too! They were so cute together. It was like they had a little connection. So so sweet.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Understatement of the year

Yesterday we were talking about this or that we did before we had kids. This is a totally foreign concept to Madeleine. Once she asked me, "When you were a little girl, Who was my mommy?"

Anyway, after listening for awhile, she said, "Was everyone happy when I finally got here?"

Honey, you have no idea.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

10 month pics

He finally outgrew that baby bathtub. Like 6 months ago. But this is his first sink bath.




He got his first tooth!

And that would be his first bruise. He got that about 2 minutes before his speech therapist came over last Friday. He's pulling up to his knees on everything, and crawling EVERYWHERE. I think that he's already slimmed down since he started crawling about 3 weeks ago. I miss the chunk!

Friday, October 07, 2011

Quick takes

1. Let me get the complaining out of the way first. Sometimes I really hate pumping. Like this morning, when Leo was in our bed sleeping so peacefully, and I had to get up and pump, and Ken had to get in the shower, so I had to move him to his bed where he woke up and cried the whole time I was downstairs pumping. That doesn't happen often, but when it does, I just can't wait for this to be over. On the other hand, I'm SO glad I've been able to keep this up for 10 months tomorrow! No plans on stopping anytime soon either. Ok I'm done complaining.

2. We hit the apple orchard again this week. The weather for this entire week was absolutely gorgeous so we made sure to enjoy it!

John Paul, look at the camera.

The CAMERA. Look at the CAMERA.

John Paul. Look. at. the. camera.

THE CAMERA.
3. OK one more small complaint. This sweet boy is going through the special needs nipples like crazy. He's chewing on them and making the holes bigger and then they're unusable. I just bought 4 of them today. $56. He's working on drinking out of a cup.

(John Paul! The camera is RIGHT HERE.)
4. I gave Leo his second haircut! I made sure to leave the curls on top. Actually the top was the only part that needed cutting!
5. Since Leo started crawling, I've really enjoyed watching all 3 of them play together on the floor. (This was his before haircut pic.)
6. Madeleine's absolute favorite thing to do is catch bugs. Here's how much I love her. This week I caught a beetle, 2 grasshoppers, and a giant scary looking black spider with yellow stripes. You would have thought it was Christmas morning.
7. Leo got to ride the dinosaur at the "dinosaur playground" as John Paul calls it. No pictures of this, but this week I figured out how to put Leo in the ergo on my back. My life has completely changed! We've gone on hikes, to stores and playgrounds, and I can even cook with him on my back! Totally hands free, it's amazing. I can't believe it took me 3 kids to figure this one out. He is super happy back there too.
7. Our hike at this beautiful park. I asked Ken what he thought his kids did on this hike (without showing him pictures.) He said, Madeleine looked for bugs and John Paul threw things and hit things with sticks. Right on the money.
Check back for Leo's 10 month pics tomorrow! 10 months!

Monday, October 03, 2011

I don't even know what to call this one

As I got John Paul out of his crib this morning, he started poking my chest.

JP: Mommy, what are THOSE?
Me: Those make milk for baby Leo.
JP: OOH, they're so nice and LUMPY!

(Side note, I told Ken about this and he said, "That boy is gonna be a smooth talker.")

M: I have some of those too! They're little right now but someday they're gonna get bigger and THEN I can be a SISTER! (She means a nun!)

Me: um....