Oct. 30: On October 9, Terry, Andrew, Sylvia, and I went to West Towne Mall together to get some supplies for my new iPod. While we were there, we had some ice cream, and Sylvia joined in – her first ice cream experience!
Halloween preview
Oct. 30: I took the kids out yesterday morning to take some photos of them in their sweet Halloween costumes. Granny made Andrew’s giraffe costume, and it’s just wonderful! Andrew loves the costume, but every time I’ve pulled out my camera, he immediately takes it off…so no photos have been taken until just now. Sylvia’s bear costume is the same type as Andrew’s duck costume. He was such a cute duck! And she’s a cuddly bear. Hope you all have a happy Halloween tomorrow!
Photos of my kiddos are in the gallery.
Now entering Facebook
Oct. 28: You’ll soon be able to find me on Facebook. That’s right, after years of hearing about it, I’m jumping in. Bryan joined a few months ago, and he always seems to know so much about what’s going on in our friend’s lives. My main hesitation has been that I like to keep my blog up-to-date and I like to read my friend’s blogs and my mom/cooking/crafting blogs, and I don’t know if I have time in my life for another area of computer time. It’s not like the kids often say, “Hey Mom, why don’t you just check your email for a bit and we’ll play safely and quietly here together.” No, they don’t say that yet. So I do my computer work during stolen moments here and there. And now I’ll add Facebook to my list of things that I’ll want to check.
So do you want to be my friend!?
Good times
Oct. 26: Taking a moment here to report that we’re having a great time with Ben and Melanie. Plans today include an orchard outing and some pumpkin carving!
Cherokee outing with Dad
Oct. 24: On October 12, we met Dad for lunch at Rocky’s followed by a hike out at Cherokee Marsh. It was stunningly, beautifully perfect. The color! It was the kind of day that superlatives are made for.
Andrew had fun looking for lady bugs and nuts and sticks. He ran and then he wanted to be carried. Dad and Bryan oblidged. I had Sylvie in the backpack, and she did a wonderful job. We all walked down to the water and along the boardwalk and then on the path with the big rock and in through the prairie.
I had a fun time taking pictures, and I’ve got to say, that I’m pretty happy with how this batch turned out. Looking back, I’m glad that we could capture that afternoon and hold on to some of its brilliance.
Thanks, Dad, for spending some fun time with us!
Photos are in the gallery.
MP3 conversion complete (mostly)
Oct. 24: After working on it for weeks, I’ve completed copying all our CDs to the computer so I can listen to them on our new iPod. We’ve got 4,300 songs – 15GB. I’ll want to do our Christmas music too, but that’s all in the basement. Now in my quest to fulfill my obsessive compulsive tendencies, I’m going to spend lots of time tweaking the genres, making sure the album artwork is all there, and making play lists.
We’re already having lots of fun re-discovering all our music and listening to lots of things we haven’t heard in ages.
Thank goodness for Andrew’s help through all the CD ripping. He got very good at swapping out CDs, and he’d call out to tell me what track number they were on and how many tracks it had to go. It was a good math experince for the little guy:)
Oh, by the way, Andrew is in love with the iPhone. He plays with Terry’s all the time, and he’s been having fun with Melanie’s too. It’s so funny to watch him quickly navigate his way through the screens. The boy knows what he’s doing. But one must keep an eye on him to ensure that he doesn’t unintentionally make a purchase!
Sylvie is better!!
Oct. 24: Things are so much better. SO MUCH BETTER! Sylvia is over her ear infection. I took her in to the doctor on Tuesday, and they declared her ears healed. No fluid behind the ear drum. And both those new teeth have cut through the gums. So she has been feeling so much better. She’s been happier, smilier…she’s even laughing again. But the big news, the news that has rocked my world…she’s sleeping again. She’s taking naps that last about two hours. Regularly. After about 20 minutes, I listen and brace myself, but she sleeps on and on.
Here’s the kicker – last night she didn’t wake to nurse all night. I fed her at 11pm and then at 6am. I don’t remember getting that much continuous sleep. It may have happened since she was born, but I don’t recall such a miraculous event. Oh bliss. Even if it was a one-time thing, I’m happy! And so is my rested girl. And that’s what matters most:)
Touching in
Oct. 24: Bryan and Melanie just drove off to pick up Ben from the airport. Melanie has been here since Wednesday, and we’re having a great time! Andrew’s been stuck to her like glue. “Doting in idolatry,” as Shakespeare might say. The little guy had a wonderful couple of days at preschool, and then he and Mel did a lot of jumping game, book reading, football running in the back yard, puzzles, dancing with scarves, more jumping game, being koalas or foxes or bison or sloths, etc. It’s fun to see Andrew enjoy his aunt so much:)
Ben and Melanie are here together now until Monday, so we still have a couple full days to spend together. We’re hoping to do an apple orchard outing. Mel, Andrew, and I stopped by a farm stand a couple days back and got five pumpkins, decorative gourds, and (I’m excited about these) a couple big sheaves of corn stalks to make our front entry seasonally festive. With a strand of orange lights, we’re ready for Halloween!
So much to write!
Oct. 21: When I don’t post in several days, this…thing…happens to me. I get all twitchy and sort of nervous. I’ve got about six posts I’m trying to hold onto in my brain, and it’s making me a bit crazy.
But Sylvia just started crying, so I’m not going to free my mind yet!
OK, it’s 11pm and the wee one is fed. Andrew was calling for me an hour ago. When I went into his room, I discovered that he was completely encased in his blankets. And stuck. He had somehow gotten down to the foot of his bed, cocooned in his blankets. I had to pull and roll him a lot before I could find him:) Although he was almost asleep, he did seem to see the humor in the situation. What a kook.
As a quick recap, we had a wonderful visit with Bryan’s mom. She came into town on the 12th and left on the 17th. Sylvia was pretty unhappy/sick for much of her visit, so it was especially nice to have her here as backup…both for Andrew and for my mental and emotional sanity.
On Saturday, Jessica and I took our girls down to Mineral Point for the Fall Art Tour. It was a glorious day.
I’ve continued to scan my CD collection to iTunes. I’m really nuts. So far, I have 3,500 songs scanned. I went home last weekend and got a bag of CDs. More MORE ha ha ha ha!!!
I just read a quote I liked a lot: “We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and in retrospection.” – Anais Nin
So true. That’s a big chunk of why I love to chronicle my kids lives.
I think I had other really pertinent things to report, but they currently escape me. So I’ll leave you with the update that Melanie flies in tomorrow. Ben joins her on Friday, and the two of them are staying until mid-day on Monday. We’re really looking forward to their visit!
Bryan’s a sick boy today. Fever, chills, headache. Hopefully we won’t give our disease to our house guests!
A new tooth!
Oct. 14: Sylvia’s third tooth is on it’s way in. A corner appeared yesterday. Looks like she’s going to have four teeth on the bottom before she gets any on the top. Tooth #3 is the left bottom guy. She seems like she’s doing alright. No drooling, but lots of chomping on her finger.
In other news, Sylvia said “mama” when she saw me two times recently. She’s continuing to say “dada” about a lot of things, but notably about Bryan. And when I asked her if she was all done with her food, she repeated “ahhhdah.” Speech is coming to this young girl!
She does however appreciate the power of a well-placed yell.
In other news, Heather did a really nice post about our trip to DC in August. She said some awfully nice things about my kiddos. Thanks, Heather. My spirit is always buoyed when I read sweet things about my kids. I’m glad you enjoy them so much too.