Fall is Flying By

My... fall is just flying by! We've been super busy with life- in addition to my wanting all the baby stuff and Christmas done and wrapped by Thanksgiving. Just in case! And I'm trying to be a good patient and mommy by putting my feet up during the day but life continues!

  Elise has been thriving at school. She's been working very hard with her speech therapist and has officially gotten the letter 'K' sound down pat. We work with her at home and I hear her in her bedroom during naptime saying 'Kaiser'. We've now moved onto some other tricky sounds like 'G' and 'L' but we know she will master that within time too. What a hard worker! We're proud of her.

Daddy has given her his old piggy bank from when he has a child. It's actually a wedge of Swiss cheese... as in a Swiss bank. Elise loves putting her pennies in it and taking them out to count. We've hitched onto her enthusiasm by giving her daily chores... complete with a penny allowance every evening. She told us that she's saving for an 'orange squshy' thing that lights up. I guess I better hunt that down the next time I'm at target!

We did our annual apple picking at MacQueens. It was cold, cold, cold. On top of that, it had rained the night before so the orchard was wet. Regardless, we still filled our half bushel bag and have been enjoying apple slices with carmel along with countless other sweet and yummy apple crisps and pies.

Daddy and Elise even found a 'twin' apple that had grown together. A sign of things to come!

We tried a new place for pumpkin picking-- the Pumpkin Peddler in Bowling Green. It was a perfect place. Elise loved taking the hayride out to the fields to find the perfect pumpkin. Surprisingly she opted for a small one-- and one for daddy too. I opted for a large, warty one which proved impossible to carve... Oh well.

I love this picture! Elise is also posing with her white pumpkin gourd which has found a home on her bookshelf in her bedroom.

Oh- and this is just a random photo of Elise. I tried to fix her headband for her but she insisted that it was to be worn this way. It's a bit Flashdance-like!

The other night we went to the Bowling Green women's volleyball game. It was breast cancer awareness night so we all sported pink. The student section chanted 'BG' and Elise thought it was funny as we sometimes refer to our dog Garth as 'G'. She thought they were cheering for him!

Of course we eventually carved our pumpkins... I'm not sure why I didn't get a final picture in here! I guess I was just a bit ticked that my pumpkin wasn't carvable! As in years past, we saved the seeds and Daddy and Elise made their infamous roasted pumpkin seeds. We enjoyed them that evening watching Lady and the Tramp in our pajamas on the couch.

Garth was nearby to help... thanks old guy! I can't believe he's 14.5 years old!

Meanwhile my stomach is getting bigger. I'm 24 weeks in this picture... not too much smaller than when I had Elise. I'm taking it as easy as possible. My doctor wants me to have 'modified' bedrest in the afternoons. I'm determined to grow big, healthy babies. I have a lot of swelling (no more wedding ring) and am starting to have daily contractions. So far I get to maintain a semi-normal life. Luckily I'm organized enough to work ahead on getting things done and I'm blessed to have a lot of family and friends to support us. Plus Elise and Jeff are the best! I'm still convinced that Elise is going to make the best big sister. She loves her 'babes'.

Meanwhile our dogs are doing well. We often joke that we have a house full of geriatric dogs. We love them so and they are putting up with the fact that I don't give them daily walks like I used to. Plus, Garth can't walk much further than a block.... so he and I stay home while Elise, Daddy and Demi roam the town.