Raking leaves

We finally got most of our leaves raked yesterday. There are still some leaves frozen to the deck and street after all the rain/moisture and some of the landscaping is going to have to wait until spring. Austin was out in the sub-freezing temperatures for 6 hours and it took at least five pick-up loads to the brush dump. I helped off and on as I could and Emily joined us for awhile, too. I think Emily definitely had the most fun. She was actually very cooperative about wearing a hat and mittens.

First snow

We woke up this morning to the first dusting of snow. Austin & I were silently cursing it because 2/3 of our leaves are still on the ground, and we had hoped to get them cleaned up this weekend. Emily, however, had a different reaction. She ran to the window and said, "Get out the sled? Snowman?" Are you kidding me?!? She even went as far as opening the front coat closet and hauling out her winter coat to put on over her pajamas. Unfortunately, that's as far as I had gotten in the winter snow gear department. I didn't have a hat, mittens, snow pants or boots for her. So no going out in the snow for us! Thankfully, it melted by noon, but it was yucky and snowy all day and will be all day tomorrow, too. I did make it to Target to quickly purchase all the missing snow gear items this afternoon, but hopefully it will be awhile before we'll actually need to use them! :o)

Our big announcement

That's right--we're expecting again! I'm currently 12 1/2 weeks along and due May 18. It has been a relatively good first trimester despite all the stress of the campaign, potty-training, etc. We announced it to our families by having Emily open up this shirt as her last birthday present. Unfortunately, it has taken 4 days to wrestle the shirt on her and all morning to try and get a halfway decent picture. I hope that is not an indication of things to come! :o)

We had our first OB appointment and an ultrasound last Thursday and everything looks great. Below is the best picture of our growing miracle. Please keep us in your prayers as we add this to the list of major adjustments in our family life!

Emily's Birthday Party

We had a fun birthday party for Emily on Sunday afternoon with lots of family. It was a Curious George theme with an adorable monkey cake made by Aunt Courtney. Emily received clothes, books, neat wooden puzzles, a new play kitchen set and lots of fake food. Below is a slide show with the highlights. Thanks to everyone for making it a special day!

Another chapter closes

Well, the results are in. It looks like Austin lost his house race by approx. 1500 votes (56%-44%). While the outcome is a bit disappointing, both Austin & I are completely at peace. We both are proud of the campaign that was run and have no regrets. As Austin says, "I feel like we did everything we could and left it all out on the field."

A HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed in any way. From monetary donations to hundreds of volunteer hours, your love and support was felt the whole way. We couldn't have done it without you!

We are both just glad to have this chapter in our life finished and look forward to whatever God has in store for us in the future. Please keep us in your prayers as we make a big adjustment to a "new normal".

October wrap-up

Just so you know, reading all those "doctor" books didn't help a bit. Emily had half of them memorized and would tell you everything that was happening in the pictures, but when we went in for Emily's 2-year check-up on Friday she discovered they had removed the giant fish tank in the waiting room and it was all downhill from there. She kicked and screamed bloody murder about everything and proceeded to violently redress herself as soon as the doctor came in. She even ended up wearing her shirt backwards and inside-out the rest of the day. :o) At least Dr. Christiason got to experience her verbal skills first hand! I think Emily told herself, "You don't need to cry, Emily" at least five times. She is a healthy 30.2 lbs. and a sketchy 36" tall. I say sketchy because she was flailing around as the nurse was trying to measure her on the table. I'm pretty sure she's not quite that tall. Both put her in the 90-95th percentile where she has been from day one.

We also finally got a "big girl bed". We set up the twin mattress and box springs in her room after supper with cool new flower sheets and a real pillow. She thought it was pretty fun.

When she went to bed I was "the enforcer" sitting on a stool by the door. I had to silently put her back in bed 13 times in the first 5 minutes, but we got the "stay in bed" part down pretty quickly. She used up her 1 "potty" excuse and her 1 "drink" excuse right away. Soon we had to establish a "no standing, running or jumping" on the bed rule. It took about 2 hours for her to fall asleep (which is par for the course lately), but when she did, it was so adorable to see her curled up like a true "big girl" in a big bed. :o)

Below is the October video player with a couple new ones. The October pictures will be up on Winkflash soon. There are less picture/videos this month because Emily spent half the time half naked during her undressing phase, so I didn't get out the cameras at all during that time. Thankfully, she is growing out of it! :o)

Trick-or-Treating

Austin took Emily trick-or-treating after he got home from work. She liked it and got really good at the "thank you" part. Now I have to figure out what to do with all that candy...









This was Emily at the post office the day before. She loves going there because she knows there is a basket of suckers on the counter. I gave her one and she helped herself to the other while I was busy buying stamps. She enjoyed a double treat on her birthday. :o)

2 years old!

It's hard to believe our little girl is 2 years old today! It seems like only yesterday we were nervously packing up to go to the hospital. Now we have a fun and spirited toddler who keeps us on our toes! :o)

Emily is definitely ready for her birthday. She has been practicing singing "Happy Birthday" to herself for a month now (see video in October player). We've also been practicing holding up 2 fingers all week. She's getting close. After a while she asks for help and then proudly walks around with two fingers in the air until they come undone. We are having a family birthday party on Sunday, but I bought a helium birthday balloon for her today. Unfortunately, it had a hole in it and was half flat within minutes of arriving at home, so we have to go back and get a replacement.

Some other recent developments are the bed battles (see post below). We've postponed any further potty-training until after the election, but I guess we traded it in for something else. :op Emily has just figured out how to count to 12 correctly in the last day or two, and she's pretty good about recognizing colors. You can always catch her singing parts of her favorite nursery rhymes and other songs (besides "Happy Birthday"). We checked out every children's book in the Denver library about going to the doctor in preparation for her 2-year check-up and flu shot tomorrow. I'll have to let you know if that strategy paid off. ;o)

One funny story: Emily has had a runny nose with her cold the last couple days and the other morning I made the mistake of telling her to sit still so I could get her boogers out. She thought "booger" was the most hilarious word ever and proceeded to repeat it and laugh hysterically about it for 10 min. as well as random times throughout the day since then. I guess it was bound to happen sometime! :o)

As much as she can frustrate and push us to the limit, Emily also brings much joy and pride to our lives. We love our little girl and wish her a Very Happy 2nd Birthday!

Bed battles

So it finally happened on Sunday. Emily figured out how to crawl out of her crib. It was quite by accident at first. She was throwing a tremendous fit about something. I had put her in her crib and shut the door just so I could take a deep breath. She was out within seconds and was so surprised she immediately forgot about whatever she was throwing a fit about. Our fears were confirmed when she went down for her nap and within 10 minutes had quietly crawled out, opened the door and snuck downstairs to see what was going on. At that point I just took the side rail off so her crib looked like a day bed, even though it's not designed to be. Emily was basking in her new found freedom. She never did nap that day. And just to add to the drama, she had not one, but two dirty diapers that she promptly removed and smeared into the carpet. Sigh...

On Monday I stripped down her room to the bare essentials and gated off the closet so she wouldn't have much of anything to play with or entertain herself. (On Sunday she also took all her shoes & pj's out of her dresser drawer and was sporting a new combination each time she emerged from her room.) Monday night was really rough, though. Emily fell out of bed twice and I was up with her a total of six times. She ended up sort of sleeping curled up on the floor halfway underneath her bed.

Needless to say, Tuesday wasn't the happiest of days for either of us. I hauled out the baby gate for the doorway and put Emily down for a nap shortly after lunch, but she didn't fall asleep again until Austin took her on a trip to Waterloo and she fell asleep in the car. At least that gave me a chance to get a nap in! On top of all this, both Emily & I have come down with chest colds. Thankfully, my friend Kathryn came over in the evening for moral support while Austin was gone. We finished taking Emily's crib apart, which left just a bare crib mattress on the floor. However, Emily seems to still prefer the floor and has not slept on the mattress since. Unfortunately, it usually takes 1 1/2-2 hours after I put her down to sleep before she actually falls asleep.

So after 5 days of battles and broken sleep we desperately need to get a real "big girl" bed. Now if I could just find the time and energy to go somewhere to get one...

Cows & Pumpkins

Since the weather is supposed to turn bitter tomorrow and all my plants will die, I decided today would be the best opportunity to snap some fall pictures of Emily with the front porch display. She's wearing her Halloween cow costume. She thinks the cow is fun (especially the "floppy ears" on the front cow face), but she definitely does not dig the hood. We'll have to see what kind of mood she's in and what the weather is like as to how much trick-or-treating we might attempt.