pumpkins, colds and torn things.

Just a quick update because I really should be working on other things.

Things are going pretty well over here, no real complaints.  We are getting our basement waterproofed (woohoo!) in a few weeks, in time for winter storms but not in time for this supposed "Frankenstorm" we are supposed to be seeing within the next day or two.  We are praying that we keep power and the water stays out!

Saturday was our annual pumpkin carving and soup eating with the Partin family and Julia.  Lily was much more interested in carving the pumpkins this year, but no more interested in sitting in one than she has been in previous years.  No shock there.  Emma was not a fan either.  Again, no surprise.

comparison of Lily not enjoying the pumpkins either

bffs in matching jams!

Jesse, Emma and my pumpkin's.

Lily's Happy Face pumpkin

We are now going to play a game.  I will list the members of my family, and you have to put them with the appropriate action.  I'm sure you will do great.

Players: Lily, Emma, Jesse, Amber, Zeke 

Action: teething, getting over a cold, ear infections, strangely needing to work late at work, taking extra vitamin C, torn knee ligament, exceptionally silly, hates onions.

Have your guess on who goes with what?  Here are the answers:

Lily: getting over a cold, exceptionally silly.

Emma: teething, getting over a cold, hates onions.

Jesse: strangely needing to work late at work.

Amber: taking extra vitamin C

Zeke: ear infections, torn knee ligament.

How well did you do? 

Yep, poor Zeke has a bum knee.  We finally made it to the vet today for the poor guy's limp and that is what we found out.  The vet gave him some anti-inflammatory medicine and said "6 weeks rest" and then laughed when I asked for tranquilizers as well.  Fortunately, we have the underground fence installed and began working with him today on it, so we have a good excuse to actually work on it more now, since we have to take him outside on leash and he isn't supposed to go run with the neighbor dogs.  Poor guy.  The beeping makes him twitch and when he got shocked, he yelped like a tiny dog.  We will see how quickly he picks it up, but I think it won't take him long.

The girls are doing ok, just fighting colds.  Poor Emma has had a rough few weeks, with teething, a cold, and trying to communicate to me what I can't eat because it doesn't sit in her stomach well.  She's a trooper though, and weighed in at 15 lbs, 10 oz at her 4 month appointment, and 26" long!  So if you listened to me panic about her not eating very well recently, the above should explain why: feeling sick, teeth, growth spurt!  

Jesse is still enjoying his job, and I jokingly say that he strangely has begun working late to stay away from sickies at home.  I'm just trying to keep myself healthy and have been semi-staying away from caffeine, so it's been an adventure.  We are doing well though!  More pictures soon, I have had a few requests for comparison pictures of what the girls look like, so I will be working on that for a future post.  

enjoying a last nice day outside

sass 

enjoying the bouncer

what's this!?

fall photo shoots!

Here are a few of Emma's 4 month pictures. 

my photographer's assistant, stomping in the leaves.

love this little smirk she has.

 I have been talking to Jesse about all of us going down to our field and taking some family pictures for a few months now.  Today was a good, sunny day when we were actually all home to go down and take some pictures.  Jesse was a trooper and humored me, and I tried to make it quick.  But let's be honest, Jesse and I were the only ones who actually are capable of sitting still for such things.  Zeke's appearance in the pictures wasn't actually planned, but he was running around in our meadow, so we called, he came, and ended up in the pictures as a result.  I'm so glad he did!

testing for lighting.

When Emma is a little older, we will try again for a picture where she is looking at the camera.  But considering my camera was on a tripod, and no one was standing behind the camera trying to get the girls or Zeke's attention, I'm quite pleased.

AND, I loved this picture enough that I can now change my blog picture.  Thank you for your patience.

it's only Tuesday?

I am thankful for:

1. family.  The girls and I got to see several members this past weekend.  More on that in a few minutes.

2. optimism.

3. coffee.

4. the phrase, "this too shall pass."

5. my daughters.

As promised: This past weekend, Lily, Emma and I took off for Findlay, loaded down with junk food and bribes for Lily (worked great, judge appropriate amounts).  The trip went very smoothly, and we stopped in Zanesville for about an hour ish at "Gamma's" house where L fed the fish, played with Annie, and tried to get every single toy out she could.  We made pretty good time, thanks to my unbreakable rule of if both girls are asleep, don't stop.  Not always the best rule when I REALLY would like to stop, but we deal with it.

The weekend was a lot of fun.  I went up to Toledo for Nikki's baby shower on Sunday, and since I knew I would be visiting Findlay, I text Jess and Joel and informed them that they would also be in Findlay that weekend.  It was nice of them (and their spouses) to drive so we could all be together.  I had told Lily we were going to Poppo and Mimi's house, but not that her aunts and uncles would be coming too, so she was really excited when they arrived.  And even more excited when Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Joel brought their new kittens..I wish I had taken pictures of that, but is there anything more joyful than watching a 2 year old giggling and chasing kittens?  The shower was a lot of fun: I left Lily with the family while Emma and I headed to Toledo.  I loved seeing Nikki and two of  Jesse's aunts (hi Aunt Patty!), as well as SIL Erin and my niece!  I forgot how much fun 6 month olds are.  Emma and I sat at a table with the aunts, Erin/Kole and Nikki's bff and her mom who all made me laugh and helped me out by holding Emma so I could eat!  It was fabulous.  And even though I took my camera, you wouldn't be able to tell because I didn't take a single picture.  Boo.

As all weekends do, it ended too fast and the girls and I came home yesterday.  Nothing too exciting to report so far this week, just that our yearly lady bug infestation is back.  Ugh.  We bug bombed the house for those before we moved in, but we found out that you can't get rid of the pheromone they leave behind and other lady bugs can smell it up to a quarter of a mile away or something absurd like that.  So, we will probably get to deal with this every year until we get all the nooks and crannies sealed up in our house.  Ugh.  Disgusting.  We will be bug bombing again, probably this weekend, but Jesse wants to wait until the migration has passed so we don't have to bomb twice.  Wise, but gross.  Blech.

In other news, Lily is doing really well with potty training.  Not anywhere close to being fully ready to give up diapers, but she is interested (finally), so we are making progress.  She is talking, pretty much nonstop, and doing very well.  I miss the babbling, but it is so nice to be able to have a conversation with her and have her tell me what she wants or what the problem is.  Though, as any other parent would agree, I do sometimes wish there was a "mute" or "off" button.  On the way  home yesterday, with no prompting from me, she rattled off the numbers 1-10.  Except the fact that she forgot 3, she got them all in the right order.  I was so proud!

Emma is doing pretty well.  We have some sort of teething-growth spurt-colicky combo going on, which is fabulous.  Apparently, her poor little tummy can't handle onions or peppers, so I have been avoiding those and praying that those are the only two foods and not something major and harder to avoid like gluten and dairy.  So if you think of her, please pray that she outgrows it quickly!  Because she is the happiest little baby 80% of the time and then it becomes like unleashing Mr. Hyde.  Ok, not quite.  And God has given her the absolute best smile.  Lily always was a smiler, but Emma's blow Lily's away at this age.  We had a pretty rough night last night- she was up probably every hour- but when she was done sleeping and up for the morning and I had stumbled into the room, she saw me and her whole face lit up and she gave me the biggest, gummiest grin.  You can't stay grumpy at a face like that.

That's about it from here, I guess.  I tried to upload some pictures, but it isn't working for some reason, so I will deliver pictures soon!

thankful tuesday

Have you missed me?  I am still alive, promise. 

Today was a rougher day than usual: tiredness + colicky baby.  Ugh.  We all made it through today, and I was actually able to try and focus on the things I'm thankful for this week throughout the day.

I am thankful for: 

1. happy and healthy babies.  Even on the days where one is driving me nuts by repeating the same sentence over and over and over, and the other is colicky.  These days- like today- it is a tad bit harder to be thankful but I try and take a deep breath and thank God that He has given me these blessings. 

2. that silly 2 year old I have that annoys me with her talking some days.  She and I were working on enunciating the word "bottle" yesterday and she was doing very well in making sure the "t's" were heard and clear when I said "ok, one more time: bot-tle" and she responded with "good girl, Mommy." I almost drove off the road laughing. 

3. Emma.  Some days, there is absolutely nothing sweeter than the cuddle of a little baby.  I had a huge list of things to do last Friday and I chose to completely ignore it and have a good snuggle with my little girl while Lily napped.

4. family: Jesse and I had a great weekend with his parents/extended family at his cousin's baby shower.  

5. Jesse.  I was not in the best mood when he got home from work, and feeling slightly overwhelmed with the kiddos and everything else I was trying to do.  He didn't say a word about the chaos or why xyz wasn't done; just rolled up his sleeves and jumped in.  I am so thankful and fortunate for a best friend/husband/father for my girls like him.  Yesterday marked the anniversary of when we met at college, and I am so glad that God used our ridiculousness to let us meet.   

6. BONUS: my grandmother was in the hospital and I am incredibly thankful to report that she is at home resting and on the mend.

I really don't have any stories right now..we are plugging away, one day at a time, and enjoying life and the fall weather!  We have some minor plans for the rest of the week/end, so maybe I will have something noteworthy to report soon!

photo credit to Jesse on my FIL's phone: this is what Jesse, Dad H and Lily did while Mom H, Emma and I were at a baby shower!  apparently, Lily is a huge fan of tree stands!  I sense a future hunter!