Wordless Wednesday: Monster Mash

i heart faces: Pink

In honor of Breast Cancer awareness month, this week's iheartfaces challenge is "Pink".

Somedays all the stars align for just the right photo. Last spring this tree was blooming beautifully in our front yard. I kept telling myself that I wanted to get a photo of Ruby in front of it, but life seemed to just keep getting in the way. On morning, though, Ruby was wearing just the right dress, had avoided getting breakfast on "just the right dress", was willing to wear the hat, and was in the mood to have her photo taken! It was one of those miracle mom moments;) She was quite the little fashion model! She gave me this sweet pose completely unprompted. What an everday treasure!
Head on over to iheartfaces to see lots more pink.

i heart faces: Orchard

This is my entry for this week's I Heart Faces photo contest. The challenge this week is "orchard". I love these photos of our family at Huber Orchard picking 36 pounds of strawberries, but this one of my Eli is my favorite. I love the strawberry drewl dripping down his chin! I think a photo of me on this trip picking strawberries 8 1/2 months pregnant may have been a little more entertaining, but luckily I was in charge of the camera;) Head on over to iheartfaces to see all the other incredible entries!

Update on David

The bad news: We ended up at the doctor's office on the first day of fall break. (Eli has an ear infection).

The good news: I talked the nurse into going ahead and doing David's weight check. In 10 days he went from 12 lbs, 8 oz to 13 lbs, 12 oz. That's the 10th percentile to the 50th percentile!

I am so thankful for those new rolls developing on his thighs!

Weekend with Daisy

This weekend it was Ruby's turn to bring home the class "pet"-- Daisy the Dog. I haven't seen her that excited since she met Cinderella at Disney World! As soon as we got home she wanted to show Daisy our fenced in backyard. They dug in the sandbox, soared on the swings, sailed down the slide, and...

hid in the playhouse...

Daisy was a very good dog and David just loved her...

On Friday we went out to Jason's parents to celebrate "Grammie"'s birthday. It was a great chance for the kids to play with their cousins Nadia and Veronika as well, who were visiting from Illinois. We had dinner and the kids got golf cart rides and drove the Gater...

On Saturday morning we parked our car in front of St. Peter's and walked down to Washington Street. We had such gorgeous weather! Daisy enjoyed seeing some of Columbus' well-known architecture along the way (such as this piece in front of the library which Ruby calls the Dinosaur)...

We found a great spot along the parade route and settled in to watch the show. Bands, old cars, floats, lots of candy, and one balloon-- it was a great parade. I especially loved watching Ruby imitate the trombone players...

After the parade we walked to the Expo for some lunch. Eli and Ruby enjoyed "Mexican" (a walking taco and nachos). Jason and I enjoyed "Vietnamese" shish kabobs, rice, and egg rolls...

Before we left, the kiddos enjoyed a couple slides and a jump in the bounce house...

Daisy was sad to go, but it was definately time for a rest after all that fun...

On Sunday, Ruby finally got the chance to play dress up with Daisy before church. Ruby wore her Belle dress while Daisy got to wear a pink hat, a silver choaker, and purple Fancy Nancy sunglasses. By Monday morning Ruby was very sad to see Daisy go back to school!

mommy guilt

Yesterday was one of those days we all know too well; a day filled with "mommy guilt".


David had his four month check up with the pediatrician. Unfortunately, he is not gaining weight well at all. He has only gained about 7 ounces since the end of August. When he was born (at 9 lbs, 1 oz), he was in the 90th percentile. Now, at 12 lbs, 8 oz he is only in the 10th percentile. Of course, this realization was followed by tons of questions for me. How often is he eating? How long is he eating? How many wet diapers does he have? Ect, ect, ect... The appointment ended with the pediatrician actually watching me nurse him-- ugh! When you have been solely responsible for the food your child has been eating for 4 months, you feel extreme guilt when he is not gaining weight properly.


Anyway, she will check his weight again in two weeks, but, until then she insisted that I start him on cereal. (I had been toying with the idea of waiting a couple more months.) David has been very interested in watching us eat for at least the past month. As much as I hate to admit it, he was really ready to start cereal. Here he is in various stages of eating his first batch of cereal. Note: His sister chose the pink bib for his first ever feeding-- poor guy!


Hopefully, the cereal will make the difference the pediatrician is looking for in his weight. If not, I think he is going to have a lot of fun eating anyway!