A new Tradition

Last night, we started what we hope will be a Halloween tradition for our family. Since we live where it can be 80+ degrees in October, we have to wait until the last minute to carve our pumpkins. So last night we have a pumpkin night. We had bacon and pumpkin pancakes (both flavored and shaped) for dinner. Then we carved out pumpkins and watched the Charlie Brown special The Great Pumpkin on TV. As long as ABC cooperates and shows it every October 30th at 8, I think we will try to do this every year. It was really fun. And Carson didn't know he was eating pumpkin in his pancakes!
And, oh my gosh, what were people thinking letting Sabrina go on Dancing. Now, how is a woman going to win. I must admit I am pulling for Jenny, but I don't know if she can do it.
I will try to get some pictures from last night and tonight up tomorrow. I am sure I will have a zillion!

Birthdays and Macie eating

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my friend Lynn's house from college. There are 4 of us who try to get together every now and again. Since this past weekend was the Georgia Florida game, it was a perfect excuse for us to get together. When we got home, we left all the stuff in the car. Sunday after church, I brought the bags inside. One of them had a box of Gerber toddler crackers we had taken for Macie. The bag was on the coffee table, but Macie managed to pull the bag down, get the box of crackers out of the bag, and open the box. The pictures to the right are how we found her! This was after she had eaten lunch. Have I mentioned she likes to eat?

Yesterday was my birthday. On Sunday, I told Jeff what I want next year from my birthday. It is truly a sign that I am getting old. I would have loved this gift this year, but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. So, what is it that I want? I want Jeff to take the day off of work. He will get up and get Carson ready for school. If we send Macie next year he can get her ready too. I get to sleep in a little late. We will then all go to breakfast as a family. After we get the kids to school, Jeff and I will spend the day Christmas shopping. He thinks this sounds like a miserable way to spend your birthday, but for me, it will be wonderful. It isn't because I love to shop. It is because ALL of the holiday shopping falls on my shoulders. I have to come up with the ideas, purchase the gifts, wrap the gifts, and make sure they get to the correct place. In addition, we have 9 birthdays in the family this time of year. Somehow, this was in the fine print of our marriage liscense. A great deal for Jeff, but a really crappy one for me. For me to have all of his family taken care of and most of the kids gifts and my family before November will be the greatest gift. It will take away lots of stress and give me time to enjoy the fun of the holidays. Plus, if I can get Jeff to smile and not complain, we can get some quality time together. (Have I ever mentioned that quality time and acts of service are my love languages?) Maybe knowing that this year is the last time I have to do it alone will make it easier for me!
By the way, I really do enjoy trying to find gifts for people. It just gets to the point where it is too much all at once!

Chick-fil-a

Macie and I have music class on Mondays. There is about an hour between the end of class and getting Carson from school. We have come home a couple times, but really it isn't worth the time. So, today we went to the Chick-fil-a at Roswell Corners. It is across the street from Carson's school, so it is the perfect location for us to pass a little time. I have been to this particular location about 500 times. I am probably not exagerating! Carson, Jeff and I all love the food and it is close to our house. Today, I had such great service, I had to talk about it.
First, as I walked up carrying Macie and all the stuff that goes with her, one of the workers came to open the door for me. I ordered and got my food quickly. The same lady carried my food to our table and got me a straw, spoon and napkins. She also got a table topper (A little plastic thing you can put on the table so kids don't have to eat off the public table. They just got them at this location and I am very excited) She also went behind the counter where they keep a box of Cherrios for little ones. She came by to check on me several times and took my trash when I was finished. I did not get her name, but she went out of her way to make things easy for me. I did not really need another reason to go to Chick-fil-a, but it is a nice added bonus.
For those of you with little ones, I recommend you try to soup for them. Macie loved the pasta, carrots and chicken. She also loves the grilled chicken and fries, but I feel better if she eats carrots instead of fries!

Pictures

We got our proofs from Saturday's pictures yesterday. Now, we have the difficult task of deciding what we want to order. I am not very good at making the decisions! We also got Carson's school pictures back to day. They are cute-especially for school photos. Let me know if you want to see the proofs and I will email you the link.
It is a dreary day here. We really need the rain so I am not complaining. (An article in the paper Sunday said Atlanta has 80 days of water left in Lake Lanier) Carson did not have school so he is watching a movie on the couch. I am hoping he will nap. Macie slept about 30 minutes twice today. She is up in her bed fighting a 3rd nap. Any suggestions on getting her to take good long refreshing naps? Remember I have to be in the car from 9:15-9:45 and 1:15-1:45, 3 times a week. I think Mitzi and I are setting a car pool schedule so I might be able to eliminate the drop off time. Maybe that will help.

Pumpkin treats

I have always loved pumpkin pie. I love the holidays because my family always had pumpkin pie. I remember one time when I was in high school I think, my mom had a pie cooling on the counter in our kitchen. My cat, Daisy, climbed up there and took a nice bite out of the middle. She was a great cat for kids, but she could get into some trouble. Maybe one day I will try to find a picture to scan of Daisy. I had her from the summer before 1st grade (5 years old) until my sophomore year in college (19 years old).
Back to pumpkin talk! A few years ago, I discovered that a bagel shop around here has pumpkin cream cheese and bagels in the fall. I can not really taste it in the bagels, but I love the cream cheese. Since I only have 2 weeks left to get to my weight watchers goal, I have not had one this year. I will be there soon though. I will just plan to have veggies for a meal to make up for the large amount of cream cheese I will eat. Sunday, I discovered another pumpkin treat. Statbucks has pumpkin drinks this month. I don't know how long they are around, but I highly recommend you try one! I had the fat free latte without whip cream and it was incredible. I am sure it is even better if you get it with the really fattening stuff. There is also an ice cream shop in town that has pumpkin ice cream this time of year. Jeff likes it a lot, but it isn't my favorite. I noticed as I drove by the other day they have milkshakes too. I might try one before they are gone, but again, I would have to balance my points!
Basically, even without the holidays, I could find a few extra pounds in the fall. I just went to the Starbucks website and looked up the calories for the pumpkin lattes and frappuccinos. My best bet is the light frappuccino. It has 1/3 of the WW points as a regular!

Average girl

Macie had her 9 month appointment this afternoon. She was nice and smiled at all the nurses until she got her first flu shot. Her ear infection has healed, but she has a yeast diaper rash so she will have to have prescription cream. She is growing well and is about average in all categories. Her height is 28 inches (50-75 %). She gained exactly 2 pounds in 3 months for a weight of 17.09 (25-50%). I am not sure if this means 9 ounces or .09 pounds. I think it is 9 ounces. Her head is 43 3/4 cm (25-50%) (I just concerted this to compare Macie to her 4 month old friend Bryce-it is 17.2 inches) She is doing well developmentally too. We go back after Thanksgiving for the 2nd flu shot, but hopefully we will not have to go again until she is 1.

She eats everything

We have been saying for months how Macie puts everything in her mouth. I have seen dirt, grass, bark, rocks, cat food and lots of other stuff. Usually I am able to fish it out of her mouth with little harm done. Today, we discovered that she at some point had a pink paper clip in her mouth. I must have missed this one! You can use your imagination for how we discovered she had eaten it.

Pictures

Since I could not get pictures up, I thought I would share several. There are pictures of Macie and Carson's trip to the Holy Cow Farm. If you did not read the earlier entry, scroll down and read it too.

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9 Months

Can you believe Macie is already 9 months old? We go to the doctor next week so I will let you know how she is growing. For now, I thought I would share a photo from yesterday and give a few updates. ( I tried to get a picture to upload, but its not working . Check back later)
Macie loves her brother. She wants to play with his favorite things and just watch him play. She loves to pull apart his train tracks. She is crawling all over the place and loves to pull up to standing. She is trying to take a few steps and transfer from the couch to the coffee table. She falls about 50 times a day. Thankfully, she has not discovered the steps yet. She likes to try out the cat food and play in the cat litter. We do try to keep her out of both. She really likes to eat people food. The other night she had pork tenderloin, pasta, bread, and asparagus for dinner. She loves to be outside. Starting about 4 in the afternoon she is really cranky, but if you take her outside she is happy. She still doesn't sleep great. She thinks she is an infant who needs to take lots of short naps during the day. Most nights she sleep 8-10 hours, but then she wants to eat and go back to sleep. This would be fine except she is usually in bed before 8 so I hear from her before 5 am. She really is a joy to be around and we think she is pretty darn cute.
This time last year we were in Disney World. It was an awesome trip. We are planning to take the kids to the Magic Kingdom after Thanksgiving, but it won't be the same as staying in the park for a week. Hopefully we will go again before Macie turns 3. Most people think 2 is too young, but kids are free until their 3rd birthday. Carson loved it (He was 31 months) and a year later still talks about it. He is excited to go back. I highly recommend taking your kids as many times as you possibly can while they are young. The memories are worth every penny we spent. Maybe I will put a picture up when they are working again!

First ear infection

Macie and Carson have both had a little cough and a slight runny nose for a couple weeks. Since it is ragwood season, I have not been too worried. I finally took Macie to the doctor today because she started pulling on her ear. I still wasn't sure it wasn't her teeth bothering her. It looks like she is working on several right now. But, her right ear does have some fluid. Dr. Ani didn't think it looked too bad until she looked at the left ear. So, Macie will start her first antibiotic this afternoon. We go back the 22nd for her 9 month check up so we will see how it looks, get a flu shot, and check to make sure all is going well in her growth.
Now for a completely different subject. One of the first years we lived in our house, we planted some lantana in our front yard. They were really big when we pulled them up and the roots were are tall as I am. One of the plants was on the other side of the drive way from all the others. We just left it in the ground and when it died cut it back to the ground. It has come back year after year. It is gigantic. Jeff would not be able to park in the garage because it is growing into the driveway. I thought I would post a picture of it and one of the ones we planted this year-a much more respectable sized plant!

A normal plant!

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Girl, Second Child, or Personalty?

There is no doubt that Macie has a different personality than her brother. Carson would sit and watch a Baby Einstein video while Jeff and I ate dinner when he was really little. Macie won't sit anywhere for that amount of time. Carson always looked forward to his naps, Macie would rather take all her naps in the car. Macie keeps trying things until she gets them or figures out another way to do something. Carson still doesn't like to try things until he knows he can do it. (This weekend, Jeff blocked Macie in the family room to keep her from pulling apart Carson's train tracks. It took her a little while, but she finally figured out how to crawl under the exersaucer. Then, she got her head stuck between the couch and a gate trying to get past the gate.)
Anyway, I get lots of people telling me why this is the case. Lots of people tell me girls are just different than boys. Others say its the difference in a first and second child. I tend the think it has a lot to do with personality. Usually I just get and opinion without asking, but I thought I would throw it out there and see what ya'll think. Where does this feisty little girl come from?

A few photos

Somehow, time has been getting away from me. I thought I would share a few pictures from the last couple weeks. We have been to the pumpkin patch twice so there are lots of photos. Here are a couple

Carson and Grandpa working on a model for his train table.
Riding His bike up to the playground with daddy and grandpa Portis
Carter and Carson Find an interesting way to eat ice pops

Macie and Addison at the soccer game
Macie at the pumpkin patch (see photo above for the cute shirt that goes with the outfit!)
Carson and his friend Katie from school jumping in the bounce house at the pumpkin patch
Carson and Macie in the big tree at Carson's school (the pumpkin patch is at his school)

In the next couple days check back to see pictures of my huge lantana.

2 or 3

This weekend, our neighborhood is having a garage sale. We have lots of junk around here I would love to sell. But, honestly, I am too lazy to get it all together. Plus we have soccer Saturday morning. I am going to miss the next 2 so I don't want to miss this one. I might take a few things over to the Morrows if they get their stuff together.
Thinking about getting rid of stuff in our house, beings up the question of a 3rd child. It is a debate that I have often. Jeff for the most part can go either way and says I can decide. At times, I think no way and others I think we could have one more. I don't think Jeff or I have had that sense that our family is complete. But, I am not really sure I want to do it all again. This wouldn't be a big deal right now, but if we are done I want to get rid of all my baby things. I have thought about selling it all and starting over.
Anyway, I will get you a good update with some photos soon. In the mean time, come by our neighborhood this Saturday. Especially is you are looking for baby things. There are a zillion families with young kids around here. I am sure you can get some great deals.
As for the 3rd child you need to check back in a few years!