Happy Halloween and other October Stuff

Robert the train engineer! Thank you, Aunt Julie, for the costume. It is so cute!

Lillian the sleeping duck. Too cute, Aunt Julie!

We celebrated Mommy's birthday early when MaBop was visiting. She made us a yummy raspberry cake and Robert loved helping me blow out the candles.

Robert playing in the dirt in our side yard by our shed. MaBop dug up some dirt for him to play in, and he loved it! He especially loved the sink baths he got afterwards.

MaBop caught him laying down in the bushes. I love this picture because he just looks so sweet and innocent.

Lillian trying out the play "gym." She's still a little young for it and got quickly overwhelmed by all the toys and colors.

Lillian in the Bumbo seat. Again, she's still a little young and it was just too much exercise for her.

Lillian's silly smile.

Wow, October flew by fast! I can't believe Lillian is now 11 weeks old! She's not the gold medal grower that Robert was, but after all, she's a lady. She doesn't eat nearly as much as he did! She was 13 lbs. 4 oz. at her 2 month appointment, and Robert was already over 14 lbs. by then. She's a really challenging baby, but lately I've been looking back at posts about Robert around this age, and he wasn't all that easy either. The biggest challenge is that she has a hard time being by herself at all--sitting by herself, sleeping by herself, all of it. We're being really sensitive to her right now and meeting all of her needs, but we're going to have to start playing hard ball in a few weeks! I should say that I'm meeting all of her needs because right now she only has eyes for me. She is literally on me or right next to me about 22 hours a day. The other two hours are the few moments that she will sit by herself or either the times that I just have to let her cry for a few minutes to care for Robert's needs or my own. It's hard, but I know that time will pass. I've been trying to stay positive by focussing on all of the wonderful things about Lillian as she is right now: her smiles, her softness, her cuddliness, her sweet baby smell, her sweet cooing sounds, and her chubby legs. I'm trying not to rush her growing up or always to long for the future. After experiencing the scariness of her early sicknesses, I realize that we are never promised another day with our children, so we need to focus on the present and love them and enjoy them as they are right now.

Robert is as cute as ever right now. He's so verbal! He talks all the time and is even starting to make his toys, mostly his dinosaurs, talk when he plays with them. He's really into dinosaurs and trains and trucks--all boy. And God bless him, the boy could watch TV all day long if I would let him. I've never seen anyone enjoy TV like that kid! It's sad that I know this about him, but hey, with Lillian, a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do. And yes, I use the TV sometimes! He's not great at playing by himself, so that's another main reason why he ends up watching TV. I can't play with him as much as I would like. We have joined a MOMS Club play group, though, so hopefully we'll make lots of friends and be able to get out of the house more often.

Halloween was really fun for Robert, and he has asked if we could go again everyday since Halloween. He doesn't really care about the candy; he just likes going door to door to ring the bell and to look into other people's houses. He's his mother's child--nosey! He kept wanted to go into complete strangers' houses to look around or play with their toys that he could see from the door. Cute, cute, cute!

We're planning a trip to Atlanta and then to Charleston over Thanksgiving. Rob's being ordained a priest on Dec. 6 in Charleston, so we'll start in Atlanta for Thanksgiving with my family, and then go to Charleston for the ordination and to spend time with Rob's family. We're not looking forward to the driving, but we can't wait to introduce Lillian to everyone.

Hope to see many of you soon! And check out the new picture album link over to the left.