Elynn's Pumpkin Patch Party

I can't promise this will be the only pumpkin patch party this kid will have in her lifetime. Until she is old enough to want something else, chances are good pumpkins are going to be involved because HELLO!!?? Pumpkins are the best! Which is exactly why a week prior to the party Adam and I were pushing around 2 buggies in Walmart filled to the max with 22 pumpkins. 

She was a lot happier about it being her birthday than she appears in most of these pictures. She gets all emotional when she gets tired and people besides her momma and daddy hold her. 

Knox was really unsure about Adam. He gave him a very uncertain look anytime he got close.

My friend LaRae made the sign.

All of the little children got to pick a pumpkin and paint it.

Really, is there any other way to eat your first cake beside having your little piggies up in the action?

Having a big sis means you don't get to open your own presents.

This picture makes me squeal with happiness. Eeeeekkk! That little face! 

Here she is with her great grands. My granddad is 89

And my grandmother is 85. Clearly there is some longevity in my family that I hope I inherited. Seriously though if these children don't start sleeping better I will never see my 80s. I am likely to fall over from sheer exhaustion sometime much sooner...like this weekend.

The weather was perfect for her party (and reminded me very much of our wedding day- which is my favorite day of all time). Speaking of- we had an anniversary Monday. Maybe I will get to post about at some point before we celebrate our 8th year.

Elynn is ONE!

Our favorite baby sister turns 1 at 5:29 this afternoon. This is my favorite picture from her party. It is also one of the few times she wasn't crying at her party. 

A year ago today I went to Target, drank a Starbucks, and browsed around before my 10:00 appointment. Her due date was still 2 weeks away. I cried the ugly cry when Dr. Ballard told me I was 5-6cm, and she was going to keep me. We all remember how the epidural went with Reese... Well...maybe you don't remember, but I do and I was SHOOK up about having another one. But it all went so well that I declared just after her delivery that I might consider having another one. Her delivery was easy, and she has continued that trend by being the most easy going person at our house. Although lately she has started making sure she is heard. She regularly screams at Reese, but that is partly because Reese is trying to love her to death. I never imagined that Reese would handle Elynn's arrival as well as she did. Reese loves her so much, and wants so badly for Elynn to love her back. I desperately want them to be close. I'm sure that is a lofty goal considering girls love nothing more than to argue with each other, but I remain SO thankfully that we got 2 girls. (It doubles mine and Adam's chances of one day getting to live with them rather than being put in a nursing home. We all know the chances of daughters caring for their aging parents is much higher than that of a son caring for them. ;)) 

Happy Birthday sweet E-lee! We love and adore you!! 

Pumpkin Patch 2014

The yearly Pumpkin Patch trip is hands down my favorite family outing of the year. It is normally hotter than fire, but I insist on fall attire anyway. But this year it was perfect. It was in the low 70s, and I barely even broke a sweat. A opposed to last year. Chubby here was 40 lbs heavier and days away from having a baby

Reese said, "Momma, make a picture of me doin this..." 

 Contraire to what this picture might lead you to believe, we have not adopted a dark haired little boy. Seriously, we stood around forever waiting for the kid to get off the truck, so we finally had to go with it. 

Halloween Costume 2014 and The Plague

Before I move on to important things (like The Plague being at our house) let me tell you about my cellular device. I got a new phone back in June because mine got dropped and the face shattered. Adam ordered a new face off of Ebay and fixed it (for the 2nd time). When he has to do this it is like an Olympic event at our house. I have to clean the bar off. I have to take the children to a location that doesn't cause a lot of distractions. He has to get out the hair dryer, tweezers, flashlight, and a set of tiny little tools. He has done this for me so many times that we have a zip lock bag in the drawer labeled "Phone Cover Kit". Before you judge me let me say that I always have a case on my phone but my children have a way of slamming it down that causes the case to be irrelevant. Anyway it was time for an upgrade and that phone was never the same, so I got a new one in June. That phone has been kind enough to remind me every few days that "Your iPhone has been backed up in ___number of weeks." And I kept meaning to do that, but with our sophisticated satellite internet it is not possible to do at home. It would take somewhere around 3 days to do. Weeeelllllll. Elynn dropped my phone 2 weeks ago while we were up at the new house and (you guessed it) shattered the face. I gasped in horror. Adam had already told me that he was not changing the face of another one. Over the weekend something happened and the touch screen went out. As in, I couldn't touch it and make anything happen. I took it to the Apple people Monday and wouldn't you know that they couldn't do anything with it. They gave me a "new" one and I lost all my pictures. Again. (I use the term "new" loosely because I have no doubt this is a refurbished that will probably die as soon as the warranty expires)  This makes the 3rd time in my iPhone history that I have lost my pictures. One wasn't my fault though. Remember when it got stolen at Target? I'm still pretty hot about that incident. What gets me though is that I can't seem to learn my lesson. Back the phone up Elena! Thankfully though all the pictures that I really cared about are on one social media or another.

Friday we had a shower for Allison and we did our annual Halloween costume picture. There was a crying pumpkin, lamb, and scarecrow.

From left to right: Reese is Little Bo Peep, Addie is Raggedy Ann, Jaylee is a pumpkin, Elynn is Little Bo Peep's lost sheep, Lawson is a scarecrow, MaKenna is Elsa, Anna Kate a cheerleader, and Emmalee a football player. Madilyn is on the run as a peacock.

Reese and Addie painted each other's faces.

Saturday we had family pictures planned. It rained all day, but I already had the smash cake and everything so we went on with them. By 7:00 that night Reese was up in Adam's lap sleeping because "my tummy won't let me go to the bathroom." She promptly held her head up and threw up for the next 4 hours. I could see the panic in Adam's eyes because he has thrown caution to the wind lately and hasn't been drinking his tummy bug juice. She said things like "I don't like to frow up. Take me to the doctor" and "Momma don't buy any more of those Pri Suns cause they make me frow up."

Sunday she felt better but napped from 12-4:30. I thought for sure Jesus was coming back because in all of her four years combined she has never napped more than 20 minutes.

She woke up and was back to her normal self. Elynn is really bad to pull hair. She pulls/plays in mine to go to sleep, but she pulls Reese's really hard. Reese always says, "it's okay Elynn. You can pull my hair if you want to." Sunday I popped Elynn's hand for pulling it. Elynn started crying and so did Reese. Here she is comforting her about it. It was so sweet.

They quickly went back to this though. And this? This is my favorite. Look how precious.

(P.S. Adam ended up sick Tuesday and Wednesday. It's all because he hasn't been hitting the hard stuff every day like he knows he should when school is in session and viruses are running rampant.)

House update: We dodged a bullet after my last post. We were expected to get 2 inches of rain and our shingles had not been put on yet. The Lord smiled on us and we did not get one drop. They put the shingles on that next week. The plumbing and electric is done, windows and exterior doors went in yesterday, and siding is going up today. We are waiting on HVAC and spray foam insullation before the sheet rock guys come.

This is the living room. Fireplace will go up the middle of the vaulted ceiling.

 And this...This is my favorite. I saw a picture on Pinterest and copied it. The transom window is not across the top yet, but that is an 11 ft window that takes up the whole wall in the dining room. I. Love. It. We have a long table that was at my parents when I was growing up that we are planning to use in front of it. I have this mental picture of some fancy upholstered chairs to go at the ends....that's probably one of those things I will still be wanting to get 20 years from now. 

And this is the master bedroom window off the back.

Elynn: 11 months

Serious business, people. The second baby grows up twice as fast as the first one did. While I'm busy meeting the never ending demands of baby #1, baby #2 went and turned 11 months old on me. 

Weight:

Height:

She has been practicing her standing for several weeks, but the day after she turned 11 months she took 3 consecutive steps. I guess the beauty of being behind on posts is that I can include that milestone. 

She goes to sleep in her bed every night around 8:00, but wakes sometimes at 11, sometimes at 2, sometimes at 3, and gets in our bed. 

For me, another thing that is different about baby #2- I can't make myself do some of the things I did with #1. At this point Reese already had pierced ears and had cried it out and was in her own bed all night. Elynn's ears aren't pierced for 2 reasons: 1. I haven't had time to take her and 2. she is going to cry for like 10 seconds and I dread that. 

Months ago I let her cry it out, but it caused my milk supply to decrease when she didn't nurse at night, so I had to go back to letting her nurse at night when she wanted to. Since then I can't make myself do the cry it out. She is so precious, and babyhood is fleeting so her being in our bed isn't as big of a deal as I thought it was when Reese was a baby. Actually, Adam and I have both softened up because Reese even slept with us 2 nights this weekend, and got in the bed yesterday and today around 4:45 AM. She never wants in our bed, but she requested it and we gave in. 

Elynn wears size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes, and I'm not sure about a shoe size. She hates for anything to touch her legs or feet. Cold weather will be a real adjustment for her. 

I know y'all will gasp with horror when I say this, but she sits in Reese's old car seat that faces forward. I know. I know. People are now trying to get you to wait until they are 2 to turn them around, but y'all. I was ready to declare us grounded until she straightened up in the car some. It was terrible. She would SCREAM from the moment she got in until we got her out. Between that and Reese needing me to "turn up my movie" or "I need to tee-tee" or "momma did you bring me a drink" I would be driven right to the edge any time we tried to go somewhere. If you have seen me and I was less than pleasant, please forgive me. But I will say this- I love the stage they are both at right now. Reese is so precious now that she isn't 3 (3 was not my favorite age), and Elynn is starting to have her own personality and since she is mobile they "play" together and. it. is. adorable. 

Elynn is a big eater! She loves everything, but bread is her favorite. 

She had 4 teeth when she turned 11 months, but since then has cut 3 more. We didn't realize she was cutting them because she never fussed or had a fever or any of the signs Reese always showed when a tooth was around the corner. 

The big first party is in a few weeks. We are having pictures made this weekend, and I can't wait to see how that goes.