October 2008 Pictures and updates

It's hard to believe that Carter is 17 months old now! :( I've posted some pictures of him in his Halloween costume below. The picture above is a picture of Isa walking with Bill at the Zoo when she wore the costume! It's funny, when you're raising the kids sometimes you feel like the time can't go fast enough. You have your fair share of wonderfully great days mixed with with wonderfully insane days. In the moment, it's hard to listen to advice such as "don't rush them, the'll be grown up before you know it." Looking at this picture of Isa wearing the same costume as Carter, it's hard to believe (or remember) when she was that little. :( I'd take it back in a heartbeat (minus all of the screaming!)




Carter snuggled in with Daddy




Playing tickle bug




Took the paci out for a brief moment

Scooby Doo and Daphne

Carter with Daddy.

Daphne posing

Braden at Shaw Farms

This is the best picture that I could get of all 3 of them. Isa was so tired. She had just had a sleepover at her friend, Maura's, and didn't go to bed until 11 that night.

Carter....a picture not in the highchair, but still with the paci!

With Daddy

Learning to put on his, I mean Carter's, coat. Hey, whatever works!

In the highchair, again. This is what being a 3rd kid does to you!

On picture day. Isn't she beautiful?

Posing again before school.

October was a fun month! The kids had a lot of fun at preschool, we went to Just for Fun on Fun Friday, went to Shaw Farms (where Buddy proceded to get lost and they had to do an all call for a "lost little boy with blonde hair in a Chad Johnson jersey with a blue Cincinnati Zoo hat"....luckily we found him quickly. We went to Kings Island's Halloween fest. There really are a lot of festive things to do in Cincinnati during Halloween.

Carter: Carter is such a stinker. He's way too smart for his own good. He loves getting a step stool and jumping over the arm chairs and then falling to the ground. He's very much into high fives, loves say "bye bye" at the top of his lungs, and yelling "hi" like a mad monster. Bill had told me that he caught on to trick or treating by the 3rd house. He held each piece of candy until he got to the next house and once assured that he'd be getting a new piece, he'd then put the piece from the last house in his bucket. I took them out later and we were walking around in our neighborhood. The neighbor asked Braden if he wanted a piece of candy and then she was handing us a piece (Carter and I were on the sidewalk), I said "no thanks" and started walking on and Carter through a complete fit and held out his hand for the piece of candy! It was too cute!

Braden: Braden continues to bring a smile to my face every day. You couldn't ask for a sweeter boy. He has his temper tantrum moments, but I can forget those when he looks at me and says "Hug, Mama." He's so genuine and soft-spoken. He's making huge strides in his speech and it shows on his IEP Progress Report. Waiting for him to say certain things makes it that much warmer (and cuter) when he does say them. The other day he said this whole entire sentence when Carter was crying "Oh, baby Carter wants his paci." Not a big deal for most 3 1/2 year olds, but when you're waiting on pins and needles for your baby to talk, a sentence like that melts your heart! He's come such a long way and his teachers and speech thereapist have really worked hard with him. He continues to be all boy. In a year from now, he and Carter are going to be wrestling all over the place. (Honey, that's why we need a finished basement...so they can romp around down there and not drive me crazy all day!)

Isa: Isa is one smart cookie. She earned a lot of good grades on her report card too. She's really into spelling right now. Here new sounds are sh and ch and the tricky y. It's amazing how this little 4 year old WANTS TO spell words and wants to tell you which end with the tricky y and begin with sh. Yesterday she said to me "Mom, I really want a sister, but I don't want to have to go to the hospital and get a shot to have her. So, I want you to go and get the shot to have her for me!" Ha ha! (No, that's not some indirect way of telling you that we're pregnant....just a cute story!)

Bill: Still working hard on his PhD and another paper to be submitted. He missed the last deadline because work got really busy when the paper was due, but this new one is still in Italy and is due December 5.

Me: Still staying at home during the day and having lots of fun with the kids and tutoring during the evenings. I switched my schedule to only working on Tues/ Thurs. Being out of the house all 4 nights was not working out for me.

Here are recent pictures: