With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about all of the blessings in my life. I had ambitions of blogging about a different blessing each day during the month of November, but that never came to fruition--starting on the 18th of the month is better than never starting at all, right? Well today I am thankful for wonderful friends. All my life I have been blessed with great friends. Friends who are loyal, trustworthy, uplifting, and just fun to be around. Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you are one of them.
Most recently I have felt an outpouring of love from friends. As I have mentioned before, the first half of this pregnancy has been challenging for me. Many friends have been there for me with encouraging words, phone calls, shoulders to cry on, ears to complain to, offers to baby sit my children, invites to activities, play dates, lunch dates, and even meals for my family (seriously, you know you have amazing friends when they bring you dinner BEFORE you give birth). I count them as some of my greatest blessings.
I had my 20-week ultrasound this afternoon. We opted not to find out the gender of the baby, so it will be another 20 weeks or so before it's known whether a little bambino or a little bambina will join the family. Our little peanut was being somewhat uncooperative, so I'm not sure if the technician would have been able to tell us the gender if we had wanted her to. :-) My bet is on a boy; Isaac, on the other hand, keeps talking about wanting another baby sister. We'd be thrilled with either one.
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View of the baby with their spine up and their face down.
The best news of the day was that the doctor said everything looks great and the baby seems to be growing and developing right on track. We can't wait for this new addition to join our family next spring.
Our little daredevil broke her leg this morning after slipping on a book while at the doctor's office for a well-baby check-up. Only she would break a bone in the doctor's office.
She took it like a champ, and if all goes well, she'll be cast-free in 3 weeks.
This weekend we took a short trip northeast to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Ryan will be spending a month there next year and we thought it would be fun to check out the hospital and the town where he will be living for 4 weeks. Plus, it's a potential residency spot after he graduates, so there's a chance we could live there for 3 years. It is a small town right along the Mississippi River. While it was hard to imagine myself settling there long term with my family, I think it would be a great place for us to spend 3 years. We'll see if that happens.
La Crosse Children's Museum
Racing boats down the Mississippi.
The trains were his favorite part of the museum.
Maddie found a hand puppet and snuggled right up to it.
Isaac with the farm animals.
This is the closest he'll get to having a dog as long as he lives under my roof...
Shopping for onions and milk at the grocery store.
Playing with the dump trucks.
Driving the fire truck.
She can never get too much of her own reflection. :)
The Hotel Swimming Pool
Our hotel had a kiddie pool with slides and fountains for the kids. They LOVED it and probably swallowed a gallon of water each.
I think she had gone down the slide 30 times before Isaac warmed up to the idea. He ended up loving it almost as much as she did.
Here Ryan is telling her at least 10 times to sit down--there was only one time when she didn't listen and tried to cowabunga dive down the slide.
All tuckered out after swimming.
Here are a couple of videos of the kids at the pool. The first word out of Maddie's mouth after going down the slide and immediately trying to wriggle out of our arms was either "down!" or "more!"--both so she could climb right back up the steps and go again. These videos are especially for you, Corey, since you never seem to tire of the cheesy clips.
Playing with friends at the church trunk-or-treat.
Doing the chicken dance?
This was pretty much the view I had while trick-or-treating. She is getting fast and we can't figure out how to contain her. Tonight she had to go on trunk or treat probation for running away from me too many times. It didn't slow her down as much as we would have hoped.
After walking up to the first house, Isaac figured out the fun of begging for candy pretty quick. So did Maddie. She tried to take off with the entire bowl of candy instead of just the one piece offered to her. That's my girl. Now, if I could just train her to choose the Snickers over the Smarties...
The entire chicken suit.
This picture is blurry but I love it because he's holding her hand. How did the chicken cross the road? The firefighter helped her, of course!
Isaac crawling through the tunnel at Ryan's school party.
She's currently fascinated with balloons.
Painting a pumpkin.
We've had way too much sugar this weekend.
Shoveling it in as fast as she can for fear it will disappear.
