When we got back from Hilton Head, Madelyn still seemed pretty off. I figured that two weeks of vacationing and having very little routine was what was messing up her sleep, but after a day or two, I realized that she was still sick. She didn't have a fever anymore, but she just wasn't sleeping well and seemed to be in pain.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize that she needed to go to the doctor until about thirty minutes before the Fun Run at Kirsten's school. The Fun Run is a PTA fundraiser with lots of fun activities including a "race" for each grade level. I put "race" in quotation marks because there isn't a winner. It really is truly just a fun run. Since Matt was out of town, my parents ended up taking Kirsten and Reagan to the Fun Run while I took Madelyn to the doctor. I'm so grateful to live near my parents, especially when unexpected things like that happen.
When the doctor looked in Madelyn's ears, she said that ear wax was covering Madelyn's eardrum. So, she couldn't see if they were infected or not. The doctor had to use her tool to scrape the earwax away. I think that would have bothered Madelyn regardless, but as it turned out, both of her ears were infected. Can you imagine having to have your ears scraped when they're infected? I felt so bad for her.
Kirsten and Reagan had a nice time with my parents at the Fun Run. They ate yummy pizza and chocolate cake. They got frog balloons and got their faces painted like kitties. It sounded like a lot of fun. I was sad I missed it, but I was glad that I was able to take Madelyn to the doctor. Also, because my Dad came back to the house to bring me some of the food from the Fun Run, I got to talk to him for awhile, and it's not very often that I get to talk to just him without some little person interrupting our conversation. I love my dad.
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| Kirsten and Reagan with their balloon frogs |
After Madelyn got better, which didn't take long once she started taking her antibiotic, she learned to sit up. She is really strong and has good balance when she sits up. Also, it's so adorable to see how busy she can be with her hands.
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| Madelyn sitting up |
On Friday mornings, I usually take Reagan and Madelyn to the library for story time, and I have especially enjoyed taking them since Madelyn learned to sit up. They sit together like two big girls, don't they?
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| Reagan and Madelyn at story time |
We celebrated my mom's birthday on the second Sunday in October. It's always pleasant to spend the evening with my parent's and my brother's family, but birthday Sundays are even more fun.
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| My mom with four of her granddaughters and an especially delicious ice cream cake |
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| Brian gave my mom this stunning original water color. Isn't he talented? |
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| Our family gave her a cute fox hot pad and kitchen towel. |
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| Kirsten, Reagan, and Sierra love to dress up when they go to my parents' house. |
No October would be complete for our family without Jaker's Jack-o-lanterns. I bought a punch card this year, so that we could go several times and save 50 cents on the 2 dollar entrance fee. Isn't that ridiculously cheap? I also love that it's just a couple of blocks from our house.
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| Playing in the corn pit |
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| Kirsten and Reagan could both climb to the top of the hay stack by themselves this year! |
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| A cow and a horse |
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| They added this fun new slide |
One day while Kirsten was in school, Reagan, Madelyn and I went to Jaker's with Reagan's friend Gracie. Reagan is a goober sometimes. Look at this pose!
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| Reagan and Gracie in the hay maze |
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| These are the small pumpkins that Kirsten and Reagan drew faces on |
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| Kirsten and Reagan in the hay maze |
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| A cute picture of Kirsten and Madelyn |
Reagan got to go with her friend Harper to the pumpkin patch, too. Lucky kid.
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| Reagan and Harper in the corn pit |
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| Posing on a bale of hay |
In addition to going to Farm Preschool, Reagan has been participating in Upstart, which is a free online preschool. She uses the program five days a week for twenty minutes. I'm really impressed by the program. Since September she has solidified all of the upper case letters and learned all of the lower case letters. She knows their sounds and is starting to be able to recognize words. The most impressive thing of all is that when Matt and I ask her what she learned from Upstart on any given day is that she says that Upstart doesn't really teach her much. "It's mostly just playing games," she says. I love that she feels like she's playing and that she's learning so much!
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| Reagan doing Upstart. Doesn't she look like such a big kid? |
I spent one week in the middle of October systematically clearing out the clutter in our house. I started with the girls' room, which took the longest, and went from room to room until all the junk was out. It was a lot of work, but it felt really good. Pretty much everything has a place now. What a relief! Of course, junk continues to pile up. So, it's a constant labor to keep the house de-cluttered.
My mom's neighbor asked if I had any baby things to get rid of, and one of the first things I thought of was the Exersaucer down in the crawl space. Neither of the other babies liked it all that much. So, I hadn't made it a huge priority to bring it up, especially since I knew that I would have to clean it really well. I decided that I could give that away, but once I went down to the crawl space and cleaned it for two hours, I put Madelyn in it instead of giving it away. She actually likes it, too. I ended up giving my mom's neighbor a ton of extra baby blankets instead.
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| Madelyn in the Exersaucer |
One Saturday morning we were finally able to go to Jaker's with Matt. He spent a lot of time out of town in October. It was cute to see Madelyn slide down the slide on his lap. Kirsten and Reagan were pretty excited to get to go down the slide with their daddy, too.
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| Down the slide with Daddy |
We've also been playing a lot with our new neighbors, Madalena and Laila. Madalena is Kirsten's age, and Reagan is Laila's age. So, it's perfect. They love each other! All four of them love to do art. They even had their first sleepover at Madalena and Laila's house. Melissa, their mom, told me that Kirsten and Madalena didn't go to sleep until around midnight. I'm glad they had so much fun, but when I got them back, they were a bit grumpy for my taste.
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| Doing arts and crafts |
We went to the pumpkin patch one last time as a family, and my parents came with us, too. Reagan led my mom and dad through the hay maze, and Kirsten led Matt and me. They both liked being the leader. Everybody got a turn to be buried in the corn pit, including Madelyn. Matt really had to hold her hands to keep her from putting the stuff in her mouth, but she enjoyed the experience a lot.
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| Getting buried in corn |
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| Smiling about it |
We picked out the perfect pumpkin that evening. It was thirty pounds, and Matt had the pleasure of carrying it home since we walked. It looked very impressive on our porch after we carved it.
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| Madelyn playing in her room |
The Saturday before Halloween we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point as a family.
That evening we went to the Halloween party at the Church. Kirsten and Reagan were unicorns, and Madelyn was a peacock. So cute. Madelyn didn't much care for her costume, which didn't really surprise me. The party was pretty simple this year, but the girls loved playing on the stage with the other kids while the grownups ate and talked.
Afterward we went home and watched
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which made everybody giggle. I'd actually never seen the Disney version before, but Matt tells me it's a classic.
The girls and I have been really enjoying American Girl dolls lately. Occasionally, I'll get mine down and let Kirsten and Reagan hold them. We've finished reading all the Kirsten books together, and now we have started reading the Felicity books. You might not know it, but I'm a lover of dolls. I've always enjoyed collecting them, but I haven't gotten any since my mission. Well, with my rekindled interest in American Girl dolls, I started searching Ebay for a vintage Molly doll. I placed several bids, but I always lost. People are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on these dolls. Finally, I found one for sale with the Buy It Now option, and I bought her. I love her! She's so pretty.
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| My American Girl Dolls |
Halloween finally came! Kirsten had a blast at her school Halloween party, and Reagan loved her preschool Halloween party. We went trick-or-treating with Gracie and got tons of candy. For trick-or-treating, I dressed Madelyn as a polar bear, which she liked a lot better.
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| Dressed in their costumes |
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| Going trick-or-treating |
Matt took part in Charlie Wolf's spooky alley again this year. He wielded the chainsaw at the end. Kirsten and Reagan were pretty scared, but I made sure to laugh as much as possible as we went through. That made it better for them. Then we ate hot dogs at the Boyer's house next door. We have such great neighbors who make Halloween a blast!
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| Eating hot dogs with Gracie |
