Halloween

We had a very nice Halloween. During the day I took Bryce and Faith to a friend's house for a Halloween party. Bryce had a very good time and like a good little baby, Faith slept through most of the party. That evening we went to church for Trunk N Treat. Because of the weather we set up tables inside. Faith once again slept until 15 minutes before the festivities ended. Bryce had fun going from table to table saying Trick Or Treat and getting candy. He was really good about saying thank you. After making his rounds he would come back to our table and hang out. Thankfully his favorite candy of the night were mini-tootsie pops. Since these take so long to eat he ended up only having a few pieces of candy. When people walked by to get their candy Bryce would hold up his sucker so that everyone could see it. He was quite proud of himself.

Peter Pumpkin Patch

The whole family, including all the grandparents, all the aunts and uncles, and all the cousins, plus some of our family's in laws all met for a fun-filled afternoon at the pumpkin patch.

We all brought our own picnic lunches. There were lots of tables set up for picnics and live music playing. The only bad part was the huge number of flies, bees and yellow jackets. I guess we should have expected that since we were at a dairy farm. Unfortunately Nanny got stung by a yellow jacket - ouch.

This pumpkin patch has a ton of activities. You can climb a hay pyramid, go through a hay maze, milk a cow, dig for potatoes, look at baby cows, goats and pigs, sample artisan cheeses, eat yummy homemade ice cream, go for tractor rides and of course find pumpkins. We stayed and enjoyed ourselves for over 2 hours. Bryce was really tired by the time we left. Faith slept through most of the fun in her sling. She woke up hungry about 15 minutes before we left.

Thanks to our wonderful family for making this such a wonderful day!

Faith's Birth

Faith made her way into this world at 4:53 pm on Monday, October 20, 2008 - 3 days after her due date. Thankfully prays were answered and the labor and delivery went much better this time than with Bryce. Start to finish it was 13.5 hours, with under 10 minutes of pushing.

Nanny and Pawka came to our house at about 7 to stay with Bryce while Nathan and I left for the hospital. Bryce was excited that his new baby sister would be here soon. It was a little strange leaving him to go to the hospital. I had my mom take a few pictures right before we left so that I could remember how Bryce was the morning his world changed forever.

The family started making their way to the hospital around 10:30 since things appeared to be progressing fast. (All the grandparents, Bryce, two Aunties and 1 Great Aunt were there to wait for her arrival. I'm told Bryce did really well waiting so long at the hospital. ) However, after a couple hours of hard labor I opted for the epidural (around noon) and things slowed down a bit. At 2:10 they broke my water to speed things up. By 4:45 I was pushing and she arrived at 4:53. On and off throughout the labor I had to be put on oxygen because her heart rate would drop fairly low during contractions. This could have been due to the fact that the cord was around her neck twice. Thankfully Dr. Wolf acted fast as she was being born and unwrapped it quickly as she continued to make her way into this world.

Faith is 8 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches. She is small compared to Bryce who was 9 lbs 5 oz and 22.5 inches. I'm sure this contributed to an easier delivery. She has a lot of dark hair and her eyes appear to be blue, but Bryce's hair was also very dark and all fell out only to come back in light and the eyes of course can change in the months to come.

We left the hospital exactly 24 hours after she was born. They won't release you before the 24 hour mark. My parents came back to the hospital Tuesday morning with Bryce and stayed for a couple of hours. They took Bryce home for a nap and then my mom brought him back so he could help take her home with us.

So far Faith is a great baby. She hardly fusses and has let us get a little sleep. Bryce is loving being a big brother. He likes to hold her and wants her to play tractor and choo choo with him.

Playgroup at the Adobe Pumpkin Patch

Our playgroup met at the Adobe Pumpkin Patch today. We had never been to this pumpkin patch before. They had a ton of stuff for the kids to do. For $2 they could go in the bouncy house as many times as they wanted for an unlimited amount of time - what a deal. They also had cows and llamas, a toddler size hay bale maze, a hay bale pyramid for climbing, a little castle, lots of tractors, food, and of course pumpkins. The kids had a great time.

Bryce's First Day in the Toddler Playgroup aka "School"

We enrolled Bryce is the Toddler Playgroup held at First Congregational United Church of Christ. This playgroup is meant for steady walkers up to preschool age. It is held every Tuesday (Tuesdays it is at First Presbyterian) and Thursdays at First Congregational from 9-12. You can take your child one or two days a week. The idea is that it helps get kids used to being away from their parents and gives moms a chance to have a few hours to get things done each week. If your child isn't ready to be left you can stay with them as long as necessary.

I took Bryce every Thursday for the past month for 1/2 hour to visit and get used to the environment. Today was his actual first day of being enrolled. I stayed the first hour and then left. When I first told him I was going to go he said, "No Mommy go. Stay with Bryce." After I explained that I would only be gone a little while and that I would come and pick him up he was fine. He said, "Okay, Mommy come pick Bryce up." It was hard to leave him, but when I came to pick him up he was having a great time.

This should allow me a few hours each week to spend time with Faith and get the shopping done. We only have him enrolled on Thursdays, but after I picked him up he liked it so much that he said he wants to go more. If he is really happy there we might consider adding Tuesdays.

The other great thing is that his buddy Jackson is going to go with him. I let Candace, Jackson's Mommy, know that they had an opening. She came to check it out today and signed him up for Thursdays.

Bryce 27 Months

Bryce has made some good progress with potty training. When we are home he still does great. However, when we were out I would put pull-ups on him and often he would go in his pull-ups and not think much of it. A couple of weeks ago I decided to do away with pull-ups and put him in "bigs" padded training pants. He's had a couple of accidents while we've been out, but overall is doing really well. I thought as a motivator I'd buy him real underwear. He now has fire truck and heavy equipment underwear and Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. If he makes it through the day without going pee in his bigs he gets to wear real underwear the next day. This seems to be a good motivator as he has had less accidents. A few times he has started to go in his bigs, but stops himself and runs to the potty. More and more he is forgetting to ask for a treat after he goes potty, which I like.

Bryce has been on an on again off again nap strike for the past couple of weeks. He'll lay in his been for 1.5 hours and play or sign. A few times he has eventually fallen asleep after over an hour of being in his bed. This is almost worse than no nap because it throws his night time schedule off. If it keeps up, I might try pushing his nap time back until 2ish and see if he goes down easier.

We started another session of Music Together. Once again Bryce really seems to enjoy it. He is participating more and more and asks for the music at home.

Bryce is talking about Faith more and more. I'm really trying to prepare him for her arrival. I tell him every day that Faith will be here very soon. I'm also trying to prep him for my hospital stay so that he knows Mommy will be gone for at least one night and that he'll stay with Nanny and Pawka. He seems excited to have a baby sister. Let's just hope his excited continues once she arrives.

Bryce continues to love trains, tractors, and truck with trailers. He points every truck, trailer and tractor we see while driving. Every time he gets in his car seat he says, "I do my part" and proceeds to latch the middle strap across his chest. While I love that he is trying to help it also takes a long time because he explains that, "this little part goes in this little part" and then he'll actually latch it. He definitely likes to repeat himself and make sure we understand him and what he is doing.

When he goes down at night he still wants his door open. Now, instead of leaving a light on in the hall, Nathan bought two blue LED night lights. One is in his room, the other in the hall. They are not as bright as a regular night light, but much safer than a regular night light. We figured if needing a light was going to be a regular thing we'd get permanent ones that are safe. He also wants me to sit-sit on the floor for a couple of minutes when we first put him to bed and then he tells me, "Mommy check on Bryce" so that I'll come back in a few minutes and make sure he is okay.

Here are some pictures of Bryce helping Pawka dry his truck.