Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was 80 degrees and sunny. It did not seem like weather to pick pumpkins but with two little kids it seemed like a perfect day to do it.
  Of course Alyssa picked yesterday not to take a nap so there were a few melt downs along the way but I guess that is to be expected.
   We wanted some pictures at the pumpkin patch and we got pictures but we did not get any great pictures. The kids were not looking the correct way or they though the hay was more interesting. But we did walk away with 4 pumpkins. Two will be painted and the other two will be carved.

   Alyssa really enjoyed the tractor ride out the the field to pick the pumpkins and Colin thought playing in the grass was a lot of fun. They both really enjoyed the apple cider.
   So over all it was a good day.

Scared

On Wednesday morning Colin woke up not feeling good. He was up for an hour then went back to bed. I woke him up so we could take the kids to the park. On the way home from the park Jenni said she thought Colin's lips looked purple.

We came home ate lunch and I put him back down for a nap. A little over two hours later he was still sleeping so I went to check on him. He was cold to the touch and his lips were purple. I picked him up and ran downstairs. Jenni started a breathing treatment with him while I called the doctor.  The doctor called back quickly and told me to take him to the ER in St. Louis.
   I took him to the hospital but since I had given him a breathing treatment his oxygen pulse was 98-100% so they were not concerned about him. After 2 and a half hour wait I went to check on when we would get a room. They said at least 7 more rooms had to be cleared so I left.
   The next day I called his doctor and they said they didn't even want to see him unless he got worse. Well by 2:30 he was worse so I took him to the doctor. He diagnosed him with an ear infection and said that since his oxygen stats were 95-100% that he wasn't worried about his breathing and sent us home.

   So now I'm waiting for Colin to wake up this morning to see how he is. I'm hoping that all the breathing treatments and ear meds will make him feel better.

Colin has to have surgery

My poor little boy has to have surgery at the end of this month to put tubes in his ears. I know that he will be a much happier little boy once it is done. He has constant fluid behind his ear that at times seems to be putting a lot of pressure on his ear drums and causing a lot of pain. On top of that he is having a lot of ear infections. We have done everything we can to help, elevating his bed, not letting people smoke around him, not giving him a bottle laying down, and even limiting his pacifier use. So now it is on to tubes.
   I have been through this twice with Alyssa and it was nerve racking each time, but for hers I only had about a week to think about it before it happened. This time I have almost a month. It also doesn't help that my pastor's wife went in for an "easy" procedure last week and ended up being airlifted to another hospital and had sever complications. (She is okay and home now Thank God).
   I do think my fears are a little less because we are doing this surgery at a very well known hospital in St. Louis and I know a few babies that have been taken care of there. HOWEVER I'm still scared out of my mind. There was once today where I really thought about picking up the phone and calling the doctor and canceling it.
   So since I know it is what is best, I'm going to spend the next 22 days praying that God's hands will be on my son and the doctors taking care of him and put it in his hands. (Though that really won't be easy for me.)

10 months

Dear Colin,
   Big boy you are 10 months old today. I can't believe how fast time has gone. You are now 24 lbs 10 ounces. We aren't sure how long you are this month but you are very tall. You wear size 18 month clothes with some 12 month thrown in. You still don't have any teeth and no signs of any teeth showing up anytime soon.
   This past month has brought 2 ear infections back to back, yet you haven't let them get you down for long. As soon as you get the medicine in you, you are back to your normal happy self.
   This month you have decided that you don't like baby food or bottles anymore. As of the last few days you have refused ALL baby food and so all you have eaten is table food. Your favorite is any type of pasta.  You get one bottle in the morning and one at night and then during the day you drink all your formula from sippy cups.
   You can crawl really fast and your new mission in life is to get up the stairs as fast as you can. As you head for the stairs you turn to look to see if anyone is watching, get a huge smile on your face, turn around and crawl as fast as you can up the stairs.
   You can stand and will stand not holding on to anything for a few seconds before you fall on your bottom. You love to walk the furniture and pull up on anything you can. You will push the walking toys around the floor though you are usually on your knees instead of your feet when you do that.
    The other thing that you love to do is open the cabinets and pull all the toys out. You don't want to play with any of them, you just want to get them all out.
     You wave bye-bye to everyone and will even say "bye bye" you also say Go and dada. We are working really hard on you saying mom but you still haven't said it yet. You also love to blow kisses and make noises and hit your mouth so that the sound goes in and out.

    You sleep through the night. You go to bed at 7:30 at night and sleep until between 6:15 and 7:45 in the morning. Most nights you don't even wake up to have your pacifier replaced. You take one nap during the day that last anywhere from 2-3 hours.
    You love to be outside and today you even got to play in the yard with the bigger kids because you were throwing such a fit on the deck.
    You are very very much a mommies boy and if anyone else come near you, you cry and head for me. Though once Daddy comes home and night you are usually the first one over to him so that he can pick you up.
    Colin we knew we loved you before you were born but we never knew how much joy and laughter you would bring into our lives. We love you big boy and can't believe that in 2 months you will be a year old.

Love,

 Mommy

Best Friends

Alyssa and Colin are becoming best friends and I love it! Colin has always thought the world of Alyssa, and through Alyssa has always been fond of her brother she is more in love with him now that he can move around and play.
  If Colin is crying Alyssa will run over and give him a kiss. She takes his bottle to him every night before bed and has to tell him good night. In the morning when she hears him wake up she runs to his room to talk and play with him.
Now Colin has been able to start doing some of the things she does and she loves it. She is encouraging him to walk and she loves when he plays at the park with her.
  I could go on and on but I will just leave you with some pictures that I think shows the love.

Corn

This past weekend we took the kids to the Godfrey corn maze. We told Alyssa we were going to go see corn. She seemed really excited. When we got there she was not as thrilled to walk through the corn but was willing to walk with us. And we walked because we wanted to get our money's worth.
  We then let Alyssa and Colin play in this HUGE sandbox of corn.  Colin only got to play for a few minutes because he wanted to eat the corn but Alyssa had a blast.
  We also took a tractor ride around the property and Alyssa loved it. She liked sitting on hay, she liked riding the tractor and liked looking around. Colin could have cared less but at least he wasn't crying.
   After we had enough of corn we walked to the back of the property where they had a bridge over some water. We stopped to look at the water for a little bit and then we continued our walk to a play ground where Colin loved the swing and Alyssa loved the slides.

 It was a fun weekend.

Labor Day at the Lake

On Friday we had Colin's 9 month well check visit and then headed out for the Lake of the Ozarks.
     We made a stop on the way there to visit with my Grandpa. The kids had a blast finding things that they could and couldn't play with. Colin loved the TV and would crawl for it repeatedly only to be pulled away by Chris. Alyssa found some big stuffed animals and had a blast.
     We then made a stop at Central Dairy where the four of us shared a banana split. It was as good as I remembered and I think Alyssa is hooked. She ate almost all of the chocolate ice cream by herself.
      As soon as we got to the lake we took off for a boat ride. It was Colin's first time being down there and he was not so sure of the life jacket or the boat. But as soon as the boat took off he was hooked. He loved the wind in his face and watching the water.
     After we got off the boat we went for our first swim. Alyssa did not like how the life jacket flipped her over onto her back so we found a bigger one that was meant for swimming and she had a blast jumping off the dock into the water. Colin was very happy kicking his legs under his little crab floater as the air leaked out of it.
    On Saturday morning we got up and repeated all of the stuff we did the day before. However this time on the the boat ride I decided that I wanted to ski and knee board. I am happy to report that I was able to get up first try on both, but boy was I sore the rest of the trip.
     On Sunday we got up and went to the outlet mall where we had to buy the kids jackets because it was so cold. We did go for a boat ride and swim but not as long because of the wind and the colder weather. That evening good friends of the family came over and we went for an evening boat ride on their boat. The kids had a blast crawling around and watching the water together. I don't know if I had more fun watching the scenery or the kids.
   Today our plan had been to stay until noon, however it was even colder this morning and after a very cold boat ride and a 3 minute swim we decided to pack up a little early and head for home.
    Once home we enjoyed time outside, a nice walk and dinner on the deck. I also added warmer clothes to both kids closets as the cooler weather seems to be here to stay.
    The two bad thins of the trip were that Colin decided he did not like his Nana's plates and threw two of them on the floor while I was going to get his bib and they broke.





     Then the next day I had wrapped our camera in a hat on the dock. I did not tell anyone this and when we went to clean up the hat was picked up and the camera took a swim to the bottom of the lake. We were able to dive down and get it. So I was able to recover the pictures already on there, however the camera is now dead.