Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so fun this year! Baby E was so cute in her soccer ball costume and A was so fun to see telling everyone "tricky treat!" so that he could get as much candy as possible.

When it came to carving pumpkins, we figured that it would be a good idea to give A a paintbrush instead of a knife... E and I also painted ours, leaving M to be the only one dedicated enough to tradition to actually carve his!

Autumn Adventures

I love this time of year! Warm sweaters, cute boots, crunching leaves, and crisp air. And I have decided having kids to share things with makes everything exponentially more fun!

This past weekend we went to Cornbelly's, which is an outdoor farm-themed festival and corn maze. A had so much fun playing in the "corn sand" {a massive pit full of dried corn kernels}, riding the cow train, and playing on the toys and slides.

Today, we went to Petersen farms with friends to pick our pumpkins for Halloween! We had a blast and it was so cute watching A run around with his little BFF. {And, of course, we mommas see the opportunities for a photoshoot!}

Baby E at 3 Months

This girl is such a doll! Her personality is starting to develop and she is auch a sweetheart! We love her so much!

Our attempts to measure her at home never seem as accurate as the doctor's but, as far as we can tell, these are her stats:

• Weight: 10.2 lbs.
• Height: 24 inches
• Diaper Size: She finally upgraded to Size 1 a couple of weeks ago!
• Clothing Size: She now fits into her 0-3 Months clothing but it's still really baggy!
• Likes: Eating, bathtime, smiling, trying to laugh, the TV, her reflection in the mirror, driving in the car or riding in the stroller, being held and getting to sit on her parents' laps to see the world around her.
• Dislikes: Having to sleep, anytime we aren't paying enough attention to her.

She has started grabbing things with his hands and it is fun to see her comprehending the world around her. She especially loves grabbing mom's shirt and her blankey. She is much less fussy when she has toys to play with—I think she's an intelligent little girl and gets too bored without something to do.

She is such a smiley girl. All it takes is a little smile at her and she bursts into a huge, gorgeous grin. It's adorable and makes even the most tiring 3 AM feedings worth it. Her laugh is also continuing to happen more frequently. She is really ticklish and seems to enjoy bursting into giggles now that she's laughing more regularly.

Baby E has calmed down a lot now and actually enjoys riding in the car and loves the movement of the stroller. Usually by the end of a walk, she's fallen sound asleep in her seat. She is always very alert and curious about the world around her, so getting her to fall asleep sometimes poses a challenge sometimes but she is getting better each week and sleeps for several hours at a time a lot of nights. Surprisingly, the other magic solution for naps when we are getting desperate are loud noises such as the vacuum or blender. Baby E loves the sound and somehow it lulls her off into dreamland.

She is becoming more of a happy baby and is so much fun! Her smiles and giggles have really helped A begin to enjoy having a sibling more. He's always been very kind to her, but he seems to understand that she's a person now that she interacts more. They are such cute, sweet kids and I really hope that they can develop a strong friendship as they continue to grow up together.

These two beautiful kids of ours are definitely the best thing and we are so grateful to have them in our lives!

Grateful for the Good Days

Today was a good day. And I am so grateful for good days!

A lot of days lately seem like more than I bargained for. Two kids has been far more challenging than I had anticipated and I feel like some days life is just plain hard. {And yes, I probably complain about it too much!}

But today, we all just seemed happy together. E was content for most of the day and A didn't feel the need to compete with her for attention. There were no temper tantrums, refusals to eat his food, or anything else along those lines. M and I simply just had fun being with our kids today; and the kids seemed to have fun with us too.

I mean, it's a pretty good sign that he had a good day when I can hear A singing himself to sleep in his bed while I write this!