Thanksgiving

It started out so positive.  We got to the airport with plenty of time and despite flying on peak travel days, the Indy airport wasn't busy at all.  The kids did really well for both flights and the layover.  But when we landed in California at midnight and woke up Jane, she she threw up all over Chris and the aisle of the airplane... three times.  Passengers still waiting to deplane had to step over a big puddle of vomit.  We gathered our things and found our checked luggage, but we had WAY too much to carry and poor sick Jane cried as she struggled to walk beside us to the rental cars.  It was the saddest thing ever.  Chris managed to pick her up somehow and carry her the rest of the way, then went and got our car while I waited with the kids on the curb.  The amazing California temperature was our saving grace that night.  We were all too tired and miserable and I just kept thinking I will feel better when we get everything in the car... and I did, for a second.  Jane threw up all over herself and the car, and climbed in the back seat to comfort her while she moaned, "Jane's all wet, Jane's all wet" all the way to Erik's house.  We spent the evening cleaning vomit out of the car, car seat, and diaper bag.  It was everywhere.  That night she threw up again and Peter the super light sleeper was up all night too.

The next morning we got ready and hoped to drop by and surprise Theresa.  (We hadn't told anyone but Erik and Juliana that we were coming.)  Theresa was unavailable and as it turned out, already knew about our trip.  We dropped by Dave and Caitlin's but no one answered the door.  Strike 2.  We called both Dave and Caitlin and got no response.  Finally we decided they were probably over working on their new house.  We had the address, so we just headed over.  The complete shock on Dave's face as he answered the door was without a doubt the highlight of our trip.  He was blown away and we were giddy to see him.  He gave us a tour of his new home in the demo phase and told us about all the plans to finish it up.  It was so fun to see their house.  I can't wait to see it all done and stay with them next time!


We had thanksgiving dinner with Erik and Juliana.  Jane was running a fever and only wanted to be held all the time (mostly by daddy).  She threw up again right before dinner.  Peter was a little clingier than normal as well.  By Friday Chris was starting to get it and on Saturday, it wiped him out completely.  The sickness for him was manifest mostly in fevers and chills.  He lied on the Reid's couch and slept all day.  Peter got it too, but for him it was a miserable cough.  He could hardly breathe.  We left a wake of sickness behind us.  Nearly everyone we came in contact with got some version of bug.

Our trip home didn't improve.  We got to the airport and found our flight was delayed an hour.  They warned us there was a chance we may miss our connecting flight, but they sounded encouraging that we could make it.  If there was a chance, we were going to go for it.  Jane was doing better, but not really wanting to be photographed and not her normal chipper self as she lied on the airport floor waiting for our flight.  Peter had the kind of cough that made everyone sick just listening to it.  It was an uncomfortable flight.  When we landed, we bolted to our connecting gate, just a few doors down, but the plane was already pulling away.  We were stuck in Denver.  The next flight out wasn't until 4 the next afternoon.  It was about that time that Jane complete blew out of her diaper, soiling her only jammies (as our luggage in holding until morning).  We called up my sister and decided to rent a car (and car seats) and drive down to their house in Colorado Springs.  They took good care of us and it was such a nice break from our miserable travels.  They gave us coats to bare the subzero temperatures and toothbrushes and everything.   We even got to go to Costa Vida for lunch.   Our flight the next day was only delayed a few more hours and then we got to go home.  It wasn't the trip we were planning, but also not one we are likely to forget.

Peter 10 months

Peter is probably getting pretty close to walking soon.  He spends most of his time pushing chairs, laundry baskets, the kids' picnic table and any other furniture he can move all over the room.   He occasionally stands on his own too.  With Jane it was a big deal and you could see the nervousness and sense of accomplishment all over her face.  Peter is completely preoccupied and doesn't think twice about it when he just lets go of his support to better inspect the toy he's holding.  He's fearless and quite frankly it scares me.  The other day we somehow left the gate at the top of the stairs open and I came around the corner to find him half way down the hard wooden stairs.  SCARIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE.  I hadn't spent any time teaching him stairs just yet.  We just keep them blocked off.  Apparently Chris had shown him how to go down backwards once and that mini lesson may have saved his life.  

Peter eats mostly table foods now and thank goodness because spoon feeding baby food was a high anxiety experience.  He would eat a few bites just fine (or sometimes almost the whole container, you never knew) and then out of frustration or sometimes excitement, he would swat the spoon SO fast and food would go everywhere.  No matter how much you were expecting it, he was always faster than you.  Each spoonful was a gamble.  Sure do love those baby food pouches now.  If nothing else, he will ALWAYS eat one of those.  He's a little pickier than Jane was.  I think he'd live on bread if he could (particularly banana bread, but can you blame him?).

One of my favorite thing about Peter right now is that he DOES NOT want to be left out of playing with daddy.  If Chris starts chasing Jane around, Peter will come crawling and crying until Chris picks him up and chases Jane with him or crawls after Peter.  He loves being chased and I love his frantic, panicked, giggly crawl.  Mostly, whatever fun is being had, he wants to be involved.  

He gets really excited when he hears the theme song for Bubble Guppies and uses his new clapping skill to demonstrate it, but other than that, he doesn't pay attention to Jane's shows.  I even put Baby Einstein on for him once and Jane got really excited, but Peter just wants to crawl around and explore.  Sounds great to me!

Peter sleeps ALL THE TIME.  The last few weeks he has been especially sleepy.  He goes to sleep at 8:00 pm wakes up and nurses around 5:30 or 6:00 and gets up around 8:00.  He's slept through that early morning feeding several times so I'm hopeful we'll soon have uninterupted sleep.  In the morning he's usually up for a couple hours and then takes his first nap.  He still takes three naps and he's only awake for a couple hours between each one.  It's just weird.  I can put him down for a little third nap at 6:00 and he still has no problem hitting that 8:00 bed time.  

Halloween

I love having Chris available in the mornings.  It means we get to go places like the pumpkin patch on a weekday morning.  Perfect.  The kids did not care in the slightest about picking a pumpkin, but Jane liked, well, just playing outside and avoiding my camera.  

Our Ward Trunk or treat was great.  It was so crowded.  When we first arrived, we didn't see ANY other adults in costume, but when we got inside we found a few other kindred spirits.  Not many, though.  The evening was perfect.  No jackets necessary.  This was our first year with a trick-or-treater.  It was fun to take her around.  She caught on to the system pretty quickly and loved getting candy for her bucket.  She would say trick-or-treat and thank you in the quietest voices, but at least she said it.  She's a quiet one.  Chris and I went as old people.  Keeping it nice and simple this year.  Chris found his blue suit at a cool thrift store we discovered down town, and that inspired the get up this year, well that and Chris had some new teeth to use.  And in true Asian fashion, he doesn't show his age at all.

 We got our pumpkin carving in right before Halloween night.  Jane was only interested in seeing the "happy face" (which is what she called it instead of pumpkin from then on).  Chris tried to get her in on gutting the pumpkin, but she generally isn't interested in getting her hands dirty.

Brown County State Park

Brown County is named the best place to view fall leaves in Indiana, which is why it was so busy the weekend we went.  The weather was crisp, but nice and the leaves were beautiful.  We just went for the morning, doing a short hike around the lake, but it was just perfect for what we wanted.  Jane enjoyed collecting acorns and leaves most.  She hiked for about half of it, but after tripping over a few roots, she wanted to be carried a lot.  Even the small boardwalk sections made her nervous.

 I really wanted a shot of the two of these together, but between Chris trying to squat behind them and hold Peter up, and Jane's complete preoccupation with filling her pockets with nuts, it just didn't quite work out.  Still, Peter's always up for a photo shoot.

"A owl!"

Just throwing acorns in the water.

Peter at 8 months

 

Peter is a playful little busy guy.  He is constantly on the move and a little over confident in his abilities.  He often stands next to furniture holding on with just one hand or tries to cross over from the ottoman to the couch when they are too far apart and he's paid the price with some rough falls. His favorite thing these days is climbing to the top of Jane's new slide by going straight up the front.  He's fast at it too, so I have to keep a close eye on him.  He definitely knows how to sit now, he just doesn't do it.  Any time I put him down sitting up, he crawls away immediately.  He does a real crawl now, but still throws in the old army crawl every once in a while.  He follows Jane around all day and stands up near where she's playing.  Sometimes he can get down by himself but often he just cries for me to come rescue him.
He's got two teeth on the bottom now and loves to feed himself pears and Cheerios.  He doesn't care for bananas (which is too bad, because they are so convenient). He has a mild allergy to milk, so we're avoiding dairy for the time being.  Fortunately, it doesn't seem to affect him when I have milk.

Turkey Run State Park

We visited Turkey Run State park last weekend.  It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint.  I just kept saying "this is so beautiful" over and over.  The leaves are just starting to turn here and it even smells like the beginning of fall.  So fun.  We went on a rugged .5 mile hike which was just PERFECT.  We got to feel like we were out in the wilderness for about as long as Jane can handle hiking anyway.  She was a little unsure about the uneven, dirty ground, but she warmed up to it when she discovered "throwing rocks in the water".  It was just fun for us to watch her collecting her leaves and rocks and pointing out squirrels and dogs.