Out And About

Normally, I wouldn't really want to take a baby out quite this early, but Daddy's cold makes a big difference. James and I went to the doctor, this morning, to follow up with all the monitoring from the hospital. The jaundice was mild to begin with and it seems to be clearing up on schedule, or something like that. They didn't stick him to check sugars, but did ask about how often he eats (Cluster-feed--once an hour--all morning long, then every 4 hours the rest of the time) and she thought that was good enough. He's already grown a quarter inch and weighed in at 7 lbs 4.5 ozs. I think that puts him in the 25th and 50th percentiles, respectively. We'll have to see how long that lasts. After getting some breakfast for everyone and getting Elena and Joseph dressed, we went to playgroup. The weather is beautiful, and the wonderful cool breezes reminded me that Elena only has one pair of pants in her current size. James snoozed away in the sling the entire two hours we were at the park, and at HEB, afterward, when we stopped in to get cold medicine for Jonathan. It was a really nice outing, but I think we're done for the day. Maybe tomorrow night...

Halloween Wrap-up

As a Wednesday, the day started with play group. I toasted my pumpkin seeds before we left, and we had a fun time playing at the playground and sharing seeds with all our friends. Jonathan decided I should be a damsel tied to the tracks (to go with his melodrama villain) and I finished pulling it together just in time to pick up Jonathan at school. We went to my oldest brother, Mike's, house for trick-or-treating. I hadn't realized half their ward would be there, but that was all for the better, because it was fun to get to know people and hang out while we watched the kids. Jonathan quoted Monty Python stuff with one of Michael's friends, and advised them to get candy while they can still get away with it. Elena and Joseph ran around and played with their cousins. I sat back and enjoyed all the fun.


When we went out Tick-or-Treating, Joseph knew immediately what we were doing and sprinted (as fast as his little legs would go) to each house, the tail of his Boots costume wagging behind him. He asked, "Pleeease!" for candy, then dropped it into his bucket, but then cried when we told him he couldn't keep asking for candy at the same house. So, I distracted him by getting him to run after Elena to the next house, where he saw the glimmer of new candy. Elena had no trouble going from one house to another, but suddenly turned shy when she encountered anyone with a candy bowl. The other groups of slightly older and more aggressive children we kept crossing paths with didn't help her case any, either. House after house we went, Joseph saying "oooh" to all the jack-o-lanterns and moaning ghosts, and Elena quietly saying her "Tick-or-Treat" from the back of the mob. After a street and a half, we started to slow down, and headed back to Mike's for snacks and the obligatory candy bag raid. Elena and Joseph both went in the moonbounce, set up in the back yard, but Joseph was tired enough by then that he didn't really like it. It was such a fun evening!

As for this weekend, Elena and are are invited to go on my mom's mother-daughter campout. Elena's really excited that she gets to go camping for my happy birthday, too.

Gardening

Play group, today, was at The Natural Gardener. We started out all together, but as we explored we seperated and started looking at plants. I bought three varieties of cherry tomato--Juliette grape, patio, and large red--in the hopes that with smaller, more numerous fruit I'll get a better harvest than in past years. I also wanted my mom's fantastic flowerpots with the built-in wells, but of course those are nowhere to be found--so I made my own. I got two 5-gallon buckets and drilled a hole about three inches up from the bottom, dropped three empty yogurt cups into each one, drilled holes in heavy-duty plastic saucers and placed those on top of the yogurt cups, lined the new raised bottom with stretched out coco-grass (hanging-basket liner), then filled with potting soil and tomato plant. It's not as pretty, but it only cost about $11 per pot (includes the plant), and it has a handle. I know the real ones cost at least twice that much, so I'm very pleased with myself. Plus, if my seedlings work out, I will have a lot of very fine tomatoes in my kitchen, this summer.

As an aside--Mom, do you still have the huge tomato cages?

And on That Farm...

We got invited to come to an educational farm, yesterday, with the kids' cousin Christopher and his preschool. We met and had a sack lunch, then started out tour in the dairy barn.


Here we got to see Sweetpea, the lovely lady in tan fur, get milked. They don't take very much at a time, but we got to see how the machine works.


The hayride was short but fun. Elena and Joseph were totally into the ostriches. The tractor pulls right up next to the fence, so we got to see them up close. We got to see eggs, too, and they're huge. I'm pretty sure they're the size of Joseph's head.


We got to wander around and check out all the animals, too. There was a section with native Texas wildlife so we got to see owls, javelinas, and prairie dogs. This is the bobcat--it's in the cage just above Christopher's head.


In with the farm animals--pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys, llamas, ducks, etc.--one of the miniature donkeys was poking its head through the fence, so Elena got it to sniff her hand.


We had a lot of fun and wore ourselves out.

Elena And The Firetrucks--2 For 2

The husband of one of the moms at play group is a fireman (captain, no less!) so we got to tour the firehouse, learn about smoke detectors and firefighter gear, climb in one of the trucks, and shoot water from one of the hoses. I forgot to bring my camera (shocking!) so I'll see if I can get pictures from one of the other moms. It took Elena a little bit to warm up to everything since it's all so *big* but she had a good time.

So good a time that when she saw a firetruck at our house, this morning (they were doing inspections and installing a smoke detector and fire extinguisher in the laundry room), she wanted to go see it. We found the firemen that went with it and chatted, telling them about our field trip the day before. On the way back to the house, we passed the truck again, and I heard a little "want to ride" squeak out of Elena's mouth.

"It's not my truck, sweetheart. We'll have to ask the firemen."

So we went back to the firemen, she stood nervously next to one's leg, then said "pleeeaaase."

"Do you want to ride the firetruck?"

"Uh-huh!"

We climbed in, tapped on one of the hats, looked at the heavy coats, and checked out the big boots. The firemen found Elena a tiny stuffed bunny and some fireman-badge stickers. Then they had to leave for their next stop and we had to hop off. It was really fun, though.

I'm Bushed

It's been a busy, busy day. We started by taking Daddy to school, then it was on to Joseph's checkup at the pediatrictian--he's 9 months! (and a week--almost). Joseph is 27 inches tall and weighs in at 15 lbs 13.5 oz. He's still pretty petite, but getting bigger. We got out of the doctor's office just in time to meet our friends at the park for this week's play group. I was thrilled to see ten moms there since last week it was just me and Tiffany. It's an older park, too, so it was kind of fun for us to see everyone playing on the sort of equipment we grew up on--a merry-go-round, see-saws, a jungle gym, a tall metal slide, those horses on the giant springs and all the other stuff you never see anymore. Elena had a blast on the slide. We played for two hours, ate some snacks we'd brought along, then headed off when Joseph and Elena both started looking a bit tired. We stopped in at Barnes & Noble to look at First Word type books in Spanish, then both both kids fell asleep in the car. Too stinkin' bad I need to pick Jonathan back up--that would have made for an awesome nap for me, too, if I'd gone home right then. Ah, well. Once we got home and had a larger snack/small lunch, Elena pulled out her colors for a bit of art. Not on the paper, though, you'll notice.



Very cute. You've got to love such determined creativity. I guess the car nap got her in the mood, though, because she decided to "go night-night" (which almost never involves actual sleeping) on top of the toy box.


We've still got plenty left to do tonight, but at least we can slow down and rest for a bit.

Invite to Sunset Valley Play Group

Some of the sisters in our ward have started a play group and we're going all sorts of fun places. We've got the next two months planned, and I want to invite everyone else to join, too. It's Wednesday mornings at 10, and we're going someplace different each week. We're going to the botanical gardens next. I know Michelle Howard is driving up from Buda to join us, and the fire department in April is right up by Callie and Frances, so anyone is welcome to join us and (of course) suggest more fun places to go. We're trying to trade off between homes and field trips so that everyone feels like they can participate.