Pumpkin Patch and a Project

We FINALLY made it out to the Pumpkin Patch!

It wasn't without its challenges though.  Taking two little ones to a place with so many distractions was a little chaotic, but we had a good time anyway.

Call us crazy, but we ended up going to two different patches. The first one was the one we go to every year.  It was SO packed. There was a field trip going on and the school kids made it pretty difficult to get a picture. Anywhere.  They also had very little to choose from as far as pumpkin selection this year. Either they were the teeny 50 cent ones or the massive 50 dollar ones. 

The best part was being able to convince Harper to be in a picture with Hollin!

No smiles, but I'll take it :)

Harper was quite distracted by the pretty blonde Kindergartener in front of him.

We left without buying any pumpkins, which I felt kinda guilty about.

We drove just a few minutes away to a different patch and there was no one there!

I love these sweet pumpkins!

I wanted a picture with both babies, but Harper just wouldn't have it. Oh well.

I could not get over how beautiful their mums were! I don't know what the secret is. I bought mine three weeks ago or so and it looks so bad.

We collected a few pumpkins and headed out. Harper decided to be a helper.

Later that evening after Hollin went to bed, I broke out the Sharpies for pumpkin decorating! Harper's face just cracked me up. He's like, "Are you sure I can use this?"

 

 

The next day, I can say I "completed" a project that had been nagging me for awhile. Way back when, I blogged about my beach fence inspiration. My hubby and I attempted our own version of it and I liked the way it turned out. (Forgive the blurry photos - I was having camera issues at the time :) Since we've moved into our 1960's fixer-upper, the fence has lived in our upstairs hallway.

 

I wanted to add pictures somehow, but I wanted A LOT of them. I had seen some cute frames with ribbons attached at Michael's. They were $8 a piece and it would have gotten really expensive.. I knew I could make something comparable, but time was really the biggest problem. So, it was nothing a little baker's twine and clothespins couldn't fix!

 

Sorry for the less-than-stellar photo. I really love it and it's so fun to walk by and look at those sweet faces :)

 

Happy Monday!

Miss Hollin is 11 months old!

Baby girl, you are ELEVEN months old. ( As of September 30th :)

Your daddy and I have been thinking that you will walk any day now. I will say that you took your first official steps on October 19th, 2012! You took almost three!

You have your top two teeth and one beside your bottom two coming in all at once. You have been a little cranky, but still our silly stinker.

We have been hoping that you would start holding your own bottle soon, but you are far too busy. We know you know how, you just choose not to.

Sometimes I think you can't be a bigger ham, but then you surprise me. You LOVE attention. You definitely do not enjoy independent play just yet. You want to be sure that someone is watching you all the time.

You are into everything, all day. You love to take clothes out of baskets, toys out of toy baskets, dishes out of the dishwasher and food out of Maya's dog food bowl. (You like to eat it too.)

You are wearing size 3 diapers, size 4 shoes (we got you your first squeakers!), 12-18 months clothes and you are pretty defiant when it comes to hairbows.

Daddy and I are starting to see more and more of your temper when you get frustrated. This afternoon, you wanted to climb into your old baby swing and it would swing back to you and push you down. We couldn't stop laughing at your over-dramatic reactions.

You have been able to drink out of a straw for some time, but mommy has forgotten to mention it! You are also pretty good with a sippy cup, but are always too busy to drink from it and not make a huge mess.

We have stopped buying baby food. You don't like it and prefer what we are eating. The only thing that you have ever turned down was french-cut green beans.  Not a fan :)

You are getting kind of a baby-mullet :) Your hair has grown so much.

Your Pa Pa Jim brought photos of daddy over to our house a few nights ago. We found this one and thought it looked a little familiar.

We love you SOO much and we can't believe you are almost a year old!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Thursday Randoms

I was all excited about today because today was going to be "Pumpkin Patch Day." It's one of my favorite things to do with my family all year, hands down.

Around 3:30am last night, Harper started throwing up. He threw up all night and all morning until about 11:00am or so. We aren't sure exactly what is wrong, but most likely something he picked up at Preschool.

I had a dentist appointment this morning (ugh.) I went, got it over with, and was hoping that Harper and Jimmy (who was a little off too) would be feeling miraculously better when I got back. I was wrong.

I decided Hollin and I could take a girls trip to Target! I am all amped up about Halloween this year, but I'm sure ya'll have no idea why :)

Target Dollar Spot gets me everytime. For a long time, I was surrounded by boys and didn't have much girlyness going on in my house. Now that Miss Hollin is here, we break out the pink. We don't care who doesn't like it :)

I also picked up a new nail polish today while we were browsing. "Chinchilly" by Essie. I usually like dark colors for Fall, but this was stood out a little.

While on "staycation" this week, I've been trying to catch up on things around the house. Laundry is one of them. Does anyone else's laundry piles look like this, or is it just me? There was still a huge load in the dryer to be folded. Please know that I do fold bed linens better than what it looks like here. This duvet cover has been on the loveseat for at least 4 days :(

We are hoping tomorrow will be a little more productive.  We have a lot to do around here!

The Day my Husband Saved My Baby's Life

Sunday was a scary day. Jimmy was back to his regular work schedule after two days of getting off early.

Per our usual routine, I do not go to church on the Sundays that he works. Typically, Harper goes to church with my parents and I stay at home to catch up on things while she naps.

Things were normal on Sunday. Hollin napped well and woke up happy. Harper and my parents came back from their service. They packed and headed back to my hometown for a few days.

Jimmy stopped by on their way out.

.

Once they were gone, he came in to grab something to drink.

 We were talking in the kitchen and I watched Hollin crawl into the TV room to play with Harper. After a moment, Jimmy and I heard a strange noise. We ran in to find Hollin completely choked.

I immediately panicked. Jimmy grabbed her up as I looked down to find some of Harper's Nutter Butter cookies on the floor. I watched him turn her nearly upside down and beat on her back. She was coughing and trying to cry, but not getting very much air, so her cries were small and gurgly.

Beating her back just wasn't working. It sounded like every breath inward was just forcing the cookie further back. Jimmy tried to scoop the cookie from the back of her throat. The sight and sound of this was horrific. I felt numb and helpless. I remember asking if I should call 911 and he loudly protested.

Finally, he hooked enough of the mushed peanut butter cookie from the back of her throat to clear her windpipe and she cried out.

There was a bit of blood on his hands and we still aren't sure if it came from her throat or from the 3 teeth that she has coming in at the moment. We were all shaken up and Hollin held on to me, perfectly still, while I rocked her. This baby never sits still, so I know she was completely traumatized. We all were.

I feel so guilty that I didn't immediately follow her into the TV room. I try my best to keep things off the floor, but at some point, Harper found his cookies, ate some, and left some on the floor.

If Jimmy had not stopped by the house, I don't know that I could have done what he did. I would have most likely called 911 and tried to get it out until they got there. He has told me many times that it could take several minutes for them to get to our house and choking is something that is difficult to handle. She would have probably gone unconcious by the time they got here.

He stuck around for a few moments, but then had to get back to work. I held it together until he left, but then I just cried and cried. I realized how serious this was and how it could have turned out.

Luckily for all of us, Hollin was back to her normal, happy self shortly. I just wanted to get out of the house for a moment, so we ran to McDonald's for lunch.

 

I couldn't really stop thinking about it for the rest of the day, but we went on as usual.

 

 We took a walk.

 

And Harper helped Hollin with her walking.

 

Jimmy came home that night and admitted how much it shook him up as well. Obviously, he was in the right place at the right time this weekend.  I'm so thankful for him and that he could think clearly in that situation.

 

He absolutely saved her life.

Celebrating 28 & 5

I turned 28 on October 12th! It seems strange to say that I'm 28 because just 10 years ago, 28 seemed so "adult." I am so blessed to have everything I hoped for and more by age 28. I'm not talking about material things, but when it comes to my family, I couldn't ask for me.  The older I get, the more I realize how many blessings I get to celebrate each year. I think back to last year at this time and anticipating the birth of our sweet baby girl. Getting to celebrate with her and Harper this year was so amazing.

Jimmy was a sweetheart and was waiting for me at work with a birthday breakfast on Friday.  To know that he went and stood in the Starbucks line for 20 minutes in full uniform was so sweet (and hilarious.)

My co-workers surprised me with awesome local cupcakes!

My friend C and her sweet baby treated me to lunch at Panera. I had so much fun catching up with her and seeing her little one. How precious are those dimples?

I worked through the rest of the day and came home to sneak in some pics with the babies before Hollin was ready for bed.

Harper wasn't really into it :(

For dinner that night, Jimmy and I went to our favorite Mongolian Restaurant. It is super low-key and not fancy at all. We haven't been in over a year because they don't have french fries. Unfortunately, that is all Harper will eat when we go out. It was nice to go back to a place that we used to go to while we were dating :) 

The next day, on October 13th, Jimmy and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! Again, this is mind-blowing. In some ways, it seems like we have been married forever. In other ways, it seems like we got married last week.

My mom and dad treated me to a nice lunch at Panera (I went again, I can't get enough.)

 

Hollin enjoyed getting attention from every person in this picture.

 

 

And Harper...well, he was Harper.

 

 

 

Jimmy had to work on our anniversary, but he had re-arranged his schedule for the whole weekend so that he was off at 6pm. He had to wake up at 4:30am to be at work at 6am. I know he was so tired, but he did it for me. I'm a lucky lady :)

That night, we treated ourselves to a "fancier" dinner at Bluewater. This was the restaurant where our rehearsal dinner was held.

 

We sat out by the water and enjoyed talking. The food was delicious, as always.

 

 

At some point during the weekend(I think it was during my at-home-lunch-break on Friday), Jimmy gave me a really nice gift. To be honest, I debated taking it back. Not because I didn't like it, but because I thought it was too spendy. I guess it's the whole mom-guilt thing. I knew all of the cute things that I could buy for the kids (or for Hollin's up-coming party) with the money that was put into this gift.

 

 

I love it. We've been married for 5 years, and I have had two babies. I will take the nice watch :)

 

I had an awesome birthday and anniversary. I couldn't be blessed with a better husband, babies or family.  I posted the following on Facebook on Saturday.

 

5 years ago today, I said "I do" and married my best friend. We have come so far in 5 years. Lots of moving, 2 babies, job changes to stay-at-home mommy days and back again. Jimmy, I love you more than words. Tonight, at 6pm, I will remember how I felt walking toward you at the Kenan Chapel and seeing your sweet smile. Thank you for 5 wonderful years and lots of laughs. I look forward to 50 more!

 

 

And I mean it :)