October/November.. really?

October flew by in a frenzy of sicknesses. Zoe got salmonella (salm.o.nella!) and it was horrible. So, so sick and she was pretty sick for about 8 days. High fever, stomach cramps, toilet troubles - all awful. Thankfully she didn't throw up - and never got dehydrated because she would still eat and drink. I'm so thankful for that - and that in a house with littles no one else got it. We did however all pass around some sort of 24 hour fever/achy virus thing between all of us - and some of us got round two. Seriously - it was crazy - someone in our house was always feeling bad. But I think we are on the up and up now! PTL!

Benny boy is 8 months. He crawls, laughs, can sit back up (at like 98%) from crawling and is in general just a j.o.y. to be around. He and Ana are/were such happy happy babies! We met with his surgeon this past week to talk about surgery #2. I'm dreading this surgery - but also feel compelled to put everything in motion to get it taken care of. I want to be on the other side of this! And it seems like it will be in January with hopefully enough time for him to be able to eat solids again by his one year birthday. I want his recovery to be over by then so we can only. celebrate! 

Z is still loving prek and I love it too! They do so many fun little things - Hawaiin day, festivals, dress up days - that just make being a kid fun. She is making sweet little friends - two girls named Ava and another named Emma and also Hayley. Every day when we pick her up Z gives me the report of who got to yellow or even, gasp, RED in class that day. Z stays on green and I think she pretty much adheres to the rules of prek. Z likes order and keeping people (Ana/Ben/us) in line so staying on green is pretty easy for her, I think.

Ana is -in love- with Spanish music class. I'm sort of sad we won't be going back in the spring, but hopefully I can find something else to happily engage her in. The Y still offers free gymnastics classes and I'm guessing that will be a great fit. She is so athletic! Have you heard of random acts of yoga? Well, she frequently does them - anywhere all the time. She always doing downward dogs and warrior poses and climbing up walls - she is so phyiscal! I didn't sign Z up for soccer because she seemed very uninterested in it - when I explained what they do she wrinkled up her nose and said, "That doesn't sound very fun..." but I am anticipating a very different response from Ana when she is 4 and guys, I am READY to be a soccer mom! I was born for this...

Ben is also rocking the solid food department. We even upped his game to some soft finger foods beyond puree. Purees are almost 100% smooth sailing now and I'm grateful. How does he eat without a roof of his mouth? I honestly don't know - except that I know he is a champion. 

We traveled to San Antonio - really one of only two travels we have made since Ben has been born and it was such a great day! Z and Micah are on such the same level now that their play seems exciting and fun - and Ana shifts in and out of it. It's fun to watch them become little friends. 

I think this was right before Eric took his shirt off...

Halloween 2013 came and went with an Angel, Fairy and Farmer. We had a small trick or treating episode on our street with our neighbor - the 4 of them consist of the only children on our street and people were basically dividing their candy bowls in thirds to give all of the candy to milo, z and ana (ben didn't "trick or treat"). Its a little sad that the energy for trick or treating is so low - but I know if we ventured further into the other parts of our neighborhood there would be more kids - we chose instead to go to a carnival the college ministry was putting on which was much better because their prizes included things like play doh, jewelry, etc - and so the kids didn't end up with that much candy really which is nice. The weather was great - actually a bit chilly for once! - and we had a good evening. 

Our days seem much the same in our routines these days and I'm looking forward to the holidays SO MUCH I CAN'T STAND IT! I bought yard lights/ornaments for Christmas. Yes. I did. And we are setting them up the Friday before Thanksgiving... and we have no idea what we are doing or how to plug them in becuase we have NO outdoor plugs but Matt and I are going to act like grown ups and figure out how to put lights in our yard. Matt is REALLY excited about this. ... .. or at least he will be. later. after the fact. he'll stand back and enjoy that I made him decorate our yard for the holidays. You're welcome honey. 

Oh, and... itty bitty boys! Eating rocks. Cause, you know... boys. 

Wadester and Ben