October

I know it's October because tomorrow my son turns six.  The facts are looking at me straight in the eye, but I find it hard to believe.  How can it be a legit fall month?

I've been a terrible blogger lately. 
Is it because my soon to be six year old stays up a full hour later than he did a year ago at this time?  Maybe. 
Is it because we recently bought a house 2.5 times the size of our old house and thus takes 2.5 times the amount of cleaning?  Maybe.
Is it because my husband travels tons for work in the fall and I find myself busy catching up with chores in the evenings while he's gone?  Maybe.
Is it because we have a new teeny tiny preemie baby girl to gush over for a time?  Maybe.
Is it because we plugged in a new tv in our guest room and found it magically had cable?  Yes.  Yes, it is. 

Let me tell you about our cable magic.  We have a tv in our living room and one in our bedroom.  A friend was reorganizing her room and didn't want her tv for a time, so we decided to put it in our guest room and hold onto it for her.  Win, win.  Her tv is definitely the newest of all previously mentioned tvs and for whatever reason it scans for channels differently, resulting in 40 or 50+ channels when we plugged it in.  Just put yourself in our shoes for a minute; it was like Christmas morning.  We went from 7ish channels to a whole heck of a lot more.  Really, all that matters is we now have HGTV, ESPN, and even the SEC network.  Then it was really like Christmas morning when Jon set our living room tv to scan for channels differently than we had done before, but in the same manner as the guest bedroom tv and low and behold, we now have cable in the living room. 

Can I also just take a minute to rant about HGTV?  It's been fifteen years since I filled my evenings watching HGTV, but back in the day there were all these DIY shows and shows like Design on a Dime, where they had a budget of $475 and would redo a sunroom or something.  Let me tell you (for those of you who don't have cable and don't yet have a magical television you are borrowing from a friend) all the shows on HGTV now have budgets of like 50 grand.  Minimum.  That's just crazy talk.  And it makes me a little sad that I can't pick up any practical DIYer tips, because believe it or not, we don't have 50 grand to drop in a kitchen.

Ok, let's move on to the part of the blog where I catch you up on the daily events in our lives. 

Ollie, aka Batman, napping while sitting up on the couch.  Isn't he gonna be a great dad someday?  :)

 

His personas are constantly shifting.  On Saturday he told Jon and I that he was Awkward Man. 

He also likes to declare "soblem prolved!!" when we figure something out. 

 

Most days he is happy to have full range of the toys with nary an expectation of sharing.

 

And he is still very much in love with tall socks. 

 

He is fully embracing being four, complete with requesting I no longer sing,  that I no longer look at him while he is reading/eating/watching tv/playing, and testing the lines of what is going to be acceptable sass and sass that is going to land him in time out or worse yet, a spanking. 

 

I would like to get him into some kind of activity, maybe a tumbling class or soccer?  Hold me accountable on that, internet friends. 

 

Seth is again a school lover.  We had a rougher start to the year than I was expecting, with lots of tears and fears about what the day would hold.  The first few days of school he would come home and tell me, "The day is just too long.  And there is just too much listening!"  He was also pretty sad about missing his family and wondering if he was missing out during the day.  It took about three weeks, but he is once again excited about school and looks forward to going.  

 

We brought some good 'ol Krispie Kremes to school to celebrate Seth's bday.

Seth and Eli, kindergarten best friends. 

 

Seth and Ollie, (especially Seth) continue to love Wild Kratts.

Here is a classic picture of Martin and the animal he is about to activate into.

 

And more of Martin.

 

Here is Seth on career day at school.

Can you guess what he is?

No?

An undercover police officer.  Haha!

 

A few weekends ago we had a bunch of friends over to celebrate the Ethiopian holiday of Meskel.  It was so, so fun, and we ate ourselves silly. 

 

 

And here is our newest babe to the Mott family, Ashia.  (Pronounced Uh-She-Uh, but mostly we've just been calling her Ash.)

 

She is a teeny baby peanut, a 31 weeker who spent 5 weeks in the NICU before coming to our house.  She was born 3.5 lbs, was 4.5 when released from the NICU, and 5.1 six days later at her first pediatrician appointment.  Go Ash!  Good job gaining!

Since it's hard to tell size when you are all zoomed in on a cute baby, I took a picture of the entire pack and play too.

Told you she's a tiny baby doll!

 

 

 

She is darling, such a little cutie. 

 

Here are a few things you may not have known about preemies, it's nearly impossible to find clothes that fit.  It's easier, but still hard to find diapers that fit.  You have to learn a whole new set of tricks to get them to fit into a car seat and to drink a bottle without constantly choking.  Below 5 or 6 pounds you don't really have to worry about an elevated fever, but get your doc on the phone asap for a depressed temp. 

 

Here is what you may have very well guessed, preemies are a challenge.  The first week, I pretty much sobbed every night at 3 am, "Why won't you sleep???" Then of course, she would sleep and I would wake up the next morning and chuckle and feel pretty over dramatic, only to repeat the same thing the following night. 

 

And finally we celebrated Seth and his sixth birthday this past weekend.  I only took a few pictures, since my friend Laura was there with her fancy camera and skills. I'll post more soon! 

Pre-party Spidy poses.

 

And a Spidey cupcake compellation that belongs on one of those "nailed it" pinterest websites.  Ha!

 

Until next time!