First pumpkin patch of the season

Our first pumpkin patch of the season was one of the ones from last year. You just can't beat nearby and free! Right in the front they have hay bales and pumpkins set out for pictures, so of course we took advantage.

Last year Luca was shy about the animals and loved the corn kernel bin and the recycling water pumps. This year he was still a little leery of the animals but very interested in them. There was a llama there that kept making noises and Luca would make them back to it. It was pretty funny, but of course as soon as I started taping a video he stopped. Oma showed him that the goat wanted to have his head scratched and that if he took a little fist of hay he could feed the tiny horse. So Luca got his own little fistful of hay and offered it.

That horse really wanted Luca to get just a little closer

He also enjoyed the pigs, cows, chickens, turkey and what we're guessing is the family dog. He did not, however, enjoy the corn bin this year... I plopped him in it and he immediately started crying and shaking. I don't know if it was because he didn't expect to sink in the kernels or what, but he was terrified. Tessa, however, liked it just fine.

Little ghost sleeping on the kernels

Luckily, Luca thought the pyramid of hay was fun.  It was way too tall for him to climb himself, but when he was put up on the top he pulled out little bits and handed them to me, asking me to go feed the cow. Then he grabbed some for himself and went to do the same. As we were headed back toward the pumpkins, we happened across a chicken driving a tractor. Trying to anyway.

Silly chicken. =) So we walked among all the pumpkins, looking for just the right one. Found one to carve later. Luca picked one out for Oma, and then he found little ones for himself and for Tessa. The one for Oma was a little big and heavy for Luca, but he tried to carry it anyway.

And that was the first trip to a pumpkin patch for the season! At least one more planned, maybe even a third. Maybe this year we'll go on a weekend sometime so Josh can come too!

An update

On those occasions when both kids are sleeping, I think to myself, "I should update the blog." And then I turn on the computer, sit there a minute, and go take a shower or switch the laundry or someone wakes up.

So, instead of spending time thinking about what to say and how to be witty and clever, I figure I'll just put up some pics. Because let's be honest, that's what people really want to see. =)

Luca is still in love with his sister and is being a wonderful helper. Every once in a while if he feels like he's not getting enough attention he'll tell us to put Tessa in her rocker, but for the most part he's happy with her tagging along or understanding that we have to stop playing a minute to change or feed her.

Giving Clifford kisses

 We are also really lucky that he's so willing to entertain himself, so I can spend a half hour feeding Tessa and he's happy to play and just have me watch him sometimes.
He would go to the park all day every day if he could. I don't remember when it started, but he asks daily to go. And I don't think he's ever said he's ready to go home. We have to basically drag him home.

Riding the motorcycle at the park

 We've talked some about what he wants to be for Halloween. He doesn't seem to really understand, though, what we mean. He dressed up last year but wasn't quite old enough to remember. So I was going to have him be what I wanted him to be again. But then he went to a touch-a-truck at the library, and then he went on a tour of the firehouse by my mom's, and got fire hats both places. So, he might be a firefighter this year. Last time I asked he said he wanted to be a slide, so who knows what we'll finally land on...

She's growing like crazy and it is so wonderful. She only lost a couple ounces after she was born and put them right back on and then some. At her two week appointment she was 8 pounds. I don't think Luca was that big until well into his second month. The downside is that she's already starting to grow out of her newborn sized clothes. The upside is that she's starting to grow into the 3 month clothes =)

There's a similar picture of Luca in this rocker with his blankie. It's crazy to think both that he used to be this little and that one day she'll be as big as him!

And a video. Luca is putting his contacts in. Josh wears them and Luca has seen him put them in, but Josh hasn't ever used a glass of water to do it... He just started doing it one day at lunch.

Coming home

We spent the night in the hospital and were discharged the next afternoon. I was ready to get back home and have our new family together. We had to wait for Bella Baby to come take their awesome pictures. The heat in the room was cranked so she would be comfy. Man it was hot, but she happily slept.

The 25 minute drive home was of course anxious, made more so by the fact that we forgot to install the mirror so we could see her. But we made it. When we got home, Mom, Luca and Alan were there waiting for us. Luca and mom had decorated the door. =)

Jude about wagged his tail off trying to meet Tessa. After he got in a couple good licks on her feet he went back to his normal self. Guess she checked out and we get to keep her! Alan's dachshund Simon got to meet her too, though he was decidedly less interested in her.

The weather was so beautiful everyone was outside playing on the swing set. Even the dogs. Neither one is particularly fond of the slide, although you can't really blame them... Simon liked the swing best. Of course Luca helped push.

Luca is being a spectacular big brother, bringing her a nuk, her blankie, stuffed animals, anything he thinks she might need. He gives her kisses and says "She's so sweet!" It's pretty awesome. At first he argued that her name wasn't Tessa, it was Sissy. Then when he started trying to say her name it was just as likely to be "Santa" as "Tessa." Now he's got it all figured out.

Love =)

Tessa's room

I've been saying I would put up pics of her room, so finally I'm doing it!

You've seen the curtains before, but they're still amazing so they deserve another picture.

I'm sure curious minds want to know, the crib beat her here. It certainly helped that she was late, but it's actually been here for a couple weeks, thanks to my in-laws for making the three hour (one way) delivery! We still love it =) Over the crib we'll hang letters in her monogram, but couldn't do it until she came and we figured out her name. So that's a project for another day.

Mom and I made Luca's mobile, so for Tessa she took it apart and made some felt diamonds to tie into the diamonds from the dresser. Luca especially loves it now and asks every time we're in to turn the dial and make it play music. Hope his little sister likes it that well too!

Hanging over the crib are the little pom poms I made. Some of them took 20 minutes, some took more like 20 hours, but I pretty much love them all.

Next to that is the little cuddle station. The rocker that was in Luca's room came down the hall, the night light is one of those Himalayan Salt thingies that naturally purifies the air, and the giant shell on the bottom is one that Alex and Josh found while they were snorkeling in the Caymans. It's gorgeous!

These shelves hang next to the window. They were brown in Luca's room, but a couple coats of paint and now they're perfect in here. On the top the little artist stuffed animal came from Dad's last trip. The glass bowl is an heirloom, the teacup and saucer was from a friend's wedding shower and belonged to her grandmother, and the star cookie cutter in front of the pic of Josh and I is from our wedding. On the bottom shelf is the basket that the flower girl used in our wedding that now holds headbands, shell necklaces my folks got on their anniversary trip to Hawaii, and pom pom flowers that I made.

Finally the dresser that we painted. The frame over it has pictures of Josh and my trip to Kentucky when we got engaged, but we'll switch those to pics of baby Tessa eventually. The lamp got a fresh coat of paint and we will likely redo the lamp shade. Another project for another day. The top left drawer, by the way, is already nearly full of pretty shoes. =)

So there's her room! Picture frames need pictures in them, and I seriously still need to figure out how to organize her clothes, but it turned out really well. We'll bring up Luca's little overstuffed chair so he has a place to be while Tessa and I are in there, and he's already got a couple baskets of toys. Everyone will be content. =) I love that in addition to new stuff, there are so many meaningful hand-me-downs!

She's here!

First, the facts: Tessa Winn was born Sept 16 at 7:35 am. She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was a lengthy 22 inches. Wanna hear the story? Everyone wants to hear the story. Don't hate me when you hear the story.
As has been discussed, she was due last Friday the 13th. At my doctors appointment that afternoon the doc said she was low and ready, I just needed some contractions to get things started. So he checked his schedule and I was booked to be induced early Tuesday morning. I was glad he picked the date because I didn't like the idea of choosing her birthday.

40 weeks and 1 day, in what I sincerely hoped was the last belly pic

Apparently she agreed with me, because at 5am Monday morning I started having some new pains. Not too bad, but irritating. By 6am I went downstairs and told Josh (who was getting ready for work) that maybe there was possibly a chance that I might be in labor. Called mom and asked if she would come out. Told her it wasn't a huge rush but after dinner like originally planned wasn't going to be soon enough. About 25 minutes later I called her back and told her to speed. By the time she got here the bag was in the car and I was pacing the driveway. Josh was kind and turned the 25 minute ride to the hospital into about a 15 minute one. I think I was already in the emergency doors before he even parked the car. They sent me upstairs and offered me a wheelchair but I was already in the elevator and not slowing down. Went to the exam room, spent what I thought was a good 20 minutes in there but Josh assures me was much closer to 5. Hurried to the closest L&D room while nurses were calling questions out at me. I think they snagged the first doc they saw walk by (who happily was one of the ones I really like from the practice I go to) and about 30 minutes after we pulled up to the hospital doors our daughter was born. The speed meant no drugs, which the nurse later told me she pretended not to hear me ask the second or third time because she felt bad telling me it was too late. But, she's here, we're good, so it all worked out.

Monday's Child is Fair of Face... =)

It only took us about 13 hours to name her (Luca was "Baby boy" for a full 24 hours). We would settle on a name, sit with it for a little and decide maybe not. And then we'd do that again. But finally, Tessa Winn. Tessa, depending on where you look on the internet, is either a variant of Teresa meaning harvester, or of Italian origin meaning countess. We like that one =) Or, it's from the greek word for Four and related to tessera and tessellation. Which if she gets some recessive genes and is good at math, she will like. The internet also just informed me it is "Asset" backwards, which is interesting. Winn is my mom's maiden name. With her 4 sisters, and all their girl children and grand children, being a Winn Girl has always been a part of me. I share my name with my grandma, and now my daughter shares her name with the whole crowd. =)

Also, the picture of Tessa was taken by Bella Baby in the hospital. We now own the copyright release on all the images from her shoot. You can see the pictures by going to www.bellababyphotography.com and entering the access code kwar0917Karlson into the box on the right side of the screen. If there are any you want prints of, let me know and I can make them. Or, alternately and more realistically, let my mom know. She's way better at following through on that stuff than I am. They will host the pictures for 2 weeks, but we have them forever. So really, let mom or me know if you want prints.

2 and a half

I really thought I'd be writing this with a tiny one next to me. Today is her due date and Luca's half birthday, milestones for everyone =)

Luca talks so much. And mostly we understand him. Mostly he just says a sentence or two at a time, but every once in a while he just keeps going and going telling a whole long story. Josh and I just listen to the whole thing, then at the end throw back the couple words we could pick out and hope for the best. =)

He is eager to help and show how much of a "big big boy" he is. Sometimes it's not entirely helpful--like when he insists he will open the doors to stores and they're too heavy but he doesn't need help. Sometimes it's actually quite helpful. For a month or so now, it's been nearly impossible for me to reach to the back of the dryer to take out clothes. But my little hero has always loved helping with laundry.

Am I really putting a picture of my gross laundry room on the inernet?

Putting clothes in the washer, moving them from the washer to the dryer, getting and putting in a dryer sheet and then taking them out of the dryer, he does it all. And I couldn't finish a load of laundry without him now! I hope he's this helpful when Sissy comes, I think he will be. He's a little sweetheart =)

He also has trouble reaching the back of the dryer, but he's willing to get in there and try =)

He sings Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle, 5 little Speckled Frogs, and this song about going to grandma's house that was on the Kermit the Frog cassette tape we listened to non-stop when we were little. "Grandma called me the other night. She said, 'Coming for a visit?' And I said, 'Alright.' She said 'Pack your toothbrush, pack your socks, and don't forget a bag of rocks.'" And the list keeps going with random things. And Luca knows all of them. We sing that one in the car.
Just in case you don't know the Lyrics to Itsy Bitsy Spider, I will share them. At least Luca's version.

"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the itsy bitsy spider
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the itsy bitsy spider."
 
We tackled the potty training thing about two months ago and for the most part he's trained! Like I mentioned before we did the cold turkey thing. The first day we went through 12 or 13 pairs of underwear, the second day it was about 7, then it was down to two or three a day for about a month. We are currently (knock on wood) making it through the day on just one pair for enough days in a row I've lost count, so I think it's been a success!

It takes extra climbing to reach the soap

We've started trying to go to the library regularly. They have a story time in the mornings that is well attended. Luca is always excited to go to the library and get new books, and he'll go sit on the little mats for story time, but then when they sing songs or dance around he comes running back to my side and refuses to do it. Hoping the more we go the more comfortable he'll be with it.

In other news, can't believe Little Sister hasn't decided to join us out here yet... At least I know for sure I won't be pregnant more than 2 weeks more--my OB said at my last appointment they don't like to let people go past 42 weeks and I am totally fine with that. So, some time in the next two weeks we'll have exciting news! I can't wait to meet her and give her a name and stop calling her "Little Sister." =)

Very nearly 10 months

When I was interning in Michigan one of the social workers was very pregnant. I remember one day she came into my supervisors office complaining about how everyone says that pregnancy lasts 9 months because it's 40 weeks and she was 10 months pregnant gosh darn it. And I remember thinking "The first 3 weeks don't even count because you're not even actually pregnant yet." But, not being an idiot, I said something more like "That must be so frustrating!"

Now I understand her point.

We are quickly approaching the official due date and are trying very hard to wait patiently. I'm trying to remember how it broke my heart bringing Luca in for bili draws for a couple days in a row and reminding myself that the longer she cooks the less likely she is to be jaundiced and need bili draws. So it's a good thing. My ribs and back are arguing the other way though.

There is no shortage of maternity photograph inspirations on pinterest. One of them I fell in love with and couldn't wait until my belly was big enough to recreate it. And then I wanted to hurry and take it during what I thought would be a small window between when my belly was big and when she was born. Turns out it was a bigger window than I was expecting.

I think it's a super cute picture though! Kisses for everyone.

And, pretty soon (when I take the time to take pictures) I'll put up pictures of her room! Stay tuned =)