Together Again in Heaven: November 2017

October brought with it beautiful weather, fun fall activities, Will's birthday and Halloween. Putting together the photos for this blog post made me smile and realize that despite me still not feeling well, we still managed to have a good month. If it wasn't for Will and my kids, I don't think I would have left the house, but with them, I can do great things! Here we are below, in clockwise order from top left: Lucy holding a frog she found on a fall hike, the girls pausing for a picture on the same fall hike, Will and I posing per Lucy's request at a cider mill, and the girls posing at my request at the same cider mill.

We made a point to be finished with all of our school by lunchtime, and then spent the beautiful October afternoons outside whenever possible. In clockwise order from top left below: Lucy dressed as Mary Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie filling a crate of water balloons, Lucy and Violet playing in the rain, enjoying a fall lunch outside, Lucy artfully arranging gourmet plates of nature's finest ingredients in her backyard kitchen, the girls playing with sidewalk chalk, our amazing Japanese Maple tree in all it's autumn glory with the sunset adding even more depth to it's already vibrant fall red, and finally, Emma pulling Violet in the driveway.

At the beginning of this month it was warm enough for water balloons and popsicles on the front porch but by the end of the month it was winter coats, hats and gloves. There were several mornings where, frustrated with my kids inability to roll with the weather changes, I had them repeat after me several times, "Mom does not control the weather." Sure, I'd like a scapegoat too when cold weather hits, but I find it unfair that I am being used as their cold weather scapegoat and then have to deal with their whining when they find out the hard way that yes, mom was right, and flip flops and capris are too cold for when there is frost on the ground.

In the above picture, a woodpecker pecked a hole in the side of our garage in a matter of hours. We then realized that it was inside our garage, apparently making a nice, roomy home for the winter. I am sorry to say that Will scooped up Charlie, brought him to the upstairs of our garage and within a minute that woodpecker was no more. I felt bad that the woodpecker had worked so hard just to be eaten, but I also understand that we cannot have a woodpecker living in our garage. Charlie has enjoyed these last warm days of the year, and has found a new love - sleeping in leaf piles. He snuggles into them until just his head is peeking out and take it from me, as adorable and cozy as he looks - do not pet him when he is in his leaf pile - you will get scratched.

The girls and I enjoyed a fun afternoon at the park with Will's mom where we had a picnic lunch, played on the playground and discovered a grove of sassafras trees, enjoyed a birthday party for Will and my sister in law at my parents house, and in the bottom, right hand picture below, we are on a hayride at a local nature center.

We enjoyed time with friends...

...and the girls and Will helped me with Harding Honey, from shopping for supplies, helping me with the last of the year's bee classes, and winterizing my hives for the winter.

In clockwise order from top left below, Emma at piano lessons, Emma getting out of the car at swim lessons and realizing she left her shoes at home (come ON!!), Lucy and Emma looking for frogs in a pond at a nature center, the girls at our monthly nature class, Lucy and Violet dissecting an owl pellet at the nature class, and Violet shopping for Halloween costumes at the Salvation Army with me while Lucy and Emma were in dance class.

As the weather turned cooler, we spent more time inside. All three girls have been playing together very well lately. It is so nice that Violet is old enough to be able to participate and for the most part, Lucy and Emma are accommodating to her. In clockwise order from top left below: the girls playing Duplos, playing Legos, playing dominos, Violet building a puzzle with me, a note that says, "Ken we watch TV yes", and Violet and Emma eating a bedtime snack of homemade applesauce after baths.

Lucy came in the other day holding the last bunch of carrots from our garden for the season, and would you believe that a picture of her holding a bunch of carrots from our garden had come up on my Facebook Timehop that same morning? She still loves harvesting from our garden, and I love that as much as she has grown and changed, some things stay the same.

Despite my limited diet, I still need to cook for some rather picky and fussy girls. I made a huge batch of pancakes one night for dinner when Will had to work late, and froze the majority of them to have on those mornings when I just didn't have it in me to make them something. I also have continued to cook "safe" meals for me in bulk, and then freeze it in individual portions for me to have throughout the week when the kids are eating things I cannot have. My favorite picture below though is of Emma swiping some left over bites of pancake off of Violet's plate after she had left the table. Between the three of them, their plates are always cleaned. What one sister doesn't like, another one surely does and after some musical plates, there are no crumbs left for the chickens.

Violet is in the throes of being three and despite her sweet smile, can get herself into trouble faster than you can say, "Don't kick your sister." This past month we had our long awaited genetic blood test where Will, myself and Violet all gave blood to see if we can find out where her genetic mutation came from for Ectodermal Dysplasia. We are hoping to find out exactly what variety of Ectodermal Dysplasia she has as well, but we were also prepped by the genetics department that there is only a 30% chance of gaining any new knowledge from this test. We are still hopeful though, and grateful that our insurance decided to cover this expensive test. Violet was a brave girl for the blood draw. We talked about it for weeks before hand, and she decided that she wanted me to have my blood taken first, then Daddy's, and then hers. The phlebotomist did a great job taking her blood, and had a little bee that vibrated that they put on her arm while they did the blood draw and Violet didn't feel a thing. That is, until we were driving home and her arm started to ache - she looked pale faced and decided that she didn't like having her blood drawn after all. Let's hope it is a while before she needs another poke.

Our Violet has been struggling with shyness lately. She used to be my most outgoing child and now is extra nervous in new situations and especially with new people, and most especially with boys. She started the fall so excited to take dance classes, and after a few classes, she has decided that she doesn't want to go back. We finished up the month of October's dance classes, using bribery and talking with our sweet and understanding teacher, but it just didn't get any better. So we are taking a break from dance, and I am trying hard to not worry about this current phase. She ended the month taking a yoga class with Lucy and Emma - this did not make her nervous because the class consists of only four girls - her sisters, and a pair of sweet sisters who Violet knows and loves so she isn't shy.

Violet is always making us laugh, and I hope that she overcomes this shyness so that the rest of the world can know her like we do. The other day she handed me (well, Violet doesn't really hand anything over - it is more of a toss or a throw) an outfit from her drawer and said, "This dress makes me feel boring. You can donate it."

Several weeks ago I had a meeting to go to and didn't get home until the girls and even Will were sleeping. In the morning I was awoken by Violet coming into my bed, full of exciting things to tell me about the night before. Apparently, Will took the girls for a walk in the cemetery as we often do, and a police officer came to close the gates of the cemetery for the night. Violet told me this very clearly, and then told me that Daddy said, "Let's run!" and they started running away from the police officer. THEN, Violet stood up on my bed and very animatedly mimicked what happened next - she put her arms out in front of her with her hands in a fist and made a sound like, "TZZZZZZSSSSTTT". Trying not to jump to conclusions, I started asking questions like, "Did the police officer know that daddy was surely joking about running away from him?" And, "Did daddy get tasered???" Fortunately, at this point in the conversation, Lucy and Emma joined us in bed and clarified the story. Yes, daddy was joking about running from the police office who was on a SEGWAY. It all started to become clear - the "TZZZSSTT" sound with Violet's arms straight in front of her with her hands in a fist was not Daddy being tasered but the police officer riding a segway. Phew!! Needless to say, I lectured Will later on appropriate times for joking and being serious - never joke with your children to run from a police officer!

Here we are below, kicking off the weekend before our funny guy's birthday at his mom and dad's house.

The day before Will's birthday I had scheduled our 18 week ultrasound for Baby T 5. I wanted it to be on his birthday, as he happened to have a half day that day, and I thought it would make a good birthday present, but we settled for the day prior as that was the only available time the office had. It was probably for the best that it wasn't on Will's birthday, as I have some serious apprehension when it comes to ultrasounds, and it all stems from my pregnancy with the original Baby T 1, as every ultrasound we had with him - and there were many - we were told more bad news. It is always such a relief when we learn that all is well with our babies, and I will never take that for granted. Sometimes we have lucked out and got a really nice ultrasound tech who is great at helping me feel at ease. This time, the ultrasound tech was not very talkative and left my anxiety ridden mind wondering for too long in my opinion. I realized after we were given the brief statement that, "all looks good" that I had held not only my bladder (you have to show up with a full bladder so they can get a good picture of the baby), but also my breath for most of the twenty minute scan.

What a relief to know that Baby T 5 looks healthy on the ultrasound! And, we also had confirmation that Baby T 5 is a girl! I had a blood test very early on in the pregnancy to screen for the most common genetic issues and it also said the gender was a girl. We had the gender part mailed to us by the doctor, and handed the unread letter to an employee at the local balloon store who put the appropriate gender balloon into a box that Will had brought while Will discreetly walked the aisles of the store so that he could be surprised at the same time as us when he brought the boxed up balloon home. It was a great moment when we opened the box and the "It's a Baby Girl!" balloon floated up and out.

We are all very excited about Baby Girl 4, and especially since some of our favorite literary characters come from families with four girls - Little House on the Prairie, The Penderwicks, and Little Women to name a few. I feel like another baby girl is a bonus in so many ways - as each sister wears the cherished and sentimental baby clothes of her older sisters and the toys, books and games are all passed down as well. Will and I jokingly tell people we are excited to have no learning curve at this point, and nothing to buy as well. The truth of the matter though, is that there will be plenty to buy if Baby Girl 4 is anything like her older sisters, who want the exact same things that each of them have. We have already started to look for certain dolls and toys that each sister has and are starting to realize that at this point, with almost a decade gap between the first sister and the fourth, that eBay may be our only saving grace to ensure that every sister has the same thing as the next.

With the good news of Baby Girl 4 being healthy, we headed into Will's birthday in great spirits. He had a half day of work and came home in time for lunch and then a lovely hike at a new trail we had found earlier that month.

It was a perfect day with gorgeous weather, and we finished off with his request of homemade chicken enchiladas for dinner, and rice krispie treats for dessert.

After Will's birthday comes Halloween and the girls received some fun Halloween treats in the mail from family. Violet vacillated between being Cinderella or being one of the Ingalls sisters from Little House on the Prairie with Lucy and Emma. Will vacillated between being an Irish Synchronized Swimmer or a Safari Guy covered in bugs. When my brother pointed out that the tiny chip clip holding up his towel may not be sturdy enough for wearing to work, Will wisely settled on the Safari Guy costume.