It's Halloween

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures today. It's a bit of a sprint to get dinner in, do our trick or treating, and get home to hand out candy too. Oh, and feed a baby. We had a really nice evening that was only marred by our poor Q not feeling well. We're still battling the awful cold here and she chose not to take a nap. So zombie toddler by the end.

It was chilly out tonight - but not terrible. D and I joined the gang for our block and then Mike and the girls continued on to the cul-de-sac. Daddy reports that they had a blast. I handled the trick-or-treaters while they were gone and then turned over the bowl when they got home. I'm not sure if Fiona enjoyed getting candy or handing it out more. She LOVED when friends came to our door. Quinn also liked it, but she was pretty worn out.

These pictures are a combination of ones my sister took at Pumpkins in the Park a couple weeks ago and actual shots from tonight. Happy Halloween!

Superhero Batgirl pose

Ladybug

Little duck

Ladybug and Mama

Halloween pjs

Cheese face

Handing out candy

Bat puppy

A Goal Achieved

We "forgot" our costumes

When I was pregnant with Declan, I decided that I want to run a 5k after we had him. Before the snow flew. Because we had three kids and I wanted to do something for me.

I was going to run one in August with my sister, but it was a pretty big one, cost a lot of money, and needed "spectator passes" for Mike and the kids. The sheer logistics gave me hives. So that didn't feel like a good fit. My friend Beth has been running too. So we decided to do a 5k together and found a nice little race in S-town at the community center. Cheap, easy, the hubbies could bring the kids. Much better fit.

It was all coming up roses until Declan was still not sleeping through the night in September so my getting up early to run before work was suffering [non-existent]. Then I got my rear in gear and started using my lunch break at work to hit the treadmill. But I would only go a mile or so because I didn't want to have to take a shower ... or smell. And then a respiratory plague hit my house. So sleeping went out the window as four of the five Vs coughed all night long. And then Beth hurt her foot.

We debated bailing on the race and both decided we would be more disappointed to give up than to go slowly. Saturday morning found us jogging/power walking a lovely route around town. Spoiler alert: I was the one Vanneste not coughing all night. But as I was jogging, I discovered that my lungs were a little compromised by the bug as well. I walked more than I wanted to, but jogged more than I walked. And finished at just over 38 minutes. So slow. But finished. And finishing was the goal.

Beth and I had a good time and are looking forward to doing more of these together. And the bar is pretty low to achieve improvement on my time by spring.

However, I'm still really proud that I did it at four months postpartum. And my girls were running races all weekend. Because they are proud of me and want to be like me. Two successes with one three mile event!

4 Months - Revised

Updates from D's well check today:

   Weight: 13 lb 13 oz (13 percentile)

   Height: 26.25" (86 percentile) ... he grew almost 4 inches in 2 months!

He is by far our tallest baby at this age (F was 25.5 and Q was 25.25 inches) and our smallest (both girls were over 14 lbs ... in fact, Bugs was 14 lbs 9 oz). His head is smaller than the girls' head were. But all in all, healthy boy!

Also, a retraction from my previous post about how he can "almost" roll from back to tummy. He can, in fact, now roll from back to tummy and Ms. A found him on his tummy at nap today. Tricky boy!

Declan - 4 Months

Tummy time master (and runny nose)

Declan is 4 months (and 1 week ... I'm a bit behind) already. We are equal parts in disbelief that he is already that old and shock that he is only that old. He's been part of the family forever, you know. He is growing like crazy and is definitely looking less like a newborn and more like a baby/kid. He's even down to two chins! And almost has a visible neck. You know you're big man on campus when you have a neck!

Milestones of mention at our 4 month (1/3 of a year) marker are:

Enjoying fall

• HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!! It's still not a homerun, but on Oct 15 (happy anniversary to us!), he slept all night long. This was especially great because 1) we'd have several terrible nights of sleep (see bullet below) and 2) I was out of town in Texas. Daddy was thrilled.
• He had his first ear infection. I swear they get in a room when they know I'm going out of town and rock/paper/scissors for who is going to get sick and make mom feel worse about leaving. D "won" this round apparently.
• He has officially dropped his middle of the night feeding. Whether he wakes up or not, the food is cut off. Until morning.
• He rolls from tummy to back like a champ. There are quite a few mornings where we find him flipped over. He's working hard to learn how to go from back to tummy. He can also "tent" himself - pushing his whole core up so just his hands and feet are on the floor. Crawling may come sooner rather than later.
• He tells great stories and loves to manipulate his tongue. He enjoys sticking it out at us and moving it around. He's a great smiler, but is more like Fiona with the giggles. He doesn't pass them out as freely as Quinn did. But when you get one (or more), it's pure magic.
• He's figured out the exersaucer and how to spin the chair to get to all the toys. And is starting to get interested in toys in general. The hands are beginning to cooperate.
• Daddy switched Fiona's chair at the table and D inherited the booster chair. He hasn't started solids yet (soon), but he loves sitting at the table with us and pushing the toys around his tray. 
• Sucks on his hands to self soothe. He'll take the pacifier, but we may have our first hand/finger sucker. Which short term is awesome because you can't lose a hand in the middle of the night. Long term is less awesome - as I can't take away hands as easily as pacifiers (ha! like pacifier removal was easy ...). 
• Attended a Halloween festival, watched Daddy play hockey, "jumped" in his first leaf pile.

Not bad for our little duck! His 4 month stats will follow, but the appointment is not until tomorrow and I'm taking advantage of a momentary lull in the action here. Q and Mike are at swimming, so it's just me, Fi, and D. Suddenly having only two is a vacation ;-)

Fall is my Favorite

Batgirl, duck, and ladybug

Oh my goodness - I love fall so much. Other than the inevitable arrival of colds in our house and a surprising bout of fall allergies in the crew, we are loving it. The girls and I have busted out the down vests and are rocking the layered look. Mike is considering retiring the lawn mover for the season. Dec is enjoying the warmth of the car seat cover and watching the sisters in the leaves.

Speaking of, our yard is FULL of leaves. Mike claims this weekend will be a family raking party. Any family reading this is welcome to grab a rake and come over ... ha! Mike got the girls some small rakes and they have been testing them out by raking up a pile to jump in. They do a pretty good job. And just in case the small blonde help ends up as less than helpful, Mike has put temporary sides on the utility trailer and is hoping to just use the leaf blower to get the bulk of them out of the yard with minimal effort. Fingers crossed.

Best buds

With raking weekend on the horizon and a work trip for mom in the cards (I'm writing this from Texas), we decided to play last weekend. On Saturday, we headed to the S-town Pumpkins in the Park festival with Auntie Emmy. What great fun! The girls did their trick-or-treating, picked out pumpkins, and played some games. Then we headed home for chili and Spookley the Square Pumpkin movie night. They got a piece of their new candy and happily shared the spoils with Auntie as well!

"Duck"lan

On Sunday, we went to the big pumpkin patch by our house. We checked out the corn maze, headed down the giant slide, feed goats at the petting zoo, and played in the corn pit. The corn pit - what a magical invention!!! The girls had so much fun playing with dad while I sat and fed Dec. Then D got to check it out too. The only downfall was the insane amount of corn that came home with us. I'm still finding kernels - days later. Worth it!

Corn pit family picture

With Grace

Ready for her MRI
Blue gown and Clifford movie
Not a bad deal

It was spina bifida clinic this week. On Tuesday morning, we brought little sister and little brother to A's house and then took Fiona out to a special breakfast. After a quick stop at day care to see the fire truck (see previous post), we headed north to the hospital. Readers - Fiona about made my heart explode out of my chest with the grace she had for all the poking, prodding, and testing. I’m fairly positive that I could not have been the patient she was – with an unwavering smile and wonderful attitude. We were amazed by her. And loved that the radiology team was fighting over who got to have her as a patient. (Then she went home and smacked her sister upside the head for no apparent reason … so don’t think she’s a saint!)

The good news is that everything is stable to improving. The neurosurgeon thinks the headaches she’s been getting could be due to over-shunting (draining too much fluid), so we readjusted her shunt pressure slightly to see if that helps. (Well - in a twist of fortune, the MRI actually reset her shunt to the new level) We are also going to try a medication for her bladder that may help her “trickle” less and be able to have more substantial potty stops – to see if that helps her stay drier. It’s basically the last ditch effort before they do surgery to “sling” her bladder and we cath full-time.

We will also probably do the non-invasive tests that her primary pediatrician suggested to see if her short stature is something to worry about. Her spina bifida doctor said that it is common for sb kiddos to have a deficiency in growth hormones. That said, he also doesn’t think she is so small that we need to worry about it. But we’ll do the tests and, depending on results, possibly speak with a pediatric endocrinologist. There would have to be an incredibly convincing argument for us to pump growth hormones into her – as too much or too fast growth can tether her spinal cord to her scar and introduce a variety of other issues. She’s going to be short. We’re okay with that. She proved yesterday that she has enough charisma to fill an entire radiology ward.

Big Red Fun

Fire safety gang

On Friday, the Children's Museum sent me an email announcing the new exhibit opening that weekend - Clifford the Big Red Dog. I told Fiona ... and we didn't stop hearing about seeing Clifford at the museum until Sunday when we took them. And now we hear about going back! It was a really fun exhibit and the girls loved it. Declan liked the museum commotion and enjoyed looking around. We packed a picnic lunch and had a great time.

Then today, before Fiona, Mike, and I headed off to spina bifida clinic (that update will come later this week - no bad news), we met the gang at day care where the S-town fire department brought the fire truck for fire safety month. It was awesome - both to watch our gang see the truck and to lend Ms. A a couple extra sets of arms. Fiona was super excited to see the fire fighters ("fighter-fighters") and raised her hand constantly to answer the questions ("911!" "Stop. Drop. And Roll." "A hose - can I touch it?")

Lots of big red dogs and trucks this week!

Big red dog and two blondes

I spy ... a baby

Trying out the fire hose

Driving the truck plus dad photobomb

Another veteran driver

Apple Picking

Riding a pony

We headed to the apple orchard a few weeks ago. We had never been and it seemed like the cool kid thing to do in the early fall - before the pumpkin patch became the go-to destination. We headed south to a local orchard that used to be the "it" place to go. The "it" place has new ownership and has gone downhill in the last few years, we hear.

We ended up not actually picking apples. I know, who goes to the orchard and leaves without apples? But we did check out the hay barn, the petting zoo, the duck pond, and the pony rides. Brave #1 took a spin on the pony. The saddle didn't feel super secure and it bounced alot. She was very nervous, but seemed to enjoy it.

It would have been a good picture ....
if #2 had decided to cooperate

Declan was a little fussy at the end ... until we realized it was time for him to eat and he was probably hungry. Poor #3! We have friends who live near the orchard and popped over to their neighborhood to use their park while I fed the guy.

Not sure we'll go back again - but I wouldn't be surprised if we did in the future. I still think the kids will get a kick out of picking the apples. And I do like to make applesauce ... and pie ... and cobbler ... Yum!