Octoberish things

October really may be the best month. Iowa's October has been BEAUTIFUL! The leaves change and actually stay changed for a while before falling off the trees, the weather isn't terribly cold, and of course Halloween and all the other Autumn evens. This little quote was quite the trendy little happening a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to stick it on the blog anyway. It really is the perfect quote for October and describes my feeling perfectly as this month is coming to a close. Plus, not a lot of people can say that they have the same connection to Anne as I do. I have the middle name AND red hair to prove it.

My mother came this month. We played really hard. Madison got more attention she ever dreamed was possible and had a few days of meltdowns after "mama manner" left. We have finally adjusted back to real life it seems. I still haven't adjusted though. I don't know if I can say I have had more fun in my whole life. We crafted, decorated my home, played with babies, and talked and talked and talked. I can't even adequately explain the amount of fun my mother and I have. We had to do a little parenting back home over Facetime, but I really don't get my mother to myself like that ever! It makes me excited for the next time I have a baby and she flies out......... haha. Living away from family, I do have to say my fair share of goodbyes, but dropping her off definitely made it to the top 3 or 4, right along with saying goodbye to Provo and the few people that I love there.

While she was here, we took a little field trip to Wilson's Orchard! We road 'Old Bessie' the tractor, wandered in the orchards, and picked apples. The new little update on my phone put together a little video of the day. I thought it was cute.

 

We threw a little Halloween party for a few friends. I should have taken more pictures, but I did get some of us all eating the doughnut from the string. The little kids did way better then I thought they would they tried their hardest! I would like to point out that I won my division and Jordan lost his.

 Our little dancing butterfly!

A young man in our stake was doing an eagle project and wanted some help. It was the perfect outing for a Saturday morning. Madison loves any freedom she can get running outside, plus I was able to try out a new Halloween bow. Good thing I have little girls because I LOVE bows!

Our ward threw a little Halloween Party complete with a chili cookoff, costume contest, and trunk or treat. We were sick this whole week so my days were a little slow and I had plenty of time to come up with super fun trunk decorations. I have been wanting a good dance party and I finally just threw my own. Jordan looks like this costume was way to easy for him.  Because our party was in the morning, with the sun, our car could have been seen from space.

Costumes for the girls were pretty simple. I was given a little Snow White costume when Madi was born, but she never fit into it because she was born after Halloween. Jordyn was the perfect baby for it! I planned to use it before she was born, and just jokingly prayed for a dark haired newborn. Prayers are answered.

Madison's costume was causing me a little bit of stress before. The pattern I was following was too big and I wasn't liking it at all. I finally found a tutorial on Pinterest and made it work. I ended up loving it. Everybody said that she looked like she loved her costume. To be honest, I am not sure she always remembered she had it on. However, when you run around flapping your arms anyway, a butterfly costume makes it look more normal. Gotta love quirky, crazy Madi.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Life with a newborn

Our little Jordyn is almost 5 weeks. She is getting close to the end of the newborn stage. It is really sad, but also really exciting. All she has been doing is sleeping. She is starting to wake up... kind of.....

I have gotten extremely lucky with my newborns so far. They are excellent night sleepers. I thought Madison was good, but Jordyn is a champ. She wakes up once between 3 and 4 and then gets up at 7 to start our day. Madi didn't think she had to nurse any more then Jordyn, but Madi had a serious blowout problem that would wake her and everybody else up in the whole house. Jordyn doesn't seem to have that problem. However, Jordyn does cry out and grunt a lot! I have to set a rule to wait two minutes with consistent crying because I tend to want to get up the second she cries out. Then she just ends up falling asleep within a couple of seconds of nursing.

When Jordyn was just a few days old, Camille and I took a few newborn snaps of her. Usually babies are asleep during these, Jordyn still has hardly been awake as along as she was while we were trying to take these pictures. She does not like to be messed with while she is dreaming. Oh well... we got a few cute shots of her. Here are some of my favorite!

Madison is also adjusting, slowly but surely. She loves baby Jordyn and after asking for water, the very next thing she checks for every morning is baby Jordyn. "Hiii Jordyn", is basically what Jordyn and I hear all day. Madi has gotten into a "mine" phase. All the blankets, toys, binkies, and car seats are hers. Poor girl.