Pumpkins Abound

FALL:

Fall means pumpkins, leaves, lots of warm colors, and many festivities. I love Fall and Fall with Ella is even better. For many years Ben and I have talked about how great all the pumpkin patches will be when we have a kid. So many of the activities at the pumpkin patches are meant for kids. Now that we have a kid we go to the pumpkin patches with a new purpose. Even though Ella is only 3 months old we took her to the Bi-Zi Farms to celebrate Fall. It was a wonderful time with great memories. Too bad she won't remember it. :)

Last spring we went yard saling to buy some things for Ella before she was born. I found this adorable outfit on one of our excursions. When I found this outfit I envisioned the day we would take Ella to the pumpkin patch and the pictures that would be taken. The pictures did not disappoint. We got a lot of looks with this outfit. Many people stopped us to comment on how cute it was and I saw even more people pointing at us and jabbing the person next to them to look at Ella. She was a hit in her pumpkin outfit.

At Bi-Zi Farm there was a petting zoo where we showed Ella more farm animals. I am not sure how impressed she was with the animals. Even so I showed her all the animals.

The animals seemed interested in Ella.

The donkey was very friendly.

Pumpkin head.

Someone was very tired after picking out our pumpkins. It is amazing how she can just sleep anywhere. Here she is hanging off of mommy in the baby bjorn sound asleep.

After we got back from picking out our pumpkins, Ben washed them at the pumps they had provided. The pumpkins were very dirty right out of the field.

Here is the farming family. We were tractoring! (That was for you Amy)

Family photos are great! I love that we are a family of three now. Really it is four. Hudson couldn't go to the farm with us.

The back of the pumpkin outfit had the jack o' lantern on it. That was the best part.

Every year we have a Pumpkin Carving Party. It is a blast. We eat yummy foods and then pull out the big blue tarp and carve pumpkins. It is great to see all the amazing pumpkins people create. This year was another great party.

I wonder what Ben will create this year!!!

Ella enjoyed the party from her bouncy seat. She was the cheer leader that encouraged everyone. If anyone needed an idea for their pumpkin they could use Ella's bum for inspiration!

Here are all the pumpkins after they were carved. It was a great show this year. Ben's is the second from the left. Any ideas what it could be. Think Arrested Development. It should remind you of one of the key things from the show. Watch out for hop-ons.

All the happy carvers!

Baby Lessons

I just put Ella to bed. She is such a sweet heart. She most times will just go down when she is tired. I think she is tired today. Yesterday was a big day for her. We went to the pumpkin patch and then had a big pumpkin carving party last night. She partied with us and then feel asleep in auntie Sarah's arms. I will be doing more posts this week with pictures so be sure to check it out.

We measured her today and she was 24.5 inches long. That is one inch longer then her doctor's appointment that was a month ago today. I can't believe how fast she grows. I love it and hate it at the same time. I love each new stage and hate that she is changing so fast. I feel like I don't really have time to enjoy a stage before she is off to a new one. I have noticed lately that she is really seeing her hands. She has been sucking on them for weeks but now she is really seeing them. She was looking at her feet the other day with such wonderment. I know it won't be long before she is playing with her feet. Some times I look at her as she watches things and I just wish I could hear what is going on in her head. And then I wonder how she thinks. Is it in words or is it in some unique baby way. It would be great to know what a baby feels or thinks as they discover the world around them. My friend Brooke was just commenting the other day about how all things are new to a baby. They don't know what a tree is. They haven't felt the wind on their skin or experienced any of the simple and ordinary things we adults just walk through. It is all so new to them. I wish I could have those experiences now as an adult so I could really appreciate the trees and the wind on my skin.

This last week when Ella and I were in Tri-Cities I was amazed at how babies can make us stop and enjoy life so much. Simple things that they do are more entertaining and fulfilling then our favorite movie or TV show. My mom had taken Ella into my old room to make the bed and she put her in the pack n' play while she made it. The pack n' play has a mobile with animals hanging from it that spins while music plays and lights flash. Ella was entranced. My mom called my dad back to have him see how much Ella liked the mobile he had just got to work and before we knew it my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, and I were all crowded around the pack n' play watching her. At that moment there was nothing that could take us away from watching this baby discover the animals and lights above her head. I was struck by the thought that a baby can make us come together as a family and how she is able to slow us down to savor the quiet moments before rushing back into the craziness of life. I know babies are a lot of work and caring for them can be exhausting, but really I feel like Ella slows me down. I can not rush her when she is eating nor can I help myself from just gazing into her face at times. Before Ella I felt I needed to be on the move to get things down. Now I stop more to simply look into her face. It is one of the best activities I do in my day.

Here is Ella out at in the field with Grandpa Whitney checking out the pig pen with her bacon onesie on.

She looks so sweet when she sleeps.

Ella decided she needed to sleep in Daddy's spot.

Her feet were a little chilled so I put on her ducky slippers to match her ducky onesie.

This is the adorable yellow windbreaker that Auntie Sarah got Ella. Perfect on a crisp Fall day.

Her Face

Before Ella was born I wasn't sure how I would spend my days once she was here. When I thought of my days I couldn't imagine how I would be completely satisfied staying home and hanging out with an infant who couldn't speak back and that needed her diapers changed. In the back of my mind I wondered if I wouldn't get a little bored staying home. I wasn't sure how other mothers stayed home and wondered if I could do it.

Since Ella was born I have been anything but bored. I love being with her. I can spend a long time just looking at her face and watching her observe her world and learn from it. She is sucking her fingers now which I find the most amazing thing. A year ago I didn't think a thing about sucking fingers and now I look forward to her doing it. I also love the sound of her laugh. I am not sure if it is technically a real laugh, but it sounds like it and it is adorable. This morning after she ate at 5:30 she spent about a half an hour laughing at the slates in her crib. They must have been real funny! There are a lot of funny things in Ella's world right now. She laughs a lot and I love it. I love a lot of things about her and I would take far too long to list them all.






Some times Ella's hair is a little crazy. She has more hair then most babies her age and after nursing it can be crazy. This is such a time.

When we were shopping for Ella's room, Ben found this for her wall. He found it very appropriate for her since she has been given to us by God. Ella has found the sign very funny. It is just above her changing table and every time I put her on the table to change her or dress her she looks up at the sign and laughs. A friend of mine said the other day that she thinks when her babies look into no where that there are angels watching them and they are laughing at the angels. I wonder if she is right.

Two Months!

I can hardly believe that today we went to Ella's 2 month appointment. Today she is exactly 8 weeks old. At 4:45 this morning Ella woke me up to eat. When I put her down and returned to bed it was 5:15 and I thought about the fact that 8 weeks ago at that time I was in an OR having a C-section and we were 9 minutes from hearing her first cries and seeing her chubby cheeks for the first time. 8 weeks have gone by far too fast. I know that I will say that many more times through out her life. She will be changing faster then I want, walking sooner then I know and speaking in full sentences in what seems like no time. I am trying to savor each moment with her even moments that happen at 3:30 am because I know this time is short.

While we waited in the lobby Ella hung out in Daddy's lap look cute and adorable.

We had to take Ella's pretty pink dress off to weigh her. This is the dress that Ben and I bought her right after we found out that Ella was Ella.

Ella now weights 12 pounds and 6 ounces! 95th percentile in weight.

We were just hanging out waiting for Dr. Heid to come in. While we waited we found out that Ella is now 23.5 inches long putting her in the 90th percentile in height.

Here she is just before getting her shots. She was not happy after the shots so we didn't take any pictures of her.

Our hands

Recently we have found our hands. They are good friends that give us comfort. Unfortunately, they do not always cooperate and so we keep working on gaining control of them. Maybe someday we will have enough control so we can suck our thumb!

Oktoberfest

Last Friday we took Ella to her first fall festival, Oktoberfest in Mt. Angle, OR. A year ago when Ben and I went for the first time we imagined what it would be like to bring our kids to this festival. At the time we hoped that we would have a baby this year but had no idea that it would be Ella we would take to the festival.

We had a great time at Oktoberfest with friends from our church. We were all very excited to eat our way through the festival. The amount of food we all consumed that day was amazing. We had sausages, marionberry sundaes, funnel cakes, mashed potatoes, fondue, fried mushrooms and zucchini, pirogies, and more. We did not leave hungry! The festival has lots of authentic Bavarian music too. Ben especially liked the accordion players. There was one player that went onto the tables. It was a great day. One that will be repeated in the future.

Just a day in the park

Today Ben had a music gig at the Beaverton Market. While we were there we ran into someone famous and got our picture with him.