The One with the Bright Orange

It's been a crazy few weeks for a couple reasons.
1. Hunting weekend. This is a weekend Matt looks forward to each year. It combines so many of his favorite things... nature, guns, fall, godly color of orange, camaraderie, the chase/hunt... and family together, he loves it all. His uncles come to ND each year to celebrate or participate this season and it was the first time he was able to introduce Grady and they all got to see Eleanor in her prime! Matt and Eleanor stayed the whole weekend and had a blast. It was good to see everyone but my favorite is always Kevin!

2. I'm officially back to work full time. I'll admit it's hard, I just haven't found my groove or gotten back into the swing of things yet.

3. Eleanor moved into the toddler room... where she's not confined by pack and plays or high chairs. Where she is the littlest one in the room. She's going outside regularly, she's making projects like a monkey for the letter M, singing songs, "sitting" on the carpet for learning time, etc. They say she's doing well and they complimented her on her use of utensils but also stated she doesn't like people getting in her personal space - so obviously we have a little bit of learning to do when it comes to playing with friends.. we'll get there.

4. Matt went down to fill his deer and turkey tag. He didn't have any problems getting the turkey tag, which is the one that mattered to me. Struggled a bit with the deer tag. He took his dad down to help him and Michele stayed and helped me handle both kids. On Sunday, it was a two grandparent day as we went out to drop some stuff off at the farm. I will say I snickered watching my dad play with Eleanor with a bucket on his head.

Her language is starting to come along. Her best word is apple but she's also working a bit on buckle, more, bye, hi, kitty, and baby. We've eaten a lot of apples lately to encourage the word association. She's still helping with Grady and even gives him kisses, which is more endearing than you may think because she doesn't even pucker up for Matt and I. The cutest thing ever was one morning when we were getting ready. Grady was in the bathroom in the rock in play which is at Eleanor's level. When she walked in, he looked at her and gave her the biggest smile... to which her response was to smile back. It's like they both realized they belong together.

ALR: okay, let's have supper!
EER: Apple.
ALR: First we need to have broccoli.
EER: Apple.
MJR: Mmmmm, broccoli.
EER eats broccoli and ham.
EER: Apple, apple.
MJR: Yes, yes, we will get you an apple.
EER: Apple.

The one with the Elephant & the Pumpkin

It was the last week before we slipped into the start of winter, it was also my last week of maternity leave. Next week, I go back to work full time and attempt to keep a hold on life. Ask me in a month how I make a go of it. The best part about this past week was Halloween! It was Grady's first, Eleanor's second. It was an great day. Grady came to work with me as a little pumpkin. Eleanor went to daycare and had a party there so we had an outfit that she'd survive all day in.... she went as Pebbles! That afternoon, Matt picked her up, we got her changed and we all went trick or treating! We started at my work as they have offices open for trick-or-treaters. We had a little trouble starting out... too many people and too many kids lead to being shy and then she kept wanting to give her candy to other people but we finally got the hang of it as we finished up.

 Last year I learned my lesson to not get too aggressive with the trick-or-treating schedule. So after Commerce, we headed over to my Grandma Dar and popped in on her. Eleanor thought she should take all of Grandma's candy (and her pumpkin), obviously we were a fast learner after getting the bugs out at Commerce. From there we went out to the farm, to Aunt Alaina's, and finished up at Uncle Eric's. I think we surprised him and Amanda as they weren't home right away and they felt bad for not having any candy, which was okay as we captured most of the sugary stuff from her and left her with the goldfish crackers, pretzels, and animal crackers. 

We came back home after grabbing some McDonalds and attempted to take costume pics on the stairs again.

We've had more successful endeavors.

The remainder of the week was pretty quiet, especially with the oncoming of our first snow.

Best meal: French Onion pasta... we've made it before but I always think how good it is for being so simple.

MJR putting Grady into carrier for the second or third time: I know, buddy, I'm not a fan of the holiday either.
ALR: oh hush you. This is going to be fun. You don't need to wear your costume so literally.
MJR: I'm going as an airport manager. 
ALR: Yeah, I know, that's what I told the girls at work, you were going as a crabby airport manager.
MJR: Har har.

The one with Two Redheads

Shortly after we brought Grady home, I remember sitting in the living room and looking out the window at a tree full of green leaves, offering shade to the house. Through my maternity leave I watched the season change and those leaves turn yellow. It was only fitting when I returned home this past week after returning back to work on Monday and looked out at the yard, I saw the wind had stripped so many of the trees of their leaves.  It's hard to believe so much time- a full season, has passed already from the time we brought him home and that we are already heading to the office on a daily basis. I don't think I was ready to come back to work but in order to keep up our elaborate lifestyle of having a house and eating, I don't think I have much of a choice. I'm still getting used to having the two and figuring out how to juggle them, the house, Matt, and myself appropriately and now we are adding work back into it.

The ladies at work have been looking forward to having him there on a full time basis as we've had to stop in here and there because of the conference wrap up. They've already commented that he's grown so much. And he already knows how to work them.. he was offering up smiles where he could on day 1 and 2. What a flirt! I can't believe he's already 2 months old... he's grown a bit into his face and personality but also is filling out sleepers and clothes.

It was a busy weekend... a lot of credit going to my mom who came not once but twice over the week to watch the kids for us. The first was so I could attend an all day meeting on Friday. She only had Grady. The second, she had a helper with Alaina as she had both kids so Matt and I could have a date night. He had gotten me tickets to Deuces Wild, dueling pianos for my birthday and promised me a fancy night out. He didn't disappoint. It was a great meal, a great show, but spending time with him was great... and the hand holding and him opening my car door for me was additional icing on the cake.

On Sunday, John, Allison, and Oliver came down to visit! It's been practically a year since we've seen them and it was so good to catch up. Oliver has gotten so big and grown up. He's still just as sweet and to hear him say his name and talk made my heart smile! It was great to see him and Eleanor play together. They are at an age where there isn't always harmony... such as when Oliver got smacked by our little bully but then they would crawl up in her stool or color in the box or stand together and it would just make me smile... there was an attempt of a hug when they left and it was a hot mess of affection!

We also had a chance to ask John and Allison if they'd be willing to be Grady's godparents. We had already got to ask Cousin Kevie if she'd also be his godmother, so this completed his set. I wish we would have had the opportunity to ask Kevie in person too but we'll see her when we are able to have the ceremony, next June.

best meal: date night meal which started out with cheesy pickles at the Frog, followed by shrimp scamp for Matt, Pecan crusted salmon for myself

John: Oh, you want to see Baby Grady?
Oliver: Grady is sleeping.
ALR to Allison: Oh, he said Grady's name really well!
Allison: We've been working on names. We tried Eleanor's too and he struggled a bit... "Nellnor" so we asked what he wanted to call her, El, Ellie, Len, and he said No, Nellnor. 

The one with and without the Smiles

Eleanor had school pictures this past week. She also participated in the retakes because the first set did not go well. Here's hoping our next set of family pics go better than these.

Other things Eleanor does better than pictures:
What does a frog say: she then sticks her tongue out back and forth with the appropriate noises!

Shusshing baby Grady or being a mother Hen: when he's fussy or crying as well as ensuring that he has blankets because that's what unhappy babies need: a good shhhhh, a blanket, and a paci jammed into their mouth. Daycare has also reported her being helpful there. She puts blankets on babies, tried to cuddle them, and has been checking the diapers of her colleagues. We've asked daycare for a discount since she appears to be taking on work duties.

Anatomy lesson: She's getting pretty good at knowing the parts of her body. We were told that at 2 years old, she should know 5. We've got way more than that... ears, eyes, mouth, nose, teeth, chin, hair, hands, toes, feet, and belly. Grandpa Perry asked if she was going to belly up to the table and she had no problems showing him hers. We are also working on elbow but that one is tricky.

Not to leave Grady out... he's working on a big milestone that maybe his sister should review... smiling! It reminds me of a pot that just starts to boil. He will start slow there's a little bit of build up to the bubble and then you'll get two or three in a row, sometimes one bigger than the next. Eleanor was stingy with her smiles to me... she would give them to others no problem so it makes me feel a bit special that he's pretty free with them to me.

The weekend was a bit slow and relaxed... for a couple reasons. Matt was crazy busy at work with the finalization of the runway project and reopening everything up and then being short staffed he worked a shift to cover the gap, leaving him tired on Saturday. We relaxed, played, napped where we could, but don't think we didn't get anything accomplished. We made 21 pints of applesauce for the kids and also 10 pints of stewed tomatoes - courtesy of Grandma for the produce. We were so busy with that and each other I realized afterwards I didn't even get a picture.

best meal: Matt grilled salmon, which was good but leftover salmon cream cheese omelets is always wonderful

MJR feeding GRR: Oh my gosh, you are the slowest eater ever. Why can't you be like your sister?
ALR thinking back to the previous conversation with EER
             ALR: what do you have
             ALR: that's not yours 
             ALR: put that down
             ALR: who do you think you are
             ALR: I said put it down
             ALR: that's mine
             ALR: give that back
             ALR: where is your father
             ALR: Get out of there
             ALR: AHHHHHH!
             ALR: go find your dad
ALR to MJR: I'm okay that he's not like his sister. Could you imagine two of them right now?