Well, November has kind of gotten away from me here. I'm not quite as bad as my deadbeat blogging sisters but certainly I'm off my normal blogging schedule. Such is life I suppose. November started out quite nicely with me getting away for a bit of a relaxing trip. I have been talking about going away by myself (minus kids and husband) for a long time, in fact Mark has pretty much been telling me to do it for 4 years, but other than work trips I never scheduled anything. That is until Margot. I love this girl to death but we are at six months and she still wakes up every night. We can really only remember three nights where she fully slept through the night with no wake ups. We're at the point now where we try our hardest not to feed her anything, and even let her cry, but when she gets herself very worked up one of us will go in and give her the binky and turn music on. Sometimes this does the trick, but sometimes you're up rocking her, or you're in her room every 20-30 min for an hour or two. She is then usually up around 6am or so which is not great. Either way, it is disrupted sleep. And so I was in need of this little getaway, if for nothing else than to have a few nights of uninterrupted sleep. I scheduled myself three nights down in Ft Lauderdale area, and ended up being joined by Kate and Al. And wouldn't you know, both Kate and Al are pregnant right now...not exactly getting crazy these days, though it just resulted in a very laid back and restful trip. I would characterize this vacation as Sun, Sleep, and Exercise. We were usually at the pool by 9am, and usually all asleep by 9pm. Also, it was the first time in a long while I wasn't too tired to work out and went to the gym three days in a row. Amazing how easy it is to forget how good that can make you feel. New Year's resolution (or Thanksgiving resolution, really) is try to get more active.
So let's see, other than that we just keep keeping on. Had a quiet weekend at home with lots of leaf blowing and sucking (by Mark) while I watched the kids inside. It's a new toy he bought this fall and I really didn't want to take it away from him. Instead I took the girls shoe shopping. I swear it's easier to see when clothes don't fit, but shoes always sneak up on me and these girls feet just keep growing. Despite buying Sawyer new dress shoes in July she's already gone up over a full size and needed new ones, along with some new snow boots. And while Isla gets all of Sawyer's hand me downs I sometimes feel bad about that and so she lucked into two new pairs herself. Isla has a real knack for shoes, and good taste I might add. Last year she walked into a store and picked out red mary janes in her size, and she did the same with some purple ones this time. She's so decisive about what she likes I had to buy them for her. As for Margot, she doesn't wear shoes, so she stayed home with Mark, and just played with the balloon we brought home.
She loved it.
As for this girl, she's just such a great little bug. She's a happy happy girl, who usually only cries when we put her down and she still wants to be held. She loves to just hang out while Mark or I hold her, and sing her songs. She's getting really good at sitting up on her own and playing, though occasionally finds herself face planting. Our girl is also such a great eater these days. She loves baby food like neither Sawyer or Isla ever did. Sawyer used to cry any time she tasted a vegetable on the spoon, Isla wasn't really interested, and neither loved rice cereal. Margot just sits in her high chair and eats - so far she loves everything and anything we give her smiling throughout. I've almost been tempted to video it for Gerber she's so good. She also loves to gnaw on a pretzel rod. Sounds strange but she has such an interest in our food but still struggles a bit with picking up the puffs and getting them in her mouth so I gave her one of those to hold and suck on. Uhhh...LOVE does not describe it. When it's a gooey mess and we take it away she cries. I think she'll start early on certain table foods because she just is so curious with all of it. Can't believe this girl is knocking on six months old already.
We did have some crazy weather around these parts lately - cold, rainy, windy...which has led to more time at home. While our girl Isla has all but cut naps out of her schedule she had a string of days where she fell asleep watching tv. This is probably the worst of the pics but she gets so peaceful and dead to the world I love it. Mark and I secretly love when she takes the afternoon nap...it's a rare occurrence but so enjoyable.
Following the big storm, which produced a bunch of tornadoes south of us, and lots of wind by us, the most amazing rainbow came out across the entire sky. I wish this picture did it justice - it was huge and so bright. I think it may have been the first one Sawyer and Isla had actually seen.
Other than that, Mark and I got out one night this month. We got a babysitter so that we could go to Sawyer's parent-teacher conference. I know, these things start early. But it was fun to go and see Sawyer's teacher talk about her. It was clear that she found her to be a funny, smart, quirky little kid just like we do. It really is a great program they have and I'm so glad we signed Sawyer up for it. After that we hit up some shopping in town for Christmas and tried out the new sushi restaurant. I'm already thinking about when we can go back there it was so good. Time to get the kids started on eating sushi I think...it will make it easier to go there.
And now, I'm in shock that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We've got family to see, a baby to get baptized, and a 3rd birthday to celebrate. Lots to be thankful for.
