October 28

It was another gray, gloomy day when I woke up this morning. Wednesdays are Running Club days for Caleb, which means getting him to school early. Luckily, Caleb sweet-talked Chris into taking him out for some Daddy/Caleb time before Running Club. That meant that my morning suddenly involved no deadlines. What a liberating feeling! I was all set to have a lazy morning, when Daisy and Lily asked if we could go to the Garden.

I've been wanting to go to the Garden lately, but it just hasn't worked out. The weather was far from perfect today, and our late start would mean that Eli would absolutely miss his nap, but I said yes. It was cool and windy and it spit rain at us a little, but we had so much fun!

Fall is totally my favorite season.

The sheep are totally Lily's favorite thing at the Garden. (Aside from Grandpa, of course, but he isn't there all the time and the sheep are.)

I wanted to do this trip totally stroller-free, but Daisy refused. She's a weird one. Still, I pushed an empty stroller over half the time, which is a big step. Moments like the one above are why I want to encourage the girls to walk: they can explore so much more when they aren't sitting passively in the stroller!

Sheep, take 2. Can you tell how cold and windy it was? Either that, or the girls are galloping so fast on their sheep that their hair is being blown back by the wind.

Bell tree. My crummy phone pictures don't even begin to capture how pretty the colors were here.

Yeah. Someone really needed that morning nap. Poor baby. 

He won't be getting one tomorrow, either, because he has his 9-month checkup at 10am. That's right; today is Eli's 9-month birthday! I really intended to take his birthday pictures today, but he has a cold and we were busy and it just didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow.

I want to say I can't believe that he's already 9 months old, and in some ways that's true. In retrospect it feels like the past 9 months have flown by, but then I remember that each day has actually been painfully slow

In many ways, Eli is not yet acting like a normal 9-month-old. I feel like he is not engaging and interacting as much as my other babies did at this age. He isn't talking or making sounds the way the others did.

But it seems like he is growing and changing even overnight. Today I was shocked to realize that if I set Eli down in one room, he will now army crawl into another. He is becoming more curious and aware of his surroundings, which is equally fun and problematic.

"What, Ma? I can't play with this?"

Commence Mobile Baby Protocol.

- clean floors

- secure baby gate

- clean floors again

- scan for errant choking hazards

- clean floors again

Except that he really likes finding random food bits on the floor. 

Yuck.

Hiya, Handsome!

Eli has also discovered the cat this week. Today I was sitting on the floor with Eli, talking to a friend on the phone while he played. Suddenly, I noticed Eli breathing faster. I looked around to see what was going on, and then I realized: he had spotted the cat. As soon as he locked sights with her, he did his best army crawl across the room to catch her. That cat is so seasoned and so mean. She knew that she didn't have to move at all. She sat and waited until Eli thought he might actually catch her...

and then she moved.

Eli was unperturbed, and it was so much fun to watch this game continue. 

Someday, child. I hope that someday you do catch that cat.

Then it was time to get Caleb off the bus, shove dinner in his belly, and get all four kids to Caleb's soccer game. I'll admit: it was hectic. I was also duped by my lovely walk to the bus stop, and so I didn't insist the kids wear coats as firmly as I should have. I thought they'd be fine.

Wrong.

Luckily, we have lots of blankets in the car.

Also, Lily didn't have time to finish her dinner at home, and was devastated at the thought of having to leave it and finish it later. So we brought it with us.

Look at my goofy boy. He wore shorts, even though I told him pants were a better idea. And he spent half the game hiking his shorts up so that I saw his lily white thighs and underwear. It's actually a move he gets from his nerdy Daddy.

Chris' parents braved the chill for this game, and the girls were so happy to see them!

Eli, however, wasn't happy with anyone. 

Except me, that is. He was happy with me, but only briefly. 

Then the cold got the best of us. Daisy was crabby and unpleasant, Lily just wanted to be held, and Eli was just plain unhappy, so we left early. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes.