Pumpkin Patch!

Sooo many pictures, so I'll explain as I go....

Today we headed out to Suter Farms.  It's about 35 minutes from where we are (maybe 40), and they had a corn maze and hayride where you pick your own pumpkins!  It sounded like fun online, so we had to check it out...


They had a Corn Box.... this is a large wagon FULL of corn kernels, like a sand box... it was AMAZING! Caylee loved it! 

On the hayride, she was trying to look over.. she really enjoyed picking at the straw too. 

The hayride took us back into some woods.  They had different types of trees labeled (for those that want to know what type of tree they are looking at), AND our guide stopped and did hand-puppets for us.  He had various animals and told what they did and stuff.... very cute idea!

Finally, the ride dropped us in the pumpkin field to pick our own pumpkins! I have never picked my own pumpkin and it was sooo fun.  Matt and I were picky, the one on the left ended up going with us!  Isn't it perfectly large, round, orange and has a great stem!?!?

Check out ALL the pumpkins!  We were glad we went early in the season, there were plenty of good ones left.  We bought 3 small gourds for Caylee to play with too. 

Hayride back to the farm with our pumpkin!

They had a large corn cob made with some sort of plastic jugs... neat idea!

We were really glad we chose to skip the maze.  It would have been really boring for Caylee at this young age, plus all the other stuff they had for little kids kept us entertained for 2 hrs!

See how tall the corn cob was?!?

 

 

They had several rocking horses and bouncing horses out for young kids too.... 

Back in the Corn Box... she was serious about playing in here and had a really really good time...

 Standing near the corn maze to show how tall the corn is... (Matt is 6ft, so you get the idea!)

And finally, some great pics in the pumpkin wagon....  I wish she'd look directly at the camera, but what can you expect from an 11 month old! We were happy we got her to stay in the wagon for a short time...

Closest I came to her looking at the camera, she is still looking off in the distance at others...

That was our awesome trip to Suter Farms!  They also had fresh apples and apple cider, we skipped out on that because it was getting late, but next time.  This will definitely be a Fall tradition for us, we all had such a great time! 

11 Months!

Wow... almost 1 year old, Caylee is growing so fast!  This month she has mastered walking around with things... anything, a toy, a box, the dogs, my hands.  She has also begun taking steps on her own without help.  Sometimes I don't even think she realizes she is walking fine, until I say "good job!" and then she falls.  So close to walking completely on her own...

She has also learned the sign for "more"... apparently, I never feed her enough so she is constantly doing the sign.  For other things, like milk and her pacifier, she uses real words (well, others probably couldn't understand her, but I can.  As for food, she eats anything and everything.  She is such a good eater!  If I put it on her plate she will usually eat it, it might take a few "test" bites, but she does really well.  It's nice having her eat so much, helps me eat healthier too!

Every morning she loves seeing her dogs.  And thankfully, her mornings are not starting until 7 or later!  That's a huge change from her waking up at about 6:30 and me making her wait until 7.  Today she slept til 8!!  The bedtime process begins at 7:30 and she is usually asleep by 8, so almost a full 12 hours of sleeping.  This means, we have just about dropped the morning nap, but she still takes a 1-2 hr afternoon nap (2 hrs means she'll be a lot happier until bedtime, 1 hr is not great news for me).  She seems a little young to drop the morning nap, but if we run errands and she falls asleep for 10-15 min on the way she is just fine!  (If she wakes early, or at 7, I still do a morning nap).   

She's in her 12 month clothes, which is good, because most of them are fall/winter clothes and it's getting cold here.  We go to the park quite a bit.  She likes to play with the mulch and swing, but she prefers pushing her stroller around the entire time. 

It's crazy to think she is 11 months, but she's doing so great and I'm so proud of the accomplishments I see in her.  I love watching her figure things out and master new tasks.  This is a great age and it just keeps getting better :)


Pretty girl!  Watching her dogs outside before church one morning...

Signing "more".. we had just had breakfast, guess she wasn't quite done, but she had a lot!

Getting her stroller ready to push

 So fun!

Eating lunch... yes, the socks are a mess bc I don't put shoes on her... I just forget, but I need to try to remember bc the mulch stuck to her socks!

A little blurry, but I love seeing her top teeth come through with their little gap! :)

 

Happy 11 Months Caylee Ann!

NO...and other weekend events

Matt was off this weekend... YEA!... so he got to experience swim lessons with Caylee.  I went, but sat out.  I actually had to sit outside the room the pool is in so Caylee couldn't see me.  When she saw me she wanted out, I figure that is pretty normal though.  I kept peeking in and she wasn't always thrilled.  She liked chasing after toys and showing people whatever toy she picked up, she liked sitting on the wall, but not having Matt "jump" her back in, and she wasn't a fan of the songs.  Basically, I think she wanted to do what she wanted, and not what the class was doing.  It's ok, the teacher doesn't mind at that age and she ended up doing ok with Matt, still a little fussy...

Before class... checking out the other swimmers (she liked this!)

 Finally, a happy shot! (dark bc I was outside the window), but she was proud of the toy she had just picked up. 

 

 

Lately, Caylee has been learning more and more... it's really amazing all that she can imitate!  She is also very good at telling me she wants "meh" (milk) and "moh" (monkey).  Everytime she sees the dogs she says "dag".  She can repeat lots of what I do with toys, show me her tongue and her head.  With all this learning comes a little discipline too... sometimes she gets into things that she shouldn't.  We have started using the word "no" to keep her from these things.  At first, we'd say "no" and have to remove her from whatever it was.  Now, we can say it and she knows right away... although she's not happy about it.  The faces she makes when we say no are so funny/pathetic/cute we can't help but laugh just a little.  She sticks out her lip first and then the tears start.  They don't last long, especially when we can show her something she can do, (which I try to do first anyways, but sometimes that doesn't work). 

 

The raised eyebrows is the first sign that she didn't like that we said "no"

 Then the lip and face go ....

 Then the crying...

 But immediately happy again bc we found something she could have.... see, the tears are so short-lived, but I can see how parents might want to give in bc it looks like it could last a while... luckily, we don't give in and we show her other things that she can do bc when she can instantly be happy again it really wasn't a huge deal to her!! :)



Finally, Caylee is great at entertaining herself.  It's so funny to see the ways she entertains too... Lately, it's been climbing through the coffee table.  I don't mind that she does this, but I do tell her to be careful of her head (probably why she knows what her head is now!!).

She will go back and forth for a good 20 minutes sometimes... it's quite a challenge, but she's getting very good at it!

 Sometimes, she drops her monkey or a toy between the crack and spends another 10 minutes getting it out and putting it in... so fun to watch the little things that amuse them! 

**Sidenote: Her monkey is her pacifier and I don't like to give it to her much throughout the day.  She gets it for nap, bedtime, in the car and usually asks for it when she starts to get tired or I'm making dinner (guess I am not paying enough attention then!), but she really doesn't have it all that often.  When she does it's not always in her mouth either, which is one reason I LOVE these types, it becomes a toy to her and she'll carry it around like a toy.

She's at such a fun age, but also getting to the age where she is testing us more and more.  She's so young, but quickly figures things out- which amazes me!  I'm glad Matt can see some of this stuff on the weekends... it's great for us to experience this together!

It's a....

Well, I was a little shocked to be honest, but the ultrasound tech said she wasn't mistaking anything.... we are having a little BOY!  His name will be Micah James Parsons.  With Caylee I thought boy all along, with this one I thought girl all along.... so, I am consistently wrong :)  (Thanks Aunt Debbie for pointing that one out!)

Either way, we're super excited.  The ultrasound tech said he's very healthy, weighing right on track and all organs and limbs look great!  What a HUGE blessing!!

It's funny, Micah James was not originally our name picked if Caylee were a boy.  I know tons of people who have switched names for the second kid... weird how that happens, but this name just flows so nicely and we're really happy with it.  It also doesn't hurt that I LOVE the verse Micah 6:8 (which will be on his wall somewhere)...

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly^[a] with your God. Micah 6:8

 

As an added bonus, they went ahead and already scheduled my c-section!  (Yes, I will have another csec because of the Crohn's Disease).  This is also a huge blessing bc my mom and friend can get cheap flights up here to help out... and they know so far in advance (kinda weird to know so early too)!  So officially, Micah will join us on Feb 4th!  Crazy to think that is just a few months away! 

 

I promised Matt I wouldn't go crazy with the nursery, so I'm not going to.  However, now that we know it's a boy, I have so many ideas running through my mind (uh-oh)!  We do still live in a rental and we never play in rooms, so the kid's bedrooms don't have to look great.  When we settle down, I want to be able to decorate really nicely, so that's when I'll work on making rooms really great.  For now, I just need some blue sheets so he doesn't sleep on Caylee's pink ones! 

 

I'm also kinda excited not to worry about hair.  That sounds weird, I know, but with Caylee being a girl all I wanted was a little girl with lots of hair and not a bald baby.  Sure enough, she came out with a full head and barely lost any... it has drastically changed colors over the past 11 months, but she has a bunch of hair!  A boy will be great because he can be bald... no worries there :)  **It's the little things for me....

 

Anyways, we're very excited... tons of changes coming soon!  Here are his first set of pictures!

 

 

Micah James!

 

 

Clearly boy....

Foot!

 

Hands!

 

 

 

He's already very loved and I can't wait for Caylee to have a little playmate :)

 

 

Canal Dayz- Delphos

Yes, one more festival....  how many can we go to in a year?  I'm sure we'll find out!

Anyways, Canal Dayz was held in downtown Delphos (Matt works in Delphos).  It's their last big fling before fall and winter hit.  We headed there Saturday to walk around (and enjoy some more Creamery Ice Cream before it closed for the season).  We also headed back Sunday afternoon for the parade.


This was so neat.  Teams of adults signed up and it's basically like tug-of-war, but you use the water hoses to push the ball to the other side.  The winners move on... really cool game for adults!  At the end they were exhausted too and learned how much work firefighters have to do!

Of course, the relaxed pose...  she always has a foot up, so funny :)

Check out how close these rides are to the buildings!!  It was amazing how much they got onto the street!

Watching the cornhole tournament (kinda like washers for my Texas friends, but with one hole and bean bags)

Enjoying some ice cream!

Sunday:
Popcorn before the parade.  She liked to lick it, not really eat it... but she quickly figured out how to put her hand in and out of the bag to get what she wanted!

Almost starting... watching the other kids get excited.  The parade itself is pretty boring, but they throw out lots of candy for the kids, so the street is lined with people!

Caylee liked the horses coming through, it was a nice change from all the cars we watched... again, kinda boring.

Even Caylee got some candy!  She was pretty excited, although we didn't open the wrappers for her, she just liked holding onto it. 

And that wraps up another festival fun-filled weekend!  There are a few more coming up, and we have plans to visit a corn maze soon!  Should be lots of fun :)

Busy Week!

We've had a very busy week this week!  First, Caylee has started Kindermusik!  We go on Monday evenings, which wouldn't have been my first choice since we have all day, but they canceled the Tuesday morning class.  Anyways, there are about 6 other kids in the class, most have been going since they were 2 months old!!! (We're behind!) haha... she is so not behind at all... At this age, it's all about repetition, songs and play.  I will say it's a long 45 minutes for me because they want you to pick your child up and run with them, bounce them, throw them etc...  I'm about 20 weeks pregnant and that is getting harder to do!!  The teacher was super sweet and I modified some things too, Caylee LOVED it.

After Kindermusik, we hung out inside all week.  Our first sick week. :( I won't blame it on kindermusik because the weather here has been so up and down too... plus, I've had her in other nursery-like settings and she doesn't get sick.  But nonetheless, she had a low fever and yucky nose so we stayed in.  I could tell she didn't feel well because after naptime she laid with me and had a blanket covering her.... NEVER happens.  I kind of enjoyed her just laying with me (because that really never happens!). 

See.. really sick :(  You can even see the Tylenol stains from where she spit it out. 

      By Saturday, she was doing better so we headed off to swim lessons!  Yep, we've also started swim lessons. 

**Sidenote: When I woke up Saturday to 46 degrees I was reconsidering my decision, but decided to stick it out anyways-- even though it's indoors, the idea of putting a bathing suit on when it's so cold outside is not appealing, but I wanted us to have something fun to do. 
    
     This particular class is for 6months-3yrs old.  I thought that was a pretty large age range, but once we got there I realized many parents up here don't start their kids swimming early at all (probably the cold weather).  However, since we'll be going to FL and TX plenty I want her to know to swim... it's so warm down south! The class wasn't full, about 6 kids, but that was plenty.  The water was SUPER warm, too warm almost!  They did lots of songs and really just want to get kids familiar with the water.  I think I would have preferred the safety swim method, but not many people teach that.  This was fine though.  She cried a LOT about halfway through.  I think maybe it was overwhelming or she was hungry (it was during lunch time and we're both pretty scheduled eaters)  :).  Hopefully, next week she'll like it.... I picked Saturdays in the hopes that Matt could go once in a while, so we'll see if that works out. 


Before lessons, everyone happy....

After lessons... exhausted... (notice the long sleeves and jeans too! AHH)

The Thursday library days start up here in another week, so we'll be adding that to our weekly schedule soon too.  It's ok, I enjoy having things to do, and I love that she'll get the socialization and maybe even we'll start to meet more people.  It's good to get out of the house because I know once baby 2 comes there will be a few weeks where that doesn't happen much....  :)