HAPPY, HAPPY, FALL!

We took our yearly trip to Tuttles for some FABULOUS apple picking! Matt even came home and made use some apple crisp that I am certain was gone in 24 hours and my husband just handed me a bowl of homemade apple pie and vanilla ice cream! (yes, he made it - not me!) Watching the Colts kick Arizona's butts and eating warm apple pie - heaven! Here are a couple shots from our trip to the orchard and I will be posting some photos of our trip to Illinois this weekend very soon. Thank you so much to Jen and Ken for their hospitality and a special shout out to Jake and Alex for entertaining Ava and making her feel so special. We wish we could see you all more often, but look forward to Thanksgiving!!

more summer sun...

sissy and bubby...

She calls him bubby. I don't know why but she won't even let Greg and I call him bubby... "he's my bubby" she tells us. The first question people ask me these days is how she is with him. Really, she is amazing with him. She doesn't seem to be jealous hardly at all. The only thing she says is when Greg or I tell Anderson we love him, she will give us this terribly pouty face and ask sadly "don't you love me?" As soon as we reassure her that we love her too - she smiles and moves on. This afternoon was absolutely beautiful so we pulled out a blanket and spent some time in the sunshine. Love these kiddos!!

losing brain cells...

I swear that having children makes brain cells disappear. Today I spent 20 minutes scouring my house on the hunt for a bottle. I was feeding Anderson and he fell asleep so I laid him down. But, as usual, he woke back up 5 minutes later and wanted more to eat. But I could not find the bottle anywhere. Literally, it had been 5-10 minutes since I had set the bottle down, but I could not find it anywhere. I looked and looked in every room, behind every cushion, and throughout my refrigerator... no bottle. I was starting to feel like I had lost my mind as I could not recall what I had done with it after I laid Anderson down... 5 minutes ago! Finally I gave up and was going to make another bottle and when I opened to the cabinet to get it out... there was his bottle. I had capped it and put it back in the cabinet... the cabinet!?!?!? What in the world was I thinking? And I couldn't even recall in my memory when I had put it there. So sad... so, so sad.

On another note, this weekend was CRAZY! I will post the pictures as they give you some idea of what we did over the past couple of days. Short version - six little blonde girls (ages 2-5), a month old baby, Kings Island, night at a hotel with swimming and pizza, The Newport Aquarium, and a family cookout. Despite its craziness- it was so fun to see the girls spending time together and to visit with the family! We love you all and hope to do it again soon!

growing up...

I have to admit that I am loving staying home with the kiddos. I also have to admit that I love that Ava is back at Trish's three days a week and Anderson and I can have some time together. It is nice to not have to share him or ignore him so that I can attend to her needs. She is a blast, but she is ... um... demanding. She is finally pedaling her bike so that it can move forward. The coordination of this task has taken some time for her so this is a big accomplishment. You can see the pride beaming out of her in the photo above. She still needs me to walk beside her and help her steer because has to concentrate so hard on her pedaling that she tends to drive herself into the grass. Anderson is still working hard at his daily routine of eating and sleeping. From time to time we get to see his eyes and at his one month appointment he weighed 10 lb. 13 oz. He is growing, but looks like he may have inherited his daddy's 'chicken legs.' Even Ava has taken to calling him 'chickie legs.' Not much else at our house except the much anticipated arrival of Auntie Megan and Uncle Kyle... and "what is that boys name again" (Ava)... Carter! Ava told her babysitter this morning that they are coming to visit tomorrow and they will be sleeping in mimi and papa's bed (our spare room). We can't wait to see you guys and we even had our carpets cleaned so Carter won't have to crawl through our filth! :)

Happy 1 month birthday!

I cannot believe that Anderson is already a month old!!! Time is flying by already and we continue to adjust. Next week Ava goes back to the babysitter three days a week and boy are we ready for that. No, not just me... she is ready to. Staying home with mom was fun for only so long and now she is completely over it. Every day she asks me who is coming to play or where we are going today. Days when we just stay at home are like torture for her. "Are you feeding him again?" is the question I hear most frequently throughout the day so getting to go play with her friends at Miss Trish's all day will be a relief for all of us. Anderson is more alert these days and already prefers to be on his belly... awake and asleep. He is starting to look more like Ava to me, but I don't think he is going to have the cheeks his sister and daddy have. Ava really is good with him and asks to hold him 5-10 times a day. She kisses all over him and sings the Barney theme song to him when he cries. Overall, she is adjusting well... I hope. Our only challenge is sleeping through the night... not Anderson, but her. She gets up in the middle of the night (often to go potty) and wants one of us in her bed. Neither Greg or I are getting any solid sleep these days. Still, the adjustment from one child to two has gone much smoother than I had expected and I have even had time to take and edit some pictures. I am committed to not making Anderson feel less documented than his big sister! :)

my sleeping boy...

nothing fancy here, but there are already requests
for recent pictures of little man and this is all I have right now.
He sleeps... a lot!

happy 30th birthday ...

daddy! Every year on the weekend of Greg's birthday we go to the Greensburg fair (in the town where Greg grew up). We have gone every year since Ava was born and this year she talked for weeks about riding the ferris wheel with her daddy for his birthday.

playing ski ball... daddy didn't do so good, but he managed to win her a dolphin
playing whack-a-mole!

terrified all the way down...
but the biggest smile you have ever seen when they hit the bottom...
she even begged to go again!

riding the ferris wheel with my daddy!

We love you daddy! Thanks for being willing to spend your 30th birthday partying at the fair! You are the best ever!

welcome to the world...

little man

Anderson Wayne Melton was born on July 7, 2009 at 1:57pm. 8 lbs 2 ozs. and 21 1/4 inches long. I could post a million pictures, but here are just a few before I try and sleep tonight. Many more to come. Thanks to everyone who called, sent flowers and stopped by to visit us. We love you all and we love sharing our excitement with all of you!

holding hands

Mimi loves this one... says it looks like he is telling her a secret. :)

so in love

sweet kisses

do I have to go back in the corner?

Yes, we make her stand in the corner.... 'nose in the corner' is what we call it. She has been standing in the same corner since she was 18 months old. Yes, that young. We learned very quickly that 'time out' was not punishment enough for this little one, but nose in the corner is more effective. I wouldn't say completely effective as she still goes there... often, but she dreads it and it is a great threat. She tries everything to get out... wailing, screaming, 'i need to go potty!', it hurts my cheeks, it is dark in here (if the light is off in the dining room) and I am scared... the list goes on and on. The part that kills me about it is that I hate it as much as she does. I feel terrible every time and I just want to shake her and say please don't do that because I really don't want to put you in the corner. But, it doesn't stop her and she pleads with me every time. Today, she almost moved from corner punishment to spanking punishment. I know that somewhere down the road we will laugh at what happened tonight, but mostly it is terrifying. There are 4 little girls in our cul de sac that are around Ava's age, but she is at the younger end of the age spectrum. At 8 o'clock tonight, they were all chasing each other from backyard to backyard as they usually do while I was sitting on the front porch working on homework and Greg was working on his truck. The three girls she had been following came to the front yard, and I leaned forward to see where Ava was, but she didn't seem to be with them anymore. Seconds from me yelling to Paige to ask her where she went, my daughter came running from Paige's backyard... in her underwear... soaking wet. I sat stunned as I watched her run towards me grinning.

'What are you doing? Where are your clothes? Why are you wet?'

The questions came flying out of Greg and I as she looked at us stunned to see how angry we both were.

'Get inside!' Greg yelled sternly, 'get in the corner and where are your clothes?'

After much wailing in the corner, she explained that she had jumped in to Paige's swimming pool... in her clothes.... and when they got wet, she decided to take them off. Mind you... none of the other kids jumped in the pool... my daughter... by herself... no adults around. I still find myself wondering what in the world she was thinking. She wasn't... clearly!

I am responsible for this little person, who is clearly afraid of nothing and doesn't care at all what the other kids are doing, because she will do what she wants to do. In most cases, I would be proud of her for doing her own thing, but this time I am just a little bit speechless. I believe I have posted this statement in many other posts, but I will say it again... we are in so much trouble!

On a totally different note... I will be induced on Tuesday, July 7th. Let us all say a little prayer for the baby boy I will have who, God willing, will be quiet, calm, peaceful and serene in every way.

today...

I don't believe I have posted a photo of our puppy to the blog yet, so let me begin by introducing Oscar. My husband, the dog whisperer, has already taught him to sit, stay, go potty, and go kennel. Seriously, this dog listens to him like none other and I am so grateful because I was really uneasy about getting a puppy a month and a half before we bring a new baby into the house. Besides the fact that he likes to use our cat as a chew toy... he is great. And truthfully, our cat needed to be knocked down a notch.
Okay, so back to my title... today...

I am 37weeks pregnant.

My husband and I spent hours going over names and we are no closer to having a name for our baby boy... in fact, I think we are further.

I finished my masters portfolio and only have 3 weeks of class left.

Ava went to the zoo with her mimaw and I stayed home to finish my portfolio.

My husband and I went to dinner at Charlestons and I ate the best steak I have ever had!

My shoulders are really sun burned from Ava and I hanging at the pool all day yesterday.

My baby boy is still head up and shows no signs of flipping over.

I lent $1 to a guy who came in to Panera and asked me for 85 cents. He called me 'sweetie' when he left.

I rode in our new truck for the first time .... a 1994 Ford something or other that belonged to Greg's grandfather. My hubby sold his acura in one week.

My dad called me from California (no idea where or why or what he is doing there) to tell me not to worry - he is just fine. He hears voices and is working for an 'agency' that doesn't exist and is running up a ridiculous credit card bill, but he is fine.

My daughter asked for a bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast and ate about 8 marshmellows out of it and said she was done.

I had intentions to work on the nursery and never even walked in it. Instead, I laid on the couch and watched Law and Order:SVU and The Mentalist.

I am going to bed at 11:45... good night.