Even if it only lasted a few days, the weather this past weekend was nicer than most this past summer here in Chicago.  We spent our days outside taking walks, wagon rides, at the park, lake and bike trails and eating ice cream.   

I have to say “The Plush Horse”, our end of the summer find, is one of our favorite places now.  It is a quaint little ice cream shop just a few miles down the road from us, but off the beaten track.  They make all of their own ice cream and it is wonderful, they even have “baby cones,” perfect for Hazel. Although,  Hazel’s favorite part is NOT the ice cream, but rather the life-size white horse in the middle of the parlor.  She runs in a heads straight to the fake horse.  When we asked her if she wanted ice cream she said “go see horse!”  I couldn’t believe she remembered that!  We had to actually make her come and sit down to eat her ice cream, which felt a little wrong to me.   I should also mention the first time we went they gave us our ice cream for free, with the promise of our loyal patronage.   

Hazel:"Come here geese!" She didn't understand why they wouldn't listen

daddy cleaning the goose poop off the tires, Hazel making the "stank" eye

watching daddy

enjoying her ice cream exactly one second before daddy caught the scoop as it fell from the cone

resorting to a (less cute) cup, though perhaps a bit more practical

Thanksgiving scene set up outside the ice cream shop

and another...

We love to travel and *every now and then, when we’ve got the itch, we like to get the suitcases out, shake off the dust, and roll them around the house, just to make sure they are still in good working condition, should a trip occur. Well it was a good thing we did this the other night, because we found some especially “precious cargo” in our carry on bag.  

nothing to see here just a normal bag

everything seems to be in working condition

"uh oh, is that a small hand?"

"I sure don't remember carrying that on!"

She is pretty cute so we decided to keep her and **the airline offered us some pretty nice “hush money.”  

*not true

**again, not true

Time-outs are generally viewed and used as a punishment in most cases.   However, tonight, after Hazel pulled Dora’s ear for the hundredth time, I sternly asked her “Do you want to take a time out?”  To which she replied “yes.”  Then she scurried away, I thought, to avoid the impending punishment. A few seconds later she came clunking into the hallway with a chair she had grabbed from her room.  She set it down, facing the wall, sat down, and said “time out.”  I set the clock for one minute and, besides being mildly distracted by the heaping pile of laundry, she took her punishment well.

taking her one minute "time out"

 That white thing around her waist is my “Belly Band”  which she found on the floor in our bedroom.  It is basically an elastic belt that enables pregnant women to wear their normal jeans longer since the belt is placed over the zipper and button that no longer come close to reaching their counter parts.  Anywho.  She wore it around all night saying “mommy’s, boo boo’s” (She thinks it is a bra).  She tried to wear it as such, but it kept falling down.  

Pebbles and Fred

The Fred costume was my brother’s from at least 12 Halloween’s ago.  My mom made it and I was Wilma that year, although, unfortunately she didn’t keep that one.  So we had a mother-less Pebbles.  We did have to take the stitching out on the sides of the Fred costume since Phillip is a tad bigger than my 8 year-old brother was.

Since most of Phillip’s cousins have babies around the same age we thought it would be fun to get them all together and trick-or-treat at a few scheduled stops.  The wee ones were so cute in their costumes and it is always fun to watch them play together.  

Little Pebbles, what a cutie

this was the best "group" shot I could muster

We were trying to feed her as she played, hence the messy face

"That's it?" Getting candy from Pastor Phil

Cutie busy bee, Hailey

Hazel "helping" with baby Scout

taking a quick break to catch some of the game

We were in Salem this weekend for some family fun, trick-or-treating with the cousins, and flying.  I went up with Phillip for the first time as well.  This was no small feat for me, as I am deathly afraid of flying.  Let me tell you, a two person plane magnifies every bump and wind gust by about 100!  Although I cried before take off and begged to land every second we were in the air I have to say how proud of my husband I am.  I had every confidence in him…Just not the aircraft.  He was a true professional and tried his best to make me feel at ease.  It was a beautiful day and, had I been thinking clearly, I would have taken my camera up and gotten some beautiful areal shots.  Oh well, there is always next time!

Coming in for landing

landing

Pilot Squibb getting into his plane

The family

This week has been like a wild roller coaster ride of knowledge, confusion, stress and finally peace.  Where to start….Lets see, it all began that faithful night in the ER when the doctor confirmed that I had a very probable chance of being able to have this next baby naturally, after my current doctor cabashed that idea several weeks back.  It has been a race against the clock because as of 6 pm today I would no longer have been able to change my doctor.  With our HMO we can only change providers at the first of a month and not beyond 27 weeks pregnant, so if I waited till December 1st, I would be in my 27th week and ineligible for a doctor change, pretty redicuouls I know.  What if you are unhappy with your care?  Answer: You are stuck.  Anyway, I contacted a friend in the know of the chicagoland mom and baby scene and she connected me to some very valuable resources.  The local La Leche League  leader as well as the leader of ICAN (International Cecarean Awareness Network) in my area,   another long-time Doula and several other referrals.  Suffice to say, I was on the phone… a lot.  The end outcome….I have chosen an extreemly reputable group of midwives very supportive of VBAC’s.  It seemes the options were either entirely medical or entirely organic, so I am going to try the natural route.  I will be delivering in a ABC room (Alternative Birthing Center) where there will be a birthing pool, a birthing ball and several other “natural” birthing options.  Normal delivery rooms are just down the hall so if I need an epidural they will simply move me to one of those.   I would very much like to have a Doula to help me along this untraveled road and have a meeting at the house with “Doula Debbie” next Tuesday, I hope our meet and greet goes well!  Then my first appointment with one of the midwives will be Wednesday.  I hope this transition is an easy one and a good fit.

Hazel is going to be Pebbles (from the cartoon “The Flintstone”) for Halloween and she wanted to try her costume on as she was playing today.  Here is a sneak peak of the prehistoric diva out on a shopping trip…

Well she’s no Dino, but I guess Dora will have to do

Hazel was having a rough time getting to sleep the other night so Phillip went in to have a “talk” with her.  All I could hear through the wall was his muffled voice speaking softly and her say “ok” a lot.  Then after about 10 minutes he left the room and she didn’t make a peep and slept silently through the rest of the night.  

Apparently he had been putting all of her favorite stuffed animals in bed with her as comforting devices.  It must have worked.  I crept in about an hour after he had left her room and had to get my camera.

This weekend has been action packed to say the least.  Saturday, Phillip had asked my mom to come into town for a surprise/helpful visit.  To which she graciously abided.  She arrived, much to my surprise, and said she came to babysit so we should go out for a fun filled night. Then Phillip, the great actor that he is, proceeded to ask me what I wanted to do (we were celebrating my birthday).  To which I said “you had my mom drive all this way and you don’t even know what we are going to do?”  To which he responded ”Well I figured we could go to a nice meal and stay out late.”  I was annoyed.  He said he would find someplace good and pretended to do some onine research before saying he had found the perfect place.  We set off about 5pm and drove for about 45 minutes.  Finally I caught glimpse of a massive structure in the distance, it was a CASTLE!!!  Yes my hubby took me to midevil times, a jousting dinner theatre, for my birthday celebration.  As we were walking in my good friend Casey met us at the door with a gift.  She was joining us!  Shortly there after our good friends Chris and Jess came as well.  Phillip had organized this surprise get together a month ago and clearly he knew where we would be eating that night. Our half-chickens and dragon’s blood soup awaited us! (Oh, and no silverware in medieval times, we ate it all with our fingers!  Ewwww.)  We were donned with green crowns and cheered for our knight (who was the bad guy) all night long.  Unfortunately he was slain at the end of the show.  It was such a  fun experience to share with friends since it is pretty cheesy.  

we were quite impressed by his cardboard/duct tape armor

our gang

Casey and me with our green Knight after the show

Then the night got really interesting.  Shortly after coming home and getting into bed I realized there was an “issue.”  I will spare you the gory details, but I had began to bleed quite severely.  I tried to have my OB paged, no response.  I texted my (wonderful, amazing, helpful beyond words) cousin Megan, a labor and delivery nurse in Seattle, she said to get to the hospital immediately.  Than goodness my mother was here so Phillip and I could head to the hospital right away and not have to wake our sleeping baby.  I was admitted very quickly which was a good thing.  The ER was filled with people coughing and wearing masks, quite a scary sight.  We got into a room in labor and delivery within ten minutes of our arrival.  The doctor was amazing she was actually a DO, they have the same training as an MD, but believe in more holistic and natural methods.  She was a resident and I loved her.  We talked for probably an hour about VBAC’s, natural birth, circumcisions and the whole spectrum of baby-related things I hadn’t been able to speak to my doctor about.  She said I was a great candidate for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and gave me some doctors and hospitals which she highly recommended.  Our current hospital does not allow the practice.  Oh and she did give me an ultrasound and said our baby “looked beautiful”  there were no problems there and after an exam, cleared me to go home, chalking it all up to “sensitive tissue.”  This trip to the ER was actually a huge blessing in disguise.  To talk to a health care provider who really believed in VBAC’s and natural birth and encouraged me to seek the route I wanted for me and my baby, not what was convenient for my doctor was wonderful.  Needless to say, I will be switching health care providers at 22 weeks, please pray for us and out new doctor!  I hope this process will work swiftly and easily.  

Although we didn’t get to bed until 3 o’clock this morning we simply could not pass up this beautiful, sunny, 60 degree Chicago day.  We loaded up the car, after mom helped with Hazel, allowing us a few extra winks this morning, and headed to the County Line Apple Orchard in Indiana.  We just heard about this place and will definitely be heading back next year.  We enjoyed a trolly ride, apple picking, apple doughnuts, the farm and carmeled apples, just to name a few of the activities available.  We were there over three hours and had a blast.  Hazel loved every minute of it and didn’t mind taking a much later nap than usual.  

we had to...

feeding the animals

I loved this, "The Three Little Piggies" a house of straw, sticks and bricks

she is pretty tall

the gals having a "gala" old time, haha

They even had mini John Deere's for the kids

"no hands!"

Peter-Peter Pumpkin Eater (he came alive every hour on the hour)

she was completely enthralled by his performance

picking apples with daddy, that one never made it to the bag

attempt #2

cute mom, all she wanted was honey crisps, but they were out

the little family, picking apples

the 22nd was my birthday, I had to