meet libby

happy thanksgiving! we have so many things to be thankful for this year. our elizabeth pearl was born friday, nov. 19th at 8:56 a.m. she was 9 pounds 1.5 ounces and 21 inches long. she is absolutely perfect in every way! she's such a beautiful baby and is sleeping and eating well. we thank god for bringing her to us healthy and strong. what a blessing.

now comes the hard part of trying to find balance with a 3 year old and a newborn. it's been a stressful few days, since hannah has come down with some sort of virus. i am trying my hardest to stay healthy and keep the baby healthy. other than that, hannah has been really sweet with libby. the hardest thing has just been trying to get her to keep her distance. no signs of jealousy yet, though it is hard on her sometimes when she wants my attention and i can't fully give it to her. especially with her being sick and me trying not to catch it.

pure joy

look at this face.

have you ever seen anyone so happy over a chocolate pop-tart? or "reptar," as hannah calls it. we have had quite the time getting hannah to sleep in her own bed. this past spring, granny got her a big queen mattress, comfy and soft, and i got her a pretty pottery barn kids quilt to put on it. we painted her room and made it as inviting as possible, hoping to trick her into wanting to stay there. sleep troubles started when she learned to crawl out of her crib right before she was 2. she would crawl into our bed in the wee hours of the morning and get the rest of her sleep out there. but for the past week or so, a miracle has occurred. she has decided that she will stay in her bed. and the reward is a chocolate pop-tart for breakfast, which as you can see, she L-O-V-E-S. so i guess we've traded a healthy breakfast for a full night's sleep, but nevertheless i am really proud of her. this is just the kind of thing we need before the baby gets here.

speaking of the baby! she will be here next friday for sure, unless she decides to come on her own before then. the last ultrasound we had was last week, and it showed her weighing 7 pounds and 10 ounces. we can't wait to meet her, we're excited and nervous and anxious. going to use this next week to get all our last-minute preparations done. please pray that she arrives strong and healthy!

trick-or-treat

well, i think we trick-or-treated earlier than anyone this year. halloween was on a sunday, but the city decided we should trick-or-treat on the thursday before. we went thrifty and used something we had in our closet already: an auburn cheerleading outfit that we got from mimi and had yet to wear.

i have to say that i don't remember ever really liking halloween. but hannah has made it so much fun. it's probably her favorite holiday, considering how much she loves candy. we started reading halloween books sometime in september, and she asked me almost every night for a month if it was "palowing time."

i think we have a picture just like this from last year - hannah pointing at our neighbor's decorations. he really goes all out. 

 

grace was a cheerleader too!

the girls looked so cute together.

checking out all the candy at the end of the night and watching other trick-or-treaters. hannah was great at handing out candy to other kids.

...and on a sugar high. we let her eat quite a bit of candy and stay up until 10:30. hannah heaven.

pumpkin carving

it's not october without a jack-o-lantern. hannah helped me carve one last year too, and wore this same exact shirt.

pumpkin patch

i've decided that october is my favorite month because of pumpkin patches! last year was the first time we went to one, and we enjoyed it so much. this year we tried a different one, dream field farms near union springs. while we were waiting in line to pay admission, her friends from school - hope and nicole and their mom, sister maggie, grandmother, and cousin - walked up behind us. i couldn't believe we were all there at the same exact time! hannah was in absolute heaven to have kids that she could follow around and play with. we had the best day!

after we mastered the corn maze:

hannah's always been our cautious girl so we were surprised when she walked right up these steep stairs and went down the big slide.

i'm not sure who loved playing in the corn more: tim or hannah. ;) we are still finding corn kernels in our laundry and in random places around the house.

their pumpkin patch was beautiful! i don't think i'd ever seen a real pumpkin patch like this before. even better, we got there right around sunset so the light couldn't have been more perfect!

wild animal safari

we went to the wild animal safari in pine mountain on oct. 17th for tim's mom's birthday. we rented a van to feed the animals, and the animals stuck their stinky heads and tongues through the bars of the windows to get food. hannah was really nervous at first, but she worked up her courage and fed a few animals - mostly by throwing it out the window rather than sticking it in their mouths, but who can blame her? i think i fed one or two animals and that was good enough for me. we let tim and his dad do the dirty work. ;)

after she fed her first animal she was so proud!

first field trip

on oct. 7, hannah went on her first field trip with her preschool, and i was so glad to go with her. we went to a kids musical in columbus. we got to ride with her friends, twins hope and nicole.

we had a great time, but hannah's favorite part was just being with the kids in her class. she's always loved other kids, and she enjoys school so much.

this picture cracks me up. hannah pestered this boy the whole time. we hear about him every day, i think she might have a little crush. 

last week they had a fall party. i didn't take many pictures because they pretty much just sat at this table and ate. hannah was the first to ask for dessert. and the first to ask for seconds. imagine that.