An October Haze

It's been so long since I posted an update on here I don't even know where to begin.  We are almost done with October and while I love the fall I am so ready for pumpkin season to be over.  Chris works 7 days a week at our family pumpkin patch and up to 12 hour days.  Long days for him and long days for me running the household solo.  After we get through this month however things slow down a lot.  I cannot wait.  However I must say we have had a blast this past month.  My dad spent almost 2 weeks here visiting us from Kentucky and we filled up our schedule venturing out to the Woodland Park Zoo, Salmon Days, NW Trek and had a few big family dinners.  Henry has been lucky enough to get to go to the pumpkin patch and ride on tractors several times a week all month.  He constantly says, "see dada, pumpkins" and if I turn right out of my driveway instead of left towards the pumpkin patch he immediately has a bit of a fit.  The kid is in love with pumpkins....at least until he has to work there 12 hours a day, which you can bet his grandpa will have him there one day!  Overall, we are all doing great as a family of 4.

In terms of baby Oliver he is starting to find his voice and loves to share "agoo's" and big smiles.  I thought Henry was full of smiles but our little Olie shares more smiles at this age than any baby I have ever been around.  It absolutely cracks me up how easy it is to get him to smile.  It doesn't matter how sleep deprived I am he just takes me away with that smile of his.  And, yes I am very sleep deprived.  Oliver gets up to eat about every 2 hours at night still and only cat naps during the day.  Thankfully he does like his swing and will spend some time napping there during the day, which helps free up my hands to play with Henry and take care of the house, oh and myself I guess when I can. ;o) Getting a shower has been interesting to say the least.  I have resorted to throwing Henry in the shower with me while Olie takes a snooze in his swing.  Whatever it takes.  On another note, breastfeeding has been easier this time around and I am proud to say Olie is 100% breast fed.  However, I am giving him what I call 'boob in a bottle' a lot during the day and he feeds directly on the breast at night.  So far this hasn't caused any complications but I'm not certain I should continue this route or not.  Time will tell I guess.  Oliver still has beautiful blue eyes and is such a mellow little boy.  I cannot wait to continue to watch him grow and really see who he is going to be in this world.
As for big brother Henry, he is such a little spit fire!  Every day is something new and he just simply amazes me.  The vocabulary this kid has blows me away.  I could go on and on about the phrases he says now.  It's really wonderful to reach a stage where you can actually communicate with your child.  The things he remembers is unreal and reminds you to be cautious of what comes out of your mouth or what is on the tube each day.  My favorite memory this month was as I was headed out the door for an appointment he said "Love you mommy."  MELTED my heart.  Each night as we say our prayers I always thank him for an "awesome day" and for being nothing but himself.  He now says back to me "awesome day" with a big smile and gives me loves.  It's moments like this that make all these sleep deprived days worth it.  I mean what else in the world is as precious as the love you get to share with your children?  I am so blessed with these two little men.

To wrap up as I could go on forever about my kids I'll leave you with some of my favorite pics this month thus far.

Headed to an overnight at nauna & bapa's with his new suitcase. 

Brothers...
Henry 21 months  & Oliver 8 weeks

 My little bear....