Some of my favorites from October

So, I am going to work backwards to show you some more of our photos from this year. First in line is October, I guess.

We actually got a garden in this year after Emery came home. I found a little time to put it in, since it doesn't take long to plant seeds, but I half expected not to have time to harvest it. I managed to get to most of it, believe it or not! We had green beans, corn, tomatoes, basil, green onion, carrots, lettuce, and beets. Since the squash took over last year we decided to skip it this year. It felt good to be able to offer Emery some green beans from the garden for his first veggie and some carrot to keep him busy chewing while we ate dinner. He loves to feel included in family meal time. Carrots are the best thing to give him that wont break off into chunks to become a choking hazard. 

  

We recently moved Lainey into her booster so Emery could join us at dinner rather than watching from afar on the floor.

Lainey loves her little brother she always wants to be where he is and share what he has. She especially loves it when I change his dressings or hook up his IV. She watches very closely to make sure I don't throw out the saline and heparin flush syringes. She likes to play with those ones she calls the "the white" and "the blue." She is also a tape vulture. Whenever Emery gets new tape she has to have two pieces for herself. She will point to where she wants them, usually one on each foot or each hand. Sometimes she even sports a piece of tape on her face so she can look like Emery.

Here you'll notice Lainey got a dressing label on her chest too. It makes me cringe to think of Lainey with a Broviac, but she doesn't know what it means so I don't tell her no. I want her to understand her brother's condition and I think this helps.

Little stinker! Lainey is constantly stealing Emery's binki. She goes right from her bed in the morning to his to search for any remaining binki before we can catch them.

This is one taken at bed time. Every night after dinner, Lainey goes straight in for a bath and I get Emery ready. Then, Daddy gets her all ready, brushes her teeth and hair, and reads her a story. Emery is staring to get in on story time now too. This is one of our favorite stories for the fall. Lainey kept asking for "Apples 'n Punkins." It really sums up the feel of the many cider mills in Michigan this time of year.

Lainey Got her first hair cut in October right after her second birthday. It was starting to get into her eyes and since it is runny nose season it would also get stuck to her nose. Who knew boogers are like glue?

We found a cool Aveda salon downtown for a special girls day. I let Lainey decide who would go first and she said she would. She even wanted to sit all by herself! When it came right down to it, though, she wanted to sit on my lap. Sorry these aren't the best of photos. I wish I had someone with me to take photos. I thought she would sit by herself so I could be the photographer.

She ended up with bangs, which Daddy wasn't happy about, but she is mighty cute anyway. Bangs are probably better for this booger season- we will grow them out from now on.

Emery loves being outside. He is just mesmerized by the trees and the breeze on nice days.

All hooked up. Emery is down to a two hour cycle here. So it seems like as soon as he gets hooked up we are ready to unhook him. Thank goodness he is still mostly leaving his line alone.

What would a Michigander be without an apple in the fall? Apples were Emery's second teething toy at dinner. He manages to get a chunk off here and there but nothing to choke on since he didn't have any teeth yet at this point. He still cannot have fruit but we figured he could at least taste it without doing any harm right?

We introduced puffs as his first finger food since they melt in his mouth. He is also able to drink the leftover breast milk in a sippy after I make his cereal with the first part of it. He seems to do ok with unthickened liquids as long as I put them in a cup and he is not tipped back. Otherwise we are still thickening his liquids because he is still aspirating when he eats, which causes him to be quite congested.

This takes concentration.

We meet with Emery's little NICU buddies from time to time to see how everyone is doing. This is Keegan. He was two beds down from Emery for a couple of weeks. They have both grown so much!

Emery was not happy about his hat.

This is Emery's very last IV bag!!!! Soon we will be able to get his Broviac out and get all of the extra medical supplies and this little fridge out of my house! Yay!!!

...a closer look...no, I can't believe it!

Emery and Lainey waiting patiently for dinner.

Lainey loves to paint.

We were doing some work outside this day, so we decided to get Jimmy Johns for dinner- great sandwiches BTW, you should look them up if you haven't already. Lainey loves getting sandwiches from there. They always have cool rock music playing that she dances to and she gets to have some of mommy's "juice." When we approach the store she always exclaims, "sindich!" On this day I had gone and gotten sandwiches and had them on the table for dinner. As we were finishing up, here comes Lainey out the door with her dinner. "Unch time, guys!"

This was Lainey's second trip to the pumpkin patch this year. The first was with Jason and Ileana- that post is next. :)

We always go with the kids in the neighborhood. This year only Zander could make it.

The kids love the wagon ride back to find their pumpkins.

This about does it for the baby car seat. My little preemie has about outgrown it!

Lainey has spent more time in this toy since I got it out for Emery than she ever did when she got it as a baby.

That's OK, because Emery loves Lainey's Poo car.

Emery is a Stupfel for sure! Look at how he is going after his first piece of bread! He loves it! I can't wait to see the look on his face when I give him his first Pretzel!

Lainey and Momma being silly.

Lainey and her twin, Zander. They had a pajama party/movie night when we watched Zander so his parents could go out.

Tummy time isn't so bad today!

I love this photo of us. We are good friends already.

Emery's first taste of Orange. He looked like he liked it at first....

 ...then he decided, no, definitely not.

That does it for October. You already saw the Halloween post. Next I will post some from Jason and Ileana's trip and from Grandma Pat's visit. Maybe I will even get to Lainey's second birthday party! That was a fun day! Better late than never, I guess!