Fall! I love fall! Cooler temps all around! ;) I just finished going through all of my photos of last fall and man, it was a great one. I am really glad we took advantage of every fall festival that we could in 2019 since it looks like 2020 has cancelled most of them. I really love the relief that fall brings to the Texas heat and the feeling of getting back into a good routine. With Jane starting Kindergarten in 2019 and Flynn due in December we had the feeling of a great new routine but at the same time knowing that it was all about to change.
To kick off the fall season my A/C broke right before the weather cooled off. It was still 90+ degrees outside, so we had to get it fixed right away. It was a much warmer welcome to the third trimester than I wanted! I had a Reliant A/C protect plan and the soonest they could come out was the next morning. So I packed up the kids just one day after returning home from the beach and spent the night at my parents' house. Sam stayed home with Cambria and a window A/C unit borrowed from my parents. Scott and Anna were still in town so we got another day all together which was fun! The next morning the repair guy was late and then he was also terrible and tried soooo hard to convince us to buy a completely new unit when he could just replace the part that was broken for sooo much cheaper. Also he charged double what the local guys would charge us and the A/C plan only paid for half of it. All in all it was an absolutely terrible experience with that plan. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! I cancelled the plan the next day. Finally we convinced him after half an hour that we did not want to buy a new unit right then and he fixed it. So grateful to have a cool house again.
I'm pretty sure our favorite Heart field trip so far was the Atascocita Fire Station Tour. The firefighters were so kind and informative. They showed us every room in the firehouse and the kids got to do so much!! They went down the special fireman slide, tried on the gear, sat in the firetruck and even got use the fire hose to knock down some cones. It was fun to go through the tour with our new park friends, the Cotas. Atlas loved getting to see all the fire rescue vehicles up close.
This is what I look like at 31, no make up, no hair color, no filter. I will say I was having a good hair day. I just wanted to take a minute to document what 31 looks and feels like for me to remember later on. I feel pretty good! I feel like I always have at least 10 pounds I want to lose, but I'm pretty content with my body and appearance. I don't have almost any complaints other than 3rd trimester symptoms and my weak ankles that have pretty much always plagued me. After 6 years of being either pregnant or nursing I'm ready to have my body back to myself again soon. Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful to have carried my 4 children and nursed them, but maybe by the time I'm 32 or 33 I won't be buying clothes and always be considering how nursing friendly they are or if they could double as maternity clothes.
The day after my birthday I received a visit from my sweet friend Kae! Her and her daughter Rose were driving through on their way to visit another friend in Louisiana and made sure to stop by for some play time and dinner! We are always so excited to see them since visits are not as frequent as we would like. Living 3 hours apart and both having small children will do that. Life had gotten in the way of us getting together for the past couple of years but in 2019 we were able to see each other 3 times. It was such a blessing. I love looking back through my pictures of our past visits through the years and watching Jane and Rose grow up next to each other. It's so much fun.
A couple of my fellow park mommas told me they were starting a small co-op group for their pre-school/Kindergarten kiddos. I loved the idea but wasn't sure if I could add anything else to my plate. A few things helped me dive in. 1. We were meeting at a senior living community just a few minutes away. 2. It was only every other week. and 3. I would only have to lead every few months. It also helped that some of our best homeschool friends were a apart of it. It was great! Definitely a successful, easy going, fun co-op.
This... this is a hard one to process. This is the last time I saw my grandfather before his cancer diagnosis was made. We thought he just had some bad inflammation and was back home to recover from a brief hospital stint. Sadly we were wrong. But I am so very grateful for this visit. The kids had so much fun decorating cookies with Mama. You can see Papa looking on behind Jane with a smile. :) After the cookies were done, Jane asked about the wagon. Since Atlas was 5 months old Papa has been getting this wagon out just about every visit and taking them for a walk around the block. Well, I didn't know it at the time but this was the last walk around the block. We all thought maybe he wasn't recovered enough to pull them but he didn't say a word and we didn't say he shouldn't. He made it all the way around no problem. I'm so glad I captured the moment. He was strong even when he was sick. Even though we were thinking he should save his strength to get all the way better, it ended up that he would never be better than he was right then. Maybe he didn't know for sure that it was his last chance, but he wasn't going to let it slip away if it was. He spent his life loving people, I want to be just like him in that way.
It's always sad when swim season comes to a close. Part of me is ok with it since it's a lot of work with 3 little kids but we really start to miss it once the cold weather kicks in. One thing to look forward to with the last swim is that Cambria gets to join in! My dad lets her swim at the end of the swim season because he's about to clean his pool filters anyway. The kids loved it! Cambria hadn't been in the pool since she was a puppy and this dog didn't want to get out of the water! I had to reassure her that it was ok to get in the pool and then I had to show her where to get out the first time but after that she knew how to get out and just chose to keep swimming around the pool until she just tuckered out. I'm pretty sure she was sore the next day. ;)
Pretty much as soon as Jane turned 3 I made her a dentist appointment because she has always loved everything medical. Our dentist waits until they are 3 to have their first appointment that way they are old enough to be calm and listen to instructions. With Atlas I knew he needed a little more time to mature and be able to stay still for a teeth cleaning. Finally, when he told me he wanted to go the dentist and said he would stay still and listen while he was there, I made his first appointment. He was 3 and a half by then. It went splendidly though! He did an awesome job. He had a great example from watching Jane do so well at the dentist during her appointments. His teeth looked great too! He was never a thumb sucker and would not take a bottle or a pacifier as a baby, so they were really happy with how the teeth in his mouth were structured. I'm so glad I don't have to break another thumb sucking habit. It wasn't easy!
I had my last ultrasound with Flynn at 31 weeks. Since he's my last baby I wanted to do a special 3D ultrasound later in my pregnancy when he was nice and plump. I've only ever had 3D ultrasounds at around 18 weeks with my previous pregnancies for the gender ultrasound. At that point they are still pretty tiny! Flynn was being so shy at the appointment and would not bring his hands away from his face. Our sweet Ultrasound tech, Chenel, tried everything to get him to move! Finally we succeeded! He showed his sweet face right at the end. I'm so glad I splurged and had that last optional ultrasound. The 3D ultrasounds are really amazing. Babies are miracles and are just as precious in the womb as they are outside of it. I honestly don't know how anyone can deny it. Soooo thankful for all of my babies. <3
After trying the earlier Friday kinderstars class through the summer we decided to switch back to the Thursday evening class. One reason was because swim season was over and Jane wouldn't be missing out on any swimming at Marmee's house, another reason was because for the first time Jane had someone she didn't get along with at the Friday class. Jane said it was because the girl always seemed mad at her and never let her take turns when they were paired up together which was a lot since they were in the same skill level. In most cases I'd like for her to work it out instead of avoiding it but for this case since they only saw each other for 1 hour a week and there's very little chatting allowed during class I didn't see her getting much of a chance to work it out. The last reason is that Coach Ashley (one of Jane's very first coaches) was coaching kinderstars again on Thursdays only. Jane showed so much improvement with just a couple of classes back with Ashley. Ashley is very specific with her class and knows how to bring out the best in Jane. Sadly Ashley's schedule filled up again and she only coached that class for about a month or two after we switched. We still liked the Thursday class so we stuck with it. Around Halloween they let the girls dress up and trick or treat around the facility. Jane decided to be Moana.
When Atlas was less than a year I became an Usborne Books Consultant for about 3 months. During that season I did so many facebook book parties that I wore myself out with them. I didn't do another social media party for 3 years. Finally I broke down after a friend needed someone to book a party to earn their double rewards. My book party turned out super successful! More than I ever hoped for and I earned $400 in free books!! :O Amazing! I hate bugging people about book parties but this was totally worth it. I knew I wanted to do a book advent calendar for Christmas with most of the books. It turned out great! We really love Usborne books! Looking at this picture I'm realizing most of these books became instant favorites. Maybe I'll do another party in a couple of years. ;)
Near the end of October we took our last trip before Flynn was born to visit the Williams and Scott and Anna. It was a wonderful trip. I do remember Xan sleeping terribly though. We spent our first evening watching the Astros in the playoffs at Scott and Anna's house. Scott made us a fire to roast marshmallows on too! The reason Xan's sleep was way off was because we stayed at Scott's until after bedtime and I thought the kids would crash and transfer to their beds fine. But no, Xan thought the drive back was a nap and was completely awake. Oy! Oh well, the family time was still worth it! The rest of the trip we spent hanging out and relaxing with the Williams and doing a fair amount of swimming. On Saturday evening Scott and Ellis and my good friend Kae and her kids came to swim and eat dinner with all of us. It was so wonderful to have so many people I love together and enjoying each other. That night we watched Altuve hit a home run to send the Astros into the world series. I remember talking to Stephanie about Papa and she asked how I thought he seemed since I had just seen him a couple weeks back. I said he was weak but seemed to be recovering. It was the last time I was so certain that he would be just fine and nothing was seriously wrong. Sunday was a lazy day and I fondly recall sitting out on the balcony with Jane in the morning waiting for Atlas and Xan to wake up. It was a sweet moment with my big girl.
Gosh, it's stressful when your team is in the world series! I feel silly for caring so much. But I've been an Astros fan my whole life and it's in my blood. My grandfather was a Colt 45s fan before they were the Astros! There was a little bit of a weight off since they won the world series just two years before but man it would have been fun for them to win again. We watched every game and it took a toll on the bedtime routine. As much fun as it is to cheer on your team I'm glad when it's over and I can get back to normal. ;) I'm sad they didn't win but they played a good series, that's all I can ask. Hats off to the Nationals. If the Astros hadn't been in the world series I would have been rooting for them. Even with all of the cheating craziness that came out afterwards, I'm still a fan. I think I always will be. Baseball will always be my favorite sport.
I'm always trying to find great indoor playgrounds that are free to the public. We were so sad when the Humble First playground didn't put their open playground times back on the calendar in the fall. So I went on the search and found one at Kingwood United Methodist Church. It's not Humble but it's still great! There are more available times to play and they make their outdoor playground available too. We ran into some of our Gymnastics friends while we were there which made it more fun. After trying it out the first time I put a play date on the Heart calendar. I had a bunch of people sign up but no one ended up coming which was weird. Oh well, we still had fun! I thought we would be back but I never got another day in before COVID came down on us all. Maybe we'll get to go back one day.
Fall part 2 coming soon!
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,
