"It's Fall! It's Fall! I love it all!"

Around here we love fall--it holds so many dear memories to us--falling in love at York College, getting engaged, Thanksgivings spent with family . . . . We love the colors, the smells, the weather of fall.  And now to make it even sweeter our precious Elanor's birthday marks the beginning of this favorite season!

September 22--Elanor's birthday. I can't believe she is two years old! Children change so quickly and completely in the first few years of life. I love discovering this new little person and watching her blossom and unfold before my eyes.  She is such a joy to us!  Funny, quirky, spicy, so affectionate, imaginative, adventurous!

Newborn



One year old





Two years old!

Here are some updates on what this terrific two year old loves--climbing, playgrounds are one of her favorite destinations and when we are not at one, our patio tree will suffice.  She loves to read and read and read, often sitting next to the book shelf for long periods of time pulling one book out after another to peruse their pages and telling stories to herself in a sweet sing-song voice.  Singing--"Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Frere Jacques", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me" all being favorites.  Pretending to be a kitty cat, a princess, a fairy, and most of all "baby bird".  In her imagination we are often all a bird family--mommy bird, baby bird, daddy bird and sister bird!  We live in a "cozy nest" and daddy bird flies home from work to be with us.  Baby bird likes to snuggle and eat seeds and sleep in her cozy nest.  She often pretends this as she is falling asleep at night. Other favorite activities include painting and drawing, dancing, dressing up with Hannah, pretending "Peter Pan and Tinkerbell", or "Mary Poppins" with Hannah, taking care of her dolls--feeding them, pushing them around in their strollers, putting them to bed, and being outside any chance she can get!

To celebrate our "purrfect" little girl we had a kitty cat themed party! We invited our life group friends to an outing in the park where each kid brought their favorite stuffed cat!  When we were all hungry and tired we headed over to our house for some soup, presents, and of course cake and ice-cream.  It was a sweet, fun time with friends and Elanor seemed to really enjoy herself!  Enjoy the pictures!

On her real birthday we had a little family celebration with gifts and cupcakes!

(I think the band-aids were her favorite present!:))

In the last picture is the book (Night Time Is For Sleeping) that I made for Elanor to help introduce the idea of not nursing in the night anymore.  A few days later we started night weaning and after a few nights of crying a lot and being helped back to sleep by snuggling and rocking instead of nursing she no longer asks to nurse in the middle of the night!  I wish this also meant she longer wakes up in the night but unfortunately she still wakes up two to three times a night. Oh well!  Someday she will no longer need me in the night and I'll probably miss her sweet, warm little presence next to me.

We are so thankful of our "gift of light" and that God chose to place her in our family!