We started out October with John's 2nd birthday, which was a success. The following weekend I tried to take him to get 2 year photos taken. . .um yeah, that didn't happen. Bummed, but I tried not to expect too much. John wouldn't even let go of my neck! Literally. . .When we got home I wanted to get at least ONE photo of him for his thank you cards, I took him into the office, told him to look at me and smile (which he doesn't do too often) and this is what I got! Yeahhhh! I will take it!
The 1st week of October I also went on Melanie's first field trip with her. I am so thankful that I was able to take a step down at my job and still keep my hours, pay and benefits so that I can do things like this with Melanie. I really struggled when I asked for my job change, but I am glad I did every time I am able to spend more time with my family and not have it be so stressful. We went to the Rice Museum in Hillsboro. Three classes of 2nd graders - wow! It was loud and hectic but a lot of fun. . .and thankfully only 1/2 a day! I don't know how those teachers do it!
I don't have any pictures (mad at myself for that) of mine and Mark's 10th wedding anniversary on Oct. 8 - but it DID happen! :-) We changed our plans several times; first we were going to spend a night in Pacific City at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, then it was staying home and getting a baby sitter and having a night to ourselves and then we settled on just dinner out and getting the kids and having them home with us, it just felt right. We had dinner at the Melting Pot. It was an "experience." Good, but I think Mark and I had big enough belly aches we won't be going back anytime soon. . .oh well, it was nice to have dinner out and to spend some time together. The following weekend Mel and I went to my mom's house in Astoria for a girl's weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. I was all ready to go to the beach or the park or whatever Mel wanted. It was beautiful at the coast, and what did Mel want to do? Watch TV. . .and so we did! I think she was so happy to just have some quiet time, no little brother, no distractions. We did make it out to see a movie and we ordered in pizza for dinner as well. We also had a little scrapping/craft time which Mel seemed to really enjoy and it was the 1st time I have been able to spend 2 hours doing that while Mel worked on her own project, it was nice and a good indication that we can do it again in the future. We had a couple sleeping mishaps, but other than that, all went well. Glad we went and I hope my mom enjoyed the time as well and we didn't drive her too insane! :-)
Most of October has just been BEAUTIFUL! Have a said I LOVE this time of year? It has been sunny most of the month and just really started storming this past weekend. We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. There were LOTS of green pumpkins and really, not much to choose from, which was disappointing to me, but the kids didn't seem to mind much. Remind me next year though not to leave the pumpkins in the car for a week - we now have 1/2 moldy pumpkins - dang it! Mel insisted on one per family member, include Babe and Mike, so we have 6 - wow - insane :-) Oh well...We went to Lakeview Farms again and Mel liked the boat and John like the train. Thankfully we had yaya and papa there to help while we ended up going in two different directions! With that being said, no family pumpkin patch pictures this year...errrrr...
Mel was all over the place, but was timid when she was little. Hopefully John will work his way up to being more comfortable in new situations as well. This was about the only time he got down the entire time, but he seemed to enjoy it nevertheless.
This past weekend my sister (who lives in Illinois) and her hubby (and Mark's childhood friend) came to visit us. Brooke had some work to do in Portland and Seattle so it ended up being a good opportunity to come for a visit. It was so nice to have them here. They haven't been in 3 or 4 years? My sister had some awesome news. . .and we had a good visit with my mom. Brooke and I made the trek to Seattle and I got to see a bit of the city. Mark and Brian even got to get away for some fishing with my dad. We had dinner at my dad and Linda's on Saturday and it was just awesome. I miss having my family here and our big family gatherings and laughing and just being silly, great memories for sure. It went way to quick.
Brooke and I
Aunt Brooke and Mel (hee hee, I just realized the rabbit ears - Mel...)
Mark and Brian on the Columbia with "dad" fishing for sturgeon.
Whose is bigger!?
So, with everything that has been going on, we are rushing to get ready for Halloween. Tonight we started carving the pumpkins. In doing this we realized that Mel is more helpful and enjoys being an active participant instead of just showing dad what she wants and going and sitting on the couch. And that John would rather just take all the pumpkin guts and throw them on the floor! Sigh...after awhile I just gave up cleaning the floor and just waited until the end :-) More pictures to come of the finished products!
John getting great joy playing in the goop, and of course, Mel showing him that way :-)
Melanie preparing the 1st (of 6) pumpkins!
With all that being said, we have had a great month, crazy and hectic, but also stressful and scary. We have been on pins and needles about Mark's health issues and his job, but I am hopeful all is going to work out fine. First, his new position is official and he will be starting as a new Area Coordinator for Kaiser on November 15th. With it brings new opportunities for him and our family and we are very excited. Second, Mark's medical issues...well, we are still waiting...His biopsy of his lung was unsuccessful, which was a huge bummer because he had to go through the whole procedure and weren't able to get what they needed. But, his doctor did get some fluid from his lungs and since then they have been waiting on cultures to form and we are hoping that will yield some answers. As of today, his doctor said it looked like some bacteria were forming so she is going to start him on antibiotics and will do another CT scan to check on the mass in his lung. He will be talking to her this week, so maybe by then we will have some more answers. HOPEFULLY this was all due to some infection he has that can be treated easily and we will get a definitive prognosis and the 2nd biopsy won't be necessary. Needless to say, even though we have been having good moments, it has been hard dealing with the realization that one of us isn't invincible. I know we are in our 30's but it is scary to hear the word "cancer" and to all of a sudden be faced with some medical mystery or something happening to Mark or I. It has been a wake up call for sure. . .we shouldn't have to be thinking, should we up our life insurance, or, what will we tell the kids??? But, hopefully all this worrying will be for naught and it definitely has been an eye opener. . .
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