Jonah Is FINALLY In A Big Bed!

After we got home from our trip in September, we decided that Jonah was sleeping a little better with his meds and that we should finally move him into a big bed.  After all, he is THREE AND A HALF!  My other kids were in beds a year before that!  And poor little Nathan wasn't sleeping very well in the pack 'n play anymore.  So Brandon took apart the bunk beds.  The original plan was for Jacob and Jonah to share a room, but Jonah's still not sleeping quite well enough for that yet.  To be honest, I don't know if Jonah will ever be able to share a room.  We'll have to see how he does in the distant future because he's suppose to share with Nathan eventually so Jacob, being the oldest, can have his own room.

For now we lock Jonah in his room (aren't we cruel?) really for his own safety and the sanity of everyone else in the family (he'd wake everyone up).  We're still experimenting with meds.  We have found some that help a little, but nothing that keeps him asleep all night.  Brandon also installed an amazing night camera in Jonah's room that records his sleep right on our computer.  We can watch the night in fast forward.  We have noticed now that Jonah's not sleeping quite as well as we thought he was on his meds.  But we're experimenting with the meds and charting the results, a very time consuming process.  Hopefully we can find something to help him.  The camera has been very informative for us.  Bless his heart, he tries SO hard to sleep!  We are trying hard to find answers for our little guy.  We're grateful that he's so high functioning, but at the same time it's making it very difficult to get answers or help.  We're proud of you, Jonah, for trying so hard to sleep and be a good boy.  We love you!

Jacob, the Cub Scout

We now have our first Cub Scout!  Jacob turned 8 and entered the world of scouting.  Scouting is everything he loves so I think he'll do well with it.  He was grounded one week so I took advantage of the time with him and knocked out his Bobcat award.  I'm sure that'll be the easiest merit badge he ever earns.  This is all a new world to me.  I have no idea what I'm doing or what order all these things like Wolf, Webelos, etc. go in.  I guess I'll be learning because we have (gulp) THREE boys coming up to do Scouts!

 Here is Jacob pinning me with my mother's pin.  The back of the pin dropped down my shirt (whoops!) so I just told him that was good enough and waited for a more opportune moment to dig it out.

The Scout leader tells the boys they have to kiss their mothers or kiss the church plunger (gross!).  Can you see how red Jacob's face is?  Here's to lots more scouting!

Halloween Fun

We had a fun October doing our favorite Halloween and fall traditions!

 We always love going to the pumpkin patch with our cousins.  The kids love the hay maze, running around the pumpkin patch looking for beautiful pumpkins that we won't buy (they're so expensive at these places), climbing on the displays set out for photo opportunities like this tractor, and then home for hot chocolate and donuts.  At least we didn't really lose anyone this year!

 Everyone chooses their favorite pumpkin to sit on for a picture, and then tight-wad mom buys them an itty bitty $1 pumpkin.  Hey, they still love it so why not!

 Nathan's so cute I couldn't resist just adding one more picture!

 We also love going to Gardner Village with our neighbors to see the witches and do the scavenger hunt for a cookie from the bakery.  My neighbor has 3 boys, making 6 boys between the two of us.  Sarah is our only girl, but she's use to being with boys and is a good sport!  Why we always go on UEA is beyond me.  I must love to torture myself.  It just seems like the best time to go.  The problem is that 10,000 other people think so too!

 Our daddy is the master pumpkin carver. The kids draw their designs and Daddy makes them come to life.  That's one job I'm glad he's willing to take on because I hate carving pumpkins!

 Here are the kids with their cute jack-o-lanterns!  Poor Nathan just gets a baby pumpkin this year!

 Jacob wanted to be a hunter/frontiersman/Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett or whatever else you can come up with for this costume.

 Sarah wanted to be a southern belle.  Isn't she sweet?  I told her to say, "Hey, y'all!" to everyone.  I always wanted to be a southern belle since I grew up in the south and saw them dressed up on the big plantations you could visit.

 Jonah was Buzz Lightyear, since Jacob was when he was 3.  I made it sound super exciting and Jonah couldn't wait to put the costume on.  I dread the day he has his own opinions and doesn't want his brother's hand-me-down's any longer.

 Nathan was a darling duck, but would only do an occasional "quack, quack."  Oh well, we'll keep working on it.

And here's all 17 grandchildren on Nanny's and Papa's porch.  Our oldest nephew doesn't dress up anymore, but he's a good sport to participate and "oh and aw" over the little one's costumes.  (Sigh)  They're growing up too fast!