October_2011

Ah October the month of Treats and Pumpkins.

This month was another month of normal, well lets just say life. It was fully of busy schedules, upcoming events and visitors. It was full of diapers, Sunday and Monday night football, doctors, work and school. Oh yeah and new neighbors!

C found himself in the midst of his first Halloween, and he had a blast. Alas before he could enjoy the festivities he had to go to the doctor. Rachel noticed he was not only spitting up more than usual but he was throwing up all his food. Thus the diagnosis of Reflux. Once again boarding the reflux train. Luckily C has taken well to the medication and is doing much better with it all. He did give Rachel a hard time with his growth spurt  He suddenly wanted to eat every hour and actually fit snugly into his newborn clothes. The good news is he's growing and healthy!The bad news, the reflux brought on colic, so needless to say Rachel has her hands quite full.

How is Rachel? Well she is exhausted but making it. She is determined to get the house back under control. However the sleep when baby sleeps just takes effect offten. Taylor has come home many a times to see Rachel asleep with laundry in her lap. But she did eventually get the house in order and looking well great. She is on top of things now.

L is doing well in school and making ever more progress. She loves to paint and does it every day that she is at school. Then she tells Rachel all about what she painted. She just talks and talks and talks. She has now also started 'taking care' of her baby dolls. She will feed them, changes their diapers and even wrap them up in C's blankets. Clearly she has been watching Rachel very closely. Not only that but she has been very clingy to Taylor as of late. She bombards the poor guy as soon as he walks through the door.

Taylor is stressed to the max with work. He has been getting his reenlistment package ready and it is being sent up this month. Hopefully by Thanksgiving he will know, or have a general idea as to what is going on. Other than that he just wanted to take Leah trick or treating, and get the fun underway.

So everyone went to the pumpkin patch and decorated the house. Rachel decided to go to a local church's pumpkin patch this year instead of Mike's Farm. Mainly because Mike's prices to a spot on the high dive. It was a fantastic time. L ran all over the place picking up every pumpkin she could. It took twenty minutes before Taylor finally lined up a few and told her to pick from those. She was just so excited to paint and carve. When the cleaning and carving got underway Taylor decided to tell L that she was scooping the 'pumpkin's brains' out. And that mommy was going to make a 'pumpkin brain pie'. She got a kick out of that. So with her pumpkin painted and the family one carved things we all set.

After all of that Rachel's parents came down for a visit, mainly because Maya didn't get to spend much time with L and C while they were in Maryland, she was taking care of her mother. However Rachel's grandmother was doing so well that Maya felt confident enough to come and see the grand kids  The visit was very enjoyable and Rachel loved having some extra hands around. She actually got some extra sleep!

As always Rachel had plans to keep everyone busy before trick-or-treating. Rachel, Taylor, Grandda and L went to the haunted hayride at Mike's Farm while Grandma stayed behind with C, it was far to cold for him. The next night was a festival at a local park where L dressed up as a princess and went on another hayride. She got to go on a train ride for kids and play in an inflatable bouncy house.

So what everyone has been waiting for is the trick-or-treating. Taylor, Rachel and L were pirates and C was the pet monkey. It was too cold for him and calling for rain. Grandma and Granda stayed with C and passed out candy while Taylor and Rachel walked L around the neighborhood. L was too tired to go through the whole development and it started to rain on us on the way back but she filled her bucket with candy and she had a great time. It was a great experience.

It was a great month. Stay tuned to hear about next months adventures with Taylor's birthday, the Marine Corps ball and Thanksgiving in Maryland.

September_2011

Well as September comes to a close the Jewell's finally experienced a month full of 'baby bliss'.

They had all survived the horrid drive from Maryland to North Carolina. Of course they stopped because of new addition C! Oh yes and to visit family along the way so the drive was extremely broken up. It literally took all day. Thank goodness Taylor's mother was able to drive Rachel and C so Rachel could sit in the back seat with him. As always L loved ridding in the Jeep with her Daddy and dog Allie.

So everyone was happy to finally be home and settled. However with every joy comes sadness, while Rachel was in the hospital with C so was her grandmother with lots of trouble breathing. Turns out that her grandmother had fluid building up on her lungs and needed dialysis to empty her lungs so she could breath properly  She was admitted for several weeks in the ICU. After some time she was sent home on hospis with a physical therapist coming to do sessions at home with her. Now she is on the mend in a nursing home for her physical therapy and the girls (Rachel's mom Maya and her two Aunts) take her to her dialysis sessions and stay at the nursing home with her.

Rachel is doing extremely well. She is tired as anyone would be, but she is adjusting to the new, busy life with flying colors. Taylor is also doing well. As the return of his unit creeps closer he is extremely busy at work. Luckily Rachel and the children were at a portion of the homecoming to ease his tension  She is taking pictures of the homecoming for her girlfriend. Rachel was so thrilled that they already knew someone in the battalion and it just happened to be one of her best friends! After that Taylor's work live was well back to normal.

Taylor loves having a son. And he gets quite a kick out of watching L help take care of him. Of course he is enjoying football season, glad he can watch it this year; mainly because he is corrupting C.  He is quite enjoying making him the newest Ravens fan. They all pile on the couch in their purple jerseys and watch the game. L loves it when they score a touchdown, she throws her arms in the air, jumps up and down screaming at the top of her lungs.

L LOVES being a big sister. She tells EVERYONE that she has a baby brother and that she is the best big sister. She likes to inform about what C is doing, "Mommy C is crying. He needs a pacifier" or "Daddy C pooped, eww, it's stinky." She is such a big helper that no one minds the constant questions and updates as to what C is doing. 

L also got to go to her first day at preschool! She had a rough first few weeks with clinging to Rachel's leg and crying but, as with every child, she grew out of it. She loves going to school and frequently asks if she can go everyday instead of just two. It is a Montessori school so she is learning so much at a rapid rate. In just her first week of going she has socially developed so much. She even started singing along with the radio, actually singing the words to the song verbatim  Taylor and Rachel are extremely proud of her! They love seeing her progress and succeed. She even enjoys doing things all on her own. It is a huge milestone!

C is exceptionally well. He is eating and sleeping like a little champ. He just loves to be held which so far is not so bad, however, concerns rise to it being a problem down the road. Like any infant he hates tummy time but he gets over it. His first doctor's appointment went well and his growth is all on track. Taylor and Rachel couldn't be more excited about that,

So all in all the laundry is piling up, there are dishes in the sink and play-dough in L's hair but for now the Jewell's are enjoying the newest member of the family.

Stay tuned for more excitement.