Trick-or-Treat

Greg and I took Lucy and Ella to see the movie Up earlier this year when it was in the theaters. They both loved it, and Ella instantly became infatuated with Russell, the boy scout character. Her love for him continued, and she asked if she could be Russell for Halloween. We, of course, said yes. Lucy then decided that she should be Carl, the old man in the movie. Hilarious! We all agreed that Audrey would make an adorable Dug, the funny dog.

Lucy as Carl

Ella as Russell

Audrey as Dug

My funny girls

Lucy really got into character...she made her "old man face," talked in a gruff voice, and came up with a Carl walk. She moved slowly and went "step, cane, step, " and took these little steps...sooo funny!

Carl and Russell with Uncle Bill and Lindsey

with Grandpa

We printed out and made a model of the house from the movie, and the girls had balloons...unfortunately, it was a SUPER windy day and the balloons were out of control. They were really cute, though.

After handing out candy at our house, we trick-or-treated at Julie and Patrick's house.

Dug slept most of the day.

From Julie and Patrick's, we headed to Brookfield to trick-or-treat with Kristi, Dan, Chloe, and family.

Kristi's mom, Jo, was sweet enough to push the stroller and deal with the balloons...thanks again, Jo!

The Simek family

me and KJ

Kristi's sister, Megan, and her husband, Morgan

We saw some great Halloween decorations and had tons of fun walking around, but it got pretty cold. We ate at Qdoba for dinner...yum!

Afer dinner we hung out at the Simeks' house...thanks for a wonderful night, guys!

Wilinski Playdate

My cousin Peg brought her kids Alex, Andrew, and Christopher over to play and have lunch. We did some Halloween art projects and put on Halloween tatoos, which the kids are showing off in the picture. Thanks to "Peggy and the boys" for such a fun visit!

Sweet Baby Audrey

Audrey at 12 weeks...

Carving Pumpkins

Greg had the girls draw their pumpkin faces with eraseable markers...they went all out.

Neither girl wanted to touch the guts, so Daddy did a lot of scooping.

Lucy tried to smile just like her pumpkin with LOTS of teeth!

The final products!

Vern's Shower

Audrey and I went to my cousin Veronica's wedding shower last Sunday...she is getting married to Matt on January 3rd! We are so excited for them--they are an adorable couple!

Matt & Vern

Vern and her mom, Donna

Audrey Mae

Simon and his mommy, Christy

Baby Danny

My mom holding Audrey, my grandma Audrey, and my Aunt Chris holding her grandson, Danny

cousins: Annie, Laura, Diane, Cari, me, and Amy

We love you, Vernie!

Happy Halloween!

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It's just funny.

Torticollis Update

We had Audrey's Physical Therapy evaluation today at St. Joe's. As Greg and I thought, her torticollis is on the mild side, which is good news. However, even though it's mild, we have a long road ahead of us. I will be taking Audrey to PT every Friday for at least a few months, if not longer. We will probably continue PT until Audrey starts pulling herself up and is starting to walk (usually around a year old), but our appointments will hopefully be less frequent at that point. Greg and I will continue to do stretches with her at home and encourage her to look to her left every chance we get. We are happy to be aggressively working on this and are anxious to see more progress! I am nervous about having Lucy and Ella at the (already stressful) PT appointments, though--I will be involved in Audrey's treatment there, and will be crossing my fingers each week that the girls cooperate and are on their best behavior so that I can focus on Audrey. Please continue keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, and we will continue to keep you updated!

Part of Your World

Yes, it's another video. Ella has memorized the song "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, and it's the sweetest thing you've ever heard.

Yay for Daddy!

We are sooo happy to announce that Greg passed his written boards! Woo-hoo!

Halloween Candy

This video is a little wierd for me...both girls are standing waaaay too still and are waaay too calm, especially considering that they are singing about candy.

Oma and Opa visit

Oma and Opa came for a visit this past weekend! Greg had to work most of the weekend, so we visited him for dinner on Friday. He's at Children's Hospital this month, so we got to see where he's been working and check out the gorgeous hospital. Saturday we hung out at home and ran some errands...we bought a new area rug and curtains for our new playroom! Mark and Ellen agreed to store our dining room furniture for us, so we have been working hard on painting and clearing the room out to make it a playroom. Greg was unfortunately back at work on Sunday. Mark and I loaded up the trailer and Auntie Julie came for a visit...after some quality play time, it was time for naps and for Oma, Opa, and Julie to head home. That night, Mom and Dad brought over a delicious dinner and let me get things ready for Monday. Thanks to everyone for helping out over the weekend--I really appreciate having company and help with the girls when Greg can't be around. We had tons of fun!

Five Little Pumpkins

Here's Lucy and Ella saying the "Five Little Pumpkins" poem...

...and here's Lucy saying it 2 years ago!

Halloween Fun

While our house has been decorated for fall for a few weeks now, I have waited to bring out the girls' Halloween stuff so that they weren't bored with it by the time Halloween came around. I surprised them with a table full of stuff from previous years--trick-or-treat buckets, finger puppets, figurines, etc.--when they got home from running some errands with Greg. Then, after nap, we gave Lucy and Ella some bags full of new Halloween fun.

Dressed in Halloween tees

Excited to see presents!

Tearing in

New witch costume for Snap n' Style doll

Sweet masks

with Uncle Billy the witch

Hoodie

2 Months

Audrey Mae is 2 months old! She is the sweetest baby around. This past month she had been much more alert and had fallen into a little bit of a daily routine. She's still doing great at night--we even had a 5 hour stretch! Needless to say, I am hoping for more of those... Audrey's smiles are adorable--however, they have been nearly impossible to catch with the camera. We will continue to work on that!

*

Audrey had her 2 month check up yesterday, when she was officially 9.5 weeks old. She weighed in at 13 pounds and was 23 inches long. Unfortunately, Dr. Richer found that Audrey has torticollis, which means that the muscles on the right side of her neck are very tightly contracted and cause her to look to the right almost all of the time. As soon as the doctor said she spends too much time looking to the right, I had images of Audrey in her carseat, on the floor, in bed, etc. run through my head, and she IS always turned to the right. We have an inital evaluation at the Pediatric Physical Therapy department at St. Joe's in a week and a half, and will learn much more about all of this then. We have to take this very seriously and will be making adjustments in our day to day routine--Greg and I have to do stretches with her at every diaper change and have her face to the left as often as possible. She absolutely hates the stretches, but if this problem can't be fixed with therapy, she may end up having to wear a helmet or have surgery. While this isn't the worst news we could get at a doctor's appointment, it certainly was a lot to take in. Working with her and trips to therapy are going to put some additional stress on out household, so please keep us and our little pumpkin in your prayers!