Pumpkin Patch!

It is officially fall, the leaves are turning colors and the cool air at night. Kansas looks so pretty in the fall. I enjoy the beautiful colors and with fall comes pumpkin time. Today Payton had her first adventure to the Pumpkin patch. My mom and Erin met us at our house with Roxanne and Aubrey. We went to the Cider Mill and had donuts and fresh apple cider. I ordered Mitch and I hot apple cider, and of course burned my mouth, and tongue. I hate that feeling that is left after you burn it. Your mouth feels terrible for 2 days after that. Once we were done with our donuts and attempting to take some pictures drove to The Powell Pumpkin Patch. They played on the hay bails and all around the hundreds of pumpkins. It rained the day before so it was pretty muddy. Roxanne did not like that mud was on her shoes, but they had a great time.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Payton found a pumpkin that was just her size. We ended up coming home with three pumpkins. One for each one of us in the family. We have our pumpkin family sitting out on the front porch. I love when we can have family days on such a beautiful day. Kristen and Josh Levitt also came along for the fun. Payton can hardly wait for Halloween to get here so she can get all dressed up.

On the way home from the pumpkin patch we stopped to pick up Payton her big girl car seat. She has officially graduated into a car seat now and we have put up her infant carrier. She looks so much bigger sitting in a car seat. Payton then got to spend the evening with Daddy and mommy went to work.

Weekend road trip

We went to Springfield this last weekend. Payton got to go on her first road trip to go see her Uncle Sean. We had a great time. We arrived Wednesday night and had a wonderful surprise Thursday morning. A flat tire, yes that is always a treat, and of course it couldn't be patched so we got to buy a new one. We got to go see the new building Sean teaches in and while he had class on Thursday, we took Payton for her first Brandson experience. She could hardly contain her excitement. We did a little shopping at the outlet mall and then drove back to Springfield.
Payton was excellent the entire trip. She let us all run around and she slept great all the way there and home. We walked down to a park at the end of Sean's street and she had her first encounter with swinging, she loved it. Friday Sean had a barbecue at his new house in honor of Payton visiting. Mom and Dad are just chop liver. She played with everyone and let anyone hold her and talk to her. We also went to a tailgate party on Saturday morning before there Homecoming football game. The weekend was fast but lots of fun and then we drove home Saturday afternoon.
I got a wild idea and cut off all my long hair before we left town on Wednesday. It will hopefully help out. Payton just pulls it all the time and I never really had much time to try and do it and make it look nice and out of a ponytail. So I just went for it, we will see how I like it, only time will tell.

Baby profing

We have been working on baby proofing the house. We put up our baby gate and I took down a couple of breakable candle stands. I am not really putting a lot away, she isn't really left unattended to wonder around the house. We will see what all she tries to go after. So far the only target she aims for are the two moving targets, Bailey and Bentley. I timed it out well in honor of baby proofing we got a dining room set.
We got it yesterday and it looks great. I am so excited. It actually looks weird to have furniture in that room because since we have lived there it has been empty. The furniture is a nice dark wood and makes the first floor look complete. The dogs lost their room where they roll around and attack each other. I guess they will have to do that outside more often.
We also got the news on Friday that Mitch will be having knee surgery again. This makes the 5th one. Poor guy he is limping around and hurting pretty bad. They are going to go in clean out all of the scar tissue that has built up. It is probably his last step before a total knee replacement. We are hoping to get it done the day before Thanksgiving, so he will have a long weekend to recover before returning back to work. Mitch also started his new position at Cerner this last Monday. So far so good, it wasn't a very busy week for him but he is getting his feet wet. Well that about sums up our new news.

On the MOVE!!

It is hard to believe but Payton is on the move. Yes she can crawl, well army crawl but still she can move. It is like it happened overnight. She has been able to do some wiggles and get something that she wants after a while. Now you can put a toy that she wants a couple feet in front of her and she makes a bee line right for it. It doesn't take her very long either. Then she gets so excited once she has it in her possession. It is the greatest thing just watching all that she learns so fast. She is also learning to stand up holding on the furniture. She can't pull herself yet but if you put her down standing then she will hold on and keep standing.
We are getting ready for winter, Mitch is finishing up things around the house. Today he fixed some boards on the fence that the kids next door broke with a baseball. Then he mowed our yard and his parents yard, tomorrow he is aerating both yards. He also has to power wash the garage and driveway to put some sealant on them. He will be a busy little worker bee in between work and school. Those are things that I can't really help with either, other than taking care of Payton and letting him get them all done.
I got to experience for the first time what having a sick baby is like. Not really all that much fun. When I got home from work on Tuesday night around 11:30 and crawled into bed. I was then woke up around 1:15am, we were then up for the most of the rest of the night. I finally got her to sleep for a couple of hours by 6am. I gave her some Tylenol for the second time and she slept from 6-9. That was helpful. Apparently that is what happens with a baby who has a cold and is teething. We thought she might have ear infections but when we went to the doctor the next day they said her ears looked good. She has been sleeping normally the last 2 nights. I felt so bad for her though, she was crying so much and sounded terrible it just broke my heart. I just tried to make her comfortable and kept rocking her. I like when I get to see her happy not hurting. Well I guess that is enough rambling for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend

I love this time of year. Fall is so pretty, I am loving the temperature right now. I really wish that it would stay like this for a couple of months. We have to got to have the windows open and enjoying the fresh air. I really want to get some mumms for the front yard, orange ones they would look so pretty for fall. I still need to set out my scarecrow's and hay bails to complete the front of the house.
It is getting close to the time when mema and poppop return to Arizona for the winter. They have been great helping out with Payton during certain times. They help on Tuesdays because I work and Mitch has school that night. He is doing great, at least the program is underway. It should hopefully fly by and be done before we know it.
I am learning that with a baby it is so hard to keep up with everything. Each day goes faster than the one before it. I am beginning to understand why everyone says the older you get the faster time flys. I totally agree it just keeps going by so fast. We are waiting for Payton to take off. On Friday she discovered how to pull up her knees and was on all fours. She can rock back and forth and any time she will be on the move. Then I will be running all around like a crazy mommy. Beware dogs she will be on the move to come and get you. She has gotten good at trying to pinch their ears.

Labor Day weekend

This weekend was so much fun. We had our fantasy football draft on Friday night with my family. I got my O-Town boxer team all ready for the year, Mitch and I play against each other along with my grandpa and some of my aunts, uncles and cousins husband. On Saturday we had lunch with the other side of my family at my parents house. We have 5 people that all have birthday's in August so we had lunch to celebrate them all. The girls all played for a little while and of course loved the chocolate cake. Then we rushed home to get ready for a friends wedding.
The wedding was downtown Kansas City where we got to wittiness the union of Mr. & Mrs. Jeremy Wilson. The wedding was beautiful. The best part was when I had to get up in the middle of it to rush Payton and I to bathroom. Yes having a baby sitting on your lap during the wedding being quite just watching what was going on is great. It gets even better when you realize that you shirt is all wet because her diaper was leaking and it got all over me. That was the highlight. I was wearing a cream colored skirt by the way. Amy got up and followed me to the bathroom to lend a hand and get us both cleaned up. It could have been much worse than it really was, thank goodness it wasn't.
We had so much fun at the reception. The food was great, music awesome and of course it was an open bar, even better. We danced the night away and had a blast the last night that Luke and Amy were in town before they go to Florida and they won't be back until Christmas. Mitch and I even got the night off, because my parents went to the wedding also and they took Payton home with them, so Mom and Dad just got to party and have fun until the early morning.
Sunday came quickly and we went to church were we got to see Payton, mom and dad brought her with them. That was the second time that she spend the night away from us. She did great. We went shopping for a while. Payton loves to go shopping I have been making sure that she gets lots of practice so she is a pro when she older. I then go the honor or working that night. I worked overnight at the plaza, which was pretty slow because of the Holiday. While I took a short nap Monday morning Mitch took Payton over to see Grandma and Grandpa Lyman for the morning and he cut grass. Then surprised me when he woke me up and took me on a picnic for lunch. It was a beautiful day we sat under a tree and ate lunch. Then we went to Mom and Dad's house to enjoy the last day by the pool for the year. Payton took a nap and the four of just sat in the sun and visited for a while. We cooked out some hamburgers and had a nice relaxing day.
Summer is so great being outside and enjoying the nice weather it is so hard to believe that it's now September and the cold weather will soon blow in and then everyone will be inside for the winter. I am not ready for shorter days and winter coats. I enjoy seeing all the kids out in the neighbor hood playing games and going on a run with Payton. Before we know I will showing you all Payton picture in her Halloween costume.

Payton is 6 months already

It is so hard to believe, she is already 6 months old. It feels like she has been here forever but at the same time it feels like she was just born yesterday. I felt so bad yesterday, it was the first time that she didn't feel well. She got all congested on Thursday and didn't feel good on Friday or today. I just held her and cuddled her and tried to make her feel better. We sat in the guest bathroom a couple of times in the steam to try and break up the mucus. That was fun. She looked awful cute when we came out of the bathroom, her head was a curly mess of hair from it being so hot.
So Mitch also started school 2 weeks ago. That is going to make life even crazier than it already is. He will work and go to school 2 nights a week and I work 3 nights a week, so that doesn't really leave a whole lot of family time. The good thing is that it is only 18 months, well less than that now. It will be great for the future and might as well get it done now before life gets more crazy.
Monday we have Payton's 6 month check up appointment with Dr. Wichman. We will get to find out how much our little growing girl weighs now. I am guessing close to 17. We will find out. Daddy also gets the pleasure of going to this appointment and he has to hold her down when she gets shots this time instead of mom. I had to be the bad guy the last couple of appointments and this time I can be the all time great mom and just scoop her up after the shots are done and make her feel better. Well I suppose that is all for now. I should get back to work I suppose not that I am really busy obviously.