thus it begins!

the coolest new hang-out in town

Another Adventure in Naptime, or, The Blessing of a Big Sister

Today I desperately tried to get our overly-healthy lawn moved in the precious time when the girls' naps overlapped. I reiterate, this is really, really precious time for me, and I never quite know how long I'll have, since Mabel's nap schedule seems to change every few days. Anyway, I had about 10 or 15 minutes left of mowing to do when I turned off the lawnmower to listen to the baby monitor. Sure enough, Mabel was crying. Not really bad, though, so I thought, I can finish really fast. She'll be okay for a little while longer. So, feeling pretty guilty, I finished up the lawn, then when I turned the mower off, I was expecting to hear the full-fledged wails of a four-month-old who is totally sick of being stuck in her crib and wide awake. Instead, I hear silence. Then, I hear the sweet little voice of a three-year-old chatting with her baby sister. I hear Annie saying something to Mabel, then Mabel cooing back. It was the sweetest little moment to get to listen in on. Annie was asking her about her nap and what she was thinking about. I come in the house, and this is what I find!

mabel chews on things . . . and sits up!

Hello, everybody! It is chilly here in PA this week! All of a sudden we went from air conditioners to space heaters . . . how did that happen so fast? We're being stubborn and not turning on our furnace yet . . . Brant is sure it's going to warm up again in just a few days. So, fall is in full swing! I dug up most of our rotting garden remnants over the weekend. Wow, it was Little Shop of Horrors in there! With all the crazy rain we've had over the last month, stuff was growing like wild! I must have had at least 60 tomatoes still on the vine, all green and ready to turn red, if only it wasn't so cold outside! And I've picked two pumpkins from our impromptu pumpkin patch, with a third almost ready. We hit up what will probably be the final yard sale of the season on Saturday, too. And, good thing--I found so many fall pants and long-sleeve jammies for Annie! 

Mabel is growing like wild, too! She's still so obsessed with gnawing on everything, but no teeth yet . . . 

Her current favorite toy by far is the crinkly-crackly, reflective, sparkling water bottle!

And I discovered this morning that she can legitimately sit up by herself! I think over the last week or so I've been having her sit up in my lap, or in front of me on tabletops, but I just haven't noticed it. Poor second child, just doesn't get much attention. ;-) So, while Annie was taking her wonderful, long afternoon nap, I thought I'd dedicate some photo time just for Mabel and her sweet, sometimes under-appreciated, adorable-ness.

See? She can sit up while holding her monkey toy (a close second in faves) . . .

And she can sit up without him, too!

We love our Mabel so much!!

Mabel is both delighted by and scared of her toys

Annie and Mabel are coloring at the kitchen table

Mabel is 4 months old!

Yay! Our little baby is growing so well! We went to the doctor today for her check-up:

height: 25" (75th percentile)

weight: 14 lbs (50th percentile)

She's right on the same track she's been on since birth, for the most part just an average-sized little one. :) She did so well with the doctor today, and even her shots weren't too bad. She didn't like when she couldn't see me, though, so I had to make sure I was in her line of sight at all times. Otherwise, she'd start screaming like a banshee. But once she could see me, she'd start laughing, even as the doctor was checking her out. Mabel's turning out to be quite the mommy-attached little chica, something Annie never really was, at least not to this extent. She's so sweet about it, though; I don't mind her needing me like she does. :) She is so talkative and social and smiley. Also--and I don't want to jinx this, but---she has slept from about 8p to 6:30a for the last few nights! Before that, she's been sleeping from about 8p to 7a, waking up at 3 or 4 for a short nursing. So, it already hasn't been that bad! She's a great sleeper and eater! She's also become much more interested in toys the last few weeks. She is SUCH a drooler and loves to put everything in her mouth and hold tight onto toys! Just as she's been since the day she was born, she's happiest when she's snuggled up in my arms and nursing. But she certainly has eyes that are alert to the outside world, and since it's cooled down a little bit, she's come out on almost-daily walks with me and Annie. She giggles and chats as she gazes all around her. I love seeing her enjoy being outside!

So, to celebrate Mabel being four months and one day old, our town finally lifted the boil water advisory!! After a week and a day of not being able to use any water from our faucets, we are back! I can wash dishes again! And bathe my children! And brush my teeth with running water instead of pouring bottled water on my toothbrush! And wash my hands instead of using hand sanitizer and wipes. Can you tell which ones I'm most excited about? I'm really not complaining about how things have been, though. In fact, this last week, I have just been feeling so blessed that we got through the flooding so well. So many in our town are homeless, waiting to hear what can be done with their few leftover possessions. There are full shelters and so many waiting to get FEMA aid. Our town daily has cleanup efforts going on and there is so much people need. The National Guard just left last night, after watching over certain roads in town around the clock. I've driven through some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods these last few days, and I just can't believe how much people have lost. There are piles as big as garbage trucks of ruined, rotted belongings along almost all of our streets. I put a bunch of pictures on facebook, but here was some of the worst of it in our town. We were so lucky to have our house at higher elevation, about a quarter- to a half-mile up the hill from two of the worst areas along the flooded creek. Our basement filled up with about 3-4 inches of water on the worst day, Wednesday, when it just wouldn't stop raining. But once it stopped raining, the creek and river got higher and higher, as all the rain drained into them. That's when the worst of flooding in town happened. On Wednesday morning, I noticed how hard it was raining, when I tried to get Annie and Mabel loaded in the car and head up to Hershey for Annie's preschool. I couldn't even get out of town! A few blocks up the road, my car couldn't get through the water, so we turned around and tried another route out of town. No luck. More flooded roads. By that point, I could barely make it the few blocks home. I was a little freaked out. Two hours later, I called Brant and told him to get home as fast as he could, because I couldn't stay on top of the flooding basement. I made him stay on the phone with me the whole time he was driving home, and I just knew he was driving through some high water in that little car of ours. But he made it. I stationed Annie and Mabel in front of the TV, which miraculously (cause this never usually works) kept Mabel totally content for almost two hours! After an hour of the two of us carrying buckets of water up the stairs and out the front door to the street, we called in reinforcements. There weren't a lot of people who could reach us, though, but luckily we have two great guys who braved the rain and stayed all day to help us. We spent about 4 hours carrying buckets up and out. Oh man. It was tiring. And we were barely making a dent. Because it just kept raining and raining. Brant finally started chiseling into the cement that had been poured over an old drain in the basement. For about another forty-five minutes he was tap-tapping away in the water, and finally---broke through!! And the water slowly drained. Ah, relief! It took me another day to get everything cleaned out and re-organized downstairs, but the worst was definitely behind us. Not so for so many others, though, and we are still praying for help for those affected. Our next-door neighbors have a couple living with them who totally lost their house. I was talking to them yesterday, and they told me they're not even sure where their three dogs are, in cages in one of the shelters somewhere. So sad!

Anyway, that's our flood story. So, enough about that now. In happy news, the weather has turned a little chilly today, so I spent some time in the attic finding our warmer clothes, especially for Mabel. So excited for fall! :)

Oh, and here's a picture of Annie and Mabel watching TV the other day. Wow, these two love each other! Annie has her very serious, watching-TV face, and you can tell Mabel is just a little amazed. :)