Halloween Notes

• Kiran loved the trick-or-treaters that came to our house. She would run to the door and stare at them. Most of them were really great to talk to her, wave at her, etc. One guy said to Jonathan after receiving his candy, "Thanks and congratulations on the baby!"
• Someone was out in a golf cart totally decked out in spider webs. That is stylin'.
  
• Kiran went trick-or-treating at 2 houses and came home with 4 pieces of candy. Not bad for the first time. Plus she wouldn't wear her mane. She probably would have gotten more.
  
• I don't mind the big kids so much. I just wish they would make an effort and be in costume. I'm thinking next year of posting a sign that says

No Costume, No Candy so Don't Even Bother.

Big Wig

Last night, LP hung out with our kid while Jonathan and I hobnobbed with the big wigs of the conference where J works. I interacted with the president of Furman, Elon, ASU, and Wofford as well as others. By "interacted" (thats for you mert) I mean spoke to, sat at the same table as, stood behind in the buffet line, overheard talking to someone else, etc. I did actually speak with Furman's esteemed, Dr. Shi. He claimed to remember me but then he called my dad a saint and then I knew he was faking.

Kiran had a ball with LP last night and slept 13 hours without a peep.


Here is Kiran's crib! Today I bought crib sheets, washed them and put them on. I also picked out pictures to go in her frame and picked them up at CVS. I still haven't picked up the drill.

Pumpkin Patch

I don't remember ever going to a pumpkin patch when I was growing up but it seems to be the fad these days. We saw an advertisement for an apple farm/pumpkin patch so we stopped on our way back from Greenville one day. I guess the drought really got to the pumpkins because the patch was a little... dead. Kiran still had fun but we did actually buy our pumpkin from Walmart. I hate buying stuff like that from Walmart but we went to Lowe's first and they were all sold out.

Kiran found one!

I got it, Mom!Sad pumpkin patch :(

P.S. Yesterday I didn't do anything for Kiran's room. But today I got the drill and laser thing from my dad. Now I just have to go find my courage...

Graciousness

Alicia used to talk all the time about God's graciousness. She would point out things He'd done like providing the money for her to fly back to America to be in her best friend's wedding and just gush at how gracious He was. It was a little bit of a foreign concept to me- I'd never thought about those things that way. But this week, I really felt some of God's graciousness.

On Wednesday, Kiran and I took a road trip to Lancaster to visit Jonathan's grandparents, Grandmom and Granddad Helms. The day we moved into our house (early September) Jonathan's grandmom fell and broke her hip. She had surgery and then later that same week, she broke it again requiring another surgery. After staying in a hospital and a rehabilitation hospital, she is recovering at home with full time care.

Kiran with her great-grandmother

Kiran & I had the best time with Jonathan's parents and grandparents. Kiran was just a ham... talking, signing, getting into everything... and Grandmom and Granddad just ate her up. They loved having her around and Kiran loved interacting with them, esp Grandmom because she kept giving her fresh chocolate chip cookies! Grandmom and Granddad were in great spirits and we really enjoyed ourselves. Kiran was worn out- she slept from their driveway to our exit- almost 2 hours!

Kiran checking our her great-grandfather

Did I mention that they are both almost ninety and until last month lived completely on their own on their farm as they have for more than 60 years??? Anyhow, God was so gracious to allow us that trip on Wednesday instead of Thursday as we had first thought because the very next day, Jonathan's granddad fell and broke his hip. He had surgery today and it went very well. They are expecting him to even be able to put pressure on it as soon as tomorrow!

I just know that no matter the future or how many more trips to Lancaster we have, that Wednesday trip will always be one of the most precious memories I keep.

Accountability

I need some accountability people.

On getting Kiran's room put together. Sometimes I get so busy in maintaining our house and throwing the bouncy ball 563 times and going to Target that I just forget to work on some of my projects, i.e. Kiran's room. Then at night when I have free time, I can't do it because she is asleep and in bed. In her room.

So I'm asking you to keep me accountable to do ONE thing each day to her room. Ok?

Yesterday I washed the mattress pad and put it on the mattress.
Today I cut open the cool photo frame that Brenna & Geoff gave her. I can't hang it yet because I need a drill and I'd like to have some sort of leveling device mainly the cool laser level that my dad has. I attempted to find some photos to put it in but we haven't printed out pictures in years! So I opened Picasa to find some pictures to print. No good ones from the last few months. So we have to have a photo shoot.

Update on Kiran's Health

Last week, we had Kiran's hemoglobin checked again. Instead of being up like the drs thought it would, it was back down a little. After consulting with the hematologist, her pediatrician has decided to try iron drops for 2 months to see if it helps. It sounds to me like they can't really figure out why her hemoglobin is low. Anyhow, pray with us that the iron drops will help her body regulate the hemoglobin back into normal levers.

Ask and you shall receive: tresalejandros has put up a slide show of pictures from Meredith & Paul's wedding so you can go check it out!

MOPS

I attended my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this morning. Everyone is assigned to a table and that is their group for the semester (year?). Groups are randomly drawn from a hat at the beginning of the semester. I was put at Annie's table. There were four other women at my table. All 4 of them had 4 children. Every one of them has a set of TWINS. Every single one.

About a half hour later, another woman joined our table. She only had three kids and no twins. Except the fact that she herself was a twin.