Big boy toy

Westley loves his Exersaucer. He can jump, stand, lean, rock and play ... all by himself. And therefore, at least a couple times a day, I love his Exersaucer very much, too.

Westley's girlfriends

Westley will realize in about a dozen years why it's so great that my preggo friends have had little girls. Come to think of it, it'll take both genders about that long to warm to the idea:



Westley and me with Helen of Wichita.

Roy G. Biv would be proud

October has been a month of beautiful rainbows. I'm pretty sure half of Wichita was mesmerized by a double rainbow on 10/10/10.

Falling in love

Brian returned home from a work trip today, so we celebrated his homecoming by playing in the leaves with Westley this evening when I got home from work.

Sweet baby, sweet fall.


Whirling, twirling, falling leaves
Dance on the wind
Float on the breeze
Watch them tumbling to the ground
Just like my love for you, all around

It's autumn and I love you, yes it's true
I keep falling in love with you

Fun, fantastic fall foray

On Saturday, Brian and I loaded our little pumpkin and apple of our eye up and set out for a Kansas day trip that was all autumn: picking pumpkins at Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch in Assaria and apples at Steffen Orchard in Conway Springs. We stopped in between for lunch at the cozy Main Street Deli in downtown McPherson. (If you ever go, make sure you order some of their cookies to go. We got walnut chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to split during our drive.)

We loved supporting agritourism and the opportunity to pluck a pumpkin off the vine and an apple off a branch. Bizarre to think that as common as those produce are in our lives, neither had done that before.




Here's our happy Westley with our pick-o-pumpkins. The trophy gourd is a 55-pound beauty for which we have special plans. Stay tuned ...


It was so much fun to snap photos of our day. It's an odd, slightly saddening and wonderful experience as a parent to know these moments will be photographic memories almost as soon as they've passed. Note to self: cherish, savor, relish, enjoy, remember.


At Sunny Side, we met up with friends Jill and Chris, who live next door and are the happy owners of Tweeter the cow, a beautiful rescue bovine. Westley got to sit on her. Moooo!


We rode a hay rack pulled by these two horses. Fun!



Careful with the pumpkin, Pumpkin!

Westley got right into the spirit of these. We mused about how much fun we'll have doing the same thing next year.




At Steffen, we hand-picked 40 pounds of five different kinds of apples. West napped in his stroller while we gathered our first bushel. We were encouraged to taste while picking, which made the experience more fun -- and effective. ("Babe! You've got to try this kind. Let's pick more of these. Holy yum! Now that's an apple!) I don't think I'll ever look at a heaping pile of apples at the grocery store the same again.

On Sunday, after the Chiefs lost (Boo!) and the Saints won (Yay!), we delivered surprise gifts of a basket of apples and photos of our day to Westley's two sets of grandparents and his great-grandma, all who live in town. On Monday, we sipped hot apple cider from the orchard (the best I've ever tasted -- not to be missed!) and made a huge batch of applesauce. We froze it in two-ounce single servings to save for the time soon when Westley starts to eat solid foods.




Be still, my heart.



Our lovely autumn day ended with a glorious sunset, leading us to fall in love with fall in Kansas all over again.

Click to see additional photos of our day.

So big!

Westley turns five months old today! So big!

Some of his current favorite things to do are roll over (and over and over), make the "MMMMMM!" sound, smile, laugh, kick (and kick and kick) grab the dogs' ears, try to hold his own bottle (this usually ends in frustration) and play in his Exersaucer.

He loves to chew on fingers, knuckles ... and Daddy's knee:

At the downtown Spangles in late September when we met up with some relatives passing through town.

He's grown out of many of his 3-6M clothes and has recently worn clothes as big as 12M (we did have to roll up the sleeves).

Brian & Westley at the measuring chart recently in Target.

It seems like Baby West just joined our family, and he's already showing his willful personality, trying to crawl, speaking (well, babbling) his own mind. I fall in love with him more every day.

Good dogs!

If Dakota and Lilly seem extra good lately*, it's because they went to Aldersgate's Blessing of the Animals late last month. When Pastor Kim blessed them and asked if they had any special needs, we said we hope that they learn their new place in our growing family. Yes, they've been displaced a little by a new little person. But they're just as special to our household as they've always been.

* They're really not extra good lately. They're the same silly, sweet, somewhat disobedient dogs they always are. Now they're just a little extra attention-starved. Just wait, pups. You'll have a new best friend in no time.