Autumn in Indiana

Fall is hands-down my favorite time of the year. The weather is generally mild, the leaves are changing, the world is rallying with a burst of color before its winter slumber. There's just something magical in the cool, crisp air. As much as I like pulling out my sundresses and flip flops in the summer, I savor tugging on my trusty brown boots and sweaters in the fall. I absolutely adore autumn decorations, and love the rich warm colors that call the season their own. I'm even beginning to enjoy football season... *SIGH*.

I think that Indiana holds a particular brand of magic in the fall. I don't know what it is, but as I've gotten older, I've become more and more proud to call this place my home. Last weekend, we went to a local pumpkin patch with the Walroths. Our Todderazzi did his thing with his amazing new camera, and the resulting photos were innnn-credible. As I looked through the photos, it was so easy to see the Autumn Magic. (sounds like a Yankee Candle scent).

So without further ado, prepare yourself for some spectacular displays of cuteness, and some fabulous photography by Dr. Todd. :)

Eli really wasn't in the best of moods the night that we went to the patch, but even with his
'tude, he couldn't mask the joy of finding the perfect pumpkin.

"Pumpkin Bliss!"

I spy with my little eye, a tiny, little, adorable, curly-headed noggin sticking out of that oh-so-fabulous baby carrier!

Walroths :) (We pried Todd out from behind his Nikon to capture this)

Now, if you've been around my sons lately, you'll know that we have a total "Monkey see, Monkey do" situation going on. The pumpkin patch outing was no exception- and Todd managed to catch the phenomenon on camera...

Monkey See

Monkey Do

Big brother is not too happy with you!

Oh well... If you can't beat him (without getting a timeout), join him!

Finally, I'd like to talk about the anatomy of a family photo. Most of you that read my blog either had kids, have kids, or are proud owners of freshly baked little nuggets (Which totally don't count as "kids" in this particular situation seeing as they just lay there oh-so-sweetly while everyone around them just snaps away." For those of you that don't have kids, you may or may not be suprised to learn that it ain't easy to get a nice photo of your entire family. For example- this is what a "family photo" looks like without kids...

See how everyone is looking at the camera? See how no one has their tongue out, and no one's rear end is facing the camera? It's lovely, no?

Oh but wait, what's that?? We're missing some key members of the family? Oh, well let's just snap one with everyone. No big deal (*Snort* famous last words!)

ummm- not quite. Let's try again.

Uhhh, yeah. Probably not.

Not so much.

OH FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

Chaos!

Not too bad

SUCCESS! (Never mind that it was actually DARK before we finally captured this shot!)

I promise you that this was only a fraction of the photos that were taken to acheive the final product!

Thanks to Todd for being our ever-patient family photographer.

You're invited

Kelly and Carol, yours are in the mail. Janelle- I didn't have your address (Or at least I couldn't find it- but you're of course invited!)

Happy Birthday!

Four Boys

Last weekend was certainly filled with love and laughter. Saturday, both of my sisters-in-law came over with their precious nuggets. This was the first time that all four of the boys have been together, and it was wonderful.

(Too bad that it was my heathens that wouldn't cooperate for photos!)

I can't believe how big Nolan has gotten and how much he's changed since I saw him last. He's suuuuuccch a sweet little guy, and just all smiles.

Cooper is still so fresh and new. I can't get enough of his sweet little baby scent. I could hold him all day long. Too bad he really likes to eat :) I'm so thankful to have had such a fun weekend getting to see my "sisters" and our nephews.

Allie's Birthday in pictures

For some reason, Blogger won't let me add pictures to my previous post, so I'm going to do it here instead.

Sara before they started the pitocin.

Todd threatening to turn up the pit.

I wish that I could remember what Todd had just said, but it was obviously funny.

Alexa Grace

September 24, 2010

5:23 am

7lbs, 1 oz

20.5 in

The proud Mommy and Daddy

"Hi Mom!"

Daddy's Girl


Congratulations you two! I'm so happy and proud of you!

Annnd a baby was born!

I know that I've said that A LOT lately, and I can't tell you how much I'm loving it. This summer we've gone from being the only people with kids to almost all of our inner circle having kids. We're loving it!

Thursday morning, I made my way downtown to the Wishard to settle in for the induction of baby Walroth. Sara and Todd's families were there as well and it was evident that never has a baby been more loved.

At a little after 10:00 am, the party started and the waiting began. We watched the monitors obsessively. We told Sara each time a contraction began to climb its hill, (in case she didn't know) Sara's dad and I kept good track of the little one's "TOCO" score... We still have no idea what that is, but we know that it was always somewhere between 4-40 :)

As the day went on, we scrabbled, we uno'd, we read, I crocheted, and Sara labored. In the early evening, things began heating up. Sara's labor intensified, and eventually her water broke. As she labored harder, her mom and I talked and worried. We snuck to her room a few times just to be near. Just to know that she was okay.

At 1:00 am, Sara was fully dilated. They gave her an hour to "labor down", and then she did a couple of practice pushes. About a forty-five minutes after that, she started pushing again. This time for real. As she pushed, I sat at her doorway. My breath catching in my chest. Then the "team" showed up. I saw them coming. It seemed as though there were twenty of them. When Sara's water broke, there was meconium present which means that the baby could have aspirated bacteria into her lungs. The NICU team needed to be present to assess the baby immediately. There were just so many of them. Seeing them arrive, the tears started flowing. There were so many of them. There was so much equipment. The silent prayers were constant at that point. Only a few pushes later, I listened to the cheers of the people in the room. A baby girl was born. Choruses of, "She's beautiful." and "You did so well." and "Congratulations!" filled the air.

One thing was missing though...

A baby's cry.

Sobs wracked my body as I waited for that precious sound. Seconds melted into hours, it seemed. It was an eternity in less than a minute.

Then I heard it. First a squeak, then a whimper, then a small cry.

The sobs turned into tears of joy and relief. I heard Todd introduce her to the world, "Alexa Grace". It was a miracle. My best friend was a Mother.

A few minutes later, I got to meet her. Allie was precious beyond words. Sara was glowing, beautiful, and confident. We all admired the sweet miracle as she looked around, taking in her new world.

Hugs were given. Tears were cried. She was here.

A short while later, I was driving home bleary-eyed and grateful to the core of my being. Grateful for the miracle that had taken place, grateful to have been a part of it. She's the niece of my heart, no blood relation required. I love that little girl with my heart and soul.

Owen Reading

** Yes I am aware that he's not *actually* reading. It's called emergent literacy, folks! :)

Rough Days

This is one of those posts that I hate to write because it reminds me that I don't have it all together, that things aren't perfect...

Last Tuesday, I went to pick Owen up from school and I knew immediately that something wasn't right. His teacher came out to talk to me prior to bringing him and T out to the car. She informed me that Owen bit T that morning right before they headed to the classroom and that he was sent to the principal's office to talk to Mrs. Keith and Fr. Kevin.

The principal!?! The priest!?! GAAAAHHH.

I was seriously devastated. He's had such an incredibly good year, and then this bomb dropped. They informed me that he has been hitting too, not so much in a mean way, but in an impulsive way.

I didn't know what to do. I called Matthew, I called T's mom, (who was afraid that T might need medical attention based on my sobbing confession of what had happened... She did not- she barely even had a mark). I called Sar, I called my friend, Joell, I called my mother-in-law, I called our pediatrician.

Yeah. I was probably overreacting, but my heart was broken! It was like the "N" on last year's report card all over again x100,000! It is unbelievably difficult to hear something like that about your child. All day long, my head was pounding. I was at a total loss as to how to handle the situation. Why, oh WHY don't these little people come with instruction manuals??!?! I sometimes feel that I am so unequipped to handle my kids, (namely, Owen). Why did God entrust ME with these precious little lives when I am so clearly inept? What did I do wrong to cause these problems? It was a rough day to say the least. I'm so thankful that my mom friends/mentors were there to pick me up and dust me off that day, because I don't think that I would have gotten up on my own, I would have rather have crawled under the table and hid.

I'm quite aware that most of you reading this are thinking that I am crazy, that this wasn't that big of a deal, and maybe you're right... But it WAS a big deal to me. You never know what's going to come along and blindside you in regards to your children. You never know which straw is going to break the so-called camel's back, because as mothers we carry such enormous loads everyday. So this "thing" that happened? Yes, it's just a "straw" in the grand scheme of things, but that day?? Well it was one freaking big straw.

One more to go!

So we are now 3/4 of the way through Baby Spree 2010. Nolan, KaeLynn, and Cooper have all graced us with their presences, and now Little Miss Walroth is going to be here any day!! Possibly Wednesday or Thursday! eeeekkk!!!

It's hard to believe that we've gone from this,

to this!!!!

This massive steroid-pumping zuchinni is actually from a couple of weeks ago. This week is WATERMELON week. Watermelon? Really? Where have the past 39 weeks gone? You can truly appreciate what a miracle life really is when you look at what takes place in only 40(ish) weeks.

I can't wait to meet my final little love of this summer.

Love you Sar, and I still think that you're a total pregnancy rockstar :)

Welcome to the World Cooper!

Another bundle of baby boy joy entered the world this past Monday. Cooper David was born on September 13, to Jodi and Brett, and he is, of course absolutely perfect! I got to go see him on Tuesday afternoon, and he is a total doll. I could have loved on him all afternoon, except for the fact that I had to go teach a class at church. Boo.

This is the little sweetie and his mama at his first birthday celebration, (Where's his dad?? I have no idea why he's not in this picture.) Doesn't Jodi look totally fabulous for having just had a baby?

My first time holding Cooper. He's not quite one day old yet.

Uncle Matthew holding Baby Cooper- 2 days old

The boys are excited about a new baby cousin.

This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Gessner came up to meet little Cooper and see the other kids/grandkids. Here is a picture of Grandma holding 1/2 of her grandsons. Can you believe that she has FOUR grandSONS now?!?!

The verdict is that he looks like a Gessner baby. We compared him to my boys' newborn pictures and there are definitely some resemblances (no nose wrinkle like my boys though). No wonder I think that he's such a cutie :)
I can't believe that I have TWO nephews now. I'm thrilled. It's going to be so fun to watch these boys grow up together. I think that we can agree that there is going to be some R-U-C-K-U-S in the years to come!

Lord help any future girl babies that might come along!