Happy Halloween!

We started our day with a fun Halloween bow from "aunt" beth...


And here I am trying to distract her with one camera while I take her picture with another camera...


Later in the day Lucy dressed up as a scary pink skeleton! And I attempted to capture a few shots of Lucy next to her age pumpkin...


And here she is last year - wow, she has grown so much! (we did .5 because Lucy was a half year old, but looking back I wish I would have just done 0, oh well!)


I had trouble getting her to sit still and smile at the same time so here area a couple other shots...






And at this point we were chasing pumpkins down the driveway, so I gave up taking any more pictures!


I wasn't planning on taking Lucy trick or treating, but we wanted to stop by and see the grandparents, who wanted to show her off to the neighbors so we actually ended up going to a couple houses. Lucy got the hang of it right away!



It was pretty adorable, she would go up to houses and take a piece of candy and then reach in to get a second piece of candy. We would tell her no, that we just take one piece, but most people thought she was so adorable they let her take as much as she wanted!


And soon enough she was eating the candy straight out of the bag...




Fortunately she got some practice in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood, because then we headed to mimi's house to trick or treat with the big kids...


A quick picture with mom (and hank's in there somewhere too!)...


One last picture... still going strong at the end of the night!

Kisses for Hank

Here's another video from when we were just laying around the house... have I mentioned how much Lucy likes to tape and watch herself. I think she'd do this all day if I'd let her! This video does a good job showing how verbal Lucy has become - saying three word phrases, speaking much more clearly (one day she repeated us saying "not today" and we thought it was the cutest thing ever), mimicing everything we say (I'm not sure who, but somebody taught her to say "no way", so now instead of "no" we get to hear that), and talking in full sentences with made up words in the middle (i.e. I can make out the first and last words, but everything in the middle is toddler gibberish) - but my favorite part in this video is when she gives Hank a kiss... so precious.

IU Homecoming

Looking back on this month of posts has made me realize how busy we have been these past couple months! I think we definitely wanted to fit in as much fun before Hank comes (not that he won't be fun, but we just know life will be different) and enjoy the fall weather as much as possible. This post should bring me up to date with our activities...

This past weekend we went down to IU for homecoming. I think we've made it to at least one IU football game every year since we graduated, and I love that we are able to keep the tradition alive despite our growing family. And of course when I say IU football game, I actually mean IU football game tailgate, I think we've only been to a game once... but I guess that's what happens when your team has a losing record every year.

I didn't grab many photos, but here are a few from the day...

Lucy and Drew before heading to IU. Drew didn't come, so we missed getting to play with him, but at least they got to see each other before we left! I'm not sure what I'm more impressed with - that they are both smiling or that they are both standing still!


Our little cheerleader at the game...


And here she is last year at homecoming...


Eatting M&M's with dad (one of her favorites!)


The boys...


Of course I forgot to grab a picture of the girls... but oh well, at least I am documenting that we were there.

We're Ready For Hank!

This is a little bit of a catch-all post, but as I was looking through my pictures I realized they all had to do with one thing: preparing for the arrival of baby Hank! This past month I have been in major nesting mode- getting the nursery ready, washing newborn clothes, installing the car seat, and setting up the bassinet. Here's some pictures from along the way...

The big sister... she may not really know what's about to come, but we talk about Hank a lot and being a big sister...




The below picture may not look like it has a lot to do with Hank, but if you look closely you can see a sling on Ben's arm. That's right, at 35 weeks pregnant, we thought it'd be a good idea for Ben to have surgery on his shoulder! Ben had a tear that he just found out about and since Hank is coming soon, we decided it would be smarter (financially) to have the surgery this year, since our deductible will be met with having the baby. It actually hasn't been that bad and after only a week Ben is feeling great, able to have a lot of motion with his arm and has already gotten back into the swing of helping with Lucy and the house (even it if it is with one arm at times!) Which is good, because I'm only getting more and more immobile and uncomfortable as this little boy grows!


Lucy moved to her big girl bed! And is loving it... in fact, she often asks to get up in her bed during the day just to lay around for a little bit. I'm not sure if this is because this is the only place she can have her paci's or if it's because she loves the bed, but either way, I'm just happy she likes hanging out in there. We had no trouble with the transition and she has only gotten out of bed a few times and as soon as I put her back in bed she doesn't get out again. She'll even just lay in bed and play after she wakes up! I was really sad to move her out of her crib (my baby girl is growing up!) but the fact that she loves the bed so much has made it much easier.

Here she is playing one day...






And here she is all curled up at night...


Some how she always escapes out of her covers, so I usually go in to tuck her back in. Look how tiny she looks in that big bed!


And so of course that means... Hank's crib is ready! I originally didn't think we'd move Lucy to the big girl bed till after Hank was born, but after talking with the doctor and some friends, we decided to move her before he came. So now I will get to really start decorating and hopefully have the room somewhat ready by the time he arrives... here's a look at what we've done so far!


And the latest thing I got set up was our bassinet for Hank. With Ben only having one arm, and with my strong nesting instinct, I've learned a lot about how to assemble things in our home! I guess it's probably good I know how to do a couple things around here :) While I was getting things set up, Lucy of course wanted to check things out for herself...


We're ready for your baby Hanky (as Lucy calls him) and can't wait to meet you!

The Children's Museum

A couple weeks ago we decided to do a staycation here in Indy. Ben had some vacation days left he needed to use up, we wanted to save some money, and I was really wanting to have some family time and do the things in Indy we never really have time to do because we are usually pretty busy on the weekends. We ended up going to Chicago for the weekend to watch Katy in the marathon, but the rest of the time we stayed home and had fun just the three of us. One thing Ben and I both wanted to do was go to the Children's Museum so that was our first outing!

(We actually had also planned to go to an apple orchard but at the end of the staycation I had come down with a really bad cold and Ben made an appointment to have his shoulder looked at so we spent one of our days at the doctor's office. This would then lead into another week of sickness for me and Ben ending up needing shoulder surgery... maybe that's why I'm so behind on my blogging!!)

Our first stop was the Barbie exhibit! Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the car, but I got some shots with my phone...






They have a little run way where you can dress up and walk down like a model - I don't think Lucy fully got this, but she of course loved all the attention...




Then we headed over the the wonderworks exhibit for a little more hands on fun. I think Ben enjoyed being at the museum as much as Lucy!




And of course, a trip to the Children's Museum would not be complete without a ride on the carousel (of course I hated this as a child, so I'm hoping my fear of "fast" moving objects is not passed on to Lucy!)


We were all exhausted by the time we got home - but I was so glad we went and am excited to get a family pass this winter so Lucy can get some of her energy out when it's snowy and cold outside.

The Library

Lucy and I usually go to the library every couple weeks to return books and check out some new ones. She loves to read, and I love to have something different to read (there are about 5 books in our house that she wants to read several times each day)! I snapped a couple pictures on this day - Our friend Kristy visited recently and somehow convinced Lucy to keep bows on her head (or "hats" as Lucy calls them), so I've been having fun dressing her up! I also just thought she looked so grown up with her jeans, sneakers and backpack ready to go to the library...


But first, as soon as she saw me snap a picture, we had to turn the camera around so she could look at herself. I'm having a lot of trouble taking pictures these days without her trying to grab my phone!

I guess she thought she looked pretty cute too :)

At the library I usually sit while Lucy brings me several books (we're talking 20-30!) to read to her, then I sneak a couple of my favorites into her bag to go check out.




Then with a bag full of books, we head home!