Which one of these things....

is not like the other?

Give up? That's because they are all alike. I never really thought that Ashby and Avery looked a lot alike as babies, but when you throw Luke in the mix, I sure can tell they all belong to us. Man I love these kids. And here's one more picture of Luke kind of smiling. He's a big kid huh?

Goodbye forever

We've had some big changes around here in the last month or so. The girls have grown up a lot in the last month and it all started at the dentist. I took the girls on Oct. 27 and Avery received a stern talking to about her thumb-sucking. The dentist said he likes them to stop sucking their thumb at age 2, we were well past that. He talked to her about it and we reinforced it at home and I'm happy to report that she has tremendous will power and no longer sucks her thumb. Well we don't think so anyway. She only sucked her thumb with her blanket and blankets have been confined to the bedroom for the past year or so, so it's actually hard to know that she doesn't suck any more. She says she hasn't been and I'm inclined to believe her. Ashby also had some major changes. She gave up her blanket, yep we're terrible parents, she was 6 and still sleeping with a blanket. She has done great, despite what she thought. Prior to taking the blanket away, the thought of sleeping without it struck such fear into her heart it was sad and a little scary. Anyway I thought I would show a progression of blanket use in our house. Brynn please don't feel bad about the condition of Ashby's blanket (she made it), no other item in our house has been as loved!

Exhibit A: See it there by the couch?

Exhibit B: Summer 2004

Exhibit C: 2005

Exhibit D: 2005, this is the earliest recorded evidence of Avery's bad habit.

Exhibit E: it's starting to fray a little, can you see it?

Exhibit F: she sure is cute though.

Exhibit G: Look at those strings hanging down, but still mostly intact.

Exhibit H: both girls showing off the infatuation.

Exhibit I: this is the last picture I have of Ashby with her blanket and it was 2 years ago. It still looks pretty good huh?

Exhibit J: this is the blanket today. I guess it would be mocked by other blankets for it's obvious lack of blanketness, but Ashby didn't mind. I put it in a shoe box and contemplated burying it in the backyard, instead I just put it in Ashby's keepsakes box. Hopefully she'll laugh about it later.

Time to check in?

I have been completely checked out of real life for about two months now. Unfortunately I feel like I am being dragged kicking and screaming back into life by various responsibilities. I really don't want to be. I have thoroughly enjoyed being blissfully ignorant of my former pre-Luke life. Blogging definitely went by the wayside, but it's time to update because I will hate myself if I missed out documenting the past month.

Here's October in quick review:

• Luke was born on Oct. 10th. He weighed in at 8 lbs 9 ounces. I took him to the doctor yesterday and he is now up to 10 lbs 4 ounces and he has grown an inch in three weeks. He is in the 97th percentile for height!


• Roger was off work the whole next week after Luke was born. We loved having him around (he will disagree, he hated playing Mr. Mom, but he did a great job!)


• My parents came to town the next week to meet the baby and reconnect with the girls. We again had a great time. The girls ran my mom ragged...it really wasn't much of a vacation was it mom?


• Ashby celebrated her 6th birthday while my parents were here. She also lost her fourth tooth, luckily right before school pictures. She wanted to go bowling for her birthday and I'm happy to report she came in second out of five in our first game. Ashby was so excited to celebrate her birthday while my mom and dad were here, it meant so much to her, thanks mom and dad.


• We had some fantastic Halloween fun. Avery dressed up as Dorothy and Ashby as a clown. They both had the opportunity to wear their costumes to several functions. They raked in some serious loot while trick-or-treating. Unfortunately because I was checked out of life, I didn't do some of the traditional fall things that I love to do. We didn't even carve pumpkins (all you mandated court reporters, please spare us...)

Now for the heap of pictures.

Avery with Luke, maybe this is why she isn't head over heels for him like Ashby is... he cries a lot.

We like to start a million projects at once. Roger and my dad tiled our entry way while my parents were in town. I couldn't go through another winter with carpet, it was wet for five months straight. Doesn't it look awesome?

Ashby, Grandma, Avery and Grandpa

Ashby with her cake of choice. She always chooses Halloween stuff for her birthday, easy for me, but I wonder how much longer that will last.

Sweet six year old Ashby with her missing teeth.

Ashby and Avery bowling, yeah we don't know how to take pictures in a dark place, sorry.

We took a trip to the Carnegie Science Museum. Ashby bouncing her legs away.

Avery doing some serious construction work in the ball place.

Avery (not so sure about Luke), Luke and Ashby.

Luke not looking very lumpy. Why are newborn babies so hard to take pictures of, they always look so lumpy...

The Halloween costumes

Ashby looking like she got beat up after a long night of trick-or-treating

Ashby and Avery before church


Check out these cheeks