Can you tell that school has started?

Naked baby in the antique cradle

Our little Pumpkin with some of the pumpkins T grew in the garden

First night of swimming!

Well, it's been a while! Yes, the school year is now in full swing. I'm certainly hoping my posts will not be this few and far between all year! Oops! I think about updating often... the actual being able to update is a different story.

Let's see, since school has started, Lila has been to the doctor for her 6 month checkup and weighed in at 21lbs. 3oz., and 27.5 inches long. Still off the charts! I just took her the other day for more shots and they didn't weigh her - the next update will be for her 9 month appt in December.

September seemed to just fly by with school beginning, daycare beginning and all kinds of other new things! Daycare has been awesome - Lila loves it! And all the kids LOVE her - we walk in the door and they're so excited to see her! I'm so happy to have her right around the corner from me at school. They've even popped in a couple times at school while they were on walks around the neighborhood - definite highlights to my day!

In September, we also started swimming lessons! Lila loves it! She had never been in a big pool before - just her little one on the deck. The first couple of times, she was pretty much done after 15-20 minutes. Now, we can do the whole 30 min! She can hold on to the edge of the pool all by herself! Strong girl! She also likes leaning on a smartbell and kicking. Or just splashing all over. She's not a fan of getting water in her mouth, but she has quickly learned to close her mouth more, so we have had a lot less coughing/sputtering fits lately. I think one of her favorite parts of swimming is taking a shower before and after! She loves to have it spray right in her face - silly girl! I never thought that a 30 min swim class would totally take over our night, but it totally does! I usually don't get home on Mondays until 4:30, and then it seems like it's a race to have dinner, get packed, get changed, and get in the car and go in order to be in the water at 6:45pm! And it's not something I can do by myself! Either T or my mom have to come along to help schlep all the stuff, take pictures, and then help get Lila dry and dressed. By the time we get home, it's usually around 8pm and we're all exhausted!! She loves it and it's totally worth it, but wow, it's a lot of work!!

My 32nd birthday came last weekend and to celebrate, T, Lila, my parents and I all went up to Traverse City for the weekend. The weather was not so great - cool (50's) and sometimes rainy, but it didn't matter to us. The weather didn't stop us from shopping, sight-seeing, wine tasting, or eating a lot of great meals! The guys were hoping to golf, but with the weather the way it was, that didn't happen - they didn't even take their clubs. Another highlight of the trip was getting to see Kim, my friend who lives abroad and her trips home are few and far between. She hadn't met Lila yet and we got a chance to hang out and catch up at the mall on Saturday. Lila, Kim, and I all rode the carousel at the mall - I didn't throw up and Lila thought it was pretty fun!

Today I ran my first 5k! :) I have been training since july (Couch to 5K!) to do this race. I didn't quite run the entire time - my goal. But the course had some big hills and with all the rain we had gotten the day before, the roads were very muddy. I had to walk three different times from the hills. I'm used to running on my nice, FLAT, gravel road. My friend Kelly ran with me the entire time - this was her third race and could have left me in the dust, but didn't and I really appreciated that and it made the race a lot of fun too! :) It was hard, but something I'd like to do again soon! Although, I'm really quite sore right now - I may have a different opinion if I can't hardly walk tomorrow. For now, I'm looking for another one to conquer! Oh - and I didn't finish last (another goal!).