Welcome, Miss Morgan!

Well, summer has come and gone and now enters fall.  It's getting cold outside, and more difficult to keep Austin occupied.  He's going to school two days a week now, which keeps him occupied somewhat, but this kid has so much energy it's ridiculous!  Luckily, he's been having playdates with friends, we're staying busy with Morgan, football games, traveling, doing good in the community, Jared's side business, and soon, the holiday season!  Here is a shot of Austin cleaning out his first pumpkin.  He was less than thrilled with it, but soon realized it's not so bad!

Austin is a wonderful big brother.  He loves Morgan so much!  He's so good with her, and loves holding her, talking to her, giving her kisses and trying to make her smile.  I was so concerned that he was going to be jealous of her since he's been an only child for so long, but he has exceeded our expectations.  He's been wonderful with her!  I can't wait to see the bond that they form together as the grow up.  It already seems incredible and she's only been in our lives for two months!

As for Morgan, the visitors have slowed down (sadly), and mostly everyone has met her with the exception of a few.  Here is Aubrey and Austin having fun when our best friends Chris and K were in town to visit Morgan.  Everyone has made it such a big deal with Austin that he's a big brother now, which has really helped to make his transition into big brotherhood easier.  He had a blast seeing people he hasn't seen in ages, and I loved watching him with everyone, and was thrilled to have so many people come to meet Morgan.



Austin is doing great in school so far this year.  He's beginning to draw things (his favorite is people, which he's getting pretty good at), and letters, his favorite being "A".  He's starting to do things like coloring inside the lines of drawings, and loves cutting paper and gluing small pieces together.  He must think that I enjoy the mess that comes along with this, because it's been his new favorite thing to do lately, and I get to clean up the floor daily!

Our precious little girl has also changed by leaps and bounds already.  She's smiling, cooing, working on rolling over from her back to her tummy, and has gained a whopping 5 lbs in her two months since birth!  She seriously is the sweetest thing!  She greets me with smiles every morning when I walk in to get her from her bed, is sleeping a decent amount and only waking us up once in the middle of the night now (and sometimes not at all if we're lucky)!  She loves getting a bath, having grandma and big brother talk to her, and is just a wonderful baby!  She has a bit of what we call "fussy time" every night for about 20-30 minutes, which is a blessing compared to the hour to hour and a half that it was.  She only cries when she's hungry, and does a lot of talking and sleeping in between.  It constantly amazes me that two people can make something so wonderful and perfect.  What can Jared and I say?  We created perfection :)  Twice!  We feel very blessed to say the least.

This is a picture of Austin at the zoo with his big boy Hayden, and Hayden's little brother, Alex.  Austin had a blast trick or treating this year, and for the first time actually did most of it on his own without Jared and I walking him up to the door.  We went to Ryan and Pam's addition so the boys could trick or treat together, and Austin loved it!  We're still eating the candy, one piece at a time, very slowly!  Austin insisted on being Iron Man this year, despite the fact that he really has no idea who Iron Man actually is!  Someday, maybe he'll get to watch the movie, but not yet!

As for Jared and I, life couldn't be better!  We've grown a lot together in the last year (and the last 13, for that matter), and life has certainly changed a ton!  What they say is true, going from one kid to two just seems insane, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  We're finally starting to settle in to a routine, and getting into the swing of things as a family of four.  We can't imagine what life would be like without these two, and are so happy to have our family and each other.  No matter what life throws at us, these two always make us smile and make everything that we have worked for and stand for worth while.  I couldn't imagine not having this in my life; it's what I live for, who I am, and what I was born to do!  I'm one proud mamma!