The Pumpkin Patch

No fall is complete in the Shields household without a trip to the pumpkin patch. So much fun! This year some good friends of ours told us about a pumpkin patch that has a maze made out of bales of hay. Here is out fearless, well almost fearless, leader as he enters the maze.
Once inside the maze, we encounter may scary things, like rats, bats, spiders, and other creepy crawlies that gave us a bit of a jump. But never fear, we made it out...with only 3 or 4 wrong turns.

Andrew and Ainsley had a big time looking at all the pumpkins. Andrew decided that this is the biggest pumpkin he had EVER seen. And he said it with that much emphasis as well. Josh is trying to decide which is bigger - Ainsley bow or the pumpkin. :)

Not only were there tons of neat pumpkins to look at, they had beautiful mums. Andrew quickly found out that they do not really smell.

I am sure the store appreciated me...the pushy mom staging all kinds of sites for pictures for her kids. Ainsley has quite curious as to what these big round orange things were...that and grabbing handfuls of mums to pull off the plants and eat.

You guessed it...by the look on Ainsley's face, this was the last pictures of the day! We had a big time...even with Andrew taking us through the hay bale maze 47 times!

Little Miss Rollie Pollie

Time goes way too fast. When we were in Canyon awaiting the move, I thought time was standing still! (even though it too flew by). Now, each day brings on a whole new set of tricks Little Miss tries to perfect. She so prefers to be standing. Her little legs have become quite strong as Daddy helps her keep her balance.
Also, she has not been the sleeper that Andrew was when he was her age. He sleeps like a champ, through any loud noise Ainsley and I can create. She, on the other hand, does not. The doctor suggested that we start her on cereal and baby food at night to help her sleep better. Well, I am not sure about the sleeping better part (it has worked a little), but she sure loves her sweet potatoes...as evident by her sweet little messy face here.
Sitting up like a big Girl! OK...so she is not completely perpendicular to the floor, but we are working on it. We flip her off the couch as she lands in this position, which she holds for quite a while until slowly unfolding to the floor. :)
Yes, she is a thumb sucker, but only when she is trying to put herself to sleep...which should not be in the middle of feeding if I can interject my two cents! I believe this was carrot night. I would fall asleep too to get out of finishing my carrots. Like mother, like daughter.
Here is Ainsley's newest trick. She has really gotten good at this over the past couple of days. She can now get up on all fours and then proceeds to rock back and forth. She gets the biggest grin on her face...so proud of herself! Not crawling yet, but I think she is trying to figure out how to keep up with her brother! :)
Here is a culmination of all her new tricks. Ainsley has gotten quite proficient in rolling. The living room floor poses no challenge for this girl. Enjoy!

Big Brothers!

I never had a big brother. Ainsley sure does...and she thinks he is the greatest thing on Earth. Everyday, Ainsley's spot in Andrew's heart grows bigger and bigger...and as the mama, it is the neatest thing to see. Mostly Andrew is in her face singing or talking (at a very high volume level), but she loves it! She is always very interested in what he is doing...and usually tries to take over if she can get to him before he moves.
They laugh and play and squeal and roll around (since that is Ainsley's only form of transportation at this time!). I feel quite certain that is the reason Ainsley can roll so well is the fact she wants to keep up with her brother. The living room floor is officially her domain and Andrew couldn't be happier. He has someone to tower over. Despite the 900 times a day we have to tell him to get out of her face and leave her alone, he truly is a GREAT big brother!

A glimpse into our day...

Surviving Ike

I think Josh said it best..."I almost prefer storms in the Panhandle!" The reason being is storms in the Panhandle of Texas (where we just moved from) come and go in a manner of hours. Hurricanes, on the other hand, come and go in a manner of weeks. There is the all the anticipatory tracking and preparing before the storm, the hold- up for days during the storm, and the then phew its over moment now lets see what we need to clean up and fix. College Station got very lucky. We felt some effects of Ike...lots of wind and rain (a section of our back fence blew down)...but we never lost power or our minds waiting it out. And, Josh was given Friday off to "prepare for the storm." (which in our house meant buying water, bread, batteries, and extra oreos.) With all that said, our house did have its own little hurricane excitement. Josh brought the plants in off the back patio. Well, in doing so, he brought in more then just the plants...

A San Antonio We Will Go!!

If you have not ever been, Sea World San Antonio is well worth your time. We all had such a good time. We were there 2 days, but I think we could have easily enjoyed spending another 2. They have the regular, good ole' fashion Sea World stuff full of shows and animals and interactions with them, but they also have few roller coasters and a full water park. Let me say again, we had a blast. As you can see though, we got a bit of rain the first day there...Yes, we walked in the front gate and was met with a tremendous downpour. In hind sight we have decided that the rain was a blessing...it sure cleared out the park!
Once the rain finally let up, this was a common sight. What's the saying...how many college educated adults does it take to read a Sea World map? Well, apparently in the Shields family it takes 3! :)
Here is the motley crew that attended! Poor Tim...he sure was out numbered. As one person commented, we look like a group of polygamists with Tim having 3 wives and 5 kids.
This trip was a time for Gammie to spend with her grand kids...and that she did! I am quite sure they plum wore her out...I know they plum wore me out! It took Andrew a day, but he finally warmed up to the characters. We at lunch and watched a show with Shamu and his friends. Bot can that whale dance! :)
A highlight for me was getting to feed the dolphins. They are such amazing creatures...I think they look like they are smiling. Little Man was not real keen on touching the fish, but he finally got over that too!


Thank you Gammie for the good times and great memories!!! We love you. :)

Already 4 months!

One thing is for sure...this sweet baby Girl is a thumb sucker!!!! She never took a pacifier, but she sure takes her thumb or her toe when she gets it up that far. As I have been told by those wiser than me...good luck with that! You can take her pacifier away, but you can not take her thumb. Good times to come!
Other than that, this precious child is doing well. She is off her reflux medicine (only because I forgot to be giving it to her while we were on vacation) and she seems to be doing great. At her check up today, she was in the 40th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height. As the doctor says, "I forgot how long and skinny she is!" I like to say she takes after me. :) Daddy would argue she gets it from him...
Her brother is her FAVORITE person...right after Miss Susan of course! She just thinks he is the funniest person around. And around he is...most of the time I am having to shush him out of her face, but she just laughs and laughs. It is a neat sight to see the two of them together playing. He loves her...
She has started rolling over. We have seen her go from her back to her tummy, but she is not a big fan of being on her tummy. Not as mobile on her tummy so she doesn't roll that way much. We have not seen her roll from her tummy to her back, but a couple of times I have put her in her crib on her tummy and when she has awoken and started fussing, I go to get her and she is on her back. I tried to get her mad enough to roll over for me in the living room, but no such luck as of yet!
Drool, drool, and more drool. This Girl is a spit-making machine. For this reason, no one in our family is without a burp cloth. It has only been four month, but they have been amazingly fun and rewarding. We can't wait to see what the next four will entail...keep ya posted!

A Golfin' We Will Go!!

Well...as you all know College Station is sunny the vast majority of the time and no one should be caught out on the golf course without her hat on. And what a hat it is...a pink satin Aggie hat! There is no guessing who this sweet little girls Daddy is now is there?
And as for Little Man, he loves the golf cart. Posed and ready to go...Mama would you hurry up and get in the cart! We got some golf to play today.
Josh tees it up and then drives down the fairway where he throws a ball out for Little Man at about 200 yards out. Then, the race is on, hit the ball...run...hit the ball...run. It is pretty cute to watch. As Josh gets out to putt, he takes Little Man's putter with him and they finish up the hole together. Andrew is the flag taker-outer and the flag puter-back-iner and then they walk off the green together.
Little Man will tell you that his favorite part of golf is hitting it at the green (only because that is his Daddy's favorite part), but honestly his favorite part is the water cooler and the ball washer. He manages to find those at every turn. But Mama, its hot out I need to dink some water! :)
Here is Little Misses and I...this is out most important job...the gallery. Every pairing should have their own personal gallery. We make sure the cart doesn't roll away or something like that!
The boys don't keep score...at least the little one doesn't. As he would tell you he just made a birdie...after 47 putts. When all is said and done, we have a big time on the course. I told Josh it will be his job to teach him his numbers 1 to 18! ;)

Another Andrew Update

Well...Little Man has done a great job with all his trips to the doctor for blood work. We did much more talking about this past trip and he was much more mentally and emotionally ready for it. He told me he would be brave...and brave he was. Normally it takes me holding him in my lap, a nurse to hold his arm making sure he does not bend it, and then the lab nurse to draw the blood. He informed the sweet lab nurse (who has been the same all 3 times of this) that he did not need the other nurse because he was going to be brave. He did great, didn't even start crying until the actual stick. She told us that anywhere between 0 and 20 was normal. His rate was a 13!!!! Praise God and thank you for all the prayers. They sure worked. Hopefully this was just a bacterial virus that never got out of his system until the mega shot of antibiotics we received in the ER...all $900 of it...that was just for the shot and some Tylenol. So expensive, but definitely worth it.

Andrew Update

Ok...a normal Sed rate is anywhere from 15 to 20. On Wednesday when we reran Andrew's blood work, his rate was a 23...down from 36 it had been the Wednesday before. The nurse assured me this was good news, but the doctor wants to rerun the blood work again this coming Wednesday to see if it is still coming down...hopefully into that normal range. The poor lab nurse who draws his blood has thick skin. Andrew now screams and bolts for the door as soon as she walks into our exam room. Once he calms down he really does a good job of sitting still and letting them stick him, but not a fun time at all. Please keep up the prayers. We will find out more this coming Wednesday!