Trick-or-Treat

Our two pumpkins

Good Times

Cider Mill

Grant loves the cider mill. Lindsay literally takes him three times a week. The pictures here are from when he went last week with his babysitter, Peggy. Thank you, Peggy, for loving Grant as if he were your own!

Chubby cheeks

Kate is growing like a weed and has the cutest chubby cheeks! She has such a sweet personality. The other day she laid on my lap and let me read books to her for 45 minutes! She loves to be snuggled and has started to coo. She puts anything she can get her hands on into her mouth. She is a super flexible baby and will fall asleep anywhere. It is hard to believe such different children can come from the same set of parents. God is so creative.

It is hard to get pictures of Grant these days. Every time I take out the camera Grant runs over to it and says, "Grant see, Grant see," even before I have a chance to snap a shot of him. He is loving the fall, making piles of leaves and jumping into them. He's also really into spiders and bugs. Every afternoon he takes a stick and goes "spider web hunting," looking to destroy anything that remotely resembles a spiderweb. He has also learned to gallop. It is the perfect mode of transportation for him because it embodies the joy that he exudes with each step.

Heaven Has Blue Carpet

I have a famous mother-in-law! What began several years ago as a simple record for her grandchildren accounting her life on a hobby farm eventually turned into a published book by Thomas Nelson (big time publisher in the Christian book world).

It was released on October 12 and I just finished reading it cover to cover. It is amazing. Not only was it fun to read countless stories of Jim as a toddler (he was just shy of two when his parents bought the farm),I learned how the Niedzinskis experienced firsthand the amazing truths buried in the many Scriptures referencing God as our Shepherd.

This book, titled "Heaven Has Blue Carpet," can be bought on Amazon, found at Borders & Barnes and Noble or ordered directly from Jim's mom's website (www.sharonniedzinski.com). Reading it gave me even more respect (if that is possible) for my amazing mother-in-law who ran a farm while raising six children. Did I mention she vacuumed the barn? When is the last time I vacuumed my house?!

Sleepover

Have I mentioned that I have the most amazing sister-in-laws ever? Jim has four sisters and they lovingly fought over who was going to take Kate for a sleepover so mommy could get some much needed rest. Jane won the coin toss and Kate packed her bags for Canton. Here's a picture of Jane's four kids with Kate.

Meanwhile Grant has been showered with love and attention from his aunt Lindsay. They have had adventures at the cider mill, hardware store, bookstore, park and several construction sites. She is one of the few people who has as much energy as Grant and he loves every minute of it!

Double Stroller

Best Lung Report Yet!

Yesterday Grant saw Dr.Doshi, his pulmonologist. I hesitantly asked right off the bat, "How do his chest x-rays look?" He got a big grin on his face and said, "Great!" He gave me a copy of the report to look at and I saw the words for the first time ever, "lungs are clear." Wow! This is medically unheard of. Only God could heal Grant's lungs like this. It was supposed to take years before they were clear.

Our next question was, "does this mean we can take him out all winter and do things like put him in the church nursery etc.?" Unfortunately, the answer was no. Apparently Grant had two things wrong with his lungs and only the one is fixed. (I know this sounds vague, but I don't really know how to explain it.) Grant will still need to have shots every 28 days throughout the winter to protect his lungs in case he gets a cold. But, Dr.Doshi said that we could take Grant out on "controlled" play dates with friends who promise me that their child is healthy. :) It is just group settings where people might not know Grant's situation and might bring a kid with a runny nose that could be dangerous for Grant that we have to avoid.

So, overall, we still have to be careful this winter. But, we don't need to be as extreme as last winter. The best news of all is that Dr.Doshi predicts that by next spring/summer we can TOTALLY treat Grant like a normal kid in terms of where we take him. He said that Grant should be old enough and strong enough by then to be able to fight off colds with no problem.