Buon Tancsgivingo

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I was considering going over a list of things I am thankful for, but instead I will talk about some traditions that I will be passing down to our kids. But, for the record, I am thankful for those gummi raspberries that are so good, my back feeling better, my whole family quietly taking a nap now, and weird citizenship laws in Italy. Oh, yeah, my wife and family and all that crap.

When I was young, Thanksgiving was always one of my favorite holidays. Christmas sucked for us poor kids, and I hate the individual fuss put on me when it is my birthday, but Thanksgiving was when the real presents came. All week we would anticipate opening up our gifts that were stuffed into the turkey the night before and allowed to bake for hours (they came out with that wonderful turkey smell that would last for days). Granted, you can't fit much inside a turkey, but we were thankful to get anything (and honestly, I think the limited space was an excuse, because we knew we weren’t getting much anyway). Those were cherished times.

I remember enjoying helping my mom get Thanksgiving gifts for my siblings when I was younger, though I didn’t have much choice since it was a two person job and one of them had to be a minor. It must really be difficult for families that have the same traditions nowadays due to the alarms and scanners in stores, but back then a baggy coat and a crying child running out of the store was all that was needed for a happy Thanksgiving. We only got caught twice, but since I was a minor all charges were dropped (Juvie isn’t fun over Thanksgiving, however).

But the presents! Wow, those are what I really remember (some of which I still get weepy about) like new socks (NOT hand me downs!), #3 pencils (we could never afford the fancy #2 ones), a card for any one thing at Goodwill, quarters to be able to make phone calls to our friends, or an entire week's lunch money (you’d have to stretch that out over a month). The best times were when we got to keep them.

Sometimes I wonder if the kids will have such fond memories of the holidays, but you can never really replicate the feel of the huddling around the trashcan fire to keep you warm. The whole holiday just wasn’t the same once I was a teenager and had my own coat.

Happy Harvest Festival

I just love Thanksgiving. I love it because it's such a stress free holiday. The only other stress free holiday I know of is the Fourth of July. Both require no decorating, no shopping for presents, no finding the perfect costumes, and no candy (No candy! Is that a good thing?). Just getting together, eating good food, and watching parades. Sometimes we get together with family, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we travel, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we venture out into the crowds, sometimes we don't. Each of these holidays is "do whatever you want" and I just love that. We're not bogged down in traditions or expectations. Yet we get time off from work to enjoy family, sleep late, and just laze around. It doesn't get much better.

This Thanksgiving I don't plan on going out on Black Friday. At least not to the malls. My plan is to go for a walk with the kids, and just do not much of anything. I do hope to finally get the downstairs bathroom done (if I can just get the darn wall-paper glue off the walls. I'm all set to paint, but this prep is killing me.) But other than that, I am not planning for much. I may get inspired to file papers and organize something or maybe get my laptop cleaned up, but I'm not planning it.

And speaking of holiday stressors... I'm already ahead on that. I'm pretty much done with our holiday letter, and already have some presents for the kids that I have picked up along the way. Since we don't plan on getting them a lot of stuff, we're almost done with shopping for them. All that is left is a little bit more shopping and to make my annual photo calendar. I used to plan crafts that the kids would make, but now I'm not sure. Maybe, maybe not. The rest of the holiday season will just be some light (as in "not heavy") decorating, making cookies, listening to music, reading holiday letters, seeing the lights at the Horse Park, watching A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Cousin Eddie just cracks me up!) a dozen times each, and going to holiday parties.

Not too bad. Not too bad indeed.

Miscellaney

I'm entirely too lazy to write up a witty post today, but I know our readers love the pics, so to catch everyone up on our recent doin's, here's a mish-mash of the past few weeks...


Rakin' the leaves, Rakin' the leaves...


(Another) Party at BounceU


Damon visits the daycare to talk about science
[Adelaide asked me later: "Mommy, when are you going to come to our school to tell us what real people do?" Don't let that fool you: the kids had a great time!]


The kids never fall out of bed when they are sleeping, but this is how I found Kestian sleeping last night:
(P.S. He's been dry 20 nights in a row now!!!! Whoohoo!)

Confessions of a pregnant woman

Hello. My name is Laura.

Hello Laura!

I've been pregnant now for 17 1/2 weeks.

Clap. clap. clap.

Thank you. I come to today's meeting to see if any one else thinks I'm crazy (besides the obvious reasons)...

You see...this was not exactly a planned pregnancy. My first pregnancy was. This one wasn't. And I'm not ashamed to say it. But it seems, as a result, there are quite some different emotions involved.

First Pregnancy:

• Yey! We're going to get pregnant!
  
• Are we pregnant yet?
• Why is is taking so long?
• You're pregnant already?
• Holy Crap - it's twins!?!
• Let's never get pregnant again.
  

This Pregnancy:

• I wonder if we are being careful enough...
• Holy Crap - we're pregnant! (Guess not.)
• I just know you planned this.
• Does this mean I can't take my restless-leg medicine for like 2 years now?
• Crap - now we have to buy a minivan!
• I'm so freakin' tired!

Yeah - ok - so a little different. But let me just say, that while this was not planned, it is not un-welcomed. (Got that double- negative?) We have talked recently about "what if" we have another kid (usually followed by one of us saying "I will just die" or "Our life will be over"), but we have entertained the idea. The harrowing memories of twin-infant-hood seem to have softened some, but there certainly was no baby fever going on. (Got that Damon? NO baby fever.) I'd even test myself - holding some friend's baby (I'm feelin' nothin!) or peeking into the infant room at the daycare (Glad I'm not going there!). No fever. Not even a cold.

But - surprise - we are here once again.

Honestly, I have been pretty happy about it. For the most part. It's exciting to think about adding a new member to the family, seeing what another Orsetti might look like, picking a new name... But my battle scars seem too fresh.

Am I ready?

Can I handle twins...working...life...and a new baby?

Yes - there are days where I just don't want to be pregnant. The constantly growing belly, the constant tiredness, the constant "We have to get another car - and we just bought a freakin' house!" looms everywhere.

And I wonder - what will it be like to "just have one baby." I catch myself in a panic sometimes. "I know how to DO twins. How do you do ONE?" "What the heck kind of stroller do you get for one kid?" "What will we do if both of us wants to hold the baby at the same time?" Are these normal thoughts? I never had these before. Never an issue.

I even sometimes wonder if it would have been better to be having twins again. Boy/girl twins of course! That I know how to do. That would solve Adelaide's disappointment*, and pretty much secure that we never have any more kids again. After all, now that we are having 3, the topic of having a 4th has been broached on more than one occasion. But that would mean going through all of this again!

[*Having one more baby was casually mentioned to Adelaide, one time, but she seems to think that it is a real possibility. The other day she said "If you have ANOTHER baby (after this one) and it's a boy, Mommy, I'm going to tell you to stop having babies because that's too many brothers."]

So every time I try to bend over to pick up something (which in our house is quite a lot), or want to do some activity more strenuous than walking up 1 flight of stairs, or try to figure out just what the hell I want to eat, I am reminded that life will change once again for us in just a few short months. I have anxieties about the birth, but more about bringing in more chaos into our already chaotic life. Every one I know who has twins and then had a singleton afterwards reassures me that it will be "cake." After all, having one just can't be any harder than two.

I hope so.

13 days and counting!

Potty training was something that went relatively easy for us - if you can call potty training two toddlers at the same time "easy!" I had no interest in it for the longest time, but when the kids started to show interest (around 2 1/2), we figured we might as well go with it. But only after a couple of months (before they turned 3) of relatively minor intervention they were fully potty trained. This made things at daycare - and at home - much easier, and I wondered why we waited soooo long to do it.

But what I speak of is really "daytime" potty training.

"Nighttime" training has been a little different. And in all the things I read about potty training there doesn't seem to be all that much that addresses the nighttime situation. From our experience, they are two separate beasts.

That said, nighttime training has been a mixed bag for us. Adelaide was nighttime trained before she left diapers. And this was completely her own doing. I NEVER expected a 2 year old to hold it all night. But night after night, she would just wake up with a dry diaper. We would constantly marvel at it - even wondering if something was wrong. So by the time she was "daytime" trained she was also "nighttime" trained. That didn't stop me though from keeping her in pull-ups at night for another 6 months. (I just didn't think it was possible!) One day, though, I just gave up and put her in underwear. She has NEVER had an accident.

Then there is our sweet Kestian. Daytime training for him went pretty smoothly, if I recall. I even think there were less issues with him than with Adelaide (it took her forever to poop on the potty!). It has been another story for nighttime. He wore pull-ups at night ever since we got rid of diapers. At first, he would have a full pull-up every morning. But then around last fall/winter (more or less) there would be nights in between where he was dry. Soon he started to be dry more often than wet, and would go 3 or 4 nights between accidents. By last spring/summer, we switched him to underwear at night and he would maybe have an accident once a week (but never longer than that).

Then we moved. Now I don't know if it was all the commotion from the move or something else, but he quickly regressed. He had an accident his first night at the new house, followed by several more that week. He slowly crept back to having accidents every other night. I finally asked him if he wanted to try pull-ups again - just for a little while - so we all didn't have to get up every night to change his bed. He happily agreed.

Then he went through a spell where he had an accident - in the pull-up - just about every night. I worried that the pull-ups might even be causing the problem. But before I could think about what to do next, one night he was dry. Then the next night. And the next. After about 4 or 5 days in a row of dry pull-ups we agreed to let him go back to underwear. That was 13 days ago. He has not had one accident at night since then. I can't really explain it, other than perhaps he is just getting older, more comfortable with his bedroom, and the craziness from the summer has dissipated.

Now, we never made a big deal about the accidents (but gave him lots of praise when he was dry) so as to not make him feel bad about something he really couldn't control. Adelaide has this amazing camel-like ability to just hold it. Kestian, not so much. He sleeps so soundly (I only know one other person who sleeps more soundly than Kestian, and that is my brother. Mom, Dad - can I get a witness!!!) that he can hardly ever wake himself up when he has to go. Hence the accidents. But then one morning when I woke him up, he announced "5 days!". I asked him what "5 days" meant and he said that he hadn't had an accident in 5 days. It was then that I knew he was keeping track of how dry he was and so very proud of himself for it. Now every day when he gets up, he announces how many days. Today: "13 days!"

So we are so proud of him for going so long - the longest he's ever gone - without an accident. Sometimes he wakes up to go pee, but mostly he just holds it all night. Also, limiting how much water he can have at night has helped. And even if he has an accident tonight or next week or whenever, I can clearly see that he has come a long way.

Great job, Kestian!

Not everyone was thrilled

We told the kids that the baby will be a boy. Let's just say that not everyone was thrilled with the news:

Drum roll please.....

For any of you who are eager to know if it's a boy or girl, the following inconclusive, don't-quote-me-on-it, wait-before-you-buy-a-bunch-of-stuff, results are in:

And it is......drummmmmmmmmmm....rollllllllllllllllllllllllllll....

A boy!

Now I say that we aren't sure because the technologist wasn't sure, but I am pretty sure. Here is today's ultrasound... Note, what is called in official medical terms, a "turtle" shaped object below "BOY????"...


Now for comparison's sake, let's look at Kestian's ultrasound from this time 5 years ago. Again, note the "turtle."

Now look at Adelaide. We have here, what is also in official medical terms, a "hamburger."
This baby (which we are now referring to as "Damon Jr" until it is born) seems to have what is identical to Kestian's "turtle" and not much of anything like Adelaide's "hamburger".

We'll get another scan next month - but I'm calling it!

It's a boy!

Here are some other scans from today. The baby is not quite 5 inches (crown to rump) and roughly 5 oz.:

H1N1...round 1...done.

This weekend was the first opportunity for most people in Fayette County to get their H1N1 shots. As you probably know, I couldn't wait for it to get here. None of the doctors around here had it, and the health department was waiting until their clinic to give it out. (Believe me, phone calls to them asking if we could get it ahead of the clinic went unheeded.) So shot clinic it was.

The clinic was supposed to start at 9am. We arrived at 8:15, only to find the high school enveloped in people.


Was U2 scheduled to arrive? Obama? Surely, based on the crowds alone, some iconic band or high ranking politician was going to make an appearance. Sadly, I never did see either one while we were there...

Anyway, after parking we walked to the back of the school, got our "green card"


and proceeded to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

After an hour of being outside, we finally crossed the threshold, into the warmth of the building, and were handed information cards to fill out. Believing that the shots were minutes away, we furiously scribbled on them. Little did we know it would be yet another hour till we could consider ourselves h1n1-protected.

Meanwhile, the kids were behaving pretty good considering they thought they were doing some slow version of a death-march. Having recently gotten their seasonal flu shots, the whole "shot" idea was just too fresh in their minds. However, I do want to say that we saw this awesome episode of Sid the Science Kid last weekend about getting shots. It explained to the kids all about getting the shots, and how the shots will start their bodies making antibodies, providing them the immunity they need without getting sick, and how that helps to keep other people from getting sick (since if you aren't sick, you don't have any virus to spread). They were honest about the shots hurting, but kept emphasizing "It will hurt a little, but help a whole lot." The kids were entranced during the show, hopefully relating it to their recent experience with getting their seasonal flu shot and with the upcoming H1N1 shot.

So finally, after two hours of waiting, it was our turn. We split up - boys and girls. It wasn't really until the kids SAW the shots being given out that they panicked. Adelaide wanted me to go first, so she could see how I handled it. So I did. But by then she was certain that this was just not a good idea for her. I mentioned something about getting a treat if she got her shot, and she muttered that she didn't want a treat. Poor girl. I sat her on my lap and had to really hold her - in fact another nurse had to help - while she got her shot. There was a lot of crying. From both of us. I looked over to Kestian and he was already done, but still sobbing. It was sad. But several lollipops, stickers, and a happy meal from McDonalds later and no one was the wiser.

Now, I had promised the kids that once we got these shots, they would be done for a whole year. Um, yeah, until the nurse who gave us the vaccine crapped all over that idea and said they will need a booster in one month. They had boosters before with the seasonal shot, so I wasn't surprised. But now I have to tell the kids that we'll have to do it once again. Now that will be fun!

Having said all that, I must say that I am really glad we got the shots. I was very nervous about H1N1 after hearing about how children and preggies are at a much higher risk for complications (pneumonia, hospitalization, miscarriage, and death) with this strain of flu. Things, quite frankly, I just don't want to bother with. All the while, the debate about whether to even get the vaccine has fascinated me.

I say all of this because during the past month or so, I have been trying to be the poster-child for excellent hygiene while we waited for the shots. I would use a paper towel to open the door as I left the bathroom, and use hand sanitizer every time I left and came back to my office. I was washing and sanitizing so much that I was becoming OCD. Did I just touch that door? More sanitizer! Did that guy just sneeze as I walked by? Don't breathe in! In fact I was thinking that I was doing such a good job at keeping germs at bay that getting any kind of shot might be just a practice in futility.

Until I got smacked in the face with this cold. My second cold this pregnancy. My second cold that I cannot take a damn thing for and so I must be miserable for what will be weeks.

Now let me tell you, people get colds. I know that. But people who are super-psycho with washing hands and not touching stuff? If I can do all this excellent hygiene and still pick up a cold virus, then it could have just as easily been a flu virus. Sure I sound paranoid... but obviously I wasn't doing enough, even though I thought I was. It's almost like it has been all for naught. Heck, my son goes around licking his hands all day (we are working on that!) and HE doesn't have a cold... Hmmmm. Maybe he's on to something!

Shining Star

Adelaide has been nominated Shining Star in her class. She got her name put on the sign and we brought in some pictures for all to see. We have all been very excited for her. But while we are all excited, I had just a tiny bit of concern about Kestian.

You see, last year Adelaide was made Star-of-the-Month for her class. Everyone was very excited about it and Kestian kept talking about "when I get to be Star-of-the-Month...". But for whatever reason they just stopped doing it after Adelaide was nominated, so Kestian never had an opportunity. Wanting to make sure he felt just as special, we ended up making our own Star-of-the-Month for him, which he was very excited about.

So this year, seeing that Adelaide is once again the focus of attention, I wanted to see if Kestian would also have an opportunity to have the recognition at school and I've been reassured that he will. I certainly don't want to take anything away from Adelaide, but I guess the "fairness-itch" in me needs to get scratched, making sure that Kestian (who we ALL know is also a Shining Star) also gets his moment to shine.

Meet LOVE the Doulas...

For our last birth, we thought we were doing what everyone should do to get ready. We took those ridiculous hospital classes that show you how to diaper your baby and tell you how your abdominal muscles can separate during pregnancy (pretty much permanently, by the way!). Good stuff. I remember sitting in those classes, practicing silly breathing exercises while Damon did everything in his power to make me laugh every time I "hee'd" and "hoo'd". While it was entertaining to me, I'm sure the other couples there did not appreciate it. And we would secretly discuss in the car on the way home important things, like the instructor's ill-fitting shoes, or the actor's clothes in the 70's-esque movie we watched that night. Needless to say, I was not all that impressed.

But then one night, the instructor talked about doulas. I had never heard what a doula was before that. I've heard of midwife, but never doula. But as she described it, a light-bulb went on and I knew that having a doula was the right choice for me. She handed out a flier for a "Meet the Doulas" night over at BabyMoon and we promptly headed over and listened to the group. I was enthralled. I was convinced. I started to think, "How could anyone have a baby and not use a doula?" It was something both Damon and I needed.

So we got some names and numbers and interviewed a few before we settled on one that we liked. We happened to choose Anne, who was also the owner of BabyMoon. I was so excited. She gave us tons of information, was supportive while I was on bedrest, and just made me more reassured during what was an exciting but scary time.

However, all along we knew there was a good chance that I was going to end up with a c-section. Baby A (aka the bottom baby, aka Kestian) was breech. Butt-on-my-cervix breech and was like that for quite a while. He would not move. So when events found me in the hospital one day 4 centimeters dilated, and Kestian was still butt-on-cervix-breech, c-section was pretty much my only option. Anne came by before the babies came and offered her support, but really we couldn't use her much since there would be no labor.

That was pretty much it in terms of my doula experience.

Flash-forward to now. A recent conversation with Damon probably gives some indication to our current state of concern:

Me: Do you think I could handle a natural birth?

Damon: Do you think I could handle a natural birth?

Exactly. So last night I saw that BabyMoon was once again having their Meet the Doula night, and I dragged myself over. I had a great, although limited, experience last time with having a doula, but yet I wasn't sure I wanted a doula again. I was feeling like I knew all I needed to know, that I could handle it, blah blah blah. But lately I've also been worried about the birth and just how is this all going to work, and I know Damon has been too. This may be my second pregnancy, but the circumstances are so different. It's only one baby this time, and so hopefully I won't have the same complications I had last time. There is a very real possibility that I will be able to deliver this child naturally. And that is what I want to do, but at the same time it scares the heck out of me. I look at my kids' baby-dolls and think "Yep, that's about the size of what this baby will be when it's born", and then I think "Oh. My. God! That's about the size of what this baby will be when it's born!"


I can envision the full pregnancy, starting labor, and then holding my baby. The whole "actual labor" and "pushing the baby out" part - yeah, I'm not quite sure how that could possibly work. I watch the videos of women laboring and delivering and I see the trance that they enter while in a state of pain that can only compare to, well, giving birth, and how it goes on for hours, sometimes days even, and I think "Holy Crap! Will that be me in six months? I don't think so!" I want to do it, but I'm freaked out at the prospect of actually doing it. It's like bungee-jumping: It may look fun and exciting, but holy crap you have to be nuts to do that!

So I went over to the doula meeting and fell in love with them all over again. Anne was there too, although she is not taking clients right now (serious bummer), but I met several others that I liked, including one who is a mother of twins herself. Let's just say we totally hit it off. I can see her being our doula for sure.

And after the meeting, I felt, probably for the first time, that I actually may be able to do this. For real even. Now I'm not just feeling "pregnant" with this ever-growing belly, but on a path to deliver my baby the way I want to. And let me just say that I really do believe that the end result is just as important as the process. While it's important to deliver a healthy baby, it is just as important that I deliver this baby the way I want to. And I feel that this doula will make it possible for me AND Damon to have the birth of our child our way.

Soccer bonanza

In case you are wondering what a soccer game between 4 year-olds looks like, watch this video. You can see Kestian and Adelaide playing starting around 52 seconds. Kestian is wearing an orange shirt under his uniform, and kicks the ball into play. Adelaide is deeper on the field, but you can recognize her by her swinging pony-tail. If I am correct in what I am seeing, Adelaide gets a goal here. Way to go Kestian and Adelaide!

15 weeks, 4 days

Today I am 15 weeks, 4 days, if you go by the assigned "due date," and things seem to be going along swimmingly. I guess this picture doesn't show too much of a belly, but it is definitely there. It's getting harder to lean forward, get up from sitting, and fit into clothes. I'm already worried about being able to shave, put on my shoes, and pick up stuff off the floor, and it's only going to get bigger. But despite the ever-growing belly, I've probably only gained about 4 pounds. I think that everything is just shifting around on my body, because an extra four pounds of weight would not give me such a belly-bump, and probably a lot of that weight has to do with the increasing blood volume and fluid retention in my body.

Eating has also become interesting. I didn't have "morning sickness" with my first pregnancy, nor have I really had it with this one, but that's not to say that I'm not hyper-sensitive to food. If I see a certain food, sometimes I just HAVE to have it, and I won't be happy until I do (things were not pretty when I wanted Lucky Charms but we were out of milk). But really it comes down to the moment I smell it or taste it. I can want something all day, and take one bite of it and be "done," disgusted by the thought of eating one more bite of it. Or I can not crave anything, but take a bite of something and it becomes ALL I want to eat - forevar! And even familiar foods can taste different - like the other day Damon made pasta with red sauce, and the sauce had mushrooms and garlic in it. I thought it tasted like fish and could not eat it, even though I have eaten it dozens of times before. So yeah, it's been a bit interesting. The other fun thing is that I swing from feeling sooo full to sooo hungry in a matter of minutes, and if that hunger goes on for longer than 30 minutes, I start to feel sick. So yeah, I'm pretty much eating something every 3 hours (long enough to eat, feel full for about 2+ hours, then shift to hungry and hunt down more food again). Not bringing in an afternoon snack to work has clearly taught me the wrongs of my ways.

Anyhow, since I last blogged about the preggie stuff, I was talking about my concerns with my doctor when I said I did not want another c-section. Since then I have transferred my care to my high-risk OB, who was my high-risk OB during the last pregnancy and apparently very pro-VBAC. I have an appointment with him next Monday, where I am very excited (and a little bit nervous) about talking to him about a VBAC and I hope it goes well.

And tonight there is a "Meet the Doulas" night over at a local place with lots of resources on birthing. I'm kinda excited about that too. We had a doula for the last pregnancy, but never "used" her really since I ended up having a c-section. But she was nice and I thought it would be helpful to me AND Damon to have the extra support. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to have a doula this time, but it actually may be more important to have one this time. My inner "I-Can-Do-This-Myself-The-Way-I-Want-To-Do-It" has been challenged and I think a little bit of back-up would help a lot.

The kids are still excited about the whole baby thing, collecting "baby" toys from around the house and putting them in a pile, and leaning their head against my belly and exclaiming "I heard something!"

There is a chance that we may find out if it's a boy or girl at this next appointment (since Ill be 16 weeks). But if not, we should be able to find out in December.

Ta-ta for now!

Halloween fun!

The kids have had several opportunities for some Halloween fun this year, despite us never making it to the pumpkin patch or getting a pumpkin. Little Goblins Galore was fun, and since then we had Fall Festival (aka Fall "Festibal") at the school. The kids dressed up and Adelaide was a Princess Witch again, but we couldn't find her hat so she wore fancy mouse ears instead (of course!), while Kestian was a Power Ranger. Kestian has no idea what a Power Ranger is, and was at one point calling it "Stranger Ranger," but he had a good time with the costume.


The kids decorated cookies...


And did some crafts...
And everyone had a good time..

Then for Halloween, the kids got dressed up again. Kestian was Superman and Adelaide was a scarecrow.
We hemmed and hawed about what to do for Halloween (trick-or-treat in the neighborhood or at the mall), but with it being 45 degrees outside I just did not feel up to walking around in the cold for over an hour. Plus the kids were bound to complain about the cold and wearing their jackets (which we would have made them do, despite the majority of kids we saw NOT wearing coats). So we went to the mall and the kids got to walk around (with no coats) and got a whole bunch of candy, which we promptly sorted and traded and took samples of.

This has just been such a busy month, and I was feeling bad that we never did the whole pumpkin side of the season. But Damon pointed out, "It's not like we haven't been doing stuff!", what with Sesame Street Live, and soccer, and birthday parties, etc. So I guess that's ok. We'll probably go to one of the orchards this weekend and pick apples, and if they have some leftover pumpkins we'll pick some up. But I guess it has been a pretty fun month. At least, no one is complaining.

On to November!