Traumatic Evening at the Brandenburg's!

I had one of those days yesterday...the kind you don't want to repeat. It started out relatively fine, except that Elise just seemed very off, and exceptionally crabby. I had a dentist appointment (4th visit in 3 weeks) to try to figure out why I was having sensitivity on a tooth that was re-filled 3 weeks ago. My dentist is wonderful, but it's such a hassle to keep visiting the office. John was gracious enough to stay home a few hours with Elise, since I didn't know if she was sick or teething & didn't want to get other kids sick. The afternoon was OK. I decided to take Elise out of the house, thinking that maybe she was tired of looking at the same walls - so we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things & the outing seemed to help. Once home again, she was still quite whiny. Well, after attempting to feed her dinner, which she only ate a few bites, we went up to take a bath. John was working late, to make up for his missed hours that morning. After bathing, I was drying Elise off on a towel, and as toddlers frequently are, she was squirming & bumped her mouth on the edge of the bathtub. She cried really hard & I looked at her lip, thinking that she bit down on it - and to my dismay, she had, but worse than that, she also chipped off a portion of her front tooth! After a minute or so, she calmed down & I got her dressed, but I was horrified! I also felt so guilty, because I was right there & still this all happened! I'm also running through all the thoughts that she'll have to live with this chipped front tooth until she's 5 or 6!! I think I shed more tears as this realization hit me - and John came home to find me crying over her as I was blow-drying her hair.
Well, after a nights' rest & a visit this morning to the pediatric dentist - I'm feeling a little better.
He put a coating over the tooth to help with any sensitivity, and said we will monitor it every 3 months & that once she turns 2, he can use medicine in the office to relax her & can put a filling on the tooth to cosmetically make it look whole. This makes me feel much better knowing all our options. He assured me that this happens all the time with kids - but I didn't really want it to happen to my kid!! I know she's healthy & suprisingly, it doesn't seem to bother her. So, when you all get our Christmas card this year - it'll be one to remember all those bumps in life that take you unexpectedly. Here's a quick picture I snapped of Elise and her chipped tooth. As John told her last night, no matter the shape of her tooth, we still love her & think she's a beautiful little girl.

Fall Festival

Getting so big!
On Sunday afternoon, our neighborhood had its Fall Festival at our common area. The kids dressed up and enjoyed face painting & some fun blow up slides & bouncers.
Michelle & Kaylie were there to enjoy the fun.
Waiting our turn for the face painting.
Lovely lashes for the little ladybug.
Cute!
Elise enjoyed bouncing around the Crayon Land bouncer.

Fun Week

Elise & Kaylie had so much fun sliding this last week! Here's a fun action shot.
Busy reading in her chair.
A fun party at Ali & Chrissie Slacks' last week Thursday. All the kids got dressed up and got a chance to practice their "Trick or Treating" by stopping at each bag.
This ladybug found her pumpkin!
Playing in the playhouse! Elise was so excited to open and close the door and windows all by herself.
Bag lady! This is one of her favorite activities. Carrying around her little bags & filling them with things, or finding my bags and filling and emptying them, too. I'll attach a little video of her from last week.

Weekend with Paul & Jodi

Paul & Jodi came for a visit this past weekend. Elise and Bailey played so well together again.

While they were here - they helped us out. John had a brainstorming session for a freelance project to come up with a name for a start-up accounting firm & Paul washed and vacuumed his car as well as our Jeep.
It seems that anytime we get together, a sewing project also comes up. We went to MaryJo's fabric store & Paul was introduced to the warehouse of fabric! In this picture below we were working on some pajama pants for John & Paul.
Paul & Bailey just relaxing....
Make a wish! Paul was here to celebrate his birthday with us - and we enjoyed some filet on the grill, along with a salad & sweet potato fries.
Happy Birthday!

Busy Playing

Elise is now 16 months and loves to play with her bears, stroller and bags.
She is a very content little girl and can entertain herself really well.
Here's a little video of her playing from Monday morning (10/13/08).

Enjoying Autumn in North Carolina

Elise & Kaylie each with a snack cup on the pink chair.
This past weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and headed to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Flat Rock, NC (near Asheville). We sampled the different varieties of apples and came home with enough to freeze & use in the winter, but not too many to overwhelm me.
Elise in the bamboo forest - great lighting!

There was also a petting zoo with a grey goose, some ducks, sheep & goats. Elise wanted to put her fingers through the fence...she loves animals!
John & Elise posing in a little playhouse at the apple orchard.

Life around here has been very busy. I feel like I'm up against a time crunch and have to get things done before winter comes...which really is many more weeks away since we live in NC.
I've been in an organizing mode. After getting our little shed tidy with more storage space, I moved on to the garage and have re-organized all the shelves there & consolidated things so that I have more space. Next, I went through all of Elise's clothes that she's outgrown & put them away in labeled containers, and I told her that she can't grow anymore. I knew that kids come with lots of "stuff" but until you have to start storing it and moving it around....it's so true! Also this past weekend I decided to take down the exterior lights on our house (3 of them) and spray paint them since they were originally a brass/gold color and were beginning to look rusted and just old. I tried a textured brown rustoleum paint my in-laws recommended and the lights look brand new! Not bad for $12 in paint costs. My next "project" that I'd like to tackle before winter is to clean my windows. We'll see. I love the results of window cleaning...it's just the process to get it done - and the juggling of keeping Elise entertained so I can do it. So, that's what we've been up to - lots of moving and shaking to get things done.

Ketchup

For those of you who've fed toddlers, you know that it can sometimes be challenging. In the last several days, meals at our table have been a bit of a struggle. Elise will eat breakfast like a champ, but lunch and dinner are very hard to get her to eat much. She wakes up at 8am, so once breakfast is over between 8:30 -9am, I don't offer her a morning snack, since she eats (or I offer her lunch) around noon. Dinnertime has been the worst. I've offered her things she's eaten in the past, but now doesn't want...and we have tried distractions so that she would eat, and now I've just started praying for wisdom, because I am not willing to just give her Goldfish (which she will eat anytime, anywhere) and she needs a balanced diet of healthy veggies and protein.
Well, I continued to pray for this evening's meal, because I was off to choir rehearsal, and John was taking on the dinner-duty. When I got back, I asked how she ate dinner, and he said, "Wait one second," and went off to get the camera...and to my surprise (and relief) she ate really well....finally! She had a whole turkey meatball, and a couple egg noodles....and then a corn dog with ketchup. Evidently, once John showed her how to dip her pieces in the ketchup, she was sold! So, here's his little video to capture this momentus meal - eating ketchup!

Busy Helping

I realize I hadn't updated our blog in several weeks...and I apologize for the delay. In fact, my sister Jodi called me this morning and said that something must be wrong with our blog, because there still hadn't been any new pictures or entries, but what can I say? Life has been busy. And with that segway...We have a very busy helper around the house, too.

Last week, I told Elise that we needed to vacuum, so she went to the closet where I keep it, and was waiting for me to get it out. She also has a little toy vacuum, and I noticed that once I started, she went to her toy box and got out her own mini vacuum to walk around next to me with it. It was so cute. She likes to copy what we're doing. This weekend I cleaned out and washed my Jeep, and of course, she wanted to be right there helping with the cleaning wipes, too. Then, this morning after she also tried to help me wash the kitchen floor - we were in the backyard cleaning up the flower beds and cutting back the spent lillies as well. She found herself a spot and proceeded to remove all of the pine straw from a little patch, I'm sure she thought she was helping - but you should have seen the dirt in that girl's fingernails. I think I'll be scrubbing them for days to get it all out. I'm glad she enjoys working with me and spending some good quality time learning together. I'm so grateful to be home with her full time to take advantage of these opportunities. There is some sacrifice, but also what a great reward! I'll never get these years back, and they are so precious.