a great start to fall

October 1st. Autumn is upon us. My birthday is in 28 days. Boy I love birthdays, even if I am getting older.

We've had a really nice start to autumn. The girls are growing and are staying healthy. Kevin too. Well, he's staying healthy, not growing. Elsa is 9.5 months and crawling on all fours all over the house. She can pull up on the couch, or anything, to her knees and is trying so hard to get to her feet. She has three teeth and three more on top are going to come through soon.

Family day out apple picking

Gretchen is growing into a little girl. She even looks different some days. Speech is going well. She was assessed the other week and is in the 48th percentile which means she's almost average for her age. Gretchen has really overcome her apraxia. We are still going to continue with speech twice per month. She still needs some help with stringing words together. When she talks, there are a lot of pauses where you can tell she's thinking about what to say next or how to say it. Her sounds are coming along really nicely. I'm super proud of her.

Charlotte. Did I mention I love her? She's been so difficult lately. Really testing us and not following directions. We have to tell her 8 times to clean up the family room and it still never gets done. No amount of screaming or timeouts seems to help. I just don't get it. The other day I had a grand moment. After repeatedly being told to clean her room, I went up there (she was playing with toys, not cleaning) with a garbage bag and filled it as fast I could. You might be thinking this sounds mean, trust me, it's a win for Mom. She started screaming and crying. I told her because she couldn't pick up her toys I was going to throw them out. This had been an empty threat of mine for quite some time. Wouldn't ya know, Charlotte cleaned her entire room that instant in about 30 seconds? I knew she could do it! I warned her garbage day was Wednesday and she had 4 days to start acting good and change her attitude. I won't actually throw them out, but I might keep them hidden for a month. She hasn't been that much better. It's really frustrating!

I sold my Etsy shop stuff at a craft fair the other weekend and made $400. I think that was a good amount! I'm selling again this week but don't expect to make quite as much. That has been keeping me busy. It's addicting. Sometimes I know I should be focusing on other things (like work). Did I mention I'm finally having to get in 20 hours/week? That's over 25 hrs/week of working on top of being a full-time Mom. Yikes!

The wood floor is done. The baseboard trim is done. The door frame trim is one and we have 3 out of 4 doors done. Let me tell you, the first floor of the house looks beautiful!! Great job Kevin! I just made some apple butter and need to figure out how to can. One more thing, right?!

I guess that's the update for now. We are just growing, learning, and loving.