Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Andy, Emily and Jacob drove down from New Jersey to spend the weekend with us. John Grayson and Delia LOVED having them around the house. They were especially enthralled with Jacob. I think that JGray likes his babies little and immobile so they can't get into his stuff :-) Delia had a cold (runny nose and cough) so we did our best to keep her away from Jacob. She seemed much more interested in her old toys than Jacob. Granted, she did spend a lot of time in that bouncy seat when she was little, so she must have fond memories of it. She pulled up on it, climbed into it, played with the toys, and then managed to wiggle her way out of it. It was too funny!

John Grayson seemed determined to start teaching Jacob about "big boy" things, like dinosaurs and monster trucks. He showed Jacob his dinosaur toys and read him dinosaur books. Jacob is a wonderful baby and was willing to humor his Big Cousin JGray.

MaMa and Pop came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Pop cooked the turkey again this year (it was yummy, as always) and also made dessert (even yummier). John Grayson tried almost everything but wasn't a fan of the "grape jelly" (aka, cranberry sauce). He loved the pumpkin pie, with LOTS of cool whip. Delia ate a ton (and dropped a ton) of food--which made Dusty very happy. She got to try her first bites of sweet potato pie and probably would have eaten a lot more, if I'd given it to her.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have two beautiful, healthy children who are thriving and bring such joy and laughter into our lives. We have our health and the love and support of our wonderful family and friends. And if you are John Grayson, when your teacher asks you what you're thankful for, you say "turkey" even when all of the other kids talk about their family and friends. Gotta love where his priorities are :-)

Christmas is right around the corner and it's going to be a fantastic holiday in the Schmitt household. Grandma and Grandpa are flying out from Naperville for the holiday, and Uncle Andy, Auntie Em and Cousin Jacob (and Bailey too) are driving down from New Jersey. Add MaMa and Pop to the Christmas morning mix and it's going to be a full house! I can't imagine a more wonderful way to end a spectacular year.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend:

Poor Delia

Poor Delia has had a cold off and on for over a month now. About two weeks ago, she had an elevated white count that ended up being a virus (although it was really annoying to have to go to the doctor's office 3 days in a week for a finger prick). She has actually been in a pretty good mood considering her runny nose and cough. With Jacob coming to visit for Thanksgiving and her cough sounding worse, I decided to take her into the doctor on Tuesday afternoon. Good thing I trusted my mother's intuition because Delia was wheezing. She needed a nebulizer (breathing) treatment in the doctor's office. What is a breathing treatment? I had to hold a mask on her face for 10 minutes while she breathed in the medicine. She screamed and fought me the ENTIRE time, so needless to say, both of us were exhausted by the end. I also had to rent a nebulizer for a week and give her breathing treatments 3-4 times a day. Delia was a trooper and she's doing much better now. She still has a runny nose and a cough, but it sounds better than it did before. Hopefully this is all of our drama for a while...

I managed to take one picture of Delia during her breathing treatments.

Thumb

Although Allison actually witnessed this series of events; she chose not to write about it; you'll understand why. So here it is via instant message that I received:

Allison: Hey, you there?

John: Yup

Allison: So JGray just came out of the bathroom and told me that his thumb smelled like poop

John: Huh?

Allison: Exactly, so I asked him why his thumb smelled like poop and he responded 'Well Mommy, its because I put my thumb in my butt'

John: LOL, Why did he do that?

Allison: He told me that it fit there.

In summary, while I am hard at work all day my son is just sitting around with his thumb up his butt. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.

10 Months Old!

Delia is 10 months old! 5/6 of a year. Incredible. It's funny to think that she's so close to being a year old. I feel like she's been with us forever but then I have to remind myself that she wasn't here for the holidays last year. I've been trying to find a cute Christmas outfit for her, but the largest sizes they have are 9 months. I guess they assume that any kids wearing 12 month clothes were around for the holiday last year :-) I'm starting to get a little nervous about Christmas with a busy little one around the house. I think we might have some good stories this year. Hopefully Delia doesn't decide to climb the Christmas tree!

At 10 months, Delia is:

*WALKING! Yes, the little girl is walking. She started walking about a week before her 10 month birthday. Right now the steps are relatively tentative. She'll walk between John and I (up to 5 or 6 steps at a time). She could probably walk a lot better if she didn't spend so much time bouncing! It must be hard to get your balance to walk when you're jumping up and down.

*Has 2 teeth! About a week ago, the second tooth on the bottom popped through. They're both still pretty hard to see unless you pull down her lip to look for them, but they're there.

*Is happy. People who meet her always comment on how happy and smiley she is. They also ask if she's always like this. The answer is yes. With a few exceptions (like going to the doctor), Delia is one of the happiest little kids you'll meet. She loves to laugh and smile and play.

*Loves to eat. This girl is an eating machine. She's on finger foods now and will eat almost anything you give her. Her favorite foods are fruits--bananas, peaches, pears, melon. She also loves cheese.

*Has rhythm. As soon as you put any music on, she immediately starts to move and bounce and shake. She's been taking a music class this fall and absolutely loved it.

*Causes trouble. We've had to start closing the bathroom door (which is a challenge with a potty trained 3 year old) because I've found Delia playing in the toilet bowl. Lovely. Thank goodness John Grayson remembers to flush, most of the time. We've also found her in the dog bowl. Her newest trick is climbing the stairs. Yes, at 10 months, Delia can climb the stairs. This morning I followed her on one of her "adventures" and just let her keep going (normally I stop her before she even gets to the stairs). Well, she climbed 6 stairs (on her way to catch JGray) before I stopped her. Ugh, I think it's time to find those baby gates!

*Is quite the talker. I'm pretty sure I've heard her say "All Done". Mom, Da Da and Ba Ba (for JGray) are staples in her vocabulary. I've also heard "Dus" (for Dusty) and other words that usually sound frighteningly close to what I've just said to her. It's probably only a matter of time before she busts out in full sentences.

*Waves hi and bye bye. There tends to be a lag between you say it and the waving starts, but it's a full arm motion once she gets going.


Delia, you are a ray of sunshine in our lives. You have become such a sweet little lady and you're only 10 months old. I cannot wait to see what fun you have in store for us in the months and years to come!

Delia's Baptism Weekend

Last weekend was Delia's baptism, and we were lucky enough for Grandma and Grandpa to be able to travel from Naperville to spend a few days with us. Delia loved being the center of attention for a day and even seemed to enjoy wearing her pretty white dress. She was good during mass and smiled throughout the baptism ceremony. Her godparents are Oli Billcheck (one of my good college friends) and Bill McGuire (one of John's good buddies here in Richmond). We were so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to share this special day with us!

Here are some pictures from the day:











Saturday morning John and I ran the Richmond Half Marathon. It was our first big race since Delia was born and we both did really well. I finished in 1:54 and John finished in 1:56. The half marathon course was the same as the second half the marathon course, and it was definitely a relief to know that we didn't have to run 26 miles!

Apple Picking

A little over a week ago we took our annual apple picking pilgrimage to Carter Mountain Orchard outside of Charlottesville. This year we showed up a little later in the season so our favorites, the Pink Ladies, were already picked over. That being the case we had to settle for picking our second favorite, the Fuji apples.

The folks at Carter Mountain must believe (or know as they are likely apple growing experts) that Fuji apples do better at higher elevations. After a few apple cider doughnuts at the ‘Apple Barn’ and climbed our way up to what must be the highest point in the Charlottesville area (I don’t know this as a fact, but evidenced by the large number of cell towers, radio, and TV towers placed among the Fuji apple trees, it was quite high.

Our journey was well worth it. We had never seen such an amazing amount of fruit being grown by these trees. There were so many apples that most of the time John Grayson was able walk right up and grab them himself. That was until he told Daddy that the better ones were obviously higher on the tree so he would need my help getting them. This year we limited ourselves to just a couple bags of apples as it took us months to consume the 50lbs of Pink Ladies from last year picking. After walking down the mountain and picking up a gallon of cider, our day at the orchard concluded.

Here are some pictures from our morning at the orchard:

First Steps.....Maybe

MaMa spent the afternoon at home with Delia and I while the boys were at the University of Richmond football game. A few minutes before bedtime, MaMa and I saw Delia take a couple of steps toward her toy bin. Or at least we think we saw it. Does it count if Delia didn't do it intentionally????