the Inquisitive Pumpkin

I told Jacquie that I still wanted to practice with the Canon Rebel T2i and blog again. I have plenty of time and it's nice to have a break from watching Hulu all night long when I don't have to work. Blogging makes me feel more creative and productive. She told me that she wanted pictures at the pumpkin patch and she had the perfect outfit to use, all from Gymboree- including the pumpkin hat. We also talked about going to the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens since they were having an entry-free weekend, but they closed at 5pm, and we got busy taking other family photos before dinner. (I'll post those after the Color Run pictures! They are too fun and beautiful not to show off.) Plus Mommy said she went last year and it was super packed. I'd prefer to have nice pictures without random strangers in the background. The website says regular Kanapaha admission is only $7. Not bad.

Peyton is one of those babies that tries to figure everything out. She looks cranky a lot because her eyebrows are often furrowed, but she's just trying to understand what is going on or who someone is. Sometimes I call her "Eyebrows". Mommy said I was exactly like that when I was a baby. It is possible that 400 of the pictures I took looked like that, but we skipped through those and saved the happy ones to post. I love when you can see her two little bottom teeth. But she already has eight! Four of them which are still growing in. And right now we have to hold her hands in a lot of the pictures because she is always putting her hands in her mouth. It covers up her great smile!

I ended up taking a total of 536 pictures just during the 45 minutes we were at the pumpkin patch. Its easiest for me to just take a bunch and delete the cranky faces later. I don't want to miss out on any of the cute smiles, especially when her facial expressions change so quickly. I busted out laughing on Saturday when Mia was holding her because she went from smiling without showing her teeth to instant grump cat face. I'm not sure what changed since Zach was standing behind me shaking his keys and trying to make her laugh. But it was super hilarious! I keep forgetting how much she does not like when I bust out laughing because it's suddenly so loud. And she cried once when I sneezed.

 When she gets a little older (maybe when she is 3 years old? She's one week shy of 11 months here) I'll have to get pictures of her wearing the first Dorothy dress that my mom sewed for me in preschool. Having her sit next to a scarecrow like this one and my stuffed lion would be super cute.

 I love the pictures above because you can see them smiling at each other and Peyton looking steady, knowing she is safe with her mommy holding on to her. I can't wait for my future baby to call me mommy (right now Peyton can say "ma ma ma ma" and Jacquie always tells her "I'm here") and reach for my hand when we cross the street. Yes, I know babies are a huge responsibility and how I'll be exhausted at points and will no longer be allowed to be selfish. Sounds like regular mature adult life! I know that it costs a lot for the doctor appointments, hospital birth, formula, food, diapers, etc. Michael makes sure to remind me of this almost every day. But I make sure to tell him everything will work out just fine and life will be extra amazing because we will have created a new life together. An actual new human life to mold and love unconditionally- not just a cliche fresh start.

[ the foretold eyebrows! ]

 ^^ On the Walking Dead hay ride! We didn't see any zombies, but the ride was longer than everyone thought it would be and we turned around by an old creepy building. We wouldn't have been prepared!

After the pumpkin patch we went home and decorated green zombie cookies that Mommy had baked from a kit. I was secretly really excited about it since I've been loving New Years Eve when we make belated graham cracker houses with icing and candy.  Jacquie and Peyton came to church with me and Mommy on Sunday, and I was the one holding her before and after so we figured that everyone who whispered "that's such a cute baby" assumed she was mine. And that's perfectly fine with me!! I liked doing the sign of the cross on her with holy water, feeding her one Cheerio at a time during the homily, and singing to her when I knew the words. It's so precious how she can hold food in her hand and chew the little rice crisps like a big girl. She even held it up to my mouth to let me take a bite. Jacquie kept saying she can't believe Peyton will already be one on Thanksgiving Day!

Attempting to taste the gourd! 

These two photos with me were taken by Mommy with the iPhone 5.

I'm excited to say that Michael has slowly been wrapping his head around all the baby prep. We went to the bank and opened a second savings account yesterday to keep the baby fund separate from our Atlanta house fund. Then he spent 45 minutes editing a picture of Peyton, but I didn't post it here since he turned it in to a scary Halloween card. He asked me a lot of questions about why having a baby now would be better than waiting two years. Hopefully my answers were acceptable or valid in his terms. I felt very prepared to answer questions about where we would put everything (I really would not want much since we live in a 1-bedroom apartment) and explaining how we wouldn't need a changing table because we always change Peyton on the floor with a plastic mat under her. And when I look up minimalistic baby reviews, everyone says a changing table is a waste of money and they never used it. Plus changing the baby on the floor means they can't roll off of anything. I thought it was funny that now when Michael talks about a baby/kid he says "he" instead of "she". He wants us to have a boy now so we don't have to pay for a wedding in 25 years. (Ha! Sorry Ailyn.)