Fall and All

Fall is here. The past few days have been gorgeous here in Dallas. We have had the windows open and Aaron was even chilled this morning. He tried to suggest that we go ahead and shut the a/c down but I exnayed that. I have spent all summer scorching in this house. I am not opposed to using the a/c a bit in the afternoon to keep the temperature comfortable. Finally! We spent the weekend planting flowers and transplanting a tree that came up volunteer in our flowerbed out front. It is a pretty good sized elm tree but we aren't sure if it's going to make it. The roots were tangled up with a bush so we had to get out the saw to get it it out and uproot the bush in the process too. It looks really nice in the yard so I hope it can pull through.
This month has brought a lot of stuff to process. Almost more than I can handle. I think my emotional circuits have just shorted out in a lot of ways. On September 10th my sister and brother-in-law had their beautiful baby Bethany Anne Hall. She was 8 lb. 6 oz. She is so cute, looks like her daddy, and I'm hoping to go up to Denver in October and meet her in person. Brad and Cindy are getting adjusted to life with a baby and it has been amazing to watch Bethany grow and change through pictures and stories.
On September 11th I got a call from my Uncle. My PaPa passed away that morning. So as you can imagine it was especially a roller coaster for my family. My PaPa was an amazing example of a person who makes lemonade when life gives you lemons. I really wish that Maddy could have gotten to know him better. Fortunately we went down over labor day and got to see him less than a week before he died. It is hard to think of going out to see Mema and Eldon without PaPa sitting in his chair. I remember the first time we brought Maddy to see him he couldn't wait to get a picture with his great grandbaby. We were able to go back down to Farwell for his funeral, or as my other grandpa likes to call it, his "victory service". It sounds kind of weird but it was really a blessing to get to go. I was telling Aaron that I am so thankful that I have a family that loves and appreciates each other and enjoys being together even when it is a sad occasion. It makes it a lot easier to get through the tough times when there isn't fighting or jealousy or anything like that going on.
Sorry that the rest of these pics are kind of random. When we went down on Labor Day I got some Granny Smith apples from my Mema's apple tree and made some pies to freeze. They turned out good. In my ability of pie making these crusts are like grand prize winner. Usually it looks like a cat made the pie crust but for me these turned out pretty decent. And of course they taste good which is the most important part.
This is in Farwell. Maddy was watching Baby Einstein while she was in her stander and Mikali got pretty into it as well. It was cute to watch them hang out.
This is Maddy playing with a toy that I used to play with at my grandparents' house when I was little.
We had a beautiful evening to enjoy while we were out at Farwell. I wish my camera could have done justice to the sunset that evening.


Maddy is following in her Dad's footsteps. She's already perusing Chemical and Engineering News. :)
One of the best things that has happened this month besides Bethany is that Maddy FINALLY got her new hearing aid molds. They are purple this time. They are awesome. They almost never fall out. They did some hearing tests and made some adjustments on her hearing aids. She is doing great. Her hearing loss range continues to be the same which is great news because that means that it most likely isn't progressive.
The past couple of weeks have been a real struggle with Maddy and eating. I have been pretty emotional about this whole situation because she is already small for her age. At her endocrinologist appointment at the beginning of the month he was going to seriously research putting her on growth hormones. Her labs have never shown a growth hormone deficiency. After working through all my negative emotions, like wanting to beat the doctor with a baseball bat, I think Aaron and I have both come to the conclusion that we are not nearly ready to take that step. One, we don't know that is the problem. Everything seems to indicate it is not. She would have to take a shot every day for 2-3 years if started down that road. We both think that there are other possibilities and options that should be explored, including the fact that maybe being small is just her and not a problem at all. Anyhow, with all that in the background you can understand why when she refuses to eat for a week I get a little crazy. She has pretty much started saying no to all baby food which will make her Uncle Ethan proud, and is starting to do really, really good at table food. The following pictures were from one of those frustrating, no eating days but they turned out cute.
Mushed up half a banana with her hands.
Took one bite of the banana
Disposed of rest of banana by hiding it in her chair.
Maddy saw Aaron's goggles sitting on the counter and insisted on putting them on. She loves playing with and wearing the goggles. Too funny!
And a cute face to reward you if you wadded this far through the entry. Now time to stop procrastinating and get back to homework. By the way, is this a logical question: "Is suicide ever justified if you are taking out an evil person with you?" Huh? This is the response question I have to answer for my detective fiction class. Fortunately I have a month to try to make some sense of this. Thoughts anyone? I could use some help.