Fall Fun

October was a fun, busy month--and, as always, it went by too fast....

Lennon & Tesla enjoying the fall afternoon before the first snow of the season hit:

 Lennon is always so generous with his hugs and kisses to his sister.  And with each passing day, you see her eyes light up even more when it comes to her brother!

 First Snow

We had our first snow of the season on October 5th.  Lennon was so excited to get outside and play in the snow, even though there was only an inch or so.

 It may have been exhaustion or the cold, but Tesla wavered back and forth between fascination and crankiness.  Here's her mildly amused:

...and the crankiness (these two pictures were taken about 30 seconds apart):

Remax Pumpkin Festival

Each year we go to the Remax Pumpkin festival for pumpkins and pancakes.  Lennon was cranky at the beginning again this year:

 And he's rarely thrilled about pictures:

 Apparently, Tesla was just bored!

 

 

 Lennon asked to go in the bouncy castle, which is huge for him, since he has never wanted to do it with other kids in there.  It's so fun to see him breaking out of his shell a bit--he had a blast!

Littleton Historical Museum

The day after the Remax festival, we met up with the Perlman and Dow families at the Littleton Historical Museum.

 

Lennon trying to pretend his sister is happy:

 CCU

We got to go to the CCU Carnival again this year and I forgot how much fun it is.  Lennon had a blast--this was the year that Halloween clicked with him.  He was on a mission to get as much candy as possible!

 He had to play every game they had so that he could get his piece of candy--he's deciding where he's off to next:

 They had a blow-up obstacle course and a blow-up slide.  Lennon wanted to do both of them, multiple times--so fun!

 Zebra and Duck butts!

 The cutest zebra ever!

 Pumpkin Carving

Tesla didn't mind the pumpkin guts--she was just happy to be in on the fun....for a few minutes that is.  Once she realized that I was going to work on carving the pumpkins, the fun was over for her!

 

 This was the extent of Lennon's help--he refused to help clean out the insides of the pumpkin.  He had his own pumpkin that he enjoyed "cutting" with his knife.   Adam and I were exhausted after everything was said and done--two of the four pumpkins were really big and it has never been so hard to cut into them; it's was almost like they had a second skin on the inside.

 The four pumpkins (we really only got three, but Marilyn gave us hers--at the time it was just more work, which is why we just did a simple "S").  A zebra pumpkin for a zebra baby, Donald Duck for an awesome Duck boy, and a Tiger (by request of Lennon). Since the squirrels or the rabbits immediately ate the Buzz & Woody pumpkins last year, I was going to do my best to stop that from happening again.  I rubbed down each pumpkin, inside and out, with cayenne pepper--did it work?  Not really, though not as bad as last year--I guess our neighborhood critters like a little heat.

Trick-or-Treating

Like we've done for the past couple of years, we went down to the Dow's for Trick-or-Treating.  It was so fun to see Lennon get into it--like at the CCU carnival, he was on a mission to get as much candy as possible.  He would always be the first to get the candy, and then most of the time would sneak one more piece after Harper and Huck got theirs.  Here he is, annoyed with me because I was holding him up from running to the next house!

Tesla wasn't too interested in what was going on--she was tired and she just wanted to be held.

 But back at the house, even Tesla wanted the candy:

Bath Times

We've been experimenting with different bath methods for Tesla--she has not been thrilled with bathtime since she's been born, which is the exact opposite of Lennon who has always loved baths.  It has always depended on her mood whether she has been irritated at the bath or plain mad.  However, I busted out the bath seat (something Lennon never liked) and it seems to be working!  But I guess anything where she can sit and watch her brother is a good time.  She has even started to splash a bit. I did have to give her a quick bath the other morning because of a blow-out and she actually had fun just lying on her back, so maybe she's finally used to the concept of a bath and starting to enjoy it!

This was her very first time in the bath seat--still checking things out a bit:

4 Months!

Well, now it's 4.5 months (at least I took them when she first turned 4 months and I got them posted before she is 5 months!).  She is becoming a little bit more easy going (maybe she'll be less like her mom and more like her dad after all), though she is still feisty.  And she knows how to work a room--completely charming when it's right for her and completely fiery and stubborn when it suits her needs.

She is also on the move (which I'm kind of in denial about).  She will roll forward and backwards, spin and scoot--and she does not like it when something gets in her way.  I'm hoping she'll stay this way for a long time, but I keep watching her and know that the second she realizes to consistently kick her feet down to the floor, there won't be any chance at stopping her.  Such a difference between the first and second--with Lennon I was excited for him to reach the crawling phase--with Tesla I'm trying to prevent it!!

3 Months Old

I know I say this every month, but I can't believe how quickly Tesla is growing up--Here are some of the Schafer family highlights from the past month.....

Tesla's rolling over both ways--tummy to back & back to tummy!  I was surprised when she did it--mainly because she's only been on her tummy a handful of times (...second child) and was even more surprised when she rolled back onto her tummy--I'm definitely not encouraging her to start moving, especially since I have a feeling that once she's on the move, she won't stop!

 

She is a talker and has a lot to say and she's beginning to giggle--and how can you resist those dimples!

 

I'm so proud of Lennon and how good of a big brother he is--he will play with her and pacify her when she is starting to get riled up.  And Tesla loves her big brother and is fascinated by everything he does:

 She is extremely strong-willed and stubborn (just as much as Lennon is, but in a different way, I think--we'll see how it develops as she gets older).  I had to work away from home several times at the end of September for our annual Banquet at work--and instead of giving into her utter exhaustion, she chose to scream for 4 hours, just to prove how angry and pissed off she was.  She's feisty and she makes her presence and feelings known, something I secretly love that about her (though it probably won't be as endearing in 10 years).  Sometimes it translates into being a pain, but mostly it makes me smile!

She is tolerating her daddy more.  She still adores her mommy, but she will humor Adam more often, and for longer periods--what used to be a 2 minute tolerance is now stretched to 30 minutes (though it's still only 2 minutes after 6pm most nights).

 Here's Tesla's typical pout that she flashes whenever she's ready to be back with her mommy:

 She likes all the attention--sometimes the only reason she's fussing is because she has something to say and wants an audience.  Getting her diaper changed is one of her favorite things, and I think it's because all the focus is on her!

Golfing

We decided to go mini golfing near our house and it was so much fun that we wondered why we hadn't done it earlier!

 

Lennon started off trying to use his golf club but just ended up throwing or rolling the ball--and he did get a hole-in-one by tossing it into the windmill.

First Snow
We had our first snow of the season and Tesla's first snow ever--so I bundled them up and headed outside:

 Lennon was thrilled to see the snow (it's almost as if he knew it had snowed because he woke up at 5:30am).  He was making little snowballs, throwing them on the ground and then stomping on them.

 Here she is one second, having fun in the cold and snow...

 ...and here she is the next second, ready to go inside!

Wisconsin

Lennon, Telsa and I ventured to Wisconsin in August, to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday.  Unfortunately, Adam was not able to come because school had started already.  Navigating through the airport with two kids was a breeze--the security process was very baby-friendly.  The flight went really well--Lennon was excited about flying, like he always is, and Tesla fussed for about 5 minutes until she fell asleep.  While Lennon was watching a movie, I got to doze off a bit! The flight seemed really fast and wasn't nearly as exhausting as I was anticipating.  It was the drive from the airport to the house that was rough--Tesla was off on her schedule and didn't fall asleep in the car.  There are two options for Tesla in the car:  fall asleep or cry because she's awake and not being held.  So my mom and I drove the 60 minutes home with a crying (sometimes screaming) baby in the backseat (while Lennon slept--my kids are very different!)

Emery was very excited to meet his new cousin and had just woken up from his nap when we got to the house--the first introduction was of a very upset little girl!

Leah was brave enough to take Tesla during bedtime several nights, to give me a break from juggling two kids at once.  Tesla doesn't have much tolerance for anyone but her mommy (especially at night), but Leah remained patience through the cries and screams of the pissed off little girl and even got her to sleep a couple times...she was my hero!

Here's a typical reaction from Tesla when someone, other than her mommy, is holding her (but thankfully she was getting more generous with her smiles to others)  Seconds before this picture was taken, she was all smiles and giggles with her auntie:

Lennon and Emery had a blast with each other--hooray!  One of their favorite games was racing back and forth on the sidewalk.  Emery was always faster--I think the fact that his legs were like 6 inches longer than Lennon's had something to do with it!!

The weather was amazing while we were there (I packed clothes expecting hot and humid weather but got mild, even chilly, weather--so we cycled through the few warmer outfits we each had).  Several nights we enjoyed a fire in the backyard.  Here are Grandpa and Tesla cuddled up--she's enthralled with him already!

And Grandma snuggling with Tesla by the fire:

My mom hosted a party Saturday night for all the family friends to come over and see the boys and meet Tesla--it was so much fun!  I got to see all three of the families I used to babysit for.  Mackenzie and Brenna came, neither of whom were born when I began babysitting for their families; and Ian, Brenna's oldest brother, stopped by as well--it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!

On Sunday was my Grandma's big 80th party at the riverside park in Watertown.  It was fun being back at the park, since that is where we had our family reunions when my great-grandparents were alive.  It was so much fun catching up with the family--and my grandma was so happy!  Tesla did really well being passed around to everyone and Lennon had a great time on the huge playground. 

 

My Grandma with her first great-granddaughter:

 

Patti came to visit for the weekend and the kids have so much fun with her.  We went out to breakfast and Lennon requested to sit next to her.

 

Grandma making Tesla laugh:

 

Drew, Leah and I took the kids to Watertown on Tuesday, Grandma's actual birthday, to help her with a party she was throwing.  Drew entertained the boys most of the time, and they would make a well-timed appearance every so often to see Grandma's friends--it went well and it was fun to see Grandma with all her friends.

 

Uncle Drew bonding with Tesla:

  Trolley

We went to East Troy one day to ride the trolley and then went the Elegant Farmer, where we picked up lunch and some fresh, squeeky cheese curds!  For some reason, Lennon thought a trolley was like a carousel, which he decided at some point he doesn't like (apparently my child is the only kid in the world that doesn't like merry-go-rounds!).  He was pleasantly surprised when he learned a trolley is like a train.  Here he is waiting to board the trolley (still not sure what to think of it, but got on at least!)

 With Auntie Leah:

The trolley was the original one from the 1920s that they used to and from Chicago--very fun!

After the trolley we went to Lauber's ice cream parlor, which is an old-fashioned ice cream shop.  My Grandma used to take us there all the time and I had forgotten about it until I walking through the doors.  It had a working jukebox, which the boys (and my mom) had fun with:

 She's just too cute for words!

 

The last morning we were all together, Grandma wanted a picture with all her grandchildren.  Of course, Lennon and Emery had gone 10 days sharing with each other and they were done with it.  Before this picture was taken they were fighting over the truck--here they are "sharing," which just means they each had a hold of it and were pulling it with equal force.

The three grandchildren.  After the picture was taken, the boys jumped off the couch and let Tesla flop to the side. 

 The flight home was a little more exhausting--I was so over being a single parent (I have a new appreciation for my mom) and missed my husband.  The last five days of the trip, Lennon began having awful temper-tantrums--throw himself on the ground, kicking and screaming tantrums.  It was too long for him to be away from his daddy and best friend.  Though I understood his sadness and frustration, I was hating the tantrums--and, because I never knew when they would start, I was in survival mode those last days, trying to prevent more meltdowns.  The flight home was an evening flight, which is Tesla's fussy time, so I was prepared for crying (though too exhausted to be ready to deal with it).  Tesla started to cry when the doors closed and we started to taxi for takeoff and she cried for about 30 minutes.  Lennon fell asleep 5 minutes before we landed and fell into a really deep sleep (and I didn't notice until it was too late).  All I could think about was another meltdown and knowing that there was no way I could get us off he plane if Lennon didn't walk off.  Thankfully, hearing that Adam was waiting for us brought Lennon back from the edge and we hurried off the plane and into Adam's arms!  I was so torn leaving Wisconsin--on the one hand, I was ready to get home and see Adam, but on the other, I was having so much fun with everyone and knew it would be too long until we see everyone again. 

Tesla turned 2 months old while we were in Wisconsin--she's getting so big! She's still so aware of everything and refuses to sleep because she doesn't to miss the party!  She's a feisty one and will definitely make her feelings known--especially when she's mad.  She still gets very mad when her daddy takes her away from her mommy, and then after screaming (could be for 5 minutes or for an hour) she will stop instantly when she's back in her mommy's arms--what a stinker!