Autumn and Ada Come to Pitts for a Visit!!

Autumn and her little girl Ada are in NJ visiting family and made a detour out to Pittsburgh for a few days to visit us. I'm so bummed that their visit is over but I'm so glad that they made the journey out to western PA. I had such an awesome time with my bud and felt like my heart was breaking when I had to say goodbye to that precious little Ada.

Wednesday, 10/17

Asleep after a ride home from airport

The beautiful Miss Ada

Vin saying hi to Autumn

Thursday, 10/18

Phipps Conservatory - we took the kiddos to Phipps Conservatory to check out the Chihuly Gardens and Glass displays.

Autumn and Ada

This was one of my favorite garden/glass displays

Stroller talk

Chihuly glass display

Enjoying a wind chime that was hanging in one of the outside gardens

Miraculously they both took a nap in their strollers!

BATH TIME!!!

Vin was thrilled to have a friend during bath time!

Just in case your curious as to why there are daisies all over Ada - this photo was edited to remove baby nakedness.

Just plain drunk with fun

Such a little cutie!

Friday, 10/19

Watching Baby Einstein on the laptop.

Thanks you two! Can't wait till the next time...

Faux Camping - It's the only way to go!

Tim and Amy














Hello blogger people,

This past weekend we went up to visit our friends Tim and Amy who were camping at Ohiopyle. We had initially planned to camp the weekend with them but two things got in the way: 1) leaving Vinny for two nights (I'm still nursing so this makes leaving him difficult. After I posted that entry last month about being done breastfeeding I was able to get some great advice from a doula who helped get us back on the breastfeeding track.) 2) Jason is not a huge camping fan. And if I'm being honest the thought of public showers doesn't thrill me either. So we went to visit Tim and Amy for the day on Saturday and enjoyed the best parts of camping: hiking, the campfire, and smores.

Civil War Re-enactment

So last weekend (10/6) we went to a civil war re-enactment here in PA. Jason's step-dad is a civil war reenacter and so we were thrilled to finally be able to see him in action. Aside from the one million degree weather it was a fun day.

The North




Things pretty much went as expected with the South loosing. Here they are retreating.



Grandpa B's tent. I believe they camped out two nights.



Vin really wanted to get his hands on his Grandpa's gun.

And We're Back!!!

Vin and I went on a long vacation to Savannah, GA to visit Jason's Mom and baby Sis and then up to NC to visit my Mom & Dad and Brother and Wife and Kids and... I think that's it. We did a combination of flying and driving and Vin did excellent through it all. We had such a wonderful time it was hard to come home.

Dad saying goodbye and giving last minute instructions to Vin before our flight.

This is a pic of Vin on the plane ride down.

Meeting his Grandma Kelly for the first time. He was still making silly faces at his Aunt Panda in this picture.

Aunt Panda (Amanda). She is going to hate that I published her Panda name on this blog. Sorry Sis.

Sleeping with his beloved Gymbo the clown. We hate this puppet but Vin is enamored. He fell in love with it from his Gymboree classes. I think Gymboree brainwashed him.

Bonding time with Grandma

First meeting of Aunt Panda. I don't know how this picture ended up down here but this is where it will stay.

Now we are in NC.

Uncle Mitch driving the boat and Mackenzie helping out.

MumMum Mitchell and two of her grandaughters: Mikayla and Mackenzie

PopPop Mitchell

This in on the way home after a long day at the lake. You can't see it in this picture but Vin and Madilyn were also asleep.

Vin and his cousin Madilynn.

MomMom and Mackenzie.

Aunt Andrea with a sleeping Madilynn strapped on.

Mikayla

Vin - 7 months

Vin turned 7 months today! Here's what he's up to lately: 1) Has become quite a good mimicker - will mimic us when we use the baby sign for milk, make a clucking sound with our mouths, or when we clap our hands. He still hasn't figured out how to stick his tongue out and gets very frustrated when we do it and he can't. 2) Has learned that when he drops a toy we pick it up and has a ton of fun sending us scrambling 3) Babbles da da and ba ba and sometimes throws in a ah-goo 4) is finding a lot of things funny these days 5) still very very far from crawling!! 6) no teeth yet 7) has finally learned not to stick toys all the way down his throat and thus has greatly reduced the amount of meals he "returns". I'm not sure why I numbered these. Kinda looks ridiculous. Oh well. I'm posting it anyway. Oh, and sadly we are officially done breastfeeding. After consulting with the pediatrician and lactation consultant it became evident Vin just didn't want to nurse any longer. He's always preferred the bottle, but up until now I've been able to entice him to nurse. Because of the constant battle it never was the positive emotional experience I thought it would be, but I am still disappointed to let it go. I wasn't ready but Vin was.

This sermon really touched me recently thought I would share

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1998/1037_By_His_Grace_For_His_Name_Through_the_Obedience_of_Faith/

Speeeeelunking on Labor Day!

Well not really but we did go walking through a cave and had a darn good time doing it. Vin seemed pretty indifferent to the process until we hit the part of the tour when all the lights were turned out so we could appreciate the complete darkness of the cave. Vin did not appreciate the complete darkness and added some noise to the experience for our tour group. When the lights came back on all was well and he went back to la la land of indifference.

In other news I took a part-time nanny position. It is for a little boy who is the same age as Vin. His parents are both attorneys and are very nice people. Today was my first day and all went well. The little boy is adorable and Vin seemed to enjoy the company.