Last night, we FINALLY got our act together enough to carve our pumpkin.

Looking at the late hour on the clock and feeling stressed and exhausted, I suggested that we wait until next week (as I’ve suggested for the last several weeks), but Ariana reminded me that Halloween is THIS week and that we really shouldn’t put the activity off any longer.

Too bad I haven’t given any thought to their costumes for this year.

I hope that my kids don’t carry any emotional scars because their mother was too scatterbrained to give each Hallmark-inspired holiday its due respect.

Vivi’s napping.

Tad’s napping.

I should be napping too, . . . but I can’t let yet another day go by without reflecting on the last four weeks of our lives.

Can it possibly have been four weeks ago already that Baby Tad joined our family? Even though life with a newborn is exhausting, we have had so many blessings poured out upon us over the last month:

• Tad’s stay in the NICU was brief.
• His jaundice responded perfectly to the “photo light therapy” which was able to be done at home vs. another stay in the hospital.
• Tad is much more “peaceable” than his two sisters were.  He LOVES to cuddle.
• His weight gain is right where it should be–at 2 weeks, he weighed 7 lbs. 15 ozs. (25th %) and was 21 1/2 inches long (95th %)
• My 1st trip to the ER (Presby Plano ER) showed no blood clot in my leg.
• Despite the ineptness of the Baylor Frisco ER, I did not bleed to death on my 2nd trip to the ER (for hemorrhaging).  Thankfully, I have a fabulous OB who talked the ER clown (I mean doctor) through the appropriate course of treatment.
• Grandma Hess and Gran Tolbert tended to our every need during their brief visits.
• Health insurance, hand-me-downs, Zoloft, elastic waistbands, Bravado Seamless Nursing Bras, Medela Freestyle pump.
• Our family was fed yummy meals and scrumptious treats by so many wonderful friends.
• The opening of our new CLOSE church building coincided perfectly with Tad’s birth, facilitating a bit more family time and help from BT.