Ramblings of the Past Week

I have had the pleasure of working a "2nd shift" at work last week and yesterday, filling in for a coworker who was on vacation. Basically, this meant working late (3-11ish), getting home when the whole house was asleep and missing dinner time with my fam. Awesome, huh? I have decided that was the last time I volunteered to work those hours during the school year!!! Besides, it is really tough to change sleep patterns (for me) and daily routines with the girls. I did, however, get a few more quiet moments during the day which was kind of nice, but it still didn't justify that crazy schedule. And to think that some people do it all the time! My Friday evenings are just too precious to give up!

As I type this post, E is sitting on my lap being super content. She just turned 8 months this past weekend. So, for her 8-month "birthday" she got a bilateral ear infection - her first one too. =( The call came at work this afternoon from daycare that she was feverish, so off we went to the doctor. She has had sporatic fevers over the past couple weeks, and I wanted to know what the problem was. Besides the ear infections, she has been teething as well. I'm sure she has felt fantastic lately. My poor baby! She is 21 pounds even which means the car seat has one more pound before she outgrows it. Yikes!

On another note, we have been taking full advantage of our family YMCA membership! The girls love, LOVE swimming there. It gets us out of the house and active together which is fun for everyone! El even enjoys the water!

Sleepy Baby

Mondays tend to be rough on the whole family...including the babe...

As usual, we were all busy devouring dinner sitting around the dining room table and look over to see E sound asleep in her high chair. Isn't she just precious?!

What a Doll!

Labor Day weekend at the parents' house and the little niece dressed in the cute little green-striped dress her auntie Jess got for her!

Again, Things I Love About Fall

• Our anniversary. Chris and I chose October to be married. Not only the convenience of fall break but the beauty of the season. It was our theme.
• Husker Football. Go Big Red!!!
• Harvest. The annual pumpkin patch trip.
• Bonfires. The Smell.
• Fall decor. Time to get the orange tub out of storage!
• Crisp, cool weather and pretty trees (if only those leaves would rake themselves!).
• Delicious fresh-from-the-tree apples.
• Birthdays. Big A and I celebrate in October.
• Dressing up the kids for Halloween - I got the little girls their costumes at Neat Repeatz this year. (In fact, E got two costumes because I had such a hard time deciding!)
• Thanksgiving. Time with family - we have added two more to the Gates clan in 2010!

Husker Lovin'

Our blue-eyed girl and brown-eyed girl would like to say:

Goooooo Biiiiiiiiig Re-ed... GO BIG RED!

(At 7 months) Dear El,

You are SUPER special to our family. You brighten my day always. Everyone says you are so sweet. We hear it from daycare often. (I think they want to take you home!) I know that your sister is overwhelming at times and very "in your face," but you take it all in stride. She doesn't mean to be that way. She just can't help being so enthusiastic about life. You will one day understand her ways and personality. You are much quieter and calmer and more laid back - maybe more like your oldest sister. We love all of our girls' traits - boisterous or not. :) Everyone has their own special personality - just like you! You just got your first tooth last week - a whole month before potato. You're starting to wave and now in the past few days you finally can sit on your own for long periods of time. Look at all the milestones! At bedtime you have your bottle and might play afterwards for a few minutes, but you always welcome going to your crib. You immediately roll to your side then tummy and fall asleep without a fuss. I'm afraid you are growing too fast for me, but I can't wait to hear your first word. Will it be "kitty" or "Pom" or quite possibly your sister's name?! Thank you for being so patient. You amaze us every day, Sweet Baby! We love you more than words can say!!!

Y Membership

It's official. The Raasch Five are now members of the YMCA! Looking forward to some family time spent together being active! We are discovering lots of incentives that the Y has to offer, including free childcare while mom and dad work out together, family swim time and discounts on classes and after school programs, plus much more. This week the Y is offering a ZERO joiner fee, so it was a great time to sign up and pretty much answered our contemplative should we join? question. Plus, we are former Fremonters, so we've always compared the Lincoln YMCA to the Fremont YMCA... If you know anything about the Fremont Y, it is the second largest Y in the US and one of the top Y's in the nation! We can use our membership in Fremont as well. My family is excited for the new opportunities!