Lots of happenings in our house over the past month. Probably the most exciting news is we found out we are having Baby BOY Baxter #3! The ultrasound went well and everything looked happy and healthy in there. I am now at 21 weeks but look more like 30. Some day I will need to do some serious work to find my abdominal muscles again.
Halloween was fun. William was Superman. I made spider and ghost suckers for daycare. We had 84 trick-or-treaters. Jason took the boys around the block and William lasted about an hour before he was ready to come home. Christopher refused to wear a costume, but caught on by about the 3rd house that people were giving him candy. William walked and Christopher rode most of the way in the stroller. They brought home quite a bit of candy, which is now sitting on a dish on the counter uneaten. I should probably take a bunch of it to work.
Christopher has recently become much more verbal. We are on the brink of getting rid of his binkies and moving him to a big-boy bed in his brother’s room. We just ordered a double/double bunk bed and I figure they can both sleep on the bottom for awhile if William isn’t ready to sleep on top. That transition will happen in 6-8 weeks when we get everything delivered and set up. William is excited to have company in his room. I hope his excitement lasts.
October was the month for canning. In addition to the peaches I did last month, I purchased a bushel of Jonagold apples and a bushel of Bosc pears at the farmers market. They were turned into applesauce, pearsauce, and sliced pears for canning. We pulled out our beets and I pickled them successfully. I also bottled some more tomato juice to be made into spaghetti sauce at a later date. I was happy with my accomplishments given the slow start I had. It was amazing how much easier canning was with a year of experience under my belt. The only thing left on my winter agenda is drying some more apple and banana chips, and enjoying the fruits of my labor.
We returned yesterday from a week-long trip to WI to visit family and friends. We flew to Chicago and picked up a rental car which we proceeded to put about 900 miles on over the course of the week. The 
boys were great on the 3 hour flight and 3 hour car ride both directions. The only downside is that I managed to get the cold the boys had the day before we left, and Jason seems to have gotten it the day before we returned. 
That’s two consecutive WI trips that I’ve been sick for. On the upside, we got to see a large portion of the family while we were in town. The DeBaets side had an early Thanksgiving while we were there, and my Aunt and Uncle (Koenig side) from NY scheduled their visit to coincide with ours. We also had an informal dinner with the Koenig side for my brother’s 30th birthday. It was nice to see everyone. For once, the weather in WI was actually warmer than the weather in Utah during our visit. It was so nice we even took a spur of the moment trip to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison. For any local friends who have not been there–check it out! It’s FREE and was one of the favorite zoos we’ve visited with the boys. We experimented with having the boys sleep in the same room on twin air mattresses during our visit. William slept like a log, but the change was more difficult for Christopher. He rolled off once, and woke up at least once nightly confused about where he was. It could have been worse, but better sleep sure would have been nice. Last night after returning I asked William if he was happy to be back in his own bed and he replied “I love our house”. Me too buddy. Me too.
The weather in Utah is supposed to be decidedly colder starting tomorrow. I can’t really complain as it has been a very nice fall. I managed to get the pond cleaned out for winter just before our vacation and in doing so, found 4 new baby goldfish I didn’t know existed. I guess that means our goldfish were happy spending life outdoors all of last year. Today Jason raked up the pine needles that had been accumulating in our back yard and used them to mulch the garden walkways. I don’t love this use for them, but it does seem to keep the weeds down. He also moved the rain barrels under the porch, and rolled up the hoses in preparation of winter. There are lots more things we “could” do, but none of them are especially time sensitive.
For the blog this month William reports he “played with Daddy and Christopher and played on the slides with Goo”. (He still calls Christopher Goo). Christopher is currently complaining because after I told him he could not use the flyswatter to hit the plant, he continued doing it and the flyswatter got taken away. Real life in this Baxter household.
