Well, by 'Great' I simply mean wonderful way to spend a day as a family!! I was so excited to take Gio to the pumpkin patch this year because I thought he would really enjoy it much moreso than last year. Last year, he wasn't even walking at this time and really
hated the petting zoo. We were going to try a new farm but decided to stick with the standby which is very nice because I'm not much of a risktaker and wanted to make sure we showed Maribeth a fun time!! Ha Ha! Everyone's fun times in Pittsburgh are much different from those they have elsewhere. We are definitely the quiet, low-key part of the family but we're also definitely ok with that!
As we walked into the barn, I said that I wasn't going to let price determine whether or not we went on a hayride because
I really wanted to go and the others were going to just agree, right?...how do you disagree with a pregnant lady on something like that? Unfortunately, when we realized it was going to cost Bryan, Maribeth & I $25 to take Gio on a hayride to pick out a pumpkin, I made the executive decision to pass and we bought our fill of pumpkin and gourds instead. I'm assuming he probably would have cared less if we were able to pick out a pumpkin in a field compared to out of a big pile!! So, nonetheless, he had great fun climbing to the top of the pumpkin piles. I couldn't believe what a great job he did climbing. He amazes me every day with a new skill or new word he learns. Yesterday's word was 'bes' for his Aunt Betsy. If she was out of the room, he would just chatter 'bes', 'bes', 'bes'!
You'll notice in the pictures that although he loved climbing the big pumpkins, he was perfectly content holding the tiniest pumpkin around with him throughout our adventure! It is so cute to see that his pumpkin made it in so many of our pictures. He is still playing with it today...I'm just not sure if it will last until Halloween!!
In other news, we're just 9 weeks away from welcoming baby brother into our lives. We had such a crazy summer that Bryan and I haven't even taken the time to prepare for our new addition! We have just started to gather clothes and baby necessities and I already forgot how much stuff little ones need! Gio loves hugging my growing stomach and feeling the baby kick but we are well aware that he will not know what hits him when his baby brother arrives!!! Although nervous, we are just hoping for these next two months to go smoothly.
After what seems to be months (and months) of deliberation, we were FINALLY able to come to a decision and purchase Gio his toddler bed. We knew this time was coming as baby brother is only 7 weeks away and pretty soon we knew he would need that crib. We certainly wanted to avoid baby brother coming home and that night kicking little man to a sleeping bag on the floor-that would just not be very nice!!
This event goes into the category of Before I was a parent, if someone told me that I would have spent so much time and effort into making this decision, I would have laughed at them!!! We didn't know if we should just buy him the twin bed or a toddler bed. Everyone I have spoken to says the toddler bed is a waste and just to buy the twin bed. however, because we know we are having another boy, they will ideally share a room eventually and we would like them to have bunk beds, so either way, we'll be buying more beds in the not so distant future.
So, we made the trek to IKEA while my dad was visiting last week and bought him a simple, character-free bed! It was such a nice luxury to actually shop for something without having to run after Gio-thanks, dad!! Although not luxurious, it's a bed...for a toddler...and will serve the purpose we need it to serve!!
Bryan set the bed up yesterday afternoon and Gio continually tried to go upstairs into his room to nap on his new bed. He would bang on the door and say 'boy' 'bed' 'new'. He was desperate to go to bed~even at 5pm!! When finally bedtime arrived, he was not interested in the regular bedtime routine that both Bryan and Gio have grown to enjoy. Bryan closed the door and when I saw his face, he looked terribly sad. He said "I was evicted". Apparently Gio did not want to read a story but rather told Bryan "dad", "out", "door"....and he slept soundly until this morning!Bryan joked that he was going to wake up asking for coffee this morning but thankfully our little boy still wanted only one thing-Mickey!! If we knew it was going to be this easy, we would have done it months ago!!
PS-yes, I know he needs a real pillow and blanket but let's be honest-he doesn't use either at this point. He HATES blankets and is off the pillow within minutes!
