All About Pumpkins

Sugar Land Town Center hosted a pumpkin patch on Friday where the first 250 kids could pick out a free (organic) pumpkin and decorate it. Thank you to Auntie Becky and Pauly for getting there early and saving us a spot!

Waiting to get in the gate!

Looking for that perfect pumpkin (and throwing the dud pumpkins down).

Ah-HA! Got one!

Posing for Aunt Becky's camera...and catching the eye of the

Sugar Land magazine photographer.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't keep the pose he wanted.

Finally decorating that little orange fellow.

Then, it was off to get some food and a milkshake! Pumpkin picking is hungry work. Thankfully, there are only a few Halloween activities left...I think we're all pumpkined out.

Dewberry Farm Pumpkin Patch

First things first: goat feeding and the petting zoo!

Waiting for the hayride to pick us up and take us to the pumpkins! (The bestest grandpa ever stood in line for us to save a spot...it was really busy.)

Maddie and mommy on the hayride; lots of fun!

Scoping out good pumpkins with daddy. She ended up finding the

tiniest pumpkin in the whole patch to take home.

And, of course, belly photo #1 of Pumpkin #2.

Autumn

Well, we are all off to the pumpkin patch tomorrow! Maddie's been talking about it all week long. This morning when we woke up, I said, "Maddie, tomorrow is Saturday. Do you remember where we're going on Saturday?" She lit up with a huge grin and screeched, "Punkin patch!! Momo, gwampa, daddy, mommy"! I can hardly wait for her to have fun there and to get some good pictures, as well (which reminds me, I'd better charge the camera batteries now while I'm thinking about it).

Everything else in Rittmann land is going pretty well. I'm gearing up for the holidays already, planning to put up the tree the weekend after Halloween. I've got my Christmas budget so I'm just awaiting everyone's lists (hint hint, y'all). I think Maddie already has every toy under the sun, so I'm not sure what to get her this year. All the toys she has are for 18 months and under and the next level is for 3 years and up ~ which all have choking hazard parts. Time to do some Toys R' Us research, I guess.

Baby Rittmann #2 is busy growing in my belly. Thankfully it hasn't been too bad. No vomiting (knock on wood!), but I've had a few days that came close. Mostly I'm just exhausted (interesting to be so tired and try to keep Maddie's day fun). My belly is already big even though I haven't gained but 2lbs. I'm excited for our next appointment on November 5th and am dying to know if this is a boy or girl (I'm calling boy), but I'll only be 11 weeks at that visit so I doubt they'll be able to see any 'parts'. I'll probably have to wait until Christmas or the new year to find out! For now, I'm just content that we've made it two months without any problems. He/she is about the size of a kidney bean now (from the looks of my tummy, you'd think baby is football-size!). I think I've decided just to go ahead with a repeat c-section and avoid little complications like, oh, death or horrible scarring. Scheduling the delivery will put me around 38 weeks (only 30 weeks from now!) and will be easier now that I know what to expect.

Anyhow, I'll get lots of photos tomorrow and will post them as soon as I can!

Happy autumn, everyone.

Early October

Tasty tomato from Gramma K's garden.





Walking the beach at Lake St. Clair.

Michigan was a wonderful trip. Good colder weather, better company...unfortunately, Maddie is the worst sleeper on the planet, so I spent most days sleep deprived and cranky. I also managed to forget that I had a camera with me, so I didn't get very many pictures. I have some cute ones of Maddie and her great grandparents, but I don't know if they'd feel comfortable if I posted their picture here.

Back here at home, things are getting back to normal. She's sleeping better, eating better (well, except for the mountain of miniature marshmallows at lunch!), and her tantrums are less frequent. Next weekend is pumpkin patch weekend, so we're pretty excited. Maybe it will cool down outside so that it at least will feel like the holidays are right around the corner!

Anyhow, this is some video captured this afternoon.

Week 7 Check Up

Well, everything looks great! That's our little peanut to the right (the yolk sac is that circle on the left). The heart rate was a perfect 146 and Baby measures 7wks 1day.

We discussed having a natural delivery, as opposed to another c-section, and he said that the local hospitals aren't equipped to do it (in case of an emergency). After you've already had a c-section, the chance of having a uterine rupture when you go into labor is 0.5% (1 in 200 will rupture and have an emergency situation). I'd have to switch doctors and deliver at Texas Women's in the Medical Center. I've got 4 weeks until my next appointment and 4 weeks to think about it. Right now, I just don't know...