Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to a pumpkin patch with BizKids. BizKids is a group of moms with husbands in the Standford Business School. They hold activities every week or two that bring all the moms and kids together. It has been fun getting to know the other moms and their kids! I can't say enough how grateful I am that Justin is going to school here; it has been such a wonderful experience! Justin is really busy and that part isn't fun but we have been keeping busy and have been having a lot of fun.

This picture pretty much sums up Jorgen's personality!

I attempted to get a picture of the two of them...Shelley had no interest in the camera but loved playing with the hay!

Shells Bells looks like she's about to fall asleep.
The sun was shining right into her eyes, sorry sweetheart:)

Much better in the shade!

They even had a bounce house and slide! Jorgen had so much fun on it...too much fun...I had to carry him away kicking and screaming for a second....until I told him we could go pick out his pumpkin. Distractions are key!

That a boy! So handsome! Can you see his sweaty head? It wasn't too hot out but our boy loves to play and play hard!

Maybe he's being poked by a pumpkin stem? Funny face:)

"I wanna play! No more pictures!"

And my content-as-can-be Shellette, just sucking on her thumb and enjoying life around her. I hope all the rest of our babies are thumb suckers! She is so sweet and easy!

Speaking of Shelley...She had her weekly doctor check up with Dr. Nyong'0, her ophthalmologist, and there's good and bad news. The good news is that her left eye, the eye where she had her lens removed, is doing fabulously! Dr. Nyong'o said that she is probably seeing clearer with her current contact than she has ever before in her life. I notice a difference with how she looks and plays with things too. Her contact lens has been getting progressively weaker and weaker and her current one is a +23 diopter lens. She is fascinated with her hands like never before. Maybe she's finally seeing the wrinkles on them? The bad news is that her right eye is getting worse! Her right eye had been staying the same for the past two months and so surgery wasn't looking like it would happen. However, this last doctor visit Dr. Nyong'o said the cataract had spread and looked worse. So, if in two weeks, at her next visit, the cataract looks worse again, then surgery will be imminent. I'm glad Dr. Nyong'0 warned us of this from the beginning because it wasn't as hard to bear when he told us this time. It still makes me sad that she might have to go through another surgery but I'm so glad we've been through it once already so it will be easier the second time around. It's exciting to think that our sweet little Shelleybean will be able to see so much better than she would normally have after all is said and done. We love and pray for you always, Shelley!

If you haven't noticed, we have many nicknames for Shelley. Just for marking and recording purposes, here they are:

ShelleyBean - coined by her sweet Aunt Shanda.
Shells Bells - Justin's joked about it and then I started using it, sometimes without the 'bells'.
Little Miss Shelley - her Aunt Rachel Howe made a comment about her and used it and it stuck.
Shellette - her Tutu's (my mom) nickname as a child that I was obsessed with the last few years and often called my mom and it's finally fitting with our little Shells.
Shellichka - my Ukrainian version of her name.

We don't favor really any one name to the other, but use all of them often. Maybe it's because we're still getting used to calling her my Mom's name, maybe because her name has so many nicknaming possibilities, probably both. All I know is that she's so completely adorable and that we can't get enough of our Shelley Eliah! What a cutie!