Blessed day for #3

We took our time having Alex baptized compared to his sister and brother!!! Chris would point the finger at me on that one :) Luckily we were able to fit it in when Nana and Papi were in town, so it was well worth the wait. They made the trip in from FL to celebrate Halloween with us this year. For months Chris kept teasing me saying that "the kid is going to be able to walk himself down the aisle"...and that is exactly what he did! He still takes a short morning nap and he happened to do it just before our 9am service. A little way into service he woke up and was ready to run around. When it was time to go to the alter he wanted down so that is what I let him do, walk himself to God. He refused to let us hold him during the first two-thirds of the presentation. He screamed and threw himself backward and ended up doing circles around us. What was so precious was that when the water graced his head he instantly mellowed. Peace of the Lord truly came over him. We were surrounded by family and that made it even more awesome! On top of Nana and Papi being with us, my mom, Lisa (my sister-in-law, and Alex's godmother), Brayden (my nephew), and Kim (one of my mom's best friends) were all able to come in from New Braunfels. It was a great celebration.

As for Halloween, the kids had a blast. They had a fall party at school during the day, gymnastics after school, dress up time when they got home and trick-or-treating once dusk hit. And they loved being able to share it with their grandparents. Bella was Merida from Brave, Zach was a triceratops, Alex was Mickey at home with Daddy passing out candy, and Papi & Nana were clowns! (I'm only going to embarrass Papi with the picture below.)

Before that we got to celebrate Trunk or Treat at Church. The kids loved the games and bounce castle. I love that Halloween was a week worth of fun this year with Halloween being a Thursday. It gave us extra days to dress up.

The kids are all still doing very well in school. I've met with everyone's teachers for conferences and each is going great. Right where they need to be for their age. Bella's teachers even suggested that we have her tested in the spring for gifted and talented upon entering kindergarten. She also passed all of the state vision and hearing testing. The speech pathologist did suggest that she have a little work though...not surprising! We also need to work on skipping and hopping on one foot to hone her gross motor skills. On a super awesome note, the pediatric surgeon did not feel she is in need of surgery right now. He asked that we up her fiber intake to keep her even more flushed out. Apparently the number one complaint of girls from 4-9 is abdominal pain do to some form of constipation. Of course with her bowel history and hernia, she is already very sensitive in that area. So we've added fiber gummies, prune juice, and flaxseed to her already intense vegetable/fruit and laxative induced daily regimen as well as cut out a large portion of dairy and bread. We haven't heard any large outbursts of crying or complaints of pain.

Someone being a daredevil....and Zach at his first concert!

We hope you all are enjoying the beginning of your holiday season. Many blessings to you all :)