A Busy Fall

After a busy summer moving house, vacationing in California and attending three weddings (not to mention planning Henry’s birthday party), we were hoping for a quiet fall, but September and October have been a blur. Elise was on call (twice!) and traveled to Boston in early October to attend the AAFP conference. In between, we all came down with a stomach bug that struck Bryant, then Henry, and finally Elise in successive waves. On top of everything else, we’ve been preparing for the imminent arrival of Baby Morris #2. She’s due to arrive sometime in late November/early December. Phase I of our preparations involved getting Henry out of the nursery and installed in his own room (see Henry’s New Room). Phase II involved replacing the safari-themed décor in the nursery with lady bugs and dragonflies. Phase III was the purchase of a new family car: a Kia Rondo with an optional third row (see New Wheels!).

Elise has been holding up well in the last few months of pregnancy. She was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in October and has been on medication and controlling her diet since then. Bryant and Henry have assisted by eating all the cupcakes and cookies that came our way this fall. The most burdensome part of the diagnosis has been the twice-weekly visits to the doctor for monitoring and testing. Fortunately, everything looks fine with the baby, and the diabetes should subside once Elise gives birth. We’ve all but decided on a name, which will remain a secret until the birth, but just to give you a hint: all the women in Elise’s family have two middle names, and Baby Morris #2 will follow in that tradition.

Henry moved to the Two’s classroom this fall and has blossomed in his new surroundings. We have long since lost track of all his new words and phrases. In the frustrating days of infancy, we used to say: “If only he could tell us what he wants!” Well, now he does – quite emphatically. He lets us know what music he wants to listen to in the car, what he wants to watch on TV and what he wants to eat for dinner. He doesn’t always get his way, but neither do we. Henry has been especially interested in music these last several months. It began with Barney songs, then moved to The Sound of Music (which he got hooked on after some friends from daycare gave us a DVD of movie clips), paused briefly on “The Bare Necessities” from Disney’s The Jungle Book, and is now focusing on Sesame Street tunes and a little ditty called “Down by the Bay.” As the price for eating dinner and/or taking a bath, Henry often insists that one or both of us serenade him with his favorite songs. He joins in too, but despite his love for music, appears to have inherited his parents’ utter lack of vocal talent.

Fall also brought the usual seasonal activities of pumpkin picking and trick-or-treating, which you can read more about in Halloween 2009. As you can see, it’s been a whirlwind. We’re expecting (hoping) life to slow down once Baby #2 arrives, but perhaps that’s wishful thinking on our part. We’ll soon see.