So it's been over a month since I have posted on this blog and during that time Jack has been plenty busy. We spent the month of October enjoying the beautiful fall weather and getting ready for Halloween by trying to accustom poor Jack to the idea of wearing a costume and asking strangers for candy. No, I'm not a big Halloween person - as a matter of fact I really do very little with it outside of Trick-or-Treating and am totally G-rated during the event, but I also didn't want Jack to enter the night of festivities completely clueless to why hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of children were wandering around base wearing funny clothes and knocking on all the doors of our neighborhood. So, we planned ahead. Thank you very much Mickey Mouse and Word World for all of your help, by the way.
One of our first adventures for the month was the opportunity to serve as volunteers at the Show Hope table when Steven Curtis Chapman visited Lancaster, PA. It was an all evening affair by the time we drove three hours there and two hours back (lots of traffic going up!), but it was well worth the time. I wasn't sure how Jack would do but as soon as he saw David Trask (Donor Relations, Show Hope) Jack was all joy. He spotted David across the room and literally went running into his arms. It was AMAZING to see. And after that there was no turning back. Jack spent the rest of the non-music periods of the night either glued to David's side or asking where David was. He spent the first half of the actual concert dancing his heart
out to every song, and after David took him up on stage at intermission Jack spent the second half of the concert alternating between dancing and begging to go back up on stage. The words, "No, I'm sorry, Steven is working right now," simply didn't seem to mean much to Jack at that point - he simply wanted to get back up there with the evening's star. I guess that's what we get for letting David take Jack back stage before the concert and get love from Steven Curtis Chapman himself.
Jack also had the opportunity to spend a full morning at the lake here on base playing with his sisters and our wonderful neighbors. Loving that my God-sent neighbor volunteered to give me a few hours of "alone" time I did not join them, but I have been given numerous beautiful pictures of the day.
October also found us spending a full day at the apple orchard-pumpkin patch having some Fall-fest fun and playing in the hay. Jack was not only overjoyed to see the great big pumpkins, goats and tractor, but also thrilled with the chance to stick his face through all of the picture boards. He also rode on his first hay ride and picked a few apples, and I had the chance to get some great pictures of the kids together. I was personally thrilled to also pick broccoli and Jack, Ellie and Sophie made
great broccoli spotters. Of course, I think the freshly picked apples they were eating fueled them on.
And, of course, we finally came to Halloween. Being the early-shopping, deal-hunting, leave-as-little-to-the-last-minute kind of person I am Jack's costume was Mom-picked as it was selected before he had any clue what a Halloween costume even was. I guess I did a fairly good job of selecting though because he LOVED his construction worker outfit. He was very disappointed when I made him try it on on Friday night though only to find out he had to wait three more days before he could actually Trick-or-Treat. But once he got started on the candy collection there was no stopping him - he fit right in. And I admit after he had climbed about 20 different sets of porch steps at top speed and without complaint I did point out to him that I did not want to hear any more whining or complaining about navigating our two front porch steps. =)
October also brought along the first of many doctor's appointments for Jack. He had his first visit with the pediatrician and even got to go back a second time. He had lots of blood drawn for testing and began a vaccine schedule to trump anything he may or may not have received in China. It was determined that he did indeed bring home a few intestinal friends (a.k.a. giardia) from China, but that has been remedied along with a couple other blood-test related discoveries. He also received the necessary referrals to visit both the pediatric cardiologist and pediatric dermatologist - both of which he will see this week. Hurray!
And now we are headed into November. This should be an interesting month as Jack will be meeting a large number of family members as we travel to Tennessee for a week and also as we journey further south to Florida to visit Mickey Mouse, Shamu and his favorite friend of all - Katie Green! So, keep your eyes peeled for another possible update as I am sure we will return home with many new pictures because, honestly, Jack is just cool like that.
One of our first adventures for the month was the opportunity to serve as volunteers at the Show Hope table when Steven Curtis Chapman visited Lancaster, PA. It was an all evening affair by the time we drove three hours there and two hours back (lots of traffic going up!), but it was well worth the time. I wasn't sure how Jack would do but as soon as he saw David Trask (Donor Relations, Show Hope) Jack was all joy. He spotted David across the room and literally went running into his arms. It was AMAZING to see. And after that there was no turning back. Jack spent the rest of the non-music periods of the night either glued to David's side or asking where David was. He spent the first half of the actual concert dancing his heart 
out to every song, and after David took him up on stage at intermission Jack spent the second half of the concert alternating between dancing and begging to go back up on stage. The words, "No, I'm sorry, Steven is working right now," simply didn't seem to mean much to Jack at that point - he simply wanted to get back up there with the evening's star. I guess that's what we get for letting David take Jack back stage before the concert and get love from Steven Curtis Chapman himself.
