niagara falls and eczema

That is the best summing up of this September that I can think of. This month David was on the general surgery service for the first time since starting at the hospital. The schedule improved a bit and it was great to see him home for dinner pretty often. We had alot of fun with Grandpa Copper and Uncle Titus when they came out for a week or so (the kids are still going through withdrawals) and for the last couple of days of their visit David and I had a chance to get away for two nights.

This was the first time we have been able to be alone overnight since before Anne was born so we both felt like we were overdue! The kids had a wonderful time, but not as good a time as we did. We went to a bed and breakfast at Niagara-on-the-lake. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed being out in it together. Niagara falls is impressive, but there are so many people and so many cheesy ways to spend your money within sight of the falls that it was nice to visit the falls and then retreat to Niagara-on-the-lake for some peace and quiet. There really was peace and quiet even though the Boy Scouts of Canada were camped by the hundreds on the green across the street from where we stayed. They were reinacting the War of 1812 complete with costumes and guns that at least made noise although they couldn't have been real. We enjoyed watching them as we walked into town for dinner, glad that we weren't joining their chow line for the "lots of hot dogs still left, guys!"

Dad and Titus gave us a good break and even kept the house clean. Jan informed me that Uncle Titus had taught them to count to ten in Halloween (I figured out later that she meant Japanese). Anne had been working on a nasty rash that was just getting to the edge of troublesome the day David and I left. By the time we got back it was terrible. It has been over a week now and it has cleared up quite a bit with the help of some medication, but she is still uncomfortable.

David is back at work now although the several days that he got to take off were a lifesaver for me. I think that he was able to get pretty rested up and it was just nice for the kids and I to get to see him for a good amount of time. I am grateful that he was around to help with Anne's eczema when it was really bad. We are praying that she will continue to heal and that if we can do anything to help her get better the Lord would show us what that would be. She has an appointment with an allergist on Thursday. She bears it pretty well, I think, but it really is a miserable thing. I wish now that I had taken a picture of her when her rash was bad, just for the record, but I couldn't bear to document it at the time, it made me cry to look at her.

We have been raking leaves and enjoying the blue sky and cooler weather. I think that Ohio falls beat their summers all to pieces. David runs an 8 mile portion of the marathon here on Saturday with some of his fellow residents running the other legs of it as a relay. Jan and Alec are all set to run the kids fun run on the same day while we wait for him to finish. (Alec decided to run this time because there is a goody bag for everyone who finishes.) We have made it down to the towpath a few times for a mix of bike riding/walking/running. We have taken the kids bikes down there several times and they really enjoy the opportunity to ride without worrying about traffic and the end of the driveway. Last night David ran his 7 or 8 miles while we walked and rode bikes. We are looking forward to this weekend because David gets both Saturday and Sunday off (unless "they" change their minds).

That was a little bit of our September. I don't know what October holds, but for me at this point it is all just a count down until this next baby is born. Supposed to happen sometime in the area of Carrie's birthday (December 18) so we have something like 12 weeks left. It always sounds so easy when you count it in weeks! We still don't have names picked out although our kids are never short on ideas about that. Alec is rooting for Spanky or Alfalfa and Jan really likes the name that Cori and Nils picked out for their baby if it is a girl and just doesn't understand why our baby couldn't match theirs. We'll come up with something soon...maybe in October!