The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn...

Last night Charlie suddenly developed his first high fever.  He was very fussy all day and wouldn't let me put him down.  William and Charlie have a bad cold, but Charlie woke up last night about 10pm with a raging 103.6 temp.  I hate fevers, but when they reach that level, they scare me terribly.  After all, my next door neighbor is deaf only because of a high fever in infancy.  I know what can happen, and I always fear a febrile seizure.  I have been with 2 children during them and I don't ever want to do it again.  I kept Charlie in bed with us, gave him cold pedialyte and ibuprofen, and prayed.  He slept next to me all night with his hot, sweaty little body pressed up against me.  Even his feet were burning up.  He slept hard and only woke once, even though I was taking his temp often during the night.  I barely slept, but much to my relief, the fever seems to be going down on it's own now.  He is still super crabby, but I will gladly deal with that compared to the fear I was living through last night!

A Walk in the Woods...

Nothing is as fun as holding a nice fat worm...

Will was pointing up at a bat house in the trees...

Ready to jump!

We are still enjoying every moment of fall.  I have been taking the boys out as much as I can.  There aren't many pictures of Charlie on these trips since he spends the time strapped to my back.  Will loves doing all the same things I did as a kid, turning over large rocks and logs to see what is moving around down there.  It is fascinating!  I am so glad there are so many nice trails close to us.  I know it helps us all to get out of the house, and all too soon we will be spending way too much time trapped inside these four walls!

First Friends...

Lincoln is catching up fast!  Look how chubby he is!  Love it.

Both babies were giggling and smiling at eachother.  I have a feeling these two will be buddies for a long time!
Will and Maya have always had a love/hate relationship, but these two are so much more layed back and not nearly as feisty! Thank goodness...

Preschool Picture...

I scanned this off of the paper proof, so it's a little grainy, but you can see Will's first school picture turned out great!

Catch Up...

I made 18 containers of Pears and 18 containers of Sweet Potatoes in less than 2 hours!

Charlie was thrilled...

Daddy took the boys to the park over the weekend...Will met a dog there that was less than friendly and has been telling everyone the dog bit him.  It didn't.

Love. The. Hair.

A face full of concentration while waiting to go down the slide...

George Washington Pooped Here...

This one's for you Molly!  Will enjoyed a visit with "Martha Washington"...

Charlie hanging out after a diaper change on the porch of the house...As I was changing him I thought "Martha and George would be SO offended right now!"  Ooops!

I call this Charlie's "Elvis face"...

William gets up close and personal with this ram...

Mommy and the Boys...

William climbing the granite blocks at the FDR memorial...

Charlie practiced crawling on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial...

We also stopped off at the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, it was great!
This quote really spoke to me...

The carving was huge, and honestly this picture doesn't do it justice...

Hiking...

Yesterday Aunt Julie came to visit, so in the afternoon we went to Great Falls...

Aunt Julie and Pudd making friends...

We found Charlie this natural baby seat...

Mama and Charlie...

Will found a "cave"!

The Great Falls on the Potomac...

Today we decided to hike some more, so we went to Cunningham Falls State Park...

Will wanted to have his picture taken on this stump...

Will loved all the rocks to crawl on...

He went really high, often too high for Mommy's liking...

The falls...

Charlie developing a taste for nature...

Yum!