the autumn leaves and the falling love

This past blustery Saturday morning we went to help some friends with their pumpkin carving contest...



Jacob always had keys at the ready in case something needed to be "locked"...




We tossed around the pigskin while setting up...



Jacob found a "very hungry caterpillar"...



and Ethan fell asleep on his Momma's chest...



We cheered on the Yellow Jackets...

Gratuitous picture of our happy Ethan (maybe he heard we won the game?!):




All the while hosting a Fall Fest at our apartment complex, complete with free food, free DJ, and decorative leftover pumpkins graciously provided by our friends...



I heart October.

On the docket tonight...pumpkin carving!

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Weekly Jackets Update

Sure, I'm a day late, but there's so much to report! For starters,

No. 11 Yellow Jackets Win at Virginia for First Time Since 1990, 34-9

Even in their less successful seasons, the Cavaliers have been a perpetual thorn in Georgia Tech's side. This year, the stakes were much higher, as Virginia led the ACC Coastal Division going into the game. The Jackets had a few miscues in the opening quarter, in large part due to the wet weather up in Charlottesville (and apparently the field was still recovering from the U2 concert in Scott Stadium a few weeks prior). At halftime, Tech led 13-6. However, upon receiving the ball at the beginning of the third quarter, the Jackets launched a mammoth 18-play, 10:47 scoring drive that pretty much broke UVA's will. Check out the look on Al Groh's face:



Therein lies the insidiousness of Paul Johnson's offense: when you can have possession of the ball for over 42 minutes in a game, it's pretty dang hard for your opponent to regain the lead.

But wait, there's more. With Miami's loss on Saturday (thanks Clemson -- maybe we'll see you again in Tampa), Tech rises to the top of the Coastal Division. If we win our remaining conference games against Wake Forest and perennial ACC whipping boy Duke, we're going to the championship game.

Tech edges up a notch to #11 in the BCS this week, holding steady in the same slot on the AP poll.

Next week: a Halloween night visit out-of-conference to Vanderbilt, where the perfect option will make the Commodores horrifying season even scarier.

Go Jackets!

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Movin' On Up

No. 19 Jackets topple No. 4 Virginia Tech 28-23

In the end, Beamerball was no match for the perfect option. GT's defense finally stepped things up, as evidenced by the fact that the Hokies had only scored 3 points at halftime. Granted, the Jackets had only 7 on the board after two quarters, but the offense erupted in the second half. It was awesome. Josh Nesbitt is out of control, in a very good way.

With the win, the Jackets move up to #11 in the AP poll. Additionally, GT appears at #12 in the first week of BCS rankings.

Next week: Virginia, currently in the lead of the ACC's Coastal Division. These guys are a perpetual thorn in our side, so a win at Charlottesville would be huge.

Oh, and no major home victory would be complete without a frenzy of goalpost destruction, as seen below. If only we could have been there in person for the mayhem...




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The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me!

Wednesdays are my new favorite day of the week.

Last month, at the prompting of a friend from church, I joined a Community Bible Study, where I get to participate in a year-long study with a group of local women. This year's topic is Genesis.

Now, I've read Genesis multiple times and even sat through a year-long sermon series in college, but I've never quite studied it like this. Perhaps it's because I haven't been part of a real inductive Bible study in many years, but I am loving this format. Even if I don't answer the questions on the day assigned, I enjoy going through the text and really thinking about the answers without using a commentary (we save that for after each week's lesson). And it has been fun to talk about what I'm studying with Gaines, since he provides some interesting seminary-inspired thought-provoking topics. Especially since he's taking Hebrew this semester!

Jacob, meanwhile, gets to go to a small class with other "older 2's" (3 of whom are named Jack!). He seems to delight in learning all about the Bible and prayer. Ethan apparently enjoys crawling on the nursery floor with other babies and taking long naps.

The first month was a bit hectic, as we all adjusted to actually being somewhere on time with all our gear in tow. Ethan took a few weeks to get used to being without me for 2 hours, but the last few weeks have been wonderful. Today, even, they let us drive up under the covered part and drop our kids off with a volunteer for a few minutes while we parked our car. That was a huge blessing on this rainy day. It saved me from walking all the way from our car to the front door while holding Ethan, Jacob's hand, two bags, and an umbrella.

The best part of my day? Talking to Jacob in the car afterward and hearing all about what he learned and did in his class. Usually he mentions the animal crackers and the pink slide, singing "Jesus Loves Me," holding a rope with the other kids to go out to the playground, something he made that day with "gloop," and his teachers. This afternoon, much to my pleasant surprise, he started singing a song I'd never heard before, and I found it on the internet just now:

Fuzzy caterpillar climbing up a tree.
He wiggled short, He wiggled long
He wiggled straight at me

I put him in a box and covered with a lid
But when I opened up the box
A butterfly instead!

Now I could never make one
Not even if I tried
Only God in Heaven
Can make a butterfly!

It's amazing, but he knows almost the entire song by heart and was "teaching" it to me on our drive home. Apparently, there are also finger motions that go along with this song, but when I tried to imitate him and took one hand off the wheel at a stoplight he said, "Drive, Mommy! I'll do it first and then you can learn it." He's safety conscious, that one.

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These boots are made for walkin'

We have gotten quite a bit of rain here in Atlanta over the last month. Yes, there have been unprecendented floods and yes, I do get tired of being stuck indoors. However, there is just something about a rainy morning that I adore, especially in the fall. The best part about rain is enjoying it while fully equipped:



While my parents were travelling from Maine to Cape Cod they managed to make time for a trip to the L.L.Bean store. A few days later, a package arrived in the mail for Jacob, just in time for another wet Monday. He was so ecstatic, though, he couldn't wait until it rained to try on his new yellow rain boots, so here he is looking quite pensive on our porch on a Sunny Saturday:



I'll try to get an appropriate rain-shot today, since we are again under a deluge.

Rain boots, where have you been all my life? I think I need a pair of my own. Doesn't everyone?

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Notes from The Tilt-A-Whirl

Besides shamelessly plagiarizing the title of a book I sincerely want to read someday soon and would probably enjoy, this blog post title completely describes my life right now. Things are crazy!

I know everyone says that the first six (or seven, or eight) months with a second baby are hard. But honestly, since February, Ethan has been the easiest part of my life! He's happy, healthy (only been sick once, briefly), and content. He's had teething issues, sure, and sometimes you might hear him crying in the background, but overall, he's so happy.

See?



It's everything else in my life that's keeping me up. I'm currently balancing: being a full-time mom to two wonderful boys who demand my attention 24/7, running a CARES program with absolutely NO budget (prayers appreciated) which means soliciting businesses for free stuff daily, researching rental houses for when we plan to move at the end of the year, tutoring online at least 5 hours a week (or more if I can swing it), and occasioanlly reading, resting, and taking care of all that household stuff, like healthy meal planning and purging unnecessary junk. I really need to exercise more but that only happens when it doesn't rain.

Oh, but I did manage to squeeze in a haircut this weekend:



(Please ignore the no-makeup, end-of-the day, sleepy-eyes shot. Just look at the hair, ok?)

Right now, in a rare occurence, both boys are happily napping AT THE SAME TIME. I honestly don't remember the last time that happened, especially since Jacob reached a new milestone two weeks ago: he learned how to climb out of his crib -- successfully!

Before Ethan was born Jacob climbed/fell out of his crib once during naptime and it scared him so badly he hasn't tried it since. However, one day during naptime he climbed out because he didn't want to go to sleep. I put him back in, and we repeated the process a few times before I gave up. The past week or so has been difficult, with him learning to adjust to sleeping on a "big boy" mattress on the floor and us attempting to keep him in bed or at least in his room until he falls asleep. Bedtimes have been later (sadly, sometimes MUCH later) and naps have been almost nonexistant. Still, we've seen some slight improvement.

It's a good thing his mattress is on the floor, too, because he often rolls right off in the middle of the night (or falls asleep halfway on and halfway off) and just goes on sleeping! We need to start taking pictures of these moments where his head is on the floor and his legs are sprawled on his mattress. Once, this past weekend, he fell asleep curled up in our reading chair.

Fun new trick: Jacob will hang off the edge of the sofa holding some of Ethan's teething rings. Ethan, crawling around on the floor, will try to grab them, but Jacob will pull them up out of his reach. On the surface it looks quite mean, but Ethan only laughs and Jacob giggles and eventually gives in, I think. It's certainly amusing for me. Babyfights? Who needs 'em. I've got sibling torture. (Don't worry, I always come to the rescue if one of 'em baby starts crying.)

However, I can't let either one of them out of my sight for a second. Ethan also now makes a beeline for the doorstop in Jacob's room anytime we put him on the floor. He immediately tries to take off the white protective plastic cap and eat it. The first time I saw him do this it happened so fast I had to dig the white plastic cap out of his mouth and I was only a few feet away. I am so glad babies have a gag reflex.

We've got one fast crawler, too. Ethan can often be heard grunting as he follows me or Jacob around the apartment, stuggling to keep up with us walkers. He will sit up by himself for brief periods, but almost always ends up rolling onto his belly to get something out of reach. I've even seen him THROW a toy away from himself just so he will have to go get it. Why? So he can chew on it, of course.

My boys:



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When Crappy Defenses Collide

Yellow Jackets Overcome Seminoles In Shootout, 49-44

To say that neither team's defense had a good night would be quite the understatement. In the first half, FSU scored a touchdown on each of their five possessions. It felt like the longest.game.ever -- and not just because there was over an hour of weather delays that interrupted the first quarter. Thankfully, Tech's defense pulled it together in the second half to put the brakes on the Seminole score-fest.

As the score reflects, the Tech offense fared much, much better, with Josh Nesbitt having another fantastic week. This week, he had 140 yards rushing, personally running in 3 of Tech's scores (and passing for another). But possibly his coolest moment of the game was when he stripped the ball right from the clutches of the FSU defender who had just recovered a Tech fumble. Hardcore.

This win marks the first GT victory in Tallahassee. Ever. Tech moves up to No. 19 this week. Next Saturday is the big match up -- GT vs Virginia Tech. Let's hope Coach Johnson can shake things up on defense before then.


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Andy and The Andys in Atlanta

Andrew Peterson. Andrew Osenga. Andy Gullahorn.

Three most formidable singer-songwriters together here in the A-T-L! If you are familiar with our blog or just our taste in music, you will know these are three of our favorites. The only other place I think I've seen these three together is at one of AP's Behold the Lamb shows, but this is going to be SO MUCH BETTER. I'm sure hilarity and much good music will ensue.

Details come from Andy G, courtesy Ron Davis, also known as the Tim's brother-in-law, or, as I like to call him (due to his copious concert-attending): "The New Tex." (Thanks, Ron, for the heads up!)

Andys World Tour at Impact:

Andy Osenga (from Caedmon's Call), Andy Gullahorn, and Andrew Peterson will be coming to Impact at The Church of the Apostles on Sunday, October 18th, for a night of music. Mark it on your calendar; you’ll want to be there. The concert will be in the chapel at 7:30pm.

Actually, it may start at 7pm according to the website. So be there early. We will. Come on, be square!

A Brief Bullet-Point Update

My mom came to visit a few weeks ago and we had a blast at Play. The jumping and running and sliding *almost* wore Jacob out, and inspired me to try taking the boys by myself sometime this fall/winter. At least this way my furniture won't get such a beating. He spent most of this soggy morning indoors, jumping on a pile of pillows.

I think this is a great picture of DD and Jacob:

While tutoring this evening I had the pleasure of reading a college essay that connected the main character in the novel Big Fish to the hero of The Odyssey. Brilliant! It was the best session I've had all year, I think.

This morning, we passed out donuts to our residents as part of a Breakfast on the Go event. We tried something new this time and asked for donations to the Atlanta Food Bank. It is amazing to me that on the whole, the people in the fanciest cars and nicest duds often didn't give us anything, but that regular Joe's handed over a five-dollar bill or dug around in their ash trays for change to donate.

I made something called Taco Pasta for lunch/dinner. It was better than the name implies, super easy to make, and might even come into regular rotation.

We received two fun things in the mail this week: books about penguins and dolphins from my parents' Northeastern excursion and a Paperbackswap book titled Your Two-Year Old: Terrible or Tender?. I'll get back to you on that last one.

Ethan has been sitting up unsupported for about a month now.

Jacob has graduated to a "big boy bed" since he learned how to climb out of his crib a few weeks ago (we couldn't keep him in!). This has made enforcing naps difficult and so he is becoming somewhat sleep deprived. Tonight he fell asleep on the couch at 6 p.m. and is still sleeping, but now on his mattress on the floor. Hopefully he won't wake up until tomorrow morning. One can hope.

We are anticipating a visit with Aunt Amy who is in town for the Catalyst Conference.

Fall is always better when you can enjoy a baked apple (preferably with ice cream).

Next time, I need to share highlights from the Zoo, dinner with the Davis duo and their dogs, and share photos of Jacob's new rain boots. They arrived just in time for another rainy week!

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Tech Beats MSU

Nesbitt Shines In Georgia Tech Win Over Mississippi St. 42-31

After the Jackets' great showing against North Carolina last week, I was expecting a win over the Bulldogs of Mississippi St. What I wasn't expecting was for Josh Nesbitt to pass for 266 yards. And he really didn't throw it that much -- only 11 completions in 14 attempts. If Josh can integrate a solid passing game into what we're already doing on the ground, that makes for quite a potent offense. The only negative from yesterday's game is the fact that the defense allowed 31 points. Troublesome, but not insurmountable.

With the win, Tech climbs up to #22 in the AP rankings.

In other sports news, apparently, yesterday was a bad day to be a Bulldog.

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Wake Me Up When September Ends

Oh, wait. It already did. Darn it, I was looking forward to a nap.

So, it's October. How did that happen?

In the back of my head, I've had this goal to post once a day in October, to get myself psyched up to blog again. I actually have at least a dozen posts saved as drafts that I might or might not ever get around to putting up here. So, I'm going to be real with you -- I haven't even started this little project of mine and I'm already late. C'est la vie. At least if I post every day you will get little snippets of our lives and not the crazy-long ramblings I attempted in September. You don't ever want to see those, trust me.

In recent news, Jacob has a new interest in photography. He won't let me take a picture of him without giving him a turn. Here's a photo he took of me last week. Pretty good for a 2 year old, eh?



(And yes, that is what our apt looks like on most days, sadly. See that big sheet of paper in the background? A sign for our complex advertising one of our events. I make one at least every other week.)

I will spare you presently from all Jacob's random shots of his room, his brother's arm, my feet, and his toys, though I might start uploading some of them to an album on our new Team Redd Shutterfly Photo Site. (Pass it on! I will update it soon, I promise!)

Here's something I've been wanting to share for a while:

A new season = a new haircut for Jacob! (Well, technically, I cut his hair at the beginning of September so at this point he's almost ready for another one. We did have some marginal success of trimming his hair in the bathtub, but I think I'd prefer to do it outside if I had that option. Less messy.

Before, in August:



After, the first week of September:



Now:



Yes, our firstborn is growing up.

Look forward to more hilarity and updates coming soon. Although I will treat this the same way I do my Bible reading -- if I miss a day, I'm not going to feel all guilt and backtrack and try to catch up. God's mercies are new every morning and that includes laundry, Bible reading plans and updating my blog. I'll just keep plugging along and you hang on for the ride, okay?

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