Little Pumpkin

Thanks to a gift from a neighbor, Douwe had a few appropriate clothing items for trick-or-treating.


Steve and his friends created a gruesome scene of a man with a pumpkin for a head decapitated and buried alive. Douwe found his cousins Snow White and Mr. Dinosaur out on the sidewalk.

Sunday Walk in the Woods

Jeff and I found some time to head out to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and walk a trail we hadn't done yet near Miller Beach. Douwe loves rocking and nestling in the Maya Wrap sling carrier, and I'm in love with it as it is so much less cumbersome than unloading a stroller or lugging the car seat around.

Some 1sts for Douwe

Whether quietly looking around with a serious expression, or sleeping soundly through it, Douwe is taking in many new and first time experiences. Welcome to this wonderful world, little one!

Visit from the Gurgels

Jeff's sister and family came out from Idaho to meet Douwe and enjoy some family time. Jeff, his parents, and the older kids spent a special day downtown and went to the top of the Hancock building. We had another birthday gathering for Steve and Chloe, took advantage of the warm weather with a trip to West Beach, and spent a lot of time playing Steve's new games. Steve received an introduction to the world of Webkins with a gift and orientation from his cousins Charlie and Chloe.

Steve is Eight!

Steve had a great day celebrating his eighth birthday. The festivities began with an early morning present, a box full of Rescue Heroes along with their headquarters. Later in the morning, Jeff headed downtown to Dave and Busters with Steve and three of his friends where they had lunch and enjoyed some arcade games. In the evening the fun continued as we all headed to Lucas' b-day party in Wicker Park. Happy Birthday Steve and Lucas!

Favorite photos of Douwe's first week

Unexpected Visitors

We took Douwe home on Sunday morning and were surprised to notice a stork on our front yard! Thanks to Steve's 2nd grade classmate Kevin's family, we now had a way to notify the many neighbors who have been looking forward to hearing the baby news.

On Monday morning we said goodbye to a nest of visitors, with the help of Guardian pest control: bald-faced hornets who kept their beautiful creation hidden from us until last week. They are said to help with bug control and abandon the nest within the first couple frosts, but they are also said to be aggressive without provocation, and the nest is quite close to the mail carrier's path and our neighbor's lawn mowing route.

On Wednesday, the cable guy showed up to replace our modem, which had broken and put our internet and phone lines on the fritz for two days.

On Thursday, the Sears delivery team came for a visit with a new dryer, since our dryer chose the opportune time of Tuesday laundry session to give up its linty ghost.

On Friday, the Sears delivery team came for another visit with another new dryer, since yesterday's delivery was defective. I was glad that I had put up a clothesline last week when I heard some wheezes and squeals from the dryer. The warm sunny weather and the fact that my sister lives a block away took some of the load off living with brand new baby and no working dryer.

On Friday night, the NIPSCO truck came out since Jeff was smelling gas near the dryer hook-up and yes there were traces leaking from the hook-up site and a few other places. Nothing to evacuate the house for, but a hassle none the less as this repair calls for a plumber!?

Thankfully Jeff had taken the week off to be at home, though he got more work than he had planned on!

We also had a perfect amount of hoped for guests: grandparents, niece and nephew, best friends, and close neighbors to come see the handsome new member of the Groen household.