October Morning

Its a cool October morning here in Texas(not something that happens too often) and it is bringing such peace to my soul. The older kids headed out the door with sweatshirts on and Ashley Kate is snuggled under a blanket in my room. I'm sitting in the family room enjoying the quiet and trying to decide just what scent of candle needs to fill our home this morning. I've already chosen a CD of classical Christmas music to play(don't laugh, its just something my sisters and I have always done. We don't celebrate Halloween and so the beginning of this month is when we begin to enjoy the sounds of our very favorite season. In just a few weeks, I literally mean only 3, I will get to begin decorating and I'm smiling all over just knowing its so close). Its a wonderful October morning. The fall gardens have been planted and I can look out the bay windows and see the bright colors of mums that line the front of the house. There are pumpkins on my front walk and a wonderful fall garland hangs around the door. My heart is smiling.

Ashley Kate opened her eyes this morning and signed "Cars" which absolutely tickled me. I scooped her up in my arms and she clapped wildly as I walked back toward our bedroom with her. Sleep in her eyes, hair a mess, diaper still wet and the first thing that came to her mind? Cars! Its her new love. Disney's movie "Cars" has captured her heart and is currently causing her to giggle so loud that I can hear it all the way in here. Her laugh is so amazing. She fills our home with it and no matter where we are we all pause in what we are doing and say, "do you hear her" to each other. The scene where they are "tractor tipping" is one of her favorites this morning and she is cracking up each time a tractor falls over. She's such a silly girl.

Ash and I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing special together today. Its those nothing special moments that really are so incredibly special that I celebrate this time of year. She's home with me and here with me and that makes every moment special. She has therapy this morning around eleven and then we are going to hang up all her laundry, put away her stack of clean blankets and organize her closet. Sound exciting? It really kind of is. Her closet is full of medical supplies that are kind of in the way at the moment. Currently we are so blessed that the majority of what is housed in there we are aren't needing to use. Wow, that feels good to type. So my plan for today is to allow her to sit and play around my feet (the closet is really big) while I pack away, label, and reorganize all the totes of supplies, in hopes of making it a little easier to manage. I've learned over the years not to toss any of it since things in Ash's life can change so quickly. I've made those mistakes before and its just easier to find a place to store the extra supplies instead of having to wait on new ones to be delivered when her health gets crazy again. Of course I'm always hopeful that that will never happen again, but its better to have dressing kits, syringes, lab tubes, culture bottles, and such sitting around. I'm also going to pack away some of her clothes and shoes that she has outgrown. Its always exciting to get to do that. Growing only takes place when she's healthy and absorbing her nutrition. So outgrowing her clothes is a sign of a healthy transplanted bowel. Yeah, I'm smiling about that. Did I mention that after two years of wearing a size 5 shoe she has finally outgrown them and is in a size 6? I wasn't sure her feet would ever start growing, but they did and so her pink mary janes are a size 6 and so are her red ones, and brown ones, and black ones. Sure wish I would have known about the whole shoe over the brace thing a few weeks ago when I bought all those shoes. I was just so excited about the new size that I went and bought them all to match her fall clothes. Luckily I hadn't bought her new keds yet. Anyway, its still exciting to know that she is feeling good and growing. Mary Janes or not, her feet are growing.

So thats whats happening here in our home this October morning. Lots of nothing special that I tend to find so incredibly special. God is good and we are blessed. Hope your morning is filled with all things that bring smiles to your faces and peace to your hearts. Take care. Trish