Rachel and Abram here!

Finally posting again and getting caught up on the last few weeks - October has been a busy month.

Rachel and Abram came for a visit! What else is there to say in my excitement! Jim was away in Myanmar, and Rachel was able to find a flight last minute (thanks to a generous gift from another family member) to come for 5 nights/4 days with Abram. It felt a bit strange to just be us ladies with the three boys (and no husbands or older siblings), especially because just over a year ago Rachel was here for a visit by herself - and on that visit, Jim was also away, so it was just Auntie Rachel, me and Timo, and both of us were pregnant. It was amazing to have them here, now with three boys, even though most of the days were busy just doing toddler life (meals, naps, short walks, diaper changing, and moms staying up late at night to talk after the kids were in bed). It was especially significant to have Rachel here because it coincided with Oct 9th, our second "Gemma's Day", marking the day we said good-bye to Gemma. I was not looking forward to being on my own that week. Having Rachel and Abram with us kept us busy and happy, and kept my mind from going back too heavily to this week of two years ago. It was lovely to get flowers and cards and emails and texts from friends and family on Oct 9th, and when Jim returned the following week, we had more time to talk and process a bit together and eat pumpkin pancakes.

Of course I didn't get as many photos as I wished - and none of Rachel and I together!! ARGH! - but here are a smattering. We had sunny, mild weather while they were here so when everyone was awake we tried to spend a lot of time outside.

A walk and picnic lunch at Garden of the Gods.

One morning we walked over to Colorado College campus, and then got some lunch at a local sandwich shop. Amazingly, Timo rode his balance bike the whole way - which was a first for him. He's had the bike about two months but this week he finally sat on the seat and properly pushed and balanced. (On his own initiative. Does not respond to any kind of pressure from Mom!) Previously he had fun just holding the handlebars and running next to the bike. But now he is riding it well, and ever since this walk with Rachel, he has improved SO much - he's so fast on our walks that I often am jogging to keep up.

On Gemma's Day morning, there was a knock on the front door, and our four year old neighbor, Chloe, asked to play with Timo. (Their family was packing up to move house, so it was helpful that she came over to our house for a bit.) It was nice to have one last time for Timo to play with her before they moved, even though it was also a bit emotional for me to see her and Timo playing together, on that day in particular (and Chloe was wearing her pink tutu, underneath her dress!). They had a great time making up a game in the backyard with our rock border, pretending that they were farmers digging potatoes.

Anyway, back to Abram! Did I mention that he is 6 weeks older than Mattias? Such a happy guy, and so content to play with cars, making engine noises and testing it out on all the surfaces of the house. He and Mattias have both entered a 'frustrating' stage where they are almost walking, but have to cling on to momma's hands to get anywhere. Abram was particularly insistent about holding Rachel's hands to explore outside or go up and down the sidewalk, over and over... Hopefully this is just the beginning of boy cousin playtime and memories together!!

Pre-bedtime book. Timo wanted Auntie Rachel to read to him most nights.

On their last afternoon we tried to get a photo of the boys in the lovely late afternoon fall light... "boy cousins, this one is for the scrapbook, so you can look back at this in 20 years and marvel at how cute you were, etc, etc, no pressure because we also want to post this on social media, ah-hmm, yeah right." Umm, no one was really cooperating, even with Rachel trying to hold the younger boys. So this is what we ended up with! Did I mention Timo would not sit still!