October was a pretty packed month!
We visited A's family in Texas. It was great to see them and I'm always happy to see the girls play with their cousins.
While there, we procured a minivan to accommodate our expanding family.
If you've had nothing but Folger's coffee your entire life, you wouldn't really know that it's not great coffee. Similarly, if all you've had is Kraft cheese then to you, that's cheese. You don't know that there is better coffee or cheese out there. However, once you've acquired a taste for the fresh ground coffee or fine cheeses, it's really difficult to go back. That's what it is like to drive your kids around in a quad-cab pickup for five years. Sure, it works, but you're constantly trying to change diapers in bucket seats that are horribly inconvenient: your poor kid's head is rolling around banging against either the seat-belt or the handbrake. Still, if you don't want to buy another car, you make do. People have had to deal with much worse.
But then when you upgrade to a minivan... you can appreciate the difference. Nice, level places to change diapers. Kids can climb in and out more easily (you never noticed before that a quad-cab that sits up high and has running boards was so difficult to get into!). Groceries have a place, rather than rolling around in the back of the truck.
In short: it's quite nice. Don't knock the minivans.
October also introduced the obligatory winter stomach virus. I hope now that we've done that it's out of the way and we don't have to worry about it again 'til next year. That would be fantastic.
C is talking up a storm these days. She's in the throes of "I want it done my way." With the 2nd kid, you know it's a phase so it's not as scary as it was with J. With the first kid you just assume that you're condemned to dealing with a child that is stubborn and hateful forever.
A has also been hard at work on her class. We get to work together most Thursday mornings (I work from home or a coffee shop alongside her).