Stephensons Sept-Oct

In September Jacob started back on a "wards" rotation at the hospital which is a very hard rotation. He gets every other weekend off so for his 6 week rotation he had 6 days off total. A couple days a week he had evening call where he didn't get home until 9-12 PM, just depending on the day. Occasionally he'd get done around 5 but most days 7 is average. He was very sleep deprived! We hoped when he started wards at the VA it would be easier but that hasn't been true. It's been less stressful but the hours have generally been as bad and he's got evening call more often. This residency business is no joke.

In September we had to turn Addie's crib into a toddler bed because she kept climbing out. She's been capable of doing it for a year or more but never did it until now, which I guess is a blessing. Since then her sleep has been a rollercoaster. It took her awhile to get used to her new surroundings, then she started sleeping well again. Then suddenly at the beginning of October started waking up multiple times a night, or waking up for the day at 5:00 AM! I was dying. This week we finally just cut out the nap, even though she happily takes a 2-3 hour one, because I couldn't keep getting up with her that much at night (sometimes 5 times a night!) It seems to be better now that she doesn't nap, but sometimes she still wakes up. At this point I'm just doing the best I can to get us back to a schedule.

Now that she isn't napping it's really hard to find time to work on our business, which thankfully is still doing really well. What a crazy few months it's been for us, but we are so happy with the way things have worked out for us. I've been working on a 1st grade morning work book for months and it's still not done.

I've been having some problems with a back spasm for about a year that I finally went to Urgentcare for. The pain meds helped a lot and it's been a few weeks since I've had any problems. Crossing my fingers it's better now. Addie and I both got a stomach bug that wiped us out for a week.

We went up to the Sequoias and Kings Canyon one Sunday. It's about 45 minutes from our house. The yearly pass was only $10 more than a day pass so we have the annual pass now. Jacob already went back up with Addie once (when I was sick.) I'm sure we'll be back more. Though I must admit that Addie isn't all that impressed with the giant trees. 

In late October we went down to LA to visit with my college roommates. Emily still lives there and Lori was in town for a wedding. We almost didn't go because I had been sick that week but I started feeling better Saturday morning we decided to just go for it. It was a little bit crazy but worth it. Jacob booked our hotel online and didn't notice that the hotel he chose, which was listed as being in the area we wanted to be in, was actually 30 minutes away from there! Oops!

For Halloween Addie was Little Red Riding Hood, only she refused to wear the hood! So she was basically a little girl in a cute outfit. We tried to go to the kids trick or treating at the mall but by the time Jacob got home from work and we got there they were out of candy. She was not impressed with the whole thing anyway. We went to the pumpkin patch after that and picked out a pumpkin, since we hadn't had time to any other day. She was much more interested in pulling around the little wagons than in actually picking a pumpkin. We practiced trick or treating at home a couple times then went to a few neighbors houses. She hated it. Totally froze when we got to the door and after two houses asked to go home. She much preferred answering the door at home for trick or treaters, though she still hung back quietly. But she was very happy about the whole candy thing. She only had a few pieces but she was bouncing off the walls!