Elliott Bruce Allsop

Elliott finally arrived at 3:37 am on Wednesday, November 4th. Erin was in labor at the hospital for less than 2 hours when he was born and everyone is doing very well. He weighs 8 lbs. 8 ozs. and is 20.75 in. long. We could not be more excited about the addition to our family and look forward to Malachi getting to meet his new brother.

Due Date!

Today's the day! Or at least it's the due date. I've said before that a due date without a baby is like a birthday without any presents, cake, party, friends, etc. - and it kind of is. But, the good thing is that I've made a comfy home for our baby and I can rest assured that the party will be coming soon - it's just a surprise as to when! And I love surprises!

My doctor's appointment is tomorrow and I will have a neonatal stress test done at the same time. As long as the baby continues to do well, they will let me go up to two weeks before talking about induction. Stay tuned for some exciting news soon!

Our Family of Three

Last week Kelsey took a few pictures of our family as we are now - before we add one more in a few days!
I'm still feeling pretty good and have actually been sleeping very well the past few nights. I'm so thankful for that because I know my sleep is soon to be interrupted by late night snacks and diaper changes!

Trick or Treat!

Tonight was trick or treat night for us and Malachi was on a high all day looking forward to it. He told anyone who would listen that he was going to be the Cat in the Hat and was going trick or treating with his friends Isaac, Lucas, Rinne and Cooper in their neighborhood. Erik and I have never seen Malachi run like he did up to each house tonight, saying "trick or treat!" and sometimes remembering to thank the people for his candy.

On the way home Malachi got some vampire teeth and had lots of fun being "scary Cat in the Hat."

Jack-O-Lantern

Malachi has been waiting about two weeks to carve his pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, so finally last night we decided it was time. He wanted to be up close to the action, but definitely did not want to touch any of the yucky stuff inside the pumpkin.

This is Malachi's scary face that served as the inspiration.

Notice the computer on the counter - we had to keep tabs on the Aggies who defeated Texas Tech!

Great carving job, Erik! On another note, only one more week to go till my due date (I know, I look enormous!) and another doctor's appointment on Tuesday!

Erik's running...

...for school board!

During one of the first conversations I ever had with Erik he told me that someday he'd like to hold an elected public office. Well, that time may come pretty soon - he has decided to run for a spot on the Paint Valley School Board!
We normally like to spend his day off doing something together as a family, and today was no different. We spent the entire afternoon outside painting campaign signs that will be put up in Bainbridge, Bourneville and outside Chillicothe (at the edge of the district). Election day is only about a week and a half away, but better late than never, right?



The first week of November could potentially be a very exciting week for him. Here's the schedule:

Saturday, October 31st - Boys' cross country regional meet, top 4 teams and top 16 individuals advance to state
Monday, November 2nd - Baby Allsop's due date
Tuesday, November 3rd - Election day, vote for Erik!!
Saturday, November 7th - Boys' cross country state meet

I suggested putting "Erik Allsop RUNNING for P.V. School Board" on his signs since everyone around knows him as "that guy who runs a lot," but that was a little too cheesy for his taste!

Update!

I've had a request for a new blog entry, so, Heather, this is for you. It's nice to know that somebody reads this, even if it is because you're bored in the middle of the night and Cooper won't let you sleep! Maybe in a few days/weeks I can just call you up and we can chat at 3 AM!
Actually, come to think of it, I'm usually awake at that time already.

We've been busy again this week. I'm two weeks away from my due date and Erik is hoping that the baby comes sometime this week. I'm pretty sure he mostly just wants some time off work after being there for what seemed like 72 hours straight during the Fall Festival of Leaves.
Malachi loves the festival, especially the rides and cotton candy. Last year Aunt Meg told him that cotton candy cures the hiccups, so this year he started faking the hiccups as soon as he saw the booth with cotton candy!

I had two baby shower cakes to do this weekend so I wasn't able to help out in the store much. That was probably a good thing because after a few hours today my ankles have disappeared. Other than little things like swelling and difficulty sleeping, I'm still feeling pretty good. My next doctor's appointment is Tuesday. At this point I love going to the doctor to see how much closer we are to welcoming this baby - and finding out whether Malachi will have a little brother or sister. Any guesses?

I have big plans of cleaning the house all week. Nesting, maybe? In any case, my floors need to be scrubbed a bit before I have less time and more people around!