Our Little Corner of the World: November 2017 in Photos

"It was November...the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind songs in the pines." -L. M. Montgomery

November 2017 holds bittersweet memories for me, as it was the last full month that I was pregnant with our sweet Katherine (and obviously with no warning that the next month our lives would change forever when we lost her). Here's a look at some of the things we did while she was still with us:

We went to Chapel Hill for a football game...

Eating lunch outside at Carolina Brewery on Franklin St. before the game

Lizzie restless in the high chair, as usual

Walking through Tar Heel town in the quad on the way to Kenan

We got to the stadium way early, but at least it gave us time to get the kiddos settled

In fact she maybe got a little too settled, taking a game day nap in the Boba. I have precious memories of babywearing Lizzie while pregnant with Katie. Sweet sisters snugged up next to each other...one on the inside and one on the outside.

Leaving the game that evening David took Joseph to the restroom while I waited outside with Lizzie. A sweet lady stopped to talk to Lizzie and asked if she could use my phone to take our picture. She said her kids are all grown up and she realized she had very few pictures of her with them when they were little, because she was always the one taking the photos. Now she wants to make sure moms get pictures with their littles. So sweet of her. I remember telling her (through an intense wave of pregnancy nausea) that we had a third baby on the way in June. I had no idea that wouldn't actually be happening. Such sweet and sad memories.

Silly Lizzie!

For the past several years we have done Thanksgiving at Joseph's Restaurant at the Koury Center here in Greensboro. They have an enormous Thanksgiving lunch buffet in a very nice, relaxed atmosphere. Always so much fun. I remember chatting with several other families there and telling them, too, that we'd be back this next year with a new baby. It's taken me a long time to come to grips with the fact that we don't have one single memory from this past fall that didn't involve Katherine. Wonderful and devastating at the same time.

Joseph loves to ride in on Great Mimi's lap in her wheelchair

The sweetest sibling pair I've ever known

Lizzie wore the same dress - smocked turkeys - that she wore last year for Thanksgiving lunch. It was originally a 3-6 month bishop length dress, which is how she wore it her first Thanksgiving. It was so cute I just had to let her wear it again, so this time she wore it hitting just below the knee. Who knows, next year she may wear it vintage length with knee socks and cute bloomers! I can't get enough of her in it!

The day after Thanksgiving David and I took the kids to Winston-Salem for our annual Christmas-season trip to eat lunch at Salem Tavern. It's always so much fun!

This time we went over in the morning so that I could introduce them to the deliciousness of breakfast at Bagel Station, which I used to frequent when I lived in Winston