Trick or Treating

Halloween has come and gone now and we had so much fun with our little pumpkin this year.  We definitely got some use out of his costume this year!  I was debating between either a tiger or an elephant but once I put the elephant costume on him and he cried when I tried to take it off, I knew this was the one for him. 

The festivities started with the fall program at his school.  It started out with a lot of promise, with the teachers leading all the adorable kids on costume onto the stage and everyone oohing and aahing over the toddlers in their costumes.  We had the camera ready to capture our little one singing and signing to Itsy Bitsy spider.

But it ended with the teachers singing and the kids either looking around at the decorations or staring off into space.   Oh well, I still think he wasl the star of the show.

 

A few days later we headed to a nearby town for some trick or treating with Barrett's best friend and her parents.  B didn't quite understand the concept at first and was a little confused with what he was supposed to do.

 He was easily distracted by store displays or a giant man dressed in an Elmo costume.

 

But he caught on pretty quickly and before I knew it, he was reaching into those bowls and grabbing handfuls of the good stuff.  That's my boy!  He 's definitely inherited my sweet tooth.  I couldn't be more proud - except when I have to share my goodies with him.  He's become like Payton with cheese.  His ears can detect the tearing of a candy wrapper from the next room and he comes running in, all smiles and charm, to share.  I guess the least I can do is share his Halloween candy with him, right?

  

He was so exhausted he fell asleep immediately in the car - with a piece of candy grasped in each hand.

 Saturday night we headed to a fall festival at my friend Tricia's church where our elephant enjoyed a bouncy house and more candy and games.  

Then we set out Halloween night with high hopes and a bear in tow.  He was told at a few houses that he won the cutest child of the night award.

 

but after about 6 houses, someone was pretty pooped out and decided he'd rather sit in the middle of the sidewalk and dig into his bucket. 

 

 So we called it a night and headed home.

 

It was a very fun Halloween for us all this year.  It's a lot of fun to be able to enjoy all these kid holidays again.  It's been quite a while since I went trick or treating and it's a lot of fun to be able to participate with my own kiddo now.

Pregnancy - 37.5 weeks

From this week's email:  Baby is over 19" long and weighs about 6.5lbs at this point.  She's considered full-term.  Some babies need a little extra time to develop their lungs but she'd probably be just fine if born now.  

How far along? 37.5 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: somewhere in the lower 30s.  I am still down from last pregnancy, which is one bright side.  It's funny how much weight I've put on in the last few weeks, considering how I don't feel like I eat that much at this point.  I'm sure it's the baby packing on the pounds.  She's gaining like half a pound/week, little porker!
Maternity clothes? yes. The only non-maternity things I wear are yoga/sweat pants and unzipped sweatshirts and jackets.  Even my shoes are starting to feel tight!  I took off my engagement ring about a week ago and now just wear the wedding band.  My engagement ring was getting too tight by the end of the day.
Stretch marks? None so far.  I guess either genetics or the lotion I'm rubbing into my belly every night is working thankfully
Sleep? not great.  I wake up a lot and sometimes have difficulty getting back to sleep with the little one tossing and turning in my belly
Movement? yes. yes, yes, yes.
Food cravings? cider, hot chocolate, starbucks.  I guess I'm on a beverage kick these days.
Gender? girl.
Belly button in or out? debatable.  I think it's becoming an outtie but Tim still thinks it's flat.  I guess he has a better view of it than I do of it, so I'll trust him.
What I miss:  lack of backaches and the ability to get comfortable on the couch, having energy to play with Barrett, high heels, having a lap!
What I'm looking forward to: meeting this little girl
Milestones: being in the last month and in the final countdown.  Oh and picking a name finally!!


Well someone must have forgotten to tell baby girl that she is supposed to be slowing down her movements in the last month of the pregnancy, since there's no room anymore.  She's apparently decided to make her own room instead and is doing her best to try to expand my belly outward to accommodate her need for space.  Ouch!  She is so lively, it's making me nervous!  Barrett was relatively gentle with me and has turned out to be a somewhat feisty boy, so what does an extremely lively inside baby translate to??  I'm scared!

Me - looking nearly as exhausted as I feel!

I was told by someone at work the other day that she could see I was near the end in my face.  Being pregnant is funny how you get so many comments on your appearance.  One day I will be told how huge I am and the next, I'm told how tiny I am.  I take it all with a grain of salt.  I will say that I agree with the comment about my face.  I feel like my face looks fuller and my lips are looking a lot fuller.  Actually, I felt like my lips were a little puffier this entire pregnancy, but especially now at the end.

Things are going okay, just getting harder.  I'm exhausted by the end of a workday, with aching feet and back.  I am okay for then most part while I'm at work, but it's as though the minute I walk through the door, it all catches up to me.  I feel guilty because I can't interact with Barrett as much as I'd like to because my body just won't let me.  Bouncing on an exercise ball helps.  I know I should be going for walks too, but I'm just too tired! 

I'm starting to check out at work.  I have too many other things on my mind.  I have been fully immersed in work stress for the last few months, so I think it's caught up with me and my level of interest is quickly plummeting!  At least I only have 9 days left, which is crazy to me.

And we finally picked a name!  I was starting to get seriously panicked about this.  I'm hanging my head in shame at what terrible parents we are this time around.  Poor #2.  But she does have a name so she won't have to leave the hospital nameless.

It is so hard to believe how close we are to the end.  I am getting excited but also getting very nervous!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Barrett - 22 months

I still call Barrett "Baby," but he's far from it these days.  Even his momma can no longer deny the fact that he's a toddler, through and through.  I hold tight to the moments when his baby-ness appears, when he's nuzzles up into my neck, when he lets me cuddle him when he's tired, when he gets a boo-boo and lifts his arm to be comforted.

But most of the time, he's too busy to take a second for any type of cuddles!

He loves to make us laugh.  He puts on our shoes and walks through the house, exclaiming "mommy's shoes!"  He does little dances in his booster seat while he's eating, bouncing and bobbing his head to imagined music.  He makes up little songs and sings away in the backseat of the car.

 He has fallen in absolute love with trains in the last month or two.  It's so funny.  We hear "choo-choo" constantly.  He loves playing with trains, watching trains, holding his toys trains, crossing train tracks, the whole works.   He's definitely all boy.  Not just the train thing, but he loves cars and planes too.  One of the most exciting things in his life is Daddy's car.  He gets very excited when we pull up to the house and he sees Daddy's car in the driveway. "Daddy cahr!"  He also makes sure whenever we're in parking lots that he finds and points out Mommy's car as soon as he sees it.   I can't imagine where he got this love of motor vehicles...  I think he must be like his father and have blood that's half motor oil.  Oh boy.

He's feisty and shy at the same time.  He is saying so many things and it's awesome to have conversations with him and to know what he's thinking.  He's very talkative and says a million words and sentences.  He loves to point out whose item is whose.  Mommy's water, Daddy's coat, etc.  Mealtime hasn't gotten any easier.  We're still battling the throwing of the food vs eating it.  I'm trying to crack down on ending mealtime as soon as food gets thrown.  This past month we've really had to up the discipline, which is the hardest part of parenting for me.  We're working on consistency and time-outs.

One thing that has gotten easier is the teeth brushing!  He never minded brushing his own teeth (meaning biting down on the brush and sucking off the toothpaste) but cried when we took over.  But with the help of an electric train toothbrush and special train toothpaste, teeth brushing is, for this week anyway, a breeze.  We ask if he wants to use his choo-choo brush to brush his teeth and he runs straight for the bathroom.  

Barrett's favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon, a lift-the-flaps book about Elmo and his blanket, and The Monster at the End of this Book.  He's obsessed with Elmo and thinks Grover in the Monster book is Elmo so that's why he's liking that book.

He is funny and wild, sweet and loving and it's so much fun watching him grow up.  I can't imagine a more perfect little boy for our family and we're so lucky that he's ours! 

Just chugging along

We had an amazing weekend.  It was the most fun weekend that we've had in a long time and I enjoyed every moment.

It started Saturday morning with a trip to the local children's museum.  I had bought a couple passes on groupon so it was a good excuse to check it out.  Plus, there was a new train exhibit that I thought Barrett might like.  Boy, did he!  I have never seen this child have such a long attention span to anything like he did to this train set. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the word "choo-choo" this weekend, Barrett's college would probably be paid for.

 

 While we were looking at the train set, a real train went by.  Funnily, B was the one to notice it, when he shouted "choo-choo!!" even more enthusiastically than he had been. 

 finally, a family picture!  We are averaging one of these every 6 months, so I'll choose to ignore the fact that B refused to look at the camera.

Once we were able to tear him away from the train exhibit, we could check out the rest of the museum as well.  There was a music room:

 

 

a building center:

a bubble room:

 

Someone got a little bubbly...

 inside the bubble

 And then the day got a little long and someone hit a wall.  I'll let you guess who that was.

This was after a car ride that was about 7 minutes or so.  I think he may have had fun!

 

Saturday night Tim and I went out for a too-rare date night.  We had a great time.  It was fun to get dressed up and have a wonderful meal.  We don't go out just the two of us very often so when we do, we really enjoy it.  It is funny though - when I used to babysit, the parents would stay out until 12 or 1.  Now, we are back home by 9:30 or so, yawning.  We are just too tired to stay out any later!  Will this change when the kiddos get older or are we just big party poopers?  

We had a pretty low-key Sunday.  We made breakfast, went for a long walk, watched football and Tim and Barrett went for a bike ride.  We also made a Thanksgiving dinner.  Since who knows what will be going on for Thanksgiving this year (since I'm due the Friday before) and it's Tim's favorite meal of the entire year, we celebrated a month early with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls.  Yum!  Below is the finished product.  It tasted just as good as it looks.  I wanted to get a picture of the entire meal, but it was devoured before I could.  We also have lots of leftovers, which I'll use to make turkey & wild rice soup and turkey minestrone soup to freeze.   

 

And that sums up the weekend!  From here on out, our weekends are pretty jam packed until the big baby day.  We're trying to cram in a lot of fall festivities, hanging out with friends, and preparing for baby in just the next few weeks!

Morning reminder

This morning, on the way to work, we got stopped by a train.  As soon as I saw those flashing red lights and the gate coming down, I got annoyed and muttered under my breath "Are you freaking kidding me?"

Then as it starts to go by, I hear a little voice from the backseat "choo-choo!!"

He was so happy.  I rolled down the window so he could hear it.  And as the caboose went by and the gates went up, he said "bye-bye choo-choo!"

What a great reminder to not get so annoyed by life's little inconveniences but to look at them through Barrett's eyes!

Boys boys boys

My sister and her family came to visit recently and in 2.2 seconds the house turned into a boy playland!  This is funny for us, since we came from a female household.  Trust me, there were no trips to see trucks or soapbox derbies or train restaurants when we were kids!  Poor Caroline was along for the ride.  But when another girl cousin joins the ranks, the activities will have to be a little more balanced.

So we started out with a trip to see the vehicles.  There was a street sweeper, a fire truck, a police car, and a ton of others.  B's favorite thing to see were the police dogs.  He kept saying "doggy!" and petting them.  Not as much interest in the vehicles as his older cousins. 

My sister's family - love the entire family in a row and amazed how they manage 3 kids.  Tim and I sometimes feel overwhelmed with just one!

B in a police car - better the front seat than the backseat, kiddo!

 

For dinner, we went to a local train-themed restaurant.  Heaven for little boys!

Barrett was mesmerized by the train running around the ceiling of the restaurant.  He kept pointing at it and saying "choo choo!  My choo choo!"

 

A train brought the food.  Not exactly an award-winning meal, as you'd imagine, but the kids loved it!

  

Relaxing Sunday morning - 3 little boys, all in a row

 This was pretty much Payton's expression all weekend - a desperate "save me!" expression.  That is, when he wasn't hiding upstairs or under the couch.

 

Off to the park

So that sums it up!  Barrett picked up all kinds of "fun" ideas from his cousins, like how to push his toys around the floors and how to stand on the family room chairs and rock them backwards.  He wanted to do everything his older cousins did.  Loved seeing them and we had a great time!