Halloween

Spooky times......Mo woke up this morning, and the first thing she said was "I get to trick-or-treat tonight!" I feel sorry for her teacher today, Mo was AMPED for the whole event tonight.....

Here are some pictures of our whole Halloween season this year......lots going on....

These are all Halloween decorations that we put up this year.....mostly homemade....by yours truly!


...ignore the peeling wallpaper.....one day, it will all come down.

spooky spiders crawling up our walls

Our ghost tree....this was very fun to have on our dining room table.

We went trick or treating in the neighborhood. Stefani and little R came over to go with us. This was R's first Halloween where she really understood what was going on. It was super fun, and the girls were very cute together. R was a cat, and Mo was Supergirl.


Lida went as a monkey.....
She wasn't happy.


Hitting up all the local houses.




Making sure everything is accounted for..


Lida loved going around in her stroller....at least for a little bit.

A great night.

Side tracked....in a good way.

I know I said that I would focus on getting the dining room taken care of......but, I have lost focus (surprise, surprise). This weekend, we decided to deal with the bathroom cabinets.

When we moved into the house 2 years ago, we had about 3 weeks to get everything moved in and settled before I went back to work. Needless to say, somethings got shoved behind a closed door, and have remained that way. The bathroom cabinets were one of those things. We didn't have time to figure out where to put things, and we didn't have time to really set it up for easy use.

Somehow, I don't have a before picture.....not sure where that went, but here is the after. Take my word for it, it is a BIG difference! The storage baskets make such a difference.

Taco Night

A glimpse into our family dinners.....

Yup, it is really red

So, for a while now, it is clear that the Bean has red hair. Although, I can't really believe that it is going to stay red....but so far, she is certainly a red-head....the proof is in the ginger pudding!!!

Introducing the bean.....

Isn't she fantastic!!!

THe difference between #1 and #2

So, there are many differences in our parenting between our 2 kids....things we never did with Mo, we are doing now....and vice versa.....Overall, we are much more laid back with this new baby girl!

Case in point, today at the grocery store....I was checking out, and realized I had forgotten cottage cheese. I could have left the line, wheeled the cart (with the baby in it) to the dairy aisle and gotten the missing cottage cheese.....instead, I looked at the clerk, and said, I have to run get cottage cheese, can I just leave her here. She said yes, and off I went.

I left her with a total stranger (well, not so total, she has checked out our groceries before)....and what do you know...everything was fine!

Scout wasn't too down with it though.....

The Foot.....

I feel like 'the foot' has taken on a life of its own. People know that I broke my foot last year, had 2 surgeries, yadda, yadda....I am "supposedly" healed....meaning, my foot won't get much better than it is right now.....after intense physical therapy, seeing a doctor for a year.....this is a good as it gets, ladies and gentlemen.

That doesn't mean that my foot is back to normal. It won't ever be. My foot makes itself known in my life every single day. When I come down the stairs in the morning. My foot is stiff, achy and I have to stagger my steps like a toddler, one foot at a time.......no sauntering up to a curb or step and just stepping up on the front half of my foot. Those days are OVER! At the end of the day, my foot is tired.....and not sore, just tired. The other foot is fine, and it did the same amount of walking as the hurt foot, but I just FEEL it in my hurt foot.

Buying shoes is the worst of all. I have to have super wide shoes. Wides shoes that you get at a store aren't wide enough. I have had to buy shoes at Jay's Wide Shoes (and even half the shoes in there don't fit)........it is horrible!

I hate my foot. I hate that it is such a pain in my ass all the time.

Speaking of sleep

Scout and I have always said that we would not allow kids to sleep in our bed. At least not forever, the first few months are fine...but after that kids should be in the kids' beds and adults should be in the adult bed.....be careful what you say before you have kids.

Well, the Bean is almost 3 months, and she is sleeping in our bed. She sleeps on a changing pad in the middle of the bed. That way, she can't roll out, and we can't roll on her.

Mo always goes to bed in her own bed. In fact, we read a book downstairs, give hugs and kisses, and she goes up to her bed on her own and sleeps. But every night, sometime in the middle of the night, she finds her way into our bed. Most nights, I sleep right through it.....I wake up in the morning to her there. This was fine before the baby came, but now.....it makes for one crowded bed. Here is the bird's eye view!

At one point, I asked Scout if there is a bed that is bigger than a king. Which is what we have now. It is so crowded. Scout and I have just the slivers on the side of the bed.....and the kids are sprawled out....getting great sleep, while we toss and turn, and try to keep our covers!

We are starting to transition the Bean into the crib....and once she is in the crib at night, we are going to just make a sweeping declaration of no kids in our bed. I think the Bean will be fine (what does she know anyway).....Mo, on the other hand......should be interesting!

The 'ole College Try

The other day on the way home, Mo had the following conversation with Scout.

Mo: I don't like our life now.

Scout: What do you mean?

Mo: I want things to be the way the were before, things are no fun now.

Scout: You mean, now that the Bean is here?

Mo: Yes, I tried it.....and I don't like it. It is time to adopt her out.

Scout: Adopt her out?!?!?

Mo: Yes, give her to Steph and Leah, they need a baby....we can adopt her to them.

I think that just sums the whole thing up!

Sleeps Like a Baby

So, I am not sure if I have alluded to the fact that this little Beannie is an amazing sleeper! I mean really good....better than your average baby! She has been a good sleeper since the very beginning, but we thought it was because she had jaundice, and that makes babies sleepy. But we are now 9 weeks old, and this girl can SLEEP!

A typical night has her going to bed around 8:30, and sleeping through the next morning. She wakes about once a night to nurse, but she kind of sleeps through it, and frankly so do I. She goes right back to sleep, no problem! So, I am getting a ton of sleep....I don't feel sleepy at all.

During the day, she takes 3 good naps....in the morning for about an hour, a solid 2-3 hour nap early afternoon, and a short 30 minute on at 5:00-ish......

I know she is only 9 weeks old, and I am not naive enough to think that this could be a regular schedule. Even though this could change in a heartbeat, I am loving it......