Trick-or-Treat

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays... it is right up there with Christmas. There is nothing more fun than dressing up and eating candy. And, now, even though I rarely dress up, I find myself giddy just watching all the kidlets running from house to house in search of sweets. (except for those few middle/high school kids that come around with grocery bags and no costume... they take all the fun out of it.) Anyway, it turns out that it was our turn to have playgroup and so we hosted an interesting lot: Frog, Angel, Chicken, Bear, Dinosaur, Dragon, Bob the Builder, Fireman, and a Princess -- and 4 little siblings: Devil, Pumpkin, Dalmation, and a Bear. I can't get over how cute they all were!

Halloween was much different this year - The Little Man actually "got it". He figured out the whole knock on the door and get candy idea after just one house. I suppose you could say it was after the second house, because we practiced at our house - a dress rehearsal, if you will. :) Anyway, it was not difficult to get him home after hitting all the houses on our street, we just bribed him with candy. :) Amazingly enough, his eyes matched those of his little brother shortly after his head hit the pillow. Let's hope that it lasts all night... or at least until the sun comes up. We are still working on the time change, we can't do sugar-highs too!

The Big 2!

Hard to believe that 2 years ago I was walking around looking at furniture thinking I had consumed too much fondue the night before and was paying for it. Now, a couple years have past and I now have two little munchkins in our house and am having a hard time believing that I am a mommy times 2. When did that happen that I grew up and am now a 'responsible' adult?

Yesterday, we had some friends and family over to celebrate the Little Man's big day (a couple days early). He was so excited and totally got into the present thing. *Boy, Christmas is going to be sooooooo fun.* oh, except for the fact that he now really doesn't need any toys! When all the guests arrived, the Little Man could hardly contain himself - he wanted to jump right into his chair so that we could sing "Happy Birthday" and he could blow out the candle. I wish I could bottle up this excitement for birthdays and use it for my own. :) Adorable.

Friends

Aren't friends great?

I am finding myself a bit overwhelmed at how much friendship has helped me in life... especially given recent circumstances... and have decided that I am adding that to the list of things that I will emphasize while raising our children. I had in my head that there were some important things in life to pass on to our kids: love, happiness, integrity, education, etc... and now added to that list is nurturing personal relationships. I admit that at times it is difficult to maintain friendships, but in the end, it is SOOOO worth it.

The Little Man has a wonderful friend, one that we see on a regular basis (meaning several times a week) and he adores her. I have never seen him more excited about seeing another child -- you would think he would be sick of seeing her as often as we are together -- but no, it is always exciting. He came home from his gym class today and told me that he climbed the ladder, jumped down and "Ee-ee" was there... "Ee-ee" is what he calls his friend, and this is the name she uses for herself as well. Of all the things they did in the hour, the most important things to relay to mommy were climbing, jumping and Ee-ee. I hope that his friends always rank up there in the top three.

The Life

This is really how it is all the time

All By Myself

I can't believe how big the Little Man thinks he is. Today, we had an early lunch (and a big lunch too), and talked about it being nap time. He says, "I do it myself". So, off he scampers to his room, shuts the door and climbs into bed. I opened the door to turn on the humidifier, and to check on him, and sure enough, he did it all by himself!!!!! Yeah for you, Little Man!

Surprise!!!

Wow, sometimes life catches you completely off guard. I am usually quite organized, as I have been with the impending birth of our second child due November 18th... I have a schedule printed out for the Little Man, babysitters lined up, and meals prepared and to be prepared (yea for Lets Dish - if you haven't tried it, you should!). All the baby's clothes are washed in Dreft, linens cleaned, and room assembled. All we needed was to finish up some odds and ends... like the Little Man's scrapbook (off his first year - yikes, far behind), plan his birthday celebration, and have as much fun doing 2 year old outings while the weather was good and we were quite mobile...

Of course, you know how this ends - Surprise! Wednesday morning, I started having contractions... but thought nothing of it since it was a whole MONTH before I was due. So, I started some laundry and finished tidying up the house. Then decided I had better start timing the contractions. Whadaya know, 4 min apart and getting stronger. Called the doc to 'reschedule' my regular appt to earlier in the day, and sure enough, I never came home. The "Squeaker" - well, that nickname may change, but he sure does squeak a lot- was happily welcomed into the world Wednesday evening via a successful VBAC and we are now home! The Little Man loves his baby brother and checks on him quite frequently. So far so good, but I am sure now I will have a bunch of fodor for blogging. :)

The Countdown

25 days or less to the BIG day... and I am starting to wonder if this was such a smart decision. :) I know there is no turning back, and I really don't want to... but it is going to be 'interesting' for a few months. Some basic reality checks come when the Little Man requires 100% of my attention. For example, walking across the parking lot (with cars waiting for us to cross the street), he decides it would be an opportune time to collapse into a puddle of goo. I know you are supposed to ignore this kind of behavior so it will go away and not be an "issue". but, what do you do??? I just scooped him up, walked across the street, and realized later that I might have pulled a very thin and possible non-existent tummy muscle. How am I going to be able to do these things with an infant??? I am guessing that the Little Man will cut me some slack, and in the next 24 days, figure out that he can't do that, and all the billion other things he has to test out on us parents.

Pumpkins

Our Little Man is a source of so much joy in our lives... 99% of the time, anyway. Today we went to Butler's Orchard in Maryland to get some pumpkins for Halloween. Last year, pumpkin picking was fun, but this year was a BLAST. I can't tell you how many times we heard "More (fill in the blank), please!" And, leaving was not a pretty picture - until the little man got a ride on daddy's shoulders to the car. What a good time we had, except for the reminders that we don't win any parenting awards today. We forgot his jacket at home (but remembered ours)... luckily I had an extra turtleneck (he was already wearing one), so we layered for warmth! :) By the way, it was a bit chilly and windy. He wore his hat, but looking at the pictures, not only did it not match, but I think it looked a bit silly - I still like the hat and he will be wearing it often this winter. And, don't ever walk by the popcorn vendor before lunch... that was pretty much all the Little Man ate for lunch... until it was carmel apple time! :) Like I said, no parenting awards today.

predictable

Isn't it sad that I can tell when the Little Man is getting sick by how loving and doting he is to his mommy... :( all day he has been clingy, huggy, and just adorable (with the exception of about 30-45 min this am)... I went in to kiss him before bed, and he was burning up. 104.5 - YIKES! off to check him again now that they tylenol has had time to work some magic.

Smarty pants

So, are kids getting smarter, or do I have low expectations. My 23mo old and I were playing blocks with Daddy. I was more of a bystander, as blocks appear to be Daddy's new favorite hobby. Anyway, Daddy and I were discussing possible names for Baby #2 (only one month to go!) and the Little Man was chatting away with Daddy. He realized he did not have Daddy's undivided attention, so this is what we heard:

"Mommy! Mommy, No talk a Daddy. ----'s turn!" Following this statement, he directed his attention to Daddy to discuss the building of the next tower... "like this, and this", he says. :) I just got a 'shut-up' from my son! If it weren't such an amazing thing to me that he could be smart enough to plan ahead that I needed to stop talking before Daddy would pay attention to him, I would be so sad.

Amazing his mommy on a daily basis

Sometimes it is amazing at how unpleasant the Little Man can be, but mostly it is at how cute and adorable, and smart, and clever he can be. The last few days have been filled with such moments. For example:

We really have to be careful with what we do and say, because the Little Man imitates most anything... Like how mommy was sitting on the couch.

Better watch what you say when driving. Luckily my favorite is growling at other drivers when the cut me off or do something stupid. And, the Little Man has picked up on this... so much so that he will growl when I am breaking hard while driving - apparently that is when i growl most. :)

He is such a big boy - I took him to the barber, where he usually sits on my lap. However, my lap is diminishing and I know he is going to have to do it on his own eventually, so why not start now... so we did. After a couple initial protests of, "Mommy, sit too", he sat there the whole time the barber trimmed his hair. And to top it off, at the end, tells the barber, "Thank you, Man." SOOOOOOOO cute!

Too Cute for words

And luckily there are more of these times than the others I regularly complain about! Since it is morning, and I am not exhausted, yet... thought i would post a happy picture. :)
We are off to have a beautiful day in the sunshine (it is supposed to be mid-80s today) before it gets cold (supposed to be low 60s tomorrow) and hope that my patience is plentiful. Lucky for me, Daddy took care of the breakfast battle -- now tell me, why is it more fun to dump your cereal rather than eat it??? especially if it is fruity cheerios????

My favorite age....

So far is NOT 2 years old. We aren't even 2 around here and I already don't like it... a lot! the Little Man has discovered how to do things that will definitely get attention (licking (filthy) windows, throwing his dinner plate upsidedown on the carpet (baked beans and marinated meat, by the way), and throwing himself to the floor in a fit if he decides something is not going according to plan). We are worried that 1. we'll have to scrape bugs and grease off his tongue for an hour each day to prevent calls to poison control, 2. we'll have to replace the carpet. and although that thought has entered our minds from day one, we do not have that in our financial plan and do not think it can be done before #2 arrives while house is on market, and 3. he is going to have a serious of concusions that will prevent him from earning his 3 doctorates and taking care of us in our old age. I think I liked the age just before this one the best... any of them! :)

Don't get me wrong, he is still as cute and adorable as can be, and his language development is amazing us each and every day... but, Mommy needs a break. Yeah for naptime. I am off to put my feet up and maybe doze for a while.