Gearing Up

Pumpkins are finally carved are ready for Monday's trick-or-treaters. We've been rehearsing the "trick-or-treat" phrase with P, but I am fairly certain that as soon as he sees the bowl of candy at each door he is going to freeze up out of anticipation of the yumminess. Our Halloween Block Parade for the kids is later today, so there will be some costume sneak previews on the blog later today.

Patrick's pumpkin would we the abstract looking masterpiece front center. Tom let Patrick draw on his own face and Tom carved it out.

Let It Snow

When we woke up to this-

We guessed our neighborhood Halloween Block Parade would be traded in for some of this-

Dear Fatty Chipmunk Who Smells of Pumpkin,

I will get you. Four pumpkins on my front porch, and you had to chew a hole through the biggest one? You won't be hard to find with pumpkin guts covering your little whiskers-let's see how chipper you'll be then.

Dear Mrs. 6pm Coffee,

We are like coffee sisters, you and me. Now that we have a Keurig, I drink like 4 cups a day. My body has mutated. I can now drink it anytime and still fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

If I had an emergency preparedness kit in our house, it would consist of only coffee, diapers, laffy taffy and a flashlight.

Dear You Know Who,

The holidays are approaching, and if I don't see some photos of my goddaughter in some stinking cute dresses during Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities I will call CPS.

Give her a big kiss from me.

Tommy's Six Month Check-Up

Tommy had his six month wellness check this past Wednesday and is weighing in at 16lbs, 6 oz (24th percentile) and 27.3 inches in length (74th percentile). I compared these against his brother's measurements for the same time period and Patrick had him beat by 5 ounces (although Tommy is taller).

T is now eating all baby food-meats (only if mixed with something), fruits and veggies, and is learning the art of puff eating. These are some photos from his first puff encounter. Tom and I were laughing at how long the one puff stayed on his ear. He gets about one in for every 5 attempts, but it keeps him occupied.

(Tommy's first tooth is visible here-now he has two, both bottom front. He bit my foot today.)

I am not sure if Tommy has been sleeping better or whether I have just learned to tune him out before 6 am. The last few mornings I have heard him about 6:15.

Happy Feet

Last Thursday Patrick had his first organized sporting experience at Happy Feet, a soccer program for 2-3 year olds at an indoor sports arena near our house. Wow, was daddy on cloud nine watching P bumble around the field.
Three coaches for about a zillion kids. It was fun chaos. About half the kids actually listened to and followed the coaches' directions. My child was not in that half.

Daddy showed up shortly after the program began and it didn't take long for P to notice.

Party Like it's 1999

I love parties, especially when I get to run with a theme. So when some new neighbors settled in, it seemed frightfully perfect to host a "Meet and Creep" this past Monday where our informal mom's group could welcome in the family.

I love the end result, but I am in no way an organized cook. Who could have predicted 45 mph winds the day of the playgroup? My "Welcome to the Neighborhood" signs blew away before the first guests arrived.

Branches from the backyard and a .99 cent can of black spray paint.

Wonton/Eggroll wrapper sweet ghosts. Fun to make! I copied the idea from this blog http://www.hungryhappenings.com/2011/10/quick-and-quirky-sweet-treat-for.html and tried to modify for my under three crowd by using wonton wrappers instead of eggroll wrappers. Turns out the wontons weren't quite big enough, but still good dipped in melted chocolate.

These were fun to do with Patrick-also copied from a blog: craft store lollipop sticks and mini marshmallows dipped in peanut butter chocolate melts to recreate earwax on Q-tips.

Pumpkin Patch Fall 2011

Ahh, sadly our first trip to Soergel Orchards will be our last. I am sure that at one time this was a quaint farm to take the kids for pumpkin picking, but those times are long gone. This farm has now become the Jcrew of farms. Remember when you used to be able to buy a cute shirt from Jcrew for $40 in the 90's? Now they want $60 for a t-shirt. Is anyone really buying a $20 pumpkin when the same sized one at Walmart would be $4.99?

There was really no place to take photos either, not that it mattered in our case-as soon as Tommy's hands were within reach of grass, nothing I did could get him to look up. TWENTY photos of P and his brother and none of them are frame worthy. There is always next year. We at least had fun sharing the experience with Baba

So we had our fun at the overly commercialized pumpkin patch, bought a few small pumpkins, and stopped at Old Mrs. Simon's farm (who we found out had passed away a year and a half ago) and bought our big pumpkin and a few apples.

Shady Side Homecoming 2011

Last weekend was Shady Side Academy's homecoming. Tom went there and played on the football team, and now his little brother is the kicker for the team. The sunny backdrop is deceptive-it was freezing thanks to a crazy wind so Tommy and I ducked out at halftime. Shady Side went on to win-go Uncle Mike!

Tommy and his Baba

Patrick trying to imitate the players' helmets.

Tom with some of his classmates:We had only been at the game maybe 5 minutes when Patrick asked to go see the cheerleaders. Clearly, he has been coached.

Happy 6-Months, Tommy

Six Months. Already. Wow.
So glad we have you, little man. You are most definitely your own person, so different from your brother. You obviously inherited my ears (sorry) along with your hazel eyes, and the touch of cross-eyedness you get sometimes should wear off as you grow, but I love your goofiness and soft smiles. Patrick had a contagious smile, but YOU have the warmest smile. A smile that conveys you are soaking everything in, and loving all of it.

So much has been happening in your world lately.


There it is: your first tooth (bottom right front) started coming in around Columbus Day and is nearly there. You weren't too fussy, but I upped your daily dose of frozen bananas and that seemed to help. Thanks for not drooling like your brother did.

The big sit-for about two weeks we have been working up to the big moment. As of today, you can sit unsupported and upright for only a few seconds before something catches your eye and you start leaning to grab. You are the nosiest person I know. You aren't content EVER with just sitting, or laying, or looking. You have to always be exploring.


(Love this shirt by the way-P has the matching Charlie Brown body one.)

You get constant encouragement from your brother, who continues to be so fond of you. Today in church as I held your hands so you could stand on the ground, Patrick came up and started encouraging you, "Come on, walk, Tommy".

While we are far from walking, for about 3 weeks now you have been exploring the ground via the army crawl. I hear a lot of "No, Tommy, that Patrick's" throughout the day as you make your way across the hardwoods. You can get off the ground, but are still just rocking for the time being and I am just fine with that.

This week you put a halt to the 6am wake-up and opted for the less popular 3 and 4am slots. Ouch, it really hit me hard, especially since I just started back to Crossfit Wednesday after a month off due to my sinus infection. I tried to ignore you, but there was no going back to sleep until you were fed. You had a quick check-up Wednesday to rule out an ear infection due to the wake-ups and well, fussiness, which I was attributing to the tooth. Good to go-ears looked awesome.

Luckily by Thursday morning you felt pity for me and crashed until nearly 6am.

These days you are mostly formula and baby food fed-my milk is so low and as much as I keep saying I am going to start up a new pumping campaign, I just never find (or make) the time. And to be perfectly honest, I LOVE the new freedom. I had to tote my breast pump to Florida as a carry-on. I was confined to nursing bras which are not pretty by any means. I just didn't feel, free. I am so glad I made it through the tongue-tie ordeal when you were born and made to 6 months, even if my exclusive breastfeeding only lasted until about 4 months when I started supplementing. I know some people love it, but I did it only out of love. So enjoy these last few sessions, because your boob time, much like the fame of the Jersey Shore cast, is fleeting.