October Wrap-Up a Whole Month Late

I'm slacking. There were several posts I had in mind for October. I just never seemed to get around to writing them. So here is my October wrap-up if you're interested.

Disclaimer: This post is VERY picture-heavy. Avoid if you're unable to handle the sheer cuteness of my offspring. :)

My in-laws came to visit at the beginning of the month. We crammed in two outings in the short weekend they were here. If you want to see a super-excited 2-year old witness his very first dolphin show the very first time he ever set eyes on a real live dolphin while at the aquarium for his very first time, you'll most definitely want to watch this video.

I'm almost certain that the people in front of us may have thought Caleb was a bit too excited, but I thought it was pretty endearing. In fact, I had to sort of choke back tears since I've never seen Caleb (as a toddler at least) that excited about anything before. It was pretty awesome!

Then they took us to a harvest festival. Caleb had a blast pedaling the little tractors, playing in the corn bins, seeing the animals, taking a hayride, and picking pumpkins. Gideon relaxed in the stroller and wound up with his first sunburn. Nothing major, just slightly pink cheeks and nose...not that it made me feel any less guilty for not putting sunblock on him. (Note to self: your children are EXTREMELY pale, use sunblock often and generously!).

Future farmer of America? Perhaps.

Gids and Pop-O. 

Caleb hitchin' a ride on Dad.

Yup, that's a pretty good depiction of us.

Nonna and Caleb on the hayride.

I guess this is how he picks the "right" one?

It passed the taste test.

Cutest pumpkin in the patch for sure.

And that? That's just cute! 

Matt spent some time raking the leaves into a pile one weekend for the sole purpose of Caleb jumping in them. He had a good time.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Halloween by dressing the boys in costumes and taking them for their first trick-or-treat. Gideon was only along for the ride. We did not exploit him to gather candy for ourselves, although we did consider it.

My little knight.

Superbaby. Hard to believe Caleb wore this
last year.

Full regalia.

Double-fist lollipops. He was pumped!

We're still eating Halloween candy. I can't imagine if we'd made it farther than just around the block. And while we didn't take advantage of the offer, the best thing we came across was a family giving out hot dogs and hot apple cider to the parents of the trick-or-treaters. Awesome!

Phew! Thanks for hanging in till the bitter end. October wrap-up is officially complete. Now, I better get on November right away!

It's the Little Things

You know how I know that Matt loves me? I mean other than the fact that he works hard to provide for our family, he cleans the house, he kisses me goodbye every morning and hello every evening, he endures my endless nagging, reassures me when I'm doubting my effectiveness as a parent. Besides all that? 

Yesterday, I was recovering from a nasty stomach bug, one that both Caleb and Matt had just gotten over as well. I had just tucked Caleb in and went into our bedroom where Matt was lying in bed reading. He looked up at me and said, "I know you said you're cold. I put the heating pad under the covers so when you're ready to sleep, it will be nice and warm." I'm pretty sure my heart melted right there on the spot. It's the little things folks! How thoughtful is that? 

I love this man!

It's Cold Now but it wasn't Then

I'm going to pretend that I was super-clever and decided to wait until a chilly day like today to post these pictures. Ya know, as if I had forethought and knew I'd want to be reminded of summer's warmth and the beach. It's more likely however that I just never got around to blogging about the boys' first trip to the beach. So, I'll do it now.

Over the summer, the same weekend as our sixth anniversary, we took advantage of my parents' close proximity to the beach and introduced the little ones to the surf and sand. Even though Matt and I had planned on taking the boys to the beach that day, because I'm neurotic and tend toward being anxious, it took some convincing for me to agree to actually go when the day arrived. I could just picture Gideon eating fistfuls of sand and Caleb charging toward the ocean only to be swept away by a large wave. Or more likely, Caleb running up to a group of people and stealing their sandwiches or their children's toys or even knocking over a sandcastle built by a darling little toddler wearing tiny glasses (I have a thing with kids in glasses, it's like they need extra protection or something).

Of course it was nothing like that. We got to the beach and hung out with little to no drama. Caleb loved it and he was cautious of the ocean so my fear of him drowning was put to rest shortly after arriving. The section of beach we chose wasn't crowded so that helped prevent my other fears from occurring and Gideon stayed planted on the beach blanket so no sandy snack for him. It was a really good time actually.

Headed to the beach.

Matt's disgust at how many pictures I requested he take.

I call this "Little Boy, Big Ocean" 

This one is entitled "Baby on Blanket"

Gideon's first toes-in-the-ocean experience and Matt's
AMAZING farmer's tan!

It was pretty impossible to get him to stand still.
This was about the best I could do.

Yay! Lets bathe in sand! 

What I hadn't anticipated was how long it would take for us to leave the beach! I should have gotten myself worked up over that! We spent the same amount of time packing the kids up, walking down to the bathroom, rinsing the kids off, changing diapers, wrestling/putting kids in dry clothes, walking back to the car, nursing the baby, getting kids snugly in their carseats and then finally setting off for the drive back to my parents' house as we had spent on the beach. That was the stressful part. Thankfully, the making memories part outweighs the stress part hands down every time!

Because I Need a Reminder

I need a reminder that all my hard work is not going to the wayside. I need a reminder that Caleb is two and irrational and impulsive and illogical. And that it's completely normal. I need a reminder that somewhere in his adorable skull, there are synapses forming that will allow him to one day be completely responsible and wonderful and good at decision-making. Right now it's really hard to see that that day will come. Ever. Right now it feels like I'm the mom every other mom is completely thankful not to be since my kid can be so wild and out-of-control. Right now I'm the mom who would have gladly crawled into a deep, dark hole this morning because my kid ran amuck and refused to stop tackling his playmate.

So, because I need a reminder that it's really and truly not that bad all of the time, here's a list of my firstborn's recent cuteness:

-he calls a toucan a 'tooth-can'
-he calls a caterpillar a 'cat-ah-pillow'
-When he has something stuck in his teeth, he looks up at me with pleading eyes and says, "I need floss!"
-When he wants a certain anything he begins with "How 'bout...(fill in the blank with a snack, tv show, toy)"
-He exclaims "Holy mackerel!" at appropriate times.
-Recently, after he fell off of his toy truck, I asked what he was doing. He responded with, "falling."
-When I'm walking up or down the stairs with him and he wants me to carry him he says, "carry you" and holds his arms up waiting for me to pick him up.
-A couple of weeks ago, he would randomly put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses and just go about his business all nonchalantly.
-At 3am this morning when he wandered into our bedroom, he laid still on my chest for a few minutes, matter-of-factly kissed me on the cheek, then put his head back down.

Parenting is a tough gig! I just need to remain cognizant of the rewards even when the challenges seem to overshadow them.