Halloween Day

I seriously have not had this fun on Halloween since I was a little kid. Here is a recap of our Halloween day...


We started off the morning by going on a walk with our neighbors to a little cafe and having a smoothie. The girls loved riding in the stroller together.


After lunch and a nap, we started getting the costume on and met up again with our neighbors for a Halloween picture, similar to the one last year that we took on Halloween. Maida was a tiger and "Boo-boo" was Piglet. We also took a picture with Boo-boo's mom, me, and our girls (we took this picture last year too!).



Erik really wanted to dress up for Halloween, but Wallmart was all sold out of the giant whoopee cushion costume that he's had his eye on. So he decided to be a flower instead (it was the only thing we had lying around the house). He had a green shirt on for the stem and brown pants on for the dirt.


Here are some pictures of Maida on our front porch before we headed to the Halloween party...

(The last picture was taken last year. I thought it was cool to see how much she's changed in one year.)

After taking some pictures and putting some finishing touches on Maida's costume, he headed to the church building for a pot luck and some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood...

When asked to say "trick-or-treat," Maida said "tutu," and always said, "thank you," after she got the candy. She surprisingly never tried to eat any of the candy until we were on the way home and Erik told her that she had to wait until we got home before eating it- he didn't want the car to get sticky. But we let her hold a sucker and before we even got three blocks down the road, my very keen pregnancy nose smelled a red tootsie pop, and sure enough, she had opened the sucker all by herself and was eating it! Soooo cute!

On the way home we stopped by Ryan, Andrea, and Avery's house. We stayed and played for a little while and the girls helped Ryan hand out candy to other trick-or-treaters...

After getting home and looking at all of Maida's candy (and eating a few pieces too!) Maida was just wired! So we let her stay up and help clean up the house with all of her extra energy! Erik took these pictures of her wearing his hat and helping mom with the recycling. She actually is a big help these days, now that I'm getting bigger and more immobile!

After a poop job on the floor and a long soak in the bath, Maida finally gave in and went to sleep. What a great end to a wonderful day. Happy Halloween! We hope you all had a great holiday too.

Maida's First Pumpkin Carve

Maida was daddy's little helper. She was really interested in what he was doing.

We asked Maida what she wanted to carve in the pumpkin. She shrugged her shoulders. So we started naming animals and cartoon characters. Then I mentioned doing a "face" and Maida looked at me and said, "eyes." She wanted to carve eyes in the pumpkin! So Erik made some really cool looking eyes for her!


The finished product.



Maida "posing" by the pumpkin (and sucking on a fingernail polish bottle!).


Our pumpkin throwing up??! I have no idea what Erik was trying to achieve here. It must be a boy thing...

Maida's First Day of School

Waking Maida up for the first day of school was difficult!

Today was Maida's first day of "school". She really didn't want to get up this morning, but eventually she got out of bed and we made it just in time to check in and meet all of Maida's teachers before all of the other kids got there. Ms. Pat and Ms. Vicky are her teachers and she has a few assistants in the classroom too.

When we walked into the classroom, Maida immediately took off and started playing with all of the toys. When the other kids arrived, she wasn't one bit afraid to go up and say "hi" to or play with any of them. All of the children in her class are one-year-olds too. It was so interesting to see the differences in development between all these one-year-olds! Maida was the only one that was potty trained! Haha! Many of the others had better speech and a bigger vocabulary than Maida does. Hopefully by being around them, she'll pick up on a lot more.

When it came time for all the moms and dads to go to their own class, leaving the toddlers in their own class, everyone had their eyes on Maid's and I. Since we were new to this (and all the others have been coming for seven weeks already), I think they all thought we'd have a tough time. However, Maida didn't even want to say goodbye to me. She told me to "go" and took off to play. I was surprised at how clingy a lot of the other children were in her class and how they cried and cried when mom left, even after they have been doing this for seven weeks already. I'm so glad that Maida is Ms. Independent because it looked like it was really hard on the moms and dads, to leave their crying babes behind.

The parent class was really good. We discussed some sleeping problems that some of the kids are having lately and I was relieved to hear that we're not the only one going through a bit of a transition with bedtime. It sounds like it's an age-appropriate thing. I was surprised, though, at how many of the families co-sleep. Most of them did, and most of the moms that I go to prenatal yoga with co-sleep with their kids too. I guess that I see nothing wrong with it, I was just always encouraged not to do it by doctors, friends, and relatives. I can see how it would be a lot easier to wake up with your kids at night, but I also see how it would be hard.

After the parent class was done, I went to pick up Maida from her class and when she saw me coming she took off running in the opposite direction! Most of the other children were very happy to see mom or dad come back. But Maida didn't want me at all. It was very embarrassing (and a bit sad!). When I tried to go to her and hug her or ask her what she did in class, she said, "No, go!" and wouldn't get close to me. She's never been like that before. Usually she's very happy to see me. However, she's never been in a room with that many toys before either! Eventually I got her out of the classroom and into the car.

Next week we don't have class because it's conferences. We will still have a conference with Maida's teachers, even though we were only there one week. They had me fill out a questionnaire on Maida today that tests her social and emotional development. We'll be going over the results of that at conferences to make sure that she's age-appropriate in these categories. If she's not, we'll be able to be referred for further help, but I'm sure she's probably pretty normal!

After school she was so worn out!

We put name tags on the kids' backs for the teachers.

Halloween Week

[Maida after church on Sunday]

I have discovered that having a child, definitely makes holidays more fun. Even last year, it seemed like every holiday was a big deal because it was Maida's first. Now this year the holidays seem to be a big deal because she's actually able to participate in the festivities! This year Halloween started on Sunday when she wore her pretty Halloween dress from Nana to church. And every day this week we are doing something different to celebrate. Monday we made Halloween cards and tonight we made cookies while Erik studied in his new office. Speaking of new office...

We changed around our house! We turned our dining room into our bedroom and our bedroom into Erik's office. It's working just perfectly and makes it feel so much bigger in here. We just can't have company for dinner because we don't have a dining room table! I'm really enjoying having Erik around the house all the time. It's so nice not to have to be alone and to be able to depend on him for help with Maida, or whatever, whenever I need him. It's also nice because I can tell that he really enjoys being home with us too. The only thing is, he says that he's going to get fat studying at home because he just keeps eating! Maida has been very happy the past couple days with Erik being home so much. At first it was an adjustment, trying to understand that Daddy shuts himself in the bedroom and then we have to leave him alone. Now she is getting pretty good at leaving him alone. She'll walk by the "office" door every once-in-a-while, knock on it, and yell "Da-Da!"

[Erik studying in his new office]

Having Erik home has also encouraged me to be a little better at things around the house than I have been. It seems like ever since I got pregnant with Skogen and was sick, I got lazy! I haven't hardly cooked a meal or even gotten up to make Erik his lunch in the mornings. I barely keep up with the laundry and at times it seems like just caring for Maida is all the energy I've got for the day. However, Erik really encouraged me this week to step it up as a housewife. If this is my dream job and my dream life, I should live in it, not mope in it. So, I have started staying on top of things this week and I have to admit that I'm feeling a lot better. I have a lot more energy, even though I'm working harder!

This afternoon Erik and I took Maida up to the medical school so that she could be a pediatric patient for the first year medical students to practice on. I went into the room with her and a medical doctor was with a group of about 10 students, walking them though an entire Well Baby check up. It was neat to hear how and why they do everything they do. It also gave me a whole different appreciation for Erik and all the things he has to learn in school. Not only does he have to learn body anatomy, but he has to know every function of the anatomy, why it does that, when it does that, and then he also has to know all the mathematical equations behind everything too (you should see how many he's got memorized!). Wow! On top of knowing about where, when, how, and why things function they way they do, he has to know how to check for abnormalities of these functions, how to treat these abnormalities, and so so so much more (Can you imagine even trying to know all the different antibiotics out there and how or when to use them? I can't even pronounce half of their names!) I just can't believe how much work it is to be a doctor. No wonder they get paid so much when they get out of school. I can't even imagine the brainpower that goes into specialties, either. Like brain surgeons or heart surgeons. Uffda!

[Erik stays up and studies all night the night before a test. Here are pictures of Erik staying up all night to study *in his new office* and a page of his notes with too many different equations for me to even try to understand. I think it's cute how he color coordinates notes.]


Well, I better close for now and get to bed. Tomorrow morning Maida and I start ECFE bright and early! I have to admit that I am a little nervous. It's like starting the first day of a school year! Maida seems to be really excited and says "school" and "teacher" when we talk about going. I really hope that Maida enjoys it and that I don't have to talk in front of a whole lot of people. I have such anxiety about being the center of attention! It's hard enough going to my prenatal yoga class on Monday nights when we all take turns talking about a certain topic. I usually start sweating and shaking long before it's even my turn. Hopefully our children will all take after Erik... not only his public speaking skills, but his smarts too!

Thank you Nana for the pretty Halloween dress!!!

Fall Walk Along Chester Creek