Halloween '09

I'm cheering tonight because, hooray, Halloween is over! I strongly dislike Halloween for the following reasons: carving gross pumpkins, fretting over costumes, worrying Harper will ingest peanut candy, etc. I don't enjoy this holiday BUT I think I manage to put on a good enough show for the kids. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean they shouldn't, right?

So, here are this year's Halloween pictures:

Michael thinks Halloween is silly and would rather read the paper than carve a pumpkin, thank you very much.

Matt used a stencil from a pumpkin carving kit this year and we ended up with a cool, though way too freaky, witch pumpkin. It was pretty evil looking to begin with, then we accidentally left the candle lit all night last night and the design got a little scorched. Oops.

Michael preferred the pumpkins decorated Mr. Potato Head style, pieces courtesy of Mugga and Grandpa. I love the pirate and not so freaky witch - thanks!

Harper was Dorothy and Michael was her Cowardly Lion (or, as she pronounced it, "Carolly Lion"). I had a terrible time getting a good shot of the two of them, holiday photos should be fun this year!

We drove to Nana and Dziatku's and then to Auntie M's (she made Harper's Dorothy smock/apron); Michael and Rebound were not thrilled to stay home with me when Harper and Matt went to hit some neighborhood streets.

The grandparents, all four of them, spoil our kids so Harper had plenty of safe candy to eat, we let her trade her significant pile of unsafe candy for the new Tinkerbell DVD. She does not suffer on Halloween, that's for sure!

So, do you know what comes after Halloween???

November!

I love November! Harper and I (and many other very cool people) claim November as our birthday month.

And November means National Blog Posting Month which I plan to participate in - for the third time. I probably still have questions to answer from last year, but is there anything you'd particularly like to hear about this year?

H1N1

As far as we know, we don't have it yet, but it is running rampant in these parts, as I'm sure it is near many of you.

I am trying NOT to freak out about the whole pig flu thing; however, it is pretty difficult to avoid thinking about it all together, unless you undergo a complete media blackout. Both of our kids fall into the "high risk" category based on their ages alone, but then add the additional risk from asthma and I will admit to being, er, nervous, about this particular virus.

Harper will be vaccinated through school in about two weeks (can you imagine THAT day in preschool?). Michael is another story. Our pediatrician's office claims NOT to have any vaccine, but I've heard that they have some they are offering to patients who come to the office for unrelated reasons - they will not make you an appointment just to get vaccinated.

On Thursday our county health department offered a vaccination clinic at an arena about 1/2 an hour north of here. It was strictly for pregnant women and children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years. Matt came to work from home in the afternoon (and be with Harper) while I packed Michael up and headed north.

We got to the arena a little over an hour before the clinic was set to begin and there were already 350 people in line ahead of us. I wasn't so worried about the wait, but I was worried about the health department running out of vaccine. A reassuring department of health employee, who was counting the people in line, told us not to worry, they had over 3,000 doses. Whew!

I wasn't upset about the wait, but I would have been really upset to stand in line with Michael for over an hour an be out of luck!

Aside from pulling into the parking lot and initially freaking out over how many people were already in line (the line snaked around an ARENA), the whole thing was pretty uneventful. Michael, in the curse of the car ride, slept for about 10 minutes on the way, which meant he was unlikely to sleep anymore that afternoon. He just hung out in the stroller with his blanket for two and a half hours - barely making a peep - what is wrong with my child??? I had all kinds of ammunition to throw at his distaste for waiting in line, and then he had none.

We waited, I chatted with the other mothers which made the time go quickly, and then we filed out short and simple paper work and my kid got stuck with a needle for free (yeah taxes!). Michael cried for approximately 37 seconds and then it was over.

The people from the health department have assured me that there will be plenty of available vaccine and many clinics in four weeks when Michael needs a booster shot. We'll see.

I'm curious to know how vaccines are being distributed in your area, whether you're planning on getting one for you and/or the children, and what you think your chances are of receiving one before getting the flu. (Matt and I will try to get vaccinated if possible, but the way things are going right now I'm not sure we'll be eligible.)

One last note, there was a woman (I say woman but she looked so young!) in line behind us who was only seven weeks pregnant and clearly showing already. It is her first pregnancy and I guess her midwife is wondering about twins... I desperately wanted to ask her to send me an email and let me know how her ultrasound goes next week, but I thought that perhaps such a request breached normal social boundaries. Of course now I can't stop thinking about her and I wish I hadn't been so sensible.

Michael vs. Baked Mostaccioli

The mostaccioli won!

He Dances (So Does She)

So I'm guessing it probably isn't helpful to tell you that I THINK so often about what I will write here that I imagine I've written more recently than I actually have...

Let's just say I'm saving my words for November!

In the meantime, here's a taste of what goes on around here:

Hamster Wheel

In theory our life isn't any busier right now than it ever is, but every time I feel like I'm about to catch up with it, things get away from me again. Le sigh.

I'm still reading all of your blogs, just lacking in the commenting department, as per usual. My apologies...

So the weather here has been sort of lousy - cool and wet and not much fun. But there was one nice day last weekend when we managed to take the kids for a park visit. Maybe one of the last before we need hats and mittens to be outside.


Kids in motion are happy kids - do you remember how large a tennis court seemed when you were little?


This afternoon Harper was running around in the kitchen and told me, "When I fart it gives me gas so I can run my ship. It makes me blow forward." That doesn't have anything to do with these park pictures - but I thought you'd enjoy it anyway. What a nut!

How about one more story that has nothing to do with these photos? Harper has been saying lately that all the boys at school like her, in fact, everyone at school likes her! I am never quite sure how to respond to this, accept to say that they probably like her because she's a good friend, etc., etc. I don't know why these statements make me cringe a little - of course I want her to feel like the other kids like her, but I don't know, maybe I wish it wasn't so important to her already?

Anyway this afternoon she said (about the boys at school), "It's just too much love Mommy. I can feel the kisses right now!"

What am I supposed to do with that?!


You can't tell from this photo, but Harper was actually terrified after Matt helped her into this tree, and I was all, "You're fine - just smile!"


Michael turned 19 months when I wasn't looking. We are seeing our service coordinator tomorrow to talk a little more about the speech thing. He still isn't saying many actual words, but the other day he patted my leg to get my attention, signed "please" and pointed at the couch where I was sitting. Does that count as his first sentence?


I made a comment about the leaves on this tree looking like they were on fire - Harper wanted to take a picture to show how you crawl low to the ground when there is a fire in your house... It IS fire safety month!

In case anyone was wondering how the dentist went - it was just fine. Harper shed a few tears during the fluoride treatment - still anxious from the Post Dentist Puke Event of '08. But otherwise, no problem. Michael was a trouper and just toddled around the waiting room, perused the dentist's books, and climbed on (and fell off - oops) the little picnic table benches.


There's not much point to this post, except to say that we're still here, running on our little wheels, moving forward.

Brief

Hi! Facebook is not working for me today - anyone else? It's times like these that I think twitter would be useful, but for now I remain firm in my resolve not to tweet.

Are we all going to think SWINE FLU?! every time our kids are sick this winter? (I think that yes, we will.)

Since I am a scheduling idiot and have to take Michael with me to Harper's dentist appointment this afternoon, and there is no where for a parent to sit w/ a squirmy toddler in the exam room, will she be okay back there by herself? She's almost five... Stay tuned.

Want to Feel Better About Your Weekend?

Well, if you have a newly walking toddler, you can congratulate yourself if you didn't let him/her dive headfirst into a patch of sidewalk. And even if you did let that happen, surely you didn't also get the band-aid stuck in his/her hair.


And even if you DID both of those things (unlikely), you surely didn't make a complete fool of yourself with your neighbors.

I'm quite positive your daughter didn't notice smoke coming from your neighbors' roof and that your view wasn't such that you couldn't tell if the smoke was coming from the chimney. Then, even after you walked out into the yard to get a better look and still couldn't tell whether the smoke came from a chimney OR whether anyone was home, I'm sure you didn't call the neighbors (who, incidentally, aren't polite enough to ever speak to you) to see if they were in fact home and find out whether they possibly had a wood-burning fire place that they were currently using. And surely you didn't make that phone call, only to be totally embarrassed when it turned out that they were using their fireplace for the first time this season. I am sure you also didn't have an extremely uncomfortable moment with the neighbor on the phone when she realized who you were and remembered how much she and her husband hate your dog.

And if all of that did happen to you, then maybe you aren't thrilled about all the moments of your weekend either. And also? It's pretty creepy how parallel our lives are.

Kitten!

My mom is visiting this week and when my dad called to talk with her tonight he said, "Can you send your mother home so we could get some new blog content?"

It's true that we've been too busy in the evening for me to update much. So here is a little nibble.

Auntie M got a new kitten - and Harper and I went to visit on Saturday. The kitten's name is Jem and oh, she is such a sweetie.





I'm allergic to cats, but I love me some kittens - and apparently Harper does, too!