All Hallows Eve Eve

Looking forward to Halloween!

Henry is still keen on being a Pirate (again) and Charlie has an adorable Lion costume just his size (he was a lion cub last year as well, but this is more of a toddler lion costume)....but we'll keep open minds until tomorrow. You just never know.

Field Trip!

It was crisp and foggy this morning.

We boarded a school bus and headed to the

PUMPKIN PATCH!

Henry and I count the school buses every day on our way to school and today, Henry got to have his first ride of many in a very long, bumpy, crowded school bus:

And he loved every minute of it:

After a short tractor ride, we arrived at the pumpkin patch on a local farm:

And Henry got to pick out his very own pumpkin:

And the boy danced:

And abused pumpkins:

Daddy and Henry on top of the world!

And then they marched

this way...

And that way....

Henry and his new best friend, Oliver:

Pumpkin bowling!

Which stopped just short of a STRIKE.

Oh, what it must feel like to fly carefree.....

Mommy's little calf and little piggy!!!

11th Anniversary Special!

So...you think we'll still be married and happy 11 years from now?

I don't know. But I do know, if we live together, work together and raise kids together HALF as good as we DANCE together...then hells ya we'll be together 11 years from now!

Jamaica, 11 years ago and one of the best weeks ever:

Here's to many, many happy years!

Happy 11th Anniversary!

Sometimes, things just don't go as planned.

Some things, you can count on...like how cute Henry is during

cheese and cracker and snuggle time:

But other things don't always go as planned..

Like when you take Charlie to the doctor to have his stitches removed and you walk out with multiple prescriptions to treat the flu since you have a high risk patient (only because he is a young child). So our 11th Anniversary was spent improvising, and we did a mighty fine job improvising!

Here is what Nate came home with on Saturday:

So, instead of spending a pretty penny in a restaurant, we brought the restaurant to us.

Nigella Lawson's real deal brownies which included about $14 in bittersweet chocolate:

Whatcha doin' Nate?

Clarifying butter for the lobster, of course!

Since Henry isn't a fan of lobster or clams, he was treated to one ginormous crab leg, which he carried around with him part of the afternoon.

Show me your crab leg, Henry....

Not that you can tell from the picture, be we also had a wedge salad with candied walnuts:

And WAY too many clams steamed in wine, butter and parsely:

Henry also helped me roll some Halloween cookies.

And we laughed, a lot, despite Charlie's fever and diaper issues.

But laughing wears fever baby out and Charlie took lots of crash breaks like this:

I'm home today with Charlie and I think he is doing much, much better.

So, while we had a last minute change of anniversary plans, and didn't get to enjoy a nice quiet dinner for two and an "anything but G-rated movie", we did improvise and enjoyed a very nice seafood-fest and had a very nice time with our boys. Which in the end, is the most important thing to me anyways.

Happy 11th Anniversary Nate, I love you!

Automation Gone Wrong

I love automation. I like computers and online banking and paying bills online and even automated phone systems. But today, I experienced automation gone wrong.

I had to call Fed Ex this morning to schedule a pick up, and Charlie insisted on me holding him.

Automated Lady: "Are you calling about a pick-up? If so, say 'pick-up'"

Me: "Pic...."
Charlie: "OW!" (not sure why he said Ow, I was holding him.

Automated Lady: "Let me make sure I understood you. You said 'Ground'?"

Me: "N-"
Charlie: "Momeeeeee"

Automated Lady: "Let me make sure I understood you. You said 'delivery'?"

Forget it...I'll just use the internet, it can't hear.

Ps and Qs

This morning, as I was about to set Charlie's morning meal on his tray, he looks at me and says "Peeeeeeeezzzzz?"!!!

Bless your heart, Charlie Barton.

This is good, and bad. Good because manners are a very important part of Charlie's day at the Stringer Center (which means we are getting our money's worth), but bad in that if he used that "peeeez" stuff on me, I will likely give him anything he asks for because it is so unbelievably cute when you hear it said in his tiny little voice. Needless to say, Charlie ate 9 (mini) pancakes for breakfast because he kept using his new word, and ok, because I kept wanting to hear it. I'll start practicing restraint tomorrow. Promise.

Clone Trooper (costume) Saves the Day!

It was like a preschool horror film…..Henry and I walking, hand in hand, down the Dynamotion hallway for our morning drop-offs and good-byes, which 7 days into our new routine, still make me a little sad and anxious (Henry is doing GREAT, by the way…in fact, better than great!).

We open the door to find every child dressed in either a super hero costume or a pink princess costume. Henry stood still, dropped my hand, mouth open and wide-eyed. I knew we were in big, big trouble.

Henry: “Look Mommy, Spider-man” he says pointing at 1 of the 3 masked heroes.

Me to Teacher: “So (teeth-gritted smile), is today ‘costume’ day?”

It, in fact, was. But I missed the note they left on the door the night before. They also told the kids to tell the parents, but I guess Henry forgot…which is shocking since it involved a costume.

What to do…what to do??? I’m frantic and feel horrible that the new kid was the only little one who didn’t have a costume!

Henry: “Mama, you will go home and get my Clone Trooper costume?”
Me: “Of course! I’ll be right back with your Clone Trooper costume!!!!”

A couple of hours later, I bust into the room, sweaty, breathless, Clone Trooper costume and mask in hand to save the day! Of course, Henry was happily playing with his friends and probably forgot all about the fact that he didn’t have a costume, but let’s pretend.

Henry sees me and immediately goes from 1 to 10 on the squeal scale.

“Oh Mommy, You did it! You got me my costume! Look kids! Look at my clone trooper! I have a mask!”

Crouched at Henry's feet, one foot in I look up to find us surrounded by three little tiny pink princesses all watching me ceremoniously dress my little Clone Trooper. The little tiny princesses did not say a word, they did not smile, they simply watched and protected us from the large group of super heroes that were beginning to swarm in our direction to see what all of the fuss was about. Though he only had one foot in the costume, Henry stretched his body to the fullest and pointed to his chest to show the boys his Clone Trooper Costume. I had to remind him that it wasn’t on yet.

Once fully Clone Troopered, he jumped and jumped and hopped and jumped to the high-pitched squeal that was coming from his mouth. The room was still, watching in awe. This must be the first time they have seen Henry go off the grid like this.

And then he was off, no good-byes, no kisses. He was now a Clone Trooper and off grouped with the other Super Heroes across the room, busy planning to save the World.
But, as he looked at me across the room through his Clone mask, I knew. I just knew.

How to receive Immediate Medical Service...

You bring in a bleeding baby!

Yes, it's true! Not even did I not have to fill out any paperwork, I was whisked past a

roomful of mask-wielding, phelgm-producing, H1N1 inhabiting people so that they could

tend to our blood dripping, yet smiling Charlie.

This is what happens when a toddler tips a chair backwards as they stand on the chair and rock it back and forth.

But SIX stitches later....you have an all fixed up little baby:

I am very proud of this little tough guy who laid still for over an hour as strangers

shined bright lights on his face, covered his face with a plastic drape, applied various stinky-smelling solutions to his chin and ultimately sewed him back together.

But nothing will stop Charlie from eating. Nothing.

I thought the funniest part of the whole adventure was when Doctor told us to keep the stitches dry and clean. I was like "are you serious?" Within 10 minutes of being home, Charlie had stuffed enough food between his skin and the bandaid that it actually just fell off, so I'm pretty sure we will not be very successful with that instruction.

Henry took the whole thing much harder than anyone:

But a very nice Nurse kept Henry company and entertained as Charlie got his stitches.

Henry told Nurse Sabrina all kinds of things...like that we went to Chuck E. Cheese last night (we didn't) and that we moved into a new house and he started a new school. He also said that our whole family has birthdays in June (??).

So for the next 8 days, we will be doing what we can to keep these little blue things clean and dry.

And after all was said and done, we ate chinese food.

And this was my fortune:

It says: "An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting"

Like, no kidding.

I will soon have to write about how the significant things in Charlie's life seem to play out in fortune cookie fortunes. This isn't the first time this has happened. Very Strange.

Love, B