Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!  

Tonight as soon as I got home from work, Jen and I got on some Halloween headwear and got The Bean into his Piglet costume and headed over to say "Trick or Treat" to my aunt, cousins and Nana.  My aunt surprised us with some chocolates and a little pumpkin for The Bean.

We had to take a photo of The Bean with his pumpkin.  He's in his skeleton pajamas, although with the new teeth that have come in, vampire pajamas would have been more appropriate! 

Link Love

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  This time of year is the most busy for me in terms of extra work commitments.  Last week I had three evenings where I had to attend work events.  I'm feeling pretty burnt-out.  The weekend was good for recharging though.  Still no "real" posts, but I thought I would update with a couple of links I've stumbled across over the past little bit.  Maybe you'll enjoy them too...

The Handmade Home Alphabet Cards 

Can you believe that these alphabet cards are a free download?! Wouldn't they make a great addition to a baby gift? I plan on printing two sets to give to co-workers who are due in November along with crochet baby hats.

Heavenly Homemakers Haircut Tutorial
The Bean is in need of yet another haircut. I have to admit, I've given him at least one rather severe haircut in the past. I'm hoping that following the guidelines of this tutorial will help with the next one. Now I just need suggestions on how to get him to hold still.

Martha Stewart Felt Hat How-To

Okay! Totally cute! I'm thinking one of my old sweaters may have to turn into one of these.

Prudent Baby Cheater Quilt
Have I talked at all about wanting to learn how to sew? The only thing I've made in recent history is The Bean's envelope pillow cover, but I think this would make an awesome beginner project. Jen and I have been talking about buying a sewing machine. I'm hesitant to make the financial commitment. I love the idea of sewing, but I'd hate to buy a machine only to have it sit unused in the closet. Still, seeing adorable and seemingly do-able projects like these make me think maybe one day soon...

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!  

Wordless Wednesday: Just Out of Reach

 

 

Nine (and a half) Month Stats

We got The Bean to the doctor yesterday for his nine month well-check. No shots at this appointment, so it went pretty quickly. He now weighs 16.1lbs, which is still under the third percentile, but he's continuing on an upward trajectory, so the doctor said it was fine. His height is 27.2 inches which is around the 10th percentile, so he's catching up there. His weight for length is about 6th percentile, so again, catching up. Finally his head circumference is 17.5 inches which is around the 23rd percentile. Big noggin'! We got an update on the pelviectasis. The ultrasound results from August showed that he still has mild (0.6cm) dilation in his left kidney. We plan on keeping an eye on it, likely following up with another ultrasound when he's around a year old, but we aren't overly concerned since he doesn't seem to be displaying any signs of discomfort. We have a healthy baby, so we're happy moms.

Knox Pumpkin Farm

I'm not sure how it got to be Monday evening already... I took today off of work because both The Bean and I had doctor's appointments (his nine month stats are coming tomorrow), but even with the extra day off the weekend seemed to fly by!  Maybe because time flies when you're having fun?  Not that the doctor's appointments were fun, but we did have a great outing on Sunday.

Shannon from Other-Motherhood generously invited us to join her and her family plus some other two-mom families at Knox Pumpkin Farm. 

We left just after The Bean's first nap, which put us there a bit later than the other families, but we knew that would be the case.  We met up with everyone where the kids were playing on a wagon with some hay bales on it.  They were having a blast while the moms chatted and took advantage of the photo op.  We were introduced around.  Neither Jen or I are very outgoing, especially around new people, but everyone was very friendly and made us feel welcome. 

After that it was time for a lunch break.  We had snacked in the car on the drive (about an hour from Toronto), so we weren't hungry, but it gave The Bean a chance to crawl around and watch the other kids.

Something that was immediately obvious about the farm was how much there was to do there.  We were a little nervous when we arrived and there were hundreds of cars parked in a field, but once we entered it didn't feel crowded despite all the people there.  There was a barn, various wagons filled with hay and pumpkins, face painting, pony rides, little gardens, somewhere to eat, a corn maze, tractor rides, a playground and, of course, the pumpkin patch. 

After our lunch break we got on the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch.  The patch was pretty mucky, so we just stayed on the tractor ride while it looped around back to the starting point. 

Then the older kids went to play on the hay bales and The Bean spent some time crawling around and chewing on hay while we chatted with Shannon. 

We took some photos and then decided we should be getting on our way.  The Bean was getting tired, and we figured it would be best to avoid a meltdown.  He got a bottle and then got strapped into his carseat.  It only took him about two minutes to fall asleep once we got going.  (It only took me about five. ;)  )

 

It was a perfect way to spend a gorgeous fall day and so nice to meet some other local two-mom families!

{This Moment} An Early Costume Fitting For The Grandparents

Wordless Wednesday: A Weekend with the Grandparents

Puck's Farm

This weekend Jen's parents came to visit.  Although I know they'd be happy just to hang out at the apartment all day playing with The Bean in the living room, we thought it'd be nice to do a special outing with them.  

We'd been talking about going to a farm and found Puck's Farm recommended in an email list we're on.  We went today to check it out.  

We took a couple of wrong turns, so it took a while to get there.  The Bean hadn't had a good nap that morning and he wouldn't sleep in the car so I was concerned at how well he'd hold up, but once we arrived he was busy looking around and really wasn't too fussy. 

We were greeted by this handsome fellow:

The first thing we did when we got there was walk through the stables.  There were quite a few animals -sheep, goats, pigs, cows, horses, a baby donkey (so cute!), a llama, bunnies, ducks, etc.  The Bean seemed to enjoy looking at all the animals.  Well, all except the horse, which kinda' freaked him out. 

 
Next we went on a wagon ride.  The Bean had fun chewing on the hay we were sitting on. 

After the wagon ride we got a bite to eat.  There was a booth with fries and burgers and whatnot.  The Bean played on the grass while we waited for our order.  Then we went into a little cabin-y thing to eat.  It was freezing so it was nice to be inside and have a chance to warm up a bit. 

 

When we arrived, we were told that the pumpkin patch had been picked clear, so we didn't even bother going over to it.  There were a few big boxes of pumpkins for sale though.  We thought it made a good photo op. 

 

There were some scary-looking fair rides and a "haunted farm" to go through, but it was starting to drizzle a bit and we were all about ready to head home, so we decided to save those things for a future visit.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a fall Sunday.

Getting Ready for Halloween

With just over two weeks to go, I feel like it's an okay time to start thinking about Halloween.  I often feel like holidays are prepared for WAY too far in advance and that the wait feels like forever.  Now that Thanksgiving is over and the weather is cooling it does feel like it's time to start thinking about Halloween though.

Jen bought a little pumpkin and some gourds at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago.  We've had them out on the ottoman and The Bean loves grabbing them, shaking them, and rolling them around.  When he's napping we can arrange them nicely and they make a pretty fall decoration.  

We've broken out his "mummy loves me" shirt and put some Halloween-y books on The Bean's spice rack bookshelves.   A couple of the books are ones I picked up from Scholastic last year, one was a hand-me-down and then there are a two new ones that Grandma and Grandpa brought up as a little gift this weekend.  I think it's funny that you're supposed to put a photo of your baby's face in two of them (we haven't). 

I was heart-set on making The Bean a garden gnome costume, but my my cousin loaned us a Piglet costume and we tried it on The Bean the other week and it actually fit.  Not only that, it was adorable.  Now I think we might just go with the Piglet costume.  I guess we'll see how much free time I have between now and Halloween to pull together the garden gnome thing.  He won't be trick-or-treating this year, so he doesn't even really need a costume, but they're kind of too cute to pass up.  Maybe we'll take him over to my Nana's or my aunts just to show him off.  And of course I'll probably have to take at least a zillion photos. 


What have you been doing to prepare for Halloween.  Do you have costumes (for your kids and/or yourself) yet?  What are you going to be? 

{this moment} Fall Tree

A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 

Inspired by SouleMama.