Halloween 2017

All Hallow's Eve...supposed to be a scary time of year, but I think either as the years go or as you become a parent it just becomes all about the candy and cute costumes. I had a fun idea this year that we would go to this Halloween gathering at a nearby park (I'm determined to be more involved in community events...that aren't church related at least) that was on the 28th. We decided to dress Cara up in her cute little costume and walk over (it was close enough and I thought the walk would be nice)...unfortunately it was more for older kids (like ones that can carry their own trick-or-treat pales) and Cara slept through the whole entire thing.

It was SO cute seeing all the other kids in their costumes and we saw SO many cute little homes all decorated (I REALLY need to get better at that!) so it wasn't a total waste. Cara ended up waking up on our way home so we took her out of the stroller to feel the leaves, but she wasn't too impressed. She did end up warming up in her snuggly costume so I think she was a little uncomfortable. We laid her down on the living room floor when we got home and you could tell she was upset she couldn't roll over in it...I crack up thinking about it haha.

Anyways, the biggest bummer was that we were supposed to get a pumpkin at this gathering, but I didn't see where you got them so we ended up picking up a pumpkin at the last minute at the store on Sunday...there weren't many to choose from so we ended up just going home with one. I had plans that we would carve one for us (adults) and then do a Cara handprint on hers...well with one and everything coming down to the last minute we just did all our handprints on the one. I thought we would put paint on Cara's hand and just put it on the pumpkin to use as the tracing, but Larry decided to just put her hand on it and trace it with a marker as best he could and he'd just free-hand the carving part. I'll say he did a REALLY good job since it's free-handed, but it's not the prettiest pumpkin ever. I promise next year I'm planning so much better than this year!

Taking out the seeds to bake

We also happened to get "Boo'd" in our neighborhood...you know, where you get a treat and then have to leave the cute little Boo sign with a treat on two of your neighbors homes. I was so excited to be a part of this so we included Cara in on getting the treats and picking the homes. I carried the treats and Cara while Larry did the running (I'm no good under pressure haha).

Uh...FUDGE Brownies...it's like our neighbors
KNOW know me! Best treat ever!

Now for today, the actual holiday, Larry and I both had to work, but it was still a fun day in our family themed costume:

Get it? She's a bee, I'm a flower, Larry is a Beekeeper
I know, we're too cute ;)

For context, I put a picture of my bee on the flower
People mostly got it.

So we remembered from last year that there's absolutely no time to watch movies AND hand out candy, so we set up our Halloween center by the door:

Cara and I chilled watching the kids, while Daddy
Handed out the candy

Larry made piles of each candy to hand out...made it go MUCH easier

Handing out the candy is always my favorite part, I joke this is the one time of year I like ALL other kids instead of just some of them. I honestly have no idea what we're going to do when Cara is old enough to go out and get candy. I want to be there for her first time, but I always want to be home to hand out candy...it's going to be SUCH a hard decision...that I'll make eventually. In the meantime, here are my favorite moments/quotes from this year:

Kid dressed up as Spiderman: "I'm not the real Spiderman"

A little girl dressed up as Spiderman when I said she must be Spiderwoman: "I'm not Spiderwoman!"

A very small girl's reaction when we wished her Happy Halloween: "And a Happy Halloween to you guys as well" (Like seriously in the sweetest cutest little baby voice ever!)

The giant dinosaur I was worried would fall down our stairs (he was SO funny)

When kids would see the piles of candy on the table next to the door: "Whoa! Look at how much candy we get" and "Premade piles of candy...smart" (we ended up getting multiple repeaters because of this, I'm sure)

Multiple kids when we offered them the whole pile after they only took one: "No thank you" (can those parents teach me how they got their kids to turn down MORE candy?!)

Anyways, that was our Halloween...I decorated SO last minute and everything was done so quickly that I'm making notes to make it better next year. Luckily Cara won't remember this one so it's more spoiled for me....but it makes me better to learn from my mistakes, right? Anyways, I have a headache from this headband I've been letting squeeze my brains wearing all day so with that: Happy Halloween everyone!!

Halloween Decorations

I know the Halloween post is going to be a long one, so I figured I'd just do a post on some of our completely last minute decorations:

I didn't put our inflatable out and really this is WAY more than we did last year (when I was so sick I just didn't care to do anything), but next year...that's going to be my year of decorations. I'd love to be that house that everyone knows goes big for the holidays and people can't wait to see. That's how my parents are (my mom and Will at least) so I feel I should be following in their footsteps...or something. Anyways, enjoy and be excited for tomorrow...ooooh! (That's supposed to be my ghost sound haha)

How Parenthood Changed Me

I mean this is an obvious one, right? Well there were actually some surprises here for me. I mean obviously I have less time to myself or to be lazy like I used to, but that's not even the biggest one for me.

Since becoming a mom, I'm actually surprised how much I hate the TV being on and would prefer to find things to teach Cara. I didn't think I'd have the TV on all the time with kids, I knew I wanted to be a mom that did things with her kids rather than watching a screen (although I can totally see how the TV will be great as a distractor when Cara is older), but I really hate the TV being on (unless, as previously stated, a football game is on or something that is a learning/family activity). In fact, when I look back at all my old pictures they are of me on my bed or couch and I'm sure I'm just watching TV so it almost feels like my life didn't really begin until Cara was born...I just watched TV between vacations and that was all I did.

I do still snuggle with the kitties...

...And make time for my inner child

Another big change has been how I prefer to stay busy. This one is a bit separate since I used to feel like I didn't have energy, ever. I'd come home from work and be so drained that I would want to be lazy, but now when I'm lazy I get tired and it's hard for me to find motivation to be a parent. So I found the activities to do each night to help keep me going and I surprisingly have a huge amount of energy each night. Not to fret though, as soon as it gets close to bedtime I'm back to being tired and lazy haha.

Letting her figure out the phone camera

Now for this next one I have to preface by saying I know I'm only 5 months into this parenting game and with only one kid, but I'm surprised it hasn't bothered me to not have as much "me" time Or be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want (because let's be real, toting a kid around really changes that). Like if I'm home or not at work, I'm all about Cara and what she's doing and how I can make her smile more. I guess I feel like I had 29 years of me time and I get some me time after she goes down for bed at 7:45, but it doesn't make me feel drained or selfish (for lack of a better word) to contribute a good chunk of time to her. I mean having a kid, especially when it's later, can be a HUGE life change. I think if you are younger then maybe you don't realize how much of "you" time you're giving up because you didn't have it for very long...or maybe the opposite is true, maybe when you've waited you've gotten in enough "you" time so it doesn't feel so bad to give it up at that point. All I know is if there's ever a moment where I miss doing things on my own (which is pretty rare at this point) I'm able to remind myself that before I know it she'll be grown up to where I can go out and do things again and I'll be sad that these days are over and I'll miss this little silly girl I have right now. It's such a small blip of time overall and a small sacrifice to make sure I raise a well rounded person that it never really gets to me too bad.

Silly messy face

Lastly, am I the only one that thinks silly things are too cute? Like when Cara has a focused face (on a new toy) or is figuring out how to make her hands work..ADORABLE! I feel like I'm the one who got a new toy after everyone else did and when I think things are so cute and awesome everyone around me is like "yeah, that happens, it's not a big deal" haha.

Okay now that I've somehow turned this into being about Cara I'll sign off...just know you'll probably be surprised with what changes come once you have a little one to take care off.

Cara is FIVE Months

I am FIVE months old!

Didn't have the sticker...whoops

 

I like: Sucking on my fingers, rolling (and rolling and rolling and rolling haha), sleeping, especially on her belly (YES!), being read to (especially feel-y books), discovering faces, daddy (just daddy, he doesn't even need to be doing anything or even looking at her) and when mommy sings or makes funny sounds

 

 

 

I dislike: Getting stuck on my belly, when I'm hungry/sleepy, being around too many strangers and/or loud noises.

I am now: We didn't have a dr visit this month, so our unofficial weight check says she is just under 14 lbs. (so she isn't gaining as much as I'd like considering she was 13 at her 4 month visit, but we're working on that). She wears size 3-6 months clothes, working her way up to strictly 6 months. She's still in size 2 diapers though.

A Typical Day looks like: Just like the prior months mom leaves for work around 7:30, most of the time she wakes up right as I'm leaving, a couple of times it's been before and sometimes she's given dad a break and slept in a tiny bit. She's usually up for 2 hours before she wants to nap again. She went through a nice growth spurt and now eats about 5 - 6.5 oz bottles. We've added in oatmeal to the breastmilk bottles (we had to upgrade to the level 3 nipples to make that easier) and we started trying out oatmeal and formula food before her last bottle of the night.

 

 

 

This Month I: Finally figured out how to roll over from back to tummy, but forgot how to roll back. It's been so fun watching her roll over, but if only she'd roll back instead of getting frustrated haha. She definitely loves showing off her new skill, even when we're not watching haha. She also started laughing at things for the first time...that was one of the best moments!

We introduced her to a big crowd for (what would've been) my grandpa's 70th birthday and she did okay for a little while, but eventually HATED too many strangers and how noisy we can get when all together. It was sad to watch, but at least we know she can tolerate it for a second.

Football season also started so she's been watching games with mom and we've been loving that! She's also done so well with our nightly activities (sensory play, reading, movie/game nights, etc.) that I'm loving that she'll be growing up with that as the norm.

That smile!!

Parent's Notes: Watching Cara learn is still my favorite part of every day. Weekends are SO nice to spend with her, but then it gets so hard to get excited for work again and missing out on more moments. But we've got a good routine with her throughout the day and for bedtime.

Cara found her thumb while going for her fingers to suck on so I'm thinking we're going to have a thumb sucker soon, but I really hope not! She's got the cutest laugh, she loves exploring and taking new things in. We're still working on socializing her so that she's used to making friends as she gets older, but it's a bit of a work in progress.

She likes splashing water..Once she figures
Out that's what she's supposed to do haha

Cara loves sitting up so she's in the bumbo seat pretty often, but will get sick of it and wants to wiggle around after about 20 minutes. She started sleeping through the night over the last couple weeks (ever since we upgraded her bassinet to the pack n play at night) and we've been loving that! It's been REALLY fun introducing her to new foods and we try and get her to eat more baby food (oatmeal mixed with formula) for our dinner time. Trying to get her used to the high chair AND an eating schedule is still new though.

I'm honestly loving these times with her, you can tell she's learning so much and just taking in everything and it's been so fun playing with her. She's such a happy baby and, from what I'm learning from other's, a pretty easy baby so I'm very thankful for that. She cracks us up daily with her crazy personality that I simply cannot wait to see how that develops as she grows up!

Update on last month's goals:

• Well luckily we found a way to introduce Cara to Halloween by finding some good Disney/Animated Halloween themed movies for movie day (we've done Monsters VS Aliens, Monsters Inc., Monsters University, and Nightmare Before Christmas. )
• It ended up getting cold before we had time to do another hike, but we do still get outside with her and let her look at her surroundings.
• She definitely seems to like the oatmeal cereal. We started with banana that she likes, but now we're doing blueberry and apple and she's been chowing down on that.
• Teething doesn't seem to bother her...yet. We did get a teething mitt and a banana brush that she LOVES chewing on. And, as always, Sophie the Giraffe has been a number one toy as well.
• Fussy time seems to have disappeared, for the most part, and it's helping me feel more involved with Cara and the kind of mom I want to be to have our nightly activities. I'm LOVING how it's been going.
• The new bedtime routine has been awesome. We've taken away the bottle and a TV show and added reading a book and she's transitioned SO smoothly that I'm so relieved. Part of me thinks we maybe should've started it earlier, but another part of me thinks that we must have timed it just right that it's been great. Especially in the pack n play now!

Goals for next month:

• Continue introducing Cara to Halloween stuff (We plan to do the Hotel Transylvania movies, The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown movie, and Casper this next month) with pumpkin carving/guts play and some Halloween (pumpkin flavors) themed baby foods
• Speaking of baby foods, get her to eating more baby foods and less spitting them out or going to her fingers while eating (which is usually her sign of hunger or sleepiness).
• Pick out costumes!
• Keep up with introducing her to more football games. She seems to love them so far and I LOVE that.
• Teach her more signs. So far we're good at doing eat, more, and all done, but I'd like to add cat, sleep, and bath to the mixture too.
• Work on getting Cara to roll over from tummy to back as well as focusing on small items (it shows in the book they should be able to follow a raisin sized item and she's still not too good at that) and sitting up on her own possibly?
• Schedule her 6 month appointment...eesh! Which means I want to make sure we enjoy the last month we have before she's a HALF a year old!! It's definitely going way too fast haha.

The Beginning of Football Season

So I've got a confession, I'm a bit of a sports watching junkie....but not with EVERY sport and I don't know all the rules so I wouldn't call myself quite the nerd about it. With this I've LOVED the start of football season. It's so fun having the sounds of a game on while doing chores, cooking, or just being lazy on the couch, don't you think?

When we were pregnant with Cara I told Larry that I love the idea of taking our kids to Bees or Jazz games (baseball and basketball for those that don't know) and while I've never really wanted to go to a football game I do love watching it on the TV and I hope our kids want to watch the games and/or play some with us one day.

Since it's officially the start of the season I wrote down all the Packers (my team) and Cowboys (Larry's team) games on my planner so that if any are on while Cara is up I plan on having them on so she can get into the games as she grows up (I'll be doing the same once award season hits next year!). I even got her the cutest little outfits for them too:

Looks like she's cheering them on!

Cutest little fan in the making

So far we've only caught a couple games (because it's also scary movie season so if they are on too late they get missed for my movies), but it's been so fun seeing her interest in the TV. We don't have it on very often (I just can't justify having the TV on unless I'm going to be paying attention to it, and I would rather pay attention and teach Cara stuff) so I guess it's a big deal to her to see pictures moving around on such a large screen, but that's okay, I want her to be interested haha. Larry even sat with us during a Cowboys game one Sunday so it was a full family affair. I tell ya this season (Fall, Football, etc.) is just SO much fun and I'm hoping we're already starting some GREAT traditions already :)

So on that note #GoPackers (but also #GoCowboys for Larry ;P)