Happy Halloween!

Here's the elusive Cheshire Cat. He's extremely difficult to photograph because he has a habit of disappearing. I was able to snap a couple of photos of him while he busily clawed a tree.

Oh, and there's the lovely Alice! Isn't she a pretty little thing?

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! There's more where these came from. Stay tuned.

No Fair

Chris got back last Friday from a two week trip to Rome. I stayed here. With two kids. One of which got Roseola while Daddy was away.

This was his first trip to Rome. He was able to do a little sightseeing while there and saw the Vatican, the coliseum, circus maximus, trevi fountain, and the Spanish steps. He said it was awesome and he hopes I can go back with him. He's going back in a few months and I would love to go but it's just so hard to figure out what to do with the little ones. Maybe when Robert is older and is a better sleeper.

One of Chris' co-workers and his wife were also there. He goes there often, so he was able to show Chris around and give him some travel advice on how to avoid being taken advantage of. Apparently, if you speak English, you get an English menu. With prices 3x higher than the Italian menu. Some restaurants take the menu away and when you get your check, the prices are higher than what was on the menu. You're supposed to keep the menu until you get your check so they don't rip you off. Can you imagine having to deal with that kind of treatment on a regular basis?

Unfortunately, the highlight of the trip was when Chris discovered that he either lost or had his credit card stolen. He was able to cancel it right away but because he was in Rome, it took several days for them to send him a replacement. It all turned out fine and we didn't have any unauthorized charges. Being out of the country just added a bit more difficulty to the situation.

Here are a few of the pictures he took. He took lots of pictures of his co-worker and his wife. And one picture of himself. On the balcony of his hotel room.

The day after he got back, Clara came down with a tummy bug that lasted about 8 hours. I was so glad to have him home to help out. You'll have to read Linda's post about that. I figured we'd all come down with it, but Sunday came and we were all fine. Monday passed without incident. And then Tuesday morning Chris got hit with it. He felt terrible all day long and ran a fever into the night. And then he was fine the next day. Thankfully Robert and I never got it. Chris is so glad to be back :)

11 Month Pictures

I took Robert to the park last week to take some pictures. He was far more interested in crawling through the gravel and eating rocks than posing for pictures. He did flash a few smiles for me though.

That sweet little face just melts my heart :)

Eleven Months

-- Robert is still wearing 12 month clothes. Everyone says he looks as if he's thinned out.

-- He has 8 teeth now and doesn't drool at all anymore! He's also cut way back on the biting. He still does it occasionally, but it's nothing like it was. He is biting other things a lot though. Toys, shoes, books, furniture..... nothing is safe.

-- He was doing well with eating and sleeping, but then got sick and Daddy was gone for two weeks, so he's right back where we started. To say I'm frustrated with his sleeping and eating would be an understatement. He was doing so well on the sleep front. I would put him down drowsy and he'd curl right up and go to sleep. There was very little crying and he was sleeping through 'til morning or only waking once most nights. Now we're back to waking at least 2 or 3 times and screaming bloody murder, scrambling to stand up when I lay him down.

-- I don't think he ate more than a few bites of solid food every day while Chris was gone to Rome. He also wasn't nursing very well. He's doing a little better now, but still not great. He really wants nothing to do with the highchair. He gets very angry when he's confined and as soon as I put him in it he stands up.

-- Robert loves to be outside. He knows the word now and looks at the door when we say it. He throws a fit when we let the dogs outside and he doesn't get to go. If I happen to be holding him and open an exterior door, I had better be ready to go outside and play for a long time or else I'll have an angry baby on my hands.

-- He's started playing shy. If someone's talking to him while I'm holding him, he lays his head on my shoulder and peeks out at them. It's sooo cute.

-- He loves to play peek-a-boo. For a while he would take my shirt while nursing and cover his face with it. When I asked "Where's Robert?", he'd pull it down and get a huge grin on his face and do it over and over. That will be one of my favorite nursing memories for sure.

-- Robert will finally sit still for a short book. If you read it fast. He likes Brown Bear, Brown Bear and one called Bunny and Me that Grandma and Grandpa gave Clara when she was a baby. It was one of Clara's favorites too. He points at things on the pages and tries to kiss the bunny.

-- I think he's saying quite a few words that I'm not recognizing. I do think I've heard dog (dah), book (buh), this (dis) and he finally says mama every once in a while. His most favorite word though is no. I hear "nah nah nah" constantly. I think he's been saying pumpkin also. He says it almost every time we walk past the pumpkins on the porch.

-- Still no interest in walking. I'm wondering if he'll even be walking by his birthday. He seems so frustrated right now and I really think learning to walk will relieve some of that frustration, but he's just not having it.

-- I think Robert is very independent and that's where a lot of his frustration lies right now. His inability to tell me what he wants to do or where he wants to go or what he wants to eat is difficult for him so I just keep hoping he'll do better as he gets a little older. I guess I'm partly to blame for having absolutely no clue what he wants a good deal of the time. Good thing he's cute.

First Field Trip

I accompanied Clara to her first school field trip to the pumpkin patch on the 22nd. Clara did enjoy herself but was very upset about one aspect of the day. Since the field trip took place on a day she's not in school, I was required to be there because of the student teacher ratio. Ok, so that's not too bad. I can handle that. What really upset her though (and me too frankly) was that she wasn't allowed to ride the bus with her classmates.

I'm usually not one to get upset about stuff like that. I mean, life's not fair and all. I'm just not sure why it was such a big deal. I mean, she's the only T/Th student in her class. There are four classes total and they all have only one T/Th student. Could four extra students really be that much more trouble? And what if Clara went to school MWF? Would they ask for a volunteer to not ride the bus? I did pay the same registration fee for Clara which covers field trips and yet I don't feel she's getting the same treatment.

So even with all of that, I still wouldn't be that upset. The thing is, Clara is in love with buses right now. I mean, she really, really loves them. She points out bus stops and buses. She points out ones that have a bench to sit at and ones you have to stand at. She gets excited to see people sitting at a bus stop. She wants to ride on a city bus and she can't wait to go to kindergarten because she thinks she's going to ride the bus. On top of that, there's a darn school bus emblazoned on her field trip shirt!

So it isn't hard to imagine her incredible disappointment when she discovered she couldn't ride the school bus with her friends. I told her that I would be taking her to the pumpkin patch and didn't even mention that everyone else would be riding a bus. The girl's not dumb; she somehow knew they were all riding a bus and she went ballistic. I think she's been excited about riding the school bus since we bought her field trip shirt in the summer. Imagine that; she thought she was going to get to ride a school bus while wearing her school bus shirt. I felt so bad for her.

She sucked it up though and had a great time. They got to go on a hayride and a train ride. They played on the playground, had lunch and then a hayride back to the front where they got to pick a small pumpkin to take home.

And then we had to leave. Oy. Her class was in line and I told her to go say goodbye to her teacher. She went to give her a hug and just broke down in tears. By this time Robert was tired and hadn't napped all day. I had been wrestling with him for 3 hours at the point and I just couldn't get her calmed down. I was beginning to think maybe coming on the field trip wasn't such a good idea. I really think I might skip any others. I believe they're all on Clara's non-school days and she just really can't handle it. Or more accurately, I really can't handle her inability to handle it. She cried most of the way home.

So, am I being oversensitive about this?

First of Many

Clara had her first teeth cleaning this morning and she did great! We also had x-rays done and the dentist checked out her extra tooth while we were there. No cavities and the extra tooth can stay for now. Once she starts losing teeth she'll get a better x-ray done and then we'll decide if it needs to come out. It was cool to see the x-rays with all of her permanent teeth hanging out just below the surface, waiting patiently for their debut.

I was so proud of her. She was nervous but she sat still and did everything that was asked of her. She just had a hard time keeping her tongue to herself while the hygienist was polishing her teeth. After the appointment, she got a My Little Pony mermaid (yes, they have MLP mermaids now), that I had promised her if she was good. It was worth every penny.

Water Fight!

Chris picked up some water balloons a couple of weeks ago and he and Clara had a grand time soaking each other in the front yard. I held the camera close to me and kept reminding the two of them of the fact, so I managed to stay relatively dry. I know; I'm such a stick in the mud. Clara is a HUGE fan of water balloons. These are just a few pictures I took of the fun.

Here Chris is waiting for the water to come up through the hose to soak a certain distracted little girl. What he didn't take into consideration was the fact that the hose had been sitting in the sun all day. Oops. She was definitely surprised.

She can't tie balloons, so she would just fill it up, turn around and point it at Chris. It was surprisingly effective.

Robert really wanted to join in on the fun.

Sweetness

I was buckling Robert into his car seat this afternoon when we picked Clara up from school and he was all smiles for his big sister. He gets so excited to have her back next to him in the car on school days. I said, "Who loves Robert?" and he held his hand up towards Clara.

Of course it was just a coincidence. I finished getting him in and got in my seat and I said it again. Not only did he lift his hand toward her, but he used his pointer finger and pointed right at her. I was amazed and perhaps a little teary-eyed. Since he's backward facing, all I could see was that little hand pointing at his big sister. It made Clara's day too. Our baby is growing up tooooo fast.

Just thought I'd share :)

Again

Robert is sick yet again. He came down with a 101.7 fever Monday evening right before bed. When he woke during the night, he was burning up even though his temp was a little lower. Nursing him was uncomfortable for me because his hands, feet and mouth were on fire. The fever continued all day yesterday but he was smiling and playful until he got tired.

I dressed him cool last night and only put a light blanket on him. He felt ok when he woke at 12:30, and when he woke at 5:30, his little arms and legs were so cold. I took his temp and it was really low. I brought him to bed with me so I could warm him up and his temp went up just a little. The low temperature worried me, so I did something I've never done before. I took the poor guy's temperature rectally. It was 97.6, so I felt much better.

He's been mostly fever free all day but has had a low grade one at times. The mystery of the fever was solved when he woke up from his morning nap. Red bumps on his torso. I'm guessing Roseola. And I'm hoping it resolves itself quickly. I'm getting mixed information online. I was always told that once the rash appears, they're no longer contagious, but I'm seeing some places that say they're contagious as long as they have the rash which can last for a couple of weeks. I thought you were supposed to go by the "24 hours after the fever subsides" rule. Anyone know the answer to that?

The Beach

Finally we made it to the beach and Clara had a blast. She went way out with Chris and jumped in the waves. It was a little on the chilly side, but neither she nor Robert seemed to care much. I couldn't keep this guy out of the water. He loved it. I spent most of my time trying to keep him from eating sand. He wouldn't keep his hat on so I had to lather up his head in sunscreen.

We spent an hour or so at the beach and then went back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We hadn't been since Clara was a year old so she didn't remember it. She loved it. And because this was a replacement vacation, we went all out and let Clara get the souvenir cup. Now when she says, "You never let me have the souvenir cup!", we can show her this picture and say, "Galveston. October 2010. Rainforest Cafe. No souvenir cup for you!"

The next morning we had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel and then went to stroll the beach. We went to the souvenir shop on the beach and walked around it for a long time before going on down to the water.

It had been pretty chilly and windy but the sun was just starting to warm us up when we went for a walk. Robert was thrashing around in my arms trying to get to the water, so I dipped his feet in and it didn't feel cold at all. I eventually gave up and stripped him down to his diaper so he could have fun.

Chris and Clara went up the beach a ways to fly a little kite and Clara kept rolling down a little sand hill over and over. I was kept busy keeping Robert from swimming out to sea. I couldn't rest for a minute before I was chasing him and bringing him back to the shore. I was tired after about half an hour of that so we went back to the hotel and got Robert bathed, packed up the rest of our stuff and checked out. We ate at a pizza place on the seawall and then headed home. It was the perfect short, relaxing getaway.

The Strand

We decided to make a short trip to Galveston during our un-vacation. I hopped on hotwire.com again and found a great deal on a hotel for one night on the seawall and we headed down Sunday morning.

We were a little early to check in at the hotel, so we decided to drive around for awhile and then walk along the Strand before hitting the beach. Bad idea. When Clara saw the ocean, there was no getting it out of her head. The next several hours were spent listening to her whine about wanting to go into the ocean. Note to self: beach first next time.

It is physically impossible for me to visit the Strand and not go into the caramel apple place, so we did just that. I got one rolled in pecans and when it was cut up, the core and some of the surrounding apple was all rotten looking. I really thought they should've given me a discount or something. It just didn't look appetizing at all and I spent a great deal of time picking off brown spots. Thankfully, it's October so I'll be making a batch of the delectable treat soon enough. Clara's white chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles most certainly hit the spot.

This was at lunch on the Strand. Robert was making faces after tasting a lemon. It was almost impossible to get this little guy to look at the camera the entire trip so I've got loads of pictures of his profile.

A lot of the shops had plaques on the wall depicting the water level after Ike hit. Most of them were around 5 ft. high. That's after you've stepped up from street level and then up another few steps to get inside the building. Crazy.

We went back to the hotel and were able to check in early and then finally hit the beach around 3:30. Stay tuned for beach pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

Thursday I took advantage of Chris' time off from work and went and got my hair cut. I cut off 12 inches and I do plan on donating it. The jury's still out on whether or not I like it. My hair has become wavy underneath since having Robert and this short cut just isn't working for me. It doesn't look terrible in these pictures, but believe me, the potential is there. I definitely should not have done bangs. But oh well. It's hair; it'll grow back.

Back to the pumpkin patch. It was looking iffy as to whether or not we'd be able to do the pumpkin patch this year, so we decided to go this past Saturday morning which happened to be their opening day. I'm glad we went this early. I hate crowds so a mostly empty pumpkin patch was a little piece of heaven. The weather has also been gorgeous, so that was a nice plus.

They brought out a young kangaroo named Jewel and let her hop around and be petted. She was a rescue and you'll notice in the pictures that she was missing most of her right foot. It didn't slow her down much though; she hopped all over the place in her little pink pull-up.

We also got to go see the camels again. There were three younger ones and they loved being petted. Robert had no fear and kept reaching for their faces. I had to pull him away several times though to save them from getting their nose hairs pulled out.

Enough talking; here are the pictures.