October

October was a good month. Jeff had a week of vacation, and it was wonderful to have him home. We got caught up on chores and errands, did some fun things like drive out to a nearby city for a little shopping and lunch, had a little kid-free time for mommy, planted our fall garden crop, and we planted bulbs in the flower beds that will come hopefully come up next spring.

 Jacob hung out on a blanket while we dug in the dirt. I kept moving him to the center of the blanket, and he would shimmy over to the edge of the blanket as quick as he could to check out the grass, and try to eat it.

 Christine was excited to help. She is holding up a tulip bulb here.

We explored a nearby nature trail, that I was really excited about.

and we just enjoyed spending time with Jeff. He has such a rough work schedule. There are times when Jeff goes 3-4 days without seeing Jacob. Jeff played a lot of doll house with Christine (her favorite activity).

Jacob is a crazy little monkey. His energy rivals Christine's, and that's saying something. Now that he is mobile he is getting into trouble left and right. Last week I was coloring with Christine and Jacob was hanging out next to us, then I look over and in about 2 seconds he had crawled out of the room around the corner to the laundry room, knocked over the little garbage can in there and had both hands full of dryer lint and his mouth covered in grey mush.

We pulled out the ol' jumper-roo from the attic and he loves it. I love it too, sometimes I just need to strap him down without worrying about him getting into trouble. He figured out how to jump really quick.

He finally decided that drinking from a bottle isn't the worse thing in the world. (he was throwing tantrums worthy of a 2 year old over drinking from a bottle- even if it held freshly pumped mommy milk) I feel so liberated now! I finally have the option of leaving him with someone else. Hopefully now that I can supplement his feedings the pediatrician won't be worried about Jacob's weight gain (he was flat lining a little bit, when he should be having a huge increase. I think it's because the kid is so dang active. Other babies his age still just lay on a blanket all day). 

This hassle over getting him to drink a bottle is funny because he loves to eat his baby food. His favorites are pears and applesauce. I have started to make my own baby food, and it's really fun!

The end of the month we had a little Halloween fun and went trunk or treating with the ward. Christine had a blast collecting candy saying things like "Halloween is the best because it's all about getting dressed up" (I believe she was quoting fancy nancy) After collecting her candy she would wave to everyone around her as if she were the Queen of England. She's already planning next year's Halloween costumes.

Happy Halloween

We let Christine pick the costume theme this year for Halloween. It wasn't a surprise that she chose Cinderella. We watch the show a lot around here (we watched it 2 times today) Christine loves princesses right now, and Cinderella is by far the favorite (Ariel and Bell are fighting it out for 2nd place). 

Christine worked really hard to earn some "real" glass slippers to go with her Halloween costume. We went to Target a few months ago to buy some shoes for me and Christine begged to look at shoes "her size"  and saw these Cinderella clear, sparkly shoes. I quickly distracted her hoping she would forget about them, but she did not! Every time after that when we were at Target Christine would want to go to the shoe section. (Who is this diva shopaholic I have raised? I swear she hasn't learned it from me!) We made an agreement that if she had no accidents at bedtime she could get them (we were finishing up potty training)

Christine loves these plastic shoes. They are quite the treasure around here.

 and what would Cinderella do without her pumpkin that turns into a carriage to take her to the ball?

and of course the hero of the story, Gus Gus. Cinderella would still be locked in the tower if Gus Gus hadn't brought the key up all those stairs.

And the girl mouse who helps sew the pink dress that the step-sisters destroy. She is famous for saying "leave the sewing to the women, you go get some trimmings!"  (if you were wondering about the glasses- my allergies were killing me that day and I had to take out my contacts)

... and we'll make a lovely dress for Cinderelly!