Day 305 - October 31

Happy Halloween!!!

Thank God it's finally over. There should be rules about how long Halloween is allowed to go on and how many different Halloween events are allowed to be held.

At least one fun thing I got out of all of the different Halloween stuff was seeing how many different costumes Michaela could wear in one week. She used Rapunzel twice, was a ballerina with a crappy Target costume on Sunday, and then was a ballerina again today, using her own foofy tutu, shirt, tights, and shoes. It would have been nice to figure that out as a costume weeks ago, before I spent $35 on two different costumes.

Cate was easy - she got good use out of that cow costume!

So here are my girls in their real Halloween costumes, right before we headed out to collect some goodies from around the neighborhood.

Day 304 - October 30

The Halloween fun continues in the Dorval household. Today it was in the form of making cookie treats for Michaela's party at Mom's Day Out tomorrow.

I had big plans to make these super cute candy corn cookies, and then I realized I was kidding myself if I thought I was actually going to find the time to mix, chill, cut, and bake cookies from scratch when I don't have anyone else around to keep at least one child busy while I was in the kitchen.

So I put the call out on Facebook for ideas, and a friend gave me a link to these adorable witch's hat cookies. The BEST part of them is that I didn't have to actually bake anything, but 3-yr-olds will love them. I'm at least a step up from the store-bought cookies I was going to get!

AND, I got to let Michaela help me, which she thought was the coolest thing in the world. It was a win all the way around.

For the record, the aerosol can (think sqeezey-cheese) of Wilton icing isn't as easy to work with as you would think. With 3-yr-olds as my audience, though, I think I'll get away with it.

Day 303 - October 29

Today was my least favorite day of the month... shot day.

We follow a modified schedule for infant vaccines, so I have to take Cate in for shots every month instead of just at well-baby visits. I prefer to spread them out this way so we can better monitor for reactions and not overload her system with too many at once, but it's not so much fun to have to go through it every month instead of every other month.

She did fine with getting the shots, but she's been a little clingy and restless since late this afternoon. That could either be from the shots, or from the fact that her sleep routine was all out of whack today because of the appointment.

The good news is that we get to skip November at least since we have to wait at least 30 days between visits and that puts us into December with the way it works out. I'm already not looking forward to it. Shots suck.

Day 302 - October 28

Today is about Fred.

Not just because he's awesome, but because it's his birthday.

The old man, our first baby, turned 9 today.

Happy Birthday, Fred.

Day 301 - October 27

I'm giving both girls equal time today.

We went to Bellingrath Gardens for their annual Halloween event tonight. I would like to start by patting myself on the back for choosing to take both kids to this event without their other parent with them. And I would like to thank my friends who helped me ride herd on Michaela while wearing the baby, pushing a stroller, trying to get Michaela to trick or treat nicely, getting a couple pictures, and then even sitting down to feed the baby.

Sadly, Michaela did not get to be the fairy princess she wants to be for Halloween tonight. I waited until 2 hrs before we were leaving to have her put on her costume, which I was pretty sure was too long, to see if it really WAS too long, and it definitely was.

Thank goodness for the dress-up box, so we had a back up in the form of any one of four different Disney princesses. She chose Rapunzel. (And notice the sweater... fall came to Alabama today!)

Cate was the world's cutest cow, courtesy of a cousin hand-me-down costume, and got lots of comments as I carried her in the Beco and only her little cow-spotted legs and cow hat stuck out. Adorable.

Tomorrow night we're going to try the Trunk or Treat at the base. And then we still have REAL Halloween trick or treating on Wednesday. I'm tired of Halloween already.

Day 300 - October 26

I had to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things today. There were three things on my list. I bought about 20 things, but forgot one of the things on the list.

And I went to the store hungry. And I'm still not enjoying that Jason is gone.

So I bought pretty fall colored pretzel M&Ms.

Delish.

Day 299 - October 25

Cate is a smiley baby. Like, super smiley. I can't remember if Michaela was like this or not, but Cate is not one to be stingy with smiles at all. I love that, when you walk away from her for a few minutes and then come back, she lights up like she hasn't seen you for weeks or something.

She also thinks it's just hilarious to sit on my lap after she eats and "talk" and blow raspberries and toss herself around so I have to be on my guard every second so she doesn't go flying out of my arms.

It makes getting a picture like this difficult because there's always a risk involved when you hold her one-handed.

But to have this kind of picture for posterity is so worth it!