Hailey might has had her first social smiles ever this morning. I know this because I was able to repeat getting her to smile several times throughout the day. Oh, she's also holding her head up pretty well. I am starting to see a silver lining in these rough newborn days. In my opinion, once they start smiling it all becomes just more rewarding.
The first of many monthly photos.
Dear Nathan and Hannah,
Lucky for grandma and grandpa, they got to join in on the fun and join in our family themed trick-or-treating costumes. This year, we decided to do Mario kart. It was a tough choice between plants vs. zombies (which we may do next year and if we are ambitious enough, we may even host a trunk for the trunk or treat...imagine throwing "peas" at on-coming "zombies" that should be fun) and Mario Kart. Once we could convince Hannah to be princess Rosalina (which wasn't too difficult) since you already had the dress, it was decided.
The weather forecast didn't look good, but during dinner, the rain stopped, so we quickly ate, got dressed and went out to go candy hunting. Hailey got hungry last minute, so I stayed behind to feed her while the rest of the crew went out.
According to Daddy, you two covered lots of ground. He said that he has never seen you run so fast. 20 minutes later, I hear it start to pour outside, so I grabbed a few umbrellas to go meet you all outside.
When we got home, I expected maybe a dozen pieces of candy in each of your buckets, but instead, I was shocked to find the amount of candy you two were able to procure in such a short amount of time.
We dumped all of the candy in one pile and you two took turns claiming your favorite candies. It was interesting to see which ones you two picked up. Nathan picked skittles and lollipops. Hannah picked lollipops and smarties (which I don't think you've had before).
Ok, a break from the candy for a bit. Austin opened a new fancy library downtown, so after grandma and grandpa arrived, we all drove downtown to go to the grand opening. The architecture was very impressive, but the children's area was nowhere as impressive as the libraries around grandma and grandpa.
There were lots of cool reading nooks,
including one outside.
The book work sculptures around the building were interesting. Nathan wanted to take a picture in front of one. I think you were plotting to climb it, but I quickly squelched that idea.
Ok, back to more candy seeking adventures. Every year our church hosts a trunk or treat. This year, we left chinese school a bit early so we could spend more time at the event. (In the past I was teaching, so we couldn't leave early). There were lots of cool trunks, but Nathan, you were focused on the sweets.
Hannah, was set on getting a lollipop and threw a tantrum because the first few trunks that we visited did not have lollipops. We eventually found a trunk that was passing those sweets on a stick out.
While we did trunk or treating, Daddy stood in line for the swings, which took forever. Eventually we got to the front of the line and both of you got on. I was a bit nervous that Hannah, you would not like it and cry to get off, but you were smiling the whole time. When Daddy first got in line I asked if you wanted to get on the swing and you told me, "No. I don't want to because it's too scary." I guess at some point, you changed your mind. After you both got off, you told us that you wanted to do it again.
The highlight of the day for Nathan was cotton candy! You told me that it was the best part.
On Monday, Daddy took the day off and we packed up a picnic and went to go hike the greenbelt. Nathan pretty much complained about aching feet the whole way and Hannah, you were proud that you were not tired (even when Nathan was) except towards the end when you would sit down on any large rock that we came across. But in the end, you made it all by yourself without being carried.
Hailey stayed asleep for most of the hike, except towards the end, you woke up and were hungry.
On Halloween day, your school had a costume parade.
And at the end of the day, you all had cake decorating parties along with some games.
In the afternoon, we decorated 2 pumpkins that grandma and grandpa bought from the church pumpkin patch. Both of you were very excited to help.
Especially with the cutting. Hannah just kept stabbing the pumpkin. Poor pumpkin. Both of you were not interested in touching the insides or pulling any of the "icky stuff" out. Grandma and grandpa ended up doing that part of the work and then at some point, Hannah, you wandered off to do your thing.
Nathan decided to carve a transformer logo, but found it to be tough. So, I ended up doing the cutting,
and you pulled out the pieces.
Hannah asked grandpa to make a spooky castle. So in the end, here were the final products.
It was a busy weekend and I was glad to be able to just stay home with Hailey this morning. Hailey is now sleeping about 15 hours a day, waking up 2 times a night, sleeping for about 2-3 hours before waking up to eat. For awhile, she was waking up 10 minutes after I would put her down, crying in gassy pain, which then took another hour to calm her and get her back asleep. I finally figured out that I needed to just walk around and burp her for about 10 minutes before putting her down and this increased the chances of her staying asleep.
People often ask how I am doing. I think physically, things are as good as they can be with a newborn. Emotionally, I'm better than I was with Nathan or Hannah. What I'm struggling most with is being ok with getting things completed in phases. Normally I am the type to get something completed. I really don't like "loose ends." But lately, I'm finding that I just have to walk away and come back to it later.
Which reminds me of this...
I still have not made much progress due to the carpal tunnel in my fingers. Anytime I work on this more than 10 minutes, my fingers start to go numb. Now we have #3 to make. This time I wised up and I've already solicited help from grandma for Hailey's stocking. (She will probably finish it before I finish Hannah's) So, hopefully by next Christmas, I'll have this one completed.
...sigh...
Well, we actually have a pretty exciting weekend coming up. You'll have to wait until next week to find out about it.
Until then,
Love,
Mommy
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