Halloween Goblins

Justin looked forward to Halloween with great anticipation this year. He picked out a Buzz Lightyear costume early in September and was dying to wear it for several weeks. It hung in his closet and he fingered it often, longing for Halloween to arrive.




Tyler, on the other hand, had no idea that Halloween was coming or what costume he would don for the occasion. I, however, knew what costume he would wear this Halloween as soon as he was born. My mom had made an Indian costume for my oldest nephew, Ryan, to wear when he was 14 months old. All of the boys in the family (with the exception of one) have worn it since, easy decision for me to make.




Tom had readied the camera earlier so we could properly record our little goblins on film. Justin was not at all interested in posing, only in hitting the street for goodies. We headed out with Tyler in the stroller and Justin racing far ahead of us down the street. When he ran into our neighbors, he suddenly became shy and tongue-tied, and nary a "trick or treat" could be elicited from him. That mattered none, and he soon had a few treats in his bucket. I wasn't terribly concerned with getting much in Tyler's treat bucket -- his food allergies mean that chocolate and anything with peanuts or eggs in it are off-limits.

Justin was really shy the entire time we were out and couldn't be bothered to say either "trick or treat", or a "thank you" to anyone. He even spit at one nice man, and I was horrified. Fortunately, most people seem to understand that three year olds are stubborn creatures closely related to neanderthals, and just dismissed it with a smile. Tyler was all smiles and thoroughly enjoyed his ride through the neighborhood in the stroller. He took no notice of the candy at all, but I'm sure he'll be much more aware of the proceedings next year.

For all of Justin's fervor to get out of the house, he was ready to quit about 30 minutes into the adventure. We obliged him as it was getting dark, and headed on home. All in all, it was a good evening. I do think our two were some of the cutest kids out last night. :)

Some press for Justin

After reading through my previous posts, I feel like I've done a lot of talking about the little guy and not enough about his big brother. So today, I'm going to talk about Justin.

It's hard to believe that Justin is on his way to being four years old. So much was different in our lives back then, and I don't just mean we didn't have kids yet. Tom and I were both employed at different jobs, we had two cats, and we didn't have a minivan. :)

I found out I was pregnant with Justin about 3 weeks before Christmas. I had just finished my last day at my job, and was starting a new one the following week. We'd been trying to get pregnant for several months, but each month it was the same story....no baby on the way. I honestly didn't expect this particular month to be any different. I got home from work about 2:00 that day and just decided to take a test, fully expecting it to be negative. A plus sign appeared almost immediately. I rubbed my eyes several times, sure they were playing tricks on me, but nope, there it was. And I was pretty freaked out!

I went out for a few hours with some friends. We had a full evening planned of watching each other's wedding videos, exchanging Christmas ornaments, and eating lots of yummy snacks. I wasn't sure if I should drink diet coke or not, it has caffeine in it you know. And the whole time, I was trying to figure out how I was going to tell Tom. I wanted to announce it in a cute way, but I'm just not that creative.

So I finally got home and I was getting ready for bed while he was fooling around on the computer. I told him that I thought I needed to start cleaning up my office. He asked me why, and I said, "Because I'm pregnant!" He wasn't sure whether to believe me so I took two more tests the next morning, including a digital one that definitely displayed the word, "Pregnant". Whee, we were on our way to parenthood.



We announced the news to our families on Christmas Day. Both sets of grandparents received a picture frame with the following poem in it:

I do not have a face to see,
or put inside a frame.

I do not have soft cheeks to kiss;
I don't yet have a name.

You can't hold my tiny hands,
nor whisper in my ear.

It's still too soon to sing a song,
or cuddle me so near.

But all will change come August,
when they say I'm due.

I'm your new grandson or granddaughter;
I can't wait till I meet you!

All I ask between now and then
is your patience while I grow.

I promise I'll be worth the wait,
because of all the love we'll know.

So as you're waiting patiently,
please pray lots of prayers for me.

I cannot wait to be a part
of this wonderful family!


An ultrasound a few weeks later confirmed the fact that there was indeed a baby on the way. Tom and I had no idea how our lives would change, but it definitely became more real on that January day!




I'll talk more about him in my next post. :)

Two in tubes

Tyler had his 12 month well visit a few weeks ago. Poor guy was suffering from an ear infection at the time, and this being his 7th ear infection since the beginning of the year (and third in 2 months), his doctor referred us to an ENT doctor for an evaluation.

We were able to get in the very next week and Dr. Cotton looked in both ears and reviewed his history. "Let's get some tubes in there and get him fixed up, okay?" he said in his British accent. "Handsome boy you've got there."

This resulted in a trip to Children's Hospital last Tuesday for the tube insertion. Despite the fact that Justin has had tubes put in three times, it never gets easier to watch your child go under anesthesia, or hand them over to the capable medical professionals. Tyler did beautifully, though, and the procedure only took 10 minutes.

One thing I don't understand about anesthesia is why it causes these little guys to wake up so crabby and beast-like. Tyler was mad when he woke up and let everyone know it!

Thankfully, the surgery is over and he bounced back to his normal happy self within a couple of hours. Let's hope this takes care of his nagging problems with his ears for a couple of years like his older brother before him.

A lot of firsts around here lately

I guess that's to be expected when your child is in his first year of life, or shortly after. Now that we've gotten through the first birthday, Tyler just got his first haircut. I've been having a hard time coming to terms with it for some reason, probably because the look a little boy has after his very first haircut is much more that of a KID and a BOY than a little baby. I guess I just wanted to hold on to his babyhood a little bit longer by leaving the precious strands intact on his head.

But today I went to Target and two people mistook him for a girl. The first time someone mistook him for a little girl was also at Target 2 weeks ago, so maybe I need to start shopping elsewhere? I digress. Despite the fact that he was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that said, "Gridiron Hero" with a picture of a football, his curls (and I suppose the length of them) belied his gender.

I came home and fed him some lunch and called to see if my hair stylist could cut it today, before I lost my nerve. So as soon as I combed the turkey out of his hair and wiped the fruit loop dust from his fingers, off we went. He really needed a nap but I wanted to get it over with.

He did pretty well. He sat in the chair all by himself and was pretty excited about seeing himself in the mirror. He wasn't a big fan of having water on his hair. Even a lollipop in his hand wouldn't distract him......what kid doesn't like a lollipop?

It was over with in no time. He looks positively adorable, but he definitely radiates "little boy" now instead of "baby".