Friday, November 5, 2010

Happy Halloween!

I really have been a shameful blogger these days...too much to do not enough time to blog! We had a very nice Halloween- it was a cold day but the boys had nice warm costumes so all was well! We went down to Parker Street in Winchester and trick or treated there. It's pretty much the perfect length for the boys and basically made for a nice family walk-about! We started at the Fire/Police Station and then walked down to the school and back. It's nice b/c we ran into many people we knew so we stopped and chatted along the way. It's also nice because since we don't get any trick or treaters at our house- no surprise given our location- it gives us and the kids a chance to admire all the other kid's costumes. One lady had this adorable little boy- maybe a little less than a year who was just learning to walk. She had his dressed as a spider with the legs sort of dangling off the sides and he had his little tiny radio flyer wagon and he was just trucking up the street pushing his little wagon walking as fast as his tiny little feet would carry him- too cute!
James has been pretty fussy recently and not sleeping well which has made for some tired parents but I am hoping we are over this particular bump in the road and back on the upswing. He just kept waking up at like 3am and being up for the day and then not really taking a nap. I wouldn't actually mind it if he weren't a crankpot but he obviously was tired and needed more sleep but wasn't able to get it for whatever reason. We have been battling terrible diaper rash again so I am afraid that may be the culprit. I would like to blame it on teething but if he is teething we haven't seen any new teeth actually come through yet- he has shiny spots where his canines are coming but they haven't broken through the gumline yet. The poor kiddo has such honking big chompers though that it must be painful! I have also banned grapes from their diets b/c I really feel that eating them has contributed to the rash- no juice, no citrus, and no more grapes for the time being b/c those thing all seem to contribute to the rashes. We should buy stock in bananas!

Xander's big development these days is that he is now sleeping in his big boy bed! One of my co-workers gave us a twin bed frame last year and it's been tucked away awaiting Xander's readiness to move out of his crib. So several days in a row he kept trying to go and sleep in the bed in the guest room and finally we let him and he slept there all night. So I said well why don't we go and buy him a mattress and and set up his twin bed next to his crib and then he can choose where he wants to sleep- well every night he has chosen his twin bed! He has been really good about staying in bed- even if he gets up he typically goes and gets a toy or a book and climbs back into his bed to play or read. He likes the fact that he can climb up on it and James can't! So he puts his toys that he doesn't want James to play with on the bed. So really it has been a pretty good transition so far- I'm sure we'll have our battles about going to bed at some point but luckily it hasn't happened so far! Now if only he would show even a slight interest in potty training!

So mostly we have been working, finishing up the garden for the year, canning and preserving all the leftovers, digging potatoes, moving animals back up to the main barn, settling the sheep in with our neighbor for the winter, and trying to find a routine with Frank's relatively new job! Things have been in flux regarding scheduling with my job so... it's been a transition for all of us. I'm feeling pretty good about where we are at right now- scheduling at my work is still a challenge especially with the holidays coming but it looks like I will be able to get the time off to attend Jason and Donna's wedding in January- thank goodness since we already bought the plane tickets!- and I'm actually going to have Christmas Day and Eve off for the first time in 3 years! Monday has developed into laundry day and Tues into speech therapy/phone call/paperwork/mail sorting day, weds are music class and currently my work days are more stacked to the end of each week. I finally sucked it up and hired someone to come and help with the house cleaning and I really think it has helped with my stress level considerably. It is well worth the added expense for me anyway (not so sure Frank agrees) but now I can focus on things that I don't hate doing quite so much and my house isn't a pig sty anymore- well it's still pretty cluttered but at least underneath and around the clutter isn't covered in dust bunnies! We have a few big cleaning projects that need to be undertaken- mainly the garage and basement and our inner packrats are battling it out with my intense hatred of clutter and mild disgust at the amount of "cr*p" we have managed to accumulate in the last 5 years, so we'll see who wins in the end. The best part about having someone coming to clean occasionally is that means I get to spend a couple extra hours in my sewing room and I have been making a pretty good size dent in my unfinished projects bin/pile. Soon though I am going to have to take a break from the ufos and make a dent in all the christmas sewing I have been planning! Hopefully the boys will continue their trend of napping at the same time so I can actually make it through my list of gifts!

1 comment:

Reba said...

love the pics and long update! can't wait to see you guys!