Colin's Halloween Adventure

Halloween was so much fun this year.  Colin really enjoyed learning about Halloween.  Well, learning enough for the level of a almost 3 year old.  He learned the words bat, ghost, pumpkins, witch, costume, etc. We have done a little something each year for Colin, but nothing to big (besides going to the patch).  This year was his first year trick-or-treating.  He has been so excited! To get in the Halloween spirit we did a few crafts, decorated, continued our tradition of going to a pumpkin patch, carved our pumpkins, handed out candy and went trick-or-treating.  We also watched Garfield's Halloween Adventure and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (both another tradition).  Thankfully, Colin likes them both!  I think Will and I would have our hearts broken if he didn't.  I was on travel for two weeks this month, so we had tried to get a lot of our stuff done before I left.  We carved one pumpkin before I left and then did one this morning. 

Here are some pictures of us carving.

He had so much fun trick-or-treating!  He did such a good job at saying "trick-or-treat" to everyone and thanking them for the candy.  He also loved wishing people a "happy halloween"! He was also telling everyone that he had a costume.  Such a cutie.  His costume was very successful.  Everyone loved Spiderman.  It probably helped that he was one of the smaller kids in our rush of kids and is so adorable :)  We let him pick out one candy.  He does not get to eat much candy at all so his pumpkin bucket is going to last a long time!  It got to the point that I had to carry it for him! 

Looking Back: Pregnancy

About 7 months



Around 3 months

 Recently I have been thinking about my pregnancy with Colin.  I figured that I should probably get it written down in this blog before I forget too much. 

I will never forget Will's face when I told him we were having a baby.  It was priceless!  It was an expression that made any worries I may have had disappear.  I knew that this was going to be an amazing journey for both of us to experience together.  We were pretty good at keeping it a secret (except for immediate family)...It is so hard to not blab it to everyone when you are so excited!



A week or so before



We found out towards the end March and were given a due date of November 30/December 1.  I was exhausted the first few months.  I probably have never slept so well.  I also was very nauseous.  So many different smells would make me want to vomit (like meat, wine, beer) and several others.  I tried to eat as much as I could but I just did not have an appetite.  I actually lost quite a few pounds those first few months.  Something that I found very disappointing was my lack of appetite.  I was hoping for that craving, that feeling that you must eat now, pregnant appetite.  I started to get that around 7 months. Unfortunately, instead of dealing with the morning sickness for just 3 months, I had it for 4.  Not cool.  It was also pretty constant. 

I had the normal heartburn and backache but most women go through that, so cannot complain too much.  One great thing was that my stomach issues that I have dealt with practically my whole life did not seem to bother me much throughout the pregnancy.  That was a very nice break.  I had no trouble with dairy and eventually quit my lifestyle of being a vegetarian, well pescatarian - I ate fish.  My baby was telling me that he and I needed more protein! 



3 months to go



The rest of the pregnancy was pretty uneventful.  It was interesting experiencing my first Virginia summer (hot and humid) with a big belly.  When I was about 5 months along I traveled to Boston, which is now one of my favorite cities.  I really enjoyed exploring the city.  The next month I was able to travel to Oregon.  I was so glad to get a chance to see my family while I was pregnant.  My mom was able to throw a baby shower while I was there.  I was lucky to have a baby shower on both coast!

Overall, my pregnancy was a very enjoyable experience, minus the first few months!

A Fall Tradition

It has become a B family tradition to go to our favorite pumpkin patch each year towards the beginning of October.  Each time we have gone with someone different and it has always been a very enjoyable experience.  This year we went with Grandma Liz and Uncle Michael.  Colin, as usual, LOVED to be around both of them!  He is crazy about Liz and Michael.  Poor Liz practically had her ear talked off the whole ride there!

We started our visit off with lunch in the grass!  I have not been drinking any soda, but I had to have an Old Dominion Root Beer...so good!  Then we visited all of the farm animals, conquered the big Tire Mountain, mastered the "big boy" slide with Daddy and Michael, dirtied ourselves in a sandbox made of corn, braved the living quarters of the mighty Dinosaur Rex while he ate his pumpkin lunch, and handpicked our family of pumpkins!  All in just a few hours!  Colin also got to enjoy a special treat of homemade ice cream - delicious!

After the pumpkin patch we stopped to cool off in Colin's favorite water feature!  We wanted to show Liz and Michael and figured that this one was probably one of our last chances to go this year.  We also enjoyed a dinner at Panera's.  I am still loving their Mediterranean Veggie sandwich...just saying.  Man, I love it!

It was such a fun day!  Needless to say, I am exhausted, but I thought I would type this up real quick while I am waiting for Will to get out of the shower so we can watch The Prince of Persia.  I had a hard time deciding between that and Clash of the Titans, but I haven't heard the best about the latter.  Maybe next time...




Colin's friend the Emu.





Colin and the "big boy" slide!





T-Rex or what Colin calls "Dinosaur Rex"





The big Tire Mountain













"Daddy's tickling me!"



Poems to Live By

I have always been into poetry, whether it was writing my own or reading other peoples' published works.  I definitely have my favorite poets (Plath, Silverstein, Atwood, Frost, Dickinson, Emerson, Poe, Whitman, and Alice Walker to name a few) that I always have around and go back to quite frequently, but I really do enjoy finding new poets to add to my bookshelf. I have been doing a lot of that on my recent travels.  I picked up a book by a local San Juan poet while in Puerto Rico, whom I really enjoyed.  I also bought a collection of poems by contemporary Bahraini poets.  Very intriguing and beautiful.  The reason I bring this up is the new title of my blog was inspired by one of my favorite poems, The Odyssey.  I have read this poem several times and thought that the word Odyssey would be such a great description for the purpose of this blog. This is our journey and we will (and have) come across many obstacles.  Obviously, ours will not be as outrageous as those of Odysseus.  We will not be escaping from goddesses or making a trip to Hades, but it is very exciting for us and as crazy as we need it to be! In the very near future there will be some changes in our household, amazing changes!   I am so estatic about what that means for our journey...and the roads it will take us on.

Two of my all-time favorite poems are below.  They have both inspired me on more occasions than I can count.

The first one is an excerpt of Constantine Cavafy's poem "Ithaca" as seen in Thomas Cahill's book Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Still Matter.  A book I highly recommend!

Hope the way is long.
May there be many summer mornings when,
With what pleasure, with what joy,
You shall enter first-seen harbors...
Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what has been ordained for you.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it last many years;
And you dock an old man on the island,
Rich with all that you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth.

Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing more to give you.

My other favorite poem which has been a favorite for a lot longer than the above one and is probably due credit for getting me into poetry is Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken".

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.