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.

A Not So Good First

Our little boy, our sweet little boy got in his first fight today.  That probably sounds worse than it was.  And "fight" is probably the wrong term to use...At least I hope.  It was over a toy, of course.  I think it consisted of one of the kids sitting on top of the other one...not sure exactly but the end result was Colin having a scratch on his face.  Again, not sure how the other kid looked.  As usual, I took some pictures.  Even though it was a bad thing (and he did get in trouble) I still want the evidence to tease him about when he is older.  It is very unlike his character, but I guess all kids have to go through the agonizing process of learning to share. 

Here are some pictures.  He keeps telling me that his cheek hurts.  I kiss it but then tell him that he should be nice to his friends if he wants to avoid retaliation.  Well, I use a more "kid friendly" explanation. 





A pretty big scratch!



He may be in trouble but he is still so darn cute!

Lil' C Update - Almost 3

Colin is almost 3!!!  I cannot believe it - so crazy to think about.  Only a few more months, which means I am that much closer to being a year older - yucky! Colin and I are home sick today.  We have both been dealing with this cold/whatever it is for almost two weeks now.  I hate being sick, (obviously who wouldn't) but especially since I have a lot of projects I want to get done.  I finally  weighed and measured Colin.  He weighs 29.5 lbs, which is a bit below average if comparing to a 3 year old.  I was a bit surprised because he has such a big appetite.  He is around 35 inches tall.  Give or take a few.  I would guess a little taller because I could not get him to straighten his head up.  That is a little above average for that age range, but not by much.  Colin's eating habits just amaze me.  I should be used to it by now but it blows my mind that he can eat twice as much as me, sometimes even three times as much.  This morning we had blueberry waffles.  I ate one and he had two and then asked for a third.  I made him hold off since he is sick and I did not want that to blow up in our faces. Literally!  Colin still loves classical music.  I catch him humming it in the mornings when he first wakes up.  He also likes kids songs that we sing to him, like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  He has them both memorized for the most part.  Colin seems to enjoy most music that we listen to so far.  He also loves to listen to his daddy's band!  We avoid allowing Colin to much TV time, but we do let him wind down with a show or two when we first get home while I am making dinner.  If I get home early enough we have play time or go for a walk around the block.  He has been having fun playing with some of the kids near his age in our neighborhood too.  Colin is still enjoying his cars, superheroes, blocks and a tool set that his Uncle Willie got him.  This kid is constantly moving.  The whole time he has been sick he has still been so active.  Today is the first day where he has mellowed out a bit.  We have been pretty lazy today and Colin even took a much needed nap.  One of the things that I really love seeing develop in Colin is his imagination.  It is so fun to see him play pretend.  From what I have seen so far, I imagine that he will have a pretty big imagination.

Some cute phrases he has said lately are:
"OK, OK...I know, I know"
"It stinks so good" - when referring to a good smell.
"It's OK, I not hurted" - when he fake falls.
"I am crying mama" - then he wants a hug and kiss (he usually is fake crying)

Our Reasons for Daycare

I have recently had several people asking me how Will and I came to the decision to have Colin in daycare rather than one of us staying home with him...so I thought I would post an entry about the subject.  Disclaimer: I am just pointing out our reasons for our decision.  I think each family has to choose for themselves.  I do not think there is only one right answer.  

When I was younger I thought that I would want to stay home once I became a mother, but I found that I was OK with the idea, but was realizing that it may not be the most beneficial for my son or myself.

I read a few articles about the negative and positive, because there will be good and bad for both options.  Here are two articles that are not the exact ones I read, but are saying basically the same thing:

http://www.thelaboroflove.com/articles/what-are-the-benefits-of-sending-my-child-to-daycare/


http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Day_Care_Benefits_Look_at_the_Positives.html

What it mainly came down to for Will and I was which one would benefit Colin in the long run.  I had been told that the first few months it is definitely beneficial for an infant to stay home in order to bond with the "at home" parent, so we stayed home as long as we could his first few months.  I was also told that once a child gets to be a few months old, then socializing becomes very important.  Kids learn from other kids.  Of course they can learn from adults but seeing someone your size doing something seems to definitely make a difference.  I think that is why the second child seems to be less timid then the oldest child (at least from what I have seen) they benefit from seeing their older sibling doing something and realizing it is OK to do.  Colin has blossomed since being around kids, especially ones older than him.  One of my biggest concerns with Colin was that he would be as shy as I was when I was a child (or even older). My brothers and I were at home with either one of our parents or a grandparent.  I love the memories of that but I do see what influence that had on my social skills. So far shyness is NOT a problem for Colin - not at all!  He is very good at approaching kids, something I would have dreaded.

The place that Colin goes to is in a lady's home, but is set up more like a preschool.  The benefit from going to someone's home rather than a company/school is that there is not as many children.  So, enough children for him to get his socializing but not where he goes unnoticed.  I think there is around 6 kids where he is at.  Since it is more like a preschool there is structure and a schedule to their activities.  My little organized boy LOVES this!  He gets plenty of playtime but is learning so much.  He can count to 10 (for quite some time now) and he knows his colors - which probably helps that Will and I quiz him all the time! He is getting used to "circle time" and doing art projects.  With him being so energetic I think he will benefit from learning to "sit still" now rather than waiting so close to starting school.  The daycare is influenced by the idea of the Montessori method. 

Another positive thing is that Colin has been able to build up his immune system by being around other kids and their germs.  So, yes being at a daycare means that your child may get sick more often in the beginning but he is able to build up a tolerance and get exposed to different things.  Now when he gets a cold, his nose runs a little and then mommy gets sick! 

I have also read that kids who attend a daycare are more likely to be independent when they reach school age.  If you stay at home, more often your mom/dad will drop whatever they are doing anytime you need something, but if you are in an environment where there are other children you may have to wait your turn or learn to do some simpler things for your self.  They learn to be patient.  Obviously, this is not regarding serious situations.  They also may be less likely to have dependency issues. 

This choice worked for Will and I.  It may not for other people.  I think it has truly benefited Colin.  I am also lucky that I have a great PTO benefit at work and can take off "special days" with Colin pretty much anytime I want to or feel the need.  We also have a great (flexible when needed) routine during the evenings to make sure Colin gets plenty of family time.  Our weekends are usually dedicated to family events as well. This works for us but I can definitely see some benefits for keeping a child at home...but the ones that were important to Will and I were more likely to come from him being in daycare.  So, I am not against keeping a child home or a mother choosing to not work.  I think each family has to address that themselves.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Wishing my hubby a "happy birthday" in German!  We have a very busy weekend planned, so I wanted to get this out now.  This year, I went with a bit of a European (mainly German) theme.  This week I gave him a selection of handpicked  beers from different European countries (German, England, Ireland, Scotland) and I also got him an extravagant bottle of Chianti from Italy for us to enjoy with his birthday dinner.  It is going to be a good week!  I had a blast picking out the different beers, there were so many to choose from.  I love the store Total Wines - great selection.  The oddball beer I bought was from Oregon (what can I say, the state has great breweries).  We are also planning on going to one of the several Oktoberfest celebrations held in this area.  I am really excited!  I have heard that a few of the towns put on really good ones and most of them are family friendly...bonus!  We just need to choose one.  The main birthday celebration is not European-related; we are heading to West Virginia this Saturday to go see the Mountaineers play the Terrapins (MD).  We are both super excited to go! Will has been wanting to take me since we moved here and has not been back since he was a student there.

Anyways, back to the main purpose of this blog entry - to wish my amazing hubby a wonderful birthday (Sunday) and hoping that his week (or two) is really fantastic and that he enjoys all that Colin and I will have planned for him. 

I know I say this a lot, but I am so lucky to have Will.  He is the sweetest, most selfless, most charming, wonderful man that I have ever met.  He does so much for Colin and I.  I am so blessed.  With my job comes traveling, which I enjoy but it is hard being away from my two guys.  It is a little easier because I have a husband who is so supportive and tackles the task of being a semi-single parent for those few weeks that I am gone.  This next year or so I am going to be busy and will have more trips than I have been.  I am glad to know that I have the best teammate to make this work.  Love you so much honey!  Happy early birthday!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Will.

A Little B Family Fun!

I was not planning on posting a blog this weekend, but we had such a fantastic day  and Colin was extra cute, so I just had too.

First here are some pictures of our first Halloween craft.  October will be a busy month so we wanted to be able to enjoy all we had planned.  We still have a few more crafts to do but we were able to get a couple done today. We made a pumpkin, a bat and hung up some window decorations.

Adding fall/Halloween decor to our windows.

He is learning "Halloween" words.

Proud of his bedroom window!

Scrutinizing his bat and pumpkin crafts.

After Will and Colin did crafts with me they needed their "boy" break so they could play superheroes.

Colin showing his Iron Man moves!

Now trying to knock daddy down with his Iron Man move

Colin pretending that Daddy's Spiderman web knocked him down.

CAPTURED!

I know, I am posting  a lot of pictures today, but he is just the cutest!  Only a few more, I promise!

Our adorable little boy.

Colin and Bunny (previuosly Buddy) posing for the camera.

NPR Articles: Pregnancy & Birth

I love my NPR app.  I thought I would share some of the interesting artlicles that I have read lately.

Rise in C-Sections

Vaginal Bith after C-Section

Weight Gain during Pregnancy