Baby's First Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!

We celebrated Barrett's first Halloween on Saturday with Susan, Jack, and Max. Jeff and I do not have a lot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood so we crashed their party up the street in Windemere. We got there for a little pre party and Jack made us what Jeff calls 'the best chili he has ever had.' I asked him if it was better than mine and he tried to back track...whatever! Then we suited up Max the mini storm trooper and Barrett the pachyderm that didn't wear his trunk and ears and hit the streets. Susan was our witchy woman and Jeff dressed up as a new dad...he had bags under his eyes (those were real) and his hair standing up on end while wearing my Brestfriend and carrying all the proper baby gear. Or as Max and his friends refferred to him...'hurry up, Diaper Boy!'

The neighborhood was crazy and alive. It was a great night, not too chilly and an almost full moon to set the mood. They were dropping kids off by the minivan load. It was so fun to see all the costumes. The houses were all done up with decorations and a few even transformed into haunted houses. Max and his friends were having a really great time, as were we! There were a few houses that catered to the mommy and daddys too with drinks and food...such nice neighbors! That's what I call trick or treating.

Barrett stayed up the entire time first being carried by daddy and then cruising in comfort in his bassinet. Surprisingly he was not fussing at all, he just wouldn't fall asleep. I think we finally put him in the car at 10:15 and he was OUT before we even pulled away from the curb...

I can't wait until next year when Barrett is older. He will be 15 months, hopefully an age when he will be able to understand it a bit more and enjoy it. And hopefully an age when he will wear his costume!

Crib Training

As most of you know, Barrett has spent the last 2 months sleeping in his swing at night. For many reasons (he is getting to big for the swing, we can't take the swing every time we want to spend the night somewhere else, etc) we have started our crib training. I want to have him comfortably sleeping in there before I go back to work in December. I don't know how long this transition is going to take so I thought I would start early.

The first couple of nights have not gone so well. I put him down awake and he falls asleep watching his mobile in about 45 minutes. No issues there, it is the staying asleep that is the problem. The longest he has made it so far is a 3 hour stretch. Typically he is waking up every two hours. He isn't hungry because he is only eating every 5 hours at night so I am not sure what is waking him up??? I go in and binky him and he falls back asleep. This is our nightly routine. It's not ideal but I am hoping it will get better.

I know he is still figuring things out himself and he doesn't know what is going on, but I did have a small breakdown the other night. Mommies have you heard yourself saying any of the following phrases between short 1 1/2 hour naps all night?...

• 'You just ate two hours ago, you can't be hungry again.' (Oh yes he can)
  
• 'Every other baby can figure out how to keep a binky in their mouth, why can't you?'
• 'If you drop it again, I'm not going to give it back so you decide.' (Of course I did give it back and hold it in there for 10 min.)
  
• 'That's it, I've had about all I can take.' (This was at 5:15 after he peed on me, Jeff came in shortly after this one and told me to take a break)

It is all quickly forgotten when I walk into his room in the morning and he gives me the big smiles. That gets me through the day no matter how sleep deprived I am.

Playdate with Carson

Jen and Carson came over to our house on Wednesday for a little playdate. Fun for Mommy to have some adult conversation, and fun for Barrett to have another little man to watch play. When they showed up Barrett was laying on his playmat and we laid Carson down next to him. Carson is a rolly polly little man now so he rolled over and introduced himself to Barrett. It wasn't long before Barrett had grabbed onto Carson's hand because his new thing is grabbing on to anything that comes in contact with his hand. Then Carson proceeded to put Barrett's hand in his mouth...yummy!

Barrett saw first hand what good tummy time can do. I think he wanted to be a big boy just like Carson so he gave it a try. He still doesn't have the height but we are proud all the same. He is getting there...

Then Barrett hung out in his entertainer and we put Carson get in Barrett's jumperoo. B is still too little for his jumperoo, he needs about another inch so it was good someone was getting some use out of it. Barrett was so excited when Carson jumped around and he watched and watched. He is probably tuning in so he knows what to do in a few weeks.

Uncle Kevin's Birthday

Sunday night we celebrated Uncle Kevin's birthday. His birthday was on Wednesday the 28th. Grandma Sharon, Kevin, and Patty came over to our house for the evening. Uncle Kevin had lots of presents to open and got lots of good stuff. We missed out on the ice cream cake though which we always look forward to. It was an interesting night, to say the least.

Our Little Punkin' at the Patch

What a gorgeous day in Half Moon Bay for our trip to the pumpkin patch. Traffic was a little bit of a disaster on the 92, but well worth it when we finally arrived. We met the Sanchez family at the pumpkin patch and took pictures of our little punkin's. I know Barrett will be embarrassed someday when he looks back and sees himself in his little pumpkin hat, but it was just too cute to pass up. Barrett and Tatum are both going through the phase where their whole day is about having their hands in their mouth. We set them down for the photo and immediately they both shoved their hands in and we couldn't get them to take them out long enough for even one shot.

After we got home I called Melissa and we realized we had spent all day taking pictures of the kids that we didn't even think to take family pictures. What a lost opportunity, I feel like I have very few pictures of Jeff, Barrett, and me together and Melissa and Carlos could have got the shots. Boo...next time I will remember.

Barrett finally said I've had enough, no more pictures...

Getting Ready For The Pumpkin Patch

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

The Newest Members Of The Oakland Zoo

Daddy took off Thursday from work and brought his family to the Oakland Zoo. This is Barrett's second trip to the zoo, but his first one with Daddy. He spent a good portion of his time out of the stroller, either Daddy was carrying him or I was wearing him in the Bjorn. He is so curious at this age. You just see those little eyes looking all around and he gets so quiet...like he is concentrating so hard. Finally all the excitement wore him out and he went down for his nap.

We really like the Oakland Zoo I can't believe we haven't went more often. I guess we needed Barrett to come along and be our reason. There are really large exhibits and great walking paths with nice landscaping. It really makes you feel like you are seeing the animals in nature. The weather in Oakland is pretty mild, not as cool as the city, and not as hot as our East Bay area. We knew we would want to spend many days at the zoo so we became the newest Oakland Zoo members.

That means we will have multiple zoo blog posts for you all to read so I figure I will showcase a different animal each time. Our favorite this visit were the Siamang monkeys. When we showed up at 10 they were our howling and practically singing. They were so active swinging around and eating their breakfast. We watched them for 20 min. or so and then moved on. When we went back by at 1 we found them down by their 'river' lounging. Look at this photo with his arms back and he legs crossed. Too funny! It was almost like he was looking at us saying, 'I'm relaxing on my break people, the shows are at 10 and 2.'

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Barrett watched 'Da Bears' take on the Falcons Sunday night with his Daddy. We like to think he is going to be a huge football fan and he wasn't just staring at bright lights and colors on the big screen. This is also a more enjoyable method of tummy time that doesn't leave him screaming AND...
It gives Daddy a chance to eat his dinner.

Best in Show

We spent Saturday at the Alameda Fair Grounds in Pleasanton at our very first dog show. This was a first for the whole family because Jeff and I have never ventured into these parts...now we know for good reason. There are some interesting people at these shows (check out the picture of the Shar Pei in the wagon fully dressed with the umbrella). Rachel and Markham have an obligation to bring their dog Rula to these shows so the breeder can show her off. This isn't Rachel and Markham's crowd either.

It was fun to see the dogs; dogs of all kinds. I liked the Ridgebacks and Jeff, of course, was following around the Mastiffs. I can't imagine having one of those gigantic drooly dogs in our house. We saw Rula's family of Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs show and we all cheered for Rula, even Barrett watched her show. She placed 2nd. I'll let you ask Markham 2nd out of how many???