I don't have any pictures of my kids in Halloween costumes for you. That's because we haven't done Halloween yet. That's not to say that we won't ever, but for right now, it's not happening. I wanted to write my thoughts down so that years from now when Avery and Zoe ask me why there aren't any pictures of them dressed up when they were little, I can remember exactly why.
The months of November through February are pretty busy for us. Our anniversary is on the 4th of November, Zoe was born on the 19th, then there's Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and then Avery's birthday in February on the 9th. It's enough to make my head spin! Some years we were adjusting to life with a newborn, other years I was very pregnant, etc. So the past three to four years, these months have been a blur.
Avery was only 8 months old for her first Halloween. At that time, she was already in bed and fast asleep by 5:30 or 6:00. Most activities for kids her age started right around 6pm, and we would have had to have driven somewhere (our neighborhood does not have streetlights or sidewalks, so we don't get trick-or-treaters).
The following year, Avery was 20 months. She was going to bed later and we definitely could have dressed her up and gone trick-or-treating. But I was eight months pregnant with Zoe. Honestly, I just didn't have it in me to be organized enough to get a costume for her.
This year, Avery is 2 years and 9 months, and Zoe is 11 months. So what's my excuse for this year you ask?
I guess I'm just not one of those people that need to have cute pictures of their kids dressed up in costumes when they're little. I guess Halloween is just not high on my priority list of things to do. In all honesty, taking care of two little kids has been a pretty big adjustment for me. I don't have the energy to obtain costumes, candy, decorations and decorate my trunk for trunk or treat. I guess some people might think I'm lazy.
I stopped trick-or-treating when I entered junior high. If my kids follow suit, they will have about 8 more Halloweens. That's plenty of time in my book for pictures and costumes and trick-or-treating. I am sure that next Halloween, Avery will have plenty of ideas for what she wants to dress up as, and I will be happy to oblige. But until then, tonight we will be the house with no pumpkins out front and the porch lights off.
On the other hand, Christmas is right around the corner. I think this year I just might be ready to decorate a little. I finally feel like things are quieting down a bit for us as a family. I finally feel like I've got my head above water and can breathe again. There's this great family owned Christmas tree farm just a few miles up the way. I think Avery would get a kick out of hiking up the hill and picking out the perfect tree for dad to cut down. I think our front door will look nice with a holiday wreath. I'm looking forward to listening to Christmas music all month long on the radio. And since Christmas is still a couple months away, I just might be able to get myself organized enough in time this year!
Happy Halloween to all of you ghosts and goblins!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Don't mind us...
we're still potty training. This is what I saw the other day when I passed by the bathroom to check on things:
I guess Avery got a little bored sitting there, so she decided to entertain herself. We are making progress though!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A year and half later
Remember this post? Well, a year and a half later we finally had enough. Franz and I were waking up every single morning with stiff muscles and aching backs. I could no longer blame it on pregnancy (Zoe is 11 months today!) and yes, we're getting older, but we shouldn't be in such bad shape yet.
So after reading along with this series over the past year, we decided to bite the bullet. I still felt unprepared to make a decision, there are so many different kinds of mattresses available these days. The one thing I did know for sure was that we were not going to be buying another innerspring mattress. That narrowed it down to either latex or foam.
Franz purchased a mattress from a tiny little hole in the wall store in Santa Monica when he moved to California about 10 years ago. To this day, he still talks about that mattress. He says it was the most comfortable mattress he ever owned, and he is so sad that we got rid of it. It was comfortable, I had to agree. But neither of us could remember if it was an innerspring or a foam mattress. So we decided to go back to that little hole in the wall store to see if by any chance they still had that mattress. You see, they don't just sell mattresses, they actually manufacture them right there in the store.
After sitting on various mattresses on the showroom floor, we knew they didn't have it. We asked them about it and after much discussion, they were 99% sure they knew what that mattress was and said they could special order it for us. Yikes! Were we actually really going to plunk down our credit card for a special order mattress that we had not seen, sat on or even laid down on? Yep.
A few days later the truck arrived, took away our old mattress and left us with our new one. That night as Franz and I climbed into bed, we wondered what we had done. The mattress was hard. Not soft at all. Very firm. Not anything like that old mattress in our memories. They were 99% sure they knew exactly what we were describing. And this mattress was 100% nothing like we were expecting.
We decided to give it a few weeks. Neither of us wake up stiff anymore. We don't have back aches. My hip has stopped hurting. We don't wake up hot, we sleep much cooler. We sleep more soundly and wake up feeling rested.
So what exactly did we end up getting? Actually, I'm not 100% sure. I do know that the mattress core is foam with a memory foam top layer. There are no springs. The entire mattress is encased in a zip off washable cover. There was absolutely no smell (chemical or otherwise) when we got it. It has a 20 year warranty (ew gross, not sure we'd keep any mattress for 20 years!) against sagging or permanent indentations where you lay. If it ever starts to get those hills and valleys, they will replace it at no cost.
Do we think this mattress wil ever compare to the other mattress? It's hard to say. They are entirely two different types of mattresses. It would be like comparing apples and oranges. It's a different way of sleeping. Time will tell, but so far we're both pretty happy. And who knows, maybe if we had gotten that other mattress, we wouldn't have been as happy and comfortable.
So after reading along with this series over the past year, we decided to bite the bullet. I still felt unprepared to make a decision, there are so many different kinds of mattresses available these days. The one thing I did know for sure was that we were not going to be buying another innerspring mattress. That narrowed it down to either latex or foam.
Franz purchased a mattress from a tiny little hole in the wall store in Santa Monica when he moved to California about 10 years ago. To this day, he still talks about that mattress. He says it was the most comfortable mattress he ever owned, and he is so sad that we got rid of it. It was comfortable, I had to agree. But neither of us could remember if it was an innerspring or a foam mattress. So we decided to go back to that little hole in the wall store to see if by any chance they still had that mattress. You see, they don't just sell mattresses, they actually manufacture them right there in the store.
After sitting on various mattresses on the showroom floor, we knew they didn't have it. We asked them about it and after much discussion, they were 99% sure they knew what that mattress was and said they could special order it for us. Yikes! Were we actually really going to plunk down our credit card for a special order mattress that we had not seen, sat on or even laid down on? Yep.
A few days later the truck arrived, took away our old mattress and left us with our new one. That night as Franz and I climbed into bed, we wondered what we had done. The mattress was hard. Not soft at all. Very firm. Not anything like that old mattress in our memories. They were 99% sure they knew exactly what we were describing. And this mattress was 100% nothing like we were expecting.
We decided to give it a few weeks. Neither of us wake up stiff anymore. We don't have back aches. My hip has stopped hurting. We don't wake up hot, we sleep much cooler. We sleep more soundly and wake up feeling rested.
So what exactly did we end up getting? Actually, I'm not 100% sure. I do know that the mattress core is foam with a memory foam top layer. There are no springs. The entire mattress is encased in a zip off washable cover. There was absolutely no smell (chemical or otherwise) when we got it. It has a 20 year warranty (ew gross, not sure we'd keep any mattress for 20 years!) against sagging or permanent indentations where you lay. If it ever starts to get those hills and valleys, they will replace it at no cost.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
An Exciting day
This is the face of a very happy little girl- she FINALLY earned the purple slinky and pink playdoh we've been bribing her with. Keep your fingers crossed for us- potty training as officially begun!
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