My local mom’s group had our Halloween party today.  It was really fun. I wanted to take Thomas, so I arranged for a substitute to cover my class.  We had a few costume options, depending on the weather.  It was really hot and humid this morning, so we opted for the short-sleeved Superman costume.  

The party was fun.  There were at least 20 moms and they all had 1 or 2 kids. Everyone brought something to share- juice, cookies, sandwiches, napkins, etc.  There was quite a spread.  We had the party at a local park.  There was a really nice playground, and Thomas spent most of the time on the slides.  

He has recently mastered going down the slide by himself.  He will scootch himself to the top of the slide, and push off.  He will climb up the stairs, and go again and again.   

Halloween isn’t until Saturday, but I have a feeling that the weather will not cool down much.  We’ll have to wait and see which costume he wears for trick-or-treating.

 Here is a video of Thomas going down the slide.  See the look of pure joy on his face!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, for the first time since last winter. We took Thomas to a local pumpkin patch, and he had so much fun walking up and down the rows. We picked out one big one and two little ones.  Here is a video of him walking around, and  a photo of his cuteness.

This kid’s hair grows like a weed!  We’ve been desperate for a haircut for a while, but have been too busy to do anything about it.  We were finally determined enough to go in for family haircuts today.  All three of us are now a few ounces lighter, thanks to our wonderful hairdresser.  I’m sure there are cheaper haircuts for toddlers elsewhere, but my girl does a great job, and $20 isn’t TOO bad.  

Here is the before:

Sorry about the messy hair- Daddy was going for the effect.

Here is the after:

He is now quite the ham.  Every time he sees the camera, he gives his cheesy grin.  His eyes are all squinted- not his best look.  Bonus- this is also a picture of the new Eddie Bauer stroller.  I walked around with him while Daddy got his haircut.  He was quite happy with his raisins & cheerios in the snack tray. I also grabbed a blueberry muffin from the snack bar at the salon.  He really liked that.   

This was kind of a crazy week. Our babysitter’s daughter tested positive for H1N1.  I had to figure out a way to care for Thomas.  I stayed home on Monday and Tuesday, but I really had to get back to work.  I was giving a big test on Wednesday, and had a parent conference scheduled.  So, my husband stayed home that day.  He managed to find a stroller with a 5-point harness  on Craigslist for $25.  It even has a snack tray!  It’s an older Eddie Bauer stroller. It’s pretty chunky, but Thomas seems to like it.

I was preparing to stay home again on Thursday, but a friend with a 10 month old was kind enough to take Thomas for the day.  They ended up having a great time, and even napped at the same time!  I’m home with him again today, enjoying every snuggly minute.  The only trouble I ran into this week was nap time. He would not nap!!!  He went down between 1 and 2 pm every time I stayed home with him.  On Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment at 3pm, and he still hadn’t napped at 2pm.  My neighbor was coming to watch him while I was gone.  I let him sleep on the couch, because he would not fall asleep in his bed.  He woke up about 5 minutes before I got home, and my neighbor told me he just rolled over and smiled at her.  Of course, he screamed bloody murder when I left him with my friend on Thursday, but he stopped crying a few minutes later.  We’ll be back to our normal routine on Monday, thank goodness.

We have had several strollers since Thomas was born.  When he was a newborn, we just used his car-seat/ carrier in a Snap N Go type stroller frame.  That was perfect.  When he outgrew the infant seat, we looked for a small, light-weight stroller.  I found a highly rated, not too expensive, umbrella stroller.  In the past 10 months, we really haven’t used it too much.  We start out with him in the stroller, but after a few minutes he struggles and cries, and we pick him up.  We’ve learned that he does not do well with a 3-point harness, which this stroller has.  I picked up a well-used jog stroller through Craigslist for $30.  It is a 5-point harness, and he never has any trouble with it.  It’s not a great stroller- the front wheel doesn’t pivet, and it is just really old.  I definitely got my money’s worth out of that one.  Now that the weather is cooling down, I’ve started walking with him after dinner.  

However, we are still on the hunt for a good, light-weight, not-too-expensive stroller with 5-point harness and a snack tray.  We spent ALL DAY today searching for one. We went to Target, Toys R US and Babies R US.  There are plenty of 3-point harness strollers.  Lots of 5-point strollers withOUT the snack tray.  The ones that look like what we want only seem to come in a travel system for $250.  We don’t need that- the travel system comes with an infant carrier.  We think we’ve found the right one.  It is the Graco Metrolite.  It had all of our prerequisites, except BRU didn’t have any in stock.  We’ve researched online, and it gets great reviews.  I will post again if we buy one.  Wish us luck! 

Hubby and I have been having a difficult time lately trying to find together time.  We both work, and I also work a night job two nights a week, as well as tutoring 3 days a week after night.  I am exhausted at night, and we still don’t have any extra money to actually go out and do something fun.  So, this week we decided that I would cut down to just one shift at my night job.  We also found extra time to spend together while Thomas is napping on the weekends.  He is a great sleeper, and currently sleeps 2 or 2 1/2 hours right in the middle of the day.  Yesterday, we watched  a rented movie.  It was cute- Adventureland.  There were no interruptions, no snack breaks, bottle breaks, diaper breaks, crying etc.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  Our new plan is to just spend that time together.  No chores, no grocery shopping, no email.  Just the two of us.  Even if we’re not doing anything.  We realized that before Thomas was born, we spent a lot of time together.  No matter how busy we were, we still spent all of the rest of the time with just the two of us. We really do like each other’s company.  we were best friends for ten years before Thomas was even born.  He just takes so much attention and energy, that we had to refocus and dedicate a specific time to just us.  We always heard that you should continue to have a regular “date night” after your children are born. That might not be possible, but we’ve managed to make time for us.