Happy Halloween!

You are now entering the one day of the year where it is completely acceptable to consume candy at any hour you choose. Proceed with caution. I personally have just finished off my first fun size bag of M&M's for the day, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I have dropped Aidan off at Mom's Day Out in his handyman costume. I am wearing my Peanuts Halloween t-shirt. I have just finished hanging my "spooky cobwebs" and black light. Halloween has arrived. I hope you're having as much fun as I am!


**And this morning, after Aidan finished watching the Halloween themed cartoons on Disney, he came to me and said, "Mommy, it's Halloween night!"**

Good News

I went to the orthopedist this morning, and he told me that my ankle has healed. I no longer have to wear that unsightly, irritating boot. Hooray!

Neely and the big red flower.

Neely's little red bloomers came in the mail today, and I thought I'd try my hand at getting some portraits of her in them and her giant red flower headband. She didn't really want to stay in a pose, per se, so I don't really have any good full body shots that show the bloomers. But that darn headband is so adorable, and I got several photos that I'm happy with.

The State Fair

Papa took us to the State Fair today. We had lots of fun. Aidan was a bit apprehensive about riding rides, so we spent most of our time observing and feeding the animals in the State Fair Zoo. We got to see elephants and llamas. Aidan rode a pony. We watched pig races. And Aidan fed the goats and a tall, tall giraffe (that took his whole hand in its mouth to get that carrot). After lunching on some yummy corndogs and lemonade, we finally convinced Aidan to ride a couple of rides. He had a really good time on the airplanes, and the motorcycles...well, they were a little bit fast. He looked to be a little bit angry at his Papa for abandoning him. But all was well as we finished the day with a hot, sugary funnel cake. Hooray!

Painting Pumpkins

Also today, Aidan painted the pumpkins that he picked out at the pumpkin patch last week. He had a blast. He painted all three of his little pumpkins, and then he wanted to steal mine! He's going to have so much fun when it comes time to carve the big ones next week.

One Month Old

Neely had her one month check-up today. She is now 20 inches long, weighs 8 pounds exactly, and has a head circumference of 14 inches. All these things put her in about the 5th percentile. She's a very little girl, but in one month, she's put on over two pounds!

My Kiddos

By request, I took a picture of Aidan and Neely together and am posting it. It's not the greatest photo, but it's all I've got for now. I think Aidan is trying either to hold Neely's hand or give her five, and given the fact that she's asleep and smiling...I'd say she's probably passing gas.

Eeeuuuw!

I made it one month and two days without Neely pooping on me. She broke me in good today. There I was, with her laid out on the ottoman in the living room, changing her diaper when pfffft! She sprayed me with that fun neon yellow baby poopie. It startled me so badly, that I let out a pretty good shriek. It was all up my arm. It covered my t-shirt and one leg of my jeans, and she even got some of it on the sofa. I'm pretty sure John was praying all the while...thanking God it wasn't him. Stef, you can tell Andy that I now know how he feels, and I'm sorry for laughing at him.

Pumpkins

The time of year has come for choosing the perfect pumpkin. As a child, I remember this being an event I both anticipated and dreaded. I loved picking out my pumpkin, but it was a meticulous process, as my father was very discriminating when it came to our pumpkins. This has apparently rubbed off on me. There were very few pumpkins in the patch that I thought worthy of coming home with us. Aidan and I wandered through the sea of orange, while John and Neely waited in the shade of the single tree on the lot. In the end, I think we came away with some good ones. I'll share photos of those once they've been transformed into Jack-O-Lanterns. For now, I have pictures of Aidan making his selection...

...and of the tiny pie pumpkin he chose for Neely.

Neely and a very fuzzy blanket.

My friend Tiffany took this picture of Neely the other day. I love it, and I wanted to share.

Tutu

Look! I made a tutu! I was going to make this for a friend's daughter as a birthday gift, but Neely was born early and I didn't get it done in time. Since I already had all the stuff, I decided to use it for Neely's Halloween costume. Get ready for this...we're going to dress her as a ballerina, and she will be a tiny dancer.

John's Birthday Present

I wanted to share pictures of John's birthday present from me (and my folks) this year. We redecorated our guest room in Tennessee colors and memorabilia for him. I think it turned out really well! And he actually likes it...WHEW!

Why in the world...

...would somebody steal my Halloween decorations? I put out some tombstones a couple of days ago, and no kidding, somebody swiped one of them last night. I mean, for crying out loud! Who does that?! I'm about to start trolling the neighborhood for it...

It's about time!

I finally got a good picture of Neely with her eyes open. My windows of opportunity have been very small. She's just lately started staying awake for a few hours during the day. So hooray! I finally have a wide-eyed photo of my pretty little girl to share.

A Funny Story

This morning, I'm upstairs feeding Neely when Aidan decides to join us. I ask Aidan, "Where's Daddy?" To this, Aidan responds, "Downstairs." Next, I ask him, "What's he doing downstairs?" Aidan looks thoughtful for a minute, then tells me, "He's playing with the remote." I thought this was hilarious and totally appropriate, being that it's college football season. John, your son's got you pegged.