On the Town

Stephen, Meghan, Lauren, Molly, Claire, and Mom Frost came out for June's blessing/Dane's birthday. During their short visit, we tried to show them a good time.

The kids had the traditional little tea party with Grandma:

Doesn't Lauren look so pretty and grown up?

Then Joel led us on a personal tour of the Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center:

We had a little photo shoot in the patio:

Why is that man wearing a woman's shirt?

Oh, it was Ami.

Trying to get the cousins to huddle up together:

How did I get such a beautiful boy?

And a beautiful girl:

I am about three months late getting these pictures posted, and it is amazing how much June has changed in that time.

Sweet feet:

Playing chess in the chemotherapy area (it was Saturday, so no patients were around)

Then we grabbed a little snack and had a picnic on the grounds of the Oklahoma Capitol building:

Happy Halloween 2011!!

This year, I was rather overambitious with the Halloween costumes. It made me question my commitment to this yearly tradition. Something about having a newborn baby made making costumes a lot harder.

But we survived, and I feel proud of how the costumes turned out, even if the vast majority of people had no idea who we were:

Abby's Flying Fairy School (from Sesame Street)

We also never got a full family picture. But the kids were the cutest, so it's okay.

Gonnagan and Abby Cadabby

A profile shot so you can see their fairy wings:

A big part of the fun for me in making the costumes is getting little details right. For instance, Gonnagan's different colored shoelaces.

I spent significantly les time/effort on Joel and my costumes, but they were still fun.

Blogg and Mrs. Sparklenose

Bleh. I was reluctant to post any pictures of myself because of three specific, if vain, reasons:

1. Baby weight is in full swing

2. I am out of contacts and don't have a current prescription, so I can only wear glasses

3. I keep getting styes in my eye, so I can't wear any eye makeup, which is all I wear anyway.

So, I've got some major frump going on. But Mrs. Sparklenose had to be represented. My mom pointed out that I am a lot fatter than the tiny Mrs. Sparklenose. Duly noted. And thanks, Mom.

Moving on.

Our first Halloween event was attending Storybook Forest at Arcadia Lake. They set up various fairy tale scenes around the lake, and kids walk around and collect candy. The displays were quite cool, and I was impressed with the event, despite the fact that they made us pay admission for June.

Our camera didn't have a flash (which will be further explained in an upcoming post, entitled "Disasters"), so this is the best we came up with:

Dane knocking on the house made of sticks at the Three Little Pigs' area:

Us with our new friends, the Youngs:

(By the way, Meghan, Michelle Young says she knew your sister in high school.)

On the way home, I asked Dane what his favorite part of Storybook Forest was, and he said, "The candies."

We went to my parents' ward's Chili Cookoff/Carnival Games/Trunk or Treat, where Dane got more candy. I wasn't done with the costumes yet, so I put him in a Buzz Lightyear dress up outfit. All were happy.

I decorated my trunk as Hogwarts, complete with Hedwig and the sword of Gryffindor, much to the delight of the various Harry Potters, Hermione Grangers, and Luna Lovegoods who came by.

Then came our ward's Chili Cookoff/Carnival Games/Trunk or Treat activity. It was even crazier than my parents'. In my opinion, that is way too much activity to cram into one event. But maybe I was just exhausted because, in addition to the costumes, I had signed up to make cookies, a cake for the cakewalk, and chili. I always try to win the chili cookoff. It was a crazy day getting ready for everything. My mom was nice enough to come over to help me get it all done.

Alas, I didn't win the chili cookoff. But I was happy with how my cake turned out:

We came away from the cake walk with a hideous looking zombie cake, which inspired Joel to make a little video:

The intensity of the feeding resulted in frosting up Joel's nose.

Dane had found the clown makeup and decided to paint himself a scary face.

Incidentally, I baked this bread on Sunday. It was pretty and yummy and contained squash:

Finally, it was Halloween day. Dane and I prepared the pumpkin so Daddy could help him carve it when he got home.

Arm yourself with a spoon,

Remove the head,

Scoop out the guts,

Place guts on naked belly.

Once Joel got home, he helped Dane design his face, which he did with careful precision, revising several times because it was "not spooky enough."

Then he proceeded to draw a family portrait on the back of the pumpkin. He would observe us to make sure he was getting our features right, tilt his head, and draw:

It was a cute little artistic moment. And here is the result:

June, Daddy, Mommy, and Dane

Then we illuminated the jack-o-lantern and put it on the porch for all to see:

Then Joel took Dane trick-or-treating with our friends, Seth, Wendy, and Eden (who were a hot dog vendor, baseball player, and hot dog) while June and I manned the door to dole out candy.

It was hard work, so she dozed off.

All in all, it was a busy but fun Halloween.

This was the first time in 5 years we haven't spent Halloween at George and Melanee's house. We missed them, so we called them and chatted until late in the night. It was the closest we could come to hanging out, and we had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

June: Two Months!

Wow, I've taken a long break from blogging. But I have lots of posts up my sleeve: Dane's birthday, June's blessing, a post entitled "Disasters", and more! Stay tuned!

I am a few days late, but I wanted to post about June's two month stats.

Head: 39 cm, 58th percentile

Height: 23 3/4 in, 92nd percentile

Weight: 12 lbs. 10 oz., 90th percentile

Can you believe how big she is? I have no idea how I incubated such a huge baby. I mean, 90th percentile? I haven't seen 90th percentiles in anything related to the Hood family since test scores. Ha! We love our big, fat baby.

Hooray! I'm a big girl!

She is starting to smile a lot, especially when we go to get her in the morning. She sleeps amazingly well. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world because, from the time she was just a few days old, she has slept for many hours every night. She stays up late, often until 1:30 or 2:00 but then she'll sleep until 7:00 or 8:00, sometimes later.

She is also discovering that she can bring her hands to her mouth, and she often goes super cross-eyed in the process.

We've noticed that her breathing often sounds rattly, though she's never stuffy, and she doesn't seem to have a problem with inhaling or exhaling; it just sounds weird. Her pediatrician* said she has laryngomalacia, which means her larynx is floppy. As I've researched in online, it sounds kind of bad...but the pediatrician seemed to think it wasn't a big deal and that she'd grow out of it. We'll keep watching it.

Dane continues to be really cute with June. He is excited when she wakes up in the morning, and he loves to snuggle and hug her (though she's too big for him to hold her, haha). He interacts with her a lot, and she often perks up and stays quite attentive when he's around.

I love my two sweet children. I am a lucky, happy mom.

By the way, I never posted about the quilt I made for her. The lovely quilt, which I am rather proud of, provided the background for these photos.

Finally, this crazy thing happened tonight. We are renting our house from some people who live in North Carolina; their niece lives near here and she often comes by to pick up their mail, etc. Tonight, she called to ask if she could come by to drop off a belated birthday gift for Dane, so I said sure. This is what she brought:

What the heck?? And, because I'm lame, I didn't feel like I could tell her the million reasons we don't want a dog right now. Joel and I were freaking out, trying to figure out what we'd do with a puppy, when Dane confidently chimed in, "I have a plan! We'll go to the hardware store and buy the things we need to build a doghouse!"

I don't think so.

So I enlisted the power of Facebook to try to find a home for the pup. She is in a temporary home right now, and I'm hoping to find a permanent one tomorrow.

Dane took it pretty well, all things considered. But he was a little sad that the puppy was being taken to another home. And he kept saying how much he wants a pet. He even tried to argue his point by saying he wanted a pet just like his cousins, that "big girl, little girl, and big baby," (Lauren, Molly, and Claire). I asked him what pets they have, and he said they have three caterpillars. Haha. And as I put him to bed tonight, he sniffed and said, "I miss Petty." But I think he'll be okay.

So, that's a bit of our lives these days. Again, stay tuned for more, including Halloween!

*The pediatrician commented on how big June is and asked how tall I am, how tall Joel is. When he learned neither of us are super tall, he asked me how tall the mailman is. Hardy har har. But then he kept making more mailman jokes, at least three other times during the appointment. Kind of weird, no?

And in care you're wondering, our mailman is a woman.