boo!

Nate had a great time trick-or-treating this year. He really understood that we'd walk around and get candy. Sweet. He insisted for a while that he wanted to be a lion again (like last year) but then changed his mind a couple of weeks ago and decided to be a spider instead. Thad whipped out his sewing kid and... voila!

pumpkins

We're getting ready for Halloween here, which of course involves pumpkin carving. This year Nate drew the faces on our pumpkins and Thad and I tried our darndest to carve them as accurately as possible. Looking at these photos made me realize that my belly looks like a pumpkin too. How appropriate!

our newest friend

Here's a (semi) old photo of Nate and our newest baby friend Madeleine! He's getting prepared for brotherhood...

crazy season

First, Nate and I survived our week together sans Thad. After a rough start, we actually seemed to get the hang of things. Thad made it home last night, so we're back to life as usual. I am completely exhausted and have even more respect for single parents. Big props to all of you.

And now, it's that time of year again! We've learned that late-autumn and early-winter are nuts around our household. Things start off with Halloween, then Nate's birthday in mid-November, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. And, as you are aware, this year we'll be adding another birthday into the fray. Some people call this time of year the holiday season, but for us it's more the season of mayhem.

This year, Nate has started requesting presents. I'm happy to get him the gifts he'd like, but this seems like it could be a challenge. He has been consistently asking for:

a pink and orange shopping cart
a pickax
a jackhammer
a harp

If anyone has any leads on where to purchase his birthday requests, please speak up. Way, way up!

on my own

Thad left yesterday for a week-long conference in Portugal, so Nate and I are on our own for a bit. Today was our first full day together and it ended well after a somewhat rocky start. Nate woke up early, so he was tired from the start. Then somehow while brushing his teeth, Nate got a splinter in his finger. This kind of surgical procedure is usually Thad's domain, so it took me a ridiculously long time to return Nate's hand to normal. Despite that, we happily made popovers for breakfast, and then picked up our CSA veggie share at the farm. I've come to realize that autumn vegetables are all heavy - winter squash, potatoes, carrots - and I've also realized that being pregnant is tiring, so what seems like a relatively easy task was more exhausting than I'd initially expected. Tiring, but yummy, at least!

After the farm, we headed off to the Stone Zoo for their Boo at the Zoo event and to see the animals. Nate was cranky most of the time, although we were able to walk around most of the zoo. As part of the Halloween festivities, there was a small trick-or-treating area where people were giving out goodies. Nate had a major meltdown when someone tried to give him a pear, and again over a bag of potato chips. He had another meltdown because I suggested he put a lollypop in his bag instead of holding onto it. Then he had a meltdown just because. Between meltdowns, we did wander around the zoo (the new bear and gibbon exhibits were pretty neat) and also tried to visit some of the Halloween activities. One location had a maze, which I foolishly expected to be like a maize maze. Silly me. This is Halloween. So Nate and I get about two inches into the maze when someone in costume pops out at us, which completely freaked Nate out. He let out a scream that would make any horror movie buff proud. Oops! My bad.

Overall, I think the zoo experience was a good one, but it definitely wasn't the easiest morning, and we were both exhausted. So we pack ourselves back into the car and head home. It should have been a 15-minute drive, but I missed our exit off the highway and then turned the wrong way in an attempt to correct my exiting error, and we ended up in Charlestown (which, for those of you not familiar with our neighborhood, is not on the way to Arlington). To make matters worse, once I finally got pointed in the right direction, we got stuck in tons of traffic, likely from the Head of the Charles regatta that's going on all weekend. It took us over an hour to get back to the house! After a late lunch, Nate and I both took a much needed nap.

The rest of the day was much more pleasant, and it was great that we both got some rest. Aunt Holly brought over dinner, and we had a nice, laid-back visit. Nate had a great time playing catch with a beach ball that Holly brought him, and then they read some books together. I'm glad the day had a relaxed ending, because I needed the break! One day down, six more to go!

what's for dinner?

No kidding, Nate told us he wanted crust for dinner. We had some leftover pizza in the fridge and he had asked us to save a mostly-eaten piece of his. So when we asked him what he wanted to eat, he said that he wanted his leftover crust. What a gourmet!

a vacation!

We decided it would be nice to do a family vacation before the baby arrives later this year, so my aunt kindly offered to let us stay at her house on Martha's Vineyard for the weekend. Despite some mixed weather, we had a really nice, relaxing trip. I clearly remembered the camera this time around, and will inundate you with photos in just a moment. Nate spent most of the time digging with his trucks on the beach, but I think the highlight of the trip for him was visiting the Martha's Vineyard Glassworks and watching them blow glass pumpkins. On our way out, one of the glassblowers gave Nate his own mini pumpkin, which was a surprise and really made Nate's day.