ashleyndave: Halloween - November 20th

Wow, I was doing so well and then life got busy! The last time I wrote anything was right before Halloween. So, about Halloween. It was fun. Naomi was Dorothy, Alex was the cowardly lion, Chloe was the wicked witch of the west, Lily was the good witch, Crystal was the scarecrow, Vincent ended up taking over Bromley's costume as the tin man and Meg and I were Munchkins. Hudson, of course, was a flying monkey. and an adorable one at that. Naomi really got into it this year. She had the 'Trick or Treat at every house, and at most she said thank you as well! It's how-o-ween to Naomi. Hudson loved it too, not for the candy, but for the walking around and the interaction. He's such an easy fun kid! I'm trying to soak him in because soon enough he will turn 2... and then he will turn 3. Help.

That same day, Naomi got ice cream because she filled her jar to the top with pom poms for going to sleep without crying. I cannot believe how well that has worked. Until last night, when we took her to the Cirque Dreams Holidaze show at the Morrison Center and we didn't get home until 10pm. She screamed until 11pm. I was not happy. She had a rough day overall yesterday, so maybe that played into it.

Last week, Thursday, it snowed. 9-12". In November. I cannot believe it. today, a week later, it's still on the ground. and now it's icy too. The roads are awful. It hasn't broken 30 degrees. We took a walk on Tuesday, it was 16 degree, but with the wind chill it felt like 2. It was so cold, we made it 1 block before Naomi started crying because her face was so cold, we made it 2 more only to meet a new babysitter, and walked 3 blocks home as quickly as possible while I was carrying Hudson in the backpack and holding Naomi's hand so she wouldn't slip. Plus Liza was tied to me and had to poop twice - in 6 blocks. of course.

Naomi's First Snow Angel:

The first week of November I had surgery, it was the first day that Dave was in charge of both kids all day long, alone. (Well, alone until I came home.) I have had pretty bad sciatic ever since i was pregnant with Naomi, but now it only hurts when I'm on my period, so the doctor thought it might be endometriosis flaring up and pushing on my nerve causing pain. Good and bad, it was not endometriosis. He removed 2 cysts and some scar tissue, but that didn't help the pain. The following week, Dave had his 3rd sinus surgery. It was a 4 hour surgery, and luckily G-Dad came over to watch the kids while I went to 'pick up' Dave. Once I got there, I waited for 3.5 hours. He had a hard time waking up from anesthesia. He had the stints removed this morning and hopefully he'll only improve from here and stay healthier through the winter.

Two days after my surgery, Saturday November 8th, Hudson nursed for the last time. (Unless he wakes up in the middle of the night while we are in San Diego next week and I don't know what else to do with a screaming boy who I've ALWAYS just nursed back to sleep...) I am a little sad that it's over, but glad we made it 14.5 months and I didn't feel forced to stop like I did with Naomi. With Naomi, she stopped nursing early because I gave her the bottle early due to mastitis and massive over-production. Once she stopped nursing I didn't really know to only offer her the boob so I just kept pumping and giving her bottles, offering the boob every once in awhile hoping she'd take it. I nursed her for 6-9 weeks until she continually refused, and then I pumped until she was 6 months old. It was tiring and annoying, even though I could get 3 bottles full in one pumping session. Around 6 months, my milk changed and I started getting plugged ducts, again, and I was emotionally done. I could tell I started getting those with Hudson as well at different points, but since he nursed, he was able to get the milk out completely, always. The pump doesn't do that. After multiple extremely painful plugged ducts and possibly thrush, I was fed up and I slowly weened myself off the pump, and Naomi off breast milk. It was sad for me, but I think she's okay...

A few funny moments from the past few weeks:

After the snow, Dave asked Naomi if she wanted to take Liza for a walk. Her response? "I don't want to go outside, it's too wintery." Well said, kid. Me either.

Naomi Loves hide and seek, so since we play it so much, Hudson gets in on it too. When he hears someone counting, he puts his head on the floor (because Naomi always lays on the floor with her face covered when she counts) and grunts in spurts that sounds like he's counting: "Uhh, Uhh, Uhh, Uhh" It's absolutely adorable.

Not sure if I've written this already, but one of Naomi's favorite saying is "Nicedea". She's trying to say, 'Nice Idea' since that's what I say when she wants to do something that is sweet or fun. Now she screams it from her room when she should be asleep, "I need you to come up here and rub my back, is that a nicedea for you, mommy? moooommmmy!"

Bath time is not my favorite time, but it is Hudson's. He loves it, he swims around, drinks the water, splashes way to much, and cries when I take him out. Last weekend, I got him out of the bath, dried, lotion-ed, and clothed and then he goes back in to watch Naomi play before i snag her out. Well, I guess he's growing.. He fell head first right back in, fully clothed. The mental picture is both scary and hilarious. I was right there, so I pulled him out before he even choked on a drop of water, but if I had a picture of that, it would be framed. feet up in the air and everything!

Naomi is learning her letters at school. She knows N, H, T, S, and K. Maybe some others, but those are the ones that she's pointed to unprovoked and told me what they are. She is enjoying school a lot!

Hudson's personality is really shining these days. He has always been an easy baby, and luckily he's an easy, active, little toddling baby too. He mimics us all the time. The other day I poked him belly and beeped. He loved it and started poking himself and making a mock-beep noise. so cute! He has the most infectious belly laugh. It's so fun to make him giggle. He gets so into it.