Halloween...A 3 Part Series

This is Nolan's second Halloween and we could not believe how into it he was this year. I had expected a lot of tears over scary costumes and decorations but he braved it all like a champ. He did have 3 Halloween's to ease into it & I think that helped.


Halloween: Take 1
On Tuesday we went to Parent Participation class where they had a costume parade. Nolan loved all the attention he got from his bee costume and was a great poser for all the pictures. He regularly checked to make sure his antenna were firmly in place and wings still on his back.





Halloween: Take 2
Our Mom's Group met up for the 2nd annual Howl-o-ween Hoopla at Montse's house before heading down to Farmer's Market.


Farmer's Market 2008


Farmer's Market 2007

The kids had a blast eating Montse's gourmet mini cupcakes and then running races in the living room on their new found sugar high.

Is it a bird? An Airplane? No, it's Super Urban.
Brody and Nolan look at each other in amazement as Superman Urban takes off at "On Your Mark".

Once we got to downtown, Nolan was ready to go! He well .. beelined ... through the massive crowd of costumed kids and parade of Yes on Prop 8 / No on Prop 8 demonstrators. Martin and I dressed as Bee Keepers and we could hear the chuckles from the crowd as first a little bumblebee zipped through the streets with a bee keeper close on his stinger. It was nice to get so many compliments on our theme costume and we even got our picture taken by the San Luis Obispo Parks & Rec. Dept.

We finally got him to stand still for the games.

Nolan throwing a ring on the sticks.

Nolan playing Pumpkin Bowling

Halloween: Take 3 ... The Real Deal

Nolan's 1st Pumpkin Carving Lesson. He was very helpful and added a decorative touch with crayons and highlighters.

We have a very awesome neighborhood and they usually have very creative themed group costumes. Once again, Steve & Melissa took the cake with Spencer as a Bumblebee, Loralai as a Butterfly, Mom as a Black Widow and Dad as the Orkin Man.

Here we are as the Bee Keepers and Bumblebee

Grandma and Grandpa Joyce joined in on the festivities and helped us pass out candy as we took Nolan out on his very 1st Trick or Treat run around the block.

Senorita Julietta Islas Martinez Maria Velasquez Jimenez Charita & Monkey Man Ted

Nolan Trick or Treating with our neighbors The Tin Man Dixon and The Courageous Lion Grayson. At one of their first houses, Dixon and Grayson politely knocked and when no one answered Nolan took one look at his friends and charged at the door with both fists knocking. He was going to get some candy if he had to break the door down to do it...that's my boy!

Nolan spent the whole time running at a full sprint in between houses and waving his arms like he was flying.

When we returned to the house we found my dad scaring small children by gnawing on his arm through the gorilla mask while he buddied up to the scary skeleton. My mom instructed the kids to make their way past the monsters to get the candy. You know, I kinda of dig that they're old school and not very P.C sometimes, it's refreshing.

After a hard day of pumpkin carving, bee flying and trick-or-treating, Nolan enjoyed his first piece of candy, Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, and some milk. All while watching his favorite movie, Nemo. Yes, my parents did ask several times if someone had taken over my body. Okay, so we're pretty strict on those things on a daily basis but I firmly believe that not giving a child candy on Halloween can be classified as a mild form of child abuse.

Bee's Bite

Today is Columbus day, despite all the differing views on whether or not Columbus should be celebrated, I am grateful that my hubby had the day off today. He got a chance to take Nolan to his swim lessons and see all the progress our little polywog has made. I saw my chance to go on a bike ride out to Avila Beach in the middle of the day when the sun is shining, the cars are few and the wind is almost non-existent.

I'm on my mtn bike and staring at my skinny tires, they look so foreign on my bike. I'm wondering ... How fast can I go and for how long? My cat eye is reading 16 miles per hour so I up my gears...17 mph...up it again 18mph, 19mph. The adrenaline is kicking in and I'm starting to warm up. I have just turned on HWY 1 and start thinking about some of the hills I'm going to be tackling coming out of downtown Pismo Beach. BAM! That's when it happened. Somehow a bee made it past my ever growing pregnancy boobs and straight down my shirt. It got trapped when it hit my belly and decided to sting it's way out of my shirt. It's been about 15 years since I last got stung but I still know a bee sting when I feel it.

As a kid I got stung at least once a summer and probably twice every year. The bees loved me! My whole family would be walking out to the car and the bee would follow me and sting me for no good reason. My mom says that word got out among the bee community that I liked to raid the honey jar. Either way, my reaction to bee stings became increasingly worse and worse. Swelling does not describe what would happen to me ... ballooning would be more accurate. The last time I got stung I had stepped on a bee and my foot was approaching elephant size when we went to the doctor. The doctor warned us that my hyper-sensitivity was becoming increasingly worse with each sting and that we may want to look into carrying one of those scary shots around with me at all times. That was enough to scare me into staying away from the bright yellow slip and slide and raiding my sisters oh so cool United Colors of Benetton perfume. It must have worked because I stopped getting stung and instead of carrying a shot around I just carried two Benadryl tablets with me in every bag I own.

Gratefully, I had my phone with me and OBGYN on speed dial. I called and told them my predicament and asked if I could take the Benadryl that was stashed in my CamelBak. They said it was safe to take and to ice the sting. I was really freaked out at first since I wasn't sure how my body would react to the sting. I can't believe it, my body is reacting like a normal person got stung. It's just like a little bug bite. I don't think my body has ever reacted this normal in my whole life, I am so relieved! I'm still mad at the dumb bee, though. What kind of bee stings a pregnant lady in the belly. Evil Bee!

Highchair Adventures

The scene: Breakfast. Nolan sitting in his highchair with a plate of spinach & cheese eggs. Michelle eating yogurt and apples.

Nolan: Abble. Peazzz Mommy. Abble

Michelle: After you eat your eggs, Mommy will give you some apple.

Nolan: Takes a big mouthfull of eggs. Abble. Abble.

Michelle: Nolan, you have to eat ALL of your eggs first, then Mommy will give you some apple.

Nolan: Takes another mouthfull of eggs. Abble, abble peazzz

Michelle: Nolan, your eggs need to be all gone, then you get apple

Nolan: Places his eggs in another section of his segmented bowl & covers it with his hand. Bye! Abble peazz.

And this is what happened at lunch, two hours after an hour long battle to take a nap (a battle that he won).

Thump Thump - Thump Thump

Well, this is just a tad bit anti-climactic since EVERYONE knows but.... We're Pregnant! We were originally going to wait until we heard the heartbeat to announce it to the world but my belly announced it first. Let me tell ya, these stomach muscles have memory! It just came pooching right out. It worked out better that way since we didn't hear Baby F Part 2's heartbeat until Monday and I would have never been able to keep it a secret for that long.

I am due on April 4, 2009, just 5 days after Nolan's 2nd birthday. So far this pregnancy has been completely different. I feel nauseous, tired and totally emotional. The general consensus is that it must be a girl. We'll see.... Unlike the first time, this time we are planning to find out the sex of the baby. Murphy's law says Baby F will have it's legs crossed just because we want to know.

I'm now officially in the second trimester and feeling much better. I'm back to my regular swimming and hiking routine although the mountain bike tires have come off my bike and have been replaced with slicks for road riding. I still holding on to the hope that I may get just a few more mountain bike rides in before I have to hang Stumpy up for a year plus. (Yes, I did name my mountain bike...does anyone have a problem with that!?) So so sad! Good thing babies are so worth it!

P.S. Picture is not of my belly, it's just a very cool picture that I found.