Christmas Week (already!)

Haloween 2015

It was rainy. Great Halloween ambiance, but not so great for the street fair or outdoor sculpture exhibit we had wanted to attend. So, we skipped right to carving our pumpkins and then going out for lunch, just the three of us. Since it was a doubly special occasion, being both Halloween and the anniversary of Rob's and my engagement, we had chocolate olive oil cake topped with Mascarpone and strawberry sauce for dessert. It was amazing. So, so good. It was also the first time we let Harper have chocolate or dessert of any kind, really, and, of course, he loved it. After returning home to nap and get dressed up, we took him to trick 'r' treat at some friends' house and ended up staying for pizza and homebrew. Back at home, after, our little guy was asleep, Rob and I watched "Hocus Pocus" before turning in for the night.

October We Love You - Halloween Week Fun!

October is one of the things Indiana does best. It has long been my favorite my favorite month of the year, and it is a a special time of year for us Burgesses, Rob and I got engaged Halloween 2008, Harper's birthday is in July (so, um, counting backwards....), this week has been especially splendid. 

We dressed Harper in his Halloween costume and let him play in the fall leaves before heading to the family Halloween event at our local library where he got his first taste of trick-r-treating at the stations they had set up throughout the building and got an up-close introduction to several "creepy" creatures  including a large snake (I think it was a boa), giant cockroaches, assorted amphibians and a tarantula. 

We hit up the pumpkin patch one more time, At home, we painted a few of our pumpkins. Harper was excited at first. He has been admiring the pumpkins ever since we brought them home, pointing at them and exclaiming, "those!" And even once, randomly giving one of them a kiss. (He really is my son!) But, he was pretty skeptical about the actual painting, I imagine pumpkin painting will be more of a hit with him next year. Meanwhile, I did a little pumpkin decorating of my own, with the cutest flocked bat stickers that I got in a kit. I love bats!

Rob and I have been having lots Halloween music dance parties with Harper (of course, he loves the "Monster Mash") and reading our favorite Halloween board books, ("Spooky Pookie" is our new favorite!) and dressing him in Halloween clothes almost every day! We have also been drinking hot chai and cold apple cider, popping popcorn and trying to watch a few of our favorite scary movies and TV episodes after he is asleep. We are hoping to fit in a visit to the Funky Bones and still have jack-o-lanterns to carve, trick-r-treating on the actual day and more to look forward to, I only wish October could last longer!

Breastfeeding Essentials - Getting a Good Start

Getting off to a good start can be so important to the success of a breastfeeding relationship, now that I have been breastfeeding my son for a while (15 months), I have been wanting to share a few things that I got right from the start and a few I wish I had. 

Get The Support You Need: I went into breastfeeding with a supportive husband, family and friends and I can only imagine how difficult it would have been without that. But, if I had not attended a few breastfeeding support groups and gotten help from several lactation consultants, I do not know that I would have continued breastfeeding very long. So, ask for help and keep looking for more or different help as needed.

Treat Yourself to a Nice Bra Before The Baby is Born: Something nice that will be comfortable and provide you with some support and during a a very transitional time for your breast. They will be working harder than ever and they deserve anything nice you can do for them. My very favorite, comfortable, wish I had taken it to the hospital with me, still wear it a ton nursing bra is the Cotton Candy bra by Cake. 

Make Friends with a Pillow: It actually took me a little while to break in my Boppy, at first I was not entirely sure I was going to love it like I do, but as I figured out how to position it so it is most helpful to me I really got to love and rely on it and am still using it when we nurse at home.

Eat and Drink for Success: Staying hydrated and eating right (good fats, protein, oatmeal...) are clearly a  part of making milk. I found it essential to keep a a straw tumbler, with ice water,must in the early days. 

Arm Yourself with Entertainment: You will want to be able to read, marathon Netflix, whatever you can do to amuse yourself or sometimes just to keep yourself awake. 

Soothe Gel Pads: Were just what I needed when I needed them. Highly recommend.

Love My Little Milk Drinker

Since having Harper, breastfeeding has become such a huge part of my life, bigger than I ever anticipated. I have been humbled, amazed,  challenged and learned so many things. I am working on a post about breastfeeding, tips and recommendations from my experiences, in the meantime, I wanted to share a few more pictures from last week at the park.  

Mommy and Mini at The Park

The slide is still too scary, but he kind of likes the swings...

Baby's Bookshelf - Autumn

We keep a basket of board books in the area where Harper does most of his playing, he grabs these to look at or bring to me or his Daddy to read, again and again throughout the day. I try to rotate and swap the books pretty often, to keep things more interesting for all of us; I love finding seasonal books for us to enjoy together. Here are our current favorites. These are, in our experience, appropriate for an older baby or young toddler.

Where Is Baby's Pumpkin . Baby Loves Fall . Fall Leaves . Duck and Goose Find A Pumpkin 

Baby Lit: Sherlock Holmes . It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! . Peek-a Who?

Pumpkins (and a bunny)!

On a lovely warm day, last week, we went to the harvest festival at a nearby farm.

Harper was so excited, they had goats, a donkey and rabbits. We spotted this escapee from the bunny enclosure! 

He was sceptical (as he should be!) about this "pumpkin tree".

I could have happily brought all these pumpkins home with us.

Boo!

HAPPY FIRST OF OCTOBER!

Hello (almost) Fall!

I make no secret of the fact that I am a fan of autumn, there is so much to be happy about all season long  - the clothes, the foods and drinks, the activities, the movies, the colors, the holidays! I love it, I am so excited it is starting to feel like it is here! I think today was the first day I really felt it, it was cool enough for a little while that I wore a sweater. We met a friend at a coffee shop and I enjoyed a steaming earl grey tea. At the supermarket, we found all kinds of fall and halloween things, this beer and this adorable mini pumpkin came home with us.

Speaking of adorable mini pumpkins, here was mine last year on his first Halloween.Oh my goodness, I almost cannot believe it is coming up on a year since this was taken. He couldn't sit unassisted yet, he was being held up by the pumpkins. 

And now he is a master, and pretty close to walking all over as well. He is so vibrant and inquisitive at this age, I know he is going to have a ball experiencing this autumn. I am so excited to share the season with him!

Cotton Candy Grapes!?

This afternoon we tried cotton candy grapes for the first time. All summer, I have been pretty into grapes, just the typical varieties. Cotton Candy Grapes are exactly the kind of thing I would ordinarily pass over in the grocery store, thinking, what ungodly process must have produced these? And why would a grape need to taste like anything other than a grape? But, late last night while I was poking around on the internet (because I have a sick and teething baby who wanted to nurse every 40 min, I kid you not) I learned that cotton candy grapes are naturally cultivated to taste the way they do and they are a pretty hot item right now, as it is their season and supply is limited. So, when I saw them in Target this morning, it felt like fate! And...they really do taste like cotton candy! It has been many years since I had any of the reall thing, but I recognized the distinct flavor right away. Baby Burgess, who has never had cotton candy, loves them.