happy halloween

Bridget's first Halloween was my first in a way, too. Yes, I've dressed up before, but I've never handed out candy or gone trick-or-treating. It's a pagan holiday, religious thing (ask my dad; he and mom made the decision, not me). And while Bridget didn't go out trick-or-treating (what's the point? she can't eat the candy), we did hand out candy--the first time ever for mommy. But we'll get back to that; this is about Bridget.

Bridget's first Halloween was a full day--out to brunch with mommy and daddy at Kerby's Coney Island, then a short nap and on with the Halloween costume. I made her a pumpkin outfit, which I've deemed the Great Pumpkin. No, she won't appear in a pumpkin patch and hand out gifts to all of the girls and boys. But "great" she was--in size, that is. I've got pics here to prove it!

After we donned the pumpkin costume (and unloaded the stuffing, since she couldn't fit in the car seat), we headed over to see Grandma and Grandpa (Al's parents). Bridget played with Grandma, who couldn't get over how cute her granddaughter was. Then we headed off to a party that our association threw for the sub. We ended up leaving a bit early, because, let's face it--when your daughter's seven months old and for once not interested in the other children and you don't know any adults (and no one is making an effort to speak to you, or you to them), the party gets kinda lame.

After the party we went for a family walk, dog included. It was chilly! The wind was blowing in our faces for the first half of the walk, but it was better when the wind was at our backs. Bridget was so warm and comfy in her pumpkin outfit that she conked out on the way back, and ended up sleeping on the couch for about half an hour after the walk--just enough time for me to make dinner.

We got our first trick-or-treaters just when we were sitting down to eat, before it was dark. I had Al hand out the candy so I could see what he did (I know, maybe stupid, but I didn't want to do it "wrong"!). Then, after dinner, I was too excited to stay away from the living room. Al agreed to camp out in there despite the fact that there isn't a television. We brought Bridget's toy-basket (she doesn't have a toybox, or whatever it's called--I just use a basket that Beth gave us for the shower) in and she sat and played while Al strummed on the guitar and I tried to sing along (I couldn't follow him; he was trying to remember a song and wasn't going at a recognizable/regular speed). I kept waiting and waiting for the trick-or-treaters, and when they did come, I gave them huge handfuls of candy (more than Al thought I should give). Turns out it's a good thing I did; we didn't get very many groups (maybe seven or eight?) and only a few kids were in each group. I only went through one bowl of candy and ended up with another full bowl left. I also forgot to check out the costumes (Al asked, "What were they dressed as?" Me: "I don't know."), but the kids didn't seem to want comments on their costumes like they do on TV. They just wanted candy. The only one that seemed to care about her costume was a little green witch, there with her brother, who was dressed as Darth Vader. She walked up and said, "I'm not Yoda. Oh, trick or treat." Guess she must have been teased about that by her family. :)

Near the end of the night, Bridget saw the candy bowl and decided that she needed her first Halloween candy. She sure had fun playing with it! We turned out the light around 8:30 p.m., she had her bottle, and went to bed. A great first Halloween for Bridget. For more pics, see her October album.

pre-halloween, day two

Tigger. Enough said.

pre-halloween costume numero uno

Okay, I confess. I'm one of those moms that has more than one Halloween costume for her kid. What can I say? I like to dress Bridget up--I never liked to play with dolls as a kid, so I'm getting my kicks in with my daughter instead. Besides, today's costume and tomorrow's were $1 and free, respectively. I figure we can afford that.

Bridget's pre-pre-Halloween costume is a ballerina, pictured here. And so cute, if I do say so myself! Odds are that she probably won't be a ballerina (so far, it looks like she has my build, which is not inducive to dancing, no matter how much I wish it otherwise--but if she wants to dance as a kid, she's going to!). And even if she does learn to dance, she won't be learning how to dance from Dani, since he moved to Seattle (boo). But whether she's a dancer later in life or not, she's dressed up as one today.

Love that little cutie!

laughter

Kids laugh at the smallest things.

I love this QuickTime video, even though I had to make a couple of rough cuts (my husband isn't the handiest with a camera). We were headed out to eat on our we-met-ten-years-ago-anniversary (I've backdated the post to that date) and I picked up a window-shade I wasn't using and pulled it down, hid behind it, and then pushed the button to release the shade so it rolled up and revealed me. Bridget thought it was hilarious. She has such a good laugh!

make new friends, but keep the old...

Bridget made several new friends over the past few days--and I don't have pictures of any of them! I'm supposed to be getting some from Jackson's daddy (Jackson is the nine-month-old son of my friends Krista and Phil), but so far all I've received is this one of her by herself. I'm sure I'll get more pics eventually (hint, hint :) ).

Saturday was a full day, beginning with a mom2mom sale for mommy (had to get winter coats and stuff) and a morning with Aunt Theresa, Uncle Bill, and cousins Neil and Andy for Bridget. I hear that her cousins, especially, loved her--and when I got back, she was taking a walk/nap with Aunt Theresa. Then we were off to visit Pam, John, Natalie, and Amanda, a family I've known since...um, don't know the year, but since Natalie was in first grade. I was her Vacation Bible School teacher, she fell in love with me (who wouldn't?), and begged for me to babysit. I think I was Natalie and Amanda's first babysitter outside of family, and I know I was their favorite. They were my favorites, too--anyone else that called looking for a sitter got directed to my sister (notice the agentless prose there--yes, I was the one that did the directing). The cat was fascinated with her, and she with the cat. And the people adored Bridget and said she was the happiest baby they've ever seen. She is quite happy! Then, Saturday afternoon was Jackson time. They mostly tried to steal each other's toys and smiled and cooed at each other and us while us parents chatted and Phil snapped a ton of pics. It was a full day, but a fun one.

Sunday was just mommy and Bridget time since Al was at work, and I wish I could say it was a happy, lazy day. That's what I wanted. But Bridget was a bit needy, and after she woke up from her nap at 1:00 p.m., she wouldn't let me put her down unless she was in the stroller or being fed. By 5:30 p.m. I was exhausted and on my last straw between the hitting, hair-pulling, scratching, and undressing I was enduring from Bridget and the wild state that the dog was in. I called in the troops--Al came home from work an hour early and took care of Bridget while I made lasagna for the next couple of days. She went to bed shortly after he left for hockey, so I had a bit of time to myself to watch my guilty pleasure, The Vampire Diaries (love).

Monday was uneventful, but Tuesday saw us going to visit more new people (new for Bridget, anyway). She had already met my friends Ruthann and David, but now she got to meet their gorgeous daughters, Maria (7) and Makala (6). Makala made drawings and wrote notes to Bridget all night, and Maria practiced her speech for us (second grade and already having to give speeches in school) and played Super Mario Brothers on her Nintendo DS (that game's been around a long time). We all got to have a nice time visiting, and (of course) everyone loved Bridget. And now she has several new friends! What fun. Thanks, everyone, for wonderful visits.

michigan tradition

Last night, we visited the apple orchard. If you live in Michigan, you know: fall is the time to visit the apple orchard and cider mill, to eat doughnuts and drink--cider, of course! Besides, I couldn't pass up the photo opp for my gorgeous baby girl (although if I'd have planned it before I took her to daycare, I'd have put her in a cuter outfit!).

It was cold (in the forties) and a bit of a whirlwind of outdoor activity since Daddy didn't think he needed a jacket (he was wrong), but Bridget had a lot of fun. I didn't go to the lengths of actually sitting her down in the pumpkin patch for a picture (I was tempted, and would have if I had her Halloween costume finished and on her), but we got some great pics with pumpkins and hay (no apples, though...hmm, I'll have to rethink that next year!). The baby goats came right up to her (they probably expected food, since they left shortly after realizing they weren't getting any), the mama goat brayed and brayed like a mad little donkey, the pigs stank (who knew? pigpens really do smell horrible!), and the hens ran away. We didn't even bother with the geese (they're all over Michigan, although the variety they had at the orchard looked like they had fur along with feathers, they were so fluffy). And then came--da da da da (humming in my head), the doughnuts.

Mommy (okay, I admit, it was me) got cinnamon sugar, Daddy (a.k.a. Al) got plain, and I got cider to go along with mine. Bridget got to sit on the table, pull napkins out of the dispenser (she just reached around and pulled them out first thing), bang on the half-gallon of cider, and eat little bites of mommy's doughnuts (yes, I had more than one), all while getting her picture snapped a gazillion times (okay, more like 140 times during the short period we were there, between Al and I--digital cameras have turned us insane. About half turned out okay). And then she conked out on the way home, acted insanely silly for an hour after we got home, drank ten ounces of milk, and stayed up til 10:00 p.m. A bit too much sugar, perhaps? But she had fun, so did we, and we got some good pics. Enjoy those here, along with some other pics taken this month.

And please forgive my insanely unnecessary use of excessive parentheses...

rediscovery

One thing I love about having a daughter: everything is new, everything is fascinating, and everything lights up her face with joy. Take, for instance, running water. Bridget was so fascinated with it the other day (you can see it for yourself in this QuickTime video--download the player here if you don't have it). What fascinated me was the way she moved (and watched) her hand, trying to capture the water and hold onto it.

Enjoy the video--I know I enjoyed the experience. Watching her just puts love and joy in my heart.

dear bridget

Dear Bridget,

Try not to be like me when you grow up, sweetie. I'm trying to be a better person (I don't deserve to be your mom), but it doesn't always work that way. Good thing God's got me covered when I mess up.

I'll say this right now before you're old enough to remember: I'm sorry for the times I lose my temper, either with your daddy or with you (or others, though I'm honestly not as sorry at those times because I don't love others as much as I love you). You might hear mommy raise her voice now and then, but I'm doing my best to stop that. Instead, this is the type of mom (and wife) I want to be:

One who's loving and caring and never grows impatient. One who shows respect for others at all times and never loses her temper. One who is gentle and kind. One who is happy and loves God and then shows her love for God to all who are around. One who you can be proud of. One who can be a good example for you. One who--maybe, someday, deserves to be a mom to such a wonderful, funny, sweet, adorable little girl.

I love you, Bridget, and I'll do my best to be the best for you.

Love, Mommy

first cold

My darling daughter has her first cold.

As we went to bed last night, I told Al that he had to get up with Bridget if she woke up during the night. She's been doing so frequently lately because her two bottom teeth are poking through her gums (I can finally see the tips of them!) and making their slow, excruciating way into their semi-permanent position (semi-permanent because she'll lose them someday, of course). My logic for making Al get up? One, she's on a half-formula, half-breastfeeding diet plus lots and lots of solid food (even meats) so he can get up and give her a bottle or just rock her back to sleep if she needs it (no, not with a ten-pound rock). Two, I have to work today (that's what I'm supposedly doing right now, grading) and he doesn't. Yeah, but. Didn't work that way.

I think he actually did get up with her once, but when she woke up at 3 a.m. and I tried telling him that she was awake and he needed to take care of her, I heard a grunt and then snores. Hmph. Since she was happy, saying "Dadada" over and over again, I let her lie there (lay? I never did bother figuring that one out). About 3:40 a.m. she started crying, so I dragged myself to a sitting position, found my robe and slippers, and stood up. Suddenly, Bridget cut herself off in the middle of a loud cry. Hmm. I turned on the hallway light, walked into her room, and she was asleep. Repeat waking/playing/crying cycle a couple of times, and I finally just decided to get her up during the playing cycle at 5 a.m. (Of course, Al never woke up this entire time.) I figured I'd get more rest by breastfeeding her than having her interrupt my dozing every few minutes, and she'd be comforted by my presence even if her gums were bothering her. Only problem was, when I picked her up she was burning up.

I took her temp. 100.6 degrees. Changed her diaper, stripped off her pjs, gave her infant tylenol (no, it wasn't in the recalled batch) and went in to wake up Al. Said his name loudly four times before he woke up with an irritated "What?" Told him about the fever and about being upset that he didn't get up with her two hours earlier (I was scared; my baby's never had a fever and I wasn't quite sure what to do. I think I was hoping he'd get scared, too, to justify my fear). Told him I was going to feed her and see if her fever went down. He mumbled something and went back to sleep. I took her into the living room, stretched out on the lazyboy I still haven't returned to dad (borrowed it during my pregnancy), fed my baby and cried and prayed.

Fever went down, nurse said, "Doctors will tell you that teeth coming in doesn't bring on a fever, but many mothers swear by it that it does. But better come in to check out her ears since she's been a little congested." We went in at 9:30 a.m. this morning, ears are fine, doc says it's "just a cold," which means they don't really know what's wrong and so we'll label it a cold. That's fine. She has cold-like symptoms (sometimes) and we've ruled out something worse, which is what I was worried about. And except for evenings and night-time, when she's really tired, Bridget is in her normal high spirits. She may not be as hungry, but we all know that food does just not taste good when you're sick (usually).

Get better soon, Bridget. I love you. (And I'd really like some more sleep...)

chatterbox

Bridget made her second phone call this morning. She made the first one quite a while ago, on August 25. That day she called Aunt Beth and mommy had to send Beth a text letting her know why I called and left a silent voice mail. This morning, she called my friend Krista. We're actually going to see Krista, her husband Phil (I think), and their son Jackson tomorrow and it'll be Bridget's first time meeting all of them. She's so excited that she had to call and confirm--again! Luckily, mommy caught the phone call in time to leave more than just a grunt on the voice mail; I got to tell Krista what was really going on.

Bridget's such a little chatterbox. Her current favorite is saying "dadadadada" over and over (I keep telling her that dada's at work and I'm mama, but she just doesn't get it). She's talking so much all the time (like mommy, thank God, rather than the silent type like daddy; that would drive me crazy!) that I know these phone calls of hers are just the beginning...