Trick or Treat

Maggie missed out on the cousin Halloween tradition because of her brothers chicken pox—I didn’t have the heart to tell her.  But her and Tommy could have both still been carriers/contagious and neither Evelyn or Fiona have been vaccinated yet.  She still had fun decorating and filling treat bags for her cousins and then I took her and Tommy to 3^rd street in Hudson trick or treating.  She had a blast and was so brave and independent.  It was a joy to watch.  Tommy happily sat in the stroller and took it all in.  Susie stayed home and handed out candy at our house.  I heard she had a pretty steady rush for about 30 minutes…. J

Sea Turtle Tom

I had fun watching him get around with his big shell

Wardrobe change

The dinosaur/alligator fit better and this is what he ended up wearing out.  Leyton wore it around the same age too.

This is the first year that Maggie knew exactly what she wanted to be.  Ariel of course!

I love her red hair, almost looks natural.

Tommy fueling up before the long night

Maggie walked up to each house all by herself while Tommy and I waited on the sidewalk. She said "trick or treat and thank you" so loud and clear.  It made me happy.

There were lots of spooky houses but Maggie said she was brave because she is 3

 I thought this was one of the scarier houses but it didn't bother Maggie.  What got Maggie later was a regular old house with no decorations but the guy handing out candy had a big Ernie head on (as in Bert and Ernie).  As soon as he said hi she turned and bolted.  :)

 

Tom’s Spots

Susie and I got a call at work on the 30^th saying we need to come pick Tommy up—that they suspected he might have chicken pox.  I didn’t really believe he could really have the pox...but I had to take him to the doctor before he would be allowed to return to school.  Dr. Montague could not believe it.  Tommy really DID have chicken pox!  A few doctors all came in for a look because they are so rare these days—ever since the vaccine was introduced they hardly ever see any kids in the clinic with chicken pox.  I had to rearrange my work schedule for a few days and spend some quality time with Tommy until all the spots had scabbed over and were no longer contagious.  So far two of Tommy’s friends have come down with the chicken pox too.  He was the first one in the school diagnosed with them, we have no idea where he would have got them.  Oh and yes, we do vaccinate ours kids, but the chicken pox vaccine isn’t given until 15 months and Tommy is only 13 months.

 He was moodier than usual but didn’t really try to scratch them.  There were a few body flinging meltdowns--where I thought maybe he was attempting to scratch them on the carpet but who knows--he does this when he doesn't have the pox too... :)  I think it helped that they were mainly limited to his torso and upper arms—with the exception of two on his face. 

He's always happy in the tub, chicken pox or not

The first night of his diagnosis, Maggie had her Halloween party for dance.   There are so many little kids there, there was no way I could bring him with.  Luckily, all of the Mansell's have either already had the chicken pox or have been vaccinated, so they agreed to watch him.  Here Grace and Lucy are trying to turn Tommy into a male cheerleader. 

Our Little Pumpkins

My friend Jason, from work, grows pumpkins and always drops a few off each year for the kids.  Maggie was super excited to find pumpkins on our steps one afternoon.  She kept asking when we could dig the guts out--that is clearly her favorite part.  Tommy enjoyed licking and taking bites out of the tops, it was making me gag watching him.  We went with simple shape faces this year.  Now that Maggie know all her shapes she was very adamant about which one got circle eyes or a triangle nose, etc.  Thanks for the pumpkins Jason!

I made her clean out all 3 pumpkins, I have hated the guts since I was about her age

She was proud of her big bag of guts afterwards

All business

The little pumpkin top stealer

He took several bites out of each top

Maggie was so proud to bring them all to the front steps and line them up

Next best part to cleaning them out?  Taking their tops off over and over again



Legal

Susie and I decided to get legally married in Minnesota.  Since we already had our wedding with family and friends back in 2007, the purposes of this was for legal protection, tax implications, health insurance, and for the kids.  This blog is primarily for the kids and their memories but I felt the need to share such a big event in mine and Susie’s life.  We officially joined the ranks of legally wed people on October 13^th (which happens to be Susie’s birthday also).  We had the ceremony at the Washington County courthouse in Stillwater, MN.  We used some of our same vows from 2007 with a few minor tweaks.  Our good friends Lance and Melissa served as our witnesses.  It was nice to share the day with them.  It was also nice that Maggie and Tommy could be present. 

Flashback to August 4th 2007

October 13th 2013

Happy Family!

Maggie served as ring bearer for about 3 minutes until she got bored

Our vows

We both think we are pretty funny, apparently Lance does too!

Our vows were good in 2007 and even better in 2013.  The Judge even thought they were pretty cute!  Notice Tommy escaping in the background?

Melissa signing her life away :)

And Lance signing his life away

Maggie taking notes outside the courthouse

Susie and Melissa

Me and my best man

5 out of the 6 looking stellar

Group shot

 Our perfect little family

Lance and Melissa--thanks for celebrating our big day with us!

1 Year Well Child Check

This was the worst appointment we have ever had!  The good news is Tommy is a healthy baby boy.  The bad news is the appointment was awful.  Our appointment was at 3, which is on the cusp of Tommy’s witching hour, so I should have known it might be rough.  Well he started out happy and flirtatious for the nurse like always but it all went south fast.  Our doctor was running behind, like FOREVER behind, this never happens.   Then it was about 105 degrees in the exam room.  Then Tommy started bawling, like inconsolable.  Susie and I were sweaty and very irritable as well.  Tommy was still screaming when we finally got to see our doctor and continued to scream for the 10 minutes we got to see her (since I assume she was playing catch up).  So we wait for 45 minutes to get 10 minutes.  I was not amused but I am sure we have been the ones causing delays before so I will forgive.  Then Tommy needed to get 3 shots.  This is never good when he is already crying hysterically before we even try and hold him down.  He got his first sucker ever as an attempt to calm him down.  The worst part about turning 1—the blood draw for the lead test.  At this point we had already been there for well over 1 hour in the tiny exam room, sweating and screaming at the top of our lungs.  Supposedly it is less painful to draw blood from an infant in the arm vs. the old fashioned finger prick.  Well when Tommy is older we can ask him.  It took 3 of us to hold him down and they stuck his arm twice but could not find a vein.  So they resorted to the finger prick.  Tommy had the biggest tears.  Susie was almost in tears, she is very protective of her baby boy.  It was the first doctor’s appointment in a million that made us want to sprint for the exit afterwards. 

 On a positive note, it was confirmed that our big boy, is indeed a big boy.  I was really hoping for a 25 pounder but I think the nasty flu 2 weeks before his appointment derailed that.  He is healthy, happy and handsome.  We could not ask for more!

Tommy’s 1 Year Stats:

Height:  2’6” (57.55%)
Weight:  24lb 6 oz (72.68%)
Weight for length:  90.96%

Before.  So happy. 

"Hey there pretty, how does my heart sound?"

Post shots: "Get me out of here!"

It was his first sucker, he didn't understand the closing your mouth around it part so most of it ran down his chin.

By the end he was worn out.