Halloween Festivities

We are not Halloween people, but having a kid in the house now we know we have to celebrate for him. Our goal is to allow him to enjoy the holiday without creating a teenager that trick-or-treats in a hoodie and calls it a costume. There were multiple occasions in October for celebrating all things pumpkin.

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin & Art Festival - A day of wandering crafts booths, drinking beer, visiting my favorite yarn store, and people watching.

The Pumpkin Patch in Napa - This is sure to be an annual trip. We enjoyed lunch at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, a trip to Provenance winery, and then the pumpkin patch.

Imagination Day Parade - Ewan's school coordinates a parade on Halloween. Each classroom has a theme and the polliwogs (less than 1 year) were a rockband, with all the babies dressing as rockstars. For the occasion I made Ewan a studded collar out of puff paint and felt, and a designer ripped up muscle tee, green on top and black below. He made his guitar in class, he really rocked that axe.

Trick or Treating - For Ewan's inaugural trick-or-treating expedition we dressed him as a robot, like his favorite toys Roger, Roy, and Robbie. We visited the house across the street and Ewan got his first treat for dazzling our neighbor with his smiles, a tootsie roll pop!

And we finished off the celebration with story time...

52 : 33

This week we have been preparing for and celebrating Halloween, but that fun will come in a future post. Teeth are still coming and sleep is a little less abundant, but Ewan is playing as hard as ever and is further perfecting his crawling, which has been his favorite pastime since he started 2.5 weeks ago.

This last week Ewan decided he wanted to crawl outside where his puppies play, we watched with curiosity to see how far he would go. The answer was the threshold of the rear french doors, then he saw the kitchen and that became his target, but last night he hit that threshold, saw Coco and there was no stopping him!

Project People - Ewan's Room

It is a bit lame that I am just getting around to posting this look at Ewan's room. His room was slow going at first with Kevin finishing his CPA and the chaos of work, but Kevin made it his mission to finish the room before he went back to work from paternity leave, 2 weeks after Ewan was born, so literally this post is 30+ weeks late.

When we first found out that we were having a baby I knew I wanted a room with white board and batten, chocolate brown walls, a colored ceiling, and a gallery feel. Once we found out Ewan was a boy in October of 2011 we quickly found his bedroom set at Pottery Barn Kids and the color scheme came together --- navy blue, light blue, and green. The bedding was paired with train sheets that we did not love so we got 2 sets of the old truck twin sheets and worked with iviebaby to turn one set in to a fitted crib sheet and 2 changing table covers and the linens were done! We then got cans of the perfect paint and went to town. The frames were unfinished and we painted them all, the gallery look was our goal since it is easy to change out the contents of the frames as Ewan grows. The mobile was designed by me with a cookie cutter, cut by my dad, and painted and hung by Kevin. 

I wanted the room to be simple, comfortable, and full of love --- the pictures can probably tell the rest!

Like every project it can take some time to get going...

First piece of furniture - The book cart

Picking the right ceiling color

Finishing the floor 

In the middle - a work in progress

Drilling the board and batten tops

And then it was done and we loved it... 

The entrance with a mama made sign 

The mirror above the changing table has been a big hit

The book cart is already nearing capacity

The rocker recliner was a must

People question the twin,  its the best spot for family story time

The chair, Dermot, and this pillow host monthly photo shoots

The mobile - a family creation

His name on the wall was a must along with our first family photo

A pretty complete look at Ewan's space

We really love Ewan's room and think that it will grow nicely with him. He has slept in his crib since he was 8 weeks old and the crib mattress has dropped to its lowest setting since, and we look forward to the day that our litte boy is cuddled in to his pillows on his big boy bed with his Patrick dog.

Being a good sport

Always cheer for your team and play your hardest. Don't put energy in to bad mouthing the other team. Root for your team until the very very end, but if you lose don't be a bad sport, congratulate the other team and start practicing and planning for the next season.

Today is game 1 of the World Series between the SF Giants and the Detroit Tigers and while we aren't Giants fans, to the amazement of everyone around us, we wish both teams luck. And when asked by Ewan's teacher to put him in orange to support the Giants we didn't refuse, we put him in his orange polo as a sign of solidarity and in honor of America's favorite pastime.

No matter who wins, the last out of the last game of the 2012 season should be one of excitement and congratulations.

Being honest

Being honest is important. When people say it was just easier to lie, or fib, or avoid a topic --- I equate that to being lazy. There is no such thing as a little lie, a lie is a lie is a lie, and sometimes omitting is just as dishonest.

Being truthful may not always be easy, but if you care enough about the person you are talking to, and your relationship with him/her, you will make yourself uncomfortable for the sake of honesty. Telling the truth in the moment is a lot less stressful than worrying about getting caught, not to mention less painful and less damaging than when you do get caught.

I recently saw the following quote in a blog I read --- "The truth needs so little rehearsal" Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams --- I could not agree more.

52 : 32

Again --- Teething is a bitch! This week we have had fun and gone on adventures, but these damn teeth just keep sort of souring everything. And this look, this look of pain and exhaustion on that sweet face, please go away --- Forever!

52 : 31

Oh what a month this last one has been! Ewan grew a top tooth (horrid experience) and started to crawl (completely amazing), what the?! He is verbal, a big babbler, but we won't fool ourselves in to thinking they are real words --- but if we were to we have a lot of da-da, yeah, and okay going on.

Ewan went to his first ball game, explored a lot of new foods (bananas still win), took a weekend trip to the beach, slept over at Grampy's, got a girlfriend, had his first professional photo shoot, discovered his love for touch and feel books, began responding to kisses from mama by attacking her face with a wide open mouth, and was put down to bed for the very first time by a sitter (thank you Auntie M) as mama and daddy went on their first post-Ewan outing to a Grizzly Bear concert (it was weird and awesome, we missed him).

At our monthly measure the scale tipped at 20 pounds and 15.5 ounces, and the tape measure hit 28.75 inches! Beefcake baby is growing like a weed and we are loving every minute.

EP's official 7 month photo - taken October 9th, 2012

Being demanding

Always demand the best of yourself and of others, you deserve it.Yes, have patience because at times the right thing will not be done, but pay attention to trends and know that there is always a right thing. Don't be the person that could do something, be the person that did something.

52 : 30

I am just going to say it, teething is a bitch. Ewan may question the fact that there is a curse word in his baby book one day, but on the other hand he will know me well by then.

This last week two of Ewan's top teeth decided it was their turn and my poor boy is a hot mess. We avoid Tylenol when we can, but the pained look on his face and the lack of smiles he can muster mean kill the pain, and fast!

On Monday I got a call that he had a low grade fever so I went running (with Tylenol) and did not put him down until he was comfortable enough to sleep for a few hours.

A few weeks ago my dad told me I was a good kid, but a bad teether. I fear, that along with my big ears, Ewan has inherited this. The top left fang (not the middle) came through on Tuesday and the little sucker on the right doesn't seem to be far behind. Hopefully it comes soon as we want our sweet and happy boy back!