It's me! I know, I know. Negligent blogging again. I know when I start hearing that friends of friends are demanding some kind of update that I have truly slipped off the grid here. Life is getting in the way it seems, but really I am starting to feel a lot of guilt for letting this time pass us by undocumented, as so much is going on and this blog has been a wonderful thing to have in times like those. I feel like we are finally on the tail-end of our transition, though (well, until baby girl arrives...). And, I have yet another epic catch-up post prepared on what we've been up to, but thought I would post an actual timely post for once in the spirit of hoping to catch you by surprise.
A month or so ago, Miller and I decided Eliza should be an elephant for Halloween, because well, it was a costume she could get excited about and she does a mean elephant noise. But Eliza is a little girlier than just any old elephant. So a ballerina elephant it would be! She has a bla bla doll named Josephine that I modeled the costume after. I crocheted a (very quick and dirty) little crown for her head, sewed a few ribbons to some ballet slippers, and found a tutu to complete the costume.
With her sweet Gigi
Along with my family who stopped by our house early on, we had some very special guests for Eliza's first trick or treat. Eliza's lookalike/good friend Piercy (6 wks older than E.) and her Daddy joined us for trick or treating and supper while my friend Meghan laid in bed resting. In addition to being diagnosed with early signs of pre-eclampsia (her next baby is also just about 6-8 weeks older than our next baby), poor Meghan injured her back yesterday and is completely bedridden. Ugh. Second pregnancies, I can attest, are a little bit tougher on our bodies than the first pregnancies. Something to do with hauling toddlers around on our hips and never sitting down, I'm fairly sure. I find myself more tired, more achy, more everything than last time. Oh, and easily a month bigger than last time too. And yet you don't have much time to dwell on it or take wonderful care of yourself or rest properly. But no complaints here - aside from a few minor things, I am feeling pretty good most days and very grateful to be on my feet. I felt awful for Meghan, who I know is terribly sad to be missing her precious Piercy's first trick or treat.
Eliza did have a proper trick or treat bag, but obviously we've been using it as a purse all week and thus it seems to have been "misplaced" somewhere upstairs. I was all ready to go with a ghettofabulous plastic Randall's sack for our 4-house adventure when my husband appeared with this Liberty bag from our time abroad a few years ago. So styling, E! I knew it would come in handy one day...
It did not come as a surprise that she swiped Piercy's bag and started pulling out all the essential kitty cat makeup.
The girls were so sweet together. These are the two that like to hug each other all the time, such precious little friends who share a lot more than they probably realize (new houses, new babies, heck they even moved into their big girl beds the same week!).
They caught onto the whole trick or treating idea very quickly. They weren't shy about it. Just toddle on up to the door and knock, and wait for nice ladies with candy to appear? They had it down by house two.
The bustled tutu was my favorite part of the costume. Wouldn't want to hide that precious tail, now would we? Piercy had a cute little kitty cat tail happening on her backside too.
The daddies were the big players on this night, and I'm so glad for it. Greg, a commercial airline pilot, is out of town for 3-4 day stretches each week, and my husband, like many daddies, doesn't get to share in a lot of the firsts of our days either. He had raced home early from a very busy day, through horrific Halloween traffic to be here for the first trick or treat. The girls loved having their daddies here for this. These pictures make my heart happy.
Thanks to Greg for the obligatory family photo - I look like the half-dead mama I am, but there you go! Probably ought to just get used to it...
After trick or treating a few houses, the girls helped us hand out candy to the other kids. Piercy was particularly helpful at this, while Eliza, usually our big helper, was more interested in sneakily hoarding Kit Kats and running into the family room "undetected" with her loot. They ate their white turkey chili together - which was quite spicy but no match for our Texas babies - and watched the Great Pumpkin while playing with puzzles and running around after dinner. Such a fun night with the kids. Lots of love to Meghan for a speedy recovery and healthy baby (boy! I think...). We missed you and so wish you could have joined us!
Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too! Back in a few days with a ginormous catch-up post...stay tuned.
