Last night was weird. Ethan woke up at midnight screaming like he was terrified. I'm not sure if it was a dream or what, but he didn't want to go back to sleep. He cried and cried and cried and we tried having him sleep with us, giving him Tylenol (thinking that perhaps he was in pain) and eventually won by giving him a warm bottle of milk. Needless to say, we were pretty tired this morning.

Snow came down pretty hard during the night, but was almost gone by this morning.

Grandpa came over and cleaned all our carpets and they look amazing. Good as new. I couldn't believe (I never can believe...) how much dirt and hair came up. Wow. There is one strip in the front carpet that didn't get clean because he ran out of cleanser. Comparing that strip to the rest of the carpet will really make you go eeew because its gray compared the beige of the clean rug. My housewife geek side reallllly wants a carpet cleaner!

The kids were really good with their Poppa. Gwen charmed and Ethan was incredibly attentive. As you know, he loves vacuums, and it was almost overload for him to be there when Poppa vacuumed AND used a carpet cleaner. He would run between the rooms to tell me what was going on was Poppas little shadow. Very cute. By the end of the day he was helping as best he could :)

Still no teeth for Gwennie. How long must this child teethe before teeth appear? I want to give her more solid foods, but she needs teeth!

Tomorrow we're going to get our picture taken as a family, and also get some of Ethan and Gwen together. Lets hope that no facial injuries happen before picture time and that everyone is smiley.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm so freaking tired. Like can barely keep my eyes open, will fall asleep on a slab of concrete if I have to, tolerate the dog in my bed, sleep through earthquake tired.

Today I got nothing done. I was distracted and just couldn't seem to keep my mind on anything for long. I also forgot to take my Zoloft, which is maybe why I have this headache now. After the kids went down for their second nap I made some bread, started dinner and quickly sorted some laundry, but that was about it. I started sorting toys today... Wanted to give some away in preparation for the Christmas haul, but before I could remove the box I was going to get rid of, Ethan got to it and they're now back in with the regular toys and the regular toys are all over the front room in an enormous pile. Sigh.

There was a big tiff on the message board I moderate on. It kept my attention all morning, which is probably partly why I fell behind. Luckily its been resolved.

Ethan fell out of his highchair today. He tried to sit on the tray and he fell over backwards. He know has a bruise on his forehead and a cut above his eye. And we were gonna get our pictures taken on Wednesday. Sigh.

We had split pea soup and foccacia for dinner tonight. It was good. I made a ham stock by simmering the leftover ham bone from Thanksgiving and a smoked turkey leg (really nummy btw) with onion, bay leaf and peppercorn for a few hours. The soup had split peas and lentils since I didn't have enough split peas. The foccacia was great, as it always is. Anything practically fried in olive oil and sprinkled with salt couldn't be anything but delicious.

Sealab 2021 is the most irritating show on television. Jason is watching it right now. The only tolerable part is the theme music which gets stuck in your head... "Seaaaaa-lab, underneath the water"

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. This weekend I ended up being able to wear two pairs of jeans that were before babies. Yay! I'm not sure how this happened as my weight has dropped only a pound or two, but I guess I must be losing inches :) No complaints. Its nice to be back in those jeans.

They're calling for a couple inches of snow here tonight.

Grandpa just called. He's coming over tomorrow to clean my carpets. Bless that man.

Off to bed.

We've had a really busy weekend.

Saturday was Jenni's 13th birthday. We left early and ran some errands and visited at Mom's house. We had the party, then Aunt Daralyn, Lindy (cousin) and her husband Tim showed up earlier than expected. We didn't get out of there till nearly 8 and once we got home we put the kids directly to bed and zonked out ourselves.

We were supposed to go to church today, but as I was up 4 times between 1am and 6am, and Ethan was like the super-cranky, it was decided that us missing both the morning and afternoon naps (as the kids and I were heading back to my Mom's to visit) was not smart. We skipped church and let the kids have their morning nap.

The kids and I headed out to Mom's at about 2. We visited with everyone until Lindy & Tim arrived back from having Thanksgiving with Tim's family. They had an announcement to make... Lindy is pregnant! She is 6 weeks along. Its very strange and exciting to think that now my cousins are moving into this stage in their lives. We are all growing up. Its cool that she is pregnant because our kids will all be closely spaced.

There is the youngest cousin, Ben, who is 5. Then Josh's (cousin) son Kadin who is 3, Ethan who is 20 months, Gwennie 7 months and then Lindy's baby, which is due in late July. All the kids will be spaced out similarly to how us cousins are :) My hope is that our kids will be as close as we were.

We had snow this morning. Not a lot... just 1/4 of an inch or so. Ethan didn't get a chance to play in it before it melted. Hopefully we'll be able to get some more so he can enjoy it.

Majorly tired. Off to bed.

Well, I said I'd put up pics today but it ain't happening. I'm tuckered out.

Ethan was up twice last night. I find it so... what's the word... we'll go with irritating, that after finally getting Gwen to sleep through the night Ethan is now waking. Its so unfair.

Jason went out and got us some milk, bread and pellets. The essentials :) After using the pellet stove for awhile, the baseboard heaters just don't cut it. We had them on full blast and just could not make the house warm.

I went out later in the day to pick up things I forgot to have Jason get and I ended up getting a whole bunch of random stuff, including a new angel for our christmas tree and two candles that smell great when they are unlit, but have no scent at all when they are lit which is disappointing.

We put up our christmas tree today. Its fake and pre-lit so its super easy. Ethan doesn't seem that impressed by it, which is good :) We decided to put it right out in the living room, next to the pellet stove so that I could easily keep an eye on it.

I'm irked right now because of all this rain... its caused the enormous hole that the dogs dug to become a mud pit and they are tracking in HUGE amounts of dirt. Its horrible. Its so much that I just can't keep up and our feet are filthy at the end of the day. I'm going to have to think of some way to fix it.

Tomorrow is Jenni's 13th birthday. I can't believe she's so old *sniff*. I remember her birth clear as day. I even remember what I was wearing and how my hair was done. I was 14 years old.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just returned from Grammy & Grandpas house. We got there around 2:00 and left about 7:15. As soon as we got home, we got the kids in jammies, fed them, then sent them off to bed. Gwen took a short nap this afternoon (convienently while we ate) but Ethan had no nap and so both of them were very worn out.

All the food was delish, and visiting with all the family was so nice. Grammy & Grandpa did a great job of hosting! After dinner we talked and played the piano and frolicked with the kids. Good times.

We took some photos too, at my Mom's request. There are some good ones, but I'm far too tired to upload them all now.

Oh I am weary. So so weary. Not from lack of sleep, but from cooking so much! It doesn't seem like I made a lot, but it really wore me out. I made a Dutch Apple pie (apple pie with struesel topping), prepped my sweet potatoes and then made chicken stock for mazto ball soup for dinner.

Sigh. My matzo ball soup. I was really looking forward to it but I used a different, more "gourmet" recipe and they came out as hard as rocks. They actually bounced. I do not know what happened, but they were tough and fairly tasteless. So disappointing :( At least the stock and chicken were good.

Gwen was so funny this evening. Every time we'd sing (which is pretty often... we're always making up little songs for the kids), she'd start sticking out her tongue in time to the music. I kid you not! It was really strange :)

We started her on two meals a day... she now has 2-3 Tbls of food at breakfast and dinner. It hasn't seemed to affect her nursing schedule which is really my highest priority, as nothing I could feed her right now would be close to the calorie and fat content of breastmilk.

Ethan was quite a little rapscallion today. He kept climbing on the table time after time after time. We'd block the chairs and he'd move them and climb up. He'd wait until we left the room or were distracted then he'd start working on it. Finally we had to put the chairs upside down on the floor to stop him. It seemed that no matter where he went he was getting into trouble.

Tonight we were playing with a flashlight and he saw his shadow. It seemed to frighten him for a few moments. Its been gradual, but he's developing some fears of late. A hesitancy about the dark, running to me he finds something scary on TV. He's still mostly fearless, especially when it comes to physical feats.

Tomorrow we head to Grammy's house for Thanksgiving. Should be fun :)

All day I was thinking about what I would type here tonight and when I finally sit down to do it, my mind is blank. Blah!

The weather has been bizarre the last couple days. Its been foggy all day, every day. Its not just a light fog either... its a fairly thick, dense layer. Fog is not all that unusual this time of year, but usually it would burn off. Its strange to go all day without being able to see past your back fence and it makes me feel somewhat claustrophobic.

Today I got the house swept and mopped. With the recent damp weather and the dogs digging (grrr!) mud has been tracked in like crazy. Yesterday I swept the house TWICE and still got a big pile of gunk today. Of course, I look at it right now and its already filthy. Another sweep and mop tomorrow if I get the time! I also did tons of laundry, put away most of it, did a bit of sewing to repair a blanket and a couple loads of dishes. Whew. No wonder I've been dead tired every night lately.

Jason and I are still in the living room. Next week I've decided to start the kids sleeping in the same room and see how it works. I think that it could definitely be workable. However, I'm going to have to really prepare myself for the undoubtedly rough adjustment period that will occur.

I've gotten together my Christmas list and already picked out the gifts for the kids. Now I just have the hard stuff left... I can't really say what that is because the people that will receive them read this blog, but its just a lot of work. Well worth it, but a lot of work :)

Can't believe Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. Wow, it just really snuck up on me. Tomorrow I'll be baking my ham and Dutch apple pie, then prepping the sweet potatoes right before we head to Grammy & Grandpa's house.

Tonight for dinner we had a surprisingly good sausage/pasta/sun-dried tomato/spinach dish. My description is very lacking, but it was very good and quite easy. Last night we had beef stroganoff made with beef tenderloin and mushrooms. I thought it quite good, but Jason said he still prefers the ground beef version.

I've finished 3 books over the past 1 1/2 weeks. Yay! I still have 4 more to go and my Mom picked up two for me today. Reading is such an escape for me and I devour them so fast that I fear eventually I will run out of things to read! Luckily, I know Shelly has many book recommendations so I still have a few years before that may become a reality ;)

Haven't blogged at all over the past few days. Just been too tired and too worn out. I think I may be fighting off a bug.

Friday the kids and I went up to Grammy & Poppa's house (their great-grandparents) to visit and we went to a really cool park. I have good pics, but my camera is dead and Grammy & Poppa have the power cord with the video camera we lent them :)

Saturday I had a dreadful headache and the kids didn't sleep. I ran back out to the Other Mothers store to return the clothes and shoes that didn't fit Ethan and the dresses for Gwen that we decided not to use. While I was there, I got yet another pair of shoes for Ethan, this time a size larger, in hopes that they would fit. They were cute little Gymboree loafers. Well, that kid just has the thickest feet and I couldn't wedge those things on him for the life of me! Grr!

Since the kids were such crabs, I was thinking we should cancel going to Shelly's play, but I'm glad we ended up going. Becki babysat and the kids were really good for her. The play, as I posted last night, was really excellent. Shel did a fantastic job as Shelby.

Today we didn't do much. I woke up with another aching headache. It seriously felt like I had a hangover, but I didn't have a drop of alcohol :) We ran out to the shoe store (this time with Ethan in tow so we could try the shoes on him!) and found a cute pair of dress shoes. We also went into Fred Meyers to pick up a few odds and ends. It was packed, as one could expect the weekend before Thanksgiving!

Tonight for dinner I made Jason's favorite meal. Chicken fried steak, cream gravy, mashed potatoes and peas. It was very good, but oh so heavy. I feel like I put 5 lbs on my hips just eating that meal :)

This upcoming week will be busy with Thanksgiving prep and me starting on my Christmas projects. I both enjoy and dread this time of year.

Really quick note. Just got home from seeing Michelle in Steel Magnolias, in which she rocked! It was really very good.

The kids have been sleeping well, except for today when no one wanted to nap. Otherwise they have been doing great. We may be back in our bed tomorrow. Yay.

Thats all for now. I'm tired but want to get some reading in before I totally fall asleep.

<3 ya'll

Today was a full day.

I went to part of a cooking class. It was on bread and soups and I stayed for the bread section. The soups were things I'd already done, and since one of the instructors was sick, everything was a bit scattered and I ended up bailing early.

After that, I went to Other Mothers and sold my Bumbo sitter and some clothes. While I was there, I got some dress/holiday clothes for the kids. I can see that dresses for Gwen will be my weakness! Couldn't decide on what dress she should wear, and since she is so small, I got all the ones that I liked so we could try them on at home then return what didn't work. I also got some tweed pants, a sweater and shoes for Ethan. The sweater and shoes didn't work and I'm returning two of the dresses I got for Gwen.

Here's what I'm keeping:

This is a flannel plaid wrap dress with a frilly sleeve/neck turtleneck onesie


This is a velvet jumper


This is what she'll wear for our holiday pictures. Its velvet on the top, lace around the middle and a heavy satin on the bottom. She looks absolutely stunning in it!


I also went grocery shopping and got everything I need for Thanksgiving. Its strange not to be having to stress about hosting it this year :)

Stopped also at Payless shoes and picked up some funky boots. However, they will be going back as Jason says they are horrid and remind him of the wicked witch! I think they're kinda cool, but if everyone else says "eewww" maybe I'm wrong :)

After I got back Mom, Jenni, the kids and I all went to the Silver Lake park and played for about an hour. It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we're going out to Grammy & Grandpa's tomorrow and if the weather is good, we'll be going to a park there too!

We had assorted leftovers for dinner. Jason had soup and biscuits, I had deep dish pizza from the night before and Ethan had some of both of ours.

Two pieces of good news.

1. Gwen slept through the night again. Yay! Ethan woke me up once though :)

2. After over a year of working on Gwennies blankie, I have finished. Ethans took about 3 months... I mostly knitted at work. Gwens took soooo much longer because I just couldn't put the time in. Lately though I was really motivated to complete it.

Here it is:



And here's one of Ethan because Daddy told him to go mess up the blanket while I was trying ot get a pic!


I was rather crabby today because although we mostly got to sleep through the night, Gwennie had a big puking incident in the morning. She threw up tons of milk all over the bed and herself. I got that all cleaned up, then she did some more. Basically she couldn't keep anything down till about 11am, though she did not appear or act sick. Gwen did not nap at all in the morning and I had to rush through my shower and didn't get anything done. That always puts me in a bad mood. After Ethan got up I changed his diaper and it was dry (after like 4 hours of being in it!). I thought that perhaps he'd like to use the toilet, so we went in there, but he didn't go. I decided to let him go diaperless for about 15 min, then try him again on the potty. Well, he ended up peeing on the rug.

While I was cleaning that up, he went over to my other side and peed inside the tupperware container of cheerios. Then of course he tried to eat the cheerios. Oy!

For dinner we had Potato-Leek soup. It was ok. I tried a different recipe and this one didn't call for the soup to be pureed like we normally have it. It was chunky and while it was good, it just wasn't what we were used to. This normally is one of our favorite soups and we were kinda "eh" about it.

Yesterday Becki came over and joined us for a big turkey dinner that I made. Yes, I realize that Thanksgiving is next week, but this time of year inspires me to eat turkey more often. It seems a shame you can only have turkey, stuffing and cranberries one day a year! We had a good time visiting and she helped give the kids their baths. They enjoyed seeing their Aunt :)

The best thing happened last night. Gwen slept through the night! However, Ethan did not :) He woke up twice. Luckily he went down easy again.

Today we didn't do much. We ran out early because we were out of milk and I had to get my coffee. I put on a sweatshirt, put the kids in the car (still in pj's) and we headed to the espresso stand :)

Tonight for dinner I made turkey enchiladas using the leftover turkey from last night. I made a homemade enchilada sauce which was quite tasty. The whole meal was really good, especially with avocado and sour cream. Gwen had some mashed up avocado and LOOOOOVED it. She ate every single bit and I think she would have eaten more!

Out of nowhere Gwen is now babbling like crazy, saying "bababababababa". Any day now she's going to say Mama or Dada, I just know it!

I really need to get going on my Christmas stuff. We've pretty much planned out what we're going to get and stuff, but its just getting around buying and organizing. Its hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week, then Christmas just a month away and soon the new year will be here. Time is really flying.

Last night was our best sleep in a long time. Gwen only got up once, at 3:00am. Unfortunately, the dogs woke both kids up at 6:30, but I really couldn't complain too much. We're really getting used to sleeping in the living room. We find that the air mattresses are pretty comfy.

Today we went to a park... I don't recall what its called, but its that one in Snohomish on the Pilchuck River. It was cold, but we had a great time and got some fantabulous pics, which I'll add at the bottom of the post.

I came down with an aching head, kinda swollen tongue and sore throat. I fear I may be getting sick! Kinda bailed on dinner and we had leftovers from last night. The pot roast was REALLY good, both yesterday and today.

There is an enormous stack of book on my counter waiting to be read. I've moved past my fascination with medieval English royalty (in the time of Anne Bolelyn, etc) at least temporarily and am now interested in historical fiction set in ancient Egypt. I finished reading that banned book, "The Egyptian" and still am not sure why it was banned? It just so happened that AMC was playing the movie version of the book. The movie was pretty bad and really mangled the story line. However, I do love watching those old movies because of how they're done. The special effects are really poor and the actors talk SO much compared to today's movies. In a way, they are much more entertaining than the movies of today.

Ethan can say some new words. He now says "ball" and "egg". His desire to have us read through his picture book 100 times a day seems to be resulting in a growing vocabulary! He surprises us with what he understands. Under "A", there is an ambulance. Under "C" there is a car. Well, when he points to the ambulance and we say ambulance, he keeps asking until we say car. He thinks *we* are wrong! Its funny how he linked those two together, even though they look nothing alike.

Oh, and today he went potty in the big toilet! Woo hoo! We set him on it facing backward and he went. He's done it a couple times and he gets so proud. He flushes, then gets his sticker and runs to the potty chair to put it on.

Ok, here are the pics.

Here are the pics I promised the day before yesterday. Had a bad night, then Mom came over to watch the kids while I went grocery shopping and by the time I got back and everything I was just sooooooo tired and unable to get the pics up.














Last night we had a very tasty salmon dish. I don't often make fish, but I've been trying to fix that. The recipe was SO simple. Barely cooking. It took 30 min, and 20 of those minutes were just waiting for the rice to be done. Here it is: Honey and Soy Glazed Salmon. We had it with basil rice and garlicky spinach. Ethan loved the salmon... even more than Jason did :) The salmon was great because its very simply done, but crispy on both sides, then you put that glaze over the top and its just a great contrast in texture.

So far today I've been cooking like crazy. I've made some dough for dinner rolls, then some bread dough for breakfast tomorrow (going to make monkey bread), then got my pot roast going in the slow cooker. Haven't managed to get in my shower yet, but hopefully the kids will stay asleep long enough. Otherwise I'll have to wait till Jason gets home or their next nap, whichever comes first :)

I forgot to mention yesterday that I saw a movie, 3-Iron, and it was boooor-ing. Its a Japanese film and generally I have a great love of foreign (Asian especially) film and can tolerate the plodding story lines that sometimes come along with them. This however was FAR too slow. I was able to fast forward through nearly all of it and not miss a thing since the main characters said like 3 words the entire movie.

Well, our little test to see how Gwen slept with us out of the room worked kinda. She woke up at 10:30, 1 and 6. Except for the 6am waking, she went back to sleep fairly easily the other times. I slept so much better outside the room though and so we're going to do it again tonight.

Today I was feeling guilty about how I never take my kids anywhere. No parks or anything. So, I went to this really cool park I've heard about (not too far from Costco) on Silver Lake. Its huge and their playground ROCKS. Ethan, poor child, didn't really know how to play. He just walked around mostly and threw rocks and bark. He did swing, ride on a rocking toy, go down a slide twice on his own and walk around on the extensive play area. Probably his favorite part was seeing the geese though. There was about 10 of them just outside the play area and when he saw those he darted towards them so fast I couldn't keep up. I was toting Gwen in the stroller and I had to literally run to keep up with him. He chased one all the way down to the beach, where he saw the ducks. The ducks are pretty tame and they came up on the shore around him and he was in heaven! He then picked up sticks and tried to throw them at the ducks. I had to drag that child away from the birds.

There was another child there about Ethan's age and they had a few interactions. She was throwing a fit and sitting next to her Dad. Ethan did his "walk" to her, kinda like he was showing off. If you don't know, his walk is this straight legged gait. He kicks his legs up high and keeps them very straight. Its super cute. Anyway, he walks up to her that way and gives her this "hey why are you not playing" hand gesture. She put her head into her Dads shoulder and then Ethan picked up two pine cones and pitched them at her. Luckily, he was far enough away and his throw was pretty weak so they didn't even notice, but I did. We moved away before he got another shot at her :)

Tonight for dinner we had mashed potatoes (with skins on), hamburger patties, gravy and sauteed bell peppers. Pretty good. I gave Gwen some straight mashed potatoes with some olive oil to loosen it and she LOVED it! Ethan always liked potatoes flavored with olive oil.

Oh, I have some pics from the playground, but am too tired to put them up tonight. Will try to do it tomorrow.

Last night we tried having Jason sleep in the living room while I stayed in the room with Gwen. She woke up at 11, 2, 5 (awake till 6) then Jason woke me at 7am with some espresso. Every time she got up it was a MAJOR hassle to put her back to sleep. She has to be sleeping ON me (not next to, or on my arm, but on my chest) or she thrashes around and refuses to sleep. Its strange because she's never really slept on me previously, so its not like this is what she's used to.

Tonight I've put two air mattresses in the living room and Jason and I will both be sleeping out here. Our hope is that the ultra-quiet room may help her sleep longer. If it does, I'm not sure what that means. We have no space to give her a private room.

My recipe for Tuna Casserole was requested yesterday via comment. I'm almost embarassed to put it up because its not at all high-class :) I have a weakness for those canned french-fried onions, so the recipe is from there: Tuna Noodle Casserole. Its so simple and thats why its in my "too tired to cook" rotation. However, I do not do the microwave version. To me, microwaves are not for cooking. They are for reheating and defrosting :)

We've started giving Gwen cheerios and man, does she love those things. She was getting all upset tonight because I wasn't feeding them to her fast enough. Ethan went by with a few and she practically lunged at him! He has learned the joy of feeding Gwen and now any small food bits he tries to share with her. Last night it was peas and tuna, today it was dried apricot bits, then cheerios. Bless his heart, he just wants to share but I really dreaded this stage because I know it will be ripe for choking!

Another dreadful night. Not much to say, just that going all day on 4 hours sleep is killer (not in a good way).

However, I did get alot done. Did numerous loads of laundry and put most of it away, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, cleaned Ethans room and managed to get in quite a bit of reading as well.

We had a simple tuna casserole for dinner.

Ethans new thing is trying to put his fingers in your nose. It is gross.

Blah. Gwen was up from 2-5 this morning. Worst fussiness EVER. She was screaming so loud I was worried that someone might call the cops. She had just worked herself into a major fit and nothing we did helped. Jason was sleeping on the couch. He tried to calm her for awhile, then brought her back to me. It was just bad. We all rolled out of bed at 7:30; Ethan the only well-rested one.

Due to this bad early morning, no one was in a good mood and we've been crabby all day. didn't really do much. Folded some laundry and played with the kids.

Oh, I have some new videos up, so click on the link on the right side to see those.

I made beef tacos tonight with homemade taco shells. Good stuff.

Hopefully we will sleep tonight. Jason and I are just miserable right now and I'm feeling that cloud start to re-form over my head :(

Oh, here are two good pics I took of Ethan today. I was actually trying to get some of Gwen and grabbed a few of Ethan at the same time. Turns out none of Gwens came out, but Ethans were great.

Ethans eyes really pop in the picture, especially if you click to see the larger version. The OB who delivered him says he has 'bedroom eyes'.

Very tired. Gwen didn't sleep well last night. Jason worked today so he left early in the AM and the kids were insanely cranky before we left for my Moms. They were great while we were there, but then were super cranky on the way home.

We had a nice visit at my Mom's house and I made eggrolls for dinner. Becki was there and it was good to see her. We were able to give Jason about 4 hours of free time after he got home from work.

Too sleepy to write more.

Oh lovely rain, how I adore thee. I dreamed of you during the summer and now you have come! Seriously, I'm loving the torrents of rain we're getting. Fall *IS* my time of year.

We didn't do much today. I made some spinach-ricotta ravioli for dinner, picked up the house, swept, did numerous loads of dishes and laundry, got in a few rows of knitting and started my new book (once it was banned, called "The Egyptian").

Jason came home early as he is working tomorrow and he spent a good amount of time playing with the kids while I made what seemed like thousands of ravioli. We had them with a tomato cream sauce and they were really quite good. I had a whole tray of them that I didn't use, so I'm freezing them for use later. Ethan really liked them and since they are very easy to eat with the hands, they'll make a good lunch for him. Good way to sneak in the veggies too.

Gwen has slept through the night the last two nights. Basically from 11pm to about 5am. So nice. I can usually get her back to sleep for another hour or so after feeding her. This sleep, combined with my newly upped dosage of Zoloft seems to be keeping me on a fairly even keel. I still get moments of frustration and stress, but it no longer seems overwhelming. My lows are not depressive.

Wednesday we took Ethan to the doctor about a rash he has in his diaper area. He had the same rash a week or two ago, but after applying some Bacitracin it disappeared. It then reappeared on Monday, much worse.

The pediatrician wasn't our normal one, and she took one look at this rash (that is all over his diaper area) and said that they were spider bites? Huh? At the time Jason and I were too shocked and horrified to say anything, but the more I think about it, the more unlikely it seems. For one, the rash is not in a typical spider bite pattern. Secondly, Ethan almost always wears footed sleepers with ribbed cuffs. Meaning that these spiders would have to crawl into the sleeper through the neck then make their way down his diaper and *only* bite him there. And I've never seen a spider in his room, EVER! Oh, and these 'bites' all happen at once, then fade. He's not always getting new ones.

Anyway, I still think it might be yeast related, so I'm putting Lotrimin on it for a few days to see how it resolves. I just don't believe its spiders.

On the way home, we stopped at Lowes to get some pellets for the stove. While the guy was loading them in the car Ethan started acting up, so I gave him the Happy Meal box from lunch earlier. I didn't look at him again until we were on our street and when I did I got a big surprise. The caramel dip that had come with his apples (yah, great option to french fries there McD's... apples with caramel dip!) was still in the box and had busted it open and smeared it all over his face, hair and hands. He was glistening with caramel. I couldn't help myself and I said, "Oh! Ethan!" and he then seemed to realize that he was covered in stickiness and started getting upset. He clapped his hands together and they were so sticky that he could barely pull them apart, making him even more upset! It was sooo funny!

Today the best thing I did was make bread. After my disappointing results the last time I tried, today was a wonderful success. Its a sandwich bread so there isn't much crust and the texture is very fine. However, it tastes wondrous and chewy and soooo fresh. It makes me not want to eat the boring bland wheat stuff that we always have. I found a good place to let the dough rise... On the back of our pellet stove, over the pellet holder. It doesn't get hot, but there is so much warm air circulating back there that the bread rises beautifully and quickly.

Tonight we had that Thai Beef Red Curry again that I made a week or two ago. So good. So easy. Love it!

Yesterday was Halloween. I spent the entire day cleaning and getting ready :) Mom, Jenni and Michael showed up at 5:30 and joined us for dinner (slow cooker chili). Soon afterwards, Grammy and Grandpa showed up, then Becki, then Aunt Deanne, Aaron, Ben and Brynne. We got Ethan dressed up in his dino costume and Gwennie in her little bunny sleeper (not really a costume, but it does have ears).

Gwendolyn was cranky from the get go for some reason. Here's her and Nana. Check out the crazy hair, she looks like a Kewpie doll.



Here's Ethan in his costume. The boy loves to mop, and I certainly am not going to stop him!



One of Ethan, Gwen and I. I went as a "Mommy without makeup" ;)



Here's one of Aaron, Ben and Gwen. We tried to get Ethan in there, but he was raring to go and wouldn't sit still. Aaron was the Scream character and Ben was a rhino.



Ethan and his Poppa (great-grandpa)




Gwen all set to go in her stroller. Such a flirt!



Ethan and Mommy (that darn head kept falling over his face!)



Checking out the loot


Walking home


Grammy and Michael stayed home... Michael to do homework and Grammy to pass out candy. We only had 13 trick-or-treaters the entire night. We barely saw anyone out on the streets either. However, Ethan still got tons of candy!

Today we didn't do much. Gwen didn't sleep well at all and I was woken up every 30 min or so from about 12-6. That's tough. The Zoloft seems to be helping though as I surprisingly didn't lose my cool, although I was so tired and weary.

The kids were restless and bored. At one point Ethan got up and walked to his crib and asked for his nap. You know you're being really boring if a toddler asks to go to sleep!

I took this cute pic this morning. They were both playing with the Leap Pad and giggling.



For dinner we had a delightful pork tenderloin with a maple spiced glaze, peas, and rice pilaf. Healthy and delicious. Good counterpoint to all the candy that was eaten today. Frozen Snickers are sooooo nummy.