Trick or Treat!!

McClellan's 1st Halloween!!


We had a great day-bagels and coffee at Mike's in the morning followed by errands and then home for some football & relaxing. We put McClellan in her costume and took about a million photos, then headed to the neighbors for her one house of Trick or Treating.

They agreed, she's the cutest pumpkin in the patch by far!



She was so proud of herself in that puffy little pumpkin costume!

Look at all that candy! She was pretty interested in those little "fun sized" yummy treats, but NO, she didn't get to try any.

But on this night...she ended up with oatmeal instead of candy. We celebrated McClellan's first Halloween by starting her on some oatmeal. I was going to start her with avocado but didn't have any so oatmeal it was!

She has spent the last couple of months watching our every bite so she knew just what to do with her first bite-Matt leaned in with the spoon and her mouth was wide open.

And then Lil' Miss Independent decided she'd try it on her own...and that was cute, but not very productive.

Oatmeal was a HUGE success & McClellan's first Halloween a memorable one for sure!!

I'm not doing so good at this...

working, outside the home, mom-thing.

I hate it.

Enough said.

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!

Today we went to May Farms (www.mayfarms.com) for their Harvest Festival.

Matt and I had actually gone before a few years ago and had a blast. We said then that when we had children we would definitely be back!

Well, we meant it and McClellan had her first experience at May Farms today! She loves being outside and loves watching everything around her. She takes it all in-from the sites, the sounds and even all the different textures. She loves feeling *everything* and today was no exception. She had dirt, rocks, pumpkin vines and all sorts of things in her hands today!

Ahhh...I couldn't be any more in love with this little girl!!

McClellan loved the little goats in the barnyard & this one seemed to really love her!

I wasn't sure how McClellan would like the barrel train ride-but she loved it!! She squealed the whole time and we couldn't stop laughing! Each sharp turn and big bump seemed to only make her like it more! She's going to be our little adventure girl!!

There she is!! The cutest pumpkin in the patch!!

Love my little pumpkin!! She was so fun today!! I've dreamt of days like this and finally, they're no longer dreams!

"WOW-this pumpkin is even bigger than me!"

Being the cutest pumpkin in the patch is hard work! She's worn out!

3rd time's a charm ... or is it?

So, today McClellan and I met up with Betsy and Clare for a walk on the trails that lead to Cherry Creek State Park. This is the third time we've met there for a walk.

The first time we went, we got all the way into the park area and there were snakes crawling across the trail. Needless to say, we turned around and walked back to the parking lot.

Our second walk on the trail was even shorter. This time the walk ended *right* when we entered the park area Betsy's stroller ended up with a flat tire. Not just any flat, a seriously dead, flat tire. So again, we turned around and headed back to the parking lot.

Today, our third time went something like this:

Meet at the park, laugh about how every time we've tried this something happens, wonder how far we'll make it this time, get the girls in their strollers, head out on the trail, get around the corner...and, this time, it's ME with the flat tire. Yes, seriously. This time, we only had been on the trail for about 5 minutes. Yes, yes, yes...I'm serious.

So again, we turned around and headed back to the parking lot. There's a gas station just across from where we park so while McClellan stayed back with Betsy & Clare, I headed to the gas station to try and air up my flat as a pancake tire.

Here's where it gets even better:

I got to the air machine and realized I had no cash. Into the gas station I went, hoping for an ATM machine. BINGO-they had an ATM! So...I pulled out $20, (along with the $2.25 machine charged me, and then the $2.00 my bank will charge=$24.25) and then had to buy a pack of gum so the guy behind the counter would give me quarters for the air machine.

20 seconds of air ultimately cost me $5.25. Yes, I'm serious.

Back to the parking lot I went, slapped the tire back on the stroller and ... you guessed it, the tire was already going flat.

Not willing to let my $5.25 go to waste, we decided to press on and walk as far as we could on whatever air my tire would hold.

As it turned out, that wasn't very far. 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back in...and back in the parking lot I was with a flat as a pancake tire again.

The third time is not always a charm.

"If I hit her...I'll lose my job."

McClellan is sick, again, for the second time since starting day care August 23rd. Really she never got fully over the congestion from being sick the first time.

I picked her up from daycare on Friday and Erica & Brandi told me they thought she was getting sick again and wasn't feeling well. We came home and she slept from 5:00 - 8:00, woke up in time to take an 8 oz bottle and then went back to sleep again. We woke her up to change her diaper and put her to bed, feed her again...and she slept from 10:00pm - 5:15am Saturday morning. I got up, breastfed her and then she went back down until 9:00am.

To say that McClellan is an amazing sleeper would be an understatement-even when she's sick she's a sleeping rock star!!

When she got up at 9:00 I took her temp and she was still running a low fever-slightly over 100 degrees. We decided to all the Dr and get in that morning - good thing I followed my gut; McClellan has her first ear infection and is now on her first antibiotic.

This sucks. Having her sick and on meds blows. She absolutely *HATES* having her nose sucked out and we have to do that often. I'm not a fan of overusing antibiotics and would have preferred to delay giving her any for as long as possible. The risks of not treating an ear infection are too high though, and I'm not willing to risk it. The Dr. says that she'll won't be contagious after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours and that she should start feeling better in about that same time frame.

So off we went to get her saline drops for her nose and fill her prescription. The pharmacy was going to be awhile so we decided to leave and go get a bite to eat. As Matt ordered for us, I sat down at a table and pulled out a bottle to feed McClellan. There was no hiding that she's sick-you can hear the rattling around when she breathes (luckily it's all in her head and hasn't gone to her chest) and her little nose, no matter how often we wipe/clean it, seems to always be snotty.

I sat there feeding McClellan and noticed a woman at a table about 10' away staring at us. I smiled, assuming she was staring because my little girl is super cute. A few minutes later a younger woman and a baby came and sat down with the "staring woman." It was then that I heard the "staring woman" say "No wonder her baby is sick-she doesn't breast feed..."

About every emotion went through my head...anger, embarrassment, sadness, guilt. How dare she judge me. How dare she assume anything. She has no idea what I've done to try and get my supply bumped up. She has no idea how much guilt I feel and how I wonder if Punky's immune system isn't as strong as it could be because I'm not able to exclusively breast feed her.

I became enraged. I wanted to hit her. I wanted to walk over to her table and go off. I was so upset I had tears in my eyes. I kept telling myself "If I hit her, I"ll lose my job." Notice that I wasn't as concerned about being charged, but being charged would mean I would lose my job.

I'm sure that sounds ridiculous-hitting someone. I agree. But I'm just being honest, that's where my head went.

What I should have done is walk over, let her see the tears in my eyes, and tell her how much her words hurt me. I should have made her listen to all that I've done; from lactation cookies, lactation consultant appointments, prescriptions that are supposed to help build your supply, herbs, supplements, nasty tasting tea, the list goes on. And then, then I should have asked her if she thought it would have been better had I let my daughter starve.

I'm a good mom, a darn good mom. I may be new at this but I think I'm doing a great job. Do I wish that I could produce enough milk so that McClellan was only being given breast milk-you bet I do, but not being able to does NOT make me a bad mom.

McClellan is 5 months old today!!

The time is going by too fast, way too fast! She's changing so much and growing so fast...and I really just wish she'd slow down!

McClellan continues to make us look good-still sleeping through the night as she has since 3 weeks old, and yes, we realize we are extremely lucky! She is still the happiest girl-rarely fusses and even more rarely cries. She is just extremely laid back and mellow-how did we get so lucky??

Roly Poly-that's what McClellan is these days. She rolls everywhere and anywhere she can...and FAST!! The days of putting her on her play mat and her staying there are over! She is starting to get up on all fours but hasn't yet figured out the crawling, instead she just rocks back and forth.

Getting this months photo was WAY harder than ever before-all she wanted to do was grab on to Charlie, her bear, and wiggle around. The days of propping her up and taking an easy picture are over I think.

She's been sitting up now for a couple of weeks, getting longer and longer each time-she loves it and seems so proud of herself!

This past month also brought our first bout of sickness since starting day care. Snotty nose and low grade fever=missed work and lots of cuddling from Mom and Dad. In the midst of Punky being sick I got sick with a full blown sinus infection and then a week or so later Matt got sick. Lovely. According to our pediatrician, this is all normal-oh joy.

We're all healthy now and feeling good just in time for fall, our favorite time of year. We're looking forward to pumpkin patches, football, fall baking and trips to the mountains for fall colors and hikes!!