Batman

You should know that I cried and cursed five minutes into costume making. That’s when Jared took over and I supervised. Either way, we ended up with the coolest little batman.

 Proof?

Gray's costume is, uh, currently under construction. Yeah.  

Wait, Apple Hill isn't a giant apple?

Because Phin thinks it would be so much cooler if it was. After two plus hours in the car with Mom and Dad trying to hype it up,

"Phin, we're here! This is Apple Hill!"

"Mommy, what'd you say?"

"We're at Apple Hill!"

"No! No, this isn't Apple Hill. No!"

"Uh, yeah, this is it." Crap. "This is Apple Hill!"

"No Mama! This, this, we not at Apple Hill!"

Poor kid was expecting a giant Apple Hill. James and the Giant Peach style, but bigger. And you know, an apple.

Vovo pacified him with a giant, but not hill sized, chocolate and caramel covered marshmallow on a stick. Yeah, we let him have that for less than a minute. And he rode a horse, a pony, which fufilled a Momma dream for me. Fun was had by all!

Gray slept most of the day but he ate when he was hungry and was cuddled by many loved ones. So I'm sure he had a pretty sweet day himself.

The whole weekend was pretty fabulous. Living the dream.

 

Costumes or what I'm really scared of this Halloween.

I have Halloween costumes to make this week and I’m feeling incredibly intimidated. I’m sitting here thinking, “Mel, you fool! Why are you typing when you should be drafting intricate plans for your children’s debut on the super hero circuit? Why blog when you could be sewing shiny pleather pants or making a paper mache muscle chest ?!”

Yeah. I should get on that. I had awesome costumes as a kid but it’s just reason number 987 that I will never be as cool as my mom.

Example you ask? When I was in fifth grade I wanted to be Cleopatra. My Mom helped me dye my hair black and we found the perfect snake jewelry at a thrift store. I would love to have it now. The draping we did with a bed sheet would have made Michael Kors and Nina Garcia cry happy tears. I practiced my most royal saunter until my eyes turned purple. The only snafu popped up when we realized we bought semi-permanent dye by  mistake. I sported that jet black hair until my mom was sick of it. Eventually she made me sit in the tub and shampoo my head fifteen times in a row. A little hair loss and scalp bleeding never hurt anyone.

On the other end of the Halloween costume spectrum my biggest fail happened when I was fifteen. I borrowed an orange jumpsuit from the correctional center my dad worked at. It was the opposite of attractive and despite a good washing, it smelled like pee and bleach. Not a good move for a socially awkward teenage girl. I told everyone who asked that I got it from my Dad and yes, it was real. They misinterpreted that. Sorry Dad.

Despite costume fear, I am so down with the Halloween train this year. Yesterday my two year told his Vovo that he was not Phinny but in fact, Batman. How cool is that? We are at that stage! He’s been practicing trick or treating for weeks. Although usually he only gets a string cheese or a cracker or a cable bill, you know, whatever’s handy at the moment. Imagine how cool he’ll think the real thing is. You have no idea how many times a day my two little boys make me smile. I have never, ever been more excited about a holiday season. I’m squealing inside at the thought.   

Alright. Wish me luck, I have flour and water to mix and form and paint.  Yippee.

This is how Phin feels about Monday.

I feel ya kid. If Gray had better control of his facial muscles, I'm sure he'd be right there with you.

It's going to be a busy, BUSY week. I take it back. It will be busy until Christmas. Hold on to your cardigans.

What. the. F. aka, things said my first day back.

First day of school today. Well, first day back after maternity leave and I w.ork for a school, so....

I bought pants for the occasion, in my normal size, which made me feel pretty good about myself. No shame in admitting I strutted around my kitchen this morning and gave myself a little pat on the back. 

Then I went in to my office. I was getting all the news I've missed in the last three months. They repaved the street, a couple of colleagues were married, oh and she had a baby.

Wait, what? She was pregnant? The same time I waddled though the halls and moaned to the masses she was rocking skinny jeans and not saying a word? We were due weeks apart? And she was back to work the next week? Well done much younger, fitter co-worker. And by well done I mean, can we trade genetics?

My pants no longer seem all that special. I did not strut post work. 

But hey, they repaved the street!  

And look at these feet! I get to come home to these feet!

Going out in style.

My maternity leave is over soon. So soon. Four days, ten hours and six minutes if you want to get technical. I have incredibly mixed emotions. On one hand, I'm a little excited to see my colleagues, get back into a routine and talk in adult each day. Although, they should be warned that I counted to three on Jared the other day when he didn't move fast enough. He was all, uhhhhh? And I was all, crap that was out loud.

On the other, NOOOOOOOOO! That second part is currently winning. I feel a little cheated since I had to use up half of my leave for bed rest and Gray's hospital stay. What a sad waste of baby time.

We decided the best way to say goodbye to the land of no schedule was to head up to the lake for the week. Family came to our rescue and is at our house with the farm. I have it on good authority that a certain family member (mysisterNabutyoudidn'thearitfromme) demanded to know what the intruder slash shoe rack wanted from her the other night. Hahhahahaha. Ha.

We are staying at my grandparent's time share with my brother and his family. It's been awesome. I can't remember a year that I've been able to swim in Tahoe from May until October. It's chilly enough at nights to light a fire and eat entire plates of brownies and warm enough during the day to swim and get ice cream. At least it was. I swear by Tahoe Tessie herself that we left the beach the last good swim weather second. The wind picked up as we walked back to our car and temperatures dropped the very next day.

Today we went on a little hike at Mt. Rose. So much yellow and gold up in the hills. Not the really good kind of gold. You know, the kind that would extend my leave and increase my ability to pull off an eccentric eye twitch. Just the standard leaf variety. Still nice. We  hiked up to a little waterfall and by the time we were ready to turn around Phin refused to walk. Jared had Gray strapped on so I thought I would carry Phin for a little bit, just until he was distracted by a hole or rock or the need to pee. A little bit turned into two and a half miles down the mountain. I feel it's appropriate to mention that Phin had a nice growth spurt this summer and is about the same size as his four year old cousins. I also think it's appropriate to mention that Jared bought me two york peppermint patties in gratitude. I could barely lift my arms to feed myself.

So in summary, I can't believe my baby is two months old. I kiss his very fat and kissable cheeks every chance I get. It's going to be tough to leave next week. Scary.