I Heart Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

We had a really great weekend of Halloween related activities with Miss Mars...she is just so much fun and so stinkin' funny that I can't get enough of her.  Smarter and smarter everyday...she's turning into quite the chatterbox, and into little miss independent.  We have a stubborn one on our hands, sad but true.  On Saturday morning, we headed off to Marley's last session of fall swimming lessons at the YMCA.  Travis asked her in the morning who she wanted to swim with that day, and her response was, "Daddy!"  Good choice, Mars...momma was not feeling like stuffing myself into a swimsuit that morning!  Girls got my back!!  She was kicking and swimming and splashing up a storm, having so much fun!  Loved the lessons and we'll be back for the next level come early spring! 

We headed to the 50th and France Pumpkin Festival after swimming for a bit of trick-or-treating.  It really was more like Marley bull-dozing people on the sidewalk and trying to touch other kids costumes, which was fine, but she ran out of steam really fast!  She's probably a bit too young for the whole trick-or-treating stuff, but it was fun to get her out and about...and I may be biased, but she was the CUTEST COWGIRL ever!!!!

Marley had a Halloween party at daycare today.....and it seems that she had tons of fun!  We baked/frosted cookies together on Sunday (what a mess) and packed them up in little bags for her to give to her friends at "school"!!  I guess I didn't realize that this whole making sugar cookies and frosting them process takes, what seems like, an eternity!  I feel like I spent ALL DAY making cookies!  The finished product turned out nicely, though I disagree with the 15 minutes that Martha Stewart told me to bake my cookies for...they were overdone and when Trav sampled them, he looked at me and said, "I chipped my tooth!"  He was only half-joking..........thanks hubby!  This is why I don't bake more often, unless it's bars, but they usually don't require any actual time spent in the oven!!  You'll notice from the photo that I have a little cookie thief on my hands...

Pumpkins galore..........pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bellies, pumpkin carving!  My sister stopped over on Saturday night and suggested we paint my belly into a pumpkin!  I didn't do this when I was pregnant with Marley, though I was 31 weeks along with her at Halloween and certainly could have.  So, I thought, what the heck...........and off to Jo-Ann's we went for some soy paint (good for people, as the bottle states...what it didn't state is that it will not wash out of my favorite pair of black yoga pants which are pretty much my uniform these days).  Just as we started painting my pumpkin belly, Marley insisted on having hers done too...and patience, well, she doesn't have any, so auntie painted Miss Marley first.  I was pleased with the end result!

 

Our pumpkin carving session on Sunday night was really more about Marley acting like a silly girl with daddy...we had to side-line the actual carving until after she went to bed!  They are so cute together though and it amazes me how much she just ADORES him!!!!  I mean, it doesn't amaze me...I knew he would be a great father, but I just love the way they are together and LOVE even more how much they love each other!

 In pregnancy news...we’re nearing the finish line and I’m definitely feeling BLAH!  I’m just plain exhausted…much more so this time around.  Sick of my aching lower back.  Sick of flipping from side to side at night, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.  Sick of being out of breath, which in turn makes me feel like a big pile of crap.  Even more sick of stuffing my big ol’ belly into my car and struggling to buckle up.  It’s getting to the point where I almost HATE anything tight on my stomach, and let’s face it…..all my clothes are tight at this point.  I get uncomfortable just looking at my maternity jeans, you know, the ones that have the full belly panel.  That panel just screams, “If you wear these, your tummy will be itching all day long!”  Nothing like the feeling of stretching skin!  Just the other day, I decided to break out my furry Ugg boots.  These ones happen to have laces that you have to wrap around the boot and tie……..and let me tell you, BAD CHOICE!  I spent 10 minutes getting the boots on and was sweating, to the point I had to go stand outside (in the 40 degree weather) to cool down a bit before continuing my “getting ready” routine.  As I was driving to work, I realized I was going to need Trav’s help to get the stupid boots off at the end of the day.  Probably won’t be wearing those again anytime soon.

Ok………enough complaining!  Seriously!  I have a lot to be thankful for.  No serious complications with this pregnancy.  Baby is growing and thriving, maybe even ahead of schedule.  At my appointment today, Doc J informed me that I'm still measuring 2-2 1/2 weeks further along that I "technically" am.  She did an ultrasound and confirmed that baby boy is HEAD DOWN (key in order for me to VBAC) low in my pelvis...a good sign, and that he is, as she said before, a BIG BOY!  She basically told me to be prepared because everything is moving right along.  He's dropped and I'm having contractions everyday...but it's still likely a couple weeks away!  Crossing my fingers that I'm not still pregnant in December, but if I go a week late, that's going to be the case!  I’m just anxious and excited…both to meet this little guy and to sleep on my stomach again, though I know sleep is going to be harder to come by than ever in a month or so.  Here's the side view of my baby bump at 36 weeks..............yikes!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

xoxo,

The Severson Clan