Five Previously Unknown Things about Fuzzypeach

Christina tagged me to list five things I have not talked about here, providing me with some much needed inspiration for NaBloPoMo (Oh! It's over! I made it! Hooray!). As Elaine said, this was hard! But here are my five things:

1. I regret the time Pearl spent away from my side as a newborn in the hospital. I didn't think it would bother me beforehand, and it did minimally at the time, but now I feel badly about it and I wonder what she felt/thought at those times. I don't think I'll be having a hospital birth again, though it was a pretty good birth all around.
2. An aunt's Chow Chow bit a chunk out of my cheek when I was a toddler, leaving me with a scar near the corner of my mouth. I have only the vaguest memory of it, and I'm not sure if it is a true memory or just something constructed from the stories about it I have heard - but I've been very wary of dogs since.
3. When I was in high school I planned on becoming a midwife. I was studying to be a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with the intent to go on and get my Master's in Nurse-Midwifery. After I stopped going to college I still toyed with the idea of becoming a plain old midwife until earlier this year, when the midwifery school in my city closed down. Realistically though, I do not think I am cut out to handle the stress/responsibility that comes with that job, as amazing and rewarding though it would be.
4. I don't generally have a problem with grossness... I can handle dirty diapers and scrubbing the bathroom just fine, but food grossness is another matter. I can't stand to mess with old food that's been sitting around on plates, and I when I do dishes I do everything I can to insure that I don't come into contact with any nastiness. I'm also paranoid about food being done enough.... food germs, ugh.
5. I read books I love over and over and over again, until they fall apart. I firmly believe that a good book is like an old friend - it's always nice to go and visit them!

Now I will tag my five: Sarah, S, Teri, Merseydotes, & Doow - please consider it inspiration and not obligation:) Anyone else who wishes to play along is of course welcome to as well! Leave a linky so I can check it out!

Today

This morning I took a bunch of pictures of Pearls, practicing for a holiday portrait but not really getting anything as good as I'd like. Last year doing this I had a hard time just getting her to sit up and not fall over; this year I have a hard time keeping her from running off! It's crazy.



It was a soft gray, warmish day - balmy air pushed ahead of the cold front that has now hit. Pearl and I went to the park and played and played this afternoon, perhaps the last time we'll be able to do that for a while without bundling up. I just ordered her a winter coat a few days ago. I'd been eyeing this one from Land's End, but I was too slow and the blue one disappeared. So I got this one instead. It stole my heart with a blue intended for female use and a zipper protector - I hate worrying about zippers digging into Pearl's neck; I don't know why all coats aren't made like this. Her very first coat was an adorable corduroy jacket, but it had a zipper that bugged her so I replaced it with this one in light blue which is about as cute as can be - she looked like a little winter gnome.

Eighteen Months Old

This month has been the month of talking! Pearl has learned a ton of new words. Along with plain old vocabulary, she's got some more abstract verbal concepts down and is forming her words into sentences. I can hold a mini-conversation with her, so long is the subject is about her needs and wants! She'll say "No more milkies." or "Want more pictures." and will answer me yes and no about things - though no is by far her favorite answer! We've been hearing it a lot around here.

The new words/phrases I've managed to remember this month:

Hello
Supper
Car
Bear
Truck
Monkey (and "ooo ooo ahhh ahhh")
Ali
Geoff
Shirt
Diaper
Uh huh (with a big nod!)
No
Moo
Yes
Tweet Tweet
Dinosaurs
Peepee
Poop
Girl
Boy
Bubbles
It's not..
Octopus ("Ockpahs!")
Elephant ("Efffant"
I don't know
Peas
Mice
Sip
Sippy
Cup
Moon
More
Chair
Table
Poke
Sleepin'
Hat
Head
Nose
Park
Play
Banana
Please
Slide


Note the inclusion of peepee and poop in the above list! She is able to verbalize about elimination now before, during, and after the act, and this has really boosted our success with pottying. In fact for the first time on Thanksgiving Day she said, "Peepee!" and sat down on the potty, then peed! I did have to turn her around though, as she sat on it sideways, but I bet she would have peed on it anyhow. So that was exciting.



With the addition of No to her lexicon, she is definitely feeling empowered and asserting her will. The fit-throwing is as yet at a minimum, generally only happening when she is tired or hungry. Otherwise she goes along willingly with my countering "Yes." She has had a few meltdowns, like when I didn't let her watch her beloved kitty video for the sixteenth time in a row...

She has gotten around to being fascinated by telephones, and anything handy becomes one as she holds it up to her ear and says, "Hello?": the cat's tail, a thermometer, her shoe... it's funny and terribly cute.

Pearl loves her same-aged cousin so much! Whenever they get together she follows her around faithfully, which is simply adorable but would work out better if her cousin didn't have such a penchant for getting into trouble!



For the past few days she has been sleeping until 8:3o or 9:00! 9:00!!! I don't know why - the later dawn, the curtains we hung finally having an effect, Daddy not getting up so early, her eleventh tooth popping through, who knows, who cares! We're sleeping in past sunrise! It's awesome, after weeks of rough sleep. Napping isn't going quite so smoothly, but ah well.



Pearl is at an age where she wants to mimic doing everything we do, and as such she likes to hang out with me while I do chores and help with them. She hands me clothespins when we hang laundry, and clothes hangers as we put it away. She's very interested in the dishwasher as well and loves to hand me stuff from it and toss stuff into the top rack. Toting the silverware basket around the kitchen is a favorite activity, as is putting my purse around her neck and taking it off again. The day after her father rearranged the living room, I saw her leaning against the sofa trying to push it, grunting.

One day as her Daddy was leaving for work, I looked away after giving him a goodbye kiss to see her standing next to me where I sat, eyes closed, head leaned back, lips puckered up, all ready for her kiss. It was very sweet.



I am really loving this age. Pearl is at a point where she is very expressive physically/verbally, but is not yet much inhibited by what the world thinks she should or should not do: she seems so very much herself. It is wonderful.

The Food of Love

For the past few months I have been getting new music from eMusic, a DRM-free mp3 downloading service. I pay ten bucks a month and get forty songs, which is about three albums and a pretty good deal. They've since switched things around, so sadly new users will not get such a good deal. However, they do offer a free trial. eMusic hasn't had every artist or album I've looked for, but they have a huge selection of indie/obscure music and I have has a wonderful time browsing through it and discovering new artists. Here are a few of my finds:

• Elizabeth Mitchell - You Are My Little Bird : This is an album of folksy songs recorded for children. Elizabeth Mitchell's voice is very pretty and is accompanied by simple instrumentals and, on some tracks, her daughter and husbands' voices. The effect is charming and this gets listened to a lot in the Peach household.
• Nina Nastasia - On Leaving : This is Nina Nastasia's latest offering. Very good.
  
• Espers - Espers : Espers is a band that makes music in the genre of "freak-folk" which I do not know much about, but from listening to it and reading about it, it seems like it is music made by hippies who like to eat shrooms and go to Renaissance Faires, maybe or maybe not at the same time. I like this album a lot (infer from that what you will). It was a perfect soundtrack for the transition between autumn's bright days and darker, duller weather.

Following the above links will lead to more in-depth reviews as well as song samples. I would love to hear your music recommendations!

She Was Close...

Pearl, pointing to a turkey buzzard circling above us out on my in-laws' farm: "Tweet, tweet!"
Me: "Not quite, sweetie, not quite!"

In Which Pearl Discovers Acorns

At my in-laws' house yesterday afternoon, Pearl found some acorns for the first time. It is experiences like this that made my old job teaching toddlers at a preschool worthwhile, and made me look forward to sharing them with children of my own. I love witnessing her explore and discover all the wonderful things in the world around her. She picked the acorns up and dropped them and found them again, her grandmother showed her how some had little caps, she rolled them across rocks and stashed them in a hole in a rock, and she tried to work her mouth around the syllables as we told her, "That's an acorn!" And then she attempted to eat them.

Unconscious Mutterings - 11/24/06

1. Teacher ::
My sister-in-law, stern in front of a classroom of middle schoolers

2. Fifty ::
Graying hair, thickened middle

3. Crossword ::
Black and white, concentrating

4. Stuffed ::
Furry and soft, white fluff peeking out through worn spots

5. Family ::
Noisy, warm, smiling, laughing - sensing and marveling at our similarities, our differences

6. Purr ::
A happy cat, warm in the lap

7. Toad ::
A toad winking beneath a toadstool - from the art and words of Gwen Frostic (which I have long loved)

8. Cocktail ::
Shrimp! Cold shrimp.

9. Insecurity ::
Never feeling pretty, never feeling good enough

10. Magical ::
Fairy lights and things in the woods not-quite-glimpsed, the world that you think you could see if you could squint your eyes just so...

What My Thanksgiving Looked Like

Oh, what a day. We'd intended to go see my in-laws in the morning, but being sick and tired and busy, we didn't. We'll visit with them tomorrow. Big family get-togethers like this always seem to stress me way out; surely that's not normal. I spend so much mental energy on making sure Pearl is ok and not getting into anything or being overwhelmed by adoring relatives that I don't feel able to focus on people like I should, and I don't have enough time to talk to out-of-state loved ones before Pearl gets tired and cranky. But it is always good to spend whatever time I can with my family, and the feast was delicious. I didn't get any really good photos of it, the dish I contributed, or much of anything really. I did however take a huge group shot of my family at my grandparents' request as pretty much everyone was there for once, and I think I got some that will be very good, with a little tweaking.


My little sister helping Pearl on some steps


My niece digging in the dirt (wish I had caught her hand in the shot!)


Two of my brothers, my husband, and my cousin playing Guitar Hero on PS2


The first dishes of the meal are set out...

Even though this holiday (and all the major holidays, now that I think of it) are pretty much a stressfest for me I can't help but mark the day for what it is: a time to be thankful for what I have - a big extended family that gives so much love, a kind, loving husband who works hard to provide us with good food and shelter, and my daughter, the light of my life.



I hope your Thanksgiving Day was a good one, too.

Feel Like Being Analyzed?

Check out LikeBetter. It's the most engaging, interesting personality test-like thingy I've come across in a while. Two photographs are displayed side by side and you simply click which one you like better. After a while the brain icon below the photographs will glow, informing you that it knows something about it. It shares what it has gleaned when you click it. For me, it has been about fifty-fifty as far as accuracy goes - but some of the choices are very hard ones!

via PhotoJoJo, a nifty photography newsletter!

8 Second Ride

Created haphazardly with Gickr, from some old photos. She is much more cooperative when it comes to getting her hair out of her face now, thank goodness.

Nothing much else to say tonight. Both Mr. Peach and I have caught Pearl's cold. Here's hoping we're all snot free by Turkey Day. If not, then I will just have to take twisted amusement in sending our germs all across the nation with the visiting relations.

10 Things

Ten Random Things:

1. My baby sister is as old now as I was when my relationship with my ex-husband started. How can that be? She seems so young; I felt so old...

2. This morning I totally forgot and missed Pearl's 18 month well-baby visit. I was very upset with myself as I am anxious about having her turned-in foot reevaluated... the office staff was, as usual, not very kind or sympathetic. I really dislike that clinic. Our make-up appointment is a month and a half away with a completely different doctor than we saw last time.

3. The bank gave us a loan so we can pay off our credit card debt and nip sky-rocketing monthly payments in the bud, woohoo!

4. I am thinking about checking out the local Unitarian Universalist church.

5. This evening when I was moving some cookies I'd baked from the pan to a platter, I placed them in stacks rather than in a pile all willy-nilly. While doing so I had a flashback to my own childhood - standing at just above kitchen-counter height, eagerly watching as my mother placed hot chocolate chip cookies in stacks, one stack for each of us, three cookies each!

6. Wintry weather is definitely here: the temperature dips below freezing during the night and my husband rides his bike through a frosted landscape to work. The trees that line the backyard have lost all their leaves and the sun sets now as I cook supper, watching the pale pink and blue sky through the lacework of their branches.

7. I love the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Sweet, funny, magical. Beautiful artwork. No violence, the 'bad guy' is a real child's fear - the loss of a parent. This is the first anime I've really enjoyed (though I must admit that my exposure to it so far has been limited to Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, and Sailor Moon!). I've watched it with Pearl a few times - she seems to enjoy it too.

8. We splurged this year and ordered an organic turkey. We're saving it until the bliss of Thanksgiving turkey wears off, then we'll roast it - on the Solstice, perhaps?

9. A friend of mine from high school is expecting her first baby, and I don't know that our friendship will survive it. Her parenting style & choices are vastly different from mine, and it breaks my heart to think of what her newborn will be missing out on. My mind says that I should respect her choices, but my heart cries out that they are wrong.

10. A random photo:



Read ten more things at Blueberry Pie, and ten more still at My Topography.

Thanks!

I have been meaning to write this out, and now, with Thanksgiving nearing, seems a good time. I was to express my gratitude for all the kind and supportive words left in the comments of the post I made a few weeks ago about the abortion I had five years ago.

Thank you for sharing your own stories and sorrows. It is always strengthening to know that others have been there, too.

Thank you for complimenting my self-portrait. It was the first time I'd used my D50 with a wireless remote, and I ended up with a portrait that was just what I had in mind (minus a bit of photoshopping, of course).

Thank you for checking out and perhaps even signing the We Had Abortions petition, which aims to end the silence and stigma that surrounds abortion.

If anyone perhaps felt like saying less than kind things, thank you for not doing so. I was bracing for it. I am glad to have been wrong.

When the fact that I'd had an abortion was made known to my friends and family, a last painful weapon pulled out by my ex-husband when I told him I no longer wanted to be married to him, I called my mother to tell her before she heard from anyone else. After I had done so I couldn't help but ask if she still loved me. And of course she said she did. Her answer, of course, was yes. You can't really comprehend the love a mother feels for her child until you are a mother yourself. I wouldn't need to ask such a question today.

AhhhhhChoo!

Poor sick baby.

Sickly AGAIN!

Despite using a cart cover, despite religious hand wiping and washing, despite breastfeeding, despite me resuming my prenatal vitamins, despite echinacea, despite vitamin C tablets, Pearl has a runny nose and is sneezing and coughing again. This is the fourth cold in six weeks.

I have a baby shower for a friend to attend tomorrow afternoon, and a birthday dinner for my little sister right after that; both are about forty miles away from home. Whether or not we'll go depends on how Pearl is feeling tomorrow. It doesn't seem right that she gets sick so often. It was like this last winter too, maybe not quite as bad as we were living outside of town and didn't leave the house as much. Pearl is perfectly healthy and normal and on track in every other way... so I don't know what to think. I hope she feels better soon and stays that way for a while this time!

Unconscious Mutterings - 11/17/06

1. Nick ::
shaving cream, wet skin

2. Focus ::
camera lens, red reflections

3. Police ::
dogs and lights

4. Miles ::
working, working, working towards payday

5. Earn ::
endless roads, shifting scenery, wide open blue winter sky

6. Twice ::
double take; a glitch in the Matrix!

7. Razor ::
thinnest edge, what's simple is true, Jewel's voice (the more I live, the more I know...)

8. Personality ::
fill in the bubbles, fit in a slot

9. Dumped ::
McDonald's bags and paper cups with plastic lids lining the road

10. Reliable ::
steady, rhythmic, beating on

Care to play along?

My Baby Bookworm

Today being Thursday, we went to the library's program for babies. The past few times we've been there Pearl has not wanted out of my lap, but she smiles and laughs as babies and toddlers scamper around, and the adults sing and play hand games. Today she warmed up right as the program was ending and was clapping, then got up and did a little scampering around of her own.




It is always a lot of fun to see all of the babies; the little tiny ones who stay put and take it all in, the fearless crawlers, the new walkers waddling around, the older tots singing and dancing along with the program's director. My favorite part of the program is the last verse to The Wheels on the Bus - when all the adults in the room sing, "The parents on the bus go 'Shh shh shh!'", all cooing and babbling and shouting and moving ceases and silence falls almost eerily across the room. Then the director wisely uses this moment of calm to start reading the day's book.



After the book it's pretty much a free for all. A tub of books is set out for the babies. The moms gather up in clusters to chat... it's pretty clique-y, and being clique-less I feel rather left out and lonely at that point. (The playgroup I'd been going to fell apart with the advent of cold weather, so I'm feeling extra sad in this area.) Everyone seems to know people and have no interest in interlopers. Once I chatted with a nice mama who seemed to be like-minded, but I never saw her there again.

In the last picture, Pearl is investigating a little boy laying down with a book... he shortly afterward started kicking her, then later quite purposefully smacked her in the face with a book as she wandered by him! Poor Pearl was a little perplexed but other than that was okay; it takes more than that to get her down. Having been out of the daycare scene for a few years, I hadn't witnessed any baby-on-baby violence in a while. Was kind of startling.

I Need a Translator!

If anyone reading happens to speak toddlerese, could you please tell me what the phrase "Ah no no fo fo nose" means? Pearl has been uttering it quite frequently lately, in a rather solemn tone of voice, and I can't figure it out!

An Evening at the Park

Trying to get in as much outside time as we can before winter sets in for good...








If the colors in my photographs seem off lately, please forgive me... I am using both new RAW processing software and a newly calibrated monitor and I'm pretty much lost. There are a few more shots from this evening in my flickr photostream.

To Do with a Tot

My husband wanted me to come up with a list of things to do with Pearl when he's in need of inspiration, and these are the ideas I gathered up. I thought I would share them here, too. I found many, many more ideas but pared them down to the ones I thought most suitable for an eighteen month old. Please feel free to give suggestions! This list is a work in progress.



Around the House:

• Build a jungle gym (away from hard corners) out of sofa cushions
• Hide an object under one of two or three cu      ps & have her try to find it
  
• Blocks!  Knocking over the tower is a favorite, but try horizontal 'stacking' too! And sorting by shape.  Someday I want to get some colored ones so we can sort them by color.
• Take her on a blanket ride through the house!
• Listen to music and dance!
• Sing and do the movements that go along with:

• The Wheels on the Bus
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Patty Cake
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Etc

Get a Little Messy:

• Paint! (at the table/outside please!)
• Bubbles!
  
• Color with crayons!
• Texture play - get a few bowls/containers.  Fill them with cheap, differently textured stuff - one or two kinds at a time.  Include measuring cups for scooping; funnels, slotted spoons.  Talk about the color, texture, size, shape, taste if she tastes it!  Add a container of water if you want to get really wild.
  

cornstarch
cornmeal
oatmeal
ice cubes
cotton balls
jello
pudding
dry beans
rice
flour

Get Out:

Go to the park!
Go outside!
Go to the library!

On the Computer:

• Explore Flickr - try photos other than those of herself.  Family members is okay but I think better yet would be animals: kitties, puppies, birds.  A tag search for pets and then talking about/identifying the kinds of pets, for example.  Body parts would be another good one (careful with that one though! ;) )
  
• Kneebouncers - this is a site with lots of simple flash games.  Some of them require aiming, but others (the guitar/keyboard/drums one is good) just respond to banging on the keyboard and/or clicking mouse buttons
• Make a Jackson Pollock painting - Move mouse to paint, click button to change colors.
  
• YouTube for Toddlers - This a list full of links of toddler-entertaining YouTube clips.  And let's not forget her favorite, the Silly Kitties video.
• Music Videos on Noggin - Can't go wrong with Laurie Berkner, Dan Zanes, and Elizabeth Mitchell!
• Learn some new signs!
  

Fun with Hats

Since we've been living here for six months, this weekend we finally decided to get around to hanging curtains in the living room and going through all the junk in what will someday be Pearl's bedroom. While going through some clothes in there I came across some of her hats. Her father had donned one before venturing out into the cold recently and she had been pretty nervous about its presence on his head so I thought putting one on her head and showing it to her in the mirror and talking about it wouldn't be a bad idea. The one Mr. Peach is wearing (with the seam to the front... argh!) is one I crocheted for him out of faux mohair for a birthday a few years back, and Pearl is wearing a hat her paternal grandmother bought her for Christmas last year.









She was irritated about the hat at first but once I showed her reflection wearing it she didn't even try to take it off, just sat and gazed at herself!

Fainting Goats

This video has been cracking me up all day. These goats are hilarious to watch but I feel kind of bad about it! They apparently have a genetic disorder which causes their muscles to stiffen (painlessly) for about ten seconds when they are startled or excited. Sometimes they fall over and sometimes they just stand or hop around straight-legged - funny whichever they do. I got a kick out of hearing their various monikers as well!

Unconscious Mutterings: 11/10/06

Some free association on a Friday night:

1. Theft ::
Crops

2. Storage ::
Box

3. Pick ::
Array

4. Los Angeles ::
Sun and grime

5. The one ::
Word

6. Accent ::
Tie

7. Rivalry ::
Romeo

8. Process ::
Life

9. Streets ::
Lights after dark

10. Museum ::
Old

I came across this activity at Ramblings of an Ever Hungry Mind and it looked fun! However it was a bit harder than I thought it would be - images come to mind rather than words. I read afterwards it'd be okay to use more than a word or two but didn't go back and edit as that would sort of be missing the point! Next time I will be more relaxed about it.

Care to play along?

Project Complete: Shopping Cart Cover

This week I completed a project I started half a year ago: a shopping cart cover for Pearl to cruise around stores in! I am hoping this will cut down on some of the germs we are exposed to. She has had three colds in four weeks - we went to the doctor on Wednesday, and she sobbed and shook while having her ears and mouth and nose examined, but he determined there was no infection... just yet another cold - so this is one of the steps I'm taking to try and keep her healthy. I cut out the fabric for the cart cover in the beginning of this year, but Pearl got sick and I never finished it!

I made it loosely following instructions found here. The top part is pink flannel covered in crazy goggley-eyed orange giraffes, palm trees, and flowers - very bright and loud! The bottom layer is pink fleece. I put two pockets and one toy loop (though it only enraged her that my keys would not come loose from it). I made buttonholes for the first time for the carts' straps to go through, and for the drawstrings. All I have is a fuzzy picture; I might add a close-up of the fabric later because the print is so fun.



I "rewarded" myself for completing this project by going to Walmart. I needed a few things from there that I hadn't been able to find elsewhere. We don't shop there normally and I was reminded why - it's dirty, crowded, and this trip introduced a new irritant: large flat screen tvs suspended from the ceiling, alternately spewing advertisements and country music. I didn't find half of what I was looking for there, either, and the curtain I bought was two small so I had to return it (see picture). I went to the classier Walmart across town but they didn't have any of the other things I was looking for, either. Ebay, ho!

Thrilled!

Well, I am feeling much better about America's political situation now that elections are over! Good news all around: Democrats have gained control of Congress, the majority of Governors are now Democrats (mine included! Huzzah!), a woman is set to become the first female Speaker of the House, and Rumsfeld has resigned. Here's hoping this will lead us to a better future! I am sticking my fingers in my ears as my conspiracy theorist husband idly wonders if perhaps we are just being set up to trust the voting system so that we can be taken advantage of again in the '08 Presidential election.

Hair!

Today, I Voted

I wrapped Pearl up in the mei tai today and voted early in the County Clerk's office. I was feeling really, really ambivalent about voting this time around but decided to go ahead and do it. The past two Presidential elections left me very disillusioned about the state of our democracy. Given everything we've learned about the '04 election since then, the lies and scandals that ooze forth from our government on a constant basis, and the lack of repercussions for wrongs done - it just seems kind of pointless to me, to vote. Maybe once, my vote would've counted. Since this was a local election, and I opted to vote using a paper ballot, perhaps it will still. But I don't feel very hopeful about things changing vastly for the better. I lack the money, the power, the connections of those who run this country and so I don't think I can do anything about it. Call me lazy, call me a pessimist; I won't argue. That's where I stand on politics at the moment.

It's gray and gloomy outside and I just don't have it in me to be very hopeful right now. Even so I want to encourage everyone to vote... and to stay away from the touch screens. Choose the paper ballot, if you have that option - don't let your vote slip away without a trace.

One Minute with Pearl

I was trying to capture Pearl and our kitty Left Eye playing fetch with a hair tie but Left Eye wasn't cooperating, so I ended up with some footage of Pearl identifying facial features with varying degrees of success, and doing her impression of Left Eye's meow ("Bleeeeh!").

Scary

Scary is the thought that one day I will die. One day, all that I feel and know will be over. And I love life so much that thinking about it terrifies me. And I won't even go into how it feels to contemplate the loss of my daughter or husband.

I do not belong to any religion; I am agnostic and am still figuring out what I believe. I don't have faith to comfort me in this. All I can do is remind myself that since I don't know how much time I have left, and I don't know what will happen after I die, I had better make the most of each moment I live. I'm working on that.

~* Find out what scares other ladies at Mama Says Om *~

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

...at least in stores' seasonal aisles and in my silly brain. We have a very limited income and a very large amount of people to exchange gifts with, so I am planning on doing something similar to what I did last year: give everyone tins of home made fudge and toffee, along with another small present. Last year I also took and gave out 5x7s, framed in some cases, of this photograph:



I know I want to make the candies again, because I enjoy doing making them and they were very well recieved, but I think I want to do something a little different in the photograph department. With Snapfish, you can make a little pocket photobook(scroll all the way down) containing 25 photos and I'm considering ordering several sets of those to give out along with the fudge and toffee.

Any thoughts on this? Does it seem like a lame idea? I thought it would be a nice break from the traditional portrait, though our families would love those as well.

Pretty Little Pixie

Here are a few shots of Pearl in her Halloween costume. In retrospect, a fairy costume wasn't the wisest choice for an 17 month old; the wings freaked her out a little and were unwieldly. Still, she looked lovely and I hope to get some better shots of her in it before I pack it away. Until then, these will suffice:

Halloweenies!

Despite purchasing two bags of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters (second bag being purchased after first bag being consumed) we did not stay home with our welcoming jack-o-lanterns to give it out to costumed children, nor did we go trick-or-treating ourselves. Instead we scampered off to a Halloween party at my sister's house. Pearl, of course, had awoken at 5:30 that morning and had only had a very short, early nap and was cranky, but she is always happy to go play at her cousin's house!



She was dressed up as a fairy. I've been working on her costume for a few weeks and have really been enjoying the process: searching for inspiration, designing, cutting, experimenting, stitching, ripping out stitches, restitching, etc, etc. Much more fun and satisfying than sewing something from a pattern. The wings were a bit much so she only wore them for a few pictures... none of which were taken by me as both of my cameras' batteries were dead, irritatingly enough. I will post some here when they are sent my way!

The party was fun! One of my sister's friends made some fancy tasty drinks, and there were tons of Halloween and Autumnal foods (most of which I couldn't eat... dairy and all), including some baby-friendly treats. My sister set up her daughter's water table as an apple bobbing station for the babies, which was brilliant. Pearl loved dunking the apples and splashing the water, as did a little Darth Vader-garbed little buddy, who didn't so much dunk the apples as throw them straight into the water.

Best part: since we left the party late (you know you're a parent when you consider leaving a party at 8:30 "late"), Pearl's bedtime was pushed back and she slept blissfully past dawn... until 8:00 AM! What a treat!