The Night(mare) before Halloween

I love my kids. Seriously, I do. However, after last night they are lucky to be alive. Davie has been under the weather and has been fussy. And Ben has officially embraced the terrible twos. (Please tell me it gets better when they turn three. Please.) Last night was one of those nights where you lock your kids in their rooms, close your door, put your pillow over your head, and try to find a happy place. I'm not speaking figuratively; that's what happened.

Davie was restless and fussy going down. Then, around midnight, he decided he'd had enough of staying in bed and he needed his parents' undivided attention. After making sure he was not dying, we decided to let him "cry it out." Unfortunately, Davie has incredible stamina and crying it out was a rather prolonged ordeal. Then, around 2:00 a.m., Ben woke up.

Ben waking up in the middle of the night is the kiss of death. He makes sure everyone in the house gets up with him. We tried desperately to keep him quiet so he wouldn't wake up Davie, who had only recently succumbed to sleep. We got him milk, let him get in bed with us, went in his room with him, fetched binkies and toys, all to no avail. Around 4:00 a.m. I had what the mental health community would probably call a psychotic break. Faced with a hysterical, sleep deprived wife, Cam gave Ben a dose of Benadryl, which was likely in excess of that recommended for his height and weight, and locked him in his room, where he kicked and screamed and woke up his brother and, finally, slept.

How's that for a scary story? And now, here are the pictures of the kids in Halloween costumes.

Davie, as the beneficiary of multiple hand-me-down costumes, made various Halloween appearances dressed as a skeleton (not pictured), a caterpillar

and a chick.

Yes, I know these two look harmless, but in the middle of the night they are terrifying.

Bathtime

I've been reluctant to put Davie and Ben in the bath together since Ben spends most of his day tormenting Davie and I was afraid that adding water to the equation could have bad results. Luckily, things worked out.




After what they put me through today, I was seriously considering selling these two on the street. But on second thought, I'll keep them.

What we've been up to . . .

It's been a while since I've posted. Partly because I haven't wanted to expend the effort it takes to blog. Partly because we, uh, misplaced our camera for a while. But, fret not, I'm back, and I'll do my best to sum up the last month or so.

Ben is:

* Super excited for Halloween and obsessed with pumpkins. We went to the pumpkin patch last week and ever since Ben has often invited me to reflect with him:

"Mommy, 'member the pumpkins?"

"Yes, Ben."

"'Member the pumpkin patch?"

"Yes, Ben."

"Yeaaahhh. . . ."

(Side note: Why do we always pick the coldest night in October to go to the pumpkin patch?)

* Super excited to be a pirate for Halloween. At this point, pirates are Halloween. Every time he sees a Halloween display at a store he says, "Look mommy. Pirates!" I don't think he really knows what I pirate is. And, I'm sure he doesn't know what a pirate map is since he has been calling the Michael's ad he salvaged from the Sunday paper his pirate map.

Davie is:

* Busy being adorable and smiley.


* Chomping with his two new teeth, which arrived promptly at seven months.

* Well on his way to crawling. He started army crawling right at seven months. What's the deal with that?



Cam is:

* Loving his boys.


I am:

* A baking fool. Maybe it's staying home with the kids. Maybe it's the fall weather. But I've spent more time in the kitchen in the last month than I probably have in my entire life up to this point. Apple pie anyone?


It was made with apples grown in Summit and it was delicious.

Career move

The average person changes careers three to five time during his or her life. I checked it on wiki-answers, so I know this information is reliable. I wanted to know because shortly after graduating from law school, passing the bar, and starting a clerkship, I find myself faced with a serious career change. It makes sense to wonder why I would be considering a career change at this point. Well, the short answer is, somewhere along the way I seem to have acquired two children.

Without going into too much detail, I've decided that my kids need a full-time mommy right now more than I need a legal career. Part of me can't believe I just typed that sentence. I mean, I induced my delivery with Ben during spring break so I could be back for class the next week. I took my finals when he was weeks old. I was still so dazed from his delivery and those sleepless newborn nights that I stumbled through finals the semester he was born. As a 3L I did law review edits and outlined in the middle of the night because there weren't enough hours in the day for me to be a mommy and a law student. I found out that I was pregnant with Davie weeks before taking the bar. I puked non-stop while I was trying to study for it with an IV in my arm. I went back to work ten days after he was born. I just worked through it, trying to to be the best at everything because I wanted to have it all. Generally, I have just felt all-round inadequate.

Being a woman is complicated. Having kids just makes things more complicated. And having it all is a joke. I mean, if you're a woman and you believe you really have it all, then that's great, I guess. Maybe I just haven't found the secret. Because I think that womanhood is riddled with sacrifice. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. But I'm not so naive as to believe that I'm going be intellectually fulfilled by changing diapers and wiping up puke full time. Nor am I convinced that I could devote myself to work without feeling guilty because I wasn't there to kiss skinned knees and cheer on first steps.

This whole post seems like kind of a downer, and that's not my intention. Really I guess I'm just using this blog as a forum for some introspection. So just wish me luck as I embark on my latest endeavor: making mac & cheese, enforcing nap time, and subjecting myself to daily doses of Handy Manny. A daunting job description indeed. I'm hoping I'm up to the challenge.

The B.L.

Having spent the fourth in Summit, we made our way further north to Bear Lake the next weekend.

Sidewinder falls made an appearance.


Even though the water was freezing, Ben and Minie made the most of it.

Ben also discovered his artistic side.


And let's not forget the fireworks. Ben was spectator this time and thoroughly enjoyed the show.


We went hands-free on the sparklers.


Lovin' some king of bling.


The captive audience.



There was blanket time

and smores.

We loved us some B.L.

The Fourth of Ju-ly

Now that the 24th has passed, I'm finally getting around to blogging about the fourth of July. Pathetic? Yes. I blame Cameron, who considers himself keeper of our camera, and who uploads all our pictures to his computer. I've ended up delaying my blogging efforts until I felt like I had access to the pictures because, let's face it, no one wants to see a blog post without pictures.

Moving on . . . .

I hold with those who say that some holidays are best experienced in a small town, Independence day being one of them.

Our day started in Summit with the annual town parade. Pretty much any interested person is free to participate and my Dad was only too pleased to haul the grandkids along in a festive garden wagon. The parade got going earlier than we'd expected so we were momentarily concerned that the kids may have missed the grand event. Fortunately, there were multiple passes up and down the main drag, so they were able to jump in and enjoy their moment in the spotlight.


Unfortunately, Ben was determined to be a stinker, and he refused to join the crowd. Nice, Ben.

Did I mention how much I love the Summit parade?

Given that even with an encore procession, the Summit parade lasted all of about 10 minutes, we decided to head over to Parowan for a larger-scale event. The Parowan parade is just my style--and just Ben's style too, as it involved several tractors,


every available emergency response vehicle in the area (sirens blaring),


horses,


the local drill team,


and lots of candy.


Let's not forget little Davie.


Well, actually, we kind of did forget about little Davie. So grandpa took it upon himself to care for his namesake.


He was rewarded by being pooped on. Sorry, grandpa.

We spent the rest of the day lounging and eating (no pictures, but trust me, it was lovely). The day culminated with a lavish firework display at 8:00 p.m. We may have been a little too anxious to get the kids to bed.

My parents' yard isn't landscaped yet (this year though, right Mom?), and since it's pretty much the definition of a fire hazard, we took the show into the road.


Things started off good. Lizzy and Jane enjoyed their sparklers.


Then Ben managed to burn himself pretty good. There were tears followed by much discussion of the boo-boo.


We'll probably wait a couple of years before we try the hold-your-own-sparkler thing again. But, in the end, the day was a success.

Yeah for the fourth!

Lord of the Flies

He was supposed to be painting Rocks, but as is the case most of the time, Ben got a little carried away and "became the canvas" as his uncle Dustin said. Sorry this was shot sideways.