october fun

well, now that the election is over, i can let go of my obsession with sarah palin and go back to blogging about my baby, my permanent obsession. we did lots of seasonal things with bryn this month (no, we don't do anything without bryn). we enjoyed the fall foliage, and so did the neighborhood kids.


we went pumpkin picking at circle s farms, which includes hay rides, hay barns (actually quite treacherous - who knew? lots of falling down, itching, coughing, sneezing and sometimes some puking... we just observed and tried to stay out of the way though), corn mazes and pumpkin donuts. it was very cold that day, but bryn had a good time, at least until we got to the hayride. i think i feel a family tradition starting up...


and, the most exciting part for me, we dressed bryn up for her first halloween! on trick-or-treat night (the day before halloween in our neighborhood), bryn was a sock monkey.


she greeted all the trick-or-treaters, and we took her to a few houses for some trick-or-treating of her own. she even left the hat on for awhile. on the following night, we went to our friends' house for their annual halloween party. they graciously invited us to bring bryn along, and even offered their son's crib (they have parents in town who babysit... overnight! i'm jealous). so, of course, bryn had to have another costume. i got some baby stretch pants, leg warmers (babylegs - one of my new faves), and a teeny sweatshirt (the collar was repurposed as a headband), and voila! pat benatar was reborn. [UPDATE: *adam* got the stretch pants and sweatshirt, and picked out the sock monkey costume. i shouldn't have tried to take credit]


she was quite a sensation at the party and, after an hour power-nap, was up partying until 1 a.m. (that's not actually *that* late for bryn... 11 is a common bedtime. we don't have a lot of structure here). hmmm... wonder where she gets that from? in other news, bryn is now up to four teeth, all front and center. she loves her finger foods but still hates being spoon-fed, and we haven't had any recent mishaps with the snack-trap. she isn't walking yet but has become quite adept at "cruising" (walking while holding onto furniture, walls, etc.) and continues to get into things that we think she can't.

it's more fun than ever... i can't believe it's been a year already.

family update

well, it's been an eventful few weeks for us - but "eventful" for new parents means something totally different than it does for normal people.

we had a blizzard. i'm not exaggerating - it was an official blizzard which, i think, is as much about snow as it is about wind, because there wasn't THAT much snow (we saw more in boston, anyway). still, a good time was had by all.

bryn got her first cold just before easter. nothing too serious, just a little cough and runny/stuffy nose, but hard to endure. when i took her to the pediatrician, all the other mothers in the waiting room would turn and say "ohhh, poor thing" every time bryn coughed. she actually stayed her usual happy, laid-back self for most of the cold though - lucky us!

we thought the easter bunny was going to skip our house this year, but bryn had a surprise for us. she rolled over - tummy to back - on easter morning! necessity is the mother of invention - bryn really hates being on her tummy (but she's starting to like it more now and rolling over less). we missed the very small window in which to get a picture of bryn in her easter finery without any spit up, so we'll have to stage a re-creation at a later date. speaking of spit up, just when we thought bryn had exhausted the possible locations, truman helped her discover a new one.

and last sunday we went to a baseball game, our first in columbus and bryn's first ever! we saw the columbus clippers, a AAA team in the washington nationals system (formerly the ny yankees), play the charlotte knights, and got free cow bells. as a bonus, we also got to see an old mariner favorite - bret boone... and on his birthday! my new plan is to befriend him and work our way into the glamorous world of professional baseball. bret, if you see this, you're invited over for dinner!

finally, bryn is starting to bat at stuff and hold objects. she's also laughed twice in the last few days... we think. we're still working on her motor skills, mostly neck and upper body strength. bryn is much more interested in working on her social and emotional skills, kind of like mom.