The Bear's First Christmas

I appoligize for taking so long in getting this up. I wanted to have some time to really get all the details of Bear's first Christmas on this post.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and that you're now gearing up for a new year. That always strikes me: New Year. It's a chance to start over. A reset button. A do-over. It's like passing go (except maybe without collecting $200). I always look forward to a new beginning. I hope you do too.

Bear's first Christmas was a lot of fun. I had to work Christmas Eve day. We started making the rounds when I got home and the Bear got up from his nap. First we went to my Dad's house. We visited and opened gifts. It was a lot of fun. It's such a rare thing that my siblings and I are all together in one place that it's become quite a treat when it happens. All the noise and craziness going on reminds me of growing up. Someone talking, someone laughing, someone fussing, usually the TV on in the background. It's noisy and sometimes a little overstimulating (even for Bear), but that's just us.

When we finished there, we went to Danny's parents house. We got the biggest kick out of Bear climbing up on some of the bigger boxes. He would get as high as he could and peek over packages to see what was on the other side. He pulled ornaments off of Mimi's rotating Christmas tree. When you looked at him he glimmered and shimmered a little from all the glitter from the ornaments he pulled off and gnawed on. He wasn't so enthused about opening presents. It took him about twenty minutes to open two small gifts. He would pull a little paper off, play with that piece for a while. Wave it around. Eat it. Then tear another piece off when I took the first one away. He finally got all his presents opened with a little (a lot) of help. I think the most fun he had all night was sitting in an empty shipping box and shoving the eggs Nick and Marci got him around the box. That entertained him for longer than two minutes, that's how I know he had a good time. The Bear also had some potatoes and sausage from our low country boil. That boy is just like his Daddy, he inhaled the sausage.

We got home and did our usual bedtime routine. Once the Bear was in bed, Danny and I got busy. We didn't bother wrapping any of Bear's presents. After he took so long opening his other gifts earlier that night we decided it wouldn't be as much fun as it will be next year. This year he doesn't really understand what a present is. Fine with me, less work. We went ahead and took everything out of boxes and set it up so all he had to do was come in and play Christmas morning.

Christmas morning, I was up long before the Bear and it took everything I had not to go in and wake him up. I was so excited! When he got up, we looked at Santa's half-eaten cookies and the nibbled on carrots for his reindeer. Then the toys...oh, the toys. He was a little apprehensive at first. He sat back and took it all in. Crawled over to a few DVD's and scattered them. From there, he just moved down the line to whatever came next. He would wave his hands around so that toys went sailing, grab something and chew on it, then move down to the next grouping of toys. He had a big time.

When we got through with our little family Christmas, Danny's parents and Jon came by to see what goodies Santa had brought the Bear. Then mom came by to spend some time with us. She brought a breakfast casserole and what was probably Bear's favorite toy. It's a ball maze where balls pop out of this tube then roll down to be spit back out of the tube. When you turn it on, he squeals and giggles. Honestly, I do too. It's so much fun!

It was by far the best Christmas I can remember. Christmas is so much more fun when you have kids. We spent the day in our pajamas. Napped. Ate. Played. It was a good day. We did talk about the real meaning of Christmas, but at this age he had no understanding of what I was talking about. But I figured it was better to start talking about it now.

We hope that you had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

You don't think about traditions very much when you're a kid. You think about how something is fun and you look forward to it. But you don't think about any preparations or planning involved. You just do it and have a good time. Looking back at growing up, there are things that I'm glad we did every year, especially at Christmastime. Some of these traditions, I want to pass on to the Bear. This year was the time to get started.

The first thing I wanted to start doing with him is building gingerbread houses. We had a lot of fun with this. Growning up, we used graham crackers instead of actual gingerbread most of the time, but that was so you could decorate your house any way you wanted to. So that's how I did it with Bear.

For some reason, I didn't realize until this moment, the second he stuck his hand in the icing that this was going to be a messy project. What was I thinking?

Believe it or not, I did get all four sides up and a roof on before he took one of the walls and did this...

Yummy!

And a sticky sweet kiss when we're all through. He did this on his own, no prompting. Maybe he's thanking me for letting him eat all that icing.

This is the final house. It looks more like a gingerbread house after a tornado. I bought candy to decorate the house, but Danny and I ate it instead. Trust me, the Bear didn't miss it at all.

The day after we did his gingerbread house, we went to Lenox in Atlanta with Mom, Brandon, and Dylan to ride the Pink Pig. What is the Pink Pig, you ask? It's a pig that rides on a monorail. My mom rode it and we rode it growing up at Riches in downtown. The real Pink Pig has been retired to the Atlanta History Center but her little sister (who is really a train) is now riding kids around in Macy's parking lot.

We waited in line forever. Even Aunt Kathy came to keep us company in line! I don't know that we'll do this every year, but I like being able to say that Bear has done things that I did growing up. I feel like I'm keeping the torch going that way, giving him all the things I so enjoyed growing up.

We finally made it! Here we are on the Pink Pig's little sister. You can see Priscilla the Pink Pig (the real one) in the background. He had a lot to look at as we rode!

And to round out the holiday traditions, a trip to see Santa! Until recently (like two weeks ago), I assumed that everyone went to see Santa every year. It was something we did every year. Sure as there was Christmas, we went to see Santa. I wanted Bear to see a good Santa, not some young guy with a scratchy fake beard. A real Santa. I think this Santa is pretty dang real.

Bear was completely serious the whole time. He looked at me and Mom. Looked at Santa. Looked at me. Looked at Santa. Then wailed. It was pretty cute.

It was a busy weekend for the Bear. He was sick the whole next week. So I'm glad we went on and did it all at one time. I'm glad that we started doing some of the things that I want to pass down to him. Things that he can look back on and remember doing every year or most years. He'll really have a blast when he has cousins or siblings to do them with. This parenting thing can be pretty dang cool.

I haven't just dosed him up on commercial Christmas. We talk about the nativity in the entry at home. I point out Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. We've talked about the meaning of Christmas. Not that he understands any of it now, but I figured this was as good a time as any to start.

Hope y'all are having a good time preparing for Christmas as well. Check back soon...I've got new Bear tricks to share!

sick leave

I have been at home with a sick bear today. I thought on Sunday that we might be getting sick again, but prayed that he'd just get better. Like some how it would be heading our way but by some miracle we'd miss it. No such luck. He's had a fever, runny nose, coughing and just general yucks. But he's done something today that he hasn't let me do in a long time: hold him. That's how I knew he really wasn't feeling good.

Gone are the days of curling up on the couch and snuggling my boy for hours on end. He is too big for that now. There are too many things to dump over, eat, pull up on, inspect, and just generally get into. But today he has put his head on my shoulder or chest and just sat. We've watched too much TV because that's what you're supposed to do when you're sick, veg out in front of the TV. Ironically enough, it was VeggieTales that we watched all day. We laid down on the couch and he got so still that I thought he had dozed off. He hadn't though, just taking it easy and being lazy. He took a long nap while I get a few things done. I am very sorry that he's sick because I hate to see him uncomfortable and miserable. But since he is sick it has been nice to hold him, stroke his hair, and smell him.

The Bear is going through a Mommy phase right now. He wants to know where I am and cries when I walk out of his sight. I hate that for all the snuggling he and I have done today, he wouldn't let Danny hold him any longer than usual. Sorry about that, Danny. I love this phase and hate it. I love that he wants to be with me, gives me big, slobbery kisses, smiles a brilliant smile when he spots me, and can't crawl over to me and climb up my leg fast enough. I hate it because I feel so guilty when he cries when I leave him at daycare. He doesn't cry everyday. Maybe once a week. I know that soon, either next week or in a few years, he will be a Daddy's boy. They will hunt and fish and do stinky boy stuff without me. He won't let me give him sugars or laugh like crazy when I make funny noises for him. I will hate even more for this phase to be over. I will have to remind myself to look back on these sweet days when he would rather catch bugs than sit and snuggle with me. Those days will come all too quickly.

Technically, this isn't a very good picture. But there are two things I love about it. I love the way he's sticking his tongue out. He does that sometimes and it always cracks me up. Then there's those lashes! They're getting so long. Almost too pretty for a little boy. Sometimes when he blinks I imagine a *woosh, woosh* sound like you hear in movies when they do slow motion. I can almost feel the wind from it!

Gotta love that sweet face and easy smile. He does make me work for it sometimes when I take his picture, but this particular day he was lovin' the camera. It surely loves him.

Here's hoping that he feels better tomorrow. I always have a huge internal debate anytime he's sick: take him to the doctor or let it run its course. I never know for sure if I've made the right decision. Guess that's called parenting, huh?

30 before 30

I've mentioned before that I was making a list of 30 things to do before I'm 30. I've still got over two years to do all these things, but I wanted to get a list done so I could start checking things off. Then when the big day gets here I can at least say I've accomplished a few little things in 30 years. So, without further ado, I introduce my 30 before 30...

1. Take the Bear to Disney World

2. Run in (and finish) a 10 K

3. Finish the damn hutch

4. Enter a really good picture in the fair

5. Sew a dress I'll actually wear

6. Sew a quilt (even if it's just a baby quilt)

7. Learn to open champagne

8. Finish the Bear's baby book and birth scrapbook

9. Finish our wedding album

10. Throw Danny a kickin' 30th birthday party

11. Learn to use Photoshop

12. Take a long weekend just Danny and I

13. Finish the Bear's crocheted baby blanket

14. Learn to make creme brulee

15. Take riding lessons and become comfortable with riding

16. Have most of our last credit card paid off

17. Start Bear's "Rules for Life" book

18. Be a stay at home mom (or at least only work part time)

19. Go to the Atlanta Aquarium, World of Coke, and the Bodies Exhibit

20. Learn how to jump start a car

21. Find and join a church

22. Learn to skillfully apply eyeshadow

23. Find a flattering red lipstick. And wear it. In public.

24. Get the patio set up as an outdoor living space

25. Finish this list...done

26. Make a video of Bear's first year

27. Get props and backdrops to use for photos

28. Hang pictures in our house

29. Do that "list of questions for your parents"

30. Do better about keeping up with a journal

So there ya go. Thirty things I want to do before I'm 30. I love to make lists because it makes me feel like I've really accomplished something when I look back and have a bunch of stuff crossed off. And would you look at that? I've already done number 25! It took me a while to think of 30 things that warranted going on to the list so I wasn't sure I'd actually ever finish it. I'm already on my way! See, crossing something off helps to keep me motivated.

I've got two bonus things that I'd love to get done and may give myself extra credit for in case I don't get something else done.

Bonus #1 Organize our home so that it functions better for the way we live.

Bonus #2 Throw myself a kickin' 30th birthday party.

Those are pretty big. My house overwhelms me so we'll see if that gets done. I've always thought it was kind of tacky to throw yourself a birthday party but I just might get over that. We'll see. If I accomplish everything on this list I'll throw a party just to celebrate that.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the progress of the 30 before 30 list. This should be interesting. And just because no post is complete without a picture of the Bear...

Shutterfly's Fabulous Holiday Cards

I love Shutterfly. I've used them to print the Bear's pictures from when he was born. Unfortunately, those are about the only pictures I've ever had printed of him. Welcome to the digital age. I've also used Shutterfly to make Father's Day photobooks. They were a big hit. The grandpa's loved having a little brag book. I've been pleased with the quality of Shutterfly's products. But...oh. my. goulashes. Their holiday cards are uh-dorable.







They are classic contemporary. Classic without being stuffy and too frilly. Contemporary colors and graphics. I've really thought about using a card that has places for multiple pictures on it so that I can put pictures of the Bear throughout the year on it. He has changed so much over the year that I'd thought our Christmas card would be a good place to reflect that. I haven't decided for sure whether I'll do multiple pictures or just one or two. I'll have to really decide which card style is my favorite: simple or lots to look at. Click here to pick your faves.

I'd bet that grandmas and grandpas would love a calendar for the fridge at home or desk at work. Or a coffee mug to boast the pics of the grandyoung'uns.

But as beautiful as their holiday cards are you've also gotta love that Shutterfly is giving you 50 free cards just for blogging about your favorites.

Hope everyone is having a great week. Get over to Shutterfly and click around for a while. Prepare to be inspired.

Visit my Facebook here.

Embrace the Camera: December 2

It's time for another fun-filled edition of...

These are from the Bear's first Thanksgiving. My sister took these and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out. Thanks KK! I normally only put up one, but they were so cute I couldn't decide.

And our first Thanksgiving as a family...

Thanks for playing along!

Lamar and Jerrica's Maternity Pictures

Our sweet friends are expecting their first baby. Tomorrow. Actually, her due date was almost two weeks ago but she's still pregnant. So she's going to the hospital tonight to start being induced.

When I told her I wanted to do some maternity pics for her, I think she was a little hesitant. But she told me that if I could talk her husband into it then she'd go for it. He (surprisingly) agreed. I had taken their Christmas card pictures a couple of times, but this was new territory. She'd only be pregnant with this baby once and if I messed up I would feel terrible. I had also never done maternity pictures before. I know how difficult it is to feel pretty when you're pregnant so I really wanted her to look back later and see how beautiful she is during this time. And she is a gorgeous pregnant gal. Take a look for yourself...

They are keeping the baby's name a secret. Which is driving everyone (ME) crazy! I'm dying to know! My imagination has gone wild with all the names they could name this baby. Cledus? Adolf? Jack Daniels? King? Trust me, I work in healthcare. I've seen it all. And all of these names are coming back to me now. The anticipation is killing me.

Thank you so much, Lamar and Jerrica for humoring me and letting me get some more practice under my belt. Thank you for being such good friends to us. We have found family in you guys. I look forward to many years of calling each other to fill the other in on our boy's (meaning children, not husbands) latest antics. The Bear can't wait to meet his BFF!

At 10 months...

I can't believe you're already 10 months old. You've been in this world as a whole person longer than you were in my belly. It amazes me all the time how much you've grown and the new things you're doing all the time. I enjoyed your first Thanksgiving so much and can't wait to watch you experience your first Christmas. You are such a funny little Bear. Your personality develops more and more all the time.

At 10 months you...
-crawl on all fours
-crawl really fast! You're in a different room (and doing something you shouldn't) faster than I can catch you
-pull up to stand on any and everything. This means coffee and end tables have to be cleaned off.
-cruise the furniture
-love Morty the Moose. You carry him everywhere you go.
-have gotten tubes in your ears
-cry when Mommy and Daddy leave you
-don't love a bath like you used to. I don't think the ear plugs help with that.
-look for an item when I take it from you and hide it. You don't fall for the bait and switch anymore.
-cry when you want something
-bite. You think its funny when Mommy tells you no.
-do your "silly laugh." It sounds kind of goat-like. You do it a lot when you're being a stinker.
-have four teeth. Two on top, two on bottom. And a fifth peeking through.
-still hate to get dressed. Especially your shirt over your head.
-don't like to have your face or nose wiped. You cry and get mad.
-could care less about a sippy cup. You bang it around and chew on the spout and bottom of the cup.
-don't care anything about juice either.
-not only reach/lean for who you want to go to, but lean away when you don't want to go to someone else.

And this is what you look like at 10 months...


You're always standing!


A close up of those toothies...


And the sweet face your Mama and Daddy love...


The hours drag sometimes, but the days fly right by me. I find myself worrying about the wrong things...dishes, laundry, the dust you could write your name in. I have to remind myself all the time that this sweet face will not always look for me to play with him. I try to keep the word intentional at the forefront of my thoughts. I find myself saying "I meant to..." a lot. And I do mean to do things, but time always gets away from me. I have to be intentional about what I do everyday otherwise the days when he climbs up my leg while I do dishes or does his "silly laugh" and crawls faster to get to something he wants while I chase him...these times will be gone. He will be grown and moved away without me having done so many things that "I meant" to do. Like take him to the park...another thing "I meant to do" before it got too cold.

I have so many sweet pictures to share of Thanksgiving. Check back soon, I'll get them up ASAP.

Edit: I have changed the settings so that you can comment without having a special ID. From what I understand you previously had to have a Google ID to be able to leave comments. I think I now have it set up so that you don't have to do that. Comment away!

My first real "shoot"

So, most of you know that I love to take pictures. I would love to be able to quit my job one day and supplement our income by doing portraits. That's many years away, if ever. But in the meantime, I have great friends that don't mind me practicing on them. And their kids. I've done a few Christmas cards for friends and that's always fun. But this was the first time I did a "shoot" involving kids. (I use the term shoot loosely, in no way am I professional enough for that yet!)

I work with Tracie and over the past year and a half, we've become good friends. She is wonderful...compassionate, thoughtful, and a great mom to three beautiful kids. I asked her if I could do some pics of them because I thought it would be good practice for me. She humored me (bless her heart) and she was sweet enough to let me share them here with you!

Just a note...they held hands all on their own. No prompting from me or Tracie...isn't that sweet! The kids were troopers. I'm still very slow at getting everything set up right and it takes me a while to decide what and how I want to do things. The kids did great in spite of me! I think the lure of Halloween costumes and candy when we got done helped. Here's one of all of them in their cute costumes.

It was Halloween when we took these and Tracie was already thinking about her Christmas card. Hence the red and plaid shirts. She's so organized! I hope we got one you're proud to use!

Thank you, Tracie, for letting me spend some time with you and your sweet kids. They're a lot of fun and it was a great way for me to get some practice!

Embrace the Camera: November 11

Happy Thursday! Danny is out of town fishing so Little Bear and I are holding down the fort. Should be an interesting night since Daddy isn't here to help.

It's time to Embrace the Camera!

This is what I look like when I say "tickle, tickle" to get him to smile. There were better ones of me, but this was the funniest one of him. He almost looks crazy he's smiling so big! Gotta love that "church hair!"

Oh, my boys! The Bear thinks it's hilarious when I fake sneeze. Gets him to smile for the camera everytime. Can you see those top two teeth? They're there!

Thanks for playing along!

A Manly Man

I was at work today, talking with a co-worker. The subject of our conversation led me to think to myself, "Thank God I married a man." When I say this I don't mean I'm glad I married a man instead of a woman. I mean I'm glad I married a MAN instead of a man. Allow me to illustrate my point.

When faced with a large bug or small rodent, Danny doesn't hop onto the chair with me and shriek. He squashes it and rolls his eyes at my hysterics. While maybe chuckling a bit.

He can tend to our dog's health issues. He has nursed our pups back to good health after run-ins with vicious animals and other events that left them with angry looking wounds. Heck, he helped deliver Becky's puppies by c-section. Yes, dogs need c-sections too sometimes. I think he should've gone to vet school. I know what you're thinking..."If he's such a good doc then why do y'all spend so much time and money at the vet's?" And the answer is this: he doesn't have any meds, silly. No, you can't just buy them online. We thought about that.

When there is a problem with our vehicles, he doesn't take it directly to a repair shop so that they can charge us $600 to replace the brake harness. (Which even I know doesn't exist. It's a WIRING harness for your brakes when you tow something.) But some men aren't mechanically inclined and don't know this.

He can hunt and fish. (I feel like I should grunt and beat my chest here.) He can put meat up in our freezer to feed our family. And then (this is the good part) he can cook that meat. I don't know how to cook quail. He does.

When there is a problem with our garbage disposal (like this week), he doesn't hesitate to stick his hand into the black, unknown abyss to dig out the shards of the broken glass baby food jar. I know that deep down that's the last thing he wants to do but he knows that they aren't going to jump out on their own. Although I don't know why they don't jump out on their own...that's how the baby food jar got in there in the first place. Yes, that really happened.

He knows about firearms and how to work them. Not in a crazy, militia radical way, but in a way that he can protect his family and property. This makes me feel safe.

When the lid will not come off the jelly, he does not meekly grunt and groan while making feeble attempts to get it off. He gets in there and shows that lid who's boss. It may sound like a little thing, but those jelly jars are hostile.

If we were stranded with a broken down plane he could fix it. No questions, he's a good aircraft mechanic. If we were stranded like Lost we'd be pretty screwed. But he could take care of us while out there in the wild sci-fi jungle. He'd find a shelter, food to feed us, and ways to protect us. So maybe we wouldn't be that screwed.

When things break around the house, he fixes them. We don't do without an item while it's at the repair shop, he gets the parts and tools out and he fixes what's broken.

He can build stuff. He knows how to use hand tools and power tools to construct what needs buildin'. He can demolish stuff. He's tearing down our little patio fence now.

He knows about sports. Maybe I should say college football. Thank goodness he doesn't watch all of them and quote stats from 1947's world series game or insist on hanging women's field hockey memorabilia in the living room or scratch himself and belch every night of the week while watching "the Game." Thank goodness. I don't know that I could live with that. But he knows about and loves college football. That's plenty manly.

Danny is just the right amount of man. He isn't a macho, knuckle-dragging, poker night every week, cigars in the living room, womanizing asshole. Thank God. He doesn't insist on doing things that are outside the realm of his knowledge, capabilities, or what he is equipped to do. He knows when to call the professionals.

He is a self reliant and self sufficient kind of man. He doesn't depend on others to provide or maintain his family. His responsibilities are HIS responsibilities.

He is my kind of guy. Now I'm going to fix his meat and potatoes.

Time well spent

There are about 3 dozen things I should be doing other than blogging. Especially since it takes me about an hour to do one post. Does it take everyone that long or am I just slow? Anyway, while the Bear is napping I wanted to take this opportunity to get on paper (or the web) what I was feeling right this minute.

I have had more fun being at home over the last few days than I ever thought we could have right after a surgery (even one as minor as tubes.) I took Thursday and Friday off of work to take care of the Bear after his surgery. Danny was at home with us Thursday and it was nice to just hang out at the house. After the Bear got his nap, it was fun. He was ill as a hornet when he woke up from the anesthesia. But after that we played patty cake, peek-a-boo, gave high fives, and played with toys all afternoon.

Yesterday and today, the Bear has gotten to sleep in until he's ready to get up. I've gotten up before him and had time to eat breakfast or shower before he's started stirring. This morning I could hear him moving around in his crib and talking his sweet gibberish. I left him in there for a few minutes and listened to that sweet baby talk through the monitor. When I opened his door to get him up he was still on his tummy with his legs tucked up under him and his hiney in the air. He smiled when he saw me before picking up his little head and trying to stand in the crib so I could get him.

I've also gotten to rock him for a few minutes before putting him down for his morning nap. He lays his little head on my chest and does his slow blinks until he just can't fight it anymore and dozes off. That has probably been the highlight of the past few days. Holding and rocking my baby for his nap. He doesn't often let me cuddle him and put his head on my chest. He's too big of a boy to do that anymore. I love how the sun shines through the curtains and makes his hair look a little lighter and casts shadows in such a way to make his little cheeks look even juicier.

While he naps I've gotten kitchen cabinets organized, the living room vacuumed, and a living room cabinet straightened up. But when he's awake we play. He's cruising furniture like nobody's business. He crawls so fast I have to run to get to him before he plays in the trash or finds the minuscule crumbs on the kitchen floor to eat. He's so mobile these days you can forget about household chores when he's awake.

I even cooked dinner last night! *SNAP!* Alright, come to already...I know it's shocking but nothing worth fainting over. I cooked dinner AND made a pumpkin pie! Now I'll wait while you regain consciousness......welcome back. Anyway, I think Danny was in a bit of a shock too. Bless his heart. He certainly didn't marry a Martha Stewart. As is evident by my meager dinner offerings of Hamburger Helper on at least a weekly basis. Isn't that sad? When I do cook dinner it's something like Hamburger Helper. I don't like to cook. I do like to bake.

I'd like to tell you a little about the Bear and his BFF, Mortimer (we're on a first name basis, we call him Morty) Moose. Wade loves Morty. He drags him all over the house, he went with us to the hospital, he plays with him in the car on the way to daycare. Here they are playing under the coffee table.

And playing in the kitchen...the Bear is laughing because Morty tells hilarious jokes...

But this is how sweet Morty spends most of his time: with one leg in the clutches of the Bear and one of his colorful, bell-ringing feet in the Bear's mouth. Like this:

They're quite a pair.

Hope everyone is having a happy Saturday! We've got a busy one when Danny gets home from work: Bama game then a party with people Danny works with. I won't know a soul, but I'm kinda looking forward to meeting some new peeps. Have a restful weekend!

Embrace the Camera: November 4

I should've combined this with the last post but wasn't thinking. So...two in one day. Some sort of record for me! Here we are Embracing the camera on Halloween.



See the previous post for his adorable costume and its sweet little history. Now go get your camera and embrace it. Love it.

Also, Wade's surgery (tubes in his ears) went fine this morning. He was really grumpy when he woke up but after a good nap and something to eat he was set to go. He has played like crazy this afternoon. Thanks for thinking about us!

Halloween and the Great Pumpkin

I know I'm a little late getting this up and that you've already seen his costume, but I just had to post some of the cute pics we got with him. I also wanted to tell you about his costume. My mom made this little pumpkin and I wore it when I was about 6 months old. Since then about 18 other kids have worn it. And now my little Bear has worn it. It's got holes in it and the stuffing is coming out in places, but it's still precious. I think that's a pretty neat little story. Just thought I'd share.

These are of the cute outfit his Nana got him.

We didn't actually trick-or-treat. We just went to the grandparents houses and showed him off in his little costume. Next year though, look out. Hide your candy.