Official Halloween Pictures

We had our ward trunk-or-treat tonight.  Too bad we showed up late and everyone was leaving after about 15 minutes.  Now we have this HUGE bowl full of candy.  The good thing I splurged and bought good candy. The bad thing is I am trying to rid the remnants of Pete and that candy will haunt me. 

Thanks to Ashley for the pics!

Hair loss

Brenden and I were praying this wouldn't happen.  Pete was born with a nice full head of hair and this morning I took a look at him and he has lost half of his hair.  It happened to Emmie and we are still recovering.  What is it about our genes that generates infant pattern baldness?  See for yourself. 

 Pete: 2 weeks

 

 Pete: 3.5 weeks

I would look like that too if I were losing my hair. 

What we've been up to

This is what we've been up to lately...

1.  Emmie wants to wear her "ballerina skirt" all the time.  If music comes on, she has to run to her room to put it on so she can dance. I wanted to get a great fall picture with the leaves but she wasn't into it.

 

2.  Pete is an amazing baby.  He is sleeping like a champ and is overall a very laid back kid.  We like him a lot. 

3.  Emmie is 75% potty trained. I put this picture in here because this says what she has been like for the past 2 weeks while we have been using the potty. She still has accidents with #2 but I am A-OK cleaning up #2.  It is the throw up I can't handle. 

4.  I have been wearing the same pair of sweat pants and t-shirt since Pete was born.  Not really, but pretty close.  

5.  Emmie got her first hair cut.  Can you tell?  Really, you can't?  Well, we trimmed up the back and got rid of the long strands in the front.  People keep asking, "did you save it?"  Would you save 5 strands of hair?

 

Halloween preview

While my mom was here we thought of a great Halloween costume for the family.  I love Halloween and I love group costumes even more.  Brenden wasn't too into my "Annie" costume for the family this year.   He wasn't so sure about wearing a bald cap.  Maybe I can convince him next year.  Plus, we need to save Annie for when Emmie has enough hair to actually put in curlers.  It would be pretty sad to be a redhead and have to wear a red wig for Halloween.  

My mom made Emmie's costume.  It turned out way cute and we ordered a hat from Etsy for Pete. 

This is Emmie and her best bud Mya.  We went to Boo at the Zoo.  The animals were all put away for the winter but local businesses set up tents and handed out candy.  I included this picture because this is the only one where both girls are looking at the camera and Mya is smiling.  Emmie however looked like this in almost all of them. She will be embarrassed in about 16 years.

Can you tell what we went as?

Pumpkin Patch

We went out to the Roca Berry Farms today with Emmie, Pete and Jody.  Pete slept the whole time, strapped to Julianne's tummy in a wrap.  Emmie ran around, seldom following directions, posing for photo-ops or doing anything we asked her.  It was a lot of fun.

Emmie made some new friends in the petting zoo area.

In related news, she kept her pants dry for the entire 2-3 trip!

Also - Julianne thinks this picture is way to funny.  She thinks I should start training for the paralympics.

Who does Pete look like?

This is Pete. 

This is Emmie.

This is Brenden.

This is me.

Who do you think Pete looks like?

Potty Training Help!

 My mom and I have been trying to potty train Emmie for the last 4 days.  Every morning I wake up hearing the song "Help!" by the Beatles in my head.  I need your help and advise!  This kid is more stubborn than a mule and has a bladder like a camel.

This is our situation:  Emmie has complete control of her bladder.  She doesn't have accidents.  This kid can hold it for multiple hours.  She knows when she needs to go potty and will run to the toilet on her own.  She can pull down her own undies, get on the toilet, and then nothing.  I don't know if she is scared or what.  When we can tell she really needs to go we will sit her on the potty and she will scream and kick until she finally explodes. 

What can we do to help her actually go on her own?

Swimming Lake Tahoe

I had a couple minutes between panels this afternoon and dinner, so I went down to the beach by my hotel and took a dip.  The water was chilly to say the least.  Nevertheless, it was crystal clear, beautiful and unbelievably refreshing.  Here's my proof:

If only all my academic conferences were in places like this!

One week old today

Little Pete turns one week old today.  Brenden and I can't decide if he is a better baby than Emmie was or if we are just more experienced.  He treats his parents well.

Other good news but unrelated to Pete- Brenden just sent in an advanced book contract to Texas A&M press.  They want to publish the beast (his dissertation).  We'll see if they make him edit it down from his 496 pages.  Congratulations to Brenden- we are very excited for you!

A Cleaner Pete

There are going to be a LOT of Pete-related posts in the upcoming weeks.  What can I say?  Grandparents demand it!  Here are some pics of Pete a bit cleaned up.

 

Introducing Pete

11:21 AM.  Very fast easy delivery.  8 lbs 12 oz.  Healthy.  So far so good!