Pals and pumpkins

Happy Halloween from our cute little pumpkin!

We got into the Halloween spirit on Saturday when our Vegas friends Talon and Carolyn came into town. Our original plan was to take our babies to Boo at the Zoo, but then we stayed up until almost 4 a.m. chatting while Carolyn did my hair, so a long day at the LA Zoo went out the window. It rocks to have a hairstylist on speed dial, by the way. The week before Jake was born, I was talking to Carolyn on the phone when I glanced in the mirror and lamented my sad roots. Two days later, she was in my living room, putting foils in my hair while my 9-months-pregnant belly and I sat on an exercise ball. Did I mention she drove all the way from Vegas for that? Yeah. She's awesome.

With Boo at the Zoo off the table, we turned to Matt's new girlfriend Siri for help and found the cutest Halloween headquarters in the hills outside of Santa Clarita. It had pumpkins galore, a sunflower field full of scarecrows, wagon rides, a corn maze, a petting zoo -- you name it. And the best part? It was free! How's that for a festive fall afternoon? We dressed Jakey Boy up in his pumpkin outfit for the occasion and headed to Lombardi Ranch.

We started off by wandering around the Scarecrow Alley, which was full of themed scarecrows made by local boy and girl scout troops. The themes ranged from fun kiddie movies like Up and Despicable Me to Mario Kart and Angry Birds to actually scary scarecrows.

Our babies got in on the scarecrow action, too.

Then Jake and Emery decided it was time for a snack, as evidenced in the pictures below.

So, needless to say, we took a little break. Once our babies' tummies were full, we picked up where we left off and explored the ranch until the sun went down.

People kept stopping us to tell us they thought Jake was the cutest pumpkin there. We must admit, we agreed.

It's weird to think that time keeps ticking and the world goes on without you during those first few weeks you spend at home with a new baby. It seems like one minute I was at the pool during summertime and the next, the stores are stocked with Christmas trees and I'm buying candy for trick-or-treaters. But Saturday's festivities helped convince me that today is indeed Halloween and tomorrow really is November. We're sending October out in style tonight--just wait 'till you see Jake's costume. And in the meantime, have a happy Halloween!

Patch to Prop: A Pumpkin Story

I blame Pinterest. One night last week, I sat half asleep on my couch at 4 a.m. and logged onto the computer with my left hand while feeding my baby. Up popped a picture of a baby in a pumpkin, and I couldn't help myself--I repinned. And then, last night, I put my baby in a pumpkin.

Jake wasn't quite sure what to think of it. (For the record, he was wearing pants, the pumpkin was totally lined inside, and there was a space heater to his right. So I'm sort of nice while torturing my child.) But really, if someone put me inside a pumpkin, I wouldn't know what to think either.

Our journey began with an obligatory trip to the pumpkin patch two Saturdays ago. It was a monumental occasion since it was our first time heading into town for something other than a doctor's appointment, and Jake did a great job. We scoured the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin and found three--one for each of us.

A baby pumpkin for the baby, of course!

We took our pumpkins home and placed them on the floor in our kitchen, where they sat unloved for 12 whole days.

Last night, we finally dug in and began creating our jack-o-lantern masterpieces.

Once the pumpkins were cleared and Jake was awake, we paused for a little photo-op. Matt lowered Jake into the pumpkin (yes, he was in on it, too) and I quickly snapped a couple shots of our little guy. He looked quite adorable in that pumpkin, if I may say so myself.

Then commercial ended and the World Series went into extra innings and our pumpkin carving session was pushed back another few days. We have to teach Jake proper priorities, you know.

I have a dream.

A dream of one day being caught up on this blog so I can share things as they happen rather than give a historical play-by-play later on. (Dream big, right?) This post is a step in the right direction, as it sums up our regular daily life from Jake's two-week birthday to the seven-week mark, which just happens to be today. Pretty sure lumping 35 whole days into one post earns me an F in the mommy blogging world, but whatever. I've just been too busy cuddling with my newborn to do much of anything else, including laundry, dishes, blogging, and bathtub cleaning. I should really get on that bathtub business soon because I have one final Lush bath bomb calling my name. Anyway, back to the topic at hand -- cuddling with this sweet boy:

It's the best thing ever. Although, we are trying to work just a few other activities into our daily lives. I'll keep you posted on that progress. For now, scroll down and watch Jake grow up over the last 5 weeks.

Jake took his first "real" bath on day 15. The whale tub was filled, the space heater was on, the bathroom was cozy, and we were placing our naked baby into the perfect-temperature water... and then the power went out. His bathroom doesn't have a window, so our poor little guy had to bathe in less water in the cold living room next to the sliding doors and, well, the bath was short lived. But the next day, we were back in the bathroom and his love affair with the whale tub returned. Thank goodness.

Matt went back to work when Jake was 19 days old, so their cuddling sessions became high priority at night. Jake always gives his daddy "hugs" by draping both of his arms around Matt as he sleeps. I try to not be jealous.

On Jake's 3-week birthday, I realized I hadn't taken a picture of him with his big teddy bear yet. I plan on taking pictures with the bear periodically as Jake gets older to show how much he's grown.

Four weeks:

One month:

Jake had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon on his one-month birthday and we decided to make a little family date night of it. This included dinner in the Papa John's parking lot, where we took turns eating and playing with our little guy. We then headed over to Nadia's for some delicious one-month birthday cupcakes.

I was so torn up by Jake taking a bottle so early on, but now I like to pump every now and then because it's so sweet to watch Matt feed him.

Our little date night gave us confidence to brave public a bit more with our little guy (nursing is/was the real roadblock). We started venturing out more and more, and even went to Los Angeles last week. But I'll blog about those outings later.

We probably have pictures of 1/3 of Jake's baths. Considering he takes them almost every day, that's a lot of bath time pictures. But seriously, is there anything cuter than a naked baby? I think not.

Speaking of baths, Jake earned one with this late-night blowout that took place on Matt's lap.

Normally, one might be annoyed at such an inconvenient event, but it's virtually impossible to do anything but smile at a face like that. It's all smiles, all the time around here.

Smile and cuddle. It's what we do.

(Oh, and practice push ups during tummy time. We do that, too.)