Report: Halloween 2007 is a success!

Well, we just returned from trick or treating with our friends and neighbors Carmen, Michael and their son, Owen. Wilder and Owen have become great friends and always have a rollicking good time together. Tonight was no exception, and they had the added bonus of ... SUGAR!

We went to a nearby street called Swiss Avenue where many of the homes go all out. The houses, by the way, are gorgeous and also gigantic and people with a lot more money than us live there. This apparently translates into good candy -- no crappy candy corn in sight. Woohoo! We're an anti-candy corn household.

Anyway, it was fun until it wasn't (for Wilder because he was tired and for us because it was uber-crowded) and when that happened we walked back to the car and came home. Jerry and Wilder are admiring Jerry's jack-o-lantern handiwork as I type (no hand stabbings this year, hallelujah, and yes, that did happen one year, meaning every Halloween since I sit quietly and pray while Jerry wields a knife). I'm going to go join them for the remainder of this, the greatest of holidays.

I leave you with photos. Wilder, if I do say so myself, was the cutest little pillager and plunderer I've ever seen.

Happy Halloween everyone!


Wilder and his best bud, Owen, all geared up for candycandycandy!


Arrgggggghhh


Trick or treating, Swiss Avenue style


Getting ready to go home, sticky faced and happy


Wee Wilder and Black Betty, the pregnant pirate (actually, I claimed I had scurvy)


Home with mug crammed with yums. Ahhhh what a good day.

Last night as a 1-year-old

 
 
 
 



It's a lot of pictures, I know, but it was our boy's last night of being 1. And I wanted to remember how much fun we had. Turns out 2 ... just as fun. ; )

A very busy weekend

Wilder at the State Fair of Texas ...

We had a very busy weekend, but finally in a good way. We didn't do anything to the house. We hung out with friends, had a visit from Jerry's sister Leigh and brother-in-law Trent, held a 2nd birthday party for Wilder and went to the State Fair. And all this on the end of our two-day trip to San Antonio. I took a bunch of pictures and some video I've posted below.

Our S.A. trip was great. Wilder and I had one exhausting but wonderful morning at the zoo. We swam in the hotel pool, staked out claim on a nearby playground and the three of us ate dinner at what has to be one of the best family joints in the country: Scenic Loop Cafe (and thanks to our neighbor and friend, Carmen, for the recommendation). The food is good, the live music was great and the enclosed playground was awesome, especially for Wilder, who ran wild, discovered he could climb a small rock wall and went down the slide probably no less than 50 times, all while his parents watched him from a safe distance. If you ever get to San Antonio, or near it, and you have a kid under the age of 10, this place is wonderful. Oh, and the service and atmosphere are great, too.

Wilder and I had exactly what I anticipated: a weekend to reconnect. Between the pregnancy and the stress of selling our house, I've not been what you'd exactly call a model mom lately. I've been tired and cranky and he was clearly enjoying and preferring the company of his Papa more. Not that I can blame him. But we needed a couple days away from it all to spend some time together rediscovering how much fun we could have -- just the two of us. And we did, I think. For that, especially before baby No. 2, I'm incredibly grateful.

Anyway, w/o further ado, some pics (I'm posting a lot because I've been so remiss in putting photos up recently). And look for videos here soon, too.



Wilder goes through his birthday loot (this truck puzzle is from his Grandma Teri and Teri, he LOVES it. Pulls it out countless times a day to yell. "Truck! Truck, mama, TRUCK!!"


Riding the tractor at the fair with a little help from Papa


Let me at it! Let me at it!


He ate WAY more frosting than cake


On the swing in San Antonio


Wilder and Mama playing in S.A.


Checking out the elephants at the S.A. Zoo (GREAT zoo, btw)


At the Scenic Loop Cafe with Pop


Chillin' in his hotel room

Home selling, separation sadness and San Antonio: an update

We're now 16 weeks pregnant with baby No. 2. Middle of next month, we'll be having a sonogram and have decided to find out the kiddo's gender this time around. With the onset of second trimesterness, exhaustion and nausea have waned. Heartburn and extraordinary tailbone pain, however, have set in. Not fun, but still preferable to any first-trimester maladies. Of course, not sure I'll say that in three months when my butt's still hurting every time I shift an ounce of weight. Ahh pregnancy, what a blessing!

Jerry and I have been continuing to get our house ready to put on the market ... and we're finally thisclose — in fact, our Realtor thinks we'll have it on the market Monday. It seems, however, that the changes in how our house looks along with his burgeoning brain development have been rocking Wilder's world. He's a kid who's barely had a smidgen of separation anxiety since birth, but now every morning that we take him to daycare results in full-blown freakouts. Huge, wet tears. Full mama- and papa-body wraps (arms AND legs), and then collapsing on the floor in a puddle of flailing and wailing sadness when we leave.

It. Sucks.

We try to remember he's fine no more than five minutes after we leave, but it still sticks with us for hours throughout the day. Jerry mostly takes Wilder to daycare, so I don't see much of it. This morning I took him and have been dying to hug him all day.

Luckily, tomorrow we leave for San Antonio, returning on Friday night. Jerry has a conference and invited Wilder along. We'll be staying on the Riverwalk and have had many excellent restaurants suggested to us. I'm really looking forward to some quiet alone time with Wilder (and Jerry when he's not in meetings) just relaxing, swimming, walking and exploring. This will probably be one of the few times remaining to do this before the second baby comes along.

Anyway, I best get back to work. Just thought I'd leave a quick update and hopefully later have some time to post a couple recent photos.

Love to all, k.