Instead of Doing Homework

I have a big unit with a bunch of assignments due today (Saturday) at midnight for my online class, but I've been meaning to blog for several days now and my attention span for "spot the abnormal trait/action/delay in this random kid in a video" over and over is about gone...so...here's a blog post :o)

Let's see, Halloween...

Mitch is still going above and beyond working hard for us, which usually means working nights (this semester is his "off-track"--his summer vacation from school; because we have 3 semesters, not 2, they assign one random semester for you to be off), so he missed a lot of Halloween fun, poor guy!

Nathan was SO excited to trick-or-treat this year! Our budget is super tight this semester so I didn't go all out on Halloween costumes, even though it was the first time Nathan cared and Eliza's first ever Halloween (so I really, really wanted to do something big!). Oh well, we won't be in college forever! 

Nathan was Thomas the Tank Engine (of course...), a costume my mom sent us about 9 months ago that he's been loving to look at and walk around in ever since. It was a super easy costume that easily accommodated a winter coat (a must for trick-or-treating in Idaho!). Eliza was a BYU cheerleader. Even though we go to a BYU school, we're not actually huge BYU fans, but Mitch's grandparents found the most adorable little outfit when they were here for Eliza's blessing day/my graduation and they gave it to us then. It fit perfectly! I even found white leggings (really!? For a baby to poop all over!?) at a thrift store in town and they kept her legs pretty warm and looked good under her costume.

The first picture is us at a Halloween event put on by a little shopping district in town. Mitch had to work that night so he was sleeping beforehand and couldn't come. It was over 60 degrees that day, so we were all very comfortable! However, not 3 days later it was FREEZING cold and trying to freeze-rain on us for trick-or-treating. Here are pictures! I didn't take any of these with my nice camera, so don't judge!

My sweet little trick or treaters :o)

 Nathan, like I said, was SUPER into trick-or-treating this year!

My blurry little cheerleader, unbundled a bit to see her outfit a little more...we had to keep walking to keep up with brother! :o)

It was sleeting/freezing rain at this point, but it's like no one even told him that was happening! He was so excited!
(We were in our neighborhood, not even 1/4 mile from our apartment, so I knew we could turn around if it got bad...it didn't!)

My cousin Kim made this DARLING Percy the train hat last year for Nathan's 2nd birthday. It went well with his costume, and it's fleece-lined and kept him very warm!

I wish this one was in better focus! It was getting dark enough that the picture was going to be blurry no matter what.

Hanging out with my cousin Kim and her husband Matt after trick-or-treating...this little lady was out cold!

SUCKERS!!

 Another fun "end of October" event was taking Nathan to see Planes, the new Disney movie. We promised him that we'd take him to see his first movie in a theater when it hit the cheap theater in town (we didn't want to blow $20some if he wasn't up for it!). He LOVED it and was only wiggly for about 15 minutes out of the whole thing. He brought his two planes and was spoiled with treats. It ate up our date budget for the month but it was worth it to have a special night with just Nathan! Eliza's only been here with us for 6 months, but it was so weird being with Nathan somewhere and not her. It's amazing how fast these babies steal our hearts and take their places in our families!

At the counter, picking out his treats and sneaking some popcorn :o)

So excited!

He wouldn't even look away from whatever preview was on at the time to give me some eye contact!

Snacking and watching the whole time...he loved it!

He was in heaven!

 Thanks to Matt and Kim for watching Eliza!

Nathan's 3rd birthday was November 2nd. It's hard having it right after Halloween because I feel like there's basically no recovery time between one holiday and another. We were, again, on a tight budget, but I scored some great deals and got a lot for the little budget we had! He's all about Thomas and Friends, Dinosaur Train (a show on PBS...it has trains...so of course he loves it!), and Pixar's Cars right now, and it was so fun to shop for his birthday, knowing he has specific interests. One of the gifts I found was $55 and I found it on clearance for $15! That's cheaper than it sold just this weekend during Black Friday sales! I've been hiding it from him since May when I found it :o) Our decorations were all from last year, along with some fun Cars stuff my mom had found and sent us. Pretty simple, but we knew he would be way more interested in his presents!

At this point he'd opened two small presents, a train and a car, and had to dump out all his trains and cars so they could get acquainted :o)

Ripping into the big gifts!

This was the $15 set I mentioned; definitely a major SCORE!

Dinosaur Train and the Mountain from the show! (Thank you, Craigslist!)

 Such a mess, but so much fun!

 My awesome cousin, Kim, is one of my best friends. We are so lucky to have her and her husband, Matt, right down the sidewalk in our same apartment complex. We'd be pretty miserable moving here from our cute duplex without them here to hang out with all the time! Kim was looking for a gift idea for Nathan; I told her he really didn't need anything but that I was very stressed about a cake. She's amazingly crafty and making cakes is just not a big deal to her. She and Matt made the Thomas cake as their gift to us, and it was perfect!!

 Update on Miss Eliza Kay:

Eliza turned 6 months old on November 10th. I cannot believe she's been here for six months!! This little lady is very vocal and active and full of personality. We love her so much and we have loved seeing her little temperament and personality shine through her sweet little body. She is a completely different baby than Nathan was, in good ways and bad. She is definitely more adventurous and loves to throw her head backwards in our laps to look at the room upside down. She's very stiff and not very ticklish, and she's starting to laugh and let out the funnest little squeals!

Curse fluorescent lighting!

 At Eliza's 6 month appointment we got her new stats:

24.5" long

 (She went from -5th percentile clear up to the 10th percentile in 2 months!)

weighing 13 lbs 1 oz

(She went from the first percentile to the 5th percentile. Woo hoo!)

with a 15.75" head circumference

(Still not on the charts...about -3rd percentile...maybe next time!?)

Her growth curve is solid as can be, so there's no worry about her not thriving; she is doing great! She'll just be paving her own little line below the growth charts for awhile. Eliza's a bit behind on her milestones, which we knew she would be. She rolls from her belly to her back in one direction only and sits up for about 30 seconds at a time (we're still working on leaning over for something). I don't have any pictures of that yet because she doesn't sit long enough!

Clearly, forced tummy time on the boppy pillow has run its course...

One thing we've discovered about Eliza recently is that she LOVES her big brother. She didn't really seem too attached to him at the beginning; he was just another person at home. Now she'll look at him and start talking to him when he comes into a room and she'll try to find him whenever he's not within sight. She scooted her way off that boppy pillow to find brother! We LOVE this stage for both of them, and I love watching them for a little sibling bond...before they realize they can fight or disagree...(or before Eliza realizes she can wail on her brother a bit...because I'm SURE that's how it's going to be for them in a year or so...)

 Eliza has been spending less time in her swing and more time in her jumparoo lately. She LOVES it and sometimes just bounces and jumps for 3-5 minutes at a time! Nathan loves it too, and doesn't remember it from when he was a baby (obviously), so it's fun for all of us!

Her gums show no signs of teething yet (Nathan "teethed" from 6 months on but didn't actually cut a tooth till 12 months...we're not expecting this to be real!), but she's always putting whatever's within reach into that mouth!

Oh baby girl, please keep those eyes and eyelashes!!

 I officially finished my internship on Wednesday of this week, and it feels awesome to know that all I have to do is finish the online portion of that class, complete my other online class, and I'll be DONE! I have no desire for a Master's Degree, so I'll most likely be done forever. I can't WAIT. I am absolutely smitten by the teachers and kiddos I work with at the preschool where I did my internship and I'm so sad that I won't see that same group of kids every day anymore. I am on the Sub list and will hopefully get some hours that way, as well as working every Tuesday and Thursday (only my Mon, Wed, Fri hours were unpaid; Tues/Thurs was paid and also counted towards my required hours). If I felt like working was what I was supposed to be doing right now, I'd absolutely work at this school, with these amazing people. It really has been a fantastic experience that I'll always be grateful for!

That's about all that's happening with us! We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I haven't seen the pictures from it off my camera yet so I'll hold off. It's 1 am and time to be done blogging!