Happy Halloween!

SO, after being slammed with a freak snowstorm I was extremely grateful that our new town decided to schedule trick or treating for the 28th. Our power was out for over 24 hours, our internet was out for over 48 hours.... But we did get to go out door to door before the snow started defying the season and ripping down tree limbs.

My mom made it to our house for the evening to cover the candy-giving while we took our little monster out and to witness the awesomeness of her creation.

I had found this costume on this lady's blog over a year ago and knew in my heart that it would be perfect for Riley.

We bought a pattern and did what was recommended - combining the dinosaur pattern with the panda pattern and a little bit of the devil. I tracked down the supplies, my mom sewed it together, I took care of the horns and the finishing touches -- I also Monster-ed up some hoodies for Greg and me. Check it out:

No I haven't disappeared.

I'm a mom. I suck at blogging.

Decorating, however...

Decorating I'm good at.

You like my monsters?

Happy October :)

Drastic

Hey. So. Opinion.

I'm thinking of drastically changing my do. Greg is opposed as he likes the super long hair, however he admittedly is not the one who's lugging around 7 pounds of Heat-Retaining hair. My original goal was to grow it so that it falls below my boobs. As my boobs continue to grow - defying all laws of nature - my goal seems increasingly impossible.

On the one hand, I have romantic notions of my kids having memories of Mama with long hair when they were little - Maybe that sounds silly. On the other hand, I can't get cutting it short out of my head.

I'm also afraid it won't look good if it's short. I'm heavier than I used to be and my face is rounder. Maybe long hair is better than shorter hair. I do have stick straight hair and the tousled shorter looks I like would probably be harder to achieve.

To Sum Up - I"m looking for opinions here people. Feel free to weigh in.

Keep the long hair? (The Picture above was one of the best hair days I've had in the last YEAR. It DOES NOT look like that all the time. Mostly it is pulled back in a messy bun that usually is half-fallen apart.)

Cut it SHORT?

Official.

Closet Before:

Closet After:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen After:

Nursery Before:

Nursery After:

EXPLOSION.

Okay. So.

1. Greg was offered a desireable new job in the Allentown, PA area which is directly between our families, that he promptly accepted. His start date is June 13th..

2. His new job includes a relocation package, so contrary to my initial freak out that I NEED BOXES and I NEED TO PACK, they will actually be hiring a moving company for us who will pack up our entire house down to my underwear drawer, and unpack us when we get where we're going. They will also help to sell our house and help us to buy a new one.

3. Riley's top two teeth came through last week. This means he can bite. Seriously.

4. Riley's first steps were on Saturday, June 4th in the afternoon.

5. My 96 year old Grandfather fell out of bed, hit his head, was taken to the hospital, and had a heart attack so we packed up and left to go see him 2 days later. We saw him in the hospital. He was coherent and interested in Greg's new job and the move. He wished us luck. I told him I love him very very much.

6. He died the next day after being brought home with hospice care, during a severe storm in Carlisle PA that took out trees, created tornados, and left his house (and my grandmother!) without power for 4 days.

7. We had already been planning to visit my OTHER grandparents, whom Riley had not yet met, so that's where we were when my Grandfather passed away. My Nana is officially in the terminal stage of alzheimers and has maybe another 5-6 months ahead of her, but we lucked out that she was having a good day, and although she was extremely frail, asked several times to "go home" and didn't know who we were - she was delighted by our beautiful baby.

8. Riley learned how to drink out of a sippy cup.

9. We've made two trips to Allentown (5 hours away from home) to check out houses for sale - neither resulted in finding a house we really want to make an offer on. We've given up on finding our dream house, now we'll just settle for something that'll do for a while that's easily resellable.

10. My birthday is on June 12th.

11. Greg is going to leave on my birthday to start his job. It is unknown how long I will be alone with Riley here in Pittsburgh for 5 days at a time.

12. Riley learned that dropping toys on the ground for Mommy to pick up is SUPER FUN.

13. Greg's Car broke down with 277000 miles on it. It is Dead. Defunct. An Ex-Car.

14. We put a deposit down on a 2005 Toyota Sienna. We have not yet picked it up. But boy, am I thrilled I'll be driving a car I'm COMPLETELY unfamiliar with right when Greg leaves to go 5 hours away.

15. I made a new mommy friend in Pittsburgh and we totally click really well.

16. Did I mention I'm moving away from Pittsburgh and will totally not have any local friends again as soon as I made one?

17. I just got my period for the first time in a year and a half.

AWESOME.

Seuss.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Tinyprints.com is having a sale on Mother's day cards so I'm taking care of all grandmothers and great grandmothers in one happy fell swoop. I called Greg to tell him about my success and his reply was to ask if i wanted to make one up for myself.

I have a 7.5 month old, this is my first mother's day... I guess I just thought that it would be at least a few more years before I was asked to take care of my own card.

After 60 seconds of silence, he started to back track and has now asked that that question be erased from memory because he "...uh...didn't mean it that way".

I am irked.

Seriously?