Halloweenies

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays...really any excuse to dress up and eat candy gets me excited, so this celebration is basically perfect. No matter how much stress has been piling on lately, at least I can decorate, plan costumes, make a couple spooky menus and get excited for trick or treating! Of course, I cannot blog about Halloween and not include old costume pics. Y'all already know that. Do any of my long-time blog readers remember this header? it was one of my favs!

last year the girls dressed as Alice and the white rabbit:

Maddie was two months old, and not super duper thrilled--

ok,ok, perhaps a teeny bit terrified...

 

Avery and I had to laugh at little sister

 

 

At least my big girl was happy to be in costume :)





This year I've had another paired idea for costumes, but I'm not yet sure if it's going to work out, as I've had a couple of ebay snafus. It's a little late in the game, but hopefully it will happen and I can share in a couple of weeks.

Decoration-wise, I've definitely stepped it up this year with new mantle deco:

 

and Maddie helped me pick out some new little trick or treaters

for the book shelf the other day. They are wood, so she can play with them!

I also designed a quick little Halloween printable that I'd love to share!! It's 4x6, so easy to frame. You can print on photo paper, like I did, or print on regular paper and use as a greeting :)

Download it as a high-res, ready-to-print .pdf  HERE.

I have mine on the counter next to a treasured photo of my little fairy Avery at one year old! It's one of my fave photos of all time.

and speaking of free printables, I had to share this simply adorable Halloween dress-up paper doll from Babalisme <--- check out her page to download!!

October makes me crazy

yep, it does.  It may have to do with how the weather keeps playing tricks on me, or how the holiday season is already approaching too quickly for me to keep up! Or maybe the fact that every weekend is totally booked, and I am totally missing my lounging time...where I can lay on the couch and veg for a bit. And talking about lounging, my little baby has turned into an expert lounger. NO idea where she gets it {wink, wink}.

 exhibit A:

She will come over to me on the couch and say, "up-up-up" and so of course I have to oblige! Then she'll put her arm up on the cushion and lay back like she owns that couch. Cracks me up.

She's really turning into more of a climber- lord help us! She especially likes to climb all over US. Here she on Mt. Daddy-

she already mugs for the camera!

I wish I had more time to blog about all the things this little bug does daily that make me giggle! Her sister too of course. As much as they drive me up the wall sometimes, I am grinning ear to ear at them way more than not.

I really appreciate all the nice messages about my last post. Avery is doing well in spite of these weird episodes, and we will find out more after this weekend when she goes into the hospital overnight for an EEG. Not a fun thing to do, but worth the answers we will get. I will keep y'all posted. Meanwhile, I've got to get all our photos together from last weekend-- our annual State Fair trip to Dallas! We had a great time and the girls did well. I was a proud mommy :)

My Girl

It's time for another serious post. Ruh roh. Such is life though.

Last week was like heaven with the Pizzazzerie post on Maddie's party. This week finds Bub the hub and I facing one of our greatest fears: our precious Avery bub is having very strange little episodes that look like...seizures. Ugh. Even writing that word makes my heart hurt.

For four years, we have been so thankful to feel like they were part of our past. I mean, that was the entire reason we went through with her radical brain surgeries. And we always knew that there were no guarantees....but we let ourselves get comfortable.

Comfortable not watching her every second of the day, looking for any signs of strange behavior. Comfortable not having to plan for, worry about, or dispense meds. Comfortable being able to focus on her recovery, instead of a treatment plan. Comfortable just being Avery's parents, not some kind of medical response team. I'm terrified that this is all over. WE are terrified.

Friday morning we are going to see Avery's neurologist to discuss a plan. It will most likely involve things that none of us wants to do....things I especially wish that I could have a conversation with Avery about, so they wouldn't be quite so scary for her. Or us. Technically I can, I'm just not sure how much she understands. It's so hard not to ever know what's running through her mind.

I would trade anything in the world for these awful things not to come back. She has come so far! It's just NOT FAIR. You'd think I had given up on that word at this point, but it still runs through my head pretty constantly...she doesn't deserve any of this.

Tonight Avery and I had our usual pre-bedtime snuggle on the couch. She's one of the greatest snugglers of all time...always has been. We watched an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that she can't get enough of right now, and laughed at the same parts together. Her giggle is truly the most precious sound. While we cuddled, she reached over and absentmindedly played with my necklace, just like I used to do with my mom. I gave her a million kisses and told her how much she is loved. She gave me the same glance and knowing smile that she usually does.

Although it's easy to assume sometimes that Avery doesn't understand the things going on around her, that is simply not true. She may not have the capacity to communicate like we do yet, but she is just as sensitive {if not more} as a typical child. She senses body language and moods, and reacts to tone quickly. She may be even more sensitive to these things since she lacks the ability to ask questions instead. I know she can tell when something is up, so we have always kept our brave faces on around her, even if we are intensely worried, as we have been recently. I think she does the same for us sometimes too, weird as it sounds.

I know that we'll get through this together, like we did before. It doesn't come with any less fear though. We can only hope for the best, and do everything in our power to make it so.

MADDIE'S BUG PARTY!!

It's hard to even put into words how exciting it was this morning to get an email from Courtney Whitmore at Pizzazzerie to tell me that she was featuring Madeline's First Birthday Party on her site today! I pretty much jumped off my couch and screamed. I mean, I did. Then I texted Bub the hub and my momma and used about a billion exclamation points.

I have been reading Pizzazzerie for a long time, they post the most fabulous parties! Courtney is such an inspiration-- she popularized and wrote an adorable book about Push-Up Pops, which you have probably seen at parties or perhaps Pinterest.

Check out the Bug Party feature on Pizzazzerie by clicking on the image below!!

 

This was my first time "styling" a party, so you can probably already guess that I took about a jillion photos-- thing is, I could definitely not afford to hire a professional photographer (like 99% of the parties posted to sites like Pizzazzerie) SO special thanks to my best good friends Natalie Jorgensen (+her fancy camera) and Allison Etchison for helping take photos too so this mom could enjoy the extra special party for my sweet baby girl!!! Now, for a few photos not included in the feature:

 

the party princess loved that bug cake...

 

party favors and decor...

 

pennants, custom sippies, kebabs and cookies (yum)

 

bug clips for the girls! and big sis plays with bugs :)

 

bug party guests...

 

CUTIES, CUTIES, CUTIES

 

 baby play!

 

sweet family love

 

 do you think she got enough presents?

yes, yes I believe she did...

and enjoyed them too!

 



whew!! that will be a party to remember! I am definitely not already planning Avery's upcoming January birthday. Definitely not....