A Halloween Tradition

Now that we are back in business, let me share with you a growing tradition in the great state of Kansas started by our dear friends Dan and Mary. This past Saturday was the third annual pumpkin carving extravaganza, where folks get together and create jack-o-lanterns in celebration of Halloween. We have attended this event for the past two years and have to say that we usually have the most boring pumpkin because so many of the people who go work for Hallmark and are super creative. This year instead of carving our own pumpkin, we brought one with us. He is a little rolly-polly pumpkin who is cute as pie...

Anyway, we enjoyed spending time with all our friends there and Christopher, as you can see from the picture at the very top, was very busy plotting something of great significance with Tristan. Perhaps they were working on debate prep since Chris is running for president! Matt and Jaime brought Olivia with them and Christopher was totally trying to flirt with her. He was trying to impress her with his best goos and gaas but she was playing hard to get, choosing to stare at her dad instead. Here are the two fathers hard at work...
All in all, the event was a success and Christopher did a fabulous job socializing with all the party-goers despite having missed his good afternoon nap. And speaking of sleep, although it has only been several nights, we have been trying something new to see if Christopher will sleep a little better and therefore give Mom and Dad some much needed rest. Instead of trying to continue living our normal lives (go to bed whenever, watch TV when we want, schedule appointments when we want...basically do what we want and fit him into our schedule) we decided it was time to implement a bedtime routine. I apologize in advance to those of you coming to visit soon because you'll have to live with us going through this routine from 7PM to about 8ish every night. I'll spare you the details but now instead of Chris getting up every two hours, he's only gotten up once or twice a night. There have been nights also when he has slept as much as 6 1/2 hours straight! It is still a work in progress but we now have a baby who eats and naps better and who is sooooo much happier during the day. Thank you Baby Whisperer! I can't recommend that book enough. Here are some more fabulous pics of our little guy...


Oh, and by the way, yesterday morning while Christopher was sitting in his bouncy seat I was in the kitchen making breakfast and all of the sudden I heard the song that plays when you pull the little lever. I look over and Chris has his hand grasped around it and he was just staring in amazement! He pulled it two more times after that. It was very exciting!