Fire Station Open House

The fire station down the road had an open house last month on a Saturday morning.  We walked right over.


They extended the ladder and a fireman climbed up. . .Max was looking for him way up there.

more looking at the fireman in the sky. . isn't his arm on Jared's so cute?

He's up there somewhere. . .

Driving the big truck.  Every little boy who climbed up there had the biggest smile on his face, it was so cute to watch.

This fireman took a good 20 minutes and showed us all the tools on the fire truck including the jaws of life.  He said they can get through ANY door in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds, with the tools they have.

more tools. . .

Sean took a good nap through the whole thing.

More Halloween things. . .

 We carved pumpkins, the whole time Max kept saying "very cool, I like it!  I like it, wow!"  He calls them "scary pumpkins. . .but it's pretend"

We love the Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch just down the road from us.

Our cute neighbor is just the same age as Max, we finally were able to get the kids together to do something fun.

At our Music Makers class.  Aren't these four so cute holding hands?

Max napped for over 3 hours on Halloween day!  I had some time to take some photos of my Sean.

It's definitely much easier to get Sean to smile and look at the camera, you can see from the last few posts that I haven't had one like this from Max in awhile.

Halloween Night we went down to San Juan Capistrano.  Max's Aunt Jessica was Jessie from Toy Story.  He loved it and is still talking about it!

We all dressed up for the Trunk of Treat!

While Jared was getting ready, I tried to snap some of the boys together, Max wouldn't take off his sunglasses, I take what I can get!

 They had a little photo spot set up at the church.

 Mr. Smee, The Crocodile, Captain Hook (Yes, he grew his mustache out just for Halloween!) and Peter Pan

Playgroup Halloween Party

 Some nice friends hosted a Halloween Party in place of playgroup.  It was the first time I got the kids all dressed up.  Max was thrilled to wear his costume, Sean was. . . a good sport.

such cute kids!

Our friends Kate and Annabelle were Tinkerbelle

 Pinata time.

buddies

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Trick or Treat!

I took over 400 photos in October!  and I thought I was slowing down . . .Fall just has so many photo opts.  Here is a sneak peak of our Halloween, I'll get more up this weekend.

Newborn top 10

Sean is 4.5 months and we're settling into a new normal around here.  But I wanted to share some of my favorite things that helped with the newborn phase.

1.  These Aden and Anais blankets from Target.  I had a lot of blankets already but Sean was born right as the heat and humidity of Summer came on, he loved the swaddle and our apartment has no A/C so he practically lived in just a onesie and these light blankets.  I honestly hardly used the 0-3 pajamas I have.

2.  Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me blankets.  When the nights started to get slightly cooler, and when Sean got a little bigger, we'd use them at night.  Both my babies have been really into the swaddle, Sean has often needed it while nursing too, to relax a little.

3.  The Soothie.  This was both of my boys favorite binky.  They both gave up the binky completely just before turning 4 months but it was so nice to have when they wanted to suck, but their tummies were full.  Max received these in the hospital, but the hospital where Sean was born didn't believe in binkys . . .?  we had to wait until we got home.

4.  Homedics Sound Spa.  White noise machines are genius.  The boys room window faces a semi-busy road and it helps block a lot of the noise BUT the real reason I'm adding it is because it helped calm Sean down during those fussy evenings.  He was quite fussy in the evenings for a good few weeks.  Sometimes I'd just swaddle him up and turn this thing on and he'd calm right down.

5.  Johnson's Nursing Pads.  I've tried a lot and these are my favorite.  Don't have to wear them as often now but they're definitely a must.

6.  Burp Cloths.  We're lucky that Grandma White made a bunch for us.  My boys sure spit up A LOT.

7.  Bulb Syringe.  An awesome freebie from the hospital.  Sean had 3 colds in the first 3 months!  This was very necessary to clear him out so he could eat and breathe.  Max didn't have colds but had lots of watery stuff up there for the first few weeks.  They HATE the thing, poor babies.  

8.  Pampers Swaddlers.  My favorite diaper for brand new babies.

9.  Balmex.  Both of my boys have such sensitive skin.  Their bums turn red even after one day with out a bath.  We've had our share of rashes.  Here is my secret to cure a bad rash associated with "the runs" or diarrhea:  Rinse out the wipes with water before using and just dab, let their bum air out for 10 minutes or so after every change, don't put any cream on during the day but bathe them at night and then apply a THICK layer of Balmex.  It is the perfect consistency and I prefer it over Desitin or Bordeaux's Butt Paste. 

10.  Bebe Au Lait Nursing Shawl.  The two nursing shawls I had with Max were designed to stay open at the neckline but didn't work right.  I knew I needed something new for nursing away from home with Sean.  I can't keep Max in the house all day, or myself for that matter.   I researched a ton, the K'tan carrier, shawls that were more like a poncho, shawls that covered the front and back, but in the end I realized I just needed to be able to SEE him and stay covered.  As long as I can just pull down my top, this works like a charm with the very rigid neckline.  I justified the price by saying it is cheaper than buying formula!

well I hope this is helpful for someone out there!  if there were a number 11 it would be the Ergo baby carrier.