wordless wednesday {trick-or-treat!}

my ornery dragon and sweet lil' pumpkin.

halloween 2012

linking up with:

jenni from the blog, tara's view of the world, project alicia,

sarah halstead photography & tots and me 

my seasonal obsession

okay i admit it.

i might be a little over the top when it comes to embracing and celebrating seasons and holidays.  

especially with my kids. 

but i think that putting them in their spooky clothes the entire month before halloween is fun.

i love decorating my home with pumpkins and drinking delicious pumpkin spice lattes (thanks for this recipe mom!) all throughout the fall months.

i like taking them to several different trick-or-treating events so we have even more candy laying around the house for mommy to eat they can enjoy their costumes several times!

and i really love the gorgeous fall colors ;)

i know this little outfit isn't super girly (in fact, hendrix wore it two years ago for his first halloween), but i thought that if i topped it with a hat or headband sporting a flower, maybe people won't assume she is a boy.

oddly enough, when hendrix was dressed as a bumblebee that first halloween, everyone assumed he was a girl.....

hmmmm

so hendrix's costume this year is a dragon/dinosaur.  

it really depends on the day as to which he will answer.  lol

he already wore it trick-or-treating at the blank park zoo last weekend. 

he was really not pleased with how cold it was outside.  in fact, while i thought he would be running around with no need for the stroller, we ended up bringing it because he wanted to sit in it and snuggle with his blankie.

he did enjoy seeing the few animals that were out - though most were in their winter homes, and the night was more about fun lights, cool costumes and candy.

he enjoyed the hay maze with daddy,

but then after a quick wave to me, he begged to ride in the stroller again. (not normal two-year-old behaviour for my little guy!)

miss blaire was not actually in costume as i just had her bundled in as many layers as i could get to fit inside the baby bjorn.  she was probably the warmest of us all, and slept contentedly the entire evening.

hendrix livened up a bit more when we got to the play zone which was sort of indoors and much warmer.  he is a big fan of bounce house toys!

i was glad we went, even if it was a chilly evening. 

this happy little dino/dragon made it worth it!

afterwards we enjoyed a 45 minute party in the minivan during which daddy got hendrix into jammies and mommy breastfed blaire before driving back to ames.  juggling the timing of her feeding schedule for activities is a tiny bit tricky, but i am glad that we are still getting out to make fun family memories, and i am sure that will just get easier and easier!

i love my sweet little pumpkins!

my little model

here's a little sneak peek of my newborn photo session with blaire.  i really thought that i was going to be doing mini-shoots with her all.the.time. just so i could document all of her sweet cuteness as much as possible......

but i think i miscalculated how much time i was going to have with two children, a part-time job, a house to keep up, and lots of fun activities on our calendar!

life is good.

but full.  super brimming to the top FULL.

i do have many more great shots from this session...and when i get done editing them i will be sure to share!

until then.....

happy monday ;)

fluffy laundry times two

you might remember that we cloth diaper.  

we have used fuzzibunz diapers since hendrix was big enough to fit in them, and have never looked back.  

yes, it means a lot of laundry; and yes, they were kind of an expensive initial investment; but when i think about how much money we saved on disposables over the last two years, i am sold.  

not to mention that now we get to use them for baby #2.  

awesome

after blaire lost her umbilical cord stump, we have been able to put her in the smaller sized cloth diapers (we have two sets, which works out perfectly since hendrix is now still wearing the bigger size, and blaire gets the smaller size) and i think she looks super adorable in them!

  they go up practically to her armpits, and they really pad her little bum, but i love them.  

and she seems to also ;)

  

you know there are some things that you just forget about having a newborn around. as your child transitions into toddlerhood these changes seem to happen gradually....

quantity of daily diaper changes is one of those things.  

hendrix might go through 4 diapers a day right now.  

blaire about 12-14.

that has us doing diaper laundry nearly everyday.  

(not to mention regular laundry.....how can one little girl dirty so many burp cloths, blankets, towels, crib sheets, onesies, jammies, etc..?!?)

if you stop by my house unannounced, you will most likely see some stage of diaper folding happening on my couch.  

oh well.

at least they are clean!

no swaddling here

i know that every baby is different, but i can't help myself from comparing the ways that hendrix and blaire are so totally different.  

one of the biggest ways is in the swaddling, or lack thereof.  hendrix adored being swaddled, and that was the only way that he slept for the first four months of his life until we had to wean him off of swaddling (which was a difficult endeavor).

blaire wants nothing to do with it.  

she does like to have a blanket on her, but she doesn't want those arms pinned down at all.  

she wants to put them up over her head.  

this is basically the position that i sleep in every night, so it seems fitting that this mama's girl should follow in my footsteps.  lol

another big difference between them so far is in the paci department.  hendrix was attached to his from day one in the hospital, and we just finally got rid of it after his second birthday last month. 

blaire hasn't had one at all yet.  and she doesn't seem to know or care what she is missing out on!

she is really a very content baby, and spends most of her time sleeping.  she is still getting up about 3 times a night to eat, but i have been able to catch some catnaps during the afternoons when both she and hendrix nap  so i have been able to handle the lack of sleep okay.

this little girl is such a blessing to our family, and we are loving getting to know her a little more each day.  ;)

just like mama

so i have been hearing about how much baby blaire resembles my side of the family since the very hour she was born.

blaire robyn baumgartner

jennifer lynne baumgartner

 i have never disagreed, but this photo of me as a baby really seals the deal.

i think that is only fair, since my hubby gets his own mini me with hendrix ;)

hendrix james baumgartner

arthur michael baumgartner

we have some strong family genes!!

pumpkin patch

Ok, so I wrote this post before Blaire was born, and the actual trip was even before that, but I still think it is timely to see our pumpkin patch trip - and also totally appropriate to focus on Hendrix in the midst of the arrival of Blaire ;). Enjoy!!!

a couple weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends and had a blast!  the weather was really mild still, and hendrix had fun running around with his special pal flora ;)

the tractor ride was definitely a big hit...

and he had fun running around picking his very own pumpkin.

while mommy was a little sad that she couldn't jump on the big orange pillow the the boys, it was fun to watch them stumble, trip and splat on the bouncy surface.  hendrix is a pro at jumping on the trampoline so he thought he knew what it was all about!

look at that air!

good think daddy doesn't mind being a little bit silly!

hendrix has learned that corn like this goes in silos and he likes to point that out on roadtrips through the countryside......he is gonna be my little farmer boy yet ;)

happy fall!

one week

my baby girl is a week old today, and i already can't remember what our family was like without her here.  she brings so much joy to each one of us, and it is just so precious to see more and more of her eyes each and every day.  she still sleeps a ton, but is starting to take in more of the world around her; and hendrix is doing his best to tell her about everything.

hendrix recently picked up on daddy calling blaire, sweetheart, and he has decided that is going to be his nickname for her too.  oh we still hear 'blaire' about a thousand times a day - usually in a sentence like, 'blaire, look'  'scuse you blaire (when she burps)', 'i love you, blaire', and 'drink milk, blaire?'

but now when she is laying in her bed, or when she is in my arms eating, he comes up to her and says 'hi sweetheart', and it just melts me.  sibling love is really the best!!

all her little features are so teeny tiny, and she fits just perfectly in her newborn sized clothing.....hendrix was swimming in newborn clothing for several weeks but i also remember that once they start growing it will continue rapidly!  in the meantime, i want to get as much mileage from those tiniest outfits as possible!

i have loved playing with bows and flowers, headbands and hats; and oddly enough hendrix is fascinated in all those accessories too.  he likes to help me pick them out for her, and i would be lying if i said that he hasn't wanted to try on a few of them.....maybe even a tutu and some leggings also.....

we love you, my little blaire!

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