Halloween Top Ten - But Mommy, I want to be a [fill in the blank]!

Picking my daughter's Halloween costume used to be pretty simple when she was a baby and a toddler. We liked Disney, she liked princesses - our decision was made before we even went shopping. For her first Halloween she was Tinkerbell (Mommy's pick), second she was Snow White (Daddy's pick) and for her third Halloween she chose Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty. This year I thought it'd be a no-brainer - till she threw me a total curve ball. Can you guess which one? So in the spirit of Trick or Treat, here are 6 costume conflicts to let you know you're not alone.

The Toddler Boy
Your choice That cool NASA astronaut costume Dad just knew he'd love
His choice What he wore to the grocery store last Tuesday: cowboy boots, monkey PJs, torn superman cape, pirate eye patch and Buzz Light Year gloves – or he’ll throw a fit.

The Toddler Girl
Your choice A cute little bumble bee with glitter wings and black-and-yellow striped tights
Her choice The tall, bumpy red thing with fangs and one eye, aka Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba

The Preschool Boy
Your choice A fireman, because he's always wearing his favorite fireman rainboots
His choice The fairy princess costume, with wand, wings and plastic click-clack shoes his older sister wore last Halloween.

The Preschool Girl
Your choice You scored the last Rapunzel costume in town - and even took out a small loan for the long wig (not included), because Rapunzel was her all-time favorite movie... last week
Her "I want to be a bat and paint my face black."
You “Oooo, I know! How about Hello Kitty?”
Her “I want to be a bat.”
You “Cinderella?”

The Tween
Your choice The HSM cheerleading costume you just bought because she's been talking about it for months
Her choice Your 10-year-old and her friends want to be “sexy Goth cheerleaders”: purple and black hair streaks, knee-high socks, fishnet gloves (torn), black lipstick
You "Did you just say 'sexy?'"
Her Rolls eyes
You "I'm NOT returning the HSM costume!"

Infant babe
Your choice A cute round pumpkin costume, “Mommy's Little Pumpkin” socks, $35 soft leather shoes with jack-o-lanterns and a little pumpkin stem hat complete with leaf and curly vine.
Baby’s, um, choice The neon orange “This Is My Costume” onesie your husband found on sale at the drugstore on Halloween after the baby blew out her diaper, pooped out the neckhole of the poofy pumpkin costume and before you could remove the poopy diaper from the changer, donkey-kicked both feet right into the poop getting socks, shoes and legs covered. Trick or Treat?

Your turn. What was your favorite costume choice that never saw the light of the moon? What was your least favorite costume pick that rose from the dead?

(*This was originally posted on October 26, 2011 for mom365 where I landed my first gig as freelance writer for mom's blogs. This was my debut post which had 2469 views before they launched their new site and it no longer fit into their new format of either being a Pregnancy, Baby, Toddler or Preschooler Blog. So it will live on here for many Halloween's to come! ;-) Click here to read more of my Top Ten Lists on Mom365.)

Have a fun, safe & Happy Halloween!

*heart*

Coco Cana

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Halloween Night With A 3 Year Old: Episode 1

What's the deal with Dots, anyway?

The scene: Halloween night....
The location: Your neighbor's porch.
The cast: Your 3 year old daughter.

You walk up to the door with your child, "Trick or Treat!" They reach into a big bowl full of little snickers, reese's pb cups, m&m's, twix and other chocolatey delights. Then, under a milkey way you spot...the Dots. The bogus, lame chewy things that stick to all of your back teeth. Inside you are screaming, "NO! Don't do it! Reach left, LEEEEFT!"...but alas, they pick up "the dots." And you walk away all sad and chocolateless.

...."Saaaay thaaaank yooooou....."

What is the deal with Dots anyway? Sweet score or totally bogus?

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The loot a 3 year old hauls in (with much quarterbacking at the candy bowl by mom and dad)...minus The Dots.

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For The Love of God...Please Nap.

I find the inspiration to write from many things. Some of it comes from conversations or things I've read from other moms' posts, a lot of it comes from the funny things my daughter or husband says. Today it comes from my total lack of finesse for putting my 8 mo old down for a nap. Usually I'm a pro at taking a sleeping baby from my arms and laying him in his crib, slipping my arm out from under his head and sneaking off into the other room. I've even been able to transfer a sleeping infant from a car seat to the crib without so much as a peep, which is usually the kiss of death. Today...not so much.

It started out well. I nursed Little Man in the morning where, usually he will fall asleep for about an hour. This is his "morning nap." I stood up, changed the position of my arms (baby still asleep), walked into his room and was pretty sloppy in putting him down because my back was hurting a bit (another issue...grrr.) And he did that ticked off flopping around thing where his arms and legs flail open as well as his eyes. Boo. So when this happens in the past "my move" has been to quickly roll him to his desired fetal position du jour, place both hands on his body as well as my face on his cheek or neck or head (yes I'm leaning WAY over into the crib at this point) and I'll stay there for a moment where I can then slowly move back once I can feel that he has fallen back asleep. Since he was just in my arms, the baby wrap or being nursed to sleep (I know some see this as a bad habit) the warmth and comfort of my body on his when he starts to wake up usually gets him to fall back asleep. I'm also lucky that he is a thumb sucker. And yes I do see this as very lucky (at this point in life...talk to me at 3 yrs old and I might not see it the same way.) But for now I think it's great because the second I take him off the boob the thumb goes right into the mouth and he (usually) stays asleep. It works for both of us. I no longer have to sit on the couch for a 2 hour nap with a sleeping baby on my lap, desperately fearful of moving him and him waking up.

This was the situation with Birdie. She'd fall asleep after I nursed her and I didn't dare move off the couch because she would absolutely wake up and then nap time A.K.A. "mama's free time" would be over. She didn't suck her thumb or take a paci so we really had to work on the whole "soothing herself to sleep" thing. But it's funny because that is exactly what Little Man is doing, but it's seen as such a bad thing by so many people. "Don't let him suck his thumb!" Really? How in the world are you supposed to stop an infant from sucking their thumb? Anyway...

So this went on pretty much all afternoon with him falling asleep and me totally blanking up the execution of putting him into his crib. Him flailing around all pissed at the world, eyes flinging open like it's the cops banging at your door at 3am and then....game over. It's a no nap day. Better search the freezer for some chocolate.

What's your go-to, get better, bad day, pick-me-up? Mine are chocolate and lattes. Preferably together. ;-)

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Everywhere But The Burpie Cloth! Top 10 Places I Never Expected To Find Baby Barf

1.) Running down my cleavage and pooling in the fabric of my bra waiting to drench my stomach.

2.) Dripping from the seam of my dining room table where it pulls apart for a leaf.

3.) The back of the couch...the part that is not accessible due to it being right up against the wall and windows.

4.) Inside the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.

5.) Completely drenching my husband's watch. As if he marinated it in a bucket of barf.

6.) Dripping down the back of my calves into my socks and shoes.

7.) The foot pedals of the elliptical machine and the innermost workings of the wheels.

8.) Inside a brand new purse....that had just gotten filled with everything I own.

9.) Computer keyboard.

10.) Directly into the mouth from flying baby superman position. Hey, I warned my husband about that one.

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~18 months old~Probably my favorite age so far!

Some random thoughts about being 18 months old:

It seems like everyday Summer is doing or saying something new. Just today she started to "moo" like a cow when we were watching her Baby Einstein DVD and I pointed to a cow and said "moo." She also said "apple"..well it was more like "app!" But she said it each time they showed the apple, so I"ll give it to her! She said "blue" when they showed a blue cup. She has been saying "duck" a lot too and I didn't teach her intentionally. We just happened to be going to the park to feed the ducks, and then the next day she saw a duck on her DVD and said "duck!" Then she pulled out her yellow ducky at bath time and showed Dada and said "duck." He was quite impressed. So it just goes to show us that she is listening to every word we say!!

She is babbling all day long, chatting away saying who knows what! But she sure knows what she is talking about, that's for sure!

Every time we go to Trader Joe's they give her a balloon. She absolutely loves balloons! After they "die" we cut the strings short and she drags them around with her everywhere she goes. We try to name them according to color. So far most of her toys have boys names, so we've been trying to use more girls names. So far, her favorite balloons have been Miss Lavender, Miss Mandarin and Miss Scarlet.

She is very independent, strong willed full of energy and she knows exactly what she wants and doesn't want. However, when other people are around she can be very quiet and she'll just study you until she feels comfortable enough to crack a smile. Which can take a while. She's not easily "won over." Haha!

She is getting to the point where she doesn't want me to feed her with a spoon anymore. She likes to do it herself, and she's pretty good at it too. She can eat yogurt with a spoon and not make too much of a mess. Nana and Papa were pretty impressed with her spoon skills when they were here to visit. She'll even use a napkin to "wipe her face." Whenever I cough and cover my mouth, Summer will do the same.

She still gets scared by loud noises and will come running to us whenever a big plane goes overhead and she hates the vacuum. Of course, so do I...but for different reasons! haha!

She loves to eat whatever you have on your plate (even if she just ate) and she has started drinking from a cup, with a little help from us, but she's still doing it herself. We just make sure it hardly has any water in there. She never really had a bottle, so she's not too familiar with the whole "tilt your head back" way of drinking. After we weaned her she went straight to a sippy cup with a straw.

Whenever she is wearing socks, she'll fling them off any chance she can get, even if it's cold outside. Shoes too. She loves to take off her shoes. She loves to wear sparkly bracelets (especially Grammy's) and we got her a few with "diamonds" in her size and she wears them all the time. She'll even hold her arm up so they won't fall off. She still loves to put on other people's shoes and walk in them.

Her new favorite books are the 2 that Nana and Papa brought her. "What Does Baby Say?" and the "Mommy and Me" book. She loves that one because at the end of it is a mirror. So she loves that part! She also loves her new stuffed blue seal that Nana and Papa bought her at the Long Beach Aquarium. Papa named her "Lucille The Blue Seal", but we also call her the "Gug Seal" since Summer thinks she's a "gug" A.K.A. dog.

She has a sticker chart with right now she is more interested in peeling the stickers off and playing with them. But when she is good she'll get a sticker. She gets stickers for not fussing when we wipe her hands and face after she eats, for letting Mama brush her teeth in the bathtub (and not fussing) and for not fussing when we change her diaper. So far those are the only times she'll but up some resistance, but we've been tackling it pretty good with the sticker chart! She is totally aware that she gets stickers when she is good!

We're trying to keep her on a pretty consistent schedule. Right now it sort of looks like this:

Between 7-7:30 am she wakes up and plays while I fix her breakfast.

Between 7:30-9 she eats and plays. (sometimes she eats for a looong time!)

Between 9-10:30 we'll either go for a walk through the park or we'll play in the house and watch her Baby Einstein DVD-depending on the weather.

Around 10:30 we'll have a little light lunch snack, something with chicken to last her through her nap.

Around 11:30 I try to put her down for her nap. We'll read some books and have some milk.

If I'm lucky she'll sleep from about noon til about 2-2:30ish.

Whenever she wakes up we'll have another little light snack. She doesn't eat much for her lunch snacks. Which is fine since she eats so much during breakfast and dinner. So we try to make the lunch snacks count with lots of protein!

(We don't really run any errands after her nap unless we really need to. She will sometimes wake up fussy and we're gearing up for the night time routine so sometimes we'll sit and snuggle and read more books or we'll color and play with stickers or if she's having a really fussy afternoon we'll sit on the couch with a warm milk and a blanket and snuggle while we watch a calm DVD with classical music. It all depends.)

Around 4pm I "try" to start making dinner , but it's hard with a fussy baby at your feet.

Dada gets home around 5:30ish and he'll play with Summer so I can finish dinner and we'll usually be eating around 6pm. After diner we play and about 6:45 we start the bath.

If all is going well, abut 7:15-7:30 we get her out of the bath and in her jammies. We read a few books, she has some warm milk and Dada dances with her and puts her to bed. Sometimes she'll fall asleep in her bed, but most of the time she fights it and cries for about 5 minutes until she falls asleep. She's just like her Dada! Always fighting sleep!

Hopefully by 8pm, sometimes even 8:30 she is fast asleep. She'll usually cry out a few times starting around 11pm, but won't wake up. She can be a very restless sleeper. On occasion, we'll have to go in her room and help to rock her back to sleep. But she can usually soothe herself back to sleep. Which is the goal!

(Of course, while I finish writing this post, it's 12:08pm and I have been trying to get her to calm down from playing and take her afternoon nap! She was all hyped up and was drinking her milk like it was the last milk on earth then she was jumping and bouncing in her crib, totally nowhere sleep. Then I smelled poop. Ugh! Ar you kidding me? Ok, change your diaper, try to get you calm once again and put down for a nap. She cried in protest when I left her room for about 3 minutes...and so far it's been 2 minutes and I haven't heard another peep....But I have thought that before and I have gone up to her door to check and as I slowly creep up to the crack in her door, trying not to make the hardwood crack and squeak under my feet, gently push the door open hoping to find a sleeping baby, but only to find that she is standing at the edge of her crib staring at me. We make eye contact....I'm hoping she didn't see me, her mouth opens and she says....."up!"

Ugh! Little stinker!

I blame Dada!

A Summertime Photo Shoot!

My good friend Susan (Suse), whom I've known since I was 13 going on 14....(actually, I think we were 14 going on 15.) We met at church camp, which cracks us both up...considering...well...whatever. We met at church camp, or as everyone liked to call it, "Camp Surf", because it's waaaaaaaaay cooler as a teenager going into 10th grade to say you have gone to "Camp Surf" on the border of San Diego and Mexico and slept in a tent on the beach under the stars, enjoyed camp fires, making HUGE messy smores, singing to acoustic guitar with adult supervision that still remains forgettable, than to say that you went to "church camp" with a bunch of dorks (you being the ring leader) where we all forgot to wear sunscreen and got fried to a crisp because we're not yet mature enough to do anything without our parents...OBVIOUSLY!

Ahhh...the good ol days! No bills, no mortgage, the only life we were responsible for was our own, (and that's stretching it! Hense the Great Sunburn Disaster of the Summer of 9th grade-going-into-10th-grade.).....the life of a teenager. We all thought we had it soooo baaaaaad, but looking back we had it soooooo_darn_good! (Thanks Mom & Dad!!)

Well, that is where I met Suse and that summer of Surf Camp/Camp Surf (I never really knew the exact name), sleeping 4+ in a 2 man tent, jumping out of trees with a trash bag as a parachute (another blog for another time, haha), Taco Bell, roller-skates, bike rides, babysitting, spending cash on candy, horror movies and talking about boys, boys, boys; we were absolutely inseparable creating memories that still make us laugh to this day with the mention of one or two words.

Fast forward.....a "few"...ahem....years, and Suse and I are both happily married and deep in the trenches of new babies, toddlers and preschoolers, careers, say-at-home-mommy-life, playdates, minivans and "practical" SUV's, deciding that a clean house isn't more important than playing with your only-so-small-for-so-long babies and trying to balance quality time with the kids, meaningful conversations with your husband that don't involve "teething", "shopping lists" or "poop stories", finding the time to reconnect with the friends who've been there from the beginning, navigating life in the work force after baby and of course the all important-but-MUCH-too-neglected ME TIME! We both agree that there is nothing sweeter than a little time by yourself to roam the isles of Target!

(I'm a big believer -HUGE believer- in me time. I feel you come back to your "life" feeling recharged and ready to tackle it once again and I make no apologies for the fact that I absolutely need and require and schedule Me Time!)

I read a friends facebook status the other day, Michele, and she wrote something like this: "I told the kids I'm taking a break and not to talk to me until my break is over!" OMG Mish!!! LOVE IT!!! It's priceless and absolutely necessary! A woman with four children is gonna have things figured out way better than a woman with just a 16 month old. (I don't know how you do it Mish! And on top of it all, her kids are absolute sweethearts! You are a goddess!!)

And as usual...I digress.

This blog is "supposed" to be about the photoshoot Summer and I had with Suse a few weeks ago at the beach. But I'm finding it's more fun to talk about old friends and nostalgic stories! I'll have to do this more often. Afterall, this blog can't be TOTALLY about life with a baby. I did in fact have a life "pre-baby"...I just can't for the life of me figure out what exactly that consisted of at this moment. haha! Aside from Surf Camp, of course.

So my friend Suse has decided to take off on a new adventure and dabble in photography, a great idea in my opinion, and we went to one of her open shoots a few weeks ago at the beach. We were the last group to arrive because Summer napped right through our original scheduled time, but it ended up working our perfectly because we were there right at "golden hour", my absolute favorite time of day, and she was able to capture some really great shots of Summer and I. (Todd was out of town on business. Insert sad face.) So I wanted to post some of these pics to share. I love them and will cherish them always. Thanks Suse!

Enjoy! It didn't give me enough room for all of them...so here are some of my favies!

Summer watching the waves crashing against the rocks.

My sweet little angel baby all snuggled up after going in the water.

I love what she did with this photo! The colors are so fun!

This is an unusual smile for me, but I really like how this one came out. It just looks very relaxed. A perfect day-at-the-beach shot. Summer looks so cute here!

Nothing is more precious than a baby laughing!

Building a sand castle for a princess!