Adventures in Trick-or-Treating

Whew! Another Halloween has come and gone and we all survived to tell the tale! I tend to dread Halloween because I know we will have endless parties and trick-or-treating to do. Luckily Kaitlyn's party for school was yesterday. This morning was Maya's party and parade at school.


I signed up to help with it. While I was getting ready my mother told me I needed to be dressed up. "All the other mothers will be dressed up!" So I quickly throw on a ridiculous attempt at a clown with a dance costume (that was worn over a decade ago) and a wig. Of course I get there and guess who is the only mother dressed up?! So begins the drama of Halloween. It is just not escapable. The kids were Sleeping Beauty, Tinkerbell, and Gavin was a puppy. Brian got to dress up as Anakin or a Syth Lord, much to his shagrin I'm sure!
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We went trick-or-treating at Brian's work and then we went to Lola's house (grandma) to trick-or-treat. I like going to my mom's neighborhood because I grew up there so I know everybody. Therefore, it must be safer! Plus, we always went to my grandmother's house to go trick-or-treating. Kaitlyn (our special child) fell a few times and brought on the attention of the entire city with her bloodcurdling cry. The best story of the night happened at one of my mom's neighbors' house. He has built an entire pirate ship that he puts up in their front lawn. Then he dresses up as Jack Sparrow. He is really good too, with the attitude and accent. SO there is a big crowd watching him do his thing. We had hyped the kids up about seeing it. As we are leaving Kaitlyn says," (with a disappointed tone and look) I thought he was a REAL pirate!" I thought I was going to die laughing. Here this guy had spent all the time and effort to be flawless and it wasn't convincing at all to a three year old! Oh well! What can you do? Thus, another Halloween has passed. I can't believe it was Halloween last year when we found out we were having twins. Our lives have certainly changed since that moment. Here's to a better year!

Prima Ballerina

Here are the girls as they get ready for dance. They are required to wear these dance warm-ups to the studio. It was not hard to get them to wear them though! They both really like going to dance each week. They both act pretty silly while they are there so I am not totally convinced tha this was a good investment! They enjoy themselves though and I suppose that is all that matters!



Doing first position plie!

A Special Halloween

Last night we went up to East Lawn Cemetary where Dylan is buried to bring him a pumpkin that we made as a family. The social worker from the hospital suggested that we have traditions that we start with our family that include Dylan. I was a little skeptical at first, but the kids were totally up for it. They really enjoyed doing something for Dylan and feeling like he was still a part of our lives. Even Brian was glad that we did it. It really helped our family to feel like he is and always will be a part of our lives. It makes death not so scary and helps us realize in a tangible way that death is not final. I think Maya's fear of death will subside as we include Dylan in the things we do. It will also help with our healing process as well. The most interesting thing is, everytime we go up there Gavin is a whole different person. It's like he knows what we are doing up there. He is totally somber yet happy. I can't explain it. I think the veil will always be thin for those two. He had a horrible day at the hospital the day of Dylan's funeral. You just have to wonder about these babies sometimes. I think they know more than we give them credit for!

Our own little choir

My sister was in town this weekend so we decided to go to church with my mom. It happened to be their primary program. Just on a side note, their program is always fantastic. If there was an award for the best primary program, they would win it hands down every year! They have tons of talent flowing thru that ward. Anywho, my girls know most of the songs since Maya has been learning them for her own program (that will look like child's play next to the one we saw yesterday! :)) so they chose to sing the songs with the primary children. When the kids sang louder, my kids sang louder! Including a few screams from Gavin as he joined in. The best was when Maya says (very loudly) "Hey they sing these songs at my church!" Clearly, we have not made it apparent that "our church" is the same everywhere! Then my mother offers to take the kids to their classes. When she gets back she tells me that Kaitlyn didn't want to go so she had to sit there for awhile. I finally figure out that she has put Kaitlyn in primary because she thought she was a sunbeam, but really she is supposed to go to nursery. Well, since the primary had their program they were having treats, popcorn and a movie in primary. Yeah, like Kaitlyn is really going to leave now! So now, of course, she has a warped vision of what primary is like! Come January, I will not be able to get her to go without treats and a movie!

Five months today

Well our little Gavin is 5 months old today. They grow so fast! He is so fun with tons of personality. Watching how he has changed makes us really think a lot about Dylan. I wonder if he would be loud and crazy like Gavin, or if he would be more somber. Watching him grow up is really hard because we feel like we missed out with Dylan. Maya still asks me all the time why Dylan had to die. I don't have an answer for her. We don't even know why he did die. Even the autopsy left us little to know about his death. My sister is having a baby girl in December. Maya asks me all the time if she is ok and if she is going to die. I can't even assure her that it won't happen, because unfortunately these things happen a lot. I have met many mothers who have lost their child at birth with no prior complications. I am still very grateful for Gavin each day though. I still wake up at night a few times to check if he is still breathing because when we brought him home he stopped breathing (for no reason) and I had to do infant CPR on him to revive him. We had a pretty horrific summer, but hopefully things are looking up from now on! Sometimes I have to wonder if I will really survive being a mother!

Can't take the pressure!

Ok, so the pressure to have a blog is not that bad! Although, it seems like everyone I know has one and they all think I should have one! I guess it is a good way to keep up on what is going on with everybody without having to call each person. It is a good idea for this mom of three that barely gets a shower in each day!