Halloween

I sit here and post this blog while my 2-year-old tosses and turns next to me trying to fall asleep. I hear fake snores every few seconds. We still can't get her to stay in her bed all night long. Right now we have Little Paul in the room with her but she still wakes up and runs out crying for dad or mom. She is such a stubborn girl and I feel so sleep deprived right now. Not only is Paige not sleeping, Zoey still wakes up 2-3 times per night. And on top of that, I got really sick a few days ago with bad body aches and a fever. Paul had finals this past week so I was flying solo the whole week while sick. It was pretty awesome. Lil Paul was so sweet the first day (my sickest day). He helped me out the whole day by playing nicely with Paige, cleaning up the toys and getting things for me when I needed them. I thought about pretending to be sick again at some point because I saw a side of Paul I hadn't seen in a long time.  Unfortunately, Paige and Zoey could have cared less that I was sick. It really is an awful thing that moms have zero sick days. For other working people, you get to call in sick and take care of yourself the rest of the day. Stay-at-home parents, unless their spouse or parents' are available to help, do not get to rest and get well. They have to try to take care of themselves as well as other little people that are constantly needing/demanding things. As my sister-in-law would say, "I wanted to light myself on fire" that first day. I don't like taking drugs unless absolutely necessary while nursing so I didn't take anything for my aches or fever. I went to sleep three nights in a row at 7pm with my kids. Paul normally takes the day off when I am really sick but he had no time this week because of his finals. He was up every night until midnight trying to get them done. I feel better now but I think he is now starting to feel sick:( The kids so far have felt fine but fingers crossed.  

Well, Halloween came and went again this year. We took a last minute trip to Saint George and celebrated part of Halloween there with Grandpa, Grandma, Kristen and her kids. We also got to meet "New Baby"! He doesn't have a name yet per the Westenskow tradition of waiting a few weeks but he is awfully cute and sweet. I'm so happy I got to meet him just shy of 2 weeks because I won't see him again until Christmas and I know he will look like a completely different baby then. To celebrate Halloween, we made some fun/yummy Halloween cookies and got dressed up for a Trunk-or-Treat one night. We brought our costumes with us but Kristen didn't bring theirs. She somehow whipped up costumes in about 10 minutes from dress up clothes that Grandma had in the basement. She is amazing and they looked amazing too. We decided to be Super Heroes this year. Paul dressed up as Captain America, I was Spider-Girl, Lil Paul was Iron Man, Paige was Wonder Woman and Zoey was Batgirl. The best part of the night were all the kids that thought Paul was the real Captain America. One kid told him he had his movie at home. It was pretty awesome. We got back Sunday night and went Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood with Aunt Shayna. We had a really fun time. They got quite a bit of candy and at one of the last houses we got to pick some apples from this lady's apple tree. Paul ended the night not eating candy but his organic apple:) My kids were really good this year and donated some candy to Uncle Eric and almost the rest to the troops.

Pumpkins we painted right before leaving for St. George

The kids with their pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch by our house. 

 Paul trying to hold onto Zoey who is constantly moving. She  also officially crawling now as well 

Paul running through the hay bales

 Paul running through the pumpkins. There were "no running" signs posted everywhere but we couldn't stop this kid. Plus he was having too much fun. 

Paige's "baby pumpkin". She carried this with her the whole time we were there. 

 Again the running. We are bad parents...

The girls at Grandma and Grandpa's house

I got the kids all to take one picture for me on the couch with Sam's pumpkin.

Jane and Paige hiding out behind the couch

Hiding from the boys

Dress ups. This is the smile Jane gave me almost every time I told her to say "cheese." It was pretty cute. Oh, and she called me "mom" for two days straight. That was pretty cute too. 

Cookies!

There is that cute smile again!

My new nephew!

At the park. It was so nice out that day!

Annie's pretzel/cashew face:)

Paige's pretzel face:)

So tired....

Trunk-or-Treat

All of us

Our Super Hero Family

Kristen as an 80's prom queen, Sam as a knight, Annie as a princess and Jane as a witch. 

Baby as a pumpkin!

Zoey as batgirl

Iron Man. 

Halloween Night!

My cute Wonder Woman.

Spider Girl

Paul eating his apple!

Well Paige is finally asleep, at least for now....

The last few weeks

Little Paul has been asking to go to Gilroy Gardens since the last time we were there months ago. So one weekend we obliged. It is a really fun place for little tots but not so much for pregos or babies. Babies are welcome to ride the carousel and the train and that's it. So Zoey and I waited in line with everyone and then stepped aside while they went on the rides. Zoey slept most of the time we were there so it wasn't such a bad thing.

Exiting her vehicle like a movie star. She insists on wearing her sunglasses when we go out. 

Paul driving Dad and Paige around. 

Paige again with her designer shades. 

Paul and Dad on the "fast" roller coaster. 

Paige isn't tall enough to ride the coasters so she took pictures of me nursing Zoey while the boys were riding. 

Zoey finally awake.

Paige on the carousel. She LOVES it. She loves it so much we have to pry her little fingers off  the ride and carry her out crying. It's pretty rad. She hasn't figured out that if we get off and walk around she can get right back on. She's such a dramatic girl;)

Sometimes Paul likes the carousel and sometimes it's "boring". Today it was cool.

Uncle Chong and Aunt Clarysa came to visit us the last weekend in September to celebrate Chong's 29th birthday. Eric and Shayna came dowm from SF to celebrate with us. We spent a day at the beach, had cake and ice cream and watched Little Paul's soccer game. It was so fun to be with everyone.

Paige took this photo of Clarysa:) 

Here is Zoey napping. She held onto my hoodie her whole nap. It was cute. 

Football with the kids at the beach.

The boys in the water

Paige with Auntie "Cayna"

Zoey after her nap

Chong with his super hero cake (super heroes curtesy of Little Paul)

Eric and Zoey

Happy Birthday to Chong

Old man blowing out the candles

Watching Paul play soccer

there he is probably running away from the ball ;)

Last weekend we took a trip to Happy Hollow. It was a lot of fun minus one HUGE meltdown by Ms. Paige. Paige has been having a rough time lately due to lack of sleep. Zoey recently took over the crib/nursery and Paige moved to a queen size bed. Since this move, Paige runs down the hall crying around 2 am and Paul usually ends up sleeping next to her the rest of the night. We are really working on trying to get her to sleep through the night again this week. It's been a battle.

The day started out happy while visiting the goats and donkeys.

Paul feeding one of the donkeys.

Dad protecting Paige from the goats. 

Paige taking a ride on one of the goats. I don't think the goat liked it much because pooped about 10 little terds on Paul' foot. It was pretty awesome and probably the highlight of the day for me. Paul was wearing flip flops :)

Riding the horses.

Dad and Paul on the coaster

At the playground

Paige on the ladybug ride. Paul hates this ride but was a good sport and went on it with Paige. 

A really fun swing

Zoey after her nap

Zoey and Dad on the carousel before they kicked them off the horse. No babies on the horses:(

Paige LOVES the triceratops. She rode it 4 times.  

Zoey is eating real food. I just started her on rice cereal. So far she likes it just okay. I forget how messy it is to start solids.

Here is Zoey on her hands and knees. She is getting dangerously close to crawling. Whenever I see her like this I usually roll her over onto her back or pick her up. I'll probably push her over when she starts walking too;) I don't like mobile babies;)

Zoey is 5-months-old

Last weekend, Edee ran in a race in San Francisco so we went up to see everybody Saturday. We spent  the day at the beach and then had pizza and cookies at Eric and Shayna's new apartment. We had so much fun and Paul and Paige loved being with their cousins. 

Paul with Eric

The girls. You can tell Paige is tired because she is holding her ear. 

Brooklyn and Paul playing in the water. I love that the Golden Gate Bridge is in the background.  

Paige playing in the water with Shayna. 

Paige and Addy were so cute together this trip. Here they are resting. 

All the kids LOVE Uncle Eric. He is so much fun. 

Here is Zoey in a swing for the first time today at the park. She really like it