And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Last week when I wrote about Jeremy's birthday and capstone (which, by the way, I found out he was the only person to get his paper turned in on time, everyone else had to ask for an extension), I neglected to write about a major milestone in Ms. Carrigan's life.

About a week and a half ago our big girl started solid foods.  We started her with avocado and let's just say she did not love it.  I am not sure if she truly does not care for avocado or it was because I mashed it by hand and so it still had a few lumps and bumps, but she clearly was not a fan.  She was always so good about opening her mouth, but then would just look at us like "what did you just put in my mouth!?!" and immediately looked for something to wipe it off on (us, her bib, the highchair, anything would do).  Our rule of thumb became, we would try until she started dry heaving and then we would be done.

Since avocado was clearly not a hit, after the ever important allergy testing period we moved on to oatmeal.  Again oatmeal started out a little rough.  The first day she was really struggling in her highchair so I decided to just hold her and feed her.  This happened to my sweatshirt...

Eventually she got the hang of oatmeal and has since mastered sweet potatoes.  Despite a rocky start.  I think she is figuring out this eating thing.

The week of Jeremy

I am going to stray from my usually bragging about my children this week, so if the only reason you read the blog is to see their cute faces you may want to check back next week.  This week was all about this Guy:

I had to sneak and try to take a picture of him because he is not a fan of having his picture taken, but he looked so handsome, I just couldn't resist.

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday.  In the grand scheme of things, it will not go down as the best birthday ever.  He had to spend the day playing catch-up for school (more on this in a moment) and we gave him much needed slippers and clothes, the kiss of death, for his gifts.  He and I did get to go out to dinner last night, but all in all it was a less than stellar day.  Of course Jeremy was very sweet about it and said that he thought it was a great birthday.  He likes to spare my feelings.

So the reason he was so behind (and still is if I am being honest) with school is that every possible minute of this last week was spent working on his capstone.  The capstone is the law school equivalent to a thesis paper and the first draft of his was due on Friday.  With the exception of Monday, he did not go to school all week, but just stayed home and wrote and wrote.  Thankfully, Friday at 5pm, he turned it in and we returned to normal(ish) life.

I know Jeremy questions his/our decision to go to law school everyday.  He worries constantly about finding a job and providing for our family, but I want to take this opportunity to publicly tell him how proud I am of him.  He has accomplished things over the last two and a half years that I did not even know he was capable of (and that is saying a lot because I think he is pretty awesome).

When we were deciding about school and wondering if it was worth it since he would be 31 when he finished, a few people said "well he is going to be 31 either way so he can either be 31 with a law degree or without one".  He is now 31 and the law degree is just a few months away and that is pretty exciting.

Half Birthday and a Little Trauma

This week somehow Carrigan turned six-months-old.  All week long I had planned to blog about this milestone event and I still intend to, however, my heart is also sad today because of several things that have transpired within the last 24 hours.  While I don't feel like it is my place to talk about some of them, I do want to mention poor little Lincoln.

Yesterday evening Becca called me in an absolute panic, said Ben was not home and Lincoln had burned himself, and asked if I would come over.  When I got there the situation was not looking good.  Lincoln had reached up on the counter and poured a bowl of boiling hot ramen down his body.  Ben got there shortly thereafter and Becca and Ben rushed Linc to the E.R.  On the way there things got even worse.  Lincoln began vomiting, was having difficulty breathing, and had become lethargic.  It was very scary and intense for a while, but ultimately they got him stabilized enough to be transported to a children's hospital, where they are now.  They are not terribly concerned about his burns, but more so about the other reactions he was having.  Initially they thought he was in shock and had some type of seizure, but have now decided it was an allergic reaction.  They are not sure if it was caused by something in the ramen, the egg whites we put on him to help his burns (a terrible idea by the way), or if he got into the trail mix Quincy was eating.  They will be at the hospital at least one more night and we all send our love, prayers, and concern their way.

Now back onto a much lighter subject, CC's half birthday.  How is this possible?  I have a very hard time believing this and yet that is what the calendar says.  Over these last six months she has been such a joy to our family and can light up the whole room with her beautiful smile and huge dimples.  I honestly don't know how we lived without her.

Here are a few of Carrigan's biggest highlights at 6 months:
-She has started sitting(ish).  She will sit for a few seconds on her own, but has no protective extensions when she starts to fall.  She starts tipping and that is it, she is a goner.
-If she sees something she wants, she will get it.  Whether is it my hair, Merrick's cars,our faces, or even on occasion one of her toys, if she sets her eye on something, she will wiggle, roll, and scoot her way over to it and immediately shove it into her mouth.  I am sure crawling is not far behind.
-She continues to love her tongue, she has always loved to stick out her tongue, but over the last few days it has been out constantly.  Happy, sad, or in between, that silly little tongue is sticking out.  I am actually wondering if it may be because she is getting a tooth, but only time will tell.
-She also loves to suck on her fingers.  Most often it is pointer and middle finger, but sometimes it is just the pointer and sometimes it is all five (or ten if she gets really crazy).
-She loves mom, dad, and Merrick.  When we come in after an absence she squeals and kicks her legs as fast and you can imagine.
-She has mixed emotions about strangers.  Sometimes she is super happy and will go to anyone and other time only mommy or daddy will do.
-She loves her jumper and will go in and just bounce away.
-She is still not a great sleeper, she still wakes up every night, but it is now usually just twice rather than 3 or 4 times.
-She has yet to try any solid foods, but we are planning to start her on avocado this week so stay tuned for more on this.

Unfortunately her six-month pictures don't do her justice, but part way through she decided, like last time, she wanted to eat the sticker.  This time the damage was irreparable and that was the end of that.  She still is pretty stinkin' cute.

Halloween 2013

This week was finally Halloween.  I say finally because it was much anticipated around our house.  Merrick pretty much has had a mental countdown clock all month long and this week the clock finally reached zero.  Luckily for Merrick there were plenty of Halloween activities this year and in the end he got to dress-up four different times.

Our first Halloween activity was the trunk or treat that I talked about last week.  Merrick went as Finn McMissile and Carrigan went as a fairy princess.  While Merrick was just warming up, this was actually the only time Carrigan dressed up.  Turns out I did not plan a costume for Carrigan that was particularly warm or comfy so we only inflicted it upon her once (but she did look unbelievably cute!).

Merrick's second and third dress-ups took places at preschool.  Each of our preschool classes had a party this week and since Merrick attends both classes, he got to have two parties.

The final Halloween "event" was trick or treating.  We geared up for our big night out with dinner.  Merrick made a special request for pumpkin pizza.  Unfortunately time got away from me and while we did have pumpkin pizza (mine dairy free of course), I was forced to choose between time spent in execution or time spent trick or treating.  Needless to say, it was not my best work.

Despite the sub-par pumpkin pizza, the night was a success.  We dressed  Merrick up, bundled CC up, and headed out.  Merrick was really good about saying "Happy Halloween" and "thank you", but did have to be reminded to say "trick or treat" and not to actually enter people's houses.  Eventually Carrigan got tired, but Merrick was not quite ready to call it a night so I dropped Merrick and Jeremy off at the end of our street so they could trick or treat their way home and headed home with CC.

By the end of the night everyone was happy, tired, and ready for bed.