Trick or Treat . . .

. . . smell my feet

give me something good to eat!
If you don't, I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear!

The only happy thing about Halloween being over is that I'll stop hearing this lovely rhyme from my boys . . . over and over again.

Here's a photo re-cap of our week of festivities:

The annual trip to the local pumpkin patch. I realized when I was uploading this picture that this is the third time I've gone to the same pumpkin patch wearing a baby carrier with a different baby in it. This is what happens when your kids are all born in late Summer.
This is Luke in his "makes me be awesome and ferocious" T-Rex costume. These pictures are from his pre-school party, the one day of the year that I didn't have any problems convincing Luke he needed to get dressed for school.
Here's Ethan's pre-school party (do you think his smile could get any bigger?). I was in charge of decorating and bringing the snack. We had Witches Brew (apple cider with dry ice), Spider Bites (chocolate cookies with licorice legs), Pumpkin sandwiches (pumpkin shaped cheddar cheese slices on top of Ritz crackers), and Skeleton Hands (surgical gloves filled with popcorn and candy corn). Can you tell I come from a family that takes Halloween very seriously? If I wasn't so tired I'd devote an entire post to the elaborate carnival my aunt put on every year.
Friday was the church Trunk or Treat party where Chloe made her debut as the world's cutest sunflower.
And finally, the big night arrived. The T-Rex roared, the Chicken danced, and the Sunflower tolerated the whole thing pretty well, except for our brief attempt at a family shot when her petals over-took her little face!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is upon us

What kind of Halloween costume goes on sale before October 1st?

What kind of discounted Halloween costume is actually available in Ethan's size?
(In fact, it's on sale and still available in every size).

What kind of costume has a music box sewn inside the lining of the costume--which plays a song that still makes me cringe from memories of high school Stake dances?

What kind of costume is worthy of being the final selection of a child who absolutely agonizes over his Halloween costume?

What kind of costume trumps every alternative suggestion of aforementioned child's parents?

(And, no, it's not a Dung Beetle costume).

This year I'll be trick or treating with a . . .

DANCING CHICKEN
(and yes, he knows the dance, although I have no idea how he knows it. I certainly didn't teach it to him.)

Luckily, the costume had not arrived in time for him to wear it on his pre-school field trip to the pumpkin patch (not to mention it was 87 degrees outside!), so his Halloween T-shirt had to suffice.

Next up in our month of festivities: visiting the Halloween-version of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland for the first time!

Four Weeks of Firsts

I wish I was one of those people who could cocoon up in their house and rest after having a baby. But try as I might, I'm just not. I'm happiest when I'm out and about and as a result, so are my children. So, Miss Chloe has had a busy first four weeks of life. So busy in fact that I haven't been great about taking many pictures, but here are a few of the "firsts" I managed to capture:

First trip to San Diego

. . . visiting her Great-Grandparents, meeting some of the extended Rose & Calder relatives, sleeping through most of the labor day party.

First trip to the Zoo

. . . where she slept in the stroller the entire time while her brothers marveled (again) at the dung beetles.

First photo with her new cousin, Elsie Snow Bollard!

. . . these two little girls are just 15 days apart and we know they will be good friends amidst all of the boys. Congratulations Ben & Heidi, we are so glad we got to meet her, she is beautiful!

First wearing of a hair clip

. . . hooray for accessories! I am having so much fun.

NOT the first of the many, many smiles, hugs, kisses, (and pokes, startles, squeezes) she receives from Luke daily

First child of mine to ever tolerate a pacifier and act content in a bouncy seat for more than two minutes

. . . I adore this little girl.

Back Floats & Baby Updates

Today marked Ethan & Luke's graduation from swim lessons. When we started in May neither boy would even put their face in the water. In fact, we had a couple of lessons where Luke refused to get in the pool entirely. But now, three months and more money than I'd like to recall later, they passed their final benchmark to becoming Level 3 swimmers. To do so they had to jump in the pool fully clothed, without their goggles, and then float on their back for 10 seconds before swimming to the side of the pool. This demonstrates (hopefully) how they would react should they ever fall in the deep end of a pool accidentally.

Getting ready to jump
He floats!He did it! (And on his 5th birthday no less!)Here goes Lukey
10 seconds can be a long time . . .Relief! He did it too!Who knew two yellow ribbons (gold medals they call them) could make these boys so happy?

Today was also Chloe's first Dr.'s appointment. Our little sweet pea is literally very little, weighing in at the 13th percentile. However, she has surpassed her birth weight, gaining 10 ounces in the last week alone, so hopefully she'll be filling out her clothing soon. I can't say enough about how sweet and mellow this newborn is. When I was telling my pediatrician (who saw me through Ethan's gag reflex and Luke's colic) about Chloe's good nature, the Dr. remarked that God intended her as my reward after the other two! Whatever the reason, I'm just so grateful.

A sight I thought I'd never see: a Bollard boy holding his girlLuke wanted Chloe to sleep with him, so we let her, just for a minute at least. Luke thinks Chloe is finally the answer to his constant request for a pet.Pretty in Pink

A Few More Hospital Pic's

Chloe Rose Bollard

At 5:30 a.m. this morning, Audra's water broke. After Grandma Bollard came over to watch the boys, we headed to Hoag hospital. We checked into a wonderful room with an ocean view. Audra got her epidural around 9:00 a.m. and the contractions came regularly. The epidural started to wear off by noon, but Audra did a great job hanging in there until she got more medication. Our girl (amazing) was born at 12:55 p.m. with lots of dark hair. She was 6 lbs. 10 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long. As Ethan said when he saw her, "Welcome to the world!"

Good luck with this group, Chloe!


Chloe getting her first shampoo.


She is beautiful and perfect in every way.

I Should Have Known

Yesterday my luck ran out.

Although I continue to dilate (up to a 3 now)
&
my Dr. is willing to induce me,

apparently hospitals are not very motivated to quickly make room in their schedule for women who are not overdue, do not need a C-section, do not have high blood pressure, and are not presenting with any other complication other than complete and total impatience :)

So, the waiting game continues . . .

I have been firmly scheduled for no later than next Wednesday, so there is a definite end date,

but a few prayers that my water will spontaneously break (like, NOW) would be appreciated.