scary babies

As first time parents on Halloween, Staci and I have already taken Mia to at least 3 different events in her Queen Bee costume (19.99 from Old Navy)....and as I type, it is 9:13am on the 31st, so we ain't done yet. To be sure, Mia is the cutest little Bee you've ever seen, and in our next post, we will show you just how much. For now, a few lessons learned for any of you that have not yet made it to your first Halloween as a parent:

1. Babies don't really like Halloween. The Costumes are not as cozy as normal outfits. So truthfully, this is just a big indulgence for parents...showing off that fact that you have the cutest baby with the best costume, which is cool....as long as you understand not to feed your little one that crap that they hand out from door to door.


2. Go for cute, not clever. Babies are supposed to be cute. Think aminals, bugs, princes and princesses, etc. We saw one yesterday dressed as a pirate and his stroller was rigged up as a pirate ship. That was cool! What is not cool are the costumes that are trying to be clever in a stupid, non-baby cute way. A few of the better examples are in the picture we posted here. The money bag is ridiculous. Makes me think of a bank robber movie. Dumb. Not baby cute.


3. Go out early, stay up late. This is important. The little ones need to go out early, because the later it gets the more teenagers ruin it for everyone else. More importantly, the little ones need to stay up late! Remember, we are into daylight savings time starting tomorrow, so whatever time the've been getting up (usually 6am for Mia) will be an hour earlier tomorrow. We've been trying to turn her clock back for the last week, so with any luck we'll be okay...

crawl, stand, scale, walk, run....crash

After Staci left early for a PT conference this morning, I spent almost an hour this morning chasing Mia around the house until our Nanny arrived to take over. She is non-stop trouble these days, and she is not even walking yet. She does crawl but seemingly only for the purpose of positioning herself to get into trouble....her favorite page in teh playbook these days is to crawl to something that she can climb up on to a standing position, so she can be vertical for a while until she eventually wipes out....meaning, we basically need padded floors (rugs don't cut it). Needless to say, she falls a lot and has gotten her share of bumps and bruises already. Kind of traumatic at first, but we are getting used to it!

Should she stay or should she go now?

Staci and I managed to go to the movies this weekend, where we vegged out to Couples Retreat, the new Vince Vaughn flick. It was stupid in parts but funny overall. Mostly, it made us want to go on a carribean vacation, right away! I mean, seriously. Staring at the crystal blue waters and knowing it is a short plane hop away, it is a pretty east leap to make....when we were in the car on our way home we both agreed we needed to book something. So the next day I made a couple calls and figured out that between frequent flyer miles and hotel points, we could stay first class on the cheap.....hence the trip was book. So now we ponder, should mia stay with staci's parents or go with us? What do you think?

Pro's for going:
Mia is pretty cute in a bathing suit
Mia would be so cute splashing around in the carribean waters
We'd miss her so much if she did not come
She is free

Pro's for us going, sans Mia:
We can't get away with going on a trip like this without her for much longer
We could party and let lose in a way that just won't happen with her and does not happen much these days!
Sleeping in!
Might get to read a book or two
The sun is pretty strong down there for her
Did I mention sleeping in?

New Mia Video

The apple does not fall too far from the tree!