Pumpkins and Penguins and Parkers, Oh My!

Halloween consists of four traditions in my world-

1. Pumpkin picking.

We spent a lovely day with Erin and Kevin hunting for pumpkins at Larriland Farms mid-October. When you are in the field, the pumpkins don't seem that big. I think ours were a little large this year- I was winded carrying them out of the car.

2. Pumpkin carving.

This is Jason's deal; I give him all the credit. He will be helping Evie with any kind of artsy projects. My favorite part of carving is roasting the pumpkin seeds. Yum!

3. Costumes.

Despite having a mother who is very creative and into costumes, I'm not a big fan of dressing up. I also wait until the last minute to think of something to wear. I wore nothing this year. The Hettinger crew contemplated being the Wizard of Oz as the following characters:

Dorothy- Hannah
Toto- Puppy
Lion- Cole
Scarecrow- Sam
Glinda, the GOOD witch- Laura

When Laura jokingly told Hannah that I would go as Auntie M, she emphatically told me that I had to dress as someone else, not myself. Hannah doesn't quite understand how I got the name "Auntie M".

As you'll see in the pictures, Sam, Hannah, and Puppy are the only ones to follow through with the Wizard of Oz. And Auntie M :)

We are all about hand-me-downs right now, so we went with the Pumpkin for Evster this year. It fit her perfectly and she looked so darn cute. I was envious of Cole and his adorable penguin tail feather.

4. Trick or treat.

Obviously Evie is too young, but we got into this holy-here-comes-pre-diabetes-holiday with our 3 year old niece. She came back a Popsicle from the chilly autumn evening with lots of candy to share!

Halloween

Who-hash

Disclaimer: My title is Auntie Laura language for rice cereal. As I was typing it, it sounds a little like a code name for drugs. My drug-free sister and I would know nothing about code names, so if it is, I am not feeding my child weed or smoking it myself.

Despite conflicting reports from Evie's doctors, we decided to give rice cereal a try. I was very skeptical at first since getting Evie to eat from a bottle was a 16 week, $100,000 investment. But since any extra calories in Evie is a plus, we gave it a whirl.

And she eats who-hash from a spoon at 5 months.

Solid.

I've seen enough slop pictures of infants eating solids that I know it can be a messy endeavor. Evie allowed the spoon near her mouth, moved her lips correctly, and let that slimy stuff into her belly. The mess comes when Evie decides to suck her thumb in between spoon-fulls. She likes to do a suck-her-thumb-rub-her-eyes action. Whatever gets the stuff down, girlfriend.

Jason does a great job spoon feeding and I find the bottle my sport. Great team parenting effort!

Rice Cereal

Good-bye NG TUBE

It's official friends and family, Evie's NG tube days are O-V-E-R! The GI team at Sinai gave me their blessing today to throw out the tube. The nutritionist was pleased with her daily intake amount and even recommended starting some rice cereal. Evie's weight is 12 lbs, 5 oz. Not quite as high as they wanted, but not concerned at this point. Yippee!

Evie LOVED being at her appointment today. She talked and tried to blow raspberries for most of the hour visit. She thought the paper on the exam table was fascinating. I took a video of her on my phone of her crinkling it, but didn't hit "record". Duh. Here's the picture we sent to Daddy though-

She cracks me up these days. She is a little wiggy worm and eager to explore the world. She wants to show off her rolling skills all the time, even on the scale today.

We have a follow up appointment with the GI team in another month. I hope it's our last visit to Sinai (plus I only have 1 more parking pass left :) )

20 weeks: Life without the NG tube

Evie appears to be listening to my latest plea- she's been without her tube for almost 1 week!! I knew 20 weeks would be the cut-off. Let's hope the GI team agrees that it is time to put the tube in the trash.

We had some fun visits at the Hettinger's house this week.

Playtime at Hettinger's

Belated 4 Month Appointment

Due to Evie's extended vacation at KKI and scheduling difficulties, here we are at 4 1/2 months having her 4 month appointment.

Stats:

Weight- 12 lbs (10%- boo, a little down)
Height- 24 inches (25%)
Head - 41 cm (25%)

Evie has made all her 4 month milestones- Smiles, laughs, rolls both ways, grabs at toys. She made raspberries in the office today and is reaching for faces. It's so much fun to see her do new things!

NG tube is in and out. She made it 48 hours twice without it. We're too nervous to go too long because the doctors get anxious when her weight drops. With getting her shots today, she might not want to eat this weekend, so maybe it's better it's in. I keep telling her that she'll be 20 weeks old on Tuesday and 20 week old babies don't need feeding tubes. I hope she listens :)

No solids until 6 months. But since it has taken 20 weeks to get her to eat from a bottle, we probably should introduce her to a spoon today.

4 Months- Give or Take a Few Days