Pumpkin play (Part 1)

This past weekend hubby, Baby Chuck, and I were invited to a pumpkin carving party.  We had a lot of fun and I learned a few new carving tips and tricks. 

Here's my finished pumpkin:

My homage to pumpkin pi.  (Get it?  Get it?  Oy vey, I'm too corny. )

Five finished pumpkins sitting in a row.

Let the countdown to Halloween begin!

Dressing for oneself

I love seeing women dressed in uninhibited and creative ways. 

I wonder what that feels like?

 I can attest to the wonders of swaddling a baby.  We do it every night to Baby Norris and it helps him to sleep.  The transformation really is remarkable.  One moment he's upset, arms flailing about, bottom lip quivering and then, once swaddled, he calms down.


And the wails become whimpers.

And then...
they...
disappear (and we sigh in relief.) 

Why does swaddling work?  Why does it calm him down?  Does it remind him of being in the womb?  Or, does it prevent him from jerking himself awake?

I asked Baby Norris, but he didn't have anything to say on the matter (go figure).  So, I tried another tactic to understand the swaddling phenomenon...

and asked hubby to swaddle me for a late evening nap.

Charlie, of course, had to investigate.

Conclusions?
I still don't understand it.  Babies are weird.

I hated being swaddled.  I didn't feel secure, I felt claustrophobic.  I couldn't roll around.  I couldn't find a comfortable sleeping position. And  I most certainly could not scratch a very annoying itch on my nose.

I may be out of a job soon...

Lately hubby has been teaching Baby Norris to drink from a bottle. (Isn't this surprising?  Who knew that babies could struggle with this?)  Although most of the milk initially ended up on baby's clothing, we never gave up.  After a week of experimenting and coaxing, Baby Norris finally finished a whole ounce of milk!

Baby Norris-  "Hmm, I could get used to this..."

Baby Norris- "Dad, can we do this again?"

Snuggled tight

Gosh, I really love this view.