Sebastian

Sebastian is three months old. He is trying desperately to sit up on his own, to stand, to walk, to run after his older siblings and get in on their wrestling matches. If I happen to catch his eye, he'll probably smile, and when tickled he nearly always laughs. (There is nothing like a baby laugh.) He loves to be cuddled, and he prefers to be rocked to sleep. He is a generous sleeper, and there are nights that he doesn't wake up at all until after his big brother starts yelling that it's morning. He's generally pretty relaxed and happy, but he hates to feel ignored or forgotten. He is completely, one hundred per cent, a lovable, wonderful, incredible little person.

There is an experience I never had the chance to record, and I feel it's an important one, something I don't want to forget. Labor and delivery for Sebastian was nothing out of the ordinary; there were no complications or extra risk factors. Nevertheless, giving birth is absolutely the hardest, most horrible thing I have ever done, and I hope to never be faced with anything more difficult. Sebastian is baby number three for me, but I found myself facing the same (though less intense) fear as with previous births. Right near the end I always find myself wondering if I am going to die. I know that sounds overly dramatic, but that's really what giving birth is like for me. Anyway, just as I came to that part of things, suddenly Sebastian was there. All purple, and gooey, and yelling, and squished looking. As the nurses thrust this mad little lump of a person at me, I had this incredible feeling. That's it? That's all I have to go through to get this tiny, perfect person? A few months of morning sickness and the pain of childbirth were nothing compared to this. Ten fingers, ten toes, and wide, unfocused eyes all cuddled up to my heart.I've never gotten a better deal in my life.

Late as usual

I have a ton of things I want to post about and lots of pictures to share, but I never seem able to grab a moment. So we'll start with Halloween. We were in a bit of a rush, so I got really bad pictures. Sorry.

This year we decided to make our Jack-o-lantern into a snowman.
As cute as the pumpkinman turned out, this one is much cuter, don't you think?
Super Why is Barak's favorite show on television, so it seemed like a good idea to make that his Halloween costume. He seemed excited about the idea, until the time came to actually put it on. He kept saying, "Later. I'll do it later." And of course Lizzy followed us around saying things like, "Don't worry, Barak. Mom won't stab you with the safety pin. It won't hurt." So helpful.

Lizzy wanted to be Angelina Ballerina. Even though I find that character annoying and bratty, I think Lizzy made a very cute ballerina mouse.

See those buckets they're holding? At the end of the night they were FULL of candy, and all of it was the good kind. We found the best neighborhood to trick-or-treat in. (Since we live on a street made up entirely of huge apartment complexes, I don't feel bad driving to someone else's neighborhood to knock on doors.)

Barak says

"What's that sticker doing there? I'm gonna bite it off!"


"I need rescued."


"To the power! To the GOAL!"


"You ruined my world."
(This last one was because I threw away his balloon.)