FALLing Off the Grid....

We've been doing stuff.  I just haven't been telling you about it.  Okay, okay, I'm sorry!

OCTOBER:

Grandma and Grandpa Turk came to visit late October.  They took us to a pumpkin patch!  We went on a hayride and got a few pumpkins for jack-o-lanting, as well as 5 pies for...um, me.  I have been eating my - and a sumo wrestler's - weight in junk.  Dad Turk also bought me three dozen apple spice donuts.  (Can I backtrack and say that I just really miss Michigan this time of year?)  Kris actually asked me to save her "just one!"  But Ollie LOVED our trip and didn't go too nutso in the car, which was a blessing.  They also took care of Oliver while Doug and I went on a brunch date.  I swear, I didn't even remember what color eyes my husband had.  It was really wonderful to reconnect.

I started a Mommy Group in Bay Ridge and we had our first get together the day before Halloween.  As you know, O and I attended a breastfeeding group for his first 12 weeks.  After he "graduated," the lactation consultant recommended joining a La Leche League group.  I went to one La Leche meeting and wasn't impressed.  So I contacted a few of the ladies from my group as well as my friends in Bay Ridge and everyone was hip to meeting up.  We went to Owl's Head Park and then to Emphasis Diner.  The kids didn't really interact - it was too cold at the park and not happening at the diner, but there will be next times.  It was so nice to hear how other new mothers are handling things and to see all the babies.  At Ollie's following doctor's appointment, I struck up a conversation with a new mama and she was very interested in the group.  I also became fast friends with one of the girls who works at Gap the other day, and she wanted in too.  So I'm starting a thing, man.  Pret-ty spectacular.

Halloween was a let-down.  Okay, so not really, since I usually hate Halloween.  But let me give you the full picture.  Last Halloween we went to the Park Slope Children's Parade.  Adorable.  I wasn't really showing at the time, so Doug - who loves the holiday - was mildly annoyed that we couldn't paint my belly like a pumpkin.  He started brainstorming costume ideas for the following year that night - and from then on, I basically didn't think about it except when Doug would have an epiphanic costume idea on the subway.  This year we didn't actually decide on anything until about a week before Halloween, much to Doug's chagrin.  We got Ollie a lion costume (which was way too big) and we decided to go as lion tamers, planning to walk in the Park Slope Children's Parade.  I took the day off so that I could show Ollie the Lion off in HQ at our Annual Pumpkin Carving and he had a doctor's appointment.  At HQ, he stayed in his costume for all of 3 minutes.  It was way too hot and he was starving.  Because we were both sick with colds, Doug and I decided to go to Owl's Head Park instead of farther away Park Slope for the evening, but didn't get our shit together until later after the doctor's appointment, and ultimately had to change O into his Lion outfit in the middle of the sidewalk.  We didn't get any planned pictures - him chewing on Sophie the Giraffe, family picture of us as lion tamers - anything - because Oliver was confined to the warm stroller and hated his mane.  When we came home were all cold, tired, hungry and past our bedtimes.  Nothing happened that we had planned on, but it did get me excited for future Halloweens!

NOVEMBER:

Oliver "sat" for his first school picture early November.  I was able to watch after I dropped him off at daycare and it was so silly!  I put quotation marks around "sat" because he can't really sit yet.  He either lurches forward, bends forward or just sloooowly falls to the side.  The best part isn't the fall, it's the immediate squirm for a new position after the fall so he can make it seem like it was all part of his plan.  Anyway, they stuffed some furniture pieces around him to take some quick pics.  There's no way in ach-ee-double-hockey-sticks that we're paying $40 for 2 sheets of pictures, so here's a slightly illegal scan of the proof that did make it.

Things that Oliver started doing:

• He loves to assert his power during breastfeeding.  He pushes away from me and turns his head like a fat Mafia guy pushes away from the table.  Almost like he's disgusted that I could offer him more.  It's really just distraction - he wants to see and hear everything that's going on.  But then he sort of trust-falls back into my arm and resumes.
• He just passed a phase where all he did was stick out his tongue.  Like a little lizard.  Or like that World's Ugliest Dog winner. 

• Right before Grandma and Grandpa Cook came, O reached a phase where he held his lips together like he refuses something.  Doug and I find it hilarious - he seems to only do it when he's getting upset and we can't help but laugh at him.  Bad parenting?  Nah...
• It was - as I thought - the start of razzberrying.  He was pretty darn good at it until he forgot how to do it recently.  He would razz at everything for about a week.  Maybe that's enough for him.
• He's very tactile - not sure if I've mentioned this before.  He tosses you aside so that he can feel something - the couch upholstery, the soft cotton on a ball, Daddy's scruffy cheek.  Which leads us into the next one...
• He's touching faces a lot and reaching out a whole lot more.  A few mornings ago we swear he lurched for me out of Doug's arms and gave me a hug!  This is fabulous - although it raises some concerns because both Doug and I were at the time sick with fierce colds (so what else is new) and we have to bob and weave when he reached for our mouths.  It kills me to turn away from him.  Don't take it personally, buddy!

I passed my 1 year Anniversary of Blogging mid-November.  I didn't remember but you can bet that Doug - Super Husband - Turk did.  I came home to find a scrapbook of all my posts on the couch!  It really is remarkable how thoughtful and constantly surprising Doug is.  I love you sweetheart!

I know - I have a whole lot more to tell you all about, so I'll stop here, catch my breath and start fresh again soon!  I've got so much more to say!