Pumpkins By Papa

John's Halloween Pumpkins for the boys.

Cox Farm

Another year, another visit to Cox Farm for their Fall Festival. I'd have to say i'm pretty disappointed that it was exactly the same as last year. On a positive note, Khai enjoyed himself much more than he did last year - no doubt because he is older. We'll most likely go again next year and most likely nothing will have changed except for Khai's age and ability to go on more rides..which likely will make it a good time overall. We spent a good four hours there - the weather was sunny and breezy - a huge difference from last years heat. Khai really enjoyed the big slides this year and was overly anxious to pick out his pumpkin at the end of the day. I'm not sure why, but he insisted that he get a small pumpkin, not a big one. We got three, which he planted right by his train tracks at home and had his trains circle around the "pumpkin patch". The corn maze was muddy and slack, we ventured into the vortex tunnel which scared the bejeezus out of Khai. We bought some local honey with the comb, we ate a huge bag of kettle corn, drank fresh cider, had hot dogs and nachos, checked out cows and pigs and roosters, stuck our faces in silly cut outs, and climbed thru hay mazes. Everyone was exhausted by the time we walked out of there and no doubt we all slept well.

More Cox Farm Pics: Click Here

Packages from Afar

Oh wonderful packages from our favorite Canadians, Cooper, Jen, and Nev. Every year we wait impatiently for what surprises will arrive in the Halloween/Birthday package and we are never disappointed. This years box was wonderful! Transformers, amazing soaps created by Nev, Khai's super cool Frankie tshirt, cars, candy, Diego Legos, Jack Skellington nightlight, stickers, coloring book, .... I could go on and on. I'd say the hit of the night for Khai was the Diego Lego backpack. For me, the soaps without a doubt. I could seriously eat them they smell SO good ( I have already licked one, no kidding). Thanks guys, so very, very much! We Love You!




Nothing beats getting presents when you least expect it. Especially when you think your birthday is all over and done with and the buildup to the big day has long passed and it'll be another full year until the excitement of YOU returns. We came home a full week after Khai's birthday to find a package sitting by the front door from none other than Zach, Auntie Trish, and James, filled with extra awesome goodies. Top gift hands down: Speed Racer cars. All the cars that Khai has wanted and we couldn't find here in VA. PERFECT!! This package definitely made Khai's day. A big, big thank you and lots of love to Zach, his Mommy and Daddy!

Two Weeks Left!!

Halloween is almost here!

Rainy Saturday

The weather has been cold and rain for a week now. Miserable. I don't mind the cold, but I hate, hate, hate the rain. And what's worse, a rainy weekend. I was hoping we could take Khai to the pumpkin patch this weekend but its far too wet. Instead we spent almost our entire day at Fair Oaks Mall. Khai and I met up with Kara (Khai's Godmother and one of my closest friends) at 10am and Khai immediately wanted to go to the play area. Within an hour, the madness began when the place was flooded with crazed, overly energetic kids who have been cooped up due to the rain. Far too much visual stimulation as Kara and I said several times.... Someone was constantly screaming, crying, pushing, falling, bumping. We saw these two kids roughly Khai's age, brothers I think, in an all out brawl. As in straight up beat down. Nuts!!
Khai had a blast though and towards the end, his best buddy from school, Zack, showed up with his Mommy and Daddy. Khai talks about Zack often and so he was quite happy to see him there. The boys ran around for a good hour or so before we left. Met up with John for lunch, where Khai had a huge meltdown over a chicken nugget, but was soon calmed thanks to yummy cinnamon pretzel sticks from Cinnabon. Mmmm. We spent the next few hours walking around the mall before calling it quits. The place was getting more and more crowded and we were feeling like zombies at that point. It was still pouring when we left and Khai passed out on the ride home, waking just in time to dive into the awesome workbench/tool set that Kara gave him as a birthday present today!! He LOVES it!! Thank you Kara!

2nd Parent/Teacher Conference

Today we had Khai's 2nd parent/teacher conference at the school. Awww. When did I start going to parent/teacher conferences?!!! It still is mind blowing. Khai is doing exceptionally well and is a smart boy, per Ms. Lily, his teacher. He got all check marks and is ready to move to the 3's room!! Yay big boy! I'm proud of you.

Three Years Old

With it being a long weekend and Khai's birthday not until Tuesday, we made this weekend a Khai Birthday Weekend. The festivities started Friday night with a little party at Mose and Sassy's house, with pizza and a Cars cake made by Papa, presents, balloons and streamers. Khai got some items from the Toy Story movie - Slinky the dog, Army men - along with a new tee-ball set and Cars race car. Somehow though, the major hit was a pocket tape measure of Sassy's. Go figure. Saturday was a big day for us all - the long awaited trip to the Western Maryland Railroad. Khai was going to get to ride on a real steam engine - a first time for all of us. We got up bright and early (more like dark and early) and left at 8am. Arrived at the station with only a few minutes to spare at 10:45am. The weather was prettty damp and cold but thankfully no rain. Train 734 pulled some 15 cars and was completely sold out. We found seats way in the back and enjoyed an hour ride into the Frostburg Depot, where we got off and spent 90 minutes hanging around town. Stopped off for some hot coffee and cocoa at the local coffee shop before heading back to our train car and heading back to our starting point.
Beautiful scenery. Friendly people waving along the way. The boys seemed to enjoy the trip, despite being restless (alot). We were all extremely tired by the time we got off the train but still had a 2 hour ride home. The boys fell asleep instantly in the car and for the first time in the entire day John and I had a little peace and quiet. Phew!! Pulled into the drive way at 8:30pm. It was a long, long day, but an enjoyable one. The boys got a few souveniers from the trip and hopefully the pictures and memories will be something the cherish for years to come.


Sunday was spent playing with Khai's new toys and resting. Monday was Khai's final birthday celebration, with presents and another home made cake by Papa. Khai requested a PINK Jack Skellington cake. Pink. Ok, pink it is. John did a pretty decent job on it and Khai was pleased, shoving his face right into the cake. He tore through the presents rapidly and I think he more so enjoyed that part of it all, versus the actual presents! Tuesday, Khai's actual birthday, we hung around the house, played with all the new toys - books, trains, Spongebob video games, Buzz Lightyear, playdough, stickers, Batman, movies and so on - and finally wound down for bedtime at the end of the day.


I think overall, Khai made out like a bandit per usual, and hopefully he had himself a good time. He insisted that yesterday was not his birthday seeing as we celebrated all the other days, but he knows that he is now officially three years old and a big boy. We are still working on the potty training and my hope is that once he moves to the 3's room, he'll be that much more encourage to soley use the potty and we can finally ditch the pull ups. Khai's crazed behavior is still ongoing - now I question if it was the Amoxycillin or what.. hard to say. The behavior started around that time.. I just thought by now it would pass. It hasn't. Its been rough on us all but we are working through it and I have confidence we'll be fine. Maybe this is just what being three is all about!

Birthday Photo Album: Click Here

Western Maryland Train Ride Pics: Click Here

Mess!

How does he make such a mess? Oh yes, he's three. I came home to this today. And this is just a small fragment of what he did...

Amoxicillin and the Insanity

So we've been giving Khai his Amoxicillin exactly as prescribed for his ear infection. Once in the morning, once in the evening, both with full meals. Its his first time taking antibiotics of any kind and generally its the first go to kind for something like an ear infection. They say it works within the first few days and I believe that to be true as I don't see that Khai has had any issues with his ear since the first day he complained about it - prior to me taking him in for his checkup. However I never thought about the fact that something that is supposed to help him out, could bring out such the beast in the boy. Never in a million years would I have thought that, until my mom mentioned something last night. And I'm not sure why I didn't think of it - plenty enough i've taken medication and reacted badly to it. But for some reason, I just didn't think that this could be the cause of his beastly behavior.
Now when I say beast, I mean BEAST. It goes beyond his normal tantrums and outbursts. It goes as far as hours of screaming and crying and throwing himself here and there, pushing us away only to want us to hold him. Most of the time its over the smallest thing. Example - the step stool was turned upside down. The door was shut. His truck was on the bed. I touched the remote. I looked at him. John carried him up the stairs, and he went willingly then decided he wanted to walk up himself and threw an all out anger filled fit as he went down the stairs and proceded to try and lock us out. I could go on and on.
Anyone reading this no doubt would say it sounds like a typical toddler tantrum, but I assure you it is anything but. The blood murder tyraid is beyond anything normal. Its crazy. Its full of anger and frustration. These long outbursts started shortly after he started the Amoxicillin. Again, I didn't put this all together until my mom mentioned the possibility last night, which prompted me to do some research today - turns out, we aren't the only ones. There is nothing that says Yes, Antibiotics makes your toddler crazed - but certainly as someone who is around him all the time and knows him well, I know my kid and I know this isn't his normal way of being.
I can't say that the antibiotics did it but I sure believe so. We only have a few days left. We are going to stick it out. Maybe thats not a good idea. .. I'm not sure. I'm going to book his follow up appointment and mention the behavior to the doctor to put it in his record. I think next time, if there is one (and likely there will be), I will request something other than the pink stuff and see if we get the same reaction. If so, we'll determine at that point what the next course of action should be. Hopefully Khai won't be anything like me though, a sickly child constantly guzzling antibiotics.

I Love You So Much

Its the middle of the night and Khai wakes up and calls for me. "Mama where are you? Its dark in here". I run into the bedroom and he's sitting up in bed, throws his arms around me and hugs me tight. I tell him "Mama's here and I"ll never leave you and if I do I'll always come back". I can feel his body relax onto mine as he puts his head on my shoulder. I get him situated back in bed and tell him I love him so much. He whispers "I love you so much too Mama" and I can see him smile in the light of the nightlight on the nightstand. I give him a kiss and he kisses me back and then he giggles. Then I giggle. Then he makes a quiet little pop noise out of his mouth, like a faint kiss. I make one back, he returns it. Back and forth we are doing this, quietly giggling and smiling. The whole time my hand is on his heart and I can feel its quick little beats and I start to tear up with happiness because it was one of those moments where I really feel just how much I love this little boy. And I smile and make my pop noise back at him. He makes one more pop and turns over and settles to sleep.

Trains and Cars

As if this little boy needs anymore trains or cars....or toys for that matter. And no doubt this isn't even all of it. Cars and even more so, trains, are the IT around this house. The cars actually were more for me, i'll admit. But now Khai's very into them just the same. I love just sitting and watching him play with them all. The conversations he makes them have. The battles. The entire storyline. Watching his mind flow is one of my most favorite things.

Halloween Time

That fantastic time of year is finally here. More exciting and magical than Christmas, we wait impatiently all year for it to arrive. We put up our first Halloween ornament of the year several weeks ago and waited and waited for the stores to start stocking Halloween goodies. I must say I'm rather unimpressed this year with whats out there. It seems there was way more in the previous years. Nonetheless i'm still still holding out hope that there will be more.

This time of year brings trips to fall festivals, pumpkin patches, and I can't wait to take Khai to the corn maze. The last time we went was before Khai was conceived. After that he was just too tiny to take and then last Halloween he was sick - plus I think he would have been too young to really enjoy it. This year though...this year...

Last year we had in him a little vampire outfit. I don't know if it was because he was sick or because he just hated the outfit but it didn't work out as well as we had hoped. In fact, when I look at the pictures - him minus the cape looked like a waiter at a froo froo restaurant.

This year, he picked his own costume out and he's going to be a train conductor. Not as spooky as I had hoped, but he's very pleased with it and has been wearing his costume since August. He's ready! He tells me I will be a witch and so will Papa. We'll see.