Sophie's First Halloween

We had a great first Halloween with Sophie Bee. We had our annual glamping trip up near Solvang and had fun dress up time with our group. There was the Jurassic Park entourage, gypsies... and a whole bee family!

Her little bear suit was actually too small
and we couldn't fully button it... the excess
looks like a little bear tail behind her!

 

Her head kept falling forward and hanging
at a very uncomfortable angle while she
slept in the car. I used the excess belt from
her car seat to create a little head attachment.
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

The weather was nice and Sophie did pretty good on the car rides. We got back in the early afternoon on Sunday (Halloween) had a good rest, and then we met up with some friends for trick or treating, which was really fun when there ended up being a crazy group of about 15 of us. 

It was a nice first Halloween for an 11-month-old, and now we're full steam ahead for Sophie's first birthday in exactly a week - say what!!

Our First Pumpkin Patch

We did a lot this weekend, for us lol. From the Irvine Global Village and then visiting a pumpkin patch yesterday, and it might have been all of our first time at a pumpkin patch. (Have I been to one before? I honestly can't recall). 

With reservations it wasn't that bad as far as the crowds (one good thing to come out of COVID I suppose) but it was hotter than I would have liked (which was a shame because it's been starting to cool off otherwise) but we did get some cute pictures of Sophie out there, and learned how tall she was this fall.

This is how they get you to keep
coming back!

We bought two small pumpkins to actually cook and eat since jack o'lanterns wilt too quickly this close to the ocean.

This is the BEST time of the year and it always flies by, so I'm glad we've started to take advantage of it early.

Early Early Morning

Baby sleep is some form of friggin triple integral calculus (I Googled "what is the hardest level of math"  and that's what I got) and I can't figure it out. I know it doesn't help that she has a bit of an irregular schedule doing part time daycare and not sleeping well there, but we're all over the place now. She didn't sleep well at daycare yesterday, so she went to bed early, and she was up at a nice 5:30am today, so that's been fun. I actually put her down for her first nap here and took her to daycare about an hour late.

The best part was getting to daycare, and when the door opened and Sophie saw Ms Ellie, she immediately reached out for her. That's a great feeling and really what you want, so that's made me happy.

 I had a brunch in Long Beach followed by a session in a Salt Room today so it's been a nice Tuesday so far (plus I won football pick 'ems this week: thanks for that regular-scoring win last night Chargers) but I am ready to sleep already. Mama needs a nap if I'm going to be stay awake for the Bachelor in Paradise finale tonight!!

Mama Starts Work

Today is my first day back in the office since March 13, 2020. We have a hybrid schedule going on, so it's not everyone back at once at any given time, which makes it a little weird. But it's also not that weird being back here at my desk and getting stuff done. 

And I'm really being incredibly productive, but I sure do miss my baby! I like looking at this photo of her being wholly unamused.

I'll never have my "normal pre-COVID" life back, because now I have a baby, but I'm not complaining.

Sophie Starts Daycare

Today is Sophie's official first day of daycare, and things went really well! We're lucky we had such a great recommendation on place for her to go from my sister and nephews. I was worried about today, but it was a happy drop-off. AJ and I even went to breakfast afterwards (which felt so weird and like a weird vacation!) and while we were there, I was already getting pictures of Sophie happily playing and interacting with the other kids.

We were so lucky to have about 10 months at home with her, and she's only going part-time, so it also still feels like a nice transition and like we're very fortunate to be able to have this arrangement. And she loves watching other kids and it will be so good for her to start socializing.

We had a nice little getaway last weekend up to San Luis Obispo which was another good travel test as it's a bit further out than San Diego and another time for her to learn to sleep in other places and be in new spaces. We got to visit the mission and walk around the cute little downtown. Visit the hotel's pool and spend the afternoon at Pismo Beach.

We stopped in Santa Barbara on the way up for dinner (some amazing Argentine empanadas) and at the zoo on the way back. (The most perfect zoo there is!)

And now that I'm home alone in the quiet, I don't even know what to do with myself! It's amazing to work in peace and quiet and be able to focus for more than a few minutes at a time! Say what!