Pumpkin Junkies

We are totally in Halloween overdrive in these parts. I think it is a weird compulsion I am having due to missing two seasons of Halloween. In '06 I was newly pregnant and just felt like shit, unable to muster much energy to do anything, except put on some cat ears and fake eyelashes (?). In '07 I was fairly newly Mama'd with a healthy dose of PPD and two 6 month old boys just barely sleeping (and not through the night). I barely mustered the energy to stuff them into ready made costumes and take them out that evening for a few hours. But this year, I am raring.

Decorations are up, house is quite Halloweeny, costumes are in planning stage and the pumpkins, well, we have the pumpkins.

We have been to the pumpkin patch four times since October 11th. Hence the title. In our defense, last week we were a week early. This weekend was the official Pumpkin Festival and it rocked. So, we went two days in a row.

It was perfect...we went post-nap so the crowds had thinned a bit. And we had scoped out the situation the week before, so I knew that I wanted a few specialty pumpkins. We picked the special ones up at the Farm Store, had a crazy ride in the wagon courtesy of Mama.

We ate 'Dr Bobs ice cream (rated second best in the world. The world), wandered through the nearly denuded pumpkin fields, petted some sheep, watched a cow pee, (Omg, almost on Owen's head...and it was a river of pee, people, so gross) watched a baby goat try to brawl with a much bigger goat, carried some pumpkins,

took some pictures...all kinds of fun.



And today, we topped off the evening with a quick jaunt to our little city's Pumpkin Patch, where they have a barn and animals and there is a park over the tiny bridge and it is a few blocks from home. So, who can blame me for saturating us in the Halloween spirit. I have a lot to make up for.


Being at the Heritage Park patch today brought a vivid memory back. Last year, this very week, we brought the boys there for a few photos. I was having a really hard time at this point. Really hard. And we met parents of twins that were 18 months at the time. She must have seen something in my eyes (like, despair exuding out of their deeply shadowed depths) and told me a few times...."It gets better, really, it gets better". Which I absolutely could not believe at the time. I looked at her lovely kids and all I could see was a bigger version of my not-sleeping-not-easy babies. Today, I watched my boys in the exact same spot, running from chicken coop to bunny cage to piglet enclosure, laughing hilariously, tripping, babbling, trying to climb the rotting barn steps and I could have cried. Because it has not just gotten better. It is amazing. Amazingly fun, amazingly hard, but amazing. Tonight I watched Owen 'read' me the Edison bill and when I laid Mason in his crib, felt his little hands pull his blankie around himself, essentially tucking himself in for the night...and I thanked the gods. Thanked them that I am better, that they are happy, and that we have Halloween.

Regarding the Halloween costumes...they are actually quite simple, but it is all going to be in the hair. Stay tuned. The big reveal shall come.