In Preparation for Halloween

It's been a little bit of an intense week at the Swan house. I knew, being Hallween week, that it was going to be a busy week before it ever started, but then throw in a couple of unexpected items, and it goes from busy to intense, just like that. I'm glad this week is over, and I'm glad we're all alive and in good spirits to tell about it.

It all started with the sound of crashing glass one morning at 5am. Aaron and I had been up several times in the night with various children, but by 5am we were sleeping. Then CRASH! Not sleeping anymore. Of course we thought someone was breaking in. I've never seen Aaron jump out of bed so fast in my life. He grabbed the baseball bat that we keep under our bed, and checked upstairs in all the kids' rooms first. Nothing. So he headed downstairs. Oliver choose this moment to wake up wailing. So, I went in there and picked him up, and while trying to quiet him down tried to determine exactly what I, as an unarmed 8-month pregnant person holding a wailing toddler, would do if the intruder happened to get passed Aaron.

Luckily, I never had to decide. Aaron came back up the stairs to tell me that the mirror in our downstairs half bath had fallen off the wall and broke. It was glued to the wall instead of held up with brackets, I don't know if that's standard or not, but it seems really stupid. But I wasn't angry. I was too relieved that 1) No one was breaking into our house, and 2) That the mirror had fallen off in the middle of the night, instead of in the day when it could have landed on a kid. Aaron told me to go back to bed, while he put Oliver back to bed AND cleaned up all the glass. I'm married to a saint, Ladies and Gentleman, a pure saint. And I am so grateful for him. Blessings in all things.

We also made a semi-emergency trip to the dentist. Lincoln was up all night in tears one night with a tooth ache. We called the next morning and told them we'd come in at the first available opportunity, which was later that morning. I took an already very full schedule, and squeezed the dentist appointment in between Adelia's preschool and the boys' theater class.While they were checking Lincoln's teeth, I figured (since none of our kids have ever been to the dentist) that it was high time everyone in our family got in for a cleaning. I spent all of Lincoln's appointment, trying to squeeze 4 other appointments into our over-packed schedule before the baby becomes part of the picture.  Lincoln ended up having 8 cavities. Holy bad-tooth-brushing Batman. So I also made two appointments for him to come in and get those fixed. That adds up to 7 dentist appointments and 4 OB appointments for us before Ruby comes. Not to mention the 2 well-child visits, the HFMD visit, and Adelia's trip in for her UTI we had two weeks ago. If I ever see another doctor's office again, I might break down in tears. I feel like lately we could just pack up and move in, for how often we're planning on being there.

When we got home and I told Aaron about the cavities, he decided that he wanted a second opinion. He canceled the appointments I'd made, and rescheduled Lincoln with a different dentist. Luckily Aaron took Linc to that appointment. Sure enough, eight cavities. But the new dentist was able to get Lincoln in sooner than the first dentist, so we only have to wait over the weekend to have that one filled instead of two weeks. Which is good, because Lincoln has been in tears off and on since the first day he told us about his tooth ache. We're trying all sorts of hocus pocus to try and help the pain and to avoid giving him Tylenol every 4 hours for 5 days straight, since we'd really like him to have a healthy liver and all that good stuff. But I'll be honest that it's frustrating.

On top of that there was Halloween to get ready for. Both Lincoln and Adelia had school parties early in the week, so their costumes had to be all done for those.  

                             

And Ivan, who was planning on being Superman, decided last minute that he wanted to be Spiderman instead. So we had to make a quick run to WalMart for a red shirt, and some black metallic T-shirt paint. And I have to admit that sometimes I'm pretty freakin' amazing. I was happy with how his costume turned out.

And let's not forget the preparation for my own costume. :) My husband thinks I'm ridiculous. But I like to go all out for Halloween if I can manage it. Here's a few previews...

You're excited to see the finished product, aren't you? :) I am too!

And one of the nights this week we carved pumpkins. I got smart this year and had the kids help sort out the seeds from the guts.