Best laid plans...

Poor Milo is sick. On Halloween Eve. The day of his preschool Halloween party. And Kirkwood Halloween walk. :( He's been throwing up since about 3am....or at Noon yesterday, if you count him putting too much food in his mouth and throwing it up (according to the sitter). he kicks it soon and can still catch trick or treating at Gramme & Papa's tomorrow night and/or Trunk or Treat at church on Saturday.

One thing to be thankful for, though -- he has had no fever and doesn't act *sick*...at least between sessions of heaving.

Poor kiddo.

Thomas the Tank Engine!

Yesterday, Milo's dreams came true. He got to ride Thomas the Tank Engine -- THE Thomas the Tank Engine!

OK, in reality, it was a bunch of old crappy rail cars hooked up to Thomas the Tank Engine over in East St. Louis (why there, I haven't a clue). And while we waited for an hour before our ride (since they told us to get to this gravel pit at least an hour early), Milo at least enjoyed a little train ride (and our camera isn't out of focus -- it really was that dusty!):

Story time:

Tattoos:

Hay maze with Papa:
And, finally, the big Thomas ride:

Pablo and Pirates and Pumpkins!

Well, and Trains, but that didn't start with "P".

We've had a busy couple of weekends (I know, what's new?). But lots of good photo ops we wanted to share.

Two weekends ago, we took Milo to see The Backyardigans Live! at my theatre. Which Milo enjoyed for the most part. However (and this was a miscalculation on my part), our seats were too close. He lasted about 3 songs, and then cried. But we moved to the very last row, and then all was good. Milo even sat still through intermission!

That afternoon, our sitter's son had his 3rd birthday party at the Museum of Transportation, which included a train ride (of which Milo was the very first one on and off). We had to sit in "da goose" (the caboose), and Milo even got to say "All Aboard" on the microphone. A proud day indeed.

Following the train, the kids got an hour in Imagination Station, where Milo quickly adopted a pirate costume. He's still talking about how he drove the pirate boat.

Last weekend, we decided to sneak in a quick trip to the pumpkin patch. Which was fun, but waaaaay too crowded. Lucky for Milo, though, this patch included another pirate ship.

And, if you look closely, the beginning of the end. Milo was D-O-N-E -- as evidenced by the pained expression when holding the pumpkin he chose, and then promptly tossing it when we got to the car.

I think that's about it for us. We're gearing up for a frillion Halloween activites next week. Although, not sure how that's going to go -- Milo has a sharp eye out and wants to see "no scary stuff". Yeah. Oh! And Milo gets to ride Thomas the Tank Engine on Sunday -- the REAL Thomas the Tank Engine!! That boy is going to lose his ever-loving mind! We'll make sure to post more pictures.

On the baby front, I did pass the prenatal glucose screening (whew!), and go back for another check up on Oct 31. After that, I start going every 2 weeks -- can you believe it?! Oh, how time is flying. I swear, we're going to blink and then have two boys and not even know what to do with ourselves...

Apple Pickin'

Yesterday, we travelled over the (Mississippi) river and through the woods (if you can count Illinois as "woods") to Eckerts for some apple picking. We rode on a wagon out to the apples, picked some, ate some, and then rode a choo choo train. It was a good time...until the end...and then we had the (what is now) normal meltdown and not wanting to go home. But we'll try to forget that part. Here's pics:

1.75 for 3 on the weekend

This past weekend, the Chandler family attempted new and unique things to spice things up a bit. Here's how that went.

Friday Night - Forest Park Balloon Glow

At the last minute on Friday, we decide we'll take Milo to the Balloon Glow at Forest Park. Supposed to be really cool -- a huge lot of hot air balloons glowing in the dark, followed by fireworks -- but also really crowded. So we decide to take the MetroLink (aka, Milo's "choo choo kain"). Their website says it'll be about a 15 minute walk through the park. Yeah.

What they FAIL to mention is that the 15 minute walk entails basically playing Frogger (remember that arcade game?) across an insanely busy city intersection, entering the park alongside the miles-long trail of cars with no sidewalk, going down a hill, around a lake, back up a hill, across a golf course (complete with sandtraps), down this hill, then back up another hill. All in the complete dark with no sidewalks or pavement while pushing a 35 pound child in a stroller.

So, as we crest the final (very steep) hill, the very first balloon Milo spots is the ginormous Energizer Bunny. To which he responds, "NOOOOOOO!!!! Go back! Go back to da kain (train)! Go back to Yi-wo's (Milo's) house!" Being the sensitive parents we are, we push the dadgum stroller over to the other side of the Balloon Glow so the stupid Bunny is out of sight. But is that good enough? No. Of course not.

We try to unbuckle Milo to hold him while we got closer to just the regular, pretty hot air balloons. "NOOOOO!!! Buckle up for safety! Yi-wo not get out!" Right about then, some friends from church just happen to walk by us -- they'd already been in with their kids, and were walking back toward the MetroLink. So we decide to just cut our losses for the night and hike back with them. At least we had company. But before we left, I did manage to snap one photo for posterity:

Saturday Morning - Affton Days Parade

The next morning is the annual Affton Days Parade. (Sidebar: I don't really get how they call it "Affton Days" when it's really just one day. And not even a full day. But I digress.) The parade route begins just down the street from us, so we walk the block or two and stand along the sidewalk.

All is hunky dory. Milo's getting candy, and watching the cars and marching bands. He's a happy kid:

Then, disaster. All due to somebody dressed in a stupid horse costume (sorry, no picture of that). Milo took off so fast, it was just like in the cartoons -- the only thing left next to me was a puff of smoke! It took several minutes for Aaron and I to calm him down and convince him that the scary horsey was gone, and we could go back and watch the rest of the parade. Which Milo did. From an extremely safe distance about 8 feet from the road. (But I will say, there were some extremely nice people who became Milo's candy proxy and kept him stocked.)

The very last thing in the parade were two school buses. And, of course, some man just happened to climb on board one right in front of us. Then the parade stalled out, and the buses stopped right by us. Which, naturally, should mean that Milo can just climb on board, too, right?

Needless to say, Aaron and I took turns carrying Milo back to our house as he sobbed, "NOOOOO! More parade! More cool (school) bus! More horsey!" >:- (is that a frustrated face?)

Monday Night - PAT Bus Ride to the Park

Well, since the weekend was such a bust, we'll include Monday in there. This one, though, was a surefire hit -- Parents As Teachers Bus Ride to the Park. Milo FINALLY gets to ride on a school bus! And, yes, we were the first ones on the bus every time. ;) (Oh, and that big ice cream cone is in front of the elementary school. But don't ask my why.)

If we never hear the word "no" again...

Ah, the infamous No Stage. You know, the one when every toddler says "NO" to anything and everything you say. We are so there. Here's how it goes:

Us: "Milo, let's INSERT REQUEST HERE" or "Milo, do you want to INSERT INANE THING HERE"
Milo: "No, I not INSERT REPEATED INANE REQUEST HERE"
Us: "Well, I don't know that you have a choice. Let's go REPEAT INANE THING"
Milo: "No, I not do that."

I swear, if we never hear no from him again, it'll be too soon! And bear in mind -- the thing we say can be as innocuous as "Do you want a cookie?" or "Let's go to McDonalds." This, too, shall pass.

In other news, I had another check up on Friday. All is looking fine with Baby Boy (and me) so far. Another appointment in a month...the dreaded glucose screen. And we picked a day for the c-section...but I'll keep that secret until the French Family has time to get a Baby Pool together (assuming you want to do one again).

Extreme Home Makeover

Well, because y'all know I'm nosy and just couldn't stay out of the thick of things, I went with some coworkers and visited the local "set" for the latest Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last night. Picture quality isn't great, but you can get the idea. It's in Shrewsbury, which is the next township over from Aaron and I; maybe 5 minutes from our house. The family has the typical heart-wrenching story -- the mom was a pediatric cancer nurse who was forced to quit her job to care for her twin boys, both of whom have different extremely rare genetic diseases that cause physical abnormalities.

The house is beautiful (from the outside, and what I could see of the inside), and they did a good job of keeping the architecture of houses in the area. I'm just glad I'm not an immediate neighbor -- boy, those houses sure do look puny and sad now!

I'll let you know when this episode is going to air -- supposed to be in early November.

Wions and Ti-gahs and Burrs! Oh my!

Some pics from a trip to the zoo on Saturday. On our way there, Milo asked to see "da wions (lions)", "da el-fants (elephants)", and "da choo choo kain (train)." And he got to see them all, plus some!

Milo also declared to Aaron: "Daddy, I want a tuh-tle (turtle)." To which his mama would've said no, but his daddy is actually considering. We'll see. But I'm just putting it out there now -- Mama does NOT clean up turtle poo.