The Queen's Rambles

I can’t believe how fast October is flying. I keep thinking we have a couple of weeks until Halloween, but I realized we have one week! One! And a few days.

In the past I have made the mistake of going Halloween shopping the weekend before and not having any options. I keep dragging my feet about getting Erik’s costume because I fear he will change his mind, but thank goodness I decided to get it done this weekend. I literally got the last Harry Potter robe at Target. Thankfully it fits him. They didn’t have any accessories, but I did pick up a pair of “nerd glasses” that should work, a ladies scarf that is close enough to be called Gryfinndor and a generic kid’s witch hat. I had him put it all one and he really did look like a young wizard, even though he had a camo shirt on underneath.

I bought Elsa’s costume weeks and weeks ago. She’s so little she doesn’t get an opinion. She’s going to be some generic fairy princess thing-a-majig from Costco.

I did a major shopping trip at Macy’s yesterday! I like to do our Christmas photos in October because the studio is less insane, so I finally scheduled us for next Wednesday evening. We decided we would have the whole family in the portrait, which will be a first for us. I hate having my picture taken.

Last year Grain_Damaged sent a beautiful, velvety Christmas dress for Elsa. It fits perfectly this year, so I used that as a starting point for our portrait plan. It’s burgundy, so I decided to go with a gray and burgundy theme. I found a grey and burgundy sweater for Erik, which will go perfect under his Gryffindor robes as well. I bought two different sweaters for Mike to choose from–a plain gray or a burgundy with gray stripe. I think we’ll use the second for the picture. I bought myself one of those flowy over sweaters that are so popular this year. Anyone know what they are called? I’ll probably wear a black tank underneath it. I need to go with a dark color.

So happy to have that done! Now I just have to get my brows waxed, get the kids haircuts and hope that everyone behaves. Erik is notorious for acting the fool during picture sessions and Elsa freaks out around strangers (and most friends) so it could turn into a nightmare. It usually is. Maybe it will be better with Mike there. He has a wonderful calming effect on all of us.

In other news, I don’t know what to do about Elsa and the potty situation. For those who are new, I cloth diapered her for the longest time. I was doing it for three reasons: 1) Financial, 2) Environmental and 3) Comfort for the baby.

Reason number three went out the window when I finally realized that her constant diaper rash cleared up as soon as we used disposables on a trip. I started using them when we’d go out and at night and it made such a difference on her poor little butt skin.

Now when I try to put a cloth diaper on her she started telling me “no no no no no no no no no” and takes it off. She climbs off the changing tables, telling me “dipo dipo dipo” and brings me a disposable.

So obviously she prefers disposable.

Hot damn.

Disposables are expensive. I think there’s been a 50% increase in price since Erik was a baby. I wanted to get the new Huggies slip-ons but they were $20 for 50 diapers.

My mom claimed she would potty train Elsa while she was here since she potty trained me when I was 15 months.

Guess how well that has worked?

Not at all.

Elsa has a bladder the size of an elephant and only pees every four or five hours. She’s dry all night. Good signs for potty training, yes, but it is almost impossible to catch her and get her onto the potty when she is peeing so rarely.

And now it’s time to go carve a jack-o-lantern. Whoo-hoo! Pumpkin guts!