May the Force Be With You

(Sorry about the delay in between posts.)

Halloween was an eventful week for all of us.

Wednesday (Oct 29) was the 35th Med Group's Halloween Day. All of the staff were encouraged to dress up during the day, and in the afternoon, the kids of the Med Group were invited to Trick-or-Treat around the hospital. First things first, Jason decided to dress up as a pregnant women. Yes! You read that correctly. He tried on several of my maternity tops but none of them "worked out" as he hoped. So he strategically placed one of Jacob's stuffed animals under his scrubs, borrowed a lady's wig, stuffed a bra, and went to work. He was quite the hit, as you could imagine. The OBGYN clinic had more foot traffic than usual because so many people stopped by to see Jason's costume. He even had to lead a "New OB" class that morning filled with 10 newly pregnant ladies. I'm sure they were happy to see their doctor has a sense of humor.

So, as Jason is experiencing some of the joys of pregnancy at work, I had a very busy day. I have officially joined the club of mothers who run around like Crazy Ladies to prepare their child's Halloween costume. Jacob is not even old enough to eat the candy, let alone know what is going on, so why do I care? Well, I CARE! So I ran around like a Crazy Lady to get supplies to fix Jacob's costume. What I had bought didn't work (darn Velcro). So with 15 minutes to spare, I demanded my friend Shannon to help me on the spot. Not to mention, I made brownies for the OB/GYN Clinic and Labor/Delivery Staff and somehow managed to get to my Pilates class and have a few moments of peace. Whew!

Jacob made his Official Halloween debut promptly at 4PM at the Hospital with all the other children. Jacob was in heaven. He LOVED seeing all the other kids in costumes. Jacob also LOVED Jason's costume, and giggled when he saw his Daddy in a wig. To his credit, most of us laughed when we saw Jason in a wig. We brought Jacob's newly procured "push toy" and walked all around the hospital with the other children getting candy from all the different services. Jacob, who doesn't have quite enough teeth to eat the candy, quickly realized the fun in this Trick-or-Treat game. He walked up to the person handing out candy, smiled and waved until that person lowered the candy bowl, and finally took a few pieces of candy and put them in his push toy compartment. Everyone LOVED him! And, have I mentioned he was the most darling Yoda any of us have ever seen (Are Star Wars characters supposed to be called "Darling"). I was personally devastated when Jacob did not win the kids' costume contest (That darn Snow White got the best of us).

Thursday, Jason and I decided to let Jacob "help" carve a pumpkin. Who would have guessed what would happen that evening? Jacob was so excited as we brought the pumpkin inside and set up the carving area. After Jason opened the pumpkin, Jacob giggled as he squished his hands through the guts. And then......he vomited everywhere. Luckily he missed the pumpkin. We chalked it up to too much excitement right after dinner, went upstairs, cleaned him up and changed his clothes. All the while, Jacob was so excited to get downstairs and get back to that pumpkin! Once back to the scene, he climbed up to look inside the pumpkin, and yep....AGAIN, vomited. Poor thing! Needless to say, Jason stayed in the kitchen to carve the pumpkin alone, and Jacob and I went into the other room. Clearly our son does not like the smell of raw pumpkins. However, he LOVES pumpkin bread, so go figure. And the thing of it is, Jacob, even after getting sick twice, tried his hardest to get back into the kitchen and help carve that pumpkin! This pic was taken just before he got sick the first time.

Ok, so last but not least...the BIG NIGHT! HALLOWEEN! Several neighbors, Jason and I teamed together to host a "Haunted Patio!" The Watts were gracious enough to volunteer their front patio, and Jason, Chad, John, and Jaelyn put on quite a show. Misawa Base invites Japanese children and their families to dress up and Trick-or-Treat on base. And WOW, do they show up! I have never seen so many Trick-or-Treaters in my life! There were lines steady at homes for hours....or until the candy ran out. One of our neighbors bought 35 bags of candy, and it was all gone in less than 2 hours!! The Haunted Patio was a hit! Chad had to enact crowd control to only let 4-5 kids in at a time. We are proud to report WE had candy left over!!! Mostly due to the time it took to escort children through the spectacle, but also because some kids would run away after getting spooked and forget about grabbing some candy. This video has HORRIBLE lighting, but the audio of the Japanese kids getting spooked is priceless.

Jacob had fun reprising his role as Yoda. It was chilly, very crowded and the Japanese kids swarmed us to check out Jacob's light saber, so we didn't Trick-or-Treat too long. Overall though, Jacob's second Halloween (almost a week's worth) were a huge success!