There are three things in particular that I’m thankful for in this moment.

1. “Dreamfeeds”. I’ve learned to feed Kennedy while laying down in the middle of the night. This is known by veteran moms as a “dream feed” and involves me sleeping while she eats and then dozes off to sleep on her own. I usually wake up 2 hours later when Kennedy wakes up ready to switch sides. The only downside is the 5 pillows it takes to properly support this position makes cuddling up to Chris a bit difficult :(. Sorry Chris, but it’s worth the extra hours of sleep right now!

2. Naps. Kennedy will occasionally sleep while not moving. If she falls asleep in the stroller, I can often eek out a mile run on the treadmill (she’s still not big enough for the jogging stroller) and a shower, while she sleeps in the stroller! Right now she is actually sleeping in her little cradle and I have the pleasure of typing with 2 hands!

3. Smiles. It’s been about a week and a half since Kennedy started smiling and it is awesome. The smiles are for real, not the “I have gas” or “I’m about to scream my head off” smiles. Her daddy is the most frequent recipient of the beautiful smiles, that almost seem to be accompanied by a giggle sometimes, but mom gets quite a few too! Usually morning time, right after eating is her favorite time to show off those beautiful gums! I’ve always heard that the smiles make the long nights worth it, and I’m going to have to agree! Hers is the prettiest toothless grin I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing!

Our Halloween extravaganza began last weekend with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Matt and Katie were visiting from San Francisco, so we all piled into the Subaru and drove over to the patch by our old townhouse. It’s truly just a farm with pumpkins, decorations and a small corn tunnel (not really a maze); there were no bounce houses, candy apple stands or carnival rides. So Kennedy tolerated some photo opportunities, then decided she was hungry and ate for the rest of the outing, while Daddy, Katie and Matt selected some fine pumpkins. She had a diaper that desperately needed changing, so the very cute picture of her in the wheelbarrow is for an impromptu change.

On Halloween itself, we went to Day One in Walnut Creek to take pictures and check out the other little people in costume that aren’t old enough to trick or treat (or even know the humiliation that their parents are putting them through!). So our little sweet pea in the pod posed for a few shots from the pro and we snapped some pictures too. Halloween night was an eventful one in our neighborhood. The funny thing is that I got to see a whole side of Chris that I have not had the pleasure of experiencing in the four years we’ve known each other. “Halloween at home” Chris. He carved three amazing pumpkins, set up a giant spider that would drop in front of unsuspecting trick-or-treaters when he opened the door and had his microphone set up, attached to his amp, so that he could do an evil laugh prior to opening the door. It was particularly scary because the reverb was on, so his bru-ha-ha echoed and shook. He was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera (with his hair slicked back I thought he looked like Gavin Newsom dressing up like the phantom). Some kids were really scared, some of the high schoolers were unimpressed, but it was a very fun Halloween night. One very little girl, after the scary laugh, the dropping spider and finally, her candy reward was asked by her mom “Can you say thank you?” and promptly replied “NO!” before turning to quickly return to the safety of the sidewalk. By about 8:15, we had run out of our relatively substantial supply of candy, and had to shut the blinds and turn off the lights. It looked like the trick or treating traffic was tapering off by then anyway. It was a great Halloween, our first in this new world of “family friendly” holidays and events.

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11.04.08 Halloween

The Hocketts took their first trip together as a family to San Francisco on 19 October 2008 to visit with some of our friends in the Protrero district. Matt got some good shots on his photograph apparatus. Kennedy is very easy to travel with so far.  The car has a soothing affect on her; especially when when driving over 55 miles per hour.  She is fitting into our lives perfectly… or maybe we’re fitting into hers. Either way, we couldn’t be happier.