My pumpkin and his pumpkin

Last weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and took Bean to a pumpkin patch. DH and I get really excited about these outings, and I often wonder what Bean thinks. Is he confused about why we get in the car and go other places, when it's equally as much fun and requires less effort to stay home and pull the dog's hair? I'm not sure, but until he can talk, he's just going to have to suck it up and go with us. (Hmmmm, maybe I should rethink my attempt to teach him some basic sign language...) Anyway, he looks like he's having fun, so I don't feel bad about indulging my mommy desires!



When we got back in the car with our 37 lb pumpkin that was surely a good investment, I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get a picture of Bean's new teeth. I eventually got one, kinda sorta.

As we drove, we approached the sign for Flaming Geyser State Park. DH asked if we could stop there to see (please imagine trumpet fanfare here) THE FLAMING GEYSER. Thinking it was right off the highway, I agreed. However, turns out it was still 9 miles away through the twists and turns of the foothills, and I quickly discovered that our previous 20-minute photography shoot had given me a mad case of motion sickness. But I survived without barfing, and the magic moment was upon us. We hiked a short distance through the woods...

... for this.

Don't see it? Let me show you a close-up.

That, my friends, is THE FLAMING GEYSER. There was a chorus of "That's it?" as various visitors sauntered up. One lady suggested they rename it Tea Light State Park, which is obviously more appropriate. In all fairness, however, the plaque claims that it used to shoot 8-10 feet in the air. Now that would have been worth seeing.

We had a wonderful weekend overall, despite poor DH being unable to shake his cold, and it led right into a wonderful week. Bean has spent most of the time being ridiculously cute, while I try to resist the urge to squeeze him into mush because of his ridiculous cuteness. Not that there aren't challenges. He still wakes up too many times at night. He still baffles me with his picky eating habits. But now that the teething and cold have passed, we laugh a lot. We laugh when Bean burps, we laugh when mommy burps. We laugh when he pees on the changing table; when he holds the sippy cup upside-down and drenches himself in water; and when he grabs the spoon to splatter the prunes all over his sleeves. Does it get any better than this?

Well, it does, at least a little. We took a field trip today to visit http://www.attachedtobaby.com/, which has its warehouse in Seattle. It was an hour's drive, but Bean was stellar and I got to catch up with a couple of friends while violating the new hands-free cell phone law. I'm sure many people struggle to understand my obsession with baby carriers. Why do I need so many? Well, they are all different! Answer this question: How many pairs of black shoes do you own? See, I've got you there. Different needs, different shoes, different baby carriers. So you can stop worrying that I'm turning into a hippie and let me get back to my story. My stash is conspicuously missing a mei tai style carrier, so after spending obscene amounts of time on TBW reading reviews and getting nowhere, I decided it would be best to try them out for myself. Despite lusting after the the fabric on the design-your-own BabyHawk, I fell in love with the NapsackBaby. It's European, so even though the fabric is plain, I pretend that we look very classy, moi et mon bebe. (Okay, it's from the U.K. and not France. But doesn't that phrase sound super cool?) It's also amazingly comfortable, and of course, the most expensive mei tai she sells. Problem solved -- I called DH on the way home and let him know that he just purchased my Christmas present, and wasn't it nice of me to do the shopping for him? I just love it when I get what I want and we are both happy.

Totally off the subject, I feel compelled to mention a movie I saw recently, called Then She Found Me. It has some big names, like Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, and Matthew Broderick, but the only reason I found it was that I asked Netflix to send me any and every movie starring Colin Firth. (Even with the dumbass hair he sports in this flick, he's still adorable!) Anyway, I was not expecting the theme of infertility and adoption, and after recently wasting nearly 2 hours of my life being disappointed by Baby Mama, I was a little concerned. But it was rather interesting! The movie purposes an answer to the question, "Is it the same to raise an adopted child as it is your biological child?" As someone who considered adoption at one point but otherwise knows little about it, I think the answer is probably a more complicated yes and no. But the other day, as I was rocking Bean to sleep, he was softly opening and closing his fist in a grabbing motion on my arm (kinda like he did in the first video), and it struck me -- my favorite thing about being Bean's mom is not that he carries my genes. What makes my heart so happy is that I know him better than anyone else in the world. I know all his little quirks and preferences, the way he likes to be held, how to distract him to stop the squirming during diaper changes, sure fire ways to make him laugh, and how he plays with the hair behind his left ear when is ready for a nap. I am the recipient of those amazing smiles that are his way of saying, "Mom, you are the most amazing person! I love you so much." It's not the best movie ever made, but if you get free movies like I do, you may want to check it out. (Besides, one might argue that listening to Colin Firth's British accent is worth it, if you can get past the bad hair.)

You also may notice the new "Follow Me" section in my sidebar. Deb was kind enough to request it so she could add me to the list of blogs she follows. There are only two faces there now -- Holly was my original fan. Sure, I could choose to feel self-conscious and lame that some other blogs I visit boast from 20 to near 500 followers. But I choose to feel flattered that two people who are not my parents actually check me out regularly, even if it's just in the hopes of seeing another giggle video. (I also know from my Google Reader stats that I have 10 other followers who are not set to "public." I respect the fact that you may be embarrassed to be seen on my blog, and thanks for tuning in anyway.) :)