halloweenie!

Things have been busily bustling along in the Smalley household. This is my busy season for work, so I've been heavily focused there, and Jay, Maura and Miss Etta have spent their days enjoying the fall weather and adjusting to Maura's ever-changing temperament and needs. She's almost always a happy, happy baby (honestly), and is still a great nighttime sleeper (12-13 hours). Naps are becoming iffy, food is becoming iffy, and depending on the day, she's content to play with her toys and watch cartoons and other days she wants to do nothing but pull all the books off the shelf and press all the buttons on the remote and cable box and climb all over the concrete hearth and stick her fingers in Etta's food bowl. Quite the little toddler...

Her sweetest new characteristic is that she's learned to hug. If you ask for one, she'll spread out her arms and put her head on your shoulder and squeeze. Then she peeks up at you for approval, knowing she's done something great, and does it again. She's also become obsessed with my hair. In just the past few days, she has gone from her usual squirmming out of my arms when I hold her to sticking her thumb in her mouth, laying her head on my shoulder and twirling my hair. No joke, she did this for a solid hour the other night. And I've been so tired lately, this is just bliss for me.

She's was adorable at Halloween. We dressed her up as a dragon although we knew we wouldn't be taking her out trick or treating. We have a ton of kids in the neighborhood so we new we'd see a lot of them, so we passed out candy for a while and then headed to an open house to show our little dragon off. It was big fun.

Just got back last night from MD for a quick trip for a friend's baby shower. It was Maura's third or fourth time on a plane but my first without Jay to help -- he stayed home. Bless the poor souls who sat next to us on the flights -- she did great all things considered, but was so squirmmy and fussy and just overall not happy to be confined to my lap for an hour at a stretch.

It's always tough to go back there because I never really get to spend as much time with everyone as I want, and there are so many more people I would love to see and catch up with. I always question who to call or email, who to let know I'm coming down. I don't want to offend anyone, but I also don't want to seem over-eager, as many of the people I'd like to see have all moved on in their own ways, as well. I try to find peace with the fact that memories are memories forever, sometimes whether you like it or not, and I'll always hold a place for so many people I may never see again, not for lack of want, but just because that's the way life goes. So much of my life was there, and although I feel so entrenched in my life in Boston, there is so much history in Maryland that I always get a little sad when I leave. It was hard to travel alone, but I feel like Maura and I had some good bonding time, just us girls. I love her so much. And I got to spend time with everyone in my immediate family, however short, which is always wonderful. I wish I had the time to spend a whole two weeks or so down there to fit everything in.

I'll leave you with a few pics from Halloween and the trip. The girl's waking up from her nap and I've got to run.