Trick or Treat?

Hi everyone!
I am just getting in under the wire for another October message.  We are gearing up for Olive's first Halloween. See picture with her little angel outfit from the party they had at daycare the other day:

 Our house is full of people trying to kick a cold virus, but thankfully we are getting the upper hand. Last weekend, after being frustrated with a congested baby (for more than two weeks now) and no good advice from the doctor except wait for it to pass... I did what any smart, savvy mom in the 21st century would do.  I got on the computer and checked in with my Facebook mom's group for advice.

What came of this exploration will no doubt keep the vampires away from our house this Halloween!  The solution.... GARLIC. For three nights in a row, I packed Olive's feet with a minced garlic/olive oil poultice. Then I covered her feet with plastic wrap, socks and lace up shoes (in that order).  Poor thing had to sleep with stinky shoes all weekend because without the shoes, the socks would be off in a flash and the garlic/oil mess would be everywhere. She did sleep incredibly well, I must say, and she woke up with a touch of baby-garlic-breath (which smells like normal garlic breath except MUCH cuter :).

(knock on wood) I do believe this home remedy helped -- Garlic has powerful analgesic, antiviral and antibiotic properties.  By the way, I packed my own feet with garlic one night and woke up completely clear in my chest and sinuses. I am sure Jason is now kicking himself now for not putting some kind of "odd use of garlic" exclusion in our marriage contract.

Olivia has been increasingly vocal and active lately. She is loving climbing the stairs and playing on the slide at daycare.  In the food department, she lets them spoon feed her at daycare but won't let us do that anymore at home. She's not terribly picky or messy at the dinner table though she's learned how to feed the dogs scraps from her high chair which isn't great (she does let them lick her fingers clean too which I guess is a bonus!).  Each morning, she eats a scrambled egg with toast and fruit.  She loves salmon and other fish.

Baby Boy is cooking right along (32+ weeks now).  I am getting bigger and more and more ready for this pregnancy phase of my life to be over, though I know this is a small sacrifice to make and it will be over before I know it.  Needless to say, we are all looking forward to December and to meeting our baby boy!

We will have some pictures from a recent photo session to share next time. Love always, claire